Matrix Gla protein (MGP) belongs to the family of vitamin K-dependent, Gla-containing proteins, and in mammals, birds, and Xenopus, its mRNA was previously detected in extracts of bone, cartilage, and soft tissues (mainly heart and kidney), whereas the protein was found to accumulate mainly in bone. However, at that time, it was not evaluated if this accumulation originated from protein synthes...

Hatchery-reared Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel) were released into estuaries of varying habitat between 1996 and 2004, and growth and recruitment to the fishery evaluated. Fish stocked earlier in summer had significantly faster growth rates (P < 0.01), and post-stocking mortality ranged from 1.1% to 11.7% within 7 day post-release. Argyrosomus japonicus stocked in the Georges River ...

Despite increasing awareness of large-scale climate-driven distribution shifts in the marine environment, no study has linked rapid ocean warming to a shift in distribution and consequent hybridization of a marine fish species. This study describes rapid warming (0.8 °C per decade) in the coastal waters of the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone over the last three decades and a concomitant shift by a...

Let Ω be a bounded domain in Rn, n ≥ 3 with smooth boundary ∂Ω and a small hole. We give the first example of sign-changing bubbling solutions to the nonlinear elliptic problem −∆u = |u| n+2 n−2+ε−1u in Ω, u = 0 on ∂Ω, where ε is a small positive parameter. The basic cell in the construction is the signchanging nodal solution to the critical Yamabe problem −∆w = |w| 4 n−2w, w ∈ D(R) which has l...

Most cases of ciguatera poisoning reported in the past have involved Canadians who ate fish in the Caribbean while on holiday. These cases have implicated grouper in the Dominican Republic(1,2), kingfish in Jamaica, and barracuda in Haiti(3). A fish casserole caused the illness in 57 people during a trip to Cuba(4). Ciguatera poisonings have also been reported in Canada as a result of importing...

A new VOF Type III-G.S stain was applied to histological sections of different organs and tissues of healthy and pathological larvae, juvenile and adult fish species (Solea senegalensis; Sparus aurata; Diplodus sargo; Pagrus auriga; Argyrosomus regius and Halobatrachus didactylus). In comparison to the original Gutiérrez VOF stain, more acid dyes of contrasting colours and polychromatic/metachr...

Pentastomes are worm-like endoparasites of the phylum Pentastomida found principally in the respiratory tract of reptiles, birds, and mammals. They cause a zoonotic disease known as pentastomiasis in humans and other mammals. The autopsy of a Nigerian royal python (Python regius) revealed two yellowish-white parasites in the lungs, tissue necrosis and inflammatory lesions. The parasite was conf...

The photoreceptors and visual pigments of Python regius were studied using microspectrophotometry and scanning electron microscopy. The retina contains rods and cones, with rods constituting at least 90 % of the photoreceptor population. The rods are of a single type with long, narrow outer segments and are tightly packed. The wavelength of maximum absorbance ( &lgr; max) of the visual pigment ...