Response of round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) to food odours

The well-established, invasive round goby (\u27Neogobius melanostomus\u27) is known to negatively impact native fish populations in the Great Lakes. My research examined whether food-based traps could capture round gobies which use chemical stimuli to find food and mates. My first experiment examined the response of round gobies in the laboratory and field to traps baited with lake whitefish, dreissenids, rainbow trout eggs and a control. Results showed that lake whitefish and dreissenids were preferred over other treatments in the field. Digestive tract analysis of captured gobies revealed that dreissenids were the dominant prey type. Subsequently, a laboratory experiment showed that round goby swam faster and spent more time near the odour source when exposed to soaked lake whitefish compared to other treatments, suggesting that lake whitefish could be used to capture non-reproductive fish. However, further studies are required to create a food baited trap to control the round goby

Ornamental fish diseases and their management measures- Winter School on Recent Advances in Breeding and Larviculture of Marine Finfish and Shellfish

Aquarium fish industry constitutes an extremely large segment of the pet animal industry. Over two decades, there experienced progressive increase in the ornamental fish industrial productivity both in the domestic market and at International level. Than ever before, more and more indigenous as well as exotic varieties of fishes are being registered into the trade. Primarily being aquatic animals and secondarily being forced to remain under crowded conditions, they are subjected to diseases of varying nature

Concept learning through question framing in Pharmacology

Background: Framing questions is a skill that requires expertise, knowledge, guidance and mentoring. It provides structure for deep learning, critical thinking and also promotes interaction and communication. Objective of this study is to analyze the question framing skills of fifth semester medical students on a ‘must know’ area in Pharmacology.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Pharmacology of a Government Medical College in Central Kerala. After briefing about the study, each of the participants was instructed to frame a question which were collected after 15 minutes. The data on different aspects of questions was analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 16.Results: Total 130 students, 79 females and 51 males participated in this study. 7 questions were incomplete and excluded from further analysis. From the rest 123 properly framed questions, 106(86.2%) were correct, 10(8.1%) were partially correct and 7(5.7%) incorrect with regards to the task assigned. In this study knowledge as well as application was tested in 50.4% questions, comprehension in 21.1% and application alone in 22.8%. The knowledge dimension tested was factual in 91(74%) and conceptual in 32(26%). Non-hierarchical classification showed 96(78%) convergent and 27(22%) divergent.Conclusions: In this study majority of the participants framed direct short answer questions which reflects factual knowledge indicating their lower-level cognition. Critical thinking and procurement of higher level cognition can be attained by directing them to frame the right question especially in medical education

Impact of COVID-19 on journalism in Nepal.

This bilingual rapid response report presents findings from a national survey undertaken to ascertain the impact of Covid-19 on Nepali journalists and their working conditions. Covid-19 spread as Nepal was approaching the fifth anniversary of the devastating 2015 earthquakes, the effects of which can still be felt in the nation. As such, Nepal faces additional economic, cultural, and social pressures because of the global pandemic. This report outlines how national and regional journalists, and news organisations responded to the pandemic, and identifies the training and capacity building requirements of Nepali journalists to strengthen future disaster resilience

EFFECT OF CHEMICAL ENHANCERS ON THE RELEASE OF GLIPIZIDE IN A MATRIX DISPERSION TRANSDERMAL SYSTEM

Glipizide is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for treatment of type 2 diabetes.   Oral therapy with Glipizide comprises problems of bioavailability fluctuations and may be associated with severe hypoglycaemia and gastric disturbances. As a potential for convenient, safe and effective antidiabetic therapy, the rationale of this study is to develop a transdermal delivery system for Glipizide in order to improve its therapeutic efficacy.  In the preparation of films, chitosan was used as polymer. Inclusion complex of glipizide with β-Cyclodextrin was formed. The role of different permeation enhancers in the formulation was also studied. The films were characterized for thickness, tensile strength, drug content, moisture uptake, moisture content, and drug release. In vivo and skin irritation studies were performed for the optimized film. Formulation F12 containing Chitosan (1.5percent w/v) and combination of permeation enhancers (Oleic acid: ethanol 1:1.5) showed the highest drug content 99.95percent and the drug release was 99.39percent in a period of 24 hours. The release data fitted into kinetic equations, yielded Higuchi plot and diffusion mechanism of drug release. The physical evaluation indicated the formation of smooth, flexible and translucent films. No skin irritation occurred on rat skin and the infrared studies showed the compatibility of the drug with the formulation excipients. The ex vivo study revealed a constant permeation of drug for long periods. The best permeation enhancer was F12 (Oleic acid: ethanol 1:1.5). The obtained results indicated the feasibility for transdermal delivery of Glipizide using Chitosan. Key words:Glipizide, Diabetes, Transdermal Drug Delivery, β-cyclodextrin, Chitosan, in vitro permeationÂ

Users’ Satisfaction of Public Utility Services – Multivariate System Analysis

This research develops a multivariate system framework for assessing user satisfaction of public water utility organization in a developing country and predicts quality, quantity and overall user satisfaction for policy initiatives. The model framework is applied to the data collected by Public Affairs Centre (PAC) based on the Citizen Report Card approach pioneered by it. Wald test confirms that there exits cross equation correlation across quality, quantity and overall users’ satisfaction dimensions. Based on the system model, the study identifies statistically significant factors that explain users’ loyalty to express satisfaction and voice to express dissatisfaction of users. Policy initiatives are proposed on key factors to reduce voice factors set so that the service provider could improve its service delivery. The system model correctly predicts 85% of satisfied customers across quality, quantity and overall satisfaction dimensions.  Keywords: Multivariate, Logit, Discrete choice Model, Public Sector Utility service provide

Loss of highwire Protects Against the Deleterious Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury in Drosophila Melanogaster.

Traumatic brain injury is a major global cause of death and disability. Axonal injury is a major underlying mechanism of TBI and could represent a major therapeutic target. We provide evidence that targeting the axonal death pathway known as Wallerian degeneration improves outcome in a Drosophila Melanogaster model of high impact trauma. This cell-autonomous neurodegenerative pathway is initiated following axon injury, and in Drosophila, involves activity of the E3 ubiquitin ligase highwire. We demonstrate that a loss-of-function mutation in the highwire gene rescues deleterious effects of a traumatic injury, including-improved functional outcomes, lifespan, survival of dopaminergic neurons, and retention of synaptic proteins. This data suggests that highwire represents a potential therapeutic target in traumatic injury

Predicting Users’ Responses of Public Utility Services - Multivariate and Neural Network Analysis - A Case Study

This research addresses the problem of predicting the user’s responses through multivariate choice (MVC) and neural network (NN) frameworks for predicting quality, quantity and overall User satisfaction of public water supply organization, BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) in Bangalore - India for policy initiatives. The MVC study identifies statistically significant factors that explain users’ loyalty to express satisfaction and voice to express dissatisfaction. The MVC model correctly predicts 85% of satisfied customers across satisfaction dimensions.  Wald test on 1940 responses confirms that there exits cross equation correlation across quality, quantity and overall Users’ satisfaction dimensions and thus appropriateness of MVC framework over traditional logit for predicting the user responses. NN framework outperforms the econometric model with 94% correct classification of user responses. The study opens up potential research opportunities for applying the advanced analytical frameworks for predicting user responses in various public and private settings for Policy initiatives so that the service providers could improve their service delivery