Estimations of free fatty acids (FFA) as a reliable proxy for larval performance in Mediterranean octocoral species

The survival, behavior, and competence period of lecithotrophic larvae depends not only on the energy allocation transferred by maternal colonies, but also on the amount of energy consumed to sustain embryonic, larval, and post-larval development. The objective of the present work is to understand the effect of energy consumption on the performance of lecithotrophic larvae. To this aim, we analysed free fatty acid (FFA) content and composition of the larvae of three Mediterranean octocorals (Corallium rubrum, Eunicella singularis, and Paramuricea clavata) as a proxy for energy consumption. Results showed that C. rubrum larvae consume more FFA than P. clavata, whereas the energy consumed by E. singularis larvae is high but highly variable. These results are in accordance with the larval behavior of these three species, since C. rubrum larvae are characterized by their high swimming activity frequency, P. clavata larvae are almost inactive, and the swimming activity frequency of E. singularis larvae is high, although variable. The differences in FFA composition of the larvae suggest contrasting energetic strategies that could explain the differences in survival and recruitment rates. In fact, high dispersal and recruitment capacities for E. singularis larvae can be inferred from the FFA composition, whereas the high spatial and temporal variability of recruitment observed in C. rubrum may be related to the non-selective transfer of fatty acid (FA) from maternal colonies. Finally, the high recovery rates after mass mortality events observed in P. clavata could be favored by the presence of a specific FA [22:6(n-3)] related to adaptation mechanisms under environmental stresses during the first developmental stages

Add-on topiramate in the treatment of refractory partial-onset epilepsy: Clinical experience of outpatient epilepsy clinics from 11 general hospitals

SummaryAn open, prospective, observational study was performed to assess efficacy and adverse-event profile of topiramate as add-on therapy in epilepsy. Outpatient neurology clinics from 11 general hospitals in Greece participated in the study. In total, 211 patients with treatment resistant partial-onset seizures who met the inclusion criteria, were studied. After baseline evaluation, topiramate was given at a target dose of 200mg/day over a 1-month titration period. In the subsequent maintenance period, the topiramate dose could be varied according to the clinical results. Patients were followed for in total 6 months, with monthly visits and regular physical, neurological and laboratory examinations. Seizure frequencies decreased to 35–40% of baseline values following 3 months of treatment and remained relatively constant thereafter. The average monthly seizure frequency over the 6-month study period was 4.61, compared to 9.21 at baseline. The number of responders (patients with at least 50% reduction in seizure frequency) followed a similar pattern, i.e., increase during the first 3 months levelling off at a final 80–85% response rate. Of those completing the study, 30% had been seizure-free for at least 3 months and 12% for 5 months. Topiramate was well tolerated, no deviations in laboratory values were found. Adverse events appeared to occur less frequently, and antiepileptic effects were more pronounced in this prospective open-label study than in earlier reports from randomised controlled trials. The nature of the patient population and the application of individualised dose optimisation are proposed as contributing factors to explain the favourable results of this study

A well-kept treasure at depth: precious red coral rediscovered in Atlantic deep coral gardens (SW Portugal) after 300 years

The highly valuable red coral Corallium rubrum is listed in several Mediterranean Conventions for species protection and management since the 1980s. Yet, the lack of data about its Atlantic distribution has hindered its protection there. This culminated in the recent discovery of poaching activities harvesting tens of kg of coral per day from deep rocky reefs off SW Portugal. Red coral was irregularly exploited in Portugal between the 1200s and 1700s, until the fishery collapsed. Its occurrence has not been reported for the last 300 years.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Solar Orbiter Science Activity Plan: translating solar and heliospheric physics questions into action

Solar Orbiter is the first space mission observing the solar plasma both in situ and remotely, from a close distance, in and out of the ecliptic. The ultimate goal is to understand how the Sun produces and controls the heliosphere, filling the Solar System and driving the planetary environments. With six remote-sensing and four in-situ instrument suites, the coordination and planning of the operations are essential to address the following four top-level science questions: (1) What drives the solar wind and where does the coronal magnetic field originate?; (2) How do solar transients drive heliospheric variability?; (3) How do solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere?; (4) How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere? Maximising the mission’s science return requires considering the characteristics of each orbit, including the relative position of the spacecraft to Earth (affecting downlink rates), trajectory events (such as gravitational assist manoeuvres), and the phase of the solar activity cycle. Furthermore, since each orbit’s science telemetry will be downloaded over the course of the following orbit, science operations must be planned at mission level, rather than at the level of individual orbits. It is important to explore the way in which those science questions are translated into an actual plan of observations that fits into the mission, thus ensuring that no opportunities are missed. First, the overarching goals are broken down into specific, answerable questions along with the required observations and the so-called Science Activity Plan (SAP) is developed to achieve this. The SAP groups objectives that require similar observations into Solar Orbiter Observing Plans, resulting in a strategic, top-level view of the optimal opportunities for science observations during the mission lifetime. This allows for all four mission goals to be addressed. In this paper, we introduce Solar Orbiter’s SAP through a series of examples and the strategy being followed

Gaia Early Data Release 3: The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF3)

Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13-21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 μas yr-1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution