Coral micro- and macro-morphological skeletal properties in response to life-long acclimatization at CO2 vents in Papua New Guinea.

This study investigates the effects of long-term exposure to OA on skeletal parameters of four tropical zooxanthellate corals naturally living at CO2 seeps and adjacent control sites from two locations (Dobu and Upa Upasina) in the Papua New Guinea underwater volcanic vent system. The seeps are characterized by seawater pH values ranging from 8.0 to about 7.7. The skeletal porosity of Galaxea fascicularis, Acropora millepora, massive Porites, and Pocillopora damicornis was higher (up to ~ 40%, depending on the species) at the seep sites compared to the control sites. Pocillopora damicornis also showed a decrease of micro-density (up to ~ 7%). Thus, further investigations conducted on this species showed an increase of the volume fraction of the larger pores (up to ~ 7%), a decrease of the intraskeletal organic matrix content (up to ~ 15%), and an increase of the intraskeletal water content (up to ~ 59%) at the seep sites. The organic matrix related strain and crystallite size did not vary between seep and control sites. This multi-species study showed a common phenotypic response among different zooxanthellate corals subjected to the same environmental pressures, leading to the development of a more porous skeletal phenotype under OA.

Gains and losses of coral skeletal porosity changes with ocean acidification acclimation.

Ocean acidification is predicted to impact ecosystems reliant on calcifying organisms, potentially reducing the socioeconomic benefits these habitats provide. Here we investigate the acclimation potential of stony corals living along a pH gradient caused by a Mediterranean CO2 vent that serves as a natural long-term experimental setting. We show that in response to reduced skeletal mineralization at lower pH, corals increase their skeletal macroporosity (features >10 µm) in order to maintain constant linear extension rate, an important criterion for reproductive output. At the nanoscale, the coral skeleton's structural features are not altered. However, higher skeletal porosity, and reduced bulk density and stiffness may contribute to reduce population density and increase damage susceptibility under low pH conditions. Based on these observations, the almost universally employed measure of coral biomineralization, the rate of linear extension, might not be a reliable metric for assessing coral health and resilience in a warming and acidifying ocean.

A time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance study of Mediterranean scleractinian corals reveals skeletal-porosity sensitivity to environmental changes.

Mediterranean corals are a natural model for studying global warming, as the Mediterranean basin is expected to be one of the most affected regions and the increase in temperature is one of the greatest threats for coral survival. We have analyzed for the first time with time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR) the porosity and pore-space structure, important aspects of coral skeletons, of two scleractinian corals, Balanophyllia europaea (zooxanthellate) and Leptopsammia pruvoti (nonzooxanthellate), taken from three different sites on the western Italian coast along a temperature gradient. Comparisons have been made with mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy images. TD-NMR parameters are sensitive to changes in the pore structure of the two coral species. A parameter, related to the porosity, is larger for L. pruvoti than for B. europaea, confirming previous non-NMR results. Another parameter representing the fraction of the pore volume with pore sizes of less than 10-20 µm is inversely related, with a high degree of statistical significance, to the mass of the specimen and, for B. europaea, to the temperature of the growing site. This effect in the zooxanthellate species, which could reduce its resistance to mechanical stresses, may depend on an inhibition of the photosynthetic process at elevated temperatures and could have particular consequences in determining the effects of global warming on these species.

Analysis of inter-fraction setup errors and organ motion by daily kilovoltage cone beam computed tomography in intensity modulated radiotherapy of prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) enables a better conformality to the target while sparing the surrounding normal tissues and potentially allows to increase the dose to the target, if this is precisely and accurately determined. The goal of this work is to determine inter-fraction setup errors and prostate motion in IMRT for localized prostate cancer, guided by daily kilovoltage cone beam computed tomography (kVCBCT). METHODS: Systematic and random components of the shifts were retrospectively evaluated by comparing two matching modalities (automatic bone and manual soft-tissue) between each of the 641 daily kVCBCTs (18 patients) and the planning kVCT. A simulated Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) protocol using the average of the first 5 kVCBCTs was tested by non-parametric bootstrapping procedure. RESULTS: Shifts were < 1 mm in left-right (LR) and in supero-inferior (SI) direction. In antero-posterior (AP) direction systematic prostate motion (2.7 ± 0.7 mm) gave the major contribution to the variability of results; the averages of the absolute total shifts were significantly larger in anterior (6.3 ± 0.2 mm) than in posterior (3.9 mm ± 0.2 mm) direction. The ART protocol would reduce margins in LR, SI and anterior but not in posterior direction. CONCLUSIONS: The online soft-tissue correction based on daily kVCBCT during IMRT of prostate cancer is fast and efficient. The large random movements of prostate respect to bony anatomy, especially in the AP direction, where anisotropic margins are needed, suggest that daily kVCBCT is at the present time preferable for high dose and high gradients IMRT prostate treatments.