Evaluating Recruitment Seasonality of Red Abalone (\u3ci\u3eHaliotis rufescens\u3c/i\u3e) to Inform Fisheries Management and Conservation Policy

Recruitment, the addition of new individuals to a population, must be understood to make predictions about population growth of marine invertebrates. Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) represent a former important commercial fishery in California, and until recently, supported a major recreational fishery. However, there have been statewide declines since the 1960s due to overfishing, disease, and climatic factors. Thus, understanding population dynamics to inform management and population restoration is critical. Recruitment dynamics of red abalone are poorly understood, with no prior knowledge of seasonal trends. To address this knowledge gap, I assessed monthly (July 2016-June 2017) and annual (2012-2016) settlement rates of red abalone in the Monterey Bay, which has low density abalone populations due to sea otter predation. I evaluated associations between abalone recruitment and oceanographic factors (temperature, wave forces, and upwelling index) and food availability (kelp density) to understand potential predictors of recruitment. Abalone recruitment occurred year round, with generally higher recruitment in late summer to early fall (July-October) and peaks in August and October. This is the first demonstration of year-round abalone recruitment in the field. On a monthly basis, there were no statistically significant relationships between recruitment and oceanographic factors or food availability. Annual abalone recruitment was consistent in all years, with the exception of 2015 when recruitment majorly decreased during the second year of the North Pacific marine heatwave (i.e., warm blob and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events). The failure of recruitment during only the second year of warm temperature suggests that prolonged extreme temperatures lead to reproductive failure. The consistent annual recruitment in the Monterey Bay contrasts with sporadic recruitment observed in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties in northern California. This finding was unexpected because red abalone in northern California were twice as dense as those in Monterey Bay at the time of the study. Possible hypotheses behind the observed consistent recruitment in Monterey Bay despite low densities include that: sheltered embayments retain larvae and promote recruitment, predation by sea otters aggregates abalone in crevices and promotes fertilization success, and the perennially present Macrocystis pyrifera kelp forests better support abalone growth and fecundity than northern California forests dominated by annual Nereocystis leutkeana

The impact of rewards on the effectiveness of performance feedback in improving writing production in elementary school students

Approximately a quarter of students in classrooms across the United States meet minimum grade-level expectations in writing in national assessments (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). The purpose of the present study is to elaborate on the role performance feedback can play in increasing student writing production through novel additions to established methodology. Specifically, an alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the impact of two iterations of a performance feedback intervention. The first evaluated how performance feedback (with two representations of total words written and a velocity indicator) impacts student writing production across production-dependent and production-independent variables. The second intervention combined performance feedback (presented in the same fashion as above) with rewards contingent on improved performance. Participants completed two writing prompts a week across a six to eight-week intervention phase. Results were evaluated through the visual analysis of each individual’s writing production on measures of Total Words Written, Correct Writing Sequences, and Percent Correct Writing Sequences. Supplemental social validity scales and statistical analyses of effect sizes were also included. Results suggest no differentiation in data patterns between the two intervention phases, although the intervention phase did seem to improve writing production as compared to baseline

Advanced Technologies: Health Care Anytime... Anywhere?

Advanced technology in the medical profession has had a significant impact on the access, efficiency, and cost of health care delivery services over the past decade. Technological advancements in the medical profession can be bucketed into two main categories: mobile and biological/physiological. Some examples of mobile technology include web apps that can monitor a patient’s vital signs remotely and mobile phone attachments that can provide medical imaging data for doctors in the most remote areas of the globe. Remote patient monitoring and the use of mobile health apps to deliver timely, useful information to the patient about their health decision represent a significant shift in health care information delivery. Research conducted with a biological/physiological intent ranging from nanotechnology to molecularly modified proteins and genes designed to provide personalized medicine based on the “context of a patient’s unique biological state.” The health care industry is among the first to develop the semantic web through WC3 which launched the Health Care Life Sciences Interest Group to improve interaction and collaboration through adaptive data mining using the semantic web. “Connected devices” refers to the premise that the semantic web will make the meaningful connections between disparate bits of information through smart and connected devices. EHRs already use APIs (application programming interfaces) to securely share clinical content.https://fuse.franklin.edu/forum-2013/1019/thumbnail.jp

Teaching Community College Students Strategies for Learning Unknown Words as They Read Expository Text

An experiment was conducted to investigate methods that enable college students to learn the meaning of unknown words as they read discipline-specific academic text. Forty-one college students read specific passages aloud during three sessions. Participants were randomly assigned to three vocabulary learning interventions or a control condition. The interventions involved applying context, morphemic, and syntactic strategies; applying definitions; or applying both strategies and definitions to determine word meanings. Word learning and comprehension were measured during the interventions and in a transfer task to assess treatment effects on independent text reading. Results revealed that students in all three intervention groups outperformed controls in learning words and comprehending passages. However, the treatment groups did not differ from controls on the transfer task. Teaching both strategies and definitions was especially effective for learning unknown words and comprehending text containing those words

Computationally Efficient Robust Adaptive Beamforming for Passive Sonar

Recent work has highlighted the benefits of exploiting robust Capon beamformer (RCB) techniques in passive sonar. Unfortunately, the computational requirements for computing the standard RCB weights are cubic in the number of adaptive degrees of freedom, which may be computationally prohibitive in practical situations. Here, we examine recent computationally efficient techniques for computing the RCB weights and evaluate their performances for passive sonar. We also discuss the implementation of these efficient algorithms on parallel architectures, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), illustrating that further significant speed-ups are possible over a central processing unit (CPU) based implementation

MRI Sequence Sensitivity for the Detection of Spinal Cavernous Malformations

CNS cavernous malformations (CCMs) are dilated capillary-level lesions, which have a tendency to repeated internal hemorrhage and growth and, less frequently, hemorrhage into the nearby brain. These are well known and researched in the brain. However, the same malformation can also occur in the spinal cord, also with risk of hemorrhage. Brain CCMs can be either sporadic (solitary) or genetic in origin, with autosomal dominant pattern for the latter. There is a large prevalence of genetic CCM in New Mexico due to a founder effect in the early Spanish settlers. Spinal cavernous malformations (SCMs) have been termed rare in previous literature, but previous studies have been very inconsistent in identifying familal (genetic) cases. For example, Toldo et al said, The coexistence of intracranial and spinal cavernous angiomas in familial CCM is extremely rare.\u27 (Toldo et al, Surg Neurol 2009;71:167). However, our experience in New Mexico is different. Within a large population of familial cerebral cavernous malformations, SCMs were identified in 8% of spine MRI, and the overall prevalence is likely much higher. Multiple SCM suggest familial rather than sporadic disease, with profound implications for families, genetic counseling, and potential brain involvement. The purpose of this study was to compare MRI sequence sensitivity indetecting SCMs in a group of patients with known familial CNS cavernous malformations.\u2

Use of Gastric Bypass Surgery for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Over the past decade, the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has increased significantly. Evidence has shown that a clear association exists between obesity and diabetes development. This association has inspired researchers to explore bariatric surgery as an option for diabetes management and possible disease reversal. Improvement of T2DM using Roux-En-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is thought to result from from a combination of weight loss, decreased caloric intake, hormonal changes and rearrangement of the gastrointestinal anatomy. Positive outcomes resulting from the procedure include decreased mortality rates, normalization of HbA1c levels, decreased dependence on diabetic medications, and increased insulin sensitivity. Gastric bypass, specifically RYGB, appears to be a promising treatment for T2DM. Due to possible complications and limited research in some populations, treatment should be restricted to patients with a BMI \u3e 35 with concurrent diabetes. Patients with diabetes who qualify should be counseled on the potential benefits of gastric bypass as a viable option for diabetes management

Heat-mediated reduction of apoptosis in UVB-damaged keratinocytes in vitro and in human skin ex vivo

Background: UV radiation induces significant DNA damage in keratinocytes and is a known risk factor for skin carcinogenesis. However, it has been reported previously that repeated and simultaneous exposure to UV and heat stress increases the rate of cutaneous tumour formation in mice. Since constant exposure to high temperatures and UV are often experienced in the environment, the effects of exposure to UV and heat needs to be clearly addressed in human epidermal cells. Methods: In this study, we determined the effects of repeated UVB exposure 1kJ/m2 followed by heat (39°C) to human keratinocytes. Normal human ex vivo skin models and primary keratinocytes (NHEK) were exposed once a day to UVB and/or heat stress for four consecutive days. Cells were then assessed for changes in proliferation, apoptosis and gene expression at 2days post-exposure, to determine the cumulative and persistent effects of UV and/or heat in skin keratinocytes. Results: Using ex vivo skin models and primary keratinocytes in vitro, we showed that UVB plus heat treated keratinocytes exhibit persistent DNA damage, as observed with UVB alone. However, we found that apoptosis was significantly reduced in UVB plus heat treated samples. Immunohistochemical and whole genome transcription analysis showed that multiple UVB plus heat exposures induced inactivation of the p53-mediated stress response. Furthermore, we demonstrated that repeated exposure to UV plus heat induced SIRT1 expression and a decrease in acetylated p53 in keratinocytes, which is consistent with the significant downregulation of p53-regulated pro-apoptotic and DNA damage repair genes in these cells. Conclusion: Our results suggest that UVB-induced p53-mediated cell cycle arrest and apoptosis are reduced in the presence of heat stress, leading to increased survival of DNA damaged cells. Thus, exposure to UVB and heat stress may act synergistically to allow survival of damaged cells, which could have implications for initiation skin carcinogenesis. © 2016 The Author(s)