Founder analysis is a method for analysis of nonrecombining DNA sequence data, with the aim of identification and dating of migrations into new territory. The method picks out founder sequence types in potential source populations and dates lineage clusters deriving from them in the settlement zone of interest. Here, using mtDNA, we apply the approach to the colonization of Europe, to estimate the proportion of modern lineages whose ancestors arrived during each major phase of settlement. To estimate the Palaeolithic and Neolithic contributions to European mtDNA diversity more accurately than was previously achievable, we have now extended the Near Eastern, European, and northern-Caucasus databases to 1,234, 2, 804, and 208 samples, respectively. Both back-migration into the source population and recurrent mutation in the source and derived populations represent major obstacles to this approach. We have developed phylogenetic criteria to take account of both these factors, and we suggest a way to account for multiple dispersals of common sequence types. We conclude that (i) there has been substantial back-migration into the Near East, (ii) the majority of extant mtDNA lineages entered Europe in several waves during the Upper Palaeolithic, (iii) there was a founder effect or bottleneck associated with the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 years ago, from which derives the largest fraction of surviving lineages, and (iv) the immigrant Neolithic component is likely to comprise less than one-quarter of the mtDNA pool of modern Europeans.

Most present-day European men inherited their Y chromosomes from the farmers who spread from the Near East 10,000 years ago, rather than from the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic.

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Increased flux of glucose through the polyol pathway may cause generation of excess reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to tissue damage. Abnormalities in expression of enzymes that protect against oxidant damage may accentuate the oxidative injury. The expression of catalase (CAT), CuZn superoxide-dismutase (CuZn-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and Mn superoxide-dismutase (MnSOD) mRNA was quantified in peripheral blood mononuclear cells-obtained from 26 patients with type 1 diabetes and nephropathy, 15 with no microvascular complications after 20 years' duration of diabetes, and 10 normal healthy control subjectsthat were exposed in vitro to hyperglycemia (HG) (31 mmol/l D-glucose). Under HG, there was a twofold increase in the expression of CAT, CuZnSOD, and GPX mRNA in the patients without complications and the control subjects versus patients with nephropathy (P < 0.0001), and MnSOD did not change in any of the groups. The aldose reductase inhibitor zopolrestat partially restored the levels of CAT, CuZnSOD, and GPX mRNA in the patients with nephropathy (P < 0.05). There was a highly significant correlation between increased aldose reductase (ALR2) expression, CAT, CuZnSOD, and GPX mRNA levels under HG conditions and polymorphisms of ALR2 in the patients with nephropathy (P < 0.00001). In conclusion, these results suggest that high glucose flux through aldose reductase inhibits the expression of antioxidant enzymes.

The majority of long-term IDUs who remain uninfected by HCV despite their high-risk behavior have HCV-specific T cell responses. These responses were frequently found for multiple HCV proteins, making cross-reactivity to other homologous antigens unlikely. These responses may represent an immunological footprint of HCV exposure that has not resulted in viremia or HCV antibody seroconversion. The potential role played by these responses in protection from HCV infection is of clinical importance.