Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

14 p.Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change

Primary SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: long-term humoral immune responses and effects on disease activity

Background: Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) on immunosuppressants (ISPs) may have impaired long-term humoral immune responses and increased disease activity after SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aimed to investigate long-term humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and increased disease activity after a primary SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated IMID patients on ISPs. Methods: IMID patients on active treatment with ISPs and controls (i.e. IMID patients not on ISP and healthy controls) with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection before first vaccination were included from an ongoing prospective cohort study (T2B! study). Clinical data on infections and increased disease activity were registered using electronic surveys and health records. A serum sample was collected before first vaccination to measure SARS-CoV-2 anti-receptor-binding domain (RBD) antibodies. Results: In total, 193 IMID patients on ISP and 113 controls were included. Serum samples from 185 participants were available, with a median time of 173 days between infection and sample collection. The rate of seropositive IMID patients on ISPs was 78% compared to 100% in controls (p Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Outcome of a recruitment campaign for subjects at risk for Alzheimer's disease in the Netherlands

Multivariate analysis of psychological dat

Calibration and discriminatory accuracy of prognosis calculation for breast cancer with the online Adjuvant! program: A hospital-based retrospective cohort study

Background Adjuvant! is a web-based program that calculates individualised 10-year survival probabilities and predicted benefit of adjuvant systemic therapy. The Adjuvant! model has not been validated in any large European series. The aim of our study was to validate Adjuvant! in Dutch patients, investigating both its calibration and discriminatory accuracy. Methods Patients who were at least partly treated at the Netherlands Cancer Institute for breast cancer between 1987 and 1998 were included if they met the following criteria: tumour size T1 (≤2 cm), T2 (2–5 cm), or T3 (>5 cm), invasive breast carcinoma, with information about involvement of axillary lymph nodes available, no distant metastases, primary surgery, axillary staging, and radiotherapy according to national guidelines. Clinicopathological characteristics and adjuvant treatment data were retrieved from hospital records and medical registries and were entered into the Adjuvant! (version 8.0) batch processor with blinding to outcome. Endpoints were overall survival and the proportion of patients that did not die from breast cancer (breast-cancer-specific survival [BCSS]). Findings 5380 patients were included with median follow-up of 11•7 years (range 0•03–21•8). The 10-year observed overall survival (69•0%) and BCSS (78•6%) and Adjuvant! predicted overall survival (69•1%) and BCSS (77•8%) were not statistically different (p=0•87 and p=0•18, respectively). Moreover, differences between predicted and observed outcomes were within 2% for most relevant clinicopathological subgroups. In patients younger than 40 years, Adjuvant! overestimated overall survival by 4•2% (p=0•04) and BCSS by 4•7% (p=0•01). The concordance index, which indicates discriminatory accuracy at the individual level, was 0•71 for BCSS in the entire cohort. Interpretation Adjuvant! accurately predicted 10-year outcomes in this large-scale Dutch validation study and is of use for adjuvant treatment decision making, although the results may be less reliable in some subgroups. Funding Dutch National Genomics Initiative-Cancer Genomics Center, Dutch Cancer Society-KWF

Monitoring soil bacteria with community-level physiological profiles using Biolog (TM) ECO-plates in the Netherlands and Europe

Contains fulltext : 157089pub.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

Differential recognition of vascular and parenchymal beta amyloid deposition

By phage display, llama-derived heavy chain antibody fragments were selected from non-immune and immune libraries and tested for their affinity and specificity for beta amyloid by phage-ELISA, immunohistochemistry and surface plasmon resonance. We identified eight distinct heavy chain antibody fragments specific for beta amyloid. While three of them recognized vascular and parenchymal beta amyloid deposits, the remaining five heavy chain antibody fragments recognized vascular beta amyloid specifically, failing to bind to parenchymal beta amyloid. These heavy chain antibody fragments, selected from different libraries, demonstrated differential affinity for different epitopes when used for immunohistochemistry. These observations indicate that the llama heavy chain antibody fragments are the first immunologic probes with the ability to differentiate between parenchymal and vascular beta amyloid aggregates. This indicates that vascular and parenchymal beta amyloid deposits are heterogeneous in epitope presence/availability. The properties of these heavy chain antibody fragments make them potential candidates for use in in vivo differential diagnosis of Alzheimer disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Continued use and characterization of these reagents will be necessary to fully understand the performance of these immunoreagents. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.NEUR

TRANSMIGRATION OF BETA AMYLOID SPECIFIC HEAVY CHAIN ANTIBODY FRAGMENTS ACROSS THE IN VITRO BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER

Previously selected amyloid beta recognizing heavy chain antibody fragments (VHH) affinity binders derived from the Came lid heavy chain antibody repertoire were tested for their propensity to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using an established in vitro BBB co-culture system. Of all tested VHH, ni3A showed highest transmigration efficiency which is, in part, facilitated by a three amino acid substitutions in its N-terminal domain. Additional studies indicated that the mechanism of transcellular passage of ni3A is by active transport. As VHH ni3A combines the ability to recognize amyloid beta and to cross the BBB, it has potential as a tool for non-invasive in vivo imaging and as efficient local drug targeting moiety in patients suffering from cerebral amyloidosis such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). (C) 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.NEUR

Gamma-ray induced Doppler broadening and the determination of lifetimes of excited nuclear states

Measurements of lifetimes of excited states in nuclei yield crucial information for sensitive tests of nuclear models. Here a novel method will be discussed which involves the GRID (Gamma Ray Induced Doppler broadening) technique, in which Doppler broadening is observed in a transition from a nucleus recoiling from the emission of a previous gamma ray. As the recoil energy is extremely small, ultra-high energy resolving power has to be used. To date all such experiments have been carried out at ILL using the GAMS4 double flat crystal spectrometer which is operated in a NIST-ILL collaboration. The method can be used for all lifetimes below a few picoseconds. The wide range of applicability, together with the very exhaustive set of data often obtained, is an advantage with respect to many other methods. The characteristic features of GRID will be discussed using some selected examples. 21 refs., 8 figs