Environmental impacts of shrimp farms on coastal waters in Tiab area, Hormozgan province, south of Iran

Shrimp farming industry has rapidly expanded in the south of Iran and in particular in Honnozgan Province along the coastal line during the past decade. A survey was conducted for evaluation of environmental impacts of effluents from the shrimp farms during culture season (July-December 2003) of Tiab area in Hormozgan Province. The physicochemical parameters such as air and water temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, BOD5, nitrite, nitrate, total ammonia, inorganic phosphorus and total phosphorus were recorded monthly from 9 stations. The stations consisted of two inlets (stations 13 3), two outlets of effluents (stations 2, 4) and the remaining 5 stations were located along the coastal lines. The parameters were measured at 21-40°C, 22on39°C, 37-54ppt, 7.85-8.38, 4-8.1mg/L, 0.2-8.5mg/L, 0.11-0 .186mg/L, 0.001-0.029mg/L, 0- 0.016mg/L, Ome0.043mg/L and 0.014-1.4mg/L) respectively. The results showed that the range of most of the measured parameters such as water temperature, salinity, BOD5, ammonia, nitrate, phosphate and TP in the outflow waters (2, 4) were higher than inflow (1, 3) and coastal waters (5, 6, 7, 8 ,9). Statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated a significant difference between outlet effluent and other stations (P<0.05). We also concluded that the nutrients in the culture effluents are somewhat used by fauna of the Tiab creek, hence decreasing the pollutant load of the effluent

Beyond cardiovascular medicine: potential future uses of icosapent ethyl

The REDUCE-IT trial demonstrated that icosapent ethyl, an ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), reduced cardiovascular events in an at-risk population by a substantial degree. While the cardiovascular protective properties of this compound are now proven, several other potential uses are being actively explored in clinical studies. These areas of investigation include cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, infections, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and depression. The next decade promises to deepen our understanding of the beneficial effects that EPA may offer beyond cardiovascular risk reduction

International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Probiotics.

Position statement: The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) provides an objective and critical review of the mechanisms and use of probiotic supplementation to optimize the health, performance, and recovery of athletes. Based on the current available literature, the conclusions of the ISSN are as follows: 1)Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host (FAO/WHO).2)Probiotic administration has been linked to a multitude of health benefits, with gut and immune health being the most researched applications.3)Despite the existence of shared, core mechanisms for probiotic function, health benefits of probiotics are strain- and dose-dependent.4)Athletes have varying gut microbiota compositions that appear to reflect the activity level of the host in comparison to sedentary people, with the differences linked primarily to the volume of exercise and amount of protein consumption. Whether differences in gut microbiota composition affect probiotic efficacy is unknown.5)The main function of the gut is to digest food and absorb nutrients. In athletic populations, certain probiotics strains can increase absorption of key nutrients such as amino acids from protein, and affect the pharmacology and physiological properties of multiple food components.6)Immune depression in athletes worsens with excessive training load, psychological stress, disturbed sleep, and environmental extremes, all of which can contribute to an increased risk of respiratory tract infections. In certain situations, including exposure to crowds, foreign travel and poor hygiene at home, and training or competition venues, athletes' exposure to pathogens may be elevated leading to increased rates of infections. Approximately 70% of the immune system is located in the gut and probiotic supplementation has been shown to promote a healthy immune response. In an athletic population, specific probiotic strains can reduce the number of episodes, severity and duration of upper respiratory tract infections.7)Intense, prolonged exercise, especially in the heat, has been shown to increase gut permeability which potentially can result in systemic toxemia. Specific probiotic strains can improve the integrity of the gut-barrier function in athletes.8)Administration of selected anti-inflammatory probiotic strains have been linked to improved recovery from muscle-damaging exercise.9)The minimal effective dose and method of administration (potency per serving, single vs. split dose, delivery form) of a specific probiotic strain depends on validation studies for this particular strain. Products that contain probiotics must include the genus, species, and strain of each live microorganism on its label as well as the total estimated quantity of each probiotic strain at the end of the product's shelf life, as measured by colony forming units (CFU) or live cells.10)Preclinical and early human research has shown potential probiotic benefits relevant to an athletic population that include improved body composition and lean body mass, normalizing age-related declines in testosterone levels, reductions in cortisol levels indicating improved responses to a physical or mental stressor, reduction of exercise-induced lactate, and increased neurotransmitter synthesis, cognition and mood. However, these potential benefits require validation in more rigorous human studies and in an athletic population

Determination of Nutrients, BOD and COD in Manured Polyculture Ponds

In experimental ponds total amonia solution, total nitrogen, phosphate and inorganic carbon varied between 0-1050), 178-1093, phosphate 0-88 and 130-5410 ug/lit ) respectively. During the growing season the total amount of nitrogen (N), phosphate (P) and carbon (C) were fluctuating between (0.7-1.9), (0.062-2.05), (49.71-130) mg/gr. The primary variation range was 0.98 and 8.9 carbon/m2 per day, COD was 11-109 and BOD was 0.4-16.35 mg/lit oxygen. The resultes showed that in spite of using inorganic manures 100-150 kg/ha Per day, the ponds still had the ability of digestion of inorganic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. In the majority of the ponds the rate of total sediment of inorganic C and P were increased during growing perioed. We can use also COD and BOD as the manuring rate indicator in fish pond ecosystem

stressful Chemical Factors in the Water Bodies of Parishan Lake

This research was carried out by Fishery Research Center of Parsian Gulf cooperation from July 1995 to Jun 1996 in Parishan lake situated in Fars province, and during that environmental chemical analysis such as oxygen, pH, free ammonia, nitrite, and hydrogen sulfide were investigated which results were as fallows respectivery : 0.33 - 7.58 mg/lit, 8.47 - 9.41, 6 - 409 µgr/lit Nitrogen, 2-319 µgr/lit Nitrogen and 0 – 4551 µgr/lit .In Parishan lake ecosystem the average pH in Autumn was more than 9, which this pH had some effects directly and indirectly on growth and health of fishes. The average of morning oxygen concentration was acceptable just in summer and early Autumn and during the remaining of the year it was about 1 or less than 1 mg/lit. The average of free ammonia was also more than acceptable range most of the time during the year. Just in April there was not any tension. From free ammonia and in other times concentration of this gas was high and probably influence the growth of aquatics. The results showed that Parishan lake ecosystem most of the time was influenced by unfavorable Chemical factors and so prior to fishery activities there must be a compeleted research and investigation

Environmental effects of shrimp culture on Tiab Creek, Hormozgan Province, south Iran

Shrimp fanning industry has rapidly expanded in the south of Iran especially in Hormozgan Province over the past decade. In 2001, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, total inorganic nitrate, reactive phosphate and total phosphate were assessed monthly in Tiab creek to evaluate the environmental effects of the industry. During the study period, nitrate varied between 4.06-23.58pm/1 where as variation for nitrite was measured as 0.21••2.23im11. Variation for ammonia was 0.07-2.04m/1, for total inorganic nitrate was 4.46•w25.131.imi1 and for reactive phosphate and total phosphate were 0.114m2.35irill and 1.3-22.731/m11 respectively. Results of this study showed that concentration of nutrients in the outlet effluents and creek mouth were higher than other stations. Also, comparison of concentration of nutrients between stations showed that there were significant differences between effluent water and other stations (P<0.05).....

Designing an Automated Timetable for University Courses Using Genetic Algorithms

Designing timetables, for example course timetables in an institute, is one of the most complicated and time-consuming challenges for personnel. Automating it, not only can help the personnel to manage their work better, but also can be considered as a desired sample to assess the ways of planning and to tackle the constraint satisfaction in artificial intelligence. In this paper, genetic algorithms are primarily studied and then it is applied for optimization of an imaginary faculty course timetable. The new designed algorithm is based on keeping the better chromosomes of the population and employing genetic operators on the others in order to improve the overall quality of genes. Some other amendments are also carried out to develop a more capable genetic algorithm for TT applications, compared to the standard one. According to the tests, the new GA algorithm will be more successful in generating high fidelity TTs which do not break any hard constraint. The proposed ideas, in this approach are applicable in other similar situations

The Measurement of Rigidity in Elbow Joint: An Objective Method for the Evaluation of Parkinson's disease

Introduction: One of the most common syndromes in Parkinson's disease (PD) is rigidity. Currently, an index is used to evaluate the level of PD by the clinical measurement of rigidity in the upper extremity. The index uses a subjective method called Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating System (UPDRS). The subjective nature of this method makes the influence of physician in the measurement of rigidity possible. Hence, the development of a new standard method based on objective indices is needed. Materials and Methods: In this research, a new device was fabricated and used to measure the viscous and elastic indices and the range of motion during passive movement of elbow joint. The relation between each index and the level of illness was analyzed. The parameters were measured on 41 patients and 11 controls. The indices were extracted using Matlab-R14 software and the statistical analysis was performed using Spss-13. Results: Although there were significant differences in both the viscous and elastic indices between the pair groups and also among the UPDRS groups, but better correlations of the viscous ones and UPDRS were found.  The range of motion by itself has no good correlation with the level of the disease. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, it can be inferred that using viscous indices of rigidity may have an advantage over the elastic ones for the evaluation of Parkinson’s disease. Upon conducting more trials and also considering the sub indices in different parts of the range of motion, the method used here may become a standard objective method for the evaluation of Parkinson's disease

High-intensity endurance training results in faster vessel-specific rate of vasorelaxation in type 1 diabetic rats.

This study examined the effects of 6 weeks of moderate- (MD) and high-intensity endurance training (HD) and resistance training (RD) on the vasorelaxation responsiveness of the aorta, iliac, and femoral vessels in type 1 diabetic (D) rats. Vasorelaxation to acetylcholine was modeled as a mono-exponential function. A potential mediator of vasorelaxation, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (e-NOS) was determined by Western blots. Vessel lumen-to-wall ratios were calculated from H&E stains. The vasorelaxation time-constant (τ) (s) was smaller in control (C) (7.2 ± 3.7) compared to D (9.1 ± 4.4) and it was smaller in HD (5.4 ± 1.5) compared to C, D, RD (8.3 ± 3.7) and MD (8.7 ± 3.8) (p<0.05). The rate of vasorelaxation (% · s(-1)) was larger in HD (2.7 ± 1.2) compared to C (2.0 ± 1.2), D (2.0 ± 1.5), RD (2.0 ± 1.0), and MD (2.0 ± 1.2) (p<0.05). τ vasorelaxation was smaller in the femoral (6.9 ± 3.7) and iliac (6.9 ± 4.7) than the aorta (9.0 ± 5.0) (p<0.05). The rate of vasorelaxation was progressively larger from the femoral (3.1 ± 1.4) to the iliac (2.0 ± 0.9) and to the aorta (1.3 ± 0.5) (p<0.05). e-NOS content (% of positive control) was greater in HD (104 ± 90) compared to C (71 ± 64), D (85 ± 65), RD (69 ± 43), and MD (76 ± 44) (p<0.05). e-NOS normalized to lumen-to-wall ratio (% · mm(-1)) was larger in the femoral (11.7 ± 11.1) compared to the aorta (3.2 ± 1.9) (p<0.05). Although vasorelaxation responses were vessel-specific, high-intensity endurance training was the most effective exercise modality in restoring the diabetes-related loss of vascular responsiveness. Changes in the vasoresponsiveness seem to be endothelium-dependent as evidenced by the greater e-NOS content in HD and the greater normalized e-NOS content in the smaller vessels

Individuals with substance use disorders have a distinct oral microbiome pattern

Background: Substance use disorder emerges from a complex interaction between genetic predisposition, life experiences, exposure, and subsequent adaptation of biological systems to the repeated use of drugs. Recently, investigators have proposed that the human microbiota may play a role in brain health and disease. In particular, the human oral microbiome is a distinct and diverse ecological niche with its composition influenced by external factors such as lifestyle, diet, and oral hygiene. This investigation examined whether individuals with substance use disorder (SU) show a different oral microbiome pattern and whether this pattern is sufficient to delineate the SU group from healthy comparison (HC) subjects. Methods: Participants were a sub-sample (N ​= ​177) of the Tulsa 1000 (T-1000) project. We analyzed 123 SU and 54 HC subjects using 16S rRNA marker gene sequencing to characterize the oral microbiome. Results: The groups differed significantly based on the UniFrac distance, a phylogenetic-based measure of beta diversity, but did not differ in alpha diversity. Using a machine learning approach, microbiome features combined with socio-demographic variables successfully categorized group membership with 87%–92% accuracy, even after controlling for external factors such as smoking or alcohol consumption. SU individuals with relatively lower diversity also reported higher levels of negative reinforcement experiences associated with their primary substance of abuse. Conclusions: Oral microbiome features are useful to sufficiently differentiate SU from HC subjects. There is some evidence that subjects whose drug use is driven by negative reinforcement show an impoverished oral microbiome. Taken together, the oral microbiome may help to understand the dysfunctional biological processes that promote substance use or may be pragmatically useful as a risk or severity biological marker