Trends in <i>Littorina</i> research in Belgium (Mollusca, Gastropoda)

The prosobranch genus Littorina has a worldwide distribution and contains quite a number of species, living in the intertidal zone of estuaries and rocky shores. Five of the eight presently recognized NW-European species were encountered on the artificial substrates (mainly dikes and break- waters) along the Belgian coast. These are L.littorea, L.obtusata, L. saxatilis, L. mariae and L. neglecta. The latter two are new to the Belgian fauna. The Belgian populations of L. saxatilis are characterized by low densities, a considerably reduced shell colour polymorphism and early maturation. An electrophoretic analysis revealed that the heterozygosity level is about 8% 1ower than in populations from natural rocky coasts. whereas there are indications for a relatively high gene flow between populations. Several factors may be responsible for these observations and a profound study of the Littorina species occuring on the artificial substrates on the sandy Channel coasts is needed. Particular attention should be paid to population ecology and genetics, demography, quantitative measurements of transport rates between populations, possible dispersal mechanisms and the role of visual selection in the determination of colour polymorphism

Proteomics of experimental breast cancer: Towards application of novel protein biomarkers in the clinic

Boven, E. [Promotor]Jimenez, C.R. [Copromotor]Jonkers, J. [Copromotor

Karaghiozi shadow theater

Includes interview with George Haridimos, a master puppeteer

Le musée des Plans-reliefs

Installé au 4e étage de l’hôtel des Invalides, le musée national des Plans-reliefs conserve une collection singulière et méconnue, qui dépend du ministère de la Culture. Son nom intrigue et renseigne peu sur la nature de ses collections. Le mot « plan-relief », appellation apparue au xixe siècle, provient de la contraction du terme « plan en relief » habituellement utilisé tout au long des xviie et xviiie siècles, en même temps que les mots « modèle », « relief » ou encore « plan », pour dési..

Le plan en relief du canal de Suez de Charles Muret (1878, actualisé en 1900)

Le plan-relief du canal de Suez, entré dans les collections du musée des Plans-Reliefs en 1910, a été réalisé par Charles Muret à la demande de la Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez pour l’Exposition universelle de Paris de 1878, puis largement actualisé pour celle de 1900. Destiné à rendre compte de l’importance et de l’évolution des aménagements réalisés depuis l’ouverture de cette voie commerciale, il constitue un précieux témoignage de l’état du canal de Suez, des villes nouvelles et des équipements aménagés à ses abords à la fin du xixe siècle.The relief map of the Suez Canal, entered into the collections of the Musée des Plans-Reliefs in 1910, was made by Charles Muret at the request of the Universal Suez Canal Company for the Paris International Exhibition of 1878, then extensively updated for that of 1900. Intended to reflect the importance and evolution of developments since the opening of this trade route, it is now a valuable testimony to the state of the Suez Canal, new cities and equipment built around it at the end of the 19th century

Drie nieuwe Ponto-Kaspische inwijkelingen dringen door tot in kanalen in de provincie Antwerpen: De zoetwaterpolychaet <i>Hypania invalida</i> (Grube, 1860) en, voor het eerst in België, de platworm <i>Dendrocoelum romanodanubiale</i> (Codreanu, 1949) en de Donaupissebed <i>Jaera istri</i> Veuille, 1979

Since 2000 three Ponto-Caspian invaders have been found in canals in the province of Antwerp (N.E.-Belgium): the freshwater polychaete Hypania invalida (Grube, 1860), the triclad Dendrocoelum romanodanubiale (Codreanu, 1949) and the freshwater isopod Jaera istri Veuille, 1979. Staff members of the 'Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (Flemish Environmental Agency) collected these species on artificial substrates (nets filled with broken bricks). H. invalida had been discovered before in Belgium in the river Meuse in 2000 (Vanden Bossche et.al., 2001). D. romanodanubiale and J. istri were never recorded before in Belgium. Before its discovery in the Belgian Meuse in August-September 2000, H.invalida had already been found in May 2000 in the Albert Canal at Genk in the province of Limbourg. Between 2001 and 2003, the polychaete was sampled at several stations of the Albert Canal and its adjacent canals in the provinces of Antwerp and Limbourg. Here, it often is accompanied by D. romanodanubiale and J. istri. In 2003 the polychaet had also been encountered in the Sea canal Brussels - Scheldt in the province of Antwerp. The discontinuous distribution indicates that navigation plays an important role in the dispersal of the species. Other Ponto-Caspian species such as Dikerogammarus villosus (Sovinskij, 1894) are either already present in the canals or soon to be expected there. Some of these species will probably also invade the Scheldt basin

The littorinid fauna of the Belgian coast (Mollusca, Gastropoda)

During an intensive survey of the littorinid fauna of the Belgian coast, five species were recorded alive, viz. Littorina littorea, L. saxatilis, L. obtusata, L. mariae and L. neglecta. The latter two of these are new to the Belgian fauna, but they occur only in very restricted populations. L. obtusata shows a local distribution, whereas L. littorea and L. saxatilis are both very common. For each species occuring in Belgium, detailed information on distribution, habitat and polymorphism is provided. Finally some topics for further research are outlined

Noninvasive Liquid Diet Delivery of Stable Isotopes into Mouse Models for Deep Metabolic Network Tracing

Delivering isotopic tracers for metabolic studies in rodents without overt stress is challenging. Current methods achieve low label enrichment in proteins and lipids. Here, we report noninvasive introduction of 13C6-glucose via a stress-free, ad libitum liquid diet. Using NMR and ion chromatography-mass spectrometry, we quantify extensive 13C enrichment in products of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, nucleobases, UDP-sugars, glycogen, lipids, and proteins in mouse tissues during 12 to 48 h of 13C6-glucose feeding. Applying this approach to patient-derived lung tumor xenografts (PDTX), we show that the liver supplies glucose-derived Gln via the blood to the PDTX to fuel Glu and glutathione synthesis while gluconeogenesis occurs in the PDTX. Comparison of PDTX with ex vivo tumor cultures and arsenic-transformed lung cells versus xenografts reveals differential glucose metabolism that could reflect distinct tumor microenvironment. We further found differences in glucose metabolism between the primary PDTX and distant lymph node metastases

Converting a breast cancer microarray signature into a high-throughput diagnostic test

BACKGROUND: A 70-gene tumor expression profile was established as a powerful predictor of disease outcome in young breast cancer patients. This profile, however, was generated on microarrays containing 25,000 60-mer oligonucleotides that are not designed for processing of many samples on a routine basis. RESULTS: To facilitate its use in a diagnostic setting, the 70-gene prognosis profile was translated into a customized microarray (MammaPrint) containing a reduced set of 1,900 probes suitable for high throughput processing. RNA of 162 patient samples from two previous studies was subjected to hybridization to this custom array to validate the prognostic value. Classification results obtained from the original analysis were then compared to those generated using the algorithms based on the custom microarray and showed an extremely high correlation of prognosis prediction between the original data and those generated using the custom mini-array (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: In this report we demonstrate for the first time that microarray technology can be used as a reliable diagnostic tool. The data clearly demonstrate the reproducibility and robustness of the small custom-made microarray. The array is therefore an excellent tool to predict outcome of disease in breast cancer patients