Benthic macroalgae of Shark Bay, Western Australia

One hundred and sixty one taxa of benthic macro-algae are reported from Shark Bay, Western Australia, growing either on subtidal rock platforms, on the extensive sandflats that dominate the bay, or as epiphytes on seagrasses and other algae. In addition many species survive as drift algae amongst the seagrass beds. Tropical taxa predominate. The Rhodophyta are represented by the greatest number of taxa, but these tend to be inconspicuous epiphytes. Members of the Chlorophyta are the most conspicuous in most areas, with Penicillus nodulosus and Polyphysa peniculus the most common species. Polyphysa peniculus dominates the high salinity areas south of the Faure Sill. The brown algae Hormophysa cuneiformis and Dictyota furcellata were also common in high salinity areas. Benthic algal species richness was lower in areas of high salinity

Marine introductions in the Shark Bay World Heritage Property, Western Australia: A preliminary assessment

The presence and impacts of non-indigenous species (NIS) in marine areas of high conservation or World Heritage significance have rarely been examined. Case studies worldwide suggest that the potential exists for the introduction of NIS to significantly impact conservation values in regions conserved for the uniqueness and diversity of native assemblages. In this study, a preliminary investigation was conducted to provide information essential for managing marine introductions in the Shark Bay World Heritage Property. A focused fouling plate survey sampled a total of 112 encrusting taxa, of which 10 (11.2%) were classified as introduced and 10 others as cryptogenic. Eight introduced bryozoans: Aetea anguina (Linnaeus, 1758), Bugula neritina (Linnaeus, 1758), Bugula stolonifera Ryland, 1960, Conopeum seurati (Canu, 1928), Savignyella lafontii (Audouin, 1826), Schizoporella errata (Waters, 1878), Watersipora subtorquata (d’Orbigny, 1842) and Zoobotryon verticellatum della Chiaje, 1828; one tunicate, Styela plicata Lesueur, 1823; and an introduced hydroid, Obelia dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1758) were frequent, and in some cases dominant, components of encrusting communities. Of the 20 most frequently occurring species detected in the Bay, four were introduced and of the 20 species with highest average percent cover per plate, six were introduced. At one site, space occupation by NIS averaged 71.6% ± 7.4 of plate live cover. Space occupation by an individual NIS was as high as 62.4% of plate area (mean 7.82% ± 1.8). NIS were detected at sites lacking commercial traffic and ballast water discharge and isolated by distance and physical environment, suggesting that hull fouling of recreational craft may be the most important vector in the region. Seventy-five percent of NIS detected in Shark Bay are established in Australian ports to the south of Shark Bay, while 33% are established to the north, tentatively implicating temperate affinity NIS and the movement of vessels from Australian ports south of Shark Bay as a greater risk to the region

Phase diagram of a class of spin-triplet ferromagnetic superconductors

We investigate thermodynamic phases, including the phase of coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism, the possible phase transitions of first and second order, and the shape of the phase diagram in mean-field approximation for a phenomenological model of spin-triplet ferromagnetic superconductors. The results are discussed in view of application to metallic ferromagnets as UGe$_2$, ZrZn$_2$, URhGe, and Fe.Comment: 8 pages, MikTexTeX, 1 fi

In situ submarine pollination in the seagrass Amphibolis antarctica: research notes

Field observations, carried out as part of a hydrodynamic study on submarine pollen dispersal in dioecious Amphibolis antarctica (Labill.) Sonder et Aschers. ex Aschers., showed that pollen release and subsequent pollination events occur in stages over a period of approximately 1 mo, from late October to early December, at 32* 16' S, 115* 41' E on the coast of Western Australia. Examination of the female flowers by scanning electron microscopy, during and after pollination events, showed that the filiform pollen had adhered to the stigmas. Our field observations of a subtidal (2 m below low water) A. antarctica meadow suggest that the pollen sacs dehisce whilst still attached to the male plant. Pollen is released slowly and takes on the approximate density of the seawater, and is then carried by the local coastal currents. No surface agglomerations of pollen were observed. Preliminary qualitative observations from a dye release study at the study site implied that pollen remained within the water column, close to and amongst the canopy, thus enhancing the likelihood of collision with the nearby female plants. This is the first account of in situ pollination of fully submerged subtidal A. antarctica

On the Detection of a Scalar Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves

In the near future we will witness the coming to a full operational regime of laser interferometers and resonant mass detectors of spherical shape. In this work we study the sensitivity of pairs of such gravitational wave detectors to a scalar stochastic background of gravitational waves. Our computations are carried out both for minimal and non minimal coupling of the scalar fields.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure

Association of untargeted urinary metabolomics and lung cancer risk among never-smoking women in China

Importance Chinese women have the highest rate of lung cancer among female never-smokers in the world, and the etiology is poorly understood. Objective To assess the association between metabolomics and lung cancer risk among never-smoking women. Design, Setting, and Participants This nested case-control study included 275 never-smoking female patients with lung cancer and 289 never-smoking cancer-free control participants from the prospective Shanghai Women’s Health Study recruited from December 28, 1996, to May 23, 2000. Validated food frequency questionnaires were used for the collection of dietary information. Metabolomic analysis was conducted from November 13, 2015, to January 6, 2016. Data analysis was conducted from January 6, 2016, to November 29, 2018. Exposures Untargeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomic profiles were characterized using prediagnosis urine samples. A total of 39 416 metabolites were measured. Main Outcomes and Measures Incident lung cancer. Results Among the 564 women, those who developed lung cancer (275 participants; median [interquartile range] age, 61.0 [52-65] years) and those who did not develop lung cancer (289 participants; median [interquartile range] age, 62.0 [53-66] years) at follow-up (median [interquartile range] follow-up, 10.9 [9.0-11.7] years) were similar in terms of their secondhand smoke exposure, history of respiratory diseases, and body mass index. A peak metabolite, identified as 5-methyl-2-furoic acid, was significantly associated with lower lung cancer risk (odds ratio, 0.57 [95% CI, 0.46-0.72]; P < .001; false discovery rate = 0.039). Furthermore, this peak was weakly correlated with self-reported dietary soy intake (ρ = 0.21; P < .001). Increasing tertiles of this metabolite were associated with lower lung cancer risk (in comparison with first tertile, odds ratio for second tertile, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.34-0.80]; and odds ratio for third tertile, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.30-0.70]), and the association was consistent across different histological subtypes and follow-up times. Additionally, metabolic pathway analysis found several systemic biological alterations that were associated with lung cancer risk, including 1-carbon metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Conclusions and Relevance This prospective study of the untargeted urinary metabolome and lung cancer among never-smoking women in China provides support for the hypothesis that soy-based metabolites are associated with lower lung cancer risk in never-smoking women and suggests that biological processes linked to air pollution may be associated with higher lung cancer risk in this population

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Heritability of urinary amines, organic acids, and steroid hormones in children

Variation in metabolite levels reflects individual differences in genetic and environmental factors. Here, we investigated the role of these factors in urinary metabolomics data in children. We examined the effects of sex and age on 86 metabolites, as measured on three metabolomics platforms that target amines, organic acids, and steroid hormones. Next, we estimated their heritability in a twin cohort of 1300 twins (age range: 5.7-12.9 years). We observed associations between age and 50 metabolites and between sex and 21 metabolites. The monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) correlations for the urinary metabolites indicated a role for non-additive genetic factors for 50 amines, 13 organic acids, and 6 steroids. The average broad-sense heritability for these amines, organic acids, and steroids was 0.49 (range: 0.25-0.64), 0.50 (range: 0.33-0.62), and 0.64 (range: 0.43-0.81), respectively. For 6 amines, 7 organic acids, and 4 steroids the twin correlations indicated a role for shared environmental factors and the average narrow-sense heritability was 0.50 (range: 0.37-0.68), 0.50 (range; 0.23-0.61), and 0.47 (range: 0.32-0.70) for these amines, organic acids, and steroids. We conclude that urinary metabolites in children have substantial heritability, with similar estimates for amines and organic acids, and higher estimates for steroid hormones.Analytical BioScience

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

An annotation database for chemicals of emerging concern in exposome research

International audienceBackground: Chemicals of Emerging Concern (CECs) include a very wide group of chemicals that are suspected to be responsible for adverse effects on health, but for which very limited information is available. Chromatographic techniques coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) can be used for non-targeted screening and detection of CECs, by using comprehensive annotation databases. Establishing a database focused on the annotation of CECs in human samples will provide new insight into the distribution and extent of exposures to a wide range of CECs in humans.Objectives: This study describes an approach for the aggregation and curation of an annotation database (CECscreen) for the identification of CECs in human biological samples.Methods: The approach consists of three main parts. First, CECs compound lists from various sources were aggregated and duplications and inorganic compounds were removed. Subsequently, the list was curated by standardization of structures to create "MS-ready" and "QSAR-ready" SMILES, as well as calculation of exact masses (monoisotopic and adducts) and molecular formulas. The second step included the simulation of Phase I metabolites. The third and final step included the calculation of QSAR predictions related to physicochemical properties, environmental fate, toxicity and Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion (ADME) processes and the retrieval of information from the US EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard.Results: All CECscreen database and property files are publicly available (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3956586). In total, 145,284 entries were aggregated from various CECs data sources. After elimination of duplicates and curation, the pipeline produced 70,397 unique "MS-ready" structures and 66,071 unique QSAR-ready structures, corresponding with 69,526 CAS numbers. Simulation of Phase I metabolites resulted in 306,279 unique metabolites. QSAR predictions could be performed for 64,684 of the QSAR-ready structures, whereas information was retrieved from the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard for 59,739 CAS numbers out of 69,526 inquiries. CECscreen is incorporated in the in silico fragmentation approach MetFrag.Discussion: The CECscreen database can be used to prioritize annotation of CECs measured in non-targeted HRMS, facilitating the large-scale detection of CECs in human samples for exposome research. Large-scale detection of CECs can be further improved by integrating the present database with resources that contain CECs (metabolites) and meta-data measurements, further expansion towards in silico and experimental (e.g., MassBank) generation of MS/MS spectra, and development of bioinformatics approaches capable of using correlation patterns in the measured chemical features