Effect of different dietary protein levels on reproductive performance of paradise fish Macropodus opercularis

In this study, the effect of different protein levels, on paradise fish growth and reproduction were investigated. Thus, number of one thousand paradise fish (0.5 ± 0.01 g) were collected from hatchery bred brooders and divided into six group, each group was offered one of six experimental diet comprising different protein levels (25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% and 50%). After six month feeding period, the highest weight gain (5.96± 0.17), the highest weight gain percentage (90.8 ± 0.31) were submitted in the group fed 40% protein. Moreover, the highest feed conversion ratio (0.9 ± 0.3) as well as daily growth was observed in this group. In the reproduction, the highest eggs released by the group fed with diet containing 45% protein. The GSI and the egg diameter and larval length were highest in 45% protein group. The group of 25% and 30% the reproduction efficiency was the lowest. Protein increment up to 50% had no effect on reproduction performance. No differences were seen in biochemical composition and amino acid profile of the ovaries between groups

Evaluation of sperm quality and different nutrient levels on sperm efficiency in male rainbow trout

Considering the importance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in supplying required protein of people and effort to increase the efficiency of these fish reproduction, some related factors such as sperm quality and potential fertility of male are necessary. The aim of this study was to find out the effects of different dosages of Arginine on the biochemical parameters (including LDH, AST, ALT, ALP, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, chloride, calcium, sodium, Potassium, cholesterol, uric acid, urea, fructose, glucose, total protein and pH) of rainbow trout seminal plasma. For this purpose, five practical diets (each consisting of 3 triplicates) were supplemented with Arginine at 0.00 (Control), 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 and 2.00%. Broodstock feed last for 90 days. At the end of the feeding period one fish was captured from each replicate in order to collect their semen. Results indicate that there were no significant differences in LDH, ALP, Fe^2+ and P content among different treatments. The lowest level of AST and ALT and the highest level of Ca^2+ and Mg^2+ ions were observed in the treatment fed with 1.50% of Arginine which showed significant differences with other treatments (p<0.05). Moreover, the amount of Cl^-, Na^+ and K^+ ions were significantly increased in the seminal plasma in fish which were fed on diets containing arginine in comparison to control. As the amount of Arginine were increased, the levels of uric acid stepped up significantly in contrast to the urea and glucose. The highest amounts of cholesterol, fructose and total protein were observed in the treatments fed on 2.00, 0.50 and 1.00% of Arginine, respectively, that showed significant differences with other treatments (p<0.05). The highest pH value was assayed in the 1.50% of Arginine treatment. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant positive correlation between Ca^2+ and Mg^2+ ions and Na^+ with K^+ and Clions (r=0.750, r=0.769 and r= 0.938, p<0.01), respectively. On the other hand, a significant negative correlation between cholesterol with Cl^-, Na^+, K^+, ALT and LDH (r=- 0.764, r=-0.724 and r=-0.728, p<0.01) and (r=-0.531 and r=-0.560, p<0.05) and also a significant positive correlation between K^+ and Clions (r=0.836, p<0.01) were observed. Finally, it can be expressed that the levels of most of the ions were increased and there was a reduction in the levels of enzymes in seminal plasma of fish which were fed with practical diet including 1.5% of Arginine. So it can be recommended that adding this value of Arginine to the diets of rainbow trout broodstock, would improve the sperm quality which results in the enhancement of efficiency in rainbow trout reproduction

Comparison between dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and ultrasound-assisted nanoparticles-dispersive solid-phase microextraction combined with microvolume spectrophotometry method for the determination of Auramine-O in water samples

Novel dispersive solid phase micro-extraction (DSPME) and dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction (DLLME) combined with spectrophotometry is designed for the preconcentration and/or determination of Auramine-O (AO) content in various real samples. DSPME is based on the application of manganese dioxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon (MnO2-NPs-AC). This new material was fully identified and characterized with FT-IR, FESEM, EDX and XRD analysis. Influence of variables, such as: different solid phase extraction sorbents; the type and volume of extracting solvent; sonication time; dispersive solvents; centrifugation time; and ionic strength (NaCl concentration) on response properties were optimized by Central Composite Design, response surface methodology and desirability function using STATISTICA. Optimum conditions was set for DSPME as: 1 mg MnO2-NPs-AC; 3 min sonication time; and 100 mu L volume of extraction at pH 6.5. Meanwhile for DLLME conditions were fixed at: pH 6.5; 5 min centrifugation time; 0.035 mol L-1 NaCl concentration; and 140, 1000 mL and 10 mL of extraction solvent (CHCl3), disperser solvent (ethanol) and sample volume, respectively. Under optimum conditions, the method has linear calibration curves over the range from 10-1000 ng mL(-1) and 1-2000 ng mL(-1), with R-2 = 0.9997 for DLLME and 0.9998 for DSPME, while the corresponding detection limits for DSPME and DLLME were 2.836 ng mL(-1) and 0.232 ng mL(-1), respectively. The relative standard deviation and enrichment factor were less than 4% (n = 10) and 99.93 for DLLME and 117.66 for DSPME, respectively. The experimental results were compared with those obtained by the use of DLLME and DSPME. The full procedures were applied for the preconcentration and subsequent determination of AO in wastewater, tap water, rain water and river water

Reproductive biology of the jellyfish (<i>Chrysaora</i> sp.) in the north-western coastal waters of Malaysia (Penang Island)

822-829Based on histological, microscopic and macroscopic observations, the highest gonadosomatic index (GSI) value for both sexes of Chrysaora sp. was found to be in July. Female GSI value of Chrysaora sp. was higher than male. Furthermore, this species showed an asynchronous pattern of reproduction. Spawning and the peak of the reproductive seasons were in July. Maturation in Chrysaora consisted of four stages (pre vitellogenic, early vitellogenic, mid vitellogenic and late vitellogenic) in female and three stages (spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and spermatids) in male

Ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography-UV detection for simultaneous preconcentration and determination of Ni, Co, Cu and Zn in water samples

Ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (IL-DLLME) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-UV detection was developed for simultaneous extraction and determination of nickel, cobalt, copper and zinc ions. In the proposed approach, salophen (N,N'-bis(salisyliden)-1,2-phenylenediamine) was used as a chelating agent; the ionic liquid, 1-hexeyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, and acetone were selected as extracting and dispersive solvents, respectively. After extraction, phase separation was performed by centrifugation and the sedimented phase (ionic liquid) was solubilized in acetonitrile and directly injected into the HPLC for subsequent analysis. Baseline separation of metal ion complexes was achieved on a RP-C18 column using a gradient elution of the mixtures of methanol-acetonitrile-water as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min-1. The influence of variables such as sample pH, concentration of the chelating agent, amount of ionic liquid (extraction solvent), disperser solvent volume, extraction time, salt effect and centrifugation speed were studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factor of 222 was obtained. The detection limits for Ni, Co, Cu and Zn were 0.8, 1.6, 1.9 and 2.8 μg L−1, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were in the range of 3.6-5.0 % for all of the investigated metal ions. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to the determination of the studied metal ions in water samples

Magnetic nanoparticle based dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction for the determination of malachite green in water samples: optimized experimental design

This paper presents an extraction method based on dispersive-nanoparticle-solid phase microextraction (DNSPME) for the preliminary preconcentration and subsequent spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of malachite green (MG). The application of nanoparticles permits the easy separation and extraction of MG from trout fish water and natural water samples. The analyte was accumulated on a gamma-Fe2O3 nanomaterial loaded on activated carbon (gamma-Fe2O3-NPs-AC) that was identified by FESEM, XRD, FTIR, EDS and UV-Vis techniques. The influence of the expectable parameters on the extraction recovery, according to p < 0.05, was investigated and judged using a two-level Plackett-Burman screening design with 7 variables (adsorbent mass, centrifugation time, eluent volume, ionic strength, pH, ultrasonication temperature and ultrasonication time). It was found that three significant variables namely adsorbent mass, eluent volume and pH have a great influence on optimization using a central composite design combined with a desirability function. The results showed that the semi-empirically obtained second-order model was able to efficiently predict the ER% for MG adequately with a coefficient of determination of 99.7% (p < 0.001); the higher efficiency of the model was obtained through a good compromise between the experimental and predicted data. Working under the optimum conditions, specified as 0.6 mg of adsorbent and 120 mu L of eluent volume at pH 6.0, led to the achievement of a high and reasonable linear range over 1-4000 ng mL(-1) (R-2 = 0.999) with a detection limit of 0.175 ng mL(-1) and an obtained quantification limit of 0.583 ng mL(-1). The relative standard deviation (RSD) for ten replicates was less than 3.50%. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of MG in trout fish water and natural water samples with excellent recoveries corresponding to spiked samples. All these results prove the suitability of the present method in terms of simplicity, easy operation conditions, efficiency and sensitivity for the determination of MG in real samples

Acute Paraplegia After General Anesthesia

Acute paraplegia is a rare but catastrophic complication of surgeries performed on aorta and corrective operations of vertebral column. Trauma to spinal cord after spinal anesthesia and ischemia of spinal cord also may lead to acute paraplegia. Acute paraplegia as a complication of general anesthesia in surgeries performed on sites other than aorta and vertebral column is very rare. Here we present a 56 year old woman with acute paraplegia due to spinal cord infarction after laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia probably caused by atherosclerosis of feeding spinal arteries and ischemia of spinal cord after reduction of blood flow possibly due to hypotension during general anesthesia

PHYSICAL MODIFICATION OF PALLADIUM AND SILVER NANOPARTICLES LOADED ON ACTIVATED CARBON WITH 2-(2-NITROBENZYLIDENEAMINO)THIOPHENOL TO PRECONCENTRATE AND SEPARATE METAL IONS FROM FOOD SAMPLES

Palladium and silver nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon modified by 2-(2- nitrobenzylidene amino) thiophenol were applied for the enrichment of trace amount of some metal ions and their subsequent determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The influences of the analytical parameters including pH, amount of ligand and solid phase, sample flow-rate, type and conditions of eluting solution and sample volume on the metal ion recoveries were investigated. The high sorption-preconcentration capacity and recoveries of metal ions under study, even in the presence of various interfering ions, indicate reasonable method selectivity. The relative standard deviation and recoveries of target elements were found to be 94%, respectively. The optimum values were set at-pH 5, amount of nanoparticles 0.08 g, eluent flow rate 1.5 ml min(-1), condition of eluent 5.0 ml of 4.0 M HNO3, and sample volume 1400 ml. The method was applied to determine analyte ions in real samples