Abundance,Distribution and Species Composition of Fish Larvae in the Swartkops Estuary

A two-year quantitative survey of the ichthyoplankton of the Swartkops estuary has resulted in the identification of 17 larval fish. The ichthyoplankton was present through all months of the year, but was only abundant during the summer months (November-February). During both years sampled, thehighest densities were recorded in December. An attemptwas made to correlate the data with environmental parameters such as temperature, salinity and rainfall. The ichthyoplankton of the Swartkops is dominated by few species. The family Gobiidae (59,44%) and a clupeid species, Gilchristella aestuarius (31,12%), accounted for 90,56% of all the fish larvae sampled. The family Gobiidae were most common in the mouth and lower reaches of the estuary, while G. aestuarius dominated the mid- and upper estuary.     

Dual positive and negative regulation of wingless signaling by adenomatous polyposis coli

The evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Wingless signal transduction pathway directs cell proliferation, cell fate, and cell death during development in metazoans and is inappropriately activated in several types of cancer. The majority of colorectal carcinomas contain truncating mutations in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor, a negative regulator of Wnt/Wingless signaling. Here, we demonstrate that Drosophila Apc homologs also have an activating role in both physiological and ectopic Wingless signaling. The Apc amino terminus is important for its activating function, whereas the beta-catenin binding sites are dispensable. Apc likely promotes Wingless transduction through down-regulation of Axin, a negative regulator of Wingless signaling. Given the evolutionary conservation of APC in Wnt signal transduction, an activating role may also be present in vertebrates with relevance to development and cancer.     

GONG Observations of Solar Surface Flows

Doppler velocity observations obtained by the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) instruments directly measure the nearly steady flows in the solar photosphere. The sun's differential rotation is accurately determined from single observations. The rotation profile with respect to latitude agrees well with previous measures, but it also shows a slight north-south asymmetry. Rotation profiles averaged over 27-day rotations of the sun reveal the torsional oscillation signal-weak, jetlike features, with amplitudes of 5 meters per second, that are associated with the sunspot latitude activity belts. A meridional circulation with a poleward flow of about 20 meters per second is also evident. Several characteristics of the surface flows suggest the presence of large convection cells.     

Molecular crowding on the cell surface

Strong steric interactions among proteins on crowded living cell surfaces were revealed by measurements of the equilibrium spatial distributions of proteins in applied potential gradients. The fraction of accessible surface occupied by mobile surface proteins can be accurately represented by including steric exclusion in the statistical thermodynamic analysis of the data. The analyses revealed enhanced, concentration-dependent activity coefficients, implying unanticipated thermodynamic activity even at typical cell surface receptor concentrations.     

Single-Electron Transport in Ropes of Carbon Nanotubes

The electrical properties of individual bundles, or "ropes," of single-walled carbon nanotubes have been measured. Below about 10 kelvin, the low-bias conductance was suppressed for voltages less than a few millivolts. In addition, dramatic peaks were observed in the conductance as a function of a gate voltage that modulated the number of electrons in the rope. These results are interpreted in terms of single-electron charging and resonant tunneling through the quantized energy levels of the nanotubes composing the rope.     

Use of artificial substrates to enhance production of freshwater herbivorous fish in pond culture

Two trials were conducted in mud‐bottomed concrete tanks to assess the potential of using artificial substrates to enhance fish production in ponds. Three substrate types were tested: bamboo poles, PVC pipes and sugarcane bagasse bundles. In one trial, periphyton was grown on the substrates in the absence of fish. In the second trial, masheer (Tor khudree Sykes) fingerlings were stocked at three densities. Results showed a significant effect of substrate type on fish growth (P≤ 0.001) and on net fish production (P≤ 0.05), with best growth in the tanks using the bamboo substrate. In the bagasse treatment, 100% fish mortality occurred. Highest extrapolated periphyton‐based gross fish yield (i.e. without feed inputs) was 450 kg ha^?1 90 d^?1 with PVC and 491 kg ha^?1 90 d^?1 with bamboo substrate. The best periphyton growth occurred on bamboo, followed by bagasse and PVC. Without fish, mean periphyton biomass during the culture period was 0.56–1.20 mg cm^?2 on bamboo [ash‐free dry matter (DM)], against 0.09–0.36 mg cm^?2 on PVC and 0.20–0.59 mg cm^–2 on bagasse. No clear effect of fish density or water depth on periphyton biomass could be seen. Only on bamboo, fish density seemed to have a negative effect on periphyton ash‐free dry matter and a positive effect on pigment content (chlorophyll‐a and phaeophytin). Periphyton from bamboo had a lower ash content (38–47% of DM) than from PVC (54–55% of DM) or bagasse (51–58% of DM). It is concluded that substrate type has a strong effect on periphyton productivity and composition, and on fish productivity. Good fish production was achieved without feed inputs. More research is needed to study the economic viability of periphyton‐based systems in the context of Indian aquaculture.