Hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis in cultivated Litopenaeus vannamei and Penaeus monodon is caused by the newly emerged pathogen Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP). It has been detected in shrimp cultured in China, Vietnam and Thailand and is suspected to have occurred in Malaysia and Indonesia and to be associated with severely retarded growth. Due to retarded shrimp growth being reported at farms in the major grow-out states of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in India, shrimp were sampled from a total of 235 affected ponds between March 2014 and April 2015 to identify the presence of EHP. PCR and histology detected a high prevalence of EHP in both P. monodon and L. vannamei, and infection was confirmed by in situ hybridization using an EHP-specific DNA probe. Histology revealed basophilic inclusions in hepatopancreas tubule epithelial cells in which EHP was observed at various developmental stages ranging from plasmodia to mature spores. The sequence of a region of the small subunit rDNA gene amplified by PCR was found to be identical to EHP sequences deposited in GenBank. Bioassays confirmed that EHP infection could be transmitted orally to healthy shrimp. Histology also identified bacterial co-infections in EHP-infected shrimp sampled from slow-growth ponds with low-level mortality. The data confirm that hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis caused by EHP is prevalent in shrimp being cultivated in India. EHP infection control measures thus need to be implemented urgently to limit impacts of slowed shrimp growth.
2D perovskites is one of the proposed strategies to enhance the moisture resistance, since the larger organic cations can act as a natural barrier. Nevertheless, 2D perovskites hinder the charge transport in certain directions, reducing the solar cell power conversion efficiency. A nanostructured mixed-dimensionality approach is presented to overcome the charge transport limitation, obtaining power conversion efficiencies over 9%.
Filled hybrid composites are widely used in various structural applications where machining is critical. Hence, it is essential to understand the performance of the fibre composites' machining behaviour. As such, a new hybrid structural composite was fabricated with redmud as filler and sisal fibre as reinforcement in polyester matrix. The composite was then tested for its drilling performance. A comprehensive drilling experiment was conducted using Taguchi L27 orthogonal array. The effect of the drill tool point angle, the cutting speed, the feed rate on thrust force, delamination, and burr formation were analysed for producing quality holes. The significance of each parameter was analysed, and the experimental outcomes revealed some important findings in the context of the drilling behaviour of sisal fibre/polyester composites with redmud as a filler. Spindle speed contributed 39% in affecting the thrust force, while the feed rate had the maximum influence of ca. 38% in affecting delamination.
Melioidosis is a potentially life-threatening infection caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei. Mediastinal melioidosis has a range of clinical presentations, making it difficult to diagnose: we therefore reviewed the evidence on the clinical characteristics, radiological features and invasive diagnostic modalities or interventions. An electronic search was conducted on three databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar) from November to December 2022. The initial search yielded 120 results, of which 34 studies met the inclusion criteria, but only 31 full-texts were retrievable. Among these, 4 were cohort studies, 26 case reports or series and 1 a conference abstract. The four main themes covered were mediastinal melioidosis as a diagnostic dilemma, unexpected complications, invasive interventions or an accompanying thoracic feature. Radiological manifestations included matting, necrosis and abscess-like collection. Severe presentations of mediastinal melioidosis included superior vena cava obstruction, sinus tract formation and pericardial tamponade. Transbronchial needle aspiration was the most common invasive diagnostic modality. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between the thoracic features of melioidosis on patient prognosis, its relationship to melioidosis transmission and potential preventive measures.