Taxonomy of the Crematogaster degeeri-species-assemblage in the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

We revise the species-level taxonomy of the Crematogaster (Crematogaster) degeerispecies-assemblage, a group of related ants occuring in Madagascar and the wider Malagasy region, and further provide an identification key to all species-groups of the genus Crematogaster in this region. Within the C. degeeri-assemblage, we recognize twelve species based upon morphological data from worker, queen and male ants, as well as genetic data from the barcode region of cytochrome oxidase I. Seven new species are described: Crematogaster alafara Blaimer sp. nov., C. bara Blaimer sp. nov., C. mafybe Blaimer sp. nov., C.maina Blaimer sp. nov., C. malahelo Blaimer sp. nov., C. masokely Blaimer sp. nov., C. ramamy Blaimer sp. nov. Crematogaster tricolor Gerstäcker, 1859 (stat. rev.) and C. dentata Dalla Torre, 1893 (stat. nov.) are raised to species level, and the following new synonymies are proposed: Crematogaster degeeri lunaris Santschi, 1928 as a synonym of C. degeeri Forel, 1886; Crematogaster sewelli improba Forel, 1907 and C. sewelli mauritiana Forel, 1907 as synonyms of C. dentata Dalla Torre, 1893, and C. pacifi ca Santschi, 1919 as a synonym of C. lobata Emery, 1895. Species descriptions, images, and distribution maps and identification keys based on worker ants, as well as on queen ants where available, are presented for all twelve species. In addition, we present a molecular gene tree for cytochrome oxidase I and summarize levels of sequence divergence within and between species of the C. degeeri-species-assemblage. Our findings are discussed in the light of previous work on Malagasy Crematogaster ants

Utilización de los diagramas de Minkowski para la enseñanza de la Teoría Especial de la Relatividad en la escuela secundaria

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la implementación de una etapa de una Secuencia de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje diseñada para abordar la Teoría Especial de la Relatividad en la escuela secundaria superior, en Argentina. Se adopta el modelo de Enseñanza para la Comprensión dentro de un marco teórico más amplio que promueve un aprendizaje significativo de la Teoría Especial de la Relatividad.El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar si la utilización de los diagramas de Minkowski, para establecer la simultaneidad de eventos en la Teoría Especial de la Relatividad, es una herramienta apropiada para la escuela secundaria.La metodología empleada en la investigación es cualitativa de tipo descriptiva. La implementación se realizó en dos cursos de secundaria superior de una escuela pública dependiente de la Universidad Nacional del Centro, conformados por 65 alumnos. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian rasgos de aprendizaje significativo de la Teoría Especial de la Relatividad, por parte de los alumnos.In this paper the results of the implementation of a step in a Teaching - Learning sequence designed to approach the Special Relativity Theory in high school in Argentina are presented. The purpose of this research is to analyze whether the use of Minkowski diagrams to establish the simultaneity of events in the Special Relativity Theory is an appropriate tool for high school. The methodology used in this research is qualitative and descriptive. The implementation was done in two courses of a public high school that is dependent of the Universidad Nacional del Centro (Argentina), with 65 students. The results show that students achieved meaningful learning in some topics of Special Relativity Theory.Fil: Cayul, Esther. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo Educación en Ciencias con Tecnologías; ArgentinaFil: Arriassecq, Irene. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo Educación en Ciencias con Tecnologías; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Combined Acquisition Technique (CAT) for Neuroimaging of Multiple Sclerosis at Low Specific Absorption Rates (SAR)

Purpose: To compare a novel combined acquisition technique (CAT) of turbo-spin-echo (TSE) and echo-planar-imaging (EPI) with conventional TSE. CAT reduces the electromagnetic energy load transmitted for spin excitation. This radiofrequency (RF) burden is limited by the specific absorption rate (SAR) for patient safety. SAR limits restrict high-field MRI applications, in particular. Material and Methods: The study was approved by the local Medical Ethics Committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. T2- and PD-weighted brain images of n = 40 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients were acquired by CAT and TSE at 3 Tesla. Lesions were recorded by two blinded, board-certificated neuroradiologists. Diagnostic equivalence of CAT and TSE to detect MS lesions was evaluated along with their SAR, sound pressure level (SPL) and sensations of acoustic noise, heating, vibration and peripheral nerve stimulation. Results: Every MS lesion revealed on TSE was detected by CAT according to both raters (Cohen's kappa of within-rater/across-CAT/TSE lesion detection kappa(CAT) = 1.00, at an inter-rater lesion detection agreement of kappa(LES) = 0.82). CAT reduced the SAR burden significantly compared to TSE (p<0.001). Mean SAR differences between TSE and CAT were 29.0 (+/- 5.7) % for the T2-contrast and 32.7 (+/- 21.9) % for the PD-contrast (expressed as percentages of the effective SAR limit of 3.2 W/kg for head examinations). Average SPL of CAT was no louder than during TSE. Sensations of CAT-vs. TSE-induced heating, noise and scanning vibrations did not differ. Conclusion: T2-/PD-CAT is diagnostically equivalent to TSE for MS lesion detection yet substantially reduces the RF exposure. Such SAR reduction facilitates high-field MRI applications at 3 Tesla or above and corresponding protocol standardizations but CAT can also be used to scan faster, at higher resolution or with more slices. According to our data, CAT is no more uncomfortable than TSE scanning

Optimal Domain and Integral Extension of Operators Acting in Frechet Function Spaces

It is known that a continuous linear operator T defined on a Banach function space X(μ) (over a finite measure space (Ω,Σ,μ)) and with values in a Banach space X can be extended to a sort of optimal domain. Indeed, under certain assumptions on the space X(μ) and the operator T this optimal domain coincides with L1(mT), the space of all functions integrable with respect to the vector measure mT associated with T, and the optimal extension of T turns out to be the integration operator ImT. In this book the idea is taken up and the corresponding theory is translated to a larger class of function spaces, namely to Fr\'echet function spaces X(μ) (this time over a σ-finite measure space (Ω,Σ,μ). It is shown that under similar assumptions on X(μ) and T as in the case of Banach function spaces the so-called ``optimal extension process'' also works for this altered situation. In a further step the newly gained results are applied to four well-known operators defined on the Fréchet function spaces Lp-([0,1]) resp. Lp-(G) (where G is a compact Abelian group) and Lploc

Impact of innate and adaptive immune cells in tumor immune surveillance

Krebs ist eine der führenden Todesursachen weltweit. Im Jahr 2018 verzeichnete die Internationale Agentur für Krebsforschung (IARC) 18,1 Millionen neue Krebsfälle und eine Sterblichkeitsrate von 9,6 Millionen Krebstodesfällen mit steigender Inzidenz. Für 2040 wird ein Anstieg von 61,7% gegenüber 2018 erwartet. Die Behandlung von Krebs hängt von der Art und des Stadiums ab. Die Behandlungsmodalitäten reichen von Operation, Strahlentherapie, Chemotherapie und Hormontherapie bis hin zur gezielten Therapie, die entweder als Einzelbehandlung oder in Kombinationtherapien eingesetzt werden können. In den letzten Jahren hat sich die Immuntherapie als sehr vielversprechend bei der Behandlung oder Heilung von Krebs erwiesen, Immunzellen können Gewebe erreichen, wo Operationen unmöglich sind, und sogar mikroskopische Krankheiten oder Metastasen behandeln. Es gibt verschiedene Arten von Immuntherapien, darunter solche, die tumorspezifische Immunzellen ("Zelltherapie") einsetzen, um Krebszellen anzugreifen, oder solche, die bereits bestehende tumorspezifische Immunantworten im Körper verstärken. In meiner Dissertation wurden zwei verschiedene Tumormausmodelle, die die natürliche Tumorentwicklung nachahmen, verwendet, um die Rolle des angeborenen und adaptiven Immunsystem, wie bespielsweise NK-Zellen und CD8+ T-Zellen, bei der natürlichen Immunüberwachung von Tumoren zu untersuchen. Wir beobachteten, dass die Tumorentwicklung bei Mäusen im Allgemeinen zu einer Stimulation der Differenzierung und Aktivität von NK-Zellen führte. Eine anhaltende Stimulation von NK-Zellen durch Tumorzellen führte jedoch zur Bildung von terminal-differenzierten CD27low-NK-Zellen mit verminderter Antitumorkapazität. Während die IL-15-Behandlung von Mäusen die Entwicklung dieser spezifischen Untergruppe von Immunzellen förderte, führte sie außerdem zur Erschöpfung der NK-Zellen. Im Gegenzug veränderte die Tumorentwicklung die Verteilung der CD8+ T-Zelluntergruppen nicht, und naive CD8+ T-Zellen waren im Laufe der Tumorentwicklung die dominierende Subpopulation. Erst die Behandlung von Mäusen mit IL-15 führte zu einer Akkumulation von terminal-differenzierten T-Zellen, die sich auch durch eine geringe Zytotoxizität und eine reduzierte Zytokinproduktion auszeichneten. Zusammengenommen sind Tumorzellen, die sich natürlicherweise in einem Spontankrebsmodell entwickeln, in der Lage, der Zerstörung durch das Immunsystem zu entgehen, indem sie die Bildung von Immunzellen mit geringer Anti-Tumor-Aktivität fördern. Die Behandlung von Mäusen mit IL-15 stärkt kurzzeitig das Immunsystem, aber die Anhäufung von terminal-differenzierten Immunzellen mit einem erschöpften Phänotyp führt zur endgültigen Ineffizienz dieser Zytokinbehandlung und zur unkontrollierten Entwicklung von Tumoren und Metastasen

Imprecision and DNA break repair biased towards incompatible end joining in leukemia

Cancer is a genetic disease caused by mutations and chromosomal abnormalities that contribute to uncontrolled cell growth. In addition, cancer cells can rapidly respond to conventional and targeted therapies by accumulating novel and often specific genetic lesions leading to acquired drug resistance and relapsing disease. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), however, diverse chromosomal aberrations often occur. In many cases, improper repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) is a major source for genomic abnormalities. Therefore, this study examined the repair of DNA DSBs by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) in CLL by performing plasmid-based repair assays in primary CLL cells and normal B cells, isolated from patients, as well as TALEN/Cas9–induced chromosomal deletions in the CLL cell line Mec1. It is demonstrated that DNA repair is aberrant in CLL cells, featuring perturbed DNA break structure preference with efficient joining of noncohesive ends and more deletions at repair junctions. In addition, increased microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ) of DNA substrates was observed in CLL together with increased expression of MMEJ-specific repair factors. In summary, these data identify major differences in DNA repair efficiency between CLL cells and normal B cells isolated from patients

Patterns in object-oriented analysis

Analysis patterns have recently shown their great potential to enhance the set-up of models in object-oriented analysis. This report attempts to summarise the present state of literature on the subject of analysis patterns. It is organised in two main parts. In the first part, we present a comprehensive overview of the existing literature considering about one hundred mostly English written contributions. In the second part, we address some fundamental methodological issues related to both the creation and the application of analysis patterns. We study pattern documentation and organisation – e.g. in pattern catalogues – as important factors which the successful re-use of analysis patterns depends on. Furthermore, we consider and generalise numerous existing approaches to the application of analysis patterns. We show that all these procedures can be subsumed under two methods that are described in a formal fashion. Within the first method, patterns are integrated in the analysis model from the very first, whereas in the second method patterns are integrated only after a complete model has been established. Since the first method is of particular interest, it is illustrated by means of a substantial and nontrivial example. We also give special attention to the issue of traceability of patterns incorporated in a model, and we describe a promising approach from recent literature in detail

El horror al cadáver de un perpetrador : Abimael Guzmán hecho cenizas

El destino final del cadáver de un perpetrador de derechos humanos constituye un desafío incómodo para las sociedades que han sufrido la crueldad de sus actos. En este artículo analizamos el caso del líder de Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzmán, cuya muerte en el año 2021 provocó un inédito debate público en el Perú sobre qué hacer con su cuerpo. Al respecto, nos preguntamos ¿qué aspectos significativos revela esta controversia sobre las memorias del conflicto armado interno en el Perú (1980-2000)? y, ¿qué rol juega la figura de ‘el perpetrador’ en estas memorias? En una primera parte, a través de una revisión de fuentes periodísticas, reconstruimos la trayectoria y el desenlace de este debate con el objetivo de identificar las posiciones detrás de los discursos que dominan esta polémica y, asimismo, indagar en la imagen que se construye de Abimael Guzmán como el principal cabecilla de una organización subversiva. En una segunda parte, proponemos un análisis centrado en la problemática del culto a figuras controversiales fallecidas vinculadas a pasados violentos y traumáticos en el imaginario social. De esta manera, buscamos contribuir a los estudios de perpetradores con la finalidad de acercarnos a una sociedad en (pos)conflicto que sigue afectada por el legado de la violencia. The horror of a perpetrator’s corpse: abimael guzman burned to ashes The final destination of the corpse of a human rights perpetrator is an uncomfortable challenge for societies that have suffered the cruelty of his actions. In this article we analyse the case of the leader of Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzmán, whose death in 2021 provoked an unprecedented public debate in Peru about what to do with his corpse. In this context, we analyse which significant aspects this controversy reveals about the memories of the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-2000), and which role the figure of ‘the perpetrator’ plays in these memories. In the first part, by examining journalistic content, we reconstruct the trajectory and outcome of the debate, with the aim of identifying the positions behind the discourses that dominate the controversy, and also to investigate the image constructed of Abimael Guzmán as the main leader of a subversive organisation. In the second part, we propose an analysis focused on the problem of the cult about controversial figures after their death, linked to violent and traumatic pasts in the social imaginary. In this way, we seek to contribute to perpetrator studies, with the aim of approaching a (post)conflict society that continues to be affected by the legacy of violence

Mind the gap! Integrating taxonomic approaches to assess ant diversity at the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest

Understanding patterns of species diversity rely on accurate taxonomy which can only be achieved by long-term natural history research and the use of complementary information to establish species boundaries among cryptic taxa. We used DNA barcoding to characterize the ant diversity of Iguazú National Park (INP), a protected area of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest ecoregion, located at the southernmost extent of this forest. We assessed ant diversity using both cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences and traditional morphological approaches and then compared the results of these two methods. We successfully obtained COI sequences for 312 specimens belonging to 124 species, providing a DNA barcode reference library for nearly 50% of the currently known ant fauna of INP. Our results evidenced a clear barcode gap for all but two species, with a mean intraspecific divergence of 0.72%, and an average congeneric distance of 17.25%. Congruently, the library assembled here was remarkably useful for the discrimination of the ants of INP and even allowed us to link unidentified males and queens to their worker castes. To detect overlooked diversity, we classified the DNA barcodes into Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) using three different clustering algorithms and then compared their number and composition to that of reference species identified based on morphology. The MOTU count was always higher than that of reference species regardless of the method, suggesting that the diversity of ants at INP could be between 6% and 10% higher than currently recognized. Lastly, our survey contributed with 78 new barcode clusters to the global DNA barcode reference library, and added 36 new records of ant species for the INP, being 23 of them new citations for Argentina.Fil: Hanisch, Priscila Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Lavinia Oblanca, Pablo Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Andrew. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Lijtmaer, Dario Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Leponce, Maurice. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; BélgicaFil: Paris, Carolina Ivon. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; ArgentinaFil: Tubaro, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentin