Marine ornamental fishes and their breeding: CMFRI initiatives

The marine ornamental fish trade is a sunrise industry in aquaculture and has become a growing industry worldwide. As a result the trade of marine ornamentals has been expanding in recent years and has grown into a multimillion dollar enterprise mainly due to the emergence of modern aquarium gadgets and technologies for setting and maintenance of miniature reef aquaria. Since the marine ornamental trade is operated throughout the tropics, the global marine ornamental trade is estimated at US$ 200- 330 million. Since India is endowed with a vast resource potential of marine ornamentals distributed in the coral seas and rocky coasts with patchy coral formations and the increasing the demand in the domestic trade, it appears very much lucrative for India to venture into this industry

La qualité bactériologique des eaux de consommation (forages et puits) dans trois cercles de la région de Koulikoro, Mali

Objectifs : Contrôler la qualité bactériologique des eaux souterraines à usage alimentaire « consommation » de la région de Koulikoro en vue d’améliorer l’état de santé de la population. Matériel et Méthodes : Notre méthode était basée sur la recherche qualitative et quantitative des coliformes thermo tolérant et des Escherichia Coli. Nous avons utilisés les milieux de culture suivants : Violet Rouge Bililé Lactosé (VRBL) pour isoler les coliformes et Tryptone Bile X-Glucuronide Agar (TBX) pour isoler les Escherichia Coli. Les colonies ont été dénombrées après incubation. La conformité des échantillons a été mise en évidence travers les normes françaises V08-060 pour les Coliformes Thermo tolérant et ISO 16649-2 pour les Escherichia coli. Résultats : Durant notre étude nous avons collecté 172 échantillons de 900 ml d’eau à travers 80 puits et 92 forages répartis comme suit : 20 à Banamba (Touba Sylla), 92 à Dioila (N’Golobougou, N’Tobougou, Siankoro, Dégnekoro) et 60 à Kati (Kambila, Koursalé, Tinkelé). Sur les 172 échantillons, 75 étaient non conforme soit un taux de 43,6%. Les eaux de puits étaient plus contaminées avec 94,7% de non-conformité contre 5,3% pour les eaux de forage. Le cercle de Dioila a enregistré plus de cas de non-conformité (53,3%). Les deux micro-organismes ont été tous les 2 sources de contaminations des eaux non conformes. Conclusion : L’éducation et la sensibilisation de la population sur les bonnes pratiques d’hygiène publique autours des eaux doivent être mise en évidence afin d’éviter les maladies hydrique

Hydrochemical characteristics of the Eocene and Paleocene aquifer sands in the Gorgol area (Mauritanie)

L’approvisionnement en eau des populations de la région du Gorgol est assuré par les eaux souterraines et les eaux du fleuve Sénégal. Depuis 1996, aucune étude hydrochimique significative des eaux souterraines n’a été entreprise dans la région du Gorgol. C’est pourquoi, cette étude s’est fixée pour objectif principal de faire l’état de la qualité chimique des eaux de l’aquifère des sables du Paléocène et de l’Eocène, et de préciser au-delà de cet objectif, l’origine de la minéralisation dans les eaux souterraines. Cette étude a montré que les eaux sont faiblement à moyennement minéralisées avec des valeurs de conductivités électriques variant de 78 à 1158 μS.cm-1. Elle a également permis d’individualiser trois types de faciès chimiques : Cl- Ca2+ - Mg2+, HCO- 3 Ca2+ - Mg2+ et HCO- 3Na+. Les relations entre les différents éléments majeurs et la minéralisation totale, ont montré que les phénomènes de dissolution des minéraux argileux, sont mineurs dans l’acquisition de la charge saline des eaux. Cependant, la minéralisation des eaux souterraines semblerait être principalement contrôlée par les processus d’échanges de base, les phénomènes évaporatoires et de pollution anthropique. Sur le plan qualitatif, la nappe est menacée par la pollution anthropique due aux nitrates résultant de la transformation des puits abandonnés en fosses septiques et en dépôts d’ordures ménagères. Cette pollution est déjà ressentie dans certains puits villageois qui ont révélé des teneurs en nitrates supérieures à la concentration maximale admissible de 50 mg.l-1 fixée par l’OMS pour l’eau de boisson

The September 2004 stench off the southern Malabar coast - A consequence of holococcolithophore bloom

During the third week of September 2004, particularly on 16th and 17th, an unusual and strong stench was reported from the coast at Kollam and Vizhinjam in Kerala (India). Local dailies reported that over 200 children, mostly below 15 years, complained of nausea, chest pain and short periods of breathlessness because of the stench. Many were hospitalized, but were discharged within a couple of hours. A press report stated that the stench was due to dead fish scattered on the beaches and in the water. The report linked the fish death to oxygen depletion and choking of fish gills. Both were reported to be possibly due to proliferation and eventual putrefaction of a fish-toxic alga Cochlodinium polykreikoides. Information was put up on the web that the bloom was caused by Karenia brevis, a toxic dinoflagellate. It was reported that the stench could be felt up to 5 km inland from the coast. On 20 September 2004, the Government of Kerala requested the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa to determine the cause of the phenomenon. In response, a team from NIO collected near-shore samples of water on 23 and 26 September off Vizhinjam, Shanghumugham and Kollam. During 3-7 October 2004, RV Sagar Sukti, a coastal research vessel of NIO, was used to collect samples in the waters offshore of Vizhinjam, Veli, Kollam in the depth zones of 20-50 m. The water samples collected on 23 and 26 September from the near-shore spots were analysed for various chemical (dissolved oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, nutrients, and salinity) and biological (microbiological, phytoplankton counting and identification) variables. Data from sea-level records at Cochin Port were also examined to learn about the possible evolution of physical conditions before and after the episode described above. In this preliminary report inferences based on analysis of the data is presented

Knowledge/Attitude/Practices of HPV & Cervical Cancer, Willingness to Participate in Vaccine Trial in Preparation for HIV & HPV Vaccine Trials in Mali

Oral Presentation from AIDS Vaccine 2012 Boston, MA, USA. 9-12 September 201

Position paper : A systematic framework for categorising IoT device fingerprinting mechanisms

The popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices makes it increasingly important to be able to fingerprint them, for example in order to detect if there are misbehaving or even malicious IoT devices in one's network. However, there are many challenges faced in the task of fingerprinting IoT devices, mainly due to the huge variety of the devices involved. At the same time, the task can potentially be improved by applying machine learning techniques for better accuracy and efficiency. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic categorisation of machine learning augmented techniques that can be used for fingerprinting IoT devices. This can serve as a baseline for comparing various IoT fingerprinting mechanisms, so that network administrators can choose one or more mechanisms that are appropriate for monitoring and maintaining their network. We carried out an extensive literature review of existing papers on fingerprinting IoT devices -- paying close attention to those with machine learning features. This is followed by an extraction of important and comparable features among the mechanisms outlined in those papers. As a result, we came up with a key set of terminologies that are relevant both in the fingerprinting context and in the IoT domain. This enabled us to construct a framework called IDWork, which can be used for categorising existing IoT fingerprinting mechanisms in a way that will facilitate a coherent and fair comparison of these mechanisms. We found that the majority of the IoT fingerprinting mechanisms take a passive approach -- mainly through network sniffing -- instead of being intrusive and interactive with the device of interest. Additionally, a significant number of the surveyed mechanisms employ both static and dynamic approaches, in order to benefit from complementary features that can be more robust against certain attacks such as spoofing and replay attacks

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Water column characteristics following the September 2004 stench event off southern Malabar coast

199-205An unusual stench emanated from the coastal waters of southwest coast India during September 2004 associated with an algal bloom. Water samples collected from 14 stations from the affected area after three weeks of the event, revealed that phytoplankton were dominated by holococcolithophorids (max 27 x 10⁶ cells l⁻¹) in the coastal stations in comparison with the offshore stations (max 8000 cells l⁻¹, which contained mainly diatoms. Slightly low oxygen concentration (81-191 µM) associated with relatively lower temperature and high nutrients indicated the prevalence of weak upwelling in the region. Chlorophyll a to phaeopigments ratio at the coastal stations indicated that the bloom was in the degrading phase. Resultant microbial activities perhaps led to higher ammonia concentration in the study region. The holococcolithophorids seem to be uncommon to this region, but upon availability of right conditions, presumably temperature and nutrients formed massive bloom and consequently a stench affecting coastal population

Catalytic Hydrocyanation of Activated Terminal Alkynes

A universal, practical and scalable organocatalytic hydrocyanation manifold to provide ß¿substituted acrylonitriles bearing an electron¿withdrawing functionality has been implemented. The catalytic manifold operates under the reactivity generation principle ¿a good nucleophile generates a strong base¿, and it uses 1,4¿diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) as the catalyst, activated terminal alkynes as substrates and acetone cyanohydrin as the cyanide source. The acrylonitriles obtained as E,Z mixtures are straightforwardly resolved by simple flash chromatography delivering the pure isomers in preparative amounts.The authors thank the Spanish Ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) for financial support (CTQ2015‐63894‐P and PGC2018‐094503‐B‐C21). S.D.H. thanks La Laguna University and Cajasiete for a pre‐doctoral contract