Selection of Taxa Porifera (sponges) are a diverse taxon of benthic aquatic (marine and limnic) animals, with over 8,500 described species distributed over four main extant lineages: Demospongiae (83% of living species; demosponges, including bath sponges), Hexactinellida (glass sponges), Calcarea (calcareous sponges), and Homoscleromorpha (flesh sponges) (Van Soest et al. 2012) (Fig. 2). Tradi...

The aims of this study were to report for the first time, the extraction and physico-chemical properties of chicken skin gelatin compared to bovine gelatin. Extracted chicken skin gelatin 6.67 % (w/v) had a higher bloom value (355 ± 1.48 g) than bovine gelatin (259 ± 0.71 g). The dynamic viscoelastic profile of chicken gelatin exhibited higher viscous and elastic modulus values compared to bovi...

The present work describes the biological activities using the marine sponges collected from kanyakumari. The sponges are such as the Callyspongia diffusa, Echinodictyum gorgonoides, Callyspongia reticutis, Gelliodes cellaria, and Thalysias vulpine. It is revealed that the sponges showed the antifungal activity against the various fungal strains such as the Aspergillus niger, Pencillium notatum...

Like all organisms, sponges allocate resources to life functions such as growth and reproduction. Additionally, some sponges are defended by secondary metabolites that deter potential predators. Assuming resources are limiting, species that produce defensive metabolites should allocate fewer resources to growth and reproduction. To test the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between chemical ...

In Shark Bay, Western Australia, bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp. carry conical sponges Echinodictyum mesenterinum on their rostra in the only documented cetacean foraging behaviour using a tool (‘sponging’). In this study, we examined the influence of various ecological factors on live sponge distribution and the occurrence of sponging in parts of the western gulf of Shark Bay. We assessed spo...

Marine sponges are an extremely rich and important source of natural products. Mariculture is one solution to the so-called "supply problem" that often hampers further studies and development of novel compounds from sponges. We report the extended culture (767 days) at sea in depths of 10 and 20 m of three sponge species: Negombata magnifica, Amphimedon chloros and Theonella swinhoei that produ...

Porous silicone sponges are fabricated by polymerization of organosilanes in the presence of Fe3O4@silica nanoparticles. The sponges feature fast magnetic responsivity, superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, high compressibility and stability. The sponges can selectively absorb floating oils on a water surface, heavy oils under water and even emulsified oils.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Residual necks and recurrences frequently occur after endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Addition of fibrinogen and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to the embolic material may promote healing of embolized aneurysms by increasing neointima formation at the neck. METHODS Bilateral carotid aneurysms were constructed with venous pouches in 31 dogs. Aneurysms...

Immunogenicity evaluations in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine trials have relied on serological samples, yet cervical antibodies are likely to be most relevant for protection against infection. In order to assess functional antibody levels at the cervix, the secreted-alkaline-phosphatase neutralization assay (SEAPNA) was used to measure HPV-neutralizing activity. We assessed the variability ...

Sponges are ancient metazoans that host diverse and complex microbial communities. Sponge-associated microbial diversity has been studied from wide oceans across the globe, particularly in subtidal regions, but the microbial communities from intertidal sponges have remained mostly unexplored. Here we used pyrosequencing to characterize the microbial communities in 12 different co-occurring inte...