Unusually High Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria among Male University Students on Redemption Camp, Ogun State, Nigeria

Differences are known to occur in prevalence rates in urinary tract infections (UTI) between men and women due to the difference between the urinary tracts of the sexes. Moreover, different organisms are known to infect and cause bacteriuria in men. When urine samples from 55 apparently healthy male students of Redeemer’s University were examined, nine bacteria species including Micrococcus luteus, Viellonella parvula, Micrococcus varians, Streptococcus downei, Streptococcus pneumonia, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyrogenes, Staphylococcus saprophyticus,and Enterococcus aquimarinus were isolated from the samples. The two most prevalent organisms reported in this study were Micrococcus luteus (40%) and Micrococcus varians (27.3%). The implication of the high prevalence rates (54.5%) of asymptomatic bacteriuria obtained in this population is discussed.Key words: Asymptomatic UTI, bacteriuria, Micrococcus luteu

Effectiveness of storage as a point-of-use means of improving the bacteriological quality of drinking water

The evaluation of the effectiveness of storage as a point-of-use means for improving the bacteriological quality of drinking water was carried out using a completely randomized block design. Total plate and total coliform counts were enumerated for day 0 -10 samples using Nutrient Agar (NA) and multiple tube techniques respectively. Physicochemical analyses of water samples were carried out using standard procedures including titrimetric methods. Ten bacteria species including Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Citrobacter freundil, Salmonella typhymurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Arizona spp., Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter aerogenes were isolated from water samples obtained from borehole, well and sachet water samples in the study area. For day zero samples, it was found that the total bacteria counts ranged from 1.01x102 to 4.38 x102 CFU/mL for borehole, 0.57x102 to 2.13x102 CFU/mL for well and 0.54x102 to 0.92x102 CFU/mL for sachet water. A significant reduction in bacteria load was recorded for all samples from day 2 to day 7 when the water samples were monitored over a period of ten days. The results reveal that water storage for 2-7 days is a viable point-of-use method of household level drinking water disinfection. © 2013 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Nigerian Institute of Standards, Coliforms, water storage, E.coli

Computational identification of fertility functions of bovine Reprimo gene

Improvement in fertility is possible through gene assisted selection. Cattle fertility and genes underlying it should be thoroughly studied and exploited to find solution to declining cattle fertility. Reprimo (RPRM) gene is a pleiotropic gene involved in suppression of cancer, regulation of mitotic cell cycle, cell cycle arrest and regulation of survival. Comparison of protein tertiary structures is important in inferring functional characteristics of new proteins. This study used computational approach to identify some fertility functions of bovine RPRM gene using motif prediction and protein structure comparison. Amino acid sequences of bovine RPRM gene and some other cattle fertility genes were retrieved from GenBank. Motifs in the amino acid sequence of bovine RPRM gene were predicted using PROSITE software. The domain structure of bovine RPRM protein was predicted using simple modular architecture research tool (SMART). Protein tertiary structures (3D structures) of bovine RPRM gene and other cattle fertility genes were predicted with Phyre2 software. To have structural and functional similarity, it has been found that protein structure after superimposition should have Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) value less than or equal to 2Å. The protein 3D structures of other cattle fertility genes were superposed against the protein 3D structure of bovine RPRM gene using SuperPose web server and the proteins with RMSD value of 2Å or less were predicted as proteins with similar functions and structures as bovine RPRM gene. The predicted motifs (N-glycosylation site, N-myristoylation site, and cAMP and cGMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation site) and protein structure comparison revealed that, bovine RPRM gene and bovine growth hormone gene have the same fertility function with alpha carbon and backbone root mean square deviations of 1.94 Å and 1.81 Å, respectively. It follows therefore that other fertility functions of bovine RPRM gene included sexual maturation, steroidogenesis, gametogenesis, gonadal differentiation and gonadotrophin secretion which are the functions of growth hormone gene.Keywords: Reprimo gene, fertility, growth hormone gene, motifs, root mean squaredeviatio

Effect of fibre and digestible energy levels on retail cuts, gut characteristics and morphology of growing rabbits

The retail cuts, gut characteristics and morphology of rabbits fed with varying dietary fibre and digestible energy (DE) levels were measured in a 70-d feeding trial using 135 weaner rabbits. The experiment was designed as a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments having 3 levels of dietary fibre (low, optimum and high) and 3 levels of DE (low, optimum and high). The rabbits were allotted to 9 dietary groups consisting of 15 rabbits each. Main effect of fibre and DE showed that dressing out percentage (P < 0.05), chilled carcass weight (P < 0.05) and reference carcass weight (P < 0.01) increased with increasing inclusion levels of fibre. Rabbits fed with (430 – 456 g/kg NDF, 249 - 253 g/kg ADF) had the highest (P < 0.05) weights of thoracic cage, loins, hind part, small intestine, empty caecum and highest (P < 0.05) villus height in the duodenum and jejunum. Rabbits fed (10.5 – 11 MJ/kg) diets had the least (P < 0.05) chilled and reference carcass weight. Interaction effect of fibre and DE showed that rabbit fed (445.70g/kgNDF, 252.10g/kgADF and 8.01MJ/Kg) diet recorded the highest (P < 0.05) chilled carcass weight. Rabbit fed with low fibre (249 – 258 g/kg NDF, 149 - 157 g/kg ADF) diets not withstanding the level of DE had low (P < 0.05) chilled and reference carcass weight. The villus height of the duodenum and crypt depth of the jejunum increased (P < 0.05) with increasing level of dietary fibre irrespective of the level of digestible energy. In conclusion, feeding of (440.41 g/kg NDF, 250.09 g/kg ADF, 10.52MJ/kg) diets to rabbits favoured improved retail cuts, gut characteristics and gut morphology.Keywords: Weaner rabbits; Carcass yield; Organ weights; Gut characteristics; Gut morpholog

Growth response and apparent nutrient digestibility of weaner rabbits fed with diets containing bamboo leaf meal

A ten-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the growth response and apparent nutrient digestibility of weaner rabbits fed with diets containing bamboo leaf meal (BLM). Eighty weaner rabbits were allotted into four dietary treatment groups of twenty rabbits each. The dietary treatment groups consisted of four rations containing 0 (control), 10, 20 and 30% BLM respectively. Rabbits fed diet containing 10% BLM had the highest (P<0.05) final live weight, weight gain and apparent ether extract digestibility. Lowest (P<0.05) final live weight, weight gain, apparent crude protein and ash digestibility were noticed with rabbits fed with diets containing 20% or 30% BLM. Rabbits fed with diet containing 30% BLM recorded the highest (P<0.05) feed intake and lowest (P<0.05) NDF digestibility. It was concluded that inclusion of 10% BLM in diets for weaner rabbits supported improved growth and nutrient digestibility.Key words: Bamboo leaf meal, digestibility, performance, rabbi

Effect of fibre and digestible energy levels on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and caecal fermentation of growing rabbits

A seventy-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary fibre and digestible energy (DE) level on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and caecal fermentation of growing rabbits. The experiment was laid out in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement of 3 levels of fibre (low (249 – 258 g/kg NDF, 149 - 157 g/kg ADF), optimum (349 – 381 g/kg NDF, 188 - 193 g/kg ADF) and high (430 – 456 g/kg NDF, 249 - 253 g/kg ADF)) and 3 levels of DE (low (8 – 8.5 MJ/kg), optimum (10.5 – 11 MJ/kg) and high (12 – 12.30 MJ/kg)). A total of one hundred and thirty five weaner rabbits were allotted to 9 dietary groups of 15 rabbits each. Main effect of fibre showed that the final live weight and weight gain of rabbits increased (P < 0.01) while Ca retention reduced (P < 0.001) with increasing dietary fibre level. Rabbits fed (249 – 258 g/kg NDF, 149 - 157 g/kg ADF), had the worst (P < 0.05) feed to gain ratio. Rabbits fed (349 – 381 g/kg NDF, 188 - 193 g/kg ADF) had the highest apparent dry matter (P < 0.05), ether extract (P < 0.05), NDF (P < 0.001), ADF (P < 0.001) and organic matter digestibility (P < 0.001). Main effect of DE showed that rabbits fed high DE recorded the highest (P < 0.05) weight gain. Highest (P < 0.01) apparent dry matter, crude protein, ash, NDF, ADF, organic matter digestibility and Ca retention were recorded with rabbits fed optimum DE diet. Rabbits(445.70g/kgNDF, 252.10g/kgADF and 8.01MJ/Kg) recorded the highest (P < 0.001) final live weight, weight gain and feed intake (P<0.05) while rabbits fed (249 g/kg NDF, 149 g/kg ADF and 8.17MJ/Kg) had the least (P < 0.001) final live weight, weight gain, apparent dry matter digestibility, NDF and ADF digestibility. Highest (P<0.001) NDF digestibility was obtained with rabbits fed (370.79 g/kg NDF, 189.61 g/kg ADF and 10.84MJ/kg). Not withstanding the DE level of the diets, rabbits fed with (430 – 456 g/kg NDF, 249 - 253 g/kg ADF) recorded the highest (P<0.05) total VFA and acetic acid concentration. Rabbits fed (445.7g/KgNDF, 250.09g/KgADF and 10.52MJ/kg) recorded the best growth performance, improved caecal fermentation with no adverse effect on apparent nutrient digestibility.Keywords: Growing rabbits; Dietary fibre; Digestible energy; Caecal fermentatio

Short Communication: Visual assessment, proximate composition and cost analysis of three differently processed discarded vegetable-bovine blood-rumen content mixtures

With increased search for least-cost alternative feed resource in animal production, this study was conducted to determine the visual properties, chemical composition and cost analysis of three differently processed discarded vegetable-bovine blood-rumen content mixture as potential alternative feed resource. These mixtures were obtained by mixing whole bovine blood, discarded vegetable and rumen content at ratio 1:1:1 under different processing methods. The processed mixtures obtained were in three categories: discarded vegetable-fresh bovine blood-fresh rumen digesta (D1), discarded vegetable-ensiled bovine blood-fresh rumen digesta (D2) and discarded vegetable-fresh bovine blood-ensiled rumen digesta (D3). The mixtures were cooked and sun-dried to constant moisture content and thereafter were subjected to particle size reduction. Chemical composition of the products indicated a good potential nutritional quality with metabolizable energy and crude protein contents ranging from 9.66 to 10.49 MJ/kg and 40.79 to 50.21, respectively. Crude fibre concentrations were relatively low (8.39-13.14) for most of the products compared to conventional protein sources. Visual assessment of processed mixtures revealed D1 to be brownish in colour while D2 and D3 tend towards grey. In terms of odour, all three test mixtures were strongly pungent. Processed mixture D1 had an intermediate texture (it was neither finely ground nor coarse) where D2 and D3 had a finely ground texture. Cost analysis revealed a lower production cost for the three processed mixtures indicating its adequacy to replace soybean and other plant and animal protein sources in terms of their cost/kg inclusion in diet. Processed mixtures can serve as suitable replacements for soybean meal in terms of chemical constituents and reduced cost/kg feed for animal.Keywords: Bovine blood, rumen digesta, discarded vegetable, visual assessment, proximate composition, cost analysis