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Modern Coral Taxonomy Requires Reproducible Data Alongside Field Observations—Comments on Veron et al. (2025)
No full textThe recent review by Veron et al. (2025) posits that quantitative genomic evidence used to understand coral evolution should be secondary to species hypotheses derived from expert opinion based on field experience. The authors argue that morphological “biological entities” should take precedence over molecular evidence when conflicts arise. This perspective required the rejection of extensive, independent molecular datasets that have progressively converged on a robust evolutionary framework for reef corals. Here, we reaffirm how prioritising subjective visual assessments over quantitative genetic and genomic data is methodologically unsound and scientifically regressive. We reject the framing of this perspective as “morphology versus molecules”. Rather, it is a fundamental divergence between two opposing philosophies: a static system anchored in non-reproducible expert judgement, and an integrative framework where genetic data provide the necessary independent test of morphological hypotheses. We show how a reliance on “field entities” obscures true morphological patterns by failing to distinguish between phenotypic plasticity, convergence, and evolutionary divergence. Effective taxonomy requires species hypotheses to be testable, and to stand or fall on the strength of reproducible evidence. Such a framework does not replace morphology; it validates it by providing an explicit, testable basis for evaluating morphological hypotheses. The integration of testable, reproducible molecular analysis with other lines of evidence including morphology is the benchmark of modern taxonomy across all Kingdoms of Life. We address the logical inconsistencies in the general arguments put forward by Veron et al. (2025) and refute their specific rejection of recent Acropora species-level revision with reproducible data
Een rondje langs het veld:Enkele algemene observaties over recente ontwikkelingen in de tbs
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Are women's experiences of different modes of birth related to interventions during the previous birth? Results from the nested Lifelines Reproductive Origins of Adult Health and Disease Cohort
No full textBackground Childbirth experience profoundly influences maternal postpartum wellbeing, yet the impact of various modes of birth, and interventions during the index birth, on subsequent childbirth experiences remains unclear. This study aimed to explore associations between subsequent modes of birth and childbirth experiences, while adjusting for any interventions during the index birth. Methods Data were obtained from the Lifelines Reproductive Origins of Adult Health and Disease cohort, a nested cohort within the Lifelines cohort. Women's childbirth experiences were measured using the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire 2.0 (CEQ2.0). Participants included women who had given birth twice, at 25 weeks gestation or later, and had fully completed the CEQ2.0. Linear regression models assessed associations between subsequent modes of birth and CEQ2.0 scores (total and domain specific), adjusting for any interventions during the index birth. Results Of the 805 included women, 58.1 % had a spontaneous vaginal birth at their index birth, increasing to 83.2 % at their subsequent birth. Compared with spontaneous vaginal birth, assisted vaginal birth and emergency caesarean section had a negative association with CEQ2.0 scores. After adjustment for intervention in the index birth, the strength of the negative association between assisted vaginal birth and CEQ2.0 scores slightly increased, whereas the strength of the negative association between emergency caesarean section and CEQ2.0 scores slightly decreased. Conclusions Understanding that interventions during the index birth may influence subsequent childbirth experiences could help to provide tailored care for women to minimize the risk of a negative childbirth experience, and ensure support if intervention becomes necessary in subsequent births.</p
Why do people become a foster parent? Insights from a national study
No full textObjective: Many countries face a shortfall in the number of foster families needed to support maltreated children. This study aims to explore the drivers and barriers to becoming a foster family and to identify clusters derived from these drivers/barriers and their association with sociodemographic factors. Method: A representative sample of 1,066 Portuguese adults (Mage = 52.76, SD = 14.92) responded to a survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, awareness, willingness, and intention to foster and two open-ended questions related with enablers and barriers to becoming foster carers. Results: Three profiles emerged: Material Resources (9.2% of participants), linked to material factors such as housing and economic resources; Personal Traits and Characteristics (23.0% of participants), associating the decision to become a foster family with various individual attributes and capabilities; and Child-centered Motivations (67.8% of participants), where the drivers to become a foster family focused on children and altruistic motivations, and barriers centered on personal and familial fears and threats, and child protection constraints. Differences regarding awareness, willingness and intention to foster, gender, marital status, education, family income, and having children significantly distinguished clusters. Conclusions: The identification of these profiles, based on enablers and barriers to becoming a foster parent, can inform tailoring recruitment strategies that align with the specific needs and characteristics of prospective foster families.</p
Book review Janssen, S., N. Kristensen en M. Verboord (eds.) Engagement with culture in transformative times
No full textGlucose control during 3-month treatment with bihormonal artificial pancreas versus current diabetes care in patients after total pancreatectomy:Study protocol for the PANORAMA randomized crossover trial
No full textEncoding of movement primitives and body posture through distributed proprioception in walking and climbing insects
No full textTargeted reaching movements and spatial coordination of footfall patterns are prime examples of spatial coordination of animal limbs. To explain this, both physiological and computational studies have suggested the use of movement primitives or the existence of an internal body representation. Since insects lack a dedicated posture-sensing organ or vestibular system (which vertebrates possess), it has been hypothesized that they derive high-level postural information from distributed low-level proprioceptive cues, integrated across their limbs. To test this possibility, we use a multi-layer spiking neural network to extract high-level information about limb movement and whole-body posture from information provided by distributed local proprioceptors. The preceding companion paper introduced the phasic-tonic encoding of joint angles by strictly local proprioceptive afferents, and high-accuracy encoding of joint angles and angular velocities in first-order interneurons. Here, we extend this model by second-order interneurons that encode movement primitives of single legs by coincidence detection from two or three leg-local inputs. By validation against annotated experimental data on whole-body kinematics of unrestrained stick insect locomotion, we show that modelled interneurons can signal particular step cycle phases, but also step cycle transitions such as leg lift-off. To indicate climbing behaviour, third-order interneurons encode body pitch relative to the substrate from position and motion of local leg joints. Our results demonstrate that simple combinations of two or three position/velocity inputs from disjunct proprioceptor arrays are sufficient to encode high-order movement information about step cycle phases. The resulting movement primitive encoding may converge to represent particular locomotor states and whole-body posture.</p
Modeling incoherent exciton transport between chlorosome tubes
No full textChlorosomes are the antennae of the efficient light harvesting complex in green (non-sulfur) bacteria. The ultrafast energy transfer process in natural light harvesting systems can be understood in terms of exciton transport. In chlorosomes, excitons can be delocalized over hundreds of molecules, making it of eminent interest to study large model systems composed of many (thousands) of molecules that are large enough to describe the exciton dynamics that occur in vivo in chlorosomes. In this study, we examine a recently developed Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian of a three coaxial tube chlorosome model based on an all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. We use the computationally efficient time domain Förster resonant energy transfer method to find the timescales of incoherent transfer between the chlorosome walls in this large model. We found that the population transfer rate between neighboring chlorosome walls is ∼2.3 ps−1. We used three different choices of initial quantum states for these transfer processes and found that this transfer timescale between neighboring walls does not vary significantly for these.</p
Knowledge gaps in the acute management of mild traumatic brain injury in older adults
No full textMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), often called “mild concussion,” is increasingly common among older adults. Managing these injuries can be challenging because older adults face different risks and complications after head trauma compared with younger patients. For example, they often use medications to prevent thrombotic events, are more likely to develop traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (tICH) even after mild injury, and frequently have other health problems that complicate recovery. Current guidelines do not always reflect these differences. As a result, some patients may receive more treatment than necessary, while others may not get the care they need.In this thesis, several aspects of mTBI in older adults are investigated. By using national data, we have shown that the number of emergency visits and hospital admissions for head injuries is rising, in particular among older adults, mostly due to falls and traffic accidents. Blood tests as markers for brain injury severity, such as the biomarker S100B, are less reliable in older adults than in younger people. The effect of anticoagulant medications was also assessed, and it was found that newer drugs, called direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), are generally safer than vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), as they reduce the risk of tICH and the need for related interventions. These drugs carry a similar risk of secondary deterioration compared with other antiplatelet drugs. In older patients, some types of traumatic brain abnormalities appear to be low-risk for secondary deterioration and may allow for earlier hospital discharge. A survey among doctors, however, showed that they are cautious about discharging older patients with traumatic brain abnormalities, given the lack of guidance in current guidelines.Overall, this thesis highlights the need for personalized assessment and better guidance to aid doctors in making safe, informed decisions for older adults with mTBI, thereby improving both care and quality of life