Record of the sea slug, Kalinga ornata Alder & Hancock, 1864 from the inshore waters of Bay of Bengal along Chennai coast

Sea slugs were caught in the trawl net operated off north Chennai at a depth of around 100-150 m during early hours of 24 June 2011. The specimens were classified and identified as Kalinga ornata and deposited in the Marine Biodiversity Museum of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi (Accession code: DB. 40.1.1.). Although sea slugs have been found in these waters, there are limited studies on identification to the species level. Kalinga ornata was reported in India during 1936 from Kolkata and further there are no published reports on occurrence of of this species along the east coast of India

A community based study on dengue awareness and preventive practices among urban slum population in Hyderabad, South India

Background: Dengue is identified as public health problem due to its rapid spread throughout the world. In India raising trend of dengue cases in monsoon is being observed. Objectives were to determine the level of awareness regarding dengue fever and practice of preventive measures and its association with socio-demographic factors; and to find out the association between awareness and practice of preventive measures.Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 150 residents of urban slum area, Shaikpet. Mean scores of awareness and practices were found and with a cut off >60% categorized as good. Chi-square test was used to find association with socio-demographic factors. Logistic regression was done for risk estimation.Results: The awareness regarding dengue fever was only 22.7% with a mean score, 8.1 (SD=3.74). Good practices were shown by 55.3% with a mean score of 10.7 (SD=5). Among those who were aware majority belonged to higher educational level (p=0.048). A significant difference was observed between income and occupation with practices. A positive correlation was found between awareness and practices in dengue fever (r=0.511, p<0.001). Females (OR=2.5) and school level education (OR=3.4) were predictors of poor awareness while professionals and low income were predictors of poor practices (p<0.05).Conclusions: Better aware people were found to practice preventive measures. So, grass root level workers can provide health education among households focusing on behaviour change, regarding preventive measures. Appropriate use of information, education and communication through mass media and social network will be beneficial

Zika virus infection induces endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in placental trophoblasts

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection to a pregnant woman can be vertically transmitted to the fetus via the placenta leading to Congenital Zika syndrome. This is characterized by microcephaly, retinal defects, and intrauterine growth retardation. ZIKV induces placental trophoblast apoptosis leading to severe abnormalities in the growth and development of the fetus. However, the molecular mechanism behind ZIKV-induced apoptosis in placental trophoblasts remains unclear. We hypothesize that ZIKV infection induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the trophoblasts, and sustained ER stress results in apoptosis. HTR-8 (HTR-8/SVneo), a human normal immortalized trophoblast cell and human choriocarcinoma-derived cell lines (JEG-3 and JAR) were infected with ZIKV. Biochemical and structural markers of apoptosis like caspase 3/7 activity and percent apoptotic nuclear morphological changes, respectively were assessed. ZIKV infection in placental trophoblasts showed an increase in the levels of CHOP mRNA and protein expression, which is an inducer of apoptosis. Next, we also observed increased levels of ER stress markers such as phosphorylated forms of inositol-requiring transmembrane kinase/endoribonuclease 1α (P-IRE1α), and its downstream target, the spliced form of XBP1 mRNA, phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (P-eIF2α), and activation of cJun N-terminal Kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) after 16–24 h of ZIKV infection in trophoblasts. Inhibition of JNK or pan-caspases using small molecule inhibitors significantly prevented ZIKV-induced apoptosis in trophoblasts. Further, JNK inhibition also reduced XBP1 mRNA splicing and viral E protein staining in ZIKV infected cells. In conclusion, the mechanism of ZIKV-induced placental trophoblast apoptosis involves the activation of ER stress and JNK activation, and the inhibition of JNK dramatically prevents ZIKV-induced trophoblast apoptosis

A COMPARATIVE MICROMETRY AND HISTOCHEMICAL STUDY ON THE OVIDUCT OF WHITE LEG HORN AND RHODE ISLAND RED CHICKEN

The present work was conducted on oviduct of 20 weeks old White leg horn (WLH) and Rhode Island Red (RIR) chickens to observe and compare the micrometrical variation and histochemical reaction of the oviduct segments between WLH and RIR breeds of chickens.The micrometrical observation revealed that there were better developments of mean thickness of tunica mucosa and epithelial surface height of different parts oviduct in WLH than RIR chickens. In both the breeds the thickness of the tunica mucosa gradually increased from infundibulum to vagina but the tunica mucosa of isthmus was thicker than that of uterus where as the epithelial height was more in vagina and less in infundibulum. Finding of more glycogen content by best carmine staining and the PAS activity for neutral mucopolysaccharide in various segments of WLH’s oviduct suggested better mitochondrial activity and functional ability for egg production in WLH in comparison to RIR chickens

Hurricane Forecasts with a Mesoscale Suite of Models

A suite of mesoscale models are being used in the present study to examine experimental forecast performance for tracks and intensity of hurricanes covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. Fifty-eight storm cases are being considered in the present study. Most of the mesoscale models are being run at a horizontal resolution at around 9 km. This includes the WRF (two versions), MM5, HWRF, GFDL and DSHP. The performances of forecasts are evaluated using absolute errors for storm track and intensity. Our consensus forecasts utilize ensemble mean and a bias corrected ensemble mean for these member models on the mesoscale and the large-scale model suites. Comparing the forecast statistics for the mesoscale suite, the large-scale suite and the combined suite we find that the mesoscale suite provided the best track forecasts for 60 and 72 h. However, the forecast from the combined suite of model were also very close to the track errors of the mesoscale at 60 and 72 h. Overall track forecast errors were least for the combined suite. The intensity forecasts of the bias corrected ensemble mean of the mesoscale suite were comparable to DSHP and GFDL at the later part of the forecast periods

Impact of CAMEX-4 Data Sets for Hurricane Forecasts using a Global Model

This study explores the impact on hurricane data assimilation and forecasts from the use of dropsondes and remote-sensed moisture profiles from the airborne Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system. We show that the use of these additional data sets, above those from the conventional world weather watch, has a positive impact on hurricane predictions. The forecast tracks and intensity from the experiments show a marked improvement compared to the control experiment where such data sets were excluded. A study of the moisture budget in these hurricanes showed enhanced evaporation and precipitation over the storm area. This resulted in these data sets making a large impact on the estimate of mass convergence and moisture fluxes, which were much smaller in the control runs. Overall this study points to the importance of high vertical resolution humidity data sets for improved model results. We note that the forecast impact from the moisture profiling data sets for some of the storms is even larger than the impact from the use of dropwindsonde based winds

Antagonistic activity of cellular components of Pseudomonas species against Aeromonas hydrophila

Antagonistic effects of Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. aeruginosa and P. putida were studied against 12 strains of Aeromonas hydrophila (Ah1–Ah12). Four different fractions of cellular component (i.e. whole cell product, heat killed whole cell product, intra cellular product and extra cellular product) of all Pseudomonas species were equally effective in reducing growth of A. hydrophila strains, as measured by the zone of inhibition in an in vitro sensitivity test and have potential action against A. hydrophila infection in fishes

The correlation of cardiovascular risk factors and angiographic findings with serum vitamin D levels in patients undergoing coronary angiography

Background: Studies regarding correlation of various conventional risks factors for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) are many. Keeping in mind the scarcity of studies regarding Vit-D Deficiency (VDD), a new risk factor in CAD, present study was conducted to correlate Vit-D level with conventional risk factors and Coronary Angiography (CAG).Methods: Hundred adult patients admitted to Medicine and Cardiology undergoing CAG with suspected or established CAD were kept in study. Patients having renal, hepatic, parathyroid disease, osteomalacia and patients taking drugs interfering with Vitamin D (Vit-D) metabolism were excluded. After detailed history and thorough clinical examination, routine investigations and 25-(OH) D level was estimated. Subsequently patients underwent CAG. Statistical analysis by Mann Whitey test and Chi-square Test was done and inference was drawn.Results: 100 patients in different age groups had hypertension (HTN) in 53, diabetics mellitus (DM) 39, dyslipidemia 62, smokers 38 and family history of CAD 19. CAG showed normal coronaries in 4, Single Vessel Disease (SVD) in 30, double vessel diseases (DVD) 43 and triple vessel disease (TVD) 22. Vit-D level 30ng/ml (normal) in 10. VDD was profound in 51-60 and 61-70 years age groups. Statistical correlation of VDD was not significant with conventional risk factors, but statistically significant correlation of VDD was observed with dyslipidemia and CAG findings in our study.Conclusions: Like earlier studies we observed significant correlation of Vit-D levels with CAD. Though dyslipidemia was significantly correlated with VDD, correlation of other conventional risk factors like age, sex, HTN, DM, smoking and family history was not found. We conclude from this study presence of significant association of VDD with severe CAD. DVD and TVD by CAG were common with low Vit-D levels