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Reasoning may help solving problems and understanding personal experiences. Ruminative reasoning, however, is inconclusive, repetitive, and usually regards negative thoughts. We asked how reasoning as manifested in oral autobiographical narratives might differ when it is ruminative versus when it is adaptive by comparing two constructs from the fields of psychotherapy research and narrative research that are potentially beneficial: innovative moments (IMs) and autobiographical reasoning (AR). IMs captures statements in that elaborate on changes regarding an earlier personal previous problem of the narrator, and AR capture the connecting of past events with other parts of the narrator’s life or enduring aspects of the narrator. A total of N = 94 university students had been selected from 492 students to differ maximally on trait rumination and trait adaptive reflection, and were grouped as ruminators (N = 38), reflectors (N = 37), and a group with little ruminative and reflective tendencies (“unconcerned,” N = 19). Participants narrated three negative personal experiences (disappointing oneself, harming someone, and being rejected) and two self-related experiences of more mixed valence (turning point and lesson learnt). Reflectors used more IMs and more negative than positive autobiographical arguments (AAs), but not more overall AAs than ruminators. Group differences were not moderated by the valence of memories, and groups did not differ in the positive effect of narrating on mood. Trait depression/anxiety was predicted negatively by IMs and positively by AAs. Thus, IMs are typical for reflectors but not ruminators, whereas the construct of AR appears to capture reasoning processes irrespective of their ruminative versus adaptive uses.
This article outlines a new approach to answering the foundational question in democratic theory of how the boundaries of democratic political units should be delineated. Whereas democratic theorists have mostly focused on identifying the appropriate population-group – or demos – for democratic decisionmaking, it is argued here that we should also take account of considerations relating to the appropriate scope of a democratic unit’s institutionalized governance capabilities – or public power. These matter because democratically legitimate governance is produced not only through the decision-making agency of a demos, but also through the institutionally distinct sources of political agency that shape the governance capabilities of public power. To develop this argument, the article traces a new theoretical account of the normative and institutional sources of collective agency, political legitimacy, and democratic boundaries, and illustrates it through a democratic reconstruction of the classical body politic metaphor. It further shows how this theoretical account lends strong prescriptive support to pluralist institutional boundaries within democratic global governance.
The democratic boundary problem raises the question of who has democratic participation rights in a given polity and why. One possible solution to this problem is the all-affected principle (AAP), according to which a polity ought to enfranchise all persons whose interests are affected by the polity’s decisions in a morally significant way. While AAP offers a plausible principle of democratic enfranchisement, its supporters have so far not paid sufficient attention to economic participation rights. I argue that if one commits oneself to AAP, one must also commit oneself to the view that political participation rights are not necessarily the only, and not necessarily the best, way to protect morally weighty interests. I also argue that economic participation rights raise important worries about democratic accountability, which is why their exercise must be constrained by a number of moral duties.
The combined behaviours of individuals within insect societies determine the survival and development of the colony. For the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), individual behaviours include nest building, foraging, storing and ripening food, nursing the brood, temperature regulation, hygiene and defence. However, the various behaviours inside the colony, especially within the cells, are hidden from sight, and until recently, were primarily described through texts and line drawings, which lack the dynamics of moving images. In this study, we provide a comprehensive source of online video material that offers a view of honey bee behaviour within comb cells, thereby providing a new mode of observation for the scientific community and the general public. We analysed long-term video recordings from longitudinally truncated cells, which allowed us to see sideways into the cells in the middle of a colony. Our qualitative study provides insight into worker behaviours, including the use of wax scales and existing nest material to remodel combs, storing pollen and nectar in cells, brood care and thermoregulation, and hygienic practices, such as cannibalism, grooming and surface cleaning. We reveal unique processes that have not been previously published, such as the rare mouth-to-mouth feeding by nurses to larvae as well as thermoregulation within cells containing the developing brood. With our unique video method, we are able to bring the processes of a fully functioning social insect colony into classrooms and homes, facilitating ecological awareness in modern times. We provide new details and images that will help scientists test their hypotheses on social behaviours. In addition, we encourage the non-commercial use of our material to educate beekeepers, the media and the public and, in turn, call attention to the general decline of insect biomass and diversity.
This essay presents contributions by Jürgen Habermas and Paulo Freire for the constitution of critical-reflexive subjects and the implications in the teaching-research-extension processes in the field of Organizational Studies. We show that intersubjectivity and dialogicity are conditions for the understanding between subjects and it is precisely through these conditions that the subjects are constituted, in a process that is dialogical, pedagogical and political. Freire and Habermas offer elements to deconstruct dominant instrumental logic and provide the basis for the reconstruction of unprecedented-viable possibilities of ways of organizing and managing. Therefore, this article highlights the importance of Organizational Studies to broaden the focus of teaching-research-extension possibilities and directs them to a communicative and dialogic engagement, beyond the borders of universities. This reconstruction indicates that researchers participate in different public arenas, debate and build public problems, processes of resistance, visibility, and dramatization of problematic issues. Observing the contributions of Freire and Habermas, Organizational Studies as a field cannot be limited to developing a critique, from a distant point of view: it is necessary to co-participate, co-act, co-operate and co-construct with its public.
Introduction: Surgical practices constitute a common topic of complaint among medical students. The aim of this study is to analyze the type of surgical training that students receive in medical school and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Methods: A survey based on the National Spanish Agency for the Quality of Evaluation and Accreditation (ANECA) guidelines was spread on social media between medical students and physicians waiting to start their residency. The time spent in surgical practices, the number of times that certain abilities were performed, and the desire of choosing a surgical specialty were analyzed.
Results: 1053 surveys were analyzed. Significant differences between the number of months that students rotate and the number of procedures performed as they gained seniority were found. A weak positive correlation between the number of months rotating and the number of procedures performed was found. The desire of choosing a surgical specialty was not associated with the time spent in surgical practice. SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has reduced the time spent in surgical practice and some of the surgical procedures performed.
Conclusion: The amount of surgical procedures performed by students is below the requirements of ANECA guidelines. A different level of dexterity between 6th year students’ group affected by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and physicians’ group should not be expected because of the low number of procedures performed by both groups. Students’ role in the operating room and the need for different systems of skills learning should be reconsidered.
The highly infectious disease COVID-19 caused by the Betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2 poses a severe threat to humanity and demands the redirection of scientific efforts and criteria to organized research projects. The international COVID19-NMR consortium seeks to provide such new approaches by gathering scientific expertise worldwide. In particular, making available viral proteins and RNAs will pave the way to understanding the SARS-CoV-2 molecular components in detail. The research in COVID19-NMR and the resources provided through the consortium are fully disclosed to accelerate access and exploitation. NMR investigations of the viral molecular components are designated to provide the essential basis for further work, including macromolecular interaction studies and high-throughput drug screening. Here, we present the extensive catalog of a holistic SARS-CoV-2 protein preparation approach based on the consortium’s collective efforts. We provide protocols for the large-scale production of more than 80% of all SARS-CoV-2 proteins or essential parts of them. Several of the proteins were produced in more than one laboratory, demonstrating the high interoperability between NMR groups worldwide. For the majority of proteins, we can produce isotope-labeled samples of HSQC-grade. Together with several NMR chemical shift assignments made publicly available on covid19-nmr.com, we here provide highly valuable resources for the production of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in isotope-labeled form.
This article seeks to build a bridge between the empirical scholarship rooted in the traditional theory of political representation and constructivist theory on representation by focusing on the authorization of claims. It seeks to answer how claims can be authorized beyond elections - selecting three democratic innovations and tracing claims through the claim-making process. Different participatory democratic innovations are selected - providing various claims and taking place in different institutional contexts, i.e., (elected) members of the Council of Foreigners Frankfurt; individual citizens in participatory budgeting procedures in Münster; and citizen’s associations elected politicians in the referendum campaign in Hamburg. We first analyze the claims raised by the different claim-makers to identify their claimed constituency eligible to authorize claims. In the second step, we focus on the authorization by the claimed constituency and the relevant decision-making authority. The article finds that claim-making in democratic innovations is fractured and incomplete. Nevertheless, this is not the reason to dismiss democratic innovations as possible loci of representation; on the contrary, seen through the prism of claim-making, all representation – electoral and nonelectoral – is partial. Focusing on the authorization of claims in democratic innovations provides novel inferences about the potential and limits of democratic innovations for broadening democratic representation.
Radiotherapy is a frequently used treatment for prostate cancer. It does not only causes the intended damage to cancer cells, but also affects healthy surrounding tissue. As a result radiation-induced urethral strictures occur in 2.2% of prostate cancer patients. Management of urethral strictures is challenging due to the presence of poor vascularized tissue for reconstruction and the proximity of the sphincter, which can impair the functional outcome. This review provides a literature overview of risk factors, diagnostics and management of radiation-induced urethral strictures.
Many early taxonomic works on North American bees were published by Europeans using specimens collected in the New World, some with type locations so imprecise that uncertainty on the nomenclatural status remains to this day. Two examples come from Fabricius (1745–1808) who described Andrena virescens Fabricius, 1775 and Apis viridula Fabricius, 1793 from “America” and “Boreal America”, respectively. The former species of Agapostemon Guérin-Méneville, 1844 occurs across most of the United States and southern Canada, the latter presumed an endemic to Cuba. The type materials of these two taxa have never been compared to each other, though a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis placed both in distinct species groups. Here we synonymize Apis viridula under Ag. virescens, thereby making Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) available as the name for the Cuban species. A lectotype for Ag. femoralis (the type species for the genus Agapostemon) is hereby designated to stabilize this taxonomy. We also synonymize Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869 under Ag. femoralis, suggesting that it represents a dark colour polymorphism. As Ag. cubensis Roberts, 1972 is a junior secondary homonym of Ag. cubensis (Spinola, 1851), we offer Ag. robertsi as a replacement name for the former.
The Smicridea (Smicridea) fasciatella species group occurs from the southwestern USA, throughout Central America, the Greater Antilles islands, and most of South America, except for the Chilean subregion. It is characterized by the phallic apparatus being a simple tube with eversible internal sclerites at the apex. The fasciatella group is composed of 61 species, of which only 11 occur in Brazil, mainly in the Atlantic Forest biome in the southeastern region. In order to reduce the Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls for the Smicridea Brazilian fauna, we diagnose, describe, and illustrate males of six new species in the fasciatella group: Smicridea (Smicridea) blahniki Desiderio, Pes & Hamada sp. nov., S. (Smicridea) brevitruncata Desiderio, Pes & Hamada sp. nov., S. (Smicridea) caaguara Desiderio, Pes & Hamada sp. nov., S. (Smicridea) ipiranga Desiderio, Pes & Hamada sp. nov., S. (Smicridea) jeaneae Desiderio, Pes & Hamada sp. nov., and S. (Smicridea) polyacantha Desiderio, Pes &; Hamada sp. nov. Additionally, we provide distributional data for S. (Smicridea) albosignata Ulmer, 1907, S. (Smicridea) bivittata (Hagen, 1861), S. (Smicridea) erecta Flint, 1974, S. (Smicridea) obliqua Flint, 1974, S. (Smicridea) paranensis Flint, 1983, and S. (Smicridea) sattleri Denning & Sykora, 1968. The number of S. (Smicridea) species in Brazil increases from 21 to 27 and Smicridea is recorded from the states of Acre, Amapá, and Sergipe for the first time.
Most valvatiform genera of the gastropod family Hydrobiidae are narrow-range taxa. One exception is the genus Arganiella, which is comprised of three congeners: the type species A. pescei from the Apennine Peninsula, A. wolfi from the Iberian Peninsula and A. tabanensis from the Balkans. The genus assignment of the latter two species was based on morphological similarities with A. pescei in the shell, operculum, radula and genitalia. Given that the morphology of hydrobiids is sometimes susceptible to convergence, this study re-evaluates the taxonomic status of species of Arganiella by analysing mitochondrial (mtCOI) and nuclear (18S rRNA) sequences of topotypes or near topotypes to infer their phylogenetic position. Our phylogenetic analyses depicted Arganiella as a non-monophyletic group within Hydrobiidae, and sequence divergence among the three species ranged from 14.5 to 16.7% for mtCOI and 2.0 to 3.8% for 18S. We also re-examined the extent of morphological variation among species of Arganiella and found a few differences among them and other valvatiform genera. Consequently, we propose two new genera for A. wolfi and A. tabanensis. Our results conflict with the classification of valvatiform hydrobiid species solely based on traditional phenotypical methods and suggest further taxonomic evaluation within a molecular framework.
Selizitapia gen. nov. (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Flatidae) from tapia woodlands of Madagascar
(2021)
A new monotypic genus of flatid planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Flatidae), Selizitapia gen. nov., is described for Selizitapia pennyi gen. et sp. nov. (type species) from the island of Madagascar. Habitus, male and female external and internal genital structures of the new species are illustrated and compared with similar taxa. Selizitapia pennyi gen. et sp. nov. is endemic to Madagascar where it is known to date only from one locality in the Central Plateau and is associated with tapia woodland formation.
This is the first part of a revision of the type specimens of the South American Sericini. Herein, we examine type specimens of Astaena described by Lawrence Webster Saylor (1913–1999). We provide diagnostic redescriptions, images of habitus, aedeagus, and labels of the type specimens of all 18 species described by him in the genus Astaena. We raise Sayloria Frey, 1973, a former subgenus of Symmela Erichson, 1835 that includes three species, to genus level. Our study results in the following new combinations and synonymy: Sayloria bicoloripes (Saylor, 1946) comb. nov. (= A. postnodata Frey, 1973 syn. nov.), S. abcora (Saylor, 1946) comb. nov. (= A. apolinarmaria Saylor, 1946 syn. nov.) and S. pottsi (Saylor, 1946) comb. nov.
Cell-free therapy using extracellular vesicles (EVs) from adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (ASCs) seems to be a safe and effective therapeutic option to support tissue and organ regeneration. The application of EVs requires particles with a maximum regenerative capability and hypoxic culture conditions as an in vitro preconditioning regimen has been shown to alter the molecular composition of released EVs. Nevertheless, the EV cargo after hypoxic preconditioning has not yet been comprehensively examined. The aim of the present study was the characterization of EVs from hypoxic preconditioned ASCs. We investigated the EV proteome and their effects on renal tubular epithelial cells in vitro. While no effect of hypoxia was observed on the number of released EVs and their protein content, the cargo of the proteins was altered. Proteomic analysis showed 41 increased or decreased proteins, 11 in a statistically significant manner. Furthermore, the uptake of EVs in epithelial cells and a positive effect on oxidative stress in vitro were observed. In conclusion, culture of ASCs under hypoxic conditions was demonstrated to be a promising in vitro preconditioning regimen, which alters the protein cargo and increases the anti-oxidative potential of EVs. These properties may provide new potential therapeutic options for regenerative medicine.
Nucleoredoxin (NXN) is a redox regulator of Disheveled and thereby of WNT signaling. Deficiency in mice leads to cranial dysmorphisms and defects of heart, brain, and bone, suggesting defects of cell fate determination. We used shRNA-mediated knockdown of NXN in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to study its impact on neuronal cells. We expected that shNXN cells would easily succumb to redox stress, but there were no differences in viability on stimulation with hydrogen peroxide. Instead, the proliferation of naïve shNXN cells was increased with a higher rate of mitotic cells in cell cycle analyses. In addition, basal respiratory rates were higher, whereas the relative change in oxygen consumption upon mitochondrial stressors was similar to control cells. shNXN cells had an increased expression of redox-sensitive heat shock proteins, Hsc70/HSPA8 and HSP90, and autophagy markers suggested an increase in autophagosome formation upon stimulation with bafilomycin and higher flux under low dose rapamycin. A high rate of self-renewal, autophagy, and upregulation of redox-sensitive chaperones appears to be an attractive anti-aging combination if it were to occur in neurons in vivo for which SH-SY5Y cells are a model.
Recent proposals suggest that timing in acquisition, i.e., the age at which a phenomenon is mastered by monolingual children, influences acquisition of the L2, interacting with age of onset of bilingualism and amount of L2 input. Here, we examine whether timing affects acquisition of the bilingual child’s heritage language, possibly modulating the effects of environmental and child-internal factors. The performance of 6- to 12-year-old Greek heritage children residing in Germany (age of onset of German: 0–4 years) was assessed across a range of nine syntactic structures via the Greek LITMUS (Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings) Sentence Repetition Task. Based on previous studies on monolingual Greek, the structures were classified as “early” (main clauses (SVO), coordination, clitics, complement clauses, sentential negation, non-referential wh-questions) or as “late” (referential wh-questions, relatives, adverbial clauses). Current family use of Greek and formal instruction in Greek (environmental), chronological age, and age of onset of German (child-internal) were assessed via the Questionnaire for Parents of Bilingual Children (PABIQ); short-term memory (child-internal) was measured via forward digit recall. Children’s scores were generally higher for early than for late acquired structures. Performance on the three early structures with the highest scores was predicted by the amount of current family use of Greek. Performance on the three late structures was additionally predicted by forward digit recall, indicating that higher short-term memory capacity is beneficial for correctly reconstructing structurally complex sentences. We suggest that the understanding of heritage language development and the role of child-internal and environmental factors will benefit from a consideration of timing in the acquisition of the different structures.
This paper intends to provide some speculative remarks on how consistency and continuity in language use practices within and across contexts inform heritage language acquisition outcomes. We intend “consistency” as maintenance of similar patterns of home language use over the years. “Continuity” refers to the possibility for heritage language speakers to be exposed to formal education in the heritage language. By means of a questionnaire study, we analyze to what extent Italian heritage families in Germany are consistent in their use of the heritage language with their children. Furthermore, by analyzing the educational offer related to Italian as a heritage language across different areas in Germany, we reflect on children’s opportunities to experience continuity between home and school language practices. Finally, we interpret the results of previous studies on Italian heritage language acquisition through the lens of consistency and continuity of language experience. In particular, we show that under the appropriate language experience conditions (involving consistency and continuity), heritage speakers may be successful even in the acquisition of linguistic phenomena that have been shown to be acquired late in first language acquisition.
Based on recent perturbative and non-perturbative lattice calculations with almost quark flavors and the thermal contributions from photons, neutrinos, leptons, electroweak particles, and scalar Higgs bosons, various thermodynamic quantities, at vanishing net-baryon densities, such as pressure, energy density, bulk viscosity, relaxation time, and temperature have been calculated up to the TeV-scale, i.e., covering hadron, QGP, and electroweak (EW) phases in the early Universe. This remarkable progress motivated the present study to determine the possible influence of the bulk viscosity in the early Universe and to understand how this would vary from epoch to epoch. We have taken into consideration first- (Eckart) and second-order (Israel–Stewart) theories for the relativistic cosmic fluid and integrated viscous equations of state in Friedmann equations. Nonlinear nonhomogeneous differential equations are obtained as analytical solutions. For Israel–Stewart, the differential equations are very sophisticated to be solved. They are outlined here as road-maps for future studies. For Eckart theory, the only possible solution is the functionality, H(a(t)), where H(t) is the Hubble parameter and a(t) is the scale factor, but none of them so far could to be directly expressed in terms of either proper or cosmic time t. For Eckart-type viscous background, especially at finite cosmological constant, non-singular H(t) and a(t) are obtained, where H(t) diverges for QCD/EW and asymptotic EoS. For non-viscous background, the dependence of H(a(t)) is monotonic. The same conclusion can be drawn for an ideal EoS. We also conclude that the rate of decreasing H(a(t)) with increasing a(t) varies from epoch to epoch, at vanishing and finite cosmological constant. These results obviously help in improving our understanding of the nucleosynthesis and the cosmological large-scale structure.
The incidence of invasive mold disease (IMD) has significantly increased over the last decades, and IMD of the central nervous system (CNS) is a particularly severe form of this infection. Solid data on the incidence of CNS IMD in the pediatric setting are lacking, in which Aspergillus spp. is the most prevalent pathogen, followed by mucorales. CNS IMD is difficult to diagnose, and although imaging tools such as magnetic resonance imaging have considerably improved, these techniques are still unspecific. As microscopy and culture have a low sensitivity, non-culture-based assays such as the detection of fungal antigens (e.g., galactomannan or beta-D-glucan) or the detection of fungal nucleic acids by molecular assays need to be validated in children with suspected CNS IMD. New and potent antifungal compounds helped to improve outcome of CNS IMD, but not all agents are approved for children and a pediatric dosage has not been established. Therefore, studies have to rapidly evaluate dosage, safety and efficacy of antifungal compounds in the pediatric setting. This review will summarize the current knowledge on diagnostic tools and on the management of CNS IMD with a focus on pediatric patients.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slow-progressing joint disease, leading to the degradation and remodeling of the cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM). The usually quiescent chondrocytes become reactivated and accumulate in cell clusters, become hypertrophic, and intensively produce not only degrading enzymes, but also ECM proteins, like the cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and thrombospondin-4 (TSP-4). To date, the functional roles of these newly synthesized proteins in articular cartilage are still elusive. Therefore, we analyzed the involvement of both proteins in OA specific processes in in vitro studies, using porcine chondrocytes, isolated from femoral condyles. The effect of COMP and TSP-4 on chondrocyte migration was investigated in transwell assays and their potential to modulate the chondrocyte phenotype, protein synthesis and matrix formation by immunofluorescence staining and immunoblot. Our results demonstrate that COMP could attract chondrocytes and may contribute to a repopulation of damaged cartilage areas, while TSP-4 did not affect this process. In contrast, both proteins similarly promoted the synthesis and matrix formation of collagen II, IX, XII and proteoglycans, but inhibited that of collagen I and X, resulting in a stabilized chondrocyte phenotype. These data suggest that COMP and TSP-4 activate mechanisms to protect and repair the ECM in articular cartilage.
Nematophilic bacteria as a source of novel macrocyclised antimicrobial non-ribosomal peptides
(2020)
A solution to ineffective clinical antimicrobials is the discovery of new ones from under-explored sources such as macrocyclic non-ribosomal peptides (NRP) from nematophilic bacteria. In this dissertation an antimicrobial discovery process –from soil sample to inhibitory peptide– is demonstrated through investigations on six nematophilic bacteria: Xenorhabdus griffiniae XN45, X. griffiniae VH1, Xenorhabdus sp. nov. BG5, Xenorhabdus sp. nov. BMMCB, X. ishibashii and Photorhabdus temperata. To demonstrate the first step of bacterium isolation and species delineation, endosymbionts were isolated from Steinernema sp. strains BG5 and VH1 that were isolated directly from soil samples in Western Kenya. After genome sequencing and assembly of novel Xenorhabdus isolates VH1 and BG5, species delineation was done via three overall genome relatedness indices. VH1 was identified as X. griffiniae VH1, BG5 as Xenorhabdus sp. nov. BG5 and X. griffiniae BMMCB was emended to Xenorhabdus sp. nov. BMMCB. The nematode host of X. griffiniae XN45, Steinernema sp. scarpo was highlighted as a putative novel species. To demonstrate the second step of genome mining and macrocyclic non-ribosomal peptide structure elucidation, chemosynthesis and biosynthesis, the non-ribosomal peptide whose production is encoded by the ishA-B genes in X. ishibashii was investigated. Through a combination of refactoring the ishA-B operon by a promoter exchange mechanism, isotope labelling experiments, high resolution tandem mass spectrometry analysis, bioinformatic protein domain analysis and chemoinformatic comparisons of actual to hypothetical mass spectrometry spectra, the structures of Ishipeptides were elucidated and confirmed by chemical synthesis. Ishipeptide A was a branch cyclic depsidodecapeptide macrocyclised via an ester bond between serine and the terminal glutamate. It chemosynthesis route was via a late stage macrolactamation and linearised Ishipeptide B was synthesised via solid phase iterative synthesis. Ishipeptides were not N-terminally acylated despite being biosynthesised from the IshA protein that had a C-starter domain. It was highlighted that more than restoration of the histidine active site of this domain is required to restore N-terminal acylation activity.
To demonstrate the final step of determination of antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentrations of Ishipeptides and Photoditritide from Photorhabdus temperata against fungi and bacteria were determined. None were antifungal while only the macrocyclic compounds were inhibitory, with Ishipeptide A inhibitory to Gram-positive bacteria at 37 µM. The cationic Photoditritide, a cyclic hexapeptide macrocyclised via a lactam bond between homoarginine and tryptophan, was 12 times more inhibitory (3.0 µM), even more effective than a current clinical compound, Ampicillin (4.2 µM). For both, macrocyclisation was hypothesised to contribute to antimicrobial activity. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrated not only nematophilic bacteria as a source of novel macrocyclic antimicrobial non-ribosomal peptides but also a process of antimicrobial discovery–from soil sample to inhibitory peptide– from these useful bacteria genera. This is significant for the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Bacterial and fungal toll-like receptor activation elicits type I IFN responses in mast cells
(2021)
Next to their role in IgE-mediated allergic diseases and in promoting inflammation, mast cells also have antiinflammatory functions. They release pro- as well as antiinflammatory mediators, depending on the biological setting. Here we aimed to better understand the role of mast cells during the resolution phase of a local inflammation induced with the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 agonist zymosan. Multiple sequential immunohistology combined with a statistical neighborhood analysis showed that mast cells are located in a predominantly antiinflammatory microenvironment during resolution of inflammation and that mast cell-deficiency causes decreased efferocytosis in the resolution phase. Accordingly, FACS analysis showed decreased phagocytosis of zymosan and neutrophils by macrophages in mast cell-deficient mice. mRNA sequencing using zymosan-induced bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC) revealed a strong type I interferon (IFN) response, which is known to enhance phagocytosis by macrophages. Both, zymosan and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced IFN-β synthesis in BMMCs in similar amounts as in bone marrow derived macrophages. IFN-β was expressed by mast cells in paws from naïve mice and during zymosan-induced inflammation. As described for macrophages the release of type I IFNs from mast cells depended on TLR internalization and endosome acidification. In conclusion, mast cells are able to produce several mediators including IFN-β, which are alone or in combination with each other able to regulate the phagocytotic activity of macrophages during resolution of inflammation.
The paper examines the importance of international labour standards for ESG reporting. International labour standards exist today for almost all working conditions. There are many reasons why ESG criteria should be based on these standards. This is already happening to some extent. However, the references to international labor standards should be expanded and the existing references deepened.
According to the standard account, IPRs allocate objects to owners, just like ownership allocates real property. In this paper, I explain that this simplistic paradigm operates on the basis of three fictions: The first – truly Polanyian – fiction concerns IP subject matter that was originally not produced for sale but created for other purposes, e.g. private pleasure. The second fiction is that IP is treated as a marketable good whereas much IP, in particular works and signs, are embedded in communication. Finally, IP is a fictitious concept in that we speak of works, inventions, and other IP objects as of tangible commodities, where in fact IP objects only exist insofar and because we speak and regulate as if they exist as abstract “goods” of value.
Three types of post-translation modifications (PTMs) containing N-glycosylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitylation were characterized in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) on a global scale using quantitative mass spectrometry based proteomics technology in this study.
DLBCL is the most common type of malignant lymphomas and has a heterogeneous gene expression profiling, phenotype and clinical response to chemotherapy. DLBCL is a good model for the correct classification of cancers into molecularly different subtypes, which benefits for the selection of rational therapeutic strategies. It resulted in two histologically indistinguishable subtypes-activated B-cell-like (ABC) subgroup and germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) subgroup according to gene expression profiling. Signals originating from the B-cell receptor (BCR), the key protein on the surface of B cells, promote growth and survival of DLBCL. Antigen-dependent/independent BCR signaling is found in DLBCL subtypes.
Recent researches reveal that glycosylation plays role in human cells via site-specific regulation. Aberrant N-glycosylation in BCR-related effectors, such as, CD79a, immunoglobulin M or G (IgM or IgG), has been found to be associated with lymphoid malignancies. However, accurate quantification of intact glycopeptides and their individual glycan moieties in a cell-wide manner is still challenging. Here we established a site-specific quantitative N-glycoproteomics platform termed SugarQuant. It included a fast sample preparation workflow using Protein Aggregation Capture (PAC), an optimized multi-notch MS3 acquisition workflow (Glyco-SPS-MS3), a self-developed R-based tool (GlycoBinder). The robustness and accuracy of quantitation in SugarQuant were proved in a study using the different amounts of TMT-labelled IgM N-glycopeptides spiked into a background of TMT-labelled yeast peptides. Next, we used SugarQuant to identify and quantify more than 5000 unique glycoforms in Burkitt’s lymphoma cells treated with a series of doses of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-L-fucose (2FF) and determine the more accurate site-specific glycosylation changes that occurred upon inhibition of fucosylation compared to using MS2 analysis. It revealed that 2FF-sensitive N-glycosylation on key players in BCR-mediated signaling in DG75. Furthermore, 2FF treatment also affects phosphorylation of the key players involving in B cell receptor signaling.
Then we investigated the site-specific quantitative N-glycoproteome in the cell lines of DLBCL subtypes using SugarQuant. More than 7000 unique intact glycopeptides (glycoforms) were quantified in five ABC DLBCL and four GCB DLBCL cell lines. The glycoproteome mapping (intact glycopeptide expressions) in each cell line allows to segregate DLBCL subtypes. The majority of these glycoforms were from the key cell-surface BCR effectors, such as IgM, CD79 and PTPRC. Lastly, we investigated the change of fucosylated glycopeptides in TMD8 cell line upon knockout of the fucosyltransferase FUT8, which is responsible for core-fucose synthesis, and by the treatment with 2FF. The results revealed that FUT8 might also regulate the synthesis of sub/terminal fucose on glycan chain and the inhibition of fucosylation increased the sialyated glycopeptide expression.
Phosphorylation is involved in regulating multiple processes as an important mediator in BCR signaling. Likewise, ubiquitylation plays vital roles in the activation of the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) pathway in BCR signaling. There are two vital upstream BCR-proximal tyrosine kinases, Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) and spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), which regulate the auto-phosphorylation and phosphorylation of other proteins in BCR signaling pathway. Here we investigated the dynamics of downstream phosphorylation and ubiquitylation signaling in ABC DLBCL and GCB DLBCL cell lines upon the inhibitions of BTK and SYK using quantitative proteomics strategy. In the phosphoproteome analysis, a large dataset of quantified phosphorylation sites was obtained in the three ABC and four GCB DLBCL cell lines. BCR signaling in the subtypes of DLBCL cell lines was found to be highly individual in distinct cell lines. These significantly regulated phosphorylation events in each cell line with individual treatment were involved in multiple Reactome pathways, such as, M phase, signaling by Rho GTPases and diseases of signal transduction. Moreover, the gene regulation-related biological processes including chromosome organization and medication, DNA metabolic process, nuclear export, were involved in the DLBCL cell lines. In the ubiquitinome analysis, we identified more than 15,000 ubiquitylation sites in two ABC and one GCB cell lines upon the inhibition of BTK and SYK. The different ubiquitylation events observed in ABC and GCB subtypes revealed distinct BCR signaling pathways in two subtypes. The similar signaling perturbations across each cell line upon BTK and SYK inhibition, which were obtained from the significantly regulated ubiquitylated peptides expression, revealed the cell-type-specific concordance in ubiquitylation regulation upon BTK and SYK inhibition. These ubiquitylation modified proteins who bore the significantly regulated ubi-peptides in the samples were also found to be highly involved in gene regulatory processes.
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This thesis explores a variety of methods of text quantification applicable in the field of educational text technology. Besides the cohort of existing linguistic, lexical, syntactic, and semantic text quantification methods, additional methods based on Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) are introduced and analysed. The model, developed in this thesis, is tested on a multilingual data composed of task descriptions used in Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE). Quantitative features extracted from raw textual data are analysed using an array of evaluation methods with the goal of finding the best predictors of the target variable - the rate of correct student responses in TUCE.
Background: Biosurfactants are surface-active molecules produced by different microorganisms and display a promising alternative to synthetically derived food emulsifiers. One of these biosurfactants, synthesized by Bacillus subtilis, is the lipopeptide surfactin, which composes a linear fatty acid and cyclic peptide moiety. This study explores the interfacial and emulsion forming properties of surfactin to further characterize its suitability as an O/W emulsifier in food formulations.
Results: Surfactin revealed a high interfacial activity with a reduction of interfacial tension of 83.26 % to 4.21 ± 0.11 mN/m. O/W emulsions (coil = 10 % w/w) were prepared by high-pressure homogenization, which yielded volume-based mean particle sizes below 1 μm already at low emulsifier concentrations of 0.01 % (w/w). Environmental stress experiments revealed that emulsions were stable between pH 6 to pH 9. Furthermore, neither phase separation nor extensive emulsion instability was observed with NaCl addition up to 0.5 M. However, CaCl2 addition (> 3 mM) destabilized surfactin mediated emulsions. Finally, the main emulsion forming and stabilization effect of surfactin was related to its high interfacial activity and the high degree of electrostatic repulsion between the oil droplets (i.e. zeta-potential of up to −100 mV).
Conclusion; In comparison to other natural and synthetic emulsifiers, the results showed that surfactin is a strong candidate to form and stabilize O/W emulsions under the reported conditions.
The interaction of macrophages with apoptotic cells is required for efficient resolution of inflammation. While apoptotic cell removal prevents inflammation due to secondary necrosis, it also alters the macrophage phenotype to hinder further inflammatory reactions. The interaction between apoptotic cells and macrophages is often studied by chemical or biological induction of apoptosis, which may introduce artifacts by affecting the macrophages as well and/or triggering unrelated signaling pathways. Here, we set up a pure cell death system in which NIH 3T3 cells expressing dimerizable Caspase-8 were co-cultured with peritoneal macrophages in a transwell system. Phenotype changes in macrophages induced by apoptotic cells were evaluated by RNA sequencing, which revealed an unexpectedly dominant impact on macrophage proliferation. This was confirmed in functional assays with primary peritoneal macrophages and IC-21 macrophages. Moreover, inhibition of apoptosis during Zymosan-induced peritonitis in mice decreased mRNA levels of cell cycle mediators in peritoneal macrophages. Proliferation of macrophages in response to apoptotic cells may be important to increase macrophage numbers in order to allow efficient clearance and resolution of inflammation.
Simple Summary:
Pharmacological activation of tumor suppressor p53 is a promising therapeutic strategy for a range of hematologic and solid cancers. Whether p53 activation augments or suppresses anti-tumor innate immunity is less understood. Here we show that treatment of differentiating human macrophages with a p53 activator idasanutlin suppresses their inflammatory responses to activators of toll-like receptors (TLR) -4 and -7/8. This is accompanied by reduced expression of TLR7, TLR8, as well as TLR4 co-receptor CD14. These data help evaluating the possibilities of combining p53-targeting and immunostimulatory anti-cancer therapies.
Abstract:
The transcription factor p53 has well-recognized roles in regulating cell cycle, DNA damage repair, cell death, and metabolism. It is an important tumor suppressor and pharmacological activation of p53 by interrupting its interaction with the ubiquitin E3 ligase mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2) is actively explored for anti-tumor therapies. In immune cells, p53 modulates inflammatory responses, but the impact of p53 on macrophages remains incompletely understood. In this study, we used the MDM2 antagonist idasanutlin (RG7388) to investigate the responses of primary human macrophages to pharmacological p53 activation. Idasanutlin induced a robust p53-dependent transcriptional signature in macrophages, including several pro-apoptotic genes. However, idasanutlin did not generally sensitize macrophages to apoptosis, except for an enhanced response to a Fas-stimulating antibody. In fully differentiated macrophages, idasanutlin did not affect pro-inflammatory gene expression induced by toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), TLR3, and TLR7/8 agonists, but inhibited interleukin-4-induced macrophage polarization. However, when present during monocyte to macrophage differentiation, idasanutlin attenuated inflammatory responses towards activation of TLR4 and TLR7/8 by low doses of lipopolysaccharide or resiquimod (R848). This was accompanied by a reduced expression of CD14, TLR7, and TLR8 in macrophages differentiated in the presence of idasanutlin. Our data suggest anti-inflammatory effects of pharmacological p53 activation in differentiating human macrophages.
Governments have restricted public life during the COVID-19 pandemic, inter alia closing sports facilities and gyms. As regular exercise is essential for health, this study examined the effect of pandemic-related confinements on physical activity (PA) levels. A multinational survey was performed in 14 countries. Times spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as in vigorous physical activity only (VPA) were assessed using the Nordic Physical Activity Questionnaire (short form). Data were obtained for leisure and occupational PA pre- and during restrictions. Compliance with PA guidelines was calculated based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). In total, n = 13,503 respondents (39 ± 15 years, 59% females) were surveyed. Compared to pre-restrictions, overall self-reported PA declined by 41% (MVPA) and 42.2% (VPA). Reductions were higher for occupational vs. leisure time, young and old vs. middle-aged persons, previously more active vs. less active individuals, but similar between men and women. Compared to pre-pandemic, compliance with WHO guidelines decreased from 80.9% (95% CI: 80.3–81.7) to 62.5% (95% CI: 61.6–63.3). Results suggest PA levels have substantially decreased globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key stakeholders should consider strategies to mitigate loss in PA in order to preserve health during the pandemic.
The tumor-microenvironment (TME) is an amalgamation of various factors derived from malignant cells and infiltrating host cells, including cells of the immune system. One of the important factors of the TME is microRNAs (miRs) that regulate target gene expression at a post transcriptional level. MiRs have been found to be dysregulated in tumor as well as in stromal cells and they emerged as important regulators of tumorigenesis. In fact, miRs regulate almost all hallmarks of cancer, thus making them attractive tools and targets for novel anti-tumoral treatment strategies. Tumor to stroma cell cross-propagation of miRs to regulate protumoral functions has been a salient feature of the TME. MiRs can either act as tumor suppressors or oncogenes (oncomiRs) and both miR mimics as well as miR inhibitors (antimiRs) have been used in preclinical trials to alter cancer and stromal cell phenotypes. Owing to their cascading ability to regulate upstream target genes and their chemical nature, which allows specific pharmacological targeting, miRs are attractive targets for anti-tumor therapy. In this review, we cover a recent update on our understanding of dysregulated miRs in the TME and provide an overview of how these miRs are involved in current cancer-therapeutic approaches from bench to bedside.
Background: The prevalence of metabolic liver diseases is increasing and approved pharmacological treatments are still missing. Many animal models of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) show a full spectrum of fibrosis, inflammation and steatosis, which does not reflect the human situation since only up to one third of the patients develop fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Methods: Seven week old C57Bl/J mice were treated with ethanol, Western diet (WD) or both. The animals’ liver phenotypes were determined through histology, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, hepatic triglyceride content and gene expression levels. In a human cohort of 80 patients stratified by current alcohol misuse and body mass index, liver histology and gene expression analysis were performed. Results: WD diet and ethanol-treated animals showed severe steatosis, with high hepatic triglyceride content and upregulation of fatty acid synthesis. Mild fibrosis was revealed using Sirius-red stains and gene expression levels of collagen. Inflammation was detected using histology, immunohistochemistry and upregulation of proinflammatory genes. The human cohort of obese drinkers showed similar upregulation in genes related to steatosis, fibrosis and inflammation. Conclusions: We provide a novel murine model for early-stage fatty liver disease suitable for drug testing and investigation of pathophysiology.
(1) Background: Dance teachers (DT) are dependent on their functional body. Pain can hardly be avoided during the professional practice of dance. Pain can become so intense that it impairs, or even prevents, the professional practice. The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of pain intensity of the most severely affected body regions of DT in pain during the three-month period prior to the survey. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by an online survey. A total of 166 DT participated in the study; 143 of the DT were in pain during the three-month period and were included in the analysis. Using multiple linear regression, the determinants of pain intensity were identified from population parameters, occupational data, pain localisation, and temporal pain course. (3) Results: Regions of the lower extremity and head/trunk regions were most frequently indicated as the body regions with the most severe pain. The multiple regression model generated with the factors “functional impairment”, “biomechanical exposure”, and “pain at rest” explains a statistically significant, moderate proportion of the variance in pain intensity (R2 = 0.22, F (3, 106) = 10.04, p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: Intensity of pain in DT seems to be related to the physical demands of professional practice.
Resorbable synthetic scaffolds are promising for different indications, espe- cially in the context of bone regeneration. However, they require additional biological components to enhance their osteogenic potential. In addition to different cell types, autologous blood-derived matrices offer many advantages to enhance the regenerative capacity of biomaterials. The present study aimed to analyze whether biologization of a PCL-mesh coated using differently centrifuged Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) matrices will have a positive influence on primary human osteoblasts activity in vitro. A polymeric resorbable scaffold (Osteomesh, OsteoporeTM (OP), Singapore) was combined with differently centrifuged PRF matrices to evaluate the additional influence of this biologization concept on bone regeneration in vitro. Peripheral blood of three healthy donors was used to gain PRF matrices centrifuged either at High (710× g, 8 min) or Low (44× g, 8 min) relative centrifugal force (RCF) according to the low speed centrifugation concept (LSCC). OP-PRF constructs were cultured with pOBs. POBs cultured on the uncoated OP served as a control. After three and seven days of cultivation, cell culture supernatants were collected to analyze the pOBs activity by determining the concentrations of VEGF, TGF-β1, PDGF, OPG, IL-8, and ALP- activity. Immunofluorescence staining was used to evaluate the Osteopontin expression of pOBs. After three days, the group of OP+PRFLow+pOBs showed significantly higher expression of IL-8, TGF-ß1, PDGF, and VEGF compared to the group of OP+PRFHigh+pOBs and OP+pOBs. Similar results were observed on day 7. Moreover, OP+PRFLow+pOBs exhibited significantly higher activity of ALP compared to OP+PRFHigh+pOBs and OP+pOBs. Immunofluorescence staining showed a higher number of pOBs adherent to OP+PRFLow+pOBs compared to the groups OP+PRFHigh+pOBs and OP+pOBs. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the osteoblasts activity when cultured on a PRF-coated PCL-mesh in vitro. The presented results suggest that PRFLow centrifuged according to LSCC exhibits autologous blood cells and growth factors, seem to have a significant effect on osteogenesis. Thereby, the combination of OP with PRFLow showed promising results to support bone regeneration. Further in vivo studies are required to verify the results and carry out potential results for clinical translation.
Iron deficiency (ID) is a common manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), arising primarily due to chronic inflammation and/or blood loss. There is no gold standard for ID diagnosis, which is often complicated by concomitant inflammation. Zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) correlates with parameters of iron homeostasis and has been identified as a promising marker for ID, irrespective of inflammation. We investigated the diagnostic performance of ZnPP in ID, iron deficiency anemia, anemia of chronic disease and mixed anemia in a cross-sectional study in 130 patients with IBD. Different parameters were compared by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis as detectors of iron-restricted erythropoiesis (IRE). IRE was detected in 91 patients (70.0%); fifty-nine (64.8%) had absolute ID and 23 (25.4%) functional ID. When inflammation was present, ZnPP was a more reliable sole biomarker of IRE than MCV, transferrin saturation (TSAT) or ferritin (AUC; 0.855 vs. 0.763, 0.834% and 0.772, respectively). The specificity of TSAT was significantly lower than ZnPP when inflammation was present (38% vs. 71%, respectively). We conclude that ZnPP is a reliable biomarker of functional ID in patients with IBD and more dependable than ferritin or TSAT, which are influenced by chronic inflammation. We propose that ZnPP may also have utility in patients with other chronic diseases.
Recurrent cortical networks provide reservoirs of states that are thought to play a crucial role for sequential information processing in the brain. However, classical reservoir computing requires manual adjustments of global network parameters, particularly of the spectral radius of the recurrent synaptic weight matrix. It is hence not clear if the spectral radius is accessible to biological neural networks. Using random matrix theory, we show that the spectral radius is related to local properties of the neuronal dynamics whenever the overall dynamical state is only weakly correlated. This result allows us to introduce two local homeostatic synaptic scaling mechanisms, termed flow control and variance control, that implicitly drive the spectral radius toward the desired value. For both mechanisms the spectral radius is autonomously adapted while the network receives and processes inputs under working conditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the two adaptation mechanisms under different external input protocols. Moreover, we evaluated the network performance after adaptation by training the network to perform a time-delayed XOR operation on binary sequences. As our main result, we found that flow control reliably regulates the spectral radius for different types of input statistics. Precise tuning is however negatively affected when interneural correlations are substantial. Furthermore, we found a consistent task performance over a wide range of input strengths/variances. Variance control did however not yield the desired spectral radii with the same precision, being less consistent across different input strengths. Given the effectiveness and remarkably simple mathematical form of flow control, we conclude that self-consistent local control of the spectral radius via an implicit adaptation scheme is an interesting and biological plausible alternative to conventional methods using set point homeostatic feedback controls of neural firing.
Three new South American leafhopper genera of the tribe Gyponini are proposed: Beltrana gen. nov. based on Beltrana reticulata gen. et sp. nov. from French Guiana, Fulana gen. nov. based on Fulana brasiliensis gen. et sp. nov. from Brazil, and Sicrana gen. nov. based on Sicrana plana gen. et sp. nov. from Brazil and Ecuador. Diagnoses, detailed descriptions, and illustrations are provided for each taxon, as well as comparisons with closely related genera. In addition, the following synonyms are proposed: Freytagana DeLong, 1975 as a junior synonym of Marganana DeLong, 1948 and F. gibsoni DeLong, 1975 as a junior synonym of M. (Marganana) mexicana DeLong & Freytag, 1963. Chilella DeLong & Freytag, 1967 is transferred from Gyponini to Selenomorphini Evans, 1974.
With six valid species, Luciobrotula is a small genus of the family Ophidiidae, commonly known as cusk-eels. They are benthopelagic fishes occurring at depths ranging from 115–2300 m in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Among them, Luciobrotula bartschi is the only known species in the West Pacific. Three specimens of Luciobrotula were collected from the Philippine Sea, Bismarck Sea, and Solomon Sea in the West Pacific during the AURORA, PAPUA NIUGINI, and MADEEP expeditions under the Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos program, and all of them were initially identified as L. bartschi. Subsequent examination with integrative taxonomy indicates that they belong to two distinct species, with the specimen collected from the Solomon Sea representing a new species, which is described here. In terms of morphology, Luciobrotula polylepis sp. nov. differs from its congeners by having a relatively longer lateral line (end of the lateral line below the 33rd dorsal-fin ray) and fewer vertebrae (abdominal vertebrae 13, total vertebrae 50). In the inferred COI gene tree, the two western Pacific species of Luciobrotula do not form a monophyletic group. The genetic K2P distance between the two species is 13.8% on average at the COI locus.
Three species of Synemosyna Hentz, 1846 were recorded during a survey in five Bolivian forest ecoregions: S. aurantiaca (Mello-Leitão, 1917), S. myrmeciaeformis (Taczanowski, 1871) and S. nicaraguaensis Cutler, 1993. Synemosyna aurantiaca and S. nicaraguaensis are recorded for Bolivia for the first time and the previously unknown male of S. nicaraguaensis is described and illustrated. The habitus and the genitalia of the female of S. myrmeciaeformis are illustrated for the first time. Synemosyna aurantiaca occurs in semi-deciduous forests south of 18° S and S. myrmeciaeformis in the Bolivian Yungas forest and ecoregions of the Amazon biome north of 16° S. Synemosyna nicaraguaensis is possibly an Andean species that enters into the moist Isthmian forests of Central America. Several potential mimicry complexes with two broad patterns were observed: sex-specific polychromatic mimicry (S. nicaraguaensis), and transformational mimicry involving smaller orange and larger brown to dark-brown forms (S. aurantiaca and S. myrmeciaeformis).
The planthopper genus Arcofaciella Fennah, 1956 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Delphacidae) is reviewed. Four species are recognized, of which A. obflexa Guo & Liang, 2005 and A. verrucosa Fennah, 1956 are redescribed, and one new species, A. indiana sp. nov., is described. Habitus photos for adults and illustrations of male genitalia (excluding A. penangensis (Muir, 1919)) are given. A key for identifying the species of Arcofaciella is also provided.
A new avian chewing louse genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. is described based on species parasitizing birds in the family Formicariidae. Diagnostic characteristics and phylogenetic analyses were used to evaluate and confirm the generic status and merit its recognition as unique and different from Myrsidea Waterston, 1915. Three species previously belonging to the genus Myrsidea are placed in the new genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. and are discussed: Apomyrsidea circumsternata (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov., Apomyrsidea isacantha (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov. and Apomyrsidea klimesi (Sychra in Sychra et al., 2006) gen. et comb. nov.
The Brazilian endemic irroratus species group of the genus Inca (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) is defined and described. This species group is composed of Inca irroratus Chevrolat, 1833 and two new species: I. axeli sp. nov. and I. neglectus sp. nov. One new synonym is proposed: I. irroratus Chevrolat, 1833 = I. burmeisteri Burmeister, 1844 syn. nov. To guarantee nomenclatural stability, a neotype is designated for I. irroratus and a lectotype for I. burmeisteri. A key to all species of Inca and a map with the distribution of the irroratus species group are provided.
The present corrigendum corrects errors that occurred in: Wang W.Y., Yong G.W.J. & Jaitrong W. 2021. Revision of the elusive ant genus Rhopalomastix (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) in Thailand based on morphology and DNA barcodes, with descriptions of three new species. European Journal of Taxonomy 739: 117–157. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.739.1271
Susamyia Ziegler & Gilasian gen. nov. and its type species Susamyia mira Ziegler & Gilasian gen. et sp. nov. are described from southwestern Karkheh National Park and southeastern Jazmourian Wetland of Iran. Drawings of terminalia and head of the male as well as images of habitus, head and egg are provided. Susamyia gen. nov. is incorporated into the identification key to the Palearctic tachinid genera of Tschorsnig & Richter (1998). The systematic position of Susamyia gen. nov. in the tribe Goniini (Exoristinae) is discussed in light of molecular analyses based on the ribosomal genes 16S, 18S and 28S, and the egg type of females. The morphology of the microtype eggs was studied and compared with that of other Goniini, but proved too unreliable to be included in the phylogenetic analysis. Susamyia gen. nov. is believed to be most closely related to the goniine genera Gymnophryxe Villeneuve, 1922, Palesisa Villeneuve, 1929 and Prosopodopsis Townsend, 1926.
This paper reviews the genera Xylothrips Lesne, 1901 and Calophagus Lesne, 1902, and their species, and proposes that Calophagus should be reinstated as a full genus from a subgenus of Xylothrips (contra Borowski & Węgrzynowicz 2019). The genera and their included species are diagnosed and redescribed, and a summary of information on the distribution and biology of all species is provided. The importance of characters of the antennal club and pronotum in separating the two genera is stressed. A key to the two genera and the two species of Xylothrips is provided.
Taxonomic review of the genus Erythrocricus Schubart, 1962 (Diplopoda, Spirobolida, Rhinocricidae)
(2021)
We review the genus Erythrocricus Schubart, 1962 based on the type material of the species Erythrocricus sanguineostriatus (Schubart, 1962). We propose a new diagnosis, redescribe the type species, and propose a new synonymy and a new combination. In addition, a male-based key to both species recognized, including Erythrocricus electrofasciatus (Schubart, 1957), comb. nov. ex. Rhinocricus, is given.
The genus Sinetectula gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate Triton egregius Reeve, 1844, Buccinum cinis Reeve, 1846, Buccinum nigricostatum Reeve, 1846, Buccinum (Pollia) farinosum Gould, 1850, Pisania naevosa Martens, 1880, Pollia shepstonensis Tomlin, 1926 and one still undescribed species. These species are discussed and compared, and remarks on their biogeography are provided. The occasional appearance of a labral denticle is recorded and the morphological variability of the group is discussed. The radula of S. egregius gen. et comb. nov. is described.
Litinium gludi sp. nov. (Nematoda, Oxystominidae) from Kermadec Trench, Southwest Pacific Ocean
(2021)
Recent work on the taxonomy of nematodes in Southwest Pacific Ocean trenches has led to the discovery of taxa which so far appear to be restricted to the oceans’ deepest environments. Here, Litinium gludi sp. nov. is described based on specimens obtained from a deep basin within the Kermadec Trench at 9540 m water depth. The new species differs from other species of the genus in having a conico-cylindrical tail, papillose labial sensilla, and heart- or leaf-shaped amphideal fovea. Both SSU and LSU phylogenetic analyses provide strong support for the placement of the new species within a clade containing both Thalassoalaimus and Litinum, and within Oxystomininae, which is consistent with the structure of the female reproductive system with only one posterior ovary in this subfamily. Our molecular analyses also indicate that the new species is most closely related to Thalassoalaimus despite lacking a caudal capsule, the main trait characterizing the latter genus, and despite being most morphologically similar to Litinium, particularly in the unusual shape of the amphideal fovea. However, given the changing definitions of the closely-related genera Thalassoalaimus and Litinium in recent years, available GenBank sequences may have been misidentified, which makes the interpretation of molecular phylogenetic analyses problematic. Given the current morphological definitions of Litinium and Thalassoalaimus, we choose to place the new species within Litinium, despite the apparently contradictory findings of molecular phylogenetic analyses. The placement of Cricohalalaimus in a clade with Thalassoalaimus and Litinium in both SSU and LSU analyses indicates that this genus should be placed within the Oxystomininae and not the Halalaiminae as in the current classification. This new proposed grouping is consistent with variation in the structure of the female reproductive system, a feature which appears more taxonomically informative than amphid shape for subfamily-level classification.
The genus Oryctopterus Karny, 1937 (Orthoptera, Stenopelmatidae, Oryctopinae) is reported from India for the first time and two new species, Ot. varuna sp. nov. and Ot. yeshwanthi sp. nov. are described. Male and female external genitalia of Ot. varuna sp. nov. and female genitalia of Ot. yeshwanthi sp. nov. are figured and described. Notes on seasonality, food habits and behavior of Ot. varuna sp. nov. are provided.
As part of the classification of Membracidae from Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, a new species group of the genus Hamma Buckton, 1905 is proposed, and three new species are described: Hamma nigrum sp. nov., Hamma spinellii sp. nov. and Hamma caneparii sp. nov. An updated checklist and key to the genus Hamma are provided.
The following four species new to science are described: Platygaster azarbaijanica Buhl & Asadi sp. nov., Platygaster lotfalizadehi Buhl & Asadi sp. nov., Platygaster karimpouri Asadi & Buhl sp. nov. and Synopeas calecai Buhl & Asadi sp. nov. Diagnostic characters are discussed, and figures are provided to distinguish the new species. In addition, ten species of Platygastrinae Howard, 1892 belonging to the genera Platygaster Latreille, 1809, Synopeas Förster, 1856 and Leptacis Förster, 1856 are reported as new records for the fauna of Iran. Four species of Platygaster and one species of Synopeas are recorded as ʻconferʼ.
Macaronesia, with the exception of the Azores, is one of the few Palearctic provinces where basic taxonomic information on the freshwater copepods is still lacking. We redescribed Eucyclops azorensis, a cyclopid crustacean so far known only in the Azores, and report the occurrence of this species in Algeria and Madeira Island. Eucyclops azorensis was formerly considered to be a subspecies of E. agiloides (East Africa); therefore, the latter species is redescribed here as well based on type and non-type material. Morphological comparisons between E. azorensis, E. agiloides and other taxa (E. serrulatus and E. roseus), assumed to be closely related to our target species, support a closer relationship between E. azorensis and E. serrulatus (Palearctic) than between E. azorensis and E. agiloides (Afrotropical). The slight differences between E. azorensis and E. serrulatus in the surface ornamentation of the antennal coxobasis and intercoxal sclerites of legs 1 and 4 suggest a relatively young separation of these lineages. Eucyclops agiloides is morphologically close to E. roseus (temperate and subtropical Asia, southeastern Europe, East Africa). The numerous and clear-cut differences indicate a species rather than subspecies-level differentiation between E. agiloides and E. roseus, unlike what was formerly proposed in the taxonomic literature.
The genus Miridiba Reitter, 1902, of phytophagous chafers from Asia, is revised based on external morphological and genital (male and female) characters. In this study, a total fifty-eight species of Miridiba were examined, and the genus is redescribed. Male genital characters of Miridiba, especially the morphology of parameres and endophallus, are studied in depth herein. The female genitalia of Miridiba are studied and described in detail for the first time. According to genital characters, nine genital morphotypes, including fifty-four species, are established under the genus Miridiba. Sixty-seven type specimens are studied. Miridiba gressitti (Frey, 1970) comb. nov., Miridiba borneensis (Moser, 1918) comb. nov., Miridiba coxalis (Arrow, 1944) comb. nov., Miridiba rugaticollis (Moser, 1913) comb. nov., Miridiba nigrescens (Moser, 1916) comb. nov., Miridiba scutata (Reitter, 1902) comb. nov., Miridiba ciliatipennis (Moser, 1903) comb. nov. and Miridiba brunneipennis (Moser, 1916) comb. nov. are transferred from Holotrichia. Holotrichia dalatensis Frey, 1970 is transferred to Miridiba as a synonym of Miridiba sinensis (Hope, 1842). Four junior subjective synonyms are proposed: Miridiba pilosella (Moser, 1908) (= Holotrichia formosana Moser, 1909), Miridiba sinensis (= Holotrichia dalatensis Frey, 1970), Miridiba scutata (= Holotrichia scutulata Dalla Torre, 1912 and Miridiba lassallei Keith, 2010). Miridiba frontalis (Fairmaire, 1886) is resurrected as a valid species. A key to 51 of the 58 valid species of Miridiba is presented.
The Phanaeus endymion species group is defined as a lineage of dung beetles distributed from Mexico to Ecuador. The current arrangement of the P. endymion species group includes 18 species (five newly described and three revalidated herein): P. arletteae Arnaud, 2018; P. bravoensis Moctezuma, Sánchez-Huerta & Halffter, 2017; P. chiapanecus sp. nov.; P. edmondsi Moctezuma, Deloya & Halffter, 2019; P. endymion Harold, 1863; P. funereus Balthasar, 1939 stat. rev.; P. halffterorum Edmonds, 1979; P. huichol Moctezuma, Sánchez-Huerta & Halffter, 2017; P. jackenioi sp. nov.; P. malyi Arnaud, 2002; P. olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939 stat. rev.; P. pacificus sp. nov.; P. panamensis sp. nov.; P. porioni Arnaud, 2001 stat. rev.; P. pyrois Bates, 1887; P. rzedowskii sp. nov.; P. zapotecus Edmonds, 2006; and P. zoque Moctezuma & Halffter, 2017. Phanaeus dionysius Kohlmann, Arriaga-Jiménez & Rös, 2018 syn. nov. is considered as a new junior subjective synonymy of P. zapotecus Edmonds, 2006. Phanaeus blanchardi Olsoufieff, 1924 and P. bothrus Blackwelder, 1944 are junior objective synonyms of P. olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939 stat. rev.
Comanopa Blocker, 1979 and Gehundra Blocker, 1976 are small and poorly known genera of leafhoppers, previously comprising four and five species, respectively. In this study, two new species are proposed: Comanopa mananciensis sp. nov. from the state of Paraná, Southern Brazil, and Gehundra cristalinensis sp. nov. from the state of Mato Grosso, Centralwestern Brazil. The male of Gehundra sordida (Baker, 1900) is studied by the first time. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of males and females are provided and keys to males of Comanopa and Gehundra are given.
Integrative taxonomy was employed to exploit the differences between the known Metaphire anomala (Michaelsen, 1907) and other specimens collected in Vietnam. The results brought to light two new species, namely Metaphire iranomala sp. nov. and Metaphire decemtheca sp. nov. The former is easily recognised by having male pores on xix and four pairs of spermathecal pores on 5/6/7/8/9 while the latter is distinguished by having five pairs of spermathecal pores on 4/5/6/7/8/9. The K2P distances of the fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene are 13.1% between M. iranomala sp. nov. and M. anomala (Michaelsen, 1907) and 18% between M. decemtheca sp. nov. and Metaphire grandiverticulata Nguyen & Lam, 2017. The intraspecific divergences are 1.5%–10.6% for M. iranomala sp. nov. and 2.1%–11.4% for M. decemtheca sp. nov.
The majority of meiofaunal organisms have limited abilities to disperse over long distances, yet they may still have disjointed distributions. Many studies have found evidence of long distance meiofauna dispersal due to passive transport by wind and/or animals that serve as vectors for these widespread distributions. Our research on an archipelago in northeast Brazil uncovered a species of freshwater gastrotrich that at first sight appeared to be a ‘cosmopolitanʼ species that had surpassed the connectivity constraint to occupy an island more than 350 km from the mainland. However, through an integrative approach using molecular sequences and morphology, we have uncovered evidence of a pseudo-cryptic species in this freshwater gastrotrich. Polymerurus insularis sp. nov. closely resembles its congeners and can easily be mistaken for similar species such as P. nodicaudus, a cosmopolitan gastrotrich. Unique to P. insularis sp. nov. are (1) a cuticular armature composed of simple spined scales with polygonal shape (Type 1 scales), (2) a single, spineless dorsal scale with a triangular shape located terminally next to the furca base (Type 2 scale), (3) a spineless zone composed by a patch lacking cuticular ornamentation and flat, rounded or polygonal scales without spines (Type 4 scales) (4) particular sets of terminal spined or keeled scales located both dorsally and ventrally around the furca base (Types 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 scales). The presence of this species on a volcanic island is discussed, as is the relationship between pseudocryptism and dispersal in gastrotrichs and other meiofauna.
A new scale insect genus and species, Gompholopium quercicola gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated, based on material from China (Yunnan Prov.). Hemaspidoproctus cinereus (Green, 1922) is redescribed, based on material from India (Allahabad). Walkeriana tosariensis Reyne, 1957 is transferred to the genus Hemaspidoproctus Morrison, 1927 – H. tosariensis (Reyne, 1957) comb. nov. Monophlebus neglectus Gavrilov-Zimin, 2018 syn. nov. is formally synonymized with the unrecognizable Monophlebus atripennis Burmeister, 1835 in order to resolve an old taxonomic and nomenclatural problem in the subfamily Monophlebinae.
The enigmatic millipede assassin bug genus Xenorhyncocoris Miller, 1938 is revised. Previously known species, X. caraboides Miller, 1938, X. princeps Miller, 1949 and X. schoenitzeri Putshkov & Bérenger, 1999, are diagnosed and photographed. A new species, X. attractivus sp. nov., is described based on male and female specimens from northeastern Borneo. The male of Xenorhyncocoris is reported for the first time, revealing the extreme sexual dimorphism present in the genus. The diagnosis of Xenorhyncocoris is extended in order to make it applicable to the new discovery, and a female-based key to species of the genus is updated. Relationships among Xenorhyncocoris and Vilius Stål, 1863, Neozirta Distant, 1919 and Schottus Distant, 1902 are briefly discussed.
Field studies of the inselberg flora of north-eastern Brazil have resulted in the discovery of much greater morphological diversity of the genus Ameroglossum, than previously envisaged. These enigmatic plants are endemic to isolated rock outcrops, which have long been surrounded by unsuitable habitat. The morphological forms are geographically isolated and stable in cultivation when grown under similar conditions. We here provide detailed descriptions of the two previously known species and propose an additional seven new species in the genus. A taxonomic revision of the genus, including an identification key is provided. We hypothesize that the evolution of this genus is driven by the diversity of their hummingbird pollinators. Due to the threatened nature of inselberg habitats and the small populations found for most taxa, the species described here are likely to be under threat and in need for formal redlisting.
The fauna of the bryocorine plant bug tribe Eccritotarsini from India and Sri Lanka is reviewed and updated. Ten genera and 20 species are reported from the region including two genera and six species described as new: Harpedona vittlaensis sp. nov., Lopidolon dandeliensis sp. nov., Mertila rubrocephala sp. nov., Namyatovia gen. nov. for N. castlerockensis gen. et sp. nov. (as the type species) and N. sirsiensis gen. et sp. nov., and Stonedahlia gen. nov. for S. mishmiensis gen. et sp. nov. The genus Bromeliaemiris Schumacher, 1919 is synonymized with Lopidolon Poppius, 1911. Dioclerus lutheri (Poppius, 1912) and Ernestinus ramkeshariae Yasunaga & Ishikawa, 2016 are reported from India for the first time. Differential diagnoses, keys, habitus photographs, illustrations of male genitalic structures, host and distributional information are provided for all genera and species.
The taxonomic status of the widely distributed freshwater crab Potamonautes lirrangensis (Rathbun, 1904) sensu lato is revised because morphological and molecular evidence indicates that this taxon is a complex comprising more than one species. Four taxa are now recognized: Potamonautes lirrangensis (Rathbun, 1904) s. str. and P. kisangani sp. nov. from the Middle Congo River in Central Africa, P. amosae sp. nov. from the drainages of Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika, and P. orbitospinus (Cunnington, 1907) from Lake Malawi which had been previously synonymised with P. lirrangensis s. lat. Diagnoses, illustrations and distribution maps are provided for each of these taxa and they are compared to similar species from Central and Southern Africa.
The species of Stenothemus Bourgeois, 1907 from Southeast China are reviewed. Stenothemus fukienensis Wittmer, 1974 and S. kuatunensis Wittmer, 1979 are supplementarily described. Two new species are described, S. longicornis Y. Yang & H. Liu sp. nov. (China: Guangdong) and S. flavus Y. Yang & X. Yang sp. nov. (China: Zhejiang). Five new combinations are established: S. biimpressiceps (Pic, 1930) comb. nov. (from Cantharis L.), S. chinensis (Wittmer, 1982) comb. nov., S. limbatipennis (Pic, 1926) stat. rev. et comb. nov., S. nigriceps (Wittmer, 1955) comb. nov. and S. pallicolor (Wittmer, 1951) comb. nov. (from Lycocerus Gorham). Leiothorax atrosanguineus Švihla, 2005 syn. nov. is synonymized with S. chinensis, Lycocerus limatus Kazantsev, 2007 syn. nov. with S. limbatipennis. The above species are illustrated with habitus photos, aedeagi, abdominal sternites VIII and internal genitalia of female. A key for the identification of the above species is provided.
The genus Microplitis Förster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) was studied from northern Iran. Specimens were collected using Malaise traps during 2010–2011. A total of 13 species were collected and identified, of which six species are recorded for the first time from Iran: M. cebes Nixon, 1970, M. docilis Nixon, 1970, M. eremitus Reinhard, 1880, M. kaszabi Papp, 1980, M. pallidipennis Tobias, 1964 and M. varipes (Ruthe, 1860). Two species M. kaszabi and M. pallidipennis are new records for the west Palaearctic region. A new species, Microplitis alborziensis Abdoli & Talebi sp. nov., is described and illustrated. The number of species of Microplitis in Iran is now raised from 17 to 24. A faunistic list, an identification key to all known Iranian species and brief diagnoses and illustrations for all species that have been collected in this study are provided. The validity of the new species is supported by DNA barcoding.
A remarkable new apterous genus of Xanthopygina beetles is described here as Ikaros gen. nov. The new genus includes three new species, I. apteros gen. et sp. nov. from Colombia, I. paramo gen. et sp. nov. from Colombia and I. polygonos gen. et sp. nov. from Venezuela. Phylogenetic analyses using molecular and morphological data were performed to assess the phylogenetic position of Ikaros gen. nov. and whether the three new taxa formed a monophyletic group. All analyses, including those with aptery-associated characters removed, strongly supported the monophyly of Ikaros gen. nov. The genus could not be confidently resolved as a member of any of the existing genus-group lineages, likely due to a lack of morphological signal in the backbone of the tree. Further analyses, ideally with molecular data, are needed to determine the position of Ikaros gen. nov.
A new pilargid species, Sigambra sundarbanensis sp. nov., is described from the rivers Matla and Thakuran, in the central Indian sector of the Sundarbans Estuarine System. This species is characterized by several characters such as the starting position of the notopodial hooks, the length of the median antenna and the variation in number of the neuropodial chaetae. These characters distinguish the new species from its congeners. Some parapodial glands have been found in individuals of this species. The new species closely resembles Sigambra parva (Day, 1963). Additionally, an updated key of genus Sigambra is provided, along with a table indicating their morphological variations and a global map showing their type localities.
The planthopper genus Augilina Melichar, 1914, is recorded in China for the first time. Two new species of the genus Augilina, A. tetraina Chen & Gong sp. nov. and A. triaina Chen & Gong sp. nov., are described and illustrated from South China. The genus now has a total of four described species. New generic characteristics are proposed and photographs of the new species are provided. A checklist and a key to the species of Augilina are also included.
Ninety percent of the Cixiidae of the Macaronesian archipelagos are endemic. Each archipelago has its own endemics reaching a total of 31 taxa. The Madeira archipelago comprises five species: Cixius madeirensis China, 1938, C. verticalis Noualhier, 1897, C. chaoensis China, 1938, Hyalesthes madeires Remane & Hoch, 1986 and H. portonoves Remane & Hoch, 1986. Good knowledge concerning taxonomy, habitat information and distribution are essential for the conservation of the biodiversity of this rich archipelago. However, due to intraspecific variation and incomplete descriptions, misidentifications of Madeira cixiids have been common. In this work, the taxonomy of this family is reviewed and ecological data based on material collected over more than forty years are presented. A new species, Cixius wollastoni sp. nov., is described. A new combination, Tachycixius chaoensis (China, 1938) comb. nov., is proposed, and a new record, Pentastiridius leporinus (Linnaeus, 1761), is reported. Lectotypes are designated for Tachycixius chaoensis and C. verticalis. The genital structures of the latter species are depicted for the first time. All species are diagnosed, described, photographed and illustrated, and an identification key for the family is provided. Thanks to this new information, Madeira together with Tenerife are the two Macaronesian islands with the highest number of endemic species of cixids.
Acroterius gen. nov. (Araneae: Linyphiidae: Linyphiinae) with twelve new species from Yunnan, China
(2021)
Acroterius gen. nov. is described from Yuannan, together with twelve new species: A. absentus gen. et sp. nov. (♂); A. brevis gen. et sp. nov. (♂/♀); A. camur gen. et sp. nov. (♂/♀); A. circinatus gen. et sp. nov. (♂/♀); A. hamatus gen. et sp. nov. (♀); A. inversus gen. et sp. nov. (♀); A. latus gen. et sp. nov. (♂/♀); A. longidentatus gen. et sp. nov. (♀); A. longimultus gen. et sp. nov. (♂/♀); A. longiprojectus gen. et sp. nov. (♀); A. ovatus gen. et sp. nov. (♀), and A. parvus gen. et sp. nov. (♀). Detailed descriptions of genitalic characters and somatic features by means of photographs and line drawings, as well as comparisons with closely related species, are provided.
The diversity of the genus Tafana Simon, 1903 is poorly known in the Neotropical regions. In this work we provide a taxonomic review of the genus as well as a phylogenetic analysis. The ingroup of the analysis is composed of sixteen species of Tafana and the outgroup is composed of five representatives of Anyphaenidae. The sister-group recovered for Tafana is the clade Aysha + Xiruana, being supported by the embolic process on the male bulb. Two species groups within Tafana are herein proposed, the silhavyi group and the riveti group, based on two exclusive synapomorphies in the male bulb. We redescribe Tafana quelchi and present a description of the previously unknown female of Tafana silhavyi, both from Venezuela. In addition, we describe the first adult specimens of Tafana straminea. Twelve new species, along with several previously described species, are described, illustrated and mapped: T. riveti, T. straminea, T. quelchi, T. kunturmarqa sp. nov., T. humahuaca sp. nov., T. pastaza sp. nov., T. nevada sp. nov., T. huatanay sp. nov. and T. ruizi sp. nov. from the riveti species group; T. maracay sp. nov., T. arawak sp. nov., T. chimire sp. nov. and T. pitieri sp. nov. from the silhavyi species group; T. oliviae sp. nov. from Argentina and T. orinoco sp. nov. from Venezuela, neither of which belongs to any species group. We also discuss the genital morphology of the species groups based on the results of the phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, distribution maps for all species, including new records for T. riveti, T. straminea and T. quelchi, are presented.
The classification of the genera belonging to the doryctine tribe Rhaconotini (Braconidae) is updated. The following new taxa are described: Troporhaconotus gen. nov. (with 12 species), Afroipodoryctes subgen. nov. (of Ipodoryctes Granger, 1949) (with three species), Hexarhaconotinus subgen. nov. (of Rhaconotinus Hedqvist, 1965) (with ten species), Bathycentor zimbabwensis sp. nov., Ipodoryctes (Afroipodoryctes) reunionus sp. nov., I. (A.) saintphilippensis sp. nov., Platyspathius (Platyspathius) venezuelicus sp. nov., P. (P.) ranomafanus sp. nov., Rhacontsira haeselbarthi sp. nov., Rh. mozambiquensis sp. nov., Rh. saigonensis sp. nov. and Rh. toamasina sp. nov. The generic status of Euryphrymnus Cameron, 1910 is resurrected. The generic name Aptenobracon Marsh, 1965 is synonymised under Rhaconotus Ruthe, 1854 (syn. nov.); Rhaconotus asiaticus Belokobylskij, 1990 is synonymised under Rh. kerzhneri Belokobylskij, 1985 (syn. nov.). The new name, Rhaconotinus austrochinensis nom. nov., is suggested for the preoccupied name Rhaconotus chinensis Chen & Shi, 2004 (December) not Rhaconotus chinensis Belokobylskij & Chen, 2004 (June). New species contents, in many cases with numerous new combinations, are suggested for the genera Bathycentor Saussure, 1892, Euryphrymnus Cameron, 1910, Ipodoryctes Granger, 1949, Rhaconotinus Hedqvist, 1965 and Rhaconotus. The tribe Leptorhaconotini is synonymised with Rhaconotini based on previously published molecular phylogenetic studies, though we leave this group within the subtribe Leptorhaconotina.
Two common sigalionid species from the Northeast Atlantic, Sthenelais boa (Johnston, 1833) and S. limicola (Ehlers, 1864), have never been revised in detail. Although their validity has never been questioned, a number of taxonomic problems related to Sthenelais Kinberg, 1856 and the later established Fimbriosthenelais Pettibone, 1971 remain unresolved. The validity of F. minor (Pruvot & Racovitza, 1895) has been repeatedly discussed, but no agreement reached. Also the validity of Fimbriosthenelais has been at stake, affecting the generic assignment of Fimbriosthenelais zetlandica (McIntosh, 1876), another species present in the area. Among the investigated species of Sthenelais, some where thought to be synonyms of Eusthenelais hibernica McIntosh, 1876, which led us to also include Eusthenelais McIntosh, 1876. We also re-examined Eusthenelais abyssicola McIntosh, 1879, the only other species attributed to the genus, and confirm that it is indeterminable. In total, we investigated 37 nominal taxa reported from the Northeast Atlantic and as a result we consider only five species to be valid: Sthenelais boa, S. limicola, Fimbriosthenelais zetlandica, F. longipinnis (Grube, 1869) and Eusthenelais hibernica. These genera and species are described and discussed herein and an updated identification key to all Northeast Atlantic species of Sigalioninae Gonzalez et al., 2018 is given.
A new species of the genus Mesopolobus Westwood, 1833, Mesopolobus robiniae Lakatos & László sp. nov., is described and illustrated from east-central Europe (Romania and Hungary). The species was reared from black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) seedpod samples, where it most likely parasitizes the black locust’s seed predator Bruchophagus robiniae Zerova, 1970. Here we present the new species and report on its ecological relationships within the European seed predator community of black locust. We also give details regarding type material and type locality, a detailed description with images, a differential diagnosis of the new species, and a modification to the identification key published by Graham (1969), that distinguishes this new species from closely related species. In addition, we provide information on the distribution, biology and results of barcoding analysis. We also provide the DNA sequence data to complement the morphological taxonomy.
First records and two new species of sipunculans (Sipuncula) from the Southern Mexican Pacific
(2021)
Sipunculans are a poorly studied group in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. For the Southern Mexican Pacific (SMP) there is only one record of a sipunculan species. The main objective of this work was to determine the species composition of the phylum Sipuncula present in the SMP. The study area covered three Mexican states: Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas; specimens from 28 localities were examined from both intertidal and subtidal zones. A total of 551 specimens were reviewed, from which 11 species were identified. Five of them have previously been recorded in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP): Apionsoma (A.) hespera comb. nov., A. (Edmondsius) pectinatum, Aspidosiphon (A.) elegans, Phascolosoma (P.) puntarenae and Themiste (T.) hennahi; four species are similar to nominal species: Sipunculus (S.) cf. polymyotus, Siphonosoma cf. vastum, Siphonosoma cf. cumanense and Phascolosoma (P.) cf. perlucens; and two new species are described: Aspidosiphon (Paraspidosiphon) cutleri sp. nov. and Aspidosiphon (Paraspidosiphon) pastori sp. nov. A checklist and an identification key for all sipunculan species from the TEP are presented. The checklist includes 53 taxa, 25 of which are questionable records. This work generated 11 new records of sipunculans in the SMP and five new records in the TEP.
The Tanaidacea are ubiquitous and amongst the most abundant taxa in the deep sea. However, their diversity in submarine canyons remains largely unknown. Here, two new species and a new genus of Paratanaoidea are described. Paranarthrura cousteaui sp. nov. is distinguished by the combination of the following characters: post-cheliped sclerites not fused, presence of one seta in the maxilliped endite, one long midventral seta in cheliped, one penicillate seta in the basis of pereopods 4–6, uropod endopod bi-articulated and uropod exopod shorter than endopod article 1. This species was found at the upper reaches of three Portuguese canyons, Cascais, Setúbal and Nazaré Canyons, and the adjacent open slope, between 897 and 1001 m water depths. Tirana vallis gen. et sp. nov. presents a combination of the characters that define the other two genera of Paranarthrurellidae, Paranarthrurella and Armatognathia, but also unique characters within the family: the antenna, cheliped and uropod are more elongate than the rest of the species; the pereopods 4–6 carpus spines reach at least half of the length of the propodus and the propodus of pereopods 4–6 have ramified subdistal spines. This species was found at the middle reaches of Setúbal Canyon (3214–3219 m water depth).
Three new species of Eusarcus Perty, 1833 are described from Brazilian caves, increasing the number of species of the genus to 40, eight of which have occurrences in caves. Eusarcus capixaba sp. nov. is described from Lapa do Sítio Paraíso Cave, municipality of Ecoporanga, state of Espírito Santo. Eusarcus marmoreus sp. nov. is described from Caverna Archimides Panssini Cave, municipality of Vargem Alta, state of Espírito Santo. Finally, Eusarcus xambioa sp. nov. is described from Caverna da Explosão Cave, municipality of Xambioá, state of Tocantins. Notes on the species’ habitats and a distribution map are also provided.
Despite their importance as potential biological control agents, species of the campoplegine genus Campoplex Gravenhorst, 1829 are hard to identify. Previous works provided short descriptions or poor illustrations of crucial characters, meaning it is often impossible to distinguish closely related species. We provide illustrations to identify species of the Campoplex difformis group and redescriptions of and illustrations for C. difformis (Gmelin, 1790), C. capitator Aubert, 1960, C. dubitator Horstmann, 1985, C. formosanae Horstmann, 2012, and C. unicingulatus (Schmiedeknecht, 1909). In addition, the taxonomic status of C. difformis is clarified; a lectotype is designated for C. capitator in Aubert’s collection in Lausanne and the host record for this species on Ancylis mitterbacheriana (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) is queried; Campoplex corsicator Aubert, 1960 stat. nov. is removed from synonymy with Campoplex tibialis (Szépligeti, 1916) and redescribed.
Six new species of the genus Caccothryptus (Coleoptera: Limnichidae) are described from the Himalayan region: C. brendelli sp. nov., C. arakawae sp. nov., C. championi sp. nov., C. larryi sp. nov., C. tardarsauceae sp. nov. and C. abboti sp. nov. Photographs of type specimens with relevant morphological characters to distinguish species are provided.
A new species of verrucid barnacle, Gibbosaverruca weijiai sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on specimens collected from a deep-sea seamount, Weijia Guyot, in the West Pacific. This is the third barnacle species reported from Weijia Guyot. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by its extremely long caudal appendage. In terms of shell morphology, G. weijiai sp. nov. is most similar to G. gibbosa and G. sulcata but differs from them by the intermediate articular ridges of its movable tergum and scutum, which are distinctly wider than the axial ridges. The COI and 16S rRNA sequences of the holotype of G. weijiai sp. nov. are presented to support future research, and a key to extant species of the genus Gibbosaverruca Young, 2002 is provided.
The actual prevalence and diversity of the elusive Asian ant genus Rhopalomastix Forel, 1900 in Southeast Asia are largely unknown; only two named species were previously known from Thailand. Following substantial newly-collected museum material made available, we used a combined approach based on morphology and complementary DNA evidence to revise the genus in Thailand. Specimens were sorted to putative species by objective clustering of short fragment (313 bp) COI barcodes, after which specimens of each molecular cluster were morphologically examined. With morphology and supporting genetic evidence, we recognize five species of Rhopalomastix in Thailand, including three species new to science: R. impithuksai Wang & Jaitrong sp. nov., R. parva Wang & Jaitrong sp. nov., and R. robusta Wang & Jaitrong sp. nov. Different castes and sexes are described for most species where available. Descriptions of the two extant described species – R. javana Wheeler, 1929 and R. johorensis Wheeler, 1929 – are also revised, taking into account observations from the additional material. A key to Thai species based on the worker caste, with the three new species included, is further provided.
Commonly reported as a household pest throughout the northern hemisphere, Willowsia nigromaculata (Lubbock) is among the most abundant and widely distributed springtails. However, taxonomic uncertainty due to incomplete morphological descriptions based on specimens from different continents may lead to incorrect identifications and/or prevent the recognition of distinct lineages within this morphospecies. Here, we perform the first comprehensive morphological and genetic comparison between W. nigromaculata specimens collected from North America and Europe. Morphological and genetic evidence reveals that populations in the United States and France represent two distinct nigromaculata-like species, but a phylogenetic analysis indicates both species may also be present in Canada. Based on these results, we redescribe W. nigromaculata from France, provide a description for Willowsia neonigromaculata sp. nov. from the United States, and propose new diagnostic characters for their separation, including the number of inner appendages on the maxillary sublobal plate. We also highlight the need for morphological and molecular investigations of additional populations to better understand the diversity and distribution of W. nigromaculata and related species.
All species of Odontoscelio Kieffer, 1905 are imaged, with keys provided to all known males and females in this genus. Two new species, O. agnieleae sp. nov. and O. spinosus sp. nov., are described from India. The generic concept of the genus Odontoscelio is discussed. The presence of axillular spines differentiates this genus from other teleasines such as Dvivarnus Rajmohana & Veenakumari, 2011, Gryonoides Dodd, 1920 and the Trimorus carus (Nixon, 1936) species group, which possess lateral mesoscutellar spines.
The Afrotropical scarab beetle genus Cerhomalus Quedenfeldt, 1884 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) is revised. Two new species are described: C. quedenfeldti sp. nov. and C. petrovitzi sp. nov. A new combination, Cerhomalus absconditus (Petrovitz, 1971) comb. nov., is established. The genus occurs in Central and West Africa with the majority of records from the Congo Basin. Keys, descriptions, illustrations of habitus and male genitalia, and distributional record map are given.
The genus Onychelmis Hinton, 1941 was for a long time regarded as a small taxon with only three known species distributed in the Andes. A study of new material from Ecuador, using morphological and molecular data, has resulted in the discovery of five new species: Onychelmis lenkae sp. nov., O. lobata sp. nov., O. minor sp. nov., O. onorei sp. nov. and O. splendida sp. nov. We also revised the entire genus and redescribed the three known species, O. longicollis (Sharp, 1882), O. leleupi Delève, 1968 and O. whiteheadi Spangler & Santiago, 1991. Habitus photographs of adults are provided, together with line drawings of male and female genitalia, and schematic illustrations of the distribution of femoral tomentum for each species. DNA sequences for barcoding the COI mtDNA fragment were used to support species delimitation and to suggest possible relationships among species. The revision includes a key to adults of all species of Onychelmis and notes on the biogeography of the genus, with an updated distribution map.
The genus Chassalia (Gentianales: Rubiaceae-Palicoureeae) in Borneo is revised based on a morphological survey of herbarium specimens using classical taxonomic methods. The tribal placement and probable paraphyly of Chassalia as currently delimited is reviewed. Previously, four described species of Chassalia were known from Borneo, with only one endemic species, Chassalia psychotriformis I.M.Turner nom. nov. (≡ Cephaelis psychotrioides Valeton). A key is given to the 18 species of the genus recognised from Borneo in this study. In total, 14 new species are described, all of them endemic to Borneo. These are: Chassalia atropurpurea T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia beamanii T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia calamus T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia chewii T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia involucrata T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia kinabaluensis T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia lancifolia T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia lancifolioides T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia longipes T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia macrocarpa T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia muluensis T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia muscicola T.Y.Yu sp. nov., Chassalia northiana T.Y.Yu sp. nov. and Chassalia ramosa T.Y.Yu sp. nov. Circumscriptions and discussions are given for all Bornean species recognised. A morphological glossary for Asian species of Chassalia is provided. Three separate species groups are recognised, the Chassalia curviflora and C. javanica groups, represented by a single species each in Borneo, and a new informal group, the ‘Involucrate group’, which is proposed and circumscribed to encompass the majority (16) of the Bornean species. Proposals for further work on Asian Chassalia are given.
Organismic aging is known to be controlled by genetic and environmental traits. Pathways involved in the control of cellular metabolism play a crucial role. Previously, we identified a role of PaCLPP, a mitochondrial matrix protease, in the control of the mitochondrial energy metabolism, aging, and lifespan of the fungal aging model Podospora anserina. Most surprisingly, we made the counterintuitive observation that the ablation of this component of the mitochondrial quality control network leads to lifespan extension. In the current study, we investigated the role of energy metabolism of P. anserina. An age-dependent metabolome analysis of the wild type and a PaClpP deletion strain verified differences and changes of various metabolites in cultures of the PaClpP mutant and the wild type. Based on these data, we generated and analyzed a PaSnf1 deletion mutant and a ΔPaSnf1/ΔPaClpP double mutant. In both mutants PaSNF1, the catalytic α-subunit of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is ablated. PaSNF1 was found to be required for the development of fruiting bodies and ascospores and the progeny of sexual reproduction of this ascomycete and impact mitochondrial dynamics and autophagy. Most interestingly, while the single PaSnf1 deletion mutant is characterized by a slight lifespan increase, simultaneous deletion of PaSnf1 and PaClpP leads to a pronounced lifespan extension. This synergistic effect is strongly reinforced in the presence of the mating-type “minus”-linked allele of the rmp1 gene. Compared to the wild type, culture temperature of 35°C instead of the standard laboratory temperature of 27°C leads to a short-lived phenotype of the ΔPaSnf1/ΔPaClpP double mutant. Overall, our study provides novel evidence for complex interactions of different molecular pathways involved in mitochondrial quality control, gene expression, and energy metabolism in the control of organismic aging.
Objective: To investigate temporal trends in prostate cancer (PCa) radical prostatectomy (RP) candidates.
Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent RP for PCa between January 2014 and December 2019 were identified form our institutional database. Trend analysis and logistic regression models assessed RP trends after stratification of PCa patients according to D'Amico classification and Gleason score. Patients with neoadjuvant androgen deprivation or radiotherapy prior to RP were excluded from the analysis.
Results: Overall, 528 PCa patients that underwent RP were identified. Temporal trend analysis revealed a significant decrease in low-risk PCa patients from 17 to 9% (EAPC: −14.6%, p < 0.05) and GS6 PCa patients from 30 to 14% (EAPC: −17.6%, p < 0.01). This remained significant even after multivariable adjustment [low-risk PCa: (OR): 0.85, p < 0.05 and GS6 PCa: (OR): 0.79, p < 0.001]. Furthermore, a trend toward a higher proportion of intermediate-risk PCa undergoing RP was recorded.
Conclusion: Our results confirm that inverse stage migration represents an ongoing phenomenon in a contemporary RP cohort in a European tertiary care PCa center. Our results demonstrate a significant decrease in the proportion of low-risk and GS6 PCa undergoing RP and a trend toward a higher proportion of intermediate-risk PCa patients undergoing RP. This indicates a more precise patient selection when it comes to selecting suitable candidates for definite surgical treatment with RP.
Objective: To investigate the value of standard [digital rectal examination (DRE), PSA] and advanced (mpMRI, prostate biopsy) clinical evaluation for prostate cancer (PCa) detection in contemporary patients with clinical bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) scheduled for Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP).
Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 397 patients, who were referred to our tertiary care laser center for HoLEP due to BOO between 11/2017 and 07/2020. Of those, 83 (20.7%) underwent further advanced clinical PCa evaluation with mpMRI and/or prostate biopsy due to elevated PSA and/or lowered PSA ratio and/or suspicious DRE. Logistic regression and binary regression tree models were applied to identify PCa in BOO patients.
Results: An mpMRI was conducted in 56 (66%) of 83 patients and revealed PIRADS 4/5 lesions in 14 (25%) patients. Subsequently, a combined systematic randomized and MRI-fusion biopsy was performed in 19 (23%) patients and revealed in PCa detection in four patients (5%). A randomized prostate biopsy was performed in 31 (37%) patients and revealed in PCa detection in three patients (4%). All seven patients (9%) with PCa detection underwent radical prostatectomy with 29% exhibiting non-organ confined disease. Incidental PCa after HoLEP (n = 76) was found in nine patients (12%) with advanced clinical PCa evaluation preoperatively. In univariable logistic regression analyses, PSA, fPSA ratio, and PSA density failed to identify patients with PCa detection. Conversely, patients with a lower International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and PIRADs 4/5 lesion in mpMRI were at higher risk for PCa detection. In multivariable adjusted analyses, PIRADS 4/5 lesions were confirmed as an independent risk factor (OR 9.91, p = 0.04), while IPSS did not reach significance (p = 0.052).
Conclusion: In advanced clinical PCa evaluation mpMRI should be considered in patients with elevated total PSA or low fPSA ratio scheduled for BOO treatment with HoLEP. Patients with low IPSS or PIRADS 4/5 lesions in mpMRI are at highest risk for PCa detection. In patients with a history of two or more sets of negative prostate biopsies, advanced clinical PCa evaluation might be omitted.
Objective: Research on visual working memory has shown that individual stimulus features are processed in both specialized sensory regions and higher cortical areas. Much less evidence exists for auditory working memory. Here, a main distinction has been proposed between the processing of spatial and non-spatial sound features. Our aim was to examine feature-specific activation patterns in auditory working memory.
Methods: We collected fMRI data while 28 healthy adults performed an auditory delayed match-to-sample task. Stimuli were abstract sounds characterized by both spatial and non-spatial information, i.e., interaural time delay and central frequency, respectively. In separate recording blocks, subjects had to memorize either the spatial or non-spatial feature, which had to be compared with a probe sound presented after a short delay. We performed both univariate and multivariate comparisons between spatial and non-spatial task blocks.
Results: Processing of spatial sound features elicited a higher activity in a small cluster in the superior parietal lobe than did sound pattern processing, whereas there was no significant activation difference for the opposite contrast. The multivariate analysis was applied using a whole-brain searchlight approach to identify feature-selective processing. The task-relevant auditory feature could be decoded from multiple brain regions including the auditory cortex, posterior temporal cortex, middle occipital gyrus, and extended parietal and frontal regions.
Conclusion: In summary, the lack of large univariate activation differences between spatial and non-spatial processing could be attributable to the identical stimulation in both tasks. In contrast, the whole-brain multivariate analysis identified feature-specific activation patterns in widespread cortical regions. This suggests that areas beyond the auditory dorsal and ventral streams contribute to working memory processing of auditory stimulus features.
Cephalization is a major innovation of animal evolution and implies a synchronization of nervous system, mouth, and foregut polarization to align alimentary tract and sensomotoric system for effective foraging. However, the underlying integration of morphogenetic programs is poorly understood. Here, we show that invagination of neuroectoderm through de novo polarization and apical constriction creates the mouth opening in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo. Simultaneously, all 18 juxta-oral sensory organ dendritic tips become symmetrically positioned around the mouth: While the two bilaterally symmetric amphid sensilla endings are towed to the mouth opening, labial and cephalic sensilla become positioned independently. Dendrite towing is enabled by the pre-polarized sensory amphid pores intercalating into the leading edge of the anteriorly migrating epidermal sheet, while apical constriction-mediated cell–cell re-arrangements mediate positioning of all other sensory organs. These two processes can be separated by gradual inactivation of the 26S proteasome activator, RPN-6.1. Moreover, RPN- 6.1 also shows a dose-dependent requirement for maintenance of coordinated apical polarization of other organs with apical lumen, the pharynx, and the intestine. Thus, our data unveil integration of morphogenetic programs during the coordination of alimentary tract and sensory organ formation and suggest that this process requires tight control of ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation.
This book questions colonial and apartheid ideologies on being human and being African, ideologies that continue to shape how research is conceptualised, taught and practiced in universities across Africa. Africans immersed in popular traditions of meaning-making are denied the right, by those who police the borders of knowledge, to think and represent their realities in accordance with the civilisations and universes they know best. Often, the ways of life they cherish are labelled and dismissed too eagerly as traditional knowledge by some of the very African intellectual elite they look to for protection. The book makes a case for sidestepped traditions of knowledge. It draws attention to Africa's possibilities, prospects and emergent capacities for being and becoming in tune with its creativity and imagination. It speaks to the nimble-footed flexible-minded 'frontier African' at the crossroads and junctions of encounters, facilitating creative conversations and challenging regressive logics of exclusionary identities. The book uses Amos Tutuola's stories to question dualistic assumptions about reality and scholarship, and to call for conviviality, interconnections and interdependence between competing knowledge traditions in Africa.
Marginality does not mean isolation. In Africa where people are permanently on the move in search, inter alia, of a 'better elsewhere', marginality means disconnection to obvious possibilities and the invisibility of the myriad connections that make life possible for the ordinarily sidestepped. This book is about the workings of networks of the mobile in Africa, a continent usually associated with the 'global shadows' of the world. How do changes in the possibilities for communication, with the recent hype of mobile technology, influence the social and economic dynamics in Africa's mobile margins? To what extent is the freedom associated with new Information and Communication Technologies reality or disillusion for people dwelling in the margins? Are ordinary Africans increasingly Side@Ways? How social are these emergent Side@Ways? Contributions to answering these and related questions are harvested from ethnographic insights by team members of the WOTRO funded 'Mobile Africa revisited' research programme hosted by the African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
This rich conversational auto-biography tells the story of the political life of Ndeh Ntumazah who was born in Mankon in 1926, spent the best part of his life suffering and sacrificing for the freedom of Cameroon, and died in London on January 21, 2010, at the age of 83, as President of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC). Ntumazah was a political activist for nearly 60 years. He joined the UPC around 1950 and remained a militant of the party until his demise. When the UPC was banned in French Cameroon in 1955, he was advised by his comrades to create another party in the Southern Cameroons, which would be the UPC in disguise. The party was called 'One Kamerun Movement - OK', with Ndeh Ntumazah as its President. Following its banning, the UPC started a war of liberation in French Cameoon, so Ntumazah from the safety of Southern Cameroons, liaised with his comrades in French Cameroon to carry out their underground operations. Ndeh Ntumazah left Cameroon to seek political asylum abroad in 1962. He stayed in Ghana, Guinea, Algeria and finally in Britain where he spent most of his time sensitising the world about the plight of Cameroon using various avenues like writing, conferences and deputations. Ntumazah is dead, but he lives on because his life stands out as a point of focus.
The volume draws from René Devischs encounters with groups in southsaharan Africa, primarily. The author had the privilege to immerse himself, around the clock, in the Yakaphones activities and thoughts in southwest DR Congo from 1972 to 1974, and intermittently in Kinshasas shanty towns, from 1986 to 2003. The author first examines what sparked his choice to come to Congo, and then to pursue research among the Yakaphones in the borderland with Angola. He then invites us to follow the trajectory of his plural anthropological view on todays multicentric world. It leads us to his praise for honorary doctor Jean-Marc Elas work. He then examines the proletarian outbursts of violence that rocked Congos major cities in 1991 and 1993. These can be read as a settling of scores with the disillusioning colonial and missionary modernisation, along with president Mobutus millenarian Popular Movement of the Revolution. Furthermore, after considering the morose reduction of a major Yaka dancing mask into a mere museum-bound curio in Antwerp, the book unravels the Yakaphones perspectives on spirits and sorcerys threat. It also analyses their commitment to classical Bantu-African healing cults, along with their parallel consulting physicians and healers. By sharing the Yakaphones life-world, the analysis highlights their body-group-world weave, interlaced by the principle of co-resonance. A phenomenological and perspectivist look unfolds the local actors views, thereby disclosing the Bantu-African genius and setting for a major reversal of perspectives. Indeed, seeing 'here' from 'there' allows the author to uncover some alienating dynamics at work in his native Belgian Flemish-speaking culture. To better grasp the realm of life beyond the speakable and factual reasoning, the approach occasionally turns to the later Lacans focus on the unconscious desire, the body and its affects. The book addresses students and researchers in the humanities and, more broadly, all those immersed in the heat of the encounter with the culturally different.
In a tribute to Hon. Justice Iorhemen Hwande CFR, Chief Judge of Benue State this book includes contributions from a variety of scholars from Nigeria. 14 essays cover a wide range of topics such as: Insider Dealing by Company Directors and the Nigerian Capital Market; United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea as a Tool for the Resolution of Climate Change Disputes; Is a Practicing Christian Lawyer/Judge in Nigeria an Anachronism?; The Justiciability and Enforcement of Social Rights; and International Economic Law and Development.
Vestiges
(2013)
The poems in this collection are adequate, with great lines. The rhythm is stimulating to all the five senses thanks to the use of multiple images. A lot of imagery in Vestiges gives a picture of a war front after a ferocious battle. The objects, animals, and images in the poems disorient and lead the reader to focusing on putting flesh to the bones than just getting the juice of the poems... The rhythm more than anything else carries the reader through this chaotic tableau painted in Vestiges. In a way, this comes across as a substantiation of the poet's vision of our world and an explanation as to why he considers this collection as a skeleton; and precisely skeletons left by the ravages of war. Is the poet's world and ours a field of ruins and topsy-turvydom to which we are all blind? The answer is yours.