Disinfection of aquarium effluents by chlorination and UV treatment

The study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of chlorine and UV irradiation in disinfecting aquarium effluent. A non-agglutinating, a virulent strain of Aeromonas salmonicida (NCIMB 11 02) was used as the test organism. Effluents from a fish tank were inoculated with a suspension of test organisms and subsequently treated with different concentrations of hypochlorite and UV irradiation separately and simultaneously. When used alone, 1.0 ppm hypochlorite reduced the viable cell count from 6.5 log to 3.0 log within 20 minutes of contact period. On the other hand, when used in combination with UV irradiation only 0.5 ppm hypochlorite exerted the same bactericidal effect within the same contact period as was observed with 1.0 ppm hypochlorite alone. This result indicated that required dose of disinfectant for the disinfection of aquarium effluents can be considerably reduced when it is used in combination with UV irradiation.

冬小麦抗寒性和光合作用对增强UV-B辐射与温度交互作用的响应

人类活动产生的氯氟烃化合物破坏了大气臭氧层，导致了到达地球表面的UV-B辐射大幅度增加。UV-B辐射增强可以影响到植物的生长、形态与发育等各个方面，因此有关增强UV-B辐射对植物的影响，及其与许多环境因子复合作用的研究都已经广泛开展。但是增强UV-B辐射与温度，特别是与低温的相互作用的研究报道很少。在北半球的晚秋至早春这段时期里，一些越冬生长的植物将面临着UV-B辐射增强和低温的双重胁迫，因此，迫切需要进行UV-B辐射和低温生长环境下植物的响应及其机制的研究。 以人工气候生长室中生长的冬小麦(Triticum aestivum)幼苗为试验材料，研究了低剂量（4.2 kJ m-2 d-1 UV-BBE，LUVB）和较高剂量（7.0 kJ m-2 d-1 UV-BBE，HUVB）UV-B辐射处理对20/16℃条件下幼苗抗寒力的交叉适应性及其抗氧化系统的反应;同时还研究了在两种生长温度（25/20℃和10/5℃）条件下，低剂量（4.2 kJ m-2 d-1 UV-BBE，LUVB）和超高剂量（10.3 kJ m-2 d-1 UV-BBE，SHUVB）UV-B辐射处理幼苗的生长速率、光合与荧光参数、叶黄素循环色素、抗氧化系统、以及抗寒性和酚类物质等生理反应，以期阐明不同温度条件下生长的冬小麦对UV-B辐射的生长、光合作用以及抗寒性响应与适应机制。主要结果如下： 1.在LUVB辐射处理下，在20/16℃和25/20℃条件下生长的冬小麦幼苗LT50值都显著降低，HUVB辐射处理对在20/16℃条件下生长的幼苗LT50值也可以显著降低，而SHUVB辐射对25/20℃条件下生长的幼苗LT50值没有显著影响。但是，LUVB和SHUVB辐射处理都导致了10/5℃条件下生长的幼苗LT50值的显著增加。表明适当的UV-B辐射能增强较高温度（20/16℃或25/20℃）条件下冬小麦幼苗的抗寒力，即表现出对冷冻低温的交叉适应性，但低温（10/5℃）生长条件却削弱了UV-B辐射下冬小麦的抗寒能力。 2.在20/16℃条件下接受UV-B辐射预处理的幼苗在-6℃条件下冷冻胁迫6 h再缓慢恢复6 h后，与未进行UV-B辐射处理的对照相比，其叶片过氧化氢酶（CAT）、愈创木酚过氧化物酶（GPX）、谷胱甘肽还原酶（GR）活性，谷胱甘肽氧化还原比例（GSH/GSSG）都显著提高，而由硫代巴比妥酸反应物质（TBARS）代表的膜质过氧化程度显著低于对照。此外，UV-B辐射期间处理幼苗的H2O2含量较对照显著增加，而冷冻恢复以后却明显低于对照。表明UV-B辐射诱导的抗寒力的提高应该与冷冻恢复后植株体内抗氧化系统的上调表达有关，H2O2可能参与了UV-B辐射对低温的交叉适应的信号传导。 3.除25/20℃生长条件下的LUVB处理的小麦幼苗外，UV-B辐射显著降低幼苗的相对生长速率（RGR）、净光合速率（Pn）、光系统II最大量子产量（Fv/Fm）、光系统II实际量子产量（(F΄m−Fs)/F΄m）以及光化学淬灭（qP），但是UV-B辐射并不影响叶片胞间CO2浓度（Ci），而且冬小麦幼苗生长和光合作用的抑制被增加的UV-B辐射剂量和降低的温度加强。UV-B辐射引起的光抑制由非气孔限制所导致，而且主要与PS II光化学效率降低有关。 4.UV-B辐射显著增加了两个温度条件（20/16℃或25/20℃）下生长的冬小麦幼苗叶黄素循环过程中紫黄素（V）的合成，但抑制了V向玉米黄质（Z）的转化，从而造成了对照与LUVB辐射处理幼苗之间的叶片中脱环氧化比例（DEPS）和NPQ无显著性差异，但SHUVB辐射处理幼苗叶片中DEPS和NPQ显著降低。因此，在本试验条件下，增强UV-B辐射处理的冬小麦可能并不通过热耗散形式形成光保护机制，光抑制形成的过剩激发能的耗散可能更多地通过代谢途径来实现。 5.UV-B辐射处理提高了在25/20℃条件下幼苗的超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶（APX）和GR等活性，以及抗坏血酸氧化还原比例（AsA/DHA）和GSH/GSSG;但是在10/5℃下，UV-B辐射除了导致SOD和CAT活性升高之外，对APX活性和AsA/DHA并不产生明显影响，但GPX和GSH/GSSG则显著降低。说明UV-B辐射幼苗的抗氧化系统在较高生长温度下显著地增强，而在低温10/5℃下被严重地削弱或降低，即低温阻止了代谢途径的光保护机制的正常运转。 6.多酚物质在UV-B辐射或低温10/5℃条件下都能显著地累积，且在UV-B辐射和低温复合作用下增加尤其显著，表明多酚物质在两个温度生长条件下特别是低温条件下都参与了对UV-B辐射幼苗的保护。 7.在高温条件下仅仅SHUVB处理的幼苗TBARS含量显著增加，而低温10/5℃条件下两个UV-B辐射处理都非常显著地上升，说明与高温生长条件相比较，低温加重了UV-B辐射引起的氧化胁迫，低温10/5℃条件下幼苗多酚的增加以及抗氧化系统的部分增强都没有能阻止UV-B辐射对幼苗的伤害。

Winter Temperature and UV Are Tightly Linked to Genetic Changes in the p53 Tumor Suppressor Pathway in Eastern Asia

The tumor suppressor p53 is a master sensor of stress. Two human-specific polymorphisms, p53 codon 72 and MDM2 SNP309, influence the activities of p53. There is a tight association between cold winter temperature and p53 Arg72 and between low UV intensity

Lack of genetic association between the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism and longevity in a Han Chinese population

Introduction. The insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has been reported to associate with human longevity. However, little information is available in a Han Chinese longevity Population. Therefore, we investigat

Tensile strength properties of polyethylene netting twines under exposure to out-door and artificial UV radiation

Photodegradation of three types of polyethylene twines namely, polyethylene fibrillated tape twine, polyethylene flat tape twine and polyethylene monofilament twines were studied by exposing them to sunlight and artificial UV radiation. The percentage residual strength varied in the samples, the monofilament with the highest residual strength followed by fibrillated tape twine and flat tape twine. A plot of the difference between the breaking strengths of the fibrillated tape twine and the mono filament twines against any given period of exposure exhibited a linear relationship

Lack of mtDNA control region variation in Hainan Eld's deer: Consequence of a recent population bottleneck?

We find no genetic variation at 550bp of mtDNA control region among 55 Hainan Eld's deer in an island population that has suffered recent population contractions. Congeneric species show high levels of variation at this locus. We use a simulation approach to test the likelihood of various bottleneck scenarios, and show, in the context of what is known about the recent demographic history of this population, that there are credible scenarios for a bottleneck driven by hunting pressure in the 1960s that could account for the lack of variation at this locus.

Single UV excitation of Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide for viability assessment of rhesus monkey spermatozoa using flow cytometry

Many fluorescent probes excited by visible light have been used to assess sperm quality by flow cytometry. Developing a viability evaluation method using UV excited stains would be useful for multiparameter analysis of sperm function. This investigation was conducted to determine the efficacy of Hoechst 33342 (H342) and propidium iodide (PI) dual staining for evaluating rhesus monkey sperm viability through use of flow cytometry and excited by a single UV laser. The results showed that the live cells stained only with H342 strongly correlated with expected sperm viability, and flow cytometric analyses were highly correlated with fluorescence microscopic observation. Using H342/PI/SYBR-14 triple staining method, it was found that the live/dead sperm distributions were completely concordant in both H342/PI and SYBR-14/PI assays. In addition, this dual staining was extended with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated peanut agglutinin (FITC-PNA) to simultaneously analyze viability and acrosome integrity of sperm cryopreserved using two different extenders, TTE and TEST, and indicated that TTE offered better Preservation of plasma and acrosome integrity than TEST Therefore, the H342/PI dual staining provides an accurate technique for evaluating viability of rhesus monkey sperm and should be valuable for multiparameter flow cytometric analysis of sperm function.

Hard days and nights: hardships at work, a lack of support at home, and little or no social security combine to create a bleak future for women fishsellers in Mangalore, India

Mangalore is a port city situated in the west coast state of Karnataka in India. The city hosts both large-scale and small-scale fisheries along its coastline. Traditionally, fishermen catch the product and sell it at a daily auction in the harbour to women vendors, who thereafter transport the goods to the market for commercial sale. The trade starts early in the morning, when the fishermen return to the harbour from their nightly fishing.

UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire field effect transistor treated by proton irradiation

We investigated the UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire field effect transistors (FETs) irradiated by proton beams. After proton beam irradiation (using a beam energy of 10 MeV and a fluence of 10 12 cm -2), the drain current and carrier density in the ZnO nanowire FETs decreased, and the threshold voltage shifted to the positive gate bias direction due to the creation of interface traps at the SiO 2/ZnO nanowire interface by the proton beam. The interface traps produced a higher surface barrier potential and a larger depletion region at the ZnO nanowire surface, affecting the photoconductivity and its decay time. The UV photoconductivity of the proton-irradiated ZnO nanowire FETs was higher and more prolonged than that of the pristine ZnO nanowire FETs. The results extend our understanding of the UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire devices and other materials when irradiated with highly energetic particles. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.