Dynamics of Alexandrium fundyense blooms and shellfish toxicity in the Nauset Marsh System of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Harmful Algae 12 (2011): 26–38, doi:10.1016/j.hal.2011.08.009.Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) toxins are annually recurrent along the Massachusetts coastline (USA), which includes many small embayments and salt ponds. Among these is the Nauset Marsh System (NMS), which has a long history of PSP toxicity. Little is known, however, about the bloom dynamics of the causative organism Alexandrium fundyense within that economically and socially important system. The overall goal of this work was to characterize the distribution and dynamics of A. fundyense blooms within the NMS and adjacent coastal waters by documenting the distribution and abundance of resting cysts and vegetative cells. Cysts were found predominantly in three drowned kettle holes or salt ponds at the distal ends of the NMS - Salt Pond, Mill Pond, and Town Cove. The central region of the NMS had a much lower concentration of cysts. Two types of A. fundyense blooms were observed. One originated entirely within the estuary, seeded by cysts in the three seedbeds. These blooms developed independently of each other and of the A. fundyense population observed in adjacent coastal waters outside the NMS. The temporal development of the blooms was different in the three salt ponds, with initiation differing by as much as 30 days. These differences do not appear to reflect the initial cyst abundances in these locations, and may simply result from higher cell retention and higher nutrient concentrations in Mill Pond, the first site to bloom. Germination of cysts accounted for a small percentage of the peak cell densities in the ponds, so population size was influenced more by the factors affecting growth than by cyst abundance. Subsurface cell aggregation (surface avoidance) limited advection of the vegetative A. fundyense cells out of the salt ponds through the shallow inlet channels. Thus, the upper reaches of the NMS are at the greatest risk for PSP since the highest cyst abundances and cell concentrations were found there. After these localized blooms in the salt ponds peaked and declined, a second, late season bloom occurred within the central portions of the NMS. The timing of this second bloom relative to those within the salt ponds and the coastal circulation patterns at that time strongly suggest that those cells originated from a regional A. fundyense bloom in the Gulf of Maine, delivered to the central marsh from coastal waters outside the NMS through Nauset Inlet. These results will guide policy decisions about water quality as well as shellfish monitoring and utilization within the NMS and highlight the potential for “surgical” closures of shellfish during PSP events, leaving some areas open for harvesting while others are closed.This work was supported by NOAA Grant NA06OAR4170021, NPS Grant H238015504 and by the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through NSF Grants OCE-0911031 and OCE-0430724 and NIEHS Grant 1P50-ES01274201. B.G.C. was supported by a Xunta de Galicia Ángeles Alvariño fellowship and the Stanley W. Watson Chair for Excellence in Oceanography under a Postdoctoral program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Routine omics collection is a golden opportunity for European human research in space and analog environments

Widespread generation and analysis of omics data have revolutionized molecular medicine on Earth, yet its power to yield new mechanistic insights and improve occupational health during spaceflight is still to be fully realized in humans. Nevertheless, rapid technological advancements and ever-regular spaceflight programs mean that longitudinal, standardized, and cost-effective collection of human space omics data are firmly within reach. Here, we consider the practicality and scientific return of different sampling methods and omic types in the context of human spaceflight. We also appraise ethical and legal considerations pertinent to omics data derived from European astronauts and spaceflight participants (SFPs). Ultimately, we propose that a routine omics collection program in spaceflight and analog environments presents a golden opportunity. Unlocking this bright future of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analyses and personalized medicine approaches will require further investigation into best practices, including policy design and standardization of omics data, metadata, and sampling methods

Alcohol-related brain damage in humans

Chronic excessive alcohol intoxications evoke cumulative damage to tissues and organs. We examined prefrontal cortex (Brodmann’s area (BA) 9) from 20 human alcoholics and 20 age, gender, and postmortem delay matched control subjects. H & E staining and light microscopy of prefrontal cortex tissue revealed a reduction in the levels of cytoskeleton surrounding the nuclei of cortical and subcortical neurons, and a disruption of subcortical neuron patterning in alcoholic subjects. BA 9 tissue homogenisation and one dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) proteomics of cytosolic proteins identified dramatic reductions in the protein levels of spectrin β II, and α- and β-tubulins in alcoholics, and these were validated and quantitated by Western blotting. We detected a significant increase in α-tubulin acetylation in alcoholics, a non-significant increase in isoaspartate protein damage, but a significant increase in protein isoaspartyl methyltransferase protein levels, the enzyme that triggers isoaspartate damage repair in vivo. There was also a significant reduction in proteasome activity in alcoholics. One dimensional PAGE of membrane-enriched fractions detected a reduction in β-spectrin protein levels, and a significant increase in transmembranous α3 (catalytic) subunit of the Na+,K+-ATPase in alcoholic subjects. However, control subjects retained stable oligomeric forms of α-subunit that were diminished in alcoholics. In alcoholics, significant loss of cytosolic α- and β-tubulins were also seen in caudate nucleus, hippocampus and cerebellum, but to different levels, indicative of brain regional susceptibility to alcohol-related damage. Collectively, these protein changes provide a molecular basis for some of the neuronal and behavioural abnormalities attributed to alcoholics

Enhancing European capabilities for application of multi-omics studies in biology and biomedicine space research

Following on from the NASA twins’ study, there has been a tremendous interest in the use of omics techniques in spaceflight. Individual space agencies, NASA’s GeneLab, JAXA's ibSLS, and the ESA-funded Space Omics Topical Team and the International Standards for Space Omics Processing (ISSOP) groups have established several initiatives to support this growth. Here, we present recommendations from the Space Omics Topical Team to promote standard application of space omics in Europe. We focus on four main themes: i) continued participation in and coordination with international omics endeavors, ii) strengthening of the European space omics infrastructure including workforce and facilities, iii) capitalizing on the emerging opportunities in the commercial space sector, and iv) capitalizing on the emerging opportunities in human subjects research