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This article provides a philological assessment of the statement in Ezra 4:12b and offers a new translation. We focus on the word יַחִיטוּ. We propose to construe the form as originally * יְחִיטוּ , G-stem prefixing conjugation of חיט , »to inspect«. In order to substantiate our proposal we refer to a series of cognates in Aramaic and other Semitic languages. Two newly edited Aramaic documents from Elephantine are mentioned, as well as texts from Bactria, passages from the Gilgamesh Epic, and the story on the Tower of Babylon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rickettsiales-like prokaryote and causative agent of Withering Syndrome (WS)-Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis (Ca. Xc)-decimated black abalone populations along the Pacific coast of North America. White abalone-Haliotis sorenseni-are also susceptible to WS and have become nearly extinct in the wild due to overfishing in the 1970s. Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis proliferates within epithelial cells of the abalone gastrointestinal tract and causes clinical signs of starvation. In 2012, evidence of a putative bacteriophage associated with Ca. Xc in red abalone-Haliotis rufescens-was described. Recently, histologic examination of animals with Ca. Xc infection in California abalone populations universally appear to have the phage-containing inclusions. In this study, we investigated the current virulence of Ca. Xc in red abalone and white abalone at different environmental temperatures. Using a comparative experimental design, we observed differences over time between the two abalone species in mortality, body condition, and bacterial load by quantitative real time PCR (qPCR). By day 251, all white abalone exposed to the current variant of Ca. Xc held in the warm water (18.5 °C) treatment died, while red abalone exposed to the same conditions had a mortality rate of only 10%, despite a relatively heavy bacterial burden as determined by qPCR of posterior esophagus tissue and histological assessment at the termination of the experiment. These data support the current status of Ca. Xc as less virulent in red abalone, and may provide correlative evidence of a protective phage interaction. However, white abalone appear to remain highly susceptible to this disease. These findings have important implications for implementation of a white abalone recovery program, particularly with respect to the thermal regimes of locations where captively-reared individuals will be outplanted.

A restoration program including wild population surveys, captive breeding, health monitoring, recovery site preparation, and recovery modeling has been implemented to restore white abalone (Haliotis sorenseni) populations in California. White abalone once supported a lucrative fishery and are now endangered, nearing extinction at less than 1% of baseline abundances. Recent deep water surveys indicate that populations continue to decline with no signs of recruitment, despite the closure of the fishery in 1996. Four sites with artificial reefs (n=12/site) in optimal white abalone habitat were established. No wild white abalone have been found at these sites. Captive abalone were spawned in the spring of each year from 2012 to 2015. Each year, the production of 1-y-old abalone has increased in the captive breeding program from approximately 20 in 2012, to 150 in 2013 and an estimated 2,000 in 2014. In 2015, the breeding program reached two milestones: (1) most successful spawning season to date and (2) the hatchery distributed 200 captive-reared abalone to 4 partner institutions within the White Abalone Recovery Consortium (WARC). The WARC is made up of federal and state agencies, universities, public aquaria, and aquaculture organizations, all committed to white abalone restoration. The next steps for the program include expanding the captive breeding program to increase production, monitoring abalone health and genetic diversity, and conducting stocking studies to enhance growth and survival in the ocean. The goal of the stocking program is to create a reproductive population in the wild to bring white abalone back from the brink of extinction.

The goal of this project was to investigate and document the presence of disease agents in cultured and wild oyster populations throughout California. This is the first comprehensive survey to be conducted since that of Katkansky and Warner in the late 1960s to early 1970s (Katkansky and Warner, 1974). Particular emphasis was placed on detection of the agent of Denman Island Disease (Mikrocytos mackini, Farley et al., 1988). This pathogen of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) was detected in the State of Washington in 2002, and many California oyster growers receive seed from Washington State. All major populations of farmed and feral commercial oysters and wild native oysters Ostrea lurida were targeted for sampling. Sufficient numbers from each population were collected so that relatively rare pathogens should have been detected when they are present.

All California abalone species have been shown to be susceptible to infection with the bacterial agent of abalone withering syndrome (WS), although expression of signs of the disease may vary between species and with environmental conditions. We examined thermal modulation of WS expression in green abalone Haliotis fulgens at temperatures mimicking El Niño (18.0°C) and La Niña (14.2°C) events in southern California. In contrast to results obtained from previous experiments with red abalone, H. rufescens, the higher temperature did not result in higher infection intensities of the causative agent of the disease nor increase in clinical signs of disease. These results demonstrate clear differences in thermal regulation of disease expression between abalone species, and provide further data suggesting that green abalone should be a target species of recovery efforts in southern California, where WS is endemic.

Once harvested commercially, the white abalone (Haliotis sorenseni) is in danger of extinction and since 2002 has been under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. Recent failed efforts to find remnant populations in the species’ historical deep-seafloor habitats underscore the animal’s scarcity. In the time between when the grant for the project was written and funded, NOAA Fisheries halted the collection of wild white abalone for research. It now appears that species recovery is either going to happen on its own over the course of several or more decades, or captive-bred white abalone will have to be outplanted in the wild. Outplanting is not without its own set of risks, as it may erode genetic diversity or introduce the withering syndrome pathogen into previously uninfected deep-water refuges. Just as worrisome is the potential to unknowingly introduce previously unknown pathogens.

The white abalone , Haliotis sorenseni, supported valuable commercial fisheries only 30 years ago. In 2002, this species became the first marine invertebrate in the United States to achieve federal endangered species status. The overall goal of this project was to collect life history, genetic and disease susceptibility data that to support recovery.

The sabellid polychaete Terebrasabella heterouncinata (Fitzhugh & Rouse 1999) has a unique life history in which larvae settle on the edge of gastropod shells and rely on shell deposition to create a tube with an opening to the exterior. This worm was accidentally imported to California, USA on abalone from South Africa in the 1980s and spread with abalone shipments to most culture facilities and some public aquaria throughout the state. Its ability to infest California's native gastropods has sparked concern regarding potential establishment in intertidal habitats adjacent to facilities that held sabellid-positive abalone. We examined the ability of T. heterouncinata to transmit between individual turban snails, Tegula funebralis. We found that transmission between T.funebralis did occur, but at a significantly slower rate than that between red abalone Haliotis rufescens. During 2002 to 2006 native gastropods (turban snails and limpets) were collected at most sabellid-exposed sites and no T. heterouncinata were detected; it thus appears that this species has not become established in California. Freshwater exposure was examined as a method to kill T. heterouncinala in shell fragments that may remain after abalone are removed from production or display units. Freshwater immersion for up to 8 hours but not 16 or 32 h resulted in survival of adults and/or larvae resident in brood chambers. In a similar study, motile T. heterouncinata larvae were found to survive up to 32 see of freshwater exposure, whereas none survived a 64-sec exposure. These data can be used by abalone culture and display facilities to establish reliable sanitization procedures to prevent T. heterouncinata transmission or reinfestation.

Withering syndrome (WS) is a catastrophic disease of both wild and cultured abalone caused by “Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis”, a Rickettsia-like procaryote (WS-RLP). Losses from this disease have severely hampered the abalone aquaculture industry and abalone restoration efforts in California. Oxytetracycline (OTC) was recently demonstrated to be an effective therapeutant for WS-RLP infections and associated losses due to WS. In addition, a long duration of protection (approximately one year) was noted anecdotally. Part one of this study examined the efficacy and pharmacokinetics of OTC treatment in red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, held at 13.4oC. Medication was administered orally in an artificial diet containing 1.85% active OTC at a rate of 103.4 mg/kg abalone for 10, 20 and 30 days. Control abalone were fed the same diet lacking OTC. Significant differences in prevalence and intensity of infection in both the post-esophagus and digestive gland were observed. Although the digestive gland from abalone medicated for 10 days and foot muscle from those medicated for 30 days was best described with a two-compartment model, pharmacokinetic trends were adequately described by a one-compartment model. Significant differences in OTC accumulation and depletion were observed among treatments. Animals medicated for 10 days accumulated significantly less than those medicated for 20 or 30 days. Despite this, terminal elimination rate constants were similar. Significantly less OTC was present in foot muscle samples relative to corresponding digestive gland samples. Estimated half-life values were similar among treatments for both foot muscle (10.7-13.4 d) and digestive gland (23.8-27.5 d) samples.

Withering syndrome is a chronic, often fatal disease of multiple species of California abalone. It was first observed in the mid-1980s at the Channel Islands off Southern California and has since spread along the main coastline as far north as the San Francisco bay area. Recent research has demonstrated that the causative agent is a Rickettsiales-like prokaryote (WS-RLP, Friedman et al. 2000), and that WS expression is much more rapid and severe at elevated water temperatures (Moore et al. 2000). Aside from impacts on wild populations, WS has resulted in substantial losses in red abalone farms. As a result of these losses and our observation that the WS-RLP is sensitive to tetracyclines, we developed and oral administration of oxytetracycline in conjunction with researchers at The Abalone Farm, Inc.

Author(s): Jon Wade (corresponding author) [1]; Brendan Dyck [2, 3]; Richard M. Palin [4]; James D. P. Moore [5]; Andrew J. Smye [6] Despite active transport into Earths mantle, water [...]

Author(s): Simon Lamb (corresponding author) [1]; James D. P. Moore [2]; Euan Smith [1]; Tim Stern [1] Oceanic crust is created by the extraction of molten rock from underlying mantle [...]

ABSTRACT Changes in ocean temperature can have direct and indirect effects on the population dynamics of marine invertebrates. We examined the impacts of warm water, starvation, and disease on reproduction [...]

The isothermal entropy change of polycrystalline [Gd.sub.5][Si.sub.2.09][Ge.sub.1.91] during the magneto-structural transition is measured exposing the sample to two different temperature/field histories. The phase fraction involved in the transition is observed by using the Hall probe imaging technique. Both experiments confirm that the entropy change during the first-order phase transition depends on the history of the sample. This is understood by the hysteretic nature of the magneto-structural transition. A Preisach-type model accounting for hysteresis in field and temperature is able to predict the phase fractions involved in the transition. The result can be used to explain differences between different measurement methods of the isothermal entropy change of the magnetocaloric effect. Index Terms--Hall imaging, history dependence, magnetocaloric effect, magneto-structural phase transition.

ABSTRACT The sabellid polychaete Terebrasabella heterouncinata (Fitzhugh & Rouse 1999) has a unique life history in which larvae settle on the edge of gastropod shells and rely on shell deposition [...]