Spatial patterns of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in the tauopathies: A comparative study of five disorders

The tauopathies are a major molecular group of neurodegenerative disorders characterised by the deposition of abnormal cellular aggregates of the microtubule associated protein (MAP) tau in the form of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI). Recent research suggests that cell to cell propagation of pathogenic tau may be involved in the neurodegeneration of these disorders. If pathogenic tau spreads along anatomical pathways it may give rise to specific spatial patterns of the NCI in brain tissue. To test this hypothesis, the spatial patterns of NCI in cerebral cortical regions were compared in tissue sections taken from five major tauopathies: (1) argyrophilic grain disease (AGD), (2) Alzheimer's disease (AD), (3) corticobasal degeneration (CBD), (4) Pick's disease (PiD), and (5) progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). In the cerebral cortex of these disorders, NCI were frequently aggregated into clusters and the clusters were regularly distributed parallel to the pia mater. In a significant proportion of regions, the mean size of the regularly distributed clusters of NCI was in the range 400 – 800 m, measured parallel to the pia mater, approximating to the dimension of cell columns associated with the cortico-cortical anatomical pathways. Hence, the data suggest that cortical NCI in the tauopathies exhibit a spatial pattern in the cortex which could result from the spread of pathogenic tau along anatomical pathways. Treatments designed to protect the cortex from tau propagation may therefore be applicable across several different disorders within this molecular group.

Development of methods for spatial modeling of sediments quality in Lake Okeechobee, Florida

The major objectives of this dissertation were to develop optimal spatial techniques to model the spatial-temporal changes of the lake sediments and their nutrients from 1988 to 2006, and evaluate the impacts of the hurricanes occurred during 1998–2006. Mud zone reduced about 10.5% from 1988 to 1998, and increased about 6.2% from 1998 to 2006. Mud areas, volumes and weight were calculated using validated Kriging models. From 1988 to 1998, mud thicknesses increased up to 26 cm in the central lake area. The mud area and volume decreased about 13.78% and 10.26%, respectively. From 1998 to 2006, mud depths declined by up to 41 cm in the central lake area, mud volume reduced about 27%. Mud weight increased up to 29.32% from 1988 to 1998, but reduced over 20% from 1998 to 2006. The reduction of mud sediments is likely due to re-suspension and redistribution by waves and currents produced by large storm events, particularly Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and Wilma in 2005. Regression, kriging, geographically weighted regression (GWR) and regression-kriging models have been calibrated and validated for the spatial analysis of the sediments TP and TN of the lake. GWR models provide the most accurate predictions for TP and TN based on model performance and error analysis. TP values declined from an average of 651 to 593 mg/kg from 1998 to 2006, especially in the lake’s western and southern regions. From 1988 to 1998, TP declined in the northern and southern areas, and increased in the central-western part of the lake. The TP weights increased about 37.99%–43.68% from 1988 to 1998 and decreased about 29.72%–34.42% from 1998 to 2006. From 1988 to 1998, TN decreased in most areas, especially in the northern and southern lake regions; western littoral zone had the biggest increase, up to 40,000 mg/kg. From 1998 to 2006, TN declined from an average of 9,363 to 8,926 mg/kg, especially in the central and southern regions. The biggest increases occurred in the northern lake and southern edge areas. TN weights increased about 15%–16.2% from 1988 to 1998, and decreased about 7%–11% from 1998 to 2006.

Spatial patterns of fish communities along two estuarine gradients in southern Florida

In tropical and subtropical estuaries, gradients of primary productivity and salinity are generally invoked to explain patterns in community structure and standing crops of fishes. We documented spatial and temporal patterns in fish community structure and standing crops along salinity and nutrient gradients in two subtropical drainages of Everglades National Park, USA. The Shark River drains into the Gulf of Mexico and experiences diurnal tides carrying relatively nutrient enriched waters, while Taylor River is more hydrologically isolated by the oligohaline Florida Bay and experiences no discernable lunar tides. We hypothesized that the more nutrient enriched system would support higher standing crops of fishes in its mangrove zone. We collected 50 species of fish from January 2000 to April 2004 at six sampling sites spanning fresh to brackish salinities in both the Shark and Taylor River drainages. Contrary to expectations, we observed lower standing crops and density of fishes in the more nutrient rich tidal mangrove forest of the Shark River than in the less nutrient rich mangrove habitats bordering the Taylor River. Tidal mangrove habitats in the Shark River were dominated by salt-tolerant fish and displayed lower species richness than mangrove communities in the Taylor River, which included more freshwater taxa and yielded relatively higher richness. These differences were maintained even after controlling for salinity at the time of sampling. Small-scale topographic relief differs between these two systems, possibly created by tidal action in the Shark River. We propose that this difference in topography limits movement of fishes from upstream marshes into the fringing mangrove forest in the Shark River system, but not the Taylor River system. Understanding the influence of habitat structure, including connectivity, on aquatic communities is important to anticipate effects of construction and operational alternatives associated with restoration of the Everglades ecosystem.

Temporal and Spatial Variability of Mesozooplankton in a Shallow Sub-Tropical Bay: Influence of Top-Down Control

Quantifying the relationship between mesozooplankton and water quality parameters identifies the factors that structure the mesozooplankton community and can be used to generate hypotheses regarding the mechanisms that control the mesozooplankton population and potentially the trophic network. To investigate this relationship, mesozooplankton and water quality data were collected in Florida Bay from 1994 to 2004. Three key characteristics were found in the mesozooplankton community structure: (1) there are significant differences between the four sub-regions of Florida Bay; (2) there is a break in May of 1997 with significant differences before and after this date; and (3) there is a positive correlation between mesozooplankton abundance and salinity. The latter two characteristics are closely correlated with predator abundance, indicating the importance of top-down control. Hypersaline periods appear to provide a refuge from predators, allowing mesozooplankton to increase in abundance despite the increased physiological stress.

Investigation of spatial patterns of ground-water exchange with lakes, using a three-dimensional numerical model

Hydrogeologic variables controlling groundwater exchange with inflow and flow-through lakes were simulated using a three-dimensional numerical model (MODFLOW) to investigate and quantify spatial patterns of lake bed seepage and hydraulic head distributions in the porous medium surrounding the lakes. Also, the total annual inflow and outflow were calculated as a percentage of lake volume for flow-through lake simulations. The general exponential decline of seepage rates with distance offshore was best demonstrated at lower anisotropy ratio (i.e., Kh/Kv = 1, 10), with increasing deviation from the exponential pattern as anisotropy was increased to 100 and 1000. 2-D vertical section models constructed for comparison with 3-D models showed that groundwater heads and seepages were higher in 3-D simulations. Addition of low conductivity lake sediments decreased seepage rates nearshore and increased seepage rates offshore in inflow lakes, and increased the area of groundwater inseepage on the beds of flow-through lakes. Introduction of heterogeneity into the medium decreased the water table and seepage ratesnearshore, and increased seepage rates offshore in inflow lakes. A laterally restricted aquifer located at the downgradient side of the flow-through lake increased the area of outseepage. Recharge rate, lake depth and lake bed slope had relatively little effect on the spatial patterns of seepage rates and groundwater exchange with lakes.

Spatial organisation of groundwater dynamics and streamflow response from different hydropedological units in a montane catchment

Funding was provided by the Leibniz Association (SAW-2012-IGB 4167) within the International Leibniz Graduate School: Aquatic boundaries and linkages- Aqualink. We would like to thank the NRI staff for their help during field work.

Spatial association of mud volcano and sandstone intrusions, Boyadag anticline, western Turkmenistan

Acknowledgements The Authors are indebted with Dr. Barbara Cerasetti, scientific coordinator of the Italian Archaeological Program in Turkmenistan (Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Civiltà – Università di Bologna – Ministero per gli Affari Esteri – MAE), for the logistical help before and during the field activities in Turkmenistan. Our thanks to the administration of the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna, to the Turkmenistan Government and to Dr Aman Nigarov for the fruitful assistance in the field. We thank Prof. Marco Antonellini for the discussions on sandstone intrusions. The authors are indebted to the reviewers J. Peakall, P. Imbert, A. Hurst and an anonymous reviewer for the very helpful comments to the manuscript. Funding was provided by Prof. G. Gabbianelli for the field survey and by PRIN 2009 grants to Prof. Rossella Capozzi.

Hierarchical spatial segregation of two Mediterranean vole species : the role of patch-network structure and matrix composition

Acknowledgments This study was financed by FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade— COMPETE, and National funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT, within the scope of the projects PERSIST (PTDC/BIA-BEC/105110/2008), NETPERSIST (PTDC/ AAG-MAA/3227/2012), and MateFrag (PTDC/BIA-BIC/6582/2014). RP was supported by the FCT grant SFRH/BPD/73478/2010 and SFRH/BPD/109235/2015. PB was supported by EDP Biodiversity Chair. We thank Rita Brito and Marta Duarte for help during field work. We thank Chris Sutherland, Douglas Morris, William Morgan, and Richard Hassall for critical reviews of early versions of the paper. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments to improve the paper.

Visualisation of spatial patterns of connectivity and runoff ages derived from a traceraided model

We thank the European Research Council ERC (project GA 335910 VEWA) for funding the VeWa project.

Spatial overlap of grey seals and fisheries in Irish waters, some new insights using telemetry technology and VMS

Seals and humans often target the same food resource, leading to competition. This is of mounting concern with fish stocks in global decline. Grey seals were tracked from southeast Ireland, an area of mixed demersal and pelagic fisheries, and overlap with fisheries on the Celtic Shelf and Irish Sea was assessed. Overall, there was low overlap between the tagged seals and fisheries. However, when we separate active (e.g. trawls) and passive gear (e.g. nets, lines) fisheries, a different picture emerged. Overlap with active fisheries was no different from that expected under a random distribution, but overlap with passive fisheries was significantly higher. This suggests that grey seals may be targeting the same areas as passive fisheries and/or specifically targeting passive gear. There was variation in foraging areas between individual seals suggesting habitat partitioning to reduce intra-specific competition or potential individual specialisation in foraging behaviour. Our findings support other recent assertions that seal/fisheries interactions in Irish waters are an issue in inshore passive fisheries, most likely at the operational and individual level. This suggests that seal population management measures would be unjustifiable, and mitigation is best focused on minimizing interactions at nets.

Spatial Articulations of Race, Desire, and Belonging in Western North Carolina

The sociocultural mythology of the South homogenizes it as a site of abjection. To counter the regionalist discourse, the dissertation intersects queer sexualities with gender and race and focuses on exploring identity and spatial formation among Black lesbian and queer women. The dissertation seeks to challenge the monolith of the South and place the region into multiple contexts and to map Black geographies through an intentional intersectional account of Black queer women. The dissertation utilizes qualitative research methods to ascertain understandings of lived experiences in the production of space. The dissertation argues that an idea of Progress has been indoctrinated as a synonym for the lgbtq civil rights movement and subsequently provides an analysis of progress discourses and queer sexualities and political campaigns of equality in the South. Analyses revealed different ways to situate progress utilizing the public contributions of three Black women interviewed for the dissertation. Moreover, the dissertation utilizes six Black queer and lesbian women to explain the multifarious nature of identities and their construction in place. Black queer and lesbian women produce spaces that deconstruct the normativity of stasis and physicality, and the dissertation explores the consequential realities of being a body in space. These consequences are particularly highlighted in the dissertation by discussions of the processes of racialization in the bounded and unbounded senses of space and place and the impacts of religious institutions, specifically Christianity. The dissertation concluded that no space is without complication. Other considerations should be made in the advancement of alleviating oppression deeply embedded in United States landscapes. Black women’s geographies offer epistemological and ontological renderings that enrich analyses of space, place, and landscape. The dissertation also concludes that Black women’s bodies represent sites for the production of geographic knowledge through narrating their spaces of material trajectories of interlocking, multiscalar lives.

Spatial patterns of manufacturing clusters in Vietnam

The formation of industrial clusters is critical for sustained economic growth. We identify the manufacturing clusters in Vietnam, using the Mori and Smith (2013) method, which indicates the spatial pattern of industrial agglomerations using the global extent (GE) and local density (LD) indices. Spatial pattern identification is extremely helpful because industrial clusters are often spread over a wide geographical area and the GE and LD indices—along with cluster mapping—display how the respective clusters fit into specific spatial patterns.

Spatial structures of manufacturing clusters in Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Thailand

Examining the spatial structure of clusters is essential for deriving regional development policy implications. In this study, we identify the manufacturing clusters in Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Thailand, using two indices—global extent (GE) and local density (LD)—as proposed by Mori and Smith (2013). We also analyze four different combinations of these indices to highlight the spatial structures of industrial agglomerations. Since industrial clusters often spread over administrative boundaries, the GE and LD indices—along with cluster mapping—display how the detected clusters fit into specific spatial structures.

Effects of a harmful algal bloom on the community ecology, movements and spatial distributions of fishes in a microtidal estuary

Harmful algal blooms can adversely affect fish communities, though their impacts are highly context-dependent and typically differ between fish species. Various approaches, comprising univariate and multivariate analyses and multimetric Fish Community Indices (FCI), were employed to characterise the perceived impacts of a Karlodinium veneficum bloom on the fish communities and ecological condition of the Swan Canning Estuary, Western Australia. The combined evidence suggests that a large proportion of the more mobile fish species in the offshore waters of the bloom-affected area relocated to other regions during the bloom. This was indicated by marked declines in mean species richness, catch rates and FCI scores in the bloom region but concomitant increases in these characteristics in more distal regions, and by pronounced and atypical shifts in the pattern of inter-regional similarities in fish community composition during the bloom. The lack of any significant changes among the nearshore fish communities revealed that bloom impacts were less severe there than in deeper, offshore waters. Nearshore habitats, which generally are in better ecological condition than adjacent offshore waters in this system, may provide refuges for fish during algal blooms and other perturbations, mirroring similar observations of fish avoidance responses to such stressors in estuaries worldwide.