Bacterial flora of the gut of the African snakehead, Channa obscura (Pisces: Channidae)

A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the bacterial flora of the gut of the African snakehead, Channa obscura was undertaken. The types of bacteria isolated from the different parts of the gut of C. obscura include Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Citrobacter and Proteus. The coliform (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter) and some other Enterobacteriaceae such as Salmonella were also present. The stomach and intestine were found to have a preponderance of Pseudomonas and Vibrio species. Klebsiella sp. and Bacillus sp. (only in the pyloric caeca) were also isolated. On the whole, the correlation coefficients of the two incubation temperatures showed a high statistical significance. Thus the bacterial load of the gut of C. obscura has been shown as a function of temperatur

Adjuvant treatment patterns and outcomes in patients with stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom based on the LuCaBIS burden of illness study

OBJECTIVES: To inform health-technology assessments of new adjuvant treatments, we describe treatment patterns in patients with complete resection of stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were collected via medical record abstraction. Patients were aged ≥18 years with completely resected stage IB-IIIA NSCLC, diagnosed between 01 January 2009 and 31 December 2011. Median follow-up was 26 months. Adjuvant treatment patterns and clinical outcomes were summarized descriptively. RESULTS: Among the 831 patients studied, 239 (29%) had stage IB disease, 179 (22%) had stage IIA disease, 165 (20%) had stage IIB disease, and 248 (30%) had stage IIIA disease. Adjuvant systemic therapy was received by 402 patients (48.4%), (France, 61.8%; Germany, 51.9%; UK, 33.4%). Use of adjuvant therapy increased with increasing stage of disease. Cisplatin/vinorelbine and carboplatin/vinorelbine were the most frequently prescribed adjuvant regimens. Median disease-free survival was 48.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 42.3-not estimable); the 25th percentile was 13.2 months (95% CI, 11.0-15.3). 204 patients (24%) died during the follow-up period. The median overall survival was not reached, the 25th percentile was 31.2 months (95% CI 26.8-36.0 months). 272 patients (33%) had disease recurrence during the follow-up period. For 86 of those patients, the first recurrence was local or regional with no distant metastasis and 14 had further progression to metastatic disease during the follow-up time. For the other 186 patients, the first recurrence involved distant metastases. A total of 200 patients had metastatic disease at any time during study follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Less than half the patients with stage IB-IIIA NSCLC in this observational study received adjuvant systemic therapy. A high rate of first recurrence with distant metastatic disease was observed, emphasising the need for more effective systemic adjuvant therapies in this population

Economic burden of resected (stage IB-IIIA) non-small cell lung cancer in France, Germany and the United Kingdom: A retrospective observational study (LuCaBIS)

OBJECTIVES: New adjuvant treatments are being developed for patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Due to scarcity of real-world data available for treatment costs and resource utilization, health technology and cost-effectiveness assessments can be limited. We estimated the burden and cost-of-illness associated with completely resected stage IB-IIIA NSCLC in France, Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years with completely resected stage IB-IIIA NSCLC between August 2009 and July 2012. Patients (living or deceased) were enrolled at clinical sites by a systematic sampling method. Data were obtained from medical records and patient surveys. Direct, indirect and patient out-of-pocket expenses were estimated by multiplying resource use by country-specific unit costs. National annual costs were estimated based on disease prevalence data available from published sources. RESULTS: 39 centers provided data from 831 patients of whom patient surveys were evaluable in 306 patients. Median follow-up was 26 months. The mean total direct costs per patient during follow-up were: €19,057 (France), €14,185 (Germany), and €8377 (UK). The largest cost drivers were associated with therapies received (€12,375 France; €3694 UK), and hospitalization/emergency costs (€7706 Germany). Monthly direct costs per patient were the highest during the distant metastasis/terminal illness phase in France (€15,562) and Germany (€6047) and during the adjuvant treatment period in the UK (€2790). Estimated mean total indirect costs per patient were: €696 (France), €2476 (Germany), and €1414 (UK). Estimates for the annual national direct cost were €478.4 million (France), €574.6 million (Germany) and €325.8 million (UK). CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study describing the burden of illness for patients with completely resected stage IB-IIIA NSCLC. The economic burden was substantial in all three countries. Treatment of NSCLC is associated with large annual national costs, mainly incurred during disease progression

Digestive enzymes in the alimentary canal of Clarias anguillaris (Pisces: Clariidae)

Three groups of digestive enzymes were observed in the alimentary canals of the fingerlings and adults of Clarias anguillaris. The enzymes were carbohydrases including amylase, sucrase, lactase and maltase, proteases including peptase, tryptase and peptidase, and lipase. The activities of the protease were found to be higher in the fingerlings than in the adults while carbohydrases' activities were higher in the adults than fingerlings. Amylase was most widely distributed, found in both fingerlings and adults and in every region studied; it was followed by lactase. Of the proteases, peptase was found to have the widest distribution. Lipase activity was found in the alimentary canal of the adults. Tropical Freshwater Biology VOL. 8 1999, pp. 55-63 KEY WORDS: digestive enzymes – carbohydrases – proteases – lipases - Clarias anguillari

Acute toxicity of potassium permanganate to fingerlings of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

Laboratory static bioassays were conducted to determine the 96-h LC50 and the lethal levels of concentrations of the aquaculture therapeutant, potassium permanganate (KMnO4) on fingerlings (meanweight, 6.24 ± 0.15 g and mean length, 4.25 ± 0.07 cm) of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. A total number of one hundred and eighty (180) fingerlings of mixed sex and brood stock were used for thetoxicity bioassay. The 96-h median lethal concentration (LC50) value obtained for treatment of the fingerlings of the catfish C. gariepinus with potassium permanganate was 3.02 mg/L KMnO4 with lowerand upper 95% confidence limits of 0.40 and 3.73 mg/L KMnO4, respectively. There was very strong and positive correlation between the variables (r = 0.96) with 93% (r2) association. Toxicity curve revealed 11.20 mg/L KMnO4 at 8.20 h as the threshold value for the 96 h assay of potassium permanganate on fingerlings of C. gariepinus. The 96 h LT50 for 10, 8 and 6 mg/L KMnO4 to the test fish were alsodetermined to be 10.40, 11.30 and 17.80 h, respectively. Varying behavioural patterns were observed in the fish, which included erratic swimming, loss of reflexes, total loss of equilibrium, paleness of skinand gasping for air. The value of water quality parameters monitored during the exposure period did not differ significantly (P>0.05) within the various concentrations of the therapeutant (KMnO4) as well aswith the control. However, pH and total alkalinity tended to increase with increasing concentration of the toxicant

Acute toxicity of refined oil on the catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Teugels, 1984) (Pisces: Clariidae)

Laboratory static bioassays were conducted to determine the 24-, 48-, and 96 -hour LC50 and the lethal levels of concentrations of oil-in-water dispersions (OWD) of used and fresh fuel oil for embryo, fry and fingerlings of the catfish Clarias gariepinus(Teugels, 1984). The most sensitive was the embryonic stage while the fingerlings were most resilient. The LC50 values obtained for treatment with fresh fuel oil were as follows: Embryos (24- and 48 -hour LC50) 0.034 ml/l and 0.042 ml/l respectively. For the fry (24-, 48-, 72- and 96-hour) the LC50 values were 1.22ml/l, 0.85ml/l, 0.83ml/l and 0.70ml/l respectively. The fingerlings had 48-, 72 and 96-hour LC50 values of 5.00 ml/l, 2.30 ml/l and l.78ml/l respectively. The LC50 values for treatment with used fuel oil were as follows: Embryos (24 - and 48 -hour LC50) 0.032 ml/l and 0.04 ml/l respectively. For the fry (24-, 48-, 72-and 96-hour LC50) values were 1.59 ml/l, 1.14 ml/l, and 1.12 ml/1 while the fingerlings had 0.82 ml/l, 1 .37 ml/l and 1.02 ml/l as their 48-, 72- and 96-hour LC50 values respectively. Loss of skin pigmentation was observed in fish exposed to fresh fuel oil and darker pigmentation in fish exposed to used oil. Activity generally decreased with increased concentration of toxicant and longer duration of exposure. A similar trend was observed for hatchability of the embryos. Increased mouth and opercular breathing were also observed. Tropical Freshwater Biology VOL. 8 1999, pp. 17-26 KEY WORDS: Petroleum-Refined Oil-Toxicity-Behaviour-Clarias gariepinus, Nigeria

Haematological characteristics of the African snakehead, Parachanna obscura

The haematological characteristics of the African snakehead Parachanna obscura includes mean blood haemoglobin concentration of 5.70g/dl, mean haematocrit of 19.20%, mean red blood cell count of 1.67 x 10 12/L, mean total white blood cell count of 19.07 x 103 mm-3, mean erythrocytic haemoglobin concentration of 29.08%, mean erythrocytic haemoglobin of 39.86 g, mean erythrocytic volume of 132.84 μ3, mean total plasma protein of 4.45 g/dl and mean plasma glucose of 67.42 mg/dl. Correlations were found with certain blood parameters as function of the length, weight and condition factor..African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 527-530, 200