Study on optimum exploitation of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)

The increasing demands of the growing populations can be met by developing aquaculture. However in order to provide suitable grounds for consumption which is acceptable to different conditions and tastes, apart from producing a variety of products we also need to improve the methods of marketing and consumption. The silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) comprises about 50 to 85% of the composition of fish species in the polyculture of warm water species in Iran. However the difficulty in pretreatment of this species and the presence of pin bones are among the main reasons to restrict the demand of this species in the domestic markets, particularly in non-coastal provinces. In this project different aspects of silver carp processing studied as follow: 1. Use of fish fillet residuals in preparation of snack, cheese and ice cream 2. Use of fish meat in sausage and fish ball produce 3. Use of machinery to produce of without or low bones fillet and trimmed fillets. Fish sausages were studied in four experimental groups; Based on the results obtained it was evident that sausages in the experimental Group 1 (65% minced fish & 12 % soy bean oil) showed better taste and flavor as compared to those in the other groups. Fish ball were prepared using starch from four different sources (wheat, corn, potato and tapioca). Thirty different trials were tested by adding each starch source either individually or by mixing equal proportions of two sources of starch at a rate of 5, 10 and 15% to 80% ground meat of silver carp. Among trials containing two sources of starch, mixed trials with potato and wheat (5% potato + 5% wheat) were rated higher in organoleptic tests as compared to the other trials. Fifteen formulas were worked for preparing of fish cheese. The quality assessment of product showed that fish cheese in zero and 30 days after storage in 4֯ C were good and medium, respectively. Quantity enrichment of corn snack with FPC until 33% in fish snack preparation, have a best results among with other experiments. Fish ice cream made from fish protein concentrate type a that produced from silver carp in three steps by the extraction with isopropyl alcohol solvent and heat. The result showed that FPC replaced with 30%milk in ice cream formula has a best quality score. On the basis of recent findings, the deep part and a upper part on the back of the fish, like a relatively narrow band, are considered as boneless parts in silver carp. The aims of trimming project introduce best type of fillet trimming and machine for Silver Carp fillet. The results show percentage of waste in trimming by machinery line processing was less than handing, and fillet trimming speed by hand was most than machinery .Also final results of this study show machinery method or complex of handing and machinery for Silver carp fillet trimming are the best .speed rate in pine bone removing from silver carp fillet in handy method with using of transparent table and machinery method were 30-40 min per fish and 15 second per fish, respectively. Removing efficiency of bones from fillets in handy and machinery method were 50-60 and 90 %, respectively

Molecular Effects of Doxycycline Treatment on Pterygium as Revealed by Massive Transcriptome Sequencing

Pterygium is a lesion of the eye surface which involves cell proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, fibrosis, and extracellular matrix remodelling. Surgery is the only approved method to treat this disorder, but high recurrence rates are common. Recently, it has been shown in a mouse model that treatment with doxycycline resulted in reduction of the pterygium lesions. Here we study the mechanism(s) of action by which doxycycline achieves these results, using massive sequencing techniques. Surgically removed pterygia from 10 consecutive patients were set in short term culture and exposed to 0 (control), 50, 200, and 500 µg/ml doxycycline for 24 h, their mRNA was purified, reverse transcribed and sequenced through Illumina’s massive sequencing protocols. Acquired data were subjected to quantile normalization and analyzed using cytoscape plugin software to explore the pathways involved. False discovery rate (FDR) methods were used to identify 332 genes which modified their expression in a dose-dependent manner upon exposure to doxycycline. The more represented cellular pathways included all mitochondrial genes, the endoplasmic reticulum stress response, integrins and extracellular matrix components, and growth factors. A high correlation was obtained when comparing ultrasequencing data with qRT-PCR and ELISA results

Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9, published online 26 January 2022

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar was found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-negligible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic

Image overlay surgery based on augmented reality : a systematic review

Acknowledgements We thank the staff of the Medical Library of the University of Aberdeen for their advice and Prof. Jennifer Cleland and Dr Jenny Gregory for discussion and support. This work was funded by the Roland Sutton Academic Trust (0053/R/17) and an Elphinstone PhD Scholarship from the University of Aberdeen.Postprin