North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181, doi:10.3354/meps12315.Endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis suffer from unacceptably high rates of ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements, but little is known of the role that diving and foraging behavior plays in mediating human-caused mortality. We conducted a study of right whale foraging ecology by attaching tags to whales for short periods of time (hours), tracking their movements during daytime, and repeatedly sampling oceanographic conditions and prey distribution along the whales’ tracks. Right whales were tagged from late winter to late fall in 6 regions of the Gulf of Maine and southwestern Scotian Shelf from 2000 to 2010. The diving behavior of the tagged whales was governed by the vertical distribution of their primary prey, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. On average, right whales tagged during spring spent 72% of their time in the upper 10 m (within the draft of most large commercial vessels), indicating the need for expanded ship speed restrictions in western Gulf of Maine springtime habitats. One out of every 4 whales dove to within 5 m of the sea floor during the short time they were tagged, spending as much as 45% of their total tagged time in this depth stratum. Right whales dove to the sea floor in each habitat studied except for one (where only 1 whale was tagged). This relatively high incidence of near-bottom diving raises serious concerns about the continued use of floating ground lines in pot and trap gear in coastal Maine and Canadian waters.Support for this research was provided by the NOAA Right Whale Grants Program, Northeast Consortium, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Office of Naval Research

Randomized Reference Classifier with Gaussian Distribution and Soft Confusion Matrix Applied to the Improving Weak Classifiers

In this paper, an issue of building the RRC model using probability distributions other than beta distribution is addressed. More precisely, in this paper, we propose to build the RRR model using the truncated normal distribution. Heuristic procedures for expected value and the variance of the truncated-normal distribution are also proposed. The proposed approach is tested using SCM-based model for testing the consequences of applying the truncated normal distribution in the RRC model. The experimental evaluation is performed using four different base classifiers and seven quality measures. The results showed that the proposed approach is comparable to the RRC model built using beta distribution. What is more, for some base classifiers, the truncated-normal-based SCM algorithm turned out to be better at discovering objects coming from minority classes.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1901.0882

Spinal Cord Injury Causes Sustained Disruption of the Blood-Testis Barrier in the Rat

There is a high incidence of infertility in males following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Quality of semen is frequently poor in these patients, but the pathophysiological mechanism(s) causing this are not known. Blood-testis barrier (BTB) integrity following SCI has not previously been examined. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of spinal contusion injury on the BTB in the rat. 63 adult, male Sprague Dawley rats received SCI (n = 28), laminectomy only (n = 7) or served as uninjured, age-matched controls (n = 28). Using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), BTB permeability to the vascular contrast agent gadopentate dimeglumine (Gd) was assessed at either 72 hours-, or 10 months post-SCI. DCE-MRI data revealed that BTB permeability to Gd was greater than controls at both 72 h and 10 mo post-SCI. Histological evaluation of testis tissue showed increased BTB permeability to immunoglobulin G at both 72 hours- and 10 months post-SCI, compared to age-matched sham-operated and uninjured controls. Tight junctional integrity within the seminiferous epithelium was assessed; at 72 hours post-SCI, decreased expression of the tight junction protein occludin was observed. Presence of inflammation in the testes was also examined. High expression of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta was detected in testis tissue. CD68+ immune cell infiltrate and mast cells were also detected within the seminiferous epithelium of both acute and chronic SCI groups but not in controls. In addition, extensive germ cell apoptosis was observed at 72 h post-SCI. Based on these results, we conclude that SCI is followed by compromised BTB integrity by as early as 72 hours post-injury in rats and is accompanied by a substantial immune response within the testis. Furthermore, our results indicate that the BTB remains compromised and testis immune cell infiltration persists for months after the initial injury

Nucleotides released by apoptotic cells act as a find-me signal to promote phagocytic clearance

Phagocytic removal of apoptotic cells occurs efficiently in vivo such that even in tissues with significant apoptosis, very few apoptotic cells are detectable1. This is thought to be due to the release of find-me signals by apoptotic cells that recruit motile phagocytes such as monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells, leading to the prompt clearance of the dying cells2. However, the identity and in vivo relevance of such find-me signals are not well understood. Here, through several lines of evidence, we identify extracellular nucleotides as a critical apoptotic cell find-me signal. We demonstrate the caspase-dependent release of ATP and UTP (in equimolar quantities) during the early stages of apoptosis by primary thymocytes and cell lines. Purified nucleotides at these concentrations were sufficient to induce monocyte recruitment comparable to apoptotic cell supernatants. Enzymatic removal of ATP and UTP (by apyrase or ectopic CD39 expression) abrogated the ability of apoptotic cell supernatants to recruit monocytes in vitro and in vivo. We then identified the ATP/UTP receptor P2Y2 as a critical sensor of nucleotides released by apoptotic cells using RNAi depletion studies in monocytes, and macrophages from P2Y2-null mice3. The in vivo relevance of nucleotides in apoptotic cell clearance was revealed by two approaches. First, in a murine air-pouch model, apoptotic cell supernatants induced a three-fold greater recruitment of monocytes and macrophages compared to supernatants from healthy cells; this recruitment was abolished by depletion of nucleotides and significantly decreased in P2Y2−/− mice. Second, clearance of apoptotic thymocytes was significantly impaired by either depletion of nucleotides or interference with P2Y receptor function (by pharmacological inhibition, or in P2Y2−/− mice). These results identify nucleotides as a critical find-me cue released by apoptotic cells to promote P2Y2-dependent phagocyte recruitment, and provide strong evidence for a clear relationship between a find-me signal and efficient corpse clearance in vivo

Intra-testicular injection of adenoviral constructs results in Sertoli cell-specific gene expression and disruption of the seminiferous epithelium

Spermatogenesis is a complex process that cannot be modelled in vitro. The somatic Sertoli cells (SCs) within the seminiferous tubules perform a key role in supporting maturation of germ cells (GCs). Progress has been made in determining what aspects of SC function are critical to maintenance of fertility by developing rodent models based on the Cre/LoxP system; however, this is time-consuming and is only applicable to mice. The aim of the present study was to establish methods for direct injection of adenoviral vectors containing shRNA constructs into the testis as a way of inducing target-selective knock-down in vivo. This paper describes a series of experiments using adenovirus expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene. Injection via the efferent ductules resulted in SC-specific expression of GFP; expression levels paralleled the amount of infective viral particles injected. At the highest doses of virus seminiferous tubule architecture were grossly disturbed and immune cell invasion noted. At lower concentrations, the expression of GFP was variable/negligible, the seminiferous tubule lumen was maintained but stage-dependent GC loss and development of numerous basal vacuoles was observed. These resembled intercellular dilations of SC junctional complexes previously described in rats and may be a consequence of disturbances in SC function due to interaction of the viral particles with the coxsackie/adenovirus receptor that is a component of the junctional complexes within the blood testis barrier. In conclusion, intra-testicular injection of adenoviral vectors disturbs SC function in vivo and future work will therefore focus on the use of lentiviral delivery systems

The Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Space Environment on Adult Mammalian Organisms: A Study on Mouse Thyroid and Testis

Hormonal changes in humans during spaceflight have been demonstrated but the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. To clarify this point thyroid and testis/epididymis, both regulated by anterior pituitary gland, have been analyzed on long-term space-exposed male C57BL/10 mice, either wild type or pleiotrophin transgenic, overexpressing osteoblast stimulating factor-1. Glands were submitted to morphological and functional analysis

Влияние фосфатных связующих на физико-механические свойства периклазохромитовых огнеупоров

У данній статті наведено та порівняно фізико-механічні властивості периклазо-хромітових матеріалів в залежності від різних типів фосфатних зв’язуючих та введення різних домішок. Визначено, що найбільш раціональним є введення триполіфосфату натрію.In given clause are resulted and the physycal-mechanical properties periclase-cgromite of materials are compared depending on different of types phosphate binding and introduction of the various additives. Is determined, that most rational is the introduction treepolyphosphate sodume

First record of the Improphantes geniculatus (Kulczynski, 1898) (Araneae, Linyphiidae) in Poland

Improphantes geniculatus (Kulczyński 1898) is a rare steppe spider species, known from a few locations in Central Europe and from Southern part of Russia. Authors give information about afirst location of I. geniculatus in Poland, affirmed which is in “Góry Pieprzowe” Reserve near Sandomierz