Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: treatment, prevention and management

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) is the most frequently reported seafood-toxin illness in the world, and it causes substantial physical and functional impact. It produces a myriad of gastrointestinal, neurologic and/or cardiovascular symptoms which last days to weeks, or even months. Although there are reports of symptom amelioration with some interventions (e.g. IV mannitol), the appropriate treatment for CFP remains unclear to many physicians. We review the literature on the treatments for CFP, including randomized controlled studies and anecdotal reports. The article is intended to clarify treatment options, and provide information about management and prevention of CFP, for emergency room physicians, poison control information providers, other health care providers, and patients.

Effect of dietary protein level on the growth of Deccan mahseer fry Tor khudree Sykes

Four feeds having different protein levels were separately tested on Tor khudree fry having an average length of 23.5 mm and weight 55 mg. The best average growth of 15.66 mg and 0.456 mm/day was obtained with Feed IV which comprised rice bran, ground nut oil cake, Acetes, wheat flour and mineral mix at the ratio of 1:1:1:0.7143:0.01428. These constitute 35.29% of proteins. The Feed II which comprised R.B + G.O.C. + prawn shell + wheat flour and mineral mix at a ratio of 1:1:1:0.7143:0.01428 contained 32.61% crude proteins. It provided a growth rate of 14.83 mg and 0.440 mm per day. The conversion rates were 38.258 and 37.776 for feeds IV and II respectively. Since Feed II is cheaper than Feed IV and provides almost equal growth rate, it can be used in the nurseries for intensive rearing of T. khudree fry.

玉米 rbcL 基因与兰藻 rbcS 基因定向融合及它们在宿主大肠杆菌中的表达

二磷酸核酮糖羧化酶/氧化酶(简称Rubisco, EC, 4.1.1.39)是绿色植物光合作用中参与固定CO2的关键酶。在高等植物，该酶是由8个分子量为55KD的大亚基(LSU)和8个分子量为14KD的小亚基(SSU)构成的16聚体。每个大亚基有四个活性中心，具有双向催化功能，其编码基因位于叶绿体基因组大单拷贝区;小亚基功能还不清楚，它由核基因组编码且有几个拷贝;未成熟小亚基N端有一段transit peptide，靠它的定向跨越叶绿体膜。迄今为止，取自几种植物材料的这二种亚基的氨基酸顺序和编码基因的核苷酸顺序分析业已完成。为该酶的遗传操作奠定了必要的基础。 由于Rubisco与人类利用太阳能和提高作物产量直接相关，所以成为通过生物技术进行改造的重大项目。 巢状假囊细菌(Anacyslis nidulans) R2是一种不含限制性内切酶的单细胞原核生物，能营光合作用，其Rubisco大亚基的氨基酸顺序与玉米的LSU同源性高达80%，但是第四个活性部位(Leu 456位)与玉米不同(Sys, 459位)，由此导致其对CO2的亲合力降低。另一方面，其rbcL与rbcS仅相隔93个bp，且同属一个操纵子。这意味着有可能用同源DNA片段等位交换的办法来改造其rbcL基因。 根据现有的资料，设计出玉米rbcL与兰藻rbcS定向重组于pUC119的兰图：先从pANP1155中切出0.7kb含蓝藻rbcS的PstI-HindIII片段，克隆进pUC119的lacZ启动子下游得pTAS28，采用Reverse primer作引物进行核苷酸顺序分析，确认蓝藻rbcS基因座落在pTAS28正链上。随后从pZmc460中切出包含玉米rbcL基因1.7kb的BglII-HincII片段，将它插入pTAS28的HincⅡ-BamHⅠ双酶切位点，得到pTMN3;为了比较，在另一个质粒pTMN7于1.7kb片段之前加进0.1kb的PstI-HaeIII蓝藻DNA。根据玉米rbcL基因核苷酸顺序（1218-1251）合成一个Oligonucleotide probe，对这三个质粒的总RNA抽提物进行Northern Blot，得到明显的杂交斑点;接着用菌体总蛋白冻干品进行了Western分析，并以新鲜的玉米和烟草叶片为对照，得到阳性结果。显然这二种基因重组之后仍能在宿主E. coli中正常表达。 真正的挑战应是下一步用上述二种质粒转化兰藻A. nidulans R2，考查其能否整合进基因组并表现出较低的氧化酶活性。

Co-expression of CD173 (H2) and CD174 (Lewis Y) with CD44 suggests that fucosylated histo-blood group antigens are markers of breast cancer-initiating cells

Histo-blood group antigens CD173 (H2) and CD174 (Lewis Y) are known to be developmentally regulated carbohydrate antigens which are expressed to a varying degree on many human carcinomas. We hypothesized that they might represent markers of cancer-initiating cells (or cancer stem cells, CSC). In order to test this hypothesis, we examined the co-expression of CD173 and CD174 with stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 by flow cytometry analysis, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry on cell lines and tissue sections from breast cancer. In three breast cancer cell lines, the percentage of CD173(+)/CD44(+) cells ranged from 17% to > 60% and of CD174(+)/CD44(+) from 21% to 57%. In breast cancer tissue sections from 15 patients, up to 50% of tumor cells simultaneously expressed CD173, CD174, and CD44 antigens. Co-expression of CD173 and CD174 with CD133 was also observed, but to a lesser percentage. Co-immunoprecipitation and sandwich ELISA experiments on breast cancer cell lines suggested that CD173 and CD174 are carried on the CD44 molecule. The results show that in these tissues CD173 (H2) and CD174 (LeY) are associated with CD44 expression, suggesting that these carbohydrate antigens are markers of cancer-initiating cells or of early progenitors of breast carcinomas.

Improving productivity - Opening the black box

Hourly productivity levels in the UK still remain behind those in some competitor countries. The government devotes much policy attention to enhancing productivity and continues to emphasise its five drivers - investment, innovation, skills, enterprise, and competition. This article argues that it is investment broadly defined that is the key to sustained productivity improvement. The emphasis should be on improving productivity simultaneously with improving the quality of production. Only thus will the gains be widely shared. In achieving these aims there are two prerequisites for policy-makers. The first is to ensure better coordination of policy than appears to be currently achieved by the present departmental structures in Whitehall. The second is to recognize fully the long and complex chain of causation that can be triggered by pulling on one policy lever. Such complexity can only be fully understood by more research on what actually goes on inside the black box of the organization. © 2006 Oxford University Press.

芒果果肉象(\sl Sternochetus frigidus Fabricius)生物学及其综合防治的研究

芒果果肉象幼虫蛀害芒果果肉, 在果肉内形成纵横交错的蛀道或洞穴, 粪便污染果肉, 失去食用价值。该虫在云南景谷一年发生一代, 以成虫在树干翘皮裂缝, 树洞或表土层中越冬。

Toward automated generation of parametric BIMs based on hybrid video and laser scanning data

Only very few constructed facilities today have a complete record of as-built information. Despite the growing use of Building Information Modelling and the improvement in as-built records, several more years will be required before guidelines that require as-built data modelling will be implemented for the majority of constructed facilities, and this will still not address the stock of existing buildings. A technical solution for scanning buildings and compiling Building Information Models is needed. However, this is a multidisciplinary problem, requiring expertise in scanning, computer vision and videogrammetry, machine learning, and parametric object modelling. This paper outlines the technical approach proposed by a consortium of researchers that has gathered to tackle the ambitious goal of automating as-built modelling as far as possible. The top level framework of the proposed solution is presented, and each process, input and output is explained, along with the steps needed to validate them. Preliminary experiments on the earlier stages (i.e. processes) of the framework proposed are conducted and results are shown; the work toward implementation of the remainder is ongoing.