Marine Fish Farming and the Blue Revolution: Culturing Cod Fisheries

The Blue Revolution promises to transform wild marine fish into docile domesticates, fish hunters into harvesters. As commercially fished marine species continue to face extinction in the wild due to overfishing, pollution, global climate change and a host of other anthropogenic assaults, ‘culture’ has emerged as a keyword in the field of marine fisheries management. Like the terrestrial dreams and grandiose visions of their Green comrades a half-century earlier, Blue revolutionaries advocate the application of scientific expertise, industrial technology and trans-national capital in their oceanic culturing projects. These culturing projects influence and seek to transform human identity and ways of living as much as the genetic make-up, behaviours and metabolism of the wild fish species that are targeted for domestication

Electron ionization mass spectrometry of difurfuryl diamines

Electron impact mass spectrometry (ei-ms) has aided the structural characterization of a novel series of synthetic difuranic diamines and permitted the comparison with a previous study employing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. As expected, the molecular radical ion was inexistant in this series of compounds and the fragmentation routes of the molecular radical ion were governed either by homolytic cleavage of the radical R2• or by heterolytic loss of NH3 to give their respective base peaks

Synthesis and Characterization of Long Acting Darunavir Prodrugs

Patient adherence is critical for ART success to ensure adequate viral suppression, therefore, long-acting antiretrovirals are soon replacing current daily regimens. In recent years, two drugs were successfully transformed into long-acting injectables; CAB LA and RPV LA. These long-acting nanoformulations made it possible to abandon the daily pill burden, instead approximately a bimonthly injection of both drugs is enough to suppress and maintain viral load suppression. Our laboratory has been instrumental in transforming FDA-approved and experimental-HIV medications into long-acting slow effective release drugs, also known as LASER ART. LASER ART consists of slow drug metabolism and high permeability and retention inside cellular reservoirs eventually increasing the apparent life of the drugs. In this work, we apply LASER strategies to darunavir, a protease inhibitor (PI). DRV is a preferred PI due to its potency against wild type HIV as well as many mutant resistant viral strains. Among other drugs from its class, DRV is considered to have the highest genetic barrier to HIV mutations. To transform DRV into a LASER DRV, we chemically modified DRV to a prodrug, an inactive form of the drug, by conjugation of different lengths of fatty acids/lipids; M1DRV and M2DRV. These prodrugs were encased in amphiphilic polymer, NM1DRV and NM2DRV, to increase nanoparticles stability and permeability across cell membranes. The prodrug nanoformulations improved uptake, retention, release and antiretroviral activities in macrophages and T cells. Pharmacokinetics studies in mice affirmed the advantage of the modifications in extending the apparent half-life of DRV in animal models. Long-acting DRV offers the option of a long-acting PI that does not require a booster to maintain high concentrations in plasma, blood, and tissues. Therefore, DRV prodrugs nanoformulations can eliminate heavy pill burden and reduce drug-drug interactions that are prominent with PI boosters such as ritonavir and cobicistat

The Patronage Effect: Civil Service Reforms, Job-Seeking, and State Formation in Victorian Canada

Patronage, in the mid- and late-nineteenth century, was central to Canadian politics. This period also witnessed a series of debates concerning the civil service and a range of reforms that attempted to eliminate patronage. This dissertation argues that, more than debates about administration and appointments, these were also struggles over how to construct the ideal civil servant and civil service. These were highly political issues that were beset by processes of inclusion and exclusion, especially with respect to gender, class, and race. In short, these were debates about the many facets of liberal governmentality and state formation in early modern Canada. This dissertation also analyzes letters to federal politicians asking for appointments. Among other things, these documents expressed a range of opinions on how the bureaucracy should be managed, staffed and constructed. Letters asking for patronage also demonstrated how aspiring public servants understood and expected the appointment process to work. These letters reflected what type of people should have access to the civil service, and what type of people the applicants thought they were. As such, they informed and were themselves informed by broader political and administrative debates. These politics of Canadian patronage, I argue, were central to the everyday processes of state formation

Tributyltin (TBT) biodegradation induces oxidative stress of Cunninghamella echinulata

Tributyltin (TBT) is one of the most deleterious compounds introduced into natural environment by humans. The ability of Cunninghamella echinulata to degrade tributyltin (TBT) (5 mg l-1) as well as the effect of the xenobiotic on fungal amino acids composition and proteins profile were examined. C. echinulata removed 91% of the initial biocide concentration and formed less hazardous compounds dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT). Moreover, the fungus produced a hydroxylated metabolite (TBTOH), in which the hydroxyl group was bound directly to the tin atom. Proteomics analysis showed that in the presence of TBT, the abundances of 22 protein bands were changed and the unique overexpressions of peroxiredoxin and nuclease enzymes were observed. Determination of free amino acids showed significant changes in the amounts of 19 from 23 detected metabolites. A parallel increase in the level of selected amino acids such as betaine, alanine, aminoisobutyrate or proline and peroxiredoxin enzyme in TBT-containing cultures revealed that TBT induced oxidative stress in the examined fungus.National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. UMO-2014/13/N/NZ9/00878)

Size Resistance to Infection with the Schistosome Parasite in the Vector Snail

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that infects 200 million individuals, in mainly undeveloped countries, killing thousands. Schistosoma mansoni is one causative parasite, and it is transmitted by the freshwater snail Biomphalaria glabrata. B. glabrata snails of the BS-90 strain have shown neonatal susceptibility to the parasite, while adults are resistant, although the mechanism is unknown. Here we show that resistance to the parasite may be a function of snail size, since prevalence of infection is lower in larger snails, and since larval parasites (sporocysts) in larger snails have fewer germinal cells, are surrounded by a multilayered capsule of hemocytes, and elicit a strong mitotic response in the snail’s immune tissue. A lower germinal cell count in a sporocyst indicates that the parasite is in an unhealthy physiological state, inasmuch as these are reproductive cells. Additionally, encapsulation signifies that a host response is occurring, as hemocytes surround and constrict the sporocyst. Furthermore, the increase of mitotic figures in the snail immune tissue also suggests a stronger response against the infection in larger snails. Our results demonstrate that snails may develop a more robust immune system as they grow, thereby becoming resistant to infection. Subsequent studies could test for changes in gene expression as a function of size to better understand the mechanism underlying our findings

Seronegative Coeliac Disease in Children: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Serology is frequently used for the diagnosis of coeliac disease in children; however, a small proportion of children are seronegative. We present a case of seronegative coeliac disease along with literature review to include diagnostic and management dilemmas