The Phylogeographic History of the New World Screwworm Fly, Inferred by Approximate Bayesian Computation Analysis

Insect pest phylogeography might be shaped both by biogeographic events and by human influence. Here, we conducted an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analysis to investigate the phylogeography of the New World screwworm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax, with the aim of understanding its population history and its order and time of divergence. Our ABC analysis supports that populations spread from North to South in the Americas, in at least two different moments. The first split occurred between the North/Central American and South American populations in the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (15,300-19,000 YBP). The second split occurred between the North and South Amazonian populations in the transition between the Pleistocene and the Holocene eras (9,100-11,000 YBP). The species also experienced population expansion. Phylogenetic analysis likewise suggests this north to south colonization and Maxent models suggest an increase in the number of suitable areas in South America from the past to present. We found that the phylogeographic patterns observed in C. hominivorax cannot be explained only by climatic oscillations and can be connected to host population histories. Interestingly we found these patterns are very coincident with general patterns of ancient human movements in the Americas, suggesting that humans might have played a crucial role in shaping the distribution and population structure of this insect pest. This work presents the first hypothesis test regarding the processes that shaped the current phylogeographic structure of C. hominivorax and represents an alternate perspective on investigating the problem of insect pests. © 2013 Fresia et al.

Notes on the Colloquium of the Association of Caribbean Historians on "Political Ideas and Tendencies in the History of the Caribbean" and "Cities in the Caribbean"

Comentarios sobre el 8o Coloquio de la Asociacion de Historiadores Caribenos en el que se analizo las ideas politicas y las ciudades en la historia del Caribe

An analysis of the index of unsatisfied basic needs (NBI) of Argentina with suggestions for improvements

Includes bibliography

Brief history of the IDRC-CELADE relationship in the development of the Latin American Population Documentation System (DOCPAL)

El documento contiene una breve resena sobre las relaciones entre el IDRC y CELADE con miras al desarrollo del sistema latinoamericano de documentacion en poblacion (DOCPAL)

The international trade position of Argentina. Towards a process of export diversification?

Includes bibliography.

Informality and labour market segmentation: the case of Argentina

The document evaluates the presence of segmentation in the Argentinean labour market. The analysis is centred on the comparison of the earnings of formal and informal workers. Two different approaches to the definition of informality are used. The existence of a formal premium is tested using dynamic data and semiparametric techniques. The period analysed is 1996-2006 for all urban surveyed areas. Our results support the segmentation hypothesis for the Argentine urban labour market: workers with similar probabilities of entering/exiting across sectors obtain different earnings.

The history of the introduction of the giant river prawn, Macrobrachium cf. rosenbergii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae), in Brazil: new insights from molecular data

The giant river prawn, Macrobrachium cf. rosenbergii, is one of the most cultivated freshwater prawns in the world and has been introduced into more than 40 countries. In some countries, this prawn is considered an invasive species that requires close monitoring. Recent changes in the taxonomy of this species (separation of M. rosenbergii and M. dacqueti) require a re-evaluation of introduced taxa. In this work, molecular analyses were used to determine which of these two species was introduced into Brazil and to establish the geographic origin of the introduced populations that have invaded Amazonian coastal waters. The species introduced into Brazil was M. dacqueti through two introduction events involving prawns originating from Vietnam and either Bangladesh or Thailand. These origins differ from historical reports of the introductions and underline the need to confirm the origin of other exotic populations around the world. The invading populations in Amazonia require monitoring not only because the biodiversity of this region may be affected by the introduction, but also because admixture of different native haplotypes can increase the genetic variability and the likelihood of persistence of the invading species in new habitats.

Investigation of single-strand conformational polymorphism of the TP53 gene in women with a family history of breast cancer

Breast cancer in families with germ line mutations in the TP53 gene has been described in the medical literature. Mutation screening for susceptibility genes should allow effective prophylactic and preventive measures. Using single-strand conformational polymorphism, we screened for mutations in exons 5, 6, 7 and 8 of gene TP53 in the peripheral blood of 8 young non-affected members (17 to 36 years old) of families with a history of breast cancer. Studies of this type on young patients (mean age, 25 years) are very rare in the literature. The identification of these mutations would contribute to genetic counseling of members of families with predisposition to breast cancer. The results obtained did not show any polymorphism indicating mutation. In our sample, the familial tumorigenesis is probably related to other gene etiologies.

Genetic Instability Persists in Non-Neoplastic Urothelial Cells from Patients with a History of Urothelial Cell Carcinoma

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Transmissable Dog Cancer Genome Reveals the Origin and History of an Ancient Cell Lineage

Canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) is the oldest known somatic cell lineage. It is a transmissible cancer that propagates naturally in dogs. We sequenced the genomes of two CTVT tumors and found that CTVT has acquired 1.9 million somatic substitution mutations and bears evidence of exposure to ultraviolet light. CTVT is remarkably stable and lacks subclonal heterogeneity despite thousands of rearrangements, copy-number changes, and retrotransposon insertions. More than 10,000 genes carry nonsynonymous variants, and 646 genes have been lost. CTVT first arose in a dog with low genomic heterozygosity that may have lived about 11,000 years ago. The cancer spawned by this individual dispersed across continents about 500 years ago. Our results provide a genetic identikit of an ancient dog and demonstrate the robustness of mammalian somatic cells to survive for millennia despite a massive mutation burden.

Chromosomal organization and evolutionary history of Mariner transposable elements in Scarabaeinae coleopterans

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Cyatta abscondita: Taxonomy, Evolution, and Natural History of a New Fungus-Farming Ant Genus from Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Analysis of localized muscle fatigue in elderly women with and without a history of falls using electromyographic signal frequency parameters

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Association between interleukin-6 polymorphism in the-174 G/C region and hearing loss in the elderly with a history of occupational noise exposure

Introduction: The biological processes involved in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) are still unclear. The involvement of inflammation in this condition has been suggested.Objective: To investigate the association between interleukin - 6 (IL-6) polymorphism and susceptibility to NIHL.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a sample of 191 independent elderly individuals aged >60 years of age. Information on exposure to occupational noise was obtained by interviews. Audiological evaluation was performed using pure tone audiometry and genotyped through PCR by restriction fragment length polymorphism - PCR-RFLP. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and the odds ratio (OR), with the significance level set at 5%.Results: Among elderly with hearing loss (78.0%), 18.8% had a history of exposure to occupational noise. There was a statistically significant association between the genotype frequencies of the IL-6 - 174 and NIHL. The elderly with the CC genotype were less likely to have hearing loss due to occupational noise exposure when compared to those carrying the GG genotype (OR = 0.0124; 95% CI 0.0023-0.0671; p<0.001).Conclusion: This study suggests there is an association of polymorphisms in the IL-6 gene at position - G174C with susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss. (C) 2014 Associacao Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cervico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.