Creation and restoration of coastal and estuarine habitats, a review of practical examples and a description of sequential guidelines for habitat creation and restoration in port areas

One of the themes of the NEW! Delta project is theme 3 "Creation and restoration of coastal and estuarine habitats" Within this theme two demonstration projects of habitat creation and restoration schemes have been implemented: one in the port of Antwerp and the other in the dune area "De Zilk" along the Dutch coast. The contributers of this study are from: ABP MER (United Kingdom), Alterra, Vlaamse overheid Afdeling Kust, DIREN Haute-Normandie, Grontmij, IMIEU Brussel, Haven van Antwerpen, Haven van Rotterdam, provincie Zuid-Hollan

Curvature correction to the mobility of fluid membrane inclusions

For the first time, using rigorous low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamic theory on curved surfaces via a Stokeslet-type approach, we provide a general and concise expression for the leading-order curvature correction to the canonical, planar, Saffman-Delbrück value of the diffusion constant for a small inclusion embedded in an arbitrarily (albeit weakly) curved fluid membrane. In order to demonstrate the efficacy and utility of this wholly general result, we apply our theory to the specific case of calculating the diffusion coefficient of a locally curvature inducing membrane inclusion. By including both the effects of inclusion and membrane elasticity, as well as their respective thermal shape fluctuations, excellent agreement is found with recently published experimental data on the surface tension dependent mobility of membrane bound inclusions

Abnormal T-cell phenotype in episodic angioedema with hypereosinophilia (Gleich's syndrome): frequency, clinical implication and prognosis

BACKGROUND: Episodic Angioedema with eosinophilia (EAE, Gleich\u27s syndrome) is a rare disorder consisting of recurrent episodes of angioedema, hypereosinophilia and frequent elevated serum Immunoglobin M. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective multicenter nationwide study regarding the clinical spectrum and therapeutic management of patients with EAE in France. RESULTS: Thirty patients were included with a median age at diagnosis of 41 years [5-84]. The median duration of each crisis was 5.5 days [1-90] with swelling affecting mainly the face and the upper limbs. Total serum IgM levels were increased in 20 patients (67%). Abnormal T-cell immunophenotypes were detected in 12 patients (40%) among which 5 (17%) showed evidence of clonal TCR γ gene rearrangement. Median follow-up duration was 53 months [31-99]. The presence of an abnormal T-cell population was the sole factor associated with a shorter time to flare (hazard ratio 4.15 [CI 95% 1.18-14.66; p=0.02). At last follow-up, 3 patients (10%) were able to withdraw all treatments and 11 (37%) were in clinical and biological remission with less than 10 mg of daily prednisone. CONCLUSION: EAE is a heterogeneous condition that encompasses several disease forms. Although patients usually respond well to glucocorticoids, those with evidence of abnormal T-cell phenotype have a shorter time to flare

Effects of Heavy Metals and Arbuscular Mycorrhiza on the Leaf Proteome of a Selected Poplar Clone: A Time Course Analysis

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi establish a mutualistic symbiosis with the roots of most plant species. While receiving photosynthates, they improve the mineral nutrition of the plant and can also increase its tolerance towards some pollutants, like heavy metals. Although the fungal symbionts exclusively colonize the plant roots, some plant responses can be systemic. Therefore, in this work a clone of Populus alba L., previously selected for its tolerance to copper and zinc, was used to investigate the effects of the symbiosis with the AM fungus Glomus intraradices on the leaf protein expression. Poplar leaf samples were collected from plants maintained in a glasshouse on polluted (copper and zinc contaminated) or unpolluted soil, after four, six and sixteen months of growth. For each harvest, about 450 proteins were reproducibly separated on 2DE maps. At the first harvest the most relevant effect on protein modulation was exerted by the AM fungi, at the second one by the metals, and at the last one by both treatments. This work demonstrates how importantly the time of sampling affects the proteome responses in perennial plants. In addition, it underlines the ability of a proteomic approach, targeted on protein identification, to depict changes in a specific pattern of protein expression, while being still far from elucidating the biological function of each protein

Discerning natural and anthropogenic organic matter inputs to salt marsh sediments of Ria Formosa lagoon (South Portugal)

Sedimentary organic matter (OM) origin and molecular composition provide useful information to understand carbon cycling in coastal wetlands. Core sediments from threors' Contributionse transects along Ria Formosa lagoon intertidal zone were analysed using analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) to determine composition, distribution and origin of sedimentary OM. The distribution of alkyl compounds (alkanes, alkanoic acids and alkan-2-ones), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), lignin-derived methoxyphenols, linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), steranes and hopanes indicated OM inputs to the intertidal environment from natural-autochthonous and allochthonous-as well as anthropogenic. Several n-alkane geochemical indices used to assess the distribution of main OM sources (terrestrial and marine) in the sediments indicate that algal and aquatic macrophyte derived OM inputs dominated over terrigenous plant sources. The lignin-derived methoxyphenol assemblage, dominated by vinylguaiacol and vinylsyringol derivatives in all sediments, points to large OM contribution from higher plants. The spatial distributions of PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) showed that most pollution sources were mixed sources including both pyrogenic and petrogenic. Low carbon preference indexes (CPI > 1) for n-alkanes, the presence of UCM (unresolved complex mixture) and the distribution of hopanes (C-29-C-36) and steranes (C-27-C-29) suggested localized petroleum-derived hydrocarbon inputs to the core sediments. Series of LABs were found in most sediment samples also pointing to domestic sewage anthropogenic contributions to the sediment OM.EU Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate fellowship (FUECA, University of Cadiz, Spain)EUEuropean Commission [FP7-ENV-2011, 282845, FP7-534 ENV-2012, 308392]MINECO project INTERCARBON [CGL2016-78937-R]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies