Welfare of fish

Η ευζωία των ψαριών και γενικότερα όλων των ζώων είναι μια έννοια που δηλώνει μια ανώδυνη και μη οτρεσογόνα κατάσταση διαβίωσης. Τέτοια έννοια, αν και τα προηγούμενα χρόνια είχε πολλές φορές αμφισβητηθεί από τους παράγωγους, θεσμοθετείται πλέον αυστηρά από πολλές χώρες. Για τα ψάρια, λίγα είναι τα παραδείγματα τέτοιας θεσμοθέτησης, όπως, για παράδειγμα, στη Νορβηγία και στη Γερμανία η θανάτωση για ανθρώπινη κατανάλωση πρέπει να πραγματοποιείται βασιζόμενη σε συγκεκριμένες τεχνικές, συμβατές με την ευζωία των ψαριών. Όλα τα ζώα χρειάζονται μια σταθερότητα του περιβάλλοντος διαβίωσης προκειμένου να επιβιώσουν, να αναπτυχθούν και να αναπαραχθούν .Η μη εξασφάλιση τέτοιας σταθερότητας ορίζεται ως κατάσταση στρες. Στα ψάρια, οι αιτίες που μπορούν να τους προκαλέσουν στρες είναι ποικίλες. Πρώτον, σχεδόν όλοι οι χειρισμοί που πραγματοποιούνται σε επίπεδο ιχθυοκαλλιέργειας θεωρούνται στρεσογόνοι (π.χ. μεταφορά). Δεύτερον, οι ακατάλληλες συνθήκες εκτροφής, π.χ. η υψηλή ιχθυοπυκνότητα και ένα μη ισορροπημένο σιτηρέσιο, θέτουν σε αμφισβήτηση την ευζωία των ψαριών. Στοίδιο αποτέλεσμα οδηγούν και άλλοι παράγοντες, όπως η ακατάλληλη ποιότητα του νερού εκτροφής, οι τεχνικές που χρησιμοποιούνται για την πρόληψη και θεραπεία ασθενειών, οι τεχνικές θανάτωσης και η μεταφορά.Fish welfare and in general the welfare of animals is a term that declares a painless and not stressfull state of being. During the previous years this term has been questioned by the producers, however, nowadays, it is actually legally regulated in several countries. For fishes, few are the examples of such enforcement, such as in Norway and Germany where the killing of fish for human consumption bases on techniques compatible with their welfare. All the animals need a stable environment of being so that they can survive, develop and reproduce. The absence of such a stability is termed as stress. There are various causes of producing stress in fish. Firsdy, almost all management procedures that are practiced commercially result in stress (e.g. transport). Secondly, inadequate conditions of farming, such as the high stocking-density and an unbalanced food, place the welfare of fishes at risk. To the same result may also lead other factors, such as the unsuitable quality of the rearing water, the techniques that are used for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, the techniques of killing and also transport

Biochemical adaptations of the retina and retinal pigment epithelium support a metabolic ecosystem in the vertebrate eye

Here we report multiple lines of evidence for a comprehensive model of energy metabolism in the vertebrate eye. Metabolic flux, locations of key enzymes, and our finding that glucose enters mouse and zebrafish retinas mostly through photoreceptors support a conceptually new model for retinal metabolism. In this model, glucose from the choroidal blood passes through the retinal pigment epithelium to the retina where photoreceptors convert it to lactate. Photoreceptors then export the lactate as fuel for the retinal pigment epithelium and for neighboring Mu ̈ ller glial cells. We used human retinal epithelial cells to show that lactate can suppress consumption of glucose by the retinal pigment epithelium. Suppression of glucose consumption in the retinal pigment epithelium can increase the amount of glucose that reaches the retina. This framework for understanding metabolic relationships in the vertebrate retina provides new insights into the underlying causes of retinal disease and age-related vision loss

Automated office blood pressure measurements in primary care are misleading in more than one third of treated hypertensives: The VALENTINE-Greece Home Blood Pressure Monitoring study

Abstract Background This study assessed the diagnostic reliability of automated office blood pressure (OBP) measurements in treated hypertensive patients in primary care by evaluating the prevalence of white coat hypertension (WCH) and masked uncontrolled hypertension (MUCH) phenomena. Methods Primary care physicians, nationwide in Greece, assessed consecutive hypertensive patients on stable treatment using OBP (1 visit, triplicate measurements) and home blood pressure (HBP) measurements (7 days, duplicate morning and evening measurements). All measurements were performed using validated automated devices with bluetooth capacity (Omron M7 Intelli-IT). Uncontrolled OBP was defined as ≥140/90 mmHg, and uncontrolled HBP was defined as ≥135/85 mmHg. Results A total of 790 patients recruited by 135 doctors were analyzed (age: 64.5 ± 14.4 years, diabetics: 21.4%, smokers: 20.6%, and average number of antihypertensive drugs: 1.6 ± 0.8). OBP (137.5 ± 9.4/84.3 ± 7.7 mmHg, systolic/diastolic) was higher than HBP (130.6 ± 11.2/79.9 ± 8 mmHg; difference 6.9 ± 11.6/4.4 ± 7.6 mmHg, p Conclusions In primary care, automated OBP measurements are misleading in approximately 40% of treated hypertensive patients. HBP monitoring is mandatory to avoid overtreatment of subjects with WCH phenomenon and prevent undertreatment and subsequent excess cardiovascular disease in MUCH

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice. Results from the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Data from real-world registries are necessary, as clinical trials do not represent the full spectrum of VTE patients seen in clinical practice. We aimed to document the epidemiology, management and outcomes of VTE using data from a large, observational database. PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional disease registry conducted between January 2013 and July 2015 in primary and secondary care across seven European countries. Consecutive patients with acute VTE were documented and followed up over 12 months. PREFER in VTE included 3,455 patients with a mean age of 60.8 ± 17.0 years. Overall, 53.0 % were male. The majority of patients were assessed in the hospital setting as inpatients or outpatients (78.5 %). The diagnosis was deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in 59.5 % and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 40.5 %. The most common comorbidities were the various types of cardiovascular disease (excluding hypertension; 45.5 %), hypertension (42.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (21.1 %). Following the index VTE, a large proportion of patients received initial therapy with heparin (73.2 %), almost half received a vitamin K antagonist (48.7 %) and nearly a quarter received a DOAC (24.5 %). Almost a quarter of all presentations were for recurrent VTE, with >80 % of previous episodes having occurred more than 12 months prior to baseline. In conclusion, PREFER in VTE has provided contemporary insights into VTE patients and their real-world management, including their baseline characteristics, risk factors, disease history, symptoms and signs, initial therapy and outcomes

Efficacy and toxicity of orally administrated anti-coccidial drug treatment on Enteromyxum leei infections in sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo C.)

Three drugs effective against myxosporeans and commonly used to treat spore-forming para- sites were tested in sharpsnout sea bream (Diplodus puntazzo) infected by Enteromyxum leei. Two medicated diets were applied, one containing salinomycin and amprolium and the second containing fumagillin. Compared to untreated fish, both treatments resulted in significant reduc- tions in prevalence, intensity of all developmental myxosporean stages, and mortality. The effect was more prominent with the salinomycin and amprolium combination, where the significant reductions in intensity, prevalence, and mortality were unaccompanied by any histopathological evidence of toxic side effects or growth reduction. Sporoblasts and mature spores with distorted structures were observed in both drug treatments, but were more prevalent in the salinomycin and amprolium treatment than in the fumagillin treatment, indicating direct effectiveness on the parasite. Salinomycin with amprolium is a promising treatment for myxosporean infections in intensively cultured warmwater fish, leading to parasite elimination

Randomized Sorting and Selection on Mesh-Connected Processor Arrays

We show that sorting an input of size N = n superscript 2 can be performed by an n X n mesh-connected processor array in 2.5n +0(n) parallel communication steps and using constant size queues, with high probability. The best previously known algorithm for this problem required 3n + 0(n) steps. We also show that selecting the element of rank k out of N = n superscript 2 inputs on an n X n mesh can be performed in 1.25n + 0(n) steps and using constant size queues, with high probability. The best previously known algorithm for this problem involved sorting, and required 3n + 0(n) steps. Both of our algorithms can be generalized to higher dimensions, achieving bounds better than the known results. 1Aike

The eclipsing binary bx andromedae and its orbital period behaviour

The orbital period variations of the eclipsing binary BX And are examined analysing its (O-C) diagram 1) with the standard method, in which the minima times are fitted by the quadratic ephemeris combined with an assumed light-time effect, and 2) with the first continuous method. The results from the use of the two methods are, as was expected, different. © Springer 2005

Efficacy of 2-phenoxyethanol as an anaesthetic for two size classes of white sea bream, Diplodus sargus L., and sharp snout sea bream, Diplodus puntazzo C

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 2-phenoxyethanol as an anaesthetic for two size classes of white sea bream, Diplodus sargus L. (30 and 60 g), and sharp snout sea bream, Diplodus puntazzo C., (15 and 30 g) and establish the minimum concentration producing desirable anaesthetic effects on them. Fish were exposed to concentrations varying from 0.1 to 0.4 mL/L for a 60-min period. At concentrations of 0.1, 0.117 and 0.133 mL/L, 2-phenoxyethanol failed to induce anaesthesia, whereas at concentrations of 0.167, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 mL/L all the fish were anaesthetised within 3 min of exposure. However, mortality was observed with the two higher concentrations. Induction time decreased and recovery time increased with increasing concentrations, being significantly concentration-dependent in both species (P ≤ 0.01). Following exposure of D. sargus to concentrations of 0.2 or 0.3 mL/L, both induction and recovery time were significantly weight-dependent (P ≤ 0.01). However, erratic weight dependencies of both induction and recovery time were observed in D. puntazzo. 2-Phenoxyethanol proved to be an effective and safe anaesthetic in both species permitting rapid and uneventful induction and recovery after a 60-min exposure period. The minimum concentration producing desirable anaesthetic effects was 0.167 mL/L. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved