Incidence of Blood and Meat Spots in Eggs from a Commercial Poultry Farm

A study was conducted in two phases simultaneously in a commercial poultry farm to ascertain whether egg weight, temperature variation in pens, and proximity of birds to a noise source had an influence on the incidence of blood and meat spots in chicken eggs. Phase one involved the random sampling of 60 eggs per week for 15 weeks, making a total of 900 eggs from the pens of a 50-week-old layer strain. Phase two determined the effect of noise from a 3.3 kW electrical gasoline generator on the incidence of blood and meat spots. It lasted for 14 weeks and involved the random sampling of 10 eggs per week directly from two pens (i.e., A & D). Pen A and D were 4.7 m and 68 m away from the noise source respectively. A Chi-square test was conducted to establish the relationship between the parameters, whilst a Cramer’s V test was used to determine the extent of association where differences were deemed significant (p<0.05). Out of the 1040 eggs collected, 63% of the eggs had spots (32% blood spots and 31% meat spots). No association was observed between the occurrence of spots and egg weight, temperature variation, and proximity of birds to a generator

Combined Inflammatory and Metabolic Defects Reflected by Reduced Serum Protein Levels in Patients with Buruli Ulcer Disease

Buruli ulcer is a skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans that is spreading in tropical countries, with major public health and economic implications in West Africa. Multi-analyte profiling of serum proteins in patients and endemic controls revealed that Buruli ulcer disease down-regulates the circulating levels of a large array of inflammatory mediators, without impacting on the leukocyte composition of peripheral blood. Notably, several proteins contributing to acute phase reaction, lipid metabolism, coagulation and tissue remodelling were also impacted. Their down-regulation was selective and persisted after the elimination of bacteria with antibiotic therapy. It involved proteins with various functions and origins, suggesting that M. ulcerans infection causes global and chronic defects in the host’s protein metabolism. Accordingly, patients had reduced levels of total serum proteins and blood urea, in the absence of signs of malnutrition, or functional failure of liver or kidney. Interestingly, slow healers had deeper metabolic and coagulation defects at the start of antibiotic therapy. In addition to providing novel insight into Buruli ulcer pathogenesis, our study therefore identifies a unique proteomic signature for this disease

Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being

Wild and managed pollinators provide a wide range of benefits to society in terms of contributions to food security, farmer and beekeeper livelihoods, social and cultural values, as well as the maintenance of wider biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Pollinators face numerous threats, including changes in land-use and management intensity, climate change, pesticides and genetically modified crops, pollinator management and pathogens, and invasive alien species. There are well-documented declines in some wild and managed pollinators in several regions of the world. However, many effective policy and management responses can be implemented to safeguard pollinators and sustain pollination services

Use of the WHO Access, Watch, and Reserve classification to define patterns of hospital antibiotic use (AWaRe): an analysis of paediatric survey data from 56 countries

BACKGROUND: Improving the quality of hospital antibiotic use is a major goal of WHO's global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance. The WHO Essential Medicines List Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification could facilitate simple stewardship interventions that are widely applicable globally. We aimed to present data on patterns of paediatric AWaRe antibiotic use that could be used for local and national stewardship interventions. METHODS: 1-day point prevalence survey antibiotic prescription data were combined from two independent global networks: the Global Antimicrobial Resistance, Prescribing, and Efficacy in Neonates and Children and the Global Point Prevalence Survey on Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance networks. We included hospital inpatients aged younger than 19 years receiving at least one antibiotic on the day of the survey. The WHO AWaRe classification was used to describe overall antibiotic use as assessed by the variation between use of Access, Watch, and Reserve antibiotics, for neonates and children and for the commonest clinical indications. FINDINGS: Of the 23 572 patients included from 56 countries, 18 305 were children (77·7%) and 5267 were neonates (22·3%). Access antibiotic use in children ranged from 7·8% (China) to 61·2% (Slovenia) of all antibiotic prescriptions. The use of Watch antibiotics in children was highest in Iran (77·3%) and lowest in Finland (23·0%). In neonates, Access antibiotic use was highest in Singapore (100·0%) and lowest in China (24·2%). Reserve antibiotic use was low in all countries. Major differences in clinical syndrome-specific patterns of AWaRe antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infection and neonatal sepsis were observed between WHO regions and countries. INTERPRETATION: There is substantial global variation in the proportion of AWaRe antibiotics used in hospitalised neonates and children. The AWaRe classification could potentially be used as a simple traffic light metric of appropriate antibiotic use. Future efforts should focus on developing and evaluating paediatric antibiotic stewardship programmes on the basis of the AWaRe index. FUNDING: GARPEC was funded by the PENTA Foundation. GARPEC-China data collection was funded by the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (SZSM2015120330). bioMérieux provided unrestricted funding support for the Global-PPS

Entomophagous Response of Albino Rats to Cockroach (Periplaneta Americana) Meal

An experiment was conducted to determine the nutrient composition and effects of cockroach (Periplaneta americana) meal on the growth performance, economics of production and the absolute and relative weights of some internal organs of albino rats. Twelve (12) male albino rats with an average weight of 67.5g were randomly allotted three dietary treatments: T0 with no cockroach meal, and T1 and T2 with 2% and 4% cockroach meal respectively in a Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD). Each treatment had four rats and each rat served as a replicate. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. The rats were euthanized and their internal organs were weighed at the end of a 28-day feeding trial. Data obtained were analysed using the analysis of variance procedure of the GenStat Statistical Package version 11.1. There were no significant differences in feed intake (P = 0.633), average daily gain (ADG)(P = 0.670) and feed conversion ratio (FCR)(P = 0.326) for the various treatments. The FCR figures recorded for T0, T1 and T2 were 4.81, 4.37 and 4.17 respectively whilst the inclusion of cockroach meal reduced feed cost by 3% and 7% in dietary treatments T1 and T2 respectively. Most of the internal organs recorded no significant difference (P >0.05) but rats on the cockroach meal diets recorded significantly (P = 0.001) lower relative heart weights. Relative kidney weights were also smaller (P = 0.034) for rats on diets containing 4% cockroach meal. Feeding diets containing up to 4% cockroach meal had no negative effects on the feed intake, ADG and FCR of the rats, and can therefore be safely fed to monogastrics up to 4% of the diet

Garico: A new food or feed resource?

A study was undertaken to examine the potentials of Garico, a by-product of Gari production, from cassava as a new food or feed resource. The procedures for the preparation of Garico, the nutrient composition, its utilization, its particle size distribution compared to that of Gari and the compara-tive prices of Garico, Gari and maize were determined. Structured questionnaires were adminis-tered to 15 and 10 Gari producers in Anloga and Kpo Kɔʄe in the Ashanti and Volta Regions re-spectively. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics as described by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The results obtained indicated that Gari produc-tion is dominated by women (80%). Some of the respondents (44%) mentioned that Garico is being consumed by humans and domestic animals. The preference of an average consumer was 68% for Gari only, 4% for Garico only and 28% for both Gari and Garico. Most of the respondents (60%) admitted that the shelf life of Garico could be 1-2 years. The cost per kg of Garico was ¢ 2.76 in the Volta Region and ¢ 3.29 in the Ashanti Region. Nutrient compositions of Garico (ME- 2957-3060 kcal/kg; CP- 0.9-1.4% and CF- 1.38-2%) and Gari were similar and there were some critical pro-cessing differences. The mean particle size of Garico was 2mm compared to Gari which ranged from 500μm to 1mm. It was concluded that Garico could be used both as a food and feed resource if diets are well-balanced and particular attention is paid to economic considerations

Evaluation of Different Rates of Ampligo Insecticide against Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith); Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Coastal Savannah Agroecological Zone of Ghana

The destructive nature of maize fall armyworm has triggered the importation of plenty of plant protection products onto the Ghanaian agrochemical marketplace. These imported chemicals sold at market places sometimes are unregistered for use in the Ghanaian environment. Thus, some importers do not do due diligence in testing the chemical agronomically to ascertain its mode of action and also being not harmful to beneficial insect species in the Ghanaian environment. It was in this view that three Ampligo concentrations or rates (0 ml/ha, 200 ml/ha, and 240 ml/ha) were tested against FAW on maize that were sown at a spacing of 60 cm × 60 cm. Treatments applied to maize were arranged in a randomised complete block design and replicated three times. Ampligo rates caused a very significant (p < 0.05) reduction in FAW at 21 and 28 days after maize emergence. The damage to maize leaf on treated maize plot was significantly (p < 0.05) different from that on the untreated. Thus, damage of FAW was more visible on maize leaves on control plots compared to the treated ones. A significantly (p < 0.05) positive correlation existed between damage rating and FAW number. Furthermore, the Ampligo rates correlated negatively to FAW density at p = 0.014 at 21 days after emergence. Also, FAW infestation did not impact maize grain yield. The study, therefore, concluded that Ampligo pesticide falls in low-risk plant protection product category with a very potent active ingredient that reduces FAW populations. We recommend that Ampligo should be applied between 14 and 21 days after emergence; two applications at one-week interval at 200 ml/ha are sufficient to sustain maize for the whole cropping season