Effect of Feed Cycling on Specific Growth Rate, Condition Factor, Body Composition And Rna/Dna Ratio Of Cirrhinus mrigala.

A randomly selected 60 samples of Cirrhinus mrigala, fingerling sized, were collected from Qadria fish hatchery and farm, Matital road, Multan. Fish were divided into three groups namely, control, 5 and 10 days cyclic feeding group. Specific growth rate (% g day-1), condition factor (K), body composition andRNA/DNA ratio of individual specimen and of each group were calculated. It was found that there was highly significant effect of feed cycling on specific growth rate (P0.05) suggesting a compensatory growth which was independent of length of starvation. Feed cycling had marked effect (

Effect of feed cycling on specific growth rate, condition factor and RNA/DNA ratio of Labeo rohita

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feed cycling on specific growth rate, condition factor and RNA/DNA ratio of Labeo rohita. Fingerling L. rohita were randomly collected from Qadria Fish Farm and Hatchery, Multan, Pakistan and divided into control, 5 days and 10 days feed cycling groups. Specific growth rate (% g day-1), body composition, condition factor, and RNA/DNA ratio of individual fish and of each group were calculated. There was a highly significant (

Influence of nitrogen sources on production of &#946b-galactosidase by Aspergillus niger

The study was undertaken to enhance the production of b-galactosidase using five organic nitrogen sources with wheat bran as a substrate under solid state fermentation. The microbial source Aspergillus niger and its DG-resistant mutant that were grown in medium with initial pH of 5.5 in 250 ml flasks at 30°C for 144 h and sample was harvested after every 24 h and analysed for substrate consumption, cell mass formation and enzyme production. All the nitrogen sources, ammonium sulphate, corn steep liquor, diammonium phosphate, fish meal and urea showed significant results. However, higher values of enzyme activity of 168.0 and 371.15 IU/l/h, parent and mutant, respectively, was obtained from sample in which corn steep liquor was used as a nitrogen source as compared tocontrol (73.1 and 176.3 IU/l/h in parent and mutant, respectively). The effect of nitrogen sources was also found significant in both the organisms but higher in mutant organism (2.2 fold). It is concluded that enzyme production enhanced 2.7 fold by use of suitable production medium under optimum cultural conditions and that the mutant derivative of A. niger can be exploited for hyper production of this enzyme

Direct observation of delithiation as the origin of analog memristance in LixNbO2

The discovery of analog LixNbO2 memristors revealed a promising new memristive mechanism wherein the diffusion of Li+ rather than O2- ions enables precise control of the resistive states. However, directly correlating lithium concentration with changes to the electronic structure in active layers remains a challenge and is required to truly understand the underlying physics. Chemically delithiated single crystals of LiNbO2 present a model system for correlating lithium variation with spectroscopic signatures from operando soft x-ray spectroscopy studies of device active layers. Using electronic structure modeling of the x-ray spectroscopy of LixNbO2 single crystals, we demonstrate that the intrinsic memristive behavior in LixNbO2 active layers results from field-induced degenerate p-type doping. We show that electrical operation of LixNbO2-based memristors is viable even at marginal Li deficiency and that the analog memristive switching occurs well before the system is fully metallic. This study serves as a benchmark for material synthesis and characterization of future LixNbO2-based memristor devices and suggests that valence change switching is a scalable alternative that circumvents the electroforming typically required for filamentary-based memristors

Oxygen-deficient triple perovskites as highly active and durable bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen electrode reactions

Highly active and durable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts have been of pivotal importance for renewable energy conversion and storage devices, such as unitized regenerative fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Perovskite-based oxygen electrocatalysts have emerged as promising nonprecious metal bifunctional electrocatalysts, yet their catalytic activity and stability still remain to be improved. We report a high-performance oxygen electrocatalyst based on a triple perovskite, Nd1.5Ba1.5CoFeMnO9-delta (NBCFM), which shows superior activity and durability for oxygen electrode reactions to single and double perovskites. When hybridized with nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO), the resulting NBCFM/N-rGO catalyst shows further boosted bifunctional oxygen electrode activity (0.698 V), which surpasses that of Pt/C (0.801 V) and Ir/C (0.769 V) catalysts and which, among the perovskite-based electrocatalysts, is the best activity reported to date. The superior catalytic performances of NBCFM could be correlated to its oxygen defect rich structure, lower charge transfer resistance, and smaller hybridization strength between O 2p and Co 3d orbitals

Clinical risk factors of colorectal cancer in patients with serrated polyposis syndrome: a multicentre cohort analysis

OBJECTIVE: Serrated polyposis syndrome (SPS) is accompanied by an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients fulfilling the clinical criteria, as defined by the WHO, have a wide variation in CRC risk. We aimed to assess risk factors for CRC in a large cohort of patients with SPS and to evaluate the risk of CRC during surveillance. DESIGN: In this retrospective cohort analysis, all patients with SPS from seven centres in the Netherlands and two in the UK were enrolled. WHO criteria were used to diagnose SPS. Patients who only fulfilled WHO criterion-2, with IBD and/or a known hereditary CRC syndrome were excluded. RESULTS: In total, 434 patients with SPS were included for analysis; 127 (29.3%) were diagnosed with CRC. In a per-patient analysis ≥1 serrated polyp (SP) with dysplasia (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.28 to 3.33), ≥1 advanced adenoma (OR 2.30; 95% CI 1.47 to 3.67) and the fulfilment of both WHO criteria 1 and 3 (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.51) were associated with CRC, while a history of smoking was inversely associated with CRC (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.56). Overall, 260 patients underwent surveillance after clearing of all relevant lesions, during which two patients were diagnosed with CRC, corresponding to 1.9 events/1000 person-years surveillance (95% CI 0.3 to 6.4). CONCLUSION: The presence of SPs containing dysplasia, advanced adenomas and/or combined WHO criteria 1 and 3 phenotype is associated with CRC in patients with SPS. Patients with a history of smoking show a lower risk of CRC, possibly due to a different pathogenesis of disease. The risk of developing CRC during surveillance is lower than previously reported in literature, which may reflect a more mature multicentre cohort with less selection bias

Silymarin protects liver against toxic effects of anti-tuberculosis drugs in experimental animals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The first line anti-tuberculosis drugs isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF) and pyrazinamide (PZA) continues to be the effective drugs in the treatment of tuberculosis, however, the use of these drugs is associated with toxic reactions in tissues, particularly in the liver, leading to hepatitis. Silymarin, a standard plant extract with strong antioxidant activity obtained from <it>S. marianum</it>, is known to be an effective agent for liver protection and liver regeneration. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective actions of silymarin against hepatotoxicity caused by different combinations of anti-tuberculosis drugs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Male Wistar albino rats weighing 250–300 g were used to form 6 study groups, each group consisting of 10 rats. Animals were treated with intra-peritoneal injection of isoniazid (50 mg/kg) and rifampicin (100 mg/kg); and intra-gastric administration of pyrazinamid (350 mg/kg) and silymarin (200 mg/kg). Hepatotoxicity was induced by a combination of drugs with INH+RIF and INH+RIF+PZA. Hepatoprotective effect of silymarin was investigated by co-administration of silymarin together with the drugs. Serum biochemical tests for liver functions and histopathological examination of livers were carried out to demonstrate the protection of liver against anti-tuberculosis drugs by silymarin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Treatment of rats with INH+RIF or INH+RIF+PZA induced hepatotoxicity as evidenced by biochemical measurements: serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities and the levels of total bilirubin were elevated, and the levels of albumin and total protein were decreased in drugs-treated animals. Histopathological changes were also observed in livers of animals that received drugs. Simultaneous administration of silymarin significantly decreased the biochemical and histological changes induced by the drugs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The active components of silymarin had protective effects against hepatotoxic actions of drugs used in the chemotherapy of tuberculosis in animal models. Since no significant toxicity of silymarin is reported in human studies, this plant extract can be used as a dietary supplement by patients taking anti-tuberculosis medications.</p

COX-2 selective inhibition reverses the trophic properties of gastrin in colorectal cancer

Gastrin is a gastrointestinal peptide that possesses potent trophic properties on both normal and neoplastic cells of gastrointestinal origin. Previous studies have indicated that chronic hypergastrinaemia increases the risk of colorectal cancer and cancer growth and that interruption of the effects of gastrin could be a potential target in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Here we demonstrate that gastrin leads to a dose-dependent increase in colon cancer cell proliferation and tumour growth in vitro and in vivo, and that this increment is progressively reversed by pretreatment with the cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor NS-398. Gastrin was able to induce cyclo-oxygenase-2 protein expression, as well as the synthesis of prostaglandin E2, the major product of cyclo-oxygenase. Moreover, gastrin leads to approximately a two-fold induction of cyclo-oxygenase-2 promoter activity in transiently transfected cells. The results of these studies demonstrate that cyclo-oxygenase-2 appears to represent one of the downstream targets of gastrin and that selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibition is capable of reversing the trophic properties of gastrin and presumably might prevent the growth of colorectal cancer induced by hypergastrinaemia