Intestinal congestion and reperfusion injury: damage caused to the intestinal tract and distal organs

In clinical practice, intestinal autologous diseases, ailments and organ transplants can cause severe congestive damage to the intestinal tract. However, after the etiological factor is gotten rid of and blood flow is free without any hinderance, further damage to the intestinal wall often occurs, causing other related organ dysfunctions. This ultimately results in intestinal congestion reperfusion injury (ICRI). When the structure and function of the intestine are destroyed, bacteria, metabolites and endotoxins in the intestinal tract perfuse and enter the portal vein through the already compromised intestinal mucosa, to the other organs via the liver. Nevertheless, this gives rise to further aggravation of the injury, and reperfusion injury syndrome occurs. ICRI is a very common complication encountered by clinicians, and its harm is more severe and serious as compared with that caused by ischemia–reperfusion. Quite a few number of studies on ICRI have been reported to date. The exact mechanism of the injury is still idiopathic, and effective treatment strategies are still limited. Based on recent studies, this article is aimed at reviewing the destruction, damage mechanisms resulting from ICRI to the intestinal anatomical sites and distant organs. It is geared towards providing new ideas for the prevention and therapeutic approaches of ICRI.     

Developing best practices for the restoration of massive corals and the mitigation of predation impacts: influences of physical protection,colony size,and genotype on outplant mortality

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs have undergone drastic declines due to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. In response, restoration efforts were developed to recover lost ecosystem services....     

Ecological consequences of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are suffering global declines due to climate change, natural disasters, pollution, and diseases. Coral disease events have increased in frequency and severity in the past...     

Simulating the effects of colony density and intercolonial distance on fertilisation success in broadcast spawning scleractinian corals

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are predicted to be vulnerable to the Allee effect due to the density dependence of broadcast spawning fertilisation success. Verifying such effects in corals, however, is...     

Workshop on the ecosystem and fisheries of the Coral Sea: an Australian perspective on research and management

This report summarizes a workshop on the Coral Sea to determine key research findings and identify the research gaps needed to support sustainable management of a proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve. Key research questions included determining the connectivity of apex predators with the broader southwest Pacific Ocean, and assessing the regions?? biodiversity in relation to seabed topography and oceanographic processes. The workshop concluded noting the importance of engaging surrounding countries in maintaining the sustainability and uniqueness of the Coral Sea.     

Variation in susceptibility among three Caribbean coral species and their algal symbionts indicates the threatened staghorn coral,Acropora cervicornis,is particularly susceptible to elevated nutrients and heat stress

Coral Reefs - Coral cover is declining worldwide due to multiple interacting threats. We compared the effects of elevated nutrients and temperature on three Caribbean corals: Acropora cervicornis,...     

The biology and ecology of coral rubble and implications for the future of coral reefs

Coral Reefs - Structural complexity provided by the living coral reef framework is the basis of the rich and dynamic biodiversity in coral reefs. In many cases today, the reduction in habitat...     

Sediment addition drives declines in algal turf yield to herbivorous coral reef fishes: implications for reefs and reef fisheries

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs around the world are changing rapidly, with overfishing of herbivorous fishes and increased sediment inputs being two of the major local-scale stressors. We therefore...     

Prevalence and extent of coral diseases in shallow and mesophotic reefs of the Southwestern Atlantic

Coral Reefs - Coral reef ecology has advanced in many fields, but disease patterns across depth gradients remain unclear. By comparing the prevalence and extent of bleaching and diseases in 160...     

Investigating the heat shock protein response involved in coral bleaching across scleractinian species in the central Red Sea

Coral Reefs - Coral bleaching represents the most serious threat to contemporary coral reefs. In response, focus is being laid on understanding the cellular processes involved in the response of...     

Carbohydrate composition of mucus from scleractinian corals from the central Red Sea

Coral Reefs - Coral mucus is continuously released by most corals and acts as an important protective barrier and as a substrate for host-associated microbial communities due to its complex...     

Mixed Layer Depth Seasonality within the Coral Sea Based on Argo Data

The worldwide deployment of Argo floats has enabled much more detailed studies of global and regional seas over the last decade. Here, the seasonal variability of the mixed layer depth (MLD) within the Coral Sea was examined with CTD profiles from Argo floats. Multiple threshold values for both temperature and density have been employed to determine the most suitable threshold values for the Coral Sea. A threshold value of 0.04 kg/m³ for density and 0.2°C for temperature appear the most fitting for this region. Although MLD and isothermal layer depth (ILD) coincide quite well in most cases, the relatively common presence of temporary, non-seasonal barrier layers induces an ILD that is significantly deeper than the MLD. Consequently, an MLD estimation based on density is more appropriate. A distinct seasonality in the MLD is evident throughout the Coral Sea, but is generally more pronounced in higher southern latitudes (20–30°S). Salinity inversions are rare and mainly occur in the south-eastern Coral Sea, while barrier layers are more commonly associated with the north-eastern Coral Sea, a region characterised by high rainfall. The significance of regional currents is evident in the north-western Coral Sea, where temperature and ocean heat content is relatively low due to a northward moving boundary current. Shallow bathymetry, in turn, is linked to the absence of Argo data on the continental shelf and in the central Coral Sea.     

Sea-surface temperature and thermal stress in the Coral Triangle over the past two decades

Increasing ocean temperature has become one of the major concerns in recent times with reports of various related ecological impacts becoming commonplace. One of the more notable is the increased frequency of mass coral bleaching worldwide. This study focuses on the Coral Triangle region and utilizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Coral Reef Watch (NOAA-CRW) satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) products to investigate changes in the thermal regime of the Coral Triangle waters between 1985 and 2006. Results show an upward trend in SST during this period with an average rate of 0.2°C/decade. However, warming within this region is not uniform, and the waters of the northern and eastern parts of the Coral Triangle are warming fastest. Areas in the eastern part have experienced more thermal stress events, and these stress events appear to be more likely during a La Niña.     

Heat stress differentially impacts key calcification mechanisms in reef-building corals

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are increasingly threatened by climate change, mass bleaching events and ocean acidification (OA). Coral calcification, a process that is critical to build and maintain...     

Priority coral conservation areas under global warming in the Amami Islands,Southern Japan

Coral Reefs - Coral reef ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change. The Amami Islands in Southern Japan were selected as the study area. It is important to select areas that should be given...     

Evidence for genetic structuring and limited dispersal ability in the Great Barrier Reef sponge Carteriospongia foliascens

Coral Reefs - Understanding connectivity patterns for coral reef organisms is important for their effective management. Despite sponges being an important component of the benthic fauna on the...     

Hydroacoustics for the discovery and quantification of Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) spawning aggregations

Coral Reefs - Fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) are vital life-history events that need to be monitored to determine the health of aggregating populations; this is especially true of the endangered...     

Population connectivity among shallow and mesophotic Montastraea cavernosa corals in the Gulf of Mexico identifies potential for refugia

Coral Reefs - Successful management of spatially isolated coral reefs is contingent on an understanding of ecological connections across populations. To investigate genetic connectivity of the...     

Regimes of chlorophyll‐a in the Coral Sea: implications for evaluating adequacy of marine protected areas

Spatial management of the highly dynamic pelagic realm, and the highly mobile species it supports, requires dynamic processes to be incorporated into reserve design. To achieve this, planners need information on how these processes vary across space and time, and how this variation relates to species of conservation interest. This study presents a new method of quantifying variability that captures both between‐ and within‐year changes in variables of interest. We applied this method to remotely‐sensed chlorophyll‐a in the Coral Sea to find five distinct regimes of variation that serve as surrogates for assemblages of species of conservation interest. We performed a gap analysis to determine protection of the regimes both internationally and nationally within Australia's network of marine reserves in the Coral Sea. We also identified key areas for protection within each regime, in terms of chlorophyll‐a variability and species associations, and examined their protection status. Depending on conservation objectives, reserve systems that span multiple national jurisdictions and a rezoning of Australian national waters might be necessary to meet protection requirements for the regimes and for key areas within them. The current suspension and review of the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve management plans and the recent proclamation of New Caledonia's as yet unzoned Coral Sea Nature Park offer planners an opportunity to incorporate dynamic processes into conservation planning for the Coral Sea. The method we present can be applied at other locations for time‐series of any variable/s of interest, aiding the spatial management of dynamic features in both marine and terrestrial contexts.     

Morpho-molecular traits of Indo-Pacific and Caribbean Halofolliculina ciliate infections

Coral Reefs - Coral diseases are emerging as a major threat to coral reefs worldwide, and although many of them have been described, knowledge on their epizootiology is still limited. This is the...