Inheritance of Material Wealth in a Natural Population.

Evolutionary adaptation occurs when individuals vary in access to fitness-relevant resources and these differences in 'material wealth' are heritable. It is typically assumed that the inheritance of material wealth reflects heritable variation in the phenotypic abilities needed to acquire material wealth. We scrutinise this assumption by investigating additional mechanisms underlying the inheritance of material wealth in collared flycatchers.

The Genetic Architecture of Recombination Rates is Polygenic and Differs Between the Sexes in Wild House Sparrows (Passer domesticus).

Meiotic recombination through chromosomal crossing-over is a fundamental feature of sex and an important driver of genomic diversity. It ensures proper disjunction, allows increased selection responses, and prevents mutation accumulation; however, it is also mutagenic and can break up favorable haplotypes. This cost-benefit dynamic is likely to vary depending on mechanistic and evolutionary contexts, and indeed, recombination rates show huge variation in nature.

Demography and environment modulate the effects of genetic diversity on extinction risk in a butterfly metapopulation.

Linking genetic diversity to extinction is a common goal in genomic studies. Recently, a debate has arisen regarding the importance of genetic variation in conservation as some studies have failed to find associations between genome-wide genetic diversity and extinction risk. However, only rarely are genetic diversity and fitness measured together in the wild, and typically demographic history and environment are ignored.

Calling Structural Variants with Confidence from Short-Read Data in Wild Bird Populations.

Comprehensive characterization of structural variation in natural populations has only become feasible in the last decade. To investigate the population genomic nature of structural variation, reproducible and high-confidence structural variation callsets are first required. We created a population-scale reference of the genome-wide landscape of structural variation across 33 Nordic house sparrows (Passer domesticus).

The genetic basis of dispersal in a vertebrate metapopulation.

Dispersal affects evolutionary processes by changing population size and genetic composition, influencing the viability and persistence of populations. Investigating which mechanisms underlie variation in dispersal phenotypes and whether populations harbour adaptive potential for dispersal is crucial to understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics of this important trait. Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of dispersal among successfully recruited individuals in an insular metapopulation of house sparrows.

Childbirth experiences in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A cohort study.

Introduction: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have more pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes, hypertension, and preterm labor than other women. Metformin has been used in an attempt to improve pregnancy outcomes. Our study aims to explore childbirth experiences in women with PCOS compared with a reference population.

Booster vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines and myocarditis in adolescents and young adults: a Nordic cohort study.

Background And Aims: The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines are associated with an increased risk of myocarditis. This association appears to be strongest in male adolescents and younger males and after the second dose. The aim was to evaluate the risk of myocarditis following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA booster vaccination in 12-to-39-year-olds.

Injecting hyaluronan in the thoracolumbar fascia: A model study.

Hyaluronan (HA) has been recently identified as a key component of the densification of thoracolumbar fascia (TLF), a potential contributor to non-specific lower back pain (LBP) currently treated with manual therapy and systemic or local delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs. The aim of this study was to establish a novel animal model suitable for studying ultrasound-guided intrafascial injection prepared from HA with low and high Mw. Effects of these preparations on the profibrotic switch and mechanical properties of TLF were measured by qPCR and rheology, respectively, while their lubricating properties were evaluated by tribology.

Continuous fetal cerebral blood flow monitoring during labor: A feasibility study.

Background: Current methods for fetal surveillance during labor have significant limitations. Since continuous fetal cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) monitoring during labor may add valuable information about fetal well-being, we developed a new ultrasound system called VisiBeam. VisiBeam consists of a flat probe (diameter 11 mm) with a cylindric plane wave beam, a vacuum attachment (diameter 40 mm), a scanner, and a display.

Maternal transmission gives way to social transmission during gut microbiota assembly in wild mice.

Background: The mammalian gut microbiota influences a wide array of phenotypes which are relevant to fitness, yet knowledge about the transmission routes by which gut microbes colonise hosts in natural populations remains limited. Here, we use an intensively studied wild population of wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) to examine how vertical (maternal) and horizontal (social) transmission routes influence gut microbiota composition throughout life.

Results: We identify independent signals of maternal transmission (sharing of taxa between a mother and her offspring) and social transmission (sharing of taxa predicted by the social network), whose relative magnitudes shift as hosts age.

Clinical outcomes of myocarditis after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in four Nordic countries: population based cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the clinical outcomes of myocarditis associated with mRNA vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus compared with other types of myocarditis.

Design: Population based cohort study.

Setting: Nationwide register data from four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), from 1 January 2018 to the latest date of follow-up in 2022.

Gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence: population based full sibling cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the association between gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence.

Design: Nationwide population based full sibling cohort study.

Setting: Denmark.

Assortative Mating in an Ecological Context: Effects of Mate Choice Errors and Relative Species Abundance on the Frequency and Asymmetry of Hybridization.

AbstractThe frequency and asymmetry of mixed-species mating set the initial stage for the ecological and evolutionary implications of hybridization. How such patterns of mixed-species mating, in turn, are influenced by the combination of mate choice errors and relative species abundance remains largely unknown. We develop a mathematical model that generates predictions for how relative species abundances and mate choice errors affect hybridization patterns.

Infection by a helminth parasite is associated with changes in DNA methylation in the house sparrow.

Parasites can exert strong selective pressures on their hosts and influence the evolution of host immunity. While several studies have examined the genetic basis for parasite resistance, the role of epigenetics in the immune response to parasites is less understood. Yet, epigenetic modifications, such as changes in DNA methylation, may allow species to respond rapidly to parasite prevalence or virulence.

SARS-CoV-2 infection in households with and without young children: Nationwide cohort study, Denmark, 27 February 2020 to 26 February 2021.

BackgroundInfections with seasonally spreading coronaviruses are common among young children during winter months in the northern hemisphere; the immunological response lasts around a year. However, it is not clear if living with young children changes the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults.AimOur aim was to investigate the association between living in a household with younger children and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections and hospitalisation.

Functional genomic tools for emerging model species.

Most studies in the field of ecology and evolution aiming to connect genotype to phenotype rarely validate identified loci using functional tools. Recent developments in RNA interference (RNAi) and clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas genome editing have dramatically increased the feasibility of functional validation. However, these methods come with specific challenges when applied to emerging model organisms, including limited spatial control of gene silencing, low knock-in efficiencies, and low throughput of functional validation.

Pregnancy duration and ovarian cancer risk: A 50-year nationwide cohort study.

A woman's reproductive history is strongly associated with her risk of ovarian cancer. However, it is unclear how pregnancies of different duration impact a woman's ovarian cancer risk, and therefore, what part of a pregnancy explains the protective effect. Using a cohort of all Danish women followed from 1968 to 2018, with prospectively registered information on reproductive history (eg, gestational duration of pregnancies, tubal ligation and resection and hormonal pharmaceutical use), we investigated the effect of pregnancy duration on ovarian cancer risk.

Effects of environment and genotype on dispersal differ across departure, transfer and settlement in a butterfly metapopulation.

Active dispersal is driven by extrinsic and intrinsic factors at the three stages of departure, transfer and settlement. Most empirical studies capture only one stage of this complex process, and knowledge of how much can be generalized from one stage to another remains unknown. Here we use genetic assignment tests to reconstruct dispersal across 5 years and 232 habitat patches of a Glanville fritillary butterfly () metapopulation.

Photoperiod controls wing polyphenism in a water strider independently of insulin receptor signalling.

Insect wing polyphenism has evolved as an adaptation to changing environments and a growing body of research suggests that the nutrient-sensing insulin receptor signalling pathway is a hot spot for the evolution of polyphenisms, as it provides a direct link between growth and available nutrients in the environment. However, little is known about the potential role of insulin receptor signalling in polyphenisms which are controlled by seasonal variation in photoperiod. Here, we demonstrate that wing length polyphenism in the water strider is determined by photoperiod and nymphal density, but is not directly affected by nutrient availability.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Myocarditis in a Nordic Cohort Study of 23 Million Residents.

Importance: Reports of myocarditis after SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination have emerged.

Objective: To evaluate the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination by vaccine product, vaccination dose number, sex, and age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Four cohort studies were conducted according to a common protocol, and the results were combined using meta-analysis.

Wild epigenetics: insights from epigenetic studies on natural populations.

Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs are increasingly targeted in studies of natural populations. Here, I review some of the insights gained from this research, examine some of the methods currently in use and discuss some of the challenges that researchers working on natural populations are likely to face when probing epigenetic mechanisms. While studies supporting the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in generating phenotypic variation in natural populations are amassing, many of these studies are currently correlative in nature.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and myocarditis or myopericarditis: population based cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and myocarditis or myopericarditis.

Design: Population based cohort study.

Setting: Denmark.

Rapid evolution of sexual size dimorphism facilitated by Y-linked genetic variance.

Sexual dimorphism is ubiquitous in nature but its evolution is puzzling given that the mostly shared genome constrains independent evolution in the sexes. Sex differences should result from asymmetries between the sexes in selection or genetic variation but studies investigating both simultaneously are lacking. Here, we combine a quantitative genetic analysis of body size variation, partitioned into autosomal and sex chromosome contributions and ten generations of experimental evolution to dissect the evolution of sexual body size dimorphism in seed beetles (Callosobruchus maculatus) subjected to sexually antagonistic or sex-limited selection.