The Economic Value of Rebuilding Fisheries

The global demand for protein from seafood –- whether wild, caught or cultured, whether for direct consumption or as feed for livestock –- is high and projected to continue growing. However, the ocean's ability to meet this demand is uncertain due to either mismanagement or, in some cases, lack of management of marine fish stocks. Efforts to rebuild and recover the world's fisheries will benefit from an improved understanding of the long-term economic benefits of recovering collapsed stocks, the trajectory and duration of different rebuilding approaches, variation in the value and timing of recovery for fisheries with different economic, biological, and regulatory characteristics, including identifying which fisheries are likely to benefit most from recovery, and the benefits of avoiding collapse in the first place. These questions are addressed in this paper using a dynamic bioeconomic optimisation model that explicitly accounts for economics, management, and ecology of size-structured exploited fish populations. Within this model framework, different management options (effort controls on small-, medium-, and large-sized fish) including management that optimises economic returns over a specified planning horizon are simulated and the consequences compared. The results show considerable economic gains from rebuilding fisheries, with magnitudes varying across fisheries

Ventricular Tachycardia in the Absence of Structural Heart Disease

In up to 10% of patients who present with ventricular tachycardia (VT), obvious structural heart disease is not identified. In such patients, causes of ventricular arrhythmia include right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) VT, extrasystoles, idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia (ILVT), idiopathic propranolol-sensitive VT (IPVT), catecholaminergic polymorphic VT (CPVT), Brugada syndrome, and long QT syndrome (LQTS). RVOT VT, ILVT, and IPVT are referred to as idiopathic VT and generally do not have a familial basis. RVOT VT and ILVT are monomorphic, whereas IPVT may be monomorphic or polymorphic. The idiopathic VTs are classified by the ventricle of origin, the response to pharmacologic agents, catecholamine dependence, and the specific morphologic features of the arrhythmia. CPVT, Brugada syndrome, and LQTS are inherited ion channelopathies. CPVT may present as bidirectional VT, polymorphic VT, or catecholaminergic ventricular fibrillation. Syncope and sudden death in Brugada syndrome are usually due to polymorphic VT. The characteristic arrhythmia of LQTS is torsades de pointes. Overall, patients with idiopathic VT have a better prognosis than do patients with ventricular arrhythmias and structural heart disease. Initial treatment approach is pharmacologic and radiofrequency ablation is curative in most patients. However, radiofrequency ablation is not useful in the management of inherited ion channelopathies. Prognosis for patients with VT secondary to ion channelopathies is variable. High-risk patients (recurrent syncope and sudden cardiac death survivors) with inherited ion channelopathies benefit from implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement. This paper reviews the mechanism, clinical presentation, and management of VT in the absence of structural heart disease

Platelet-Rich Fibrin: Utilization in the Treatment of Periodontitis

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the supporting structures of the teeth and results in loss of supporting bone around the teeth leading to eventual tooth loss. It is a multifactorial disease that involves bacteria and host responses. Advanced options to treat periodontitis are aimed at regeneration procedures to restore lost periodontal structures. These include bone replacement grafts and the use of biological materials to enhance regeneration. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is an autologous platelet-rich concentrate derived from a fibrin clot and is a natural source of growth factors derived from platelets, which are released over time and have been shown to have potential in periodontal procedures to enhance wound healing and regeneration. This chapter will focus on the past, current and future scope of PRF for treating periodontitis

Chirp subbottom profiler for quantitative sediment analysis

A wide‐band, frequency‐modulated, subbottom profiling system (the chirp sonar) can remotely determine the acoustic attenuation of ocean sediments and produce artifact‐free sediment profiles in real time. The chirp sonar is controlled by a minicomputer which performs analog‐to‐digital and digital‐to‐analog conversion, correlation processing, and attenuation estimation in real time. The minicomputer generates an FM pulse that is phase‐ and amplitude‐compensated to correct for the sonar system response. Such precise waveform control helps suppress correlation noise and source ringing. The chirp sonar, which has an effective bandwidth of 5 kHz, can generate chirp (Klauder) wavelets with a tuning thickness (Rayleigh’s criterion for resolution) of approximately 0.1 ms. After each return is correlated, a computationally fast algorithm estimates the attenuation of subbottom reflections by waveform matching with a theoretically attenuated waveform. This algorithm obtains an attenuation estimate by minimizing the mean‐square error between the autocorrelation function of the theoretically attenuated wavelet and the autocorrelation function of the subbottom reflection. The chirp sonar was tested in Narragansett Bay, R.I. along a line that had been previously cored. Experimental results show that correlation noise from the seafloor reflection was below −60 dB, the quantization noise level, thereby allowing detection of small subbottom impedance contrasts and accurate estimation of attenuation. Attenuation coefficient estimates from this sandy region agree with in‐situ measurements made by other investigators

Rodent Aβ Modulates the Solubility and Distribution of Amyloid Deposits in Transgenic Mice

The amino acid sequence of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is highly conserved, and age-related Abeta aggregates have been described in a variety of vertebrate animals, with the notable exception of mice and rats. Three amino acid substitutions distinguish mouse and human Abeta that might contribute to their differing properties in vivo. To examine the amyloidogenic potential of mouse Abeta, we studied several lines of transgenic mice overexpressing wild-type mouse amyloid precursor protein (moAPP) either alone or in conjunction with mutant PS1 (PS1dE9). Neither overexpression of moAPP alone nor co-expression with PS1dE9 caused mice to develop Alzheimer-type amyloid pathology by 24 months of age. We further tested whether mouse Abeta could accelerate the deposition of human Abeta by crossing the moAPP transgenic mice to a bigenic line expressing human APPswe with PS1dE9. The triple transgenic animals (moAPP x APPswe/PS1dE9) produced 20% more Abeta but formed amyloid deposits no faster and to no greater extent than APPswe/PS1dE9 siblings. Instead, the additional mouse Abeta increased the detergent solubility of accumulated amyloid and exacerbated amyloid deposition in the vasculature. These findings suggest that, although mouse Abeta does not influence the rate of amyloid formation, the incorporation of Abeta peptides with differing sequences alters the solubility and localization of the resulting aggregates

The Relationship Between Disperal Ability and Geographic Range Size

There are a variety of proposed evolutionary and ecological explanations for why some species have more extensive geographical ranges than others. One of the most common explanations is variation in species’ dispersal ability. However, the purported relationship between dispersal distance and range size has been subjected to few theoretical investigations, and empirical tests reach conflicting conclusions. We attempt to reconcile the equivocal results of previous studies by reviewing and synthesizing quantitative dispersal data, examining the relationship between average dispersal ability and range size for different spatial scales, regions and taxonomic groups. We use extensive data from marine taxa whose average dispersal varies by seven orders of magnitude. Our results suggest dispersal is not a general determinant of range size, but can play an important role in some circumstances. We also review the mechanistic theories proposed to explain a positive relationship between range size and dispersal and explore their underlying rationales and supporting or refuting evidence. Despite numerous studies assuming a priori that dispersal influences range size, this is the first comprehensive conceptual evaluation of these ideas. Overall, our results indicate that although dispersal can be an important process moderating species’ distributions, increased attention should be paid to other processes responsible for range size variation

Conservation of gene function in the Solanaceae as revealed by comparative mapping of domestication traits in eggplant

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for domestication-related traits were identified in an interspecific F2 population of eggplant (Solanum linnaeanum × S. melongena). Although 62 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified in two locations, most of the dramatic phenotypic differences in fruit weight, shape, color, and plant prickliness that distinguish cultivated eggplant from its wild relative could be attributed to six loci with major effects. Comparison of the genomic locations of the eggplant fruit weight, fruit shape, and color QTL with the positions of similar loci in tomato, potato, and pepper revealed that 40% of the different loci have putative orthologous counterparts in at least one of these other crop species. Overall, the results suggest that domestication of the Solanaceae has been driven by mutations in a very limited number of target loci with major phenotypic effects, that selection pressures were exerted on the same loci despite the crops' independent domestications on different continents, and that the morphological diversity of these four crops can be explained by divergent mutations at these loci.U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative Cooperative Grants Program (no. 96-35300-3646); The Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (no. US 2427-94); The National Science Foundation (No. 9872617) to S.D.T

uPAR induces epithelial–mesenchymal transition in hypoxic breast cancer cells

Hypoxia activates genetic programs that facilitate cell survival; however, in cancer, it may promote invasion and metastasis. In this study, we show that breast cancer cells cultured in 1.0% O2 demonstrate changes consistent with epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Snail translocates to the nucleus, and E-cadherin is lost from plasma membranes. Vimentin expression, cell migration, Matrigel invasion, and collagen remodeling are increased. Hypoxia-induced EMT is accompanied by increased expression of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) and activation of cell signaling factors downstream of uPAR, including Akt and Rac1. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β is phosphorylated, and Snail expression is increased. Hypoxia-induced EMT is blocked by uPAR gene silencing and mimicked by uPAR overexpression in normoxia. Antagonizing Rac1 or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase also inhibits development of cellular properties associated with EMT in hypoxia. Breast cancer cells implanted on chick chorioallantoic membranes and treated with CoCl2, to model hypoxia, demonstrate increased dissemination. We conclude that in hypoxia, uPAR activates diverse cell signaling pathways that cooperatively induce EMT and may promote cancer metastasis