Fluctuating thermal environments of shallow-water rocky reefs in the Gulf of California, Mexico.

As part of a broad-scale study of the biogeography of rocky reefs in the Gulf of California, Mexico (GOC), we collected a continuous 1-yr temperature time series at ~5 m water depth at 16 sites spanning 5° of latitude and ~700 km along the western boundary of the basin. Throughout the region, thermal conditions were most variable in summer with fluctuations concentrated at diurnal and semi-diurnal frequencies, likely associated with solar and wind forcing and vertical water column oscillations forced by internal waves. Temperatures in winter were less variable than in summer, and minimum temperatures also differed among sites. Thermal variability integrated across the diurnal and semi-diurnal frequency bands was greatest near the Midriff Islands in the northern GOC and decreased toward the southern sites. Diurnal variability was greater than semi-diurnal variability at 13 of the 16 sites. A statistic-of-extremes analysis indicated shortest return times for cooling events in summer, and reef organisms at many of the sites may experience anomalous 2 to 5 °C cooling events multiple times per month. The significant extent of local temperature variability may play important roles in limiting species occurrences among sites across this biogeographic region

Comments on Microhabitat Specialization and a Depth Range Extension for a Chaenopsid Tube Blenny in the Gulf of California, Mexico

Volume: 110Start Page: 52End Page: 5

Global Progress Toward Implementing the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

This brief examines the progress made in implementing the Fish Stocks Agreement, based on a review of the status of certain highly migratory stocks and the effectiveness of regional fishery management organization (RFMO) measures in meeting specific mandates. It also looks at whether recommendations made in prior reviews have been implemented

Sleep hygiene intervention for youth aged 10 to 18 years with problematic sleep: a before-after pilot study

BACKGROUND: The current study aimed to examine the changes following a sleep hygiene intervention on sleep hygiene practices, sleep quality, and daytime symptoms in youth. METHODS: Participants aged 10–18 years with self-identified sleep problems completed our age-appropriate F.E.R.R.E.T (an acronym for the categories of Food, Emotions, Routine, Restrict, Environment and Timing) sleep hygiene programme; each category has three simple rules to encourage good sleep. Participants (and parents as appropriate) completed the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS), and wore Actical® monitors twice before (1 and 2 weeks) and three times after (6, 12 and 20 weeks) the intervention. Anthropometric data were collected two weeks before and 20 weeks post-intervention. RESULTS: Thirty-three youths (mean age 12.9 years; M/F = 0.8) enrolled, and retention was 100%. ASHS scores significantly improved (p = 0.005) from a baseline mean (SD) of 4.70 (0.41) to 4.95 (0.31) post-intervention, as did PSQI scores [7.47 (2.43) to 4.47 (2.37); p < 0.001] and SDSC scores [53.4 (9.0) to 39.2 (9.2); p < 0.001]. PDSS scores improved from a baseline of 16.5 (6.0) to 11.3 (6.0) post- intervention (p < 0.001). BMI z-scores with a baseline of 0.79 (1.18) decreased significantly (p = 0.001) post-intervention to 0.66 (1.19). Despite these improvements, sleep duration as estimated by Actical accelerometry did not change. There was however a significant decrease in daytime sedentary/light energy expenditure. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the F.E.R.R.E.T sleep hygiene education programme might be effective in improving sleep in children and adolescents. However because this was a before and after study and a pilot study with several limitations, the findings need to be addressed with caution, and would need to be replicated within a randomised controlled trial to prove efficacy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN1261200064981

Incidence of digital papillomatosis ("hairy warts") in a dairy herd. Response to surgery and autogenous vaccination

Digital papillomatosis (hairy warts) was diagnosed in a dairy herd with a high level of lameness (20%). Warts ranged from mild to moderate to severe, with severity increasing with length of lactations. All milking cows (100%) had at least mild lesions. Cows with severe lesions were more likely to be lame. Severity of lesions had no influence on 305-day ME milk production, days open, or somatic cell counts. Cows in milk more than 150 days and lame produced 3 kg less milk per day than cows that were not lame. Almost all warts were in the interdigital cleft near the heel of the rear feet. A few cows had lesions in the front of the interdigital cleft or on the front feet. No viral particles were observed or isolated. A new, Gram-negative, motile, facultatively anaerobic, spiral-shaped bacteria was isolated from one lesion. The cellular fatty acid profile of this bacterium had no match to any other known bacteria in any of three computer databases examined. Cows with severe lesions were assigned randomly to one of four groups: Group 1: surgical removal and autogenous vaccination; Group 2: surgical removal only; Group 3: autogenous vaccination only, and Group 4: control. Neither surgical removal nor autogenous vaccination had a significant effect on wart severity, lameness, or milk production when cows were inspected 10 wk later. Contemporary evaluation of 249 herdmates revealed a substantial number of severely affected cows naturally improved. Of 25 severely affected herd contemporaries, only 8 were severely affected 10 wk later. Evidently, natural improvement of lesions is a common phenomenon with “hairy warts.

Morphological variability of upper paleolithic and mesolithic skulls from Sicily

Scenarios for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in Southern Europe and in the Mediterranean basin have been uncertain, given the scarceness of osteological samples and the simplicity of the proposed archaeologically-based settlement hypotheses. According to available data, the first anatomically modern humans entered Sicily during the Late Pleistocene, coming from the Italian peninsula. A presumably small Late Epigravettian population colonised coastal sites. Later, North-Western archaeological horizons gave hospitality to a significant Mesolithic expansion. In order to verify a hypothesis of continuity in the peopling of the island, we analyzed Sicilian skulls from the Late Epigravettian site of San Teodoro, Eastern Sicily (AMS14C dated at 14,500 BP) and from the Mesolithic period (14C dated from 9,500 to 8,500 BP) coming from various sites (Uzzo, Molara, Grotta d’Oriente) located on the North Western coast of the island. The aims were to test the biological variability through time within the island as well as to evaluate the relationships of Sicilian Pleistocene hunter-gatherers with Old World populations. We also evaluated the Sicilian Mesolithic uniformity especially between the Uzzo and Grotta d’Oriente sites, given their vicinity and accessibility during the Early Holocene. We applied 3D geometric morphometric methods to assess shape variation as well as geographic and diachronic morphological patterns. All analyzed specimens, plus a comparative sample from the Old World dated from the Upper Paleolithic to recent periods, were transformed in digital images and standard craniofacial landmarks were extracted from the 3D models. Our results underline a high variability among the Mesolithic specimens, as well as a large craniometric distance from the presumed founder Paleolithic settler representatives (San Teodoro specimens) that have closer morphological affinities with other European Upper Paleolithic specimens

THE POWER OF STRUCTURED DESIGNS AND MIXED MODELS IN A REAL WORLD EXPERIMENT

Justifications usually given for adopting an automated system pertain to a reduction in labor and an improvement in quality control. A manufacturer of a prototype instrument that automated some of the steps for culturing bacteria wanted to compare the automated system to the manual system. The manufacturer wanted to compare the two systems in 1) Total time needed to isolate the target bacteria, 2) Ability to isolate the target bacteria, 3) Amount of interference from background (non-target) bacterial growth, and 1) Extent of cross (sample to sample) contamination. This paper presents the experimental design used to make these comparisons and how the design helped discover some surprising results about laboratory quality control. The experiment presented illustrates the importance of a good experimental design, the power of current statistical tools, and that a thorough and appropriate analysis of a data set requires side-by-side good detective work by both statistician and client

Picosecond imaging of sprays

Preliminary results from applying a Kerr-Fourier imaging system to a water/air spray produced by a shear coaxial element are presented. The physics behind ultrafast time-gated optical techniques is discussed briefly. A typical setup of a Kerr-Fourier time gating system is presented

Polyploidy in the Olive Complex (Olea europaea): Evidence from Flow Cytometry and Nuclear Microsatellite Analyses

Background Phylogenetic and phylogeographic investigations have been previously performed to study the evolution of the olive tree complex (Olea europaea). A particularly high genomic diversity has been found in north-west Africa. However, to date no exhaustive study has been addressed to infer putative polyploidization events and their evolutionary significance in the diversification of the olive tree and its relatives. Methods Representatives of the six olive subspecies were investigated using (a) flow cytometry to estimate genome content, and (b) six highly variable nuclear microsatellites to assess the presence of multiple alleles at co-dominant loci. In addition, nine individuals from a controlled cross between two individuals of O. europaea subsp. maroccana were characterized with microsatellites to check for chromosome inheritance. Key Results Based on flow cytometry and genetic analyses, strong evidence for polyploidy was obtained in subspp. cerasiformis (tetraploid) and maroccana (hexaploid), whereas the other subspecies appeared to be diploids. Agreement between flow cytometry and genetic analyses gives an alternative approach to chromosome counting to determine ploidy level of trees. Lastly, abnormalities in chromosomes inheritance leading to aneuploid formation were revealed using microsatellite analyses in the offspring from the controlled cross in subsp. maroccana. Conclusions This study constitutes the first report for multiple polyploidy in olive tree relatives. Formation of tetraploids and hexaploids may have played a major role in the diversification of the olive complex in north-west Africa. The fact that polyploidy is found in narrow endemic subspecies from Madeira (subsp. cerasiformis) and the Agadir Mountains (subsp. maroccana) suggests that polyploidization has been favoured to overcome inbreeding depression. Lastly, based on previous phylogenetic analyses, we hypothesize that subsp. cerasiformis resulted from hybridization between ancestors of subspp. guanchica and europae

Extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs around A--F type stars. VIII. A giant planet orbiting the young star HD113337

In the frame of the search for extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs around early-type main-sequence stars, we present the detection of a giant planet around the young F-type star HD113337. We estimated the age of the system to be 150 +100/-50 Myr. Interestingly, an IR excess attributed to a cold debris disk was previously detected on this star. The SOPHIE spectrograph on the 1.93m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence was used to obtain ~300 spectra over 6 years. We used our SAFIR tool, dedicated to the spectra analysis of A and F stars, to derive the radial velocity variations. The data reveal a 324.0 +1.7/-3.3 days period that we attribute to a giant planet with a minimum mass of 2.83 +- 0.24 Mjup in an eccentric orbit with e=0.46 +- 0.04. A long-term quadratic drift, that we assign to be probably of stellar origin, is superimposed to the Keplerian solution.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure