Isolation, identification and culture of the marine rotifer Colurella adriatica Ehrenberg, 1831 (Family: Lepadellidae) from Andaman & Nicobar Islands: A promising live feed for larval rearing of high value shellfishes and finfishes

An extremely small rotifer was isolated from the micro zooplankton samples collected during February, 2014 from Havelock islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The species was identified as Colurella adriatica Ehrenberg, 1831 (Family: Lapadellidae). Its lorica length under culture period ranged from 47.530 to 98.868 μm and width from 34.308 to 56.277 μm. The size of the eggs, neonates and adults are also documented. Comparison of size of C. adriatica with Brachionus plicatilis (L type) and B. rotundiformis (S and SS type) revealed that C. adriatica is smaller in length and width than the SS-type rotifer which is currently used as a first feed in marine tropical fish larval rearing. However, the larvae of many marine food fishes including groupers and high value marine ornamental fishes are unable to consume the SS-type rotifers as a first feed due to their extremely small mouth gape. The culture of C. adriatica was carried out using Nannochloropsis oculata Diet-I), N. oculata and yeast (0.01g/litre) (Diet-II), Yeast (0.01g/litre) alone (Diet-III). Average population density of C. adriatica with these diets reached a maximum of 1000 nos. of individuals /ml on 10th day of culture on feeding with Diet-I; 950 nos. /ml on 14th day (Diet-II) and 650 nos. /ml on 15th day of culture (Diet-III). Diet I &II and Diet II &III did not show any significant difference (P>0.05) whereas, Diet I and III showed significant difference (P<0.01). Preliminary studies of C. adriatica as a feed to the larvae of Stenopus hispidus, Lysmata amboinensis and Pomacentrus caeruleus showed better survival than larvae fed with B. routundiformis during first phase of larval rearing

Johnson-Kendall-Roberts theory applied to living cells

Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory is an accurate model for strong adhesion energies of soft slightly deformable material. Little is known about the validity of this theory on complex systems such as living cells. We have addressed this problem using a depletion controlled cell adhesion and measured the force necessary to separate the cells with a micropipette technique. We show that the cytoskeleton can provide the cells with a 3D structure that is sufficiently elastic and has a sufficiently low deformability for JKR theory to be valid. When the cytoskeleton is disrupted, JKR theory is no longer applicable

Axiomatic Characterization of the Median and Antimedian Function on a Complete Graph minus a Matching

__Abstract__ A median (antimedian) of a profile of vertices on a graph G is a vertex that minimizes (maximizes) the sum of the distances to the elements in the profile. The median (antimedian) function has as output the set of medians (antimedians) of a profile. It is one of the basic models for the location of a desirable (obnoxious) facility in a network. The median function is well studied. For instance it has been characterized axiomatically by three simple axioms on median graphs. The median function behaves nicely on many classes of graphs. In contrast the antimedian function does not have a nice behavior on most classes. So a nice axiomatic characterization may not be expected. In this paper an axiomatic characterization is obtained for the median and antimedian function on complete graphs minus a matching

The Efficacies of Banana Stem Extract as a Candidate of Coccidiostat Against Rabbit Eimeria Stiedaio Ocysts: an in Vitro Analysis

The objective of this research was to investigatethe ability of banana stem (Musa paradisiaca) to inhibitsporulation of Eimeria stiedaioocystsderived fromrabbit by in vitroanalysis.Analyze the active substance proximate analysis and active substancesin this research were performed too. Banana stem extract were used in this experiment andsulfaquinoxalline(Coxy ®)was run as acontrol. The Eimeria stiedaioocystswere incubated prior the presence of different concentration from banana stem extract 0%, 1%, 2%, 4%, 8%for 1, 2 and 3 daysat 26°C. In addition,Factorial patterned Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five replicates wasapplied on the experiment. Result analysis was performed by using Analysis of Variance and following by Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) post hoc test. Here, we identified that banana stem extract contain different type of active substance such as tannin, saponin, and alkaloid. Banana stem extract significantly affected the oocysts sporulation included the amount of sporulatedoocysts (P<0.01), unsporulatedoocysts (P<0.01), and transformed oocysts (P<0.01). In conclusion banana stem could inhibit the development of Eimeria stiedaioocysts on in vitroexperiment. HSD test showed that the optimum potential efficacy of banana stem toinhibit sporulation was at 4% and 8% concentration during three days incubation

Fluctuation spectrum of fluid membranes coupled to an elastic meshwork: jump of the effective surface tension at the mesh size

We identify a class of composite membranes: fluid bilayers coupled to an elastic meshwork, that are such that the meshwork's energy is a function $F_\mathrm{el}[A_\xi]$ \textit{not} of the real microscopic membrane area $A$, but of a \textit{smoothed} membrane's area $A_\xi$, which corresponds to the area of the membrane coarse-grained at the mesh size $\xi$. We show that the meshwork modifies the membrane tension $\sigma$ both below and above the scale $\xi$, inducing a tension-jump $\Delta\sigma=dF_\mathrm{el}/dA_\xi$. The predictions of our model account for the fluctuation spectrum of red blood cells membranes coupled to their cytoskeleton. Our results indicate that the cytoskeleton might be under extensional stress, which would provide a means to regulate available membrane area. We also predict an observable tension jump for membranes decorated with polymer "brushes"

Persistence of frequently transmitted drug-resistant HIV-1 variants can be explained by high viral replication capacity

Background: In approximately 10% of newly diagnosed individuals in Europe, HIV-1 variants harboring transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRM) are detected. For some TDRM it has been shown that they revert to wild type while other mutations persist in the absence of therapy. To understand the mechanisms explaining persistence we investigated the in vivo evolution of frequently transmitted HIV-1 variants and their impact on in vitro replicative capacity. Results: We selected 31 individuals infected with HIV-1 harboring frequently observed TDRM such as M41L or K103N in reverse transcriptase (RT) or M46L in protease. In all these samples, polymorphisms at non-TDRM positions were present at baseline (median protease: 5, RT: 6). Extensive analysis of viral evolution of protease and RT demonstrated that the majority of TDRM (51/55) persisted for at least a year and even up to eight years in the plasma. D

Body Weight, Oocyte Elimination and Blood Profile of Rabbit After Challenge Test Using Eimeria Stiedai

The objective of the research was to investigate body weight, oocyte elimination and blood profile of rabbits infected with various doses of Eimeria stiedai isolates. The observed rabbits' blood profile included erythrocyte, hemoglobin, hematocrit, leucocyte, thrombocyte, total protein plasma (TPP) and fibrinogen. Twenty-five male New Zealand White rabbits aged 3 months and weighed approximately 2 kg were provided with pellet and boiled drinking water and Eimeria stiedai isolates. The experiment used Completely Randomized Design to analyze 5 treatments with five replicates. The examined variables included D0: Infection 0 (control of infection without challenge test), D1: Infection 101 with challenge test 103, D2: infection 102 with challenge test 103, D3: infection 103 with challenge test 103, D4: infection 0 with challenge test 103 (control of infection). Data were subject to analysis of variance followed by Honestly Significant Difference Test (HSD). Analysis of Variance result showed that there was no significant difference on body weight, oocyte elimination and blood profile including erythrocyte, hemoglobin, hematocrit, leucocyte, thrombocyte, and fibrinogen. However, total protein plasma (TTP) was significantly different at 5% HSD. It can be concluded that challenge test with Eimeria stiedai has not been used as an alternative in increasing rabbits' body immune against coccidiosis infection

Chromosome assignment of two cloned DNA probes hybridizing predominantly to human sex chromosomes

In situ hybridization experiments were carried out with two clones, YACG 35 and 2.8, which had been selected from two genomic libraries strongly enriched for the human Y chromosome. Besides the human Y chromosome, both sequences strongly hybridized to the human X chromosome, with few minor binding sites on autosomes. In particular, on the X chromosome DNA from clone YACG 35 hybridized to the centromeric region and the distal part of the short arm (Xp2.2). On the Y chromosome, the sequence was assigned to one site situated in the border region between Yq1.1 and Yq1.2. DNA from clone 2.8 also hybridized to the centromeric region of the X and the distal part of the short arm (Xq2.2). On the Y, however, two binding sites were observed (Yp1.1 and Yq1.2). The findings indicate that sex chromosomal sequences may be localized in homologous regions (as suggested from meiotic pairing) but also at ectopic sites