Evaluation of the bioaccumulation of trace elements in tuna species by correlation analysis between their concentrations in muscle and first dorsal spine using microwave-assisted digestion and ICP-MS

Environmental pollution by metals is a recognized problem worldwide. As a result of the exposure to this pollution, marine species may bioaccumulate metals in both muscle and fishbone, as has been demonstrated in some species of tuna. The objective of this study has been the development and optimization of an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) based method, which allows the quantification of 21 elements including priority pollutants and biologically essential elements (B, Mg, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Pd, Cd, Ba, La, Hg and Pb) in muscle and in the first spine of the first dorsal fin of albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). A microwave-assisted digestion has been developed for sample treatment, which has been evaluated using isotope dilution analysis (IDA) of Cr, Se, Cd, Ba and Pb. Evaluation of the analytical method in terms of sensitivity (LOQ between 0.002 and 1?mg?kg^?1), accuracy and precision within and between days (CV?<?11.3%) has also been conducted. The developed method has allowed information to be obtained on levels of these metals in both matrices. The correlation analyses performed for each of the metals in both matrices shows a positive linear relationship between the concentrations in muscle and fishbone for Zn, Se, Rb, Cd, As and Hg, which could be due to a higher bioaccumulation of these elements in muscle as it is concluded from the low spine/muscle ratios observed for these elements. The 34 specimens of tuna analyzed show that while the levels of Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu and Cr in muscle are below the limits set by the WHO/FAO, EC and the US-EPA, Hg shows higher concentration than the limits set by the EC in four samples, indicating a potential risk to human health.     

Herring Fish (Clupea harengus) Oil Production and Evaluation for Industrial Uses

It is a well known fact that the lipid (oil) extracted from various fish species can be of industrial benefit if properly extracted and processed. In this study herring fish oil was analyzed using quantitative and qualitative analysis in other to provide an assessment of the quality of the oil for industrial purposes. This work focuses on the production of oil from frozen herring fish (Clupea harengus) as the raw material readily available on the market, by evaluating by the oil using chemical and physical analysis and refining the oil by degumming, neutralizing, drying, and decolorizing. The experimental results revealed that the rate of extraction increases with time until maximum extraction took place using an average size of 780 µm. Every 10.64 g of dried sample used has about 4.34 g of oil extracted for five hours. The extracted herring fish oil contains two essential unsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which could be of great industrial importance.     

Determination of microcystins in biological samples from freshwater fish

A new HPLC–DAD method has been developed to identify and quantify free microcystins (MC) in biological samples from fish (intestine and liver). The toxins were extracted from 500 mg sample with a mixture of methanol–water (85 : 15, v/v) and the extracts obtained were purified employing immunoaffinity columns (IAC). The purification step was optimised by a full factorial 3² design. MC were separated using conventional C18 column and an acetonitrile-acidified water (pH 3) gradient. Detection and quantification limits resulted equal for the two toxins assayed (MC-RR and MC-LR) and were 0.15 and 0.5 µg g^?1, respectively. The accuracy for each MC in liver samples were 96% (range 80–113%) for MC-RR and 101% (range 93–118%) for MC-LR. The results were slightly lower for intestine samples, with recoveries ranging between 85% (75–93%) for MC-RR and 88% (80–97%) for MC-LR. The proposed method was applied for the determination of free MC in fish intoxicated with these toxins, in order to determine its utility to evaluate the potential risks for human health if MC-contaminated fish are consumed. The results showed the transference of MC-LR from cyanobacterial cells to fish tissues.     

The determination of methylmercury in biological samples by HPLC coupled to ICP‐MS detection

The use of high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) for the determination of methylmercury (MeHg⁺) in fish tissue and hair samples is described. Analysis of these sample types is required when carrying out biomonitoring studies to determine human dietary exposure to this toxic mercurial compound. The developed method used a mobile phase containing an organic modifier and a sulfydryl compound (1:1 v/v methanol:water containing 0.01% v/v 2‐mercaptoethanol) to limit peak tailing and aid separation. The chromatographic separation was coupled to the ICP‐MS detector via a short piece of PEEK tubing, attached to the nebulizer. A cooled spraychamber and oxygen addition post‐nebulization were required to limit the solvent loading on the plasma and reduce carbon build‐up on the cones, respectively. The sample preparation procedure employed a drying step followed by digestion of the sample using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and heating in an open vessel microwave system. Two fish tissue certified reference materials (CRM), tuna fish CRM 463 and 464 (BCR, Brussels), a tuna fish proficiency test sample, IMEP‐20 (IRMM, Geel, Belgium) and a hair CRM NIES no. 13 (National Institute of Environmental Science, Japan), were used to evaluate the method. The recovery of MeHg⁺ for these four materials was between 83 and 100%, with precisions better than 6% for three separate extractions of the different materials. The limit of quantitation for MeHg⁺ using the developed protocol was 0.5 µg Hg g^?1. The stability of MeHg⁺ in the fish sample extracts was also assessed and losses of 14–16% were observed after storage of the extracts in a refrigerator at 5 °C, in high‐density polypropylene tubes, for 6 months. The developed protocol has been used previously with atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (API‐MS) to provide structural characterization and also with calibration via isotope dilution (IDMS) to provide high accuracy quantitation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Persistent organic pollutants in edible fish: a human and environmental health problem

Many persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pose serious health hazards to both the environment and human. Among these, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are probable human carcinogens and can also pose non-cancer health hazards to intellectual functions and the nervous, immune and reproductive systems. The risks and hazards associated with POP residues in tissues are a function of the dioxin-like compound toxicity and an individual's exposure. Fish consumption might become a serious problem because of bioaccumulation as revealed in many studies worldwide.We report data concerning the accumulation and pattern of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), p,p′-DDE and PCBs in edible tissues of commercial fish species (bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus, swordfish Xiphias gladius, Atlantic mackerel Scomber scombrus) from Italian Seas and of the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni from the Ross Sea (Antarctica). The species analyzed are part of the human diet. 2,3,7,8-TCDD toxic equivalents (TEQs) and tolerable weekly intake (TWI) were also calculated to evaluate the toxic hazard for the population that include them in their diet.Gaschromatography revealed 0.16±0.24 and 0.4±0.2 ng/g wet wt of HCB in Antarctic toothfish and bluefin tuna, respectively. p,p′-DDE concentrations were 38±29 and 31±38 ng/g wet wt in swordfish and bluefin tuna muscle, respectively, and 0.66±0.57 ng/g wet wt in the Antarctic toothfish. PCBs showed higher concentrations and they were 89±82, 80±86 and 5.2±4.0 ng/g wet wt in the muscle of swordfish, bluefin tuna and Antarctic toothfish, respectively. In Mediterranean fish, the most abundant congeners were the most persistent PCB numbers 153, 138, 180, 118 and 170, which accounted for 51% and 47% of the total PCB residue in tuna fish and swordfish, respectively, and 18% in the Antarctic toothfish. TEQs were 1.97 and 4.65 pg/g wet wt in bluefin tuna muscle and gonads, respectively, and 0.11 pg/g wet wt in Antarctic toothfish. The TEQ weekly intake was calculated and values ranged 197–465 pg_TEQ/week when consuming 100 g of Mediterranean fish and therefore lower than the recommended TWI. Those values were higher (788–1860 pg_TEQ/week) than the recommended TWI, if 400 g of fish/week was consumed (with the exception of Antarctic fish).     

MEIOTIC CHROMOSOME BEHAVIOR IN FEMALE INTERSEXES OF ARTIFICIAL TRIPLOID TRANSPARENT-COLORED CRUCIAN CARP

Chromosome behavior in meiosis was studied by ail-drying, C-banding and surface-spreading methods in female intersexes of artificial triploid transparent-colored crucian carp (Corassius auratus). Chromosome pairing and contraction were obviously asynchronous. The preferential pairing of two homologous chromosomes was the major pattern of chromosome pairing, and a few triple pairing, repeated pairing, telomere or centromere associating and multiple pairing were also observed in the pachytene cells. The metaphase I cells were main-ly composed of univalents, bivalents and trivalents, as well as a few of other multivalents, such as tetravalents, pentavalents, hexavalents and heptavalents, were also found in some metaphase I cells. The chromosome elements including uni-, bi-, tri- and other multivalents varied considerably among the metaphase I cells, and the associating patterns of multivalents were also diverse. Some 6 n and 12 n cells, in which premeiotic endomitosis occurred once or twice, were found at     

三维鱼体参数化建模

因水下环境复杂,鱼类三维模型获取非常困难,基于三维鱼类数据驱动的很多自动化研究工作无法开展。为此,提出一种三维鱼体参数化建模方法。首先,用专业建模师构建的标准鱼体模板注册扫描仪采集三维鱼体数据,构建拓扑结构一致的三维鱼体网格数据集;其次,用主成分分析法对数据集中的三维鱼体网格模型进行建模分析,建立鱼体的参数化表示模型;最后,采集草鱼数据进行相关实验。实验结果表明,注册得到的三维鱼体模型与真实扫描鱼体模型顶点之间的平均均方根误差仅为0.691 3 mm,在可接受范围。通过改变三维鱼体参数化表示模型中的权参数,快速生成了大量三维鱼体数据,从而解决了三维鱼体数据获取困难的问题。     

OPTIMAL HARVESTING TIME OF FARMED AQUATIC POPULATIONS WITH NONLINEAR SIZE‐HETEROGENEOUS GROWTH

Abstract This paper examines the question of optimal harvesting time in a size‐heterogeneous farmed aquatic population, using a model reflecting the effect of population density on both overall mortality rate and individual growth. This analysis enables an optimal harvesting rule to be deduced. The results obtained are applied to shrimp culture in recirculation systems in Mexico. Numerical solutions are derived for different production scenarios. Assuming identical culture conditions, results are also obtained under the hypothesis of homogeneous population growth, the view traditionally taken in the relevant economic literature. The optimal harvesting times calculated tend to decrease with higher densities, although this rule fails under the size‐heterogeneous population model. In general, optimal harvesting times are overestimated when size‐homogeneity in the culture is assumed. Our analysis reveals that management predictions are significantly mistaken if the size‐heterogeneity phenomenon is not taken into account.     

半透射高光谱成像技术与支持向量机的马铃薯空心病无损检测研究

针对马铃薯空心病的难以检测问题, 提出了一种基于半透射高光谱成像技术结合支持向量机(support vector machine, SVM)的马铃薯空心病无损检测方法。选取224个马铃薯样本(合格149个, 空心75个)作为研究对象, 搭建了马铃薯半透射高光谱图像采集系统, 采集了马铃薯样本半透射高光谱图像(390~1 040 nm), 对感兴趣区域内的光谱进行平均和光谱特征分析。采用变量标准化(normalize)对原始光谱进行光谱预处理, 建立了全波段的SVM判别模型, 模型对测试集样本的识别准确率仅为87.5%。为了提高模型性能, 采用竞争性自适应重加权算法(competitive adaptive reweighed sampling algorithm, CARS)结合连续投影算法(successive projection algorithm, SPA)对光谱全波段520个变量进行变量选择, 最终确定了8个光谱特征变量(454, 601, 639, 664, 748, 827, 874和936 nm), 所选8个光谱变量建立的SVM模型对马铃薯测试集的识别率为94.64%。分别采用人工鱼群算法(artificial fish swarm algorithm, AFSA)、遗传算法(genetic algorithm, GA)和网格搜索法(grid search algorithm)对SVM模型的惩罚参数c和核参数g进行优化。经过建模比较分析, 确定AFSA为最优优化算法, 最优模型参数为c=10.659 1, g=0.349 7, 确定AFSA-SVM模型为马铃薯空心病的最优识别模型, 该模型总体识别率达到100%。试验结果表明: 基于半透射高光谱成像技术结合CARS-SPA与AFSA-SVM方法能够对马铃薯空心病进行准确的检测, 也为马铃薯空心病的快速无损检测提供技术支持。     

基于自适应步长人工鱼群算法的仿生机器鱼目标检测研究

以全局视觉仿生机器鱼的视觉子系统为研究对象,为准确检测与跟踪目标(水球),提出了一种基于自适应步长人工鱼群算法的目标识别方法。该方法首先对鱼群个数进行初始化,以图像像素梯度值为目标函数,随机分布在像素矩阵中;然后计算初始鱼群中各机器鱼当前位置的食物浓度,选取其最小值作为公告板值,并将此鱼当前状态赋值公告板;在此基础上,各机器鱼分别模拟追尾行为和聚群行为,进行评价并选取目标函数值较优者为实际行为,通过不断更新公告板值,直到找到最优结果。实验结果表明该方法可减少计算复杂度,提高系统实时性,有效应用于全局视觉仿生机器鱼的目标检测与追踪。