Factors influencing the distribution of Chl-a along coastal waters of East Peninsular Malaysia

Determination of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) distribution in the coastal waters is important to understand the coastal environmental conditions. This study was conducted to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of Chl-a along coastal waters of east Peninsular Malaysia and factors influencing its variability using Chl-a data derived from Aqua MODIS satellite (1 km spatial resolution) from January 2006 to December 2012. Chl-a variability was described using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. In-situ data (temperature, salinity, density and nitrate) and rainfall data from the Department of Meteorology were analyzed using spatial interpolation to determine factors influencing the distribution of Chl-a. The seasonal progressions of Chl-a showed high value during northeast monsoon along the coast. This variability was described by four modes of the EOF analysis. The first mode (72.08% of total variance) indicated seasonal cycle with high variability along the coast. Second mode (17.03% of variance) explained the northeast monsoon with high variability from river mouth to the south. Third mode (2.39% of variance) indicated variability during southwest monsoon along the coast and much higher to the south. Mode 4 (1.93% of variance) explained the inter-monsoon period observed along the northern and southern coastline. Concentration and distribution of Chl-a were related to availability of nutrient influenced by rainfall. The thermohaline front was also observed to play an important role in accumulation of phytoplankton biomass during northeast and southwest monsoon

Coral reef and associated habitat mapping using ALOS satellite imagery

Coral reefs are rich in biodiversity and ecosystem services. However increase in degradation are still occurring at an alarming rate. In management of this ecosystem, determination of its spatial distribution is of importance. Satellite imageries can be used to map distribution extent using spectral characteristics which is a fundamental parameter in mapping. The aims of this study were to determine the spectral characteristics of corals and associated habitats and to map its spatial distribution using 2009 ALOS advanced visible and near infrared radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) satellite imagery. Results indicated that coral and habitats surrounding the area display variation in the spectral characteristics magnitude but displays similar spectral curve. Spectral characteristics from the corals and surrounding habitats were determined by presence of benthic microalgae and calcium carbonate. Maximum likelihood classification on the image produced five main classes. Spatial distribution of coral and associated habitats indicated five main zones which are sandy shore zone, sandy intertidal zone, seagrass zone, coral/submerged sandy zone and rocky zone. Distribution of live corals indicated coverage of 0.54 km2, sea grass (0.94 km2), sandy bottom (1.31 km2) and rocky shores (0.19 km2). The results of this study indicated that ALOS satellite data was able to determine variation in spectral characteristics of coral reefs and other habitats thus is capable of mapping the ecosystems spatial distribution

Impacts of sea temperature rise on Rastrelliger kanagurta potential fishing grounds in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off South China Sea

The Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) is one of the most commercially crucial epipelagic scombrid where it is caught in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the South China Sea (SCS). High demand for fisheries resources is a challenge for fishers to achieve optimal fish landing targets. By using R. kanagurta catch data, and high resolution satellite data of chl-a and SST (MODIS-Aqua) and SSH (AVISO) from 2018 together with boosted regression tree (BRT) model, this study aims to determine the impact of sea surface temperature (SST) increase on the potential catch of R. kanagurta based on temperature projection of IPCC-AR5-RCPs scenarios. BRT modelling result indicated that during the northeast monsoon (NEM), at elevated temperature of 1.80 and 2.60 ℃ showed that the potential fishing grounds of R. kanagurta increase in the area especially in the northern part of the EEZ. However, at elevated temperature of 3.30 ℃, the potential fishing areas was found to decrease along the coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Meanwhile, during southwest monsoon (SWM) and inter-monsoon transition, at temperature rise of 1.80, 2.60 and 3.30 °C showed a significant reduction in the potential fishing area of the R. kanagurta potential fishing grounds especially along the coast of the EEZ off SCS. Results indicated that changes in SST influenced suitability of habitat which affected the distribution of R. kanagurta. Understanding the impacts of temperature increase would contribute towards future sustainable fisheries resource management strategies

Feedforward backpropagation, genetic algorithm approaches for predicting reference evapotranspiration

Water scarcity is a global concern, as the demand for water is increasing tremendously and poor management of water resources will accelerates dramatically the depletion of available water. The precise prediction of evapotranspiration (ET), that consumes almost 100% of the supplied irrigation water, is one of the goals that should be adopted in order to avoid more squandering of water especially in arid and semiarid regions. The capabilities of feedforward backpropagation neural networks (FFBP) in predicting reference evapotranspiration (ET0) are evaluated in this paper in comparison with the empirical FAO Penman-Monteith (P-M) equation, later a model of FFBP+Genetic Algorithm (GA) is implemented for the same evaluation purpose. The study location is the main station in Iraq, namely Baghdad Station. Records of weather variables from the related meteorological station, including monthly mean records of maximum air temperature (Tmax), minimum air temperature (Tmin), sunshine hours (Rn), relative humidity (Rh) and wind speed (U2), from the related meteorological station are used in the prediction of ET0 values. The performance of both simulation models were evaluated using statistical coefficients such as the root of mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The results of both models are promising, however the hybrid model shows higher efficiency in predicting ET0 and could be recommended for modeling of ET0 in arid and semiarid regions

Predicting potential Rastrelliger kanagurta fish habitat using MODIS satellite data and GIS modeling: a case study of Exclusive Economic Zone, Malaysia

Remote sensing and GIS are robust tools in detection of fishing grounds which is important in providing fish sustainability for human being. This recent tool allows fishing grounds detection at minimal cost and optimizes effort. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between R. kanagurta fishing grounds with environmental factors and to determine its potential fishing grounds. MODIS derived satellite data of Chl-a and sea surface temperature (SST) and fisheries catch data of 2008 and 2009 were analyzed using suitability index (SI) and generalized additive model (GAM) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Distribution of R. kanagurta was associated with preferred range of 0.20 to 0.30 mg/m3 for Chl-a and 29 to 30°C for SST. GAM indicated that these parameters influenced fish distribution (p<0.001). Potential fishing ground maps derived from the SI and GAM model indicated accuracy at 75% with kappa of 0.7 and accuracy at 87.6% with kappa of 0.8, respectively. This study indicated the capability of GAM as an exploratory tool to map the potential fishing grounds of R. kanagurta in the EEZ waters

Processing rodent brain tissues: review of basic anatomical techniques for scientists with minimal knowledge of neuroanatomy

An understanding of brain structure, how to harvest rodent brain samples and the various histological procedures to follow is imperative in conducting researches in neuroscience especially for beginners. The general brain aversion bias and complexity of studying the brain, poses a real challenge in identifying and understanding its anatomy either grossly or microscopically. Therefore, this review attempts to provide a basic explanation for researchers with little knowledge of neuroanatomy but are interested in processing brain tissues ranging from opening the skull of the rodents, harvesting freshly perfused or unperfused brain, weighing of the brain and identifying various landmarks on the brainstem, cerebellum, and cerebrum. This review further provides a clue to the various anatomical landmarks in the brain and the functional role each structure identified in such landmarks play. Since most of the brain cytoarchitecture is viewed microscopically, knowing the appropriate staining techniques that clearly show the desired brain cell or region in question is important in determining various neuropathologies as well as in conducting various pilot studies on the brain. This review therefore provides a solid foundation for researchers who are not too familiar with the brain but need to conduct various studies on it.Keywords: brain, histological procedures, anatomical landmarks, staining techniques, cytoarchitecture, fixatio

Decision making autonomy and maternal healthcare utilization among Nigerian women

Background and Objectives: Low assess to ante-natal care (ANC) services continue to pose a major public health challenge leading to high maternal mortality rates in developing countries. Non-utilization of ANC services among about a quarter of Nigerian women of reproductive age remains a major concern in the actualization of Sustainable Development Goals. Considering the complexity of healthcare utilization in Nigeria, the relationship between a particular health care utilization pattern and women autonomy has not been fully examined. This study examines the patterns of women autonomy and their relationships with ANC utilization in Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis of the 2013 nationally representative data from the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Factor analysis/score were used to construct women autonomy index, while chi-square and logistic regression were used to establish the relationships between the response and exposure variables. Results: There is a strong relationship between women decision making autonomy status and ANC services among Nigeria women. The odds of utilizing ANC services among women with more decision making autonomy were significantly 3.79 higher than among women with low decision-making autonomy. The use of ANC increases as age, education and wealth status of respondents increase. Conclusions and Global Health Implications: These results indicate that women autonomy is undoubtedly a major determinant of ANC utilization in Nigeria

An anatomical perspective: does the male greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) have a scrotum?

We evaluated the anatomy of the “scrotal” skin pouch in an attempt to answer the question of whether (or not) there exist true scrotum in the greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus). The “scrotal” skin folds from ten (10) matured male cane rats were morphologically and morphometrically studied with samples routinely processed for histology. Grossly, the pouch has features like fine hair on thin skin and longitudinal raphae typical of scrotum in other species. The histoarchitecture of the “scrotal” skin in the cane rat follows the normal scrotal pattern and the arrangements of the cutaneous strata, hair follicles and glands were similar in animals with perineal staining and those without perineal stain. The cane rat scrotal skin, though different in conformation from the scrotum of other mammalian species, has all the properties of a true scrotum thereby establishing the presence of scrotum in the greater cane rat.Keywords: Scrotum, Greater cane rat, Skin Pouch, Perineal stainin

Childhood tuberculosis: Characteristics and peculiarities

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important infectious disease of public health concern. The effects of TB on children in terms of morbidity and mortality is&nbsp; more than that of adults. These may not be unconnected with the differences in characteristics and peculiarities of the disease in children. Tuberculosis in children is usually primary, paucibacillary, characterized by difficulties in diagnosis of both drug susceptible and resistant TB associated with poor uptake of preventive therapy for those with latent infection, contacts and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in most&nbsp; developing countries.While significant similarities exist between spectrum of TB occurring in adults and children, the characteristics and peculiarities of childhood TB may be unknown to policy makers and some clinicians, hence giving it less focus in control measures. The aim of this review is to highlight some of the characteristics and peculiarities of TB in children using PubMed/PubMed Central (PMC) and MEDLINE databases searched for relevant search strings from December, 2018 to September, 2019. Appropriate hard copies of books and journal articles were also&nbsp; included. Conclusion: While the management of TB in children is characterized by difficulties due to both peculiarities of children and the disease;&nbsp; with detailed clinical assessment and examination of necessary specimen in addition to strict adherence to the guidelines of the national TB control&nbsp; program, more cases of TB in children can be prevented, diagnosed, treated and reported.&nbsp

Interannual variation of chlorophyll-a concentration in the exclusive economic zone waters of Peninsular Malaysia

Chlorophyll-a concentration is one of the major indicators of phytoplankton production in the ocean. Identification of chlorophyll-a distribution and productivity is important to understand physical and biological processes in the ocean. The objectives of this study are to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of chlorophyll-a and to identify influence of sea surface temperature (SST) and current on chlorophyll-a concentration variation in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters of Peninsular Malaysia. Satellite data of chlorophyll-a concentration and SST (2007 to 2014) were derived from MODISAqua and geostrophic current was obtained from NOAA Ocean Watch. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis was used to determine the spatial and temporal variation of chlorophyll-a. Five modes represented the variation of chlorophyll-a. Mode 1 (60.62%) explained seasonal pattern, Mode 2 (27.83%) indicated patterns during the southwest monsoon, Mode 3 (19.96%) highlighted the inter monsoon of northeast to southwest. Mode 4 (19.57%) represented the northeast monsoon and Mode 5 (18.98%) explained inter monsoon of southwest to northeast. Variation of chlorophyll-a concentration was influenced by variability in SST and current during the monsoons. Variability in magnitude and direction of current circulation was observed to affect SST distribution thus influences concentration and distribution of chlorophyll-a