Feeding Response of Tree Fodder Bhimal (Grewia Optiva) on Growth Performance of Castrated Male Goats

Bhimal (Grewia optiva) is a fodder tree mostly found in mid hills of mid and far western region of Nepal. Bhimal could constitutes one of the main livestock green fodders, especially for goats when fresh green fodder become limited during the winter dry season. However, the feeding value of Bhimal leaves on growth performance of castrated goats probably has not been evaluated so far. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of Bhimal leaves feeding on growth performance of castrated male goats for 90 days. Altogether 16 growing castrated male goats of same breed, age and body weight were selected and equally divided into four treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 with four replications by using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Four types of experimental diets were prepared having various levels (0 to 100%) of Bhimal leaves as fodder. Experimental animals of Treatment 1 were fed with seasonal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, Treatment 2 with 100% Bhimal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, Treatment 3with 75% Bhimal fodder + 25% seasonal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, while Treatment 4 with 50% Bhimal fodder + 50% season fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture. All diets were fed ad-lib and experimental animals had free access to drinking water. The diets offered and refusal was measured daily and weight change was observed fortnightly. The result showed that fodder intake (g/d/animal) and total dry matter intake (TDMI g/kg live weight) of goats differed significantly (P<0.01), but concentrate intake was not differed significantly (P<0.01) among treatments. The highest dry matter intake per animal /day was in Treatment 2 (52.75 g/kg live weight) followed by Treatment 4, Treatment 3 and Treatment 1 (51.7, 48.56 and 32.69 g/kg live weight, respectively).The average daily gain in body weight was observed highest in Treatment 2 (66.66 g/d) followed by Treatment 3 (31.66 g/d) and Treatment 4 (30.83 g). The growth rate was significantly (P<0.01) different among diet groups (P<0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.01 for 60, 75 and 90 days, respectively). In case of the feed conversion ratio, Treatment 2 had best ratio (8.79:1) than Treatment 1 (14.21:1), T3 (17.03:1) and Treatment 4 (18.59:1). The present response study showed that body weight in castrated male goats can be increased significantly (P<0.05) implying that in winter season when other green forages are poorly available goat farming can be supported by Bhimal fodder tree.Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council Vol.3 2017: 1-1

STRESS –STRAIN DIAGRAM OF SELF-CONSOLIDATING CONCRETE SUBJECTED TO CHEMICAL ATTACK

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is increasingly used in a number of concrete applications, some of which are highly susceptible to attack by sulfuric acid. This work aimed to study the resistance of a wide range of different SCCs to sulfuric attack. The main variables studied included binder material type (highly reactive materials), limestone powder, and hybrid fibers in this work, compaction, L-box, and V-hopper were performed for the new mixtures. In this study, the specimens were immersed in a solution of sulfuric acid at a concentration (0.5%) for up to 289 days after normal curing for 28 days. Laboratory results show that concrete containing pozzolanic material has reduced mechanical properties compared to a mixture containing only limestone powder. The study also showed that there was an improvement in the resistance of concrete to acid solutions when hybrid fibers were added to the concrete mix. From the stress graph, the strain at given axial stress will be less than once the failure becomes more severe, it will become less rigid than immersing the specimen for six months

Crises epileptiques au cours de la toxoplasmose cerebrale chez les patients immunodeprimes au vih.

Objectif Décrire les caractéristiques des crises épileptiques au cours de la toxoplasmose cérébrale (TC) chez les patients immunodéprimés au VIH à l’Hôpital Général de Douala (HGD).Matériel méthodesIl s’agissait d’une étude descriptive rétrospective des cas de TC diagnostiquée entre janvier 2000 et décembre 2012. La prévalence, le type, la fréquence des crises épileptiques et les thérapeutiques antiépileptiques ont été étudiées. Les patients avec un antécédent de crises épileptiques étaient exclus. Le test de Khi-2 a été utilisé pour rechercher les facteurs associés à la survenue des crises épileptiques tandis que le test de Student a été utilisé pour comparer les moyennes. P < 0,05 était considéré comme statistiquement significatif.Résultats 146 patients étaient inclus avec 78 femmes pour un sex-ratio de 0,87 en faveur des femmes. L’âge moyen était de 39,38 ± 9,88 ans. Le taux de CD4 moyen était de 115,63 ± 142,70 éléments/ml. La prévalence des crises épileptiques était de 45,2% et 61% des épileptiques étaient répétées. Les crises épileptiques généralisées prédominaient avec 75,8%. Seuls la fièvre (p < 0,012), les céphalées (p < 0,004), le syndrome d’hypertension intracrânienne (p < 0,038), un taux de CD4 < 50/ mm3 (p < 0,02) et un taux d’hémoglobine < 10g/dl (p < 0,017) étaient statistiquement associés à la survenue des crises épileptiques. Un traitement antiépileptique était prescrit chez 43,2% des patients.Conclusion Les crises épileptiques sont fréquentes au cours de la toxoplasmose cérébrale. Elles peuvent se répéter et justifier d’un traitement antiépileptique.Mots clés : Toxoplasmose cérébrale, VIH, Crises épileptiques, Douala, Cameroun

cMET inhibitor crizotinib impairs angiogenesis and reduces tumor burden in the C3(1)-Tag model of basal-like breast cancer

Epidemiologic studies have associated obesity with increased risk of the aggressive basal-like breast cancer (BBC) subtype. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) signaling through its receptor, cMET, is elevated in obesity and is a pro-tumorigenic pathway strongly associated with BBC. We previously reported that high fat diet (HFD) elevated HGF, cMET, and phospho-cMET in normal mammary gland, with accelerated tumor development, compared to low fat diet (LFD)-fed lean controls in a murine model of BBC. We also showed that weight loss resulted in a significant reversal of HFD-induced effects on latency and elevation of HGF/cMET signaling in normal mammary and cMET in normal mammary and tumors. Here, we sought to inhibit BBC tumor progression in LFD- and HFD-fed C3(1)-Tag BBC mice using a small molecule cMET inhibitor, and began crizotinib treatment (50mg/kg body weight by oral gavage) upon identification of the first palpable tumor. We next investigated if administering crizotinib in a window prior to tumor development would inhibit or delay BBC tumorigenesis. Treatment: Crizotinib significantly reduced mean tumor burden by 27.96 and 37.29%, and mean tumor vascularity by 35.04 and 33.52%, in our LFD- and HFD-fed C3(1)-Tag BBC mice, respectively. Prevention: Crizotinib significantly accelerated primary tumor progression in both diet groups but had no effect on total tumor progression or total tumor burden. In sum, cMET inhibition by crizotinib limited tumor development and microvascular density in basal-like tumor-bearing mice but did not appear to be an effective preventive agent for BBC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1920-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Some Fishes from the Iraqi Marine Waters

This study represent the concentrations of 16 PAHs in 12 of commercial fish species (Euryglossa orientalis , Acanthopagrus araticus , Epinephelus coioides , Chirocentrus dorab , Scomberoidescommersonnianus , Scomberoides lysan , Otolithes ruber , Alepes diedaba , Tenualosa ilisha , Parastromateus niger , Pampus  argentetus , Ablennws hians ) . which were collected from the coastal area of the of Iraqi marine water during 2015. The analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in fish muscles were determined using HPLC to identify the sources of PAHs, The total concentration of PAHs in fishes ranged between (0.432) ng/g dry weight in P. niger and (14.939) ng/g dry weight in  T. ilisha muscles . When we calculated the ratio of (Flouranthene to Pyrene)  and the ration of (Phenanthrene to Anthracene) and ratio of low molecular weight to high molecular weight of PAHs and the ration of Anthracene to (Anthracene + Phenanthrene ) and the ration of Benzo[a]anthracene to (Benzo[a]anthracene+ Chrysene), it is showed that the PAHs origin in fishes were Pyrogenic and Petrogenic . T. ilisha showns high ability to accumulate PAHs compounds  like Fluorene , Anthracene, Acenaphthene and Phenanthrene in muscles compared with other fishes ,  there was different ability of fish to accumulate  the PAHs from surrounded environments  . Keywords: PAHs compounds, HPLC, fishes, Iraqi marine water

Engineering mesophase stability and structure via incorporation of cyclic terminal groups

We report on the characterisation of a number of liquid-crystalline materials featuring cyclic terminal groups, which lead to significant enhancements in the temperature range of the mesomorphic state. Materials with only short terminal chains are able to support lamellar mesophase formation by appending a large terminal cyclic unit at the end of a short spacer composed of methylene units. X-ray scattering experiments reveal that the layer spacings of the lamellar smectic phase are significantly larger when a cyclic end-group is present than for equivalent linear unsubstituted materials, but there is no effect on orientational order. Fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations faithfully reproduce experimental layer spacings and orientational order parameters, and indicate that the cyclic terminal units spontaneously segregate into diffuse sub-layers and thus cause the increased layer spacing. This shape segregation predicted by molecular dynamics simulations is observed in the crystalline solid state by X-ray diffraction

Dietary fructose in relation to blood pressure and serum uric acid in adolescent boys and girls

Evidence that fructose intake may modify blood pressure is generally limited to adult populations. This study examined cross-sectional associations between dietary intake of fructose, serum uric acid and blood pressure in 814 adolescents aged 13–15 years participating in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Energy-adjusted fructose intake was derived from 3-day food records, serum uric acid concentration was assessed using fasting blood and resting blood pressure was determined using repeated oscillometric readings. In multivariate linear regression models, we did not see a significant association between fructose and blood pressure in boys or girls. In boys, fructose intake was independently associated with serum uric acid (P<0.01), and serum uric acid was independently associated with systolic blood pressure (P<0.01) and mean arterial pressure (P<0.001). Although there are independent associations, there is no direct relationship between fructose intake and blood pressure. Our data suggest that gender may influence these relationships in adolescence, with significant associations observed more frequently in boys than girls