Current issues in fish welfare

Human beings may affect the welfare of fish through fisheries, aquaculture and a number of other activities. There is no agreement on just how to weigh the concern for welfare of fish against the human interests involved, but ethical frameworks exist that suggest how this might be approached. Different definitions of animal welfare focus on an animal's condition, on its subjective experience of that condition and/or on whether it can lead a natural life. These provide different, legitimate, perspectives, but the approach taken in this paper is to focus on welfare as the absence of suffering. An unresolved and controversial issue in discussions about animal welfare is whether non‐human animals exposed to adverse experiences such as physical injury or confinement experience what humans would call suffering. The neocortex, which in humans is an important part of the neural mechanism that generates the subjective experience of suffering, is lacking in fish and non‐mammalian animals, and it has been argued that its absence in fish indicates that fish cannot suffer. A strong alternative view, however, is that complex animals with sophisticated behaviour, such as fish, probably have the capacity for suffering, though this may be different in degree and kind from the human experience of this state. Recent empirical studies support this view and show that painful stimuli are, at least, strongly aversive to fish. Consequently, injury or experience of other harmful conditions is a cause for concern in terms of welfare of individual fish. There is also growing evidence that fish can experience fear‐like states and that they avoid situations in which they have experienced adverse conditions. Human activities that potentially compromise fish welfare include anthropogenic changes to the environment, commercial fisheries, recreational angling, aquaculture, ornamental fish keeping and scientific research. The resulting harm to fish welfare is a cost that must be minimized and weighed against the benefits of the activity concerned. Wild fish naturally experience a variety of adverse conditions, from attack by predators or conspecifics to starvation or exposure to poor environmental conditions. This does not make it acceptable for humans to impose such conditions on fish, but it does suggest that fish will have mechanisms to cope with these conditions and reminds us that pain responses are in some cases adaptive (for example, suppressing feeding when injured). In common with all vertebrates, fish respond to environmental challenges with a series of adaptive neuro‐endocrine adjustments that are collectively termed the stress response. These in turn induce reversible metabolic and behavioural changes that make the fish better able to overcome or avoid the challenge and are undoubtedly beneficial, in the short‐term at least. In contrast, prolonged activation of the stress response is damaging and leads to immuno‐suppression, reduced growth and reproductive dysfunction. Indicators associated with the response to chronic stress (physiological endpoints, disease status and behaviour) provide a potential source of information on the welfare status of a fish. The most reliable assessment of well‐being will be obtained by examining a range of informative measures and statistical techniques are available that enable several such measures to be combined objectively. A growing body of evidence tells us that many human activities can harm fish welfare, but that the effects depend on the species and life‐history stage concerned and are also context‐dependent. For example, in aquaculture, adverse effects related to stocking density may be eliminated if good water quality is maintained. At low densities, bad water quality may be less likely to arise whereas social interactions may cause greater welfare problems. A number of key differences between fish and birds and mammals have important implications for their welfare. Fish do not need to fuel a high body temperature, so the effects of food deprivation on welfare are not so marked. For species that live naturally in large shoals, low rather than high densities may be harmful. On the other hand, fish are in intimate contact with their environment through the huge surface area of their gills, so they are vulnerable to poor water quality and water borne pollutants. Extrapolation between taxa is dangerous and general frameworks for ensuring welfare in other vertebrate animals need to be modified before they can be usefully applied to fish. The scientific study of fish welfare is at an early stage compared with work on other vertebrates and a great deal of what we need to know is yet to be discovered. It is clearly the case that fish, though different from birds and mammals, however, are sophisticated animals, far removed from unfeeling creatures with a 15 s memory of popular misconception. A heightened appreciation of these points in those who exploit fish and in those who seek to protect them would go a long way towards improving fish welfare.     

Value of a broken umbrella: abandoned nest sites of the black stork (Ciconia nigra) host rich biodiversity

Protecting habitats for charismatic vertebrates can provide an ‘umbrella’ for less conspicuous organisms, especially when these are threatened by the same processes. However, such a conservation scheme is vulnerable to the extirpation of the focal species. We studied wider biodiversity values in long protected black stork (Ciconia nigra) nest sites, which were abandoned by the bird and thus legally subject to de-listing. In 20 abandoned nest sites in Estonia, we (i) mapped breeding birds within 600 m from the stork nest, and (ii) carried out time-limited surveys of lichens, polypore fungi, vascular plants and bryophytes in 2-ha plots. The breeding bird assemblages (64 species recorded) included 19 red-listed species, and showed no clear aggregation to the immediate surroundings of the stork nest. We recorded 740 plant and fungal species, of which 134 (18%) were of conservation concern (nationally protected, red-listed or extremely rare). Across the 2-ha plots, the numbers of the species of conservation concern varied more than three-fold (maximum 42 species), being affected notably by dead wood accumulation over time and presence of nemoral broad-leaved trees. The results demonstrate that many abandoned nest sites of the black stork have broader biodiversity significance, both due to the bird’s habitat requirements and the natural development during the protection. Expanding the umbrella function to sites abandoned by a focal species, but intact from anthropogenic degradation, can thus be a cost-effective conservation approach due to its low additional administrative burden. In most jurisdictions, the assessment procedure for such situations should be formalized, however.

     

Feeding Responses of Hatchery-Reared Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata L.) to a Commercial Diet and Natural Prey Items

Many fish species have evolved feeding mechanisms and behaviours enabling them to feed on specific prey. However, such mechanisms may not be optimal for feeding on commercial-pelleted diets in aquaculture. Gilthead sea bream chew and occasionally eject pellets or parts of pellets from the mouth when feeding on commercial diets. This may result in an increase in nutritional waste from the intensive culture of this species. In this study we examined the prevalence of this food processing behaviour in two sizes of sea bream, feeding on three types of natural prey items in comparison to a commercial pellet, to give an insight into the circumstances in which excess chewing and ejection of food items from the mouth occurred. These included two hard-textured food items (commercial pellet and hard-shelled prey) and two soft-textured food items (larvae and small crustacean). Both sizes of sea bream frequently consumed the soft-textured food types, however large sea bream also frequently consumed hard-textured pellets. Hard-textured food required longer handling times and elicited more chewing and the ejection of food items from the mouth. These results suggest that future investigations on the food processing behaviour and consequent waste when fed commercial diets differing in texture could give an insight into improving diets and feeding efficiency for intensively cultivated gilthead sea bream.     

Synthesis and antitumour evaluation of novel 2-phenylbenzimidazoles

A new series of fluorinated and non-fluorinated 2-phenylbenzimidazoles bearing oxygenated substituents on the phenyl ring has been synthesized. Synthesis of the new series was based on our previous discovery of 2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-5-fluorobenzothiazole (PMX 610) as a potent and selective antitumour agent in vitro (sub-nanomolar GI₅₀ in sensitive human cancer cell lines), but with poor aqueous solubility and lack of a definitive cellular target limiting further development. In this study we test the hypothesis that 2-phenylbenzimidazoles with similar substitution patterns to PMX 610 would retain potent antitumour activity but with potentially superior pharmaceutical properties. In general the new compounds were less active than the former benzothiazole series in vitro when tested against the breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA 468; however the two most active compounds in the present series (3j and 3k) exhibit low micromolar GI₅₀ values in both cell lines and provide the opportunity for further chemical derivatization with a view to target identification.     

Relative Effects of Graft Copolymer and Polyamines on Triplex Stabilization Under Physiological Conditions

Abstract

Triplex-stabilizing effect of a graft copolymer under physiologically relevant conditions has been evaluated and compared with other polyamines. Here we show that the graft copolymer significantly stabilizes triplex DNAs with amazingly higher efficicacy than that of physiological concentrations of spermine and spermidine.     

Esophageal cancer alters the expression of nuclear pore complex binding protein Hsc70 and eIF5A-1

Nuclear pore complex (NPC) is the only corridor for macromolecules exchange between nucleus and cytoplasm. NPC and its components, nucleoporins, play important role in the diverse physiological processes including macromolecule exchange, chromosome segregation, apoptosis and gene expression. Recent reports also suggest involvement of nucleoporins in carcinogenesis. Applying proteomics, we analyzed expression pattern of the NPC components in a newly established esophageal cancer cell line from Persia (Iran), the high-risk region for esophageal cancer. Our results indicate overexpression of Hsc70 and downregulation of subunit alpha type-3 of proteasome, calpain small subunit 1, and eIF5A-1. Among these proteins, Hsc70 and eIF5A-1 are in direct interaction with NPC and involved in the nucleocytoplasmic exchange. Hsc70 plays a critical role as a chaperone in the formation of a cargo–receptor complex in nucleocytoplasmic transport. On the other hand, it is an NPC-associated protein that binds to nucleoporins and contributes in recycling of the nucleocytoplasmic transport receptors in mammals and affects transport of proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm. The other nuclear pore interacting protein: eIF5A-1 binds to the several nucleoporins and participates in nucleocytoplasmic transport. Altered expression of Hsc70 and eIF5A-1 may cause defects in nucleocytoplasmic transport and play a role in esophageal carcinogenesis.     

Changing Emergence of Shigella Sero-Groups in Bangladesh: Observation from Four Different Diarrheal Disease Hospitals

Background

Shigellosis continues to be a public health challenge for developing countries, including Bangladesh. The aim of the study is to demonstrate recent changes in Shigella sero-groups and their geographical diversity.

Methods

Data were extracted from data archive of four diarrheal disease surveillance systems. A 2% sub sample from urban Dhaka Hospital (2008–2011; n = 10,650), and 10% from urban Mirpur Treatment Centre (2009–2011; n = 3,585), were enrolled systematically; whereas, all patients coming from the Health and Demographic Surveillance System area in rural Matlab (2008–2011; n = 6,399) and rural Mirzapur (2010–2011; n = 2,812) were included irrespective of age, sex, and disease severity. A fresh stool specimen was collected for identification of Shigella spp. Of them, 315 (3%) were positive for Shigella in Dhaka, 490 (8%) from Matlab, 109 (3%) from Mirpur and 369 (13%) from Mirzapur and considered as analyzable sample size.

Results

Among all Shigella isolates regardless of age, significant decreases in percentage of S. flexneri over time was observed in Mirpur (55→29%; p value of χ²-for trend = 0.019) and Mirzapur (59→47%; p = 0.025). A non-significant decrease was also seen in Dhaka (58→48%), while in Matlab there was a non-significant increase (73→81%). Similar patterns were observed among under-5 children at all sites. Emergence of S. sonnei was found in Dhaka (8→25%; p<0.001) and Mirpur (10→33%; p = 0.015), whereas it decreased in Mirzapur (32→23%; p = 0.056). The emergence of S. boydii was seen in all ages in Mirzapur [(3→28%; p<0.001); (3→27%; p<0.001)]. On the other hand, we saw non-significant percent reductions in S. boydii in Dhaka [overall (25→16%); under-5 (16→9%)]. Decreasing rates of Shigella dysenteriae were observed in Matlab, Mirpur and Mirzapur; whereas, in Dhaka it remained unchanged.

Conclusion and Significance

Emergence of S. sonnei and S. boydii as important infectious diarrhea etiologies and variations in geographical diversity underscore the need for monitoring, with possible implications for vaccine development.     

Prolonged Amphetamine Treatments Cause Long-Term Decrease of Dopamine Uptake in Cultured Cells

Neurochemical Research - Amphetamine (AMPH) is a systemic stimulant used to treat a variety of diseases including Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, narcolepsy and obesity. Previous data...     

Different Profile of mRNA Expression in Sinoatrial Node from Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat

BackgroundExperiments in isolated perfused heart have shown that heart rate is lower and sinoatrial node (SAN) action potential duration is longer in streptozotocin (STZ)–induced diabetic rat compared to controls. In sino-atrial preparations the pacemaker cycle length and sino-atrial conduction time are prolonged in STZ heart. To further clarify the molecular basis of electrical disturbances in the diabetic heart the profile of mRNA encoding a wide variety of proteins associated with the generation and transmission of electrical activity has been evaluated in the SAN of STZ-induced diabetic rat heart.Conclusions/SignificanceCollectively, this study has demonstrated differences in the profile of mRNA encoding a variety of proteins that are associated with the generation, conduction and regulation of electrical signals in the SAN of STZ-induced diabetic rat heart. Data from this study will provide a basis for a substantial range of future studies to investigate whether these changes in mRNA translate into changes in electrophysiological function.