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Introduction: Esophageal variceal bleeding (EVB) is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity in cirrhotic patients. Non-invasive tests (NIT) of liver fibrosis have been developed to predict the presence of esophageal varices (EV).

Aim: To evaluate the performance of NIT of liver fibrosis such as liver transient elastography (TE) and serum scores in predicting EV.

Strain selection of microalgae isolated from Tunisian coast: characterization of the lipid profile for potential biodiesel production.

Microalgae could be of importance for future biodiesel production as an alternative for a third generation of biofuels. To select the most appropriate strain for biodiesel production, three microalgae species, namely Isochrysis sp., Nannochloropsis maritima and Tetraselmis sp.

Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of highly pathogenic Vibrio alginolyticus strains isolated during mortality outbreaks in cultured Ruditapes decussatus juvenile.

In the summer of 2008 and 2009, a series of mortalities in growing out seeds of R. decussatus juveniles were occurred in the eastern Tunisian littoral. Nine predominant bacterial strains were isolated from dead and moribund juveniles and characterized as Vibrio alginolyticus.

Prevalence of Biofilm Formation and Wide Distribution of Virulence Associated Genes among Vibrio spp. Strains Isolated from the Monastir Lagoon, Tunisia.

In the current study, 65 Vibrio spp. were isolated from the Monastir lagoon water, were characterized phenotypically and genotypically. In addition, we looked for the presence of three Vibrio parahaemolyticus virulence genes (tlh, trh and tdh) and ten Vibrio cholerae virulence genes (ctxA, vpi, zot, ace, toxR, toxT, tosS, toxRS, tcpA and cpP).

Genotypic diversity, antimicrobial resistance and screening of Vibrio cholerae molecular virulence markers in Vibrio alginolyticus strains recovered from a Tunisian Ruditapes decussatus hatchery.

In this study, a total of 54 Vibrio alginolyticus strains were analyzed. The isolates were recovered from different compartments of the Ruditapes decussatus hatchery in the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies, Monastir, Tunisia. All isolates were biochemically identified (API 20E and API ZYM strips), characterized by amplification of the Hsp-40 gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analyzed by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-based genotyping to evaluate genetic relationship between the isolated strains.

Toxicity of Hg, Cu and Zn on early developmental stages of the European clam (Ruditapes decussatus) with potential application in marine water quality assessment.

The toxicity of mercury, zinc and copper on sperm viability, fertilisation and embryogenesis of Ruditapes decussatus was examined. Cu did not affect sperm viability at all the concentrations tested. Conversely, the Zn and Hg significantly (P<0.