Development of a 3D coculture system to study adipocyte and lymph node cell interactions

We have developed a long term 3-dimensional coculture system with adipocytes and lymph node cells for the purpose of investigating interactions between these cells in vitro. Present experimental work with the culture system is aimed at introducing lymph node cells, in proportions similar to those found in intact lymph nodes, among differentiated adipocytes and observing interactions and the establishment of a spatial relationship between them. Co-cultures will be used to investigate the lymph node adipocyte interactions following immune stimulation (lipopolysaccharide treatment) measuring production of inflammatory mediators (cytokines) and lipolytic activity

Trends and Potential Interactions Between Pinnipeds and Fisheries of New England and the U.S. West Coast

Long-term trends in the abundance and distribution of several pinniped species and commercially important fisheries of New England and the contiguous U.S. west coast are reviewed, and their actual and potential interactions discussed. Emphasis is on biological interactions or competition. The pinnipeds include the western North Atlantic stock of harbor seals, Phoca vitulina concolor; western North Atlantic gray seals, Halochoerus grypus; the U.S. stock of California sea lions, Zalophus californianus californianus; the eastern stock of Steller sea lions, Eumetopias jubatus; and Pacific harbor seals, Phoca vitulina richardii. Fisheries included are those for Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua; silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis; Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus; the coastal stock of Pacific whiting, Merluccius productus; market squid, Loligo opalescens; northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax; Pacific her-ring, Clupea pallasi; and Pacific sardine, Sardinops sagax. Most of these pinniped populations have grown exponentially since passage of the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. They exploit a broad prey assemblage that includes several commercially valuable species. Direct competition with fisheries is therefore possible, as is competition for the prey of commercially valuable fish. The expanding pinniped populations, fluctuations in commercial fish biomass, and level of exploitation by the fisheries may affect this potential for competition. Concerns over pinnipeds impacting fisheries (especially those with localized spawning stocks or at low biomass levels) are more prevalent than concerns over fisheries’ impacts on pinnipeds. This review provides a framework to further evaluate potential biological interactions between these pinniped populations and the commercial fisheries with which they occur

Relationship between fish size and otolith length for 63 species of fishes from the Eastern North Pacific Ocean

Otoliths commonly are used to determine the taxon, age, and size of fishes. This information is useful for population management, predator-prey studies, and archaeological research. The relationship between the length of a fish and the length of its otoliths remains unknown for many species of marine fishes in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the relationships between fish length and fish weight, and between otolith length and fish length, were developed for 63 species of fishes caught in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. We also summarized similar relationships for 46 eastern North Pacific fish species reported in the literature. The relationship between fish length and otolith length was linear, and most of the variability was explained by a simple least-squares regression (r 2 > 0.700 for 45 of 63 species). The relationship between otolith length and fish length was not significantly different between left and right otoliths for all but one fish species. Images of otoliths from 77 taxa are included to assist in the identification of species. (PDF file contains 38 pages.

Developing an integrated and interdisciplinary information platform for volcanic hazard and risk data

In recent years, the volcanology community has begun to acknowledge the need to better organise and integrate their data to enable their research; however a key issue to resolve is how to integrate databases at a volcano or national scale in such a way that we can expand them to a regional and ultimately global scale and, through various tools, be able to share the data for effective research. By presenting examples of recent collaborations, we demonstrate the need to adopt common methodologies for data collation, integration and common vocabularies for QA procedures. Through the GVM network, we are moving towards an integrated and interdisciplinary information platform that brings together the multitude of volcanic datasets with data discovery, access and download tools for scientists. The ultimate goal is to enable linkages with other research data systems by providing programmable interfaces to extend data discoverability to regional and global scales for broader scientific research

An interdisciplinary approach to volcanic risk reduction under conditions of uncertainty: a case study of Tristan da Cunha

The uncertainty brought about by intermittent volcanic activity is fairly common at volcanoes worldwide. While better knowledge of any one volcano's behavioural characteristics has the potential to reduce this uncertainty, the subsequent reduction of risk from volcanic threats is only realised if that knowledge is pertinent to stakeholders and effectively communicated to inform good decision making. Success requires integration of methods, skills and expertise across disciplinary boundaries. This research project develops and trials a novel interdisciplinary approach to volcanic risk reduction on the remote volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha (South Atlantic). For the first time, volcanological techniques, probabilistic decision support and social scientific methods were integrated in a single study. New data were produced that (1) established no spatio-temporal pattern to recent volcanic activity; (2) quantified the high degree of scientific uncertainty around future eruptive scenarios; (3) analysed the physical vulnerability of the community as a consequence of their geographical isolation and exposure to volcanic hazards; (4) evaluated social and cultural influences on vulnerability and resilience; and (5) evaluated the effectiveness of a scenario planning approach, both as a method for integrating the different strands of the research and as a way of enabling on-island decision makers to take ownership of risk identification and management, and capacity building within their community. The paper provides empirical evidence of the value of an innovative interdisciplinary framework for reducing volcanic risk. It also provides evidence for the strength that comes from integrating social and physical sciences with the development of effective, tailored engagement and communication strategies in volcanic risk reduction

VOLCANS: an objective, structured and reproducible method for identifying sets of analogue volcanoes

The definition of a suite of analogue volcanoes, or volcanoes that are considered to share enough characteristics as to be considered exchangeable to a certain extent, is becoming a key component of volcanic hazard assessment. This is particularly the case for volcanoes where data are lacking or scarce. Moreover, volcano comparisons have often been based on similarities and differences inferred through expert judgement and not necessarily informed by volcano characteristics from global datasets. These similarities can be based on a range of features, from very simplified (e.g. statrovolcanoes) to very specific (e.g. detailed eruption chronologies), and may be strongly influenced by the personal experience of individuals or teams conducting the analogue analysis. In this work, we present VOLCANS (VOLCano ANalogues Search)—an objective, structured and reproducible method to identify sets of analogue volcanoes from global volcanological databases. Five overarching criteria (tectonic setting, rock geochemistry, volcano morphology, eruption size and eruption style), and a structured combination of them, are used to quantify overall multi-criteria volcano analogy. This innovative method is complementary to expert-derived sets of analogue volcanoes and provides the user with full flexibility to weigh the criteria and identify analogue volcanoes applicable to varied purposes. Some results are illustrated for three volcanoes with diverse features and significant recent and/or ongoing eruptions: Kı̄lauea (USA), Fuego (Guatemala) and Sinabung (Indonesia). The identified analogue volcanoes correspond well with a priori analogue volcanoes derived from expert knowledge. In some cases, single-criterion searches may not be able to isolate a reduced set of analogue volcanoes but any multi-criteria search can provide high degrees of granularity in the sets of analogue volcanoes obtained. Data quality and quantity can be important factors, especially for single-criterion searches and volcanoes with very scarce data (e.g. Sinabung). Nevertheless, the method gives stable results overall across multi-criteria searches of analogue volcanoes. Potential uses of VOLCANS range from quantitative volcanic hazard assessment to promoting fundamental understanding of volcanic processes

Multilocus sequence typing of Cronobacter sakazakii and Cronobacter malonaticus reveals stable clonal structures with clinical significance which do not correlate with biotypes

Background: The Cronobacter genus (Enterobacter sakazakii) has come to prominence due to its association with infant infections, and the ingestion of contaminated reconstituted infant formula. C. sakazakii and C. malonaticus are closely related, and are defined according their biotype. Due to the ubiquitous nature of the organism, and the high severity of infection for the immunocompromised, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme has been developed for the fast and reliable identification and discrimination of C. sakazakii and C. malonaticus strains. It was applied to 60 strains of C. sakazakii and 16 strains of C. malonaticus, including the index strains used to define the biotypes. The strains were from clinical and non-clinical sources between 1951 and 2008 in USA, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the Far East. Results: This scheme uses 7 loci; atpD, fusA, glnS, gltB, gyrB, infB, and pps. There were 12 sequence types (ST) identified in C. sakazakii, and 3 in C. malonaticus. A third (22/60) of C. sakazakii strains were in ST4, which had almost equal numbers of clinical and infant formula isolates from 1951 to 2008. ST8 may represent a particularly virulent grouping of C. sakazakii as 7/8 strains were clinical in origin which had been isolated between 1977 - 2006, from four countries. C. malonaticus divided into three STs. The previous Cronobacter biotyping scheme did not clearly correspond with STs nor with species. Conclusion: In conclusion, MLST is a more robust means of identifying and discriminating between C. sakazakii and C. malonaticus than biotyping. The MLST database for these organisms is available online at http://pubmlst.org/cronobacter