De-Mystifying Saturated Fats – A Perspective

Since the 1980s the world has been repeatedly informed about the harmful effects of saturated fatty acids. The USDA recommends that SFA consumption should be < 10 en%, while the American Heart Association goes a step further and suggests that the intakes should be reduced to < 7 en%. However, recent findings are increasingly questioning this advice, showing evidence that consumption of SFA may actually be better than increasing intake of either carbohydrates or polyunsaturated fatty acids. This article aims to summarize some of this information, with emphasis on its relevance to Indian diets

The Rise of Heatstroke as a Method of Depopulating Pigs and Poultry: Implications for the US Veterinary Profession

Depopulation of food-producing animals is becoming increasingly common in response to both disease outbreaks and supply chain disruptions. In 2019, the American Veterinary Medical Association released depopulation guidelines classifying certain heatstroke-based killing methods as “permitted in constrained circumstances”, when circumstances of the emergency constrain reasonable implementation of “preferred” methods. Since then, tens of millions of birds and pigs have been killed by such methods, termed ventilation shutdown (VSD) Plus Heat and VSD Plus High Temperature and Humidity. While no research using validated measures of animal welfare assessment has been performed on these methods, their pathophysiology suggests that animals are likely to experience pain, anxiety, nausea, and heat distress prior to loss of consciousness. Heatstroke-based methods may result in prolonged suffering and often do not achieve 100% mortality. Potential and available alternative depopulation methods are briefly reviewed. The veterinary profession’s ethical obligation to protect animal welfare in the context of depopulations is discussed

Evaluating Storage Protocol Graphics with Veterinarians

Although veterinarians exhibit increased suicide risk compared to the general population, there is little research investigating ways to reduce suicide risk within the veterinary profession. Past research implicates access to and knowledge of pentobarbital as an explanation for veterinarians’ high suicide risk. One possible way to reduce suicide risk for veterinarians is through means safety. Our recent research has shown that veterinarians perceive storing pentobarbital in an additional lockbox to be an acceptable and feasible means safety protocol, but additional research is necessary to investigate the best way to effectively advertise this protocol. The proposed study will experimentally assess the effects of two different components of messaging on veterinarians’ willingness to employ means safety protocols, as well as what messaging is most acceptable to veterinarians, utilizing a 2x2 factorial design. The first factor is compliance with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulations versus empirical data supporting means safety protocols, and the second factor is preventing participants’ own suicide versus preventing coworker suicide

Intravenous versus inhalational techniques for rapid emergence from anaesthesia in patients undergoing brain tumour surgery: A Cochrane systematic review

Background: Early and rapid emergence from anaesthesia is desirable for most neurosurgical patients. With the availability of newer intravenous and inhalational anaesthetic agents, all of which have inherent advantages and disadvantages, we remain uncertain as to which technique may result in more rapid early recovery from anaesthesia. The objective of this review was to assess the effects of intravenous versus inhalational techniques for rapid emergence from anaesthesia in patients undergoing brain tumour surgery. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2014, Issue 6) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via Ovid SP (1966 to June 2014) and EMBASE via Ovid SP (1980 to June 2014). We also searched specific websites, such as www.indmed.nic.in, www.cochrane-sadcct. org and www.clinicaltrials.gov (October 2014). We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the use of intravenous anaesthetic agents such as propofol and thiopentone with inhalational anaesthetic agents such as isoflurane and sevoflurane for maintenance of general anaesthesia during brain tumour surgery. Primary outcomes were emergence from anaesthesia (assessed by time to follow verbal commands, in minutes) and adverse events during emergence, such as haemodynamic changes, agitation, desaturation, muscle weakness, nausea and vomiting, shivering and pain. Secondary outcomes were time to eye opening, recovery from anaesthesia using the Aldrete or modified Aldrete score (i.e., time to attain score ≥9, in minutes), opioid consumption, brain relaxation (as assessed by the surgeon on a 4- or 5-point scale) and complications of anaesthetic techniques, such as intraoperative haemodynamic instability in terms of hypotension or hypertension (mmHg), increased or decreased heart rate (beats/min) and brain swelling. We used standardised methods in conducting the systematic review, as described by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We used a fixed-effect model when we found no evidence of significant heterogeneity between studies, and a random-effects model when heterogeneity was likely. Results: We included 15 RCTs with 1833 participants. We determined that none of the RCTs were of high methodological quality. For our primary outcomes, pooled results from two trials suggest that time to emergence from anaesthesia, that is, time needed to follow verbal commands, was longer with isoflurane than with propofol (mean difference [MD] –3.29 min, 95% confidence interval [CI] –5.41––1.18, low-quality evidence), and time to emergence from anaesthesia was not different with sevoflurane compared with propofol (MD 0.28 min slower with sevoflurane, 95% CI – 0.56–1.12, four studies, low-quality evidence). Pooled analyses for adverse events suggest lower risk of nausea and vomiting with propofol than with sevoflurane (risk ratio [RR] 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–0.91, low-quality evidence) or isoflurane (RR 0.45, 95% CI 0.26–0.78) and greater risk of haemodynamic changes with propofol than with sevoflurane (RR 1.85, 95% CI 1.07–3.17), but no differences in the risk of shivering or pain. Pooled analyses for brain relaxation suggest lower risk of tense brain with propofol than with isoflurane (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.67–1.17, low-quality evidence), but no difference when propofol is compared with sevoflurane. Conclusions: The finding of our review is that the intravenous technique is comparable with the inhalational technique of using sevoflurane to provide early emergence from anaesthesia. Adverse events with both techniques are also comparable. However, we derived evidence of low quality from a limited number of studies. The use of isoflurane delays emergence from anaesthesia. These results should be interpreted with caution. RCTs based on uniform and standard methods are needed

Influence of Nano Potassium and Nano Zinc on Yield and Economic Enhancement on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The present field experiment was conducted during Rabi season 2022 at experimental field of Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology And Sciences, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. In experimental plot, soil was sandy loam in texture, nearly neutral in soil reaction (pH 7.3), low in organic carbon (0.48%), available nitrogen (230 kg/ha), available phosphorus (13.60 kg/ha) and available potassium (215.4 kg/ha). The treatment consists of 3 levels of Nano-potassium 25, 40, 55 ppm and Nano-zinc 60, 80, 120 ppm along with control. The experiment was designed using Randomized Block Design, with ten treatments reproduced three times. Yield attributes namely spike length (11.93 cm), grains/spike (51.67), spikes/running row meter (62.90), effective tillers/running row meter (60.10), grain yield (6.61 t/ha), straw yield (8.90 t/ha), maximum gross return (140462.50 INR/ha), net return (99555.93 INR/ha) and B C ratio (2.43) were obtained highest in the treatment 9 [Nano-potassium 55ppm + Nano-zinc 120ppm]

Lactoferrin-melanin interaction and its possible implications in melanin polymerization: crystal structure of the complex formed between mare lactoferrin and melanin monomers at 2.7-Å resolution

The concentration of melanin determines the intensity of colors of the skin and hair of animals. Melanin pigments are tyrosine-based polymers formed in melanocytes within specialized organelles called melanosomes. In order to understand the mechanism of melanin polymerization, lactoferrin, a basic protein with a pI value of 9.0, has been used to produce melanin. Lactoferrin is a monomeric iron-binding protein with a molecular weight of 80 kDa. The crystals of lactoferrin were soaked in a solution containing dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and tyrosinase enzyme. These crystals were used for X-ray intensity data collection. The intensity data were collected to 2.7-Å resolution to an overall completeness of 91% with an R<SUB>sym</SUB> of 0.071. The crystals belong to orthorhombic space group P2<SUB>1</SUB>2<SUB>1</SUB>2<SUB>1</SUB> with cell dimensions: a = 85.0 Å, b = 99.8 Å, c = 103.4 Å. The structure was determined by molecular replacement method, using the model of diferric mare lactoferrin, and refined to an R-factor 0.215 (R<SUB>free</SUB> = 0.287) for all the data to 2.7-Å resolution. The final model comprises 5,281 protein atoms from 689 amino acids,2Fe3<SUP>+</SUP>,2CO<SUB>2</SUB><SUP>3</SUP> ions, 2 indole-5,6-quinone molecules (IQ), and 73 water molecules. Two IQ molecules, one in each lobe, bind to lactoferrin. In the C-lobe, the IQ binds in the iron-binding cleft, whereas in the N-lobe, it is located in the side pocket between two α-helices, filled with solvent molecules in the native iron-saturated mare lactoferrin. The IQ molecules interact with protein molecule mainly through glutamic acid in both lobes, without significant perturbation to the protein structure. The orientation of N- and C-lobes in the present structure is similar to that observed in the native iron-saturated protein. However, as a result of the binding of IQ molecules, the orientations of the domains N1, N2 and C1, C2 in the two cases differ slightly