The development of the freezing and export of prawns in India

The paper deals with an overview on the preservation of fish by freezing process. Until a few years ago the surplus catches of fish, prawns were being dried, salted or pickled. The Kerala coast had always yielded large catches of prawns and about 5000 tons of dried prawns were annually exported to Burma and other Eastern countries. The Government of India looking at the great potential of this industry, has now, with a view to encourage exports, provided a series of incentives towards this end.

横断山特有植物区系的物种多样性与生物地理学研究

前人对横断山区特有植物的宏生态学研究已有一定的资料积累，对横断山区在全球生物多样性保护中的关键地位和特有现象已有基本共识：（1）横断山区是全球生物多样性关键地区和生物多样性优先重点保护的热点地区之一；（2）横断山区不仅是中国的三大特有植物分布中心之一，而且是新特有中心和物种分化中心，特有现象的生态成因大于历史成因。横断山区种子植物种类丰富，且具有较高的特有现象，其中既有古特有成分也有新特有成分但更多的是新特有成分。但目前，关于横断山区特有现象与生态特征、特有种分布与物种丰富度、特有种丰富度与海拔梯度以及植被的关系等仍缺乏深入的研究。针对上述问题，本论文初步研究了横断山区（1）特有种的生活型、种子散布方式、传粉方式和繁育系统等生态特征，各生态特征之间的相关关系，以及它们的进化地位；（2）特有种的水平分布格局及环境成因；和（3）特有种和生态特征沿海拔梯度的变化规律。主要结论如下： 1．横断山区含特有植物2396个分类群（包括种、亚种和变种），隶属于372属90科。特有类群在372个属中的分布非常不均匀，约一半的特有类群（50.2%）集中分布在较少的属中（占总属数的6%），含特有类群的属大小差异很大，重要的大属是：马先蒿属、乌头属、杜鹃花属、翠雀属、紫堇属、虎耳草属、报春花属、小檗属、黄芪属、凤毛菊属、蚤缀属、橐吾属、龙胆属、景天属、柳属、苔草属、香茶菜属、凤仙花属、紫菀属、鼠尾草属和蝇子草属等，这些属多以横断山为分布和分化中心，为新特有成分。另外，地面芽植物和隐芽植物等占有绝对优势，而矮高位芽植物、高位芽植物、地面芽植物等占有较低的比例，反映了该特有区系的高山、亚高山植物区系特点，但又不乏与热带植物区系的渊源。与世界其它高山地区相比，该特有区系中的地面芽植物、隐芽植物和一年生植物有较高的比例。 2．草本、风力散布种子、昆虫传粉和两性花等为该特有植物区系的优势生态特征。除传粉方式和生活型间无明显的相互作用外，其它生态特征间都存在明显的正相关关系。定量化研究结果表明该特有区系特有种的传粉方式进化可塑性很小，处于保守（或原始）的进化地位。相反，种子散布方式和繁育系统的进化可塑性较大，处于衍生（或进化）的进化地位，是不同种系在历史发育过程中不同阶段的产物。生活型的进化地位在种间有较大的分异，具较小或较大可塑性的各占有一定的比例，因此生活型中既保留处于保守（或原始）的进化地位也有处于衍生（或进化）的进化地位，两种进化状态的生活型在该特有区系中并存，该特征不但是种系在进化早期决定的，同时也是不同种系在进化过程中获得的。 3． 特有种的分布不均匀，较高比例的特有种局限分布在较少的几个地区，北纬28-29°线是特有种丰富度重要的南北分界线。聚类分析结果表明其分布可以划分为3个物种聚集群：（1）北纬28-29°以北、北纬34°以南的藏东川西北物种聚集群；（2）北纬28-29°以南、北纬26°以北的藏东南—滇西北—川西南物种聚集群；和（3）北纬26°以南、北纬25°以北的滇西北物种聚集群。其中，藏东南—滇西北—川西南物种聚集群特有种丰富度最高，是横断山区特有种分布的核心区；滇西北物种聚集群特有种丰富度最低，藏东川西北物种聚集群特有种丰富度居中。藏东南—滇西北—川西南物种聚集群之所以特有种类丰富很有可能与该小区具有高的物种丰富度和落叶阔叶林、常绿/落叶针叶林的分布有密切的联系。在区域尺度上，横断山区总物种的分布中心与特有中心存在分异。尽管两者都处于北纬28-29°以南、北纬26°以北的藏东南—滇西北—川西南小区，但特有中心具有较小的分布范围，而总物种的丰富度中心分布范围较大。因此，我们推测特有分布中心不但与落叶阔叶林和常绿/落叶针叶林有密切的联系，而且也与物种丰富度有关。特有种与植被类型尤其是与常绿阔叶林和落叶阔叶林的关系研究对揭示特有现象的发生、性质和特点有一定的意义，有关研究尚需进一步开展。此外，海拔高差、区系物种丰富度、地理位置和单元面积为特有种丰富度地理分布的总体变异提供了74.7%的解释。 4．研究地区的南缘和东南缘有高比例的木本特有植物，而草本特有植物的比例相对最低，反映出该横断山区南缘的特有植物与热带植物区系的渊源关系，其成分多为一些古老的特有成分；而高比例和较高比例的草本特有植物在研究地区普遍存在，包括研究区域南、北的大部分地区，显然草本特有植物是横断山的优势特有成分。这种以草本特有植物为特征的高山、亚高山特有植物区系有别于我国其它两大特有植物分布中心。该特有中心的成因的最终解释还需要从物种形成（speciation）、灭绝（extinction）和扩散（biogeographic dispersal）——这三个直接影响一个地区物种数量变化的过程来考虑。 5．特有种丰富度沿海拔梯度呈“单峰” 变化曲线，在中海拔段达到峰值。与中国特有种、世界广布种相比，特有种的峰值最高，最适海拔分布范围最窄。特有率随海拔上升而逐渐增高，但在海拔5000-5500 m左右突然上升，在海拔6000 m左右达到最高值。说明（1）物种分布区和丰富度存在着正相关，即特有种具有小的分布区，而广布种的分布区较大；（2）特有率的线性变化规律反映了物种丰富度和特有现象之间的关系，即物种丰富度最大峰值以上海拔段物种数量减少，但特有率增加，说明了该特有区系的高海拔性质。 6．特有种沿海拔梯度表现出大小明显不同的物种聚集群，可能与横断山区的山地垂直气候及相应的植被类型有关。在2600-4600 m海拔段特有种数量最多，这可能与该海拔段分布着落叶阔叶林和常绿/落叶针叶林有密切的联系。特有植物沿海拔梯度可分为四个不同海拔段的物种聚集群：（1）200-1000 m；（2）1000-2600 m； （3）2600-4600 m；和（4）4600-6400 m。在对应海拔段依次分布着干热河谷稀树灌草丛、常绿阔叶林、落叶阔叶林和常绿/落叶针叶林、高山流石滩稀疏植丛。其中，分布在2600-4600 m海拔段的物种丰富度最高，1000-2600 m海拔段的物种丰富度次之，200-1000 m、4600-6400 m两个海拔段物种丰富度较低。 7．特有区系中占优势的生态特征包括草本、风力散布种子、虫媒传粉、两性花和克隆性等对海拔梯度的适应也呈“单峰” 变化曲线，但该主要特征与次要的生态特征（木本、动物散布种子、风媒传粉、单性花和非克隆性）相比，均具有较高的海拔峰值和较窄的最适分布范围，反映了主要生态特征对中、高海拔的适应特点。主要的生态特征与次要的生态特征并存构成了横断山区特有区系的基本生态特征。

Impact of stocking density on growth and survival rate of mud crab (Scylla serrata Froskal)

A 10-weeks culture trial of mud crab, Scylla serrata in brackish water earthen pond was conducted in different stocking densities. The aim of the experiment was to identify a suitable stocking density for optimum production. There were three treatment as 5000 crab lings/ha, 10000 crab lings/ha and 15000 crab lings/ha of each with three replications. The initial mean weight of crab lings were same (5.5 ± 0.13 g). The experimental month was June '95 to August '95. The size of each pond was 500 m². To maintain good water quality water was exchanged in every spring tide. The salinity during the experiment were 2-18ppt. Prepared feed of about 32% protein consisting fish meal, MOC rice bran and wheat flour was used at 5% of their body weight. In terms of production, survival rate, growth and carapace width, the stocking density having 10000/ha showed the best (P

Effect of different feeds on growth, survival and production of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell)

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different feeds on growth survival and production of African catfish (C. gariepinus) in six cemented tanks (3m² each) over a period of 120 days. Three different feeds namely Feed A (Saudi-Bangla fish feed, 33.43% protein), Feed B (formulated feed, 40.12% protein) and Feed C (chicken raw intestine, 59.58% protein) were applied to treatments I, II and III respectively. Each of the tanks was stocked with 24 fry with mean initial body weight of 2.56±0.06 g. Feeds were supplied to the fish ad-libitum daily in two instalments. Significantly highest weight gain was obtained in treatment III, however, survival rate was low compared to other treatments. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) values ranged from 2.52-6.4. Survival rate of fish varied between 83 and 96%. Treatment II yielded the highest (5000 kg/ha/120 days) production with the highest survival rate of fish. On the basis of survival rate and production, it is suggested that the formulated feed (Feed B) is suitable for the culture of C. gariepinus in cemented tanks.

Utilisation of vegetable leaves for carp production

The results of two sets of experiments on mono-culture of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and mixed culture of carps (grass carp 50 : catla 20 : rohu 15 : mrigal 15) fed exclusively with vegetable leaves are reported. The experiments were conducted with two replicates each in 0.02 ha ponds of Wastewater Aquaculture Division of the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Rahara during 1991-93. Monoculture of grass carp stocked at 1000/ha demonstrated an average net production of 21.0 kg/ 0.02 ha/8 months (1501 kg/ha/yr). Mixed culture of carps stocked at 5000 /ha recorded an average net production of 22.5 kg/0.02 ha/8 months (1903.7 kg/ha/yr). Field studies revealed that water bind weed (Ipomoea aquatica) is the most preferred feed of grass carp amongst vegetable leaves followed by amaranths (Amaranthus gangeticus and Amaranthus viridis), cauliflower (Brassica oleracia var. votrytis) and cabbage (Brassica oleracia var. capitata) leaves. Through selection of highly productive leaf vegetables and suitable crop planning on fallow fish pond dykes, round the year feeding programme of grass carp has been explored. Recycling of sewage effluent for vegetable production and utilisation of vegetable leaves for fish production is considered an ideal way of integrated resource management for low cost production.

Sulfide binding characteristics of blood serum in Calyptogena pacifica and Vesicomya gigas

The sulfide binding characteristics of blood serum were studied in vitro in two deep-sea vesicomyid clams, Calyptogena pacifica and Vesicomya gigas. Both the C. pacifica and the V. gigas serum concentrated sulfide at least an order of magnitude above ambient levels. V. gigas accumulated sulfide faster than C. pacifica, reaching saturation at 5000 M after an hour. C. pacifica bound sulfide at half the rate of V. gigas, reaching saturation in about two hours at a substantially higher concentration of sulfide. The observed distribution of the animals near cold seeps in the Monterey Submarine Canyon can be explained by their different sulfide binding abilities. The hypothesis that cold seeps are actually much more unstable sources of sulfide than previously assumed is explored.

Effect of Lates calcarifer seed stocking on the survival and production of Indian major carps reared in a freshwater coastal pond in Konkan region

The experiment indicated feasibility of culturing Indian major carps seed with Lates calcarifer, if the size of Indian major carps is larger. In the present investigation the average growths of Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala are recorded as 1193, 1120 and 821 g, respectively, during the year 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 in 7.5 months. Complete harvesting of L. calcarifer is essential before stocking of new seed. The average growth of L. calcarifer was recorded as about 670 g during the above period. About 5000 numbers of Indian major carps fry per hectare can be stocked under the present culture system

Polyculture of giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, with Indian major carps: a case study

A study conducted in a 450 m² earthen pond to evaluate the production potential of giant freshwater prawn (stocked at 20,000 juveniles/ha) and Indian major carps, catla and rohu (stocked at 5000 juveniles/ha in 2:1 proportion) revealed that in nine months growing period, catla and rohu attained average sizes of 357 and 746 g, respectively, while prawn weighed 48.32 g. The growth of rohu was much faster than catla as indicated by higher relative and absolute weight gains. The total fish production per hectare was estimated to be 2418 kg and prawn production stood at 780 kg with excellent survival of both the fish (>98%) and prawn (>80%).

Influence of stocking density on the culture potential of freshwater catfish Pangasius pangasius in pond

Influence of stocking density on the production of freshwater catfish Pangasius pangasius with formulated feed in ponds was studied. The fish fry were collected from the Meghna river near Chandpur which is a natural breeding ground of this fish. Three stocking densities chosen during this experiment were 5000, 8000 and 11000 fry/ha with an initial weight of 42.57 ±2.51 g. The formulated feed was prepared in the laboratory which contained 45% fish meal, 30% mustard oil cake, 15% wheat bran and 10% rice bran to supply 40.48% protein in feed. The growth of P. pangasius in terms of net weight gain was 409.49, 266.49 and 236.37 g at the 5000/ha, 8000/ha and 11000/ha stocking densities respectively, which was statistically significant (p<0.05). High food conversion ratio (FCR) was also observed during this research study which ranged between 7.06 to 7.72. A production of 2.6 tons/ha at the stocking density of 11000/ha; 2.13 tons/ha at the stocking density of 8000/ha and 2.04 tons/ha at the stocking density of 5000/ha was obtained, while the growth of individual fish at the end of experiment was in opposite order. The result of this experiment indicates that stocking density has significant influence on the culture potential of freshwater catfish P.pangasius.

Ultrafast switching liquid crystals for electro-optic transmissive and reflective displays and microscopic lasers

We have used novel liquid crystals with extremely large flexoelectric coefficients in a range of ultra-fast photonic/display modes, namely 1) the uniform lying helix, that leads to in-plain switching, birefringence based displays with 100 μs switching times at low fields, i.e.2-5 V/μm, wide viewing angle and analogue or grey scale capability, 2) the uniform standing helix, using planar surface alignment and in-plane fields, with sub ms response times and optical contrasts in excess of 5000:1 with a perfect black "off state", 3) the wide temperature range blue phase that leads to field controlled reflective color and 4) high slope efficiency, wide wavelength range tunable narrow linewidth microscopic liquid crystal lasers.

Phantom mutation hotspots in human mitochondrial DNA

Phantom mutations are systematic artifacts generated in the course of the sequencing process. Contra common belief these artificial mutations are nearly ubiquitous in sequencing results, albeit at frequencies that may vary dramatically. The amount of artifacts depends not only on the sort of automated sequencer and sequencing chemistry employed, but also on other lab-specific factors. An experimental study executed on four samples under various combinations of sequencing conditions revealed a number of phantom mutations occurring at the same sites of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) repeatedly. To confirm these and identify further hotspots for artifacts, > 5000 mtDNA electropherograms were screened for artificial patterns. Further, > 30000 published hypervariable segment 1 sequences were compared at potential hotspots for phantom mutations, especially for variation at positions 16085 and 16197. Resequencing of several samples confirmed the artificial nature of these and other polymorphisms in the original publications. Single-strand sequencing, as typically executed in medical and anthropological studies, is thus highly vulnerable to this kind of artifacts. In particular, phantom mutation hotspots could easily lead to misidentification of somatic mutations and to misinterpretations in all kinds of clinical mtDNA studies.

Pharmacokinetics of sifuvirtide, a novel anti-HIV-1 peptide, in monkeys and its inhibitory concentration in vitro

Aim: To study the pharmacokinetics of sifuvirtide, a novel anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) peptide, in monkeys and to compare the inhibitory concentrations of sifuvirtide and enfuvirtide on HIV-1-infected-cell fusion. Methods: Monkeys received 1.2 mg/kg iv or sc of sifuvirtide. An on-line solid-phase extraction procedure combined with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (SPELC/MS/MS) was established and applied to determine the concentration of sifuvirtide in monkey plasma. A four-I-127 iodinated peptide was used as an internal standard. Fifty percent inhibitory concentration (IC50) of sifuvirtide on cell fusion was determined by co-cultivation assay. Results: The assay was validated with good precision and accuracy. The calibration curve for sifuvirtide in plasma was linear over a range of 4.88-5000 mu g/L, with correlation coefficients above 0.9923. After iv or sc administration, the observed peak concentrations of sifuvirtide were 10626 +/- 2886 mu g/L and 528 +/- 191 mu g/L, and the terminal elimination half-lives (T,12) were 6.3 +/- 0.9 h and 5.5 +/- 1.0 h, respectively. After sc, T-max was 0.25-2 h, and the absolute bioavailability was 49% +/- 13%. Sifuvirtide inhibited the syncytium formation between HIV-1 chronically infected cells and uninfected cells with an IC50 of 0.33 mu g/L. Conclusion: An on-line SPE-LC/MS/MS approach was established for peptide pharmacokinetic studies. Sifuvirtide was rapidly absorbed subcutaneously into the blood circulation. The T-1/2 of sifuvirtide was remarkably longer than that of its analog, enfuvirtide, reported in healthy monkeys and it conferred a long-term plasma concentration level which was higher than its IC50 in vitro.

Pond culture of mud crab (Scylla serrata): an economic analysis

The findings are presented of a study conducted to determine the economic feasibility of the pond culture of mud crab (Scylla serrata) at various stocking densities. Investments, costs, and returns are given for a 1 ha crab monoculture at 4 stocking densities - 5000, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000. Results show that mud crab monoculture in brackishwater ponds is economically feasible at stocking densities of 5000/ha and 10,000/ha.

Zinc oxide nanowire based hydrogen sensor on SOI CMOS platform

Here we report on the successful low-temperature growth of zinc oxide nanowires (ZnONWs) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS micro-hotplates and their response, at different operating temperatures, to hydrogen in air. The SOI micro-hotplates were fabricated in a commercial CMOS foundry followed by a deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) in a MEMS foundry to form ultra-low power membranes. The micro-hotplates comprise p+ silicon micro-heaters and interdigitated metal electrodes (measuring the change in resistance of the gas sensitive nanomaterial). The ZnONWs were grown as a post-CMOS process onto the hotplates using a CMOS friendly hydrothermal method. The ZnONWs showed a good response to 500 to 5000 ppm of hydrogen in air. We believe that the integration of ZnONWs with a MEMS platform results in a low power, low cost, hydrogen sensor that would be suitable for handheld battery-operated gas sensors. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.