Search results for "PIDE"

Viability costs of condition-dependent sexual male display in a drumming wolf spider

1996

According to the conditional handicap models females use male ornaments as honest signals of male viability. The assumptions for honest signalling are that the traits are costly and that they reflect male phenotypic condition, and hence optimal trait size is largest in the most viable males. However, experimental evidence for the costs of signalling are scarce. In this study we experimentally tested whether acoustic signalling, drumming, in a wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata is a condition dependent, costly trait, and thus offers an honest signal of quality to females. Males of this species court females by drumming dry leaves with their abdomen. Females prefer to mate with males of hi…

Mate choice for offspring performance: major benefits or minor costs?

1998

There is considerable disagreement over whether or not gaining viability benefits to offspring could be substantial enough to overcome the costs of female choosiness. A recent review suggested that the 'lek paradox' might be resolved by large indirect benefits as indicated by highly heritable ornamental traits. We selected males of a wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata in relation to their sexual signalling rate (audible drumming). The estimated correlated response in offspring viability was rather small (0.12 s.d.). However, it may be large enough if the costs of being choosy are small. In fact, females mate with better-than-average males just by responding passively to a random drumming…

Genetically 'pure' Fasciola gigantica discovered in Algeria: DNA multimarker characterization, trans-Saharan introduction from a Sahel origin and spr…

2020

Fascioliasis is a freshwater snail-borne zoonotic helminth disease caused by two species of trematodes: Fasciola hepatica of almost worldwide distribution and the more pathogenic F. gigantica restricted to parts of Asia and most of Africa. Of high pathological impact in ruminants, it underlies large livestock husbandry losses. Fascioliasis is moreover of high public health importance and accordingly included within the main neglected tropical diseases by WHO. Additionally, this is an emerging disease due to influences of climate and global changes. In Africa, F. gigantica is distributed throughout almost the whole continent except in the north-western Maghreb countries of Morocco, Algeria a…

Molecular epidemiology and forensic genetics: application to a hepatitis C virus transmission event at a hemodialysis unit.

2002

Molecular phylogenetic analyses are frequently used in epidemiologic testing, although only occasionally in forensics. Their acceptability is hampered by a lack of statistical confidence in the conclusions. However, maximum likelihood testing provides a sound statistical framework for the testing of phylogenetic hypotheses relevant for forensic analysis. We present the results of applying this method to a small hepatitis C outbreak produced in a hospital hemodialysis unit that involved 6 patients. Polymerase chain reaction products from a 472-nt fragment of the E1-E2 region, including the hypervariable region, HVR-1, of the hepatitis C virus genome were cloned, and an average of 10 clones/p…

Immunotherapy in gastrointestinal cancer: Recent results, current studies and future perspectives

2016

The new therapeutic approach of using immune checkpoint inhibitors as anticancer agents is a landmark innovation. Early studies suggest that immune checkpoint inhibition might also be effective in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. To improve the efficacy of immunotherapy, different strategies are currently under evaluation. This review summarises the discussion during the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer Translational Research Meeting in Mainz in November 2014 and provides an update on the most recent results of immune therapy in gastrointestinal cancers. Knowledge of potential relationships between tumour cells and their microenv…

Medfly Ceratitis capitata as Potential Vector for Fire Blight Pathogen Erwinia amylovora: Survival and Transmission

2015

Monitoring the ability of bacterial plant pathogens to survive in insects is required for elucidating unknown aspects of their epidemiology and for designing appropriate control strategies. Erwinia amylovora is a plant pathogenic bacterium that causes fire blight, a devastating disease in apple and pear commercial orchards. Studies on fire blight spread by insects have mainly focused on pollinating agents, such as honeybees. However, the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), one of the most damaging fruit pests worldwide, is also common in pome fruit orchards. The main objective of the study was to investigate whether E. amylovora can survive and be tra…

Molecular characterization of fasciola spp. From some parts of Iran

2020

Background: Identification of liver flukes, Fasciola hepatica, and Fasciola gigantica by morphometric parameters is not always reliable due to the overlapping measurements. This study aimed to characterize the liver flukes of animals from different parts of Iran by the genetic markers, ITS1, and COXI. Methods: We collected flukes from infected livestock in six provinces of Iran from Sep to Nov 2016. The flukes were identified by amplification of a 680 bp sequence of ITS1 locus followed by a restriction fragment polymorphism (RFLP) assay. The genetic diversity among isolates was evaluated by amplification and sequencing of a 493 bp fragment of the COXI gene. Results: We obtained 38 specimens…

Genetic epidemiology of ARH in Sicily

2016

Overexpression of bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BMP-6) in murine epidermis suppresses skin tumor formation by induction of apoptosis and downregulati…

2001

Bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BMP-6) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily. In murine skin, BMP-6 is highly expressed in postmitotic keratinocytes from day 15.5 p.c. till day 6 p.p. Expression in adult skin remains at very low levels, but pathological conditions such as wounding induce the expression of BMP-6. We demonstrate that tumor promotion by TPA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) also induces expression of BMP-6 in suprabasal keratinocytes. This induction is due to post-transcriptional regulation since the level of BMP-6 mRNA remained unchanged. We performed two-stage skin carcinogenesis experiments with transgenic mice epidermally overexpressing BMP-6. T…

Chemical skin carcinogenesis is prevented in mice by the induced expression of a TGF-β related transgene

1995

Skin papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) are induced in mice by tumor initiation with a carcinogen followed by tumor promotion with the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). These usually arise from preneoplastic lesions characterized by epidermal proliferation and hyperplasia, dermal edema, and inflammation. To evaluate the role of polypeptide growth factors in chemically induced skin carcinogenesis, we used transgenic mice carrying the cDNA for a TGF-β related molecule, bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4), under the control of the regulatory elements of the cytokeratin IV* gene in a skin carcinogenesis protocol. Control non-transgenic littermates and BMP-4 …