Does the acquisition of ownership form a strict barrier to the application of EU consumer contract law rules? In particular: does the acquisition of ownership prevent a national court from reviewing unfair terms in a mortgage agreement? The CJEU said so in its recent judgement C-598/15 Banco Santander, where a bank itself acquired a mortgaged apartment in a forced sale. We consider this a too formal way of reasoning. In order to make a constructive...

The effects of how obesity and elevated androgen levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affect their offspring are unclear. We found that daughters of PCOS mothers are more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS in a Swedish nationwide register-based cohort and a clinical case-control study from Chile. Further, female mice (F0) with PCOS-like traits induced by late gestation injection of dihydrotestosterone, with and without obesity, produced female F1–F3 offspring with a PCOS-like reproductive...

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at increased risk of miscarriage, which often accompanies the hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance seen in these patients. However, neither the combinatorial interaction between these two PCOS-related etiological factors nor the mechanisms of their actions in the uterus during pregnancy are well understood. We hypothesised that hyperandrogensim and insulin resistance exert a causative role in miscarriage by inducing defects in uterine function that are accompanied by mitochondrial-mediated oxidative stress,...

Sperm performance is often tightly linked to male reproductive success. In many demersal gobiid fishes, the male attaches sperm embedded in a mucus produced by sperm duct glands, to the nest substrate before spawning takes place. Sperm are activated as the mucus and other embedded gland contents dissolve into the water. To test the importance of gland content on sperm function in Pomatoschistus minutus, a marine fish with external fertilization, we used a paired experimental...

Factors driving the spatial configuration of centres of endemism have long been a topic of broad interest and debate. Due to different eco-evolutionary processes, these highly biodiverse areas may harbour different amounts of ancient and recently diverged organisms (paleo- and neo-endemism, respectively). Patterns of endemism still need to be measured at distinct phylogenetic levels for most clades and, consequently, little is known about the distribution, the age and the causes of such patterns. Here we...

Research on the genetics of invasive species often focuses on patterns of genetic diversity and population structure within the introduced range. However, a growing body of literature is demonstrating the need to study the native range, and how native genotypes affect both ecological and evolutionary mechanisms within the introduced range. Here we used genotyping-by-sequencing to study both native and introduced ranges [based on 1,653 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)] of the amphiatlantic marine invertebrate Ciona intestinalis....

Obligate parthenogenesis is found in only 0.1% of vertebrate species, is thought to be relatively short lived and is typically of hybrid origin. However, neither the evolutionary persistence of asexuality in vertebrates, nor the conditions that allow the generation of new parthenogenetic lineages are currently well understood. It has been proposed that vertebrate parthenogenetic lineages arise from hybridisation between two divergent taxa within a specific range of phylogenetic distances (the “Balance Hypothesis”). Moreover, parthenogenetic species...

Dramatic and persistent reductions in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) are common in many coastal areas. While offshore cod stocks still were abundant and productive, the Swedish west coast showed signs of diminishing adult cod abundance at the beginning of the 1980s, where the local cod component was considered to be extirpated. To survey the present cod spawning activity and stock composition, we initiated egg trawling over two consecutive years (203 hauls in total) in combination...

Major habitat transitions, such as those from marine to freshwater habitats or from aquatic to terrestrial habitats, have occurred infrequently in animal evolution and may represent a barrier to diversification. Identifying genomic events associated with these transitions can help us better understand mechanisms that allow animals to cross these barriers and diversify in new habitats. Study of the Capitella telata and Helobdella robusta genomes allows examination of one such habitat transition (marine to freshwater) in...

Genetic incompatibilities contribute to reproductive isolation between many diverging populations, but it is still unclear to what extent they play a role if divergence happens with gene flow. In contact zones between the "Crab" and "Wave" ecotypes of the snail Littorina saxatilis divergent selection forms strong barriers to gene flow, while the role of postzygotic barriers due to selection against hybrids remains unclear. High embryo abortion rates in this species could indicate the presence of...

Does the acquisition of ownership form a strict barrier to the application of EU consumer contract law rules? In particular: does the acquisition of ownership prevent a national court from reviewing unfair terms in a mortgage agreement? The CJEU said so in its recent judgement C-598/15 Banco Santander, where a bank itself acquired a mortgaged apartment in a forced sale. We consider this a too formal way of reasoning. In order to make a constructive...

Behavioural ecologists often use data on patterns of male-female association to infer reproductive success of free-ranging animals. For example, a male seen with several females during the mating season is predicted to father more offspring than a male not seen with any females. We explored the putative correlation between this behaviour and actual paternity (as revealed by microsatellite data) from a long-term study on sand lizards (Lacerta agilis), including behavioural observations of 574 adult males...

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of earlier or later resective epilepsy surgery on seizure outcome. Methods: We searched the electronic databases PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library for studies investigating the association of epilepsy duration and seizure freedom after resective surgery. Two reviewers independently screened citations for eligibility and assessed relevant studies for risk of bias. We combined data in meta-analyses using a random effects model. We assessed the certainty...

The insect order Hymenoptera originated during the Permian nearly 300 million years ago. Ancestrally herbivorous hymenopteran lineages today make up the paraphyletic suborder 'Symphyta,' which encompasses circa 8200 species with very diverse host-plant associations. We used phylogeny-based statistical analyses to explore drivers of diversity dynamics within the 'Symphyta,' with a particular focus on the hypothesis that diversification of herbivorous insects has been driven by the explosive radiation of angiosperms during and after the Cretaceous. Our...

The usage of telomere length (TL) in blood as a proxy for the TL of other tissues relies on the assumption that telomere dynamics across all tissues are similar. However, telomere attrition can be caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) which may vary with metabolic rate, which itself varies across organs depending upon the life history strategy of an organism. Thus we chose to measure the telomeres of various cell types in juvenile painted dragon...

Incorporating species' eco-evolutionary responses to human-caused disturbances remains a challenge in marine management efforts. A prerequisite is knowledge of geographic structure and scale of genetic diversity and connectivity - the so-called seascape genetic patterns. The Baltic Sea is an excellent model system for studies linking seascape genetics with effects of anthropogenic stress. However, seascape genetic patterns in this area are only described for a few species and are completely unknown for invertebrate herbivores, which constitute...

Seagrass meadows are able to store significant amounts of organic carbon in their underlying sediment but global estimates are uncertain partly due to spatiotemporal heterogeneity between areas and species. In order to provide robust estimates, there is a need to better understand the fate of, and mechanisms behind, organic carbon storage. In this observational study, we analyse a suite of biotic and abiotic parameters in sediment cores from 47 different eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds spanning...

Evidence is accumulating that species traits can spur their evolutionary diversification through by influencing niche shifts, range expansions, and extinction risk. Previous work has shown that larger brains (relative to body size) facilitate niche shifts and range expansions by enhancing behavioral plasticity but whether larger brains also promote evolutionary diversification is currently backed by insufficient evidence. We addressed this gap by combining a dataset for >1900 avian species worldwide with estimates of diversification rates based...

Oceanic islands originate from volcanism or tectonic activity without connections to continental landmasses, are colonized by organisms, and eventually vanish due to erosion and subsidence. Colonization of oceanic islands occurs through long-distance dispersals or metapopulation vicariance, the latter resulting in lineages being older than the islands they inhabit. If metapopulation vicariance is valid, island ages cannot be reliably used to provide maximum age constraints for molecular dating. We explore the relationships between the ages of...

Objective: Our aim was to develop a risk stratification model to predict the presence of a potentially more sinister injury in patients exposed to a whiplash trauma. Methods: The study base comprised of 3,115 residents who first sought healthcare contact within one week after being exposed to a whiplash trauma between 1999-2008, from within a defined geographical area, Skaraborg County in south-western Sweden. Information about gender, age, time elapsed prior to seeking care, type of...

In animals with uniparental care, the quality of care provided by one sex can deeply impact the reproductive success of both sexes. Studying variation in parental care quality within a species and which factors may affect it can therefore shed important light on patterns of mate choice and other reproductive decisions observed in nature. Using Syngnathus typhle, a pipefish species with extensive uniparental male care, with embryos developing inside a brood pouch during a lengthy...