Comparison of low birth weight prevalence in the Sainthamaruthu MOH division with national Prevalence

Prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) is the single most important social indicator of the socioeconomic and health condition of a country or community. Several factors are associated with the prevalence of LBW. The study of all the births in year 2009 and associated factors related to LB W in the Sainthamaruthu Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division provided an unusual very less LBW prevalence statistics of 9.98 % which is very small compared to the national prevalence of 18 0/0. Satisfactory socio economic condition, good maternity care service, less stress in life, nutritional and non vegetarian food habit, non smoking, no use of alcohol and drugs and altitude of living location could be the reasons for this less prevalence. This study also revealed that gestational duration and parity had significant association with LB W. Sex of the baby was not associated with LB W while maternal age and body mass index (BMI) had marginal association with LBW

Effects of pre-harvest production practices on post-harvest water loss of Leeks and Pak Choi.

The utilization of pre-harvest conditions as crop management tools to control post-harvest weight (water) loss had been studied. Studies on two model crops i.e. leek and pak choi had shown some promising uses of these production conditions in regulating weight loss from harvested leafy vegetable. Pre-harvest conditions such as environmental (temperature and light) and cultural (mineral nutrition, density of planting, salinity and irrigation) had been investigated. Water retention during storage was improved in pseudostems from leeks grown with adequate water supply, high light level, lower temperatures and K supplement in the growing media. Pseudostems from salinized plants conserved more water than non-salinized plants and leeks grown at 35 plants m־² retained water better than the other three plant densities (17.5, 22 and 44 plants mm־²). There were significant (p<0.001) interactions between temperature, salinity and water stress and cultivars on water loss from shoots of pak choi with shoots produced at 25°C, moderate salinity and water stressed being more resistant to water loss

Comparative full genome sequence analysis of wild-type and chicken embryo origin vaccine-like infectious laryngotracheitis virus field isolates from Canada

Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), caused by infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), occurs sporadically in poultry flocks in Canada. Live attenuated chicken embryo origin (CEO) vaccines are being used routinely to prevent and control ILTV infections. However, ILT outbreaks still occur since vaccine strains could revert to virulence in the field. In this study, 7 Canadian ILTV isolates linked to ILT outbreaks across different time in Eastern Canada (Ontario; ON and Quebec; QC) were whole genome sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the close relationship between the ON isolates and the CEO vaccines, whereas the QC isolates clustered with strains previously known as CEO revertant and wild-type ILTVs. Recombination network analysis of ILTV sequences revealed clear evidence of historical recombination between ILTV strains circulating in Canada and other geographical regions. The comparison of ON CEO clustered and QC CEO revertant clustered isolates with the LT Blen® CEO vaccine reference sequence showed amino acid differences in 5 and 12 open reading frames (ORFs), respectively. Similar analysis revealed amino acid differences in 32 ORFs in QC wild-type isolates. Compared to all CEO vaccine strains in the public domain, the QC wild-type isolates showed 15 unique mutational sites leading to amino acid changes in 13 ORFs. Our outcomes add to the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms behind ILTV genetic variance and provide genetic markers between wild-type and vaccine strains

Interactive three-dimensional boundary element stress analysis of components in aircraft structures

Computer aided design of mechanical components is an iterative process that often involves multiple stress analysis runs; this can be time consuming and expensive. Significant efficiency improvements can be made by increasing interactivity at the conceptual design stage. One approach is through real-time re-analysis of models with continuously updating geometry. Thus each run can benefit from an existing mesh and governing boundary element matrix that are similar to the updated geometry. For small problems, amenable to real-time analysis, re-integration accounts for the majority of the re-analysis time. This paper assesses how efficiency can be achieved during re-integration through both algorithmic and hardware based methods. For models with fewer than 10,000 degrees of freedom, the proposed algorithm performs up to five times faster than a standard integration scheme. An additional six times speed is achieved on eight cores over the serial implementation. By combining this work with previously addressed meshing and solution schemes, real-time re-analysis becomes a reality for small three-dimensional problems. Significant acceleration of larger systems is also achieved. This work demonstrates the viability of application in the aerospace industry where rapid validation of a range of similar models is an essential tool for optimising aircraft designs

Digestion, growth performance and caecal fermentation in growing rabbits fed diets containing foliage of browse trees

Feeding foliage from browse trees and shrubs may be of importance in animal production because these resources do not compete with human food and can provide significant amounts of nutrients. Rabbit is increasingly becoming an important meat source and its production is recommended in countries that are experiencing meat shortages, as it presents the best productive advantages to bridge the protein deficiency gap (Abdel-Aziz et al., 2015).This study aimed to evaluate the effect of feeding dried foliage (leaves and petioles) of Acacia saligna, Leucaena leucocephala or Moringa oleifera on the performance, digestibility, N utilisation, caecal fermentation and microbial profiles in New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. One hundred weaned male NZW rabbits weighing 819.2±16.6 g and aged 35±1 d were randomly allocated into 4 groups of 25 rabbits each. Rabbits were fed on pelleted diets containing 70% concentrate mixture and 30% Egyptian berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) hay (Control diet) or one of the other 3 experimental diets, where 50% of berseem hay was replaced with A. saligna (AS), L. leucocephala (LL) or M. oleifera (MO). Compared to Control diet, decreases in dry matter (DM; P=0.004), organic matter (P=0.028), crude protein (CP; P=0.001), neutral detergent fibre (P=0.033) and acid detergent fibre (P=0.011) digestibility were observed with the AS diet. However, DM and CP digestibility were increased by 3% with the MO diet, and N utilisation was decreased (P<0.05) with AS. Rabbits fed AS and LL diets showed decreased (P=0.001) average daily gain by 39 and 7%, respectively vs. Control. Feed conversion was similar in Control and MO rabbits, whereas rabbits fed AS diet ate up to 45% more feed (P=0.002) than Control rabbits to gain one kg of body weight. Caecal ammonia-N was increased (P=0.002) with LL, while acetic acid was decreased (P=0.001) with AS diet vs. other treatments. Caecal E. coli and Lactobacillus spp. bacteria counts were decreased with MO by about 44 and 51%, respectively, vs. Control. In conclusion, under the study conditions, tree foliage from M. oleifera and L. leucocephala are suitable fibrous ingredients to be included up to 150 g/kg in the diets of growing rabbits, and can safely replace 50% of berseem hay in diets of NZW rabbits without any adverse effect on their growth performance. Foliage from M. oleifera had a better potential as a feed for rabbits than that from L. leucocephala. Although foliage from A. saliga may be also used at 150 g/kg in the diets of growing rabbits, this level of inclusion may result in reduced feed digestibility and growth performance

Fusion of HSP70 gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to hemagglutinin (H5) gene of avian influenza virus in DNA vaccine enhances its potency.

A series of plasmids containing the HSP70 gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis fused to the hemagglutinin (H5) gene of H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) (H5-HSP70 (heat shock protein 70) vaccine) or individual H5 gene (H5 vaccine) or HSP70 gene (HSP70 vaccine) were constructed based on the plasmid pcDNA3.1. Expression of H5 gene in Vero cells in vitro and in chickens in vivo was confirmed following their transfection and immunization with H5 or H5-HSP70 vaccines. Controls consisted of HSP70 vaccine, empty plasmid pcDNA3.1 and co-administered H5 and HSP70 vaccines. H5-HSP70 vaccine produced in chicken higher hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titer than H5 vaccine. However, the increase was not statistically significant. We have demonstrated for the first time that the H5 DNA vaccine with fused HSP70 gene may produce an enhanced induction of humoral immune response to AIV in chickens

Upgrading Milk Productivity of Primiparous Buffaloes Using Glycogenic Precursors; Implications on Milk Production and Blood Biochemical Parameters

This study was performed to explore the effect of drenching propylene glycol (PG) and calcium propionate (CP) as a source of energy to primiparous Egyptian buffalo cows (Bubalus bubalis) on milk production and some blood biochemical parameters. Eighteen primiparous buffalo cows (8 weeks before calving) with an average live body weight (LBW) of 500±25kg and aged 35±5 months were used. Animals were classified to three comparable groups (6, each) based on (LBW), body condition scores and expected calving date. Animals in the 1stgroup served as a control (C), were drenched 3L of saline solution (NaCl 0.9%) without any additives, the animals in the 2nd group (PG) were drenched 300 mL of propylene glycol dissolved in 3L of a saline solution. In the 3rd group (CP), animals were drenched 335g of calcium propionate dissolved in 3L of a saline solution. Milk production and milk composition of primiparous buffalo cows were measured. Blood samples were collected from all buffalos for biochemical analysis. Results showed significant effects on average daily and total milk yield but no significant difference on milk composition. All blood biochemical parameters revealed no significant variation between treated and control groups except for plasma beta-hydroxy butyrate (BHB) and both T3 and T4 hormones concentrations. The overall mean of BHB in treated (PG) and (CP) was also lower (17.67 and 14.67 vs. 26) than control group. Overall mean of T3 concentration hormone was the lowest in control group represented 3.13 vs. 5.28 and 4.99 ng/ml) for (PG) and (CP) treated group. The highest overall mean of T4 concentration hormone was recorded in (CP) treated group represented 19.55 ng/ml. Concisely, the present results indicate that drenching (PG) and (CP) have a positive effect on the productive traits of primiparous Egyptian buffalo cows while, did not affect the blood biochemical parameters

Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) Integrations for Decision Making Purposes: A Review

Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is generally used as decision making purpose. However, AHP provides a single numerical number. As the method can only yield binary decisions of either “yes” or “no”, the method is not compatible when the decision has uncertainties. Consequently, previous researchers have fused AHP with fuzzy to process alternatives with uncertainty judgment. In this paper, fundamental knowledge of separate tool was reviewed. Fundamental of both fuzzy and AHP were also  summarized in this article. The next phase of this paper was to split the types of FAHP namely to determine the relative weight and the rank or score. Two methods were utilized under FAHP to determine relative weight ; triangular and trapezoidal FAHP. Next type of FAHP was to determine the score of each alternative often carried out after triangular or trapezoidal FAHP. The second types of FAHP were Fuzzy TOPSIS, and VIKOR. These FAHPs were explained and steps to carry out were presented in this paper. In conclusion, all types of FAHP are compared in terms of computational time, number of steps and level of difficulty