25 research outputs found
Antimicrobial use in a peri-urban smallholder poultry system, Kenya
Objective(s):
Analyze distribution and current usage of veterinary drugs in peri-urban smallholder poultry systems,
Kenya
Materials and methods:
Machakos and Kajiado counties were purposively selected for the study. A baseline survey involving
poultry farmers was conducted. Additional data were collected through key informant interviews
(KII). The questionnaire data were electronically captured using open data kit, downloaded as a MS
ExcelÂź file, and cleaned. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and thematic approaches.
Results:
A total of 100 farmers were interviewed. Majority (58%) were >50 years old and kept chicken
(100%), ducks (17%) and turkeys (16%). Methods for drug package disposal included burning
(65%), burying (10%), and in pit latrines (9%). Sharing of same drugs across livestock species was
reported (11 of the 66 farmers who kept other livestock). A small percentage (9%) mentioned using
drugs intended for humans in animal treatment. Antibiotics constituted 47% of the total drug records
used by farmers (n=347); 24% were used within the previous one month (24%) and had been
administered by farmers themselves (90%). Challenges associated with the distribution, access and
disposal of veterinary products were highlighted by KII respondents.
Conclusion:
on-prudent use of antimicrobials is a driver for development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which
has serious public health implications. This project is developing an ICT framework to improve AMU
monitoring and address the current information gap on AMR
From chemical gardens to chemobrionics
Chemical gardens are perhaps the best example in chemistry of a
self-organizing nonequilibrium process that creates complex
structures. Many different chemical systems and materials can
form these self-assembling structures, which span at least 8
orders of magnitude in size, from nanometers to meters. Key to
this marvel is the self-propagation under fluid advection of
reaction zones forming semipermeable precipitation membranes
that maintain steep concentration gradients, with osmosis and
buoyancy as the driving forces for fluid flow. Chemical gardens
have been studied from the alchemists onward, but now in the
21st century we are beginning to understand how they can lead
us to a new domain of self-organized structures of semipermeable
membranes and amorphous as well as polycrystalline solids
produced at the interface of chemistry, fluid dynamics, and
materials science. We propose to call this emerging field
chemobrionics
Atorvastatin calcium loaded chitosan nanoparticles: in vitro evaluation and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies in rabbits
Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus
A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 Ă 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 Ă 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 Ă 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 Ă 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 Ă 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 Ă 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3âČ-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk
Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk
BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7Ă10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4Ă10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4Ă10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat
A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers
Breast cancer (BC) risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers varies by genetic and familial factors. About 50 common variants have been shown to modify BC risk for mutation carriers. All but three, were identified in general population studies. Other mutation carrier-specific susceptibility variants may exist but studies of mutation carriers have so far been underpowered. We conduct a novel case-only genome-wide association study comparing genotype frequencies between 60,212 general population BC cases and 13,007 cases with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. We identify robust novel associations for 2 variants with BC for BRCA1 and 3 for BRCA2 mutation carriers, P < 10â8, at 5 loci, which are not associated with risk in the general population. They include rs60882887 at 11p11.2 where MADD, SP11 and EIF1, genes previously implicated in BC biology, are predicted as potential targets. These findings will contribute towards customising BC polygenic risk scores for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers
Green approach to synthesis and strain studies of ZnO nanoparticles
In this paper, a simple, facile and green approach to synthesis Gum Arabic (GA, a natural gum) assisted ZnO nanoparticles by using a wet chemical reaction method is reported. The synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles has been with the assistance of two different types of GA namely Acacia Senegal and Acacia Seyal. The effects of GA and the properties of Senegal and Seyal GA have been studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). © 2018 Author(s)