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Full-Length Hybrid Transcriptome of the Olfactory Rosette in Senegalese Sole (Solea senegalensis): An Essential Genomic Resource for Improving Reproduction on Farms
No full textSenegalese sole is a promising European aquaculture species whose main challenge is that captive-born males (F1) are unable to reproduce in farms, hindering breeding programs. Chemical communication through the olfactory system is hypothesized to stem this issue. Although significant advancement in genomic resources has been made recently, scarce information exists on the genomic basis of olfaction, a special sensory system for demersal species like flatfish, which could play a prominent role in reproduction, social and environmental interactions. A full-length transcriptome of the olfactory rosettes including females, males, juveniles and adults, of both F1 and wild origins, was generated at the isoform-level by combining Oxford Nanopore long-read and Illumina short-read sequencing. A total of 20,670 transcripts actively expressed were identified: 13,941 known transcripts, 5,758 novel transcripts from known genes, and 971 from novel genes. Given the important role of olfaction in reproductive behaviour, we comparatively examined the expression and functional enrichment of the olfactory receptor gene families (OlfC, OR, ORA and TAAR). Our comprehensive olfactory transcriptome of Senegalese sole provides a foundation for delving into the functional basis of this complex organ in teleost and flatfish. Furthermore, it provides a valuable resource for addressing reproductive management challenges in Senegalese sole aquaculture.</p
"We're Here, We've Got Changed, We're Going Out":Wild swimming groups as ecologies of care
No full textGreen/blue wellbeing is increasingly a focus of mental and physical healthcare in the United Kingdom, with green/blue space "prescribing"touted as providing a range of benefits. Attempts to explore the "how"and "why"of potential mental health improvements through these activities to date are primarily quantitative, and/or utilize medical/individualized models. Such approaches are situated within and can reinscribe a humanist, extractivist, one-way relationship with the natural world. Here, we draw on ecofeminist approaches to care to explore findings from our fieldwork with two wild swimming communities in Scotland, enabling us to consider human-nature interactions as relational. The wild swimming focus groups presented a complex picture in which the mental health benefits of swimming are entangled with relationships between group members, and embodied, sensory experiences of and relationships with blue spaces. By conceptualizing these groups as "ecologies of care,"we seek to embrace that intricacy, considering how wild swimming is a political act engaged with through deviant bodies or in deviant temporal/weather conditions, and how care is engendered through mutuality, space, and cold water. In conjunction with this complexity, the emergent nature of these groups has transformative implications for futurity, justice-to-come, and hyper-local ways of living within and alongside blue spaces.</p
Recent advances in the recycling of precious metals using sustainable chemistry
No full textPrecious metals (PMs) such as silver, gold, palladium, platinum, and rhodium are used not just in traditional industries like jewelry, but also in modern electronics, medicine, catalysis and others. Their scarcity, as well as the environmental impact of current extraction procedures that frequently include harmful compounds such as cyanide and mercury, provide substantial global issues. With a growing interest in sustainable chemistry, researchers are developing eco-benign ways to extract PMs from secondary sources, like electronic waste, spent catalysts which frequently have greater PM concentrations. This review presents a contemporary analysis of PM recovery with focus on underexplored and emergent avenues, such as bio-based leaching, mechanochemistry, photocatalysis, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, and computationally driven ligand design, in addition to reviewing conventional procedures. Sustainability criteria including toxicity, energy use, recyclability, and life-cycle assessment (LCA) are prioritized. Comparative tables and cross-cutting studies reveal which techniques are industrially scalable, which are still in proof-of-concept stage, and where knowledge gaps persist. This review gives a unique perspective on chemical innovation and sustainability evaluation, complementing existing surveys and providing actionable information for academics and industries seeking greener PM recovery.</p
Histopathological analysis in placentas of ewes infected with Chlamydia abortus showing different gross lesion severity.
Get PDFThe placenta plays a vital role in nutrient exchange between the mother and fetus. In pregnant ewes, Chlamydia abortus infection causes suppurative necrotising placentitis, impairing this function. While gross placental lesions are observable, microscopic analysis is required for detailed characterisation. This study investigated the histopathological changes in placentas showing different severities of visible damage from C. abortus-infected ewes. This study investigated histopathological changes in placentas from ewes experimentally infected with C. abortus, grouped (n = 3 per group) by the extent of visible lesions: Low (0–25%), Medium (40–60%), and High (85–100%). Formalin-fixed placentas were randomly sampled for histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC). In the Low group, the placentas showed mild to moderate focal suppurative placentitis. Medium group placentas exhibited severe multifocal suppurative necrotising placentitis with vascular thrombosis, while the High group exhibited severe, diffuse, suppurative necrotising placentitis with vascular necrosis and mineralisation. IHC for chlamydial lipopolysaccharide showed a higher presence in the trophoblast in the Medium group than in the Low or High groups. The histopathological parameters were standardised and statistically analysed to investigate each parameter's relative impact on the disease's pathogenesis. The findings suggest that ischemic necrosis, due to vascular lesions such as vasculitis, mural necrosis, and thrombosis driven by the host response to chlamydial antigens, has a greater impact on pregnancy outcome than cell lysis associated with the release of chlamy dial elementary bodies. Reduced perfusion and inflammation-2 associated oedema increase the thickness of the maternofetal interface, compromising fetal nutrient exchange and fetal survival
Generative AI and the future of writing for publication:Insights from applied linguistics journal editors
Get PDFThe emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping academic writing and publishing practices. As knowledge curators, applied linguistics journal editors need to respond to GenAI developments. Yet, little is known about their perspectives on GenAI in academic writing and publishing. These perspectives could influence their editorial decisions and journal policies - potentially defining how scholars write for publication. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study explored the perceptions of ten applied linguistics journal editors towards GenAI in academic writing for publication. Analysis shows that the development of GenAI is putting additional strain on the editorial process, which is already struggling. It highlights that current publisher and journal policies on GenAI are ambiguous, leading to confusing and questionable research practices. Editors are cautious about the use of GenAI in applied linguistics research and writing, with only the use of these tools to improve writing quality universally acceptable. Transparency is seen as essential. The findings highlight a pressing need for discipline-specific guidance on the acceptable uses of GenAI in academic publishing and the development of methodological models that detail ways GenAI can be integrated into the field's rich and diverse research traditions.</p
Individual drivers of toxicity in radical right-wing populist legislative campaigns
Get PDFMost studies of political rhetoric examine only political leadership or treat parties as unified actors. However, what happens where electoral systems incentivise candidates to diverge from stated party messaging during campaigns? This article uses novel data on political experience and candidate backgrounds from the 2022 French parliamentary elections to explore the individual drivers of campaigning behaviour. The choice of France, with its multiple and prominent radical right-wing parties, allows for the consideration of both within- and between-party differences in individual campaigning. Using the salient example of toxic rhetoric, findings demonstrate that even when party leaders publicly urge moderation, individual candidates do not necessarily follow along. This implies the need for additional focus on the individual-level drivers of political semantics, especially where candidates are apt to campaign independently, using social media platforms to communicate directly with citizens.</p
Study protocol for an open-label, single-arm, mixed methods feasibility study of the MWIQ AI-powered decision support tool for diabetes management in GP practices
Get PDFIntroduction Diabetes affects ~10% of the world’s population and is rising. Treatment costs in the UK are ~15% of the NHS budget. Diabetes-related complications can be lowered through better evidence-based clinician management and patient self-management. MyWay intelligence quotient (MWIQ) is an electronic platform that will provide clinical decision support around the diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetes. This study evaluates the safety and clinical performance (clinical appropriateness/applicability, clinical impact and clinical usability) of MWIQ.Methods and analysis The system will be implemented in real time in four to seven general practitioner (GP) practices. Clinicians with diabetes expertise will be recruited as validators, who will inspect records to ensure system robustness before use, and up to 14 healthcare professionals will use and evaluate the system.Quantitative and qualitative analyses will be triangulated to assess the MWIQ system. Assessment of clinical outcomes will be made using pseudonymised routinely collected clinical data, including adherence to quality performance indicators, diabetes diagnosis, diabetes investigations (eg, genetic testing), HbA1c, blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol and foot risk score for the diabetes population concerned. Clinical and validator participants will also submit a weekly questionnaire, and these, along with interviews, which are scheduled during the testing process, will be analysed to provide data on the utility, safety and usability of the system.Ethics and dissemination This study was approved, 08/01/2024, by the North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee (REC), IRAS project ID: 305267, REC, reference 23/NS/0134. The study has gained confidentiality advisory group (CAG) support (reference: 24/CAG/0002), medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) and health research authority (27/08/2024) approvals.Findings will be reported to (1) The funding body, (2) The participating GP practices, (3) The study PPIE group, (4) The MHRA to support a submission for recognition as a class 2 CE/UKCA marked device, (5) Presented at local, national and international conferences and (6) Disseminated by peer-reviewed publications.Trial registration number ISRCTN17422256
Energy localization and eigenvalue veering induced by local constraints in bolted structures
Get PDFVibrational energy localization, commonly attributed to disorder, periodic defects or weak coupling, can also arise from internal geometric constraints in continuous elastic systems such as those introduced in bolted connections. We investigate how the placement of an internal elastic interface within a segmented beam induces eigenvalue veering and spatial energy confinement. A spectral model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is developed, incorporating a tunable dimensionless interface parameter to represent variable constraint positioning. Furthermore, an energy-based localization metric reveals confinement regions and tracks modal exchanges across veering regions. The theoretical predictions are validated experimentally using non-contact laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) on a geometrically tunable bolt-nut assembly. Results confirm that the local constraint can be used to understand vibrational spectra and induce strong localization. These results position internal constraint geometry as a practical tuning mechanism for shaping vibrational spectra in continuous elastic systems, with direct relevance to bolted connections, and provide new opportunities for engineered mode control in structural joints and segmented media.</p
Animal welfare for production and working animals: evidence and need for action
Get PDFThe goal of this technical paper is to draw attention to the importance of animal welfare and how it connects to wider social, environmental, and agricultural issues. It focuses on how animal welfare improvements within farming systems can lead to other benefits, as well as benefiting the animals themselves. The examples throughout this paper demonstrate how sustainable livestock systems can benefit when animal welfare is incorporated as a priority. It is hypothesized that many more opportunities for welfare and sustainability gains exist. To identify these, and to mitigate situations that create trade-offs, system changes need to be grounded by evidence of improvements and include animal welfare assessmen
Single (with a PhD) and fabulous? Navigating academia while seeking Romance as a woman of colour
Get PDFIn neoliberalised academia where outputs are highly coveted, single, childfree women of colour (WoC) with PhDs navigate the triality of race, gender, and singlehood in exceling at work while also seeking romance. Taking an intersectional approach, this paper is an autoethnographic examination of my struggles as a WoC who excels academically at a often hostile workplace and seeks romantic partnership in a predominately white world. I show that universities remain a site of racism, sexism, and singlism where WoC are required to work harder to prove their qualifications than their white counterparts and single women are expected to pick up more work than their married colleagues with children. Through WoC’s careful navigation of the power dynamics in heterosexual relationships, I demonstrate, using my own experience as a point of entry, that many WoC academics provide the emotional work to avoid hurting men’s fragile masculinity and thereby subconsciously contribute to the hypermasculinised dating culture. This paper offers important perspectives for understanding how single, childfree WoC with PhDs struggle with and defy the gender expectations placed on them while seeking romance
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