Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, is an important part of the country's fisheries industry. It is also home to a number of endemic fishes including Gobiopterus lacustris (Herre 1927) of family Gobiidae, Leiopotherapon plumbeus (Kner 1864) of family Terapontidae, Zenarchopterus philippinus (Peters 1868) of family Hemiramphidae and Arius manillensis Valenciennes 1840 of family Ariidae. Over the years, a steady decline has been observed in the abundance and diversity of native fishes in the lake due to anthropogenic disturbances. In this study, a total of 71 specimens of 18 different species belonging to 18 genera, 16 families, and seven orders were DNA barcoded using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. All of the fish species were discriminated by their COI sequences and one endemic species G. lacustris, showing deep genetic divergence, was highlighted for further taxonomic investigation. Average Kimura 2-parameter genetic distances within species, family, and order were 1.33%, 18.91%, and 24.22%, respectively. These values show that COI divergence increases as taxa become less exclusive. All of the COI sequences obtained were grouped together according to their species designation in the Neighbor-joining tree that was constructed. This study demonstrated that DNA barcoding has great potential as a tool for fast and accurate species identification and also for highlighting species that warrant further taxonomic investigation.
Objectives. Video-based learning of surgical skills is a useful complement in training programs. This is more evident where direct patient exposure is limited due to multiple factors. In ophthalmic surgery, access to high quality ocular surgery videos such as for cataract operations, can provide significant learning points for trainees in an institutional program. Creation therefore of a local, curated, and indexed library of cataract surgery would support alternative means to maximize training of new ophthalmic surgeons. The objective of the project was to develop a local library of cataract surgery videos as an adjunct teaching tool for resident trainees in a Philippine tertiary eye care center.Methods. A collection of cataract surgery videos from 2013-2020 were compiled into a single workstation. Videos were reviewed and catalogued using set keywords for easy searchability and labelling.Results. 256 videos of cataract surgeries were compiled into the library. 6 main headings for the keywords, with 159 total subheadings were established to provide robust tagging and search options to index the video.Conclusion. Particularly in Ophthalmic surgery, refinement of surgical technique is essential in ensuring better postoperative visual outcomes. This is achieved through repetition and careful dissection of operative technique. The use of a library with multiple videos of a similar procedure allows trainees more exposure to certain cases. This ultimately affords trainees, better experience and confidence in their own surgeries.
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