A Simple Web-Based Tool to Compare Freshwater Fish Data Collected Using AFS Standard Methods

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) recently published Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes. Enlisting the expertise of 284 scientists from 107 organizations throughout Canada, Mexico, and the United States, this text was developed to facilitate comparisons of fish data across regions or time. Here we describe a user-friendly web tool that automates among-sample comparisons in individual fish condition, population length-frequency distributions, and catch per unit effort (CPUE) data collected using AFS standard methods. Currently, the web tool (1) provides instantaneous summaries of almost 4,000 data sets of condition, length frequency, and CPUE of common freshwater fishes collected using standard gears in 43 states and provinces; (2) is easily appended with new standardized field data to update subsequent queries and summaries; (3) compares fish data from a particular water body with continent, ecoregion, and state data summaries; and (4) provides additional information about AFS standard fish sampling including benefits, ongoing validation studies, and opportunities to comment on specific methods. The web tool—programmed in a PHP-based Drupal framework—was supported by several AFS Sections, agencies, and universities and is freely available from the AFS website and fisheriesstandardsampling.org. With widespread use, the online tool could become an important resource for fisheries biologists

The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort study: Assessment of environmental exposures

The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development birth cohort was designed to elucidate interactions between environment and genetics underlying development of asthma and allergy. Over 3600 pregnant mothers were recruited from the general population in four provinces with diverse environments. The child is followed to age 5 years, with prospective characterization of diverse exposures during this critical period. Key exposure domains include indoor and outdoor air pollutants, inhalation, ingestion and dermal uptake of chemicals, mold, dampness, biological allergens, pets and pests, housing structure, and living behavior, together with infections, nutrition, psychosocial environment, and medications. Assessments of early life exposures are focused on those linked to inflammatory responses driven by the acquired and innate immune systems. Mothers complete extensive environmental questionnaires including time-activity behavior at recruitment and when the child is 3, 6, 12, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 months old. House dust collected during a thorough home assessment at 3–4 months, and biological specimens obtained for multiple exposure-related measurements, are archived for analyses. Geo-locations of homes and daycares and land-use regression for estimating traffic-related air pollution complement time-activity-behavior data to provide comprehensive individual exposure profiles. Several analytical frameworks are proposed to address the many interacting exposure variables and potential issues of co-linearity in this complex data set

Alkaloid Levels in Reed Canarygrass Grown on Wet Meadows in British Columbia

Hordenine, gramine, and 5-methoxy-N-methyltryptamine (5MMT) were identified as the major basic alkaloids in reed canarygrass grown on wet meadows in Interior British Columbia. The concentrations of these anti-quality constituents, determined sequentially at four field locations, were exceptionally low compared with levels found for reed canarygrass grown under growth room conditions. Under field conditions, for example, 5MMT levels did not exceed 250 micrograms/gram (dry wt), whereas a peak level of 4,250 micrograms/gram 5MMT was recorded from the growth room. Depressed alkaloid levels under wet meadow field conditions were observed in all varieties tested including two experimental varieties, one registered variety, and a commercial type. Low alkaloid levels on wet meadows appeared to coincide with fewer types of alkaloids: 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5DMT) was not detected under field conditions but it was present in all reed canarygrass samples analyzed from the growth room. Field applications of fertilizer (NPK) appeared to have marginal effects on alkaloid levels. On wet meadows the trends indicated that gramine and 5MMT concentrations increased toward the end of the growing season, but low total alkaloid levels were still maintained. The factor of soil moisture stress is reviewed in relation to alkaloid levels in reed canarygrass. Recently developed thin layer chromatography (TLC) scanning procedures were used to determine concentrations of gramine and 5MMT. New TLC fluorescence methods were devised for the quantitative determination of hordenine and 5DMT in reed canarygrass.This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202

Effect of continuous positive airway pressure on blood pressure in obstructive sleep apnea with cardiovascular disease

Abstract not availableEmer Van Ryswyk, Craig S. Anderson, Ferran Barbe, Kelly A. Loffler, Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho, Yuanming Luo, Weiwei Quan, Jiguang Wang, Danni Zheng and R. Doug McEvoy, on behalf of the SAVE Investigators and Coordinator

Green, Enzymatic Syntheses of Divanillin and Diapocynin for the Organic, Biochemistry, or Advanced General Chemistry Laboratory

Environmentally benign chemistry is an increasingly important topic both in the classroom and the laboratory. In this experiment, students synthesize divanillin from vanillin or diapocynin from apocynin, using horseradish peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide in water. The dimerized products form rapidly at ambient temperature and are isolated by filtration. The products are readily distinguished from starting materials by solubility, NMR spectroscopy, or melting point analysis. The experiment is adaptable to an organic chemistry course in the context of radical reactions of phenols, to a biochemistry course in the context of metalloenzymes, or to an advanced general chemistry course in the context of green chemistry

Predictors of long-term adherence to continuous positive airway pressure in patients with obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease

Study Objectives: Poor adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) commonly affects therapeutic response in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We aimed to determine predictors of adherence to CPAP among participants of the Sleep Apnea and cardioVascular Endpoints (SAVE) trial. Methods: SAVE was an international, randomized, open trial of CPAP plus usual care versus usual care (UC) alone in participants (45-75 years) with co-occurring moderate-to-severe OSA (≥12 episodes/h of ≥4% oxygen desaturation) and established cardiovascular (CV) disease. Baseline sociodemographic, health and lifestyle factors, OSA symptoms, and 1-month change in daytime sleepiness, as well as CPAP side effects and adherence (during sham screening, titration week, and in the first month), were entered in univariate linear regression analyses to identify predictors of CPAP adherence at 24 months. Variables with p <0.2 were assessed for inclusion in a multivariate linear mixed model with country, age, and sex included a priori and site as a random effect. Results: Significant univariate predictors of adherence at 24 months in 1,121 participants included: early adherence measures, improvement in daytime sleepiness at 1 month, fixed CPAP pressure, some measures of OSA severity, cardiovascular disease history, breathing pauses, and very loud snoring. While observed adherence varied between countries, adherence during sham screening, initial titration, and the first month of treatment retained independent predictive value in the multivariate model along with fixed CPAP pressure and very loud snoring. Conclusions: Early CPAP adherence had the greatest predictive value for identifying those at highest risk of non-adherence to long-term CPAP therapy.Emer Van Ryswyk, Craig S. Anderson, Nicholas A. Antic, Ferran Barbe, Lia Bittencourt, Ruth Freed, Emma Heeley, Zhihong Liu, Kelly A. Loffler, Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho, Yuanming Luo, Maria J. Masdeu Margalef, R. Doug McEvoy, Olga Mediano, Sutapa Mukherjee, Qiong Ou, Richard Woodman, Xilong Zhang, and Ching Li Chai-Coetzer, on behalf of the SAVE Investigators and Coordinator