Purpose Accurate diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia remains challenging due to suboptimal sensitivity of conventional microbiological methods. Molecular techniques may improve Streptococcus pneumoniae detection, but their clinical utility remains uncertain. Methods In this prospective observational study, we compared conventional diagnostics with qPCR-based detection of lytA and piaB genes in nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, sa...

Providing synthetic substitutes is a widely promoted strategy to shift consumer demand away from wildlife products derived from threatened species. Yet, there is little evidence on whether product substitution prevents illegal or unsustainable harvesting and contributes to the recovery of threatened populations. Drawing on the Furs for Life Zambia initiative, which supplied synthetic furs known as heritage furs to replace leop...

High‐latitude North Atlantic currents (60°–70°N) exhibit contrasting nutrient stoichiometries, but the spatial extent of post‐spring bloom iron (Fe) and nitrogen (N) stress on phytoplankton around Iceland remains poorly constrained. Here we pair in situ biogeochemical characteristics with 72 h Fe and N addition experiments in the East Greenland Current (EGC), Irminger Current (IC), Atlantic Current (AC), and East Icelandic Cur...

Light and iron availability are intertwined in controlling Southern Ocean primary production because several photosynthetic proteins require iron. Changes in light and iron availability can also affect phytoplankton species composition, which impacts nutrient cycling, carbon drawdown, and food web structure. To investigate the interactive effects of light and iron on phytoplankton growth, photosynthesis, photoacclimation strat...

Scenario‐based biodiversity modelling is a powerful approach to evaluate how possible future socio‐economic developments may affect biodiversity. Here, we evaluated the changes in terrestrial biodiversity intactness, expressed by the mean species abundance (MSA) metric, resulting from three of the shared socio‐economic pathways (SSPs) combined with different levels of climate change (according to representative concentration p...

Summary Wild birds have been suggested to be reservoirs of antimicrobial resistant and/or pathogenic Enterococcus faecalis ( Efs ) strains, but the scarcity of studies and available sequences limit our understanding of the population structure of the species in these hosts. Here, we analysed the clonal and plasmid diversity of 97 Efs isolates from wild migratory birds. We found a high diversity, with most sequence types (STs)...

Given the global continuous rise, artificial light at night is often considered a driving force behind moth population declines. Although negative effects on individuals have been shown, there is no evidence for effects on population sizes to date. Therefore, we compared population trends of Dutch macromoth fauna over the period 1985–2015 between moth species that differ in phototaxis and adult circadian rhythm. We found that...

Summary Enterococcus faecium is a commensal of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. Since the 1990s, it has also emerged as a nosocomial pathogen. Little is known about carbon metabolism of E. faecium even though the ability to utilize different sugars could be an important factor in adapting to different ecological niches. In this study we identify an E. faecium gene cluster that is responsible for the metabolism...

In order to preserve diversity it is essential to understand how assemblages change across space. Despite this fact, we still know very little about how marine diversity is spatially distributed, especially among lesser‐studied invertebrate taxa. In the present study beta‐diversity patterns of sea urchins, sponges, mushroom corals and larger foraminifera were assessed in the Spermonde Archipelago (Indonesia). Using ordinations...