A new fossil piddock (Bivalvia: Pholadidae) may indicate estuarine to freshwater environments near Cretaceous amber-producing forests in Myanmar.

The lower Cenomanian Kachin amber from Myanmar contains a species-rich assemblage with numerous plant and animal fossils. Terrestrial and, to a lesser degree, freshwater species predominate in this assemblage, while a few taxa with marine affinities were also discovered, e.g. isopods, ammonites, and piddocks. Here, we describe the Kachin amber piddock †Palaeolignopholas kachinensis gen. & sp. nov. It appears to be an ancestral stem lineage of the recent Lignopholas piddocks, which are estuarine to freshwater bivalves, boring into wood and mudstone rocks. Frequent occurrences and high abundance of †Palaeolignopholas borings and preserved shells in the Kachin amber could indicate that the resin-producing forest was partly situated near a downstream (estuarine to freshwater) section of a river. Multiple records of freshwater invertebrates (caddisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, odonates, and chironomids) in this amber could also manifest in favor of our paleo-environmental reconstruction, although a variety of local freshwater environments is known to occur in coastal settings.

Freshwater mussels house a diverse mussel-associated leech assemblage.

Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are one of the most imperiled animal groups worldwide, revealing the fastest rates of extinction. Habitat degradation, river pollution and climate change are the primary causes of global decline. However, biological threats for freshwater mussels are still poorly known. Here, we describe a diverse ecological group of leeches (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae) inhabiting the mantle cavity of freshwater mussels. So far, examples of mussel-associated leech species are recorded from East Asia, Southeast Asia, India and Nepal, Africa, and North America. This group comprises a dozen glossiphoniid species with a hidden life style inside the mantle cavity of their hosts largely overlooked by researchers. We show that the association with freshwater mussels evolved independently in three leech clades, i.e. Batracobdelloides, Hemiclepsis, and Placobdella, at least since the Miocene. Seven mussel-associated leech species and two additional free-living taxa are described here as new to science.

Streptokinase@alumina nanoparticles as a promising thrombolytic colloid with prolonged action.

The present study is devoted to the development of a new class of thrombolytic systems - nanocolloids. A non-direct plasminogen activator, streptokinase, was entrapped in a sol-gel matrix based on boehmite nanoparticles used in medical practice as the most common vaccine adjuvant. It is shown that when the enzyme content in the composite is less than 10%, only minor release is observed, while thrombolytic properties are maintained at a relatively high level, demonstrating the prolonged effect. Based on the obtained composites, thrombolytic nanocolloids containing nanoparticles of less than 500 nm size and suitable for parenteral administration were produced. The thrombolytic properties were studied using the plasminogen activation tests, human plasma clots and a model thrombus made from a whole human blood. Based on the obtained results, the structure of the composites and the mechanism of their action are suggested.