Discriminating nursery grounds of juvenile plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in the south-eastern Irish Sea using otolith microchemistry

Nursery grounds are valuable habitats providing sources of food and refuge during early life stages for many commercially caught marine fish. Distinguishing between different nursery grounds and identifying habitat origin using trace elemental concentrations in aragonite structures of teleost fish has proved valuable in fish ecology and fisheries. This study aimed to (1) compare chemical signatures (elemental fingerprints) within sagittal otoliths of juvenile European plaice Pleuronectes platessa sampled from known nursery habitats in the south-eastern Irish Sea and (2) assess their potential and robustness as natural tags for identifying nursery grounds for the putative south-eastern Irish Sea plaice stock. Otoliths from juvenile plaice (‘1-group’, 6 to 15 cm total length) were obtained from 8 nursery grounds in coastal areas off north-west England and north Wales (including Anglesey) between June and August 2008. Solution-based inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry determined the concentrations of 10 elements (Li, Na, Mg, K, Mn, Zn, Rb, Sr, Sn, Ba), with significant differences in otolith element composition observed between all nursery grounds. Cross-validation linear discriminant function analysis (CV-LDFA) classified fish to their nursery ground of capture (46.2 to 93.3%), with a total group CV-LDFA accuracy of 71.0%. CV-LDFA between regions (north-west England and north Wales) classified fish with 82% accuracy. The discrimination of juvenile plaice from all 8 nursery grounds within the south-eastern Irish Sea using otolith microchemistry offers significant opportunities in the development of future effective fisheries management strategies through understanding the supply of juveniles from specific nursery grounds and adult plaice in the south-eastern Irish Sea

Popular and unpopular infectious agents linked to primary biliary cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a progressive cholestatic liver disease characterized by the autoimmune destruction of the biliary epithelial cells of the small and medium-size bile ducts. The disease affects middle aged women and usually affects more than one member within a family. The pathognomonic serological hallmark of the disease is the presence of circulating anti-mitochondrial antibodies, and disease-specific anti-nuclear antibodies. Susceptibility genes and environmental risk factors such as infections and smoking have been reported as important for the development of the disease. Among the environmental agents, infectious triggers are the best studied. Most of the work published so far has investigated the role of infections caused by Novosphingobium aromaticivorans and Escherichia coli. This review will discuss the popular and unpopular infectious agents causatively linked to PBC. It will also examine reports investigating the epidemiological aspects of the disease and their direct or indirect implications to bacterial-induced PBC. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Italia