Increasing prevalence of epizootic shell disease in American lobster from the nearshore Gulf of Maine

Epizootic shell disease (ESD) is a significant concern to the southern New England lobster fishery. Although ESD has been reported in the southern Gulf of Maine off Massachusetts, there are few reports from Maine waters. We report on the occurrence and distribution of ESD in American lobsters from nearshore Gulf of Maine from the Maine Commercial Lobster Sea Sampling Program. Overall, average prevalence levels of ESD by trip were very low (\u3c0.16%) through 2010, then increased from 2011 to the present, reaching 1.2% in 2013. As with previous studies, recent prevalence levels in legal and sublegal (\u3c127 mm CL) animals were higher (6%–7%) in egg-bearing females than in males and non-ovigerous females. This pattern was amplified in oversized (\u3e127 mm CL) lobsters, regardless of sex and reproductive state, with much higher prevalence levels (up to 22%). Spatially, prevalence levels of ESD were significantly higher in western regions of the Gulf of Maine than off eastern Maine. Using histology and microbiome analyses, the etiology of the disease was investigated and common signs of lobsters with ESD were described. Aquimarina homari, a bacterium associated with ESD, was significantly more prevalent on lobsters with lesions and abundance was correlated with severity of ESD. Our report indicates that ESD is present on lobsters throughout the nearshore waters of the Gulf of Maine. Given the effect of the disease on lobsters from southern New England and its increasing prevalence over time, further monitoring of ESD in the Gulf of Maine is warranted

Antigen presentation deficiency, mesenchymal differentiation, and resistance to immunotherapy in the murine syngeneic CT2A tumor model

BackgroundThe GL261 and CT2A syngeneic tumor lines are frequently used as immunocompetent orthotopic mouse models of human glioblastoma (huGBM) but demonstrate distinct differences in their responses to immunotherapy.MethodsTo decipher the cell-intrinsic mechanisms that drive immunotherapy resistance in CT2A-luc and to define the aspects of human cancer biology that these lines can best model, we systematically compared their characteristics using whole exome and transcriptome sequencing, and protein analysis through immunohistochemistry, Western blot, flow cytometry, immunopeptidomics, and phosphopeptidomics.ResultsThe transcriptional profiles of GL261-luc2 and CT2A-luc tumors resembled those of some huGBMs, despite neither line sharing the essential genetic or histologic features of huGBM. Both models exhibited striking hypermutation, with clonal hotspot mutations in RAS genes (Kras p.G12C in GL261-luc2 and Nras p.Q61L in CT2A-luc). CT2A-luc distinctly displayed mesenchymal differentiation, upregulated angiogenesis, and multiple defects in antigen presentation machinery (e.g. Tap1 p.Y488C and Psmb8 p.A275P mutations) and interferon response pathways (e.g. copy number losses of loci including IFN genes and reduced phosphorylation of JAK/STAT pathway members). The defect in MHC class I expression could be overcome in CT2A-luc by interferon-γ treatment, which may underlie the modest efficacy of some immunotherapy combinations. Additionally, CT2A-luc demonstrated substantial baseline secretion of the CCL-2, CCL-5, and CCL-22 chemokines, which play important roles as myeloid chemoattractants.ConclusionAlthough the clinical contexts that can be modeled by GL261 and CT2A for huGBM are limited, CT2A may be an informative model of immunotherapy resistance due to its deficits in antigen presentation machinery and interferon response pathways

Development, Assessment, and Management of a Potential Directed Fishery for Jonah Crab, (\u3cem\u3eCancer borealis\u3c/em\u3e), in the Near Shore Gulf of Maine

In the nearshore Gulf of Maine, Jonah crab, Cancer borealis, has been an incidental catch of the lobster industry for nearly a century. Recent increases in the landings and apparent abundance of Jonah crab initiated new interest in a potential fishery. Little information is known about the life history of the Jonah crab and neither state nor federal management directly regulate the Jonah crab. My research, driven by fishermen interest and the Maine DMR’s concern about insufficient knowledge for the barely regulated Jonah crab, begins to delve into the basics of developing an effective fisheries independent crab survey, the present characteristics of fishing mortality, and the crab fishery potential. I assisted in the development of a video survey targeting crab in Spring 2004 and evaluated the effectiveness of the approach. Despite the small sample size, I conclude that in the early spring, crabs likely associate with complex habitat and shallow water and are strongly influenced by temperature. I estimate key life history parameters using a length frequency analysis method, develop biological reference points, and then compare them with current fishing mortality estimates to determine the population status. I conclude that the present fishing level is unlikely to be overfishing the stock, but there is a high level of uncertainty associated with the assessment. The experimental Jonah crab trap project explores the potential of a directed Jonah crab trap and fishery. In the duration of the project, interest and participation by fishermen greatly diminished along with the landings of crab coast wide, but my observer trips and analysis of the participant logbook reports provide evidence that the experimental trap reduces bycatch of regulated species and could be used for commercial harvest of crabs. A socio-economic survey sent to active and non-active participants to determine fishermen’s motivations found most fishermen acquired a permit to take advantage of a new opportunity to diversify their catch if crab became a directed, but limited, fishery. The fishermen saw the potential of a new fishery if the market value improved. The future use of the Jonah crab specific trap has a number of obstacles including the continued effort and potential of the full lobster industry and the protected resource issues of minimizing whale entanglements with fixed gear by reducing that gear in high risk areas. My research takes the first crucial steps to approach Jonah crab from the biological, social, and fisheries perspective needed to begin to evaluate prospective management, but the scope of knowledge in Jonah crab biology and its role in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem needs to be increased. I found the lack of a market and limited access to crab has prevented reckless and unsustainable harvest of Jonah crab in the nearshore Gulf of Maine, but under other conditions, the effort could increase. Managers from all the states that report Jonah crab landings must work together to better characterize the scale of effort inshore and offshore on the stock and determine the risks and potential increase of effort on the Jonah crab

Leveraging the Open Science Framework in Clinical Psychological Assessment Research

The last decade has seen enormous advances in research transparency in psychology. One of these advances has been the creation of a common interface for openness across the sciences – the Open Science Framework (OSF). While social, personality, and cognitive psychologists have been at the fore in participating in open practices on the OSF, clinical psychology has trailed behind. In this paper, we discuss the advantages and special considerations for clinical assessment researchers’ participation in open science broadly, and specifically in using the OSF for these purposes. We use several studies from our lab to illustrate the uses of the OSF for psychological studies, as well as the process of implementing this tool in assessment research. Among these studies are an archival assessment study, a project using an extensive unpublished assessment battery, and one in which we developed a short-form assessment instrument

Leveraging the Open Science Framework in Clinical Psychological Assessment Research

The last decade has seen enormous advances in research transparency in psychology. One of these advances has been the creation of a common interface for openness across the sciences – the Open Science Framework (OSF). While social, personality, and cognitive psychologists have been at the fore in participating in open practices on the OSF, clinical psychology has trailed behind. In this paper, we discuss the advantages and special considerations for clinical assessment researchers’ participation in open science broadly, and specifically in using the OSF for these purposes. We use several studies from our lab to illustrate the uses of the OSF for psychological studies, as well as the process of implementing this tool in assessment research. Among these studies are an archival assessment study, a project using an extensive unpublished assessment battery, and one in which we developed a short-form assessment instrument

Theories of Personality

The study of personality development has seen significant advances in the last two decades. For many years, youth and adult individual differences were studied from separate theoretical standpoints. However, more recent research has indicated that teenagers display personality traits in many of the same ways as adults. These personality traits are moderately stable throughout the life course, but there are important developmental shifts in their expression, structure, and maturation, especially in adolescence. This has resulted in an effort to study youth personality “in its own right” (Tackett, Kushner, De Fruyt, & Mervielde, 2013). Early personality associations with important lifelong outcomes including academic achievement, mental health, and interpersonal relationships further underscore the importance of studying traits in youth. Here we discuss current consensus and controversy on adolescent personality and highlight foundational research on the topic