Dynamics of environmental variables during the incidence of algal bloom in the coastal waters of Gujarat along the northeastern Arabian Sea.

The dynamics of physico-chemical, nutrient, and chlorophyll-a variables were studied in the bloom and non-bloom locations along the off-Gujarat coastal waters to understand the variability in biogeochemistry using multivariate analytical tests. The dissolved oxygen was significantly lower in the bloom stations (3.89 ± 0.44 mgL-1) than in the non-bloom stations (5.50 ± 0.70 mg L-1), due to the biological degradation of organic matter in addition to anaerobic microbial respiration. Nutrients (PO4 and NO3) and Chl-a concentrations were recorded higher in the bloom locations at 0.83 ± 0.21 µmol L-1, 4.47 ± 0.69 µmol L-1, 4.14 ± 1.49 mg m-3, respectively. PO4 and NO3 have shown a significantly higher positive correlation of r = 0.73 and r = 0.69 with Chl-a for bloom data than the non-bloom data. The percentage variance contributed by PC1 and PC2 for both bloom and non-bloom locations were estimated at 52.33%. The variable PO4 explains the highest 24.19% variability in PC1, followed by Chl-a (19.89%). The PO4 triggers the bloom formation and also correlates to the higher concentrations of Chl-a in the bloom locations. The bloom concentration ranges from 9553 to 12,235 trichomes L-1. The bloom intensity has shown a significant positive correlation with Chl-a (r = 0.77), NO3 (r = 0.56), and PO4 (r = 0.30), but a negative correlation was noticed with DO (r = - 0.63) and pH (r = - 0.49). The study also initiates a way forward research investigation on ocean-color technologies to identify and monitor blooms and climate change-driven factors for bloom formation. The occurrence of bloom and its influence on fishery resources and other marine biotas will open many research windows in marine fisheries, oceanography, remote sensing, marine biology, and trophodynamics.

HSPIR: a manually annotated heat shock protein information resource.

SUMMARY: Heat shock protein information resource (HSPIR) is a concerted database of six major heat shock proteins (HSPs), namely, Hsp70, Hsp40, Hsp60, Hsp90, Hsp100 and small HSP. The HSPs are essential for the survival of all living organisms, as they protect the conformations of proteins on exposure to various stress conditions. They are a highly conserved group of proteins involved in diverse physiological functions, including de novo folding, disaggregation and protein trafficking. Moreover, their critical role in the control of disease progression made them a prime target of research. Presently, limited information is available on HSPs in reference to their identification and structural classification across genera. To that extent, HSPIR provides manually curated information on sequence, structure, classification, ontology, domain organization, localization and possible biological functions extracted from UniProt, GenBank, Protein Data Bank and the literature. The database offers interactive search with incorporated tools, which enhances the analysis. HSPIR is a reliable resource for researchers exploring structure, function and evolution of HSPs. AVAILABILITY: http://pdslab.biochem.iisc.ernet.in/hspir/

Fish diversity, composition, and guild structure influenced by the environmental drivers in a small temporarily closed tropical estuary from the western coast of India.

Globally, small temporarily closed estuaries are the least considered for fisheries assessment and management due to a low scientific priority and regional importance. However, these ecosystems are highly exposed to anthropogenic pressures and may deteriorate without assessing its aquatic resources. In this study, fish diversity and guild structure of Chettuva-a temporarily closed tropical estuary in the western coast of India-was investigated. A total of 70 fish taxa belonging to 32 families were recorded with the quantitative predominance of families; Mugilidae, Cichlidae, and Leiognathidae. Family Carangidae had the highest species diversity (seven species), followed by Clupeidae and Mugilidae (five species). Ecological guild assessment revealed that the immigrating marine fish species (marine estuarine opportunist (34 species) and marine estuarine dependent (13 species)) dominated the guild structure over the estuarine resident species (seven species). The marine species were found all along the saline gradient and throughout the sampling period indicating the salinity ingress towards the estuarine zone throughout the year. Carnivores and omnivores were the major feeding mode functional guilds in terms of diversity, whereas detritivores dominated in numerical abundance throughout the salinity gradient. The major environmental drivers of the fish assemblages in the estuary were salinity and chlorophyll a. The distribution of freshwater fishes and estuarine resident species was connected with the rising primary productivity as the majority of fishes rely on the algae for feeding, whereas marine estuarine dependent and marine estuarine opportunist species occurred in areas with the highest salinity concentrations.

Study of cholesterol levels in patients with ischaemic stroke and their outcome

Background: Stroke is a major health problem in India. Stroke burden has been rising in India as compared to the developed countries. Recent studies have shown that high serum cholesterol is associated with clinically less severe ischaemic strokes and better outcome. Aim: The primary objective of the study was to compare the outcome of patients with ischaemic stroke to their cholesterol levels and to correlate the cholesterol levels to the stroke outcome. Materials and methods: This hospital based prospective follow-up study was conducted in 140 patients admitted with ischaemic stroke in the medical wards of Medical College hospital, Trivandrum. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on cholesterol levels as <160 mg/dl and >160 mg/dl. Their clinical severity at presentation was calculated by Scandinavian stroke scale (0=worst, 58=best) and outcome of these patients at the end of 1 year was measured by Modified Rankin scale (0=best, 6=worst).Serum cholesterol was measured using enzymatic method. Results: Mean age of 140 patients of at presentation was 63.4±11.9 years of which 53.5% (n=75) males, the mean Scandinavian stroke scale (SSS) being 28.3±12.5. The mean SSS score of high cholesterol group was 39.6 whereas 17 in the low cholesterol group (p<0.001). Similarly, the size of infarct in CT brain, outcome variables of modified Rankin scale and mortality were statistically significant between these groups (p<0.001). Bivariate correlation analysis showed that increased serum cholesterol level is associated with increased SSS score (positive correlation) with high statistical significance (p<0.001). Logistic regression adjustedwith other risk factors showed high cholesterol levels are associated with better outcome and decreased mortality, which is supported by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Sreenath S, Santhosh Kumar T.S., Parthiban, Jasen Joseph, Ratheesh Kumar V.R. Study of cholesterol levels in patients with ischaemic stroke and their outcome. IAIM, 2017; 4(10): 194-202. Page 195 Conclusion: Hypercholesterolemia is associated with clinically minor strokes and better outcome, whereas major strokes are commonly seen in patients in the low cholesterol group. Hence post stroke outcome is inversely related to serum cholesterol levels in ischaemic stroke patients.