State-Space Modeling Indicates Rapid Invasion of an Alien Shrub in Coastal Dunes

Invasion by alien plants has negative effects on coastal dunes. Monitoring local spread of invasive species depends on long-term data with sufficient spatial resolution. Bayesian state-space models are a new method for monitoring invasive plants based on unbalanced permanent-plot data. The method allows separation of process and sampling variance, thus enabling ecological predictions with a known degree of uncertainty. The method is applied for the invasive shrub Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) in Danish fixed dunes. The probability of observing R. rugosa increased significantly from 0.18 to 0.28 during the period 2004-2007. The species was found in all Danish coastal regions, albeit slightly less common in northern Denmark. We discuss the advantages and limitations of using Bayesian state-space models for monitoring and predicting plant invasions using presence-absence data

Nuevo registro de begonia inermis (Begoniaceae) para la Flora Argentina y un nuevo sinónimo de B. fischeri

Background and aims: The floristic richness of the province of Misiones (Argentina) has been increased in recent years, since new species have been cited and described for the region. The aims of this study were to revalidate and record Begonia inermis Imrsch. (Begoniaceae) for the Argentinian flora and propose a new synonym, B. hassleri C. DC., for B. fischeri Schrank. M&M: The new material collected and the new synonym were compared with the protologues and original materials of each species (except the original material of B. fischeri that could not be located), and additional specimens were also studied. The morphology was examined using optical microscopy. In addition, floras, taxonomic treatments and updated bibliography for the genus were reviewed. Results and conclusions: The description of the new record is presented, a map with its geographical distribution is added, and field photographs and a key to identify the species of Begonia L. that inhabit Misiones are provided. The number of Begonia species cited for the Argentinian Flora was not modified, since B. inermis is revalidate and also we treat B. hassleri as a synonym of B. fischeri. The ring of trichomes at the apex of the petiole of B. inermis differentiates this species from the other species of Begonia that inhabit in Argentina.Introducción y objetivos: La riqueza florística de la provincia de Misiones se ha visto incrementada en los últimos años ya que se han citado y descripto nuevas especies para la región. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron revalidar y registrar a Begonia inermis Imrsch. (Begoniaceae) para la flora de Argentina (Misiones) y proponer un nuevo sinónimo, B. hassleri C. DC., para B. fischeri Schrank.. M&M: El nuevo material coleccionado y el nuevo sinónimo fueron comparados con los protólogos y materiales originales de cada especie (excepto el material original de B. fischeri que no pudo ser localizado), y, además, se estudiaron ejemplares adicionales. La morfología fue examinada utilizando microscopía óptica. Se revisaron floras, tratamientos taxonómicos y bibliografía actualizada para el género. Resultados y conclusiones: Se presenta la descripción del nuevo registro, se agrega un mapa con su distribución geográfica actualizada, se proveen fotografías de campo y una clave para identificar las especies de Begonia L. que ocurren en Misiones. El número de especies de Begonia citadas para la Flora Argentina no se vio modificada, ya que se restituye y se cita a B. inermis y se sinonimiza a B. hassleri bajo B. fischeri. El anillo de tricomas en el ápice del pecíolo de B. inermis, diferencia a esta especie de las otras de Begonia que habitan en la Argentina.Fil: Zanotti, Christian Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; ArgentinaFil: Kollmann, Ludovic J. C.. Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitão; BrasilFil: Keller, Hector Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentin

Professional Standards in Medical Ultrasound - EFSUMB Position Paper (Long Version) - General Aspects

This first position paper of the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) on professional standards presents a common position across the different medical professions within EFSUMB regarding optimal standards for the performing and reporting of ultrasound examinations by any professional ultrasound operator. It describes general aspects of professionality that ensure procedure quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability in virtually all application fields of medical ultrasound. Recommendations are given related to safety and indication of ultrasound examinations, requirements for examination rooms, structured examination, systematic reporting of results, and management, communication and archiving of ultrasound data. The print version of this article is a short version. The long version is published online.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Secure Conflict-free Replicated Data Types

Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) are abstract data types that support developers when designing and reasoning about distributed systems with eventual consistency guarantees. In their core they solve the problem of how to deal with concurrent operations, in a way that is transparent for developers. However in the real world, distributed systems also suffer from other relevant problems, including security and privacy issues and especially when participants can be untrusted. In this paper we present the first formal cryptographic treatment of CRDTs, as well as proposals for secure implementations. We start by presenting a security notion that is compatible with standard definitions in cryptography. We then describe new privacy-preserving CRDT protocols that can be used to help secure distributed cloud-backed applications, including NoSQL geo-replicated databases. Our proposals are based on standard CRDTs, such as sets and counters, augmented with cryptographic mechanisms that allow operations to be performed on encrypted data. Our proposals are accompanied with formal security proofs and implement and integrate them in AntidoteDB, a geo-replicated NoSQL database that leverages CRDTs for its operations. Experimental evaluations based on the Danish Shared Medication Record dataset (FMK) exhibit the tradeoffs that our different proposals make and show that they are ready to be used in practical applications

Mononuclear cell secretome protects from experimental autoimmune myocarditis

Aims Supernatants of serum-free cultured mononuclear cells (MNC) contain a mix of immunomodulating factors (secretome), which have been shown to attenuate detrimental inflammatory responses following myocardial ischaemia. Inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy (iDCM) is a common cause of heart failure in young patients. Experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) is a CD4+ T cell-dependent model, which mirrors important pathogenic aspects of iDCM. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of MNC secretome on myocardial inflammation in the EAM model. Methods and results BALB/c mice were immunized twice with an alpha myosin heavy chain peptide together with Complete Freund adjuvant. Supernatants from mouse mononuclear cells were collected, dialysed, and injected i.p. at Day 0, Day 7, or Day 14, respectively. Myocarditis severity, T cell responses, and autoantibody formation were assessed at Day 21. The impact of MNC secretome on CD4+ T cell function and viability was evaluated using in vitro proliferation and cell viability assays. A single high-dose application of MNC secretome, injected at Day 14 after the first immunization, effectively attenuated myocardial inflammation. Mechanistically, MNC secretome induced caspase-8-dependent apoptosis in autoreactive CD4+ T cells. Conclusion MNC secretome abrogated myocardial inflammation in a CD4+ T cell-dependent animal model of autoimmune myocarditis. This anti-inflammatory effect of MNC secretome suggests a novel and simple potential treatment concept for inflammatory heart disease

Induction level determines signature of gene expression noise in cellular systems

Noise in gene expression, either due to inherent stochasticity or to varying inter- and intracellular environment, can generate significant cell-to-cell variability of protein levels in clonal populations. We present a theoretical framework, based on stochastic processes, to quantify the different sources of gene expression noise taking cell division explicitly into account. Analytical, time-dependent solutions for the noise contributions arising from the major steps involved in protein synthesis are derived. The analysis shows that the induction level of the activator or transcription factor is crucial for the characteristic signature of the dominant source of gene expression noise and thus bridges the gap between seemingly contradictory experimental results. Furthermore, on the basis of experimentally measured cell distributions, our simulations suggest that transcription factor binding and promoter activation can be modelled independently of each other with sufficient accuracy

Widespread latitudinal asymmetry in the performance of marginal populations: A meta-analysis

Aim Range shifts are expected to occur when populations at one range margin perform better than those at the other margin, yet no global trend in population performances at range margins has been demonstrated empirically across a wide range of taxa and biomes. Here we test the prediction that, if impacts of ongoing climate change on performance in marginal populations are widespread, then populations from the high-latitude margin (HLM) should perform as well as or better than central populations, whereas low-latitude margin (LLM) populations should perform worse. Location Global. Time period 1995–2019. Major taxa studied Plants and animals. Methods To test our prediction, we used a meta-analysis to quantify empirical support for asymmetry in the performance of high- and low-latitude margin populations compared to central populations. Performance estimates (survival, reproduction, or lifetime fitness) for populations occurring in their natural environment were derived from 51 papers involving 113 margin-centre comparisons from 54 species and 705 populations from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australia. We then related these performance differences to climatic differences among populations. We also tested whether patterns are consistent across taxonomic kingdoms (plants vs animals) and across realms (marine vs terrestrial). Results Populations at margins performed significantly worse than central populations, and this trend was primarily driven by the low-latitude margin. Although the difference was of small magnitude, it was largely consistent across biological kingdoms and realms. Differences in performance were weakly (p = .08) related to the difference in average temperatures between central and marginal populations. Main conclusions The observed asymmetry in performance in marginal populations is consistent with predictions about the effects of global climate change, though further research is needed to confirm the effect of climate. It indicates that changes in demographic rates in marginal populations can serve as early-warning signals of impending range shifts