Testing a Device to Exclude Ovigerous Blue Crabs, Callinectes sapidus, from Commercial Pots

North Carolina fishery managers are considering methods to offer greater protection to the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, spawning stock while maintaining a viable commercial fishery for female blue crabs in high salinity estuaries. We tested how effectively wire rectangles, or excluders, of two internal sizes, 45x80 mm and 45x90 mm, would prevent entry of ovigerous female (sponge) crabs into pots relative to control pots (without excluders) while maintaining sizes and catch rates of male and nonsponged female hard crabs. Field sampling among three pot designs (two excluder sizes and control pots) was conducted in Core Sound, N.C., during 2004–06. Median sizes (carapace widths) of mature female crabs were not different among the three pot types. However, median sizes of male crabs and sponge crabs were greater in control pots than pots with either size of excluder. Catch rates of mature female crabs from control pots were greater than from pots with 45x85 mm excluders. Catch rates of legal male and sponge crabs from control pots were greater than from pots with either size of excluder. Results indicate that using excluders involves a tradeoff between reducing catches and sizes of sponge crabs while also reducing sizes and catches of legally harvestable nonsponge crabs; moreover, the reduction in total catch and sizes would be greater for legal male crabs than for legal nonsponged female crabs. In high salinity waters close to North Carolina’s existing no-harvest blue crab sanctuaries, where females typically dominate catches of hard crabs, the benefit of using excluders to prevent entry of sponge crabs may outweigh a potentially modest decrease in landings of nonsponged females

Correlations between evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging in multiple sclerosis

This thesis describes correlations between evoked potentials (EPS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical abnormalities in multiple sclerosis (MS). In 31 patients with a cervical cord syndrome, MRI lesions occupying the left or right posterior quadrant of the cervical cord were significantly associated with abnormal somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) from the left or right median nerve, respectively. No association was found between brain MRI and SEP abnormalities. MRI and SEPs were only weakly correlated with clinical deficits, except in four cases who had a well localised lesion involving the posterior columns. Brain MRI and hemifield visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were obtained in 15 MS patients with homonymous hemianopia. In each case studied, MRI revealed the presence of large postchiasmal abnormalities which decreased in size in coincidence with visual recovery. VEPs consistent with postchiasmal pathology were recorded in only five cases; latency increase was less frequent than amplitude reduction, which resolved with improvement in the field defect. Among 21 patients with a clinically isolated optic neuritis, the amplitude of the cognitive event-related potentials was significantly attenuated and the performance on psychometric tests assessing relevant cognitive functions significantly poorer in cases with extensive brain MRI abnormalities as compared to those showing fewer lesions. In 11 patients with acute optic neuritis, leakage of Gadolinium-DTPA within the optic nerve lesions was associated with reduction of the VEP amplitude and visual acuity. One month later, the absence of leakage was paralleled by a significant improvement of the VEP amplitude and recovery of the visual acuity. Since gadolinium leakage probably indicates inflammation, the resolution of the latter seems to be an important factor in the recovery from acute optic neuritis. These findings illustrate how the study of the correlation between EP, MRI and clinical abnormalities may improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of MS

Social Justice in the Surrogate\u27s Courts

(Excerpt) When the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development put out a call to the St. John\u27s faculty for papers for this symposium, I knew I wanted to participate. How interesting, I thought, to view our respective disciplines through the lens of racial, social and economic justice. My area of expertise is Trusts & Estates, and at first blush the link between Trusts & Estates and social justice may seem attenuated, but the Surrogate\u27s Courts are always abuzz with fiduciary issues, where one person is entrusted to safeguard another\u27s interests, and in that context issues of social justice bubble up regularly, especially because ours is an immigrant society with wildly varied and quickly changing demographics. The scope of our task was narrow, so I have chosen two topics prompted by recent cases in the Surrogate\u27s Courts that raise (and resolve) issues of social justice. One is how stringently a court should observe the requirement that a person seeking to serve as a fiduciary in the Surrogate\u27s Court speak English. The second is a fascinating bridge between federal immigration law and state guardianship law, where New York judges have been using a statute fashioned for a different reason to confer special immigrant status on young adults

Effects of Amphetamine on Striatal Dopamine Release, Open-Field Activity, and Play in Fischer 344 and Sprague–Dawley Rats

Previous work from our laboratories has shown that juvenile Fischer 344 (F344) rats are less playful than other strains and also appear to be compromised in dopamine (DA) functioning. To determine whether the dysfunctional play in this strain is associated with deficits in the handling and delivery of vesicular DA, the following experiments assessed the extent to which F344 rats are differentially sensitive to the effects of amphetamine. When exposed to amphetamine, striatal slices obtained from F344 rats showed a small increase in unstimulated DA release when compared with slices from Sprague–Dawley rats; they also showed a more rapid high K+-mediated release of DA. These data provide tentative support for the hypothesis that F344 rats have a higher concentration of cytoplasmic DA than Sprague–Dawley rats. When rats were tested for activity in an open field, F344 rats presented a pattern of results that was consistent with either an enhanced response to amphetamine (3 mg/kg) or a more rapid release of DA (10 mg/kg). Although there was some indication that amphetamine had a dose-dependent differential effect on play in the two strains, play in F344 rats was not enhanced to any degree by amphetamine. Although these results are not consistent with our working hypothesis that F344 rats are less playful because of a deficit in vesicular release of DA, they still suggest that this strain may be a useful model for better understanding the role of DA in social behavior during the juvenile period