The half-life of cyanide in the blood of the marine fish, Amphiprion clarkii after cyanide exposure

Cyanide fishing continues to be used in the Indo-Pacific region to capture live reef fish for use by the live fish food and marine aquarium trades. The deliberate release of this broad-spectrum poison in reef environments is one of many anthropogenic threats to coral reefs today. Although this capture method is illegal in most countries, regulating its use is challenging due to the difficulty in determining whether a fish was captured using cyanide. A reliable method to test if marine fish have been caught using cyanide has long been the goal of the marine aquarium trade, but to date no test has been validated on fish with known cyanide (CN) exposure. Additionally, there are little to no toxicokinetic data on CN metabolism following CN exposure for marine fish. In this study, we exposed 38 specimens of Amphiprion clarkii to cyanide (50 ppm for 45 s) and measured the concentration of cyanide in their blood over time to characterize the detoxification process. CN was isolated from the blood by microdiffusion and derivatized to the highly fluorescent β-isoindole and then quantified by HPLC. The half-life of cyanide in the blood of the marine fish A. clarkii was found to be 3.1 ± 2.0 hrs. CN levels were seen to be slightly above control levels 1 day post exposure and below control levels 3 days post exposure suggesting that any test for CN exposure by measuring cyanide must be conducted soon after exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first direct measurement of cyanide in the blood of a marine fish following CN exposure

Noether symmetries of the minimal surface Lagrangian for Gödel-type spacetimes

We investigate the Noether symmetries of the minimal surface Lagrangian for four classes of metrics in Gödel-type spacetimes. Then, calculating the Noether symmetries for all classes, namely, classes I, II, III and IV, we determine the conserved fields corresponding to each class, allowing us to derive a comprehensive characterization of the minimal surface equations for Gödel-type spacetimes

DRIVE: A Mobile Application for Directed, Remote, Interactive Viewing and Exploring

Technologies to support remote interaction hold great potential to expand opportunities for engagement and interaction. In this work, we present a mobile application to allow remote exploration of an environment by those who cannot be physically present due to geographic or mobility limitations. Our system is designed to place control of the experience with the audience or viewer to encourage greater engagement with the remote environment. After presenting the application, we discuss how the application will be used and tested in realistic contexts and present future extensions to create a more immersive experience

TalkIng in the Library: Freedom Under Siege: Love, Death, Liberation

Speaker: Khosro Isfahani, National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) Moderator: Dr. Joseph Roberts, Chair and Professor in Politics and International Relations (RWU)https://docs.rwu.edu/talking-in-the-library/1045/thumbnail.jp

Peptide-Coated Nanoparticles for Noninvasive Biomedical Imaging

Nanoparticles (NPs) are materials with overall dimensions ranging between 1 and 100 nm. The application of NPs in medicine has been extensively explored in recent years and had a significant impact on treatment of many diseases, especially cancer. NPs are used to overcome the limitations of standard therapies involving free drug molecules, and they are primarily used to shield or solubilize highly toxic or hydrophobic agents, increase their bioavailability, prolong blood circulation, and increase drug delivery to diseased cells. Also, NPs are highly sensitive contrast agents and were applied for diagnostic purposes using noninvasive imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, optical, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Herein, we describe a novel synthesis method to formulate biodegradable polymeric NPs coated with short hexapeptides. This is a pioneering methodology, where the peptides serve a dual function: to stabilize the NP and target cancer cells. The peptide-coated NPs are stable in serum and do not induce oxidative stress in a biological setting. We outline the synthesis protocol for the NPs and demonstrate their applications as optical contrast agents in imaging of cancer cells