Stress: The Silent Sickness

From cramming for a test to arguing with a friend, individuals experience stress every day. While stress can be beneficial in certain situations, letting stress get out of control can lead to a variety of mental and physical health issues. This article examines the different types of stress, ways to cope with stress, and the overall effect of stress on human health

Virtual Socializing: Its Motives and Spread

Virtual communities constitute an important attribute through which social dialogues are mediated. The emergence of online communities is the outcome of the prevalence of web based technologies. In the world of inter and intra connectedness individuals have the prerogative to get connected to the community of their choice. The present study examines the magnitude and motivations of online social networking through field survey method.virtual socializing, online communities, social networking, virtual platforms, virtual communities

Carbohydrate and Protein are an Attribute to Enhance the Life-History Determinants in Drosophila

Dietary restriction extends life span across a vast diversity of taxa, but the key nutritional components driving this process and how they interact remain uncertain. In Drosophila, while a substantial body of research suggests that protein is the major dietary component affecting longevity, recent studies claim that carbohydrates also play a central role. To clarify how nutritional factors influence longevity, nutrient consumption and lifespan were measured on a series of diets with varying casein and sugar content. Increased dietary carbohydrate or protein concentration does not always result in increased longevity. Our study indicates that the combination of carbohydrate and protein has certainly experiences significant effects with increased values rather than only carbohydrates nor only protein for the life history traits recorded. Thus the media enriched with the rich sources of food composition as resulted with enhanced mating activity, productivity and longevity in Drosophila melanogaster

Seasonal availability and population structure of Eurobowmaniella simulans W. Tattersall, 1915 (Crustacea: Mysida) along Vizhinjam coast, Kerala, India

Eurobowmaniella simulans is the commonly available species of mysid along the Vizhinjam coast of Kerala. Sampling of mysids has been carried out over a period of one year from March 2014 to February 2015 to study the seasonal availability and population structure. Monthly samples of mysids consisted of individuals in various developmental stages, from juveniles to mature mysids around the year, but their percentage availability varied. The peak availability of mysids was recorded during September (2014) (avg. 48,731 numbers per haul) and their availability was lowest in July (2014) with an average of 2 individuals per haul. The availability of brooding or ovigerous females were observed throughout the year and highest and lowest percentage availability was during November (2014) and April (2014) respectively. Morphometric measurements of E. simulans revealed that their average size (TL) ranged from 2.35±0.52 mm- (juvenile) to 7.47±1.75 mm (adult). Sex could be first distinguished externally when mysid attains the total length between 4.1 mm and 5 mm. Analysis of variance of different water quality parameters and mysid density comparing seasons revealed that there was significant variation of mysid availability between seasons (P < 0.05). Multivariate Pearson’s correlation analysis of water quality parameters and mysid density showed that there was a significant relation with chlorophyll a content (P < 0.001) of seawater. The present study also revealed that mysids are available in harvestable quantities for aquaculture purposes from August to November

Natural Adsorbents for Agricultural Waste Water Treatment

In now a days, water problems have been one of the focus of great International concern and debate. Environmental pollution is mainly due to rapid industrialization. It is a demanding problem for maintaining the quality and cleanness of water. The discharges of industrial wastes in to aquatic bodies are a great threat to the aquatic life as well as for human health also. It is a matter of great importance due to their toxicity and after effects. Adsorption is an ecofriendly technique used now a days to treat the agricultural waste water. The sewage water is firstly filtered through suitable low cost and ecofriendly filter medias. Then the filtered water is subjected to adsorption using low cost and easily available natural adsorbents like banana peels and M. Thilapia fish scales. The combination of both these adsorbents was used for treatment of waste water with different proportion of height and contact time. The treated water obtained will have a considerable decrease in TDS, bacterial count, nitrogen content, Iron content, Potassium, TSS, turbidity, phosphorous, etc. as compared to initial characteristics of agro wastewater. This method is highly economic, cost effective and eco-friendly. This helps in reducing the water scarcity with the use of low cost adsorbents

Enhanced Protein Diet Accelerates the Rate of Development-A Study in Drosophila Nasuta Nasuta

Effects of dietary conditions on many life history traits have been studied for a long time with Drosophila. The present study is aimed to show the influence of protein on development time andrateofdevelopment.Drosophilanasuta nasuta flies were fed on the different concentrations of protein (Brewer’s yeast) with sugar (Glucose), showed significant differences in relation to developmental time and rate of development. As observed, the flies reared on high protein diet showed significantly faster metamorphosis and decreased viabilit

INCOIS-GODAS-MOM: Ocean Analysis for the Indian Ocean: Configuration, Validation and Product Dissemination

The ocean covers approximately 71% of the earth surface and it significantly influences the global and regional climates and the weather and monsoon systems. Climate variability and its socio-economic impact clearly emphasizes the need to understand the system to enable better forecasts. Unlike land, where the operational networks of meteorological observations placed all over the world have enabled us to monitor changes in the global atmosphere, the global coverage of the subsurface observations in the ocean is largely under sampled. With the advent of Argo and moored buoy programs, there was a considerable increase in the amount of oceanic data during the last decade. However, the data is still inadequate to understand the dynamics and thermodynamics of the ocean on different spatial and temporal scale

Morphological, anatomical and reproductive features of Loliolus (Loliolus) hardwickei (Gray, 1849) caught from the Vizhinjam Coast, Kerala, India

The morphological, anatomical and reproductive features of the little Indian squid, Loliolus (Loliolus) hardwickei (Gray, 1849) were studied based on samples collected from boat seine operated along the Vizhinjam Coast. The species was found to be a new entrant to the fishery along the Vizhinjam Coast. A total of 27 morphometric characters were measured and 13 indices were calculated and reported. Dorsal mantle length (DML) of the specimens ranged from 2.6 to 6.8 cm with a mean DML of 4.5±0.88 cm. The largest specimen observed was a male with DML 6.8 cm. Fully mature (Stage IV) specimens were found to have a higher gonadosomatic index (12.54±2.64 in females and 0.8±0.21 in males). Average length and width of spermatophores were 3.078±0.092 mm and 0.11±0.02 mm respectively. Samples with higher DML were in advanced maturity stages (Stage V). Size composition (DML) of samples revealed that 50% of squids were within the 4-5 cm size range