Journal articles on the topic 'Juvenile bull shark'

AbstractAssessing bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) behavior is relevant for conservation and risk management. However, information on bull sharks—in particular, behavior of juveniles—is very limited in some parts of the world. Studying small-scale habitat use of juvenile bull sharks is challenged by their preferred habitats in estuarine environments with fast-changing environmental conditions. A number of advanced methods including acoustic telemetry, baited remote underwater video, and satellite tagging have been used to shed light on habitat utilization, food preferences, and movement. We tested the application of an underwater video camera recorder (“Crittercam”) combined with acoustic tags on three juvenile bull sharks during daytime and nighttime deployments and demonstrated the feasibility and limitations of this technique for juvenile bull shark research. All three tagged individuals used deeper channels (>5 m) moving alongside the river bank in a crisscross manner. We used additional information on habitat type and depth to support the findings. Our results provide important insights for future tagging studies combining tagging technologies to monitor bull sharks in coastal environments.

This article proposes an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to predict neonatal and juvenile bull shark habitat usage in the Sabine Pass, located within the Gulf of Mexico between Louisiana and Texas. Given continuing discussion regarding overfishing of all shark species, including bull sharks, in the northwestern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, the research objective was to analyze environmental data proven to be conducive to bull shark early life stages and to use these data in an ANN to predict bull shark presence during late spring and throughout summer months at designated sampling sites. The results of this analysis can both aid decision making in a fisheries context and inform the discussion on bull shark habitat usage in general, thereby contributing to the discussion of whether or not the need exists for conservation efforts to ensure sustainability of the species as part of an effective bull shark management plan.

Effective species conservation requires the protection of all stages of its life-cycle. The Shark Reef Marine Reserve (SRMR) in Fiji is a marine protected area where large numbers of adult bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) congregate due to food provisioning. At the end of a calendar year bull sharks leave the area for reproductive activity, but parturition sites are still unknown. Between February 2014 and January 2015, we interviewed local fishermen and conducted a fishing survey, so as to assess presence and abundance of bull sharks in the Navua River near the SRMR. In total 84% of fishermen reported either seeing or catching sharks up to 8km upriver from the river mouth. They described them as small sharks having a rounded snout and being grey–brown in colour with a white belly, morphological characteristics that match juvenile bull sharks. During the fishing survey, a total of nine juvenile bull sharks were captured, including two that were recaptured after 108 and 92 days at liberty. Our findings confirmed the presence of bull sharks in the Navua River and provide a preliminary characterisation of a potential shark parturition or nursery area from a data-poor region.

The movement patterns of large juveniles are poorly known for many shark species. With increasing pressure on shark populations these data are critical for the management of large coastal species. A series of acoustic receivers were positioned in Pine Island Sound, Florida, USA, to passively track the long-term movements of large juvenile bull (Carcharhinus leucas) and lemon (Negaprion brevirostris) sharks. Nineteen C. leucas and five N. brevirostris were monitored during 2003 and 2004. Individual C. leucas were present for 8 to 89 days, while N. brevirostris were present for 12 to 83 days. Weekly minimum convex polygons and kernel utilisation distributions were calculated to demonstrate the home range and core areas of use of both species. Spectral analysis demonstrated that several N. brevirostris showed repetitive diel north–south movement patterns over periods of up to 28 consecutive days. C. leucas demonstrated regular use of backwater habitats. Long-term use of estuarine areas by these large juvenile sharks suggests that estuarine coastal lagoons provide an important habitat for this portion of their life history and as such, protection of these habitats may assist in shark management and conservation.

The life histories of estuarine species are often adapted to the environmental variability they experience. However, estuaries are increasingly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating an understanding of how shifting conditions affect the survival, behaviour and population structure of estuarine-dependent animals. In this study we used data from fisheries-independent surveys collected across six estuaries with variable salinity regimes in Texas, USA, from 1975 to 2016 to investigate the role sources of freshwater inflow play in shaping juvenile bull shark Carcharhinus leucas size structure. High frequencies of co-occurrence with similarly sized conspecifics (59% of capture events) suggest bull sharks segregated within Texan estuaries based on body size. Bull shark sizes increased with distance to the nearest source of freshwater inflow, although effect sizes were small and access to freshwater habitats may be more important in shaping size-dependent distribution patterns. River mouths were disproportionately used by smaller juveniles (<90-cm total length, TL) and avoided by larger juveniles (>135cm TL). However, the use of river mouths decreased in estuaries characterised by limited freshwater inflow and greater variability in salinities at river mouths, highlighting geographic differences in the functions these habitats provide as potential environmental and predator refugia. Young-of-the-year (i.e. age-0) sharks also increased their use of river mouths throughout the 40-year study period, revealing the growing importance of river mouths as potential nursery habitats.

Stable isotopes are important tools for understanding the trophic roles of elasmobranchs. However, whether different tissues provide consistent stable isotope values within an individual are largely unknown. To address this, the relationships among carbon and nitrogen isotope values were quantified for blood, muscle, and fin from juvenile bull sharks ( Carcharhinus leucas ) and blood and fin from large tiger sharks ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) collected in two different ecosystems. We also investigated the relationship between shark size and the magnitude of differences in isotopic values between tissues. Isotope values were significantly positively correlated for all paired tissue comparisons, but R2 values were much higher for δ13C than for δ15N. Paired differences between isotopic values of tissues were relatively small but varied significantly with shark total length, suggesting that shark size can be an important factor influencing the magnitude of differences in isotope values of different tissues. For studies of juvenile sharks, care should be taken in using slow turnover tissues like muscle and fin, because they may retain a maternal signature for an extended time. Although correlations were relatively strong, results suggest that correction factors should be generated for the desired study species and may only allow coarse-scale comparisons between studies using different tissue types.

Understanding the ontogenetic habitat linkages of sharks is important for conservation and managing human interactions. We used acoustic telemetry, catch data, elemental and stable isotope signatures and dietary analyses to investigate ontogenetic habitat use in south-east Queensland, Australia, by the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas, a IUCN ‘near-threatened’ species that is implicated in many shark attacks on humans in urban estuaries. Sequential analyses for δ15N and δ13C of vertebrae from five adult C. leucas and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) for elemental composition from 23 C. leucas, including a pregnant female, were also used to trace ontogenetic habitat dependence. Acoustic telemetry indicated large juvenile and subadult C. leucas remained in estuarine habitats. δ15N values across shark vertebrae showed an ontogenetic shift in diet with total length (TL), confirmed by stomach contents. LA-ICPMS data reflected the ontogenetic movements of C. leucas from natal habitats. Differences among adults were gender related. Shifts in habitat use by subadults were correlated with a sigmoidal δ13C relationship with TL. C. leucas have a multipartite, stage-specific dependency in their transition between habitats along the freshwater–estuarine–marine continuum, making them particularly susceptible to the habitat alteration that is occurring globally.

A single specimen (c. 86.2 cm) juvenile of Bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (Müller & Henle, 1839) was captured and photographed by local fisherman using a casting net on 13 February 2018 in Pangkajene River, about 16 km inland, Pangkajene District, South Celebes, Indonesia. This finding is considered as a first inland record of C. leucas in Celebes, and fourth inland records in Indonesia after Papua, Sumatra and Borneo. Monitoring is needed to asses the possibility of Celebes as a migration route and breeding ground of C. leucas.

Chronic environmental change threatens biodiversity, but acute disturbance events present more rapid and immediate threats. In 2010, a cold snap across south Florida had wide-ranging impacts, including negative effects on recreational fisheries, agriculture, and ecological communities. Here, we use acoustic telemetry and historical longline monitoring to assess the long-term implications of this event on juvenile bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas in the Florida Everglades. Despite the loss of virtually all individuals (ca. 90%) within the Shark River Estuary during the cold snap, the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of age 0 sharks on longlines recovered through recruitment within 6-8 mo of the event. Acoustic telemetry revealed that habitat use patterns of age 0-2 sharks reached an equilibrium in 4-6 yr. In contrast, the CPUE and habitat use of age 3 sharks required 5-7 yr to resemble pre-cold snap patterns. Environmental conditions and predation risk returned to previous levels within 1 yr of the cold snap, but abundances of some prey species remained depressed for several years. Reduced prey availability may have altered the profitability of some microhabitats after the cold snap, leading to more rapid ontogenetic shifts to marine waters among sharks for several years. Accelerated ontogenetic shifts coupled with inter-individual behavioral variability of bull sharks likely led to a slower recovery rate than predicted based on overall shark CPUE. While intrinsic variation driven by stochasticity in dynamic ecosystems may increase the resistance of species to chronic and acute disturbance, it may also increase recovery time in filling the diversity of niches occupied prior to disturbance if resistive capacity is exceeded.

One hundred seventeen specimens of sharks were caught along the coast of Pernambuco State, Northern Brazil, between May 2004 and May 2007, among which 86 were blacknose sharks, Carcharhinus acronotus, enabling a more detailed study of the species. Blacknose sharks were caught in the 2 study areas along the Boa Viagem/Piedade and Paiva beaches, accounting for the highest relative abundance among the species caught (73.5% of total). Potentially dangerous sharks, tiger and bull sharks, were also caught in the same areas, whereas hammerhead and blacktip sharks were only captured off Boa Viagem/Piedade. Concerning the blacknose shark, the total length (TL) ranged from 39.0 to 180.0 cm. Among the 38 females analysed, 32 were juveniles, 11 were maturing, 2 were pre-ovulatory and 21 were pregnant. Sexing was possible for 75 of the 83 embryos, 38 of which were males and 37 were females, with a sex proportion of 1:0.9 and total length ranging between 6.4 and 63.5 cm. Ovarian fecundity ranged from 5 to 10 and uterine fecundity from 1 to 3, with an estimated gestational period of 9 months. Among the 48 males, 6 were juveniles and 42 were adults. Both males and females seem to reach sexual maturity at about 105.0 cm TL. Among the 86 stomachs analysed, only 22.1% had contents, with teleosts as the most frequent item.

Two specimens (c.700 mm) of bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas (Müller & Henle, 1839) were caught and photographed by fishermen using trammel net on 29 September and 1 October 2017 in Musi River, South Sumatra province, Indonesia. These photos are considered as second record after 20 years (1997-2017), and first confirm inland record for Sumatra. Photographic records indicate specimens of C. leucas found in Musi River basin recorded about 75 km inland, and apparently very young juveniles. Further study and monitoring is needed to asses the possibility of the importance of Musi River basin as nursery area of C. leucas.

Elasmobranchs living in rivers and estuaries may be highly susceptible to environmental and anthropogenic changes to coastal habitats. To address this, patterns of movement of 67 juvenile bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) were examined in the Caloosahatchee River between 2003 and 2006 using an array of 25 acoustic receivers. Individuals were monitored for periods of 1–460 days with most present for periods of weeks to months. Individuals utilised the entire monitored section of the river (~27 km) and also moved upriver beyond the extent of the acoustic array. Daily activity spaces of individuals ranged from 0 to 14 km with most <5 km. Monthly mean home ranges were 0.9–5.6 km and although home-range sizes were consistent through time, location of individuals within the river changed through time. Individuals moved upstream during the day and downstream at night and this pattern persisted across years. Based on data collected from depth transmitters in 2006, individuals swam closer to the surface at night and remained in deeper water during the day, suggesting further diurnal patterns in habitat use. Long-term consistent use of this habitat by young C. leucas suggests this population is highly dependent on the Caloosahatchee River as a nursery area.

AbstractDuring development of the olfactory bulb (OB), glial cells play key roles in axonal guiding/targeting, glomerular formation and synaptic plasticity. Studies in mammals have shown that radial glial cells and peripheral olfactory glia (olfactory ensheathing cells, OECs) are involved in the development of the OB. Most studies about the OB glia were carried out in mammals, but data are lacking in most non-mammalian vertebrates. In the present work, we studied the development of the OB glial system in the cartilaginous fish Scyliorhinus canicula (catshark) using antibodies against glial markers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), brain lipid-binding protein (BLBP), and glutamine synthase (GS). These glial markers were expressed in cells with radial morphology lining the OB ventricle of embryos and this expression continues in ependymal cells (tanycytes) in early juveniles. Astrocyte-like cells were also observed in the granular layer and surrounding glomeruli. Numerous GS-positive cells were present in the primary olfactory pathway of embryos. In the developmental stages analysed, the olfactory nerve layer and the glomerular layer were the regions with higher GFAP, BLBP and GS immuno-reactivity. In addition, numerous BLBP-expressing cells (a marker of mammalian OECs) showing proliferative activity were present in the olfactory nerve layer. Our findings suggest that glial cells of peripheral and central origin coexist in the OB of catshark embryos and early juveniles. These results open the path for future studies about the differential roles of glial cells in the catshark OB during embryonic development and in adulthood.

Marine fish movement plays a critical role in ecosystem functioning and is increasingly studied with acoustic telemetry. Traditionally, this research has focused on single species and small spatial scales. However, integrated tracking networks, such as the Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG) network, are building the capacity to monitor multiple species over larger spatial scales. We conducted a synthesis of passive acoustic monitoring data for 29 species (889 transmitters), ranging from large top predators to small consumers, monitored along the west coast of Florida, USA, over 3 yr (2016-2018). Space use was highly variable, with some groups using all monitored areas and others using only the area where they were tagged. The most extensive space use was found for Atlantic tarpon Megalops atlanticus and bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas. Individual detection patterns clustered into 4 groups, ranging from occasionally detected long-distance movers to frequently detected juvenile or adult residents. Synchronized, alongshore, long-distance movements were found for Atlantic tarpon, cobia Rachycentron canadum, and several elasmobranch species. These movements were predominantly northbound in spring and southbound in fall. Detections of top predators were highest in summer, except for nearshore Tampa Bay where the most detections occurred in fall, coinciding with large red drum Sciaenops ocellatus spawning aggregations. We discuss the future of collaborative telemetry research, including current limitations and potential solutions to maximize its impact for understanding movement ecology, conducting ecosystem monitoring, and supporting fisheries management.

BackgroundBullying victimization in childhood is associated with a broad array of serious mental health disturbances, including anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation and behavior. The key goal of this study was to evaluate whether bullying victimization is a true environmental risk factor for psychiatric disturbance using data from 145 bully-discordant monozygotic (MZ) juvenile twin pairs from the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development (VTSABD) and their follow-up into young adulthood.MethodSince MZ twins share an identical genotype and familial environment, a higher rate of psychiatric disturbance in a bullied MZ twin compared to their non-bullied MZ co-twin would be evidence of an environmental impact of bullying victimization. Environmental correlations between being bullied and the different psychiatric traits were estimated by fitting structural equation models to the full sample of MZ and DZ twins (N = 2824). Environmental associations were further explored using the longitudinal data on the bullying-discordant MZ twins.ResultsBeing bullied was associated with a wide range of psychiatric disorders in both children and young adults. The analysis of data on the MZ-discordant twins supports a genuine environmental impact of bullying victimization on childhood social anxiety [odds ratio (OR) 1.7], separation anxiety (OR 1.9), and young adult suicidal ideation (OR 1.3). There was a shared genetic influence on social anxiety and bullying victimization, consistent with social anxiety being both an antecedent and consequence of being bullied.ConclusionBullying victimization in childhood is a significant environmental trauma and should be included in any mental health assessment of children and young adults.

Background Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are at risk of uveitis. The role of adalimumab (Humira®; AbbVie Inc., Ludwigshafen, Germany) in the management of uveitis in children needs to be determined. Objective To compare the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of adalimumab in combination with methotrexate (MTX) versus placebo with MTX alone, with regard to controlling disease activity in refractory uveitis associated with JIA. Design This was a randomised (applying a ratio of 2 : 1 in favour of adalimumab), double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre parallel-group trial with an integrated economic evaluation. A central web-based system used computer-generated tables to allocate treatments. A cost–utility analysis based on visual acuity was conducted and a 10-year extrapolation by Markov modelling was also carried out. Setting The setting was tertiary care centres throughout the UK. Participants Patients aged 2–18 years inclusive, with persistently active JIA-associated uveitis (despite optimised MTX treatment for at least 12 weeks). Interventions All participants received a stable dose of MTX and either adalimumab (20 mg/0.8 ml for patients weighing < 30 kg or 40 mg/0.8 ml for patients weighing ≥ 30 kg by subcutaneous injection every 2 weeks based on body weight) or a placebo (0.8 ml as appropriate according to body weight by subcutaneous injection every 2 weeks) for up to 18 months. A follow-up appointment was arranged at 6 months. Main outcome measures Primary outcome – time to treatment failure [multicomponent score as defined by set criteria based on the Standardisation of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) criteria]. Economic outcome – incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained from the perspective of the NHS in England and Personal Social Services providers. Full details of secondary outcomes are provided in the study protocol. Results A total of 90 participants were randomised (adalimumab, n = 60; placebo, n = 30). There were 14 (23%) treatment failures in the adalimumab group and 17 (57%) in the placebo group. The analysis of the data from the double-blind phase of the trial showed that the hazard risk (HR) of treatment failure was significantly reduced, by 75%, for participants in the adalimumab group (HR 0.25, 95% confidence interval 0.12 to 0.51; p < 0.0001 from log-rank test). The cost-effectiveness of adalimumab plus MTX was £129,025 per QALY gained. Adalimumab-treated participants had a much higher incidence of adverse and serious adverse events. Conclusions Adalimumab in combination with MTX is safe and effective in the management of JIA-associated uveitis. However, the likelihood of cost-effectiveness is < 1% at the £30,000-per-QALY threshold. Future work A clinical trial is required to define the most effective time to stop therapy. Prognostic biomarkers of early and complete response should also be identified. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10065623 and European Clinical Trials Database number 2010-021141-41. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 23, No. 15. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. This trial was also funded by Arthritis Research UK (grant reference number 19612). Two strengths of adalimumab (20 mg/0.8 ml and 40 mg/0.8 ml) and a matching placebo were manufactured by AbbVie Inc. (the Marketing Authorisation holder) and supplied in bulk to the contracted distributor (Sharp Clinical Services, Crickhowell, UK) for distribution to trial centres.

Abstract Two types of island-arc occur in the North American Cordillera during the Permian-Triassic times. The first type is exposed in the eastern Klamath and Blue Mountains (fig. 1). Its stratigraphy is continuous from Permian to Triassic, and is composed of arc-tholeiites with minor calc-alkaline lavas. This suite shows high epsilon Nd (sub (T)) values similar to the range of intra-oceanic island-arc [Lapierre et al., 1987; Brouxel et al., 1987, 1988; Charvet et al., 1990; Lapierre et al., 1990, 1994]. In contrast, the second type, exposed in northern Sierra Nevada and central-western Nevada (Black Dyke) (fig. 1), is characterized by an early Permian calc-alkaline suite, with positive to negative epsilon Nd (sub (T)) values. Its basement is inferred to present continental affinities [Rouer et Lapierre, 1989; Rouer et al., 1989; Blein et al., 1996, 2000]. In western Nevada, volcanic rocks of early Triassic age are present in few localities: (1) the Triassic Koipato Group in central Nevada (fig. 1); (2) the Pablo Formation in the Shoshone mountains and the Paradise Range (figs. 1 and 2); and (3) the Garfield Flat formation in the Excelsior mountains (figs. 1 and 2). Silberling [1959] has subdivided the Pablo formation into three members: clastic, limestone, and greenstone (fig. 3). The clastic member consists of andesites, interbedded with volcaniclastic turbidites. The contact between the clastic and the limestone members is gradational and interlensing. The limestones are locally bioclastic with shell fragments, indicating a shallow-water deposition. They yielded a reworked late Permian fauna which suggests a late Permian or younger age. The clastic and limestone members could represent the recurrent rapid deposition in a shallow marine basin of volcanic flows, reworked material from a nearby terrane of volcanic, granitic, and sedimentary rocks. The greenstone member is composed of andesites, volcanic breccias and tuffs. The middle Triassic Granstville formation rests conformably on the Pablo formation. Both formations are affected by Mesozoic polyphase deformations [Oldow, 1985]. The Permian and/or Triassic Garfield Flat formation is composed of ignimbrites and pyroclastic breccia interlayered with conglomerates, sandstones, calcareous and red pelites (fig. 4). The Jurassic-Triassic Gabbs-Sunrise formation rests unconformably on the Garfield Flat formation. Both formations are affected by Mesozoic polyphase deformations [Oldow, 1985]. In the Pablo formation, lavas are shoshonitic basalts and calc-alkaline andesites, while calc-alkaline andesites and rhyolites predominate in the Garfield Flat formation. Basalts and andesites exhibit enriched LREE patterns (fig. 6) with slight negative anomalies in TiO 2 , Nb and Ta typical of subducted-related magmas in the primitive mantle-normalized spidergrams (fig. 7). The lavas show epsilon Sr (sub (T)) and epsilon Nd (sub (T)) values which range between -0.4 to +19.6, and -1.4 to +0.8 respectively (fig. 8). Most of the samples are displaced from the mantle array toward higher epsilon Sr (sub (T)) values, due to the alteration. The epsilon Nd (sub (T)) values, close to the Bulk Earth composition, record an interaction between material from a juvenile pole (mantle or young crust) and from an old crust. The Pablo and Garfield Flat formations differ from the Permian Black Dyke formation. This latter is characterized by calc-alkaline basalts and mafic andesites enriched in LREE, and a mantle source contaminated by subducted sediments or arc-basement [Blein et al., 2000]. The Pablo and Garfield Flat formations show many similarities with the Koipato Group. In central Nevada, the Koipato Group is a sequence of andesites, dacites and rhyolites interbedded with tuffs and volcaniclastic sediments. It rests with a marked angular unconformity on folded Upper Paleozoic oceanic rocks [Silberling and Roberts, 1962]. Fission-track dating on zircon [McKee and Burke, 1972] indicate an age of 225+ or -30 Ma for the Koipato Group. Ammonites, near the top, are considered to be upper early Triassic [Silberling, 1973]. The Pablo and Garfield Flat lavas share in common with the Koipato Group: (1) late Permian to middle Triassic ages; (2) abundant andesites and rhyolites with minor basalts, associated with felsic pyroclastic breccias; (3) LILE and LREE enrichement; (4) low epsilon Nd (sub (T)) values suggesting a juvenile source with slight contamination by a crustal component; (5) La/Nb ratios close to the lower limit of orogenic andesites [Gill, 1981]; and (6) high Nb/Zr ratios suggesting a generation far from a subduction zone [Thieblemont and Tegyey, 1994]. This Triassic high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic magmatism is enriched in K, Rb, Th, Nb and Ta relative to the calc-alkaline Black Dyke lavas, and is mainly juvenile judging from Nd isotopic ratios. The source may correspond either to a juvenile crust composed of high-K andesites [Roberts and Clemens, 1993], which could be the Black Dyke lavas, or to phlogopite-K-richterite enriched lithospheric mantle. In both cases, the generation of the high-K calc-alkaline magmatism needs the former existence of an important subduction phase to generate its source. The lavas of the Pablo and Garfield Flat formations are similar to calc-alkaline and shoshonitic lavas emitted in post-collisional setting. Post-collisional arc/continent magmatism is varied from intermediate to felsic, calc-alkaline to shoshonitic, low to high-K and meta-aluminous to hyper-aluminous. The studied lavas may be compared to the arc/passive margin collision of Papua-New Guinea, where a post-collisional magmatism characterized by high-K basalts, andesites and shoshonites [McKenzie, 1976]. In Nevada, this post-collisional event develops after the accretion of the Permian Black Dyke island-arc (Type 2), and before the accretion of the intra-oceanic Permo-Triassic arc (Type 1).

Введение. Височная кость представляет собой трудную хирургическую область, так как здесь расположены органы слуха, равновесия, достаточно сложный по своему строению лицевой нерв, крупные сосуды (внутренняя сонная артерия, луковица яремной вены) и синусы височной кости. Все это, а также близость мозга является значительным препятствием для хирургии основания черепа, в том числе для хирургического лечения пациентов с опухолями височной кости. Цель. Описать клинические случаи выявленных редких доброкачественных опухолей височной кости у пациентов, которые были оперированы в отделе патологии уха и основания черепа. Материалы и методы. С октября 2014 по май 2021 г. проведено обследование и хирургическое лечение 175 пациентов с различными опухолями латерального основания черепа. Среди этих 175 (100%) пациентов параганглиома была наиболее распространенной опухолью - 113 (64,6%) случаев. Доброкачественные опухоли лицевого нерва (шванномы) составили 41 (23,4%) случай. На долю редких новообразований (различной морфологии) пришелся 21 (12,0%) случай наблюдений. Из данной группы редких новообразований доброкачественные составили 71,4% случаев, в отличие от злокачественных - 28,6% наблюдений. Анализ и описание серии случаев. Среди выявленных редких доброкачественных опухолей холестериновая гранулема выявлялась чаще всего - в 3 (1,7%) случаях, на втором месте по частоте были гистиоцитоз и фиброзная дисплазия височной кости - по 2 (1,1%) случая в каждом заболевании. Остальные образования, такие как дермоидная киста, гигантоклеточная опухоль, юношеская параганглиома, пиогенная гранулема, хористома, гемангиома, аневризмальная костная киста и хондромиксоидная фиброма, встречались в 0,6% случаев (по 1 в каждом случае). Обсуждение. КТ и МРТ - это 2 взаимодополняющие метода исследования, которые позволяют провести дифференциальную диагностику и определить объем предстоящей операции в пользу возможного максимального сохранения анатомических структур височной кости. Выбор тактики лечения основывается на максимально возможном радикальном удалении опухоли. Доступ (транслабиринтный, ретрофациальный, инфратемпоральный или через среднюю черепную ямку) зависит от распространения опухолевого процесса, сохранности слуха и функции лицевого нерва. В некоторых случаях оправдан риск - пожертвовать остатком слуха, чтобы опухоль могла быть полностью удалена. Если слуховая функция не сохранена исходно, считается возможным использование транслабиринтного подхода. Что касается лицевого нерва, то хирург должен владеть хорошими навыками, чтобы, не повреждая ствол лицевого нерва, при необходимости смещать его для полноценной санации опухолевого процесса или проводить одномоментную его пластику. Заключение. Отохирургу необходимо хорошо знать гистологическую гамму опухолей височных костей, следить за современным состоянием развития патологической анатомии черепа по литературным данным. Разработанные безопасные операционные доступы к различным областям височной кости, современные возможности ангиографии с селективной эмболизацией сосудов сделали возможным проводить резекцию даже запущенных опухолей. Использование вспомогательного оборудования (современные навигационные системы, нейромониторинг лицевого нерва и эндоскопическая ассистенция) позволило проводить такие операции с минимальным риском повреждения жизненно важных структур. Introduction. Difficulties of treatment of patients with tumors of the temporal bone are that the temporal bone represents difficult surgical area as the organ of hearing, balance, facial nerve, large vessels (internal carotid artery, bulb of jugular vein), and sinuses of the temporal bone are located here. All this and also proximity of the brain are a considerable obstacle for skull base surgery. Purpose. To describe clinical cases of the detected rare benign tumors of the temporal bone in patients who were operated at the department of pathology of ear and skull base. Materials and methods. From October 2014 to May 2021, the examination and surgical treatment of 175 patients with various tumors of the lateral skull base was performed. Among these 175 (100%) patients, paraganglioma was the most widespread tumor - 113 (64.6%) cases. Benign tumors of the facial (schwannoma) nerve was observed in 41 (23.4%) cases. The share of rare neoplasms (various morphology) was 21 (12.0%) cases. Benign tumors made 71.4% of cases of this group of rare neoplasms, unlike malignant ones that made 28.6% of observations. Analysis and description of a series of cases. Among the detected rare benign tumors, the cholesteric granuloma was revealed most often - in 3 (1.7%) cases; the second place was occupied by histiocytosis and fibrous dysplasia of the temporal bone - 2 (1.1%) cases in each disease. Other formations, such as dermoid cyst, giant-cell tumor, juvenile paraganglioma, pyogenic granuloma, choristoma, hemangioma, aneurysmal bone cyst, and chondromyxoid fibroma were observed in 0.6% of cases (1 in each case). Discussion. CT and MRI are two complementary methods that allow to carry out differential diagnostics and to determine the volume of the operation for possible maximum maintaining anatomical structures of the temporal bone. The choice of tactics of treatment is based on the greatest possible radical oncotomy. The access (translabyrinthine, retrofacial, infratemporal or through the middle cranial fossa) depends on the distribution of the tumor process and safety of hearing and function of the facial nerve. The risk is in certain cases justified - to sacrifice the rest of hearing so that the tumor could be completely removed. If acoustical function is not kept initially - the use of translabyrinthine approach is possible. As for facial nerve, if necessary, the surgeon must have good skills so that without damaging the trunk of the facial nerve, to displace it for full sanitation of tumor process or to carry out its one-stage plastic. Conclusion. There is still the need to study the histologic scale of tumors of temporal bones in literature. The developed safe operational accesses to various areas of the temporal bone, modern opportunities of angiography with selection embolization of vessels made possible to carry out a resection even in advanced tumors. Use of the service equipment, such as modern navigation systems, neuromonitoring of the facial nerve, and endoscopic assistance let to perform such operations with minimal risk of damage to the vital structures.

A combination of stomach content and stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) analyses were used to characterize and examine spatiotemporal and ontogenetic trends in the feeding ecology of juvenile bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) captured in estuaries throughout the northwest Gulf of Mexico (GoM) between 2013 and 2016. Shark diets were dominated by fish prey taxa [&gt;98% index of relative importance (%IRI)], and of those identified to the family level, two families comprised greater than 50% IRI, Mugilidae (mullets: ∼32%) and Sciaenidae (drums and croakers: 27%). Clupeidae (herrings: 14%) and Ariidae (sea catfishes: 15%) also contributed substantially to the diet of juvenile sharks, though consumption of Ariidae increased as consumption of Clupeidae decreased in juvenile sharks larger than 893 mm Fork Length (FL) (∼1 year old). Values of δ15N increased significantly with shark size, indicating a shift toward larger or higher trophic level prey with increasing shark size. Latitudinal and temporal trends in δ13C and δ34S suggest isotopic variation occurred in correspondence with shifts in primary producer assemblages and environmental drivers of sampled estuaries. These results highlight the importance of teleost prey resources along the freshwater-marine continuum in the diet of juvenile bull sharks, as well as the utility of natural tracers in tracking ontogenetic trends in feeding ecology.

As predators, coastal and oceanic sharks play critical roles in shaping ecosystem structure and function, but most shark species are highly susceptible to population declines. Effective management of vulnerable shark populations requires knowledge of species-specific movement and habitat use patterns. Since sharks are often highly mobile and long-lived, tracking their habitat use patterns over large spatiotemporal scales is challenging. However, the analysis of elemental tracers in vertebral cartilage can describe a continuous record of the life history of an individual from birth to death. This study examined trace elements (Li, Mg, Mn, Zn, Sr, and Ba) along vertebral transects of five shark species with unique life histories. From most freshwater-associated to most oceanic, these species include Bull Sharks (Carcharhinus leucas), Bonnethead Sharks (Sphyrna tiburo), Blacktip Sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus), Spinner Sharks (Carcharhinus brevipinna), and Shortfin Mako Sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus). Element concentrations were compared across life stages (young-of-the-year, early juvenile, late juvenile, and adult) to infer species-specific ontogenetic patterns of habitat use and movement. Many of the observed elemental patterns could be explained by known life history traits: C. leucas exhibited clear ontogenetic changes in elemental composition matching expected changes in their use of freshwater habitats over time. S. tiburo elemental composition did not differ across ontogeny, suggesting residence in estuarine/coastal regions. The patterns of elemental composition were strikingly similar between C. brevipinna and C. limbatus, suggesting they co-occur in similar habitats across ontogeny. I. oxyrinchus elemental composition was stable over time, but some ontogenetic shifts occurred that may be due to changes in migration patterns with maturation. The results presented in this study enhance our understanding of the habitat use and movement patterns of coastal and oceanic sharks, and highlights the applicability of vertebral chemistry as a tool for characterizing shark life history traits.

Knowledge about top predators’ trophic ecology is crucial for defining their role in ecosystems, understanding habitat preferences, characterizing life stage-specific feeding habits, and evaluating their interaction with fisheries. In the northeastern Pacific, white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) occupy coastal habitats during the early life stages, including Bahía Sebastián Vizcaíno (BSV) in Mexico, which is a known nursery area. Although BSV presumably provides high prey abundance, the trophic ecology of immature white sharks is poorly understood. Carbon and nitrogen bulk stable isotope analyses (SIA) were used to explore the trophic relationship of early life stages with their potential prey and to infer dietary overlap with sympatric sharks, while SIA of amino acids were used to estimate trophic position. Muscle samples from young white sharks and inshore demersal prey commonly found in their stomach contents were sampled. Demersal prey and literature-derived isotope ratios for pelagic and offshore species were incorporated into mixing models with a Bayesian framework to estimate their contribution to white shark tissues. Nearshore demersal prey had the highest contribution for all life stages (between 35 and 47%), consistent with previous reports based on gut content analysis. The contribution of pelagic (between 26 and 37%) and offshore (between 14 and 32%) prey was smaller and suggests potential periodic changes in foraging grounds and the presence of a maternal-derived isotopic signature. A high contribution of demersal prey indicates a high level of interaction with local fisheries that target those species and catch white sharks incidentally and is consistent with immature shark movement patterns. Isotope ratios of two sympatric sharks, smooth hammerhead Sphyrna zygaena and copper sharks Carcharhinus brachyurus, were used to estimate the overlap in isotopic niche space. Immature white sharks had the smallest isotopic niche, while the highest was for copper sharks. Overlap was greatest between white sharks and hammerheads (∼45%), while overlap with copper sharks was limited (&lt;20%), suggesting less potential for competition. Trophic position estimates were similar to those previously reported for the species. These results highlight the importance of coastal demersal prey heavily targeted by local fisheries for the diet of young white sharks and support the importance of BSV as a nursery habitat.

The porbeagle (Lamna nasus) is a large, highly migratory endothermic shark broadly distributed in the higher latitudes of the Atlantic, South Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In the North Atlantic, the porbeagle has a long history of fisheries exploitation and current assessments indicate that this stock is severely overfished. Although much is known of the life history of this species, there is little fisheries-independent information about habitat preferences and ecology. To examine migratory routes, vertical behavior, and environmental associations in the western North Atlantic, we deployed pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags on 20 porbeagles in late November, 2006. The sharks, ten males and ten females ranging from 128 to 154 cm fork length, were tagged and released from a commercial longline fishing vessel on the northwestern edge of Georges Bank, about 150 km east of Cape Cod, MA. The tags were programmed to release in March (n = 7), July (n = 7), and November (n = 6) of 2007, and 17 (85%) successfully reported. Based on known and derived geopositions, the porbeagles exhibited broad seasonally-dependent horizontal and vertical movements ranging from minimum linear distances of 937 to 3,310 km and from the surface to 1,300 m, respectively. All of the sharks remained in the western North Atlantic from the Gulf of Maine, the Scotian Shelf, on George's Bank, and in the deep, oceanic waters off the continental shelf along the edge of, and within, the Gulf Stream. In general, the population appears to be shelf-oriented during the summer and early fall with more expansive offshore radiation in the winter and spring. Although sharks moved through temperatures ranging from 2 to 26°C, the bulk of their time (97%) was spent in 6-20°C. In the summer months, most of the sharks were associated with the continental shelf moving between the surface and the bottom and remaining &lt; 200 m deep. In the late fall and winter months, the porbeagles moved into pelagic habitat and exhibited two behavioral patterns linked with the thermal features of the Gulf Stream: “non-divers” (n = 7) largely remained at epipelagic depths and “divers” (n = 10) made frequent dives into and remained at mesopelagic depths (200–1000 m). These data demonstrate that juvenile porbeagles are physiologically capable of exploiting the cool temperate waters of the western North Atlantic as well as the mesopelagic depths of the Gulf Stream, possibly allowing exploitation of prey not available to other predators.

Abstract Continentalcollision zones have been proposed as primary sites of net continental crustal growth. Therefore, studies on syn-collisional granitoids with mafic magmatic enclaves (MMEs) are essential for testing this hypothesis. The Baojishan (BJS) and Qumushan (QMS) syn-collisional plutons in the North Qilian Orogen (NQO) on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau have abundant MMEs in sharp contact with host granitoids, sharing similar constituent minerals but with higher modal abundances of mafic minerals in MMEs. The QMS host granitoids have high Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios, showing adakitic compositions, which are differentfrom the BJS granitoids. Based on bulk-rock compositions and zircon U-Pb age-dating, recent studies on these two plutons proposed that MMEs represent cumulates crystallized early from the same magmatic system as their host granitoids, and their parental melts are best understood as andesitic magmas produced by partial melting of the underthrusting upper ocean crust upon collision with some terrigenous sediments under amphibolite facies. Here, we focus on the trace-element geochemistry of the constituent mineral phases of both MMEs and their host granitoids of the QMS and BJS plutons. Weshow that different mineral phases preferentially host different trace elements; for example, most rare earth elements (REEs and Y) reside in titanite (only found in the QMS pluton), amphibole, apatite, epidote and zircon (mostly heavy-REEs); and high-field-strength elements (HFSEs) reside in biotite, titanite, amphibole and zircon. Based on the mineral chemical data, we show that for these two plutons, MMEs are of similar cumulate origin, crystallized from primitive andesitic melts in the early stage of granitoid magmatism. The primitive andesitic melts for these syn-collisional granitoids are most likely produced by the partial melting of the oceanic crust, supporting the hypothesis of continental crustal growth considering the syn-collisional granitoids represent juvenile continental crust. As evidenced by distinct mineral compositions, the two plutons have different parental magma compositions, for example higher TiO2 content and higher Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios in the QMS parental magmas, a signature best understood as being inherited from the source. The higher TiO2 content of the parental magma for the QMS pluton leads to the common presence of titanite in the QMS pluton (absent in the BJS pluton), crystallization of which in turn controls the trace-element (REE, Y, Nb, Ta and others) systematics in the residual melts towards an adakitic signature. Therefore, parental magmas with high TiO2 content and high Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios, as well as their further fractionation of titanite, are important factors in the development of adakitic compositions, as represented by the QMS host granitoids. This model offers a new perspective on the petrogenesis of adakitic rocks. The present study further demonstrates that, in general, mineral chemistry holds essential information for revealing the petrogenesis of granitoid rocks.

“A bunch of faggots for watching men hug each other in tights.”For the past five Marches, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has produced an awards show which honours its aged former performers, such as Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, as pro-wrestling Legends. This awards show, according to WWE, is ‘an elegant, emotional, star-studded event that recognizes the in-ring achievements of the inductees and offers historical insights into this century-old sports-entertainment attraction’ (WWE.com, n.p.). In an episodic storyline leading up to the 2009 awards, however, the real-life personal shortcomings of these Legends have been brought to light, and subsequently mocked in one-on-one interview segments with WWE’s Superstar of the Year 2008, the dastardly Chris Jericho. Jericho caps off these tirades by physically assaulting the Legends with handy stage props. Significantly, the performances of Jericho and his victims have garnered positive attention not only from mass audiences unaware of backstage happenings in WWE, but also from the informed community of pro-wrestling fans over at the nihilistic humour website SomethingAwful. During Jericho’s assault on the Legend Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka at the March 02 WWE Raw event, a WWE-themed forum thread on SomethingAwful logged over sixty posts all reiterating variations of ‘gently caress me Jericho is amazing’ (Jerusalem, n.p.). This is despite the community’s passive-aggressive and ironically jaded official line that they indeed are ‘a bunch of faggots for watching men hug each other in tights. Thank you for not telling us this several times’ (HulkaMatt, n.p.). Why were these normally cynical fans of WWE enthusiastically expressing their love for the Jericho-Legends feud? In order to answer this question, this paper argues that the feud articulates not only the ideal of the “giving wrestler”, but also Roland Barthes’s version of jouissance. Consuming and commenting on WWE texts within the SomethingAwful community is further argued to be a performative ritual in which informed wrestling fans distance themselves from audiences they perceive as uncritical and ill-informed cultural dupes. The feud, then, allows the SomethingAwful fans to perform enthusiasm on two interconnected levels: they are not only able to ironically cheer on Jericho’s morally reprehensible actions, but also to genuinely appreciate the present-day in-ring efforts of the Legends. The Passion of the SuperflyTo properly contextualise this paper, though, the fact that “pro wrestling is fake” needs to be reiterated. Each match is a choreographed sequence of moves. Victory does not result from landing more damaging bodyslams than one's opponent, but is instead predetermined by scriptwriters—among whom wrestlers are typically not numbered—backstage. In the 1950s, Roland Barthes thus commented that pro wrestling ‘is not a sport, it is a spectacle’ (Mythologies 13). Yet, pro wrestling remains popular because this theatricality allows for the display of spectacular excesses of passion—here Barthes not only means “an intensity of emotion”, but refers to the physically tortured heroes of medieval passion plays as well—giving it an advantage over the legitimate sport of amateur wrestling. ‘It is obvious that at such a pitch, it no longer matters whether the passion is genuine or not. What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself’ (Mythologies 16). This observation still holds true in today’s WWE. On one hand, the SomethingAwful fans go ‘gently caress Jericho, [Superfly] will MURDER you’ (Jerusalem, n.p.) in disapproval of Jericho’s on-screen actions. In the same thread, though, they simultaneously fret over him being slightly injured from an off-screen real life accident. ‘Jericho looks busted up on his forehead. Dang’ (Carney, n.p.).However, Barthes’s observations, while seminal, are not the be-all and end-all of pro wrestling scholarship. The industry has undergone a significant number of changes since the 1950s. Speeches and interview segments are now seen as essential tools for furthering storylines. Correspondingly, they are given ample TV time. At over ten minutes, the Jericho-“Superfly” confrontation from the March 02 Raw is longer than both the matches following it, and a fifteen minute conversation between two top wrestlers capstones these two matches. Henry Jenkins has thus argued that pro wrestling is a male-targeted melodrama. Its ‘writers emphasize many traits that [legitimate sports such as] football share with melodrama-the clear opposition between characters, the sharp alignment of audience identification, abrupt shifts in fortune, and an emotionally satisfying resolution’ (Jenkins, “Never Trust a Snake” 81). Unlike football, though, the predetermined nature of pro wrestling means that its events can be ‘staged to ensure maximum emotional impact and a satisfying climax’ (Jenkins, “Never Trust a Snake” 81). Further, Jenkins notes that shouting is preferred over tears as an outlet for male affect. It ‘embodies externalised emotion; it is aggressive and noisy. Women cry from a position of emotional (and often social) vulnerability; men shout from a position of physical and social strength (however illusory)’ (Jenkins, “Never Trust a Snake” 80). Pro wrestling is seen to encourage this outlet for affect by offering its viewers spectacles of male physical prowess to either castigate or cheer. Jericho’s assault of the Legends, coupled with his half-screaming, half-shouting taunts of “‘Hall of Famer’? ‘Hall of Famer’ of what? You’re a has-been! Just like all the rest!” could be read to fit within this paradigm as well. Smarts vs. MarksWWE has repeatedly highlighted its scripted nature in recent years. During a 2007 CNN interview, for instance, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon constantly refers to his product as “entertainment” and laughingly agrees that “it’s all story” when discussing his on-screen interactions with his long-lost midget “son” (Griffin, n.p.). These overt acknowledgments that WWE is a highly choreographed melodrama have boosted the growth of a fan demographic referred to the "smart" in pro-wrestling argot. This “smart” fan is a figure for whom the fabricated nature of pro-wrestling necessitates an engagement with the WWE spectacle at a different level from mass audiences. The “smart” not only ‘follow[s] the WWE not just to see the shows, but to keep track of what “the Fed[eration]” is doing’ (McBride and Bird 170) with regards to off-camera events, but also 'has knowledge of the inner-workings of the wrestling business’ (PWTorch, n.p.). One of the few “GOLD”-rated threads on the SomethingAwful smart forums, accordingly, is titled “WWE News and Other Top Stories, The Insider Thread”, and has nearly 400 000 views and over 1000 posts. As a result, the smarts are in a subject position of relative insider-ness. They consume the WWE spectacle at a deeper level—one which functions roughly like an apparatus of capture for the critical/cynical affect mobilised around the binary of ‘real’ and ‘fake’—yet ultimately remain captured by the spectacle through their autodidact enthusiasm for knowledge which uncovers its inner workings.By contrast, there is the category of the “mark” fan. These “marks” are individuals who remain credulous in their reception of WWE programming. As cuteygrl08 writes regarding a recent WWE storyline involving brotherly envy:I LOVE JEFF HARDY!!!! i cried when i heard his brother say all the crap about him!! kinda weird but i love him and this video is soooo good!! JEFF hardy loves his fans and his fans love him no matter what he does i'll always love JEFF HARDY!!!!!!!!!!! (n.p.)This unstinting faith in the on-screen spectacle is understandable insofar as WWE programming trades upon powerful visual markers of authenticity—nearly-bare bodies, sweat, pained facial expressions­—and complements them with the adrenaline-producing beats of thrash metal and hard rock. Yet, smarts look down upon marks like cuteygrl08, seeing them as Frankfurt School-era hypnotised sots for whom the WWE spectacle is ‘the common ground of the deceived gaze and of false consciousness’ (Debord 117), and additionally as victims of a larger media industry which specialises in mass deception (Horkheimer and Adorno 41). As Lawrence McBride and Elizabeth Bird observe:Marks appear to believe in the authenticity of the competition—Smarts see them as the stereotypical dupes imagined by wrestling critics. Smarts approach the genre of wrestling as would-be insiders, while Marks root unreflexively for the most popular faces. Smart fans possess truly incredible amounts of knowledge about the history of wrestling, including wrestler’s real names and career histories, how various promotions began and folded, who won every Wrestlemania ever. Smart fan informants defined a Mark specifically as someone who responds to wrestling in the way intended by the people who write the storylines (the bookers), describing Marks with statements such as “Kids are Marks.” or “We were all Marks when we were kids.” Smarts view Marks with scorn. (169)Perhaps feeding on the antagonistic binaries drawn by WWE programming, there exists an “us vs them” binary in smart fan communities. Previous research has shown that fan communities often rigidly police the boundaries of “good taste”, and use negatively constructed differences as a means of identity construction (Fiske 448; Jenkins, “Get a Life!” 432; Theodoropoulou 321). This ritual Othering is especially important when supporting the WWE. Smarts are aware that they are fans of a product denigrated by non-fans as ‘trash TV’ (McKinley, n.p.). As Matt Hills finds, fandom is a mode of performative consumption. It is ‘an identity which is (dis)claimed, and which performs cultural work’ (Hills xi). Belonging to the SomethingAwful smart community, thus, exerts its own pressures on the individual smart. There, the smart must perform ‘audiencehood, knowing that other fans will act as a readership for speculation, observation, and commentaries’ (Hills 177). Wrestling, then, is not just to be watched passively. It must be analysed, and critically dissected with reference to the encyclopaedic knowledge treasured by the smart community. Mark commentary has to be pilloried, for despite all the ironic disaffection characterising their posts, the smarts display mark-like behaviour by watching and purchasing WWE programming under their own volition. A near-existential dread is hence articulated when smarts become aware of points where the boundaries between smart and mark overlap, that ‘the creatures that lurk the internet ...carry some of the same interests that we do’ (rottingtrashcan, n.p.). Any commonalities between smarts and marks must thus be disavowed as a surface resemblance: afterall, creatures are simply unthinking appetites, not smart epicures. We’re better than those plebs; in fact, we’re nothing like them any more. Yet, in one of the few forms of direct address in the glossary of smart newsletter PWTorch, to “mark out” is ‘to enthusiastically be into [a storyline] or match as if you [emphasis added] were “a mark”; to suspend one's disbelief for the sake of enjoying to a greater extent a match or [a storyline]’ (PWTorch, n.p.). The existence of the term “marking out” in a smart glossary points to an enjoyably liminal privileged position between that of defensively ironic critic and that of credulous dupe, one where smarts can stop their performance of cooler-than-thou fatigue and enthusiastically believe that there is nothing more to WWE than spontaneous alarms and excursions. The bodily reactions of the Legends in response to Jericho's physical assault helps foster this willing naiveté. These reactions are a distressing break from the generic visual conventions set forth by preceding decades of professional wrestling. As Barthes argues, wrestling is as much concerned with images of spectacular suffering as with narratives of amazing triumphs:the wrestler who suffers in a hold which is reputedly cruel (an arm- lock, a twisted leg) offers an excessive portrayal of Suffering; like a primitive Pieta, he exhibits for all to see his face, exaggeratedly contorted by an intolerable affliction. It is obvious, of course, that in wrestling reserve would be out of place, since it is opposed to the voluntary ostentation of the spectacle, to this Exhibition of Suffering which is the very aim of the fight. (17)Barthes was writing of the primitively filmed wrestling matches of the 1950s notable for their static camera shots. However, WWE wrestlers yet follow this theatrical aesthetic. In the match immediately following Jericho’s bullying of Superfly, Kane considerately jumps the last two feet into a ringside turnbuckle after Mike Knox pushes him into its general vicinity. Kane grunts at the impact while the camera cuts to a low-angled shot of his back—all the better to magnify the visual of the 150 kg Knox now using his bulk to squash Kane. Whenever Jericho himself traps his opponent in his “Walls of Jericho” submission manoeuvre, both their faces are rictuses of passion. His opponent clutches for the safety of the ring ropes, shaking his head in heroic determination. Audiences see Jericho tighten his grip, his own head shaking in villainous purpose. But the Legends do not gyrate around the set when hit. Instead, they invariably slump to the ground, motionless except for weakly spasming to the rhythm of Jericho’s subsequent attacks. This atypical reaction forces audiences—smart and mark alike—to re-evaluate any assumptions that the event constitutes a typical WWE beatdown. Overblown theatricality gives way to a scene which seems more related to everyday experiences with pain: Here's an old man being beaten and whipped by a strong, young man. He's not moving. Not like other wrestlers do. I wonder... The battered bodies of these Legends are then framed in high angle camera shots, making them look ever so much more vulnerable than they were prior to Jericho’s assault. Hence the smart statements gushing that ‘gently caress me Jericho is amazing’ (Jerusalem, n.p.) and that Jericho’s actions have garnered a ‘rear end in a top hat chant [from the crowd]. It has been FOREVER since I heard one of those. I love Chris Jericho’ (Burrito, n.p.).Jouissance and “Marking Out”This uninhibited “marking out” by normally cynical smarts brings to mind Barthes's observation that texts are able to provoke two different kinds of enjoyment in their readers. On one hand, there is the text which provides pleasure born from familiarity. It ‘contents, fills, grants euphoria; [it is] the text that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading’ (Barthes, Image-Music-Text 14). The Knox-Kane match engendered such a been-there-done-that-it's-ok-I-guess overall reaction from smarts. For every ‘Mike Knox throwing Mysterio at Kane was fantastic’ (Burrito, n.p.), there is an ‘Ahahaha jesus Knox [sic] that was the shittiest Hurracanrana sell ever’ (Axisillian, n.p.), and a ‘Hit the beard [sic] it is Knox's weakpoint’ (Eurotrash, n.p.). The pleasant genericity of the match enables and necessitates that these smarts maintain their tactic of ironic posturing. They are able to armchair critique Knox for making his opponent's spinning Hurracanrana throw look painless. Yet they are also allowed to reiterate their camp affection for Knox's large and bushy beard, which remains grotesque even when divorced from a WWE universe that celebrates sculpted physiques.By contrast, Barthes praises the text of rapturous jouissance. It is one where an orgasmic intensity of pleasure is born from the unravelling of its audience’s assumptions, moving them away from their comfort zone. It is a text which ‘imposes a stage of loss, [a] text that discomforts (perhaps to the point of boredom), unsettles the reader's historical, cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes, values, memories, brings to crisis his relation with language’ (Barthes, Image-Music-Text 14). In addition to the atypical physical reactions of the Legends, WWE cynically positions the Jericho-Legends segments during Raw events which also feature slick video montages highlighting the accomplishments of individual Legends. These montages—complete with an erudite and enthusiastic Voice-of-God narrator— introduce the long-retired Legends to marks unfamiliar with WWE's narrative continuity: “Ladies and gentlemen! Rrriiiicky “The Draaagon” Steeeeamboat!”. At the same time, they serve as a visually and aurally impressive highlight-reel-cum-nostalgic-celebration of each Legend's career accomplishments. Their authoritative narration is spliced to clips of past matches, and informs audiences that, for instance, Steamboat was ‘one of the first Superstars to combine technical skills with astounding aerial agility ... in a match widely regarded as one of the best in history, he captured the Intercontinental title from Randy Savage in front of a record-breaking 93 173 fans’ (“Raw #636”, WWE). Following the unassailably authentic video footage of past matches, other retired wrestlers speak candidly in non-WWE stages such as outdoor parks and their own homes about the Legend's strengths and contributions to the industry.The interesting thing about these didactic montages is not so much what they show —Legends mythologised into triumphant Titans — but rather, what they elide. While the Steamboat-centred package does reflect the smart consensus that his Intercontinental bout ‘was a technical classic, and to this day, is still considered one of the greatest matches of all-time’ (NPP, n.p.), it does not mention how Steamboat was treated poorly in the WWE. Despite coming to it as the widely-known World Champion of [the NWA] rival promotion, WWE producers ‘dressed Steamboat up as a dragon and even made him blow fire. ...To boot, he was never acknowledged as a World Champion and [kept losing] to the stars’ (NPP, n.p.). The montages, overtly endorsed by the gigantic WWE logo as they are, are ultimately pleasant illusions which rewrite inconvenient truths while glamorising pleasant memories.Jericho’s speeches, however, sharply break from this celebratory mode. He references Steamboat’s previous success in the NWA, ‘an organisation that according to this company never even existed’(“Raw #636”, WWE). He then castigates Steamboat for being a real-life sellout and alludes to Steamboat having personal problems unmentioned in the montage:It wasn't until you came to the WWE that you sold your soul to all of these parasites [everyone watching] that you became “The Dragon”. A glorified Karate Kid selling headbands and making poses. Feeding into stereotypes. And then you eventually came to the ring with a Komodo Dragon. Literally spitting fire like the circus freak you'd become. It was pathetic. But hey, it's all right as long as you're making a paycheck, right Steamboat? And then when you decided to retire, you ended up like all the rest. Down and out. Broken. Beaten down. Dysfunctional family ...You applied for a job working for the WWE, you got one working backstage, and now here you are. You see, Steamboat, you are a life-long sellout. And now, with the Hall of Fame induction, the loyal dog gets his bone. (WWE)Here, Jericho demonstrates an apparent unwillingness to follow the company line by not only acknowledging the NWA, but also by disrespecting a current WWE backstage authority. Yet, wrestlers having onscreen tangles with their bosses is the norm for WWE. The most famous storyline of the 1990s had “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and the WWE Chairman brutalising each other for months on end, and the fifteen minute verbal exchange mentioned earlier concerns one wrestler previously attacking the Raw General Manager. Rather, it is Jericho’s reinterpretation of Steamboat’s career trajectory which gives the storyline the intensely pleasurable uncertainty of jouissance. His confrontational speeches rupture the celebratory nostalgia of the montages, forcing smarts to apply extra-textual knowledge to them. This is especially relevant in Steamboat’s case. His montage was shown just prior to his meeting with Jericho, ensuring that his iconic status was fresh in the audience’s memory. Vera Dika’s findings on the conflict between memory and history in revisionist nostalgia films are important to remember here. The tension ‘that comes from the juxtaposition of the coded material against the historical context of the film itself ...encourages a new set of meanings to arise’ (Dika 91). Jericho cynically views the seemingly virtuous and heroic Steamboat as a corporate sycophant preying on fan goodwill to enrich his own selfish ends. This viewpoint, troublingly enough for smarts, is supported by their non-WWE-produced extra-textual knowledge, allowing for a meta-level melodrama to be played out. The speeches thus speak directly to smarts, simultaneously confounding and exceeding their expectations. The comfortingly pleasant memories of Steamboat’s “amazing aerial prowess” are de-emphasised, and he is further linked to the stereotypical juvenilia of the once-popular The Karate Kid. They articulate and capitalise upon whatever misgivings smarts may have regarding Steamboat’s real-life actions. Thus, to paraphrase Dika, ‘seen in this clash, [the Jericho-Legends feud] has the structure of irony, producing a feeling of nostalgia, but also of pathos, and registering the historical events as the cause of an irretrievable loss [of a Legend’s dignity]’ (91). “C’mon Legend! Live in the past!” taunts Jericho as he stuffs Superfly’s mouth with bananas and beats him amidst the wreckage of the exactingly reproduced cheap wooden set in the same way that “Rowdy” Roddy Piper did years ago (“RAW #637”, WWE). This literal dismantling of cherished memories results from WWE producers second-guessing the smarts, and providing these fans with an enjoyably uncomfortable jouissance that cleverly confounds the performance of a smart disaffection. “Marking out” —or its performance at least—results.The Giving WrestlerLastly, the general physical passivity of the Legends also ties into the ethos of the “giving wrestler” when combined with the celebratory montages. In a business where performed passion is integral to fan enjoyment, the “giving wrestler” is an important figure who, when hit by a high-risk move, will make his co-worker’s offense look convincing (McBride and Bird 173). He ‘will give his all in a performance to ensure a dual outcome: the match will be spectacular, benefiting the fans, and each wrestler will make his “opponent” look good, helping him “get over with the fans” (McBride and Bird 172). Unsurprisingly, this figure is appreciated by smarts, who ‘often form strong emotional attachments to those wrestlers who go to the greatest lengths to bear the burden of the performance’ (McBride and Bird 173). As described earlier, the understated reactions of the Legends make Jericho’s attacks paradoxically look as though they cause extreme pain. Yet, when this pathetic image of the Legends is combined with the hypermasculine images of them in their heyday, a tragedy with real-life referents is played out on-stage. In one of Jenkins’s ‘abrupt shifts of fortune’ (“Never Trust a Snake” 81), age has grounded these Legends. They can now believably be assaulted with impunity by someone that Steamboat dismisses as ‘a snotty brat wrestler of a kid[sic] ...a hypocrite’ (“Raw #636”, WWE), and even in this, they apparently give their all to make Jericho look viciously “good”, thus exceeding the high expectations of smarts. As an appreciative thread title on SomethingAwful states, ‘WWE Discussion is the RICKY STEAMBOAT OWN [wins] ZONE for 02/23/09’ (HulkaMatt, n.p.) ConclusionThe Jericho-Legends feud culminated the day after the Hall of Fame ceremony, at the WWE’s flagship Wrestlemania event. Actor Mickey Rourke humiliated Jericho for the honour of the Legends, flattening the cocky braggart with a single punch. The maximum degree of moral order possible was thus temporarily restored to an episodic narrative centred around unprovoked acts of violence. Ultimately though, it is important to note the three strategies that WWE used The Legends were scripted to respond feebly to Jericho’s physical assault, slick recap montages were copiously deployed, and Jericho himself was allowed candid metatextual references to incidents that WWE producers normally like to pretend have “never even existed”. All these strategies were impressive in their own right, and they eventually served to reinforce each other. They shocked the SomethingAwful smart community, celebrated its autodidact tendencies, and forced it to re-evaluate pleasant memories. Such producer strategies enabled these smarts to re-discover jouissance and perform a rapturously regressive “marking out”. References Axisillian. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=14 >. Barthes, Roland. “The World of Wrestling.” Mythologies. Trans. Annette Lavers. London: Noonday, 1991. 13-23.Barthes, Roland. Image-Music-Text. Trans. Stephen Heath. Great Britain: Fontana, 1977.“Be a Part of the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.” WWE.com 28 Mar. 2008. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://www.wwe.com/superstars/halloffame/articles/hoffacts >.Burrito. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=8 >.Carney. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=6 >.cuteygrl08. “Jeff Hardy Fan MUST SEE!” Youtube Feb. 2009. 7 Mar. 2009 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQmW-ESiQAs >.Dika, Vera. Recycled Culture in Contemporary Art and Film: The Uses of Nostalgia. New York: Cambridge UP, 2003.Debord, Guy. “The Commodity as Spectacle.” Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Eds. Meenakishi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner. England: Blackwell 2001. 117-21. Eurotrash. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=13 >.Fiske, John. “The Cultural Economy of Fandom.” The Cult Film Reader. Eds. Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik. England: Open UP, 2008. 446-55.Griffin, Drew. “McMahons: WWE not to blame for Benoit's actions.” CNN 7 Nov. 2007. 8 Mar. 2009 < http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/11/07/mcmahons.transcript/index.html?iref=newssearch >.Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Eds. Meenakishi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner. England: Blackwell 2001. 41-72. HulkaMatt. “Wrestlehut 2000 Rules and FAQ - Last Update: 2/13/2009 - FRANK MIR FEARS BROCK LESNAR.” SomethingAwful 5 Aug. 2008. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2922167 >.HulkaMatt. “WWE Discussion is the RICKY STEAMBOAT OWN ZONE for 02/23/09.” SomethingAwful 24 Feb. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3085277 >.Jenkins, Henry. “'Get a Life!': Fans, Poachers, Nomads.” The Cult Film Reader. Eds. Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik. England: Open UP, 2008. 430-43.Jenkins, Henry. “Never Trust a Snake: WWF Wrestling as Masculine Melodrama.” The Wow Climax. New York: New York UP 2007. 75-101.Jerusalem. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=6 >.McBride, Lawrence B., and S. Elizabeth Bird. “From Smart Fan to Backyard Wrestler: Performance, Context, and Aesthetic Violence.” Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World. Eds. Jonathan Gray, Cornel Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington. New York: New York UP. 165-76.McKinley, Shane. “THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - ECW & IMPACT & SMACKDOWN: Sarah Palin vs. Rod Blagojevich at TNA PPV, Worst Catchphrase Feud, WWE Fake News Report 101.” PWTorch 13 Dec. 2008. 7 Mar. 2009 < http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/The_Specialists_34/article_28554.shtml >.nyratk1. “WWE RAW is IN SOVIET RUSSIA, HEART BREAKS YOU for 3/2/09.” SomethingAwful 3 Mar. 2009. 5 Mar. 2009 < http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3089910&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=43 >.RAW #636. WWE 23 Feb. 2009. 7 Mar. 2009 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dyq9nKr8KI&feature=related >.RAW #637. WWE 2 Mar. 2009. 7 Mar. 2009 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMQEuNVdjfk&feature=related >.Theodoropoulou, Vivi. “The Anti-Fan within the Fan: Awe and Envy in Sport Fandom.” Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World. Eds. Jonathan Gray, Cornel Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington. New York: New York UP. 316-27.“Top 50 Wrestlers List - #15 - Ricky Steamboat.” NPP 15 July 2008. 6 Mar. 2009 < http://www.nopantsprovided.com/top-50-wrestlers-list-15-ricky-steamboat/ >.“Torch Glossary of Insider Terms.” PWTorch 7 Mar. 2009. < http://www.pwtorch.com/insiderglossary.shtml >.