Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (Mid-Atlantic): Alewife/Blueback Herring

This profile covers life history and environmental requirements of both alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), since their distribution is overlapping and their morphology, ecological role, and environmental requirements are similar. The alewife is an anadromous species found in riverine, estuarine, and Atlantic coastal habitats, depending on life cycle stage, from Newfoundland (Winters et al. 1973) to Soutn Carolina (Berry 1964). Landlocked populations are i n the Great Lakes, Finger Lakes, and many other freshwater lakes (Bigelow and Sch roeder 1953; Scott and Crossman 1973). The blueback herring is an anadromous species found in riverine, estuarine, and Atlantic coastal habitats, depending on life stage cycle, from Nova Scotia to the St. Johns River, Florida (Hildebrand 1963

Perivascular adipose tissue as a relevant fat depot for cardiovascular risk in obesity

Obesity is associated with increased risk of premature death, morbidity, and mortality from several cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure. However, this is not a straightforward relationship. Although several studies have substantiated that obesity confers an independent and additive risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death, there is significant variability in these associations, with some lean individuals developing diseases and others remaining healthy despite severe obesity, the so-called metabolically healthy obese. Part of this variability has been attributed to the heterogeneity in both the distribution of body fat and the intrinsic properties of adipose tissue depots, including developmental origin, adipogenic and proliferative capacity, glucose and lipid metabolism, hormonal control, thermogenic ability, and vascularization. In obesity, these depot-specific differences translate into specific fat distribution patterns, which are closely associated with differential cardiometabolic risks. The adventitial fat layer, also known as perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), is of major importance. Similar to the visceral adipose tissue, PVAT has a pathophysiological role in CVDs. PVAT influences vascular homeostasis by releasing numerous vasoactive factors, cytokines, and adipokines, which can readily target the underlying smooth muscle cell layers, regulating the vascular tone, distribution of blood flow, as well as angiogenesis, inflammatory processes, and redox status. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge and discuss the role of PVAT within the scope of adipose tissue as a major contributing factor to obesity-associated cardiovascular risk. Relevant clinical studies documenting the relationship between PVAT dysfunction and CVD with a focus on potential mechanisms by which PVAT contributes to obesity-related CVDs are pointed out

Maxwell-Chern-Simons vortices in a CPT-odd Lorentz-violating Higgs Electrodynamics

We have studied BPS vortices in a CPT-odd and Lorentz-violating Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Higgs (MCSH) electrodynamics attained from the dimensional reduction of the Carroll-Field-Jackiw-Higgs model. The Lorentz-violating parameter induces a pronounced behavior at origin (for the magnetic/electric fields and energy density) which is absent in the MCSH vortices. For some combination of the Lorentz-violating coefficients there always exist a sufficiently large winding number $n_{0}$ such that for all $$ the magnetic field flips its signal, yielding two well defined regions with opposite magnetic flux. However, the total magnetic flux remains quantized and proportional to the winding number.Comment: Revtex style, 8 page

MODELLING OF HYDRODYNAMICS AROUND AN IMPERMEABLE BREAKWATER: COMPARISON BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND SPH NUMERICAL MODELING

This work presents the new developments and the validation of a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) numerical model used in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil - LNEC) for studies in coastal engineering processes. Although the model requires a high CPU time, it proved to be very promising in the simulation of complex flows, such as the wave-structure interaction and the wave breaking phenomenon. For the SPH model validation, physical modeling tests were performed in one LNEC’s flume to study the interaction between an impermeable structure and an incident regular wave. The comparison between numerical and experimental results, i.e. free surface elevation, overtopping volume and pressure, shows the good accuracy of the SPH model to reproduce the various phenomena involving on the wave propagation and interaction with the structure, namely the wave breaking, the wave overtopping and the pressure field on the structure

The Effect of a positive cosmological constant on the bounce of Loop Quantum Cosmology

We provide an analytical solution to the quantum dynamics of a flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre- Robertson-Walker model with a massless scalar field in the presence of a small and positive cosmological constant, in the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology. We use a perturbative treatment with respect to the model without a cosmological constant, which is exactly solvable. Our solution is approximate, but it is precisely valid at the high curvature regime where quantum gravity corrections are important. We compute explicitly the evolution of the expectation value of the volume. For semiclassical states characterized by a Gaussian spectral profile, the introduction of a positive cosmological constant displaces the bounce of the solvable model to lower volumes and to higher values of the scalar field. These displacements are state dependent, and in particular, they depend on the peak of the Gaussian profile, which measures the momentum of the scalar field. Moreover, for those semiclassical states, the bounce remains symmetric, as in the vanishing cosmological constant case. However, we show that the behavior of the volume is more intricate for generic states, leading in general to a non-symmetric bounce.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, v2: matches published versio

Dakin's Solution in the Treatment of Severe Diabetic Foot Infections

Acute necrotising diabetic foot (DF) infections are common, costly, and do not infrequently result in debilitating major lower-extremity amputations. Dakin's solution is a long-standing topical antiseptic that has shown benefit in this clinical setting, but its use is undermined by a presumed risk of cytotoxicity. In this single-centre case series, we retrospectively evaluated 24 patients with severe necrotising DF infections treated with a cyclical instillation of Dakin's solution at a referral multidisciplinary DF unit. Most patients achieved favourable outcomes in infection control and limb salvage, with only one patient (4.2%) requiring a major (at or above-the-ankle) amputation. The mean time to complete or near-complete wound granulation was 5.4 weeks. Of the 12 patients who completed 12 or more months of longitudinal follow up, only 2 (12.2%) had a wound recurrence. In this severe DF infection patient cohort, Dakin's solution led to a clinically meaningful improvement. No remarkable impairment in the wound-healing process was observed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio