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Members of the genus Chondracanthus (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) inhabit the shores of both hemispheres and have been used for decades in some countries as raw material for carrageenan extraction and in some cases destined for human consumption. This has created potential business opportunities, which has drawn the attention of scientists and producers and increased the number of scientific and applied research studies in the last few years. The broad morphological variation of Chondracanthus species makes necessary the use of molecular tools for species delimitation, which has led to the re-grouping and geographic re-distribution of some entities. The present study is a review of the available literature on members of the genus Chondracanthus, with the exception of Chondracanthus teedei, regarding their identity, distribution, ecology, life history, population structure, chemical traits, handling, and culture.

To understand the physiological responses of the brown macroalga Macrocystis integrifolia during the marine tidal cycle, two RNA libraries were prepared from algal frond samples collected in the intertidal zone (0 m depth) and subtidal zone (10 m depth). Samples collected from intertidal zone during low tide was considered as abiotic stressed (MI0), while samples collected from subtidal zone was considered as control (MI10). Both RNA libraries were sequenced on Illumina NextSeq 500 which generated approx. 46.9 million and 47.7 million raw paired-end reads for MI0 and MI10, respectively. Among the representative transcripts (RTs), a total of 16,398 RTs (39.20%) from MI0 and 21,646 RTs (39.24%) from MI10 were successfully annotated. A total of 535 unigenes (271 upregulated and 264 downregulated) showed significantly altered expression between MI0 and MI10. In abiotic-stressed condition (MI0), the relative expression levels of genes associated with antioxidant defenses (vanadium-dependent bromoperoxidase, glutathione S-transferase, lipoxygenase, serine/threonine-protein kinase, aspartate Aminotransferase, HSPs), water transport (aquaporin), photosynthesis (light-harvesting complex) protein were significantly upregulated, while in control condition (MI10) most of the genes predominantly involved in energy metabolism (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase/NADH dehydrogenase, NAD(P)H-Nitrate reductase, long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase, udp-n-acetylglucosamine pyrophosphorylase) were overexpressed. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13205-018-1204-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The current study aimed to analyze individual differences on food cravings, intrusive-related thoughts and its suppression between normal weight and overweight/obese Cuban adults.Participants were 1,184 individuals from general population, aged between 18 and 64 years (M = 32.89; SD = 12.87), with 69.1 % females. All participants answered a set of questionnaires and provided demographic, anthropometric and clinical data.Overweight/obese individuals had higher mean scores than normal weight individuals on food cravings (including its nine dimensions) and food and body weight/shape thought suppression. Large effect sizes were found for body weight/shape thoughts suppression and lack of control over eating, where overweight and obese individuals showed the highest scores. This trend was also found for food thoughts suppression, food cravings trait, cue-dependent eating, preoccupation with food and guilty feelings, with effect sizes from medium to large. Finally, medium effect sizes were observed for intention to eat and negative affect.Overweight/obese individuals experienced more food cravings and food and body weight/shape thought suppression than normal weight individuals among Cuban adults.

This study reports the first evidence of circulation of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in domestic poultry in Mali. In the Mopti region, where AIV have already been isolated in migratory water birds, we sampled 223 backyard domestic birds potentially in contact with wild birds and found that 3.6% had tracheal or cloacal swabs positive by real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) for type A influenza viruses (IVA) and that 13.7% had sera positive by commercial ELISA test detecting antibodies against IVA. None of the birds positive by rRT-PCR for IVA was positive by rRT-PCR for H5 and H7 subtypes, and none showed any clinical signs therefore indicating the circulation of low pathogenic avian influenza. Unfortunately, no virus isolation was possible. Further studies are needed to assess the temporal evolution of AIV circulation in the Mopti region and its possible correlation with the presence of wild birds.