Investigations on the absorption spectrum of TiO2 nanofluid

Nanofluids are tailored nano- colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles in a suitable base fluid. This present work investigates the absorption spectrum in TiO2-water nanofluids to identify the potential application of nanofluids in Direct Absorption Solar Collectors (DASC). Nanoparticles of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) are prepared by sol gel and characterized by X Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). TiO2-water nanofluids with weight fraction of 0.1% are prepared by a two-step process with sonication. The prepared nanofluids are investigated for their stability by a gravity sedimentation method and for their optical property by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Stability of nanofluid is essential for the applications of nanofluid in DASC. TiO2 nanoparticles with a crystallite size of 43nm are obtained .The SEM image reveals the agglomerated state of TiO2 nanoparticles and the stability of TiO2 nanofluid is reported as 9-10days. UV results indicate the decrease in absorption from 440-500nm, complete absorption from 500-700nm and increase in absorption from 700-900nm.TiO2 nanofluids are recommended as potential candidates for DASC in UV and IR regions

Proceedings and Recommendations of the Training on Tropical Finfish and Shellfish Stock Assessment cum Brainstorming Session on Indian Marine Capture Fisheries Research and the Way Forward

A training on Tropical Finfish Stock Assessment was conducted by the Finfish Fisheries Division (FFD), ICARCMFRI, for Fisheries Resource Management scientists at ICAR-CMFRI Headquarters, Kochi during 16-27 August 2022, in hybrid mode. The program was inaugurated by Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, Director, ICAR-CMFRI on 16th August 2022, and was attended by Dr. Sanjay Pandey, Asst. Commissioner (Fisheries), Govt. of India, Heads of Divisions at ICAR-CMFRI Headquarters and scientists of Finfish and Shellfish Fisheries Divisions of ICAR-CMFRI. In the second phase, a training - workshop on 'Stock assessment of shellfish species' was organised from 9 -17 November 2022 by the Shellfish Fisheries Division (SFD), with focus on specific methods for shellfish species. Scientists from the Fishery Resources Assessment, Economics and Extension Division (FRAEED), FFD and SFD were participants and resource persons in the respective programme

XVI Agricultural Science Congress 2023: Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

The XVI Agricultural Science Congress being jointly organized by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during 10-13 October 2023, at hotel Le Meridien, Kochi, is a mega event echoing the theme “Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for achieving Sustainable Development Goals”. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute takes great pride in hosting the XVI ASC, which will be the perfect point of convergence of academicians, researchers, students, farmers, fishers, traders, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders involved in agri-production systems that ensure food and nutritional security for a burgeoning population. With impeding challenges like growing urbanization, increasing unemployment, growing population, increasing food demands, degradation of natural resources through human interference, climate change impacts and natural calamities, the challenges ahead for India to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations are many. The XVI ASC will provide an interface for dissemination of useful information across all sectors of stakeholders invested in developing India’s agri-food systems, not only to meet the SDGs, but also to ensure a stable structure on par with agri-food systems around the world. It is an honour to present this Book of Abstracts which is a compilation of a total of 668 abstracts that convey the results of R&D programs being done in India. The abstracts have been categorized under 10 major Themes – 1. Ensuring Food & Nutritional Security: Production, Consumption and Value addition; 2. Climate Action for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems; 3. Frontier Science and emerging Genetic Technologies: Genome, Breeding, Gene Editing; 4. Livestock-based Transformation of Food Systems; 5. Horticulture-based Transformation of Food Systems; 6. Aquaculture & Fisheries-based Transformation of Food Systems; 7. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable AgriFood Systems; 8. Next Generation Technologies: Digital Agriculture, Precision Farming and AI-based Systems; 9. Policies and Institutions for Transforming Agri-Food Systems; 10. International Partnership for Research, Education and Development. This Book of Abstracts sets the stage for the mega event itself, which will see a flow of knowledge emanating from a zeal to transform and push India’s Agri-Food Systems to perform par excellence and achieve not only the SDGs of the UN but also to rise as a world leader in the sector. I thank and congratulate all the participants who have submitted abstracts for this mega event, and I also applaud the team that has strived hard to publish this Book of Abstracts ahead of the event. I wish all the delegates and participants a very vibrant and memorable time at the XVI ASC

Neonatal infections: Case definition and guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of immunisation safety data.

Maternal vaccination is an important area of research and requires appropriate and internationally comparable definitions and safety standards. The GAIA group, part of the Brighton Collaboration was created with the mandate of proposing standardised definitions applicable to maternal vaccine research. This study proposes international definitions for neonatal infections. The neonatal infections GAIA working group performed a literature review using Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane collaboration and collected definitions in use in neonatal and public health networks. The common criteria derived from the extensive search formed the basis for a consensus process that resulted in three separate definitions for neonatal blood stream infections (BSI), meningitis and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). For each definition three levels of evidence are proposed to ensure the applicability of the definitions to different settings. Recommendations about data collection, analysis and presentation are presented and harmonized with the Brighton Collaboration and GAIA format and other existing international standards for study reporting

Characterization of the Whole Mitogenome of Largehead Hairtail Trichiurus lepturus (Trichiuridae): Insights into Special Characteristics

Mitochondrial genomes are valuable for making inferences regarding population genetics, phylogenetics and recently in understanding adaptive variation in OXPHOS genes. Ribbon fish, Trichiurus lepturus is distributed in the Indian Ocean and contributes to a major share of pelagic fish landings. Considering the importance, we characterized the complete mitogenome of large head hairtail T. lepturus from Indian waters by PCR amplification and sequencing. The entire mitogenome is 16,840 bp in length, with 13 protein coding genes, 2 subunit ribosomal RNA genes, and 1 control region similar to other vertebrates. Genome contains only 21 tRNAs ( tRNAPro is absent) as against 22 tRNAs reported in other vertebrates. The putative origin of L-strand replication ( OL) was located in a cluster of five tRNA genes (WANCY region) and may not be functional due to the variation of conserved motif (5′-GCCGG-3′) and loop. These two unusual features are common for Trichiurus mitogenomes. Phylogenetic analysis supported the monophyly of Trichiuridae. This study will provide information for further studies on taxonomy, phylogeny and patterns of adaptive evolution in the mitogenome of Trichiurus species

Positive selection in the mitochondrial protein coding genes of teleost regional endotherms: Evidence for adaptive evolution

Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation genes play critical role in energy metabolism, aerobic potential and thermogenesis. These genes were thought to evolve neutrally, however increasing evidence suggests that mitogenome is susceptible to selection and adaptive variation. Organisms that have encountered selective forces to improve their metabolic potential or adapt to cooler environment can be suitable candidates to study the pattern and impact of selection on mitochondrial genome. Tunas, billfishes, butterfly mackerel and opah are the only teleost fishes to exhibit regional endothermy. They might have experienced strong selective forces to enhance their metabolic potential making them a suitable candidate group to search for positive selection. Mitochondrial protein coding genes of 16 regionally endothermic teleosts retrieved from NCBI GenBank were used to examine the pattern of selection using different ω-based approaches implemented in DATAMONKEY and TreeSAAP to analyze the changes in physicochemical properties of the amino acids. We found evidence for positive selection in different mitochondrial protein subunits across several branches of the phylogeny. Changes found in the subunits ND5 and ND6 might have modified the proton pumping efficiency and assembly of complex I respectively and the substitutions found in the subunit ATP6 might have an impact on the rotor performance of the complex V. Further studies on assessment of metabolic consequences of OXPHOS substitutions are essential to understand the importance of these substitutions on the performance of the fishe

Comparative mitogenomics and phylogenetics of the family Carangidae with special emphasis on the mitogenome of the Indian Scad Decapterus russelli

Carangids are abundant and commercially important marine fish that contribute to a significant portion of the fisheries in many parts of the world. In the present study, we characterized the complete mitogenome of the Indian scad, Decapterus russelli and performed a comprehensive comparative mitogenomic analysis of the family Carangidae. The comparative mitogenomics provided valuable insights into the structure, variability, and features of the coding and non-coding regions that evolved across species over millions of years. The structural features of tRNAs revealed changes in the frequency of mismatched and wobble base pairs, which is reflected in the base composition of H and L strands. The highly conserved sequence motif of the mTERF binding site in carangids over the ~ 400 MYA of their divergence demonstrated the functional importance of these sites. The control region of carangids was characterized by the presence of discontinuous repeat units with a high rate of sequence divergence in the form of base substitutions, insertions, and deletions. The maintenance of secondary structures in the control region independent of the rapid evolution of primary structure suggested the effect of selective constraints on their maintenance. Maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) phylogeny revealed a similar topology consistent with previous taxonomic studies. The extant carangids diverged through the evolutionary events experienced during the Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene periods

Molecular analyses reveal a lack of genetic structuring in the scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834) along the Indian coast

The scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini (Griffith and Smith, 1834), is an important species along the Indian coast both in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. As per the IUCN Red List Assessment, the scalloped hammerhead shark is categorized as “globally endangered.”We investigated the intra-specific genetic diversity and population genetic structure of S. lewini along the Indian coast (Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal) by analyzing mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase 1 and control region sequences, respectively. Furthermore, comparisons of the sequence data generated from the present study with the sequences of S. lewini retrieved from GenBank revealed the presence of three (3) haplogroups corresponding to Indian/Indo-Pacific, Atlantic, and Pacific regions. A lack of genetic differentiation within the Indian coast and significant differentiation between ocean basins (FST; 0.80; p < 0.001) indicated female philopatry as mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited. Hammerhead sharks are inherently vulnerable to fishing practices directly and indirectly (as bycatch) due to their evolutionary distinct features like cephalofoil. Specialized species-specific management measures are urgently needed to protect these precious resources of the oceans

Reverse Peroneal Artery Flap—A Workhorse Flap for Reconstruction of Large, Distal Defects of Ankle and Foot

Background Reconstruction of large foot and ankle defects is a difficult task due to less available local soft tissue and more critical from functional point of view. To overcome the limitations associated with locoregional flaps and free flaps, reverse peroneal artery (RPA) flap was selected and its usefulness in reconstruction of distal large defects of the ankle and foot and its complications were studied. Materials and Methods This is a prospective observational study done in 20 patients treated as cohort within 2 years and 8 months from January 2018 to August 2020. Large defects of foot and ankle were reconstructed with RPA flap and evaluated for its usefulness. Three cases were evaluated with computed tomography angiography postoperatively, to assess the vascular pattern. Conclusion RPA flap is a versatile and very reliable flap for the reconstruction of large and distal defects of foot and ankle. It is safely done in children and in acute trauma without any major complications