Effects of Aspilia Africana on Conception Rates of Rabbit Does

. The study was conducted to investigate the conception rates of rabbit does fed Aspilia africana as forage using thirty (30) dutch breed rabbit does of average age of 6 months in a completely randomized design. The rabbits in all the treatment groups were fed the same concentrate diet 18.0% crude protein (CP) and 2620 kcal/kg Metabolizable Energy (ME) throughout the study and mixed forages which consisted of Ipomea batatas leaves, Centrosemapubescens, Musa sapientum leaves, and Panicum maximumfrom the commencement of the experiment until parturition. Introduction of the experimental forages followed immediately after parturition and consisted of three treatments (T1, T2 and T3). The treatment consisted of T1: mixed forages (Ipomea batatas leaves, Centrosema pubescens, Musa sapientum leaves, Panicum maximum) without Aspilia africana (control), T2: fresh Aspilia africana and T3: wilted Aspilia africana. The results of the study revealed no significant differences in gestation length, receptivity and conception rates of the does in the various treatment groups before the introduction of the test plants (Aspilia africana). During the period of administration of the test plant, the treated groups; T2 and T3 had significantly lower mean values for receptivity (T2 and T3 = 1) compared to T1(3), conception rates for T2 and T3were 0% and T1was 100%. The gestation length for the control was 30.5 days while gestation was not recorded for T2 and T3 since they did not conceive at all. The ovarian weight of the control T1 (0.20 g) was significantly higher than T2 and T3 both of which recorded 0.13 g for their ovarian weights. The study showed that Aspilia africana has anti-fertility properties

Morphological characteristics and egg production of forced-moult layers under different moult induction techniques

A study was conducted to investigate the morphological characteristics and egg production of forcedmoult layers. Different feeding patterns designated T1, T2 and T3 representing ad libitum supply of feed and water, no feed but water given ad libitum and no feed or water, respectively, were used to induce moult. T1 served as the control. One hundred and twenty 84-week old layers in their 64 weeks in lay were randomly assigned to each treatment, which was replicated 4 times with 30 hens per replicate.Forced-moult treatments were imposed for 10 days, after which the moulting hens were fed moult diet for 50 days and returned to the same feed as the control. The results of the study revealed that morphological characteristics following moult induction included loss of feathers, dullness of theeyeballs, shriveling and paleness of the comb, wattle and ear lobes. Also the moulting birds emaciated with T2 and T3 losing 18.18 and 25.97%, respectively, of their initial body weights by day 7 of moult induction. The forced-moult groups T2 and T3 stopped egg production by  6 days of moult induction and resumed egg production by day 25. T2 and T3 attained a peak egg production of 71% by the second month following resumption of lay. On the other hand, in the T1 egg production progressively decreased with age

Plasma progesterone profile and ovarian activity of forced-moult layers

Different techniques of moult induction were used to force moult 360 commercial old layers, aged 85 weeks. The techniques were: natural day length with feed and water ad libitum, natural day length with water but no feed, natural day length with no feed and no water, reduced day length with feed and water ad libitum, reduced day length with water but no feed, reduced day length with no feed and no water, designated as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. The T1 served as the control. Sixty hens wererandomly assigned to each treatment which was replicated 3 times. The moult induction period was for 10 days coupled with 50 days of recovery period when the birds were fed low protein moult diet. At day 7, the ovaries of T2, T3, T5, T6 regressed weighing 3.43, 7.03, 5.00, 4.80 g, respectively. These were significantly (P<0.05) lower than the ovarian weights of 34.73 and 35.13 g of T4 and control (T1), respectively. By day 35 of moult induction, the ovaries of T2, T3, T5 showed the greatest recoveryincreasing to 18.53, 20.73, 13.27 g, respectively, while T4 decreased to 13.00 g. The number of large yellow follicles of T2, T3, T5, T6 decreased from 3.33 on day 0 to 0.00 on day 7. By day 21 the large yellow follicles of T2, T3, T5 and T6 started regenerating, ranging between 2.33 and 3.00 and by day 49 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than T4 (1.67). Plasma progesterone levels decreased from between 0.50 and 0.60 ng/ml on day 0 to undetectable levels by days 7 and 14 in T2, T3, T5, T6. By day 21,plasma progesterone levels (ng/ml) started rising in T2 (0.40), T3 (0.33), T5 (0.40), T6 (0.33) although these were significantly (P<0.05) lower than those of T1 (0.77) and T4 (0.81). As the number of large yellow follicles increased, the concentration of progesterone in the plasma increased

Effect of Induced-Moult on the Number Small Ovarian Follicles and Egg Production of Old Layers

Abstract: Influence of induced-moult on small ovarian follicles and egg production of old laying flock was investigated. Small follicles were graded thus: small yellow follicles (SYF), large white follicles (LWF) and small white follicles (SWF). A total of 360 old layers in their 64 weeks in lay were used in a 2x3 factorial arrangement in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The induced-moult treatments were natural day length with feed and water ad libitum, natural day length with water but no feed, natural day length with no feed and no water, reduced day length with feed and water ad libitum, reduced day length with water but no feed, reduced day length with no feed and no water, represented as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. Each treatment was replicated 3 times with 20 hens per replicate. At the commencement of the experiment the numbers of the small follicles of the Control (T1) were 7.67 ± 0.88, 18.33 ± 0.88, 2121.67 ± 5.78, for small yellow, large white and small white follicles, respectively. The results showed that with the exception of T4, the numbers of all the small follicles of the rest of the induced-moult groups were significantly decreased (P<0.05) by day 7 of moult induction. The numbers of the small follicles of T2, T3, T5 and T6 gradually increased and became Significantly higher (P<0.05) than the control (T1) by day 49 of moult induction. By day 49, the numbers of the small follicles of the induced-moult hens ranged from 2500± 17.56 to 3670.00± 4.05 (SWF), 24.33±0.88 to 41.00± 0.58 (LWF) and 5.00± 0.58 to 6.67± 0.20 (SYF). The mean egg production of the flock was about 50 % prior to moult induction. The hen-day percent production of the moult groups ranged from 50 to 79 % whereas that of the unmoulted control ranged from 35 to 55 %. In conclusion, moulting initiated regeneration and rejuvenation of follicles. This in turn led to increase in post moult egg production of the induced-moult groups

Biological sample donation and informed consent for neurobiobanking: Evidence from a community survey in Ghana and Nigeria

Copyright: \ua9 2022 Singh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Genomic research and neurobiobanking are expanding globally. Empirical evidence on the level of awareness and willingness to donate/share biological samples towards the expansion of neurobiobanking in sub-Saharan Africa is lacking. Aims To ascertain the awareness, perspectives and predictors regarding biological sample donation, sharing and informed consent preferences among community members in Ghana and Nigeria. Methods A questionnaire cross-sectional survey was conducted among randomly selected community members from seven communities in Ghana and Nigeria. Results Of the 1015 respondents with mean age 39.3 years (SD 19.5), about a third had heard of blood donation (37.2%, M: 42.4%, F: 32.0%, p = 0.001) and a quarter were aware of blood sample storage for research (24.5%; M: 29.7%, F: 19.4%, p = 0.151). Two out of ten were willing to donate brain after death (18.8%, M: 22.6%, F: 15.0%, p<0.001). Main reasons for unwillingness to donate brain were; to go back to God complete (46.6%) and lack of knowledge related to brain donation (32.7%). Only a third of the participants were aware of informed consent (31.7%; M: 35.9%, F: 27.5%, p<0.001). Predictors of positive attitude towards biobanking and informed consent were being married, tertiary level education, student status, and belonging to select ethnic groups. Conclusion There is a greater need for research attention in the area of brain banking and informed consent. Improved context-sensitive public education on neurobiobanking and informed consent, in line with the sociocultural diversities, is recommended within the African sub region

Novel functional insights into ischemic stroke biology provided by the first genome-wide association study of stroke in indigenous Africans

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024. Background: African ancestry populations have the highest burden of stroke worldwide, yet the genetic basis of stroke in these populations is obscure. The Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network (SIREN) is a multicenter study involving 16 sites in West Africa. We conducted the first-ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) of stroke in indigenous Africans. Methods: Cases were consecutively recruited consenting adults (aged > 18 years) with neuroimaging-confirmed ischemic stroke. Stroke-free controls were ascertained using a locally validated Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status. DNA genotyping with the H3Africa array was performed, and following initial quality control, GWAS datasets were imputed into the NIH Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) release2 from BioData Catalyst. Furthermore, we performed fine-mapping, trans-ethnic meta-analysis, and in silico functional characterization to identify likely causal variants with a functional interpretation. Results: We observed genome-wide significant (P-value < 5.0E−8) SNPs associations near AADACL2 and miRNA (MIR5186) genes in chromosome 3 after adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiac status in the base model as covariates. SNPs near the miRNA (MIR4458) gene in chromosome 5 were also associated with stroke (P-value < 1.0E−6). The putative genes near AADACL2, MIR5186, and MIR4458 genes were protective and novel. SNPs associations with stroke in chromosome 2 were more than 77 kb from the closest gene LINC01854 and SNPs in chromosome 7 were more than 116 kb to the closest gene LINC01446 (P-value < 1.0E−6). In addition, we observed SNPs in genes STXBP5-AS1 (chromosome 6), GALTN9 (chromosome 12), FANCA (chromosome 16), and DLGAP1 (chromosome 18) (P-value < 1.0E−6). Both genomic regions near genes AADACL2 and MIR4458 remained significant following fine mapping. Conclusions: Our findings identify potential roles of regulatory miRNA, intergenic non-coding DNA, and intronic non-coding RNA in the biology of ischemic stroke. These findings reveal new molecular targets that promise to help close the current gaps in accurate African ancestry-based genetic stroke’s risk prediction and development of new targeted interventions to prevent or treat stroke

Gametocyte carriage in uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria following treatment with artemisinin combination therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data

BACKGROUND: Gametocytes are responsible for transmission of malaria from human to mosquito. Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) reduces post-treatment gametocyte carriage, dependent upon host, parasite and pharmacodynamic factors. The gametocytocidal properties of antimalarial drugs are important for malaria elimination efforts. An individual patient clinical data meta-analysis was undertaken to identify the determinants of gametocyte carriage and the comparative effects of four ACTs: artemether-lumefantrine (AL), artesunate/amodiaquine (AS-AQ), artesunate/mefloquine (AS-MQ), and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP). METHODS: Factors associated with gametocytaemia prior to, and following, ACT treatment were identified in multivariable logistic or Cox regression analysis with random effects. All relevant studies were identified through a systematic review of PubMed. Risk of bias was evaluated based on study design, methodology, and missing data. RESULTS: The systematic review identified 169 published and 9 unpublished studies, 126 of which were shared with the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) and 121 trials including 48,840 patients were included in the analysis. Prevalence of gametocytaemia by microscopy at enrolment was 12.1 % (5887/48,589), and increased with decreasing age, decreasing asexual parasite density and decreasing haemoglobin concentration, and was higher in patients without fever at presentation. After ACT treatment, gametocytaemia appeared in 1.9 % (95 % CI, 1.7–2.1) of patients. The appearance of gametocytaemia was lowest after AS-MQ and AL and significantly higher after DP (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR), 2.03; 95 % CI, 1.24–3.12; P = 0.005 compared to AL) and AS-AQ fixed dose combination (FDC) (AHR, 4.01; 95 % CI, 2.40–6.72; P < 0.001 compared to AL). Among individuals who had gametocytaemia before treatment, gametocytaemia clearance was significantly faster with AS-MQ (AHR, 1.26; 95 % CI, 1.00–1.60; P = 0.054) and slower with DP (AHR, 0.74; 95 % CI, 0.63–0.88; P = 0.001) compared to AL. Both recrudescent (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 9.05; 95 % CI, 3.74–21.90; P < 0.001) and new (AOR, 3.03; 95 % CI, 1.66–5.54; P < 0.001) infections with asexual-stage parasites were strongly associated with development of gametocytaemia after day 7. CONCLUSIONS: AS-MQ and AL are more effective than DP and AS-AQ FDC in preventing gametocytaemia shortly after treatment, suggesting that the non-artemisinin partner drug or the timing of artemisinin dosing are important determinants of post-treatment gametocyte dynamics

The effect of dose on the antimalarial efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine: a systematic review and pooled analysis of individual patient data

Background: Artemether-lumefantrine is the most widely used artemisinin-based combination therapy for malaria, although treatment failures occur in some regions. We investigated the effect of dosing strategy on efficacy in a pooled analysis from trials done in a wide range of malaria-endemic settings. Methods: We searched PubMed for clinical trials that enrolled and treated patients with artemether-lumefantrine and were published from 1960 to December, 2012. We merged individual patient data from these trials by use of standardised methods. The primary endpoint was the PCR-adjusted risk of Plasmodium falciparum recrudescence by day 28. Secondary endpoints consisted of the PCR-adjusted risk of P falciparum recurrence by day 42, PCR-unadjusted risk of P falciparum recurrence by day 42, early parasite clearance, and gametocyte carriage. Risk factors for PCR-adjusted recrudescence were identified using Cox's regression model with frailty shared across the study sites. Findings: We included 61 studies done between January, 1998, and December, 2012, and included 14 327 patients in our analyses. The PCR-adjusted therapeutic efficacy was 97·6% (95% CI 97·4-97·9) at day 28 and 96·0% (95·6-96·5) at day 42. After controlling for age and parasitaemia, patients prescribed a higher dose of artemether had a lower risk of having parasitaemia on day 1 (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0·92, 95% CI 0·86-0·99 for every 1 mg/kg increase in daily artemether dose; p=0·024), but not on day 2 (p=0·69) or day 3 (0·087). In Asia, children weighing 10-15 kg who received a total lumefantrine dose less than 60 mg/kg had the lowest PCR-adjusted efficacy (91·7%, 95% CI 86·5-96·9). In Africa, the risk of treatment failure was greatest in malnourished children aged 1-3 years (PCR-adjusted efficacy 94·3%, 95% CI 92·3-96·3). A higher artemether dose was associated with a lower gametocyte presence within 14 days of treatment (adjusted OR 0·92, 95% CI 0·85-0·99; p=0·037 for every 1 mg/kg increase in total artemether dose). Interpretation: The recommended dose of artemether-lumefantrine provides reliable efficacy in most patients with uncomplicated malaria. However, therapeutic efficacy was lowest in young children from Asia and young underweight children from Africa; a higher dose regimen should be assessed in these groups. Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation