Valine requirement of postlarval tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon Fabricius

The valine requirement of juvenile tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon Fabricius, was determined. Shrimp postlarvae, PL20, with a mean weight of 14 mg, were randomly distributed in 36 oval 40-L capacity fibreglass tanks at 10 shrimp per tank in a flow-through seawater system and reared for 8 weeks. Postlarvae were fed amino acid test diets containing 400 g kg−1 protein with casein and gelatine as intact sources of protein. Crystalline L-amino acids were supplemented to simulate the amino acid profile of the shrimp muscle except valine. Valine was added in graded levels to obtain 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 and 22 g kg−1 of the diet or 18, 25, 33, 40, 48 and 55 g kg−1 of dietary protein. At termination of the feeding experiment, growth and survival were determined and nutritional deficiency signs noted. The relationship between weight gain and dietary valine level was analysed by the broken-line regression method to derive the valine requirement. The dietary valine requirement of Penaeus monodon postlarvae was found to be 13.5 g kg−1 of the diet or 34 g kg−1 of dietary protein. This value was lower than the level found in the shrimp tissue

Requirement for tryptophan by milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsskal) juveniles

Groups of milkfish juveniles (mean initial weight 7.7 g) were fed semipurified diets containing 0.9, 1.4, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 and 6.1 g tryptophan/kg dry diet for 12 weeks. The mean crude protein content of the diets (containing white fishmeal, gelatin and free amino acid mixture to simulate the pattern of hydrolysed milkfish protein) was 49%. On the basis of the growth response, the tryptophan requirement of milkfish juveniles was estimated to be 3.1 g/kg diet. Fish fed low levels of tryptophan exhibited low weight gains and poor feed conversion ratios. Survival (92–100%) was consistently high in all treatments. Fish fed diets containing tryptophan levels greater than 3.1 g/kg had slightly lower survival rates. The activity of hepatic tryptophan pyrrolase showed no significant differences with increasing dietary tryptophan levels. No nutritional deficiency signs were observed other than the depression in growth rates in fish given the tryptophan deficient diets

Proceedings of the second international molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE) meeting

Disease classification system increasingly incorporates information on pathogenic mechanisms to predict clinical outcomes and response to therapy and intervention. Technological advancements to interrogate omics (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, interactomics, etc.) provide widely open opportunities in population-based research. Molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE) represents integrative science of molecular pathology and epidemiology. This unified paradigm requires multidisciplinary collaboration between pathology, epidemiology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, and computational biology. Integration of these fields enables better understanding of etiologic heterogeneity, disease continuum, causal inference, and the impact of environment, diet, lifestyle, host factors (including genetics and immunity), and their interactions on disease evolution. Hence, the Second International MPE Meeting was held in Boston in December 2014, with aims to: (1) develop conceptual and practical frameworks; (2) cultivate and expand opportunities; (3) address challenges; and (4) initiate the effort of specifying guidelines for MPE. The meeting mainly consisted of presentations of method developments and recent data in various malignant neoplasms and tumors (breast, prostate, ovarian and colorectal cancers, renal cell carcinoma, lymphoma, and leukemia), followed by open discussion sessions on challenges and future plans. In particular, we recognized need for efforts to further develop statistical methodologies. This meeting provided an unprecedented opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration, consistent with the purposes of the Big Data to Knowledge, Genetic Associations and Mechanisms in Oncology, and Precision Medicine Initiative of the US National Institute of Health. The MPE meeting series can help advance transdisciplinary population science and optimize training and education systems for twenty-first century medicine and public health