Morphological attributes to identify post larvae shrimps of Penaeidae family in Bandar-e-Emam and Abadan estuaries, southern Iran

In an attempt to identify shrimps in post larvae stages in Khouzestan province waters, eight estuaries stretching in the area were monthly sampled during the years 2000-2001. Bongo nets with a mesh size 330 microns were used in comerwise sampling that covered bottom to surface waters. We first separated Penaeidae larvae from decapods in the samples. Then, we identified 2054 Parapenaeopsis siylifera in post larvae stage showing eight pairs of telsons spine, the inner and outer flagellum of the first antennae being 3 and 5 segmented. Their scaphocerite was broad and short and their second antennae equipped with 32A36 cilia. Also, 640 Metapenaeus affininst in post larvae stage were identified with seven pairs of telsons spins, and 2 and, 3 segmented of inner and outer flagellum of first antennae. We also recognized 6 Penaeus sp. in post larvae stage with spines on posterior side of the fifth and sixth abdominal segments and their scaphocerite longer than flagellum that were irregular in width in the second antennae. This study is the first done on identification of post larvae shrimps of the Penaeidae family in the Persian Gulf

Sleep, major depressive disorder and Alzheimer’s disease: a Mendelian randomisation study

Objective To explore the causal relationships between sleep, major depressive disorder (MDD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods We conducted bi-directional two-sample Mendelian randomisation analyses. Genetic associations were obtained from the largest genome-wide association studies currently available in UK Biobank (N=446,118), the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (N=18,759), and the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (N=63,926). We used the inverse variance weighted Mendelian randomisation method to estimate causal effects, and weighted median and MR-Egger for sensitivity analyses to test for pleiotropic effects. Results We found that higher risk of AD was significantly associated with being a “morning person” (odds ratio (OR)=1.01, P=0.001), shorter sleep duration (self-reported: β=-0.006, P=1.9×10-4; accelerometer-based: β=-0.015, P=6.9×10-5), less likely to report long sleep (β=-0.003, P=7.3×10-7), earlier timing of the least active 5 hours (β=-0.024, P=1.7×10-13), and a smaller number of sleep episodes (β=-0.025, P=5.7×10-14) after adjusting for multiple comparisons. We also found that higher risk of AD was associated with lower risk of insomnia (OR=0.99, P=7×10-13). However, we did not find evidence either that these abnormal sleep patterns were causally related to AD or for a significant causal relationship between MDD and risk of AD. Conclusion We found that AD may causally influence sleep patterns. However, we did not find evidence supporting a causal role of disturbed sleep patterns for AD or evidence for a causal relationship between MDD and AD

Non-commercial fish species in by-catch composition of shrimp trawl landing from Mahshahr creeks

Non-commercial fish species of shrimp trawls were studied monthly from October 2005 to September 2006 in Mahshahr creeks (Darvish, Doragh, Bihad, Ghazaleh, Ghanam, Zangi and Patil). The trawl nets had a cod-end mesh size of 24mm. Total catch was 6431 individuals weighing 55.5kg, and included 14 species of non-commercial fish species belonging to 14 families. The caught shrimp species were from Penaeidae; comprising only 30% of the total catches (4506 individuals weighting 44kg). Dominant species were Lieognathus hindus (54.8%), Metapenaeus affinis (18.2%) and Parapenaeopsis stylifera (9.8%). Maximum fish abundance was observed in March 2005 (98/3%) and for shrimp in June (66.2%). Bihad creek had the maximum percentage of fish (91.8%) by-catch and shrimp (42.9%) abundance. We conclude that the by-catch percentage of non-commercial fish is higher than shrimps in the study areas. Warm months witnessed the highest abundance of shrimp while January-March was the time period when by-catch was most abundant

Extra Dimensions: A View from the Top

In models with compact extra dimensions, where the Standard Model fields are confined to a 3+1 dimensional hyperplane, the $t \bar t$ production cross-section at a hadron collider can receive significant contributions from multiple exchange of KK modes of the graviton. These are carefully computed in the well-known ADD and RS scenarios, taking the energy dependence of the sum over graviton propagators into account. Using data from Run-I of the Tevatron, 95% C.L. bounds on the parameter space of both models are derived. For Run-II of the Tevatron and LHC, discovery limits are estimated.Comment: Typos corrected, references added. 12 pages, LaTeX, 2 ps figure

Evaluating the toxicity of permeability enhanchers of polyethylene glycol brij ethers surfactants group on cellular membranes and some of their physicochemical properties

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of polyethylene glycol brij ethers surfactants group on red blood cells as a model for biological membranes. Also in this study, physicochemical properties including emulsification index (E24), foam producing activity (Fh) and critical micelle concentration (cmc) were studied. Surfactant solutions were prepared in McIvan’s buffer in specific concentrations. 0.2 ml of red blood cells (RBC) was mixed with 0.2 ml of each surfactant solution. The four surfactant solutions had each been incubated differently at two different temperatures for three different times. Each test was done six times. The results were presented as mean absorbance ± the standard deviation. E24, Fh and cmc were also determined for each surfactant solution. All of the surfactant solutions showed hemolytic activity. In comparison with the four studied surfactants, brij 56 had the highest hemolytic effect and brij 72 the lowest. The values of E24 and Fh had good correlation with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance values. According to the results of this study, brijs should be used at concentrations lower than cmc in formulations. Also, according to the results, the use of brijs with low hemolytic effect such as brij 72, is preferred in pharmaceutical preparations.Key words: Brij, biological membrane, hemolysis, hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB)

Pleiotropic genetic architecture and novel loci for C-reactive protein levels

C-reactive protein is involved in a plethora of pathophysiological conditions. Many genetic loci associated with C-reactive protein are annotated to lipid and glucose metabolism genes supporting common biological pathways between inflammation and metabolic traits. To identify novel pleiotropic loci, we perform multi-trait analysis of genome-wide association studies on C-reactive protein levels along with cardiometabolic traits, followed by a series of in silico analyses including colocalization, phenome-wide association studies and Mendelian randomization. We find 41 novel loci and 19 gene sets associated with C-reactive protein with various pleiotropic effects. Additionally, 41 variants colocalize between C-reactive protein and cardiometabolic risk factors and 12 of them display unexpected discordant effects between the shared traits which are translated into discordant associations with clinical outcomes in subsequent phenome-wide association studies. Our findings provide insights into shared mechanisms underlying inflammation and lipid metabolism, representing potential preventive and therapeutic targets

Comparison of AC Optimal Power Flow Methods in Low-Voltage Distribution Networks

Embedded with producers, consumers, and prosumers, active Low-Voltage Distribution Networks (LVDNs) with bi-directional power flows are rising to over-shadow the investment and operation planning in power systems. The Optimal Power Flow (OPF) has been extensively used in the recent years to solve different investment and operation planning problems in LVDNs. However, OPF is inherently a complex non-linear and non-convex optimization problem. Hence, different linearization and convexification models have been introduced in the literature to enhance the modeling accuracy and computational tractability of the OPF problem in LVDNs. In this paper, five multi-period OPF models (including the basic non-linear and non-convex one) are presented, with different linearizations/convexifications for the power flow equations. The proposed models are implemented on the IEEE 34-bus test system and their modeling accuracy and computational complexity are compared and discussed

A Data-Driven Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Planning Tool for Sustainable Microgrids

This paper presents a data-driven two-stage distributionally robust planning tool for sustainable microgrids under the uncertainty of load and power generation of renewable energy sources (RES) during the planning horizon. In the proposed two-stage planning tool, the first-stage investment variables are considered as here-and-now decisions and the second-stage operation variables are considered as wait-and-see decisions. In practice, it is hard to obtain the true probability distribution of the uncertain parameters. Therefore, a Wasserstein metric-based ambiguity set is presented in this paper to characterize the uncertainty of load and power generation of RES without any presumption on their true probability distributions. In the proposed data-driven ambiguity set, the empirical distributions of historical load and power generation of RES are considered as the center of the Wasserstein ball. Since the proposed distributionally robust planning tool is intractable and it cannot be solved directly, duality theory is used to come up with a tractable mixed-integer linear (MILP) counterpart. The proposed model is tested on a 33-bus distribution network and its effectiveness is showcased under different conditions