With an annual production of 1.4 million tonnes of fish, Morocco is currently the largest seafood producer in African and Arab countries. However, a vast majority of fish labelled as Moroccan come from the maritime zone of Western Sahara, the last non-self-governing territory in Africa that has been occupied by Morocco since 1975. Furthermore, the fish stock off the Western Saharan coast is at the

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for early breast cancer can make breast-conserving surgery more feasible and might be more likely to eradicate micrometastatic disease than might the same chemotherapy given after surgery. We investigated the long-term benefits and risks of NACT and the influence of tumour characteristics on outcome with a collaborative meta-analysis of individual patien

Observational studies consistently disclose brain imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) as critical markers for early diagnosis of both brain disorders and cardiovascular diseases. However, it remains unclear about the shared genetic landscape between brain IDPs and the risk of brain disorders and cardiovascular diseases, restricting the applications of potential diagnostic techniques through brain ID

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a critical risk factor for peripheral artery disease (PAD). However, the sex differences in genetic basis, causality, and underlying mechanisms of the two diseases are still unclear. Using sex-stratified and ethnic-based GWAS summary, we explored the genetic correlation and causal relationship between T2D and PAD in both ethnicities and sexes by linkage disequilibrium scor

BackgroundThe epidemiological association between type 2 diabetes and cataract has been well established. However, it remains unclear whether the two diseases share a genetic basis, and if so, whether this reflects a putative causal relationship.MethodsWe used East Asian population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary statistics of type 2 diabetes (Ncase = 36 614, Ncontrol = 155 15

This paper examines the relevance of the world system as a structural condition to be considered in research on regimes and democratization. This is a pilot study in reformulating world systems analysis into the research topic of regimes, their creation and democratization. The methodology is statistical and covers most of the world for the time period 1980-1999. The study starts by formulating im

Abstract The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is the fourth largest global illegal crime, and it threatens the balance of ecosystems, biodiversity, and human security. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international treaty, which purpose is to guarantee that international wildlife trade is legal, sustainable, and traceable. This study ex

Ancient mystery cults have long been considered as a special type of religious practice within Greco-Roman polytheism, defined by initiation rituals of individual and voluntary participation, the transmission of a secret knowledge and an implacable prohibition of disclosure, high levels of emotional arousal, and the promise of salvific benefits in this life and often also in the next. However, rec

In this introductory chapter, we provide insights into the debates that inspired this volume. Our aim is to extend the boundaries of the concept societal interaction and discuss the conditions for universities to undertake such endeavors. Within this context, we introduce the matter of “mattering” which serves as the central theme that runs through this volume. Mattering, we posit, can be comprehe

The identification of nonlinear chirp signals has attracted notable attention in the recent literature, including estimators such as the variational mode decomposition and the nonlinear chirp mode estimator. However, most presented methods fail to process signals with close frequency intervals or depend on user-determined parameters that are often non-trivial to select optimally. In this work, we

This chapter longitudinal and quantitative spatial analysis, the authors consider how green gentrification and concurrently displacement are manifesting in the city of Barcelona in the context of greening projects since the 1990s. They provides a more indepth theoretical review of the literature on green gentrification and displacement, explaining how the topics are approached, and outline Barcelo

Archaeological data repositories usually integrate excavation data archives as single data collections with restricted capacities to accommodate excavation data interoperability at the sub-collection level. This is largely due to the complexity of excavation data archives that are compiled with different tools and methodologies, use distinct conceptual descriptions at variable granularities, can o

X-ray time-resolved tomography is one of the most popular X-raytechniques to probe dynamics in three dimensions (3D). Recent developments in time-resolved tomography opened the possibility of recordingkilohertz-rate 3D movies. However, tomography requires rotating thesample with respect to the X-ray beam, which prevents characterization of faster structural dynamics. Here, we present megahertz (MH

Microbial eukaryotes (protists) have major functional roles in aquatic ecosystems, including the biogeochemical cycling of elements as well as occupying various roles in the food web. Despite their importance for ecosystem function, the factors that drive diversification in protists are not known. Here, we aimed to identify the factors that drive differentiation and, subsequently, speciation in a

Sedimentary molybdenum (Mo) and uranium (U) enrichments are often used as redox proxies to reconstruct bottom water redox changes. However, these redox proxies may not be equally reliable across a range of coastal settings due to varying depositional environments. Fjords vary greatly in their depositional conditions, due to their unique bathymetry and hydrography, and are highly vulnerable to anth

Microorganisms can be equipped with synthetic genetic programs for the production of targeted therapeutic molecules. Cutibacterium acnes is the most abundant commensal of the human skin, making it an attractive chassis to create skin-delivered therapeutics. Here, we report the engineering of this bacterium to produce and secrete the therapeutic molecule neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin,