Spanish discards of Small‐spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) and Blackmouth catshark

This file includes 442 DICOM files of a male Carcharhinus hemiodon specimen housed in the spirit collection of Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands with registrationnumber RMNH.PISC.34102. The specimen is scanned in a medical CT scanner (Toshiba Aquilion 64) at the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands at 100 kV and 150 mAs with a slice thickness of 0.5 mm

Anglerfish (Lophius spp.) increasing discards in Spanish OTB fleet (VI-VII ICES). Juveniles availability or sampling artefact?

An update of the yearly estimates of angler sh (black angler (Lophius budegassa) and white angler(Lophius piscatorius) discarded by the Spanish bottom trawl operating in the Northeast Atlantic ocean are presented. Black angler discards increased sharply in the last three year, while UShape with a maximum in 2010 is found for white angler. A 2003 - 2010 sampling methodology review has beeen carried out without detecting any shift in the protocol which could produce overestimation for recent years discards. Fishing covariates related to black angler discard data also indicates that shing practices remain stable along the series. We detect a steady increase in the species rst length of retention L50 from 21; 5cm in 2003 to a range 23cm - 25cm between 2004 - 2008 and 28cm since 2009. We conclude that interaction between the industry adoption of a Minimum Weigth Landing (500g) and the strength of recruitment indices explain the increase in amounts of angler discards

Elasmobranches Results from Spanish Discard Sampling Programme

A discard Elasmobranches species composition estimates for the Spanish bottom otter and pair trawl fleets operating in the Northeast Atlantic ICES Subareas VI, VII, VIII and North IX are presented. Information has been obtained from the “Spanish Discard Sampling Programme” carried out by the IEO. Time series provide information on discarded catch (in weight and number) and length distributions since 2003 to 2009. Eighteen species were selected in order to show the most important ones occurring in Spanish discards. Trip was the sampling unit, being raised to fleet level using fishing effort as auxiliary variable. Discard estimates for these species show high betweenyears variation, exceeding 50% CV in all cases. Further exploratory data analysis was carried for the four most discarded species

Deep Species Results from Spanish Discard Sampling Programme

Estimations of deep species discards from three Spanish bottom otter trawl m etiers operating in the Northeast Atlantic ICES V I, V II, V IIIc and North IXa are presented in this paper. Information has been ob- tained from the `Spanish Discard Sampling Programme' carried out by the IEO. Trip was the sampling unit, being raised to eet level using sh- ing e ort as auxiliary variable. Discard weigth estimates from time series of seven years (2003-2009) is presented for twelve species. Further, dis- card length distributions are presented for those species that have been observed whitin discarded fraction for more than three years. Estimates show high between-years variation in discard amounts, exceeding 35% CV in almost all cases. Results show that the largest amounts of discards of most of the species occur at depths less than 600m. Low market value is the main factor that forces the eet to discard most of deep species

Southern Megrim Species Results from Spanish Discard Sampling Programme

A discard megrims (Megrim, Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and Four spot megrim, L. boscii) composition estimates for the Spanish bottom otter trawl fleets operating in the Northeast Atlantic ICES Divisions VIIIc and North IXa are presented. Information has been obtained by sampling Spanish fleets under the “Spanish Discard Sampling Programme” carried out by the IEO. Trip was the sampling unit, being raised to different fleet level using fishing effort as auxiliary variable and total fleet landings. Raising to total fleet landings was used for discard fleet estimation due to the lower CV obtained. Time series on discards of both species since 1993 to 2010 are presented. Discard age distributions of both southern megrims species, are also showed. Discard estimates for these species show high between-years variation, exceeding almost 25% CV in almost all cases in both species but with lower values in four spot megrim. MLS and low market value for small fish are the main factors that force the fleet to discard most of megrims species

Estimates on Cephalopods Discards by Spanish NE Atlantic Trawl Fishing Fleets

Yearly cephalopods discard estimations for Spanish trawl eets operating in Northeast Atlantic area (ICES V I, V II, V IIIc and IXa) over the period 2003-2010 are presented. Estimations are aggregated from m etier to shing ground level. Only information for the most important species in terms of discarded biomass and those included in the Data Collection Framework directive are presented. Squid species belonging to the family Ommastrephi- dae and the Octopodidae Eledone cirrhosa were the most discarded species in the northern shing grounds, nevertheless volume discarded of those species are much higher in ICES Sub-area V I V II than in Divisions V IIIc and IXa north. Very low discard values were observed in ICES Division IXa south (Gulf of C adiz), being Octopus vulgaris and Eledone moschata the most discarded species

Radioactivity Backgrounds in ZEPLIN-III

We examine electron and nuclear recoil backgrounds from radioactivity in the ZEPLIN-III dark matter experiment at Boulby. The rate of low-energy electron recoils in the liquid xenon WIMP target is 0.75$\pm$0.05 events/kg/day/keV, which represents a 20-fold improvement over the rate observed during the first science run. Energy and spatial distributions agree with those predicted by component-level Monte Carlo simulations propagating the effects of the radiological contamination measured for materials employed in the experiment. Neutron elastic scattering is predicted to yield 3.05$\pm$0.5 nuclear recoils with energy 5-50 keV per year, which translates to an expectation of 0.4 events in a 1-year dataset in anti-coincidence with the veto detector for realistic signal acceptance. Less obvious background sources are discussed, especially in the context of future experiments. These include contamination of scintillation pulses with Cherenkov light from Compton electrons and from $\beta$ activity internal to photomultipliers, which can increase the size and lower the apparent time constant of the scintillation response. Another challenge is posed by multiple-scatter $\gamma$-rays with one or more vertices in regions that yield no ionisation. If the discrimination power achieved in the first run can be replicated, ZEPLIN-III should reach a sensitivity of $\sim 1 \times 10^{-8}$ pb$\cdot$year to the scalar WIMP-nucleon elastic cross-section, as originally conceived.Peer Reviewe

Exercise during pregnancy protects adult mouse offspring from diet-induced obesity

BACKGROUND: Physical exercise induces positive alterations in gene expression involved in the metabolism of obesity. Maternal exercise provokes adaptations soon after birth in the offspring. Here, we investigated whether adult mouse offspring of swim-trained mothers is protected against the development of the deleterious effects of high fat diet (HFD). METHODS: Our study comprises two parts. First, female C57BL/6 mice were divided into one sedentary and one swim-trained group (before and during pregnancy, n = 18). In the second part, adult offspring (n = 12) of trained and sedentary mothers was challenged to HFD for 16 weeks. Notably, most of the analysis was done in male offspring. RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that maternal exercise has several beneficial effects on the mouse offspring and protects them from the deleterious effects of HFD in the adult. Specifically, swimming during pregnancy leads to lower birth weight in offspring through 2 months of age. When subjected to HFD for 4 month in the adulthood, our study presents novel data on the male offspring's metabolism of trained mothers. The offspring gained less weight, which was accompanied by less body fat, and they used more calories during daytime compared with offspring of sedentary mothers. Furthermore, we observed increased adiponectin expression in skeletal muscle, which was accompanied by decreased leptin levels and increased insulin sensitivity. Decreased interleukin-6 expression and increased peptide PYY levels were observed in sera of adult offspring of mothers that swam during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Our results point to the conclusion that maternal exercise is beneficial to protect the offspring from developing obesity, which could be important for succeeding generations as well

Caloric restriction is more efficient than physical exercise to protect from cisplatin nephrotoxicity via PPAR-alpha activation

The antineoplastic drug cisplatin promotes renal injury, which limits its use. Protocols that reduce renal cisplatin toxicity will allow higher doses to be used in cisplatin treatment. Here, we compare physical exercise and caloric restriction (CR) as protocols to reduce cisplatin renal injury in mice. Male C57BL/6 were divided into four groups: Control, cisplatin, exercise + cisplatin, and 30% CR + cisplatin. Animals were injected with a single dose of cisplatin (20 mg/kg i.p.) and sacrificed 96 h after injection. Quantitative real time PCR, histological analyses, immunohistochemistry, and biochemical measurements were performed to investigate renal injury, necrosis, apoptosis, and inflammatory mechanisms. Both protocols protected against cisplatin renal injury, but CR was more effective in reducing uraemia and renal necrosis. The CR + Cisplatin group exhibited reduced serum IL-1{beta} and TNF-{alpha} levels. No differences were noted in the renal mRNA expression of cytokines. Both interventions reduced apoptosis, but only the CR + Cisplatin group decreased TNFR2 protein expression. PPAR-{alpha} was activated in mice after CR. An antagonist of PPAR-{alpha} blocked the protective effect of CR. Both interventions attenuated the nephrotoxicity caused by cisplatin injection, but CR + Cisplatin showed a better response by modulating TNFR2. Moreover, part of the CR benefit depends on PPAR-{alpha} activation