Divergence and correlated evolution of male wing spot and courtship display between Drosophila nepalensis and D. trilutea.

Male-specific wing spots are usually associated with wing displays in the courtship behavior of Drosophila and may play important roles in sexual selection. Two closely related species, D. nepalensis and D. trilutea, differ in wing spots and scissoring behavior. Here, we compare male morphological characters, pigmentation intensity of male wing spots, wing-scissoring behavior, courtship songs, and reproductive isolation between 2 species. F1 fertile females and sterile males result from the cross between females of D. nepalensis and males of D. trilutea. The pigmentation of wing spots is significantly weaker in D. trilutea than in D. nepalensis and the F1 hybrid. Males scissor both wings in front of the female during courtship, with a posture spreading wings more widely, and at a faster frequency in D. nepalensis than in D. trilutea and the F1s. Males of D. trilutea vibrate wings to produce 2 types (A and B) of pulse songs, whereas D. nepalensis and the F1s sing only type B songs. The incidence of wing vibration and scissoring during courtship suggests that wing vibration is essential but scissoring is a facultative courtship element for successful mating in both species. The association between the darker wing spots with more elaborate scissoring might be the consequence of correlated evolution of these traits in D. nepalensis; however, D. trilutea retains wing scissoring during courtship despite having weaker pigmentation of wing spots. The genetic architecture of 2 traits differs in the F1s, consistent with maternal or sex-linked effects for spots but nonadditive effects for scissoring.

Radiomics model of contrast-enhanced MRI for early prediction of acute pancreatitis severity.

BACKGROUND: Computed tomography (CT) or MR images may cause the severity of early acute pancreatitis (AP) to be underestimated. As an innovative image analysis method, radiomics may have potential clinical value in early prediction of AP severity. PURPOSE: To develop a contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI-based radiomics model for the early prediction of AP severity. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. SUBJECTS: A total of 259 early AP patients were divided into two cohorts, a training cohort (99 nonsevere, 81 severe), and a validation cohort (43 nonsevere, 36 severe). FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3.0T, T1 -weighted CE-MRI. ASSESSMENT: Radiomics features were extracted from the portal venous-phase images. The "Boruta" algorithm was used for feature selection and a support vector machine model was established with optimal features. The MR severity index (MRSI), the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, and the bedside index for severity in acute pancreatitis (BISAP) were calculated to predict the severity of AP. STATISTICAL TESTS: Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, chi-square test, Fisher's exact tests, Boruta algorithm, receiver operating characteristic analysis, DeLong test. RESULTS: Eleven potential features were chosen to develop the radiomics model. In the training cohort, the area under the curve (AUC) of the radiomics model, APACHE II, BISAP, and MRSI were 0.917, 0.750, 0.744, and 0.749, and the P value of AUC comparisons between the radiomics model and scoring systems were all less than 0.001. In the validation cohort, the AUC of the radiomics model, APACHE II, BISAP, and MRSI were 0.848, 0.725, 0.708, and 0.719, respectively, and the P value of AUC comparisons were 0.96 (radiomics vs. APACHE II), 0.40 (radiomics vs. BISAP), and 0.46 (radiomics vs. MRSI). DATA CONCLUSION: The radiomics model had good performance in the early prediction of AP severity. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 Technical Efficacy Stage: 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:397-406.

Evolution and diversity of the courtship repertoire in the Drosophila montium species group (Diptera: Drosophilidae).

Changes in elements of courtship behaviour can influence sexual isolation between species. Large-scale analyses of changes, including loss and gain of courtship elements, across a relatively complete phylogenetic group are rare but needed to understand the significance of such changes, for example whether the gain and loss of courtship elements are essentially arbitrary or equally reversible. In most species of Drosophila, courtship, including singing, mainly occurs before mounting as premounting courtship. The Drosophila montium species group is unusual because loss of premounting courtship and gain of post-mounting one has been detected in this group. Here, we provide an extensive analysis on the courtship repertoire and songs of 42 species in this group. Synchronously captured video and audio recordings were analysed to describe courtship patterns and male courtship songs, and changes were analysed in a phylogenetic context. Ancestral state reconstruction suggests that a gain of post-mounting courtship singing at the ancestor of this species group has been accompanied by a concurrent decrease in the incidence of premounting courtship singing and has led to subsequent further decrease and eventually complete loss of premounting courtship song in several lineages. Alongside this evolutionary trend towards post-mounting courtship, sine song and a special type of "high pulse repetition song" have become more widely used for courtship during species diversification in the montium group. It is likely that the elaboration of post-mounting courtship behaviours is associated with changes in the relative importance of pre- and post-mounting components of mating systems, such as sperm competition or cryptic female choice.

[Precision genomic and translational medicine for acute myeloid leukemia].

Leukemia is a group of hematologic malignancy that has unfavorable prognosis and unclear mechanisms. In recent years, advances in leukemia research encompass the discovery of novel targets in acute myeloid leukemia drug resistance, epigenetic crosstalk in mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) leukemogenesis, genetic mechanisms of aggressive NK-cell leukemia, as well as the critical role of key epigenetic regulator in acute myeloid malignancy. Remarkably, researchers revealed that the histone modifying gene SETD2 as a new tumor suppressor and therapeutic target in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Furthermore, low-dose chemotherapy as a frontline regiment in treating pediatric acute myeloid leukemia can substantially reduce the toxic side effects and treatment costs without impairing efficacy. Although advances in cancer genomics have greatly increased our understanding of the molecular characteristics in tumor biology, recent studies suggest that Darwinian evolution of intratumor heterogeneity represents a major challenge to develop therapeutic strategies to improve disease control. Researchers also dissected the distinct evolutionary dynamics under different chemotherapy regimens and the corresponding applications in the evaluation of treatment outcomes. Altogether, these efforts offered new opportunities for the development of acute myeloid leukemia diagnostics and therapeutics.