Juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolase (JHEH) plays an important role in the metabolism of JH III in insects. To study the control of JHEH in female Drosophila melanogaster, JHEH 1, 2 and 3 cDNAs were cloned and sequenced. Northern blot analyses showed that the three transcripts are expressed in the head thorax, the gut, the ovaries and the fat body of females. Molecular modeling shows that the enzyme is a homodimer that binds juvenile hormone III acid (JH IIIA) at the catalytic groove better than JH III. Analyses of the three JHEH promoters and expressing short promoter sequences behind a reporter gene (lacZ) in D. melanogaster cell culture identified a JHEH 3 promoter sequence (626 bp) that is 10- and 25-fold more active than the most active promoter sequences of JHEH 2 and JHEH 1, respectively. A transcription factor (TF) Sp1 that is involved in the activation of JHEH 3 promoter sequence was identified. Knocking down Sp1 using dsRNA inhibited the transcriptional activity of this promoter in transfected D. melanogaster cells and JH III and 20HE downregulated the JHEH 3 promoter. On the other hand, JH IIIA and farnesoic acid did not affect the promoter, indicating that JH IIIA is JHEH’s preferred substrate. A transgenic D. melanogaster expressing a highly activated JHEH 3 promoter behind a lacZ reporter gene showed promoter transcriptional activity in many D. melanogaster tissues.

Whole-cell biosensors could serve as eco-friendly and cost-effective alternatives for detecting potentially toxic bioavailable heavy metals in aquatic environments. However, they often fail to meet practical requirements due to an insufficient limit of detection (LOD) and high background noise. In this study, we designed a synthetic genetic circuit specifically tailored for detecting ionic mercury, which we applied to environmental samples collected from artisanal gold mining sites in Peru. We developed two distinct versions of the biosensor, each utilizing a different reporter protein: a fluorescent biosensor (Mer-RFP) and a colorimetric biosensor (Mer-Blue). Mer-RFP enabled real-time monitoring of the culture’s response to mercury samples using a plate reader, whereas Mer-Blue was analysed for colour accumulation at the endpoint using a specially designed, low-cost camera setup for harvested cell pellets. Both biosensors exhibited negligible baseline expression of their respective reporter proteins and responded specifically to HgBr₂ in pure water. Mer-RFP demonstrated a linear detection range from 1 nM to 1 μM, whereas Mer-Blue showed a linear range from 2 nM to 125 nM. Our biosensors successfully detected a high concentration of ionic mercury in the reaction bucket where artisanal miners produce a mercury–gold amalgam. However, they did not detect ionic mercury in the water from active mining ponds, indicating a concentration lower than 3.2 nM Hg²⁺—a result consistent with chemical analysis quantitation. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of Mer-Blue as a practical and affordable monitoring tool, highlighting its stability, reliance on simple visual colorimetry, and the possibility of sensitivity expansion to organic mercury.

Whole cell biosensors could serve as eco-friendly and cost-effective alternatives for detecting potentially toxic bioavailable heavy metals in aquatic environments. However, they often fail to meet practical requirements due to an insufficient limit of detection (LOD) and high background noise. In this study, we designed a synthetic genetic circuit specifically tailored for detecting ionic mercury, which we applied to environmental samples collected from artisanal gold mining sites in Peru. We developed two distinct versions of the biosensor, each utilizing a different reporter protein: a fluorescent biosensor (Mer-RFP) and a colorimetric biosensor (Mer-Blue). Mer-RFP enabled real-time monitoring of the culture’s response to mercury samples using a plate reader, whereas Mer-Blue was analysed for colour accumulation at the endpoint using a specially designed, low-cost camera set up for harvested cell pellets. Both biosensors exhibited negligible baseline expression of their respective reporter proteins and responded specifically to HgBr 2 in pure water. Mer-RFP demonstrated a linear detection range from 1 nM to 1 μM, whereas Mer-Blue showed a linear range from 2 nM to 125 nM. Our biosensors successfully detected a high concentration of ionic mercury in the reaction bucket where artisanal miners produce a mercury-gold amalgam. However, they did not detect ionic mercury in the water from active mining ponds, indicating a concentration lower than 3.2 nM Hg 2+ -a result consistent with chemical analysis quantitation. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of Mer-Blue as a practical and affordable monitoring tool, highlighting its stability, reliance on simple visual colorimetry, and the possibility of sensitivity expansion to organic mercury.

Background: According to the Belgian Hospital Disaster Planning Act, all hospitals are required to have written disaster plans and to routinely conduct annual disaster drills. In 2010, the management of the Military Hospital decided to organize an evacuation exercise of the newly built 24-bed BU.Aim: To evaluate this new BU's evacuation plan and drills and the overall hospital emergency incident response and command system.Methods and Results: It was decided to conduct a simulated evacuation exercise following an internal fire, before the BU effectively was put into use, thereby deploying fashioned simulated patients and visitors but bringing into action the regular attending medical, nursing and logistic staff. A multidisciplinary design and organizing team was launched, consisting of the hospitals disaster preparedness coordinator, the EMS-staff, external burn care, emergency incident management and operational engineering experts. The appointed objectives for evaluation were the knowledge of the regular evacuation drills, especially the clearance of an intensive care room; access to evacuation routes; visibility of safety guidelines; mission and tasks of the hospital's first response team and the medical incident manager; communication and information flow and the establishment of the hospital's coordination committee. In the mean time and following lessons learned, a number of mitigation measures have been instituted: adequate identification of evacuated rooms, new configuration of the fire detection alarm, optimized access to stairwells and elevators, adjustment of action cards and specific fire fighting training for hospital staff. Finally the decision was made not to purchase specific evacuation equipment for the movement of patients.Conclusion: Taking advantage of the BU's provisional vacancy, a simulated hospital evacuation exercise increased the hospital emergency preparedness, awareness and response to disasters within the hospital, in particular in a critical care department, otherwise difficult to assess.

Background/Objective: Transitioning towards plant-based dietary patterns is essential to improve health and reduce environmental impact. Hospitals represent a key setting to implement such dietary shifts, yet data on the availability of plant-based meals in healthcare institutions remain scarce. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted across Dutch-speaking hospitals in Belgium to assess the meal plans and whether vegetarian or fully plant-based meal options were available for patients. Besides availability, the frequency and perceived barriers were assessed. Furthermore, the meal plans were analyzed to get an overview of the vegetarian and plant-based food options that were offered in different types of Belgian hospitals. Results: The availability of plant-based meal options was limited across hospitals. No meaningful differences were observed between general hospitals and other hospital types, including psychiatric, rehabilitation, and specialized hospitals. While plant-based fats and oils were widely available, key protein-rich plant foods such as legumes and minimally processed meat alternatives were rarely offered in all types of hospitals. Knowledge gaps among food service staff were observed, and structural barriers—including the need to accommodate diverse dietary requirements—were reported. Conclusions: Belgian hospitals currently underutilize the potential of vegetarian and plant-based nutrition to support patient health and sustainability goals. Strengthening institutional food environments by increasing the availability of nutritionally adequate plant-based meals represents a feasible and impactful strategy to align hospital practice with dietary guidelines and preventive healthcare priorities.

Whole-cell biosensors detecting the heavy metal arsenic have been widely studied for their potential in environmental monitoring. And while inducible biosensors have been shown to be an effective tool to tune the operational range, a thoroughly characterised inducible biosensor is currently lacking. Here, we present an Escherichia coli biosensor for arsenic in which the transcription factor gene arsR is inducible by naringenin, a plant-derived secondary metabolite. Increasing naringenin concentrations reduced the basal output while increasing both the dynamic range and sensing threshold of the biosensor dose-response curves, but the operational ranges appeared constrained by a fixed upper limit. Comparison with a previously published phenomenological model revealed good overall agreement between experimental data and model predictions, except for the behaviour of the maximum output and threshold. This work expands the biosensor toolbox with a profoundly characterised arsenic biosensor and raises a potential practical limit to dose-response curve engineering by tuning transcription factor expression alone. Graphical