Effect of 17 α -methyl testosterone on sex reversal and growth of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L., 1758)

The present study aims at developing a production of monosex population of all male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) using 17α-methyltestosterone (17α-MT). Three treatments with a control (Control, T-1, T-2, and T-3) in triplicates were set up using completely randomized design (CRD). The control group diet was devoid of 17α–MT. The remaining groups T-1, T-2, T-3 and T-4 were fed with feed containing 50, 60 and 100 mg kg-1 of 17α –MT. Three days old fry were stocked at the rate of 300 nos per tank. The fry were fed with experimental diet for 21 days. After that it was shifted to FRP tanks. The maximum mean length and body weight was observed in T-2 is 80 ± 3.87 mm and 59.5 ± 7.4 mm respectively. Gonadal histology from 3 months reared O. niloticus for sex reversal was observed that 56.7 %, 83.3 %, 93.3 % and 90 % males respectively. The highest male population of 93.3% males was produced from treated groups of (T-2) 60 mg kg-1 17 α-MT

Peripheral corneal thickness and associated factors : results from the population-based German Gutenberg Health Study

Purpose Changes in peripheral corneal thickness are described in various corneal diseases such as corneal ectasia. However, few data exist describing the increase in corneal thickness from central to peripheral and reporting the normal distribution of corneal thickness in rings around the corneal centre. The aim of this study was to report these cornea characteristics and investigate associated factors in a population-based setting. Methods The Gutenberg Health Study is a prospective, population-based study examining participants in a 5-year follow-up (age range 40–80 years) using Scheimpflug imaging. Corneal thickness was assessed in each participant at the apex, as well as in the corneal centre (thinnest corneal thickness) and in rings with 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mm diameter around the corneal centre, and the increase in corneal thickness towards the periphery. The relationship between corneal thickness at these locations and possible associated factors was determined using linear regression models. For this purpose, general and ocular parameters were included. Results A total of 9729 participants were included in the present analysis (4874 women, age 59.2 ± 10.8 years). Multivariable analysis showed a correlation between the increase in corneal thickness in the circles from 0 to 10 mm (diameter) and the following parameters: age (B = −0.24 µm per year, p < 0.001); body height (B = −0.04 µm, p = 0.005); smoking (B = −0.72 µm, p < 0.001); spherical equivalent (B = −0.70 µm per dioptre, p < 0.001); white-to-white distance (B = −0.75 µm/mm, p < 0.001); mean corneal radius (B = −3.61 µm/mm, p < 0.001); intraocular pressure (B = −0.12 µm/mmHg, p < 0.001); glaucoma (B = −1.94 µm, p < 0.001); and pseudophakia (B = 0.89 µm, p < 0.001). Conclusion The results of the present study suggest that several general and ocular parameters are associated with peripheral corneal thickness. In the context of diagnosing glaucoma, a smaller increase in corneal thickness towards the periphery might be a new additional marker

Classical Macrodynamics and the Labor Theory of Value

This paper outlines a multisector dynamic model of the convergence of market prices to natural prices in conditions of fixed technology and composition of demand. Prices and quantities adjust in real-time in response to excess supplies and differential profit-rates. Finance capitalists earn interest income by supplying money-capital to fund production. Industrial capitalists, as the owners of firms, are liable for profits and losses. Market prices stabilize to profit-equalizing prices of production proportional to the total coexisting labor required to reproduce commodities. This result resolves the classical problem of the incommensurability between money and labor-value accounts in conditions of profits on stock, i.e. Marx's transformation problem

Quantum state preparation and macroscopic entanglement in gravitational-wave detectors

Long-baseline laser-interferometer gravitational-wave detectors are operating at a factor of 10 (in amplitude) above the standard quantum limit (SQL) within a broad frequency band. Such a low classical noise budget has already allowed the creation of a controlled 2.7 kg macroscopic oscillator with an effective eigenfrequency of 150 Hz and an occupation number of 200. This result, along with the prospect for further improvements, heralds the new possibility of experimentally probing macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM) - quantum mechanical behavior of objects in the realm of everyday experience - using gravitational-wave detectors. In this paper, we provide the mathematical foundation for the first step of a MQM experiment: the preparation of a macroscopic test mass into a nearly minimum-Heisenberg-limited Gaussian quantum state, which is possible if the interferometer's classical noise beats the SQL in a broad frequency band. Our formalism, based on Wiener filtering, allows a straightforward conversion from the classical noise budget of a laser interferometer, in terms of noise spectra, into the strategy for quantum state preparation, and the quality of the prepared state. Using this formalism, we consider how Gaussian entanglement can be built among two macroscopic test masses, and the performance of the planned Advanced LIGO interferometers in quantum-state preparation

Searching for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new limit is $\Omega_{\rm GW} < 6.5 \times 10^{-5}$. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figure

Expression analysis of Clavata1-like and Nodulin21-like genes from Pinus sylvestris during ectomycorrhiza formation

The ecology and physiology of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) symbiosis with conifer trees are well documented. In comparison, however, very little is known about the molecular regulation of these associations. In an earlier study, we identified three EcM-regulated Pinus expressed sequence tags (EST), two of which were identified as homologous to the Medicago truncatula nodulin MtN21. The third EST was a homologue to the receptor-like kinase Clavata1. We have characterized the expression patterns of these genes and of auxin- and mycorrhiza-regulated genes after induction with indole-3-butyric acid in Pinus sylvestris and in a time course experiment during ectomycorrhizal initiation with the co-inoculation of 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid, an auxin transport inhibitor. Our results suggest that different P. sylvestris nodulin homologues are associated with diverse processes in the root. The results also suggest a potential role of the Clv1-like gene in lateral root initiation by the ectomycorrhizal fungus