How other Europeans assess the dangers of leaving the EU

Public support for the EU rose after the referendum, while Jean-Claude Juncker has painted a starry picture of the Union's prospects without Britain. In effect, writes Catherine E De Vries, the UK is a guinea pig for Eurosceptics on the rest of the continent. Consequently, national leaders have every incentive to make Brexit as arduous as possible for the UK. Parties like the AfD are watching

Comprehensive analysis of transcriptome and metabolome identified the key gene networks regulating fruit length in melon

Background Melon is an ideal crop model for studying fruit development. Fruit shape is an important quality trait, and fruit length is a key indicator affecting fruit shape. However, studies on the genes regulating melon fruit length are still limited. Results In this study, we investigated the gene network regulating fruit morphology in melons utilizing transcriptome profile and a co-expression pattern-based approach. Four co-expression modules/gene networks highly correlated with changes in endogenous plant hormone levels at different developmental stages were identified. We pinpointed 11 key genes associated with cell development, 4 genes related to microtubule development, and 16 genes involved in the auxin (IAA, indole-3-acetic acid) pathway. These genes were identified as module hubs, and their expression level correlated with phenotypic variation. Through rigorous screening methods, we enhanced the likelihood that these genes are genuine candidates in the regulation of the fruit morphology network. These genes play a significant role in controlling fruit length, providing crucial insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying melon fruit development. Conclusions Our findings revealed candidate genes that regulate melon fruit length, helping in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying melon fruit development. These genes will be valuable for implementing marker-assisted breeding strategies.This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172581), Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-2025-ZFRI), Agriculture Research System of China (CARS-25-2025-G6), the Henan Special Funds for Major Science and Technology (2211001T10400), Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (1610192023306), Henan Provincial International Science and Technology Cooperation Project (242102520045).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The ALMA-QUARKS Survey: II. the ACA 1.3 mm continuum source catalog and the assembly of dense gas in massive star-forming clumps

Leveraging the high resolution, high sensitivity, and wide frequency coverage of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the QUARKS survey, standing for "Querying Underlying mechanisms of massive star formation with ALMA-Resolved gas Kinematics and Structures", is observing 139 massive star-forming clumps at ALMA Band 6 ($\lambda\sim$ 1.3 mm). This paper introduces the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) 7-m data. Combining multi-wavelength data, we provide the first edition of QUARKS atlas, offering insights into the multiscale and multiphase interstellar medium in high-mass star formation. The ACA 1.3 mm catalog includes 207 continuum sources that are called ACA sources. Their gas kinetic temperatures are estimated using three formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) transitions with a non-LTE radiation transfer model, and the mass and density are derived from a dust emission model. The ACA sources are massive (16-84 percentile values of 6-160 $M_{\odot}$), gravity-dominated ($M\propto R^{1.1}$) fragments within massive clumps, with supersonic turbulence ($\mathcal{M}>1$) and embedded star-forming protoclusters. We find a linear correlation between the masses of the fragments and the massive clumps, with a ratio of 6% between the two. When considering the fragments as representative of dense gas, the ratio indicates a dense gas fraction (DGF) of 6%, although with a wide scatter ranging from 1% to 10%. If we consider the QUARKS massive clumps to be what is observed at various scales, then the size-independent DGF indicates a self-similar fragmentation or collapsing mode in protocluster formation. With the ACA data over four orders of magnitude of luminosity-to-mass ratio ($L/M$), we find that the DGF increases significantly with $L/M$, which indicates clump evolutionary stage. We observed a limited fragmentation at the subclump scale, which can be explained by dynamic global collapse process.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics. QUARKS atlas link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KTqXxCDduYepvLd9kIvZVSSytK48OmfL/view?usp=sharin

The ALMA Survey of Star Formation and Evolution in Massive Protoclusters with Blue Profiles (ASSEMBLE): Core Growth, Cluster Contraction, and Primordial Mass Segregation

The ALMA Survey of Star Formation and Evolution in Massive Protoclusters with Blue Profiles (ASSEMBLE) aims to investigate the process of mass assembly and its connection to high-mass star formation theories in protoclusters in a dynamic view. We observed 11 massive (Mclump>1000 Msun), luminous (Lbol>10,000 Lsun), and blue-profile (infall signature) clumps by ALMA with resolution of 2200-5500 au at 350 GHz (870 um) in continuum and line emission. 248 dense cores were identified, including 106 cores showing protostellar signatures and 142 prestellar core candidates. Compared to early-stage infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) by ASHES, the core mass and surface density within the ASSEMBLE clumps exhibited significant increment, suggesting concurrent core accretion during the evolution of the clumps. The maximum mass of prestellar cores was found to be 2 times larger than that in IRDCs, indicating evolved protoclusters have the potential to harbor massive prestellar cores. The mass relation between clumps and their most massive core (MMCs) is observed in ASSEMBLE but not in IRDCs, which is suggested to be regulated by multiscale mass accretion. The mass correlation between the core clusters and their MMCs has a steeper slope compared to that observed in stellar clusters, which can be due to fragmentation of the MMC and stellar multiplicity. We observe a decrease in core separation and an increase in central concentration as protoclusters evolve. We confirm primordial mass segregation in the ASSEMBLE protoclusters, possibly resulting from gravitational concentration and/or gas accretion.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

Validity and applicability of the global leadership initiative on malnutrition criteria in non-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease

IntroductionThere are no standardized assessment criteria for selecting nutritional risk screening tools or indicators to assess reduced muscle mass (RMM) in the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria. We aimed to compare the consistency of different GLIM criteria with Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and protein-energy wasting (PEW).MethodsIn this study, nutritional risk screening 2002 first four questions (NRS-2002-4Q), Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), and Mini-Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF) tools were used as the first step of nutritional risk screening for the GLIM. The RMM is expressed using different metrics. The SGA and PEW were used to diagnose patients and classify them as malnourished and non-malnourished. Kappa (κ) tests were used to compare the concordance between the SGA, PEW, and GLIM of each combination of screening tools.ResultsA total of 157 patients were included. Patients with Chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 1–3 accounted for a large proportion (79.0%). The prevalence rates of malnutrition diagnosed using the SGA and PEW were 18.5% and 19.7%, respectively. The prevalence of GLIM-diagnosed malnutrition ranges from 5.1% to 37.6%, depending on the different screening methods for nutritional risk and the different indicators denoting RMM. The SGA was moderately consistent with the PEW (κ = 0.423, p < 0.001). The consistency among the GLIM, SGA, and PEW was generally low. Using the NRS-2002-4Q to screen for nutritional risk, GLIM had the best agreement with SGA and PEW when skeletal muscle index (SMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and hand grip strength (HGS) indicated a reduction in muscle mass (SGA: κ = 0.464, 95% CI 0.28–0.65; PEW: κ = 0.306, 95% CI 0.12–0.49).ConclusionThe concordance between the GLIM criteria and the SGA and PEW depended on the screening tool used in the GLIM process. The inclusion of RMM in the GLIM framework is important. The addition of HGS could further improve the performance of the GLIM standard compared to the use of body composition measurements