Assessing the impacts of climate change on marine fisheries of Karnataka and identifying regime shifts

Climate related regime shifts, namely the rapid reorganization of marine ecosystems from one relatively stable state to another, have been reported from several parts of the world, and found responsible for the fluctuations of major fisheries. Time series on ocean-atmosphere parameters together with time series on plankton and/or fish abundance has been extensively used for identifying regime shifts in the oceans from several parts of the globe

An instance of mass mortality in the Muttukadu farm near Madras during April 1983

An unusual mortality of fishes and other organisms was observed in the open site surrounding the farm at Mariculture Centre of CMFRI, Muttukadu.at 1983. During this season the prevailing high temperature and salinity and the enclosed nature of the water body, all resulted in an intense bloom of dinophytes. This led to oxygen depletion of the waters and then, very likely, of the mud. The regular operation of drag nets and gill nets has stirred up the mud and created large scale disturbance which, combined with the oxygen depletion, must have precipitated the crisis and led to the mortality of prawns and fishes

Dealing with inaccurate face detection for automatic gender recognition with partially occluded faces

Gender recognition problem has not been extensively studied in situations where the face cannot be accurately detected and it also can be partially occluded. In this contribution, a comparison of several characterisation methods of the face is presented and they are evaluated in four different experiments that simulate the previous scenario. Two of the characterization techniques are based on histograms, LBP and local contrast values, and the other one is a new kind of features, called Ranking Labels, that provide spatial information. Experiments have proved Ranking Labels description is the most reliable in inaccurate situation

Mangrove ecosystems of Kerala: Resources north of Cochin

Mangroves are salt tolerant marshy vegetation found mainly along the tropical and subtropical intertidal regions of the world comprising trees and shrubs, adapted to thrive in shallow, muddy, salt and brackish waters. The canals, creeks and the estuarine environment provide home for a wide variety of aquatic fauna and the arid zone forms the nesting grounds for aquatic birds. Mangroves constitute the breeding and nursery grounds for the larvae and juveniles of commercially important species of prawns, fishes and molluscs

Interferon Gamma-Dependent Intestinal Pathology Contributes to the Lethality in Bacterial Superantigen-Induced Toxic Shock Syndrome

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) caused by the superantigen exotoxins of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes is characterized by robust T cell activation, profound elevation in systemic levels of multiple cytokines, including interferon-γ (IFN-γ), followed by multiple organ dysfunction and often death. As IFN-γ possesses pro- as well as anti-inflammatory properties, we delineated its role in the pathogenesis of TSS. Antibody-mediated in vivo neutralization of IFN-γ or targeted disruption of IFN-γ gene conferred significant protection from lethal TSS in HLA-DR3 transgenic mice. Following systemic high dose SEB challenge, whereas the HLA-DR3.IFN-γ+/+ mice became sick and succumbed to TSS, HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− mice appeared healthy and were significantly protected from SEB-induced lethality. SEB-induced systemic cytokine storm was significantly blunted in HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− transgenic mice. Serum concentrations of several cytokines (IL-4, IL-10, IL-12p40 and IL-17) and chemokines (KC, rantes, eotaxin and MCP-1) were significantly lower in HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− transgenic mice. However, SEB-induced T cell expansion in the spleens was unaffected and expansion of SEB-reactive TCR Vβ8+ CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was even more pronounced in HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− transgenic mice when compared to HLA-DR3.IFN-γ+/+ mice. A systematic histopathological examination of several vital organs revealed that both HLA-DR3.IFN-γ+/+ and HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− transgenic mice displayed comparable severe inflammatory changes in lungs, and liver during TSS. Remarkably, whereas the small intestines from HLA-DR3.IFN-γ+/+ transgenic mice displayed significant pathological changes during TSS, the architecture of small intestines in HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− transgenic mice was preserved. In concordance with these histopathological changes, the gut permeability to macromolecules was dramatically increased in HLA-DR3.IFN-γ+/+ but not HLA-DR3.IFN-γ−/− mice during TSS. Overall, IFN-γ seemed to play a lethal role in the immunopathogenesis of TSS by inflicting fatal small bowel pathology. Our study thus identifies the important role for IFN-γ in TSS

Self-similar shear-thickening behavior in CTAB/NaSal surfactant solutions

The effect of salt concentration Cs on the critical shear rate required for the onset of shear thickening and apparent relaxation time of the shear-thickened phase, has been investigated systematically for dilute CTAB/NaSal solutions. Experimental data suggest a self-similar behavior of the critical shear rate and relaxation time as functions of Cs. Specifically, the former ~ Cs^(-6) whereas the latter ~ Cs^(6) such that an effective Weissenberg number for the onset of the shear thickened phase is only weakly dependent on Cs. A procedure has been developed to collapse the apparent shear viscosity versus shear rate data obtained for various values of Cs into a single master curve. The effect of Cs on the elastic modulus and mesh size of the shear-induced gel phase for different surfactant concentrations is discussed. Experiments performed using different flow cells (Couette and cone-and-plate) show that the critical shear rate, relaxation time and the maximum viscosity attained are geometry-independent. The elastic modulus of the gel phase inferred indirectly by employing simplified hydrodynamic instability analysis of a sheared gel-fluid interface is in qualitative agreement with that predicted for an entangled phase of living polymers. A qualitative mechanism that combines the effect of Cs on average micelle length and Debye parameter with shear-induced configurational changes of rod-like micelles is proposed to rationalize the self-similarity of SIS formation.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figure

Multiomic analysis of oral keratinocytes chronically exposed to shisha

Background: Tobacco is smoked in different form including cigarettes and water pipes. One popular form of water pipe smoking especially in Middle Eastern countries is shisha smoking. Shisha has been associated with various diseases including oral cancer. However, genomic alterations and gene expression changes associated with chronic shisha exposure have not been previously investigated. Objectives: Whole‐exome sequencing and gene expression profiling of immortalized human oral keratinocytes (OKF6/TERT1) cells chronically treated with 0.5% shisha extract for a period of 8 months was undertaken to characterize molecular alterations associated with shisha exposure. Methods: Genomic DNA and RNA were extracted and preprocessed as per manufacturer's instruction and subjected to whole‐exome and transcriptome sequencing using Illumina HiSeq2500 platform. Exome was analyzed using GATK pipeline whereas RNA‐Seq data was analyzed using HiSat2 and HTSeq along with DESeq to elucidate differentially expressed genes. Results: Whole‐exome sequence analysis led to identification of 521 somatic missense variants corresponding to 389 genes RNA‐Seq data revealed 247 differentially expressed genes (≥2‐fold, P‐value<0.01) in shisha treated cells compared to parental cells. Pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that interferon‐signaling pathway was significantly affected. We predict activation of MAPK1 pathway which is known to play a key role in oral cancer. We also observed allele specific expression of mutant LIMA1 based on RNA‐Seq dataset. Conclusion: Our findings provide insights into genomic alterations and gene expression pattern associated with oral keratinocytes chronically exposed to shisha

Origin of giant photocontraction in obliquely deposited amorphous Ge_xSe_{1-x} thin- films and the intermediate phase

Obliquely deposited amorphous Ge_xSe{1-x} thin-films at several compositions in the 0.15 < x < 0.333 range, and at several obliqueness angles in the 0 < alpha < 80 range at each x were evaporated on Si and glass substrates. Here alpha designates the angle between film normal and direction of vapor transport. Raman scattering, ir reflectance and optical absorption measurements were undertaken to characterize the vibrational density of states and optical band gaps. Edge views of films in SEM confirm the columnar structure of obliquely (alpha = 80) deposited films. Films, mounted in a cold stage flushed with N2 gas, were irradiated to UV radiation from a Hg-Xe arc lamp, an

3D Hepatic Cultures Simultaneously Maintain Primary Hepatocyte and Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cell Phenotypes

Developing in vitro engineered hepatic tissues that exhibit stable phenotype is a major challenge in the field of hepatic tissue engineering. However, the rapid dedifferentiation of hepatic parenchymal (hepatocytes) and non-parenchymal (liver sinusoidal endothelial, LSEC) cell types when removed from their natural environment in vivo remains a major obstacle. The primary goal of this study was to demonstrate that hepatic cells cultured in layered architectures could preserve or potentially enhance liver-specific behavior of both cell types. Primary rat hepatocytes and rat LSECs (rLSECs) were cultured in a layered three-dimensional (3D) configuration. The cell layers were separated by a chitosan-hyaluronic acid polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM), which served to mimic the Space of Disse. Hepatocytes and rLSECs exhibited several key phenotypic characteristics over a twelve day culture period. Immunostaining for the sinusoidal endothelial 1 antibody (SE-1) demonstrated that rLSECs cultured in the 3D hepatic model maintained this unique feature over twelve days. In contrast, rLSECs cultured in monolayers lost their phenotype within three days. The unique stratified structure of the 3D culture resulted in enhanced heterotypic cell-cell interactions, which led to improvements in hepatocyte functions. Albumin production increased three to six fold in the rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures. Only rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures exhibited increasing CYP1A1/2 and CYP3A activity. Well-defined bile canaliculi were observed only in the rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures. Together, these data suggest that rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures are highly suitable models to monitor the transformation of toxins in the liver and their transport out of this organ. In summary, these results indicate that the layered rLSEC-PEM-hepatocyte model, which recapitulates key features of hepatic sinusoids, is a potentially powerful medium for obtaining comprehensive knowledge on liver metabolism, detoxification and signaling pathways in vitro

Dendrimers toward translational nanotherapeutics: concise key step analysis

The goal of nanomedicine is to address specific clinical problems optimally, to fight human diseases, and to find clinical relevance to change clinical practice. Nanomedicine is poised to revolutionize medicine via the development of more precise diagnostic and therapeutic tools. The field of nanomedicine encompasses numerous features and therapeutic disciplines. A plethora of nanomolecular structures have been engineered and developed for therapeutic applications based on their multitasking abilities and the wide functionalization of their core scaffolds and surface groups. Within nanoparticles used for nanomedicine, dendrimers as well polymers have demonstrated strong potential as nanocarriers, therapeutic agents, and imaging contrast agents. In this review, we present and discuss the different criteria and parameters to be addressed to prepare and develop druggable nanoparticles in general and dendrimers in particular. We also describe the major requirements, included in the preclinical and clinical roadmap, for NPs/dendrimers for the preclinical stage to commercialization. Ultimately, we raise the clinical translation of new nanomedicine issues.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio