Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are a group of mammals adapted to various aquatic habitats, from oceans to freshwater rivers. We report the sequencing, de novo assembly and analysis of a finless porpoise genome, and the re-sequencing of an additional 48 finless porpoise individuals. We use these data to reconstruct the demographic history of finless porpoises from their origin to the occupation into the Yangtze River. Analyses of selection between marine and freshwater porpoises identify genes associated with renal water homeostasis and urea cycle, such as urea transporter 2 and angiotensin I-converting enzyme 2, which are likely adaptations associated with the difference in osmotic stress between ocean and rivers. Our results strongly suggest that the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoises are reproductively isolated from other porpoise populations and harbor unique genetic adaptations, supporting that they should be considered a unique incipient species.
Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently one of most common forms of chronic liver disease globally. NAFLD represents a wide spectrum of liver involvement from nonprogressive isolated steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), characterized by liver necroinflammation and fibrosis and currently one of the top causes of end‐stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. At present, there is a lack of effective treatments, and a central barrier to the development of therapies is the requirement for an invasive liver biopsy for diagnosis of NASH. Discovery of reliable, noninvasive biomarkers are urgently needed. In this study, we tested whether circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs), cell‐derived small membrane‐surrounded structures with a rich cargo of bioactive molecules, may serve as reliable noninvasive “liquid biopsies” for NASH diagnosis and assessment of disease severity. Total circulating EVs and hepatocyte‐derived EVs were isolated by differential centrifugation and size‐exclusion chromatography from serum samples of healthy individuals, patients with precirrhotic NASH, and patients with cirrhotic NASH. EVs were further characterized by flow cytometry, electron microscopy, western blotting, and dynamic light scattering assays before performing a proteomics analysis. Our findings suggest that levels of total and hepatocyte‐derived EVs correlate with NASH clinical characteristics and disease severity. Additionally, using proteomics data, we developed understandable, powerful, and unique EV‐based proteomic signatures for potential diagnosis of advanced NASH. Conclusion: Our study shows that the quantity and protein constituents of circulating EVs provide strong evidence for EV protein–based liquid biopsies for NAFLD/NASH diagnosis.
Seven hundred and twenty base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial control region from 73 finless porpoises, Neophocaena phocaenoides, in Chinese waters were sequenced. Thirteen variable sites were determined and 17 haplotypes were defined. Of these, 5 and 7 were found only in the Yellow Sea population and the South China Sea population, respectively, whereas no specific haplo‐type was found in the Yangtze River population. Phylogenetic analyses using NJ and ML algorithm did not divide the haplotypes into monophyletic clades representing recognized geographic populations of finless porpoises in Chinese waters, suggesting the existence of migration and gene flow among populations. Analysis of molecular variance showed the obvious population genetic structure (φst= 0.41, P < 0.05); however, the structure was mainly between either the Yangtze River population or the Yellow Sea population and the South China Sea population. The genetic diversity (nucleotide diversity and haplotypic diversity) of the Yellow Sea population was significantly higher than those of the Yangtze River population and the South China Sea population, suggesting the relatively later divergence of the latter two populations and supporting the Yellow Sea population as the original center of Neophocaena.
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