Urolithiasis in boer bucks

This paper describes three cases of urolithiasis in adult Boer bucks. The affected bucks were among the 50 breeders kept under intensive system given cut and carry Napier grass at the rate of 2 kg/animal/day. In addition, the animals were also supplemented with commercial goat pellets at the rate of 300 g/animal/day, 200-300 g of palm kernel expeller (PKE) and mineral block. The affected animals showed clinical signs of stranguria, anorexia, prolonged urination, dribbling urine, tail flagging and abdominal pain. Prior to death, they appeared to be depressed, recumbent, and showed abdominal distension. Supportive treatments in the form of anti-inflammatory drugs and oral drench of ammonium chloride (1%) were attempted. All the animals in this study died within 2 weeks following the onset of depression. Post-mortem examinations revealed swollen testis and severe haemorrhages in the urethra with blackish sandy material deposited within the lumen. There were ascites and swollen kidneys, while cloudy and thick urine filled the bladder. Histological examinations revealed the presence of purplish sandy material, either within the lumen or closely associated with the wall of the urethra. The urethral areas where the calculi were in-contact with the wall showed extensive necrosis with destruction of the epithelial layer and haemorrhages. Urinary calculi have a complex aetiology, but management, nutritional, and anatomical considerations can be helpful. © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Effect of annealing atmosphere on characteristics of kaolin-doped zinc oxide disks

This study elucidates the effect of the annealing environment (oxygen and nitrogen) on the properties of kaolin-doped ZnO disks. The findings showed that, in comparison to the sample annealed in O2 ambient, the sample annealed in N2 has a greater average grain size. The tensile stress, lattice constants, and crystallite size of the (002) plane all indicate that annealing under N2 enhanced the crystal quality of the ZnO disk. The bandgap energy shifted from 3.09 to 2.96 eV because of the doping and annealing processes. By annealing the kaolin-doped ZnO disk under N2 atmosphere, the intrinsic defects were almost eliminated. The nonlinear coefficient of the disks varied from 3.6 to 2.0. It was proven in this study that kaolin can be used as an effective dopant/additive for ZnO varistors

Finite element analysis of 2-Station hip himulator

This paper presented the analysis of materials and design architecture of 2-station hip simulator. Hip simulator is a machine used to conduct the joint and wear test of hip prosthetic. In earlier work, the hip simulator was modified and some improvement were made by using SolidWorks software. The simulator consists of 3DOF which controlled by separate stepper motor and a static load that set up by manual method in each station. In this work, finite element analysis (FEA) of hip simulator was implemented to analyse the structure of the design and selected materials used for simulator component. The analysis is completed based on two categories which are safety factor and stress tests. Both design drawing and FEA was done using SolidWorks software. The study of the two categories is performed by applying the peak load up to 4000N on the main frame that is embedded with metal-on-metal hip prosthesis. From FEA, the value of safety factor and degree of stress formation are successfully obtained. All the components exceed the value of 2 for safety factor analysis while the degree of stress formation shows higher value compare to the yield strength of the material. With this results, it provides information regarding part of simulator which are susceptible to destruct. Besides, the results could be used for design improvement and certify the stability of the hip simulator in real application

Identification of bovine growth hormone (BGH) gene polymorphism using PCR-RFLP method in buffalo bulls

Growth Hormone (GH) is a single polypeptide chain synthesised and secreted from anterior pituitary gland by somatroph cells. The product of GH gene hastens metabolism and promotes the growth of many organs and tissues especially bone, muscle and visceral organs. It also regulates growth, mammary gland development and lactation. Polymorphism in this gene is associated with increase in growth and development of many tissues in the body. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the polymorphism of bovine growth hormone (bGH) gene in buffalo bulls (Bubalus bubalis) using the PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism) technique. Design: Genomic DNA was extracted from a total of 10 bulls, consisting of Murrah – Swamp crossbred and pure Swamp buffalo bulls. A The 446 segment of the bGH gene was amplified. The DNA amplicons were detected in 2% agarose gel following 45 minutes of electrophoresis. They were thereafter digesting with AluI endonuclease restriction enzyme, and the digested DNA were detected in 2% agarose gel following electrophoresis for about 45minutes in all samples Results: Similar bands of approximately 300 and 146-bp each, with no variation, were detected in 2% agarose gel following electrophoresis in all the animals tested. Conclusion: Based on the Alu1 digestion result, all samples produced the same allele of the gene, with no polymorphism detected

The genetic architecture of the MHC class II region in British Texel sheep

Understanding the structure of the major histocompatibility complex, especially the number and frequency of alleles, loci and haplotypes, is crucial for efficient investigation of the way in which the MHC influences susceptibility to disease. Nematode infection is one of the most important diseases suffered by sheep, and the class II region has been repeatedly associated with differences in susceptibility and resistance to infection. Texel sheep are widely used in many different countries and are relatively resistant to infection. This study determined the number and frequency of MHC class II genes in a small flock of Texel sheep. There were 18 alleles at DRB1, 9 alleles at DQA1, 13 alleles at DQB1, 8 alleles at DQA2 and 16 alleles at DQB2. Several haplotypes had no detectable gene products at DQA1, DQB1 or DQB2, and these were defined as null alleles. Despite the large numbers of alleles, there were only 21 distinct haplotypes in the population. The relatively small number of observed haplotypes will simplify finding disease associations because common haplotypes provide more statistical power but complicate the discrimination of causative mutations from linked marker loci

The Usability of E-learning Platforms in Higher Education: A Systematic Mapping Study

The use of e-learning in higher education has increased significantly in recent years, which has led to several studies being conducted to investigate the usability of the platforms that support it. A variety of different usability evaluation methods and attributes have been used, and it has therefore become important to start reviewing this work in a systematic way to determine how the field has developed in the last 15 years. This paper describes a systematic mapping study that performed searches on five electronic libraries to identify usability issues and methods that have been used to evaluate e-learning platforms. Sixty-one papers were selected and analysed, with the majority of studies using a simple research design reliant on questionnaires. The usability attributes measured were mostly related to effectiveness, satisfaction, efficiency, and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, several research gaps have been identified and recommendations have been made for further work in the area of the usability of online learning

Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Digital Index Evaluation System for finger clubbing identification / S. M. W. Masra ... [et al.]

This paper presents the development of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for calculating the sum of nail-fold (NF) and distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) ratios for all ten fingers. The sum of NF:DIP ratios for all ten fingers leads to the Digital Index (DI) that was used as the measure for identifying and determining the presence of finger clubbing symptom. This GUIsystem was developed to serve as a simple and user-friendly interface for clinicians to calculate DI value of patientsin a busy clinic practice. It is also equipped with the capability to keep the patient’s past diagnosis medical check-up data for future monitoring purposes. The result shows that the developed system helps the clinicians to perform calculation of DI value and identify the presence of finger clubbing in a very short time. The average time taken to measure both NF and DIP circumferences using Finger Clubbing Meter, and to compute DI values using Digital Index Evaluation System (DIES) interface is 6:36 ± 1:24 minutes (Mean ± SD) .This system is expected to contribute in detecting the finger clubbing problem at early stage of so the treatment can be performed immediately

Demetallisation of heavy metals from indian mackerel (R. kanagurta) fish

Fish especially Indian Mackerel (R. kanagurta) provides protein, essential fatty acids and essential metals that are needed in the human diet, however high concentration of essential metals will cause adverse health effect towards human. Thus, the removal of heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) from R. kanagurta (Indian mackerel) by using different types of natural waste adsorbents was implemented in this study. Initial concentration of heavy metals (Pb, Cu) in Indian mackerel (R. kanagurta) fish were above the permissible limit set by World Health Organization and Malaysia Food Regulation 1985. Thus, in this study, corncob and eggshell were applied as natural waste adsorbents to enhance the demetallisation process. The result showed only the corncob able to efficiently remove all the heavy metals in Indian Mackerel (R. kanagurta) up to 78.31% compared to the eggshell, which yielded about 71.34%. Besides, this study proved that using corncob; the Cd metal found to be wholly removed from (R. kanagurta) which met the permissible limit set by WHO and MFR