Immediate effect of trawling on sea bottom & its living communities along Kerala coast- Winter School on Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Marine Fisheries – Building Mass Balance Trophic and Simulation Models

Otter trawling, the most widely used towed bottom fishing gear, is known to have a wide range of impact on benthos. Seabed disturbance by mobile bottom fishing gear has emerged as a major concern related to the conservation of essential fish habitat (DeAlteris et al., 1999). Several studies have been conducted on the impact of trawling on sea bottom and its living communities (Walting and Norse 1999,Churchill, 1989, Gibbs et al., 1980), however no concerted attempt has so far been made to assess its real impact on the sea bottom ecology along Indian coast. Trawl fishing with more than 5000 units, is the most widespread method of capturing marine fishes and invertebrates in Kerala, the southernmost state of India with a coastline of 590 Km (Raveendran, 2001). Menon (1996) reported that incessant trawling operations in a climatically limited coastal habitat slowly resulted in disproportionate destruction of non – target groups too along with juveniles /sub adults of homogeneous species of commercially important fishes and shell fishes and a wide spectrum of benthic organism

Impact assessment of bottom trawling on the Marine biodiversity along Kerala- Winter School on Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Marine Fisheries – Building Mass Balance Trophic and Simulation Models

The introduction of mechanised trawlers to exploit the demersal resources beyond the traditional fishing grounds of Kerala in the early fifties was an important event in the marine fisheries of Kerala and due to its high returns it became widespread all along the trawlable coastal grounds. As it is found as the most efficient method for the exploitation of shrimps and therefore, its number has shown an exponential increase along the coastal waters of Kerala. Among the mechanised boats operating along Kerala coast more than 90% belong to bottom trawl specifically aimed for the exploitation of shrimp resources of the inshore waters (Ravindran and Baiju, 1998). Kurup and Radhika (2003) enumerated the number of bottom trawlers operated from 11 major and minor fisheries harbours of Kerala as 4960.Bottom trawling being a non selective fishing gear, it hauls up all the organisms dwelling at the sea bottom and therefore, its destructive effect to the non target organisms of the sea bottom is a matter of grave concern on a global basis (Jennings and Kaiser, 1998)

A clinical study of prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus and associated risk factors at a tertiary care centre in Karnataka, India

Background: Women with GDM are at increased risk for adverse obstetric and perinatal outcome .This study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of GDM using Diabetes in pregnancy study group India (DIPSI) criteria and associated risk factors in pregnant women.Methods: Universal screening for GDM was done in 200 pregnant women with estimated gestational age between 14 -18 weeks. They were given 75 gm oral glucose irrespective of meals. Diagnosis of GDM was made if 2 hr plasma glucose was ≥140, If plasma glucose is <140 then the test is repeated at 24-28 weeks. If normal, then the test is repeated at 32 weeks. If plasma glucose is <140 mg at 32 weeks, then they are classified as non –GDM group. Prevalence of risk factors like age ≥25, BMI ≥25, family history of DM, bad obstetric history, history of GDM and macrosomia were studied in GDM and non GDM group and results are statistically analysed.Results: The prevalence in this study was 11.5%. The prevalence was more in women with advanced age, high BMI, positive family history of DM, past history of GDM and macrosomia.Conclusions: The prevalence of GDM was found to be 11.5 % and its association with risk factors found to be significant. DIPSI diagnostic procedure is a simple, cost effective and evidence based test

Which is better for pfannensteil skin incision closure in caesarean section? Interrupted mattress suture or continuous subcuticular suture

Background: Caesarean delivery is one of the most commonly performed operations in obstetrics. Postoperative comfort of the woman largely depends on the method of skin closure. Wound complications from caesarean delivery such as dehiscence or infection cause a significant emotional and economic burden in obstetric care. There are many methods and techniques for skin wound closure in caesarean section. Each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. The aim and objective of this study was to compare the wound outcomes in Pfannensteil incisions closed with mattress sutures using nonabsorbable suture and subcuticular sutures using absorbable sutures in caesarean deliveries.Methods: It is a prospective observational study done on 216 consecutive pregnant women who were admitted to labor room for elective or emergency caesarean section. Patients undergoing caesarean section with Pfannensteil incision between February 2019 to October 2019 were included in this study. Among 216 women, 108 women had mattress sutures and 108 women had subcuticular sutures for skin wound closure. The primary outcome studied was wound complications including erythema, wound dehiscence, burst abdomen, infection and pain which was studied on postoperative day 3-7. The secondary outcome was assessed at 6 weeks follow-up in terms of pain, cosmetic appearance of scar and patient satisfaction about scar.Results: A total of 216 pregnant women undergoing caesarean section were studied who had similar baseline characteristics and risk factors. However, women with previous caesarean section were more in mattress group. The overall incidence of erythema, surgical site infection, wound dehiscence, resuturing and pain was more in mattress group and was statistically significant. During follow-up at 6 weeks, women with subcuticular sutures had cosmetically better scar and more satisfied with their scars than women with mattress sutures but the pain level was same in both groups.Conclusions: Authors conclude that compared to mattress sutures, subcuticular sutures cause significantly fewer wound complications and pain in postoperative period. Also, subcuticular sutures are associated with cosmetically appealing scars and higher patient satisfaction. But there was no difference in pain level at 6 weeks in both methods of skin closure

Distinct patterns of expression of traumatic brain injury biomarkers after blast exposure: Role of compromised cell membrane integrity

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a protein enriched in astrocytes, and Tau, a protein abundant inneuronal microtubules, are being widely studied as biomarkers of brain injury, and persistent severity-dependent increases in brain and blood have been reported. Studies on the acute changes of these proteinsafter blast exposure are limited. Using a mouse model of closely-coupled repeated blast exposures, wehave evaluated acute changes in the levels of GFAP and total Tau by Western blotting. Brain levels of GFAPand Tau proteins decreased significantly at 6 h and increased considerably at 24 h after repeated blastexposures. Plasma samples showed a similar initial decrease and later increase over this timeframe. Thisbiphasic pattern points to possible absorption or sequestration of these proteins from plasma immedi-ately after repeated blast exposures. Liver and spleen tissue showed significant increases in the levelsof GFAP and Tau protein at 6 and 24 h post-blast exposures whereas semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysisof liver showed no significant changes in the levels of GFAP or Tau mRNAs. These results suggest thatblast exposure causes transient changes in cell membrane integrity in multiple organs leading to abnor-mal migration of proteins from the tissues to the plasma and vice versa. This transient changes in cellmembrane permeability and subsequent bidirectional movement of molecules may contribute to thepathophysiology of TBI and polytrauma after blast exposure

Protective efficacy of catalytic bioscavenger, paraoxonase 1 against sarin and soman exposure in guinea pigs

Human paraoxonase 1 (PON1) has been portrayed as a catalytic bioscavenger which can hydrolyze large amounts of chemical warfare nerve agents (CWNAs) and organophosphate (OP) pesticides compared to the stoichiometric bioscavengers such as butyrylcholinesterase. We evaluated the protective efficacy of purified human and rabbit serum PON1 against nerve agents sarin and soman in guinea pigs. Catalytically active PON1 purified from human and rabbit serum was intravenously injected to guinea pigs, which were 30 min later exposed to 1.2 × LCt50 sarin or soman using a microinstillation inhalation exposure technology. Pre-treatment with 5 units of purified human and rabbit serum PON1 showed mild to moderate increase in the activity of blood PON1, but significantly increased the survival rate with reduced symptoms of CWNA exposure. Although PON1 is expected to be catalytic, sarin and soman exposure resulted in a significant reduction in blood PON1 activity. However, the blood levels of PON1 in pre-treated animals after exposure to nerve agent were higher than that of untreated control animals. The activity of blood acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase and brain acetylcholinesterase was significantly higher in PON1 pre-treated animals and were highly correlated with the survival rate. Blood O2 saturation, pulse rate and respiratory dynamics were normalized in animals treated with PON1 compared to controls. These results demonstrate that purified human and rabbit serum PON1 significantly protect against sarin and soman exposure in guinea pigs and support the development of PON1 as a catalytic bioscavenger for protection against lethal exposure to CWNAs

Distribution, diversity, length-weight relationship and recruitment pattern of deep-sea finfishes and shellfishes in the shelf-break area off southwest Indian EEZ

The results of an exclusive fishing cruise, No. 241, undertaken by FORV Sayar Sampada (Ministry of Earth Sciences) during January-February 2006, in the shelf-break area (500-1000m depth) in the southwest region of Indian EEZ (Lat.Q-16" and Long. 72"-75"46) are presented. Bottom trawling was conducted at 33 stations. A total catch of 1795 kg was realised, out of which the discards formed 31 1 kg. A variety of non-conventional finfishes (77 species) and shellfishes (shrimps 8 species, crabs 3 species, one species of lobsterette) have been recorded. Depth-wise 235m zone indicated the maximum catch. The total catch during the entire cruise was dominated by Psenopsis ryanra. The various population parameters such as La, K, total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F), exploitation ratio (E), recruitment pattern and length-weight relationship of some of the important species have been worked out. In most of the deep-sea fishes, the recruitment appeared to take place almost throughout the year and showed great similarity among the various species except Luciobrotula bartschi. Presently, all these resources remain unexploited, except the shrimps. The trawlers based at Cochin, Quilon and Munambam have been exploiting the deep-sea shrimp resources like the red-ring Arbreus alcocki from the Quilon Bank and other similar areas of< west coast for the last five years. Interestingly Psenopsis cyanea has been found to occur as bye-catch in these fishing operations. Therefore, these two species showed higher fishing mortality compared to practically nil value in other finfishes and shellfishes. The occurrence of the deep-sea glass sponge, Hyalonema sp. off Mangalore is also reported. Bio-silica, extracted from this sponge, has a vide range of applications in the medical field from novel biomaterials for bone replacements to the stabilization of tissue. Most of the resources being nonconventional there is need to evolve new processing methods, product diversification and develop export avenues to make deep-sea fishing venture a success. Inventorisation of the deep-sea biodiversity and preparation of fishery atlas also merit serious consideration