OPENKI The platform for open education

In this demo we aim to introduce and demonstrate OPENKI, an interactive web-platform designed and developed with the aim of facilitating a barrier-free access to education. In a nutshell, OPENKI is an open-source tool to facilitate self- organized, regionalized and offline knowledge exchange. It provides a basis for mediating non-commercial education op- portunities by means of acting as a meeting point for indi- viduals interested in similar subjects. The platform connects individuals who are interested learning or teaching specific topics, or have a physical space to offer where the coordi- nated events can take place, and gather themselves around interest groups. Through its lightweight interface, all stages of a learning processes are made possible from the selection of topics and the organization and execution of courses up to the documentation of the learning material.

A Mediterranean Alexandrium taylorii (Dinophyceae) Strain Produces Goniodomin A and Lytic Compounds but Not Paralytic Shellfish Toxins

Species of the dinophyte genus Alexandrium are widely distributed and are notorious bloom formers and producers of various potent phycotoxins. The species Alexandrium taylorii is known to form recurrent and dense blooms in the Mediterranean, but its toxin production potential is poorly studied. Here we investigated toxin production potential of a Mediterranean A. taylorii clonal strain by combining state-of-the-art screening for various toxins known to be produced within Alexandrium with a sound morphological and molecular designation of the studied strain. As shown by a detailed thecal plate analysis, morphology of the A. taylorii strain AY7T from the Adriatic Sea conformed with the original species description. Moreover, newly obtained Large Subunit (LSU) and Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) rDNA sequences perfectly matched with the majority of other Mediterranean A. taylorii strains from the databases. Based on both ion pair chromatography coupled to post-column derivatization and fluorescence detection (LC-FLD) and liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis it is shown that A. taylorii AY7T does not produce paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) above a detection limit of ca. 1 fg cell−1, and also lacks any traces of spirolides and gymnodimines. The strain caused cell lysis of protistan species due to poorly characterized lytic compounds, with a density of 185 cells mL−1 causing 50% cell lysis of cryptophyte bioassay target cells (EC50). As shown here for the first time A. taylorii AY7T produced goniodomin A (GDA) at a cellular level of 11.7 pg cell−1. This first report of goniodomin (GD) production of A. taylorii supports the close evolutionary relationship of A. taylorii to other identified GD-producing Alexandrium species. As GD have been causatively linked to fish kills, future studies of Mediterranean A. taylorii blooms should include analysis of GD and should draw attention to potential links to fish kills or other environmental damage

Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after bariatric surgery

Morbid obesity is a lifelong disease, and all patients require complementary follow-up including nutritional surveillance by a multidisciplinary team after bariatric procedures. Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) refers to an insufficient secretion of pancreatic enzymes and/or sodium bicarbonate. PEI is a known multifactorial complication after upper gastrointestinal surgery, and might constitute an important clinical problem due to the large number of bariatric surgical procedures in the world. Symptoms of PEI often overlap with sequelae of gastric bypass, making the diagnosis difficult. Steatorrhea, weight loss, maldigestion and malabsorption are pathognomonic for both clinical conditions. Altered anatomy after bypass surgery can make the diagnostic process even more difficult. Fecal elastase-1 (FE1) is a useful diagnostic test. PEI should be considered in all patients after bariatric surgery with prolonged gastrointestinal complaints that are suggestive of maldigestion and/or malabsorption. Appropriate pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy should be part of the treatment algorithm in patients with confirmed PEI or symptoms suggestive of this complication

Migdal's short range correlations in a covariant model

We construct a covariant model for short range correlations of a pion emerged in nuclear matter. Once the delta-hole contribution is considered an additional and so far neglected channel opens that leads to significant modifications in the vicinity of the kinematical region defined by \omega \sim |\vec q |. We speculate that this novel effect should be important for the quantitative interpretation of charge exchange reactions like C(He,t).Comment: correction of minor misprint

Occurrence and distribution of Amphidomataceae (Dinophyceae) in Danish coastal waters of the North Sea, the Limfjord and the Kattegat/Belt area

Some species of the dinophytes Azadinium and Amphidoma (Amphidomataceae) produce azaspiracids (AZA), lipophilic polyether compounds responsible for Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP) in humans after consumption of contaminated seafood. Toxigenic Amphidomataceae are known to occur in the North Atlantic and the North Sea area, but little is known about their importance in Danish coastal waters. In 2016, 44 Stations were sampled on a survey along the Danish coastline, covering the German Bight, Limfjord, the Kattegat area, Great Belt and Kiel Bight. Samples were analysed by live microscopy, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction (qPCR) on the presence of Amphidomataceae and AZA. Amphidomataceae were widely distributed in the area, but were below detection limit on most of the inner Limfjord stations. Cell abundances of the three toxigenic species, determined with species-specific qPCR assays on Azadinium spinosum, Az. poporum and Amphidoma languida, were generally low and restricted to the North Sea and the northern Kattegat, which was in agreement with the distribution of the generally low AZA abundances in plankton samples. Among the toxigenic species, Amphidoma languida was dominant with highest cell densities up to 3×103 cells L−1 on North Sea stations and at the western entrance of the Limfjord. Azaspiracids detected in plankton samples include low levels of AZA-1 at one station of the North Sea, and higher levels of AZA-38 and -39 (up to 1.5 ng L−1) in the North Sea and the Limfjord entrance. Furthermore, one new AZA (named AZA-63) was discovered in plankton of two North Sea stations. Morphological, molecular, and toxinological characterisation of 26 newly established strains from the area confirmed the presence of four amphidomatacean species (Az. obesum, Az. dalianense, Az. poporum and Am. languida). The single new strain of Az. poporum turned out as a member of Ribotype A2, which was previously only known from the Mediterranean. Consistent with some of these Mediterranean A2 strains, but different to the previously established AZA-37 producing Az. poporum Ribotype A1 strains from Denmark, the new strain did not contain any AZA. Azaspiracids were also absent in all Az. obesum and Az. dalianense strains, but AZA-38 and -39 were found in all Am. languida strains with total AZA cell quotas ranging from 0.08 up to 94 fg cell−1. In conclusion, AZA-producing microalgae and their respective toxins were low in abundance but widely present in the area, and thus might be considered in local monitoring programs to preserve seafood safety in Danish coastal waters

MizAR 60 for Mizar 50

As a present to Mizar on its 50th anniversary, we develop an AI/TP system that automatically proves about 60% of the Mizar theorems in the hammer setting. We also automatically prove 75% of the Mizar theorems when the automated provers are helped by using only the premises used in the human-written Mizar proofs. We describe the methods and large-scale experiments leading to these results. This includes in particular the E and Vampire provers, their ENIGMA and Deepire learning modifications, a number of learning-based premise selection methods, and the incremental loop that interleaves growing a corpus of millions of ATP proofs with training increasingly strong AI/TP systems on them. We also present a selection of Mizar problems that were proved automatically

New real-time PCR assay for toxigenic Amphidoma languida

Azaspiracids (AZA) are a group of lipophilic toxins, which are produced by a few species of the marine nanoplanktonic dinoflagellate genera Azadinium and Amphidoma (Amphidomataceae). Amphidomataceae were found to be globally distributed in coastal waters and new areas of occurrence are regularly discovered. The AZA toxins accumulate mainly in shellfish and - when consumed by humans - can lead to the so-called azaspiracid shellfish poisoning syndrome (AZP). Given this serious threat to seafood production and to deepen knowledge about the distribution and risk potential of AZA-producing algae, an appropriate detection method enabling a fast identification and quantification for these toxigenic species is needed. Traditional light microscopy is time-consuming, requires expertise and is getting rather difficult when it comes to the detection, identification and quantification of small-sized plankton. To overcome this challenges, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assays are increasingly used as a molecular additive. Basically, when amplifying the extracted DNA and using DNA standards, the amplification threshold (CT) gives information about the number of target species in the sample. For two AZA-producing species, Azadinium spinosum and Azadinium poporum, quantitative PCR assays have already been developed and successfully applied in the field. Another AZA-producing species, Amphidoma languida, was discovered in 2012 in Irish coastal waters and discovered as a new species within the group of Amphidomataceae - in close relationship with Azadinium spp. All available strains from Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Spain produce azaspiracids. Moreover, Am. languida from the Atlantic coast of southern Spain was responsible for AZA amounts in shellfish above the EU regulatory limit, emphasizing the need for further investigations. We thus developed a quantitative TaqMan PCR assay, amplifying 60bp of the D2 region (located on the LSU/28S) of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) to detect toxic Am. languida. To confirm assay specificity in vitro, cross-reactivity tests with DNA of a variety of related organisms were performed. This included 12 different Am. languida strains as positive controls, Amphidoma parvula, 10 Azadinium species (each including different strains), as well as 10 further related dinoflagellate species (Alexandrium spp., Gymnodinium spp., Heterocapsa spp., Karlodinium sp., Prorocentrum spp. & Scripsiella sp.). The developed probe and primer set successfully detected only A. languida strains. Currently, we perform tests of the newly-designed assay on spiked field samples to test and optimize the quantification ability of the assay. With this assay, we provide a tool for the rapid and distinctive quantification of the toxic dinoflagellate Amphidoma languida to be used in monitoring programs and bio-geographic studies

Molecular detection and quantification of the azaspiracid-producing dinoflagellate Amphidoma languida (Amphidomataceae, Dinophyceae)

Species of the planktonic dinoflagellates Azadinium and Amphidoma are small, inconspicuous and difficult, if not impossible to be identified and differentiated by light microscopy. Within this group, there are some species that produce the marine biotoxin azaspiracid (AZA) while others are non-toxigenic, therefore a requirement exists for precise species identification. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for molecular detection and quantification of one of the toxigenic species, Amphidoma languida, was designed and extensively tested. The assay was highly specific and sensitive to detect and quantify down to 10 target gene copies (corresponding to ca. 0.05 cells) per reaction. DNA cell quota and copy number cell−1 were constant for four different Am. languida strains, and for one strain they were shown to be stable at various time points throughout the growth cycle. Recovery of known cell numbers of Am. languida spiked into natural samples was 95–103%, and the assay was successfully tested on field samples collected from Irish coastal waters. This new qPCR assay is a valuable tool for routine monitoring for the prevention of AZA-shellfish-poisoning caused by the consumption of contaminated shellfish and is a supportive tool for studies on the biogeography of this AZA-producing species