Nutritive Value and Digestion Kinetics of Manure Ensiled Wheat Straw Treated with Varying Levels of Urea and Corn Grains

The aim of this was to study the nutritive value of urea and corn grain treated wheat straw ensiled with cattle manure. The different levels of urea (0, 2 and 4%) and corn grain (2 and 4%) were used to treat wheatstraw. The urea-corn grain treated wheat straw was mixed with cattle manure in the ratio of 70:30. The silages were fermented in laboratory silos for 20, 30 and 40 days. After the completion of ensilation period, the samples of ensiled wheat straw were analyzed for pH, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), true protein (TP), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF). The result showed that pH, NDF and ADF were decreased at 40 days ensilation period, 4% corn grains (CG) and urea levels each. Dry matter, CP, TP and NH3-N were increased at 40 days of ensilation period, 4% CG and urea level each. On the findings of this result, wheat straw was ensiled with manure for 40 days and 4% level of CG and urea each. Then in situ digestion kinetics of untreated and ensiled wheat straw was determined by using fistulated buffalo bulls. The results of the present study showed that dry matter digestibility (DMD) of manure ensiled wheat straw (EWS) were higher than untreated wheat straw (UWS) that was 15.43 and 13.71 respectively. Similarly, neutral detergent fiber digestibility of EWS was higher than UWSthat was 57.60 and 41.43 respectively

Risk Factors of Diarrhoea in Malnourished Children Under Age of 5 Years

Background: Acute infectious enteritis remains one of the commonest causes of death among infants and children in developing countries. Acute enteritis is defined as a loss of stool consistency with pasty or liquid stools, and/or an increase in stool frequency to more than three stools in 24 hours with or without fever or vomiting. Human survival depends on the secretion and reabsorption of fluid and electrolytes in the intestinal tract. The objective of the study is to evaluate the risk factors of diarrhoea in children under age of 5 years. Methodology: It was an observational study. Study was completed in about six months. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. In this study, 270 samples were taken from Diarrheal ward of The Children Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Results: In this study, out of 270 patients, 58.52% were males and 41.48% were females. 90.37% patients were vaccinated. 54.81% had weaning history. 91.85% patients had feeding history. 29.26% had blood in stool. 96.67% patients were dehydrated. 95.56% patients had loose watery diarrhoea. 62.96% patients used boiled water. 58.52% patients consumed less than half litre of water, 30.00% patients consumed 1 litre of water and 11.48% patients consumed > 1 litre of water. 49.18% patients had proper hygiene. 38.15% mothers of patients were well educated. 40.37% patients had model household condition. 57.41% patients lived in rural area and 42.59% patients lived in urban area. Conclusion: The variation in the level of diarrheal morbidity was well explained by maternal education, income, personal hygiene, refuse disposal system and the effect of health extension programme

Association between Hepatitis B-Related Knowledge and Health-Related Quality of Life

Purpose: To evaluate the association between patient’s knowledge of Hepatitis-B and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL).Methods: A cross sectional, descriptive study was undertaken with 390 hepatitis-B patients attending two public hospitals in Quetta City, Pakistan. Knowledge of hepatitis-B was assessed using a prevalidated questionnaire. European Quality of Life scale was used for the assessment of HRQoL. Descriptive analysis was used to elaborate patients’ demographic characteristics while inferential statistics were applied to report the association among study variables. Spearman’s rho correlation was used to identify the association between variables.Results: Out of 390, (230, 59.5 %) were males and the mean age of the subjects was 36.2 ± 9.2 years. One hundred and three (26 %) had primary level of education and 109 (27.9 %) were employees in the private sector. Eighty four (21 %) had a monthly income of between 10001-15000 Pakistan rupees (1 PKR = 0.0115527 USD) with 272 (69.7 %) respondents resident in urban areas. Mean HRQoL and Hepatitis-B related knowledge (HBRK) scores were categorized as poor (0.37± 0.3) and (8.52 ± 2.7) respectively. The correlation coefficient between HRQoL and HBRK was -0.102 (p < 0.001), indicating a week negative association between the study variables.Conclusion: The findings indicate a negative association between Hepatitis-B related knowledge and HRQoL. Therefore, providing disease-related knowledge to patients does not necessarily improve HRQoL. More attention should be given to identify individual factors that affect HRQoL among patients with Hepatitis-B.Keywords: Health related quality of life, HRQoL, Hepatitis-B, Disease-related knowledge, Associatio

Association of CAG repeat loci on chromosome 22 with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Chromosome 22 has been implicated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in a number of linkage, association and cytogenetic studies. Recent evidence has also implicated CAG repeat tract expansion in these diseases. In order to explore the involvement of CAG repeats on chromosome 22 in these diseases, we have created an integrated map of all CAG repeats 5 on this chromosome together with microsatellite markers associated with these diseases using the recently completed nucleotide sequence of chromosome 22. Of the 52 CAG repeat loci identified in this manner, four of the longest repeat stretches in regions previously implicated by linkage analyses were chosen for further study. Three of the four repeat containing loci, were found in the coding region with the CAG repeats coding for glutamine and were expressed in the brain. All the loci studied showed varying degrees of polymorphism with one of the loci exhibiting two alleles of 7 and 8 CAG repeats. The 8-repeat allele at this locus was significantly overrepresented in both schizophrenia and bipolar patient groups when compared to ethnically matched controls, while alleles at the other three loci did not show any such difference. The repeat lies within a gene which shows homology to an androgen receptor related apoptosis protein in rat. We have also identified other candidate genes in the vicinity of this locus. Our results suggest that the repeats within this gene or other genes in the vicinity of this locus are likely to be implicated in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

STUDYING SOME IMMUNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH THYROID GLAND PROBLEMS

This study was carried out to determine some hormonal and immunological parameters in women who attended Maternity and Children teaching hospital in Ramadi city , from 1st of August 2014 to 1st of April 2015. Ages of patients ranged from 16 - 49 years . The study included 358 blood samples from pregnant and non-pregnant women . sixty five samples were found to be abnormal thyroid function . The remaining 293 samples from healthy pregnant and not pregnan-pregnant women were used as a controls . Women under study were divided into three groups: Pregnant Women with thyroid disorder( Group I ) , Pregnant Women without thyroid disorder (Group II ,control 1) , and non- Pregnant Women without thyroid disorder (Group III , control 2). The study showed that there was no significant differences in T3 ,T4and FTI levels in patient compared with control 1 ( p-value >0.05) while it showed significant difference between patient and control 2 with p-value (0.05. The mean level of TSH of patient was 18.65 μIU/ml . A comparison in Immunological parameters between the three groups with each other showed that there was significant increase in levels of Anti thyroxin peroxidase abs and Anti thyroglobulin abs in cases compared with control 2 with p-value 0.05.The mean levels of patients for Anti TPO abs was 302.10 IU/ml and for Anti TG abs was 143.21 IU/ml

Molecular analysis of autosomal dominant hereditary ataxias in the Indian population: high frequency of SCA2 and evidence for a common founder mutation

Expansion of CTG/CAG trinucleotide repeats has been shown to cause a number of autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias (ADCA) such as SCA1, SCA2, SCA3/MJD, SCA6, SCA7, SCA8 and DRPLA. There is a wide variation in the clinical phenotype and prevalence of these ataxias in different populations. An analysis of ataxias in 42 Indian families indicates that SCA2 is the most frequent amongst all the ADCAs we have studied. In the SCA2 families, together with an intergenerational increase in repeat size, a horizontal increase with the birth order of the offspring was also observed, indicating an important role for parental age in repeat instability. This was strengthened by the detection of a pair of dizygotic twins with expanded alleles showing the same repeat number. Haplotype analysis indicates the presence of a common founder chromosome for the expanded allele in the Indian population. Polymorphism of CAG repeats in 135 normal individuals at the SCA loci studied showed similarity to the Caucasian population but was significantly different from the Japanese population

Three-dimensional digital template atlas of the Macaque brain

We present a new 3D template atlas of the anatomical subdivisions of the macaque brain, which is based on and aligned to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data set and histological sections of the Saleem and Logothetis atlas. We describe the creation and validation of the atlas that, when registered with macaque structural or functional MRI scans, provides a straightforward means to estimate the boundaries between architectonic areas, either in a 3D volume with different planesof sections, or on an inflated brain surface (cortical flat map). As such, this new template atlas is intended for use as a reference standard for macaque brain research. Atlases and templates are available as both volumes and surfaces in standard NIFTI and GIFTI formats