Unearthing the secrets of Australia's most enigmatic and cryptic mammal, the marsupial mole.

The marsupial moles are arguably Australia's most enigmatic marsupials. Almost indistinguishable from placental (eutherian) moles, they provide a striking example of convergent evolution. Exploring the genome of the southern marsupial mole, we provide insights into its unusual biology.

Active spread of β-thalassemia beyond the thalassemia belt: A study on a Russian population.

β-Thalassemia is a disease traditionally associated with thalassemia belt countries. Nonetheless, as global migration intensifies, β-thalassemia-causing variants spread far from their origin. We investigated this process to detect some patterns underlying its course.

Homoplasy of Retrotransposon Insertions in Toothed Whales.

Retrotransposon insertion patterns facilitate a virtually homoplasy-free picture of phylogenetic history. Still, a few most likely random parallel insertions or deletions result in rare cases of homoplasy in primates. The following question arises: how frequent is retrotransposon homoplasy in other phylogenetic clades? Here, we derived genome insertion data of toothed whales to evaluate the extension of homoplasy in a representative laurasiatherian group.

Euarchontoglires Challenged by Incomplete Lineage Sorting.

Euarchontoglires, once described as Supraprimates, comprise primates, colugos, tree shrews, rodents, and lagomorphs in a clade that evolved about 90 million years ago (mya) from a shared ancestor with Laurasiatheria. The rapid speciation of groups within Euarchontoglires, and the subsequent inherent incomplete marker fixation in ancestral lineages, led to challenged attempts at phylogenetic reconstructions, particularly for the phylogenetic position of tree shrews. To resolve this conundrum, we sampled genome-wide presence/absence patterns of transposed elements (TEs) from all representatives of Euarchontoglires.

Contradictory Phylogenetic Signals in the Laurasiatheria Anomaly Zone.

Relationships among laurasiatherian clades represent one of the most highly disputed topics in mammalian phylogeny. In this study, we attempt to disentangle laurasiatherian interordinal relationships using two independent genome-level approaches: (1) quantifying retrotransposon presence/absence patterns, and (2) comparisons of exon datasets at the levels of nucleotides and amino acids. The two approaches revealed contradictory phylogenetic signals, possibly due to a high level of ancestral incomplete lineage sorting.

Reunion of Australasian Possums by Shared SINE Insertions.

Although first posited to be of a single origin, the two superfamilies of phalangeriform marsupial possums (Phalangeroidea: brushtail possums and cuscuses and Petauroidea: possums and gliders) have long been considered, based on multiple sequencing studies, to have evolved from two separate origins. However, previous data from these sequence analyses suggested a variety of conflicting trees. Therefore, we reinvestigated these relationships by screening $\sim$200,000 orthologous short interspersed element (SINE) loci across the newly available whole-genome sequences of phalangeriform species and their relatives.

Gene Conversion amongst SINE Elements.

The process of non-allelic gene conversion acts on homologous sequences during recombination, replacing parts of one with the other to make them uniform. Such concerted evolution is best described as paralogous ribosomal RNA gene unification that serves to preserve the essential house-keeping functions of the converted genes. Transposed elements (TE), especially short interspersed elements (SINE) that have more than a million copies in primate genomes, are a significant source of homologous units and a verified target of gene conversion.

The multicomparative 2-n-way genome suite.

To effectively analyze the increasing amounts of available genomic data, improved comparative analytical tools that are accessible to and applicable by a broad scientific community are essential. We built the "2-n-way" software suite to provide a fundamental and innovative processing framework for revealing and comparing inserted elements among various genomes. The suite comprises two user-friendly web-based modules.

The Volcano Rabbit in the Phylogenetic Network of Lagomorphs.

The order Lagomorpha unifies pikas (Ochotonidae) and the hares plus rabbits (Leporidae). Phylogenetic reconstructions of the species within Leporidae based on traditional morphological or molecular sequence data provide support for conflicting hypotheses. The retroposon presence/absence patterns analyzed in this study revealed strong support for the broadly accepted splitting of lagomorphs into ochotonids and leporids with Pronolagus as the first divergence in the leporid tree.

True Homoplasy of Retrotransposon Insertions in Primates.

How reliable are the presence/absence insertion patterns of the supposedly homoplasy-free retrotransposons, which were randomly inserted in the quasi infinite genomic space? To systematically examine this question in an up-to-date, multigenome comparison, we screened millions of primate transposed Alu SINE elements for incidences of homoplasious precise insertions and deletions. In genome-wide analyses, we identified and manually verified nine cases of precise parallel Alu insertions of apparently identical elements at orthologous positions in two ape lineages and twelve incidences of precise deletions of previously established SINEs. Correspondingly, eight precise parallel insertions and no exact deletions were detected in a comparison of lemuriform primate and human insertions spanning the range of primate diversity.

Genome of the Tasmanian tiger provides insights into the evolution and demography of an extinct marsupial carnivore.

The Tasmanian tiger or thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was the largest carnivorous Australian marsupial to survive into the modern era. Despite last sharing a common ancestor with the eutherian canids ~160 million years ago, their phenotypic resemblance is considered the most striking example of convergent evolution in mammals. The last known thylacine died in captivity in 1936 and many aspects of the evolutionary history of this unique marsupial apex predator remain unknown.

[Impact of various wound dressings on wound bed neoangiogenesis in patients with different forms of diabetic foot syndrome].

Aim: To investigate the impact of various wound dressings on wound bed neoangiogenesis in patients with different forms of diabetic foot syndrome (DFS).

Subjects And Methods: The clinical (local tissue oxygenation) and immunohistochemical (CD31) markers of foot soft tissue neoangiogenesis were evaluated in patients with DFS receiving negative pressure (NP) therapy and collagen-containing dressings (CCDs) versus standard treatment. 63 patients with neuropathic and neuroischemic (without critical ischemia) forms of DFS were examined after wound debridement.

Speciation network in Laurasiatheria: retrophylogenomic signals.

Rapid species radiation due to adaptive changes or occupation of new ecospaces challenges our understanding of ancestral speciation and the relationships of modern species. At the molecular level, rapid radiation with successive speciations over short time periods-too short to fix polymorphic alleles-is described as incomplete lineage sorting. Incomplete lineage sorting leads to random fixation of genetic markers and hence, random signals of relationships in phylogenetic reconstructions.

The Beaver's Phylogenetic Lineage Illuminated by Retroposon Reads.

Solving problematic phylogenetic relationships often requires high quality genome data. However, for many organisms such data are still not available. Among rodents, the phylogenetic position of the beaver has always attracted special interest.

[Comparative evaluation of the intensity of reparative processes in the lower extremity soft tissues of diabetic patients receiving local negative pressure wound treatment and standard wound care].

Aim: To study the intensity of soft tissue repair in patients with diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) during local negative pressure wound treatment versus standard wound care.

Subjects And Methods: The investigators estimated the clinical (wound sizes, local tissue oxygenation), histological (light microscopy), and immunohistochemical (CD31, CD68, MMP-9, and TIMP-1) markers for reparative processes in patients with DFS during vacuum therapy versus standard wound care. Forty-two patients with the neuropathic and neuroischemic (without critical ischemia) forms of DFS were examined after debridement.

[The Study of Influence of Different Methods of Local Treatment on Wound Healing in Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers].

Aim: To evaluate the influence of different methods of local treatment on tissue repair in patients with diabetic foot ulcers.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated such clinical characteristics as wound size and local perfusion after using negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), local collagen, and standard care in patients with diabetic foot ulcers. We observed 63 patients with neuropathic and neuroischemic forms of diabetic foot (without critical ischemia) after surgical debridement.

Exploring Massive Incomplete Lineage Sorting in Arctoids (Laurasiatheria, Carnivora).

Freed from the competition of large raptors, Paleocene carnivores could expand their newly acquired habitats in search of prey. Such changing conditions might have led to their successful distribution and rapid radiation. Today, molecular evolutionary biologists are faced, however, with the consequences of such accelerated adaptive radiations, because they led to sequential speciation more rapidly than phylogenetic markers could be fixed.

[Impact of the local application of collagen on the activity of reparative processes in the lower extremity soft tissue of patients with diabetic foot syndrome].

Aim: To estimate of the rate of reparative processes in the lower extremity (LE) soft tissues of patients with diabetic foot (DF) syndrome in the local application of collagen-containing dressings (CCD) versus standard medical therapy.

Material And Methods: The clinical (sizes, tissue oxygenation), histological, and immunohistochemical markers of reparative processes in LE soft tissues were analyzed in patients with diabetes mellitus during the local application of collagen-containing wound dressings versus standard treatment. Forty-two patients with postrevascularization neuropathic and neuroischemic DF syndrome were examined after standard surgical wound treatment.

[Features of angenesis against the background of negative pressure wound therapy in patients with neuropathic and neuroischemic forms of diabetic foot ulcers].

The authors analyzed clinical (size, tissue oxygenation), histological (light microscopy) and immunohistochemical (CD68, MMP-9, TIMP-1) features of reparative processes of soft tissue of lower extremities in patients with diabetes mellitus against the background of vacuum therapy in comparison with standard local treatment. Patients (31 cases) with diabetic foot ulcers were followed-up after surgical d-bridement and before plastic closure of the wound. During perioperative period 13 patients obtained the negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT of 90-120 mmHg) and 18 patients had the standard care.

Correlates between feeding ecology and mercury levels in historical and modern arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus).

Changes in concentration of pollutants and pathogen distribution can vary among ecotypes (e.g. marine versus terrestrial food resources).

[Single-step endovascular revascularization of the kidney, lower limb and endovascular reconstruction of abdominal aortic aneurysm in a patient with type 2 diabetic mellitus].

Presented in the article is a clinical example of surgical treatment of a patient with a severe course of type 2 diabetes mellitus, multiple lesions of coronary arteries, lower-limb arteries with the development of lower-limb ischaemia, bilateral lesions of renal arteries and chronic renal insufficiency, the presence of an aneurysm of the infrarenal portion of the aorta. The unique nature of the case report consists in joint work of endocrinologists, cardiologists, specialists in purulent surgery and reoentgenovascular surgeons, also in carrying out simultaneous endovascular reconstructive operation on various vascular basins: stenting of the right renal artery, balloon angioplasty and stenting of the left leg arteries and endovascular prosthetic repair of the abdominal aortic aneurysm. The comprehensive treatment of the patient resulted in safe performance of the endovascular intervention, saving the supporting function of the limb, improvement of glycemic control, decreasing the risk of sudden death on the background of abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture, decreased rate of progression of renal insufficiency, better control of symptoms of angina pectoris and cardiac failure.

The importance of willow thickets for ptarmigan and hares in shrub tundra: the more the better?

In patchy habitats, the relationship between animal abundance and cover of a preferred habitat may change with the availability of that habitat, resulting in a functional response in habitat use. Here, we investigate the relationship of two specialized herbivores, willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) and mountain hare (Lepus timidus), to willows (Salix spp.) in three regions of the shrub tundra zone-northern Norway, northern European Russia and western Siberia.

Tailoring the soliton output of a photonic crystal fiber for enhanced two-photon excited luminescence response from fluorescent protein biomarkers and neuron activity reporters.

Dual-cladding photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with two zero-dispersion points are used to enhance the two-photon excited luminescence (TPL) response from fluorescent protein biomarkers and neuron activity reporters in dye-cell experiments and in in vivo work on transgenic mice and tadpoles. The soliton transmission of ultrashort pulses through a PCF suppresses dispersion-induced temporal pulse spreading, maintaining a high level of field intensity needed for efficient TPL excitation. The soliton self-frequency shift, stabilized against laser power fluctuations by a specific PCF dispersion design, is employed to accurately match the wavelength of the soliton PCF output with the two-photon absorption spectrum of dye or fluorescent protein biomarker molecules, enhancing their TPL response and allowing the laser damage of biotissues to be avoided.