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This study represents the first documented use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to actively track sea turtles in situ. From 2008 to 2014, an ROV was deployed to track the at-sea behavior of loggerhead turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Seventy turtles were tracked, totaling 44.7 h of direct turtle footage. For all attempts, usable video with a turtle retained in view for a minimum of 30 s, was produced at a rate of 43.5% of effort. Turtles were first spotted from the boat, and then when the turtle was within ~ 50 m of the boat, the ROV was deployed to track the turtle for as long as possible. Tracking durations reached up to 426.1 min. Tracked turtles often remained within ~ 10 m of the surface; however loggerheads were tracked to the seafloor on 12 occasions. Turtles were filmed foraging both pelagically and benthically, even though bottom temperatures reached as low as 7.1 °C. A range of inter- and intra-species interactions were also captured. Several varieties of fish remained associated with individual turtles for extended periods of time, even during benthic foraging dives. Additionally, a variety of social interactions between loggerheads were documented. Generally these interactions were filmed occurring near the ocean surface. Overall, using the ROV provided great insight into loggerhead at-sea behavior, otherwise unattainable using previously established techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The incidence of breast cancer among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women varies across the United States. We applied county-level Bayesian disease mapping to quantify potential inequities in 10-year breast cancer incidence in New Mexico to better inform health equity initiatives among its non-Hispanic at-risk AI/AN population., Methods: We used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program from 2005 through 2014 to identify new cases of breast cancer in New Mexico's 33 counties. To account for spatial variation, a county-level Area Deprivation Index, and the small area estimation problem inherent in these data, we borrowed strength globally and locally by applying Bayesian disease mapping to the counts of age-adjusted county-level breast cancer incidence. We quantified the disparity effect, as measured by the age-adjusted rate ratio, comparing the incidence of breast cancer between at-risk non-Hispanic AI/AN and non-Hispanic White women and assessed whether the ratio differed among counties., Results: Accounting for over-dispersion and spatial correlation among the 33 counties and a county-level Area Deprivation Index, the posterior mean of the overall age-adjusted rate ratio was 0.384 (95% credible interval, 0.253--0.546). The age-adjusted rate of breast cancer in non-Hispanic AI/AN women was 0.38 times the corresponding age-adjusted rate for non-Hispanic White women; however, a significant reduction in breast cancer incidence was observed in 16 of the 33 counties., Conclusion: The application of Bayesian disease mapping to these data provided substantial evidence of an overall disparity in breast cancer incidence between at-risk non-Hispanic AI/AN and non-Hispanic White women in New Mexico, which was more marked than previously reported and limited to certain counties. Targeted statewide and county-level health-equity initiatives may lead to a reduction in these disparities.