Complementarity and sensitivity of benthic state indicators to bottom-trawl fishing disturbance.

Many indicators have been developed to assess the state of benthic communities and identify seabed habitats most at risk from bottom trawling disturbance. However, the large variety of indicators and their development and application under specific geographic areas and management contexts has made it difficult to evaluate their wider utility. We compared the complementarity/uniqueness, sensitivity, and selectivity of 18 benthic indicators to pressure of bottom trawling.

Nature-based solutions for coastal protection in sheltered and exposed coastal waters: integrated monitoring program for baseline ecological structure and functioning assessment.

Nature-based solutions, such as shellfish reefs, can support natural coastal defence and be a potential solution for climate-resilient shorelines in the future. In the Belgian Part of the North Sea, the "Coastbusters" projects aim to develop nature-based coastal protection by favouring subtidal mussel bed establishment on the seafloor through typical longline aquaculture techniques. Mussel beds are dependent on environmental conditions, and both influence the physical and biogeochemical features in a soft-sediment environment.

Impacts of human activities on the supply of marine ecosystem services: A conceptual model for offshore wind farms to aid quantitative assessments.

Increased pressures from human activities may cause cumulative ecological effects on marine ecosystems. Increasingly, the study of ecosystem services is applied in the marine environment to assess the full effects of human activities on the ecosystem and on the benefits it provides. However, in the marine environment, such integrated studies have yet to move from qualitative and score-based to fully quantitative assessments.

INFLUENCE OF PATHOGENS, FISH-RELATED CHARACTERISTICS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKIN ULCERATIONS IN WILD COMMON DAB (LIMANDA LIMANDA) FROM THE NORTH SEA.

Environmental changes or stressors can result in the development of diseases. Through regular fish disease surveys in the Belgian part of the North Sea, attention was drawn to a sudden increase of skin ulceration prevalence between 2011 and 2014 in common dab (Limanda limanda). Information on prevalence, ulceration, bacteriology, fish-related (e.

Meta-analysis of multidecadal biodiversity trends in Europe.

Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15-91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising ~6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions.

Methodological elements for optimising the spatial monitoring design to support regional benthic ecosystem assessments.

Benthic habitat condition assessments are a requirement under various environmental directives. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), for example, challenges member states in a European sea region to perform comparable assessments of good environmental status and improve coherence of their monitoring programmes by 2020. Currently, North Sea countries operate independent monitoring programmes using nationally defined assessment areas.

BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series.

Role of Substance P and Its Receptor Neurokinin 1 in Chronic Prurigo: A Randomized, Proof-of-Concept, Controlled Trial with Topical Aprepitant.

Substance P (SP) and its receptor neurokinin 1 (NK1R) are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic prurigo. Here, we assessed SP serum levels, cutaneous NK1R expression, and the effects of topical aprepitant, an NK1R antagonist, in patients with chronic prurigo. SP and NK1R were increased, compared with controls, in the serum and in lesional vs.

Color standard display function: A proposed extension of DICOM GSDF.

Purpose: Color images are being used more in medical imaging for a broad range of modalities and applications. While in the past, color was mostly used for annotations, today color is also widely being used for diagnostic purposes. Surprisingly enough, there is no agreed upon standard yet that describes how color medical images need to be visualized and how calibration and quality assurance of color medical displays need to be performed.

Technical Note: Gray tracking in medical color displays-A report of Task Group 196.

Purpose: The authors discuss measurement methods and instrumentation useful for the characterization of the gray tracking performance of medical color monitors for diagnostic applications. The authors define gray tracking as the variability in the chromaticity of the gray levels in a color monitor.

Methods: The authors present data regarding the capability of color measurement instruments with respect to their abilities to measure a target white point corresponding to the CIE Standard Illuminant D65 at different luminance values within the grayscale palette of a medical display.

Similar diversity-disturbance responses to different physical impacts: three cases of small-scale biodiversity increase in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Human activities at sea are still increasing. As biodiversity is a central topic in the management of our seas, it is important to understand how diversity responds to different disturbances related with physical impacts. We investigated the effects of three impacts, i.

A bioturbation classification of European marine infaunal invertebrates.

Bioturbation, the biogenic modification of sediments through particle reworking and burrow ventilation, is a key mediator of many important geochemical processes in marine systems. In situ quantification of bioturbation can be achieved in a myriad of ways, requiring expert knowledge, technology, and resources not always available, and not feasible in some settings. Where dedicated research programmes do not exist, a practical alternative is the adoption of a trait-based approach to estimate community bioturbation potential (BPc).

On the myths of indicator species: issues and further consideration in the use of static concepts for ecological applications.

The use of static indicator species, in which species are expected to have a similar sensitivity or tolerance to either natural or human-induced stressors, does not account for possible shifts in tolerance along natural environmental gradients and between biogeographic regions. Their indicative value may therefore be considered at least questionable. In this paper we demonstrate how species responses (i.

The use of benthic indicators in Europe: from the Water Framework Directive to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) are the European umbrella regulations for water systems. It is a challenge for the scientific community to translate the principles of these directives into realistic and accurate approaches. The aim of this paper, conducted by the Benthos Ecology Working Group of ICES, is to describe how the principles have been translated, which were the challenges and best way forward.

The influence of endotoxemia on the pharmacokinetics and the electroencephalographic effect of propofol in the rat.

Endotoxemia decreases the dose requirement for anesthetics but no data are available for propofol. A rat model was used in which the influence of endotoxin administration on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of propofol was investigated. Chronically instrumented rats were randomly allocated to either a control (n = 9) or an endotoxin (n = 9) group.

Ictal source localization in presurgical patients with refractory epilepsy.

Source localization of epileptic foci using ictal spatiotemporal dipole modeling (ISDM) yields reliable anatomic information in presurgical candidates. It requires substantial resources from EEG and neuroimaging laboratories. The profile and number of patients who may benefit from it are currently unknown.

Comparison of performance of spherical and realistic head models in dipole localization from noisy EEG.

The performance of a three-shell spherical head model versus the performance of a realistic head model is investigated when solving the inverse problem with a single dipole, in the presence of noise. This is evaluated by calculating the average dipole location error for 1000 noisy scalp potential sets, originating from the same test dipole and having the same noise level. The average location errors are obtained utilizing a local linearization, which is validated with a Monte-Carlo simulation.