6 research outputs found

    Waarnemingen.be : non-native plant and animal occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

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    Citizen scientists make important contributions to the collection of occurrence data of non-native species. We present two datasets comprising more than 520,000 records of 1,771 non-native species from Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region in Belgium, Western Europe, collected through the website http://www.waamemingen.be hosted by Stichting Natuurinformatie and managed by the nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt. Most records were collected by citizen scientists, mainly since 2008. Waarnemingen.be aims at recording all species, native and non-native, and it is shown here that this kind of biodiversity portals are also particularly well suited to collect large amounts of data on non-native species. Both datasets presented here are also discoverable through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

    31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

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    Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

    Suivi des populations de muscardin dans les Fourons

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    peer reviewedThe Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is a habitat specialist that prefers dense shrub and tree vegetation and needs a high diversity of food plants on a limited area. Due to habitat degradation and fragmentation the Flemish distribution area of this critically endangered species has been reduced to the eastern part of the municipality of Voeren, where it forms a cross-border population with the Dutch Hazel dormice. Since 2003 the Mammal Working Group of Natuurpunt studies the remaining Flemish population to find out more about population parameters, habitat use, the influence of habitat quality and management actions. In 2007 a standardised monitoring started by counting autumnal nests along fixed transects. In 2013 an intensive capture-mark-recapture study was set up based on nest box and nest tube checks and live-trapping on custom made hanging platforms; also a first test with radiocollars took place. The information gathered from the combination of all these methods will be used to validate the monitoring method and to formulate better protection measures. First results show that late summer and autumn should not be considered as the main reproduction period, at least not in an early year like 2014 when first young were already born at the beginning of May. Hazel dormice do not only cross significant barriers like the railway during dispersal, but also do this regularly during their nightly movements within their home range. Expansion of the population on a location with sufficient connectivity seems to be hampered by a too low population density resulting from insufficient habitat quality and (in this case) a high predation pressure by house cats. On the scale of the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, genetic analyses carried out by the University of Liège reveal four genetically isolated clusters, for which a vision to interconnect these was computed in the Interreg-project ‘Habitat Euregio’

    Waarnemingen.be - Non-native plant and animal occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

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    Citizen scientists make important contributions to the collection of occurrence data of non-native species. We present two datasets comprising more than 520,000 records of 1,771 non-native species from Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region in Belgium, Western Europe, collected through the website http://www.waamemingen.be hosted by Stichting Natuurinformatie and managed by the nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt. Most records were collected by citizen scientists, mainly since 2008. Waarnemingen.be aims at recording all species, native and non-native, and it is shown here that this kind of biodiversity portals are also particularly well suited to collect large amounts of data on non-native species. Both datasets presented here are also discoverable through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
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