Environmental impact assessment in the shrimp farming areas of Nagapattinam Quaid-E-Milleth district, Tamil Nadu

To assess the effects of shrimp farming on the environment and on the coastal population, a study was undertaken by a team of scientific and technical staff of CMFRl in Nagapattinam Quaid-e-Milleth district, Tamil Nadu in September, 1995. Several small and large farms and corporate farms in nine coastal places, where a number of farms are located were covered in the study. With the help of the mobile laboratory of the CMFR Institute, the team collected and aneilysed soil, water and plankton samples in the inlet and outlet of the farm areas, shrimp ponds and from the wells of the nearby villages. Estimations on hydrological parameters, nutrients and total and differential counts of bacteria in the water and soil samples were made following standard procedures

Interleukin-1 induced gene expression of neutrophil activating protein (interleukin-8) and monocyte chemotactic peptide in human synovial cells

We report here that human synovial cells stimulated by interleukin-1[alpha] and interleukin-1[beta] express mRNA for both IL-8 (neutrophil chemotactic peptide) and monocyte chemotactic protein. IL-1 stimulated synovial cells from both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis patients exhibited similar mRNA expression of interleukin-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein. A capacity to produce factors selectively chemotactic for neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes provides a mechanism whereby synovial cells can facilitate inflammatory arthritis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29493/1/0000579.pd

Multivalued SK-contractions with respect to b-generalized pseudodistances

A new class of multivalued non-self-mappings, called SK-contractions with respect to b-generalized pseudodistances, is introduced and used to investigate the existence of best proximity points by using an appropriate geometric property. Some new fixed point results in b-metric spaces are also obtained. Examples are given to support the usability of our main result

Disparate gene expression of chemotactic cytokines by human mononuclear phagocytes

Chemotactic cytokines are becoming increasingly recognized as important participants in the coordinate recruitment of specific inflammatory cells. In this manuscript we present data demonstrating that LPS challenged human mononuclear phagocytic cells can express mRNA for neutrophil chemotactic factor/interleukin-8 (NCF/IL-8), but do not express mRNA for monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP). The expression of NCF/IL-8 mRNA was time and dose dependent. This identical stimulus response was also found in peripheral blood neutrophils. These studies demonstrate a disparate production of chemotactic cytokines by macrophages and exemplify the dynamic nature of the chemotactic response.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28746/1/0000576.pd

Use of quercetin in animal feed : effects on the P-gp expression and pharmacokinetics of orally administrated enrofloxacin in chicken

Modulation of P-glycoprotein (P-gp, encoded by Mdr1) by xenobiotics plays central role in pharmacokinetics of various drugs. Quercetin has a potential to modulate P-gp in rodents, however, its effects on P-gp modulation in chicken are still unclear. Herein, study reports role of quercetin in modulation of P-gp expression and subsequent effects on the pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin in broilers. Results show that P-gp expression was increased in a dose-dependent manner following exposure to quercetin in Caco-2 cells and tissues of chicken. Absorption rate constant and apparent permeability coefficient of rhodamine 123 were decreased, reflecting efflux function of P-gp in chicken intestine increased by quercetin. Quercetin altered pharmacokinetic of enrofloxacin by decreasing area under curve, peak concentration, and time to reach peak concentration and by increasing clearance rate. Molecular docking shows quercetin can form favorable interactions with binding pocket of chicken xenobiotic receptor (CXR). Results provide convincing evidence that quercetin induced P-gp expression in tissues by possible interaction with CXR, and consequently reducing bioavailability of orally administered enrofloxacin through restricting its intestinal absorption and liver/kidney clearance in broilers. The results can be further extended to guide reasonable use of quercetin to avoid drug-feed interaction occurred with co-administered enrofloxacin or other similar antimicrobials.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Embedded Vision Systems: A Review of the Literature

Over the past two decades, the use of low power Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) for the acceleration of various vision systems mainly on embedded devices have become widespread. The reconfigurable and parallel nature of the FPGA opens up new opportunities to speed-up computationally intensive vision and neural algorithms on embedded and portable devices. This paper presents a comprehensive review of embedded vision algorithms and applications over the past decade. The review will discuss vision based systems and approaches, and how they have been implemented on embedded devices. Topics covered include image acquisition, preprocessing, object detection and tracking, recognition as well as high-level classification. This is followed by an outline of the advantages and disadvantages of the various embedded implementations. Finally, an overview of the challenges in the field and future research trends are presented. This review is expected to serve as a tutorial and reference source for embedded computer vision systems