Effects of salinity on growth and metabolism in blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus)

Tilapia were acclimated to the water source which had 8 precipitation (ppt) of salinity in the experimental unit before the experiment started and then, they were transfered to five different saltwater (SW) treatments: SW (8 ppt), 50% SW (12 ppt), 100% SW (16 ppt), 150% SW (20 ppt), and 200% SW (24 ppt). The objectives of this study were; to investigate the effects of five different salinities on specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain (WG), food intake (FI) and survival of tilapia in the long term trial (30 days) and find out how salinity affects muscle water content, hematosomatic index (HSI), and blood chemistry (sodium, chloride, potassium, glucose, total protein and triglycerides) in the short term trial (6 to 12 h). In the long-term trial, six fish were stocked in each aquarium. They were fed with commercial feed (Bagcı trout) to satiation twice a day and individually weighed at ten-days interval. Growth rate was highest in the 50% SW (SGR 0.95 ± 0.18% per day); there was no significant difference among the first three treatments. Growth rate was lowest in 200% SW (SGR 0.23 ± 0.08% per day). Weight gain and food intake showed identical results as SGR. Survival was high in the first three groups (72.2 ±1 9.2 to 100.0 ± 0.0) but it was lowest in the 200% SW treatment (22.2±19.2%). In the short-term trial, six tilapia were placed per aquarium. They were exposed to SW, 50, 100, 150 and 200% SW treatments and the fish were gradually acclimated to salt water. Blood samples were taken to analyse plasma sodium, chloride, potassium, total protein and triglycerides. Liver and muscle samples were collected for HSI and moisture values. Plasma sodium chloride increased in parallel with salinity rise. Total protein and triglycerides significantly reduced as salinity increased. Glucose and potassium were not altered significantly. HSI and muscle water content decreased when salinity concentration was elevated. Blood chemistry demonstrated that isosmotic water concentration was between 8 and 12 ppt. Salinity did not affect HSI and moisture until it reached as much as 16 ppt (100% SW). The results show that the optimum condition for farming blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus, both with respect to growth rate and metabolic parameters is at salinities lower than 12 ppt. This is an important finding for the tilapia industry.Keywords: Tilapia, salinity, growth, survival, metabolismAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2715-272

Cytotoxicity of peroxynitrite and nitric oxide induced oxidative stress on 3T3 fibroblast cell line

In the present study, the oxidative and cytotoxic effects of two biologically important molecules, NO and ONOŌ have been studied in 3T3 Fibroblast cell line. NO is a key molecule in many physiological pathways, but also its reactivity gives it the potential to cause considerable damage to cells and tissues. NȮ reacts rapidly with superoxide anion (O².̄) to form ONOŌ which is a powerful oxidant. Cell morphology and viability studies showed that both NO. and ONOŌ caused significant loss of viability in 3T3 fibroblast cell line. Intracellular ROS production has been monitored by a fluorescent probe, DCFH-DA. When cells were treated with of NO, a significant increase in fluorescence intensity has been observed when compared to the control cells and this was supported with flourometric analysis results. Similar results have been observed when cells were incubated with ONOŌ at the same concentration range. To further studies, cells were stained by a fluorescent probe Hoechst 33342 (HO) to identify apoptotic cells; both NO and ONOŌ induced apoptosis. In molecular studies, cells were incubated with the oxidant molecules, NȮ and ONOŌ for different time periods and at all relevant doses. In all conditions, DNA remained intact; indicating that cytotoxic effect of NO and ONOŌ were merely due to a mechanism other than apoptosis. This phenomena requires further mechanistic studies. A potential antioxidant molecule, Catechin has been studied as a preventive molecule against cytotoxicity. In chemical model system Catechin was left to react with ONOŌ and FT-IR and NMR analysis of the end product gave us preliminary information about its structure. In cellular studies, the effect of Catechin on NO. and ONOŌ induced cytotoxicity was investigated. The optimum determined conditions for preventive effect of Catechin were 5 mM of Catechin for 50 mM of NO. and 200 mM of ONOŌ. These results were discussed in the light of ROS induced cytotoxicity in cellular signaling mechanisms

Pulmonary cavitary lesions may be one of the presenting features in Ig A nephropathy

Immunoglobulin A (Ig A) nephropathy is the most frequent primary glomerulonephritis. Renal limited disease is the most widespread clinical form of the disease. Pulmonary involvement may also be seen concomitantly and capillaritis with pulmonary hemorrhage is the most frequent pulmonary involvement. In this paper, for the first time in literature, we describe an Ig A nephropathy patient with multiple pulmonary cavities as one of the presenting features of the disease. Also, no other etiology for the cavities was found other than Ig A nephropathy. Herein, possible pathogenesis might be capillaritis or deposition of immune complexes. As a result, it should be kept in mind that pulmonary cavity may be the presenting feature of Ig A nephropathy especially with other frequent signs of the disease

Population structure and genetic variability in wild and farmed Mediterranean populations of gilthead seabream and European seabass inferred from a 60K combined species SNP array

13 Pág.Knowledge of population structure and genetic diversity within and between wild and farmed populations of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) and European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is important to achieve sustainable aquaculture production of these species and to assess the risk of genetic impacts of fish escaped from farms. Previous population genetic studies on these species have been based on a limited number of genetic markers and samples. In this study, these features were assessed using samples from 24 seabream and 25 seabass populations distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea, and 3 wild seabream Atlantic populations. Samples were genotyped with a newly developed combined species SNP array that includes ~60K SNPs. Data from sequencing pools of individual DNA from the same populations were also used. Different approaches were employed for identifying the extent of population stratification within species. The effective population size (a parameter inversely related to the rate at which genetic variability is lost) was estimated for each population based on linkage disequilibrium. Population structure results revealed a clear differentiation between wild and farmed populations in both species. Wild populations showed a low degree of differentiation, particularly in seabream. Despite this, a slight differentiation was observed between Atlantic and Mediterranean seabream populations and between western and eastern Mediterranean seabass populations. However, farmed populations were quite heterogeneous and showed a high degree of differentiation. Some farmed populations of both species showed a genetic makeup similar to that found in wild populations. In general, the effective population size was large (> 1000) for wild and small (< 100) for farmed populations of both species. About 40% of the seabream and 80% of the seabass farmed populations had estimates of effective population size smaller than 50 highlighting the need of applying measures to control the rate at which genetic variability is lost.This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Framework Programme through grant agreement no 727315 MedAID project (Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development) and by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033 (Project PID2020-114426GB-C2).Peer reviewe

A framework for the detection of de novo mutations in family-based sequencing data

Francioli LC, Cretu-Stancu M, Garimella KV, et al. A framework for the detection of de novo mutations in family-based sequencing data. European Journal of Human Genetics. 2016;25(2):227-233

Genomic analysis of family data reveals additional genetic effects on intelligence and personality

BioRXiv version. Please see https://rubenarslan.github.io/generation_scotland_pedigree_gcta/ to access this website in a browsable form

Sex and gender differences in autism spectrum disorder: summarizing evidence gaps and identifying emerging areas of priority

One of the most consistent findings in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research is a higher rate of ASD diagnosis in males than females. Despite this, remarkably little research has focused on the reasons for this disparity. Better understanding of this sex difference could lead to major advancements in the prevention or treatment of ASD in both males and females. In October of 2014, Autism Speaks and the Autism Science Foundation co-organized a meeting that brought together almost 60 clinicians, researchers, parents, and self-identified autistic individuals. Discussion at the meeting is summarized here with recommendations on directions of future research endeavors. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13229-015-0019-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Soybean Meal and Rendered Animal Protein Ingredients Replace Fishmeal in Practical Diets for Sea Bass

A 180-day feeding trial was carried out in net cages to examine replacement of fishmeal with soybean meal supported by meat/bone meal and blood meal in practical diets for sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L. 1758). Triplicate groups of fish (initial body weight 110 g) were fed one of four isonitrogeneus (crude protein 46%) and isolipidic (10%) diets. A commercial sea bass diet containing 64% fishmeal as the sole animal protein served as the control. The other three diets contained 0, 20%, or 35% fishmeal and the reduced fishmeal was replaced by different levels of soybean meal, meat/bone meal, and blood meal. The final body weight of fish fed the diet containing 20% fishmeal, 50% soybean meal, 10% meat/bone meal, and 4% blood meal was significantly higher than that of the other three treatments. Results indicate that fishmeal can be reduced to 20% when soybean meal, meat/bone meal, and blood meal are used together in the diet