Relative abundance and size composition of subtidal abalone, Haliotis spp., sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus spp., and abundance of sea stars off Fitzgerald marine reserve, September 1993

Data were collected at twenty-six dive stations at seven discrete latitudes along Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (FMR). Dive stations were targeted at three stratified depth zones: shallow (6.1 m), medium (10.7 m), and deep (16.8 m) in six of the seven locations. Two types of line transects, emergent and invasive, were completed by separate dive teams at each dive station. The area surveyed totalled 1,510 m2 for emergent and 560 m2 for invasive transects. Reef habitat dominated all depth zones, with moveable boulder and cobble increasing at medium and shallow depths. Encrusting coraline and surface algae dominated (49%), followed by turf (37%), sub-canopy (11.2%), and rare canopy (0.2%). Canopy was found only at shallow depths. Turf and sub-canopy decreased with depth. Only two species of abalone, red, Haliotis rufescens, and flat, H. walallensis, were found. Flat abalone were extremely rare with only two found on invasive transects (0.004 abalone m-2). Red abalone densities were low at both emergent (0.02 abalone m-2, s.e.=O.Ol) and invasive (0.07 abalone m-2, s.e.=0.03 ) transects. Red abalone concentrations differed significantly by depth and location. No abalone were found at deep depths and only one sport-legal (178 mm shell length) abalone was found at medium depth. One commercial legal (198 mm shell length) abalone was found on the entire survey. Most sport-legal abalone were located in cryptic habitat in shallow invasive transects (38%), compared to 7% on emergent transects. The only evidence of recruitment was found on invasive transects where three young-of-the-year (<=31 mm shell length) red abalone were found. Evidence from our survey and other sources suggests that sport and commercial fisheries are not sustainable off the San Mateo coast. Red urchin, Stongylocentrotus franciscanus, were more abundant than purple urchin, S. purpuratus, or red abalone. Red urchin densities were lower in emergent (1.08 urchin m-2,s.e.=0.04) than invasive (1.52, s.e.=0.06 m-2) transects. Densities of red urchin at deep stations in areas of lower algal abundance and potentially greater commercial fishing pressure were about one-half the densities at medium and shallow depths. ANOVA showed significant differences by depth and location. Mean Test Diameter (MTD) increased from deep to medium to shallow depths, while juvenile (<=50 mm) MTD showed an inverse relationship with depth. Shallow-depth invasive transects revealed a missing mode of 83 mm red urchin. This size mode was not found in emergent transects, probably due to cryptic habitat. Purple urchin were found at low densities at all three depth strata. Purple urchin densities were comparable in emergent (0.11 urchin m-2, s.e.=0.02 ) and invasive (0.09 urchin m-2,s.e.=0.03) transects. ANOVA showed densities varied significantly by location but not depth. 'Juvenile' purple urchin abundance showed an inverse relation to juvenile red urchin, increasing from deep to shallow depths. Purple urchin MTD of 84 mm (s.d.=23) was larger than reported for intertidal areas off FMR. Sea stars were found in high abundance off FMR. Bat stars, Asterina minata, had the highest densities (0.79 sea stars m-2, s.e.=0.03) followed by Pisaster sp. (0.47 sea stars m-2,s.e.=0.03 ), and sunflower stars, Pycnopodia helianthoides, (0.11 sea stars m-2, s.e.=0.04). Pisaster sp. was the only group of sea stars where differences in density were significant by depth or location. (30pp.

A quantitative ecological study of selected nearshore marine plants and animals at the Diablo Canyon power plant site: a pre-operational baseline, 1973-1978

Biologists of the California Department of Fish and Game, under contract with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, conducted surveys or intertidal and subtidal plants and animals 1n the vicinity of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant for the summer of 1973 through 1978. Abundances of the dominant plants and animals were obtained at random as well as permanent stations in Diablo Cove as well as nearby control areas. A total of 643 permanent and random stations were surveyed, 262 in the intertidal and 381 in the subtidal. Natural as well as man-caused occurrences have resulted in several significant changes in plant and animal abundance in the study areas; these include the arrival of the southern front or the sea otter population in Diablo Cove in 1974; a strong red tide bloom in the fall of 1974; and the release of copper ions from the power plant condenser tubes into Diablo Cove during the summer of 1974. Our intertidal and subtidal random station data have shown a strong decline in giant red sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, densities and the surface canopy kelp, Nereocystis/leutkeana, and a corresponding increase in the subcanopy kelps, Pterygophora and Laminaria. Seasonal patterns of abundance of foliose red algae at random intertidal stations occurred at all study areas. Several species intertidal and subtidal invertebrates showed increasing or decreasing trends in levels of abundance during the five year study period covered by the report. Some of these changes in abundance may be related to the natural man-caused impacts mentioned above. (Document has 728 pages

MADIBA: A web server toolkit for biological interpretation of Plasmodium and plant gene clusters

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray technology makes it possible to identify changes in gene expression of an organism, under various conditions. Data mining is thus essential for deducing significant biological information such as the identification of new biological mechanisms or putative drug targets. While many algorithms and software have been developed for analysing gene expression, the extraction of relevant information from experimental data is still a substantial challenge, requiring significant time and skill.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>MADIBA (MicroArray Data Interface for Biological Annotation) facilitates the assignment of biological meaning to gene expression clusters by automating the post-processing stage. A relational database has been designed to store the data from gene to pathway for <it>Plasmodium</it>, rice and <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Tools within the web interface allow rapid analyses for the identification of the Gene Ontology terms relevant to each cluster; visualising the metabolic pathways where the genes are implicated, their genomic localisations, putative common transcriptional regulatory elements in the upstream sequences, and an analysis specific to the organism being studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MADIBA is an integrated, online tool that will assist researchers in interpreting their results and understand the meaning of the co-expression of a cluster of genes. Functionality of MADIBA was validated by analysing a number of gene clusters from several published experiments – expression profiling of the <it>Plasmodium </it>life cycle, and salt stress treatments of <it>Arabidopsis </it>and rice. In most of the cases, the same conclusions found by the authors were quickly and easily obtained after analysing the gene clusters with MADIBA. </p

Airborne antenna radiation pattern code user's manual

The use of a newly developed computer code to analyze the radiation patterns of antennas mounted on a ellipsoid and in the presence of a set of finite flat plates is described. It is shown how the code allows the user to simulate a wide variety of complex electromagnetic radiation problems using the ellipsoid/plates model. The code has the capacity of calculating radiation patterns around an arbitrary conical cut specified by the user. The organization of the code, definition of input and output data, and numerous practical examples are also presented. The analysis is based on the Uniform Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (UTD), and most of the computed patterns are compared with experimental results to show the accuracy of this solution

The FIRST-Optical-VLA Survey for Lensed Radio Lobes

We present results from a survey for gravitationally lensed radio lobes. Lensed lobes are a potentially richer source of information about galaxy mass distributions than lensed point sources, which have been the exclusive focus of other recent surveys. Our approach is to identify radio lobes in the FIRST catalog and then search optical catalogs for coincident foreground galaxies, which are candidate lensing galaxies. We then obtain higher-resolution images of these targets at both optical and radio wavelengths, and obtain optical spectra for the most promising candidates. We present maps of several radio lobes that are nearly coincident with galaxies. We have not found any new and unambiguous cases of gravitational lensing. One radio lobe in particular, FOV J0743+1553, has two hot spots that could be multiple images produced by a z=0.19 spiral galaxy, but the lensing interpretation is problematic.Comment: 38 pages, 18 figures, aastex, accepted to A

Magnetic Inflation and Stellar Mass. I. Revised Parameters for the Component Stars of the Kepler Low-mass Eclipsing Binary T-Cyg1-12664

Several low-mass eclipsing binary stars show larger than expected radii for their measured mass, metallicity, and age. One proposed mechanism for this radius inflation involves inhibited internal convection and starspots caused by strong magnetic fields. One particular eclipsing binary, T-Cyg1-12664, has proven confounding to this scenario. Çakırlı et al. measured a radius for the secondary component that is twice as large as model predictions for stars with the same mass and age, but a primary mass that is consistent with predictions. Iglesias-Marzoa et al. independently measured the radii and masses of the component stars and found that the radius of the secondary is not in fact inflated with respect to models, but that the primary is, which is consistent with the inhibited convection scenario. However, in their mass determinations, Iglesias-Marzoa et al. lacked independent radial velocity measurements for the secondary component due to the star's faintness at optical wavelengths. The secondary component is especially interesting, as its purported mass is near the transition from partially convective to a fully convective interior. In this article, we independently determined the masses and radii of the component stars of T-Cyg1-12664 using archival Kepler data and radial velocity measurements of both component stars obtained with IGRINS on the Discovery Channel Telescope and NIRSPEC and HIRES on the Keck Telescopes. We show that neither of the component stars is inflated with respect to models. Our results are broadly consistent with modern stellar evolutionary models for main-sequence M dwarf stars and do not require inhibited convection by magnetic fields to account for the stellar radii

Language and social/emotional problems identified at a universal developmental assessment at 30 months

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Increased frequency of Tim-3 expressing T cells is associated with symptomatic West Nile virus infection

More than a decade after West Nile virus (WNV) entered North America, and despite a significant increase in reported cases during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, no treatment or vaccine for humans is available. Although antiviral T cells contribute to the control of WNV, little is known about their regulation during acute infection. We analyzed the expression of Tim-3 and PD-1, two recently identified T cell negative immune checkpoint receptors, over the course of WNV infection. Symptomatic WNV+ donors exhibited higher frequencies of Tim-3+ cells than asymptomatic subjects within naïve/early differentiated CD28+/-CD57-CD4+ and differentiated CD28-CD57-CD8+ T cells. Our study links Tim-3-expression on T cells during acute WNV infection with the development of symptomatic disease, suggesting Tim-3 and its ligands could be targeted therapeutically to alter anti-WNV immunity and improve disease outcome