Low recruitment drives the decline of red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) along the southeast USA Atlantic coast: Inferences from fishery-independent trap and video monitoring.

Red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) is a reef-associated, economically-important, winter-spawning, protogynous Sparidae species that appears to have declined in abundance in recent years along the southeast United States Atlantic coast. We used spatially-explicit generalized additive models built with fishery-independent chevron trap (1990-2021) and video data (2011-2021) to quantify the ways in which red porgy relative abundance and mean size varied across temporal, spatial, environmental, and habitat variables. Mean red porgy relative abundance from traps declined by 77% between 1992 and 2021, and declines were similarly large (69%) on video between 2011 and 2021. The largest two-year decline in relative abundance occurred early in the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2021)- 32% in traps and 45% on video-despite already low abundance. Highest red porgy relative abundance from traps and video occurred in deep areas (i.e., 60-100 m) between southern North Carolina and north Georgia, and red porgy preferred low relief but continuous hardbottom habitats (i.e., pavement). We confirmed recent low recruitment of red porgy in the region based on the large increase in mean length (29%) and severe (~99%) declines of juvenile red porgy caught over the 32-year trap survey. Evidence suggests that recruitment failure is partially or mostly responsible for red porgy abundance declines, and, moreover, the regulation of harvest is unlikely to achieve sustainable management goals until recruitment increases.

Trends in Childhood Oncology Admissions to ICUs in Australia and New Zealand.

OBJECTIVES: There are few robust, national-level reports of contemporary trends in pediatric oncology admissions, resource use, and mortality. We aimed to describe national-level data on trends in intensive care admissions, interventions, and survival for children with cancer. DESIGN: Cohort study using a binational pediatric intensive care registry. SETTING: Australia and New Zealand. PATIENTS: Patients younger than 16 years, admitted to an ICU in Australia or New Zealand with an oncology diagnosis between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2018. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We examined trends in oncology admissions, ICU interventions, and both crude and risk-adjusted patient-level mortality. Eight thousand four hundred ninety admissions were identified for 5,747 patients, accounting for 5.8% of PICU admissions. Absolute and population-indexed oncology admissions increased from 2003 to 2018, and median length of stay increased from 23.2 hours (interquartile range [IQR], 16.8-62 hr) to 38.8 hours (IQR, 20.9-81.1 hr) ( p < 0.001). Three hundred fifty-seven of 5,747 patients died (6.2%). There was a 45% reduction in risk-adjusted ICU mortality, which reduced from 3.3% (95% CI, 2.1-4.4) in 2003-2004 to 1.8% (95% CI, 1.1-2.5%) in 2017-2018 ( p trend = 0.02). The greatest reduction in mortality seen in hematological cancers and in nonelective admissions. Mechanical ventilation rates were unchanged from 2003 to 2018, while the use of high-flow nasal prong oxygen increased (incidence rate ratio, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.61-3.67 per 2 yr). CONCLUSIONS: In Australian and New Zealand PICUs, pediatric oncology admissions are increasing steadily and such admissions are staying longer, representing a considerable proportion of ICU activity. The mortality of children with cancer who are admitted to ICU is low and falling.

Effect of Hearing Ability and Mild Behavioural Impairment on MoCA and Memory Index Scores.

BACKGROUND: The life-course model of modifiable risk factors for dementia now recognizes managing hearing loss and addressing social isolation. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the contribution and inter-relationship of hearing ability and behaviour change on cognitive ability. METHODS: We present the preliminary findings from a prospective longitudinal study of 35 non-demented participants ages 60-93, recruited from community rehabilitation and acute-care programs of Geriatric Medicine, who underwent baseline hearing, behavioural, and cognitive testing. RESULTS: After controlling for age and hearing impairment, the left ear Dichotic Digit Test (DDT) score accounted uniquely for 20% of the variance in MoCA Memory Index (p = .016 with ß = .598). Mild Behavioural Impairment (MBI) was highly prevalent, with 80% of older adults reporting at least one MBI symptom. People with hearing impairment had greater global MBI burden than people with normal hearing, especially in the domains of apathy and impulse dyscontrol; however, greater severity of hearing impairment was not associated with a higher number of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). CONCLUSIONS: Low left DDT contributed to lower memory index and greater MBI burden is associated with hearing impairment. Our findings demonstrate the value of early non-invasive hearing and behavioural assessments as part of dementia risk assessment in older adults.

General anaesthesia as fragmentation of selfhood: insights from electroencephalography and neuroimaging.

Selfhood is linked to brain processes that enable the experience of a person as a distinct entity, capable of agency. This framework naturally incorporates a continuum of both non-conscious and conscious self-related information processing, and includes a hierarchy of components, such as awareness of existence (core self), embodied self (sentience), executive self (agency/volition), and various other higher-order cognitive processes. Consciousness relates to, but is not congruent, with selfhood; understanding the processes required for selfhood can explain the partial consciousness seen in anaesthesia. Functional-brain-imaging and electroencephalographic studies in sleep and general anaesthesia have shown differential effects of anaesthetic drugs on various specific self-related functional brain networks. In particular, drug-induced selective impairment of anterior insula function suggests there might be a crucial difference between anaesthesia and natural sleep when it comes to the salience network. With increasing concentrations of anaesthetics, it is not uncommon for patients to become depersonalised (i.e. to lose sentience and agency), but retain many higher-order functions and a disembodied self-awareness, until quite high concentrations are reached. In this respect, general anaesthesia differs significantly from physiological sleep, where it appears that loss of agency and sentience parallels, or lags behind, the decrease in self-awareness. Interestingly, connectivity within the posterior brain regions is maintained even to quite high concentrations of anaesthetics, potentially representing a pathognomonic marker of the core self that possibly is involved in maintaining a reduced energy state of homeostasis.

Disambiguating pharmacological mechanisms from placebo in neuropathic pain using functional neuroimaging.

BACKGROUND: A lack of objective outcome measures and overreliance on subjective pain reports in early proof-of-concept studies contribute to the high attrition of potentially effective new analgesics. We studied the utility of neuroimaging in providing objective evidence of neural activity related to drug modulation or a placebo effect in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, three-way crossover trial. METHODS: We chronically administered pregabalin or tramadol (first-line and second-line analgesics, respectively), recommended for neuropathic pain, in 16 post-traumatic neuropathic pain patients. We measured subjective pain reports, allodynia-evoked neural activity, and brain resting state functional connectivity from patients during the three sessions and resting state data at baseline from patients after washout of their current medication. All data were collected using a 3 T MRI scanner. RESULTS: When compared with placebo only, pregabalin significantly suppressed allodynia-evoked neural activity in several nociceptive and pain-processing areas of the brain, despite the absence of behavioural analgesia. Furthermore, placebo significantly increased functional connectivity between the rostral anterior cingulate and the brainstem, a core component of the placebo neural network. CONCLUSIONS: Functional neuroimaging provided objective evidence of pharmacodynamic efficacy in a proof-of-concept study setting where subjective pain outcome measures are often unreliable. Additionally, we provide evidence confirming the neural mechanism underpinning placebo analgesia as identified in acute experimental imaging studies in patients during the placebo arm of a clinical trial. We explore how brain penetrant active drugs potentially interact with this mechanism. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT0061015.

Timing and locations of reef fish spawning off the southeastern United States.

Managed reef fish in the Atlantic Ocean of the southeastern United States (SEUS) support a multi-billion dollar industry. There is a broad interest in locating and protecting spawning fish from harvest, to enhance productivity and reduce the potential for overfishing. We assessed spatiotemporal cues for spawning for six species from four reef fish families, using data on individual spawning condition collected by over three decades of regional fishery-independent reef fish surveys, combined with a series of predictors derived from bathymetric features. We quantified the size of spawning areas used by reef fish across many years and identified several multispecies spawning locations. We quantitatively identified cues for peak spawning and generated predictive maps for Gray Triggerfish (Balistes capriscus), White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii), Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), Vermilion Snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens), Black Sea Bass (Centropristis striata), and Scamp (Mycteroperca phenax). For example, Red Snapper peak spawning was predicted in 24.7-29.0°C water prior to the new moon at locations with high curvature in the 24-30 m depth range off northeast Florida during June and July. External validation using scientific and fishery-dependent data collections strongly supported the predictive utility of our models. We identified locations where reconfiguration or expansion of existing marine protected areas would protect spawning reef fish. We recommend increased sampling off southern Florida (south of 27° N), during winter months, and in high-relief, high current habitats to improve our understanding of timing and location of reef fish spawning off the southeastern United States.

High-flow nasal cannula use in a paediatric intensive care unit over 3 years.

OBJECTIVE: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy is increasingly used in paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients, despite a paucity of studies. We describe its use over the 3 years since its implementation in our tertiary intensive care unit. DESIGN: The clinical database was used to identify PICU patients on HFNC therapy from 2011 to 2013. Patients were assessed for risk factors, underlying diagnosis, viral test results and cardiorespiratory parameters before and after HFNC therapy. RESULTS: Fifty-four children were included with a median age of 3.5 months (interquartile range [IQR], 1-10 months) and 59% were females. The commonest diagnosis was bronchiolitis (79%). HFNC therapy was successful in 78% of patients and failed for 12 (seven patients went on to CPAP treatment and five were intubated). The median time to HFNC therapy failure was 5.5 hours (IQR, 3.6-9 hours), with 75% of patients experiencing therapy failure by 8.25 hours. The failure rate was 50% in children with a primary diagnosis of congenital heart disease. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean respiratory rate at 1 hour in the success and failure groups (P = 0.037), despite similar respiratory rates at onset. HFNC therapy failure was associated with a longer PICU LOS (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: HFNC therapy was successful in most patients. Most failures occurred within 8.25 hours. Use of HFNC for heart disease was associated with a high therapy failure rate (50%).

Pain in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review of neuroimaging studies.

INTRODUCTION: While pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) is common, in many cases the precise mechanisms are unclear. Neuroimaging studies could have a valuable role in investigating the aetiology of pain syndromes. The aim of this review was to synthesise and appraise the current literature on neuroimaging studies of pain syndromes in MS. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed and Scopus from their inception dates to the 2nd of April 2013. Studies were selected by predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was appraised. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted. RESULTS: We identified 38 studies of variable methodology and quality. All studies but one used conventional structural magnetic resonance imaging, and the majority reported a positive association between location of demyelinating lesions and specific neuropathic pain syndromes. Most investigated headache and facial pain, with more common pain syndromes such as limb pain being relatively understudied. We identified a number of methodological concerns, which along with variable study design and reporting limit our ability to synthesise data. Higher quality studies were however less likely to report positive associations of lesion distribution to pain syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: Further high quality hypothesis-driven neuroimaging studies of pain syndromes in MS are required to clarify pain mechanisms, particularly for the commonest pain syndromes.

Differential structural and resting state connectivity between insular subdivisions and other pain-related brain regions.

Functional neuroimaging studies suggest that the anterior, mid, and posterior division of the insula subserve different functions in the perception of pain. The anterior insula (AI) has predominantly been associated with cognitive-affective aspects of pain, while the mid and posterior divisions have been implicated in sensory-discriminative processing. We examined whether this functional segregation is paralleled by differences in (1) structural and (2) resting state connectivity and (3) in correlations with pain-relevant psychological traits. Analyses were restricted to the 3 insular subdivisions and other pain-related brain regions. Both type of analyses revealed largely overlapping results. The AI division was predominantly connected to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (structural and resting state connectivity) and orbitofrontal cortex (structural connectivity). In contrast, the posterior insula showed strong connections to the primary somatosensory cortex (SI; structural connectivity) and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII; structural and resting state connectivity). The mid insula displayed a hybrid connectivity pattern with strong connections with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, SII (structural and resting state connectivity) and SI (structural connectivity). Moreover, resting state connectivity revealed strong connectivity of all 3 subdivisions with the thalamus. On the behavioural level, AI structural connectivity was related to the individual degree of pain vigilance and awareness that showed a positive correlation with AI-amygdala connectivity and a negative correlation with AI-rostral anterior cingulate cortex connectivity. In sum, our findings show a differential structural and resting state connectivity for the anterior, mid, and posterior insula with other pain-relevant brain regions, which might at least partly explain their different functional profiles in pain processing.

The current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging: methods.

A first-ever spinal cord imaging meeting was sponsored by the International Spinal Research Trust and the Wings for Life Foundation with the aim of identifying the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, the current greatest challenges, and greatest needs for future development. This meeting was attended by a small group of invited experts spanning all aspects of spinal cord imaging from basic research to clinical practice. The greatest current challenges for spinal cord imaging were identified as arising from the imaging environment itself; difficult imaging environment created by the bone surrounding the spinal canal, physiological motion of the cord and adjacent tissues, and small cross-sectional dimensions of the spinal cord, exacerbated by metallic implants often present in injured patients. Challenges were also identified as a result of a lack of "critical mass" of researchers taking on the development of spinal cord imaging, affecting both the rate of progress in the field, and the demand for equipment and software to manufacturers to produce the necessary tools. Here we define the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, discuss the underlying theory and challenges, and present the evidence for the current and potential power of these methods. In two review papers (part I and part II), we propose that the challenges can be overcome with advances in methods, improving availability and effectiveness of methods, and linking existing researchers to create the necessary scientific and clinical network to advance the rate of progress and impact of the research.

The current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging: applications.

A first-ever spinal cord imaging meeting was sponsored by the International Spinal Research Trust and the Wings for Life Foundation with the aim of identifying the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, the current greatest challenges, and greatest needs for future development. This meeting was attended by a small group of invited experts spanning all aspects of spinal cord imaging from basic research to clinical practice. The greatest current challenges for spinal cord imaging were identified as arising from the imaging environment itself; difficult imaging environment created by the bone surrounding the spinal canal, physiological motion of the cord and adjacent tissues, and small crosssectional dimensions of the spinal cord, exacerbated by metallic implants often present in injured patients. Challenges were also identified as a result of a lack of "critical mass" of researchers taking on the development of spinal cord imaging, affecting both the rate of progress in the field, and the demand for equipment and software to manufacturers to produce the necessary tools. Here we define the current state-of-the-art of spinal cord imaging, discuss the underlying theory and challenges, and present the evidence for the current and potential power of these methods. In two review papers (part I and part II), we propose that the challenges can be overcome with advances in methods, improving availability and effectiveness of methods, and linking existing researchers to create the necessary scientific and clinical network to advance the rate of progress and impact of the research.

Imaging pain: a potent means for investigating pain mechanisms in patients.

Chronic pain is a state of physical suffering strongly associated with feelings of anxiety, depression and despair. Disease pathophysiology, psychological state, and social milieu can influence chronic pain, but can be difficult to diagnose based solely on clinical presentation. Here, we review brain neuroimaging research that is shaping our understanding of pain mechanisms, and consider how such knowledge might lead to useful diagnostic tools for the management of persistent pain in individual patients.

Non-invasive imaging of cartilage in early osteoarthritis.

Treatment for osteoarthritis (OA) has traditionally focused on joint replacement for end-stage disease. An increasing number of surgical and pharmaceutical strategies for disease prevention have now been proposed. However, these require the ability to identify OA at a stage when it is potentially reversible, and detect small changes in cartilage structure and function to enable treatment efficacy to be evaluated within an acceptable timeframe. This has not been possible using conventional imaging techniques but recent advances in musculoskeletal imaging have been significant. In this review we discuss the role of different imaging modalities in the diagnosis of the earliest changes of OA. The increasing number of MRI sequences that are able to non-invasively detect biochemical changes in cartilage that precede structural damage may offer a great advance in the diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating condition.

Pinprick-evoked brain potentials: a novel tool to assess central sensitization of nociceptive pathways in humans.

Although hyperalgesia to mechanical stimuli is a frequent sign in patients with inflammation or neuropathic pain, there is to date no objective electrophysiological measure for its evaluation in the clinical routine. Here we describe a technique for recording the electroencephalographic (EEG) responses elicited by mechanical stimulation with a flat-tip probe (diameter 0.25 mm, force 128 mN). Such probes activate Aδ nociceptors and are widely used to assess the presence of secondary hyperalgesia, a psychophysical correlate of sensitization in the nociceptive system. The corresponding pinprick-evoked potentials (PEPs) were recorded in 10 subjects during stimulation of the right and left hand dorsum before and after intradermal injection of capsaicin into the right hand and in 1 patient with a selective lesion of the right spinothalamic tract. PEPs in response to stimulation of normal skin were characterized by a vertex negative-positive (NP) complex, with N/P latencies and amplitudes of 111/245 ms and 3.5/11 µV, respectively. All subjects developed a robust capsaicin-induced increase in the pain elicited by pinprick stimulation of the secondary hyperalgesic area (+91.5%, P < 0.005). Such stimulation also resulted in a significant increase of the N-wave amplitude (+92.9%, P < 0.005), but not of the P wave (+6.6%, P = 0.61). In the patient, PEPs during stimulation of the hypoalgesic side were reduced. These results indicate that PEPs 1) reflect cortical activities triggered by somatosensory input transmitted in Aδ primary sensory afferents and spinothalamic projection neurons, 2) allow quantification of experimentally induced secondary mechanical hyperalgesia, and 3) have the potential to become a diagnostic tool to substantiate mechanical hyperalgesia in patients with presumed central sensitization.

Neuropathic features of joint pain: a community-based study.

OBJECTIVE: Quantitative sensory testing (QST) and questionnaire-based assessments have been used to demonstrate features of neuropathic pain in subjects with musculoskeletal pain. However, their direct relationship has not been investigated in the community. The purpose of this study was to conduct an observational study to describe the characteristics of joint pain and to examine the relationship between QST measures and the PainDETECT Questionnaire (PD-Q). METHODS: Warm detection, heat pain, and mechanical pain thresholds as well as mechanical pain sensitivity over the sternum were determined and the PD-Q scores were calculated in a cross-sectional study of 462 participants in the Chingford Study. Comparisons were made between subjects with and those without joint pain. Logistic regression modeling was used to describe the association between neuropathic pain features, as determined by the PD-Q score, and each of the QST measures individually, adjusting for age, body mass index, and use of pain-modifying medications. RESULTS: A total of 66.2% of the subjects reported recent joint pain, with a median average pain severity of 5 of 10. There was increased sensitivity to painful stimuli in the group with pain as compared to the pain-free group, and this persisted after stratification by pain-modifying medication use. While only 6.7% of subjects had possible neuropathic pain features and 1.9% likely neuropathic pain features according to the standard PD-Q thresholds, features of neuropathic pain were common and were present in >50% of those reporting pain of at least moderate severity. Heat pain thresholds and mechanical pain sensitivity were significantly associated with features of neuropathic pain identified using the PD-Q, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.88 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.79-0.97; P = 0.011) and an OR of 1.24 (95% CI 1.04-1.48; P = 0.018), respectively. CONCLUSION: QST measures and the PD-Q identified features of neuropathic pain in subjects in this community-based study, with significant overlap between the findings of the two techniques.

Dispersal of deep-sea larvae from the intra-American seas: simulations of trajectories using ocean models.

Using data on ocean circulation with a Lagrangian larval transport model, we modeled the potential dispersal distances for seven species of bathyal invertebrates whose durations of larval life have been estimated from laboratory rearing, MOCNESS plankton sampling, spawning times, and recruitment. Species associated with methane seeps in the Gulf of Mexico and/or Barbados included the bivalve "Bathymodiolus" childressi, the gastropod Bathynerita naticoidea, the siboglinid polychaete tube worm Lamellibrachia luymesi, and the asteroid Sclerasterias tanneri. Non-seep species included the echinoids Cidaris blakei and Stylocidaris lineata from sedimented slopes in the Bahamas and the wood-dwelling sipunculan Phascolosoma turnerae, found in Barbados, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. Durations of the planktonic larval stages ranged from 3 weeks in lecithotrophic tubeworms to more than 2 years in planktotrophic starfish. Planktotrophic sipunculan larvae from the northern Gulf of Mexico were capable of reaching the mid-Atlantic off Newfoundland, a distance of more than 3000 km, during a 7- to 14-month drifting period, but the proportion retained in the Gulf of Mexico varied significantly among years. Larvae drifting in the upper water column often had longer median dispersal distances than larvae drifting for the same amount of time below the permanent thermocline, although the shapes of the distance-frequency curves varied with depth only in the species with the longest larval trajectories. Even species drifting for >2 years did not cross the ocean in the North Atlantic Drift.

Short-term effects of screening for cardiovascular risk in the deaf community: a pilot study.

There is limited information on the risk of cardiovascular disease amongst the Deaf community. Given that the access of Deaf people to mainstream health promotion is likely to be hindered by language barriers, we were interested to assess the short-term impact of cardiovascular health promotion within this group. Using a pilot study we investigated changes in cardiovascular risk factors amongst Deaf people identified to be at high cardiovascular risk, who received standard health promotion by a medical team specializing in cardiovascular health promotion. The short-term impact of cardiovascular health promotion in this group did not reduce estimates of cardiovascular risk. The reasons for this are likely to relate to the design and delivery of health promotion to Deaf people, which deserves further study.

Evidence that central sensitisation is present in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome and influences the outcome after surgery.

Impingement syndrome in the shoulder has generally been considered to be a clinical condition of mechanical origin. However, anomalies exist between the pathology in the subacromial space and the degree of pain experienced. These may be explained by variations in the processing of nociceptive inputs between different patients. We investigated the evidence for augmented pain transmission (central sensitisation) in patients with impingement, and the relationship between pre-operative central sensitisation and the outcomes following arthroscopic subacromial decompression. We recruited 17 patients with unilateral impingement of the shoulder and 17 age- and gender-matched controls, all of whom underwent quantitative sensory testing to detect thresholds for mechanical stimuli, distinctions between sharp and blunt punctate stimuli, and heat pain. Additionally Oxford shoulder scores to assess pain and function, and PainDETECT questionnaires to identify 'neuropathic' and referred symptoms were completed. Patients completed these questionnaires pre-operatively and three months post-operatively. A significant proportion of patients awaiting subacromial decompression had referred pain radiating down the arm and had significant hyperalgesia to punctate stimulus of the skin compared with controls (unpaired t-test, p < 0.0001). These are felt to represent peripheral manifestations of augmented central pain processing (central sensitisation). The presence of either hyperalgesia or referred pain pre-operatively resulted in a significantly worse outcome from decompression three months after surgery (unpaired t-test, p = 0.04 and p = 0.005, respectively). These observations confirm the presence of central sensitisation in a proportion of patients with shoulder pain associated with impingement. Also, if patients had relatively high levels of central sensitisation pre-operatively, as indicated by higher levels of punctate hyperalgesia and/or referred pain, the outcome three months after subacromial decompression was significantly worse.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated acids and cardiovascular disease: notable ethnic differences or unfulfilled promise?

The consumption of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated acids (PUFA) is considered to protect against cardiovascular disease and promote longevity following a heart attack. Historically, research in this area was fuelled by compelling reports of the cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 PUFA in select populations and cultures. More recent studies, in wider populations, suggest discordant findings: differences that are difficult to reconcile as the mechanism of action of omega-3 PUFA are poorly understood. As such, the use of this 'natural treatment' for cardiovascular disease is increasingly controversial, and potentially one of unfulfilled promise. To what extent does ethnicity influence the impact that omega-3 PUFA have on cardiovascular disease and its associated complications? We were interested to review the benefits of omega-3 PUFA in the management of cardiovascular risk amongst diverse ethnic groups. Using a systematic review of literature relating to omega-3 PUFA and cardiovascular disease, we found ethnicity to be a factor that accounts for inconsistency between studies. Some of the effects of omega-3 PUFA are limited to cultures with a very high omega-3 intake, and in turn, ethnicity moderates the efficiency with which PUFA are derived from the diet. Moreover, omega-3 PUFA are an important health care intervention in the current climate of globalization, where supplementation is likely to give protection to cultural groups undergoing dietary transition. Future epidemiological research into the efficacy of omega-3 PUFA in cardiovascular disease should consider the influence of ethnicity.

Unusual development of the mitraria larva in the polychaete Owenia collaris.

Despite the wide variety of larval forms among polychaetes, most are clearly derived from the canonical spiralian trochophore. Within the genus Owenia (family Oweniidae), however, the mitraria larva lacks the characteristic ciliary bands of the trochophore, and those it has are monociliated, typically a deuterostome characteristic. Adult Owenia spp. also possess a monociliated epidermis and deuterostome-like nephridia. This study is the first detailed account of early embryology for any member of the Oweniidae. Light, confocal, and scanning electron microscopy were used to investigate organogenesis from fertilization through metamorphosis in Owenia collaris. Equal spiral cleavage yields an embryo with an unusually large blastocoel for a spiralian. The embryo undergoes gastrulation by invagination, and begins swimming 24 h after fertilization. Three important events deviate markedly from stereotypical polychaete embryogenesis. First, at the 8-cell stage the micromeres are larger than the macromeres, as in nemerteans. Second, the blastopore becomes the anus, as in some deuterostomes, while the stomodeum may form secondarily. Third, the cells that would form the prototroch in a canonical spiralian trochophore (1q(2) descendants) never undergo cleavage arrest, and the primary ciliated band of the mitraria never contains large, multiciliated cells. The mitraria larva thus represents a mixture of protostome and deuterostome developmental traits, suggesting that spiralian development is not so rigidly constrained as it might appear.