Management and conservation implications of cryptic population substructure for two commercially exploited fishes (Merluccius spp.) in southern Africa

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The code used in this manuscript is supplied as Data S1. Genomic data (raw reads) as well as filtered sync files are available in DRYAD (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6x8n).Genomic information can aid in the establishment of sustainable management plans for commercially exploited marine fishes, aiding in the long-term conservation of these resources. The southern African hakes (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) are commercially valuable demersal fishes with similar distribution ranges but exhibiting contrasting life histories. Using a comparative framework based on Pool-Seq genome-wide SNP data, we investigated whether the evolutionary processes that shaped extant patterns of diversity and divergence are shared among these two congeneric fishes, or unique to each one. Our findings revealed that M. capensis and M. paradoxus show similar levels of genome-wide diversity, despite different census sizes and life-history features. In addition, M. capensis shows three highly structured geographic populations across the Benguela Current region (one in the northern Benguela and two in the southern Benguela), with no consistent genome–environment associations detected. In contrast, although population structure and outlier analyses suggested panmixia for M. paradoxus, reconstruction of its demographic history suggested the presence of an Atlantic–Indian Ocean subtle substructuring pattern. Therefore, it appears that M. paradoxus might be composed by two highly connected populations, one in the Atlantic and one in the southwest Indian Ocean. The reported similar low levels of genomic diversity, as well as newly discovered genetically distinct populations in both hake species can thus assist in informing and improving conservation and management plans for the commercially important southern African Merluccius.The Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid and the National Research Foundation. Grant Number: 105949http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/menhj2024BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant PathologySDG-14:Life below wate

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

Crystal structure of 1,10-{(1E,10E)-[4,40-(9H-fluorene-9,9-diyl)bis(4,1-phenylene)]bis(azanylylidene)bis-(methanylylidene)}bis(naphthalen-2-ol) dichlorobenzene monosolvate

The bis(anil) molecule of the title compound, C47H32N2O2.C6H4Cl2, contains two anil fragments in the enol-enol form, exhibiting intramolecular O-H…N hydrogen bonds. The two hydroxynaphthalene ring systems are approximately parallel to each other with a dihedral angle of 4.67 (8)◦ between them, and each ring system makes a large dihedral angle [55.11 (11) and 48.50 (10)◦] with the adjacent benzene ring. In the crystal, the bis(anil) molecules form an inversion dimer by a pair of weak C-H…O interactions. The dimers arrange in a one-dimensional column along the b axis via another C-H…O interaction and a π-π stacking interaction between the hydroxynaphthalene ring system with a centroid-centroid distance of 3.6562 (16) Å. The solvent 1,2-dichlorobenzene molecules are located between the dimers and bind neighbouring columns by weak C-H…Cl interactions. Theoretical prediction of potential biological activities was performed, which suggested that the title anil compound can exhibit histone deacetylase SIRT2, histone deacetylase class III and histone deacetylase SIRT1 activities, and will act as inhibitor to aspulvinone dimethylallyltransferase, dehydro-l-gulonate decarboxylase and glutathione thiolesterase. © 2020 International Union of Crystallography. All rights reserved

Nonlinear optical response of nanocomposites based on KDP single crystal with incorporated Al2O3*nH2O nanofibriles under CW and pulsed laser irradiation at 532nm

International audienc

Time is of the essence: exploring a measles outbreak response vaccination in Niamey, Niger.

The current World Health Organization recommendations for response during measles epidemics focus on case management rather than outbreak response vaccination (ORV) campaigns, which may occur too late to impact morbidity and mortality and have a high cost per case prevented. Here, we explore the potential impact of an ORV campaign conducted during the 2003-2004 measles epidemic in Niamey, Niger. We measured the impact of this intervention and also the potential impact of alternative strategies. Using a unique geographical, epidemiologic and demographic dataset collected during the epidemic, we developed an individual-based simulation model. We estimate that a median of 7.6% [4.9-8.9] of cases were potentially averted as a result of the outbreak response, which vaccinated approximately 57% (84563 of an estimated 148600) of children in the target age range (6-59 months), 23 weeks after the epidemic started. We found that intervening early (up to 60 days after the start of the epidemic) and expanding the age range to all children aged 6 months to 15 years may lead to a much larger (up to 90%) reduction in the number of cases in a West African urban setting like Niamey. Our results suggest that intervening earlier even with lower target coverage (approx. 60%), but a wider age range, may be more effective than intervening later with high coverage (more than 90%) in similar settings. This has important implications for the implementation of reactive vaccination interventions as they can be highly effective if the response is fast with respect to the spread of the epidemic