Ammonia Concentrations in Different Aquaculture Holding Tanks

Ammonia was measured in collapsible pond, concrete tank, and earthen pond of the same size, volume and containing same fish biomass cultured under intensive system. Ammonia was also evaluated from a natural pond under extensive culture. Ammonia was measured in the afternoons for 12 weeks using Nessler method. Temperature and pH were measured in situ using Portable tester. Unionized ammonia was calculated from total ammonia using spreadsheet computation. Result showed total ammonia ranging from 1.4 to 10 mg/l with highest concentration recorded in collapsible pond and lowest found in natural pond. The unionized ammonia concentrations followed the same pattern with concentrations ranging from 0.002 to 1.13 mg/l. The trend in the total ammonia and unionized ammonia concentrations is: collapsible pond > concrete tank > earthen pond > natural pond. Temperature and pH ranged between 29.1 to 35.9 °C and 6.35 to 8.03 respectively, with the highest temperature and pH recorded in the collapsible pond and lowest temperature and pH found in natural pond. Temperature and pH followed seasonal pattern with lowest and highest temperatures and pH recorded at the end of rainy season and in the dry season respectively. High unionized ammonia recorded in the collapsible and concrete ponds was from excretion of high protein rich feed, decomposition of uneaten feed, high stocking density, low water exchange rates, water source and the alkaline medium of the systems. Low unionized ammonia in earthen pond and natural pond was attributed to the presence of phytoplankton, high water exchanges, feeding system, low acidity and relatively low temperature. Remediating measures such as the use of biofilters, aeration and reduction in feeding, temperature and pH should be employed to reduce the high concentration of unionized ammonia

A Machine With Class: A Framework for Object Generation, Integration and Language Authentication (FROGILA)

The object technology model is constantly evolving to address the software crisis problem. This novel idea which informed and currently guides the design style of most modern scalable software systems has caused a strong belief that the object-oriented technology is the ultimate answer to the software crisis, i.e. applying an object-oriented development method will eventually lead to quality code. It is important to emphasise that object-orientedness does not make testing obsolete. As a matter of fact, some aspects of its very nature introduce new problems into the production of correct programs and their testing due to paradigmatic features like encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and dynamic binding as this research work shows. Most work in testing research has centred on procedure-oriented software with worthwhile methods of testing having been developed as a result. However, those cannot be applied directly to object-oriented software owing to the fact that the architectures of such systems differ on many key issues. In this thesis, we investigate and review the problems introduced by the features of the object technology model and then proceed to show why traditional structured software testing techniques are insufficient for testing object-oriented software by comparing the fundamental differences in their architecture. Also, by reviewing Weyuker’s test adequacy axioms we show that program-based testing and specification-based testing are orthogonal and complementary. Thus, a software testing methodology that is solely based on one of these approaches (i.e. program-based or specification-based testing) cannot adequately cover all the essential paths of the system under test or satisfactorily guarantee correctness in practice. We argue that a new method is required which integrates the benefits of the two approaches and further builds upon their individual strengths to create a more meaningful, practical and reliable solution. To this end, this thesis introduces and discusses a new automaton-based framework formalism for object-oriented classes called the Class-Machine and a test method that is based on this formalism. Here, the notion of a class or the idea behind classification in object-oriented languages is embodied within a machine framework. The Class-Machine model represents a polymorphic abstraction for heterogeneous families of Object-Machines that model a real life problem in a given domain; these Object-Machines are instances of different concrete machine types. The Class-Machine has an extensible machine implementation as well as an extensible machine interface. Thus, the Class-Machine is introduced as a formal framework for generating autonomous Object-Machines (i.e. Object-Machine Generator) that share common Generic Class-Machine States and Specific Object-Machine States. The states of these Object-Machines are manipulated by a set of processing functions (i.e. Class-Machine Methods and Object-Machine Methods) that must satisfy a set of preconditions before they are allowed to modify the state(s) of the Object-Machines. The Class-Machine model can also be viewed as a platform for integrating a society of communicating Object-Machines. To verify and completely test systems that adhere to the Class-Machine framework, a novel testing method is proposed i.e. the fault-finders (f²) - a distributed family of software checkers specifically designed to crawl through a Class-Machine implementation to look for a particular type of fault and tell us the location of the fault in the program (i.e. the class under test). Given this information, we can statistically show the distribution of faults in an object-oriented system and then provide a probabilistic assertion of the number and type of faults that remain undetected after testing is completed. To address the problems caused through the encapsulation mechanism, this thesis introduces and discusses another novel framework formalism that has complete visibility on all the encapsulated methods, memory states of the instance and class variables of a given Object-Machine or Class-Machine system under test. We call this the Class Machine Friend Function (CMƒƒ). In order to further illustrate all the fundamental theoretical ideas and paradigmatic features inherent within our proposed Class-Machine model, this thesis considers four different Class-Machine case studies. Finally, to further show that the Class-Machine theoretical purity does not mitigate against practical concerns, our novel object-oriented specification, verification, debugging and testing approaches proposed in this thesis are exemplified in an automated testing tool called: The Class-Machine Testing Tool (CMTT)

Sonographic estimation of foetal weight versus actual birth weight at term

Background: Estimated foetal weight is very critical to decision making in the management of pregnant women. It is therefore important to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound estimated foetal weight (USEFW) at term in our environment. We compared ultrasound estimated foetal weight at term with the actual foetal birth weight at delivery.Methods: This was a prospective, comparative cross-sectional study at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital over a 6-month period. Four hundred and five pregnant women with normal singleton pregnancy, who had sonographic estimation of foetal weight at term, using the Hadlock IV formula, were followed up and had their actual birth weight (ABW) determined at delivery. Accuracy was determined by proportion of estimates within 10% of actual birth weight and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The p<0.05 was considered significant at 95% confidence interval.Results: The prevalence of macrosomia was 10.3%. At 10% margin of error, ultrasound accurately estimated the weights of 73.3% of babies. The mean USEFW was 3559.89±316.9g and mean ABW was 3477.42±422.9g with a mean difference of 82.44g (p<0.001) and MAPE of 7.11. There was positive correlation (r=0.669) between the EFW and ABW (p<0.001). The USEFW had a sensitivity of 66.7%, specificity of 91.5%, positive predictive value of 47.5% and negative predictive value of 96.0% in predicting macrosomia.Conclusions: Ultrasound estimation of foetal weight at term is reliably accurate in predicting actual birth weight in south-western Nigeria.

Correlated species differences in the effects of cannabinoid ligands on anxiety and on GABAergic and glutamatergic synaptic transmission

Cannabinoid ligands show therapeutic potential in a variety of disorders including anxiety. However, the anxiety-related effects of cannabinoids remain controversial as agonists show opposite effects in mice and rats. Here we compared the effects of the cannabinoid agonist WIN-55,212 and the CB1 antagonist AM-251 in CD1 mice and Wistar rats. Special attention was paid to antagonist–agonist interactions, which had not yet been studied in rats. In mice, WIN-55,212 decreased whereas AM-251 increased anxiety. The antagonist abolished the effects of the agonist. In contrast, WIN-55,212 increased anxiety in rats. Surprisingly, the antagonist potentiated this effect. Cannabinoids affect both GABAergic and glutamatergic functions, which play opposite roles in anxiety. We hypothesized that discrepant findings resulted from species differences in the relative responsiveness of the two transmitter systems to cannabinoids. We investigated this hypothesis by studying the effects of WIN-55,212 on evoked hippocampal inhibitory and excitatory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs and EPSCs). IPSCs were one order of magnitude more sensitive to WIN-55,212 in mice than in rats. In mice, IPSCs were more sensitive than EPSCs to WIN-55,212. This is the first study showing that the relative cannabinoid sensitivity of GABA and glutamate neurotransmission is species-dependent. Based on behavioural and electrophysiological findings, we hypothesize that WIN-55,212 reduced anxiety in mice by affecting GABA neurotransmission whereas it increased anxiety in rats via glutamatergic mechanisms. In rats, AM-251 potentiated this anxiogenic effect by inhibiting the anxiolytic GABAergic mechanism. We suggest that the anxiety-related effects of cannabinoids depend on the relative cannabinoid responsiveness of GABAergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission

Brain Neuronal CB2 Cannabinoid Receptors in Drug Abuse and Depression: From Mice to Human Subjects

BACKGROUND: Addiction and major depression are mental health problems associated with stressful events in life with high relapse and reoccurrence even after treatment. Many laboratories were not able to detect the presence of cannabinoid CB2 receptors (CB2-Rs) in healthy brains, but there has been demonstration of CB2-R expression in rat microglial cells and other brain associated cells during inflammation. Therefore, neuronal expression of CB2-Rs had been ambiguous and controversial and its role in depression and substance abuse is unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study we tested the hypothesis that genetic variants of CB2 gene might be associated with depression in a human population and that alteration in CB2 gene expression may be involved in the effects of abused substances including opiates, cocaine and ethanol in rodents. Here we demonstrate that a high incidence of (Q63R) but not (H316Y) polymorphism in the CB2 gene was found in Japanese depressed subjects. CB2-Rs and their gene transcripts are expressed in the brains of naïve mice and are modulated following exposure to stressors and administration of abused drugs. Mice that developed alcohol preference had reduced CB2 gene expression and chronic treatment with JWH015 a putative CB2-R agonist, enhanced alcohol consumption in stressed but not in control mice. The direct intracerebroventricular microinjection of CB2 anti-sense oligonucleotide into the mouse brain reduced mouse aversions in the plus-maze test, indicating the functional presence of CB2-Rs in the brain that modifies behavior. We report for the using electron microscopy the sub cellular localization of CB2-Rs that are mainly on post-synaptic elements in rodent brain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data demonstrate the functional expression of CB2-Rs in brain that may provide novel targets for the effects of cannabinoids in depression and substance abuse disorders beyond neuro-immunocannabinoid activity

Cannabinoids Modulate Neuronal Activity and Cancer by CB1 and CB2 Receptor-Independent Mechanisms

Cannabinoids include the active constituents of Cannabis or are molecules that mimic the structure and/or function of these Cannabis-derived molecules. Cannabinoids produce many of their cellular and organ system effects by interacting with the well-characterized CB1 and CB2 receptors. However, it has become clear that not all effects of cannabinoid drugs are attributable to their interaction with CB1 and CB2 receptors. Evidence now demonstrates that cannabinoid agents produce effects by modulating activity of the entire array of cellular macromolecules targeted by other drug classes, including: other receptor types; ion channels; transporters; enzymes, and protein- and non-protein cellular structures. This review summarizes evidence for these interactions in the CNS and in cancer, and is organized according to the cellular targets involved. The CNS represents a well-studied area and cancer is emerging in terms of understanding mechanisms by which cannabinoids modulate their activity. Considering the CNS and cancer together allow identification of non-cannabinoid receptor targets that are shared and divergent in both systems. This comparative approach allows the identified targets to be compared and contrasted, suggesting potential new areas of investigation. It also provides insight into the diverse sources of efficacy employed by this interesting class of drugs. Obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the diverse mechanisms of cannabinoid action may lead to the design and development of therapeutic agents with greater efficacy and specificity for their cellular targets

A machine with class: A framework for object generation, integration and language authentication (FROGILA)

The object technology model is constantly evolving to address the software crisis problem. This novel idea which informed and currently guides the design style of most modern scalable software systems has caused a strong belief that the object-oriented technology is the ultimate answer to the software crisis, i.e. applying an object-oriented development method will eventually lead to quality code. It is important to emphasise that object-orientedness does not make testing obsolete. As a matter of fact, some aspects of its very nature introduce new problems into the production of correct programs and their testing due to paradigmatic features like encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and dynamic binding as this research work shows. Most work in testing research has centred on procedure-oriented software with worthwhile methods of testing having been developed as a result. However, those cannot be applied directly to object-oriented software owing to the fact that the architectures of such systems differ on many key issues. In this thesis, we investigate and review the problems introduced by the features of the object technology model and then proceed to show why traditional structured software testing techniques are insufficient for testing object-oriented software by comparing the fundamental differences in their architecture. Also, by reviewing Weyuker’s test adequacy axioms we show that program-based testing and specification-based testing are orthogonal and complementary. Thus, a software testing methodology that is solely based on one of these approaches (i.e. program-based or specification-based testing) cannot adequately cover all the essential paths of the system under test or satisfactorily guarantee correctness in practice. We argue that a new method is required which integrates the benefits of the two approaches and further builds upon their individual strengths to create a more meaningful, practical and reliable solution. To this end, this thesis introduces and discusses a new automaton-based framework formalism for object-oriented classes called the Class-Machine and a test method that is based on this formalism. Here, the notion of a class or the idea behind classification in object-oriented languages is embodied within a machine framework. The Class-Machine model represents a polymorphic abstraction for heterogeneous families of Object-Machines that model a real life problem in a given domain; these Object-Machines are instances of different concrete machine types. The Class-Machine has an extensible machine implementation as well as an extensible machine interface. Thus, the Class-Machine is introduced as a formal framework for generating autonomous Object-Machines (i.e. Object-Machine Generator) that share common Generic Class-Machine States and Specific Object-Machine States. The states of these Object-Machines are manipulated by a set of processing functions (i.e. Class-Machine Methods and Object-Machine Methods) that must satisfy a set of preconditions before they are allowed to modify the state(s) of the Object-Machines. The Class-Machine model can also be viewed as a platform for integrating a society of communicating Object-Machines. To verify and completely test systems that adhere to the Class-Machine framework, a novel testing method is proposed i.e. the fault-finders (f²) - a distributed family of software checkers specifically designed to crawl through a Class-Machine implementation to look for a particular type of fault and tell us the location of the fault in the program (i.e. the class under test). Given this information, we can statistically show the distribution of faults in an object-oriented system and then provide a probabilistic assertion of the number and type of faults that remain undetected after testing is completed. To address the problems caused through the encapsulation mechanism, this thesis introduces and discusses another novel framework formalism that has complete visibility on all the encapsulated methods, memory states of the instance and class variables of a given Object-Machine or Class-Machine system under test. We call this the Class Machine Friend Function (CMƒƒ). In order to further illustrate all the fundamental theoretical ideas and paradigmatic features inherent within our proposed Class-Machine model, this thesis considers four different Class-Machine case studies. Finally, to further show that the Class-Machine theoretical purity does not mitigate against practical concerns, our novel object-oriented specification, verification, debugging and testing approaches proposed in this thesis are exemplified in an automated testing tool called: The Class-Machine Testing Tool (CMTT)

The Body, Environment, Mind, and Spirit (BEMS) Pathway of Addiction Causality and Curative Interventions

It remains a great puzzle as various etiological approaches to addiction problems or disorders have continued to generate interesting controversies amidst their valuable or plausible inputs to the management of cases over the years. More perplexing, is that, while some models or theories are rigidly in adherence to or are outgrowth ideas of the traditional medical (disease) and moral models, some newer models emphasized the combinations or interrelationships in the context of these rudimentary models without yet, a universally acceptable causality. A foremost addiction counselor, Todd Lewis, in his book Substance Abuse and Addiction Treatment (2014), emphasized this acceptability gap in causation despite the rich array of etiological theories in the addiction field by quoting by quoting Doweiko; Research has supported both genetic predisposition and learning components in the onset of addiction, yet a grand, unifying theory has yet to emerge. (Doweiko,2009). This is the catapulting challenge that has ignited the need to develop a near perfectly acceptable and holistic pathway or cycle rather than a static model that cannot clearly explain the complex system of addiction causation as well as providing result oriented therapeutic strategies. The current study aims to use a systemic Ground Theory (GT) research methodology to develop an all-inclusive and functional pathway of addiction causation, without negating an insightful provision for treatments, culture, ethnicity, gender and racial variations (variables) based on the Body-Environment-Mind-Spirit model of disease causation and treatment. Using the Straussian GT approach, measures will be analytically set out to inductively arrive at an all-encompassing pathway for addiction causation and treatment. This will be carried out using 6 standard standalone search engines (to avoid repetitions), 2 each from medical, psychological and sociological fields. Using balloting, 2 will be randomly picked from a list of 6 search engines in each field. They will be used to collate data and corroborate information about addiction and other variables that will be manually analyzed, categorize and directed towards a pathway since this technique allows for the researchers\u27 continuous input based on their cumulative experience, knowledge and intuitive skills in the course of the data analysis and conclusions

Straight-chain alcohols exhibit a cutoff in potency for the inhibition of recombinant glutamate receptor subunits

1. The effects of n-alcohols (methanol to 1-decanol) on kainate-activated AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 and GluR3 ion currents were studied in Xenopus oocytes using the two-electrode voltage-clamp recording technique. 2. For short-chain alcohols from methanol to 1-hexanol, potency for inhibition of GluR1 and GluR3 receptor-mediated current increased in proportion to the chain length or hydrophobicity of the alcohol. 3. The IC(50) values of these alcohols for GluR1 were: methanol, 702 mM; ethanol, 170 mM; 1-propanol, 69 mM; 1-butanol, 20 mM; 1-pentanol, 17 mM; and 1-hexanol, 10 mM. For GluR3, IC(50) values were: methanol, 712 mM; ethanol, 238 mM; 1-propanol, 50 mM; 1-butanol, 32 mM; 1-pentanol, 13 mM; and 1-hexanol, 7 mM. 4. For long-chain alcohols, 1-heptanol was less potent than 1-hexanol (estimated IC(50): 19 mM for GluR1 and 18 mM for GluR3), 1-octanol had little effect only on GluR3, and 1-nonanol and 1-decanol did not significantly inhibit both GluR1 and GluR3 responses. 5. The observations indicate that straight-chain n-alcohols exhibit a cutoff in their potency for inhibition of the function of non-NMDA glutamate receptor subunits, GluR1 and GluR3. The cutoff in potency of n-alcohols for inhibition of non-NMDA glutamate receptor function is consistent with the interpretation that alcohols affect the function of these receptor-channels by interacting with an alcohol binding site of specific dimensions on the receptor protein