No abstract

Chickens are the most popular poultry worldwide and are now used for both meat and egg production. There is only a sporadic information in the literature on chicken taxonomy; and there is a lack of a single concise document that deals with different issues related to this important topic. The present document contains detailed information on the tree taxonomy of chickens. In addition, process of domestication and its effect on chicken genetic diversity, physiology and behaviour are also discussed. The major conclusions are as follows: 1) Chickens are classified as: order: Galliformes, family: Phasianidae, genus: Gallus (junglefowl). Four species of junglefowl are recognized. These are: a) Gallus gallus (red junglefowl), b) Gallus varius (green junglefowl), c) Gallus sonneratii (grey junglefowl) and d) Gallus lafayetii (Ceylon junglefowl). The current chickens that are used for both meat and egg production commercially are domesticated fowl and are the descendants of the red junglefowl species. 2) Domestication process is a complicated one and involves intensive breeding and selection programmes. During this process, genetic diversity is still maintained, yet reduced, so careful attention is needed in the future to maintain the diversity of specialized chicken species. 3) Domestication resulted in basic changes in the behaviour, physiology and production of the bird, but still there are some similarities between the ancestor and the current chickens.

No abstract

Islet transplantation is emerging as a therapeutic option for type 1 diabetes, albeit, only a small number of patients meeting very stringent criteria are eligible for the treatment because of the side effects of the necessary immunosuppressive therapy and the relatively short time frame of normoglycemia that most patients achieve. The challenge of the immune‐suppressive regimen can be overcome through microencapsulation of the islets in a perm‐selective coating of alginate microbeads with poly‐l‐lysine or poly‐ l‐ornithine. In addition to other issues including the nutrient supply challenge of encapsulated islets a critical requirement for these cells has emerged as the need to engineer the microenvironment of the encapsulation matrix to mimic that of the native pancreatic scaffold that houses islet cells. That microenvironment includes biological and mechanical cues that support the viability and function of the cells. In this study, the alginate hydrogel was modified to mimic the pancreatic microenvironment by incorporation of extracellular matrix (ECM). Mechanical and biological changes in the encapsulating alginate matrix were made through stiffness modulation and incorporation of decellularized ECM, respectively. Islets were then encapsulated in this new biomimetic hydrogel and their insulin production was measured after 7 days in vitro. We found that manipulation of the alginate hydrogel matrix to simulate both physical and biological cues for the encapsulated islets enhances the mechanical strength of the encapsulated islet constructs as well as their function. Our data suggest that these modifications have the potential to improve the success rate of encapsulated islet transplantation.

No abstract

In the actual environment, temperatures fluctuate drastically through season or global warming and are thought to affects risk of pollutants for aquatic biota; however, there is no report about the effect of water temperature on toxicity of widely used herbicide diuron to fresh water microalgae. The present research investigated inhibitory effect of diuron on growth and photosynthetic activity of a green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata at five different temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C) for 144 h of exposure. As a result, effective diuron concentrations at which a 50% decrease in algal growth occurred was increased with increasing water temperature ranging from 9.2 to 20.1 μg L(-1) for 72 h and 9.4-28.5 μg L(-1) for 144 h. The photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (F v/F m ratio) was significantly reduced at all temperatures by diuron exposure at 32 μg L(-1) after 72 h. Inhibition rates was significantly increased with decreased water temperature (P < 0.01). Intracellular H2O2 levels as an indicator of oxidative stress were also decreased with increasing temperature in both control and diuron treatment groups and were about 2.5 times higher in diuron treatment groups than that of controls (P < 0.01). Our results suggest water temperatures may affect the toxicokinetics of diuron in freshwater and should therefore be considered in environmental risk assessment.

Novel study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of ginger (GN) and its nanoparticles (GNNP) on growth, cognition, immunity and prevention of motile Aeromonas septicaemia (MAS) in Cyprinus carpio fingerlings. Fish were divided into five groups fed diet 1 (control; no additives), diet 2 (0.5 g of GN), 3 (1 g of GN), 4 (0.5 g of GNNP) and 5 (1 g of GNNP) per kg feed for 30 days. In the behavioural test, fish were individually placed in a foraging maze to evaluate their cognition capability and feeding behaviour.At the end of feeding period, fish fed GN and GNNP showed significant better final weight than the controls. GN and GNNP significantly increased total protein, globulin and lysozyme, whereas 1 g GNNP group was the highest. One gram of GN, 0.5 g and 1 g GNNP enhanced cognition capability, while GN and GNNP increased percentage of fish fed in the maze. Brain acetylcholinesterase was significantly decreased than control in 1 g GN group. GNNP succeeded in the prevention of MAS more than GN, because no mortalities and 100% relative percentage survival (RPS) were detected in 1 and 0.5 g GNNP and 1 g GN per kg feed, while fish fed 0.5 g GN showed 20% mortalities and 71.4 RPS.

This study was designed to evaluate dietary Moringa oleifera leaves (MOLs) and their aqueous extract in enhancing the growth rate and immunity and decreasing the acute stress response in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fingerlings. A total of 180 fish were divided into three groups for feeding on diet1 (d1) with no additives (control), diet2 (d2) containing 10 g of MOLs/kg feed, and diet3 (d3) containing 20 mL of MOL aqueous extract/kg feed for 60 days. At the end of the feeding period, the specific growth rate (SGR) was calculated, and serum was obtained for biochemical analysis. In addition, 6 fish from each group were subjected to confinement stress for 20 min. Thereafter, locomotor activity, opercular movement, and plasma and water cortisol levels were measured. The d2 and d3 groups showed an increase in SGR and levels of total protein, globulin, and lysozyme, in addition to a decrease in the locomotor activity and opercular movement than d1 (control) group. MOLs and their aqueous extract had an improving effect on growth and immunity and mitigated the adverse effects of stressors in C. carpio fingerlings. Moreover, MOL aqueous extract induced a more marked effect on growth performance and stress resistance than that by MOLs.