Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan : Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Funding Information: Study 1 was funded through the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Program at Harvard Institute for International Development with a grant from USAID (Project 936–5952, Cooperative Agreement # DPE-5952-A-00-5073-00), and the Aga Khan Health Service, Northern Areas and Chitral, Pakistan. Study 2 was funded by the Pakistan US S&T Cooperative Agreement between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) (No.4–421/PAK-US/HEC/2010/955, grant to the Karakoram International University) and US National Academies of Science (Grant Number PGA-P211012 from NAS to the Fogarty International Center). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A comparison of the presence of Theileria ovis by PCR amplification of their SSU rRNA gene in small ruminants from two provinces of Pakistan

Objective: To compare the presence of Theileria ovis in small ruminants from two provinces of Pakistan and to determine the risk factors associated with the spread of theileriosis. Methods: In present study, a total of 210 blood samples were collected from sheep (n=99) and goats (n=111) from 5 sampling sites in Punjab (Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan districts) and Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa (district Kohat) provinces, in Pakistan, from randomly selected herds. Data on the characteristics of the animals (species, gender, age, tick presence or absence, prior treatment for babesiosis) and the herd (location, size, species of animals, dogs associated with the herds, tick burden of dogs associated with the herds) was collected through questionnaires. Results: Twelve blood samples (6% of total), 11 from district Kohat, produced the 520 base pairs DNA fragment specific for small subunit ribosomal RNA (ssu rRNA) gene of Theileria ovis, by PCR amplification, of which 11 were sheep and 1 was goat indicating that sheep are more significantly (P=0.001) prone to this parasite. On the other hand parasite was detected only in 2 out of 210 samples (1%) by blood smear screening confirming PCR as the reliable detection tool. Conclusions: PCR is more sensitive and reliable diagnostic tool for detection of Theileria sp. as compared to blood smear screening. Incidence of Theileria ovis is very high in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa as compared to Punjab province. It was also observed that presence of ticks on animals was the only significant risk factor associated with the theileriosis in small ruminants. © 2012 Asian Pacific Tropical Medicine Press

Interspecific heavy metal variations and bioaccumulation in peafowl (Pavo cristatus)

ABSTRACTThe present study was designed for biomonitoring of heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn) and cobalt (Co) at three selected wildlife parks of Punjab. Soil, water and feed samples analysis revealed the high heavy metals contents in feed (21.59 ± 27.39 and 12.67 ± 23.13) followed by soil (11.80 ± 25.84 and 4.96 ± 10.95) and water (2.93 ± 4.48 and 1.11 ± 1.23) samples at Jallo Wildlife Park and Wildlife Park Bahawalnagar, respectively. At Wildlife Park Murree, heavy metals contamination was recorded highest in feed (10.45 ± 16.35), followed by water (6.26 ± 11.35) and soil samples (5.75 ± 9.54). Feathers samples at all sites showed the highest levels of heavy metals concentrations as 12.21 ± 25.69 at Jallo Wildlife Park, 11.50 ± 25.63 at Wildlife Park Bahawalnagar and 3.35 ± 4.81 at Wildlife Park Murree. Interspecific variation of heavy metals among samples and sites was recorded at P < 0.01, and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the feathers of captive birds was found in high concentration, making them a good indicator of biomonitoring. In captivity, the birds feeding on homogenous diets and particular environmental conditions can better allow us to understand the bioaccumulation of polymetallic contamination, which can further be generalized to predict the risk of these toxic pollutants on public health