Project description:A new species of Parotocinclus is described from three small tributaries of the rio Tapajós basin, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by presenting the following characters: (1) a triangular dark blotch at the anterior base of the dorsal fin, (2) the absence of an adipose fin but presence of one small platelet at typical adipose-fin region, (3) the abdomen completely covered by dermal plates, (4) a pectoral girdle totally exposed, (5) a single series of bicuspid teeth, and (6) the higher number of bicuspid premaxillary and dentary teeth.
Project description:The introduction of invasive species represents a major threat to the integrity of stream-dwelling fish populations worldwide, and this issue is receiving increasing attention from scientists, in particular because of potential impact on biodiversity. In this study, we analysed the dispersal of an exotic loricariid fish the red fin dwarf pleco (Parotocinclus maculicauda) in a stream of the Atlantic Forest biome in coastal south-eastern Brazil and evaluated the effects of this invasion on the native loricariid common pleco (Hypostomus punctatus). Specimens were collected at eight sites located along the course of the stream over a 15-year period. The distribution and density of the two species were determined by the Successive Removal Method. The introduction of P. maculicauda occurred in the medium sector of the stream, and during the course of the study, the species dispersed to new sites further upstream. By the end of the study, it was found at all points upstream from the original site. Hypostomus punctatus was registered at all sample sites both before and after the introduction of P. maculicauda, but its density decreased at all upstream sites after the arrival of the exotic species. Our analysis shows that colonisation by P. maculicauda seems to have a negative effect on H. punctatus densities. The maintenance of H. punctatus densities at the sites not colonised by P. maculicauda reinforces the conclusion that the colonisation of the stream by the exotic species had deleterious effects on the density of the resident H. punctatus populations, either by direct or indirect action.
Project description:The DNA isolated from 44 either frozen or FFPE Neuroendocrine Neoplasm (NEN) was analysed by NGS, to identify genes more likely to be subject to sequence variations among 523 cancer-related ones.
Project description:Plasma DNA from 558 malignancies, 263 benign and borderline tumors and 367 healthy control samples were collected and subjected to random short-gun whole genome sequencing.