<i>In vitro</i> experiments on the predation by the swimming crab, <i>Macropipus holsatus</i>, on brine shrimps, <i>Crangon crangon</i>

In vitro experiments on the predatory behaviour of the Portunid crabMacropipus holsatus indicate that it is not a very efficient predator of brown shrimp, Crangon crangon. Only about 2 % of the shrimps in the test units were killed and partly eaten by the crabs. These findings are compared to the results of earlier investigations on the food composition and feeding behaviour of Macropipus holsatus by Amrom (1961). Previous assumptions on the detrimental effect of the swimming crab on the shrimp stock and fishery should be attenuated

Deep sea spy: a collaborative annotation tool

Since 2010, remote hydrothermal ecosystems are continuously being monitored using video cameras deployed on instrumented platforms. The acquisition of high-frequency video data from deep-sea observatories like EMSOAzores or Ocean Networks Canada provide information on species behaviour, feeding habits, growth, reproduction and organisms’ response to changes in environmental conditions. Video cameras acquire hourly data representing thousands of hours and Tera Bytes of footage but their manual processing is time-consuming and highly labour-intensive, and cannot be comprehensively undertaken by individual researchers. In order to help preliminary manual assessment of this huge imagery archive, a free online annotation tool was developed to gather contributions from a wider community. The Deep Sea Spy system offers a fun and engaging web interface to members of the public to help perform initial footage annotations. The platform now hosts 623 active annotators who contributed 179,663 annotations to 19,541 images. Preliminary analyses highlight a high variability among participants but show promising results to detect trends in species abundance variation over time. Ultimately, the information gathered via this approach can help improving the algorithms necessary to produce accurate automated detection in imagery using a machine learning approach

Epidemic growth rates and host movement patterns shape management performance for pathogen spillover at the wildlife–livestock interface

Managing pathogen spillover at the wildlife–livestock interface is a key step towards improving global animal health, food security and wildlife conservation. However, predicting the effectiveness of management actions across host–pathogen systems with different life histories is an on-going challenge since data on intervention effectiveness are expensive to collect and results are system-specific.We developed a simulation model to explore how the efficacies of different management strategies vary according to host movement patterns and epidemic growth rates. The model suggested that fast-growing, fast-moving epidemics like avian influenza were best-managed with actions like biosecurity or containment, which limited and localized overall spillover risk. For fast-growing, slower-moving diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, depopulation or prophylactic vaccination were competitive management options. Many actions performed competitively when epidemics grew slowly and host movements were limited, and how management efficacy related to epidemic growth rate or host movement propensity depended on what objectivewas used to evaluatemanagement performance. This framework offers one means of classifying and prioritizing responses to novel pathogen spillover threats, and evaluating current management actions for pathogens emerging at the wildlife–livestock interface. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover’

Marine microbial biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology (M2B3) data reporting and service standards

Contextual data collected concurrently with molecular samples are critical to the use of metagenomics in the fields of marine biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology. We present here Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (M2B3) standards for “Reporting” and “Serving” data. The M2B3 Reporting Standard (1) describes minimal mandatory and recommended contextual information for a marine microbial sample obtained in the epipelagic zone, (2) includes meaningful information for researchers in the oceanographic, biodiversity and molecular disciplines, and (3) can easily be adopted by any marine laboratory with minimum sampling resources. The M2B3 Service Standard defines a software interface through which these data can be discovered and explored in data repositories. The M2B3 Standards were developed by the European project Micro B3, funded under 7th Framework Programme “Ocean of Tomorrow”, and were first used with the Ocean Sampling Day initiative. We believe that these standards have value in broader marine science

Efecto del antígeno excretor-secretor de leishmania braziliensis sobre la fagocitosis en macrófagos.

Leishmania braziliensis es un flagelado digénico que causa patología en mamíferos.El insecto vector inocula formas promastigotes del parásito en el torrente circulatorio delhospedador. Los parásitos deben ser endocitados rápidamente por los macrófagos u otrosfagocitos, en los que se reproduce como amastigote dentro de una vacuola parasitófora; lospromastigotes que no son internalizados mueren. Se sabe que la activación de los macrófagos, pormoléculas como los lipopolisacáridos (LPS) por ejemplo, producen mediadores químicos queregulan la respuesta inmune humoral y determinan la producción de interleuquinas Th1 o Th2, perose desconoce el efecto de la activación de los macrófagos sobre el proceso de fagocitosis. Por otraparte, se ha visto que el antígeno excretor-secretor producido por promastigotes (AESPL) de L.donovani activa a macrófagos murinos para la producción de interleuquinas pero no se conoce suefecto sobre el proceso de fagocitosis

Precision measurement of the electric quadrupole moment of 31Al and determination of the effective proton charge in the sd-shell

he electric quadrupole coupling constant of the 31Al ground state is measured to be nu_Q = |eQV_{zz}/h| = 2196(21)kHz using two different beta-NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) techniques. For the first time, a direct comparison is made between the continuous rf technique and the adiabatic fast passage method. The obtained coupling constants of both methods are in excellent agreement with each other and a precise value for the quadrupole moment of 31Al has been deduced: |Q(31Al)| = 134.0(16) mb. Comparison of this value with large-scale shell-model calculations in the sd and sdpf valence spaces suggests that the 31Al ground state is dominated by normal sd-shell configurations with a possible small contribution of intruder states. The obtained value for |Q(31Al)| and a compilation of measured quadrupole moments of odd-Z even-N isotopes in comparison with shell-model calculations shows that the proton effective charge e_p=1.1 e provides a much better description of the nuclear properties in the sd-shell than the adopted value e_p=1.3 e

Neighbourliness, conviviality, and the sacred in Athens’ refugee squats

To better understand the range of possibilities and opportunities for (co)existence available to displacement‐affected people, attention must be given to the thick webs of sociality shaping interactions in situations of mass displacement. This paper makes the case that refugee squats in Athens are distinct spaces wherein different understandings of (co)existence converge – spaces whose production is contingent on support from neighbourly relations and networks that are mediated in moments through conceptions of conviviality informed by religion. Based on ethnographic work carried out in 2016 and a spatial analysis of refugee squats in Athens, this paper emphasises neighbourliness and conviviality as they relate to sacred understandings of coexistence. This helps highlight the limits built in to thinking about the movement of refugees from the global South through Euro‐centric ontologies of the social. More than this, following postcolonial debates on the decentring of knowledge production, the research makes manifest how Islamic socio‐cultural memories of jiwār or a right of neighbourliness complicate geographies of humanitarianism that make stark binary assumptions between religious and secular space. In turn, the evidence from Athens indicates that refugee perspectives on neighbourliness are imperfectly translated by migrant rights activists as solidarity, obscuring the different ways Muslim structures of feeling contribute to the production of refugee squats

Safety and efficacy of a dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV prevention in women

BACKGROUND The incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remains high among women in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of extended use of a vaginal ring containing dapivirine for the prevention of HIV infection in 1959 healthy, sexually active women, 18 to 45 years of age, from seven communities in South Africa and Uganda. METHODS In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned participants in a 2:1 ratio to receive vaginal rings containing either 25 mg of dapivirine or placebo. Participants inserted the rings themselves every 4 weeks for up to 24 months. The primary efficacy end point was the rate of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) seroconversion. RESULTS A total of 77 participants in the dapivirine group underwent HIV-1 seroconversion during 1888 person-years of follow-up (4.1 seroconversions per 100 person-years), as compared with 56 in the placebo group who underwent HIV-1 seroconversion during 917 person-years of follow-up (6.1 seroconversions per 100 person-years). The incidence of HIV-1 infection was 31% lower in the dapivirine group than in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.99; P = 0.04). There was no significant difference in efficacy of the dapivirine ring among women older than 21 years of age (hazard ratio for infection, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.97) and those 21 years of age or younger (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.45 to 1.60; P = 0.43 for treatment-by-age interaction). Among participants with HIV-1 infection, nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor resistance mutations were detected in 14 of 77 participants in the dapivirine group (18.2%) and in 9 of 56 (16.1%) in the placebo group. Serious adverse events occurred more often in the dapivirine group (in 38 participants [2.9%]) than in the placebo group (in 6 [0.9%]). However, no clear pattern was identified. CONCLUSIONS Among women in sub-Saharan Africa, the dapivirine ring was not associated with any safety concerns and was associated with a rate of acquisition of HIV-1 infection that was lower than the rate with placebo.Supported by the International Partnership for Microbicides (a not-for-profit product-development partnership), which receives support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Irish Aid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the U.K. Department for International Development, the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.http://www.nejm.org2017-06-01am2017Family Medicin