Seasonal Occurrence of the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in Waters off the Florida West Coast, with Notes on its Life History

The white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is considered rare in the Gulf of Mexico; however, recent longline captures coupled with historical landings information suggest that the species occurs seasonally (winter-spring) within this region. We examined a total of seven adult and juvenile white sharks (185-472 em total length) captured in waters off the west coast of Florida. Commercial longline fisheries were monitored for white sharks during all months (1981-94), but this species was captured only from January to April. All white sharks were captured in continental shelf waters from 37 to 222 km off the west coast of Florida when sea surface temperatures ranged from 18.7° to 21.6°C. Depths at capture locations ranged from 20 to 164 m. Fishing gear typically used in Gulf of Mexico offshore fisheries may not be effective at capturing this species, and the apparent rarity of white sharks in this area may be, in part, a function of gear bias

Temporal dissociation of phencyclidine: Induced locomotor and social alterations in rats using an automated homecage monitoring system – implications for the 3Rs and preclinical drug discovery

Background: Rodent behavioural assays are widely used to delineate the mechanisms of psychiatric disorders and predict the efficacy of drug candidates. Conventional behavioural paradigms are restricted to short time windows and involve transferring animals from the homecage to unfamiliar apparatus which induces stress. Additionally, factors including environmental perturbations, handling and the presence of an experimenter can impact behaviour and confound data interpretation. To improve welfare and reproducibility these issues must be resolved. Automated homecage monitoring offers a more ethologically relevant approach with reduced experimenter bias. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of an automated homecage system at detecting locomotor and social alterations induced by phencyclidine (PCP) in group-housed rats. PCP is an NMDA receptor antagonist commonly utilised to model aspects of schizophrenia. Methods: Rats housed in groups of 3 were implanted with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Each homecage was placed over a RFID reader baseplate for the automated monitoring of the social and locomotor activity of each individual rat. For all rats, we acquired homecage data for 24 h following administration of both saline and PCP (2.5 mg/kg). Results: PCP resulted in significantly increased distance travelled from 15 to 60 min post injection. Furthermore, PCP significantly enhanced time spent isolated from cage-mates and this asociality lasted from 60 to 105 min post treatment. Conclusions: Unlike conventional assays, in-cage monitoring captures the temporal duration of drug effects on multiple behaviours in the same group of animals. This approach could benefit psychiatric preclinical drug discovery though improved welfare and increased between-laboratory replicability

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : IV. Non-linear change in behavioural phenotype of mice in response to short-term calorie restriction

We would like to acknowledge the BSU staff for their invaluable help with caring for the animals. The work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBSRC (BB/G009953/1 and BB/J020028/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : III. Impact of short term calorie and protein restriction on mean daily body temperature and torpor use in the C57BL/6 mouse

GRANT SUPPORT This work was supported by BBSRC BB009953/1 awarded to JRS and SEM. PK and CD were funded by the Erasmus exchange programme. JRS, SEM, DD, CG, LC, JJDH, YW, DELP, DL and AD are members of the BBSRC China Partnership Award, BB/J020028/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : XI. Evaluation of the main hypotheses underpinning the life extension effects of CR using the hepatic transcriptome

We would like to acknowledge the BSU staff for their invaluable help with caring for the animals.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : V. Impact of short term calorie and protein restriction on physical activity in the C57BL/6 mouse

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Thermal Conductivity and Erosion Durability of Composite Two-Phase Air Plasma Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings

To enhance efficiency of gas turbines, new thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) must be designed which improve upon the thermal stability limit of 7 wt% yttria stabilized zirconia (7YSZ), approximately 1200 C. This tenant has led to the development of new TBC materials and microstructures capable of improved high temperature performance. This study focused on increasing the erosion durability of cubic zirconia based TBCs, traditionally less durable than the metastable t' zirconia based TBCs. Composite TBC microstructures composed of a low thermal conductivity/high temperature stable cubic Low-k matrix phase and a durable t' Low-k secondary phase were deposited via APS. Monolithic coatings composed of cubic Low-k and t' Low-k were also deposited, in addition to a 7YSZ benchmark. The thermal conductivity and erosion durability were then measured and it was found that both of the Low-k materials have significantly reduced thermal conductivities, with monolithic t' Low-k and cubic Low-k improving upon 7YSZ by approximately 13 and approximately 25%, respectively. The 40 wt% t' Low-k composite (40 wt% t' Low-k - 60 wt% cubic Low-k) showed a approximately 22% reduction in thermal conductivity over 7YSZ, indicating even at high levels, the t' Low-k secondary phase had a minimal impact on thermal in the composite coating. It was observed that a mere 20 wt% t' Low-k phase addition can reduce the erosion of a cubic Low-k matrix phase composite coating by over 37%. Various mixing rules were then investigated to assess this non-linear composite behavior and suggestions were made to further improve erosion durability

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : II. Impact of short term calorie and protein restriction on circulating hormone levels, glucose homeostasis and oxidative stress in male C57BL/6 mice

This work was supported by BBSRC BB009953/1 awarded to JRS and SEM. PK and CD were funded by the Erasmus exchange programme. JRS, SEM, DD, CG, LC, JJDH, YW, DELP, DL and AD are members of the BBSRC China Partnership Award, BB/J020028/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : VIII. impact of short term calorie and protein restriction on basal metabolic rate in the C57BL/6 mouse

We are grateful to the animal house staff for looking after the animals. The work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBSRC (grants BB/G009953/1 and BB/J020028/1) to JRS and SEM. DD was supported by a studentship from the Centre for Genome Enabled Biology and Medicine, Aberdeen, UK, and CG was supported by a BBSRC EastBio studentship. Joint meetings were funded by a BBSRC China partnering award (BB/JO20028/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD