Production and economics of mussels in Goa

The green mussel (Perna viridis) widely distributed along the Indian coastline , has great potential as a protein rich cheap food, The National Institute of Oceanography, India, has succeeded in developing a technique for the farming of green mussels on ropes suspended from floating rafts

Some aspects of environmental physiology of raft grown mussels

Mussels (P viridis L) from marine intertidal region, when transplanted and grown under constant submergence in estuarine environment (on a floating raft) display a wide array of physi~logical adapt ions in osmoregulation, growth and annual reproduction cycle

Research in the assessment of capture and culture fisheries along the Indian coast

A review of the research conducted at National Institute of Oceanography, Goa to assess the capture and culture fishery potential of India is presented in the paper- the primary, secondary and benthic productivity of estuaries and backwaters are elucidated by taking the Mandovi-Zuari estuarine system as an example. The productivity of the coastal and oceanic waters around India are discussed. The expected fishery yield and present level of exploitation are assessed and further course of action discussed in this paper, in culture fisheries the contributions of NIO in the fields of mussel culture, shrimp culture, brine shrimp culture, seaweed culture, horse-shoe crab culture and fish culture are reviewed and discussed

Voting is Healthcare: Talking Politics With Patients Can Improve Health Outcomes

Introduction: Many healthcare policy-related issues were hot topics during this unprecedented election year. Healthcare workers took it upon themselves to play a major role in the election by introducing voting as a topic of discussion within the patient encounter. At Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM), the Voting is Healthcare (VIH) Taskforce was created in order for students, residents and faculty to assist patients with voter registration. The Taskforce’s major partner was VotER, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to helping patients register to vote through a user-friendly and easily-accessible online platform. Methods: The VIH Taskforce distributed badge-backers with QR codes that patients could scan with their phones to learn more information regarding voter registration, polling location, and absentee voting. Codes were utilized in in-patient settings, clinics, and through tele-health encounters. The VIH Taskforce spearheaded a training session for the WSUSOM community where VotER representatives and local community partners across Michigan spoke. Results: Per VotER records, the VIH Taskforce and WSUSOM community helped 84 patients vote. Of those patients, 34 were previously unregistered and 50 cast absentee ballots. Conclusions: In order to increase voter turnout, the VIH Taskforce opened up the patient encounter to include the topic of political advocacy. This is an unprecedented accomplishment, but it is a necessary addition to the social history portion of the visit. Future studies aim to make the link between civic engagement and positive health outcomes explicit

Computational modeling of ovarian cancer dynamics suggests optimal strategies for therapy and screening

High-grade serous tubo-ovarian carcinoma (HGSC) is a major cause of cancer-related death. Treatment is not uniform, with some patients undergoing primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy (PDS) and others being treated directly with chemotherapy and only having surgery after three to four cycles (NACT). Which strategy is optimal remains controversial. We developed a mathematical framework that simulates hierarchical or stochastic models of tumor initiation and reproduces the clinical course of HGSC. After estimating parameter values, we infer that most patients harbor chemoresistant HGSC cells at diagnosis and that, if the tumor burden is not too large and complete debulking can be achieved, PDS is superior to NACT due to better depletion of resistant cells. We further predict that earlier diagnosis of primary HGSC, followed by complete debulking, could improve survival, but its benefit in relapsed patients is likely to be limited. These predictions are supported by primary clinical data from multiple cohorts. Our results have clear implications for these key issues in HGSC management

Gene expression profiling identifies different sub-types of retinoblastoma

Background: Mutation of the RB1 gene is necessary but not sufficient for the development of retinoblastoma. The nature of events occurring subsequent to RB1 mutation is unclear, as is the retinal cell-of-origin of this tumour. Methods: Gene expression profiling of 21 retinoblastomas was carried out to identify genetic events that contribute to tumorigenesis and to obtain information about tumour histogenesis. Results: Expression analysis showed a clear separation of retinoblastomas into two groups. Group 1 retinoblastomas express genes associated with a range of different retinal cell types, suggesting derivation from a retinal progenitor cell type. Recurrent chromosomal alterations typical of retinoblastoma, for example, chromosome 1q and 6p gain and 16q loss were also a feature of this group, and clinically they were characterised by an invasive pattern of tumour growth. In contrast, group 2 retinoblastomas were found to retain many characteristics of cone photoreceptor cells and appear to exploit the high metabolic capacity of this cell type in order to promote tumour proliferation. Conclusion: Retinoblastoma is a heterogeneous tumour with variable biology and clinical characteristics. Disruption of the RB pathway as a consequence of RB1 gene mutation or mutation of other pathway components (e.g., D-type cyclins, CDK4 or p16INK4A) is common to most if not all human cancers. Although these mutations are assumed to impact primaril

Branch-and-lift algorithm for deterministic global optimization in nonlinear optimal control

This paper presents a branch-and-lift algorithm for solving optimal control problems with smooth nonlinear dynamics and potentially nonconvex objective and constraint functionals to guaranteed global optimality. This algorithm features a direct sequential method and builds upon a generic, spatial branch-and-bound algorithm. A new operation, called lifting, is introduced, which refines the control parameterization via a Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process, while simultaneously eliminating control subregions that are either infeasible or that provably cannot contain any global optima. Conditions are given under which the image of the control parameterization error in the state space contracts exponentially as the parameterization order is increased, thereby making the lifting operation efficient. A computational technique based on ellipsoidal calculus is also developed that satisfies these conditions. The practical applicability of branch-and-lift is illustrated in a numerical example. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Photo-Induced Cytotoxicity and Anti-Metastatic Activity of Ruthenium(II)-Polypyridyl Complexes Functionalized with Tyrosine or Tryptophan

The synergistic effect of oxygen, light, and photosensitizer (PS) has found applications in medicine for the treatment of cancer through photodynamic therapy (PDT). Induction of apoptosis to cancerous cells will prevent tumor metastasis that spreads cancer cells to the neighboring organs/tissues. Herein, we report the two apoptotic Ru(II)–polypyridyl complexes that are functionalized with pendant amino acid moieties tyrosine (1) and tryptophan (2), respectively. These two water soluble complexes were found to interact strongly (K1a = (1.18 ± 0.28) × 105 M−1 and K2a = (1.57 ± 0.77) × 105 M−1) with CT-DNA. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) studies revealed that these complexes bind to CT-DNA through an entropically driven process. Both the complexes showed photo-induced cytotoxicity and exhibit apoptotic activity under photo-irradiation conditions. The comet assay indicated that these complexes can damage cellular DNA, which is attributed to the significant build-up of 1O2 level even on irradiation with low intensity light (10 J cm−2, λRange 450–480 nm). This photoinduced DNA damage and apoptosis in A549 cells was induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and occurred through up-regulation of apoptotic marker caspase-3. Control experiments under dark conditions revealed an insignificant cytotoxicity towards these cells for two photosensitive molecules