Supercritical fluid extraction of fish oil from fish by-products: A comparison with other extraction methods

Fish and fish by-products are the main natural source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), both of them with a great importance in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Comparing to conventional fish oil extraction processes such as cold extraction, wet reduction or enzymatic extraction, supercritical fluid extraction with carbon dioxide under moderate conditions (25 MPa and 313 K) may be useful for reducing fish oil oxidation, especially when fish oil is rich in omega-3 such as salmon oil, and the amount of certain impurities, such as some species of arsenic. Furthermore, taking profit of the advantages of supercritical carbon dioxide as extractive solvent, a coupled extraction-fractionation process is proposed as a way to remove free fatty acids and improve fish oil quality, alternatively to physical and chemical refining procedures.Ministry of Education and Science (CTQ2005-07301), Junta de Castilla y León (GR 167) and Pescanova S.A. (Spain

Treatment of congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts in dogs : a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Background Several options have been proposed for the treatment of congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts (cEHPSS) in dogs, but formal comparisons among different treatment options are currently unavailable. A previous evidence-based review (2012) found low quality of evidence for papers assessing the treatment of cEHPSS in dogs. Objectives To assess the quality of evidence available in the treatment of cEHPSS, summarize the current state of knowledge with respect to outcome after cEHPSS management, and compare different treatment techniques. Animals Not used. Methods A bibliographic search was performed without date or language restrictions. Studies were assessed for quality of evidence (study design, study group sizes, subject enrollment quality, and overall risk of bias) and outcome measures reported (perioperative outcome, clinical outcome, and surgical or interventional outcome), all reported with 95% confidence intervals. A network meta-analysis was performed. Results Forty-eight studies were included. Six retrospective studies (grade 4b) compared 2 techniques and 7 were abstracts (grade 5). The quality of evidence was low and risk of bias high. Regarding surgical outcome, statistically significant superiority of ameroid constrictor over thin film band was observed (P = .003). No other comparisons were statistically significant. Conclusions and Clinical Importance The evidence base of choice of treatment of cEHPSS in dogs remains weak despite recent publications on the subject. Ameroid is superior to thin film band in causing EHPSS closure. Blinded randomized studies comparing different treatment modalities, which routinely include postoperative imaging to assess cEHPSS closure and acquired portosystemic shunt development are essential

DNA barcoding reveals both known and novel taxa in the Albitarsis Group (Anopheles: Nyssorhynchus) of Neotropical malaria vectors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mosquitoes belonging to the Albitarsis Group (<it>Anopheles</it>: <it>Nyssorhynchus</it>) are of importance as malaria vectors across the Neotropics. The Group currently comprises six known species, and recent studies have indicated further hidden biodiversity within the Group. DNA barcoding has been proposed as a highly useful tool for species recognition, although its discriminatory utility has not been verified in closely related taxa across a wide geographic distribution.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>DNA barcodes (658 bp of the mtDNA <it>Cytochrome c Oxidase </it>- <it>COI</it>) were generated for 565 <it>An. albitarsis </it>s.l. collected in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Trinidad and Venezuela over the past twenty years, including specimens from type series and type localities. Here we test the utility of currently advocated barcoding methodologies, including the Kimura-two-parameter distance model (K2P) and Neighbor-joining analysis (NJ), for determining species delineation within mosquitoes of the Neotropical Albitarsis Group of malaria vectors (<it>Anopheles</it>: <it>Nyssorhynchus</it>), and compare results with Bayesian analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Species delineation through barcoding analysis and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, fully concur. Analysis of 565 sequences (302 unique haplotypes) resolved nine NJ tree clusters, with less than 2% intra-node variation. Mean intra-specific variation (K2P) was 0.009 (range 0.002 - 0.014), whereas mean inter-specific divergence were several-fold higher at 0.041 (0.020 - 0.056), supporting the reported "barcoding gap". These results show full support for separate species status of the six known species in the Albitarsis Group (<it>An. albitarsis </it>s.s., <it>An. albitarsis </it>F, <it>An. deaneorum</it>, <it>An. janconnae</it>, <it>An. marajoara </it>and <it>An. oryzalimnetes</it>), and also support species level status for two previously detected lineages - <it>An. albitarsis </it>G &<it>An. albitarsis </it>I (designated herein). In addition, we highlight the presence of a unique mitochondrial lineage close to <it>An. deaneorum </it>and <it>An. marajoara </it>(<it>An. albitarsis </it>H) from Rondônia and Mato Grosso in southwestern Brazil. Further integrated studies are required to confirm the status of this lineage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>DNA barcoding provides a reliable means of identifying both known and undiscovered biodiversity within the closely related taxa of the Albitarsis Group. We advocate its usage in future studies to elucidate the vector competence and respective distributions of all eight species in the Albitarsis Group and the novel mitochondrial lineage (<it>An. albitarsis </it>H) recovered in this study.</p

Alternative Complement Activity in the Egg Cytosol of Amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri: Evidence for the Defense Role of Maternal Complement Components

Background: The eggs in most invertebrates are fertilized externally, and therefore their resulting embryos are exposed to an environment full of microbes, many of which are pathogens capable of killing other organisms. How the developing embryos of invertebrates defend themselves against pathogenic attacks is an intriguing question to biologists, and remains largely unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we clearly demonstrated that the egg cytosol prepared from the newly fertilized eggs of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri, an invertebrate chordate, was able to inhibit the growth of both the Gramnegative bacterium Vibrio anguillarum and the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. All findings point to that it is the complement system operating via the alternative pathway that is attributable to the bacteriostatic activity. Conclusions/Significance: This appears to be the first report providing the evidence for the functional role of the maternal complement components in the eggs of invertebrate species, paving the way for the study of maternal immunity in other invertebrate organisms whose eggs are fertilized in vitro. It also supports the notion that the early developing embryo

Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV have been measured by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC. The data are presented for central and peripheral collisions, corresponding to 0-5% and 70-80% of the hadronic Pb-Pb cross section. The measured charged particle spectra in $|\eta|<0.8$ and $0.3 < p_T < 20$ GeV/$c$ are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$. The result indicates only weak medium effects ($R_{\rm AA} \approx$ 0.7) in peripheral collisions. In central collisions, $R_{\rm AA}$ reaches a minimum of about 0.14 at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7GeV/$c$ and increases significantly at larger $p_{\rm T}$. The measured suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles is stronger than that observed at lower collision energies, indicating that a very dense medium is formed in central Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 5 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 10, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/98

Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV

A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons is performed with the L3 detector at LEP using data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 176.4 pb^-1. Higgs decays into a charm and a strange quark or into a tau lepton and its associated neutrino are considered. The observed events are consistent with the expectations from Standard Model background processes. A lower limit of 65.5 GeV on the charged Higgs mass is derived at 95 % confidence level, independent of the decay branching ratio Br(H^{+/-} -> tau nu)

Complement Activity in the Egg Cytosol of Zebrafish Danio rerio: Evidence for the Defense Role of Maternal Complement Components

Most fish embryos that develop externally are exposed to an environment full of microbes. How they survive microbial attacks are not understood to date. Here we demonstrated that the egg cytosol prepared from the newly fertilized eggs of zebrafish Danio rerio is capable of killing the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, via in vitro assay system of the complement activity established. All findings indicate that it is the complement system operating via the alternative pathway that is attributable to the bacteriolytic activity. This is the first report providing the evidence for the functional role of the maternal complement components in fish eggs, paving the way for study of maternal immunity in other organisms whose eggs are fertilized in vitro

Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than those measured at RHIC.Comment: 17 pages, 5 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/388