The influence of xeno-free culture conditions on the angiogenic and adipogenic differentiation properties of adipose tissue-derived stem cells.

Introduction: Before performing cell therapy clinical trials, it is important to understand how cells are influenced by different growth conditions and to find optimal xeno-free medium formulations. In this study we have investigated the properties of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) cultured under xeno-free conditions.

Methods: Human lipoaspirate samples were digested to yield the stromal vascular fraction cells which were then seeded in i) Minimum Essential Medium-α (MEM-α) supplemented with 10 % (v/v) fetal bovine serum (FBS), ii) MEM-α supplemented with 2 % (v/v) human platelet lysate (PLT) or iii) PRIME-XV MSC expansion XSFM xeno-free, serum free medium (XV).

Sexually antagonistic coevolution can explain female display signals and male sensory adaptations.

The prevalence and diversity of female ornaments pose a challenge to evolutionary theory because males should prefer mates that spend resources on offspring rather than on ornaments. Among dance flies, there is extraordinary variation in sexual dimorphism. Females of many species have conspicuous ornaments (leg scales and inflatable abdominal sacs).

The potential role of collagen type VII in breast cancer proliferation.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Cancer cells can persist in a prolonged dormant state for years without any clinical evidence of disease creating an urgent need to better understand the molecular mechanisms leading to relapse. This study aimed to identify extracellular matrix (ECM) components associated with hypoxia-induced breast cancer dormancy.

Y-Linked Copy Number Polymorphism of Target of Rapamycin Is Associated with Sexual Size Dimorphism in Seed Beetles.

The Y chromosome is theorized to facilitate evolution of sexual dimorphism by accumulating sexually antagonistic loci, but empirical support is scarce. Due to the lack of recombination, Y chromosomes are prone to degenerative processes, which poses a constraint on their adaptive potential. Yet, in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus segregating Y linked variation affects male body size and thereby sexual size dimorphism (SSD).

Genome assemblies of the simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms Macrostomum cliftonense and Macrostomum hystrix.

The free-living, simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms of the genus Macrostomum are increasingly used as model systems in various contexts. In particular, Macrostomum lignano, the only species of this group with a published genome assembly, has emerged as a model for the study of regeneration, reproduction, and stem-cell function. However, challenges have emerged due to M.

Interaction of adipose-derived stem cells with active and dormant breast cancer cells.

Background: Although autologous fat grafting is considered a successful method for the management of contour deformities, the fat graft could potentially induce cancer reappearance by fueling dormant breast cancer cells. Our aim was to characterize the role of adipose-derived stem cells on active and dormant breast cancer cell growth.

Methods: Cobalt chloride was used to induce dormancy in MCF-7 cancer cells.

Outcome following soft tissue coverage with a medial gastrocnemius flap of an exposed or infected total knee arthroplasty.

Background: Soft tissue defects or periprosthetic infections after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are severe complications that may lead to loss of the arthroplasty or the limb. Reconstructions with medial gastrocnemius flaps (MGF) are occasionally used to provide soft tissue coverage around the knee.

Aims: The study aimed to establish the rate of implant survivorship after MGF reconstruction for soft tissue coverage in the treatment of exposed or infected TKA and to establish functional outcome.

Experimental Life History Evolution Results in Sex-specific Evolution of Gene Expression in Seed Beetles.

The patterns of reproductive timing and senescence vary within and across species owing to differences in reproductive strategies, but our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of such variation is incomplete. This is perhaps particularly true for sex differences. We investigated the evolution of sex-specific gene expression associated with life history divergence in replicated populations of the seed beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus, experimentally evolving under (E)arly or (L)ate life reproduction for >200 generations which has resulted in strongly divergent life histories.

Mating strategy predicts gene presence/absence patterns in a genus of simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms.

Gene repertoire turnover is a characteristic of genome evolution. However, we lack well-replicated analyses of presence/absence patterns associated with different selection contexts. Here, we study ∼100 transcriptome assemblies across Macrostomum, a genus of simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms exhibiting multiple convergent shifts in mating strategy and associated reproductive morphologies.

Prophylactic mastectomy - Correlation between skin flap thickness and residual glandular tissue evaluated postoperatively by imaging.

Background: Women with an increased hereditary risk of breast cancer can undergo risk-reducing prophylactic mastectomy. However, there is a balance between how much subcutaneous tissue should be resected to achieve maximal reduction of glandular tissue, while leaving viable skin flaps.

Methods: Forty-five women previously operated with prophylactic mastectomy underwent magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and ultrasound (US) to investigate the correlation between skin flap thickness and residual glandular tissue.

The genetic basis and adult reproductive consequences of developmental thermal plasticity.

Increasing temperature and thermal variability generate profound selection on populations. Given the fast rate of environmental change, understanding the role of plasticity and genetic adaptation in response to increasing temperatures is critical. This may be especially true for thermal effects on reproductive traits in which thermal fertility limits at high temperatures may be lower than for survival traits.

Inter- and intra-observer agreement on evaluating the presence of residual glandular tissue with magnetic resonance tomography following prophylactic mastectomy.

Background: There are no published international consensus or guideline documents regarding appropriate medical follow-up for women with hereditary increased risk of breast cancer who opt for prophylactic mastectomy. Moreover, it is not known whether breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed after a prophylactic mastectomy is a reproducible method for evaluating whether clinically relevant amounts of residual glandular tissue remains.

Purpose: To evaluate the inter- and intra-observer agreement on detecting residual glandular tissue with MRI.

Faster Rates of Molecular Sequence Evolution in Reproduction-Related Genes and in Species with Hypodermic Sperm Morphologies.

Sexual selection drives the evolution of many striking behaviors and morphologies and should leave signatures of selection at loci underlying these phenotypes. However, although loci thought to be under sexual selection often evolve rapidly, few studies have contrasted rates of molecular sequence evolution at such loci across lineages with different sexual selection contexts. Furthermore, work has focused on separate sexed animals, neglecting alternative sexual systems.

Large-scale phylogenomics of the genus Macrostomum (Platyhelminthes) reveals cryptic diversity and novel sexual traits.

Free-living flatworms of the genus Macrostomum are small and transparent animals, representing attractive study organisms for a broad range of topics in evolutionary, developmental, and molecular biology. The genus includes the model organism M. lignano for which extensive molecular resources are available, and recently there is a growing interest in extending work to additional species in the genus.

Experimental evolution supports signatures of sexual selection in genomic divergence.

Comparative genomics has contributed to the growing evidence that sexual selection is an important component of evolutionary divergence and speciation. Divergence by sexual selection is implicated in faster rates of divergence of the X chromosome and of genes thought to underlie sexually selected traits, including genes that are sex biased in expression. However, accurately inferring the relative importance of complex and interacting forms of natural selection, demography, and neutral processes that occurred in the evolutionary past is challenging.

Cold adaptation drives population genomic divergence in the ecological specialist, Drosophila montana.

Detecting signatures of ecological adaptation in comparative genomics is challenging, but analysing population samples with characterised geographic distributions, such as clinal variation, can help identify genes showing covariation with important ecological variation. Here, we analysed patterns of geographic variation in the cold-adapted species Drosophila montana across phenotypes, genotypes and environmental conditions and tested for signatures of cold adaptation in population genomic divergence. We first derived the climatic variables associated with the geographic distribution of 24 populations across two continents to trace the scale of environmental variation experienced by the species, and measured variation in the cold tolerance of the flies of six populations from different geographic contexts.

Water jet-assisted lipoaspiration and Sepax cell separation system for the isolation of adipose stem cells with high adipogenic potential.

Introduction: Water jet-assisted liposuction has gained popularity due to favourable fat grafting outcomes. In this study, we compared stem cells obtained from fat isolated with manual or the water jet-assisted procedure.

Methods: Liposuction of abdominal fat was performed using the two methods on each donor (n = 10).

A genome-wide investigation of adaptive signatures in protein-coding genes related to tool behaviour in New Caledonian and Hawaiian crows.

Very few animals habitually manufacture and use tools. It has been suggested that advanced tool behaviour co-evolves with a suite of behavioural, morphological and life history traits. In fact, there are indications for such an adaptive complex in tool-using crows (genus Corvus species).

RNA-Seq of three free-living flatworm species suggests rapid evolution of reproduction-related genes.

Background: The genus Macrostomum consists of small free-living flatworms and contains Macrostomum lignano, which has been used in investigations of ageing, stem cell biology, bioadhesion, karyology, and sexual selection in hermaphrodites. Two types of mating behaviour occur within this genus. Some species, including M.

Genomic Analysis of European Drosophila melanogaster Populations Reveals Longitudinal Structure, Continent-Wide Selection, and Previously Unknown DNA Viruses.

Genetic variation is the fuel of evolution, with standing genetic variation especially important for short-term evolution and local adaptation. To date, studies of spatiotemporal patterns of genetic variation in natural populations have been challenging, as comprehensive sampling is logistically difficult, and sequencing of entire populations costly. Here, we address these issues using a collaborative approach, sequencing 48 pooled population samples from 32 locations, and perform the first continent-wide genomic analysis of genetic variation in European Drosophila melanogaster.

Competition for access to mates predicts female-specific ornamentation and male investment in relative testis size.

Sexually selected ornaments are highly variable and the factors that drive variation in ornament expression are not always clear. Rare instances of female-specific ornament evolution (such as in some dance fly species) are particularly puzzling. While some evidence suggests that such rare instances represent straightforward reversals of sexual selection intensity, the distinct nature of trade-offs between ornaments and offspring pose special constraints in females.

Prophylactic Mastectomy: Postoperative Skin Flap Thickness Evaluated by MRT, Ultrasound and Clinical Examination.

Background: Women with an increased hereditary risk of breast cancer can undergo prophylactic mastectomy (PM), which provides a significant, but not total, risk reduction. There is an ongoing discussion about how much skin and subcutaneous tissue should be resected to perform an adequate PM while leaving viable skin flaps.

Methods: Forty-five women who had undergone PM were examined with magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), ultrasound (US) and clinical examination (CE) by a plastic surgeon and a general surgeon to estimate skin flap thickness.

Selection for reproduction under short photoperiods changes diapause-associated traits and induces widespread genomic divergence.

The incidence of reproductive diapause is a critical aspect of life history in overwintering insects from temperate regions. Much has been learned about the timing, physiology and genetics of diapause in a range of insects, but how the multiple changes involved in this and other photoperiodically regulated traits are inter-related is not well understood. We performed quasinatural selection on reproduction under short photoperiods in a northern fly species, , to trace the effects of photoperiodic selection on traits regulated by the photoperiodic timer and/or by a circadian clock system.

Development and validation of an in vitro model system to study peripheral sensory neuron development and injury.

The ability to discriminate between diverse types of sensation is mediated by heterogeneous populations of peripheral sensory neurons. Human peripheral sensory neurons are inaccessible for research and efforts to study their development and disease have been hampered by the availability of relevant model systems. The in vitro differentiation of peripheral sensory neurons from human embryonic stem cells therefore provides an attractive alternative since an unlimited source of biological material can be generated for studies that specifically address development and injury.