Limited diversity in natal origins of immature anadromous fish during ocean residency

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of NRC Research Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 67 (2010): 1699-1707, doi:10.1139/F10-086.Variable migration patterns can play a significant role in promoting diverse life history traits among populations. However, population and stage specific movement patterns are generally unknown yet crucial aspects of life history strategies in many highly migratory species. We used a natural tag approach using geochemical signatures in otoliths to identify natal origins of one-year-old anadromous American shad (Alosa sapidissima) during ocean residency. Otolith signatures of migrants were compared to a database of baseline signatures from 20 source populations throughout their spawning range. Samples were dominated by fish from only two rivers, while all other potential source populations were nearly or completely absent. These data support the hypothesis that American shad exhibit diverse migratory behaviors and immature individuals from populations throughout the native range do not all mix on northern summer feeding grounds. Rather, our results suggest populations of anadromous fish are distributed heterogeneously at sea in the first year of life and thus may encounter different ocean conditions at a critical early life history stage.This work was funded by National Science Foundation grants OCE-0215905 and OCE-0134998 to SRT and by a WHOI Ocean Life Institute grant to BDW

Multi-formalism Modelling of Cardiac Tissue

Many models of the cardiovascular system (e.g. cardiac electrical activity, autonomous nervous system, ...) have been proposed for the last decades. Research is now focusing on the integration of these different models, in order to study more complicated physiopathological states in clinical applications context. To get round the practical limitations of existing models, multi-formalism modelling appears as a way to ease the integration of these different models together. This paper presents an original methodology allowing to combine different types of description formalisms. This method has been applied to define a multi-formalism model of cardiac action potential propagation on a 2D grid of endocardial cells, combining cellular automata and a set of cells defined by the Beeler-Reuter model. Results, obtained under physiologic and ischemic conditions, highlight the improvements in term of computing compared with mono-formalism systems, while keeping the necessary explanatory strength for a practical clinical use

Evolution of Microstructures During Austempering of Ductile Irons Alloyed with Manganese and Copper

The influences of relatively high manganese (0.45 through 1.0 wt pct) and copper (0.56 through 1.13 wt pct) contents on microstructure development and phase transformation in three austempered ductile irons have been studied. The experimental ductile irons alloyed with copper and manganese are found to be practically free from intercellular manganese segregation. This suggests that the positive segregation of manganese is largely neutralized by the negative segregation of copper when these alloying elements are added in appropriate proportions. The drop in unreacted austenite volume (UAV) with increasing austempering temperature and time is quite significant in irons alloyed with copper and manganese. The ausferrite morphology also undergoes a transition from lenticular to feathery appearance of increasing coarseness with the increasing austempering temperature and time. SEM micrographs of the austempered samples from the base alloy containing manganese only, as well as copper plus manganese-alloyed irons, clearly reveal the presence of some martensite along with retained austenite and ferrite. X-ray diffraction analysis also confirms the presence of these phases. SEM examination further reveals the presence of twinned martensite in the copper plus manganese-alloyed samples. The possibility of strain-induced transformation of austenite to martensite during austempering heat treatment is suggested

Docetaxel and dasatinib or placebo in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (READY): A randomised, double-blind phase 3 trial

Background: Src kinase-mediated interactions between prostate cancer cells and osteoclasts might promote bone metastasis. Dasatinib inhibits tyrosine kinases, including Src kinases. Data suggests that dasatinib kinase inhibition leads to antitumour activity, affects osteoclasts, and has synergy with docetaxel, a first-line chemotherapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. We assessed whether dasatinib plus docetaxel in chemotherapy-naive men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer led to greater efficacy than with docetaxel alone. Methods: In this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 study, we enrolled men of 18 years or older with chemotherapy-naive, metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer, and adequate organ function from 186 centres across 25 countries. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via an interactive voice response system to receive docetaxel (75 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks, plus oral prednisone 5 mg twice daily), plus either dasatinib (100 mg orally once daily) or placebo until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Randomisation was stratified by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (0-1 vs 2), bisphosphonate use (yes vs no), and urinary N-telopeptide (uNTx) value (<60 μmol/mol creatinine vs ≥60 μmol/mol creatinine). All patients, investigators, and personnel involved in study conduct and data analyses were blinded to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was overall survival, analysed by intention to treat. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00744497. Findings: Between Oct 30, 2008, and April 11, 2011, 1522 eligible patients were randomly assigned to treatment; 762 patients were assigned to dasatinib and 760 to placebo. At final analysis, median follow-up was 19·0 months (IQR 11·2-25·1) and 914 patients had died. Median overall survival was 21·5 months (95% CI 20·3-22·8) in the dasatinib group and 21·2 months (20·0-23·4) in the placebo group (stratified hazard ratio [HR] 0·99, 95·5% CI 0·87-1·13; p=0·90). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events included diarrhoea (58 [8%] patients in the dasatinib group vs 27 [4%] patients in the placebo group), fatigue (62 [8%] vs 42 [6%]), and asthenia (40 [5%] vs 23 [3%]); grade 3-4 pleural effusions were uncommon (ten [1%] vs three [<1%]). Interpretation: The addition of dasatinib to docetaxel did not improve overall survival for chemotherapy-naive men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. This study does not support the combination of dasatinib and docetaxel in this population of patients. Funding: Bristol-Myers Squibb. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd