The German Bight (North Sea) is a nursery area for both locally and externally produced sprat juveniles

To better understand the role of the German Bight (GB) as a nursery area for juvenile North Sea sprat Sprattus sprattus we sought to determine whether the area may receive only locally or also externally produced offspring. We sampled juveniles during 3 trawl surveys in the GB in August, September, and October 2004 and applied otolith microstructure analysis in order to reconstruct their distributions of the day-of-first-increment-formation (dif). These were contrasted with spatial and seasonal patterns of sprat egg abundance in the GB and its adjacent areas, observed during 6 monthly plankton surveys. It was found that the majority of juveniles originated mainly from April/May 2004, coinciding with high spawning activity west of the GB, whereas spawning and larval production inside the GB peaked notably later, in May/June. This indicated that a large proportion of juveniles was produced outside the GB and transported subsequently into it through passive and/or active migration. Shifts to later mean difs from one survey to the next and length distributions indicative of the simultaneous presence of multiple cohorts, supported the notion that the GB is a complex retention and nursery area for sprat offspring from different North Sea spawning grounds and times. Later born juveniles had significantly faster initial growth rates than earlier born conspecifics, which was likely temperature-mediated, given the strong correlation between back-calculated growth histories and sea surface temperature as a proxy for thermal histories of juveniles (r(2) = 0.52). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Effect of cervical length recovery after laser surgery for twin-twin transfusion syndrome

Objective To evaluate the impact of polyhydramnios on preoperative cervical length and whether cervical length recovery after amnioreduction during selective fetoscopic laser photocoagulation (SFLP) is associated with a greater gestational age at delivery in pregnancies complicated by twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Methods Retrospective study of 50 pregnancies complicated by TTTS treated with SFLP between March 2010 and July 2014 at a single center. Preoperative maximum vertical pocket (MVP) was measured along with pre- and postoperative cervical length. A cervical length difference was calculated, with a difference of ± 3 mm considered no change. Results Only 12 (34%) patients showed an increased cervical length after amnioreduction during laser surgery. There was no statistical difference between either negative or positive change in cervical length groups and mean gestational age at delivery (p = 0.82). There also was no correlation between preoperative MVP and preoperative cervical length (p = 0.36) or gestational age at delivery (p = 0.77). However, there was a statistically shorter mean preoperative cervical length in patients who delivered <32 weeks of gestation (3.62 ± 0.66 vs. 4.20 ± 0.85 cm; p = 0.03). Conclusion Severity of polyhydramnios does not correlate with preoperative cervical length, and variability of the cervix postoperatively does not appear to affect gestational age at delivery

Depth-dependent nutritional condition of sprat Sprattus sprattus larvae in the central Bornholm Basin, Baltic Sea

Bimodal depth distribution patterns observed for sprat Sprattus sprattus larvae in previous field studies conducted in the deep basins of the Baltic Sea have led researchers to hypothesise that larval sprat condition was depth-dependent. We examined this hypothesis by measuring morphological, biochemical and otolith-based proxies for nutritional condition in sprat larvae collected in discrete 5 m depth intervals from the surface to the bottom in the central Bornholm Basin. Similar to earlier studies, larval sprat were most abundant in 2 depth strata (0 to 10 and 65 to 75 m). Their nutritional condition in surface and deep waters was not uniformly expressed by the different indices. For example, sprat larvae from 0 to 10 m could not be distinguished from conspecifics caught at 65 to 75 m by a long-latency condition proxy (otolith-based growth rates). Similarly, a medium-latency proxy (RNA:DNA) did not suggest differences in condition between the depths. However, short-latency proxies (protein:standard length and DNA:dry weight) supported the depth-dependent condition hypothesis. The lack of correspondence and pitfalls associated with the use and interpretation of multiple condition indices (e.g. the influences of temperature and body size) are discussed and recommendations to strengthen these various metrics are provided

A new Retention Index for the Central Baltic Sea: Long-Term Hydrodynamic Modelling Used to Improve Baltic Sprat, Sprattus sprattus, Recruitment Models

To study inter-annual differences in drift patterns of larval sprat from the Bornholm Basin, we used a 3D, eddy-resolving circulation model of the Baltic Sea and simulated the drift of Lagrangian particles for each of 24 years (1979-2002) of available forcing data. We observed that in some years particles were transported almost completely out of the basin, whereas circulation in other years retained the majority of drifters within the seeding area (Bornholm Basin). A new retention index was derived that is associated to age 0 sprat recruitment in ICES Subdivision 25, estimated from area-disaggregated MSVPA runs. The significant linear relationship (P 80%) than those derived from particles released earlier into the model domain. This intra-annual pattern may suggest that recruitment success in central Baltic sprat was – at least during the last decade - predominantly determined by the relative survival of larval cohorts emerging late in the spawning season. The index is significantly cross-correlated to other environmental time series, most importantly annual surface temperature in August, which makes it difficult to conclude on the processes crucial for central Baltic sprat recruitment success

New ways in RGD-peptide mediated drug targeting to angiogenic endothelium:On the nature of drugs, linkers, and carriers.

Endothelial cells (ECs) line the vessels of the entire circulatory system, in arteries, veins and capillaries in each and every organ. In contrast to a previous assumption that the endothelium is only a physical barrier, research in the last four decades has shown that it presents a complex organ-system. This organ is not only involved in many physiological but also pathophysiological processes like e.g., in chronic inflammation or malignant disease. In chronic inflammatory disorders, ECs express a number of cell adhesion molecules leading to an abundant leukocyte infiltration in the inflamed tissue. In cancer tissue ECs are stimulated to constantly build new blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis, to nurture tumor growth. Both inflamed endothelium and angiogenic ECs differ from dormant endothelium by e.g. expression of several receptors and growth factors. The acceptance of the endothelium as a key player in inflammation and cancer was followed by the development of therapeutics that affect extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, cell migration and proliferation, and vessel stabilization (e.g., kinase inhibitors, tubulin binding agents, matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors). These therapeutics, however, show neither homing to endothelial cells in general nor to activated or angiogenic endothelial cells in particular. Thus, they are widely distributed to most tissues in the body. In the present thesis I aimed at improving the tissue distribution of anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic or antivascular therapeutics by redirecting such compounds to activated and angiogenic endothelial cells. A drug targeting approach can increase the drug concentration within the target cell while it reduces the concentration in the rest of the body, which eventually may lead to an improved therapeutic effect and a reduction in side effects. I exploited the fact that activated and angiogenic EC have a high expression of αvβ3-integrin in common and dormant EC hardly express αv-integrins on the cell surface. Adding the excellent accessibility of the endothelium for systemically administered macromolecular therapeutics, αvβ3-integrin is an optimal target receptor for an intracellular drug targeting approach. Cyclic peptides with a arginine-glycine-aspartic acid sequence (RGD) have been shown to bind with high affinity to this integrin