Comparing growth development of Myriophyllum spp. in laboratory and field experiments for ecotoxicological testing

Background, goals and scope: Risk assessment of herbicides and the evaluation of contaminated sediments based on algae and the macrophyte Lemna sp. alone may underestimate the potential hazard of certain compounds. Therefore, various test systems with Myriophyllum spp. have been developed recently to assess the phytotoxicity in surface waters and natural sediments. In the present study, experiments investigating the growth development of Myriophyllum spp. were performed in the laboratory under defined conditions and in mesocosms under environmentally realistic exposure conditions to evaluate the suitability of these species as potential standard test organisms in ecotoxicological testing. This study provides data on the endpoints biomass, plant length and root development. Materials and methods: Six independent experiments were performed to investigate the plant development of Myriophyllum spp. under control conditions. The main difference in the experiments was the complexity of the test systems ranging from simple laboratory experiments to complex outdoor mesocosm studies. At the start of each experiment, uniform cuttings of Myriophyllum spp. were placed in vessels with or without sediments to reduce variability between replicates. The endpoints considered in this investigation were biomass (fresh weight of the whole plant), length of the main shoot, length of the side shoots, total length of the plant (calculated from the length of the main and side shoots) and root formation. Root to shoot ratios were calculated as a further measure for plant development. Relative growth rates (RGR) based on plant length (RGLR) and on biomass (RGBR) were calculated. Results: Despite the various experimental conditions, comparable growth was obtained in all test systems and the variability of endpoints, such as total length and biomass of plants, was low. It was observed that the RGR of M. spicatum in the simple laboratory test system with sediment were comparable to growth data obtained for M. verticillatum and M. spicatum grown in indoor and outdoor mesocosms, thus indicating that Myriophyllum growth tends to increase by the addition of sediment. High variability was determined for the endpoints length of the side shoots, total root length and biomass of roots. Discussion: One challenge for a test design to investigate phytotoxicity on aquatic plants is to obtain good growth of the plants. From the results, it can be concluded that the experimental conditions in the various test systems were suitable to study the plant development of Myriophyllum spp. because obtained growth rates were comparable between laboratory and field investigations. Another challenge for developing a plant biotest system is the definition of sensitive endpoints. Low variability is preferred to detect minor effects of chemicals or polluted sediments on plant development. In our studies, the variability of the endpoints biomass and total length of plant was low and, therefore, they have much potential as endpoints for assessing toxicity. Conclusions: The methodologies presented in this study have applications within the risk assessment for aquatic plants and have the advantage of assessing effects taking into account the relevant exposure pathways via water and/or sediment for compounds under investigation. Recommendations and perspectives: Setting safe quality criteria for surface water and sediments is one of the challenges authorities are facing today. Myriophyllum spp. is recommended as suitable test species to investigate phytotoxicity in surface water and sediments. These results, thus, might serve as a basis for the compilation of a new harmonised guideline for ecotoxicological testing with aquatic macrophyte

Y ahora qué sigue…

Esta experiencia se desarrolla en el primer Nivel del taller de Comunicación Squillacioti-Jones. El trazado de las líneas a mano alzada, es una de las habilidades que podrían adquirirse a través de ejercitaciones mecánicas y repetitivas. Los trabajos propuestos en el taller hacen foco en el carácter expresivo de la misma desde los primeros ejercicios. La línea irá cobrando cuerpo y personalidad a medida que se ejercitan distintos tipos de grisados y valores; a medida que se la usa para expresar profundidad y volumetrías. La voz de la línea irá guiando la lectura del texto visual; estructurando, resaltando, definiendo, acentuando. Promediando la cursada, se presenta una ejercitación, cuyo desarrollo está basado íntegramente en el dibujo lineal. Desde líneas auxiliares estructurantes de toda la superficie de trabajo, realizadas con instrumental; líneas rectas, curvas, líneas que marcan secuencias de pensamientos y toma de decisiones a mano alzada; hasta líneas que expresan contundentes resultados. Sin embargo, el protagonismo de este ejercicio no lo tiene la línea si no el pensamiento lógico deductivo. Una serie de formas geométricas se transforman secuencialmente una cantidad suficiente de veces de modo tal que, en sus movimientos, dejan enunciada la lógica con la cual se transformaron; proponiendo claramente, la manera en que debiera seguir la secuencia de transformación. Para poder realizar el ejercicio, el estudiante debe entrar en diálogo con las formas geométricas para descubrir la lógica de transformación y así llegar a la transformación final para concluir el ejercicio. Es necesario comparar las variaciones que afectan a las figuras que se despliegan en secuencia; lo que permitirá establecer diferencias entre “el antes” y “el después” de la forma para proponer el paso que sigue. Es imprescindible observar proporciones; establecer subdivisiones, inferir ritmos y direcciones de movimiento. Es en esta conversación con el dibujo donde el estudiante interpela la geometría de las formas, aparecen líneas que protagonizan las preguntas, otras las dudas, y otras las respuestas. Hay un uso de la línea que permite rastrear el camino del pensamiento. Asegurar la ejecución de un buen trazo y una expresiva valorización de las líneas, no debe distraer el objetivo del trabajo que es pensar dibujando. La mano no sólo ejecuta las intenciones del cerebro, sino expresa intencionalidad y habilidades propias. El ejercicio colabora y fortalece la adquisición de habilidades tendientes a concientizar la intervención equilibrada de ojos, mente, manos que se preguntan mutuamente: ”y ahora que sigue…?”.Facultad de Arquitectura y UrbanismoLaboratorio de Experimentación Gráfica Proyectual del Habita

“Yo no se dibujar”: recuperando saberes previos

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre los modos de expresión de los estudiantes de arquitectura, en las instancias iniciales de formación. ¿Qué sucedería si, por alguna razón, a un niño lo inhibiéramos en su posibilidad de hablar? Qué sucedería si transcurrido el tiempo, este niño se convierte en estudiante universitario y necesita comunicarse; se le pide que lo haga, se lo habilita. Hace años que no escucha su voz; tonos, inflexiones, articulaciones, léxico…Todas herramientas que han sido archivadas y que, por el momento, son un misterio. Eran suyas, sabía usarlas, y ahora no las reconoce. ¿Qué sucede cuando al comenzar la educación primaria, se restringe paulatinamente la capacidad de pensamiento y expresión a través del dibujo, hasta reducirla a una ilustración insignificante? ¿Qué siente el estudiante cuando- años después- ingresa en una carrera universitaria donde la expresión gráfica es uno de los hilos conductores de su formación? Cuando una herramienta deja de usarse, desaparece la habilidad de manejo. ¿Cómo recuperar la confianza en una habilidad incautada hace años que vuelve a ser puesta en práctica para ayudar a mostrar, a comunicar lo imaginado? ¿Cómo generar la necesidad de expresión? En el nivel 1, del taller Comunicación Noche, somos consientes de las dificultades expresivas e inhibiciones de los estudiantes-ingresantes. Los trabajos propuestos tienden a dar confianza y apuntalar la posibilidad de comunicación a través del dibujo; mediante ejercicios lúdicos, sustentados en un entrenamiento de propuestas variadas para rehabilitar la motricidad. Para dar sentido y dotar de valor a la práctica de dibujo, entendiéndola como herramienta de pensamiento, y a la vez revalorizando el trabajo manual como una instancia reflexiva, proponemos temas-problemas tales como Espacios plegados, trabajo que se describirá en la ponencia completa. Reconocer y trabajar las destrezas corporales -y manuales- es esencial para cualquier formación que pretenda desarrollar capacidades creativas. La adquisición y dominio será progresiva y será tanto más atinada cuando la tarea imponga complejidades crecientes que necesiten del descubrimiento progresivo por parte del estudiante. El desafío apunta a recuperar la confianza en un recurso innato que ha sido progresivamente desestimado como acceso al conocimiento, y que en las carreras de Diseño es requerido de manera esencial y fundante.Childhood productions are quite present in drawings. Academic education minimises the graphic expression to insignificant pictures. To draw is now meaningless and the child does not draw anymore. First-year Design students are expected to find in drawing one of their vital learning tools. In Comunicación 1 Squilliacioti/Jones of the Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo (UNLP) we are aware both of the expressive difficulties first-year students have and of their inhibitions. We propose wide ranging ludic exercises to restore that lost mobility, to see drawing as a possibility of thought and to resignify manual work as an instance of reflection.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Longitudinal claudin gene expression analyses in canine mammary tissues and thereof derived primary cultures and cell lines

Human and canine mammary tumours show partial claudin expression deregulations. Further, claudins have been used for directed therapeutic approaches. However, the development of claudin targeting approaches requires stable claudin expressing cell lines. This study reports the establishment and characterisation of canine mammary tissue derived cell lines, analysing longitudinally the claudin-1, -3, -4 and -7 expressions in original tissue samples, primary cultures and developed cell lines. Primary cultures were derived from 17 canine mammary tissues: healthy, lobular hyperplasia, simple adenoma, complex adenoma, simple tubular carcinoma, complex carcinoma, carcinoma arising in a benign mixed tumour and benign mixed tissue. Cultivation was performed, if possible, until passage 30. Claudin mRNA and protein expressions were analysed by PCR, QuantiGene Plex Assay, immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence. Further, cytokeratin expression was analysed immunocytochemically. Cultivation resulted in 11 established cell lines, eight showing epithelial character. In five of the early passages the claudin expressions decreased compared to the original tissues. In general, claudin expressions were diminished during cultivation. Three cell lines kept longitudinally claudin, as well as epithelial marker expressions, representing valuable tools for the development of claudin targeted anti-tumour therapies

Association between cannabis use and symptom dimensions in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: an individual participant data meta-analysis on 3053 individuals

Background: The association between cannabis use and positive symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders is well documented, especially via meta-analyses. Yet, findings are inconsistent regarding negative symptoms, while other dimensions such as disorganization, depression, and excitement, have not been investigated. In addition, meta-analyses use aggregated data discarding important confounding variables which is a source of bias. Methods: PubMed, ScienceDirect and PsycINFO were used to search for publications from inception to September 27, 2022. We contacted the authors of relevant studies to extract raw datasets and perform an Individual Participant Data meta-analysis (IPDMA). Inclusion criteria were: psychopathology of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS); cannabis-users had to either have a diagnosis of cannabis use disorder or use cannabis at least twice a week. The main outcomes were the PANSS subscores extracted via the 3-factor (positive, negative and general) and 5-factor (positive, negative, disorganization, depression, excitement) structures. Preregistration is accessible via Prospero: ID CRD42022329172. Findings: Among the 1149 identified studies, 65 were eligible and 21 datasets were shared, totaling 3677 IPD and 3053 complete cases. The adjusted multivariate analysis revealed that relative to non-use, cannabis use was associated with higher severity of positive dimension (3-factor: Adjusted Mean Difference, aMD = 0.34, 95% Confidence Interval, CI = [0.03; 0.66]; 5-factor: aMD = 0.38, 95% CI = [0.08; 0.63]), lower severity of negative dimension (3-factor: aMD = -0.49, 95% CI [-0.90; -0.09]; 5-factor: aMD = -0.50, 95% CI = [-0.91; -0.08]), higher severity of excitement dimension (aMD = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.03; 0.28]). No association was found between cannabis use and disorganization (aMD = -0.13, 95% CI = [-0.42; 0.17]) or depression (aMD = -0.14, 95% CI = [-0.34; 0.06]). Interpretation: No causal relationship can be inferred from the current results. The findings could be in favor of both a detrimental and beneficial effect of cannabis on positive and negative symptoms, respectively. Longitudinal designs are needed to understand the role of cannabis is this association. The reported effect sizes are small and CIs are wide, the interpretation of findings should be taken with caution

Changes in salivary analytes in canine parvovirus : A high-resolution quantitative proteomic study

The present study evaluated the changes in salivary proteome in parvoviral enteritis (PVE) in dogs through a high-throughput quantitative proteomic analysis. Saliva samples from healthy dogs and dogs with severe parvovirosis that survived or perished due to the disease were analysed and compared by Tandem Mass Tags (TMT) analysis. Proteomic analysis quantified 1516 peptides, and 287 (corresponding to 190 proteins) showed significantly different abundances between studied groups. Ten proteins were observed to change significantly between dogs that survived or perished due to PVE. Bioinformatics' analysis revealed that saliva reflects the involvement of different pathways in PVE such as catalytic activity and binding, and indicates antimicrobial humoral response as a pathway with a major role in the development of the disease. These results indicate that saliva proteins reflect physiopathological changes that occur in PVE and could be a potential source of biomarkers for this disease

Rough Fibrils Provide a Toughening Mechanism in Biological Fibers

Spider silk is a fascinating natural composite material. Its combination of strength and toughness is unrivalled in nature, and as a result, it has gained considerable interest from the medical, physics, and materials communities. Most of this attention has focused on the one to tens of nanometer scale: predominantly the primary (peptide sequences) and secondary (β sheets, helices, and amorphous domains) structure, with some insights into tertiary structure (the arrangement of these secondary structures) to describe the origins of the mechanical and biological performance. Starting with spider silk, and relating our findings to collagen fibrils, we describe toughening mechanisms at the hundreds of nanometer scale, namely, the fibril morphology and its consequences for mechanical behavior and the dissipation of energy. Under normal conditions, this morphology creates a nonslip fibril kinematics, restricting shearing between fibrils, yet allowing controlled local slipping under high shear stress, dissipating energy without bulk fracturing. This mechanism provides a relatively simple target for biomimicry and, thus, can potentially be used to increase fracture resistance in synthetic materials

Perinatal and 2-year neurodevelopmental outcome in late preterm fetal compromise: the TRUFFLE 2 randomised trial protocol

Introduction: Following the detection of fetal growth restriction, there is no consensus about the criteria that should trigger delivery in the late preterm period. The consequences of inappropriate early or late delivery are potentially important yet practice varies widely around the world, with abnormal findings from fetal heart rate monitoring invariably leading to delivery. Indices derived from fetal cerebral Doppler examination may guide such decisions although there are few studies in this area. We propose a randomised, controlled trial to establish the optimum method of timing delivery between 32 weeks and 36 weeks 6 days of gestation. We hypothesise that delivery on evidence of cerebral blood flow redistribution reduces a composite of perinatal poor outcome, death and short-term hypoxia-related morbidity, with no worsening of neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years. Methods and analysis: Women with non-anomalous singleton pregnancies 32+0 to 36+6 weeks of gestation in whom the estimated fetal weight or abdominal circumference is <10th percentile or has decreased by 50 percentiles since 18-32 weeks will be included for observational data collection. Participants will be randomised if cerebral blood flow redistribution is identified, based on umbilical to middle cerebral artery pulsatility index ratio values. Computerised cardiotocography (cCTG) must show normal fetal heart rate short term variation (≥4.5 msec) and absence of decelerations at randomisation. Randomisation will be 1:1 to immediate delivery or delayed delivery (based on cCTG abnormalities or other worsening fetal condition). The primary outcome is poor condition at birth and/or fetal or neonatal death and/or major neonatal morbidity, the secondary non-inferiority outcome is 2-year infant general health and neurodevelopmental outcome based on the Parent Report of Children's Abilities-Revised questionnaire. Ethics and dissemination: The Study Coordination Centre has obtained approval from London-Riverside Research Ethics Committee (REC) and Health Regulatory Authority (HRA). Publication will be in line with NIHR Open Access policy. Trial registration number: Main sponsor: Imperial College London, Reference: 19QC5491. Funders: NIHR HTA, Reference: 127 976. Study coordination centre: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0HS with Centre for Trials Research, College of Biomedical & Life Sciences, Cardiff University. IRAS Project ID: 266 400. REC reference: 20/LO/0031. ISRCTN registry: 76 016 200

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: Cosmological Parameters

We forecast the main cosmological parameter constraints achievable with theCORE space mission which is dedicated to mapping the polarisation of the CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB). CORE was recently submitted in response to ESA'sfifth call for medium-sized mission proposals (M5). Here we report the resultsfrom our pre-submission study of the impact of various instrumental options, inparticular the telescope size and sensitivity level, and review the great,transformative potential of the mission as proposed. Specifically, we assessthe impact on a broad range of fundamental parameters of our Universe as afunction of the expected CMB characteristics, with other papers in the seriesfocusing on controlling astrophysical and instrumental residual systematics. Inthis paper, we assume that only a few central CORE frequency channels areusable for our purpose, all others being devoted to the cleaning ofastrophysical contaminants. On the theoretical side, we assume LCDM as ourgeneral framework and quantify the improvement provided by CORE over thecurrent constraints from the Planck 2015 release. We also study the jointsensitivity of CORE and of future Baryon Acoustic Oscillation and Large ScaleStructure experiments like DESI and Euclid. Specific constraints on the physicsof inflation are presented in another paper of the series. In addition to thesix parameters of the base LCDM, which describe the matter content of aspatially flat universe with adiabatic and scalar primordial fluctuations frominflation, we derive the precision achievable on parameters like thosedescribing curvature, neutrino physics, extra light relics, primordial heliumabundance, dark matter annihilation, recombination physics, variation offundamental constants, dark energy, modified gravity, reionization and cosmicbirefringence. (ABRIDGED