Anchored hybrid enrichment challenges the traditional classification of flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

Sarcophagidae is one of the most species-rich families within the superfamily Oestroidea. This diversity is usually represented by three lineages: Miltogramminae, Paramacronychiinae and Sarcophaginae. Historically, the phylogenetic relationships among these lineages have been elusive, due to poorly supported hypotheses or small taxon sets, or both. This study provides a dramatic increase in molecular data, more balanced sampling of all three lineages from all biogeographical regions and a reassessment of morphological characters using scanning electron microscopy in the most comprehensive assessment of subfamily-level phylogeny in Sarcophagidae to date. This analysis of the largest molecular dataset ever produced for a phylogenetic analysis of a fly lineage, with 950 loci from anchored hybrid enrichment comprising 435 930 bp from 101 species, revealed Paramacronychiinae as sister to Miltogramminae, not to Sarcophaginae, as suggested by adult morphology. Maximum likelihood analysis produced a well-supported topology, with 91% of the nodes receiving strong bootstrap proportions (> 97%). In contrast to the molecular data, three out of nine morphological characters studied point to a sister-group relationship of (Sarcophaginae + Paramacronychiinae) and the remaining six characters are either silent on subfamily relationships or in need of further study. Re-examination of morphological structures provides new insights into the evolution of male genitalic traits within Sarcophagidae and highlights their convergence producing conflicting phylogenetic signal. Our phylogeny reconciles older and widely used systems of classification with tree-based thinking and sets up a classification of flesh flies that is more aligned with their evolutionary history.     

Younger and older chronic somatoform pain patients in psycho-diagnostics,physician-patient relationship and treatment outcome

Introduction

Patients with chronic pain are found with highly variable clinical presentation and differing physical complaints. They are seen as a heterogenic group. Based on clinical observations, elderly patients seem to differ from younger patients with chronic pain. We examined whether there were systematic differences between young and old pain patients.

Methods

As part of a routine evaluation of university hospital care, a newly developed psychosomatic treatment model for chronic somatoform pain disorders was examined. The basis for treatment efficacy was a target-oriented, specific somatic and psychological intervention that included a stable physician-patient relationship. Particular attention was paid to differences in treatment outcome with regard to changes in both physical and psychopathological symptom levels. We hypothesised that younger pain patients had higher psychological burden and benefitted more from our treatment than older pain patients.

Results

Overall, 179 inpatients (57.5% women) with chronic pain were examined (age between 16 and 79 years). The group as a whole yielded high scores on the somatisation dimension (SCL-90) and showed a considerable amount of psychopathological symptoms, such as depressive mood and anxiety (HADS) and a great emotional instability (FPI-R). Age differences were only found with regards to patients’ degree of aggression (SCl-90): younger patients showed higher aggressive tendencies than older ones (p< 0.05). The treatment offered helped patients in both age groups especially with regard to reduction of depressive mood (HADS, p< 0.01) and anxiety levels (HADS, p< 0.01). Regression analysis showed different age groups and gender as significant predictors of anxiety reduction under therapy (R²=.108; model: p< 0.01).

Discussion and conclusion

Results show that younger chronic pain patients suffer more from a considerable amount of psychological distress than older ones, but our treatment approach was equally effective in both groups. However, age and gender differences, as well as the patient’s baseline level of anxiety influenced the outcome. These factors need to be studied in future research.

     

Parallel declines in abundance of insects and insectivorous birds in Denmark over 22 years

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Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza: entry pathways into North America via bird migration

Given the possibility of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza arriving in North America and monitoring programs that have been established to detect and track it, we review intercontinental movements of birds. We divided 157 bird species showing regular intercontinental movements into four groups based on patterns of movement-one of these groups (breed Holarctic, winter Eurasia) fits well with the design of the monitoring programs (i.e., western Alaska), but the other groups have quite different movement patterns, which would suggest the importance of H5N1 monitoring along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts of North America.     

Dendritic cells in the recognition of intestinal microbiota

Mucosal dendritic cells (DCs) constantly survey the luminal microenvironment which contains commensal microbiota and potentially harmful organisms regulating pathogen recognition and adaptive as well as innate defense activation. Distinct mechanisms are beginning to emerge by which intestinal antigen sampling and handling is achieved ensuring specificity and contributing to redundancy in pathogen detection. Distinct DC subsets are associated with these mechanisms and regulate specific innate or adaptive immune responses to help distinguish between commensal microbiota, pathogens and self antigens. Understanding DC biology in the mucosal immune system may contribute to the unraveling of infection routes of intestinal pathogens and may aid in developing novel vaccines and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases.     

Coevolution between Himalayan cuckoos and 2 sympatric Pycnonotidae hosts

Selection due to cuckoo parasitism is responsible for the evolution of anti-parasitism defenses in hosts. Different host species breeding sympatrically with a single parasitic cuckoo may evolve different strategies to reduce the risk of counter cuckoo parasitism, resulting in different interactions between cuckoos and hosts in areas of sympatry. Here, we studied the coevolutionary interactions between Himalayan cuckoos Cuculus saturatus and 2 sympatric and closely related potential hosts belonging to the family Pycnonotidae, the brown-breasted bulbul Pycnonotus xanthorrhous and the collared finchbill Spizixos semitorques. We investigated parasitism rates and nest-site selection (nest height, nest cover, human disturbance, perch height, forest distance, and degree of concealment) related to parasitism risk, nest defense against a cuckoo dummy, and egg rejection against cuckoo model eggs. Bulbuls used specific nest sites that were further away from forests than those of finchbills, and they behaved more aggressively toward cuckoos than finchbills. In contrast, bulbuls possessed moderate egg rejection ability, whereas the finchbill rejected 100% of cuckoo model eggs. We suggest that selection of a nest site away from forests by the bulbul explains the absence of parasitism by Himalayan cuckoos. We suggest that these interspecific differences in nest-site selection and nest defense indicate alternative responses to selection due to cuckoos.     

Using maximum entropy to predict the potential distribution of an invasive freshwater snail

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