Slocum gliders provide accurate near real-time estimates of baleen whale presence from human-reviewed passive acoustic detection information

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Baumgartner, M. F., Bonnell, J., Corkeron, P. J., Van Parijs, S. M., Hotchkin, C., Hodges, B. A., Thornton, J. B., Mensi, B. L., & Bruner, S. M. Slocum gliders provide accurate near real-time estimates of baleen whale presence from human-reviewed passive acoustic detection information. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020):100, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00100.Mitigating the effects of human activities on marine mammals often depends on monitoring animal occurrence over long time scales, large spatial scales, and in real time. Passive acoustics, particularly from autonomous vehicles, is a promising approach to meeting this need. We have previously developed the capability to record, detect, classify, and transmit to shore information about the tonal sounds of baleen whales in near real time from long-endurance ocean gliders. We have recently developed a protocol by which a human analyst reviews this information to determine the presence of marine mammals, and the results of this review are automatically posted to a publicly accessible website, sent directly to interested parties via email or text, and made available to stakeholders via a number of public and private digital applications. We evaluated the performance of this system during two 3.75-month Slocum glider deployments in the southwestern Gulf of Maine during the spring seasons of 2015 and 2016. Near real-time detections of humpback, fin, sei, and North Atlantic right whales were compared to detections of these species from simultaneously recorded audio. Data from another 2016 glider deployment in the same area were also used to compare results between three different analysts to determine repeatability of results both among and within analysts. False detection (occurrence) rates on daily time scales were 0% for all species. Daily missed detection rates ranged from 17 to 24%. Agreement between two trained novice analysts and an experienced analyst was greater than 95% for fin, sei, and right whales, while agreement was 83–89% for humpback whales owing to the more subjective process for detecting this species. Our results indicate that the presence of baleen whales can be accurately determined using information about tonal sounds transmitted in near real-time from Slocum gliders. The system is being used operationally to monitor baleen whales in United States, Canadian, and Chilean waters, and has been particularly useful for monitoring the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale throughout the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.Funding for this project was provided by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy’s Living Marine Resources Program

Cortisol over time in stroke patients and its relation with language change

The current study explored the interplay between stroke, language, and the stress biomarker, cortisol, in individuals with aphasia (IWA) and individuals with right brain damage (RBD). Nineteen IWA following a left-hemisphere stroke and 12 RBD participants began the study between one to six months post-stroke and were followed for three months. Language skills were assessed monthly; afternoon salivary cortisol samples were collected biweekly. Individuals with aphasia showed improvements in language test scores, however, language was not associated with afternoon salivary cortisol levels.  The RBD group demonstrated fairly unchanging test scores, but naming ability did relate to salivary cortisol levels

MicroRNA-184 inhibits neuroblastoma cell survival through targeting the serine/threonine kinase AKT2

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is a paediatric cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. The single most important genetic indicator of poor clinical outcome is amplification of the MYCN transcription factor. One of many down-stream MYCN targets is miR-184, which is either directly or indirectly repressed by this transcription factor, possibly due to its pro-apoptotic effects when ectopically over-expressed in neuroblastoma cells. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which miR-184 conveys pro-apoptotic effects. RESULTS: We demonstrate that the knock-down of endogenous miR-184 has the opposite effect of ectopic up-regulation, leading to enhanced neuroblastoma cell numbers. As a mechanism of how miR-184 causes apoptosis when over-expressed, and increased cell numbers when inhibited, we demonstrate direct targeting and degradation of AKT2, a major downstream effector of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, one of the most potent pro-survival pathways in cancer. The pro-apoptotic effects of miR-184 ectopic over-expression in neuroblastoma cell lines is reproduced by siRNA inhibition of AKT2, while a positive effect on cell numbers similar to that obtained by the knock-down of endogenous miR-184 can be achieved by ectopic up-regulation of AKT2. Moreover, co-transfection of miR-184 with an AKT2 expression vector lacking the miR-184 target site in the 3\u27UTR rescues cells from the pro-apoptotic effects of miR-184. CONCLUSIONS: MYCN contributes to tumorigenesis, in part, by repressing miR-184, leading to increased levels of AKT2, a direct target of miR-184. Thus, two important genes with positive effects on cell growth and survival, MYCN and AKT2, can be linked into a common genetic pathway through the actions of miR-184. As an inhibitor of AKT2, miR-184 could be of potential benefit in miRNA mediated therapeutics of MYCN amplified neuroblastoma and other forms of cancer

Metagenomic analysis of DNA viruses with targeted sequence capture of canine lobular orbital adenomas and normal conjunctiva

Our study aims are: (1) to evaluate phenotypically normal canine conjunctival and orbital tissue and tissue from canine lobular orbital adenomas (CLOAs) for the presence of viral genomic material and (2) phylogenetically classify detected DNA viruses to determine if a DNA virus is associated with CLOAs. A total of 31 formalin fixed paraffin embedded CLOA tissue samples, 4 papillomas or sarcoid, and 10 fresh clinically normal conjunctival tissues were included in this study. Genomic DNA was isolated from all samples and sequencing libraries were prepared. The libraries were molecularly indexed and pooled and viral DNA was enriched via targeted sequence capture utilizing ViroCap. The libraries were sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq platform and compared to known viral DNA reference genomes to identify viral DNA. Carnivore parvovirus was identified in 6.4% and 20% of CLOA tissue and normal conjunctival samples, respectively. This study showed that conjunctival tissue from healthy dogs and CLOAs uncommonly harbor DNA viruses, and no DNA virus was associated with these tumors. Further studies are needed to evaluate the etiologic cause of CLOAs

Prognosis of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Relation to Serum Thyrotropin and Thyroglobulin Antibody Status at Time of Diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Serum thyrotropin (TSH) concentration and thyroid autoimmunity may be of prognostic importance in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Preoperative serum TSH level has been associated with higher DTC stage in cross-sectional studies; data are contradictory on the significance of thyroid autoimmunity at the time of diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess whether preoperative serum TSH and perioperative antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) were associated with thyroid cancer stage and outcome in DTC patients followed by the National Thyroid Cancer Treatment Cooperative Study, a large multicenter thyroid cancer registry. METHODS: Patients registered after 1996 with available preoperative serum TSH (n=617; the TSH cohort) or perioperative TgAb status (n=1770; the TgAb cohort) were analyzed for tumor stage, persistent disease, recurrence, and overall survival (OS; median follow-up, 5.5 years). Parametric tests assessed log-transformed TSH, and categorical variables were tested with chi square. Disease-free survival (DFS) and OS was assessed with Cox models. RESULTS: Geometric mean serum TSH levels were higher in patients with higher-stage disease (Stage III/IV=1.48 vs. 1.02 mU/L for Stages I/II; p=0.006). The relationship persisted in those aged ≥45 years after adjusting for sex (p=0.01). Gross extrathyroidal extension (p=0.03) and presence of cervical lymph node metastases (p=0.003) were also significantly associated with higher serum TSH. Disease recurrence and all-cause mortality occurred in 37 and 38 TSH cohort patients respectively, which limited the power for survival analysis. Positive TgAb was associated with lower stage on univariate analysis (positive TgAb in 23.4% vs. 17.8% of Stage I/II vs. III/IV patients, respectively; p=0.01), although the relationship lost significance when adjusting for age and sex (p=0.34). Perioperative TgAb was not an independent predictor of DFS (hazard ratio=1.12 [95% confidence interval=0.74-1.69]) or OS (hazard ratio=0.98 [95% confidence interval=0.56-1.72]). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative serum TSH level is associated with higher DTC stage, gross extrathyroidal extension, and neck node metastases. Perioperative TgAb is not an independent predictor of DTC prognosis. A larger cohort is required to assess whether preoperative serum TSH level predicts recurrence or mortality

Economics methods in Cochrane systematic reviews of health promotion and public health related interventions.

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Heritable, heterogeneous, and costly resistance of sheep against nematodes and potential feedbacks to epidemiological dynamics

Infected hosts may preserve fitness by resisting parasites (reducing parasite burden) and/or tolerating them (preventing or repairing infection-induced damage). Theory predicts that these individual-level defense strategies generate divergent population-level feedbacks that would maintain genetic heterogeneity for resistance but purge heterogeneity for tolerance. Because resistance reduces parasite abundance, selection for costly resistance traits will weaken as resistance becomes common. Such negative frequency-dependent selection contrasts with predictions for tolerance, which maintains parasite abundance and so is expected to generate positive frequencydependent selection, unless, for example, tolerance trades off with resistance. Thus far, there have been few tests of this theory in natural systems. Here, we begin testing the predictions in a mammalian field system, using data on individual gastrointestinal nematode burdens, nematode-specific antibody titers (as a resistance metric), the slope of body weight on parasite burden (as a tolerance metric), and fitness from an unmanaged population of Soay sheep. We find that nematode resistance is costly to fitness and underpinned by genetic heterogeneity, and that resistance is independent of tolerance. Drawing upon empirical metrics such as developed here, future work will elucidate how resistance and tolerance feedbacks interact to generate population-scale patterns in the Soay sheep and other field systems

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Enhancer viruses and a transgenic platform for combinatorial cell subclass-specific labeling

The rapid pace of cell type identification by new single-cell analysis methods has not been met with efficient experimental access to the newly discovered types. To enable flexible and efficient access to specific neural populations in the mouse cortex, we collected chromatin accessibility data from individual cells and clustered the single-cell data to identify enhancers specific for cell classes and subclasses. When cloned into adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) and delivered to the brain by retro-orbital injections, these enhancers drive transgene expression in specific cell subclasses in the cortex. We characterize several enhancer viruses in detail to show that they result in labeling of different projection neuron subclasses in mouse cortex, and that one of them can be used to label the homologous projection neuron subclass in human cortical slices. To enable the combinatorial labeling of more than one cell type by enhancer viruses, we developed a three-color Cre-, Flp- and Nigri- recombinase dependent reporter mouse line, Ai213. The delivery of three enhancer viruses driving these recombinases via a single retroorbital injection into a single Ai213 transgenic mouse results in labeling of three different neuronal classes/subclasses in the same brain tissue. This approach combines unprecedented flexibility with specificity for investigation of cell types in the mouse brain and beyond