Waardering van de site Bergstraat te Oud-Turnhout (Oud-Turnhout, provincie Antwerpen) in het kader van een eventuele toekomstige bescherming

Dit rapport is de neerslag van de archeologische waardering van de site Bergstraat die plaats vond in de zomer van 2008 in het natuurgebied De Liereman te Oud-Turnhout. Naast de waardering van deze oppervlakte site zelf, in functie van een eventuele toekomstige bescherming als archeologische site, behoorde ook het evalueren van de relatie met de site Arendonk Korhaan tot de doelstelling van de studieopdracht. Met het oog op de afbakening van de site werd nagegaan in hoeverre Oud-Turnhout Bergstraat en Arendonk Korhaan beschouwd en beschermd konden worden als één groot sitecomplex. De methode om deze doelstellingen te bereiken omvatte een landschappelijke kartering, een archeologische kartering met behulp van een booronderzoek en het graven van proefputten om de stratigrafische positie en bewaring van de artefacten en hun ruimtelijk verband na te gaan. Alle steekproeven op de rug langs de zuidrand van De Liereman leverden archeologische sites op in goed bewaarde bodems. Meestal is er een podzolbodem aanwezig met hierin artefactconcentraties, maar op verschillende locaties werden bovendien Federmesserartefacten uit een Usselobodem gerecupereerd. Dit is het geval in zone 2, langs de Bergstraat en in zone 4, op de Korhaan. Samen met het feit dat ze zich op dezelfde landschappelijke eenheid bevinden, is de aanwezigheid van artefactconcentraties voldoende continu om deze zones als deel van hetzelfde uitgestrekt sitecomplex te beschouwen. Hiermee loopt het gekende sitescomplex te Arendonk Korhaan tot ver over de site Oud-Turnhout Bergstraat door, waarbij de totale lengte minstens 3km bedraagt. Om naamsverwarring tussen sites en gemeenten te vermijden stellen de auteurs voor om het volledige sitecomplex eenvoudig als De Liereman te benoemen. De bewaring van finaalpaleolithicum in een begraven Usselobodem, en in het bijzonder de gestratifieerde context in zone 4, is momenteel uniek in de regio en biedt uitzonderlijke mogelijkheden voor verder onderzoek. Het hiermee geassocieerde veenpakket vult dit potentieel verder aan wat betreft paleoecologie, terwijl de site ook veel te bieden heeft voor geomorfologisch onderzoek van deze laatglaciale ruggen. Het complex bevindt zich bovendien in een ruimer prehistorisch landschap, waarbij het onderzoek in de noordelijke zone 5 een inzicht in de aanwezigheid van het middenpaleolithicum biedt. Dit uitzonderlijk grote, rijke en goed bewaarde sitecomplex verdient volgens dit rapport niet enkel een bescherming met aangepast beheer, maar ook verder onderzoek. De hier beschreven waarnemingen roepen tal van onderzoeksvragen op die het wetenschappelijke potentieel van de site bevestigen

N2-Fixierleistung von Sojabohnen und Erbsen im ökologischen Anbau

The aim of this study was to detect the N2-fixation of soybeans and peas in organic farming for improvement of the economic evaluation. Therefore experiments were established in Forchheim am Kaiserstuhl and Hohenkammer in 2015. The N2-fixation is calculated by the difference method after Stülpnagel with the extension III after Hauser. The results at both sites are quite different with regard to the soybeans. A much higher N2-fixation was calculated at the site of Hohenkammer, whereas the results for the peas are in a similar range for both sites

Observation of the Faraday effect via beam deflection in a longitudinal magnetic field

We report the observation of the magnetic field induced circular differential deflection of light at the interface of a Faraday medium. The difference in the angles of refraction or reflection between the two circular polarization components is a function of the magnetic field strength and the Verdet constant. The reported phenomena permit the observation of the Faraday effect not via polarization rotation in transmission, but via changes in the propagation direction in refraction or in reflection. An unpolarized light beam is predicted to split into its two circular polarization components. The light deflection arises within a few wavelengths at the interface and is therefore independent of pathlength

Conservation of Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay Complex Components Throughout Eukaryotic Evolution

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is an essential eukaryotic process regulating transcript quality and abundance, and is involved in diverse processes including brain development and plant defenses. Although some of the NMD machinery is conserved between kingdoms, little is known about its evolution. Phosphorylation of the core NMD component UPF1 is critical for NMD and is regulated in mammals by the SURF complex (UPF1, SMG1 kinase, SMG8, SMG9 and eukaryotic release factors). However, since SMG1 is reportedly missing from the genomes of fungi and the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, it remains unclear how UPF1 is activated outside the metazoa. We used comparative genomics to determine the conservation of the NMD pathway across eukaryotic evolution. We show that SURF components are present in all major eukaryotic lineages, including fungi, suggesting that in addition to UPF1 and SMG1, SMG8 and SMG9 also existed in the last eukaryotic common ancestor, 1.8 billion years ago. However, despite the ancient origins of the SURF complex, we also found that SURF factors have been independently lost across the Eukarya, pointing to genetic buffering within the essential NMD pathway. We infer an ancient role for SURF in regulating UPF1, and the intriguing possibility of undiscovered NMD regulatory pathways

Dried blood spots, valid screening for viral hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus in real-life

AIM: To detect chronic hepatitis B (CHB), chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in dried blood spot (DBS) and compare these samples to venous blood sampling in real-life. METHODS: We included prospective patients with known viral infections from drug treatment centers, a prison and outpatient clinics and included blood donors as negative controls. Five drops of finger capillary blood were spotted on filter paper, and a venous blood sample was obtained. The samples were analyzed for HBsAg, anti-HBc, anti-HBs, anti-HCV, and anti-HIV levels as well as subjected to a combined nucleic acid test (NAT) for HBV DNA, HCV RNA and HIV RNA. RESULTS: Samples from 404 subjects were screened (85 CHB, 116 CHC, 114 HIV and 99 blood donors). DBS had a sensitivity of > 96% and a specificity of > 98% for the detection of all three infections. NAT testing did not improve sensitivity, but correctly classified 95% of the anti-HCV-positive patients with chronic and past infections. Anti-HBc and anti-HBS showed low sensitivity in DBS (68% and 42%). CONCLUSION: DBS sampling, combined with an automated analysis system, is a feasible screening method to diagnose chronic viral hepatitis and HIV infections outside of the health care system

Parents d'enfants hospitalisés dans une unité de soins intensifs: une étude exploratoire de leur vécu.

Le travail présenté ici repose sur une recherche qualitative effectuée par l'Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive de Lausanne (IUMSP), sur l'initiative de l'unité des soins intensifs médico-chirurgicaux de pédiatrie (SIP) du Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV). Cette étude détaille le vécu de parents dont l'enfant a été hospitalisé dans une unité de soins intensifs. Il a paru essentiel aux initiateurs du projet d'imaginer offrir un accompagnement et une aide de type préventif aux personnes concernées par la maladie ou l'accident de leur enfant. Toutefois, avant de procéder à ce dispositif, il convenait de savoir plus précisément: 1. Ce que les parents vivaient durant l'hospitalisation de leur enfant; 2. Quels étaient leurs besoins et leurs attentes (à l'égard de l'unité, à l'égard des soignants) en pareilles circonstances

Semigroup evolution in Wigner Weisskopf pole approximation with Markovian spectral coupling

We establish the relation between the Wigner-Weisskopf theory for the description of an unstable system and the theory of coupling to an environment. According to the Wigner-Weisskopf general approach, even within the pole approximation (neglecting the background contribution) the evolution of a total system subspace is not an exact semigroup for the multi-channel decay, unless the projectors into eigesntates of the reduced evolution generator $W(z)$ are orthogonal. In this case these projectors must be evaluated at different pole locations $z_\alpha\neq z_\beta$. Since the orthogonality relation does not generally hold at different values of $z$, for example, when there is symmetry breaking, the semigroup evolution is a poor approximation for the multi-channel decay, even for a very weak coupling. Nevertheless, there exists a possibility not only to ensure the orthogonality of the $W(z)$ projectors regardless the number of the poles, but also to simultaneously suppress the effect of the background contribution. This possibility arises when the theory is generalized to take into account interactions with an environment. In this case $W(z)$, and hence its eigenvectors as well, are {\it independent} of $z$, which corresponds to a structure of the coupling to the continuum spectrum associated with the Markovian limit.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Fluorinated liquid crystals: evaluation of selectively fluorinated facially polarised cyclohexyl motifs for liquid crystal applications

The authors thank the European Research Council for and Advanced Grant and DO’H acknowledges the Royal Society for a Wolfson Merit Award.This paper explores the synthesis of a series of prototype negative dielectric liquid crystalline (LC) compounds which contain fluorinated cyclohexane motifs. The series are analogues and differ only in that they contain between one to four fluorine atoms. The stereochemistry is such that all of the fluorines/C-F bonds are on one face of the cyclohexane ring. This follows from the recent recognition that cyclohexanes with fluorines orientated in one direction, perpendicular to the ring have a strong molecular dipole, a characteristic that might be an advantage in the design of negative dielectric materials. However it is found that the increased polarity, particularly with two or more oriented C-F bonds, leads to higher melting points and poorer solubility in test matrix formulations, relative to hydrocarbon liquid crystals. This arises due to electrostatic intermolecular interactions between the polarised cyclohexyl and aryl rings. The study highlights that in order to take advantage of these polar cyclohexane motifs for liquid crystal design, appropriate scaffolds are required which are free of aromatic rings and contain peripheral solubilising motifs.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe

Oidium neolycopersici: Intra-specific variability inferred from AFLP analysis and relationship with closely related powdery mildew fungi infecting various plant species

Previous works indicated a considerable variation in the pathogenicity, virulence, and host range of Oidium neolycopersici isolates causing tomato powdery mildew epidemics in many parts of the world. In this study, rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences, and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) patterns were analyzed in 17 O. neolycopersici samples collected in Europe, North America, and Japan, including those which overcame some of the tomato major resistance genes. The ITS sequences were identical in all 10 samples tested and were also identical to ITS sequences of eight previously studied O. neolycopersici specimens. The AFLP analysis revealed a high genetic diversity in O. neolycopersici and indicated that all 17 samples represented different genotypes. This might suggest the existence of either a yet unrevealed sexual reproduction or other genetic mechanisms that maintain a high genetic variability in O. neolycopersici. No clear correlation was found between the virulence and the AFLP patterns of the O. neolycopersici isolates studied. The relationship between O. neolycopersici and powdery mildew anamorphs infecting Aquilegia vulgaris, Chelidonium majus, Passiflora caerulea, and Sedum alboroseum was also investigated. These anamorphs are morphologically indistinguishable from and phylogenetically closely related to O. neolycopersici. The cross-inoculation tests and the analyses of ITS sequences and AFLP patterns jointly indicated that the powdery mildew anamorphs collected from the above mentioned plant species all represent distinct, but closely related species according to the phylogenetic species recognition. All these species were pathogenic only to their original host plant species, except O. neolycopersici which infected S. alboroseum, tobacco, petunia, and Arabidopsis thaliana, in addition to tomato, in cross-inoculation tests. This is the first genome-wide study that investigates the relationships among powdery mildews that are closely related based on ITS sequences and morphology. The results indicate that morphologically indistinguishable powdery mildews that differed in only one to five single nucleotide positions in their ITS region are to be considered as different taxa with distinct host ranges