Discriminating nursery grounds of juvenile plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in the south-eastern Irish Sea using otolith microchemistry

Nursery grounds are valuable habitats providing sources of food and refuge during early life stages for many commercially caught marine fish. Distinguishing between different nursery grounds and identifying habitat origin using trace elemental concentrations in aragonite structures of teleost fish has proved valuable in fish ecology and fisheries. This study aimed to (1) compare chemical signatures (elemental fingerprints) within sagittal otoliths of juvenile European plaice Pleuronectes platessa sampled from known nursery habitats in the south-eastern Irish Sea and (2) assess their potential and robustness as natural tags for identifying nursery grounds for the putative south-eastern Irish Sea plaice stock. Otoliths from juvenile plaice (‘1-group’, 6 to 15 cm total length) were obtained from 8 nursery grounds in coastal areas off north-west England and north Wales (including Anglesey) between June and August 2008. Solution-based inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry determined the concentrations of 10 elements (Li, Na, Mg, K, Mn, Zn, Rb, Sr, Sn, Ba), with significant differences in otolith element composition observed between all nursery grounds. Cross-validation linear discriminant function analysis (CV-LDFA) classified fish to their nursery ground of capture (46.2 to 93.3%), with a total group CV-LDFA accuracy of 71.0%. CV-LDFA between regions (north-west England and north Wales) classified fish with 82% accuracy. The discrimination of juvenile plaice from all 8 nursery grounds within the south-eastern Irish Sea using otolith microchemistry offers significant opportunities in the development of future effective fisheries management strategies through understanding the supply of juveniles from specific nursery grounds and adult plaice in the south-eastern Irish Sea

Eosinophil-Mediated Immune Control of Adult Filarial Nematode Infection Can Proceed in the Absence of IL-4 Receptor Signaling

Helminth infections are accompanied by eosinophilia in parasitized tissues. Eosinophils are effectors of immunity to tissue helminths. We previously reported that in the context of experimental filarial nematode infection, optimum tissue eosinophil recruitment was coordinated by local macrophage populations following IL-4R–dependent in situ proliferation and alternative activation. However, in the current study, we identify that control of chronic adult filarial worm infection is evident in IL-4Ra–deficient (IL-4Ra2/2) mice, whereby the majority of infections do not achieve patency. An associated residual eosinophilia was apparent in infected IL-4Ra2/2 mice. By treating IL-4Ra2/2 mice serially with anti-CCR3 Ab or introducing a compound deficiency in CCR3 within IL-4Ra2/2 mice, residual eosinophilia was ablated, and susceptibility to chronic adult Brugia malayi infection was established, promoting a functional role for CCR3-dependent eosinophil influx in immune control in the absence of IL-4/IL13–dependent immune mechanisms. We investigated additional cytokine signals involved in residual eosinophilia in the absence IL-4Ra signaling and defined that IL-4Ra2/2/IL-52/2 double-knockout mice displayed significant eosinophil deficiency compared with IL-4Ra2/2 mice and were susceptible to chronic fecund adult filarial infections. Contrastingly, there was no evidence that either IL-4R–dependent or IL-4R–independent/CCR3/IL-5–dependent immunity influenced B. malayi microfilarial loads in the blood. Our data demonstrate multiplicity of Th2-cytokine control of eosinophil tissue recruitment during chronic filarial infection and that IL-4R–independent/IL-5– and CCR3-dependent pathways are sufficient to control filarial adult infection via an eosinophil-dependent effector response prior to patency

Fatal Canine Intoxications Linked to the Presence of Saxitoxins in Stranded Marine Organisms Following Winter Storm Activity.

At the start of 2018, multiple incidents of dog illnesses were reported following consumption of marine species washed up onto the beaches of eastern England after winter storms. Over a two-week period, nine confirmed illnesses including two canine deaths were recorded. Symptoms in the affected dogs included sickness, loss of motor control, and muscle paralysis. Samples of flatfish, starfish, and crab from the beaches in the affected areas were analysed for a suite of naturally occurring marine neurotoxins of dinoflagellate origin. Toxins causing paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) were detected and quantified using two independent chemical testing methods in samples of all three marine types, with concentrations over 14,000 µg saxitoxin (STX) eq/kg found in one starfish sample. Further evidence for PSP intoxication of the dogs was obtained with the positive identification of PSP toxins in a vomited crab sample from one deceased dog and in gastrointestinal samples collected post mortem from a second affected dog. Together, this is the first report providing evidence of starfish being implicated in a PSP intoxication case and the first report of PSP in canines

Cluster of Sylvatic Epidemic Typhus Cases Associated with Flying Squirrels, 2004–2006

Infected persons had slept in an infested cabin

Phenotypic screen for oxygen consumption rate identifies an anti-cancer naphthoquinone that induces mitochondrial oxidative stress.

A hallmark of cancer cells is their ability to reprogram nutrient metabolism. Thus, disruption to this phenotype is a potential avenue for anti-cancer therapy. Herein we used a phenotypic chemical library screening approach to identify molecules that disrupted nutrient metabolism (by increasing cellular oxygen consumption rate) and were toxic to cancer cells. From this screen we discovered a 1,4-Naphthoquinone (referred to as BH10) that is toxic to a broad range of cancer cell types. BH10 has improved cancer-selective toxicity compared to doxorubicin, 17-AAG, vitamin K3, and other known anti-cancer quinones. BH10 increases glucose oxidation via both mitochondrial and pentose phosphate pathways, decreases glycolysis, lowers GSH:GSSG and NAPDH/NAPD+ ratios exclusively in cancer cells, and induces necrosis. BH10 targets mitochondrial redox defence as evidenced by increased mitochondrial peroxiredoxin 3 oxidation and decreased mitochondrial aconitase activity, without changes in markers of cytosolic or nuclear damage. Over-expression of mitochondria-targeted catalase protects cells from BH10-mediated toxicity, while the thioredoxin reductase inhibitor auranofin synergistically enhances BH10-induced peroxiredoxin 3 oxidation and cytotoxicity. Overall, BH10 represents a 1,4-Naphthoquinone with an improved cancer-selective cytotoxicity profile via its mitochondrial specificity

Marriage and the crisis of peasant society in Gujarat, India

This contribution takes marriage as the example of a crisis of production and reproduction in rural India. Through the juxtaposition of ethnography separated by six decades, we detail a shift away from land and agriculture as the primary markers of status among the Patidars of central Gujarat, western India, in favour of a hierarchical understanding of international migration. The paper discusses the disconnect between a cultural revolution in favour of migration, and the failure of many to live up to their own cultural standards. More broadly, we reflect on the forces that simultaneously strengthen and dissolve caste inequality in the context of India's uneven growth