Effects of habitat fragmentation on the recruitment and early post-settlement survival of coral reef fishes.

The combined effects of global climate change and local anthropogenic stressors are leading to increasing loss and fragmentation of habitats. On coral reefs, habitat loss has been shown to influence the abundance and composition of associated fish assemblages, yet few studies have considered how habitat fragmentation may influence reef fish populations and assemblages. Herein, we compared survival, growth and recruitment of reef fish among experimental patches composed of six similar sized colonies of finely branching Pocillopora spp.

Microplastic exposure interacts with habitat degradation to affect behaviour and survival of juvenile fish in the field.

Coral reefs are degrading globally due to increased environmental stressors including warming and elevated levels of pollutants. These stressors affect not only habitat-forming organisms, such as corals, but they may also directly affect the organisms that inhabit these ecosystems. Here, we explore how the dual threat of habitat degradation and microplastic exposure may affect the behaviour and survival of coral reef fish in the field.

Epitheliocystis in fish: An emerging aquaculture disease with a global impact.

Epitheliocystis is a skin and gill disease in fish caused by pathogenic intracellular bacteria. The disease has been reported in at least 90 species of marine and freshwater fish in both the southern and northern hemispheres. It affects a number of commercially important aquaculture species, including salmon, kingfish and bream.

Biomarker system for studying muscle, stem cells, and cancer in vivo.

Bioluminescent reporter genes are sensitive in situ tools for following disease progression in preclinical models, albeit they are subject to scattering and absorption in deep tissues. We have generated a bicistronic Cre/LoxP reporter mouse line that pairs the expression of firefly luciferase with quantifiable expression of a human placental alkaline phosphatase that is secreted into the serum (SeAP). With the use of this dual-modality bioreporter with a novel, inducible Pax7-CreER line for tracking muscle satellite cells, we demonstrate the longitudinal kinetics of muscle stem cell turnover, accounting for a doubling of the signal from satellite cell and progeny every 3.

Rhabdomyosarcomas utilize developmental, myogenic growth factors for disease advantage: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

Background: Unresectable or metastatic disease represents the greatest obstacle to cure for children with rhabdomyosarcoma. In this study we sought to identify gene expression signatures of advanced stage and progressive disease.

Procedure: Using oligonucleotide gene expression analysis for a focused set of 60 genes, we analyzed the myogenic expression profiles of 89 rhabdomyosarcomas from the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study-IV.