Summary The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin ( Sousa chinensis ) is a small inshore species of odontocete cetacean listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Here, we report on the evolution of S . chinensis chromosomes from its cetruminant ancestor and elucidate the evolutionary history and population genetics of two neighboring S . chinensis populations. We found that breakpoints in ancestral chromosomes leading to S . chinensis could have affected the function of genes related to kidney filtration, body development, and immunity. Resequencing of individuals from two neighboring populations in the northwestern South China Sea, Leizhou Bay and Sanniang Bay, revealed genetic differentiation, low diversity, and small contemporary effective population sizes. Demographic analyses showed a marked decrease in the population size of the two investigated populations over the last ~4,000 years, possibly related to climatic oscillations. This study implies a high risk of extinction and strong conservation requirement for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.

.Cystic echinococcosis (CE), also known as hydatid cyst, is a zoonosis caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. It is a common health problem in many countries. This condition predominantly affects the liver and the lungs, and the spleen to a less extent (splenic hydatid cyst, SHD). Indeed, it is estimated that SHD occurs in less than 2% of abdominal CE and 0.5–8% of CE cases. Here, we present a case of a 44-year-old Chinese woman with primary giant SHD who experienced pain in the left hypochondrium for 10 days. A combination of abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) were used for preoperative diagnosis. Laparoscopic splenectomy was performed without any complications, and albendazole (400 mg per day) was administered postoperatively for 3 months. At 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up, the patient remained symptoms free, and abdominal CT found no signs of recurrence. In addition to this case, we review the previous literature on SHD treated by laparoscopy and reveal that laparoscopic approach is safe and effective for SHD. Particularly, we show that laparoscopic splenectomy is feasible for giant cysts (> 10 cm) at high risk of rupture or compressing other vital structures.

The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis ssp. asiaeorientalis) is a subspecies of the narrow-ridged finless porpoise (N. asiaeorientalis). In total, 714.28 gigabases (Gb) of raw reads were generated by whole-genome sequencing of the Yangtze finless porpoise, using an Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. After filtering the low-quality and duplicated reads, we assembled a draft genome of 2.22 Gb, with contig N50 and scaffold N50 values of 46.69 kilobases (kb) and 1.71 megabases (Mb), respectively. We identified 887.63 Mb of repetitive sequences and predicted 18,479 protein-coding genes in the assembled genome. The phylogenetic tree showed a relationship between the Yangtze finless porpoise and the Yangtze River dolphin, which diverged approximately 20.84 million years ago. In comparisons with the genomes of 10 other mammals, we detected 44 species-specific gene families, 164 expanded gene families, and 313 positively selected genes in the Yangtze finless porpoise genome. The assembled genome sequence and underlying sequence data are available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information under BioProject accession number PRJNA433603.