October was a busy month for the BMC-series, with the announcement of theNobel prize winners在生理学或医学上以及备受期待的Open Access week. To hear more about what we’ve been up to, read on for some exciting highlights from across the series.

Conservation genetics: Koala diversity not affected by hunting
将博物馆标本与现代人口进行比较，几乎没有证据表明在20世纪初期狩猎考拉造成了该物种目前看到的遗传多样性低，这表明应该归咎于一个更古老的因素。作者study, Professor Alex Greenwoodexplained“降低了考拉遗传多样性的事件一定是很久以前就发生了，也许是在更新世晚期，较大的考拉物种phascolarctos stirtoni灭绝了。”

同行评审：关注质量
BMC Ophthalmology now endorses a free of charge, onlinepeer review courseentitled Translating Critical Appraisal of a Manuscript into Meaningful Peer Review, which is run by the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group. The course aims to serve as a resource for health professionals, particularly ophthalmologists, optometrists, and other vision practitioners, who are serving or wish to serve as peer reviewers of the biomedical literature. To enrol on the course or for more information please see theirwebsite.

Data notes: Sharing the tree of life
Arlin Stoltzfus and colleaguescallfor a standardized system for handling information from phylogenetic trees, including centralized data deposition, and user friendly means of data retrieval and integration.

HIV therapy: Earlier initiation of ART needed
A high rate of mortality is observed in the infected partner of African HIV-1 serodiscordant couples, even when CD4 cell counts are above levels that prompt antiretroviral (ART) treatment. In astudy在3295位HIV Seriodiscordant夫妇中，作者观察到109例死亡，其中74例被感染HIV-1，其中25人在HIV-1未感染的人中。这些结果表明，较早的艺术启动可能具有重大的临床益处。

Cancer metastasis: Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for limited brain metastases
Using an individualized treatment approach, astudyled by Dr Diana Steinmann identified the most effective and safe dose concept to be used for hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (hfSRT) in patients with primary or recurrent limited brain metastases.

Image of the month:

Pulsatile dry cupping for osteoarthritis of the knee. FromTeut, et al., BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Medical genomics: Deregulation of SERCA2 in myocardial infarction
Both mRNA and protein levels of Sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase-2 (SERCA2), a known central player in myocardial contractility, are decreased in myocardial infarction. A newstudynow shows deregulation of 43 microRNAs in infarcted myocardium that may play a role in the changes in SERCA2 expression.

Pharmacology: Cocaine-induced modulation of Mu-opioid receptors
Cocaine exposure regulates Mu-opioid receptor (MOR) expression in PC12 cells at both the transcriptional and the post-transcriptional level. Nitric oxide and histone deacetylase activity were both involved in the alteration of MOR expression, leading the authors of thisstudyto hypothesize that epigenetic mechanisms may modulate cocaine-induced MOR expression in vivo.

You can keep up to date with all the latest developments across all aspects of biology and medicine published in the BMC-series by following ourblog, twitter feed@BMC_series, or individual journalhomepagesin your research area. We look forward to bringing you further exciting updates over the next month!