201 research outputs found
Heavy landings of juveniles of Indian scad, Decapterus russelli at Munambam Fisheries Harbour
Among the carangid fishes, the Indian scad,
Decapterus russelli is an important pelagic fish and
a major commercial species contributing to the
marine fisheries of Kerala. The fish is locally called
“kozhuchala” and it forms a regular fishery. The
species is often caught as by-catch in shrimp trawl
nets having cod-end mesh sizes ranging from 15 mm
to 20 mm that is operated in the depth range of 55-
90 m almost throughout the year. They are consumed
fresh as well as sun dried form
Plan@Earth- NGO for turning waste as a resource
Plan@Earth is a Voluntary organisation registered as a charitable trust under the
Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act (Reg No ER-313/09).
It works in the area of environment conservation by offering solutions for waste
management. Plan@Earth believes that “waste is not a trash but a resource” and
proper waste management is the vital part for sustainable development of society. The
activities of Plan@Earth are directed towards the 6 Rs namely, Reduce, Reuse, Refuse,
Restructure, Remove and Recycle. The first 3 Rs are achieved through awareness classes,
campaigns, street-plays. The other 3 Rs are achieved by training the community to
segregate waste at source followed by door to door collection of waste from over 20000
households using push carts and directing clean and dry waste collected for recycling.
The dry waste that cannot be recycled are washed and made into bags, file-folders,
items of home décor using the method of up-cycling. With the help of the mechanical
engineering dept of SNGCE College, Kolenchery, Plan@Earth has also developed a
machine to make “Eco-Bricks” using discarded plastic packaging and sand. Every year
Plan@Earth carries out nearly 200 awareness classes and uses mimes, skits, street
plays and dramas performed by student volunteers to get the message across to the
public. Each project in this NGO can support 20-25 women from poorer backgrounds
as means for poverty alleviation
Rescue of stranded Hawksbill turtle in Kollam, Kerala
On 27th March, 2019, fisher folks of Kakkathoppu, a coastal area of Kollam district in Kerala, India, found a Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), stranded in the rocky seashore (Fig1). The turtle was live female that weighed approximately 50 kg having a carapace length of 48 cm. According to the local fishermen, the turtle was unable to swim back to sea due to ruptured carapace and fatigued condition. On primary evaluation, barnacles were observed to be covering a part of its body and the carapace as well as head region were found exposed to sunburn
Insight into the gut microbiology of wild-caught Mangrove Red Snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Forsskal, 1775)
Documenting bacteria present in healthy individuals forms the first step in understanding the effects of microbial
manipulation in aquaculture systems. Among the commensal microflora, gut microbiota has attracted extensive
attention owing to their role in host metabolism and health maintenance. Basic knowledge on normal gut microbes
within a particular host species is thus essential to determine how successfully these microbes can be
manipulated and engineered for sustainable aquaculture systems. In spite of the good aquaculture potential of
Mangrove red snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus, the information on microbial communities associated with the
gut of this fish, and their contribution towards digestive efficiency and disease resistance is scarce. Therefore, an
attempt was made to elucidate the abundance and diversity of cultivable gut microbes of wild caught L. argentimaculatus
along with their digestive exoenzyme profiles and prohibitory effect against fish pathogens.
Results on abundance showed similar gut bacterial loads as that of other marine fish imposing the less contribution
of microflora to the volume of gut materials in fish. Eleven distinct bacterial species including two
proposed novel vibrios were identified. An incidental observation of Morganella morganii throughout samples is
an alarming signal, emphasizing the need for immediate de-gutting to avoid histamine intoxication. Abundance
of digestive enzyme producers and excellent enzymatic potential of some isolates suggested the contribution of
digestive enzymes may supplement to the symbiosis between gut flora and host and the information is of interest
to aquaculture nutritionists/commercial industries. Interestingly, some isolates demonstrated estimable co-aggregation
with aquatic pathogens, indicating their involvement in disease resistance and the results correlated
well with gut microbial diversity. These findings highlight the significant role of gut microbes towards nutritional
physiology and disease resistance of this aquaculture candidate in natural ecosystem. The culturable
microbiota profiles of wild fish generated in the study can be applied for measuring the quality of husbandry
routines in aquaculture facility of this marine fish. Overall, the present study fetches insights on the gut microbiome
of healthy L. argentimaculatus which forms a platform for follow-up studies. The study may also help in
the development of “functional” fish feeds for L. argentimaculatus. The investigation also demonstrated some
potential digestive enzyme-producing isolates having probiotic applications in commercial aquaculture
Evidence-based sizing of non-inferiority trials using decision models
Abstract
Background
There are significant challenges to the successful conduct of non-inferiority trials because they require large numbers to demonstrate that an alternative intervention is “not too much worse” than the standard. In this paper, we present a novel strategy for designing non-inferiority trials using an approach for determining the appropriate non-inferiority margin (δ), which explicitly balances the benefits of interventions in the two arms of the study (e.g. lower recurrence rate or better survival) with the burden of interventions (e.g. toxicity, pain), and early and late-term morbidity.
Methods
We use a decision analytic approach to simulate a trial using a fixed value for the trial outcome of interest (e.g. cancer incidence or recurrence) under the standard intervention (pS) and systematically varying the incidence of the outcome in the alternative intervention (pA). The non-inferiority margin, pA – pS = δ, is reached when the lower event rate of the standard therapy counterbalances the higher event rate but improved morbidity burden of the alternative. We consider the appropriate non-inferiority margin as the tipping point at which the quality-adjusted life-years saved in the two arms are equal.
Results
Using the European Polyp Surveillance non-inferiority trial as an example, our decision analytic approach suggests an appropriate non-inferiority margin, defined here as the difference between the two study arms in the 10-year risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, of 0.42% rather than the 0.50% used to design the trial. The size of the non-inferiority margin was smaller for higher assumed burden of colonoscopies.
Conclusions
The example demonstrates that applying our proposed method appears feasible in real-world settings and offers the benefits of more explicit and rigorous quantification of the various considerations relevant for determining a non-inferiority margin and associated trial sample size.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146777/1/12874_2018_Article_643.pd
Fish models in experimental pharmacology: on the mark or off the mark
Fish has emerged as an alternative model organism in
biomedical research for conducting experimental pharmacological and toxicological studies. As a vertebrate,
it shares many conserved physiological and molecular
features with humans making it a valuable model for
diagnosing, investigating disease states and testing drugs
to check toxicity and therapeutic activity against the
target. Zebrafish and medaka are mainstream models
that are widely employed in pharmaceutical research.
This study aims to highlight the probability and potential
of fish as an alternative model organism in biomedical
research, drug discovery and development. Further, it
discusses the limitations of fish models in experimental
pharmacological and toxicological studies considering
the changes in the residing environment, physiology,
metabolism, unpredictable inter-individual variability
due to diseases, variable conditioning, and interspecific
and intraspecific variability
Development of a novel multiplex-PCR technology for simultaneous detection of five major aquaculture pathogens
Early and precise pathogen identification and corresponding disease management are primary concerns in aquaculture. Here, we attempted at diagnostic methods that can simultaneously identify multiple pathogens, where many samples, several pathogens, and concurrent infections are to be handled. Hence, a multiplex PCR assay targeting five major aquaculture pathogens, viz. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio anguillarum, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio harveyi was developed for the first time. The primers targeting toxR of V. parahaemolyticus, amiB of V. anguillarum, col o
The association between patient attitudes and values and the strength of consideration for contralateral prophylactic mastectomy in a population‐based sample of breast cancer patients
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140052/1/cncr30924_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140052/2/cncr30924.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140052/3/cncr30924-sup-0002-suppinfo.pd
Hemolymph of healthy Doclea rissoni Leach, 1815: A pool for Vibrionaceae?
As diseases have a great impact on the population dynamics,
evolution and immune biology of affected organisms, it is
important to understand the modes and mechanisms of interaction
among the lower animals and their microbial symbionts in nature
function together for survival. To achieve this, it is important to
understand the community structure of the native flora of these
animals. Spider crabs are well known for their tolerance to various
pollutants. Nevertheless, the microbiology of their circulatory
systems and their role in disease transmission are unknown.
Therefore, the bacteria associated with the hemolymph of a spider
crab, Doclea rissoni in its natural ecosystem was characterized.
Nine healthy crabs were collected from the coastal areas of Kochi,
and their hemolymphs were collected. Enumeration of viable
bacteria using various media revealed a similar count in all the
media (7-10×102 CFU/ml). Characterization of representative
isolates by conventional microbiological methods and 16S rRNA
gene sequencing was followed. Despite using three different
media, all isolates belonged to a single family Vibrionaceae. There
were two genera as Vibrio (86.67%) and Photobacterium (13.33%).
Among Vibrio, five species belonging to three different clades were
isolated, of which two could not be assigned to any known
species. These were classified as novel species (belonging to
Harveyi clade and, Brasiliensis clade) and their description is
underway. The order of relative abundance
was V. alginolyticus>Novel Vibrio-II>P. damselae>V. furnissii /
V. parahaemolyticus / Novel Vibrio-I. Of these, V. alginolyticus, P.
damselae and V. furnissii are implicated in occasional disease
outbreaks in humans and animals, posing an increased risk to
human economic activity, notably aquaculture practices. Therefore,
further investigations are required to find the basis for the
mutualistic relationship of vibrios in different crabs
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