Somatotrophs and lactotrophs: an immunohistochemical study of Gallus domesticus pituitary gland at different stages of induced moult

The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of somatotrophs and lactotrophs and conduct a morphometrical analysis of immunoreactive somatotrophs and lactotrophs in the pituitary glands of White Leghorn Hens (Gallus domesticus) during the period of induced moult. We divided the periods of induced moulting into three phases viz. 7, 14 and 21 days. The labeled alkalinephsphatase method with anti-GH (growth hormone) and anti-PRL (prolactin) as a primary antibody was used to detect somatotrophs and lactotrophs, in the midsagital sections of chicken adenohypophysis. Immunohistochemistry showed that somatotrophs are not only confined to the cephalo-caudal axis but can also be found in the caudal lobe; while lactotrophs were distributed in both lobes of the anterior pituitary gland at all stages of moulting (7, 14 and 21 days). Lactotrophs were of different shapes but somatotrophs were oval to round in morphology. At the given stages of induced moulting, some hypertrophied lactotrophs were also present after 7 days of induced moult in the anterior pituitary gland. However, there were moulting-related changes: from 7 to 21 days of induced moulting the immunoreactive-PRL cell population decreased, while the mean lactotroph size was more than that of somatotrophs. Basic quantitative and morphological information relating to somatotrophs and lactotrophs during the period of induced moult in laying hens is reported here and the changes brought about by induced moulting are restricted to PRL positive cells rather than GH positive cells

Efficacy of Protein, Symbiotic and Probiotic Supplementation on Body Performance and Organs Weight in Molted Layers

Two hundred White Leg Horn Layers (70 week age) were arranged and brought to the poultry research station, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Four groups were made (n=50 each) into keeping G1 as control (CP 16%, No other supplement), G2 (CP 18% diet), G3 (CP16% diet; symbiotic @ 85 mg L-1/day) and G4 (CP 16% diet; probiotic @ 85 mg L-1/day). The body and organs (heart, liver, spleen, kidney, brain and pituitary) weight from fifteen birds in each group at 5% (5P), peak (PP) and end (EP) of post molt production stage were determined. The overall mean heart weight in G2 and pituitary weight in G2 and G3 reduced (P≤0.05) as compared to G1. The mean kidney weight found increased (P≤0.05) in G3 and G4 as compared to G1. The results show metabolic relation of protein and probiotics with body organs

Rockburst hazard prediction in underground projects using two intelligent classification techniques : A comparative study

Rockburst is a complex phenomenon of dynamic instability in the underground excavation of rock. Owing to the complex and unclear rockburst mechanism, it is difficult to accurately predict and reasonably assess the rockburst potential. With the increasing availability of case histories from rock engineering and the advancement of data science, the data mining algorithms provide a good way to predict complex phenomena, like rockburst potential. This paper investigates the potential of J48 and random tree algorithms to predict the rockburst classification ranks using 165 cases, with four parameters, namely maximum tangential stress of surrounding rock, uniaxial compressive strength, uniaxial tensile strength, and strain energy storage index. A comparison of developed models’ performances reveals that the random tree gives more reliable predictions than J48 and other empirical models (Russenes criterion, rock brittleness coefficient criterion, and artificial neural networks). Similar comparisons with convolutional neural network resulted at par performance in modeling the rockburst hazard data