Trends in the reporting of tagging procedures for fish telemetry studies that have used surgical implantation of transmitters: a call for more complete reporting

The intracoelomic surgical implantation of telemetry transmitters in fish is becoming the “standard” tagging approach for most field telemetry studies. Subsequently, efforts must be made to ensure the welfare of the fish are maintained and that fish do not experience significant mortality or sublethal impairments in health, behavior or physiology as a result of surgical procedures. Therefore, it is essential to adequately report information relating to all aspects of the surgical procedure to enable the reader to make an accurate interpretation of study results. We conducted a quantitative literature review aimed at characterizing trends in data reporting by examining a sample of fish telemetry studies published in peer-reviewed outlets during the last 20 years. We used a repeatability score, based on 16 predetermined criteria, to evaluate the reporting of surgical procedures in telemetry studies. The majority of studies failed to report basic information relating to the surgical procedures used. Repeatability scores were highly variable between studies and ranged from 0–93.8%. No single study provided complete information (mean repeatability score = 50.7%) and repeatability showed no trend over time. Some study information was consistently well reported (e.g. tag size and dimensions, the type of anaesthetic used and the location of incision). In contrast, the type of suture knots, duration or level of anaesthesia and precautions taken to minimize infection were consistently left out of the methods section of most telemetry studies. Our review was confounded by the large proportion of studies that cited other sources for their surgical methods, many of which themselves lacked complete information. We recommend that future electronic tagging studies that involve intracoelomic implantation include the minimum reporting standards presented in this paper. Increasing the detail of reporting will improve the quality of data presented, minimize welfare and ethical concerns and allow transparency for study repeatability.     

Cross metathesis for the synthesis of novel C-sialosides

Cross metathesis of both anomers of C-allyl sialoside (3alpha/3beta) with styrene catalyzed by the second generation Grubbs or Hoveyda-Grubbs catalysts gave the corresponding aryl derivatives (4alpha/4beta) in virtually quantitative yields. The products were hydrogenated to model compounds 5alpha/5beta. Similarly, reaction of the alpha-anomer 3alpha with galactose derivative 8 gave the olefin-linked disaccharide mimetic 9. Following hydrogenation and deprotection, the ethylene-bridged Neu5Acalpha(2-->6)Gal analogue 11 could be obtained.     

Effect of Temporal Expression of Integral Membrane Proteins by Baculovirus Expression Vector System

Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) are popular target for drugs, but their resolved structures have been overlooked when compared with cytosolic proteins. The main reason is that IMPs usually need intensive post-translational modifications and they are bound to membranes, which increase the complexity of purifying or crystalizing them. Although different expression systems are used to express IMPs, baculovirus is considered one of the most successful expression systems for those proteins. Despite that, there are always unknown discrepancies in the level of IMPs expression in the baculovirus expression system. Retrospective studies have shown that expression of an immunoglobulin (anti-Chymase mouse monoclonal IgG1) driven by vp39 promoter was more efficient compared to its expression under polyhedrin (polh) promoter; however, this conclusion was not tested on different IMPs to generalize such a conclusion. In this study, the expression of eight different IMPs has been compared under vp39 and polh promoters of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus. Although different IMPs have shown different patterns of expression, the expression driven by vp39 promoter was found to be generally more efficient than the polh promoter.     

En route to sugar-alkaloid conjugates

After stereoselective addition of N-iodosuccinimide to glycals subsequent dehalogenation results in formation of N-glycopyranosyl succinimides. By UV irradiation both azepindiones and preferentially [5.3.1.0^2,6] tricyclic oxalactams could be obtained. Their transformation into a number of novel sugar conjugates resembling some prominent alkaloid N-pyrrol components by thiation and reduction is reported.     

Accumulation of rosmarinic, chlorogenic and caffeic acids in in vitro cultures of Eryngium planum L.

Eryngium planum L. cell and organ cultures were maintained on Murashige and Skoog media (MS), supplemented with exogenous hormones of different types and various concentrations for high biomass growth. The callus and cell suspension cultures were treated with increased sucrose concentration and/or elicited by methyl jasmonate for the enhancement of selected phenolic acids accumulation. Three phenolic acids, rosmarinic acid (RA), chlorogenic acid (CGA) and caffeic acid (CA), were detected by HPLC-DAD in those cultures. The sum of their content in the dry material was found to be higher in the shoot culture (3.95 mg g^?1), root culture (7.05 mg g^?1), callus (6.20 mg g^?1) and cell suspension (2.04 mg g^?1) than in the leaves (1.87 mg g^?1) and roots (0.76 mg g^?1) of intact plants. The major compound of in vitro cultures was always rosmarinic acid. The content of RA could be increased approximately threefold (16.24 mg g^?1) in the callus culture and approximately twofold (3.91 mg g^?1) in the cell suspension culture by elicitation with 100 μM methyl jasmonate (MeJA). The higher concentration of sucrose (S) in the medium (5, 6 %) led to over a twofold increase of CGA content in the callus culture (2.54 mg g^?1). The three mentioned phenolic acids have been found in E. planum undifferentiated and differentiated in vitro cultures for the first time.     

Behaviour and Locomotor Activity of a Migratory Catostomid during Fishway Passage

Fishways have been developed to restore longitudinal connectivity in rivers. Despite their potential for aiding fish passage, fishways may represent a source of significant energetic expenditure for fish as they are highly turbulent environments. Nonetheless, our understanding of the physiological mechanisms underpinning fishway passage of fish is still limited. We examined swimming behaviour and activity of silver redhorse (Moxostoma anisurum) during its upriver spawning migration in a vertical slot fishway. We used an accelerometer-derived instantaneous activity metric (overall dynamic body acceleration) to estimate location-specific swimming activity. Silver redhorse demonstrated progressive increases in activity during upstream fishway passage. Moreover, location-specific passage duration decreased with an increasing number of passage attempts. Turning basins and the most upstream basin were found to delay fish passage. No relationship was found between basin-specific passage duration and activity and the respective values from previous basins. The results demonstrate that successful fishway passage requires periods of high activity. The resultant energetic expenditure may affect fitness, foraging behaviour and increase susceptibility to predation, compromising population sustainability. This study highlights the need to understand the physiological mechanisms underpinning fishway passage to improve future designs and interpretation of biological evaluations.     

Synthesis and properties of sulfated alkyl glycosides

Alkyl glycosides were sulfated with sulfur trioxide-pyridine. Dodecyl - and β- -glucopyranoside gave the corresponding 6-sulfates in 75 and 51% yields, respectively. Separation from polysulfated compounds was carried out by reversed-phase HPLC. Tetradecyl β-maltopyranoside (16) gave a 88:12 mixture of 6′- and 6-sulfates. The sulfated compounds were characterized by ¹H-, ¹³C-, and 2-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Surfactant and thermotropic liquid-crystalline properties of the sugar derivatives were examined. All of the glycosides show smectic phases (S_A), and the clearing points rise by introduction of sulfate groups. Even glycosides having no unprotected hydroxy groups may show S_A-phases when bearing sulfate groups. The mesomorphic properties cannot be explained by formation of distinct aggregates, but rather must be interpreted by an effective intramolecular contrast.     

Analysis of bromine-oxidised dextran by 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy

Dextran T 10, elaborated by Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-512, was oxidised with aqueous bromine at pH 7.0. The resulting oxodextran and its methoximated derivative were analysed by ¹³C-n.m.r. spectroscopy. The total amount of keto groups and their positions were established. Assignments of the ¹³C signals were made by referring to spectra of the corresponding methyl glucosiduloses and an oxodextran having most of the carbonyl groups at position 3 of the glycopyranosyl residues. In accordance with the mechanism for bromine oxidation of mono- and di-saccharides, the glucopyranosyl residues of dextran were oxidised mainly at C-2 and C-4. Over-oxidation resulted in a small proportion of acidic, ring-cleavage products.     

Location of an essential carboxyl group along the heavy chain of cardiac and skeletal myosin subfragments 1

Cardiac and skeletal myosin subfragments 1 cleaved into three fragments were modified by 1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-morpholinoethyl)carbodiimide metho-p-toluene-sulfonate in the presence of the nucleophile nitrotyrosine ethyl ester. The effects observed (first-order kinetics of ATPase inactivation, incorporation of 1 mol of nitrotyrosine/mol of subfragment 1) were similar to those previously observed for the nondigested subfragments 1 [Lacombe, G., Van Thiem, N., & Swynghedauw, B. (1981) Biochemistry 20, 3648-3653; K?rner, M., Van Thiem, N., Lacombe, G., & Swynghedauw, B. (1982) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 105, 1198-1207]. For both native and digested subfragments 1, which were inactivated to the extent of about 70%, the location of the label nitrotyrosine was performed by immunological blotting with 125I-labeled anti-nitrotyrosine immunoglobulins. It was found that the modified residue was essentially located on the heavy chain for the native subfragments 1 and on the 50K peptide for the digested subfragments 1.