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

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

Gravity and effective temperature distribution on the surface of contact binary systems

The aim of this work is to study the gravity and the effective temperature distribution on the outer equipotential surface of a contact binary. In particular, the lines of constant g, (the iso-g curves), are computed and plotted on the outer surface Cs of contact configurations. Since the gravity distribution would also specify the effective temperature distribution on the binary's common photosphere through the gravity darkening effect, these lines correspond to isothermals too. Applications have been made to two contact binaries; namely, to AW UMa and OO Aql, two systems with very different mass ratios. © 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

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

Radiation pressure and surface gravity of close binaries: First results from observational data analysis

We present the results from a sample of early type binaries, for which the surface gravity of their primary components was computed using two different ways. From a comparison of the derived gravity values, is found that the existing difference between them turns to vanish or even to inverse as the luminosity and temperature ratios increase. This implies the presence of radiation pressure, which strongly affects the calculations. A conclusion that has to be further investigated with a larger sample. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006

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