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

Understanding the interaction of organic corrosion inhibitors with copper at the molecular scale : benzotriazole on Cu(110)

M.T. gratefully acknowledges financial support from Lubrizol Limited and, together with J.E., thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant EP/L015307/1 for the Molecular Analytical Science Centre for Doctoral Training (MAS-CDT). C.G acknowledges the Euler cluster managed by the HPC team at ETH Zurich for computational resources and is grateful for computational support from the UK national high performance computing service, ARCHER, for which access was obtained via the UKCP consortium and funded by EPSRC grant EP/P022561/1.Benzotriazole (BTAH) has been used for several industrial applications, but most commonly as a corrosion inhibitor for copper, since the 1950s. However, the mechanism of its interaction with copper surfaces at the atomistic scale is still a matter of debate. Here, the adsorption of BTAH onto a clean Cu(110) surface has been investigated by a combination of scanning tunnelling microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. Different supramolecular structures have been observed depending on molecular coverage and annealing. In the low coverage regime, flat lying deprotonated species are formed which give way to benzotriazolate molecules in an upright configuration by increasing the BTAH exposure. The ensuing monolayer is self-limiting but, upon annealing above 150 °C, transforms into a highly ordered nano-ridge structure resulting from a significant in-plane and out-of-plane reconstruction of the surface. All structures are characterised by a strong molecule-substrate interaction and the high coverage phases are dominated by the formation of metal-organic complexes between copper adatoms and benzotriazolate species. These findings shed light on the nature and strength of the interaction occurring between BTAH and copper which lies at the basis of the effectiveness of this prototypical corrosion inhibitor.PostprintPeer reviewe

DMTs and Covid-19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid-19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled-analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid-19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal-logistic models and pooled by a fixed-effect meta-analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti-CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid-19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled-analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid-19 in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon

Identification of epitopes of the A1aBx and A5A4B3 subunits of glycinin antigenic in three animal species

<div><p>Soybean meal is commonly added to a variety of animal feeds to supplement protein sources and to optimise growth. While soybean protein is a valuable food supplement it has been recognised as an important food allergen. The soybean seed storage protein, glycinin, has been identified as an allergen. A tiled peptide array of the A1aBx and A5A4B3 subunits of glycinin was screened to identify the epitopes that bind antibodies from multiple species. We have identified four regions in these two glycinin subunits that are antigenic in most or all of the species tested. One region is implicated in an allergic response in dogs by the dog's ability to bind IgE. Three regions overlap or abut regions that are similar to allergenic epitopes in peanut. It will be critical to identify immunogenic regions able to cause allergies to soy in order to prioritise them for mitigation.</p></div

Understanding the interaction of organic corrosion inhibitors with copper at the molecular scale:benzotriazole on Cu(110)

Benzotriazole (BTAH) has been used for several industrial applications, but most commonly as a corrosion inhibitor for copper, since the 1950s. However, the mechanism of its interaction with copper surfaces at the atomistic scale is still a matter of debate. Here, the adsorption of BTAH onto a clean Cu(110) surface has been investigated by a combination of scanning tunnelling microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. Different supramolecular structures have been observed depending on molecular coverage and annealing. In the low coverage regime, flat lying deprotonated species are formed which give way to benzotriazolate molecules in an upright configuration by increasing the BTAH exposure. The ensuing monolayer is self-limiting but, upon annealing above 150 °C, transforms into a highly ordered nano-ridge structure resulting from a significant in-plane and out-of-plane reconstruction of the surface. All structures are characterised by a strong molecule-substrate interaction and the high coverage phases are dominated by the formation of metal-organic complexes between copper adatoms and benzotriazolate species. These findings shed light on the nature and strength of the interaction occurring between BTAH and copper which lies at the basis of the effectiveness of this prototypical corrosion inhibitor