scholarly journals Welcome to the -omics era of the 21st century: will Proteus anguinus finally reveal all its mysteries?

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janez Mulec
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Draft Genome ◽  
100Th Anniversary ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Proteus Anguinus ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
One Year ◽  
Biotechnical Faculty

There are few milestones in speleobiology, and Proteus anguinus, commonly named the olm, proteus or “human fish”, is undoubtedly part of its (hi)story. The animal was first mentioned in 1689 by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor (Janez Vajkard Valvasor) in his The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Slava Vojvodine Kranjske). The scientific name Proteus anguinus was given by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. The animal gained the interest of the scientific community later in the 19th century, culminating in 1859 in Charles Darwin's famous monograph On the Origin of Species as an example of evolutionary reduction of body structures through disuse. The study of this remarkable animal intensified in the 20th century. Its longevity, its general peculiarity and the mystery governing the underground world of the Dinaric karst triggered more systematic research. Much interesting data was obtained from study of proteus in captivity in various laboratories worldwide, including Slovenia, France, England, Belgium, Hungary, Germany and Italy. In the 21st century, the year 2019 represents another important milestone in the research of proteus. The draft genome of Proteus anguinus was first publicly presented on 25 November 2019 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The event coincided with 330 years since proteus was introduced to the scientific community by Valvasor, 160 years since its popularization by Darwin, and the 100th anniversary of Ljubljana University. This is undoubtedly an achievement with many superlatives, starting from excellent collaboration among different international laboratories and the very short period – one year – used to finish the sequencing of the huge proteus genome, which is 15-times larger in size than the human genome. On this occasion, we spoke with the two most important players in the story, prof. Nina Gunde-Cimerman and prof. Rok Kostanjšek, from the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty. Prof. Nina Gunde-Cimerman directs research of extremophiles adapted to extreme conditions, in particular fungi, at the Biotechnical Faculty. Prof. Rok Kostanjšek leads a research team that continues the investigation of proteus begun by his predecessors, prof. Lili Istenič and prof. Boris Bulog.  

scholarly journals The draft genome sequence of the grove snail Cepaea nemoralis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne V Saenko ◽  
Dick S J Groenenberg ◽  
Angus Davison ◽  
Menno Schilthuizen
Keyword(s):  
Genome Sequence ◽  
Draft Genome ◽  
Agricultural Pests ◽  
Shell Color ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Cepaea Nemoralis ◽  
Edible Species ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Long Read

Abstract Studies on the shell color and banding polymorphism of the grove snail Cepaea nemoralis and the sister taxon Cepaea hortensis have provided compelling evidence for the fundamental role of natural selection in promoting and maintaining intraspecific variation. More recently, Cepaea has been the focus of citizen science projects on shell color evolution in relation to climate change and urbanization. C. nemoralis is particularly useful for studies on the genetics of shell polymorphism and the evolution of “supergenes,” as well as evo-devo studies of shell biomineralization, because it is relatively easily maintained in captivity. However, an absence of genomic resources for C. nemoralis has generally hindered detailed genetic and molecular investigations. We therefore generated ∼23× coverage long-read data for the ∼3.5 Gb genome, and produced a draft assembly composed of 28,537 contigs with the N50 length of 333 kb. Genome completeness, estimated by BUSCO using the metazoa dataset, was 91%. Repetitive regions cover over 77% of the genome. A total of 43,519 protein-coding genes were predicted in the assembled genome, and 97.3% of these were functionally annotated from either sequence homology or protein signature searches. This first assembled and annotated genome sequence for a helicoid snail, a large group that includes edible species, agricultural pests, and parasite hosts, will be a core resource for identifying the loci that determine the shell polymorphism, as well as in a wide range of analyses in evolutionary and developmental biology, and snail biology in general.

scholarly journals Brood stock formation of the hermaphrodite finfish species Pagellus erythrinus (common Pandora) from fish reared in captivity

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. KLAOUDATOS ◽  
D.S. KLAOUDATOS
Keyword(s):  
Hormonal Treatment ◽  
Sex Reversal ◽  
Reproductive Period ◽  
Brood Stock ◽  
Pagellus Erythrinus ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Fish Group ◽  
Common Pandora

Formation of brood stock is considered to be one of the most important operations in order to acquire eggs and fry from any promising candidate finfish species for aquaculture production. The sex reversal observed in hermaphrodite species adds to confusion and creates additional complications in forming a brood stock. The present study describes the efforts and the results of the brood stock formation of the hermaphrodite finfish species Pagellus erythrinus (common Pandora) from individuals aged between 4 and 5 years (TL>300mm) reared in floating cages. Six groups were formed (50 fish/group) in all of which females were present comprising 20 to 40% of the population. The presence of females was in contrast to the literature, which reported that sex reversal of the common Pandora is complete in naturally occurring populations with the absence of females in sizes of a total length greater than 220mm, indicating that in captivity sex reversal is not complete for this species. Four of the groups formed spawned under natural environmental conditions without hormonal treatment and the other two groups were administered a different dosage (250 and 500 IU/kg) of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) to induce spawning. The reproductive period started in the middle of May and ended at the beginning of July and spontaneous spawning occurred in all groups. Egg release lasted for a mean period of one month for the groups that spawned without hormonal treatment with no significant difference in the number of viable eggs between groups. The groups that spawned under hormonal treatment released eggs for a period of six and seven days, for the group that spawned under the high and low hormonal treatment, respectively, with no significant difference in the number of viable eggs between them. The hormonal induced spawning resulted in egg release within a short period of time ideal for a hatchery. However, the number of viable eggs produced was significantly lower compared to the number of viable eggs produced from groups that spawned without hormonal treatment.

scholarly journals Seasonal Influence on the Performance of Low-Cost NO2 Sensor Calibrations

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 7919
Author(s):  
Sjoerd van Ratingen ◽  
Jan Vonk ◽  
Christa Blokhuis ◽  
Joost Wesseling ◽  
Erik Tielemans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Sensor Technology ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
Short Period ◽  
No2 Sensor ◽  
One Year

Low-cost sensor technology has been available for several years and has the potential to complement official monitoring networks. The current generation of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sensors suffers from various technical problems. This study explores the added value of calibration models based on (multiple) linear regression including cross terms on the performance of an electrochemical NO2 sensor, the B43F manufactured by Alphasense. Sensor data were collected in duplicate at four reference sites in the Netherlands over a period of one year. It is shown that a calibration, using O3 and temperature in addition to a reference NO2 measurement, improves the prediction in terms of R2 from less than 0.5 to 0.69–0.84. The uncertainty of the calibrated sensors meets the Data Quality Objective for indicative methods specified by the EU directive in some cases and it was verified that the sensor signal itself remains an important predictor in the multilinear regressions. In practice, these sensors are likely to be calibrated over a period (much) shorter than one year. This study shows the dependence of the quality of the calibrated signal on the choice of these short (monthly) calibration and validation periods. This information will be valuable for determining short-period calibration strategies.

scholarly journals Estimating decay curves of neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 infection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Poehler ◽  
Liam Gibson ◽  
Audrey Lustig ◽  
Nicole Jane Moreland ◽  
Reuben McGregor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Future Planning ◽  
Neutralising Antibodies ◽  
Rapid Decay ◽  
Multiple Datasets ◽  
Modelling Method ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
One Year ◽  
Term Response

Estimating the longevity of an individual's immune response to the Sars-Cov-2 virus is vital for future planning, particularly of vaccine requirements. Neutralising antibodies (Nabs) are increasingly being recognised as a correlate of protection and whilst there are many studies which follow the response of a cohort of people, each study alone is not enough to predict the long term response. Studies use different assays to measure Nabs making them hard to combine. We present a modelling method which can combine multiple datasets and can be updated as more detailed data becomes available. Combining data from six published datasets we predict that after a short period of rapid decay the half-life of the NAb response is approximately one year giving optimism that the response will be long-lived.

Peacetime Attrition in the Army of Frederick William I, 1713–1740

1978 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willerd R. Fann
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Enlisted Men ◽  
Effective Force ◽  
Short Period ◽  
One Year ◽  
Standing Army

Often enough to make it worthy of attention, one encounters the assertion that the annual peacetime turnover of enlisted men in the eighteenth-century Prussian army amounted to 20 percent or more of the total. As put by Robert Ergang in his recently reprinted biography of Frederick William I: “The enlistment, it is true, was for life, not for a short period. Frederick William's soldier was a miles perpetuus. … Accordingly the number of those mustered out each year was not overwhelming. Nevertheless, the aged and sick who were dismissed each year amounted to about 20 percent of the standing army.” In addition, “the number of deserters … was large. … The total for the entire reign was 30,216, the lowest number in any one year being 401 in 1739.” The same figures can be found in Gordon Craig, The Politics of the Prussian Army: “In no single year of this reign did fugitives from the army number fewer than 400, and the total number of desertions between 1713 and 1740 was 30,216. More important sources of attrition were age and sickness which led annually to the discharge of 20 per cent, of the effective force.”

Evaluating the Research Productivity of Pakistan in the 21st Century

2021 ◽  
pp. 407-423
Author(s):  
Ikram Ul Haq ◽  
Rabiya Ali Faridi
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Research Productivity ◽  
Citation Impact ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Annual Growth Rate ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
General Internal ◽  
Fund Allocation ◽  
Subject Categories

The publications of scholarly communication have been considered as the driving force and the backbone for international development. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the scholarly research productivity by authors affiliated to Pakistan in all areas of knowledge. The Web of Science (WoS) database has been used to extract the records of publications produced by the authors affiliated to Pakistan and published during the 21st century from 2000 to 2019. The analysis of the retrieved documents has been conducted on the following parameters; distribution of publications by year, percentage, and annual growth rate; the top-20 most productive institutions, subject categories, collaborative countries, and preferred source publications. Findings have shown that 148,678 publications were produced by Pakistan with an average of 7,434 documents per year and 42% documents were produced during the last three years from 2017-19. COMSATS University Islamabad and Quaid-e-Azam University were found to be the most productive institutions while medicine general internal and engineering electrical electronic were found as the preferred areas of research. The examination of research showed that China is on the top, followed by United States and Saudi Arabia, but the highest citation impact in documents produced in collaboration with the authors are of Switzerland. Pakistan Journal of Botany has emerged as the most favorite source of publication. The state-of-the-art systematic research plays a significant role in the development of the country and is compulsory for sustainable developments. This study would help to re-examine the research strategies, support in the decision-making process, and further fund allocation. The result also highlights the strong and least preferred areas of research.

Theories of Polar Motion from Tisserand to Poincaré (1890 – 1910)

2000 ◽  
Vol 178 ◽  
pp. 41-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Melchior
Keyword(s):  
Polar Motion ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Circular Motion ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Fixed Pole ◽  
One Year ◽  
Elliptical Motion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Chandler Period

AbstractThe discovery by Seth C. Chandler (1891) that the motion of the pole (the reality of which had been established by K.F. Küstner and by the simultaneous latitude observations at Honolulu and Berlin by German astronomers) resulted from two components i.e. a free circular motion with a period of 427 days and a forced elliptical motion with a period of 365.25 days, raised considerable interest in the scientific community of astronomers and geophysicists.The celebrated Mécanique Céleste of Tisserand (1890) had been published just one year before at a time when doubts still persisted and arguments could be presented in favor of the fixed pole. Starting with Tisserand’s arguments, we describe in this paper the impact of the successive contributions by A. Greenhill, S. Newcomb, Th. Sloudsky, S. Hough, G. Herglotz, A. Love, J. Larmor and H. Poincaré to the solution of the problems raised by the Chandler period.The lines of reasoning taken by these eminent scientists were rigorously correct so that, after about one hundred years, contemporary researchers, who benefit from a far better knowledge of the inner structure of the Earth and are able to take advantage of modern computing power, do not contradict any of their conclusions and instead refine them with an accuracy which was not imaginable one century ago.

Effect of Surgical Alterations of the Tensor Veli Palatini Muscle onc Eustachian Tube Function

1980 ◽  
Vol 89 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erdem I. Cantekin ◽  
David C. Phillips ◽  
Charles D. Bluestone ◽  
William J. Doyle ◽  
Kyle K. Kimes
Keyword(s):  
Eustachian Tube ◽  
Otitis Media With Effusion ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Eustachian Tube Function ◽  
Complete Excision ◽  
Function Tests ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Tube Function ◽  
Tensor Veli Palatini Muscle ◽  
One Year

Previous studies in humans have indicated that functional obstruction of the eustachian tube (ET) is an important factor in the pathogenesis of otitis media with effusion (OME). This type of obstruction appears to be related to the structural properties of the tube, or to an inefficient active tubal opening mechanism, or both. In this study, functional ET obstruction was created in 22 rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta) by surgically altering the tensor veli palatini (TVP) muscle using three different procedures: 1) complete excision of the muscle; 2) transection of the superficial muscle bundle; or 3) transposition of the muscle tendon medial to the hamular process. Prior to surgery, weekly tympanometry, pneumatic otoscopy, and otomicroscopic examinations were performed for a period of at least six months to document middle ear (ME) status. A minimum of four ET function tests were performed on each animal using the inflation-deflation and forced-response tests. Following surgery, these tests and examinations were continued for periods of up to one year. Postoperatively, the animals in which the TVP had been excised developed a sterile ME effusion which proved to be a chronic condition which persisted throughout the follow-up period. Eustachian tube function tests showed a complete absence of any active tubal dilation by swallowing. Animals that had the muscle transected developed abnormal ME pressures, or effusions, or both, which returned to normal in some ears, but which were recurrent or chronic in others. Eustachian tube function tests in these animals showed an initial loss of active tubal function which gradually improved, but not to normal levels, presumably as a result of healing of the muscle. In cases in which the muscle was transposed the ME pathology and ET dysfunction were similar after the surgery, but improved within a short period of time. These data suggest that alteration of the TVP muscle can create functional obstruction of the ET. The severity of ET obstruction depends upon the surgical procedure undertaken. The results of postoperative ET function tests were similar to those recorded from children with recurrent and chronic OME.

A Seasonally Coherent Calibration (SCC) Model for Postprocessing Numerical Weather Predictions

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 (10) ◽  
pp. 3633-3647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. J. Wang ◽  
Tony Zhao ◽  
Qichun Yang ◽  
David Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Statistical Characteristics ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Calibration Model ◽  
Numerical Weather ◽  
Calibration Models ◽  
Short Period ◽  
One Year

Abstract Statistical calibration of forecasts from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models aims to produce forecasts that are unbiased, reliable in ensemble spread, and as skillful as possible. We suggest that the calibrated forecasts should also be coherent in climatology, including seasonality, consistent with observations. This is especially important when forecasts approach climatology as forecast skill becomes low, such as at long lead times. However, it is challenging to achieve these aims when data available to establish sophisticated calibration models are limited. Many NWP models have only a short period of archived data, typically one year or less, when they become officially operational. In this paper, we introduce a seasonally coherent calibration (SCC) model for working effectively with limited archived NWP data. Detailed rationale and mathematical formulations are presented. In the development of the model, three issues are resolved. These are 1) constructing a calibration model that is sophisticated enough to allow for seasonal variation in the statistical characteristics of raw forecasts and observations, 2) bringing climatology that is representative of long-term statistics into the calibration model, and 3) reducing the number of model parameters through sensible reparameterization to make the model workable with short NWP dataset. A case study is conducted to examine model assumptions and evaluate model performance. We find that the model assumptions are sound, and the developed SCC model produces well-calibrated forecasts.

Behavioural adjustments of wild-caught kangaroos to captivity

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 213 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Munn ◽  
S. Phelan ◽  
M. Rigby ◽  
J. A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Wild Animal ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Novel Environment ◽  
Short Period ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Free Ranging

It is important to understand how wild-caught animals may respond to captivity, and whether their behaviours in captivity are reflective of their wild counterparts. We observed the behaviour of wild-caught western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) and red kangaroos (Osphranter rufus; formerly M. rufus) that were transferred to a large naturally vegetated enclosure. Observations were made on the first day of captivity and again after 7–10 days, and were compared with the behaviour of free-living kangaroos at the same locality and over the same period. We quantified feeding, moving, grooming and non-alert behaviours. Of these, grooming was higher in captive kangaroos than in free-living animals on the first day of captivity only, and was no different to that of wild animal by 7–10 days’ captivity. Such self-directed behaviour may be indicative of heightened distress for kangaroos on the first day of captivity, but it may also be indicative of grooming to eliminate contamination of human smells or debris following capture by darting and recovery. Overall, our findings indicate that after a short period of captivity, wild-caught kangaroos adjust to a novel environment relatively quickly, and animals from each species showed behaviour patterns comparable with free-ranging counterparts within 7–10 days after capture and captivity.

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