Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites (helminth) found in the feces of some selected domestic birds, chickens (Gallus gallus) and pigeons (Columba livia domestica)

Domestic birds have significant contributory role in national economy and social world. In Kano, especially in rural areas farmers and agriculturists still depend economically on these animals. The study was conducted to find out various gastrointestinal parasites and their prevalence in domestic birds using Specimens processed through Sedimentation and Floatation method.The result shows that there is high rate of infection in pigeons. On the other hand a low rate of infection was observed in chickens. The helminthes found in the domestic birds were of five species: S. intercalatum, Paragonimus sp, H. nana, Taenia spp and S. stercoralis larva. This study indicated that there was a significant difference in the prevalence of helminths between pigeons and chickens. It indicated that pigeons are most affected among districts

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF LANTANA CAMARA LEAVES AGAINST BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM EPICARP OF SOLANUM MELONGENA (GARDEN EGG)

This research was aimed at testing the antibacterial properties of Lantana camara plant leaves extracts against the bacteria isolated from the epicarp of an unwashed garden egg Solanum melongena fruit. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the plant leaves shows that the plant possesses Tannin, Saponin, Glycosides and Reducing sugar, while Anthraquinones, Alkaloid were absent in all the various extracts used. Three different types of bacteria were isolated from the epicarp of the unwashed fruit sample; they include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus spp. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the leaf extracts on Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 12mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 48mg/mL for the ethanolic extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration on Streptococcus spp. was 8mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 4 mg/mL for ethanolic extract, while the minimum inhibitory concentration on Staphylococcus aureus was 25 mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 7 mg/mL for the ethanolic extract. Methanolic extracts have the highest activity on Staphylococcus aureus at 8 mg/mL, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa at12 mg/mL and the least was on Streptococcus spp. at 25 mg/mL. While with ethanolic extracts, the highest activity was on Streptococcus spp. at 4 mg/mL followed by Staphylococcus aureus at 7 mg/mL and the least was on Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 48 mg/mL. Therefore, Lantana camara leaves contain bioactive compounds believe to have a bactericidal effect at various concentrations species wise

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF LANTANA CAMARA LEAVES AGAINST BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM EPICARP OF SOLANUM MELONGENA (GARDEN EGG)

This research was aimed at testing the antibacterial properties of Lantana camara plant leaves extracts against the bacteria isolated from the epicarp of an unwashed garden egg Solanum melongena fruit. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the plant leaves shows that the plant possesses Tannin, Saponin, Glycosides and Reducing sugar, while Anthraquinones, Alkaloid were absent in all the various extracts used. Three different types of bacteria were isolated from the epicarp of the unwashed fruit sample; they include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus spp. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the leaf extracts on Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 12mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 48mg/mL for the ethanolic extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration on Streptococcus spp. was 8mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 4 mg/mL for ethanolic extract, while the minimum inhibitory concentration on Staphylococcus aureus was 25 mg/mL for the methanolic extract and 7 mg/mL for the ethanolic extract. Methanolic extracts have the highest activity on Staphylococcus aureus at 8 mg/mL, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa at12 mg/mL and the least was on Streptococcus spp. at 25 mg/mL. While with ethanolic extracts, the highest activity was on Streptococcus spp. at 4 mg/mL followed by Staphylococcus aureus at 7 mg/mL and the least was on Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 48 mg/mL. Therefore, Lantana camara leaves contain bioactive compounds believe to have a bactericidal effect at various concentrations species wise

Human-mobility-based sensor context-aware routing protocol for delay-tolerant data gathering in multi-sink cell-phone-based sensor networks

Ubiquitous use of cell phones encourages development of novel applications with sensors embedded in cell phones. The collection of information generated by these devices is a challenging task considering volatile topologies and energy-based scarce resources. Further, the data delivery to the sink is delay tolerant. Mobility of cell phones is opportunistically exploited for forwarding sensor generated data towards the sink. Human mobility model shows truncated power law distribution of flight length, pause time, and intercontact time. The power law behavior of inter-contact time often discourages routing of data using naive forwarding schemes. This work exploits the flight length and the pause time distributions of human mobility to design a better and efficient routing strategy. We propose a Human-Mobility-based Sensor Context-Aware Routing protocol (HMSCAR), which exploits human mobility patterns to smartly forward data towards the sink basically comprised of wi-fi hot spots or cellular base stations. The simulation results show that HMSCAR significantly outperforms the SCAR, SFR, and GRAD-MOB on the aspects of delivery ratio and time delay. A multi-sink scenario and single-copy replication scheme is assumed

Hierarchical fusion using vector quantization for visualization of hyperspectral images

Visualization of hyperspectral images that combines the data from multiple sensors is a major challenge due to huge data set. An efficient image fusion could be a primary key step for this task. To make the approach computationally efficient and to accommodate a large number of image bands, we propose a hierarchical fusion based on vector quantization and bilateral filtering. The consecutive image bands in the hyperspectral data cube exhibit a high degree of feature similarity among them due to the contiguous and narrow nature of the hyperspectral sensors. Exploiting this redundancy in the data, we fuse neighboring images at every level of hierarchy. As at the first level, the redundancy between the images is very high we use a powerful compression tool, vector quantization, to fuse each group. From second level onwards, each group is fused using bilateral filtering. While vector quantization removes redundancy, bilateral filter retains even the minor details that exist in individual image. The hierarchical fusion scheme helps in accommodating a large number of hyperspectral image bands. It also facilitates the midband visualization of a subset of the hyperspectral image cube. Quantitative performance analysis shows the effectiveness of the proposed method

Mapping human serum induced gene networks as a basis for the creation of biomimetic periosteum for bone repair

The periosteum is a highly vascularised, collagen-rich tissue that plays a crucial role in directing bone repair. This is orchestrated primarily by its resident progenitor cell population. Indeed, preservation of periosteum integrity is critical for bone healing. Cells extracted from the periosteum retain their osteochondrogenic properties and as such are a promising basis for tissue engineering strategies for the repair of bone defects. However, the culture expansion conditions, and the way in which the cells are reintroduced to the defect site are critical aspects of successful translation. Indeed, expansion in human serum and implantation on biomimetic materials has previously been shown to improve in vivo bone formation. As such, this study aimed to develop a protocol to allow for the expansion of human periosteum derived cells (hPDCs) in a biomimetic periosteal-like environment. The expansion conditions were defined through the investigation of the bioactive cues involved in augmenting hPDC proliferative and multipotency characteristics, based on transcriptomic analysis of cells cultured in human serum. Master regulators of transcriptional networks were identified and an optimised periosteal derived-growth factor cocktail (PD-GFC; containing β-Estradiol, FGF2, TNFα, TGFβ, IGF-1 and PDGF-BB) was generated. Expansion of hPDCs in PD-GFC resulted in serum mimicry with regards to the cell morphology, proliferative capacity and chondrogenic differentiation. When incorporated into a 3D collagen-type-1 matrix and cultured in PD-GFC, the hPDCs migrated to the surface that represented the matrix topography of the periosteum cambium layer. Furthermore, gene expression analysis revealed a downregulated Wnt and TGFβ signature and an upregulation of CREB, which may indicate the hPDCs are recreating their progenitor cell signature. This study highlights the first stage in the development of a biomimetic periosteum which may have applications in bone repair

Recurrent COVID-19 suggesting reinfection among seven health care workers in a teaching hospital in Mumbai

The The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently came up with an epidemiological definition for reinfection- a gap of 102 days between two positive molecular or rapid antigen tests with a negative molecular test in between. As it is not always feasible to do a genomic analysis, this working definition can provide useful insights. Here we describe a case series of seven health care workers (HCWs) who turned positive for the second time after a mean duration of 245.14 days (130-305 days). All of them had a minimum of one reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) negative report in between the two episodes. Mere presence of neutralizing antibodies after natural infection or post-vaccination cannot be considered safe against COVID infection. Therefore, prevention should be always the priority -wearing masks, hand washing/sanitizing and social distancing needs to be continued, till we see an end to this pandemic

Phytochemical screening and antifungal potentials of Citrus limon peels against Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizopus stolonifer causing rots in water melon (Citrullus lanatus L.)

This study investigated the phytochemical constituents and antifungal potential of Citrus limon peels using aqueous and methanol extracts against Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizopus stolonifer causing rots in water melon. The result of phytocemical screening revealed the presence of Saponin, Tannin, Phenols, Alkaloid and Flavanoid. Pathogenicity test conducted showed that F. oxysporum and R. stolonifer causes rots of Citrullus lanatus. The extracts inhibited the growth of F. oxysporum (76.67% and 60.00 %) methanol and aqueous respectively. R. stolonifer growth was inhibited (85.93% and 71.11%) methanol and aqueous extracts. The fungitoxicity of synthetic fungicide Benomyl was 95.56%. The methanol extracts has highest inhibitory activity than aqueous extract. The result of the findings indicates the Biofungicide potentials of Citrus limon peels as alternative to synthetic fungicide in management of phyto-pathogens of water lemon

Imprints of clustering in multiplicity fluctuations

In this paper, we investigate the multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles observed in high-energy nuclear collisions and relate them to the size of hadronizing systems which happen during such processes. We use the average multiplicities $\langle N\rangle$ and variances $Var\left(N\right)$ of multiplicity distributions of charged particles produced in centrality selected collisions of relativistic heavy-ion nuclei to evaluate the dynamic variable $\Omega$ and study its dependence on the size of colliding nuclei. We connect the observed system-size dependence of multiplicity fluctuations with the clustering phenomena and the finiteness of the hadronizing sources and the thermal bath