This study covers the evolution of color parameters (L*, a*, b*) of passion fruit juice from 2 different seasons (winter and summer) and its relation with carotenoid content and also the sensory evaluation of juices. Three different harvests were made during the two seasons, every 15-20 days. Soluble solids/acidity ratio was used as a maturity index. Winter maturity index was 3.5 and summer index was 6.6: The carotenoids content for winter fruit was higher than that for summer fruit (2.6 and 1.7 mg β-carotene/100ml respectively). Color differences between harvest seasons were observed; a* value for winter juices was higher than for summer juices (7.4 and 4.3 respectively). Furthermore, an increment of a* value was observed in the winter harvest rising from 5.0 to 10.3. A color difference was also detected through the sensory evaluation; the judges ranked the third harvest from winter with the highest degree. This sample had the highest carotenoid content (3.2 mg β-carotene/100 ml).
The nitrogen flow together with dissolved nutrients and other parameters are described in a large shrimp maturation operation in Ecuador. In summary, only 8.9% of the nitrogen input ended in animal tissue. Nitrate-N and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) accounted for more than 95% of the nitrogen pool. The nitrogen dynamics in the system is driven by a nitrification based trickling filter attached population and a free living heterotrophic carbon limited in the sump. The average nitrification rate of TAN (total ammonia nitrogen) averaged 44.81 gd-1. The trickling filters worked as a nitrifier body and also reducing the organic load. There is also some evidence that the trickling filters might have also play some role in denitrification. Nitrate never reached high concentrations (<3.7 mg L-1 nitrate-N), hence did not present a danger to the productivity of the system. In general either inorganic or organic phosphorous did not undergo any major change during the study. BOD values in the sump were low averaging 1.1 mg L-1 d-1 more likely as a result of the carbon limitation of the system. A combination of low C:N ratio and high load of organic nitrogen in the trickling filter could be part of the key factors running this system. The semi closed recirculating system presented in this study has been used since 2004 providing a steady yield of nauplii without the seasonal effects typical of open system and without the accumulation of deleterious amount of waste nitrogen or the presence of pathogens. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of using a simple and inexpensive semi closed recirculating systems in a large commercial scale.
BackgroundMembers of the Orthomyxoviridae family, which contains an important fish pathogen called the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV), have a genome consisting of eight segments of single-stranded RNA that encode different viral proteins. Each of these segments is flanked by non-coding regions (NCRs). In other Orthomyxoviruses, sequences have been shown within these NCRs that regulate gene expression and virulence; however, only the sequences of these regions are known in ISAV, and a biological role has not yet been attributed to these regions. This study aims to determine possible functions of the NCRs of ISAV.ResultsThe results suggested an association between the molecular architecture of NCR regions and their role in the viral life cycle. The available NCR sequences from ISAV isolates were compiled, alignments were performed to obtain a consensus sequence, and conserved regions were identified in this consensus sequence. To determine the molecular structure adopted by these NCRs, various bioinformatics tools, including RNAfold, RNAstructure, Sfold, and Mfold, were used. This hypothetical structure, together with a comparison with influenza, yielded reliable secondary structure models that lead to the identification of conserved nucleotide positions on an intergenus level. These models determined which nucleotide positions are involved in the recognition of the vRNA/cRNA by RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) or mRNA by the ribosome.ConclusionsThe information obtained in this work allowed the proposal of previously unknown sites that are involved in the regulation of different stages of the viral cycle, leading to the identification of new viral targets that may assist future antiviral strategies.
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