Studies on the chemical quality of cured fish products from the west coast of India

Fish curing is one of the oldest industries of the coastal areas of India. It has been estimated that about 50 to 70% of the marine fish catches of India are at present being processed into cured products {Government of India Publication, 1951 a and b). Though fish curing is of this magnitude, it is one of the least developed industries of India, although efforts are being made in some of the maritime States such as Madras, Travancore-Cochin and Bombay, to improve curing by providing better facilities to the fishermen engaged in the industry. The methods practised are generally primitive and the attention paid to cleanliness and sanitation leaves much to be desired. Only 17-3% of the total fish landing is being cured through the Government fish curing yards {Government of India Marketing Report, 1951), the rest being processed in private yards which are not under the supervision of Government agencies

The LAUE project for broadband gamma-ray focusing lenses

We present the LAUE project devoted to develop an advanced technology for building a high focal length Laue lens for soft gamma--ray astronomy (80-600 keV). The final goal is to develop a focusing optics that can improve the current sensitivity in the above energy band by 2 orders of magnitude.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, presented at the SPIE conference on "Optics for EUV, X-ray, and Gamma-ray Astronomy". To be published in the Proceedings of SPIE, vol.8147, 201

Chronic growth faltering amongst a birth cohort of Indian children begins prior to weaning and is highly prevalent at three years of age

BACKGROUND: Poor growth of children in developing countries is a major public health problem associated with mortality, morbidity and developmental delay. We describe growth up to three years of age and investigate factors related to stunting (low height-for-age) at three years of age in a birth cohort from an urban slum. METHODS: 452 children born between March 2002 and August 2003 were followed until their third birthday in three neighbouring slums in Vellore, South India. Field workers visited homes to collect details of morbidity twice a week. Height and weight were measured monthly from one month of age in a study-run clinic. For analysis, standardised z-scores were generated using the 2006 WHO child growth standards. Risk factors for stunting at three years of age were analysed in logistic regression models. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the effect of missing values. RESULTS: At age three years, of 186 boys and 187 girls still under follow-up, 109 (66%, 95% Confidence interval 58-73%) boys and 93 (56%, 95% CI 49-64%) girls were stunted, 14 (8%, 95% CI 4-13%) boys and 12 (7%, 95% CI 3-11%) girls were wasted (low weight-for-height) and 72 (43%, 95% CI 36-51) boys and 66 (39%, 95% CI 31-47%) girls were underweight (low weight-for-age). In total 224/331 (68%) children at three years had at least one growth deficiency (were stunted and/or underweight and/or wasted); even as early as one month of age 186/377 (49%) children had at least one growth deficiency. Factors associated with stunting at three years were birth weight less than 2.5 kg (OR 3.63, 95% CI 1.36-9.70) 'beedi-making' (manual production of cigarettes for a daily wage) in the household (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.05-2.86), maternal height less than 150 cm (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.12-3.62), being stunted, wasted or underweight at six months of age (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.05-2.93) and having at least one older sibling (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.14-3.51). CONCLUSION: A high proportion of urban slum dwelling children had poor growth throughout the first three years of life. Interventions are needed urgently during pregnancy, early breastfeeding and weaning in this population

Studies on the curing and preservation of "choodai" I. Some Aspects of Dry Salting

The methods adopted in India for the curing of " Choodai " (Sardinella spp.) in places where this fish constitutes a major portion of the fishery can be broadly classified into the following, viz., sun-drying, dry-salting, wet-salting and pit-curing. A specialised method known as the ' Colombo method of curing' is practised on a commercial scale in some places on the West Coast (Nicholson, 1930). The choice of the method adopted by the fishermen seems to be based more on convenience rather than on convention. When there is heavy fishing the fishermen invariably resort to sun drying and often spread the fish on the sandy beach itself for drying. The product thus obtained will not be wholesome and may contain, besides sand, other materials from the mud. The fish is sometimes washed in sea-water before being spread for drying, but this practice also is not strictly followed anywhere. In the dry salting and wet salting processes also many such unhygienic practices are often met with. Immediately after catch, the fish is mixed with salt without washing and removal of the slimy matter (the quantity of salt being a matter of approximation in places where Government fish-curing yards are not available) and left in some containers until a good market is found for the fish. No strict time limit is followed for the salting process and as such the products can either be under-salted or oversalted. As regards pit-curing it can be considered to be the most unhygienic method practiced in the curing of "Choodai". The fish without washing is mixed with salt, generally in excess, and put in pits lined on the inside with palmyrah leaves, covered with palmyrah leaf mats with earth above and tramped upon to give pressure (Nicholson, 1930). The product obtained is often in a disintegrated form with a viciating smell and mixed with a very high percentage of sand

Development status of the LAUE project

We present the status of LAUE, a project supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and devoted to develop Laue lenses with long focal length (up to 100 meters), for hard X--/soft gamma--ray astronomy (80-600 keV). Thanks to their focusing capability, the design goal is to improve the sensitivity of the current instrumention in the above energy band by 2 orders of magnitude, down to a few times $10^{-8}$ photons/(cm$^2$ s keV).Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, presented at the Space Telescopes and Instrumentation Symposium in Amsterdam, 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray Conference. Published in the Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 8443, id. 84430B-84430B-9 (2012

Muscle co-activity tuning in Parkinsonian hand movement : disease-specific changes at behavioral and cerebral level

We investigated different degrees of muscle co-activity in simple hand movement at behavioral and cerebral level in healthy subjects and Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. We compared 'singular' movements, dominated by the activity of one agonist muscle, to 'composite' movements, requiring conjoint activity of multiple muscles, in a center-out (right hand) step-tracking task. Behavioral parameters were obtained by EMG and kinematic recordings. fMRI was used to investigate differences in underlying brain activations between PD patients (N= 12) and healthy (age-matched) subjects (N= 18). In healthy subjects, composite movements recruited the striatum and cortical areas comprising bilaterally the supplementary motor area and premotor cortex, contralateral medial prefrontal cortex, primary motor cortex, primary visual cortex, and ipsilateral superior parietal cortex. Contrarily, the ipsilateral cerebellum was more involved in singular movements. This striking dichotomy between striatal and cortical recruitment versus cerebellar involvement may reflect the complementary roles of these areas in motor control, in which the basal ganglia are involved in movement selection and the cerebellum in movement optimization. Compared to healthy subjects, PD patients showed decreased activation of the striatum and cortical areas in composite movement, while performing worse at behavioral level. This implies that PD patients are especially impaired on tasks requiring highly tuned muscle co-activity. Singular movement, on the other hand, was characterized by a combination of increased activation of the ipsilateral parietal cortex and left cerebellum. As singular movement performance was only slightly compromised, we interpret this as a reflection of increased visuospatial processing, possibly as a compensational mechanism

Preliminary investigations on the pit curing of fish in India

Among the methods adopted for the curing of fish in India the practice of pit curing common in certain parts of the Madras State and the neighbouring region of Travancore is of considerable interest for several reasons. Broadly speaking the method consists in burying the fish after salting in mat lined pits for varying periods ranging from a few days to a fortnight or more before marketing in a partially dried condition without any further washing or drying. The products possess a distinct flavour and taste much appreciated by some sections of the public in the eastern parts of Madras State. However the process is mainly adopted by private curers outside the Government curing yards and the quality of the commercial samples leaves much to be desired due to their unwholesome appearance and commonly observed infestation with maggots (Krishna Pillai et ah, 1956). Since pit curing forms one of the main methods of curing around Mandapam, it was considered desirable to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the local practices relating to this cure and the keeping quality of the products. A knowledge of the biochemical changes occurring during maturation under semi-anaerobic conditions which constitute the basis of this cure is necessary for obtaining a better product by this method

Studies on the preservation of fish by pickling

Pickling with salt, vinegar, sugars and spices forms a traditional method of food preservation and is also widely employed for fish curing. A great variety of fishery products prepared with vinegar and spices enjoy wide popularity in Germany and other north European countries. Pickling is also practised in the East in countries like China, Japan and the Philippines (Jarvis, 1950). Although pickled products are of a semi-perishable nature since the concentrations of salt and vinegar employed are limited by considerations of palatability, they possess a greater appeal to consumers than salted and dried fish. Moreover these methods are better suited for curing fatty fish which are susceptible to rancidity in other salting methods. Apart from a few spiced and pickled products like PADDA and MOLLEI prepared on a domestic scale from Seer fish, Colombo Cure of the West Coast forms the chief commercial method in India which employs principles of pickling. Mackerels, Seer and non-fatty sardines are treated by this process and Malpe in South Kanara exports considerable quantities of Colombo cured fish to Ceylon (Nicholson, 1930). Malabar tamarind or ' Goruka Puli', the dried fleshy pod of Garcinia cambogea is used as an adjunct to salt in order to obtain the desired acidity. Though Goruka Puli is specially brought from Ceylon for this purpose, inferior varieties like ' Koda Puli' are also used on a smaller scale. The objectives of the present investigation were to study the chemical aspects of the pickling methods with a view to improve the existing practices and to explore the possibilities for a wider application of pickling methods to smaller varieties of fish like sardines which are mainly sundried at present. Studies on the preparation of high quality spiced and pickled products on the lines of foreign recipes like ' Marinated Herring ' and ' Russian Sardine' were also undertaken in an effort to develop new products for our fishing industry

Scientific prospects in soft gamma-ray astronomy enabled by the LAUE project

This paper summarizes the development of a successful project, LAUE, supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and devoted to the development of long focal length (up to 100 m) Laue lenses for hard X--/soft gamma--ray astronomy (80-600 keV). The apparatus is ready and the assembling of a prototype lens petal is ongoing. The great achievement of this project is the use of bent crystals. From measurements obtained on single crystals and from simulations, we have estimated the expected Point Spread Function and thus the sensitivity of a lens made of petals. The expected sensitivity is a few $\times10^{-8}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ keV$^{-1}$. We discuss a number of open astrophysical questions that can settled with such an instrument aboard a free-flying satellite.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, published in Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 8861, id. 886106 17 pp. (2013

Does 3-Day Course of Oral Amoxycillin Benefit Children of Non-Severe Pneumonia with Wheeze: A Multicentric Randomised Controlled Trial

WHO-defined pneumonias, treated with antibiotics, are responsible for a significant proportion of childhood morbidity and mortality in the developing countries. Since substantial proportion pneumonias have a viral etiology, where children are more likely to present with wheeze, there is a concern that currently antibiotics are being over-prescribed for it. Hence the current trial was conducted with the objective to show the therapeutic equivalence of two treatments (placebo and amoxycillin) for children presenting with non-severe pneumonia with wheeze, who have persistent fast breathing after nebulisation with salbutamol, and have normal chest radiograph.This multi-centric, randomised placebo controlled double blind clinical trial intended to investigate equivalent efficacy of placebo and amoxicillin and was conducted in ambulatory care settings in eight government hospitals in India. Participants were children aged 2-59 months of age, who received either oral amoxycillin (31-54 mg/Kg/day, in three divided doses for three days) or placebo, and standard bronchodilator therapy. Primary outcome was clinical failure on or before day- 4.We randomized 836 cases in placebo and 835 in amoxycillin group. Clinical failures occurred in 201 (24.0%) on placebo and 166 (19.9%) on amoxycillin (risk difference 4.2% in favour of antibiotic, 95% CI: 0.2 to 8.1). Adherence for both placebo and amoxycillin was >96% and 98.9% subjects were followed up on day- 4. Clinical failure was associated with (i) placebo treatment (adjusted OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.01 to1.62), (ii) excess respiratory rate of >10 breaths per minute (adjusted OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.19, 1.92), (iii) vomiting at enrolment (adjusted OR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.96), (iv) history of use of broncho-dilators (adjusted OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.24) and (v) non-adherence (adjusted OR = 8.06, 95% CI: 4.36, 14.92).Treating children with non-severe pneumonia and wheeze with a placebo is not equivalent to treatment with oral amoxycillin.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00407394