Genomic variation among populations of threatened coral: Acropora cervicornis.

BACKGROUND: Acropora cervicornis, a threatened, keystone reef-building coral has undergone severe declines (>90 %) throughout the Caribbean. These declines could reduce genetic variation and thus hamper the species' ability to adapt. Active restoration strategies are a common conservation approach to mitigate species' declines and require genetic data on surviving populations to efficiently respond to declines while maintaining the genetic diversity needed to adapt to changing conditions. To evaluate active restoration strategies for the staghorn coral, the genetic diversity of A. cervicornis within and among populations was assessed in 77 individuals collected from 68 locations along the Florida Reef Tract (FRT) and in the Dominican Republic. RESULTS: Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) identified 4,764 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Pairwise nucleotide differences (π) within a population are large (~37 %) and similar to π across all individuals. This high level of genetic diversity along the FRT is similar to the diversity within a small, isolated reef. Much of the genetic diversity (>90 %) exists within a population, yet GBS analysis shows significant variation along the FRT, including 300 SNPs with significant FST values and significant divergence relative to distance. There are also significant differences in SNP allele frequencies over small spatial scales, exemplified by the large FST values among corals collected within Miami-Dade county. CONCLUSIONS: Large standing diversity was found within each population even after recent declines in abundance, including significant, potentially adaptive divergence over short distances. The data here inform conservation and management actions by uncovering population structure and high levels of diversity maintained within coral collections among sites previously shown to have little genetic divergence. More broadly, this approach demonstrates the power of GBS to resolve differences among individuals and identify subtle genetic structure, informing conservation goals with evolutionary implications.

Serotonin modulates electrosensory processing and behavior via 5-HT2-like receptors.

Efficient sensory processing of the environment is a critical function for any organism to survive and is accomplished by having neurons adapt their responses to stimuli based on behavioral context in part through neuromodulators such as serotonin (5-HT). We have recently shown that one critical function of the serotonergic system in weakly electric fish is to enhance sensory pyramidal neuron responses within the electrosensory lateral line lobe (ELL) to stimuli caused by same sex conspecifics, thereby enhancing their perception. This enhancement is accomplished by making pyramidal neurons more excitable through downregulation of potassium channels. However, the nature of the 5-HT receptors that mediate this effect is not known. Here we show that the 5-HT2 receptor antagonist ketanserin (ket) can effectively block the effects of 5-HT on pyramidal neuron excitability in vitro. Indeed, 5-HT application subsequent to ket application did not cause any significant changes in neuron excitability and responses to current injection. We further show that ket applied in vivo can block the effects of 5-HT on behavioral responses. Thus, our results strongly suggest that the previously observed effects of 5-HT on sensory processing within ELL and their consequences for behavior are mediated by 5-HT2 receptors.

The orchestration of occupation: the dance of mothers.

OBJECTIVES: This article describes the relationship of mothers' orchestration of daily occupations, the specialized maternal work of parenting a child with a disability, and the mother's subjective well-being. METHOD: Mothers' daily occupations and subjective well-being were studied using multiple in-depth interviews, participant observation of a day's round of occupations, and scales of well-being. Data were treated to a recursive analysis, which included theoretical notes generated during transcriptions that identified important themes and additional points of inquiry, line-by-line coding of transcripts, and theoretical sorting of codes and regrouping, recoding. To account for patterns in the data, a relational analysis was conducted that included the generation of metaphors. RESULTS: Emergent findings of this analysis identified the mothers' guiding occupational motif and eight processes of orchestration in their daily routines. The occupational motif, the embrace of paradox, directed the mother's orchestration of daily occupations. The orchestration processes included planning, organizing, balancing, anticipating, interpreting, forecasting, perspective shifting, and meaning making. Examples illustrate the maternally driven and child-sensitive nature of these processes. CONCLUSION: In their daily rounds, the mothers studied were attentive to the manner and method with which they interacted with their children to produce child-contingent occupations commensurate with their values of being a good mother. Using these orchestration processes, mothers made sense of their past, designed their present, and planned for their future within their daily occupational rounds for themselves and family members.

Nationally speaking. Life history and narrative research: generating a humanistic knowledge base for occupational therapy.

As a profession, occupational therapists are guided in practice by the accumulated knowledge of occupational therapy. This article demonstrates the contributions of life-history and narrative research to this knowledge base. We are suggesting that in response to our humanistic roots, we must pursue additional knowledge, principles of practice, and ethical philosophies that support practice. We have argued that our ideologic concern for the client must guide our choice of epistemologies to investigate the lived experience to those whom we serve. "What is at stake here is the ethic that is embedded in the epistemology that gives rise to kinds of research" (Brock, 1995, p.157) that meet the societal demands for professionalism and support a humanistic practice.

The story of Maricela and Miguel: a narrative analysis of dimensions of adaptation.

OBJECTIVES: A mother-child life history was analyzed to examine the multiple dimensions of adaptation in a family grouping, including temporality, maternal values, and life contexts. METHOD: In-depth interviews, participant observation, and documents (e.g., therapy notes, medical records) produced the data for this study. A multiple step narrative analysis included narrative shaping, analysis of major life turnings, and macrostructural analysis of the progress toward life goals. RESULTS: This mother-child life history portrays the challenging life events of a Mexican-origin mother, Maricela, seeking care and assistance to further the development of her son with disabilities, Miguel. Major turnings in her life had both costs and benefits for her in the present and future. Analysis of her multiple roles of mother, professional, daughter, lover-wife, and spiritual devotee revealed that Maricela's life choices, driven by maternal values, diminished the achievement of her personal goals, except those related to her maternal and spiritual roles. Maricela chose actions to realign current and future happenings with her desired life trajectory for her son, which instead of enhancing life conditions for the family often involved short-term and long-term costs. CONCLUSIONS: This mother-child life history demonstrates that a series of moral, relational, and circumstantial factors influence a mother's projected life courses for herself and her child. Adaptation appears to be a dynamic process of realigning life paths to desired life courses, with success evaluated not in a microcosm of time, but from a larger view as these actions contribute to the achievement of desired life goals within a constellation of the person's life goals.

Hydrogen peroxide suppresses low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and LDL-supported steroidogenesis by porcine luteal cells.

The present study tested the hypothesis that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) inhibits low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and LDL-supported steroidogenesis by luteal cells. LDL uptake: dispersed porcine luteal cells from mid-cycle (days 6-11, estrus = day 0) were incubated for 0-120 min at 37 degrees C in F-10 medium + 0.1% BSA containing various concentrations of H2O2 (0-1000 microM). Cells were washed with catalase (2800 U/ml), and then with fresh medium. Cell viability based on trypan blue exclusion was unaltered by H2O2 exposure through 60 min. H2O2-exposed cells were incubated with fluorescent-tagged-LDL (Dil-LDL; 1 microgram/ml) for 10 min at 37 degrees C. Fluorescence of small (SLC) and large (LLC) luteal cells was analyzed by flow cytometry (n = 6 experiments). H2O2 (> or = 10 microM) caused a progressive reduction (P < 0.01) in mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of SLC and LLC indicative of up to a 30-35% decline in LDL uptake. Progesterone (P) production: dispersed luteal cells (4 x 10(4)/0.2 ml) were pre-cultured in DMEM/F-12 medium overnight (approximately 18 h) in 96-well culture plates. Wells were rinsed and fresh media (0.2 ml) containing H2O2 (0-500 microM) was added. After 30 min, the following treatments were added: human(h)LDL (0 or 50 micrograms/ml), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG; 0 or 100 ng/ml), hCG + LDL, or 22R-hydroxycholesterol (22[OH]-C; 0 or 25 micrograms/ml). Cells were incubated for an additional 4 h, and P concentrations in final media samples were measured by RIA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Phosphate binding gels: balancing phosphate adsorption and aluminum toxicity.

The phosphate binding capacity of five commercial aluminum hydroxide phosphate-binding gels and two crystalline forms of aluminum hydroxide was studied by an in vitro procedure which simulated passage through the stomach to the small intestine. The potential for aluminum toxicity was estimated by determining the fraction of the dose which was converted into soluble aluminum species by acid neutralization at pH 3, 37 degrees C. The commercial products varied widely both in phosphate binding capacity and production of soluble aluminum species. The evidence suggests that the ideal phosphate binder will have a surface area small enough to minimize the formation of soluble aluminum species during the gastric residence time but also large enough to adsorb a clinically significant amount of phosphate.

College mental health programs: A paradigm for Comprehensive Community Mental Health centers.

Some of the dilemmas confronting the Comprehensive Community Mental Health movement are reviewed. Existent paradigms to this movement or aspects of it are documented on various college campuses with special reference to the College Community Mental Health Program present at the University of Florida. The major content of the paper clarifies areas of applicable usefulness such community oriented College Mental Health Programs can serve in overcoming some of the dilemmas of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health movement. University of Florida utilization of the College Community Model for training of the psychiatric resident is outlined.