Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward County, FL 1990 Report

Since 1978, the Broward County Environmental Protection Department (BCEPD) has provided for the conservation of endangered and threatened sea turtle species within its area of responsibility. Broward County is within the normal nesting areas of three species of sea turtles: the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). The loggerhead is listed as a threatened species, while the green and leatherback are listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, 1973, and Chapter 370, F.S. Since these statutes strictly forbid any disturbance of sea turtles and their nests, conservation activities involving the relocation of nests from hazardous locations (especially necessary along heavily developed coasts) require permitting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In Florida, this permit is issued to the Florida Department of Natural Resources (FDNR), which subsequently issues permits to individuals. universities and government agencies. This project was administered by the BCEPD and conducted by the Nova University Oceanographic Center under Marine Turtle Permit #129, issued to the BCEPD by the FDNR Institute of Marine Research, St. Petersburg, Florida. The BCEPD is especially concerned with any environmental effects of intermittent beach renourishment projects on shorelines and the offshore reefs. As part of this concern, the BCEPD has maintained the sea turtle conservation program in non-renourishment years to provide a continuous data base. Operation of the program is competitively bid and a contract award is issued based on a selection committee review of submitted bids through a weighted point factor procedure. Nova University was awarded the contract to conduct the 1990 program. In addition to fulfilling statutory requirements, the purposes of the project were: to relocate eggs from nests deposited in sites threatened by natural processes or human activities and thus maximize hatchling recruitment, to accurately survey sea turtle nesting patterns to determine any historical trends and assess natural and anthropogenic factors affecting nesting patterns and densities, to assess the success of sea turtle recruitment and of hatchery operations in terms of nesting success, hatching success and total hatchlings released, to dispose of turtle carcasses, respond to strandlngs and other emergencies and maintain a hot-line for reporting of turtle incidents, and to inform and educate the public on sea turtles and their conservation

Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward County, FL 1992 Report

Since 1978, the Broward County Environmental Protection Department (BCEPD) has provided for the conservation of endangered and threatened sea turtle species within its area of responsibility. Broward County is within the normal nesting areas of three species of sea turtles: the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). The loggerhead is listed as a threatened species, while the green and leatherback are listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, 1973, and Chapter 370, F.S. Since these statutes strictly forbid any disturbance of sea turtles and their nests, conservation activities involving the relocation of nests from hazardous locations (especially necessary along heavily developed coasts) require permitting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In Florida, this permit is issued to the Florida Department of Natural Resources (FDNR), which subsequently issues permits to individuals. universities and government agencies. This project was administered by the BCDNRP and conducted by the Nova University Oceanographic Center under Marine Turtle Permit #129, issued to the BCDNRP by the FDNR Institute of Marine Research, St. Petersburg, Florida. The BCDNRP is especially concerned with any environmental effects of intermittent beach renourishment projects on shorelines and the offshore reefs. As part of this concern, the BCDNRP has maintained the sea turtle conservation program in non-renourishment years to provide a continuous data base. Operation of the program is competitively bid and a contract award is issued based on a selection committee review of submitted bids through a weighted point factor procedure. Nova University was awarded the contract to conduct the 1992 program. In addition to fulfilling statutory requirements, the purposes of the project were: to relocate eggs from nests deposited in sites threatened by natural processes or human activities and thus maximize hatchling recruitment, to accurately survey sea turtle nesting patterns to determine any historical trends and assess natural and anthropogenic factors affecting nesting patterns and densities, to assess the success of sea turtle recruitment and of hatchery operations in terms of nesting success, hatching success and total hatchlings released, to dispose of turtle carcasses, respond to strandlngs and other emergencies and maintain a hot-line for reporting of turtle incidents, and to inform and educate the public on sea turtles and their conservation

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Challenges of Costing Demand Creation in Eastern and Southern Africa

BACKGROUND: This paper proposes an approach to estimating the costs of demand creation for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) scale-up in 13 countries of eastern and southern Africa. It addresses two key questions: (1) what are the elements of a standardized package for demand creation? And (2) what challenges exist and must be taken into account in estimating the costs of demand creation? METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a key informant study on VMMC demand creation using purposive sampling to recruit seven people who provide technical assistance to government programs and manage budgets for VMMC demand creation. Key informants provided their views on the important elements of VMMC demand creation and the most effective funding allocations across different types of communication approaches (e.g., mass media, small media, outreach/mobilization). The key finding was the wide range of views, suggesting that a standard package of core demand creation elements would not be universally applicable. This underscored the importance of tailoring demand creation strategies and estimates to specific country contexts before estimating costs. The key informant interviews, supplemented by the researchers' field experience, identified these issues to be addressed in future costing exercises: variations in the cost of VMMC demand creation activities by country and program, decisions about the quality and comprehensiveness of programming, and lack of data on critical elements needed to "trigger the decision" among eligible men. CONCLUSIONS: Based on this study's findings, we propose a seven-step methodological approach to estimate the cost of VMMC scale-up in a priority country, based on our key assumptions. However, further work is needed to better understand core components of a demand creation package and how to cost them. Notwithstanding the methodological challenges, estimating the cost of demand creation remains an essential element in deriving estimates of the total costs for VMMC scale-up in eastern and southern Africa

The Influence of Physical and Anthropogenic Factors on the Distribution of Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) Nests in Broward County, Florida. (1990-1999)

The distribution of loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nests in Broward County was analyzed, using data from the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Project, to determine what features of the beach or nearby areas attract or repel nesting females. Two of the goals of this study were to determine if nest density had increased over time and if the yearly distribution of nests was consistently high or low in the same areas. Comparisons used data collected from eighty-four zones of equal length over a ten-year period (1990-1999). Both physical and human-related (anthropogenic) characteristics of each beach zone and adjoining offshore areas were also examined using multivariate regression analysis. Nest density per zone between zones differed significantly over the study period. Nest density within an individual zone remained statistically similar (some zones were preferred over others); zones that contained relatively high (or low) numbers of nests in one year also did so in all other years. Light intensity and an index of the ease of public access combined explain 35.6% of the variance in nest density per zone that was found. There was no significant relationship detected between nesting density per zone and beach width, offshore slope, and onshore slope

Novel candidate cancer genes identified by a large-scale cross-species comparative oncogenomics approach

While genomic alterations identified in human tumors using techniques such as comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) may be recurrent, they frequently encompass large regions, in some cases containing hundreds of genes. Here we combine high-resolution CGH analysis of 598 human cancer cell lines with insertion sites isolated from 1,005 mouse tumors induced with the Murine Leukaemia Virus (MuLV). This cross-species oncogenomic analysis revealed candidate tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes recurrently mutated in both human and mouse tumors, making them strong candidate cancer genes. A significant number of these genes contained binding sites for the transcription factors Oct4 and Nanog and mice carrying tumors with insertions in or near stem cell module genes, genes that are thought to participate in self-renewal, died significantly faster than mice without these insertions. The profile of MuLV insertions that we identified was compared to insertions isolated from 73 tumors induced using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system revealing significant differences in the profile of recurrently mutated genes. Collectively this work provides a rich catalogue of candidate genes for follow-up functional analysis