On Zn-polluted soils, populations of the ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete Suillus bovinus exhibit an elevated Zn tolerance when compared to populations on non-polluted sites. To elucidate the mechanism of Zn tolerance, the time-course of Zn uptake was studied in isolates with contrasting Zn tolerance. Unidirectional fluxes and subcellular compartmentation of Zn were investigated through radiotracer f

Current metabarcoding studies aiming to characterize microbial communities generally rely on the amplification and sequencing of relatively short DNA regions. For fungi, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region in the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) operon has been accepted as the formal fungal barcode. Despite an increasing number of fungal metabarcoding studies, the amplification efficiency of primers

The impact of metal pollution on plant communities has been studied extensively in the past, but little is known about the effects of metal pollution on fungal communities that occur in metal-polluted soils. Metal-tolerant ecotypes of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus luteus are frequently found in pioneer pine forests in the Campine region in Belgium on metal-polluted soils. We hypothesized that

RATIONALE:Hypomotor seizures (characterized by diminished behavioral activity with indeterminate level of consciousness) have been identified as an important seizure type in infants. Our goal was to further investigate the clinical and EEG features of hypomotor seizures.METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed 110 hypomotor seizures from 34 patients recorded with video-EEG.RESULTS:Twenty-seven patients

This reflection, based on a keynote address to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Disasters on 14 September 2017, begins by considering some of the prevailing assumptions that existed at the time of the journal's creation. Next is a summary of significant milestones during the past 40 years, covering major global trends, changing disaster impacts, and key developments in disaster risk managemen

We report on X-ray scattering measurements of helical poly[9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-fluorene-2,7-diyl] by mapping the sample with 10 μm spatial resolution from 0.3 GPa to 36 GPa. We follow the strongest 00l reflection, which moves toward higher scattering angles with pressure indicating planarization of helical polyfluorene. Lateral inhomogeneity is increased for >10 GPa concomitant with the solidifi

Background: The risks of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic events in patients with atrial fibrillation both increase with age; therefore, net clinical benefit analyses of anticoagulant treatments in the elderly population are crucial to guide treatment. We evaluated the 1-year clinical outcomes with non-vitamin-K antagonist and vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs vs VKAs) in elderly (≥75

Airborne dispersal of microorganisms influences their biogeography, gene flow, atmospheric processes, human health and transmission of pathogens that affect humans, plants and animals. The extent of their impact depends essentially on cell-survival rates during the process of aerosolization. A central factor for cell-survival is water availability prior to and upon aerosolization. Also, the abilit

This study investigates and challenges the capability of standard and hybrid soft computing models of fuzzy c-means clustering adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), wavenet and artificial neural networks (MLPNN and RBFNN) to estimate the spillway aerator air demand in dams. For the learning process, four different meta-heuristic optimization methods (particle swarm optimization (PSO), ge

Event attribution assesses the effect of climate change on individual extreme events. While scientists have suggested that results could be relevant for climate adaptation policy, this has had little empirical investigation, particularly in developing regions. Taking the case of Senegal, the national adaptation policy context regarding extreme precipitation and flooding in urban areas, and the sci

Objectives: C1q is a valuable biomarker of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The "gold standard" assay, rocket immunoelectrophoresis (RIE), is time-consuming, and thus a shift to soluble immune precipitation techniques such as nephelometry has occurred. However, quantification of C1q with these techniques has been questioned as a result of the antibody binding properties of C

BACKGROUND: Fetal/neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is the platelet counterpart of hemolytic disease of the newborn. Most severe cases of FNAIT are caused by antibodies against human platelet antigen-1a (HPA-1a). HPA-1a–negative women giving birth to an HPA-1a–positive child are at risk of becoming HPA-1a–immunized, particularly women who are HLA-DRB3*01:01–positive. The aim of the stud

The phase diagram of the Al–B–C system has been calculated at pressure 7.7 GPa using models of the phenomenological thermodynamics with the interaction parameters derived from the experimental data on the phase equilibria at high pressures and temperatures.

Objective: To determine whether a novel therapy for placental insufficiency could achieve orphan drug status by estimating the annual incidence of placental insufficiency, defined as an estimated fetal weight below the 10th centile in the presence of abnormal umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry, per 10 000 European Union (EU) population as part of an application for European Medicines Agency (EMA