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New Records and Descriptions of Three New Species of Quadriacanthus (Monopisthocotyla: Dactylogyridae) from Catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes, Clariidae) in the Upper Congo Basin
No full textIn the Upper Congo Basin, there are few records of monopisthocotylan parasites from clariids. More surveys of clariid fishes can lead to the discovery of multiple monopisthocotylan species that are new to the region or new to science. We aimed to investigate the monopisthocotylan parasite fauna belonging to Quadriacanthus of five clariid fishes in the Upper Congo Basin by (i) inventorying the species composition and providing the description of new species when necessary, and (ii) analysing their infection parameters. Clarias ngamensis, C. stappersii, C. buthupogon, C. gariepinus and C. theodorae were purchased from fishermen in the Lufira, Lubumbashi and Kafubu rivers in the Upper Congo Basin. Monopisthocotylans were mounted on glass slides with ammonium picrate-glycerin for identification based on morphological analysis of genital and haptoral sclerotised parts. Eight species, namely Q. aegypticus, Q. allobychowskiella, Q. amakaliae, Q. domatanai, Q. halajiani, Q. kalomboi n. sp., Q. bassocki n. sp. and Q. shigoleyae n. sp. are reported. The most prevalent parasite species was Q. amakaliae on C. stappersii (prevalence 60%) with a mean infection intensity of 9.8 +/- 7.7. We report C. stappersii and C. buthupogon as new hosts for species of Quadriacanthus as well as three new parasite species for science and new localities for the first five parasite species mentioned above. The new records and the description of Q. kalomboi n. sp., Q. bassocki n. sp. and Q. shigoleyae n. sp. increase the knowledge of the diversity of monopisthocotylans in this region.Funding:
The network underlying this study arose thanks to funding from VLIR-UOS, namely the Short Training Initiative “Building an African network for sustainable management of aquatic biological resources supported by genetics and parasitology” (NKOI2016PR008) and the South Initiative “Renforcement des capacités locales pour une meilleure évaluation biologique des impacts miniers au Katanga (RD Congo) sur les poissons et leurs milieux aquatiques” (ZRDC2014MP084), and from the framework agreements of the Belgian Development Cooperation with the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Mbisa Congo project 2013–2018) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Capacities for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development program). This research was also supported by VLIR-UOS (IUC-UNILU, CD2021IUC04A104 and Global Minds). Maarten P.M. Vanhove was financed by the Special Research Fund of Hasselt University (BOF20TT06). Wilmien J. Luus-Powell and Willem J. Smit were supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant No. 101054). The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments:
The Université de Lubumbashi is thanked through the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (for facilitating and authorising sampling) and the local team of the Laboratory BEZHU (Unité de Recherche en Biodiversité et Exploitation durable des Zones Humides), Anicet Doma Tana, Clément Kalombo Kabalika for their help in fish sampling. The University of Yaoundé 1 (Cameroon) is also thanked through the Faculty of Sciences, Laboratory of Parasitology and Ecology (Etienne Bassock and Jonathan Mbondo) for hosting and helping Gyrhaiss K. Kasembele in the lab for parasite identification and drawing during his research visit. The authors gratefully acknowledge Antoine
Pariselle, Filip A.M. Volckaert, Ouafae Berrada-Rkhami, Abdelaziz Benhoussa, Tine Huyse, Isaure de Buron-Connors, Valentin N’Douba, Arnold R. Bitja Nyom, Jos Snoeks, Emmanuel J. Vreven, Virginie Bito, and Luc Janssens de Bisthoven, senior scientists in the aforementioned projects
Veiligheid als rode draad bij de totstandkoming en de instandhouding van de reglementering inzake havenarbeid
No full textBreaking the angular dispersion limit in thin film optics by ultra-strong light-matter coupling (dataset)
No full textThis dataset contains raw data from transmission measurements, transfer-matrix-simulations and jV measurements. All files are raw .txt data and require no specific software to open. For specific information please refer to the figure captions of the manuscript or the description in the files. Manuscript figures were generated with OriginPro2021.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL
A Federated Data Analysis Approach for the Evaluation of Surrogate Endpoints
No full textIn clinical trials, surrogate endpoints, that are more cost-effective, occur earlier, or are more frequently measured, are sometimes used to replace costly, late, or rare true endpoints. Regulatory authorities typically require thorough evaluation and validation to accept these surrogate endpoints as reliable substitutes. To this end, the meta-analytic framework is considered a very viable approach to validate surrogates at both trial and individual levels. However, this framework requires data from multiple trials or centers, posing challenges when data sharing is not feasible. In this article, we propose a federated data analysis approach that allows organizations to maintain control over their datasets while still enabling surrogate validation through meta-analytic techniques. In this approach, there is no longer a need for raw data sharing. Instead, independent analyses are conducted at each organization. Thereafter, the results of these independent analyses are aggregated at a central analysis hub and the metrics for surrogate evaluation are extracted. We apply this approach to simulated and real clinical data, demonstrating how this federated approach can overcome data-sharing constraints and validate surrogate endpoints in decentralized settings
Critical Roles of Ultrafast Energy Funnelling and Ultrafast Singlet-Triplet Annihilation in Quasi-2D Perovskite Optical Gain Mechanisms
No full textQuasi-2D (Q2D) perovskite possess considerable potential for light emission and amplification technologies. Recently, mixed films containing Q2D perovskite grains with varying layer thicknesses have shown great promise as carrier concentrators, effectively mitigating trap-mediated recombination. In this strategy, photo-excitations are rapidly funnelled down an energy gradient to the thickest grains, leading to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). However, the quantum-confined Q2D slabs also stabilize the formation of unwanted triplet excitons, resulting in parasitic quenching of emissive singlet states. Here, a novel ultrafast photoluminescence spectroscopy is used to study photoexcitation dynamics in mixed-layer Q2D perovskites. By analysing spectra with high temporal and energy resolution, this is found that sub-picosecond energy transfer to ASE sites is accompanied by excitation losses due to triplet formation on grains with small and intermediate thicknesses. Further accumulation of triplets creates a bottleneck in the energy cascade, effectively quenching incoming singlet excitons. This ultrafast annihilation within 200 femtosecond outpaces energy transfer to ASE sites, preventing the build-up of population inversion. This study highlights the significance of investigating photoexcitation dynamics on ultrafast timescales, encompassing lasing dynamics, energy transfer, and singlet-triplet annihilation, to gain crucial insights into the photophysics of the optical gain process in Q2D perovskites.I.W. and K.C. acknowledge support from the Marsden Fund (17-VUW-154 and MFP-VUW2307), Royal Society of New Zealand. W.T.M.V.G.,L.L., P.G. and D.V. acknowledge the FWO for the funding of the SBOproject PROCEED (FWOS002019N) and the senior FWO research projectG043320N. P.G. acknowledges funding from FWO Vlaanderen through Re-search projects INTRIQATE (G0C5723N) & HITEC (G037221N). R.E. ac-knowledges the FWO for the funding of his personal FWO-SB Ph.D. fel-lowship (1SB3725N
The social dynamics of animal product consumption and dietary identity in friendship networks of university students
No full textCurtailing animal product and meat consumption can mitigate climate change and benefit health and animal welfare. As eating is highly social, friendship networks may influence animal product consumption, especially as young adults form new relationships in higher education. Previous studies have focused on perceived social norms or found cross-sectional evidence linking social contacts' consumption and dietary identities. Here, we used longitudinal social network analysis to examine dynamic social mechanisms – social selection (choosing friends) and social influence (friends' influence on behavior), related to animal product consumption and dietary identity. Three waves of data on consumption, dietary identities, and friendship networks were collected among Dutch university students (n = 74) over 12 months. Descriptive statistics indicated that animal product consumption positively correlated among friends (Moran's I Network Autocorrelation coefficient = 0.17–0.39). Longitudinal stochastic actor-oriented models found evidence of social selection but not social influence. Specifically, students were likelier to befriend peers with similar dietary identities, and students consuming fewer animal products were likelier to be nominated as friends. Friends' behavior did not influence consumption behavior, but having a meat-reducing household member predicted decreased meat consumption. The findings indicate animal product consumption clusters in student networks, partially driven by seeking friends with similar dietary identities. We discuss how the findings might contribute to future studies and interventions to reduce animal product consumption.This work was supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University [reference number: BOF20OWB25]. Research time of the second author is funded by Dutch Research Council VI.Veni.191S.010 since January 01, 2020.
Acknowledgments
We thank the team responsible for organizing the Test Days in 2022 and 2023 at the University of Groningen, particularly Stepan Zaretckii, Dennis Nientimp, and Annick Vlieg. We are also grateful for the feedback and support from Prof. Dr. Tom Snijders and Prof. Dr. Marijtje van Duijn. We are thankful for the technical support we received from Wilmer Joling related to the data collection. Furthermore, we would like to thank the colleagues of the Institute for Food System Equity and the Center for Applied Network Analysis at the University of Southern California for the valuable feedback and fruitful discussions. We are particularly thankful for the help and support of Prof. Dr. Tom Valente and Dr. Sarah Piombo
Politiek-ambtelijke verhoudingen op het Vlaamse lokale niveau: it takes two to tango
No full textDe gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van 13 oktober
brachten in heel wat gemeenten nieuwe bestuursploegen aan het
roer. Deze wissel van bestuursmeerderheden heeft zonder meer implicaties
voor de relaties met de administratie. Deze verhoudingen
tussen politiek en administratie zijn cruciaal voor de performantie
van lokale besturen. Onder meer de kwaliteit van de besluitvorming,
de effectiviteit en efficiëntie van het administratieve proces
en het omzetten van beleidsintenties naar beleid en impact worden
beïnvloed door de interactie tussen politici en ambtenaren (Svara,
2006). Deze bijdrage synthetiseert een aantal bestuurlijke, politieke
en maatschappelijke evoluties die de samenwerking tussen
politiek en administratie onder druk zetten
Egg allergen-specific T-cell and cytokine responses in healthy and egg-allergic children naturally tolerating baked egg
No full textBackground: Type 1 regulatory T (Tr1) cells are critical players in maintaining peripheral tolerance, by producing high IL-10 levels in association with inducible T-cell co-stimulator (ICOS) expression. Whether these cells play a role in naturally acquired baked egg tolerance is unknown. Objectives: Evaluate frequencies of egg-responsive Tr1 and Th2 cells in egg-allergic children that naturally acquired baked egg tolerance (BET) versus non-egg-allergic (NEA) children. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 70 natural BET and 15 NEA children were stimulated for 7 days with ovalbumin and ovomucoid. By flowcytometry, egg-responsive Tr1 cells were identified by co-expression of CD49b and LAG3, and Th2 cells by expression of CD49b but absence of LAG3. Seven-day cultured supernatant was analyzed for Th1, Th2, Tr1, and Th17 cytokines by MSD. Results: Natural BET children had a higher percentage of egg-responsive Th2 cells vs. NEA children (6.75% vs. 10.35%, p = .006). No significant difference was found in frequencies of egg-responsive Tr1 cells between NEA and natural BET children (11.40% vs. 12.55%, p = .42), although Tr1-related IL-10 and IL-21 production was higher in BET children. Interestingly, egg-responsive Tr1 cells from NEA children expressed higher ICOS levels vs. natural BET children (97.90 vs. 88.20, p < .0001). Supernatant from natural BET children showed elevated levels of Th2 cytokines IL-5, IL-9 and IL-13 and Th17 cytokine IL-17A. Conclusion: Natural BET children maintain increased egg-specific Th2 responses, along with comparable proportions of egg-responsive Tr1 cells exhibiting higher IL-10 but lower ICOS expression in comparison with NEA children.This study is part of the TETI-II project, funded by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO)-TBM program (T001419N). D. Bullens and R. Schrijvers are, respectively, former and current recipients of a senior researcher fellowship from the FWO and a recent KU Leuven (BOF-FKO) mandate
mstaniak/MWS_reproduction: Code for the accepted version of the manuscript
No full textRepository at this point contains all code, intermediate results, outputs required to reproduce data analyses presented in the "Relative quantification of proteins and post-translational modifications in proteomic experiments with shared peptides: a weight-based approach" manuscript accepted by Bioinformatics. Raw input data can be accessed from an external source linked in the README file.This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland [grant Preludium 2020/37/N/ST6/04070 to M.S.].Repository at this point contains all code, intermediate results, outputs required to reproduce data analyses presented in the "Relative quantification of proteins and post-translational modifications in proteomic experiments with shared peptides: a weight-based approach" manuscript accepted by Bioinformatics. Raw input data can be accessed from an external source linked in the README file.
Is supplement to
Software: https://github.com/mstaniak/MWS_reproduction/tree/v1.0.0 (URL)
Software
Repository URL
https://github.com/mstaniak/MWS_reproductio
Modeling Study on Optimizing Water and Nitrogen Management for Barley in Marginal Soils
No full textWater and N availability are key factors limiting crop yield, particularly in marginal soils. This study evaluated the effects of water and N stress on barley grown in marginal soils using field trials and the AgroC model. Experiments from 2020 to 2022 in Lithuania with spring barley cv. KWS Fantex under two N fertilization treatments on sandy soil provided data for model parameterization. The AgroC model simulated barley growth to assess yield potential and yield gaps due to water and N stress. Potential grain yields (assuming no water or N stress) ranged from 4.8 to 6.02 t DW ha-1, with yield losses up to 54.4% assuming only N stress and 59.2% assuming only water stress, even with the N100 treatment (100 kg N ha-1 yr-1). A synthetic case study varying N fertilization from 0 to 200 kg N ha-1 yr-1 showed that increasing N still enhanced yield, but the optimal rate of 100-120 kg N ha-1 yr-1 depended on climatic conditions, leading to uncertainty in fertilization recommendations. This study underscores the importance of integrating advanced modeling techniques with sustainable agricultural practices to boost yield potential and resilience in marginal soils. Incorporating remote sensing data to capture soil and crop variability is recommended for improving simulation accuracy, contributing to sustainable agriculture strategies in the Baltic-Nordic region.The barley experimental data were collected as part of the BioFoodonMars project, which was conducted from 2020 to 2023. This project was funded by the EU-FACCE-SURPLUS initiative within the framework of FACCE-JPI. The modeling portion of the study was carried out during a postdoctoral fellowship. Additionally, this project received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), under agreement No S-PD-24-64