Screening for broad mite susceptibility in Rhododendron simsii hybrids

Broad mite Polyphagotarsonemus latus, is a key pest of pot azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch hybrids). No information on variation in susceptibility or potential tolerance within these plants is available to date. We evaluated a selection of 32 Rhododendron cultivars, mainly Rhododendron simsii hybrids, for susceptibility to broad mite. The plants were artificially infested in a greenhouse by surrounding each azalea with four broad mite-infested English ivy plants (Hedera helix). Broad mite infestation was evaluated by counting the number of broad mites per shoot tip and assigning a damage rate. Results indicated a comparable infestation rate expressed as the number of mites on all cultivars at the initial stage of the experiments. Correlations between the average damage rate and the number of broad mites per shoot tip on all cultivars at different time intervals were significantly positive, although low, in each experiment, with R-2-values of 0.14 and 0.61. At the end of the experiments significant differences in susceptibility between the evaluated cultivars were observed. The cultivars, 'Emil De Coninck' and 'Mont Blanc' were rated as the most susceptible, whereas 'Mistral' and its bud sport 'Elien' were tolerant towards the broad mite, because damage rates were low and very few broad mites were found

Left and right amygdala : mediofrontal cortical functional connectivity is differentially modulated by harm avoidance

Background: The left and right amygdalae are key regions distinctly involved in emotion-regulation processes. Individual differences, such as personality features, may affect the implicated neurocircuits. The lateralized amygdala affective processing linked with the temperament dimension Harm Avoidance (HA) remains poorly understood. Resting state functional connectivity imaging (rsFC) may provide more insight into these neuronal processes. Methods: In 56 drug-naive healthy female subjects, we have examined the relationship between the personality dimension HA on lateralized amygdala rsFC. Results: Across all subjects, left and right amygdalae were connected with distinct regions mainly within the ipsilateral hemisphere. Females scoring higher on HA displayed stronger left amygdala rsFC with ventromedial prefrontal cortical (vmPFC) regions involved in affective disturbances. In high HA scorers, we also observed stronger right amygdala rsFC with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), which is implicated in negative affect regulation. Conclusions: In healthy females, left and right amygdalae seem implicated in distinct mPFC brain networks related to HA and may represent a vulnerability marker for sensitivity to stress and anxiety (disorders)

decodeRNA-predicting non-coding RNA functions using guilt-by-association

Although the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) landscape is expanding rapidly, only a small number of lncRNAs have been functionally annotated. Here, we present decodeRNA (http://www.decoderna.org), a database providing functional contexts for both human lncRNAs and microRNAs in 29 cancer and 12 normal tissue types. With state-of-the-art data mining and visualization options, easy access to results and a straightforward user interface, decodeRNA aims to be a powerful tool for researchers in the ncRNA field

Benchmarking of RNA-sequencing analysis workflows using whole-transcriptome RT-qPCR expression data

RNA-sequencing has become the gold standard for whole-transcriptome gene expression quanti cation. Multiple algorithms have been developed to derive gene counts from sequencing reads. While a number of benchmarking studies have been conducted, the question remains how individual methods perform at accurately quantifying gene expression levels from RNA-sequencing reads. We performed an independent benchmarking study using RNA-sequencing data from the well established MAQCA and MAQCB reference samples. RNA-sequencing reads were processed using five workflows (Tophat-HTSeq, Tophat-Cuflinks, STAR-HTSeq, Kallisto and Salmon) and resulting gene expression measurements were compared to expression data generated by wet-lab validated qPCR assays for all protein coding genes. All methods showed high gene expression correlations with qPCR data. When comparing gene expression fold changes between MAQCA and MAQCB samples, about 85% of the genes showed consistent results between RNA-sequencing and qPCR data. Of note, each method revealed a small but speci c gene set with inconsistent expression measurements. A significant proportion of these method-specific inconsistent genes were reproducibly identified in independent datasets. These genes were typically smaller, had fewer exons, and were lower expressed compared to genes with consistent expression measurements. We propose that careful validation is warranted when evaluating RNA-seq based expression profiles for this specific gene set

Lydanalyse for overvåking av biologisk mangfold i tropisk regnskog

Tropical rainforests harbour up to 66% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity but have been reduced in extent by up to 60% due to persistent deforestation and forest degradation, resulting in the population decline or loss of ecologically and socioeconomically important wildlife species. In recognition of the biodiversity crisis as an actor of global change, several international initiatives, including the Convention of Biological Diversity and its ‘Aichi Biodiversity Targets for 2020’, have been implemented to curb biodiversity loss. Here, the collection of primary data that provide an objective record of community-level biodiversity is crucial to understanding fundamental ecological processes, the trends and drivers of change, and the progress made towards conservation targets. Yet, the rapid and global nature of the biodiversity crisis means that monitoring biodiversity at appropriate spatio-temporal scales is riddled with difficulties. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) yields promising perspectives, such as increased taxonomic breadth and the potential for automation. Still, deriving taxonomic information from acoustic data is complicated by the time-consuming nature or aural annotation and the lack of existing automated species identifiers and reference databases. Ecoacoustic is a new field of research that instead is aimed at inferring ecological information from the soundscape – or collection of sounds emanating from the landscape – without the need for species identification. Here, mathematical formulae called acoustic indices are used to summarise the diversity of acoustic signals in sound files and link values to diversity patterns. Although this discipline has made substantial progress towards becoming a useful monitoring tool, the ability of acoustic indices to reflect biodiversity trends or ecological patterns must be validated before this technology is implemented on a global scale. Several limitations and research opportunities remain to be addressed and will be the focus of this thesis. This thesis presents a novel analytical workflow that combines ecoacoustic methods with the analytical framework of Hill numbers, resulting in a comprehensive set of intuitive acoustic indices for measuring soundscape diversity patterns at multiple scales. Chapter I introduces the analytical approach, confirming that the derived acoustic indices adhere to essential criteria for diversity indices, while also evaluating their effectiveness in capturing richness patterns of sound-producing species in tropical rainforests. In Chapter II, the investigation delves deeper into the spatial variations of soundscape richness within a highly insularised rainforest system, revealing a positive correlation between island size and soundscape richness across multiple scales, and linking the observed patterns to underlying ecological mechanisms. Chapter III introduces soundscapeR, a user-friendly software tool implemented in the R coding language, facilitating the use of the workflow. Collectively, these chapters demonstrate the potential of this new approach, presenting a valuable addition to the ecoacoustic monitoring toolbox that can be used to shed light on ecological mechanisms and their drivers in acoustically complex rainforest settings

2016 M&A Monitor: Shedding light on M&A in Belgium

In these times of globally booming M&A activity, I am pleased to present the first M&A Monitor of the Centre for Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts of Vlerick Business School. This Monitor supersedes the annual Entrepreneurial Buy-out Monitor that Vlerick has conducted over the past years. The scope has been expanded to consider all types of mergers and acquisitions. By capturing the opinions of 142 M&A experts in Belgium – including bankers, private equity investors, advisors, brokers, lawyers, family offices and mezzanine players – we provide a comprehensive overview of current trends and challenges in the domain of M&A in Belgium. The findings presented in this report are of great interest to all professionals active in the Belgian M&A market, as well as to decision-makers on both the selling and the buying sides. The results strongly indicate that Belgian M&A activity is surging − with 2 out of 3 respondents observing an increase in the number of M&A transactions. Competition amongst buyers has intensified, as the current market is clearly demanddriven, fuelled by easily available bank financing and the extensive amount of dry powder of private equity companies. The increased interest of family offices, wealthy individuals and foreign PE firms in the Belgian midcap segment puts additional pressure on the buy-side. A demand-driven M&A wave naturally results in rising valuations and M&A multiples. The experts surveyed overwhelmingly indicate that multiples have increased over the past year, leading to an average EV/EBITDA multiple across all industries and size classes of 6.1. Nevertheless, the imbalance between high demand and limited (high-quality) supply of companies also calls for caution. Academic evidence shows that transactions taking place at the top of an M&A wave are typically less profitable. These deals are more likely to be driven by hubris and herding behaviour. In addition, most interesting targets have usually been acquired at the start of the wave, leaving only targets that do not fully meet the ideal selection criteria. That’s why a detailed upfront assessment of the motives for buying a company, and a realistic estimate of potential synergy gains, prove to be of utmost importance in successful M&A. Our survey results indicate that realising economies of scale is considered to be the primary motive for strategic buyers, while financial buyers focus mainly on opportunities to follow a buy-andbuild approach or improve revenue and/or margin. The results presented in this monitor also provide interesting insights into the deal structure (use of vendor loans, earnouts, leverage ratios) and process (nature of sale process, use of vendor due diligence, length of M&A process). We open the black box of price negotiations and find, for example, that almost 1 out of 2 experts indicates that the average final deal price exceeds the initial indicative offer, while only 1 in 4 reports a lower final deal price compared to the offer price.BANK J.VAN BREDA & C°BDOGim

COMT Val(158)Met genotypes differentially influence subgenual cingulate functional connectivity in healthy females

Brain imaging studies have cons stently shown subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortical (sgACC) involvement in emotion processing. catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158) and Met(158) polymorphisms may influence such emotional brain processes in specific ways. Given that resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) may increase our understanding on brain functioning, we integrated genetic and rsfMRI data and focused on sgACC functional connections. No studies have yet investigated the influence of the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism (rs4680) on sgACC resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in healthy individuals. A homogeneous group of 61 Caucasian right-handed healthy female university students, all within the same age range, underwent isfMRI. Compared to Met158 homozygotes, Val(158) allele carriers displayed significantly stronger rsFC between the sgACC and the left parahippocampal gyrus, ventromedial parts of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). On the other hand, compared to Val(158) homozygotes, we found in Met(158) allele carriers stronger sgACC rsFC with the medial frontal gyrus (MEG), more in particular the anterior parts of the medial orbitofrontal cortex. Although we did not use emotional or cognitive tasks, our sgACC rsFC results point to possible distinct differences in emotional and cognitive processes between Val(158) and Met(158) allele carriers. Hovvever, the exact nature of these directions remains to be determined