Lysmata Rafa, a New Species of Peppermint Shrimp (Crustacea, Caridea, Hippolytidae) from the Subtropical Western Atlantic

Lysmata rafa n. sp. is described from freshly collected specimens from the Keys West Lakes, Florida Keys, and from a museum specimen collected at Bear Cut, Biscayne Bay, Florida. The new species is morphologically most similar to the western Atlantic Lysmata rathbunae Chace, 1970 and the eastern PaciWc Lysmata gracilirostris Wicksten, 2000, but can be distinguished from them by the number of carpal segments in the second pereiopod; the length and dentition of the rostrum; the shape and number of spines on the dactylus of the third to Wfth pereiopods; and the absence of a tooth on the pterygostomial margin of the carapace. Despite being a shallow-water species, L. rafa n. sp. has extremely elongate walking legs and third maxilliped that are more typical to deep-water or cave dwelling carideans

Magnetization switching in nanoscale ferromagnetic grains: simulations with heterogeneous nucleation

We present results obtained with various types of heterogeneous nucleation in a kinetic Ising model of magnetization switching in single-domain ferromagnetic nanoparticles. We investigate the effect of the presence of the system boundary and make comparison with simulations on periodic lattices. We also study systems with bulk disorder and compare how two different types of disorder influence the switching behavior.Comment: 3 pages, 4 Postscript figure

Light rail project in Copenhagen – the Ring 21⁄2 corridor

The need for high class public transport service of the increasing travel across the radial urban structure of the greater Copenhagen region was examined through planning of a light rail. The exact corridor (defined as the Ring 21⁄2 corridor) and alignment of the light rail were documented and the locations of stops were examined through analyses of catchment areas. The timetable of the light rail was determined through travel time and correspondences with other high class public transport lines/corridors. The justification of the light rail was examined through factors like traffic impacts, operation economy, socioeconomics and strategic impacts. The light rail shows a good result on most factors. But it displays socioeconomic non-viability. However, this was expected when using the standard procedures. But the Ring 21⁄2 light rail shows a better socioeconomic result than many other examined light rail projects

Light rail project in Copenhagen – the Ring 21⁄2 corridor

The need for high class public transport service of the increasing travel across the radial urban structure of the greater Copenhagen region was examined through planning of a light rail. The exact corridor (defined as the Ring 21⁄2 corridor) and alignment of the light rail were documented and the locations of stops were examined through analyses of catchment areas. The timetable of the light rail was determined through travel time and correspondences with other high class public transport lines/corridors. The justification of the light rail was examined through factors like traffic impacts, operation economy, socioeconomics and strategic impacts. The light rail shows a good result on most factors. But it displays socioeconomic non-viability. However, this was expected when using the standard procedures. But the Ring 21⁄2 light rail shows a better socioeconomic result than many other examined light rail projects

Brief communication:getting Greenland’s glaciers right – a new data set of all official Greenlandic glacier names

Place names in Greenland can be difficult to get right, as they are a mix of Greenlandic, Danish, and other foreign languages. In addition, orthographies have changed over time. With this new data set, we give the researcher working with Greenlandic glaciers the proper tool to find the correct name for glaciers and ice caps in Greenland and to locate glaciers described in the historic literature with the old Greenlandic orthography. The data set contains information on the names of 733 glaciers, 285 originating from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and 448 from local glaciers and ice caps (LGICs)

Atyidae and Palaemonidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) of Bocas del Toro, Panama.

The present contribution is a preliminary report on the freshwater caridean fauna of Bocas del Toro province, northeastern Panama, based on field collections carried out during a Shrimp Taxonomy Workshop at the STRI station in Bocas del Toro in August 2008. A total of eight species from two families, Atyidae and Palaemonidae, were collected at 17 different collection sites in the rivers, streams and ponds on several islands of the Bocas del Toro archipelago and the adjacent mainland. The species reported herein are Atya scabra (Leach, 1815), Jonga serrei (Bouvier, 1909), Micratya poeyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1855), Potimirim glabra (Kingsley, 1878), P. potimirim (Müller, 1881) (Atyidae), Palaemon pandaliformis (Stimpson, 1871), Macrobrachium acanthurus (Wiegmann, 1836) and M. crenulatum Holthuis, 1950 (Palaemonidae). The record of J. serrei is the first for Panama, and M. poeyi a P. glabra the first for Bocas del Toro province

The impact of sex, gender and pregnancy on 2009 H1N1 disease

Children and young adults of reproductive age have emerged as groups that are highly vulnerable to the current 2009 H1N1 pandemic. The sex of an individual is a fundamental factor that can influence exposure, susceptibility and immune responses to influenza. Worldwide, the incidence, disease burden, morbidity and mortality rates following exposure to the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus differ between males and females and are often age-dependent. Pregnancy and differences in the presentation of various risk factors contribute to the worse outcome of infection in women. Vaccination and antiviral treatment efficacy also vary in a sex-dependent manner. Finally, sex-specific genetic and hormonal differences may contribute to the severity of influenza and the clearance of viral infection. The contribution of sex and gender to influenza can only be determined by a greater consideration of these factors in clinical and epidemiological studies and increased research into the biological basis underlying these differences

Advanced cancer is also a heart failure syndrome: a hypothesis

We present the hypothesis that advanced stage cancer is also a heart failure syndrome. It can develop independently of or in addition to cardiotoxic effects of anti-cancer therapies. This includes an increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias. We suggest the pathophysiologic link for these developments includes generalized muscle wasting (i.e. sarcopenia) due to tissue homeostasis changes leading to cardiac wasting associated cardiomyopathy. Cardiac wasting with thinning of the ventricular wall increases ventricular wall stress, even in the absence of ventricular dilatation. In addition, arrhythmias may be facilitated by cellular wasting processes affecting structure and function of electrical cells and conduction pathways. We submit that in some patients with advanced cancer (but not terminal cancer), heart failure therapy or defibrillators may be relevant treatment options. The key points in selecting patients for such therapies may be the predicted life expectancy, quality of life at intervention time, symptomatic burden, and consequences for further anti-cancer therapies. The cause of death in advanced cancer is difficult to ascertain and consensus on event definitions in cancer is not established yet. Clinical investigations on this are called for. Broader ethical considerations must be taken into account when aiming to target cardiovascular problems in cancer patients. We suggest that focused attention to evaluating cardiac wasting and arrhythmias in cancer will herald a further evolution in the rapidly expanding field of cardio-oncology

Bright gap solitons of atoms with repulsive interaction

We report on the first experimental observation of bright matter-wave solitons for 87Rb atoms with repulsive atom-atom interaction. This counter intuitive situation arises inside a weak periodic potential, where anomalous dispersion can be realized at the Brillouin zone boundary. If the coherent atomic wavepacket is prepared at the corresponding band edge a bright soliton is formed inside the gap. The strength of our system is the precise control of preparation and real time manipulation, allowing the systematic investigation of gap solitons.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Local prey shortages drive foraging costs and breeding success in a declining seabird, the Atlantic puffin

1. As more and more species face anthropogenic threats, understanding the causes of population declines in vulnerable taxa is essential. However, long-term datasets, ideal to identify lasting or indirect effects on fitness measures such as those caused by environmental factors, are not always available. 2. Here we use a single year but multi-population approach on populations with contrasting demographic trends to identify possible drivers and mechanisms of seabird population changes in the north-east Atlantic, using the Atlantic puffin, a declining species, as a model system. 3. We combine miniature GPS trackers with camera traps and DNA metabarcoding techniques on four populations across the puffins’ main breeding range to provide the most comprehensive study of the species' foraging ecology to date. 4. We find that puffins use a dual foraging tactic combining short and long foraging trips in all four populations, but declining populations in southern Iceland and north-west Norway have much greater foraging ranges, which require more (costly) flight, as well as lower chick-provisioning frequencies, and a more diverse but likely less energy-dense diet, than stable populations in northern Iceland and Wales. 5. Together, our findings suggest that the poor productivity of declining puffin populations in the north-east Atlantic is driven by breeding adults being forced to forage far from the colony, presumably because of low prey availability near colonies, possibly amplified by intraspecific competition. Our results provide valuable information for the conservation of this and other important North-Atlantic species and highlight the potential of multi-population approaches to answer important questions about the ecological drivers of population trends. biologging, diet, DNA metabarcoding, dual foraging, foraging ecology, intraspecific competition, population decline, seabirdspublishedVersio