Liver-based infant complementary food

Abstract- Weaning of infants involves the gradual introduction of solid foods and fluids along with the usual milk fed in their diet. After around six month of age, it becomes difficult to meet the nutritional requirements from the breast milk alone. This study developed beef liver based infant food as a complementary food for infants and determined its nutrient composition and sensory quality. Addition of liver to the vegetable base-formulation significantly improved the nutrient composition (P < 0.05) and consumer acceptance (P < 0.05) ofthe infant food compared to the treatments formulated with vegetables alone. The results of this study supports the importance of incorporating beef liver in to infant complementary food

Meat icing on muffins: Healthy snacking for older adults

Older adults have a higher requirement for protein compared to younger adults. An imbalance between protein supply and protein need can result in loss of skeletal muscle mass. Ingestion of 25–30g of protein per meal stimulates muscle protein synthesis in both young and older individuals[1]. The quality of protein ingested is also essential to promoting muscle health. Red meat contains high quality proteins and is rich in leucine. Decreased chewing efficiency and digestion in the elderly are responsible for lower meat protein intake from this group. Minced beef has been shown to be more rapidly-digested than servings of intact beef, resulting in increased amino acid availability and greater postprandial protein retention[2]. Muffins are common bakery snacks,mosltly prefered by older adults [3]. Designing muffins to suit nutritional needs of older adults could contribute to increased dietary protein intake. This study proposed novel easy consumable dietary approach to enhance quality protein intake for older adults. Incorporation of meat into muffin’s icing provide better snacking option to complement their protein needs

Comparison of recovery of sheep, goats, and calves from reversible electrical head-only and head-to-body stunning for halal meat production

Aims: To compare the recovery of lambs, goats, and calves from head-only (HO) or high-frequency head-to-body stunning and evaluate the complementary use of behaviour and electroencephalography (EEG) to assess return to consciousness after electrical stunning in these species. Methods: Six-month-old lambs, adult goats and calves (< 7 days old) were subjected to reversible head-only stunning (50 Hz, 1 A, 2 seconds) or reversible high-frequency head-to-body stunning (RHTB: HO followed by 2,000 Hz, 2 A, 4-second stun to body). Following stunning, behavioural recovery was assessed in 21 lambs, 22 goats, and 20 calves. Latencies to first perform behaviours (end of convulsions, head lift, attempt to right, successful righting, attempt to stand, successful standing) after stunning were scored from video recordings. Recovery of electrical brain activity indicative of consciousness was assessed using EEG in a separate cohort of minimally-anaesthetised lambs, goats and calves (n = 20 per species). EEG traces collected before and after stunning were classified as normal, epileptiform, isoelectric, or transitional activity. Following stunning, the duration of epileptiform and isoelectric activity combined (states of brain activity incompatible with conscious awareness) was calculated, as was latency to return of normal (pre-stun) EEG. Results: The RHTB stun was reversible in all three species, although one sheep failed to recover and was euthanised. Both methods caused tonic and clonic convulsions in all species. Behavioural recovery of sheep and calves was similar for both methods while goats took longer to recover from RHTB than HO stunning. There was no evidence of differences between methods in the duration of EEG incompatible with consciousness or the latency to recovery of normal EEG. Conclusions: Head-to-body stunning as applied here produced a reversible electrical stun in lambs, adult goats and young calves, although the benefits in terms of meat quality and operator safety are uncertain. Goats took longer to recover behaviourally from head-to-body stunning, possibly due to disrupted motor function, but there was no indication that post-stun unconsciousness lasted longer than following head-only stunning in any species. The normal behaviour for the animals’ developmental age should be considered when deciding on behavioural indicators of recovery. The minimal anaesthesia model provided excellent quality EEG data that was valuable for interpretation of the behavioural responses. Clinical relevance: For the purposes of pre-slaughter stunning of sheep, goats and young calves, recovery appears comparable between the two methods, with all but 1/63 animals in the behaviour study recovering normal function

The Cholecystectomy As A Day Case (CAAD) score: a validated score of preoperative predictors of successful day-case cholecystectomy using the CholeS data set

Background: Day-case surgery is associated with significant patient and cost benefits. However, only 43% of cholecystectomy patients are discharged home the same day. One hypothesis is day-case cholecystectomy rates, defined as patients discharged the same day as their operation, may be improved by better assessment of patients using standard preoperative variables. Methods: Data were extracted from a prospectively collected data set of cholecystectomy patients from 166 UK and Irish hospitals (CholeS). Cholecystectomies performed as elective procedures were divided into main (75%) and validation (25%) data sets. Preoperative predictors were identified, and a risk score of failed day case was devised using multivariate logistic regression. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to validate the score in the validation data set. Results: Of the 7426 elective cholecystectomies performed, 49% of these were discharged home the same day. Same-day discharge following cholecystectomy was less likely with older patients (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), higher ASA scores (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), complicated cholelithiasis (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.48), male gender (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.58–0.74), previous acute gallstone-related admissions (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.48–0.60) and preoperative endoscopic intervention (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.34–0.47). The CAAD score was developed using these variables. When applied to the validation subgroup, a CAAD score of ≤5 was associated with 80.8% successful day-case cholecystectomy compared with 19.2% associated with a CAAD score &gt;5 (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The CAAD score which utilises data readily available from clinic letters and electronic sources can predict same-day discharges following cholecystectomy