Wayfinding of Firefighters in Dark and Complex Environments.

Firefighters searching in dark and complex environments might lose their orientation and endanger themselves at the fireground. This study conducted experiments in the Training Facility of the New Taipei City Fire Department (NTFD), Taiwan. The objective of the experiments was to analyze the profile of each firefighter by a 13-factor self-report survey and their wayfinding time in dark and complex environments (DCEs). The results showed that age might be a marginally significant factor, and fear of confinement might be a significant factor that could affect firefighters' wayfinding time in the DCEs. The findings could provide strategies for improving the safety of firefighters working in such environments.

Antiviral activity by fish antimicrobial peptides of epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 against nervous necrosis virus in medaka.

The nervous necrosis virus (NNV)-medaka infection model was used in this study for analysis of NNV infection and treatment of NNV with the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 at the organismal level. Our results showed that co-treatment of AMPs with the virus was effective in promoting a significant increase in medaka survival. Re-challenge with the virus also showed high survival suggesting that these two AMPs enhanced fish survival. However, pretreatment or post-treatment with AMPs showed that both of these AMPs increased medaka survival and suggested that AMPs can be used as drugs to rescue infected medaka. The data presented here indicate that epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 have in vivo antivirus activity against the NNV, and hepcidin 1-5 functions like a lytic peptide after an in vitro assay. Infection after pretreatment, co-treatment, and post-treatment with epinecidin-1 or hepcidin 1-5 was verified by RT-PCR which showed both peptides can downregulate NNV and interferon gene expressions. In addition, our results suggest that epinecidin-1 or hepcidin 1-5 may prove to be an effective chemotherapeutic agent for aquaculture in the future.

Inactivation of nervous necrosis virus infecting grouper (Epinephelus coioides) by epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 antimicrobial peptides, and downregulation of Mx2 and Mx3 gene expressions.

Betanodaviruses are one of the serious pathogens in nervous necrosis viral (NNV) disease that brings about mortality in the larval stage of grouper (Epinephelus coioides). In this study, the efficacy of pretreatment, co-treatment, and posttreatment with the antimicrobial epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 peptides against a betanodavirus was evaluated by intraperitoneal inoculation in grouper. The results showed that co-treatment of epinecidin-1 or hepcidin 1-5 with the virus was effective in promoting a significant decrease in grouper mortality. Re-challenge with virus again after 30 day in co-treated grouper groups showed high survival suggesting that epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 enhanced fish survival. However, grouper inoculated with NNV and then inoculated with epinecidin-1 8 h later showed significantly different survival from the group inoculated with virus alone, suggesting that epinecidin-1 can be used as a drug to rescue infected grouper. Infection after pretreatment, co-treatment, and posttreatment with epinecidin-1 or hepcidin 1-5 was verified by RT-PCR which showed downregulation of Mx2 and Mx3 gene expressions. All these data strongly suggest that epinecidin-1 and hepcidin 1-5 are effective peptides for protecting grouper larvae by reducing NNV infection.