An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial scales remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated diversity drivers for 644 bee species/morphospecies in 177 commercial apple orchards across 33 countries and four global biogeographical biomes. Our findings reveal significant taxonomic dissimilarity among biogeographical zones. Interestingly, despite this dissimilarity, species from different zones share similar higher-level phylogenetic groups and similar ecological and behavioural traits (i.e. functional traits), likely due to habitat filtering caused by perennial monoculture systems managed intensively for crop production. Honey bee species dominated orchard communities, while other managed/manageable and wild species were collected in lower numbers. Moreover, the presence of herbaceous, uncultivated open areas and organic management practices were associated with increased wild bee diversity. Overall, our study sheds light on the importance of large-scale analyses contributing to the emerging fields of functional and phylogenetic diversity, which can be related to ecosystem function to promote biodiversity as a key asset in agroecosystems in the face of global change pressures.
Safeguarding crop pollination services requires the identification of the pollinator species involved and the provision of their ecological requirements at multiple spatial scales. However, the potential for agroecological intensification of pollinator-dependent crops by harnessing pollinator diversity is limited by our capacity to characterise the community of pollinator species for each crop, and to determine how it is influenced by the different survey methods used, as well as by climatic variables at larger geographic scales. Here, we surveyed wild bees using a standardised protocol at an unprecedented scale including 62 commercial apple orchards in Western and Central Europe (i) to validate recent findings on pollinator community divergence as measured by common survey methods (netting and pan trapping) using conventional and alternative biodiversity metrics (phylogenetic and functional diversity), and (ii) to investigate the impact of climatic variation on the patterns observed. Our results confirm the significant divergence in pollinator communities measured using the two common methods at the larger, sub-continental scale, and we provide evidence for a significant influence of climate on the magnitude of pollinator community divergence (beta diversity and its turnover component) be-tween survey methods, particularly when comparing colder to warmer sites and regions. We also found that warmer sites are more dissimilar than colder sites in terms of species composition, functional traits, or phylo-genetic affinities. This result probably stems from the comparatively larger species pool in Southern Europe and because apple flowers are accessible to a wide spectrum of pollinator species; hence, two distant survey localities in Southern Europe are more likely to differ significantly in their pollinator community. Collectively, our results demonstrate the spatially-varying patterns of pollinator communities associated with common survey methods along a climate gradient and at the sub-continental scale in Europe.
Wild and managed bees are essential for global food security and the maintenance of biodiversity. At present, the conservation of wild bees is hampered by a huge shortfall in knowledge about the trends and status of individual species mainly due to their large diversity and variation in life histories. In contrast, the managed Western honey beeApis melliferais one of the best studied and monitored insects in existence. Since similar drivers may be relevant for the decline of wild bees and losses of managed honey bees, this raises the possibility that monitoring of honey bees may help to detect threatened regions for wild bees, thereby fostering urgently required conservation measures. However, this possible relationship has not yet been explicitly tested for. Moreover, research currently focused on honey bees as a model species may yield important insights into wild insect susceptibility to stressors and vice versa. Here we use the bees of Europe as a model to show that managed honey bees are not suitable surrogates for detecting declines in wild bees. A direct comparison of the response of wild bees and honey bees to the same threats (nutritional deficiencies, parasites and pathogens, pesticides, and a changing climate) shows that, whilst some of their responses may be similar at the individual level, when considered at the reproductive level (individuals versus colonies), many of their responses diverge. These results reinforce the need for basic research into wild bee biology, the need for national monitoring schemes for wild bee populations, and the call for conservation actions tailored to the individual ecologies of wild bee species.
Since the laser invention [1, 2], the advent of Free Electron Lasers (FEL) [3, 4] in the X-ray domain half a century later, has opened new areas for matter investigation with higher temporal resolution. In parallel, the development of laser plasma acceleration (LPA) [5] that delivers today several GeV beam acceleration [6] in a short distance appears also very promising. The qualification of the LPA for FEL application can thus be viewed as an important challenge [7]. Nevertheless, present LPA electron beam parameters (e. g. energy spread and beam divergence) do not meet conventional accelerator state-of-the-art performance and FEL application requires a specific beam handling. In such a prospect, the COXINEL beam manipulation line [8, 9] using variable permanent magnet quadrupoles for emittance growth mitigation and de-mixing chicane for the energy spread handling developed at SOLEIL has been installed for using electrons produced with an intense laser of Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee (LOA). Strategies for controlling electron beam position and dispersion have been elaborated and demonstrated [10]. Finally, undulator spontaneous emission has been measured at the end of the line.
The recent spectacular development of laser plasma ac- celerators that now can deliver GeV electron beams in an extremelyshortdistancemakesthemverypromising. Ap- plications for light sources based on undulator radiation and free electron laser appear as an intermediate step to move from an acceleration concept to an accelerator qual- ification. However, the presently achieved divergence and energy spread require some electron beam manipulations. The COXINEL test line was designed for enabling Free Elec- tron Laser operation with baseline reference parameters. It comprises variable permanent magnet quadrupoles for di- vergence handling, a magnetic chicane for electron energy sorting, a second set of quadrupole for chromatic focusing and an undulator for synchrotron radiation emission and/or free electron laser gain medium. The transport along the line is controlled [1]. The synchrotron radiation emitted by the undulator radiation is studied under different conditions of detection (CCD camera, spectrometer), electron beam manipulation and undulator parameters. These observations pave the way towards Laser Plasma Acceleration based Free Electron Laser.
Undulator based synchrotron light sources and Free Electron Lasers (FELs) are valuable modern probes of matter with high temporal and spatial resolution. Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs), delivering GeV electron beams in few centimeters, are good candidates for future compact light sources. However the barriers set by the large energy spread, divergence and shot-to-shot fluctuations require a specific transport line, to shape the electron beam phase space for achieving ultrashort undulator synchrotron radiation suitable for users and even for achieving FEL amplification. Proof-of-principle LPA based undulator emission, with strong electron focusing or transport, does not yet exhibit the full specific radiation properties. We report on the generation of undulator radiation with an LPA beam based manipulation in a dedicated transport line with versatile properties. After evidencing the specific spatio-spectral signature, we tune the resonant wavelength within 200–300 nm by modification of the electron beam energy and the undulator field. We achieve a wavelength stability of 2.6%. We demonstrate that we can control the spatio-spectral purity and spectral brightness by reducing the energy range inside the chicane. We have also observed the second harmonic emission of the undulator.
The original version of this Article contained an error in the last sentence of the first paragraph of the Introduction and incorrectly read ‘A proper electron beam control is one of the main challenges towards the Graal of developing a compact alternative of X-ray free-electron lasers by coupling LWFA gigaelectron-volts per centimetre acceleration gradient with undulators in the amplification regime in equation 11, nx(n-β) x β: n the two times and beta the two times should be bold since they are vectorsin Eq. 12, β should be bold as well.’ The correct version is ‘A proper electron beam control is one of the main challenges towards the Graal of developing a compact alternative of X-ray free-electron lasers by coupling LWFA gigaelectron-volts per centimetre acceleration gradient with undulators in the amplification regime.’This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
Since the laser invention, the advent of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FEL) half a century later, opens new areas for matter investigation. In parallel, the spectacular development of laser plasma acceleration (LPA) with several GeV beam acceleration in an extremely short distance appears very promising. As a first step, the qualification of the LPA with a FEL application sets a first challenge. Still, energy spread and beam divergence do not meet the state-of-the-art performance of the conventional accelerators and have to be manipulated to fulfill the FEL requirement. We report here on the undulator spontaneous emission measured after a transport manipulation electron beam line, using variable permanent magnet quadrupoles of variable strength for emittance handing and a demixing chicane equipped with a slit for the energy spread. Strategies of control electron beam position and dispersion have been elaborated. The measured undulator radiation provides an insight on the electron beam properties.
The ERC Advanced Grant COXINEL aims at demonstrating free electron laser amplification, at a resonant wavelength of 200 nm, based on a laser plasma acceleration source. To achieve the amplification, a 10 m long dedicated transport line was designed to manipulate the beam qualities. It starts with a triplet of permanent magnet with tunable gradient quadrupoles (QUAPEVA) that handles the highly divergent electron beam, a demixing chicane with a slit to reduce the energy spread per slice, and a set of electromagnetic quadrupoles to provide a chromatic focusing in a 2 m long cryogenic undulator. Electrons of energy 176 MeV were successfully transported throughout the line, where the beam positioning and dispersion were controlled efficiently thanks to a specific beam based alignment method, as well as the energy range by varying the slit width. Observations of undulator radiation for different undulator gaps are reported.
COXINEL experiment aims at demonstrating free electron laser (FEL) amplification with a laser plasma accelerator (LPA). For COXINEL, a dedicated 8 m transport line has been designed and prepared at SOLEIL. We present here LPA beam transport results around 180 MeV through this line. Different electron beam optics were applied.
The ERC Advanced Grant COXINEL aims at demonstrating free electron laser (FEL) at 200 nm, based on a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA). To achieve the FEL amplification a transport line was designed to manipulate the beam properties. The 10 m long COXINEL line comprises a first triplet of permanent-magnet variable-strength quadrupoles (QUAPEVA), which handles the large divergence of LPA electrons, a magnetic chicane, which reduces the slice energy spread, and finally a set of electromagnetic quadrupoles, which provides a chromatic focusing in a 2-m undulator. Electrons were successfully transported through the line from LPA with ionization-assisted self-injection (broad energy spectra up to~250 MeV, few-milliradian divergence).
The laser–plasma accelerator (LPA) presently provides electron beams with a typical current of a few kA, a bunch length of a few fs, energy in the few hundred MeV to several GeV range, a divergence of typically 1 mrad, an energy spread of the order of 1%, and a normalized emittance of the order of π.mm.mrad. One of the first applications could be to use these beams for the production of radiation: undulator emission has been observed but the rather large energy spread (1%) and divergence (1 mrad) prevent straightforward free-electron laser (FEL) amplification. An adequate beam manipulation through the transport to the undulator is then required. The key concept proposed here relies on an innovative electron beam longitudinal and transverse manipulation in the transport towards an undulator: a 'demixing' chicane sorts the electrons according to their energy and reduces the spread from 1% to one slice of a few ‰ and the effective transverse size is maintained constant along the undulator (supermatching) by a proper synchronization of the electron beam focusing with the progress of the optical wave. A test experiment for the demonstration of FEL amplification with an LPA is under preparation. Electron beam transport follows different steps with strong focusing with permanent magnet quadrupoles of variable strength, a demixing chicane with conventional dipoles, and a second set of quadrupoles for further focusing in the undulator. The FEL simulations and the progress of the preparation of the experiment are presented.
Introduction. In a first study, we identified signatures of 3 mRNAs (semaphorin 3D [SEMA3D], cytokeratin 16 [KRT16] and UL16 binding protein 2 [ULBP2]) associated to response to a cisplatinvinorelbin chemotherapy and to survival of advanced non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).Material and methods. The aim of this study was to develop immunohistochemistry tests for KRT16, ULBP2 and SEMA3D and to test proteins expression for prediction of response and survival in biopsies of the same patients.Results. We were not able to reproduce by the protein expression study the signature predicting response to chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC.Conclusion. We highlight the difficulties of translational research in thoracic oncology emphasizing the complexity in obtaining adequate tissue samples and the difficulties in conduction and transposing in routine practice high throughput technique for transcriptomic analyses. (C) 2015 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
COXINEL (COherent Xray source INferred from Electrons accelerated by Laser) is a European Research Council (ERC) advance grant aims at demonstrating Free Electron Laser amplification at 200 nm with 180 MeV electrons generated by laser plasma acceleration. A special electron beam transfer line with adequate diagnostics has been designed for this project. Strong-focusing variable-field permanent magnet quadrupoles, energy de-mixing chicane and a set of conventional quadrupoles condition the electron beam before its entrance to an In-Vacuum U20 undulator. This presentation describes some of the features incorporated into the design of the magnets, girders, vacuum vessels and diagnostic equipment for this experimental machine. Progress on the equipment preparation and installation is presented as well.
Un groupe de travail de l’ERS a mis en évidence de RPC en oncologie thoracique en Europe sans étude sur leur mise en pratique. Nous avons déterminé dans une population de patients atteints de cancer bronchique l’application pratique d’un PSO thoracique basé sur des RPC Les dossiers de tous les patients non encore traités et pris en charge entre janvier 2009 et décembre 2012 ont été revus après accord du comité d’éthique. Tout nouveau traitement est proposé en consultation multidisciplinaire (CMD) sur base d’un PSO basé sur les RPC de l’European Lung Cancer Working Party. Sur les 354 patients, on compte 624 CMD (332, 174, 81 et 47 en 1re, 2e, 3e et suivantes lignes). Les principales caractéristiques des patients sont : hommes : 197 ; adénocarcinomes/épidermoïdes/petites cellules : 187, 79, 50 ; stades I & II, III, IV : 48, 75, 228. Le taux de CMD en 1re ligne a été de 94 % avec 88 % en conformité avec le PSO et 77 % de traitements en accord avec les RPC. En 2e et 3e lignes, les taux ont été respectivement de 93 et 91 % (CMD), 90 et 89 % (PSO), 55 et 63 % (RPC). En 1re ligne, les principales causes de non-application ont été pour le PSO le refus du patient ou le choix du médecin et pour les RPC le manque de recommandations adéquates pour des situations spécifiques comme les comorbidités ou l’apparition de nouveaux traitements non encore abordés dans les RPC au moment de leur rédaction. L’énorme majorité des patients fait l’objet d’une CMD avec un taux élevé d’application du PSO. Les RPC être plus souvent mises à jour pour incorporer les nouveaux traitements dès qu’ils deviennent disponibles.
Les doublets à base de cisplatine sont un standard thérapeutique pour les CBNPC avancés en 1re ligne. Le but du travail est d’identifier des signatures biologiques prédictives (réponse) et pronostiques (survie) afin de mieux sélectionner les patients bénéficiant d’une chimiothérapie. Les patients avec un CBNPC traités en 1re ligne par cisplatine-vinorelbine et une lésion évaluable étaient éligibles. L’analyse de l’expression des ARNm (microarrays Agilent Technologies) et des miARN (TaqMan Low Density Arrays) a été faite sur biopsies bronchiques pré-thérapeutiques. Une biopsie pour les analyses transcriptomiques a été obtenue chez 60 patients consécutifs. Aucune différence significative n’a été observée entre les groupes de dérivation et de validation pour les caractéristiques cliniques, le taux de réponse (43 % vs 41 %) ou la médiane de survie (25 vs 29 mois). Dans le groupe dérivation (n = 38), trois signatures prédictives (deux basées sur ARNm et une sur miARN) ont été obtenues. De même, deux signatures basées sur l’expression des ARNm ou des miARN étaient associées à la survie. Aucune de ces signatures n’a pu être confirmée dans un groupe de validation indépendant (n = 22 patients). Dans cette étude prospective, des signatures biologiques prédisant la réponse et la survie dans un groupe de CBNPC traités par cisplatine-vinorelbine n’ont pu être validées dans un groupe indépendant. Dans ce contexte, le rôle des ARNm et des miARN reste un sujet de recherche et l’utilisation des techniques à haut rendement est discutable.
Introduction. - A working group has highlighted guidelines in thoracic oncology in Europe without study of their implementation, due to a lack of data.Methods. The records of 354 untreated lung cancer patients seen between January 2009 and December 2012 were reviewed. Any new treatment should have been proposed by a multidisciplinary consultation (MDC) in accordance with an oncology care program (OCP) based on the European Lung Cancer Working Party guidelines.Results. For the 354 patients, there were 636MDC (332, 176, 81 and 47 in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and subsequent lines). For the first line, the MDC rate was 88%, in accordance with the OCP, and 75% of treatments were in agreement with the guidelines. For the 2nd and 3rd lines, the rates were 93% and 92% respectively (MDC), 90 and 89% (OCP), 55 and 63% (guidelines). In the first line, the main causes of non-compliance with the OCP were patient's refusal or doctor's choice and with guidelines a lack of adequate recommendations for specific situations such as comorbidities or the appearance of new treatments.Conclusion. The vast majority of patients are the subject of a MDC with a high rate of application of OCP. Guidelines should be updated regularly to incorporate new treatments. (C) 2015 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.