Currently, each ESU faces distinct threats, and will require different conservation strategies. Our work shows that population genomic approaches using HTS can reconstruct the complex evolutionary history of threatened species in mountainous regions, and hence inform conservation efforts, and contribute to the understanding of high biodiversity in mountains. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Reactive dyes are pernicious pollutants in textile effluent, which are to be treated passably before discharging into the environment. In the present study, a potential dye degrading bacterial strain Pseudomonas guariconensis was isolated from paddy rhizosphere and was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The biodegradation ability of the strain was evaluated by time-based study with immobilized bacterial cells in calcium alginate biocarrier matrix and also with free cells. The results indicated that the strain exhibited maximum degradation of 91% when immobilized in the biocarrier matrix. The enzymatic study revealed the production of oxidoreductase enzymes. The degraded products were identified as 2-amino-3-phenylpropanoic acid and benzoquinone by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis, and a degradative pathway was derived based on the enzymatic profile. A packed bed column was designed using P. guariconensis VITSAJ5 immobilized in calcium alginate beads as a bio sorbent for the removal of Reactive Red 120. The immobilized bacterial cells exhibited 87% uptake of RR120, whereas the non-immobilized bacterial cells exhibited a maximum uptake of 37%. The phytotoxicity analysis by seed germination assay revealed an enhanced plumule and radical length, indicating the non-toxic byproducts after the treatment of Reactive Red 120 by VITSAJ5 compared to the untreated Reactive Red 120 solution. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Early at the onset of exercise, breathing rate accelerates in order to anticipate the increasing metabolic demand resulting from the extra effort produced. Accordingly, the respiratory neural networks are the target of various input signals originating either centrally or peripherally. For example, during locomotion, the activation of muscle sensory afferents is able to entrain and thereby increase the frequency of spontaneous respiratory rhythmogenesis. Moreover, the lumbar spinal networks engaged in generating hindlimb locomotor rhythms are also capable of activating the medullary respiratory generators through an ascending excitatory command. However, in the context of quadrupedal locomotion, the influence of other spinal cord regions, such as cervical and thoracic segments, remains unknown. Using isolated brainstem-spinal cord preparations from neonatal rats and mice, we show that cervicothoracic circuitry may also contribute to locomotion-induced acceleration of respiratory cycle frequency. As previously observed for the hindlimb CPGs, the pharmacological activation of forelimb locomotor networks produces episodes of fictive locomotion that in turn increase the ongoing respiratory rhythm. Thoracic neuronal circuitry may also participate indirectly in this modulation via the activation of both cervical and lumbar CPG neurons. Furthermore, using light stimulation of CHR2-expressing glutamatergic neurons, we found that the modulation of the respiratory rate during locomotion involves lumbar glutamatergic circuitry. Our results demonstrate that during locomotion, the respiratory rhythm-generating networks receive excitatory ascending inputs from the spinal circuits responsible for generating and coordinating fore- and hindlimb movements. This constitutes a distributed central mechanism that contributes to matching breathing rate to the speed of locomotion. © 2020 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.The tight connection between immunity and reproduction has been studied for decades. However, basic knowledge at the molecular level of the effect of mating on immune function is still lacking in many taxa. Determining whether and how the immune system is engaged after mating is a crucial step in understanding post-mating mechanisms of reproduction and sexual selection. Here, we study the transcriptional changes in immunity-related genes caused by the ejaculate in the female reproductive tract using a model species for sexual selection studies, the guppy Poecilia reticulata. To study changes triggered by the ejaculate only, rather than caused by mating, we used artificial inseminations to transfer ejaculate into females. We then compared gene expression in the reproductive tract (gonoduct and ovary) of females artificially inseminated either with ejaculate or with a control solution, after 1 hr and after 6 hr. Overall, contact with ejaculate caused short-term changes in the expression of immune-related genes in the female reproductive tract, with a complex pattern of up- and down-regulation of immune-related pathways, but with clear indication of a marked down-regulation of the immune system shortly after ejaculate contact. This suggests a link between immune function and processes occurring between mating and fertilization in this species. © 2020 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2020 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a clonal disease of dendritic cells which may affect any organ of the body. Involvement of thyroid by LCH can occur rarely. Papillary thyroid carcinoma [PTC] is the most common thyroid cancer. The coexistence of these two pathologies together in thyroid is a rare phenomenon. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The identification of reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is urgently needed. Here, we explored the potential use of α-synuclein (α-syn) in plasma neuronal exosomes as a biomarker for early PD diagnosis and disease progression. METHODS This study included both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. The subjects included 36 early stage PD patients, 17 advanced PD patients, 20 idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) patients and 21 healthy controls (HCs). α-syn levels were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. A subgroup of early stage PD patients (n=18) participated in a follow-up examination with repeated blood collection and clinical assessments after an average of 22 months. RESULTS α-syn levels in plasma neuronal exosomes were significantly higher in early stage PD patients compared with HCs (p=0.007). Differences in α-syn levels between iRBD patients and HCs did not reach statistical significance (p=0.08). In addition, Spearman correlation analysis revealed neuronal exosomal α-syn concentrations were correlated with UPDRS III/ (I+II+III) scores, NMSQ scores and SS-16 scores of patients with PD (p less then 0.05). After a mean follow-up of 22 months in early stage PD patients, a Cox regression analysis adjusted for age and gender showed that longitudinally increased α-syn rather than baseline α-syn levels were associated with higher risk for motor symptom progression in PD (p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggested that α-syn in plasma neuronal exosomes may serve as a biomarker to aid early diagnosis of PD, and also a prognostic marker for PD progression. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.A pilot-scale (5 m3 /d) study was conducted for the treatment of micro-polluted low-turbidity water using a biological contact oxidation-high density sedimentation tank system with biochar sludge. First, the best operating conditions were found through system debugging, then biological characteristics were investigated during system debugging and finally the performance in terms of pollutant elimination was investigated. The carbon sludge tank biomass was stable, which provided good stability for the removal of organic matter in raw water. The average reduction in absorbance of UV254 and total organic carbon were 36.71% and 29.63%, respectively, when compared with conventional coagulation. The adsorption and degradation of the mixture comprising carbon and sludge played an important role in removing organic pollutants; most of the humic and fulvic acid content of the water was removed during the coagulation processes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The current American Academy of Pediatrics policy calls for universal developmental screening (UDS) at the 18-month well-baby visit (18MWBV). In contrast, different clinical practice guidelines exist in other developed countries where only toddlers of concerned parents are referred for (selective) developmental screening (SDS). This study compares the expected benefit (EB) of these two strategies for monitoring children’s behavioural development at the 18MWBV. METHOD A clinical decision analysis was performed, with EB defined as gain (probability of screening when appropriate + probability of not screening when appropriate) minus cost (probability of screening when not appropriate + probability of not screening when not appropriate). Accordingly, a strategy’s EB referred to its efficiency at distinguishing between toddlers who need to be referred for screening and those who do not. RESULTS The EB of the UDS strategy was estimated at -0.242. In contrast, the EB of the SDS strategy was much greater at 0.326. In fact, the EB of the UDS strategy could only equal or surpass that of the SDS strategy if screening toddlers with a problem was considered almost five times more important than not screening well toddlers. However, our monitoring effort should be more evenly distributed between these two imperatives. Also, the evidence in favour of the SDS strategy remained largely unchanged after considering a broad range of values for the (unique) probabilities in the decision tree. CONCLUSION There are many steps involved in the monitoring of children’s early behavioural development, but when it comes to decide whether or not to use behavioural screening, there is evidence for adopting the SDS strategy, and screening only if a behavioural concern is being raised by parents. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Humans in the industrialized world spend a large amount of daily time in sedentary behavior. Since sedentariness negatively impacts a variety of psychophysiological outcomes, the identification of antecedents that lead to sedentary behavior is an important public health issue. In this context, mood, a central indicator for both psychological well-being and mental health, is severely understudied. To investigate whether mood dimensions influence subsequent sedentary behavior, we assessed both constructs at baseline via questionnaires and via ambulatory assessment (AA) over 5 days in 92 university employees. We continuously measured sedentary behavior using accelerometers and assessed mood repeatedly 10 times each day on smartphone diaries. We employed multiple regression analyses to analyze between-subject effects and multilevel modeling to analyze within-subject effects. Higher momentary ratings of valence (P  less then  .05) and energetic arousal (P  less then  .01) predicted lower amounts of subsequent sedentary behavior, whereas higher ratings of calmness (P  less then  .