The response to a panel of steroids by the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) from Amur sturgeon and tropical gar, two basal ray-finned fish, expressed in HEK293 cells was investigated. Half-maximal responses (EC50s) for transcriptional activation of sturgeon MR by 11-deoxycorticosterone, corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, cortisol and aldosterone, and progesterone (Prog) were between 13 and 150 pM...

We present an overview of Beluga, a dependently-typed programming and proof development environment. Beluga uses a two-level approach: it supports specifying formal systems within the logical framework LF and on top of LF, it provides a dependently-typed functional language that supports manipulating and analyzing LF objects via pattern matching. A distinct feature of Beluga is the explicit sup...

Population Identity: Based on studies of mitochondrial DNA, Cook Inlet belugas are genetically distinct from the other four beluga populations that occur in western and northern Alaska (O’Corry-Crowe et al. 1997; O’Corry-Crowe, pers. comm.). There have been only two beluga sightings recorded in the region between Cook Inlet and the nearest beluga population in Bristol Bay (Frost and Lowry 1990;...

The green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), which is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Baja California to the Bering Sea, tends to be highly migratory, moving long distances among estuaries, spawning rivers, and distant coastal regions. Factors that determine the oceanic distribution of green sturgeon are unclear, but broad-scale physical conditions interacting with migration behavior may...

White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are the largest freshwater fish in North America and a species exposed to widespread fishing pressure. Despite the growing interest in recreational fishing for white sturgeon, little is known about the sublethal and lethal impacts of angling on released sturgeon. In summer (July 2014, mean water temperature 15.3°C) and winter (February 2015, mean water t...

The acute toxicity of cadmium, copper, and zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were determined for 7 developmental life stages in flow-through water-only exposures. Metal toxicity varied by species and by life stage. Rainbow trout were more sensitive to cadmium than white sturgeon across all life stages, with median effect concentrations (har...

Some cetaceans bioaccumulate substantial concentrations of planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) in their tissues, but little is known about the effects of such burdens on cetacean health. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related PHAHs cause toxicity via activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), a member of the bHLH-PAS family of transcription factors. Differen...

We consider the question: Does a set of patterns cover all objects of a given type? This is straightforward in the simply-typed setting, but undecidable in the presence of dependent types. We discuss the question in the setting of Beluga, a dependently-typed programming and reasoning environment which supports programming with contextual objects and contexts. We describe the design and implemen...

Acipenseriformes (sturgeon and paddlefish) are basal actinopterygians with a highly derived cranial morphology that is characterized by an anatomical independence of the jaws from the neurocranium. We examined the morphological and kinematic basis of prey capture in the Acipenseriform fish Scaphirhynchus albus, the pallid sturgeon. Feeding pallid sturgeon were filmed in lateral and ventral view...