This paper improves the price-performance ratio of ECM, the elliptic-curve method of integer factorization. In particular, this paper constructs “a = −1” twisted Edwards curves having Q-torsion group Z/2× Z/4, Z/8, or Z/6 and having a known non-torsion point; demonstrates that, compared to the curves used in previous ECM implementations, some of the new curves are more effective at finding smal...

Specific patterns in the initiation and spread of reef-wide outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish are important, both to understand potential causes (or triggers) of outbreaks and to develop more effective and highly targeted management and containment responses. Using analyses of genetic diversity and structure (based on 17 microsatellite loci), this study attempted to resolve the specific ori...

Secreted anterior adhesives, used for temporary attachment to epithelial surfaces of fishes (skin and gills) by some monogenean (platyhelminth) parasites have been partially characterised. Adhesive is composed of protein. Amino acid composition has been determined for seven monopisthocotylean monogeneans. Six of these belong to the Monocotylidae and one species, Entobdella soleae (van Beneden e...

The microtubular cytoskeleton exhibits a dramatic reorganization, progressing from interphase radial arrays to a mitotic spindle at the G2/M transition. Although this reorganization has been suspected to be caused by maturation promoting factor (MPF: p34cdc2/cyclin B complex), little is known about how p34cdc2 kinase controls microtubule networks. We provide evidence of the direct association o...

Purified brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) of starfish {Pycnopodia helianthoides) pyloric caecal epithelium were prepared by a magnesium precipitation technique in order to compare the properties of N a + / H + exchange in this invertebrate tissue with those of an apparently unique recently described crustacean electrogenic antiporter. In starfish BBMV ^Na uptake was markedly enhanced by an...

Tedania ignis (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1864), the fire sponge, is common throughout the tropical western Atlantic, and is a popular species for studies of ecology, larval biology, and chemistry. T. ignis is readily consumed by seagrass-dwelling starfish, and so finding sponges similar to this species in a seagrass meadow provoked closer scrutiny. A variety of ecological, morphological, and ...

Reinitiation of meiosis in oocytes usually occurs as a two-step process during which release from the prophase block is followed by an arrest in metaphase of the first or second meiotic division [metaphase I (MI) or metaphase II (MII)]. The mechanism of MI arrest in meiosis is poorly understood, although it is a widely observed phenomenon in invertebrates. The blockage of fully grown starfish o...