1. A simple chromatographic method is described for the purification of arginine kinase from lobster (Homarus vulgaris) muscle. 2. Some physical properties and the effects on enzyme activity of ionic strength, pH, buffer salts, metal ions and substrates are reported. 3. The kinetic parameters, evaluated by variation of the concentration of one of the substrates, are dependent on the concentrati...

In Homarus, the central pattern generators for the rhythmic motor activities of the gastric teeth and the pyloric chamber are located in the stomatogastric ganglion. It is shown that independent gastric and pyloric oscillators are also contained in higher nervous centres (the commissural ganglia) and provide a phasic rhythmic input to the stomatogastric pattern generators. This demonstrates tha...

A focal outbreak of malaria at Bonta sub-centre of PHC Kilvani, the UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli was reported during the month of August, 2014. Seven villages of the above block were affected. During the episode, around 757 fever cases were reported with Slide Positivity Rate (SPR) of 11.6%. The malaria epidemiological data for last three years from the subcentre area indicates that the area is e...

We studied the developmental acquisition of three of the cotransmitters found in the gastropyloric receptor (GPR) neurons of the stomatogastric nervous systems of the lobsters Homarus americanus and Homarus gammarus. By using wholemount immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy, we examined the distribution of serotonin-like, allatostatin-like, and FLRF(NH2)-like immunoreactivities within the...

Gaffkaemia, caused by Aerococcus viridans var. homari, causes fatal infections in Homarus spp. (clawed lobsters). Despite its high economic significance to the lobster fisheries in the USA and northern Europe, data on its prevalence in captured and wild populations, particularly in Europe, is scarce. Following an outbreak of gaffkaemia in a European lobster holding facility in South Wales (UK),...

Ecdysis in arthropods is a complex process, regulated by many neurohormones, which must be released in a precisely coordinated manner. In insects, the ultimate hormone involved in this process is the cuticle tanning hormone, bursicon. Recently, this hormone has been identified in crustaceans. To further define the distribution of bursicon in crustacean nervous systems, and to compare hormone st...

The lobster Homarus americanus inhabits ocean waters that vary in temperature over a 25 degrees C range, depending on the season and water depth. To investigate whether the lobster heart functions effectively over a wide range of temperatures we examine the temperature dependence of cardiac performance of isolated lobster hearts in vitro. In addition, we examined whether modulation of the heart...