Relative Abundance of Sixgill Sharks (Hexanchus griseus) in Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington

The Sixgill Shark Research Project is designed to address gaps in the body of scientific knowledge on bluntnose sixgill sharks (Hexanchus griseus) in Puget Sound. This project utilizes three interwoven techniques: (1) genetics research, (2) visual marker tagging, and (3) video analysis. Seattle Aquarium biologists monitor sixgill shark sightings reported by local divers (since 1999) and study their relative abundance in Elliott Bay under the Aquarium’s pier (since 2003). Here we report on our findings of relative abundance. Bluntnose sixgills are a species of conservation concern. Sixgills are listed as “near threatened” on the IUCN Red List. Living mainly at abyssal depths but also in the shallow waters of the Salish Sea, sixgills are thought to be long-lived and slow-growing, and appear to have established movement corridors and home ranges that remain relatively fixed over time. As apex predators they are important members of marine communities; and, owing to their life history characteristics such as a slow rate of maturity and low reproductive rates, are thought to be extremely vulnerable to exploitation. Here we present our findings of relative abundance of sixgill sharks in Elliot Bay during the two time periods that the research was conducted: 2003-2005 and 2008-2015. We present the number of individual sharks seen each night, number of sharks tagged, number of returning tagged sharks, sex ratios, estimated number of sixgills residing in Elliott Bay (using capture-mark-recapture techniques), and seasonal and long-term trends in abundance

Observations on abundance of bluntnose sixgill sharks, Hexanchus griseus, in an urban waterway in the Salish Sea, 2003-2012

The bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus, is a widely distributed but poorly understood large, apex predator. Anecdotal reports of diver-shark encounters in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s in the Pacific Northwest stimulated interest in the normally deep-dwelling shark and the reason for its presence in the shallow waters of the Salish Sea. Analysis of underwater video documenting sharks at the Seattle Aquarium’s sixgill research site on Seattle’s waterfront and mark-recapture techniques were used to identify individual sharks to answer simple questions about abundance and seasonality. Temporal changes in relative abundance in Puget Sound were reported from a controlled study site from 2003-2012. At the Seattle Aquarium study site, 45 sixgills were observed and tagged with modified Floy visual marker tags, along with an estimated 116 observations of untagged sharks. Mark/Recapture statistical model estimates based on video observations ranged from a high of 98 sharks observed in July of 2004 to a low of 0 sharks observed in several research events from 2008-2012. Both analyses found sixgills significantly more abundant in the summer months at the Aquarium’s research station from 2003-2005 than at any other time during the study

Decrease in Sightings of Sixgill Sharks, Hexanchus griseus, in Elliott Bay, Seattle, WA, United States, a Comparison Between 2003–2005 and 2008–2015

The Bluntnose Sixgill Shark, Hexanchus griseus, is a large predatory shark, has a worldwide distribution and is listed as near-threatened by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Seattle Aquarium collected observations of free-swimming Sixgill Sharks in Elliott Bay, Washington, under the aquarium’s pier in 20 m of water from 2003 to 2005 and again from 2008 to 2015 using the same methodology. Compared to total Sixgill sightings between 2003 and 2005 (273) fewer total Sixgills were sighted at the aquarium’s research station between 2008 and 2015 (33). The reason for the observed decline in sightings in unknown but based on data from other studies on Sixgills in Puget Sound during the same timeperiod the authors hypothesize the decrease may be due to natural variability of juvenile Sixgill recruitment to Elliott Bay

Baseline Factors Predicting Placebo Response to Treatment in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial

The finding of factors that differentially predict the likelihood of response to placebo over that of an active drug could have a significant impact on study design in this population

Lack of Efficacy of Citalopram in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and High Levels of Repetitive Behavior: Citalopram Ineffective in Children With Autism

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are widely prescribed for children with autism spectrum disorders

CEP290 tethers flagellar transition zone microtubules to the membrane and regulates flagellar protein content

Entry and exit of proteins into flagella is gauged by CEP290 in the transition zone

Exploring the Manifestations of Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study explores the manifestation and measurement of anxiety symptoms in 415 children with ASDs on a 20-item, parent-rated, DSM-IV referenced anxiety scale. In both high and low-functioning children (IQ above vs below 70), commonly endorsed items assessed restlessness, tension and sleep difficulties. Items requiring verbal expression of worry by the child were rarely endorsed. Higher anxiety was associated with functional language, IQ above 70 and higher scores on several other behavioral measures. Four underlying factors emerged: Generalized Anxiety, Separation Anxiety, Social Anxiety and Over-arousal. Our findings extend our understanding of anxiety across IQ in ASD and provide guidance for improving anxiety outcome measurement

Re-visiting Meltsner: Policy Advice Systems and the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Professional Policy Analysis

10.2139/ssrn.15462511-2

Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height

Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with ~700 common associated variants identified so far through genome - wide association studies . Here , we report 83 height - associated coding variants with lower minor allele frequenc ies ( range of 0.1 - 4.8% ) and effects of up to 2 16 cm /allele ( e.g. in IHH , STC2 , AR and CRISPLD2 ) , >10 times the average effect of common variants . In functional follow - up studies, rare height - increasing alleles of STC2 (+1 - 2 cm/allele) compromise d proteolytic inhibition of PAPP - A and increased cleavage of IGFBP - 4 in vitro , resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin - like growth factors . The se 83 height - associated variants overlap genes mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates ( e.g. ADAMTS3, IL11RA, NOX4 ) and pathways ( e.g . proteoglycan/ glycosaminoglycan synthesis ) involved in growth . Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low - frequency variants of moderate to large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes , and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways

Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis

Funding GMP, PN, and CW are supported by NHLBI R01HL127564. GMP and PN are supported by R01HL142711. AG acknowledge support from the Wellcome Trust (201543/B/16/Z), European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under grant agreement no. HEALTH-F2-2013–601456 (CVGenes@Target) & the TriPartite Immunometabolism Consortium [TrIC]-Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Grant number NNF15CC0018486. JMM is supported by American Diabetes Association Innovative and Clinical Translational Award 1–19-ICTS-068. SR was supported by the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (Grant No 312062), the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, and University of Helsinki HiLIFE Fellow and Grand Challenge grants. EW was supported by the Finnish innovation fund Sitra (EW) and Finska Läkaresällskapet. CNS was supported by American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships 15POST24470131 and 17POST33650016. Charles N Rotimi is supported by Z01HG200362. Zhe Wang, Michael H Preuss, and Ruth JF Loos are supported by R01HL142302. NJT is a Wellcome Trust Investigator (202802/Z/16/Z), is the PI of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (MRC & WT 217065/Z/19/Z), is supported by the University of Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215–2001) and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MC_UU_00011), and works within the CRUK Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme (C18281/A19169). Ruth E Mitchell is a member of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol funded by the MRC (MC_UU_00011/1). Simon Haworth is supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research Academic Clinical Fellowship. Paul S. de Vries was supported by American Heart Association grant number 18CDA34110116. Julia Ramierz acknowledges support by the People Programme of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme grant n° 608765 and Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant n° 786833. Maria Sabater-Lleal is supported by a Miguel Servet contract from the ISCIII Spanish Health Institute (CP17/00142) and co-financed by the European Social Fund. Jian Yang is funded by the Westlake Education Foundation. Olga Giannakopoulou has received funding from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) (FS/14/66/3129). CHARGE Consortium cohorts were supported by R01HL105756. Study-specific acknowledgements are available in the Additional file 32: Supplementary Note. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institutes of Health; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Peer reviewedPublisher PD