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Snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) is an important coastal fish species in New Zealand for a variety of reasons, but the large amount of research conducted on snapper has not been reviewed. Here, we review life history information and potential threats for snapper in New Zealand. We present information on snapper life history, defining stages (eggs and larvae, juvenile and adult), and assess potential threats and knowledge gaps. Overall we identify six key points: 1. post-settlement snapper are highly associated with certain estuarine habitats that are under threat from land-based stressors. This may serve as a bottleneck for snapper populations; 2. the largest knowledge gaps relate to the eggs and larvae. Additional knowledge may help to anticipate the effects of climate change, which will likely have the greatest influence on these early life stages; 3. ocean acidification, from land-based sources and from climate change, may be an important threat to larval snapper; 4. a greater understanding of population connectivity would improve certainty around the sustainability of fishery exploitation; 5. the collateral effects of fishing are likely to be relevant to fishery productivity, ecosystem integrity and enduser value; 6. our understanding of the interrelationships between snapper and other ecosystem components is still deficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, pre-post-test study was to test the effectiveness of the Deaf Heart Health Intervention (DHHI) in increasing self-efficacy for health-related behaviors among culturally deaf adults. The DHHI targets modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A sample of 84 participants completed time-1 and time-2 data collection. The sign language version of the Self-Rated Abilities Scale for Health Practices (SRAHP) was used to measure self-efficacy for nutrition, psychological well-being/stress management, physical activity/exercise, and responsible health practices. Total self-efficacy scores were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the comparison group at time-2, controlling for scores at baseline (F [1, 81] = 26.02, p < .001). Results support the development of interventions specifically tailored for culturally deaf adults to increase their self-efficacy for health behaviors. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 30: 185-192, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeTo present the pathophysiology, differential diagnoses, assessment techniques, and treatment options for hepatic hydrothorax.Data SourcesA case study is presented with supporting material from current medical literature.ConclusionsHepatic hydrothorax is a pleural effusion caused by the flow of ascitic fluid into the pleural space through an actual defect in the diaphragm. Successful outcomes depend on early detection and timely referral of oftensubtle lung involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two cDNAs M1, and M2, recently isolated by the differential display method from embryonic rat cerebral hemisphere were characterized and their patterns of spatiotemporal expression analysed in developing rat forebrain by in situ hybridization histochemistry and correlative immunocytochemistry. Neither gene bears any sequence homology to other known genes. Both genes are particularly expressed in medial regions of the cerebral hemisphere and M2 in the roof of the adjacent diencephalon. M1 expression is highly localized and confined to the neuroepithelium of the hippocampal rudiment from embryonic day (E) 12 onward. Its location corresponds to the fimbrial anlage, and immunocytochemical localization of M1 protein indicates its expression in radial glial cells. M2 expression at E12 is more extensive in the medial cerebral wall, extending into the preoptic region and beyond the hippocampus into dorsal hemisphere and into the dorsal diencephalon, with caudal extension along the dorsal midline and in the zona limitans intrathalamica. Later, M2 expression is found in association with the corpus callosum, hippocampal commissure, fimbria, optic neve, stria medullaris, mamillothalamic tract and habenulopenduncular tract. M1 and M2 expression domains corresponding to the locations of fiber tracts are present prior to the arrival of the earliest axons, as identified by neuron specific markers. These findings suggest M1 and/or M2 genes are involved in early regional specification of the hippocampus and related structures in paramedian regions of the forebrain, and that cell populations expressing these genes in advance of developing axonal pathways may be involved in the early specification of tract location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic focal epilepsy is associated with synaptic plasticity and growth of new connections. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with each of these processes in normal brain and shows acute up-regulation in models of generalized epilepsy. Here, using an experimental model of focal epilepsy, we show persistent up-regulation of BDNF mRNA, independent of that of other growth factors, in association with the development and persistence of chronic seizures. In situ hybridization histochemistry revealed that rats perfused within 2-3 days after seizure onset had widespread increases in BDNF mRNA levels i the neocortex. Rats perfused at later times, however, showed focal up-regulation of BDNF and mRNA at the injection site and down-regulation in a surrounding cortical zone. Nerve growth factor and neurotrophin-3 mRNAs were not significantly altered. These reciprocal changes in BDNF gene expression in the epileptic focus and the cortical surround may contribute to plastic changes in epileptic neuronal circuits that accompany the transition from acute to chronic epilepsy. BDNF down-regulation in the surround is likely to be associated with the inhibitory surround that hampers seizure spread, but facilitates the persistence of a chronic epileptic focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]