Identification of potential biomarkers in the hippocampus region for the diagnosis of ADHD using PBL-McRBFN approach

Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a disruptive behavior disorder is receiving lots of attention because of its complexity and need for early detection. This paper presents a study on identification of potential biomarkers in the diagnosis of ADHD based on the structural-MRI of the brain obtained through ADHD-200 competition data set. The region of the brain considered here is "hippocampus". The grey matter probability of the T1 images is segmented followed by tissue alignment and inter subject normalization. Then, the voxels of the hippocampus are segregated using a region-of-interest mask, and the grey matter tissue probability values are obtained. These values are then used as features to classify ADHD patients against typically developing controls using a projection based learning algorithm for a meta-cognitive radial basis function network (PBL-McRBFN) and compared the results with that of support vector machines. Initially we take all the voxels of hippocampus for our study and then we have selected the most relevant voxels as a biomarker using Chi-square approach and developed a classifier to diagnosis ADHD. The results clearly highlight that use of hippocampus from the structural-MRI is sufficient to diagnosis ADHD to certain degree of confidence.Accepted versio

Effect of Stocking Density on Growth, Water Quality Changes and Cost Efficiency of Butter Catfish (Ompok bimaculatus) during Seed Rearing in a Biofloc System

Biofloc technology is a modern-day high-density fish culture system employing heterotrophic conversion of nitrogenous waste into useful flocs for water quality control and improved welfare. However, optimization of the stocking density for the target species during seed rearing is the key to a successful farming operation. The study evaluated the effect of different stocking density on the growth, feed utilization, digestive physiology and economics in a biofloc-based seed rearing of butter catfish, O. bimaculatus. Advanced fry (1.21 ± 0.08 g) was reared in a zero-water exchange biofloc system for 90 days at stocking densities of 0.5 g/L(T1), 1.0 g/L(T2), 1.5 g/L(T3) and 2.0 g/L(T4). The observed water quality indicates a reduction in DO and pH in T4, while the total ammonia nitrogen and nitrite levels remained low in T1. Among the groups, highest weight gain was noticed in the lowest stocking density (0.5 g/L) (p < 0.05), which coincides with a better feed conversion ratio. Similarly, the digestive enzyme (protease, amylase, and lipase) secretion was higher in T1. Profitability assessment describes the possibility of low profit in T4, in the case where the fish’s sale price is based on harvested size. T1 showed higher individual growth and higher profit. Overall, a low stocking density of 0.5 g/Lis optimum for augmenting growth, feed utilization, physiological function and economic performance of O. bimaculatus. The study provides direction for a low-stocking oriented ecological and economically sustainable method of seed production of butter catfish in a biofloc system

Effect of Stocking Density on Growth, Water Quality Changes and Cost Efficiency of Butter Catfish (<i>Ompok bimaculatus</i>) during Seed Rearing in a Biofloc System

Biofloc technology is a modern-day high-density fish culture system employing heterotrophic conversion of nitrogenous waste into useful flocs for water quality control and improved welfare. However, optimization of the stocking density for the target species during seed rearing is the key to a successful farming operation. The study evaluated the effect of different stocking density on the growth, feed utilization, digestive physiology and economics in a biofloc-based seed rearing of butter catfish, O. bimaculatus. Advanced fry (1.21 ± 0.08 g) was reared in a zero-water exchange biofloc system for 90 days at stocking densities of 0.5 g/L(T1), 1.0 g/L(T2), 1.5 g/L(T3) and 2.0 g/L(T4). The observed water quality indicates a reduction in DO and pH in T4, while the total ammonia nitrogen and nitrite levels remained low in T1. Among the groups, highest weight gain was noticed in the lowest stocking density (0.5 g/L) (p O. bimaculatus. The study provides direction for a low-stocking oriented ecological and economically sustainable method of seed production of butter catfish in a biofloc system