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We characterized the genetic diversity, phylogeography, and demography of Tor sp. (Cyprinidae) from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, by examining nucleotide variation in the D-loop region of the mtDNA. Sequence analysis of 18 populations (N = 173) yielded 35 unique mtDNA haplotypes with mean haplotype and nucleotide diversity of 0.833 and 0.023, respectively. Phylogenetic reconstructions using Bayesian, neighbor-joining, and maximum parsimony methods, as well as haplotype network, revealed four well-defined clades, namely, the eastern, central, northwestern, and southwestern clades, which corresponded to evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). These ESUs were estimated to have become separated since the late Miocene to Pliocene era (between 5 and 1 million years ago), with the central highlands of Sabah Crocker Trusmadi Range (CTR) constituting the main barrier to genetic exchange between clades. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and pairwise genetic differentiation showed significant population structuring (Φct = 0.575–1.000, p < 0.05). We further identified eight major groups of river systems harboring reproductively isolated Tor subpopulations. Neutrality statistics and Bayesian skyline plots (BSP) suggested constant population size over time for most Tor populations. Tor sp. in Sabah is comprised of four ESUs (eastern, central, northwestern, and southwestern ESUs), and that each ESU can be compartmentalized into 1–4 MUs. Due to isolation by distance, the highest number of MU occurs in the low-elevation drainages of Eastern Sabah, which is the largest in terms of land area. The evidence provided by this study supports the hypothesis that the four ESU represent genetically distinct subpopulations of Tor and highlight the urgent need for the in situ conservation of these subpopulations.

Nitrogen (N) deposition significantly affects forest dynamics, carbon stocks and biodiversity, and numerous assessments of N fluxes and impacts exist in temperate latitudes. In tropical latitudes, however, there are few such assessments. In this study, we measured the inorganic N concentration (wet deposition) deposited in rainfall and rainfall pH throughout one year at the boundary of a forest reserve in Malaysian Borneo. We considered that the N deposition may be either from forest and agricultural fires or derived from agricultural fertiliser. Therefore, we determined the wind trajectories using the HYSPLIT model provided by NOAA, the location of fires throughout the landscape throughout one year using NASA’s FIRM system, and obtained the land use cover map of Malaysia and Indonesia. We then correlated our monthly cumulative wet N deposition with the cumulative number of fires and the cumulative area of oil palm plantation that wind trajectories arriving at our study site passed over before reaching the rainfall sampling site. At 7.45 kg N ha−1 year−1, our study site had the highest annual wet inorganic N deposition recorded for a Malaysian forest environment. The fire season and the cumulative agricultural area crossed by the winds had no significant effect on N deposition, rainfall N concentration, or rainfall pH. We suggest that future research should use 15N isotopes in rainfall to provide further information on the sources of N deposition in tropical forests such as this.

In this study, we typed 51 male individuals from North Borneo using 17 Y-chromosome STRs contained in the AmpFLSTR® Yfiler ® kit (Applied Biosystems). These indi¬viduals constitute five indigenous ethnic populations repre¬senting the three major linguistic groups (Dusunic, Murutic and Paitanic): the Dusun (n-7), Rungus (n-12), Sonsogon {n-12), Murut Paluan {n-12), and Sungai Lingkabau Paitan (n-8). A total of 37 haplotypes were identified, of which 30 individuals were represented by a single haplotype. The mean ± S.D. haplotype diversity was 0.600+0.181 and the discrimination capacity was 0.725. The results also showed that the haplotype H33 was the most frequent hap¬lotype observed in the sampled male populations occurring exclusively in the Murut population. Comparative analysis between Y-haplotype populations of North Borneo and the ethnic populations (Bidayuh, Iban, and Melanau) of neigh¬bouring Sarawak (East Malaysia) i.e. indicated that the Sungai Lingkabau Paitan was more closely associated with the Melanau with respect to Y-haplotype descent (RST=- 0.0023). In addition, the Multidimensional Scaling (MSD) analysis managed to clearly differentiate the eight groups from Borneo. We concluded that the 17 Y-chromosome STRs data of North Bornean populations are valuable resources in the ap¬plications of forensic and population genetics of the ethnic groups.

BACKGROUND: A virtual reality neurosurgery simulator with haptic feedback may help in the training and assessment of technical skills requiring the use of tactile and visual cues. OBJECTIVE: To develop a simulator for craniotomy-based procedures with haptic and graphics feedback for implementation by universities and hospitals in the neurosurgery training curriculum. METHODS: NeuroTouch was developed by a team of more than 50 experts from the National Research Council Canada in collaboration with surgeons from more than 20 teaching hospitals across Canada. Its main components are a stereovision system, bimanual haptic tool manipulators, and a high-end computer. The simulation software engine runs 3 processes for computing graphics, haptics, and mechanics. Training tasks were built from magnetic resonance imaging scans of patients with brain tumors. RESULTS: Two training tasks were implemented for practicing skills with 3 different surgical tools. In the tumor-debulking task, the objective is complete tumor removal without removing normal tissue, using the regular surgical aspirator (suction) and the ultrasonic aspirator. The objective of the tumor cauterization task is to remove a vascularized tumor with an aspirator while controlling blood loss using bipolar electrocautery. CONCLUSION: NeuroTouch prototypes have been set up in 7 teaching hospitals across Canada, to be used for beta testing and validation and evaluated for integration in a neurosurgery training curriculum.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. However, only a small percentage of high-risk (HR) HPV infections progress to cervical precancer and cancer. In this study, we investigated the role of the cervicovaginal microbiome (CVM) in the natural history of HR-HPV. This study was nested within the placebo arm of the Costa Rica HPV Vaccine Trial that included women aged 18-25 years of age. Cervical samples from two visits of women with an incident HR-HPV infection (n = 273 women) were used to evaluate the prospective role of the CVM on the natural history of HR-HPV. We focus specifically on infection clearance, persistence, and progression to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and 3 (CIN2+). The CVM was characterized by amplification and sequencing the bacterial 16S V4 rRNA gene region and the fungal ITS1 region using an Illumina MiSeq platform. OTU clustering was performed using QIIME2. Functional groups were imputed using PICRUSt and statistical analyses were performed using R. At Visit 1 (V1) abundance of Lactobacillus iners was associated with clearance of incident HR-HPV infections (Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)>4.0), whereas V1 Gardnerella was the dominant biomarker for HR-HPV progression (LDA>4.0). At visit 2 (V2), increased microbial Shannon diversity was significantly associated with progression to CIN2+ (p = 0.027). Multivariate mediation analysis revealed that the positive association of V1 Gardnerella with CIN2+ progression was due to the increased cervicovaginal diversity at V2 (p = 0.040). A full multivariate model of key components of the CVM showed significant protective effects via V1 genus Lactobacillus, OR = 0.41 (0.22-0.79), V1 fungal diversity, OR = 0.90 (0.82-1.00) and V1 functional Cell Motility pathway, OR = 0.75 (0.62-0.92), whereas V2 bacterial diversity, OR = 1.19 (1.03-1.38) was shown to be predictive of progression to CIN2+. This study demonstrates that features of the cervicovaginal microbiome are associated with HR-HPV progression in a prospective longitudinal cohort. The analyses indicated that the association of Gardnerella and progression to CIN2+ may actually be mediated by subsequent elevation of microbial diversity. Identified features of the microbiome associated with HR-HPV progression may be targets for therapeutic manipulation to prevent CIN2+. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00128661.

Fungi have the ability to transform organic materials into a rich and diverse set of useful products and provide distinct opportunities for tackling the urgent challenges before all humans. Fungal biotechnology can advance the transition from our petroleum-based economy into a bio-based circular economy and has the ability to sustainably produce resilient sources of food, feed, chemicals, fuels, textiles, and materials for construction, automotive and transportation industries, for furniture and beyond. Fungal biotechnology offers solutions for securing, stabilizing and enhancing the food supply for a growing human population, while simultaneously lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Fungal biotechnology has, thus, the potential to make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation and meeting the United Nation’s sustainable development goals through the rational improvement of new and established fungal cell factories. The White Paper presented here is the result of the 2nd Think Tank meeting held by the EUROFUNG consortium in Berlin in October 2019. This paper highlights discussions on current opportunities and research challenges in fungal biotechnology and aims to inform scientists, educators, the general public, industrial stakeholders and policymakers about the current fungal biotech revolution.

Results of cohort studies and mathematical models have suggested that increased coverage with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) could reduce HIV transmission. We aimed to estimate the association between plasma HIV-1 viral load, HAART coverage, and number of new cases of HIV in the population of a Canadian province. We undertook a population-based study of HAART coverage and HIV transmission in British Columbia, Canada. Data for number of HIV tests done and new HIV diagnoses were obtained from the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. Data for viral load, CD4 cell count, and HAART use were extracted from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS population-based registries. We modelled trends of new HIV-positive tests and number of individuals on HAART using generalised additive models. Poisson log-linear regression models were used to estimate the association between new HIV diagnoses and viral load, year, and number of individuals on HAART. Between 1996 and 2009, the number of individuals actively receiving HAART increased from 837 to 5413 (547% increase; p=0·002), and the number of new HIV diagnoses fell from 702 to 338 per year (52% decrease; p=0·001). The overall correlation between number of individuals on HAART and number of individuals newly testing positive for HIV per year was −0·89 (p<0·0001). For every 100 additional individuals on HAART, the number of new HIV cases decreased by a factor of 0·97 (95% CI 0·96–0·98), and per 1 log 10 decrease in viral load, the number of new HIV cases decreased by a factor of 0·86 (0·75–0·98). We have shown a strong population-level association between increasing HAART coverage, decreased viral load, and decreased number of new HIV diagnoses per year. Our results support the proposed secondary benefit of HAART used within existing medical guidelines to reduce HIV transmission. Ministry of Health Services and Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, Province of British Columbia; US National Institute on Drug Abuse; US National Institutes of Health; Canadian Institutes of Health Research.