Impact of dietary administration of Arthrospira platensis free-lipid biomass on growth performance, body composition, redox status, immune responses, and some related genes of pacific whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei.

The current study aimed to assess the influence of dietary inclusion of cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis NIOF17/003 as a dry material and as a free-lipid biomass (FL) on the growth performance, body composition, redox status, immune responses, and gene expression of whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae. L. vannamei were fed five different supplemented diets; the first group was fed on an un-supplemented diet as a negative control group (C-N), the second group was fed on a commercial diet supplemented with 2% of A. platensis complete biomass as a positive control group (C-P20), whereas, the three remaining groups were fed on a commercial diet supplemented with graded amounts of FL at 1%, 2%, and 3% (FL10, FL20, and FL30, respectively). The obtained results indicated that the diet containing 1% FL significantly increased the growth performance, efficiency of consumed feed, and survival percentage of L. vannamei compared to both C-N and C-P20 groups. As for the carcass analysis, diets containing A. platensis or its FL at higher levels significantly increased the protein, lipid, and ash content compared to the C-N group. Moreover, the shrimp group fed on C-P20 and FL10 gave significantly stimulated higher digestive enzyme activities compared with C-N. The shrimp fed C-P20 or FL exhibited higher innate immune responses and promoted their redox status profile. Also, the shrimp fed a low FL levels significantly upregulated the expression of both the peroxiredoxin (Prx) and prophenoloxidase (PPO1) genes than those receiving C-N. The current results recommended that dietary supplementation with 1% FL is the most effective treatment in promoting the performance and immunity of whiteleg shrimp.

The potential use of daphnia meal as substitute for fishmeal in diets of hybrid red tilapia affects growth performance, activities of digestive enzymes, antioxidant, immune status and intestinal histological parameters.

The current study aimed to evaluate growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, antioxidant status, nonspecific immune response and intestinal histological status of red tilapia fed Daphnia meal (DM) as a substitute for fishmeal (FM). Hybrid red tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus × Oreochromis aureus) fry (0.54 ± 0.05 g fish-1) was allocated in nylon haba cages (100 fry m-3) for 2 weeks as an acclimation period. The fish were divided into five groups (three replicates each). The experimental diets were prepared by replacing FM with DM at concentrations of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively. The results indicated that fish fed increasing levels of DM (50%-75%) experienced high growth performance, feed utilisation and protein content. The activities of digestive enzymes were significantly increased in all groups fed DM diets compared to the control. The antioxidant balance was improved by decreasing the level of malondialdehyde and increased the total antioxidant capacity, catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase activities in the liver of fish fed DM. The nonspecific immune response, including lysozyme, alkaline phosphatase activities and total protein level improved significantly with increasing FM substitution levels by DM in a dose-dependent manner. Histometric analysis of the intestinal wall revealed an increase in the villus length, crypts depth and goblet cells number in groups fed DM meal up to 50% substitution level compared to other treatments. It may be concluded from results of this feeding trial that in the aquaculture of hybrid tilapia, FM may be substituted with up to 50% DM without compromising intestinal health, growth performance and immune status of the fish.

Comparative Study between Modified Millard and White Roll Vermilion Flap Techniques in Unilateral Lip Repair: A Randomised Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: Cleft lip and palate, which affects 0.5-1.6 out of every 1000 live births, is the most prevalent congenital defect of the head and neck. Several approaches, including quadrangular flaps, triangular flaps and rotation-advancement procedures, White Roll Vermilion Turn Down Flap (WRV flap) from the lateral lip element were employed by Mishra to modify Millard's technique to create the vermilion and white roll on the medial lip segment. This study aimed to use the anthropometric measurements taken pre- and post-operation to evaluate quantitative assessment of modified Millard technique compared with WRV flap technique in unilateral cleft lip (UCL) repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective, randomised controlled study recruited infants scheduled for UCL repair. Infants aged 3-6 months, either complete or incomplete deformity. A total of 42 patients were randomized in 1:1 ratio to undergo either WRV flap technique (group A) or modified Millard technique (group B) and another control included 21 age-matched healthy children. We compared WRV flap procedure to Modified Millard's procedure in terms of both qualitative (another surgeon's opinion) and quantitative (anthropometric) evaluation. RESULTS: Vertical lip length and philtral lip height significantly longer in Millard group (B) than WRV flap group (A) in immediate postoperative assessment and nasal width was significantly wider in WRV flap group (A) than Millard group (B) in 3-month post-operative assessment. The lip shape, the vermilion shape was better in Millard technique than WRV flap technique; however, this was statistically insignificant. However, no major difference in the overall results between the WRV flap and Millard rotation-advancement repairs. CONCLUSION: Anthropometric measurement of surgical outcome evaluates the surgical technique used and helps to compare between cleft and non-cleft side showing the degree of deformity and we used subjective assessment to analyse facial aesthetics. Overall results demonstrate no significant differences between modified Millard technique and WRV flap technique.