Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@social.cleverlibre.org

#introduction #introductie
Hello everyone,

Since we are new here on Mastodon, we would like some help finding academics and other professionals with an interest in #citizenscience. So give us a boost, if you can. Thanks! 🙂

For those that don't know us yet: Scivil is the center for citizen science in Flanders (Belgium). We gather and spread #citsci knowledge, and bring actors and projects closer together.

We're also active beyond Flanders & within the EU, so we mainly 'toot' in English. Bye!

Diamonds form under pressure – but people are more than carbon, and thriving in competitive environments can be a challenge. #Coach & #neuroscientist Florian Grössl, once a PhD student at the IMP himself, helps colleagues develop & grow. 👉🏽📺https://youtu.be/4yBQOiKgb_Q

"How a story gets written...[is] a million small decisions, made for reasons I am not trying to articulate at the time. The process is full of mystery. So, trying to recollect it runs the risk of reducing an ineffable process, and thereby getting it wrong - like having a wonderful love affair and then trying to convey it in a few brisk bullet points." – George Saunders

#writingcommunity #writerscommunity #writing #storytelling #screenwriting #creativewriting #amwriting #writinglife #art

World’s top 20 universities are failing to offer adequate courses to fight climate crisis, youth campaign group says

All top 20 universities worldwide fell short on climate change elements in their courses, including MIT, Tsinghua & Peking universities, according to Mock COP

While some concerns were raised about the methodology, the findings suggest more sustainability education is needed to prepare future global leaders

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3207784/worlds-top-20-universities-are-failing-offer-adequate-courses-fight-climate-crisis-youth-campaign

#ecology #environment
#ClimateChange #Climate

@marionkoopmans On a recent episode of the #EMBOPodcast @tlemberger & I discussed the thorny issue of peer review & #preprints with BMJ Open EIC Adrian Aldcroft https://www.embo.org/podcasts/peer-review-preprints-and-the-pressures-of-clinical-research/

RNA virus translation & recombination: @CameronLabUNC reveal cap-independent #translation initiation of #enterovirus in the absence of eIF2α, identifying an upstream RNA element that enables initiation using non-canonical factors eIF2A/eIF2D #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3JsJXs7

How do #nutrient-starved cells preserve a basal supply of dormant #ribosomes?
Michael Hall and colleagues (Biozentrum Basel) identify conserved #TORC1 #phosphorylation and inhibition of ribosome-binding factor #Stm1/#SERBP1 in #yeast and human cells
https://www.embopress.org/doi/10.15252/embj.2022112344

ABOLISH: an optimised biotin-ligation method for discovering stable & transient #ProteinProteinInteractions in yeast ➡️ bit.ly/3ktzuBT
from Maya Schuldiner's lab, Weizmann Institute
#SystemsBiology #Scerevisiae

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A big worry continues to be under-reporting of cases, especially as Mpox consciousness fades from its 2022 peak.

Some cases may not be reported due to an unusual presentation:
"A case of parotitis caused by hMPX virus"
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00047-8

Perhaps more accurate case numbers might be achieved by complementing clinical reports with wastewater sampling:
"We observed a positive correlation between MPXV DNA in wastewater solids and the incidence of reported cases."
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2213882

Next year, we'll be moving our current Matlab for Cognitive Neuroscientists MSc course to Python. Through the years I've seen many people share open textbooks for this, but I guess I never bookmarked them. So open call: any good open introductory resources for #python for (cognitive) #neuroscience ?

1/3
🦠 A Few Mpox ( #monkeypox ) Pandemic Updates 🦠

When did the current #mpox (MPXV) pandemic start?

Although it first caught attention in 2022, some have traced the current pandemic back to 2017.

A new research letter, however, reports that "our analyses of MPXV genome sequences indicate that the virus has been circulating silently and undetected for about 2 decades."
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/2/22-0962_article
h/t @travelhealthdoc

#virus #virology @virology #epidemiology #InfectiousDisease

2/3
So, where are we now?

US CDC case reports have slowed down to "only" 47 this year so far, with a total of 30,000 reports and 23 deaths in the US:
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/mpx-trends.html

But the latest WHO biweekly report noted that "11 countries reported an increase in the weekly number of cases,
with the highest increase reported in Mexico," along with 5 new deaths in South America:
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/multi-country-outbreak-of-mpox--external-situation-report-14--19-january-2023

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How RNA viruses can use their dsRNA intermediate state as a de facto latent state, facilitating viral persistence.

Positive single-stranded RNA viruses have a replication cycle that includes a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) intermediate state.