a b s t r a c t: A comprehensive review with 185 references for the analysis of commonly prescribed members of an important class of drugs, non-sedating antihistamines (NSAs), is presented. The review covers most of the methods described for the analysis of cetirizine (CTZ), ebastine (EBS), fexofenadine (FXD), ketotifen (KET) and loratadine (LOR) in pure forms, in different pharmaceutical dosa…
a b s t r a c t Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants in insulating oil of a large number of transformers. A rapid and economical analytical method to detect PCB contamination is still required. To address this issue, we propose here the first microfluidic screening method for PCB contamination in insulating oil. The insulating oil was pretreated using a multilayer…
a b s t r a c t Nitrated indolinyl photoprotecting groups are crucial tools extensively used in the study of neuronal signal transduction. Mononitrated photolabile protecting groups have been used effectively, however, recent advances in the introduction of a second nitro group have shown improvement in the photo efficiency of neurotransmitter (agonist) release, albeit, to varying extents, dep…
a b s t r a c t: A new ketamine coated silver electrode (KCSE) based on ketamine hydrochloride with sodium tetraphenylborate (KT-TPB) as electroactive material has been described. The influence of membrane composition,type of solvent mediators, kind of electroactive materials and interfering ions on the sensor was investigated.The sensor displays Nernstian response of 55.8 ± 0.3 mV/decade ove…
a b s t r a c t: A simple, ultra sensitive and selective method for the spectrophotometric determination of Ir3+ in various synthetic and environmental samples was reported. The analyte ions were collected on a membrane filter in the form of their red complex with 5-(2-benzothiazolyl-azo)8-hydroxy-quinoline (BTAHQ), and the absorption spectra of the colored membrane filters were acquired. Effe…
a b s t r a c t: In this paper, we describe a simple method for sampling, pre-concentrating, and separating volatile and semi-volatile components from two different cave atmospheres. Sampling is performed by capturing a volume of cave atmosphere in a Tedlar bag or Suma canister for sample storage and transport back to the laboratory. Loading a portion of the sample on a multi-bed sorption tr…
a b s t r a c t: This paper reports an RP-HPLC-UV-DAD study of the effects of four solvents and their mixtures on the extraction and antioxidant activities of three main catechins, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epigallocatechin (EGC) of Camellia sinensis L. leaves for two harvests. The extraction efficiency solvent was measured by the chromatographic peak areas. The re…
a b s t r a c t Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting men and itincreases in both incidence and prevalence with age. This work presents a simple, sensitive and fast generic high performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method for the simultaneous determination of five drugs prescribed for the treatment of BPH. These drugs include the a1-a…
In order to explore the effect of water temperature on sex ratio and growth rate, we reared the juvenilesof Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, Pelteobagrus vachelli and the hybrids from P. fulvidraco (♀) × P. vachelli (♂) at6 different water temperature conditions (20, 23, 26, 29, 32 and 34◦C) in this study. The results showedthe population of male and female fish at the ratio of 1:1 when the fish…
a b s t r a c t: PBDEs are widely used brominated flame retardant, which are increasingly reported in the environment. MeO-PBDEs are structural analogs to PBDEs, and reported as natural products and novel pollutants present in the environment. Concentrations of thirteen PBDEs and eight MeO-PBDEs in a large number of commercial sales of hen eggs representing 15 different regions and household p…
One of the main concerns in gene expression studies is the calculation of statistical significance which inmost cases remains low due to limited sample size. Increasing biological replicates translates into moreeffective gains in power which, especially in nutritional experiments, is of great importance as individualvariation of growth performance parameters and feed conversion is high. The pre…
Aquaculture of the Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis, in recirculating systems has emerged over the pastdecades to become a significant way of diversification for inland areas in Europe. The development of sucha production relies partly on the improvement of growth performance (i.e., reducing production costs),which requires suitable genetic management of broodstocks and the development of sele…
Streptococcosis is a highly problematic disease in the aquaculture of freshwater fishes, especially fortilapia. The possibility of vertical transmission of streptococcosis and the pattern of tissue tropism of thispathogen in various organs was examined in red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.). Healthy broodstock withoutany clinical signs of Streptococcus spp. were selected from a farm earlier reported …
In this study, we assessed the suitable level of replacement of fishmeal with a blue green microalga,Arthrospira platensis in feed for the post larvae (PL) of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergiiby evaluating the growth performance, prawn proximate composition, feed utilization parameters andthe activity of digestive enzymes. The prawns were fed 5 different diets: a control diet and …
Using vitellogenin (Vtg) gene as a biomarker, the possible role of selected endocrine modulators(EMs) such as methyl farnesoate (MF), 17-hydroxy progesterone (17-OHP), biochanin-A, methio-nine enkephaline (ME) and arachidonic acid on female reproduction in crab Oziothelphusa senex senex(O. senex senex) was elucidated in this study. The injections were given on 1st and 7th day of experi-ment (…
The tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) is a native fish species that is farmed most frequently and in thelargest quantities throughout Brazil. The high production of this species from fish farms has contributedto the occurrence of emerging parasites, which may compromise fish health and productivity. In a batchof 2500 tambaqui fry acquired for experimental farming procedures in Brazil, a mortality…
Everyone is becoming more environmentally conscious and therefore, chemical processes are being developed with their environmental burden in mind. Of course, this also means that more traditional chemical methods are being replaced with new innovations. This includes new solvents. Solvents are everywhere, but should they be? They are used in most areas including synthetic chemistry, anal…
Recent progress in molecular biology leads to a better understanding of nature and natural life processes at the global and local scopes and opens new horizons for chemical and biological technology. Alkaloids, the subject of this book, are a group of very interesting and complex chemical and biological molecules having special tasks in the life machinery of our planet. They are also a good…
Freshwater snail, Pila globosa is an edible mollusc which bears commercial and ethnomedicinal signifi-cance. During environmental aridity, P. globosa aestivates deep into the soil for four to five months. Wereport comparative analyses of immune associated parameters in the hemocytes and hemolymph of P.globosa during activity, experimental aestivation, arousal and starvation. Hemocyte is a major…
The demand for animal protein, especially fish, is growing fast, perhaps due to the rapid expansion ofpopulations, increases in income and changes in eating habits and life styles. Capture fisheries, whichsupply over 70% of the fish for human consumption in Malaysia, are over-exploited or depleted. Theiryields have become stagnant over the last few decades and in some cases have even declined. …
Motile Aeromonas septicemia (MAS), caused by virulent clonal isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh), isemerging as a major disease in catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture in the Southeastern United States.Predisposing conditions leading to vAh infection in catfish were however largely unknown. The objectiveof this study was to investigate factors that predispose catfish to vAh infection an…
Red sea bream is one of the most important aquaculture fish species in Japan. To improve the productivityof this fish during seed production, improved growth traits and reduced size variation are needed. In thisstudy, we assessed parental contribution of fast- and slow-growing individuals observed in two differentrearing phases in a mass production lot: (1) 50 dph reared in a tank and (2) 200 d…
A study was undertaken to evaluate some factors that are important for better management of the whitespot syndrome virus (WSSV). We examined the likelihood of that the mud crab (Scylla serrata) is a poten-tial carrier of WSSV in shrimp farms and then compared susceptibility of three shrimp species to WSSV,and finally tested the effects of shrimp stocking density and transmission routes on the i…
Lates calcarifer (barramundi or Asian seabass) has been farmed since the 1970s, yet despite its widespreadculture little has been documented on the species’ embryonic development and particularly how devel-opment relates to temperature. This is particularly the case for the Australian L. calcarifer genetic strain.Accordingly, embryonic development of fertilised barramundi eggs incubated at 26…
Environmental pH is one of the factors contributing to abiotic stress which in turn influences the growthand development of macroalgae. This study was conducted in order to assess the growth and physio-logical changes in Kappaphycus alvarezii under different pH conditions: pHs 6, ∼8.4 (control) and 9. K.alvarezii explants exhibited a difference in the daily growth rate (DGR) among the differe…
Crustaceans have a powerful non-specific immune mechanism that responds to pathogen invasion andtogether with cellular responses, generates powerful humoral factors such as antimicrobial peptides.Crustins are a diverse class of antimicrobial peptides that are expressed by the circulating haemocytesof crustaceans. Several isoforms of this molecule are reported and in this study, one isoform from…
Stress is one of the most critical factors in fish health. The response to stress in fish is characterized bythe stimulation of the hypothalamus, which results in the activation of the neuroendocrine system anda subsequent cascade of metabolic and physiological changes. The present paper deals with the stressresponses of water pH on certain biochemical indices and hematological parameters of ze…
Genes coding for interferon (IFN-) has been cloned and studied for functional analysis in many species.Labeo rohita commonly known as rohu, is a commercially important and widely cultured fish in South-East Asia. IFN- of rohu was amplified with primers based on conserved regions of other related species.5and 3end were amplified using RACE PCR. The PCR products were cloned and sequenced. T…
De-oiled groundnut oil cake (GOC) was bio-processed through solid state fermentation (SSF) for 15 days at34 ± 1◦C by a tannase producing yeast, Pichia kudriavzevii (GU939629) isolated from the gut of a freshwa-ter carp, Cirrhinus cirrhosus. SSF of GOC was effective in significantly (P < 0.05) reducing crude fibre contentand antinutritional factors (e.g., tannin, phytic acid and trypsin inhib…
Mud crabs from the genus Scylla have high commercial value and are considered as one of the highlysought luxury seafood items. Thorough understanding about their biology and mating behaviour is vitalin providing important information for a sustainable exploitation and future incorporation into the aqua-culture industry. The mating process of S. olivacea lasted 82.0 ± 10.8 h was divided into fo…
This study registers for the first time the copepod Acusicola sp. infesting the gills of farmed yellowtail tetraAstyanax altiparanae, as well as new information on gross pathology and gill alterations. Five specimens ofyellowtail tetra showing slow swimming, respiratory difficulty, scaleness and darkened skin were exam-ined. Fish were analysed in situ for ectoparasites diagnosis. Fragments of t…
Transportation of fish, although stressful, is an inevitable procedure in aquaculture practices. In thisstudy, we investigated the changes in biochemical and haematological indices in advanced fingerlingsof rohu, Labeo rohita in order to optimize the packing density as is imperative to avoid transportationstress and associated mortality. The fish (14.00–15.00 cm) were packed in sealed double …
The present study describes lesions caused by Kudoa sp. in the esophageal tissue of mapará catfishes(Hypophthalmus marginatus) collected from Cametá, Tocantins River in the northern Brazil. Fifty refriger-ated H. marginatus specimens were dissected and tissue samples were for embedded in paraffin andstained with hematoxylin-eosi, Masson’s trichrome and Giemsa. Pseudocysts of whitish color w…
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important problems in public health, veterinary medicine and aquaculture. Importantly, plasmid mediated antibiotic resistance of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus from shrimp can potentially be transferred through transposition, conjugation and plasmid uptake to different bacterial species in aquaculture systems. In this study, we evaluated the antib…
Expression of stress-related genes was investigated in the marine copepod Acartia tonsa in relation to heatshock at two different salinities (10 and 32‰), and it was furthermore investigated whether experimen-tally induced epibiont infestation led to elevated expression of stress-related genes. Expression of thegenes ferritin, Hsp90 and Hsp70 were analyzed in adult copepods by conducting reve…
tTraditionally, over the last 10,000 years, agriculture has relied on natural biological evolution and carefulselection of plant varieties by farmers that was used as the founder material by plant breeders in the last150 years for further genetic improvement. Plant breeders played an important role mainly by introgres-sion of a trait of interest, through the transfer of genetic loci, into an el…
Understanding gene regulatory networks in plants requires knowledge of cis-regulatory DNA, trans-actingfactors, and their dynamics across development and in response to stimuli. Active cis-regulatory elementsare hypersensitive to cleavage by the endonuclease DNase I. Motifs within DNase I hypersensitive sitesindicate potential trans-acting factor occupancy and, when combined with DNase I cleava…
tThe thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana is a powerful model organism for studying a wide variety of biologicalprocesses. Recent advances in sequencing technology have resulted in a wealth of information describingnumerous aspects of A. thaliana genome function. However, there is a relative paucity of computationalsystems for efficiently and effectively using these data to create testable hypothes…
tThe Arabidopsis thaliana gynoecium arises at the center of the flower as a simple structure, which willsuccessively develop novel cell types and tissues, resulting in a complex organ. Genetic and hormonalfactors involved in this process have been identified, but we are still far from understanding how theseelements interact, and how these interactions rearrange according to spatial and tempora…
Shoots are ramifying systems with regular initiation of new growth axils called shoot branches. In seedplants, shoot buds initiate in leaf axils from axillary meristems (AMs) containing stem cells. The activitiesof AMs and buds play vital roles in plant architecture and crop yield. Whereas recent years have witnessedenormous progress the control of bud outgrowth, our knowledge of AM initiation …
Efficiently obtaining and utilizing energy and elements is critical for an organism to maximize its fitness.Optimizing these processes requires precise regulation and coordination of an organism’s metabolic net-works in response to diverse environmental conditions and developmental stages. Metabolic regulationis often considered to largely occur by allosteric feedback where the metabolites di…
Plants adapt to the prevailing photoperiod by adjustinggrowthandfloweringtotheavailabilityofenergy. To understand the molecul archanges involved in adaptation to along-dayconditionwecomprehensively profiled leaf six at the end of the day and theend of the night at four development al stages on Arabidopsis thaliana plants grownin a 16 hphotoperiod,andcompared the profilest othose from leaf 6of …
Marker assisted backcrossing (MABC) was used to transfer the three stem rust (Puccinia graminis tritici)resistant genes Sr25, SrWeb and Sr50 into the popular Indian wheat cv. HUW234. The donor was theCIMMYT breeding line PMBWIR4, and each of the target genes was marked by a simple PCR assay. Athree step screening strategy was adopted: the first screen comprised foreground selection, the secondu…
Insight into biological stress regulatory pathways can be derived from high-throughput transcriptomicdata using computational algorithms. These algorithms can be integrated into a computational approachto provide specific testable predictions that answer biological questions of interest. This review conceptu-ally organizes a wide variety of developed algorithms into a classification system base…
The information that connects genotypes and phenotypes is essentially embedded in research articleswritten in natural language. To facilitate access to this knowledge, we constructed a framework for thecuration of the scientific literature studying the molecular mechanisms that control leaf growth anddevelopment in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). Standard structured statements, called relat…
Grain protein content (GPC) in wheat has been a major trait of interest for breeders since it has enormousend use potential. In the present study, marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) was successfully used toimprove GPC in wheat cultivar HUW468. The genotype Glu269 was used as the donor parent for intro-gression of the gene Gpc-B1 that confers high GPC. In a segregating population, SSR marker Xu…
Plant speciation and diversification strongly rely on structural changes in the nuclear genome, both at the whole ploidy and individual chromosome level. Phylogenetic, comparative mapping and cytological studies have provided insights into the evolutionary mechanisms that shape the plant genome. These include major genome alterations, such as whole genome duplication and hybridization (auto- an…