An Expert Survey of Information Needs for Ohio River Sport and Commercial Fishes

Author Institution: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityForty-eight Ohio River fishery managers from six states were surveyed to assess the relative importance of sport and commercial fisheries data gaps on the Ohio River. Twenty-two experts responded to the complex survey, which asked respondents to judge the need for 40 data types for each of seven taxa. Among taxa, information needs were highest for white bass and hybrids (Morone spp.) and buffalofishes (Ictiobus spp.), and lowest for bass/sunfish (Micropterus/Lepomis spp.) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Among data types, information needs were highest for natural and fishing mortality rates, and lowest for fecundity. Among life stages, information needs were highest for larval fishes, and lowest for adults during spawning season and summer. Expert opinions on information needs can be used to direct research and monitoring studies to highest priority needs and to avoid duplicative studies

Thallium-isotopic compositions of euxinic sediments as a proxy for global manganese-oxide burial

© The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 213 (2017): 291-307, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2017.06.041.Thallium (Tl) isotopes are a new and potentially powerful paleoredox proxy that may track bottom water oxygen conditions based on the global burial flux of manganese oxides. Thallium has a residence time of ~20 thousand years, which is longer than the ocean mixing time, and it has been inferred that modern oxic seawater is conservative with respect to both concentration and isotopes. Marine sources of Tl have nearly identical isotopic values. Therefore, the Tl sinks, adsorption onto manganese oxides and low temperature oceanic crust alteration (the dominant seawater output), are the primary controls of the seawater isotopic composition. For relatively short-term, ~million years, redox events it is reasonable to assume that the dominant mechanism that alters the Tl isotopic composition of seawater is associated with manganese oxide burial because large variability in low temperature ocean crust alteration is controlled by long-term, multi-million years, average ocean crust production rates. This study presents new Tl isotope data for an open ocean transect in the South Atlantic, and depth transects for two euxinic basins (anoxic and free sulfide in the water column), the Cariaco Basin and Black Sea. The Tl isotopic signature of open ocean seawater in the South Atlantic was found to be homogeneous with ε205Tl = -6.0 ± 0.3 (± 2 SD, n = 41) while oxic waters from Cariaco and the Black Sea are -5.6 and -2.2, respectively. Combined with existing data from the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, our Atlantic data establish the conservatism of Tl isotopes in the global ocean. In contrast, partially- and predominantly-restricted basins reveal Tl isotope differences that vary between open-ocean (-6) and continental material (-2) ε205Tl, scaling with the degree of restriction. Regardless of the differences between basins, Tl is quantitatively removed from their euxinic waters below the chemocline. The burial of Tl in euxinic sediments is estimated to be an order of magnitude less than each of the modern ocean outputs and imparts no isotopic fractionation. Thallium removal into pyrite appears to be associated with a small negative fractionation between -1 and -3 ε205Tl, which renders Tl-depleted waters below the chemocline enriched in isotopically-heavy Tl. Due to the quantitative removal of Tl from euxinic seawater, Tl isotope analyses of the authigenic fraction of underlying euxinic sediments from both the Black Sea and Cariaco Basin capture the Tl isotope value of the oxic portion of their respective water column with no net isotope fractionation. Since the Tl isotope composition of seawater is largely dictated by the relative fraction of Mn-oxide burial versus oceanic crust alteration, we contend that the Tl isotope composition of authigenic Tl in black shales, deposited under euxinic conditions but well-connected to the open ocean, can be utilized to reconstruct the Tl isotope composition of seawater, and thus to reconstruct the global history of Mn-oxide burial.JDO and SGN would like to thank NSF and NASA for funding; JDO and TJH gratefully acknowledges support from the Agouron Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Transforming Growth Factor-β Stimulates the Expression of Fibronectin by Human Keratinocytes

abstractTransforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)is a 25-kD protein which has regulatory activity over a variety of cell types. It is distinct form epidermal growth factor (EGF) and EGF analogs, and exerts its action via a distinct receptor. Its effect on proliferation or differentiation can be positive or negative depending on the cell type and the presence of other growth factors. it also modulates the expression of cellular products. TGF-β causes fibroblasts to increase their production of the extracellular matrix components, fibronectin and collagen. human keratinocytes (HK) are known to have TGF-βreceptors. We wished to study the effect of TGF-β on the production of extracellular matrix proteins by human keratinocytes in culture.Human keratinocytes were grown in serum-free defined medium (MCDB-153) to about 70% confluence. Following a 16-h incubation in medium lacking EGF and TGF-β, cells were incubated for 12h in medium containing varying concentrations of EGF and TGF-β. Cells were then labeled with 35S-methionine for 10 h in the same conditions. Labeled proteins from the medium were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography.TGF-β at 10 ng/ml induced a sixfold increase in the secretion of fibronectin, as well as an unidentified 50-kD protein. Thrombospondin production was also increased, but not over a generalized twofold increase in the production of all other proteins. EGF, at 10 ng/ml, caused a smaller additive effect, TGF-β may be an important stimulator of extracellular matrix production by human keratinocytes

Quantum error-correcting codes and 4-dimensional arithmetic hyperbolic manifolds

Using 4-dimensional arithmetic hyperbolic manifolds, we construct some new homological quantum error correcting codes. They are LDPC codes with linear rate and distance $n^\epsilon$. Their rate is evaluated via Euler characteristic arguments and their distance using $\mathbb{Z}_2$-systolic geometry. This construction answers a queston of Z\'emor, who asked whether homological codes with such parameters could exist at all.Comment: 21 page

Environmental Effects on Neonatal Mortality of Beef Calves

Calving records from 1969 to 1989 from the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center were used to investigate how climatic conditions, in addition to dystocia, age of dam, size of calf, and sex affect calf survival from birth to 1 wk of age. Data were analyzed separately for cows calving with (n = 11,094) or without (n = 72,187) dystocia. Neonatal mortality was described by a logit model and parameters were estimated by maximum-likelihood procedures. Calves born to cows with dystocia were five times as likely to die neonatally than calves born without assistance. Of all calves that died, 43.6% were born with difficulty. Of these calves, survival was lowest for those that were small relative to their genetic group, sex, and age of dam. Large calves had markedly increased mortality only when born to 2-yr-old dams. Average ambient temperature and precipitation on day of calving affected survival nonlinearly and the magnitude of the effect depended on age of dam, sex and size of calf, and dystocia incidence. Calves born to 2-yr-old cows were more susceptible to severe weather conditions than calves born to older cows. The negative effect of precipitation on survival increased with decreasing temperature

Environmental Effects on Neonatal Mortality of Beef Calves

Calving records from 1969 to 1989 from the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center were used to investigate how climatic conditions, in addition to dystocia, age of dam, size of calf, and sex affect calf survival from birth to 1 wk of age. Data were analyzed separately for cows calving with (n = 11,094) or without (n = 72,187) dystocia. Neonatal mortality was described by a logit model and parameters were estimated by maximum-likelihood procedures. Calves born to cows with dystocia were five times as likely to die neonatally than calves born without assistance. Of all calves that died, 43.6% were born with difficulty. Of these calves, survival was lowest for those that were small relative to their genetic group, sex, and age of dam. Large calves had markedly increased mortality only when born to 2-yr-old dams. Average ambient temperature and precipitation on day of calving affected survival nonlinearly and the magnitude of the effect depended on age of dam, sex and size of calf, and dystocia incidence. Calves born to 2-yr-old cows were more susceptible to severe weather conditions than calves born to older cows. The negative effect of precipitation on survival increased with decreasing temperature

Partition of Environmental Chemicals between Maternal and Fetal Blood and Tissues

Passage of environmental chemicals across the placenta has important toxicological consequences, as well as for choosing samples for analysis and for interpreting the results. To obtain systematic data, we collected in 2000 maternal and cord blood, cord tissue, placenta, and milk in connection with births in the Faroe Islands, where exposures to marine contaminants is increased. In 15 sample sets, we measured a total of 87 environmental chemicals, almost all of which were detected both in maternal and fetal tissues. The maternal serum lipid-based concentrations of organohalogen compounds averaged 1.7 times those of cord serum, 2.8 times those of cord tissue and placenta, and 0.7 those of milk. For organohalogen compounds detectable in all matrices, a high degree of correlation between concentrations in maternal serum and the other tissues investigated was generally observed (r2 > 0.5). Greater degree of chlorination resulted in lower transfer from maternal serum into milk. Concentrations of pentachlorbenzene, γ-hexachlorocyclohexane, and several polychlorinated biphenyl congeners with low chlorination were higher in fetal samples and showed poor correlation with maternal levels. Perfluorinated compounds occurred in lower concentrations in cord serum than in maternal serum. Cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium were all detected in fetal samples, but only mercury showed close correlations among concentrations in different matrices. Although the environmental chemicals examined pass through the placenta and are excreted into milk, partitions between maternal and fetal samples are not uniform

Quantitative trait loci for energy balance traits in an advanced intercross line derived from mice divergently selected for heat loss

Obesity in human populations, currently a serious health concern, is considered to be the consequence of an energy imbalance in which more energy in calories is consumed than is expended. We used interval mapping techniques to investigate the genetic basis of a number of energy balance traits in an F11 advanced intercross population of mice created from an original intercross of lines selected for increased and decreased heat loss. We uncovered a total of 137 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for these traits at 41 unique sites on 18 of the 20 chromosomes in the mouse genome, with X-linked QTLs being most prevalent. Two QTLs were found for the selection target of heat loss, one on distal chromosome 1 and another on proximal chromosome 2. The number of QTLs affecting the various traits generally was consistent with previous estimates of heritabilities in the same population, with the most found for two bone mineral traits and the least for feed intake and several body composition traits. QTLs were generally additive in their effects, and some, especially those affecting the body weight traits, were sex-specific. Pleiotropy was extensive within trait groups (body weights, adiposity and organ weight traits, bone traits) and especially between body composition traits adjusted and not adjusted for body weight at sacrifice. Nine QTLs were found for one or more of the adiposity traits, five of which appeared to be unique. The confidence intervals among all QTLs averaged 13.3 Mb, much smaller than usually observed in an F2 cross, and in some cases this allowed us to make reasonable inferences about candidate genes underlying these QTLs. This study combined QTL mapping with genetic parameter analysis in a large segregating population, and has advanced our understanding of the genetic architecture of complex traits related to obesity.Peer reviewe