Social regulation of reproduction: control or signal?

Traditionally, dominant breeders have been considered to be able to control the reproduction of other individuals in multimember groups that have high variance in reproductive success/reproductive skew (e.g., forced sterility/coercion of conspecifics in eusocial animals; sex-change suppression in sequential hermaphrodites).

The oxidative cost of competing for egg fertilization exceeds the cost of egg production.

Measuring reproductive costs is crucial to understanding sexual conflict and its evolutionary outcomes. Sexual conflict is thought to originate from anisogamy-the size difference between male and female gametes; if sperm are tiny and not produced in vastly greater numbers than eggs, at any mating females' gametic investment is larger than that of males. Testing this prediction has proven difficult, especially because males and females differ in many more traits than just gamete size.

Genome and cuticular hydrocarbon-based species delimitation shed light on potential drivers of speciation in a Neotropical ant species complex.

Geographic separation that leads to the evolution of reproductive isolation between populations generally is considered the most common form of speciation. However, speciation may also occur in the absence of geographic barriers due to phenotypic and genotypic factors such as chemical cue divergence, mating signal divergence, and mitonuclear conflict. Here, we performed an integrative study based on two genome-wide techniques (3RAD and ultraconserved elements) coupled with cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequence data, to assess the species limits within the species complex, a widespread and conspicuous group of Neotropical ants for which heteroplasmy (i.

Chemically Insignificant Social Parasites Exhibit More Anti-Dehydration Behaviors than Their Hosts.

Social parasites have evolved adaptations to overcome host resistance as they infiltrate host colonies and establish there. Among the chemical adaptations, a few species are chemically "insignificant"; they are poor in recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons) and evade host detection. As cuticular hydrocarbons also serve a waterproofing function, chemical insignificance is beneficial as it protects parasites from being detected but is potentially harmful because it exposes parasites to desiccation stress.

Matching-adjusted indirect treatment comparison of onasemnogene abeparvovec and nusinersen for the treatment of symptomatic patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.

Objective: Onasemnogene abeparvovec, a one-time intravenous gene replacement therapy, and nusinersen, an antisense oligonucleotide that requires ongoing intrathecal administration, have been evaluated as treatments for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 in separate Phase III trials, but no head-to-head comparison studies have been conducted. Onasemnogene abeparvovec was compared with nusinersen using a matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) to estimate the treatment effect of onasemnogene abeparvovec relative to nusinersen for the treatment of symptomatic patients with SMA type 1 for up to 24 months of follow-up.

Methods: In the absence of studies for both onasemnogene abeparvovec and nusinersen with a common comparator, a Bayesian naïve indirect treatment comparison (ITC) and MAIC between onasemnogene abeparvovec and nusinersen were conducted to compare efficacy and safety of onasemnogene abeparvovec with nusinersen.

Egg-trading worms start reciprocation with caution, respond with confidence and care about partners' quality.

Conditional reciprocity (help someone who helped you before) explains the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals who take turns helping each other. Reciprocity is vulnerable to exploitations, and players are expected to identify uncooperative partners who do not return the help they received. We tested this prediction in the simultaneously hermaphroditic worm, Ophryotrocha diadema, which engages in mutual egg donations by alternating sexual roles (one worm releases' eggs and the other fertilizes them).

A Stresipteran parasite extends the lifespan of workers in a social wasp.

In social wasps, female lifespan depends on caste and colony tasks: workers usually live a few weeks while queens as long as 1 year. Polistes dominula paper wasps infected by the strepsipteran parasite Xenos vesparum avoid all colony tasks, cluster on vegetation where parasite dispersal and mating occur, hibernate and infect the next generation of wasp larvae. Here, we compared the survival rate of infected and uninfected wasp workers.

Systematic literature review for the association of biomarkers with efficacy of anti-PD-1 inhibitors in advanced melanoma.

Summarize the literature assessing biomarkers in predicting efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy for patients with high-risk unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Relevant studies were identified via a systematic literature review. About 334 unique biomarkers or biomarker combinations were identified from 121 citations.

Strong Gene Flow Undermines Local Adaptations in a Host Parasite System.

The co-evolutionary pathways followed by hosts and parasites strongly depend on the adaptive potential of antagonists and its underlying genetic architecture. Geographically structured populations of interacting species often experience local differences in the strength of reciprocal selection pressures, which can result in a geographic mosaic of co-evolution. One example of such a system is the boreo-montane social wasp and its social parasite , which have evolved local defense and counter-defense mechanisms to match their antagonist.

An indirect treatment comparison of the efficacy of pembrolizumab versus competing regimens for the adjuvant treatment of stage III melanoma.

To determine the efficacy of pembrolizumab relative to other treatments used in stage III melanoma by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) and network meta-analysis (NMA). A SLR was conducted to identify randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating approved adjuvant treatments including interferon-containing regimens, BRAF-inhibitors, and PD-L1 inhibitors in stage III melanoma patients. Relative treatment effects for recurrence-free survival (RFS) were synthesized with Bayesian NMA models that allowed for hazard ratios (HRs) to vary over time.

Survival, Motor Function, and Motor Milestones: Comparison of AVXS-101 Relative to Nusinersen for the Treatment of Infants with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1.

Introduction: Infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 typically face a decline in motor function and a severely shortened life expectancy. Clinical trials for SMA type 1 therapies, onasemnogene abeparvovec (AVXS-101) and nusinersen, demonstrated meaningful improvements in efficacy (e.g.

Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy for first-line treatment of metastatic nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer: a network meta-analysis.

Aim: A systematic review and network meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of pembrolizumab + pemetrexed + platinum relative to other regimens in metastatic nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSq-NSCLC).

Patients & Methods: Eligible studies evaluated first-line regimens in NSq-NSCLC patients without known targetable mutations. Relative treatment effects were synthesized with random effects proportional hazards Bayesian network meta-analyses.

Quantitative Matching of Clutch Size in Reciprocating Hermaphroditic Worms.

Reciprocity [1] is one of the most controversial evolutionary explanations of cooperation among non-kin [2, 3]. For some authors, cognitive capacity of non-human organisms is limiting, and more parsimonious mechanisms should apply [3-5]; for others, the debate is mainly semantic [2, 6], and empirical evidence can be found in a wide range of taxa [7]. However, while the ability to alternate cooperative behaviors does not settle the reciprocity controversy, the capacity to adjust cooperative behavior to the value of received help could prove decisive.

Ezetimibe in high-risk, previously treated statin patients: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of lipid efficacy.

Purpose: While statins are used as first-line treatments for high-risk patients with hypercholesterolemia, statin monotherapy is often insufficient to achieve target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. Second-line treatment options include up-titration of statin dose, switching to a more potent statin, or combination therapy, e.g.

Immunological alterations in frail older adults: A cross sectional study.

Frailty is a progressive physiologic decline in multiple body systems, characterized by loss of function, loss of physiologic reserve, and increased vulnerability to disease and death. This condition is induced by a complex and multifactorial interaction between genetic, biological, physical, psychological and environmental factors. To understand the interplay between the age-related decline of the immune response, and the upregulation of the inflammatory response, the so called inflammaging, we investigated the role of different inflammatory mediators on frailty status in the elderly.

Shorter telomere length in schizophrenia: Evidence from a real-world population and meta-analysis of most recent literature.

Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder. Schizophrenia is visualized as an accelerated cellular aging syndrome characterized by early onset of cardiovascular disease causing premature mortality. In human aging involves alterations in telomere length (TL).

A review of telomere length in sarcopenia and frailty.

Sarcopenia and frailty are associated with several important health-related adverse events, including disability, loss of independence, institutionalization and mortality. Sarcopenia can be considered a biological substrate of frailty, and the prevalence of both these conditions progressively increases with age. Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures located at the end of linear chromosomes and implicated in cellular ageing, shorten with age, and are associated with various age-related diseases.

Cost-effectiveness of liraglutide versus lixisenatide as add-on therapies to basal insulin in type 2 diabetes.

Background: We assessed the cost-effectiveness of the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists liraglutide 1.8 mg and lixisenatide 20 μg (both added to basal insulin) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Sweden.

Methods: The Swedish Institute for Health Economics cohort model for T2D was used to compare liraglutide and lixisenatide (both added to basal insulin), with a societal perspective and with comparative treatment effects derived by indirect treatment comparison (ITC).

Nest signature changes throughout colony cycle and after social parasite invasion in social wasps.

Social insects recognize their nestmates by means of a cuticular hydrocarbon signature shared by colony members, but how nest signature changes across time has been rarely tested in longitudinal studies and in the field. In social wasps, the chemical signature is also deposited on the nest surface, where it is used by newly emerged wasps as a reference to learn their colony odor. Here, we investigate the temporal variations of the chemical signature that wasps have deposited on their nests.

Mitochondrial dynamics signaling is shifted toward fusion in muscles of very old hip-fractured patients: Results from the Sarcopenia in HIp FracTure (SHIFT) exploratory study.

Background: Mitochondrial quality control (MQC) is crucial for maintaining mitochondrial fitness. We investigated MQC signaling in muscle of old hip-fractured patients.

Methods: Twenty-three patients, enrolled in the Sarcopenia in HIp FracTure (SHIFT) study, were categorized into old (OL; n=8) and very old groups (VOL; n=15) using 85years as the cut-off.

Liraglutide Versus SGLT-2 Inhibitors in People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Network Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: For people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) inadequately controlled with oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs), evidence from both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and real-world studies has demonstrated that treatment intensification with liraglutide offers effective glycemic control, weight reduction, and a lower risk of hypoglycemia compared to treatment intensification with insulin or additional OADs. Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors are a new class of OADs that have also been shown to be effective in T2DM patients inadequately controlled with OADs. Currently there are no head-to-head RCTs comparing these to liraglutide.

Altered mitochondrial quality control signaling in muscle of old gastric cancer patients with cachexia.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the loss of muscle featuring both aging and cancer cachexia (CC). Whether mitochondrial quality control (MQC) is altered in skeletal myocytes of old patients with CC is unclear. The present investigation therefore sought to preliminarily characterize MQC pathways in muscle of old gastric cancer patients with cachexia.

Non-oncology physician visits after diagnosis of cancer in children.

Background: Children diagnosed with cancer often require extensive care for medical, psychosocial and educational problems during and after therapy. Part of this care is provided by family physicians and non-cancer specialists, but their involvement in the first years after diagnosis has barely been studied. Studying non-oncology physician visits may provide insight into the roles of different health care providers.

Association between myocyte quality control signaling and sarcopenia in old hip-fractured patients: Results from the Sarcopenia in HIp FracTure (SHIFT) exploratory study.

Background: Sarcopenia has been proposed as a potentially amenable factor impacting the clinical outcomes of hip-fractured elderly. The identification of specific biological targets is therefore crucial to developing pharmacological interventions against age-related muscle wasting. The present work reports promising preliminary data on the association between alterations of myocyte quality control (MQC) signaling and sarcopenia in old patients with hip fracture.