Effects of acclimation on the haematological indices of different groups of fresh water teleosts

Hematological parameters have been recognized as valuable tools for monitoring fish health. The aim of the present study was to obtain a basic knowledge of the hematological responses of different groups of fresh water teleosts during acclimation period. Haematological analysis was carried out in three different groups of teleosts namely Group I: Heteropneustes fossilis and Clarias gariepinus (Siluriformes), Group II: Anabas testudineus and Channa striatus (Perciformes), Group III: Labeo rohita and Cyprinus carpio (Cypriniformes). In all groups of teleosts, RBC and Hb were significantly (p<0.05) decreased after 7 days of captivity in response to stress factors raised in capture, handling and sampling procedure. WBC was found to be significantly (p<0.05) increased in group I (Siluriformes), group II (Perciformes) and group III (Cypriniformes) of teleosts after 7 days of captivity due to enhanced production of leucocytes in the hematopoietic tissue of the kidney and the spleen. RBC count and WBC count were found to be higher in H. fossilis and C. gariepinus than other groups of teleosts due to their active predacious nature. Hb values were high in 2nd group (Perciformes) consisting of A. testudineus and C. striatus by virtue of their possessions of accessory respiratory organs. PCV, MCV and MCHC were significantly (p<0.05) increased in three groups of teleosts during acclimation and values were high in second group of consisting of A. testudineus and C. striatus. MCH was higher in 3rd group of fishes consisting of L. rohita and C. carpio

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Patterns of Children and Adults With IgA Nephropathy or IgA Vasculitis: Findings From the CureGN Study

Introduction: The Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN) is a 66-center longitudinal observational study of patients with biopsy-confirmed minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy (IgAN), including IgA vasculitis (IgAV). This study describes the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns in the IgA cohort, including comparisons between IgAN versus IgAV and adult versus pediatric patients. Methods: Patients with a diagnostic kidney biopsy within 5 years of screening were eligible to join CureGN. This is a descriptive analysis of clinical and treatment data collected at the time of enrollment. Results: A total of 667 patients (506 IgAN, 161 IgAV) constitute the IgAN/IgAV cohort (382 adults, 285 children). At biopsy, those with IgAV were younger (13.0 years vs. 29.6 years, P < 0.001), more frequently white (89.7% vs. 78.9%, P = 0.003), had a higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (103.5 vs. 70.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2, P < 0.001), and lower serum albumin (3.4 vs. 3.8 g/dl, P < 0.001) than those with IgAN. Adult and pediatric individuals with IgAV were more likely than those with IgAN to have been treated with immunosuppressive therapy at or prior to enrollment (79.5% vs. 54.0%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: This report highlights clinical differences between IgAV and IgAN and between children and adults with these diagnoses. We identified differences in treatment with immunosuppressive therapies by disease type. This description of baseline characteristics will serve as a foundation for future CureGN studies

Effect of garlic on cardiovascular disorders: a review

Garlic and its preparations have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. Effectiveness of garlic in cardiovascular diseases was more encouraging in experimental studies, which prompted several clinical trials. Though many clinical trials showed a positive effect of garlic on almost all cardiovascular conditions mentioned above, however a number of negative studies have recently cast doubt on the efficary of garlic specially its cholesterol lowering effect of garlic. It is a great challenge for scientists all over the world to make a proper use of garlic and enjoy its maximum beneficial effect as it is the cheapest way to prevent cardiovascular disease. This review has attempted to make a bridge the gap between experimental and clinical study and to discuss the possible mechanisms of such therapeutic actions of garlic

FungalTraits:A user-friendly traits database of fungi and fungus-like stramenopiles

The cryptic lifestyle of most fungi necessitates molecular identification of the guild in environmental studies. Over the past decades, rapid development and affordability of molecular tools have tremendously improved insights of the fungal diversity in all ecosystems and habitats. Yet, in spite of the progress of molecular methods, knowledge about functional properties of the fungal taxa is vague and interpretation of environmental studies in an ecologically meaningful manner remains challenging. In order to facilitate functional assignments and ecological interpretation of environmental studies we introduce a user friendly traits and character database FungalTraits operating at genus and species hypothesis levels. Combining the information from previous efforts such as FUNGuild and Fun(Fun) together with involvement of expert knowledge, we reannotated 10,210 and 151 fungal and Stramenopila genera, respectively. This resulted in a stand-alone spreadsheet dataset covering 17 lifestyle related traits of fungal and Stramenopila genera, designed for rapid functional assignments of environmental studies. In order to assign the trait states to fungal species hypotheses, the scientific community of experts manually categorised and assigned available trait information to 697,413 fungal ITS sequences. On the basis of those sequences we were able to summarise trait and host information into 92,623 fungal species hypotheses at 1% dissimilarity threshold

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels

Value co-creation through knowledge exchange in franchising

Purpose - This paper proposes a knowledge-exchange framework for value co-creation in franchise network. Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual study integrates literature on franchising, knowledge based view of the firm, absorptive capacity, and service dominant logic to propose a theoretical framework for value co-creation in franchising using knowledge as an operant resource. Findings - The proposed framework suggests that in a franchise network (1) value is co-created by three key actors – franchisor, franchisees, and the customers; (2) the operant resource these key actors bring to the value creation process is knowledge; and (3) the absorptive capacity of principal actors and the appropriation hazard affect the flow and sharing of knowledge. Research limitations/implications - We hope that the proposed knowledge exchange framework for value co-creation in franchise networks provides an impetus for future research in this critical aspect of franchising – i.e., viewing knowledge as an operant resource and viewing the three actors as resource integrators and co-creators of value. Practical implications - The proposed framework suggests that managers in franchise industry should stop looking at consumers and franchisees as passive operand resources, but look at them as operant resource. They should also alter their perspective about the source of competitive advantage, with the focus shifting to knowledge as the operant resource. Originality/value - The study takes a new approach to value creation in a franchising network by introducing the concept of knowledge as an operant source

M2 - Endocrine, Winter 2008

The Endocrine Sequence is a two-week unit designed to teach the basic principles of hormone secretion and action and the clinical disorders which result from abnormalities of hormonal activities. Students are expected to be familiar with the functions of the endocrine glands, the structure, secretion and action of the important hormones, and the major clinical endocrine disorders. Emphasis will be placed on understanding pathophysiology and being able to use general principles in endocrine physiology (e.g. negative feedback) or in the management of endocrine disorders (e.g., insulin management) in consideration of specific circumstances and clinical cases.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/5/GHammer-AdrenalLectures08.ppthttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/6/RLash-Thyroid08.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/7/EOral-Obesity.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/8/RLash-Thyroid08.ppthttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/9/GHammer-AdrenalLectures08.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/10/RMenon-AbnormalDevelopment08.ppthttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/11/RMenon-AbnormalDevelopment08.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/12/EOral-Obesity.ppthttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/13/EOral-Obesity.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/14/EOral-Obesity.dochttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/15/EOral-obesity-NIHguide.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/16/EOral-obesity-NIH-WIN.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64949/17/m2endocrine-winter2008.zi