A review on fisheries and conservation status of Asian Horseshoe crabs

Horseshoe crabs are the only extant xiphosurans and are believed to be morphologically unchanged for more than 200 million years. Of the four extant species namely, Limulus polyphemus, Tachypleus tridentatus, Tapinauchenius gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, the latter three are found in Asian waters. Recent evidences showed that Asian horseshoe crabs are facing serious threats such as degradation of their spawning grounds and habitat, environmental pollution, overexploitation as a culinary delicacy and biomedical bleeding practices. Baseline data on the distribution and existing population of the wild horseshoe crabs remain poorly known in several Asian regions. Several studies have clearly revealed that pressure due to over-fshing of wild stock has increased tremendously in the last decade. Due to an increase in demand for Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) analogous to Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) in the United States, there is an urgent need to comprehensively address their fshing and conservation measures in the Asian region. This review addresses the overall studies on three species of Asian horseshoe crabs in relation to their fshing practices, local exploitation of their wild stock either for human consumption (or) by biomedical industries. The authors have structured the discussion on an international scale to address the existing problems in fshing and conservation of horseshoe crabs. Since no specifc regulatory force or legislative protection act or a policy to preserve their natural stock are available to this date, this paper strongly recommends representative countries to include horseshoe crabs under their wildlife protection act to avoid further unsustainable exploitation of their wild population

Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Inhibit Inflammation and Preserve Vascular Endothelial Integrity in the Lungs after Hemorrhagic Shock

Hemorrhagic shock (HS) and trauma is currently the leading cause of death in young adults worldwide. Morbidity and mortality after HS and trauma is often the result of multi-organ failure such as acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), conditions with few therapeutic options. Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a multipotent stem cell population that has shown therapeutic promise in numerous pre-clinical and clinical models of disease. In this paper, in vitro studies with pulmonary endothelial cells (PECs) reveal that conditioned media (CM) from MSCs and MSC-PEC co-cultures inhibits PEC permeability by preserving adherens junctions (VE-cadherin and β-catenin). Leukocyte adhesion and adhesion molecule expression (VCAM-1 and ICAM-1) are inhibited in PECs treated with CM from MSC-PEC co-cultures. Further support for the modulatory effects of MSCs on pulmonary endothelial function and inflammation is demonstrated in our in vivo studies on HS in the rat. In a rat “fixed volume” model of mild HS, we show that MSCs administered IV potently inhibit systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the serum of treated animals. In vivo MSCs also inhibit pulmonary endothelial permeability and lung edema with concurrent preservation of the vascular endothelial barrier proteins: VE-cadherin, Claudin-1, and Occludin-1. Leukocyte infiltrates (CD68 and MPO positive cells) are also decreased in lungs with MSC treatment. Taken together, these data suggest that MSCs, acting directly and through soluble factors, are potent stabilizers of the vascular endothelium and inflammation. These data are the first to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of MSCs in HS and have implications for the potential use of MSCs as a cellular therapy in HS-induced lung injury

Power management and control strategies for off-grid hybrid power systems with renewable energies and storage

This document is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Belkacem Belabbas, Tayeb Allaoui, Mohamed Tadjine, and Mouloud Denai, 'Power management and control strategies for off-grid hybrid power systems with renewable energies and storage', Energy Systems, September 2017. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 19 September 2018. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12667-017-0251-y.This paper presents a simulation study of standalone hybrid Distributed Generation Systems (DGS) with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). The DGS consists of Photovoltaic (PV) panels as Renewable Power Source (RPS), a Diesel Generator (DG) for power buck-up and a BESS to accommodate the surplus of energy, which may be employed in times of poor PV generation. While off-grid DGS represent an efficient and cost-effective energy supply solution particularly to rural and remote areas, fluctuations in voltage and frequency due to load variations, weather conditions (temperature, irradiation) and transmission line short-circuits are major challenges. The paper suggests a hierarchical Power Management (PM) and controller structure to improve the reliability and efficiency of the hybrid DGS. The first layer of the overall control scheme includes a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) to adjust the voltage and frequency at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) and a Clamping Bridge Circuit (CBC) which regulates the DC bus voltage. A maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller based on FLC is designed to extract the optimum power from the PV. The second control layer coordinates among PV, DG and BESS to ensure reliable and efficient power supply to the load. MATLAB Simulink is used to implement the overall model of the off-grid DGS and to test the performance of the proposed control scheme which is evaluated in a series of simulations scenarios. The results demonstrated the good performance of the proposed control scheme and effective coordination between the DGS for all the simulation scenarios considered.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Fine-Scale Bacterial Beta Diversity within a Complex Ecosystem (Zodletone Spring, OK, USA): The Role of the Rare Biosphere

The adaptation of pyrosequencing technologies for use in culture-independent diversity surveys allowed for deeper sampling of ecosystems of interest. One extremely well suited area of interest for pyrosequencing-based diversity surveys that has received surprisingly little attention so far, is examining fine scale (e.g. micrometer to millimeter) beta diversity in complex microbial ecosystems.We examined the patterns of fine scale Beta diversity in four adjacent sediment samples (1mm apart) from the source of an anaerobic sulfide and sulfur rich spring (Zodletone spring) in southwestern Oklahoma, USA. Using pyrosequencing, a total of 292,130 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained. The beta diversity patterns within the four datasets were examined using various qualitative and quantitative similarity indices. Low levels of Beta diversity (high similarity indices) were observed between the four samples at the phylum-level. However, at a putative species (OTU(0.03)) level, higher levels of beta diversity (lower similarity indices) were observed. Further examination of beta diversity patterns within dominant and rare members of the community indicated that at the putative species level, beta diversity is much higher within rare members of the community. Finally, sub-classification of rare members of Zodletone spring community based on patterns of novelty and uniqueness, and further examination of fine scale beta diversity of each of these subgroups indicated that members of the community that are unique, but non novel showed the highest beta diversity within these subgroups of the rare biosphere.The results demonstrate the occurrence of high inter-sample diversity within seemingly identical samples from a complex habitat. We reason that such unexpected diversity should be taken into consideration when exploring gamma diversity of various ecosystems, as well as planning for sequencing-intensive metagenomic surveys of highly complex ecosystems

The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment

The status of experimental tests of general relativity and of theoretical frameworks for analysing them is reviewed. Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) is well supported by experiments such as the Eotvos experiment, tests of special relativity, and the gravitational redshift experiment. Future tests of EEP and of the inverse square law are searching for new interactions arising from unification or quantum gravity. Tests of general relativity at the post-Newtonian level have reached high precision, including the light deflection, the Shapiro time delay, the perihelion advance of Mercury, and the Nordtvedt effect in lunar motion. Gravitational-wave damping has been detected in an amount that agrees with general relativity to better than half a percent using the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar, and other binary pulsar systems have yielded other tests, especially of strong-field effects. When direct observation of gravitational radiation from astrophysical sources begins, new tests of general relativity will be possible.Comment: 89 pages, 8 figures; an update of the Living Review article originally published in 2001; final published version incorporating referees' suggestion

Global and regional burden of chronic respiratory disease in 2016 arising from non-infectious airborne occupational exposures: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

OBJECTIVES: This paper presents detailed analysis of the global and regional burden of chronic respiratory disease arising from occupational airborne exposures, as estimated in the Global Burden of Disease 2016 study. METHODS: The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to occupational exposure to particulate matter, gases and fumes, and secondhand smoke, and the burden of asthma resulting from occupational exposure to asthmagens, was estimated using the population attributable fraction (PAF), calculated using exposure prevalence and relative risks from the literature. PAFs were applied to the number of deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for COPD and asthma. Pneumoconioses were estimated directly from cause of death data. Age-standardised rates were based only on persons aged 15 years and above. RESULTS: The estimated PAFs (based on DALYs) were 17% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 14%-20%) for COPD and 10% (95% UI 9%-11%) for asthma. There were estimated to be 519 000 (95% UI 441,000-609,000) deaths from chronic respiratory disease in 2016 due to occupational airborne risk factors (COPD: 460,100 [95% UI 382,000-551,000]; asthma: 37,600 [95% UI 28,400-47,900]; pneumoconioses: 21,500 [95% UI 17,900-25,400]. The equivalent overall burden estimate was 13.6 million (95% UI 11.9-15.5 million); DALYs (COPD: 10.7 [95% UI 9.0-12.5] million; asthma: 2.3 [95% UI 1.9-2.9] million; pneumoconioses: 0.58 [95% UI 0.46-0.67] million). Rates were highest in males; older persons and mainly in Oceania, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; and decreased from 1990 to 2016. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace exposures resulting in COPD, asthma and pneumoconiosis continue to be important contributors to the burden of disease in all regions of the world. This should be reducible through improved prevention and control of relevant exposures

Search for doubly charged Higgs boson production in multi-lepton final states with the ATLAS detector using proton-proton collisions at √s = 13TeV

A search for doubly charged Higgs bosons with pairs of prompt, isolated, highly energetic leptons with the same electric charge is presented. The search uses a proton–proton collision data sample at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to 36.1 fb −1 of integrated luminosity recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This analysis focuses on the decays H±±→e±e±, H±±→e±μ± and H±±→μ±μ±, fitting the dilepton mass spectra in several exclusive signal regions. No significant evidence of a signal is observed and corresponding limits on the production cross-section and consequently a lower limit on m(H±±) are derived at 95% confidence level. With ℓ±ℓ±=e±e±/μ±μ±/e±μ±, the observed lower limit on the mass of a doubly charged Higgs boson only coupling to left-handed leptons varies from 770 to 870 GeV (850 GeV expected) for B(H±±→ℓ±ℓ±)=100% and both the expected and observed mass limits are above 450 GeV for B(H±±→ℓ±ℓ±)=10% and any combination of partial branching ratios