Zooplankton distribution in the western Arctic during summer 2002: Hydrographic habitats and implications for food chain dynamics

Global warming is presently a widely accepted phenomenon with a broad range of anticipated impacts on marine ecosystems. Alterations in temperature, circulation and ice cover in Arctic seas may result in changes in food chain dynamics, beginning with planktonic processes. As part of the Shelf–Basin Interactions (SBI) program, we conducted zooplankton surveys during summer 2002 to assess the biomass, distribution and abundance of copepods and other pelagic zooplankton over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves, slope regions and the adjacent Canada Basin. The motivation for our fieldwork was the question, “Will global change, particularly warming, result in more large-sized zooplankton which support a pelagic food web of fish, birds, and certain mammals over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves or in more smaller-sized zooplankton which will diminish the fish, birds and mammals and favor sedentary benthic organisms?” The objectives of the present study were 1) to census the regional zooplankton community and establish a baseline for comparisons with historical and future studies and 2) to determine whether large-bodied copepods associated with deep waters of the Bering Sea or the Canada Basin were transported to the shelves in sufficient numbers to modify the food web in a region where smaller copepods often dominate the zooplankton numerically. Spatial distributions of zooplankton communities were clearly associated with hydrographic habitats determined by the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the upper water layer. Smaller taxa dominated the shelf communities while offshore zooplankton assemblages were characterized by large-bodied copepods. The mesozooplankton community was numerically dominated by copepod nauplii and small-bodied juveniles, including Pseudocalanus spp. and Oithona similis. We observed very few large-bodied copepods from the Bering Sea. However, much of the shelf region surveyed included relatively numerous Calanus glacialis juveniles and adults, suggesting that these copepods were advected onto the shelf and possibly reproducing there. Juvenile stages of the large-bodied copepod Calanus hyperboreus were found in relative abundance on the Chukchi shelf in the vicinity of Hanna Canyon. These observations suggest that large-bodied, deep-water species from the basin are advected onto the Chukchi Shelf where they may impact the fate of shelf-derived primary production and alter the food webs of the shelves. Regional comparisons of abundances of selected taxa enumerated in the present study with sample data from the early 1950s suggested that some taxa were more abundant in the SBI region in 2002 than ca. 50 years ago. Long-term changes in planktonic populations are expected to have significant implications for shelf–basin exchange of biogenic material in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the adjacent Arctic Basin

Accessing Justice: The Availability and Adequacy of Counsel in Removal Proceedings

The immigrant representation crisis is a crisis of both quality and quantity. It is the acute shortage of competent attorneys willing and able to competently represent individuals in immigration removal proceedings. Removal proceedings are the primary mechanism by which the federal government can seek to effect the removal, or deportation, of a noncitizen. The individuals who face removal proceedings might be: the long-term lawful permanent resident (green card holder) who entered the country lawfully as a child and has lived in the United States for decades; or the refugee who has come to the United States fleeing persecution; or the undocumented immigrant caught trying to illegally cross the border. By every measure, the number of deportations and removal proceedings has skyrocketed over the last decade. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of removal proceedings initiated per year in our nation’s immigration courts increased nearly fifty percent, totaling over 300,000 last year. During that period, the representation rate of respondents in removal proceedings has remained relatively constant and abysmally low. Correspondingly, the actual number of unrepresented individuals has virtually doubled

The influence of a Gulf Stream meander on the distribution of zooplankton biomass in the Slope Water, the Gulf Stream, and the Sargasso Sea, described using a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler

Patterns in zooplankton biomass distribution in a Gulf Stream meander were documented using a ship-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) in fall 1988 as part of the BIOSYNOP program. The dominant signal in biomass was the regional variation between water masses, with greatest biomass recorded in the Slope Water, intermediate biomass at the Slope Water-Gulf Stream front, and lowest biomass in the Gulf Stream/Sargasso Sea. Biomass was more variable in the Slope Water than in the Sargasso Sea. Diel variation, a consequence of diel vertical migration, was also observed. Comprehensive maps of the surveyed region documented meander associated enhancement of zooplantkton biomass. Elevated biomasswas documented in the region downstream of the meander crest, where determined of Slope Water and convergence of flow are hypothezised to occur. The ADCP was demonstrated to be an effective means of documenting patterns in zooplankton biomass, including estimates of the variabiity (patchiness)

Comparative diel oxygen cycles preceding and during a Karenia bloom in Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA

The diel change in dissolved oxygen concentrations were recorded with an automated incubator containing a pulsed oxygen sensor in Sarasota Bay, Florida. The deployments occurred during a ‘pre-bloom’ period in May to June 2006, and during a harmful algal bloom dominated by Karenia brevis in September 2006. The diurnal (daylight) increase in dissolved oxygen concentrations varied from 16 to 104μmolO2l−1 with the corresponding nocturnal decrease in oxygen varying from 16 to 77μmolO2l−1. Nocturnal respiration consumed 42–113% of the diurnal net oxygen production with the minimum and maximum during the pre-bloom period. Hourly production rates closely followed fluctuations in irradiance with maximum rates in the late morning. Hourly oxygen utilization rates (community respiration) at night were highest during the first few hours after sunset

Cell loss in integrated microfluidic device

10.1007/s10544-007-9085-zBiomedical Microdevices95745-750BMIC

Mendelian randomization analysis does not support causal associations of birth weight with hypertension risk and blood pressure in adulthood

International audienceEpidemiology studies suggested that low birthweight was associated with a higher risk of hypertension in later life. However, little is known about the causality of such associations. In our study, we evaluated the causal association of low birthweight with adulthood hypertension following a standard analytic protocol using the study-level data of 183,433 participants from 60 studies (CHARGE-BIG consortium), as well as that with blood pressure using publicly available summary-level genome-wide association data from EGG consortium of 153,781 participants, ICBP consortium and UK Biobank cohort together of 757,601 participants. We used seven SNPs as the instrumental variable in the study-level analysis and 47 SNPs in the summary-level analysis. In the study-level analyses, decreased birthweight was associated with a higher risk of hypertension in adults (the odds ratio per 1 standard deviation (SD) lower birthweight, 1.22; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.28), while no association was found between genetically instrumented birthweight and hypertension risk (instrumental odds ratio for causal effect per 1 SD lower birthweight, 0.97; 95% CI 0.68 to 1.41). Such results were consistent with that from the summary-level analyses, where the genetically determined low birthweight was not associated with blood pressure measurements either. One SD lower genetically determined birthweight was not associated with systolic blood pressure (β = − 0.76, 95% CI − 2.45 to 1.08 mmHg), 0.06 mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure (β = − 0.06, 95% CI − 0.93 to 0.87 mmHg), or pulse pressure (β = − 0.65, 95% CI − 1.38 to 0.69 mmHg, all p > 0.05). Our findings suggest that the inverse association of birthweight with hypertension risk from observational studies was not supported by large Mendelian randomization analyses

International collaboration to assess the risk of Guillain Barre Syndrome following Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccines

<p>Background: The global spread of the 2009 novel pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus led to the accelerated production and distribution of monovalent 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) vaccines (pH1N1). This pandemic provided the opportunity to evaluate the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which has been an influenza vaccine safety concern since the swine flu pandemic of 1976, using a common protocol among high and middle-income countries. The primary objective of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of global collaboration in the assessment of vaccine safety, including countries both with and without an established infrastructure for vaccine active safety surveillance. A second objective, included a priori, was to assess the risk of GBS following pH1N1 vaccination.</p><p>Methods: The primary analysis used the self-controlled case series (SCCS) design to estimate the relative incidence (RI) of GBS in the 42 days following vaccination with pH1N1 vaccine in a pooled analysis across databases and in analysis using a meta-analytic approach.</p><p>Results: We found a relative incidence of GBS of 2.42(95% CI 1.58-3.72) in the 42 days following exposure to pH1N1 vaccine in analysis of pooled data and 2.09(95% CI 1.28-3.42) using the meta-analytic approach.</p><p>Conclusions: This study demonstrates that international collaboration to evaluate serious outcomes using a common protocol is feasible. The significance and consistency of our findings support a conclusion of an association between 2009 H1N1 vaccination and GBS. Given the rarity of the event the relative incidence found does not provide evidence in contradiction to international recommendations for the continued use of influenza vaccines. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p>