An environmental assessment of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the Key Largo Coral Reef Marine Sanctuary (Unpublished 1983 Report)

The Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was established in 1960 and the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary in 1975. Field studies, funded by NOAA, were conducted in 1980 - 1981 to determine the state of the coral reefs and surrounding areas in relation to changing environmental conditions and resource management that had occurred over the intervening years. Ten reef sites within the Sanctuary and seven shallow grass and hardbottom sites within the Park were chosen for qualitative and quantitative studies. At each site, three parallel transects not less than 400 m long were run perpendicular to the reef or shore, each 300 m apart. Observations, data collecting and sampling were done by two teams of divers. Approximately 75 percent of the bottom within the 18-m isobath was covered by marine grasses, predominantly turtle grass. The general health of the seagrasses appeared good but a few areas showed signs of stress. The inner hardbottom of the Park was studied at the two entrances to Largo Sound. Though at the time of the study the North Channel hardbottom was subjected to only moderate boat traffic, marked changes had taken place over the past years, the most obvious of which was the loss of the extensive beds of Sargassum weed, one of the most extensive beds of this alga in the Keys. Only at this site was the green alga Enteromorpha encountered. This alga, often considered a pollution indicator, may denote the effects of shore run off. The hardbottom at South Channel and the surrounding grass beds showed signs of stress. This area bears the heaviest boat traffic within the Park waters causing continuous turbidity from boat wakes with resulting siltation. The offshore hardbottom and rubble areas in the Sanctuary appeared to be in good health and showed no visible indications of deterioration. Damage by boat groundings and anchors was negligible in the areas surveyed. The outer reefs in general appear to be healthy. Corals have a surprising resiliency to detrimental factors and, when conditions again become favorable, recover quickly from even severe damage. It is, therefore, a cause for concern that Grecian Rocks, which sits somewhat inshore of the outer reef line, has yet to recover from die-off in 1978. The slow recovery, if occurring, may be due to the lower quality of the inshore waters. The patch reefs, more adapted to inshore waters, do not show obvious stress signs, at least those surveyed in this study. It is apparent that water quality was changing in the keys. Water clarity over much of the reef tract was observed to be much reduced from former years and undoubtedly plays an important part in the stresses seen today over the Sanctuary and Park. (PDF contains 119 pages

Structure- and context-based analysis of the GxGYxYP family reveals a new putative class of glycoside hydrolase.

BackgroundGut microbiome metagenomics has revealed many protein families and domains found largely or exclusively in that environment. Proteins containing the GxGYxYP domain are over-represented in the gut microbiota, and are found in Polysaccharide Utilization Loci in the gut symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, suggesting their involvement in polysaccharide metabolism, but little else is known of the function of this domain.ResultsGenomic context and domain architecture analyses support a role for the GxGYxYP domain in carbohydrate metabolism. Sparse occurrences in eukaryotes are the result of lateral gene transfer. The structure of the GxGYxYP domain-containing protein encoded by the BT2193 locus reveals two structural domains, the first composed of three divergent repeats with no recognisable homology to previously solved structures, the second a more familiar seven-stranded β/α barrel. Structure-based analyses including conservation mapping localise a presumed functional site to a cleft between the two domains of BT2193. Matching to a catalytic site template from a GH9 cellulase and other analyses point to a putative catalytic triad composed of Glu272, Asp331 and Asp333.ConclusionsWe suggest that GxGYxYP-containing proteins constitute a novel glycoside hydrolase family of as yet unknown specificity

What proportion of adult allergy referrals to secondary care could be dealt with in primary care by a GP with special interest?

Background: The concept of a General Practitioner with Special Interest (GPwSI) was first proposed in the 2000 National Health Service Plan, as a way of providing specialised treatment closer to the patient’s home and reducing hospital waiting times. Given the patchy and inadequate provision of allergy services in the UK the introduction of GPwSIs might reduce the pressure on existing specialist services. Objectives: This study assessed what proportion of referrals to a specialist allergy clinic could be managed in a GPwSI allergy service with a predefined range of facilities and expertise (accurate diagnosis and management of allergy; skin prick testing; provision of advice on allergen avoidance; ability to assess suitability for desensitisation). Methods: 100 consecutive GP referrals to a hospital allergy clinic were reviewed to determine whether patients could be seen in a community-based clinic led by a general practitioner with special interest (GPwSI) allergy. The documentation relating to each referral was independently assessed by three allergy specialists. The referrals were judged initially on the referral letter alone and then re-assessed with the benefit of information summarised in the clinic letter, to determine whether appropriate triage decisions could be made prospectively. The proportion of referrals suitable for a GPwSI was calculated and their referral characteristics identified. Results: 29 % referrals were judged unanimously appropriate for management by a GPwSI and an additional 30 % by 2 of the 3 reviewers. 18 % referrals were unsuitable for a GPwSI service because of the complexity of the presenting problem, patient co-morbidity or the need for specialist knowledge or facilities. Conclusions and clinical relevance: At least a quarter, and possibly half, of allergy referrals to our hospital-based service could be dealt with in a GPwSI clinic, thereby diversifying the patient pathway, allowing specialist services to focus on more complex cases and reducing the waiting time for first appointments

The phytoplankton of the Gulf of California obtained by the E. W. Scipps in 1939 and 1940

The waters of the Gulf of California are fabulously rich in marine life; they fairly teem with multitudes of fish of both commercial and sport varieties. To maintain these large numbers there must be correspondingly huge crops of their ultimate food-the phytoplankton. And, indeed, it was the enormous quantity of these microscopic plants that gave the Gulf its early and descriptive name-the Vermilion Sea. In 1939 and again in 1940 the E. W. Scripps, research vessel of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, spent several months in these waters and among the data collected on these cruises were quantitative samples of this phytoplankton. It is with these samples that the present report deals

Gilbert damping and spin Coulomb drag in a magnetized electron liquid with spin-orbit interaction

We present a microscopic calculation of the Gilbert damping constant for the magnetization of a two-dimensional spin-polarized electron liquid in the presence of intrinsic spin-orbit interaction. First we show that the Gilbert constant can be expressed in terms of the auto-correlation function of the spin-orbit induced torque. Then we specialize to the case of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction and we show that the Gilbert constant in this model is related to the spin-channel conductivity. This allows us to study the Gilbert damping constant in different physical regimes, characterized by different orderings of the relevant energy scales -- spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman coupling, momentum relaxation rate, spin-momentum relaxation rate, spin precession frequency -- and to discuss its behavior in various limits. Particular attention is paid to electron-electron interaction effects,which enter the spin conductivity and hence the Gilbert damping constant via the spin Coulomb drag coefficient.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Lowest Open Channels, Bound States, and Narrow Resonances of Dipositronium

The constraints imposed by symmetry on the open channels of dipositronium has been studied, and the symmetry-adapted lowest open channel of each quantum state has been identified. Based on this study, the existence of two more 0^+ bound states has been theoretically confirmed, and a 0^+ narrow resonance has been predicted. A variational calculation has been performed to evaluate the critical strength of the repulsive interaction . Two 0^- states are found to have their critical strengths very close to 1, they are considered as candidates of new narrow resonances or loosely bound states .Comment: 10 pages, 0 figure

Properties of polar stratospheric clouds obtained by combined ACE-FTS and ACE-Imager extinction measurements

International audienceWe report the compositions and size distributions of aerosol particles in typical polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) observed between 24 January and 28 February 2005 in the Arctic stratosphere. The results are obtained by combining the extinction measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Fourier-Transform Spectrometer and the visible/near IR imagers on the SCISAT satellite. The extended wavenumber range provided by this combination (750 to 20 000 cm?1) enables the retrieval of aerosol particle sizes between 0.05 and 10 ?m as well as providing extensive information about the compositions. Our results indicate that liquid ternary solutions with a high (>30 wt%) content of HNO3 were the most probable component of the clouds at the (60?70° N) latitudes accessible by ACE. The mean size of these ternary aerosol particles is in the range of 0.3 to 0.8 ?m. Less abundant, although still frequent, were clouds composed of NAT particles having radii in the range of 1 ?m and clouds of ice particles having mean radii in the 4?5 ?m range. In some cases, these last two types were found in the same observation

An Army of Me: Sockpuppets in Online Discussion Communities

In online discussion communities, users can interact and share information and opinions on a wide variety of topics. However, some users may create multiple identities, or sockpuppets, and engage in undesired behavior by deceiving others or manipulating discussions. In this work, we study sockpuppetry across nine discussion communities, and show that sockpuppets differ from ordinary users in terms of their posting behavior, linguistic traits, as well as social network structure. Sockpuppets tend to start fewer discussions, write shorter posts, use more personal pronouns such as "I", and have more clustered ego-networks. Further, pairs of sockpuppets controlled by the same individual are more likely to interact on the same discussion at the same time than pairs of ordinary users. Our analysis suggests a taxonomy of deceptive behavior in discussion communities. Pairs of sockpuppets can vary in their deceptiveness, i.e., whether they pretend to be different users, or their supportiveness, i.e., if they support arguments of other sockpuppets controlled by the same user. We apply these findings to a series of prediction tasks, notably, to identify whether a pair of accounts belongs to the same underlying user or not. Altogether, this work presents a data-driven view of deception in online discussion communities and paves the way towards the automatic detection of sockpuppets.Comment: 26th International World Wide Web conference 2017 (WWW 2017

Sexuality and Intimacy in the Context of Cancer

The impact of cancer on sexuality and intimacy: A key aspect of quality of life In 2006, more than 106,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in Australia, with the number of new cases in New South Wales alone expected to grow to 40,116 by 2011 (AIHW et al., 2007, Tracey et al., 2005). It is now widely recognised that cancer and its treatment can have a significant effect on the quality of life of both people with cancer (Stommel et al., 2004) and their family members, in particular their intimate partner (Hodges et al., 2005). Sexuality and intimacy are important aspects of an individual's quality of life (World Health Organisation, 1995), and there is a growing body of evidence to show that cancer can result in dramatic changes to sexuality, sexual functioning, relationships, and sense of self, regardless of cancer type. Indeed, these changes can be experienced as the most significant in the person with cancer's life (Anderson et al., 2000)