M & L Jaargang 29/2

Catheline Metdepenninghen Kleurrijke bloementuilen in de Sint-Salvatorkerk in Harelbeke. [Colourful bouquets in Harelbekes Saint Salvator Church.]Hekken in zwart en goud zijn ons ondertussen zo vertrouwd, dat we er nog nauwelijks bij nadenken. Gelukkig zijn er oplettende restaurateurs, zoals Nicky Vergouwen, die onder de strenge uitmonstering van de hekken in de Sint-Salvatorskerk in Harelbeke een onverwachte polychromie ontdekte in typisch 18de-eeuwse heldere kleurtinten.Veerle Stinckens Een buitengewoon duo. De restauratie van twee monumentale schilderijen van Jan Erasmus Quellin. [An extraordinary pair. The restoration of two monumental paintings by Jan Erasmus Quellin.]Door de enorme afmetingen van twee geschilderde doeken van Jan Erasmus Quellin in de abdijkerk van Tongerlo konden deze niet naar een atelier vervoerd worden. Veerle Stinckens schetst het relaas van deze toch wel afwijkende opdracht, waarbij het kerkinterieur noodgedwongen tot restauratieatelier werd omgebouwd.Vanessa De Geest Het Zandhof. Een prefab woning van architect Charles Van Nueten. [The Zandhof. A prefab building by architect Charles Van Nueten.]Moeilijk te geloven dat dit traditionele duinhuisje en de moderne atelieruitbreiding door dezelfde architect ontworpen werden. Charles Van Nueten toont zich een handige kameleon, die heel diverse opdrachten en stijlen beheerst. Vanessa De Geest geeft een mooi overzicht van zijn loopbaan en realisaties.Luc Van de Sijpe Vergeten beton? De Bunkergordel Bruggenhoofd Gent. [Lost concrete? The bunker line Bruggenhoofd Ghent.]Zelfs de Duitse oorlogspropaganda kon er niet omheen: aan de bunkergordel Bruggenhoofd Gent boden Belgische soldaten drie dagen weerstand tegen een overweldigende overmacht. De strijd van de verdedigers leverde hen minder dan een voetnoot op in de geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De linie werd deels ontmanteld en dichtgemetseld en raakte in vergetelheid. Tot Luc Van de Sijpe besloot hier iets aan te doen. Hij inventariseerde de restanten van de linie, ontsloot ze voor het publiek via de website bunkergordel en herwaardeerde zo de laatste getuigenissen van een vergeten verdedigingslinie.Summar

An AOP-based alternative testing strategy to predict the impact of thyroid hormone disruption on swim bladder inflation in zebrafish

The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework can be used to help support the development of alternative testing strategies aimed at predicting adverse outcomes caused by triggering specific toxicity pathways. In this paper, we present a case-study demonstrating the selection of alternative in chemico assays targeting the molecular initiating events of established AOPs, and evaluate use of the resulting data to predict higher level biological endpoints. Based on two AOPs linking inhibition of the deiodinase (DIO) enzymes to impaired posterior swim bladder inflation in fish, we used in chemico enzyme inhibition assays to measure the molecular initiating events for an array of 51 chemicals. Zebrafish embryos were then exposed to 14 compounds with different measured inhibition potentials. Effects on posterior swim bladder inflation, predicted based on the information captured by the AOPs, were evaluated. By linking the two datasets and setting thresholds, we were able to demonstrate that the in chemico dataset can be used to predict biological effects on posterior chamber inflation, with only two outliers out of the 14 tested compounds. Our results show how information organized using the AOP framework can be employed to develop or select alternative assays, and successfully forecast downstream key events along the AOP. In general, such in chemico assays could serve as a first-tier high-throughput system to screen and prioritize chemicals for subsequent acute and chronic fish testing, potentially reducing the need for long-term and costly toxicity tests requiring large numbers of animals.status: publishe

Indirect effect of IGF2 intron3 g.3072G>A mutation on prolificacy in sows

Summary A QTL located in the paternally expressed insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) gene is known to increase muscle growth and reduce fat deposition in pigs. This makes the QTL in IGF2 a good marker for use in pig breeding programmes. However, care has to be taken as it is postulated that increased leanness and lowered fat deposition may have a negative effect on the prolificacy and longevity of sows. Selection of sire and dam lines for different alleles of the mutation in the paternally imprinted IGF2 gene could actually provide a solution to this problem. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the IGF2 QTL on prolificacy-related traits in sows was investigated. It was found that the paternal IGF2 wild-type allele was associated with higher reproduction performance in the sow. Moreover, it was also examined whether the difference in prolificacy in sows could be a consequence of differential IGF2 expression in the ovarian follicles of the sow or whether it is mainly a secondary effect caused by differences in fatness traits. Therefore, IGF2 expression was measured in follicles of different sizes from sows with different genotypes for the paternal IGF2 allele. It was observed that, however, while the size of the follicles was associated with follicular IGF2 expression level, the IGF2 genotype was not. It could be concluded that the difference in prolificacy of sows with a different paternal IGF2 genotype could be a secondary effect, resulting from differences in fat deposition.status: publishe

An AOP-based alternative testing strategy to predict the impact of thyroid hormone disruption on swim bladder inflation in zebrafish

The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework can be used to help support the development of alternative testing strategies aimed at predicting adverse outcomes caused by triggering specific toxicity pathways. In this paper, we present a case-study demonstrating the selection of alternative in chemico assays targeting the molecular initiating events of established AOPs, and evaluate use of the resulting data to predict higher level biological endpoints. Based on two AOPs linking inhibition of the deiodinase (DIO) enzymes to impaired posterior swim bladder inflation in fish, we used in chemico enzyme inhibition assays to measure the molecular initiating events for an array of 51 chemicals. Zebrafish embryos were then exposed to 14 compounds with different measured inhibition potentials. Effects on posterior swim bladder inflation, predicted based on the information captured by the AOPs, were evaluated. By linking the two datasets and setting thresholds, we were able to demonstrate that the in chemico dataset can be used to predict biological effects on posterior chamber inflation, with only two outliers out of the 14 tested compounds. Our results show how information organized using the AOP framework can be employed to develop or select alternative assays, and successfully forecast downstream key events along the AOP. In general, such in chemico assays could serve as a first-tier high-throughput system to screen and prioritize chemicals for subsequent acute and chronic fish testing, potentially reducing the need for long-term and costly toxicity tests requiring large numbers of animals