A visual database of human plasma compounds.

A visual database of human plasma compounds.Researchers have created a database of metabolites from blood samples collected from over 5,000 Japanese volunteers, making it freely available online as a valuable resource for researchers around the world. Metabolites and proteins control many of the processes inside our bodies, and also inform the interaction between our cells and their surroundings. Understanding these compounds and how they relate to each other more, could help researchers to evaluate the health state of people and develop new personalised treatments for various diseases.

New model could help improve prediction of outbreaks of Ebola and Lassa fever.

New model could help improve prediction of outbreaks of Ebola and Lassa fever.Potential outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola and Lassa fever may be more accurately predicted thanks to a new mathematical model developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge. This could in turn help inform public health messages to prevent outbreaks spreading more widely. Many of the major new outbreaks of disease, particularly in Africa, are so-called zoonotic infections, diseases that are transmitted to humans from animals. The Ebola virus, for example, which recently killed over 11,000 people across Africa, was most likely transmitted to humans from fruit bats. The beauty of the model, say the researchers, is that it is simple to implement, so public health officials and non-mathematicians could easily use it. It also allows for the incorporation of data from different disciplines, factoring in socioeconomic, ecological and environmental factors, for example

It's Called Vertical Farming, And It Could Be The Future Of Agriculture.

It's Called Vertical Farming, And It Could Be The Future Of Agriculture. The concept sounds like science fiction: instead of spreading out across acres and acres, the farms of the future will grow lettuce and strawberries inside climate-controlled, light-controlled cylinders. 

Less land, less water, but year-round light and perfectly controlled moisture. The plants (fruit, vegetables) grow in 20-foot tall towers inside a climate-controlled facility with LED lights without using pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, or GMOs. 

Instead, thousands of infrared cameras and sensors collect data that is analyzed to optimize how the plants grow. It's Called Vertical Farming, And It Could Be The Future Of Agriculture.

How to use data to ensure food security.

                    How to use data to ensure food security. 

    The use of data in agriculture cannot be overemphasized as its been proven that data could help promote food security.

 New data-driven solutions in agriculture and nutrition are increasingly being seen as a way to tackle the estimated population explosion. It is estimated that the population of the world is expected to double and the increase will definitely result in more food production.

 The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritional relevant data available, accessible, and usable worldwide.

This initiative is a welcome development on the global scale but this model can be used at a local level to class farmers,collate data and map out strategies to boost food security.

     This initiative of using a data revolution to drive innovation in agriculture and ultimately achieve food security will mean improved livelihoods for farmers, especially those in the developing world, and the ability for more people to feed themselves.

 This is where telecommunication comes into play, the higher the number of farmers that are connected on a network/platform ,the more data is generated and information disseminated easily.

Precision agriculture and unmanned tractors.

Cory Anstey always wanted to be a farmer. It was the joy of riding in the tractor, "the smell of the dirt in the spring" that drew him to the fields. Anstey, 44, is also a bit of a techie. Luckily for him, modern agriculture lets him embrace both of his passions. Anstey started using GPS technology in his machinery about 15 years ago and now even lets his tractor steer itself across his fields. "It's very addictive, once you've had it," he tells me while taking a break at the 21st Century Cooperative, a mechanic shop/gas station/grain elevator in Cumberland, Iowa. Known simply as "the Co-op," the dusty office with grimy floors is the most popular hangout in this town of 250 people. It's here where farmers, many clad in overalls and boots, gather to drink pop (soda, for those not in the Midwest), snack on popcorn and gossip -- which includes chatter about the latest machines. As farmers work more acres with the same -- or even less -- manpower and bigger, more unwieldy machines, they're increasingly turning to technology for help. But it's not the usual tech suspects like Google or Apple inventing a better pitchfork; instead, traditional agriculture machinery manufacturers like John Deere and New Holland keep stepping up their innovation. Self-driving tractors are commonplace (the farmer still sits behind the wheel). Sensors can detect everything from what the machine's doing to what the crop conditions are. Farmers can monitor the progress of planting and harvesting from their iPads, and tractors serve as their own mobile hotspots. It's a skewed reflection of our own increasingly connected world, except farmers have used many of those technologies, like auto-steering and GPS mapping, since the '90s. It used to take years for farmers to figure out the condition of their land. Today, a farmer doesn't need much institutional knowledge about the field he's working -- his tractor knows all, thanks to GPS mapping. Location tech manages three quarters of the acres farmed in Iowa, Darr said. Mapping technology talks to sensors in the machines, letting farmers track what's going on at each location, like yield and moisture level. You can see the info on a display built into the tractor, like a big GPS display. The data gets saved in the cloud and can be accessed on computers and tablets. Many farmers even mount iPads in their tractors as second monitors. The saying about real estate is location, location, location," said Ron Zink, John Deere's director of onboard applications. "It's the same with precision ag. You need to know exactly where you are." Planters have auto-shutoff technology that uses GPS to make sure a farmer doesn't accidentally plant an area twice, saving seeds, fuel and time. They can be nearly perfect in spacing seeds apart from each other, compared with only about 60 percent accuracy with planters from 10 years ago, according to Darr. Farmers can follow their yield in real time as they harvest their fields or go back to the data later. And the machines themselves collect information like the temperature of the engine, the amount of fuel used and the location of that machine, letting farmers repair and maintain equipment. contribution by cnet.com

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE POULTRY INDUSTRY IN LAGOS.

 

 The poultry industry is well grounded in Nigeria with an estimated worth of over 100 billion Naira. There are a large number of commercial players and also small holder farmers in the sector most of which are located in the south-western part of the country,with close proximity to Lagos state. 

 There is a large market for poultry products in the country as evidenced by the 1.2 million tonnes of products smuggled into the country annually,the recent ban on imported poultry products has opened up more markets for home-grown products.

 A series of “megatrends” will permanently reshape agribusiness as the world’s producers and industry stakeholders re-calibrate to tackle the challenges of feeding 9 billion people in 2050, reports Christopher Nolan Sr., managing director at global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.C. (PwC). The PwC’s top five global megatrends include:

1) Demographic shifts. 

2) Shift in global economic power. 

3) Accelerating urbanization 

4). Resource scarcity 

5)Evolving technology. 

 Lagos with a population of about 21 million people with majority in middle and upper class who show preference for poultry products,the state fits perfectly into the mega-trend that will shape agribusiness. 

We have the population,(numbers) more people are moving to Lagos, we practice urban-agric and also incorporate greenhouse and biocrop technology. 

 The state itself has commercial farmers and small holder farmers in the poultry sector churning out large numbers of chicken and eggs .

The state with a vision to be Africa's mega city and global economic financial hub has dedicated zones and areas where poultry farms are domiciled. The state has invested heavily in the poultry sector with poultry estates in Ikorodu,Ojo ,farm settlements in Badagry and a training school in Epe. 

 The state with a policy thrust to eradicate poverty through infrastructural renewal and development recently embarked on an empowerment programme where cages,poultry equipment,eggs and suitable land was allocated to poultry farmers to upscale their level of production .

 The federal government with the Agricultural transformation agenda to increase crop production and also to create value added food processing industries as a means to reduce food imports and create jobs, has given the state a platform to call for private sector participation in the poultry value chain alongside other 22 agricultural chains. 

 Investments into the poultry industry in the country recently got a boost with a Multi-Net group leading with plans to establish a farm and also the African development bank injecting 34.5 billion naira to boost the agricultural sector. 

 A partnership between the government and a Portuguese company to establish a feed mill in the country is on going.( pls check earlier posts for details of these investments.)

 Investors in the poultry value chain can look into these areas; 

1) Processing plant: many of the smuggled products are processed ,indicating the preference for more processed poultry.

 A processing plant can process poultry as chicken sausages, canned chicken, processed frozen, stewed or fried.

 The introduction of new processed products will not only be very profitable but more jobs will be available as more chicken will be in demand. 

 2) Egg powder plant; investors can look into this area, egg powder is very important in so many industries and establishment of such will also increase egg sales. The state is embarking on a school feeding programme, where eggs will be part of the menu. 

This programme itself demands more eggs to be produced ,and also the eggplant will compliment this effort to ensure that eggs are always available,by extending the shelf-life. 

There are seasons where there is egg glut,the egg powder plant will solve this problem and add more economic value to it.

 3) Production is another point of investment: we are calling for investors to revamp the industry in terms of more production. This will be traced to the onset of production. 

There are partnerships with various hatcheries with various breeds in the country,however new and well established breeds can be introduced into the country, to add to what is on ground and also create a platform for breeding. Breeding centers can be established to fashion- out how to get our own highly productive and hardy breed.

 4) Waste management: investors can look into the bio-gas plant to generate electricity and gas or to process as fertilizers which can benefit farmers. 

5) Production of fashion accessories: feathers can also be processed and sold as fashion accessories.The blood and fat can also be processed and incorporated into animal feed. 

6)Transportation : investors can look into cooling vans,trucks and buses. This is to ensure that the products get to the market in good condition.The transportation of live birds to markets is another area of investment.

Heriot-Watt University Researchers Win $3.3 Million Grant to 3D Print Smart Rocks to Capture Data on Underground Oil and CO2.

In order to secure our water, food and energy supplies while being able to maintain the safe extraction of oil and gas from underground oilfields, we need to have a better understanding of the layer of porous rocks in the subsurface. Specifically, the way that liquids and gases manage to travel through them, and how captured carbon dioxide (CO2) could be stored underground. Unfortunately the conditions of this subsurface material vary widely depending on the type of rock, the temperatures and the pressures that occur deep under the ground. Beyond the complexity of replicating specific environmental conditions, direct dynamic observations at the pore level are virtually impossible in a lab setting. According to Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, holder of the Robert M Buchan Chair in Sustainable Energy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University , the problem is that the rocks are unable to tell us what’s happening to them. However Maroto-Valer and her team of researchers think that they have come up with a way to communicate with these subsurface rocks, the team wants to make their own rocks that are capable of communicating with us. Their research was promising enough that the team received a prestigious European Research Council Advanced Award so they can continue to pursue their research into developing 3D printed “smart rocks” capable of giving the team an inside look of what’s happening deep underground. Maroto-Valer and her team will use a 3D printing process to produce their own porous rocks that will include multiple micro sensors embedded inside of them. The sensors will be able to transmit data directly to the research team, including detailed information about what actually happens to liquids and gases deep underground. The 3D printed smart rocks will be capable of providing information on the subsurface conditions and environment at a microscopic level, which is simply not possible to reproduce using traditional laboratory methods. This fundamental knowledge at such a tiny scale will feed hugely into our understanding of such processes at the large scale and enable us to maximize the success of industries from oil extraction to water safety and the storage of captured CO2. The grant that Maroto-Valer and her team won was awarded by the “Excellent Science” pillar of Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research and innovation program focusing on enabling senior researchers to pursue their most promising ideas. read more at 3dprint.com

DATA, A..I, DOCTORS AND HEALTHCARE.

One of the biggest problems facing doctors isn't patients' injuries or illnesses – it's the sheer quantity data.  Most will spend more time going over medical records than actually dealing with their patients.

It's a problem that "AI doctors" could help address, with supercomputers processing information far faster and more efficiently. IBM's Kyu Rhee tells the crowd at WIRED Health, Rhee sees a "cognitive system" such as IBM's Watson supercomputer having a similar role to play in human healthcare.

This systems will become as ubiquitous as the humble stethoscope. Rhee, who was a physician earlier in his career, recalls struggling with the sheer volume of data involved in treating patients.

Worse, the data was presented, at the time, on reams of paper and charts. Throw in new materials and understanding generated by medical journals and it soon becomes a mountain of information that can hinder, rather than help.

MAPPING GENOMES ,DATA AND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

The human body is basically made up of million of cells that are packed with vital information about a person,their health status,disease tendencies and preferences. Genes have been the basis of existence of living creatures,providing information as regards the entity,much of the potential hidden in each entity were never fully utilized,because the level of information available at that time and what many believe was possible. Today,the story is very different with genome mapping,creating a new approach to disease diagnosis,treatment options and prevention of genetic diseases. This mapping of genomes provides us a wide range of data for health protocols, strategic planning and advanced understanding of what makes a man,who he is,what he feels and loves to do and eat. Beijing Genomics CEO Ye Yin, explains that a huge amount of information is locked in each of us and decoding it all could unlock big secrets. He spoke at Wired health , that there are around 100 trillion cells in the human body, each one containing three billion base pairs of DNA. If stretched in a line, they would cover the distance from Earth to the Moon more than 8,000 times. Despite the information density of the human genome, the actual genetic diversity between species isn't that wide. Yin pointed out that we share 63 per cent of our genes with fish and up to 96 per cent with chimpanzees. Even between two humans, the individual genetic variance is only around 0.5 per cent, yet it can result in pronounced differences. Yin said You can grow tall or short and there are maybe only a few base pairs difference in certain genes but genes determine many variable obvious phenotypes. For example, double or single eyelids, whether you can bend your thumbs back or not, if you can roll your tongue, even how much alcohol you can drink. Yin said if genes can be accurately mapped, then this will be a "big data revolution for healthcare". There is already, non-invasive prenatal tests that tests in-utero babies' DNA for Down's Syndrome, and Yin sees "gene tech" becoming like vaccines – a public health shield. Yin's company ,BGI Genomics is one of the world's leading genomics companies. They have recorded outstanding successes ,among which are decoding the Sars virus and creating the first detection kit; sequencing the first ancient human's genome; and serving as a key sequencing centre in the 1000 Genomes Project. Widespread genetic sequencing also has the potential to reflect population-wide health trends. Ying showed heatmaps generated from sequencing data depicting rates of likelihood of disease-causing mutations across China, contrasted against Europe. If this practice became common, the information could even reveal health differences between towns, potentially highlighting local-scale problems. The wealth of information in our cells is just a tip of the iceberg , Yin points to another genomic factor that can impact our health which is the bacteria in our guts. "There are always two to three kilograms of gut microbials in every person," he said . "It's another genome in our body and its even called a second breed. If you feel hungry, maybe it's your bacteria that feels hungry, not you. They're saying 'you must give us some cultures we want'." Even though it's all coming from the same gene background ,the human body the different microgenomics can have huge effects. Experiments on mice have shown that swapping bacteria can affect weight gain and retention. The results are a brand new way of rethinking various nutritional elements, and how to correct them . The phenomenal amount of data in our bodies can, and eventually will be mapped, right down to the individual and microgenomic levels,but human behavior and choices will remain a major influence on our health. materials from wired

Police use dog's microchip to return wandering toddler home safely.

A 2-year-old girl who wandered away from her Wentzville, Missouri home was returned back to her family with the help of their dog. The little girl woke up from her nap without her parents knowing and walked outside. She ended up blocks from her home. But luckily, the family cockapoo was by her side. At the bus stop on the Tuesday afternoon, Sarah Woodard and her daughter encountered an unusual sight in their neighborhood. “We saw a police officer holding a little girl and a utility worker holding a dog,” said Woodard. The little girl and her dog were found wandering down the busy stretch of Duello Road. That’s when Woodard and neighbors started knocking on doors. “She [little girl] just kept saying, ‘Mom.’ She wanted mommy, that was it,” said Woodard. “We’re all trying to wrack our brains on how to get this little girl home.” All efforts by neighbors proved futile,until an officer looked to the dog and got an idea. With the help of animal control, they scanned the dog’s microchip, which led them to the child’s house in the Bluffs of Heather Glen. Chief Kurt Frisz of the Wentzville Police said, “It was thinking out of the box for the officers.” Frisz said his officers were able to get the toddler home safely. Frisz said the little girl had been gone for about 30 minutes. He also said her parents were unaware the child was not still tucked away in her bed. “The house was child proof. There was one sliding door that was not and I’ll tell you it doesn't take much for a child to slip away quickly,” said Frisz. “It’s an unfortunate incident that turned out okay". read more;http://www.kmov.com/story

ANTIBIOTIC REDUCTION IN GERMAN PIG INDUSTRY.

The German animal husbandry sector has reduced the use of antibiotics in production by using strategic methods to minimize the use. The level of reduction was identified by cooating of data from veterinarians who recorded when antibiotics were administered and the length of time the treatment lapsed. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) reported the decline in the use of antibiotics. This office is reporting the total usage in animal husbandry, in combination with the frequency of treatments,every 6 months and new frequency figures become available. The new figures became available for the last 6 months of 2015 and highlighted the following ; 2 benchmark figures emerged; first of all, a treatment frequency goal, which is being met by 75% of all pig farms. Piglets up to 30 kg were treated on average 13.57 times – a reduction of over 7 treatments in comparison to the first 6 months of 2015. In finisher production, the frequency dropped from 6.5 to 4.6 times. The broiler and turkey production sector showed similar trends; Broilers were given antibiotics on average over 22 times, compared to 27 times in the first 6 months of 2015. In turkeys, the frequency dropped from over 40 to over 32. The other benchmark figure is a frequency goal which is met by 50% of all farms. Here also the development is positive over all animal species. The German Farmers' Association (DBV) said the frequency figure is being calculated on the basis of vets, who need to report every 6 months how many animals they been treated with antibiotics. In addition, they are required to report how long these treatments took and also the types of antibiotics need to be recorded, but these are not expressed in the final figures. For all data, a central reporting office has been set up. The BVL multiplies the number of treated animals with the number of treatment days and divides the result by the average amount of animals on these farms in these 6 months. Individual farms that exceed the benchmark of 50%, are requested to contact their veterinarians to discuss how to lower their usage. Despite question marks about the accuracy of these figures, it looks like the sector has eventually managed to reduce antibiotic consumption. It remains to be seen how much lower this can get. materials from pig progress.

HOW TO GENERATE DATA FOR FOOD SECURITY USING APPS, PHOTOS AND FOOD PRICES.

A San Francisco-based startup has sent out data collectors armed with just an Android phone, to harvest real-time economic data as and where it happens. From the price of onions in Indian cities to delayed infrastructure projects in rural China,


Premise data is, for the first time, giving governments, investors and NGOs an accurate glimpse of what is happening on the ground.

 In the Butantã branch of Extra, the Brazilian supermarket chain, in the western suburbs of São Paulo, Sandra Morais, 37, is taking photos of bags of rice.

She's not some retail Instagrammer or an obsessive foodie, but one of 25,000 data collectors that a San Francisco-based startup called premise.

 The aim is to ascertain which products are available , at what price and quantities available and location available to facilitate proper planning .

 Premise was founded in 2012 by an American former investment analyst, David Soloff, now 46, who realized that a large amount of developing-world economic data, on which big institutions were basing their risk and funding decisions, was significantly out of date by the time it reached their desks.

MOTION SENSORS DETECTS LAMENESS IN HORSES.

A research carried out in the university of Missouri-Columbia has come up with a motion sensor called a lameness locator that effectively detects lameness faster than the subjective eye-test. The study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, Keegan and co-author Meghan McCracken, an equine surgery resident at MU, put special adjustable shoes on horses that temporarily induced symptoms of lameness. The horses were then monitored by the Lameness Locator as well as by a number of veterinarians using any lameness testing methods they wished. If no lameness was detected by either the veterinarians or the Lameness Locator, the special shoes were adjusted slightly to increase the symptoms of lameness. This process was repeated until both the Lameness Locator and the participating veterinarians properly identified in which leg of the horse the lameness was occurring. Keegan and McCracken found that the Lameness Locator was able to correctly identify lameness earlier than veterinarians using subjective eye test methods more than 58 percent of the time and more than 67 percent of the time when the lameness occurred in the hind legs of the horse. Keegan attributes this to the sensors' high sensitivity levels. There are two reasons why the Lameness Locator is better than the naked eye, It samples motion at a higher frequency beyond the capability of the human eye and it removes the bias that frequently accompanies human subjective evaluation. The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness , equine lameness may begin subtly and can range from a simple mild problem affecting a single limb to a more complicated one affecting multiple limbs, veterinarians and horse owners know that early detection is the key to successful outcomes.If veterinarians can detect lameness earlier, before it gets too bad, it makes treatment much easier. Lameness often goes undetected or undiagnosed entirely, which can cause owners to retire horses earlier than needed, simply because they cannot figure out why the horses are unhealthy. The Lameness Locator, which is now in commercial use, places small sensors on the horse's head, right front limb and croup, near the tail. The sensors monitor and record the horse's torso movement while the horse is trotting. The recorded information is then transferred to a computer or mobile device and compared against databases recorded from the movement of healthy horses and other lame horses. The computer is then able to diagnose whether or not the horse is lame. diagnostic kits # sensor # equine health # computer

Precision agriculture the future of food security.

Farmers that don’t learn about New agriculture technologies will get left behind because without smart farming ,the expected output will be low or nonexistent.


Whether it is information and technology or equipment technology, there are technologies that will help our agricultural industry deliver a sustainable, affordable, and nutritious supply of food to global consumers.

 This is where precision agriculture comes to play ;where the use of data and technology driven alternatives ensure maximum output.

 Precision agriculture enables a farmer to do more within a short space of time and sure of desired harvest.

Precision agriculture is a new approach to agriculture: machines,data analysis and robots are used to get the results required.

 A farmer based on precision agriculture can determine when to plant,where and how.Soil analysis, moisture analysis and weather forecast can help prevent loses.if planting is done in unfavorable sites. 

Precision agriculture in animal husbandry helps farmers to manage the flock properly,there are various approaches but all with the same aim to alert farmers of any health issues or environmental issues and ensure rapid response and the desired result of more products at expected times.

AGRO-VETERINARY : Animal identification and treatment strategies with microchips .

 Animal identification and treatment strategies with microchips The animal world is undergoing a positive turn around,it called microchip in pets. What? Micro chip in pets, is about identification and registration such that animals can easily be traced and monitored.

 The microchip allows the information of the animals to be stored in a database for proper record purposes. The microchip implant is fixed on the left arm region of pets, it is placed just below the skin,while in livestock,the implant is in form of tags ,this is usually placed on the ears. These implants can then be identified using scanners. 

 The microchip implants play an important role in animal. The uses of the implants are enormous and they include 1) identification of pedigree . 

            2) tracking of animals into and out of a country.

            3)finding lost pets. 

            4) easy verification of pedigree of animals and ownership.

            5 )to prevent dog theft. 

            6) planning health protocol for animals. 

 The identification of livestock and pets is of paramount importance if any health preventive strategies are to be formulated and enforced. The identification process will provide adequate data which will depict, the specie, the number,sex and location, this simple data will make disease monitoring easy and also facilitate rapid response in case of disease outbreak. 

 Disease surveillance and disease preventive/treatment protocol will be easy and budgetary allocation will be accurate. Budgetary allocation is key in planning of preventive protocols,so if data is not available, no meaningful strategy can be implemented.

DATAMATICS IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE.

DATAMATICS IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE.

  Data simply refers to processed information that is useful and accessible at any given time.

Information that are analyzed to produce data could come in various forms such as  names, dates of birth, age, weight,location, blood group,occupation e.t.c.

Information can be generated from profiles,phone records,history and hobbies.These can then be sorted, analyzed,categorized and the resultant data used to proffer solutions in desperate cases,like war-torn areas, places affected by diseases.

 The data generated from information on phone usage in communities in Africa has help the world food program to fashion out how to get supplies to hungry communities.

This is done by accessing how much is spent on calls,how often they recharge and the number within a particular radius that has access to phones.This has been a major method to support hungry families.