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A couple of years ago, I worked in the writing center with a student on a paper about her identity development. She received high marks for content but lost points for writing. As I read her paper, two things struck me: First, she had grown up in Boston, but her parents were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At home, she spoke Lingala, which she hid from her friends after she was mocked. Second, many of her sentences were indecipherable. She wrote, for example, 'I didn't have an indistinguishable surface hair from different females in my class and they wouldn't converse with me or simply give me disposition since I didn't seem as though them.' (Savini), In the January 2021 Inside Higher Ed article '10 Ways to Tackle Linguistic Bias in Our Classrooms,' Catherine Savini shares the above anecdote about tutoring an African student from the [...]

Gaidropsarus Rafinesque, 1810 is a genus of marine teleost characterized by a high ecological diversity and by species inhabiting from the intertidal zone to the deep-sea. Several taxonomic conundrums have been historically present in this taxon due to its conservative morphology and the lack of available specimens. Species delimitation analyses were carried out in multiple datasets combining both mitochondrial (COI, CytB, ND2) and nuclear (Rho, ZIC1) genetic markers. Despite some incongruence between mitochondrial and nuclear data, the analyses supported the synonymy between Gaidropsarus biscayensis and Gaidropsarus macrophthalmus and the molecular confirmation of a recently new described species Gaidropsarus gallaeciae, in the North Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, recent speciation events can explain the close relationships among several Gaidropsarus species, including Gaidropsarus granti-Gaidropsarus vulgaris and Gaidropsarus argentatus-Gaidropsarus ensis. These results support previous findings highlighted through DNA Barcoding analyses. Incongruences between mtDNA and nDNA have arisen between Gaidropsarus guttatus and Gaidropsarus mediterraneus, therefore, further analyses will be necessary to unravel the phenomena related to them., Author(s): David Barros-García [sup.1] , Ángel Sebastián Comesaña [sup.2] , Rafael Bañón [sup.3] [sup.4] , Francisco Baldó [sup.5] , Juan Carlos Arronte [sup.6] , Elsa Froufe [sup.1] , Alejandro De [...]

The shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, is an oceanic pelagic shark species found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. It is frequently caught by pelagic longline fisheries, but despite its commercial importance and ecological significance, little is still known about its biology and ecology at the molecular level. Therefore, we combined two massive parallel sequencing approaches, double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD) and RNA sequencing (RNAseq), for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery in the shortfin mako. The ddRAD yielded a total of 82,676 putative SNPs. For RNAseq, a total of 129,663 putative SNPs were found. After the stricter filtering procedure, 405 SNPs from ddRAD and 1165 SNPs from RNAseq were retained and suitable for further analysis. Annotation analysis of SNPs from ddRAD revealed a total of 55 gene associated SNP markers, of which 32 SNPs (58.2%) are associated with diseases and defense responses, 9 SNPs (16.4%) are associated with developmental process, and 3 SNPs (5.4%) are present in genes involved in the reproductive function. For RNAseq, 739 SNPs were annotated and associated to relevant functions amongst which 10 SNPs (0.53%) were related with reproduction, 6 SNPs (0.32%) with growth, and 9 (0.48%) with locomotion. Overall, the genotyping of the SNPs was followed by the validation of 255 SNPs from ddRAD and 646 for RNAseq in 31 individuals from the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Our results provide valuable sequence resources for future population genomics analysis, comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and molecular evolution of the globally endangered shortfin mako shark., Author(s): Rodrigo R. Domingues [sup.1] [sup.2] , Vito Antonio Mastrochirico-Filho [sup.3] [sup.4] , Natalia J. Mendes [sup.4] , Diogo T. Hashimoto [sup.4] , Rui Coelho [sup.5] [sup.6] , Agostinho Antunes [...]

Abstract: This article analyzes one kind of colonial equipment designed in the early twentieth century for the purpose of providing medical assistance to the indigenous populations of Angola and Mozambique. [...]

The populations of freshwater mussels belonging to the family Unionidae have been facing drastic changes in terms of diversity and numbers caused by constant aggressions on their natural habitat. Nevertheless, bivalves are capable of developing strategies of defense to overcome potential aggressors. The present work aimed to assess the potential antibacterial capacity of different species of unionid mussels from the north of Portugal. For this purpose, circulating cells (hemocytes), fluids, and mucus were obtained by nonlethal methods from the species Anodonta anatina (Linnaeus), Anodonta cygnea (Linnaeus), Potomida littoralis (Cuvier), and Unio delphinus (Spengler), and tested against bacterial reference strains and multidrug-resistant isolates. The cellular fraction of A. anatina, A. cygnea, and P. littoralis showed antibacterial activity, detected by the agar disc diffusion method, against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6683, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606. Circulating cells from P. littoralis and A. anatina also inhibited Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111 and A. cygnea has also inhibited a multidrug-resistant isolate of Pseudomonas putida. The plasma of all mentioned freshwater mussels, used directly or diluted, showed great ability to hamper or inhibit the biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. Anodonta cygnea hampered the biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 as well. Overall, these results showed that not only cells play a relevant role in the immune system of these species but also the plasma, which likely contains antibiofilm substances. Anodonta cygnea stood out by presenting the best antibacterial inhibition potential. KEY WORDS: antibacterial activity, freshwater bivalves, hemocytes, immune system, plasma, INTRODUCTION In the last decades, freshwater mussels belonging to the superfamily Unionoidea have increasingly been endangered, yet the concern regarding their conservation is equally growing (Bogan 1993, Strayer 2000, Strayer [...]

This work aims to provide oyster farmers a tool to estimate the stock biomass to hold in their nursery. Herein, a steady-state single-compartment mass balance model, which includes the feeding activity of oyster spat, was developed. This model applies to nurseries such as floating upweller systems or land-based tanks and estimates (1) the optimal stock as a function of external food concentration or (2) the food concentration required for a given stock. The model was implemented for the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas Thunberg) and is available online: http://seaplusplus4.com/oysterspatbud.html. The model was evaluated using published data and further tested by simulating a general rule of thumb regarding the spat-holding capacity for a given nursery. According to a general rule of thumb, 1 hectare of a shallow pond can hold between 1 and 3 tons of spat. The model allows to further specify the rule depending on the spat grade to stock. If the spat is around 0.38 g, the model estimates a holding stock within the range of the rule of thumb; however, if the spat is around 0.04 g, the biomass stock sustained is lower (between 0.7 and 2 tons). KEY WORDS: Pacific oyster, spat, nursery, mass balance, simple models, food limitation, carrying capacity, INTRODUCTION Bivalves accounted for 21% of global aquaculture production by volume (excluding seaweeds) in 2015. of which oysters represent 36% of the bivalve total (FAO 2017). Aquaculture is the main [...]

A novel histological and ultrastructural study of the three ganglia types of Scrobicularia plana was made. Adults of both sexes and immature specimens were collected at Ria Formosa lagoon, Portugal. For light microscopy, animals fixed in formalin were processed for various staining, including serotonin and dopamine immunohistochemistry. For transmission electron microscopy, dissected ganglia were fixed in glutaraldehyde and routinely processed. Every ganglion reveals an outer cortex and inner medulla, with the cortex displaying large and small neurons. Their sizes decrease as they are located closer to the medulla. Almost all are unipolar, and only a few are bipolar. Glial cells appear around the neurons and amidst the axons. They usually have smaller sizes and greater nucleus-cytoplasm ratios. The glial morphologies (fusiform, roundish, and triangular) may correspond to glia subtypes and/or functional statuses. Ultrastructural differences from earlier studies were noted, mainly in the type of inclusions and vacuoles. Serotonergic and dopaminergic cell bodies and neuntes exist in all ganglia. There is an identical expression pattern in adults (both sexes) and in immature animals. Nevertheless, the extent/intensity of serotonin positivity in visceral ganglia supports that mature animals have a stronger expression, which may be connected the role of that amine in gonad maturation and spawning. KEY WORDS: Scrobicularia plana, bivalve, nervous system, glial cells, histology/ultrastructure, monoamines, neurons, INTRODUCTION The nervous system of invertebrates is composed of two main categories of cells, neurons and glial cells (Bullock & Horridge 1965, Coles & Abbott 1996, Harrison & Kohn 1997, [...]