Two healthy men were evaluated before and after a 56 day raft voyage to determine endocrine and metabolic status immediately after and during the recovery phase after long term caloric, protein, and water deprivation. Daily intake during the trip consisted of no protein, 300 ml water, and for the first 40 days, 300 Kcal glucose. The subjects lost weight from 84.1 to 58.1 and 78.3 to 57.7 kg, respectively. Other variations were measured including rate of excretion, diurnal patterns, serum testosterone levels, plasma insulin levels, serum glucose concentrations, triglyceride content, liver function, fat and xylsoe absorption, and renal function.

Escherichia albertii is an emerging foodborne pathogen that causes diarrhea. E. albertii has been isolated from various foods, including pork and chicken meat, and environmental waters, such as river water. Although many food poisoning cases have been reported, there have been insufficient analyses of bacterial population behaviors in food and environmental water. In this study, we inoculated 2–5 log CFU of E. albertii into 25 g of pork, chicken meat, Japanese rock oyster, Pacific oyster, and 300 mL of well water and seawater at 4°C, 10°C, 20°C, and 30°C, and analyzed the bacterial population behavior in food and environmental water. After 3 days at 4°C, the population of E. albertii strain EA21 and EA24 in foods maintained approximately 4 log CFU/25 g. After 3 days at 10°C, the population of E. albertii strains in pork and oysters maintained approximately 4 log CFU/25 g, and that in chicken meat increased to approximately 5–6 log CFU/25 g. After 2 days at 20°C, E. albertii strains grew to approximately 6–7 log CFU/25 g in pork and chicken meat, and E. albertii strain EA21 but not EA24 grew to 4.5 log CFU/25 g in Japanese rock oyster, E. albertii strain EA21 but not EA24 slightly grew to 3.1 log CFU/25 g in Pacific oyster. After 1 day at 30°C, E. albertii strains grew to approximately 7–8 log CFU/25 g in chicken meat and pork, grew to approximately 4–6 log CFU/25 g in Japanese rock oyster, and 6–7 log CFU/25 g in Pacific oyster. These results suggest that E. albertii survives without growth below 4°C and grew rapidly at 20°C and 30°C in foods, especially in meat. E. albertii strains did not grow in well water and seawater at 4°C, 10°C, 20°C, and 30°C. The population of E. albertii strains in well water and seawater decreased faster at 30°C than at 4°C, 10°C, and 20°C, suggesting that E. albertii has low viability at 30°C in environmental water.

On new moon day when Moon passes between Earth and Sun solar eclipse can be seen from Earth. Although solar eclipse is a fascinating astronomical event, even in today’s fast, modern and civilized life, people have not been able to go away with superstitious beliefs related to outer space activity behind solar eclipse. These misbelieves eventually lead to great socio-economic losses due to discarding of cooked food and drinking water that was exposed to the eclipse directly or indirectly. So considering these misbelieves a study was conducted to see possible biological effects of solar radiations during solar eclipse on bacteria responsible for water borne and food borne diseases. E. coli, S. aureus, B. subtilis, S. typhi, which are known water and food borne pathogens, were exposed to solar radiations throughout the eclipse period. The effect of these radiations on the survival and growth rate of these organisms was assessed by suitable method and compared with that on control day. When such comparison was made, it indicated that there was no statistically significant effect of solar eclipse on the survival and the growth rate of these organisms. Hence, we insist dumping the cooked food or drinking water after solar eclipse should be avoided.

Rabbitfish, Siganus fuscescens 16.6 to 24.3cm in fork length caught off Tokushima Prefecture in the Pacific Ocean were used for these experiments. These fishes were reared by feeding fish only (experiment I) and both fish and seaweed (experiment II) under continuous flowing seawater conditions during November 2015 to February 2016 and the influence of low water temperature in winter on the survival and feeding was examined. The feeding on fishes stopped at 10.6-10.7 and on seaweed stopped at 12.9degC. Siganus fuscescens in experiment I started to die from 11.1degC (January 24) and one in experiment II from 10.4degC (February 11). These results show that low water temperature below 10.6-12.9degC led to exhaustion of Siganus fuscescens. The lower limiting water temperature for survival was estimated to be 10.4-11.1degC and feeding on both fish and seaweed enhanced the tolerance to low water temperature.

This study investigated the feasibility of using an invasive snail, Pomacea canaliculata, as a food source and water purifier for the commercial breeding of the loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus. The predatory potential of M. anguillicaudatus (3.5–5.5 g) against hatchling snails was evaluated in aquaria and simulated paddy fields. Some hatchling snails left the water to avoid being preyed upon by the loaches, and approximately 10 hatchlings died per day in the presence of five loaches in aquaria, whereas a weaker snail control effect was observed in the simulated paddy fields. The growth of rice seedlings (Oryza sativa) was not reduced by the presence of hatchling snails alone, but the shoot biomass of seedlings coexisting with snails was promoted after introducing the loaches. Additionally, the presence of P. canaliculata adults improved the aquatic environment in the short term for loach breeding by decreasing the turbidity of the water. Importantly, M. anguillicaudatus (12–18 g) mortality decreased and its weight increased in the presence of adult snails.