The effects of endosulfan on P450 1A gene expression, antioxidant enzymes activity and histopathological alterations in liver of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus Borodin, 1987)

The effects of 14 days exposure to sublethal concentrations of endosulfan (10 and 40 μg L−1) were investigated in mRNA- P450 1A expression, antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) activity and histopathological alterations of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) fingerlings with weights of 3–5 g. The results illustrated that the relative mRNA- P450 1A expression level significantly increased (P < 0.05) compared to the control group. Highest significant increase (P < 0.05) was observed on the first day, then decreased towards day 14 of exposure. The SOD and CAT activity showed a significant increase in fish exposed to different concentrations up to day 7, then activity decreased on day 14 in fish of all treated groups. Although signs of tissue lesions were observed on day 4, they increased from day 7 and reached the highest level on day 14. The magnitude of all changed studied parameters (gene expression, enzymes and histopathological) follows a concentration-dependent manner. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag Gmb

Intestinal histomorphology, autochthonous microbiota and growth performance of the oscar (Astronotus ocellatus Agassiz, 1831) following dietary administration of xylooligosaccharide

The present study investigates the changes in intestinal histomorphology, autochthonous microbiota and growth performance of the oscar, Astronotus ocellatus, following dietary administration of different levels of xylooligosaccharide (XOS). One hundred forty-four oscars (8.88 ± 0.23 g; n = 144) were randomly stocked in 12 aquaria (100-L) assigned to four treatments repeated in triplicate. Fish were fed a commercial diet, Biomar, supplemented with different levels (0 control, 0.5, 1, 2%) of XOS for 8 weeks. Treatments were investigated under static aerated water conditions with a 70% daily water exchange. Evaluation of intestinal histomorphology (villus height, enterocytes height and thickness of the tunica muscularis) revealed no significant differences between XOS-fed groups and the control treatment (P > 0.05). However, administration of XOS in the oscar diet increased the total autochthonous intestinal heterotrophic bacteria significantly (P < 0.05). Autochthonous lactic acid bacteria levels were also significantly elevated in XOS-fed groups (P < 0.05). Furthermore, dietary XOS remarkably increased growth performance (control: 22.76 ± 2.79, 2% XOS: 29.13 ± 2. 8; n = 12) parameters of the oscar (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated the beneficial effects of XOS on the growth performance and intestinal microbiota of A. ocellatus. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH

Non-adiabatic corrections to elastic scattering of halo nuclei

We derive the formalism for the leading order corrections to the adiabatic approximation to the scattering of composite projectiles. Assuming a two-body projectile of core plus loosely-bound valence particle and a model (the core recoil model) in which the interaction of the valence particle and the target can be neglected, we derive the non-adiabatic correction terms both exactly, using a partial wave analysis, and using the eikonal approximation. Along with the expected energy dependence of the corrections, there is also a strong dependence on the valence-to-core mass ratio and on the strength of the imaginary potential for the core-target interaction, which relates to absorption of the core in its scattering by the target. The strength and diffuseness of the core-target potential also determine the size of the corrections. The first order non-adiabatic corrections were found to be smaller than qualitative estimates would expect. The large absorption associated with the core-target interaction in such halo nuclei as Be11 kills off most of the non-adiabatic corrections. We give an improved estimate for the range of validity of the adiabatic approximation when the valence-target interaction is neglected, which includes the effect of core absorption. Some consideration was given to the validity of the eikonal approximation in our calculations.Comment: 14 pages with 10 figures, REVTeX4, AMS-LaTeX v2.13, submitted to Phys. Rev.