Feeding cattle with garlic reduces methane emission.

. Cattle produce a lot of methane which is a green house gas,thus contributing to global warming. The feeding pattern of the cattle results in series of burps/flatus generating a lot of methane,which in turn causes climatic changes. A school of thought suggests cutting down on beef production or totally stop the production,but the benefits of the cattle cannot be ignored and since there are no acceptable substitutes other options must be proposed.. The vegan group advocates more converts,but many people are unwillingly to rock the boat. The livestock industry accounts for over 15% of the total greenhouse emissions,even higher than that of the transport sector,thus adjustments must be made in livestock sector. These approaches will involve improved genetic selection through breeding, modification of dietary composition, rumen microbial manipulation and vaccines against the methanogenic bacteria that generate the methane in these animals and various other techniques. It is possible that among the approaches or with a combination of approaches there might be a way to reduce the global burden of methane emissions from livestock. The changes in nutrition and feed play a vital role on methane production by ruminants thus manipulating the diet of these animals to reduce absolute methane emissions is the key to reduce these emissions.There has been various modifications to feed/feeding pattern by various feed companies all with varying degrees of success such as DSM, a Dutch science firm, developed a powder that can be added to feed and inhibits the production of methane in the cow’s rumen. According to findings published in the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from DSM and Penn State University studied the effect of the supplement on 48 dairy cows over the course of 12 weeks and found promising results. They observed that cows whose feed contained the powder produced 30 percent less methane and gained weight compared to cows who ate typical diets and milk production was not changed. Feed intervention has also been done by German researchers who created a methane-reducing pill, and scientists in Wales found that cows who consumed garlic produced 50 percent less gas although the impact of garlic-based diet on the taste of milk or meat is largely unknown . Feed supplements,additives ,changes in diet and management of herd could hold answer to this climatic change without compromising the protein source and major source of milk and milk products in man.

GOAL SETTING.

Think yourself clear,set a course. Learn from the pro!!!

Man faces rabies risk after monkey bites in Bali .

A man who is getting rabies shots after a monkey bit him on the head in Bali has warned travellers against going near the creatures.Anthony Wallace, of East Gosford, was on a seven-day holiday with girlfriend Libby McManus when he was bitten at Ubud Monkey Forest. After the bite happened, Mr Wallace went to a first-aid centre at the monkey forest.

A Balinese doctor cleaned the wounds with salty water and antiseptic and administered a tetanus shot. He said the monkeys get tested for rabies once a year by an Australian doctor and the monkeys don't have rabies, but it was up to me if I wanted a rabies shot," Mr Wallace said. Mr Wallace, 46, sought advice from a Central Coast doctor when he returned home. 

"The doctor told him "if you get rabies you will die". Medical records showed rabies was almost always fatal after neurological symptoms had appeared.However, vaccination could prevent the disease even after exposure.Mr Wallace decided to undergo treatment, which included an immunoglobulin injection into the bite wounds."I had four injections into my scalp," he said."The right side of my head was puffed up like a balloon." 

 Additionally, Mr Wallace must have four shots of rabies vaccine over two weeks. Mr Wallace said the experience was "not something you'd like to see others go through".He and his girlfriend took precautions when visiting the monkeys, but had not realized the extent of the dangers they posed. They didn't take a backpack, sunglasses or hats to ensure the monkeys had nothing to grab."They had signs saying 'don't stare at or tease the monkeys'," Mr Wallace said. A lady was selling bunches of bananas to feed the monkeys, which they agreed to do.

"One of the big monkeys jumped on my shoulder – I thought that was pretty cool," he said."I gave the monkey the banana and it started to eat it." He didn't touch or provoke the monkey."Something dropped on my pants, I looked down and the monkey kind of freaked out." It dropped the banana, wrapped its arm around his eyes and took "a couple of big bites of my head", jumped off and ran away. 

Australia's smartraveller website strongly advised people to "avoid direct contact" with monkeys, dogs and other mammals in Indonesia because of rabies risk. BA World Health Organisation fact sheet said rabies infection "causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mostly in Asia and Africa". 

 Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories. Dogs were the source of most human deaths from rabies. The disease was present "on all continents", except Antarctica. More than 15 million people a year receive a post-bite vaccination. Culled from Newcastle Herald.

RABIES IN CATTLE.

This is usually diagnosed in dogs and sometimes cats in this part of the world, with particular reference to dogs running wild and biting people.The virus can affect other animals such as horses,foxes,skunks,bats and cattle,but the usual suspect is the dog. A bite from an infected wild animal, such as a fox or raccoon, is a common method of infection in cattle. In Europe, rabies in dogs is a growing concern,in Africa the threats come from Jackals and in Northern Europe, Wolves are a prime vector of the virus. The skunk is the most likely carrier that spreads the disease to domestic animals such as dogs, cats, horses and cattle and those species then will show the clinical signs of rabies. The rabies virus is spread through the saliva of a positive animal, and when bitten by a positive animal is the primary way the virus is spread. However, other methods of spreading the disease are saliva from a positive animal getting into an open wound, or saliva from a positive animal getting into a mucus membrane – the eyes, gums or lips – of another animal or human.The time between infection and the onset of clinical signs varies. It can range from as early as a few weeks to as late as a few months after infection. Infected animals will start to carry the virus in their saliva before they start to show clinical signs, and this is why the rabies virus is different than most other viruses, because it does not enter the bloodstream but rather, the rabies virus travels through the nerves from the point of infection. If an animal is bitten on its back leg, the rabies virus will travel through the nerves of the back leg to the spinal cord, and then from the spinal cord, it will go to the brain and When this happens the clinical signs become obvious. An animal that is bitten on the nose, as it is believed most cattle are, will start showing clinical signs earlier than an animal bitten on the back leg. This is because the virus has less distance to travel to the brain and this accounts for the time variation between being infected and showing clinical signs.Once an animal shows clinical signs, typically within four to five days that animal will get progressively worse and die. There are effective rabies vaccinations available for humans, dogs, cats, horses and cattle. Veterinarians recommends that producers who show cattle consider vaccinating those cattle for rabies. If those show animals contract rabies, there is more of a chance of exposure to humans.While it isn’t always practical to vaccinate the whole cow herd, vaccination in prevalent areas are encouraged.

PORCINE EPIDEMIC DIARRHOEA VIRUS AND FEED INGREDIENTS.

The porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus has been observed to survive in feed ingredients,this was demonstrated by some researchers who demonstrated this using a model as a point of study. The scientists used a model simulating shipment from China to the United States, as reported in BMC Veterinary Research. This is proof of concept suggesting that contaminated feed ingredients could serve as transboundary risk factors for PEDv, along with the identification of effective mitigation options. The scientists stated that this study describes a model developed to evaluate the transboundary risk of PEDv-contaminated swine feed ingredients and the effect of two mitigation strategies during a simulated transport event from China to the US. They stated that Ingredients imported to the USA from China, including organic & conventional soybeans and meal, lysine hydrochloride, D-L methionine, tryptophan, Vitamins A, D & E, choline, carriers (rice hulls, corn cobs) and feed grade tetracycline, were inoculated with PEDv. The control ingredients, and treatments (ingredients plus a liquid antimicrobial (SalCurb, Kemin Industries) or a 2% custom medium chain fatty acid blend) were tested. The model ran for 37 days, simulating transport of cargo from Beijing, China to Des Moines, IA, US from 23 December 2012 to 28 January 2013. To mimic conditions on land and sea, historical temperature and percent relative humidity (% RH) data were programmed into an environmental chamber which stored all containers. To evaluate PEDv viability over time, ingredients were organised into 1 of 4 batches of samples, each batch representing a specific segment of transport. Across control (non-treated) ingredients, viable PEDv was detected in soybean meal (organic and conventional), Vitamin D, lysine hydrochloride and choline chloride. In contrast, viable PEDv was not detected in any samples treated with the liquid antimicrobial or the medium chain fatty acid blend. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pointed out that PEDv might have entered the United States in May 2013 by ways of tote bags. The new research shows a different way of transmission, but it's not proven which road the infection took in 2013. What it does show is that there appears to be a risk related to some long-distance feed trade. Ex

PORCINE EPIDEMIC DIARRHOEA.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) is devastating in herds especially in Asia and North America although the recent outbreaks of PEDv-like strains in Europe appear less destructive. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) is an economically important enteric disease in pigs caused by a Corona virus. Corona viruses can be divided into the genera Alpha corona virus, Beta corona virus, Gammacoronavirus and Deltacoronavirus. The Alpha corona viruses including Transmissible Gastroenteritis virus (TGEv), Porcine Respiratory Coronavirus (PRCv) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) are the most important in swine. While TGEv and PRCv belong to the Alpha corona virus 1 species, PEDv belongs to a separate species within the same genus. The Beta corona viruses induce severe diseases in humans like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-Cov) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-Cov), the Beta corona virus affecting pigs called Hemagglutinating Encephalomyelitis virus (HEv) is of minor importance for the swine industry. The Delta corona virus infections (porcine Delta corona virus, PDCov) were reported in pigs in Asia and North America which caused enteric diseases similar to PEDv but of lower clinical impact and disease severity. PED first appeared as acute diarrhoea in finishing pigs in the early 1970s in the UK and subsequently spread fast across Europe causing acute outbreaks of diarrhoea in pigs of all age groups. The routes of PEDv transmission between different areas, countries and even continents remain poorly understood. The origin of recently identified PEDv strains in Europe showing high nucleotide similarity to US S-INDEL PEDv strains remains unclear. It is not known if those strains have been circulating in the European pig population for a long time or if they were recently introduced into Europe. The various methods to applied so far to control PED virus on farms, include the following 1) Increasing sow immunity can be achieved by giving feedback. This usually involves feeding intestines or diarrheic faces from acutely infected piglets to sows to convey immunity. Different protocols are followed; no additives should be added. 2) Weaning down is also a much applied strategy – this means weaning at about ten days of age. 3)Improving biosecurity. 4)Applying strict disinfection, e.g. using Synergize, Virkon S. 5)Vaccinating. There are two inactivated vaccines available. The best success is usually achieved in pre-infected herds.

DIET-INDUCED OBESITY AND DIABETES CAN BE INHERITED.

Yes!! a new research has shown that you are what your parents ate.Scientists have shown that diet-induced obesity and diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by the offspring through both the eggs and the sperm. The studies by the team of the Institute of Experimental Genetics (IEG) used mice that had become obese and had developed type 2 diabetes due to a high-fat diet. Their offspring were obtained solely through in vitro fertilization (IVF) from isolated oocytes and sperm, so that changes in the offspring could only be passed on through these cells. The offspring were carried and born by healthy surrogate mothers. This enabled the researchers to rule out additional factors such as the behavior of the parents and influences of the mother during pregnancy and lactation. The results showed that both eggs and sperm passed on epigenetic information, which particularly in the female offspring led to severe obesity. In the male offspring, by contrast, the blood glucose level was more affected than in the female siblings. The data also show that,like in humans the maternal contribution to the change in metabolism in the offspring is greater than the paternal contribution. This kind of epigenetic inheritance of a metabolic disorder due to an unhealthy diet could be another major cause for the dramatic global increase in the prevalence of diabetes .The increase in diabetic patients observed throughout the world can hardly be explained by mutations in the genes themselves (DNA) because the increase has been rapid. Epigenetic inheritance as opposed to genetic inheritance is in principle reversible, new possibilities to influence the development of obesity and diabetes arise from these observations, according to the scientists. Charles Darwin stated that characteristics and traits that parents acquire during their lifetime through interaction with the environment could be passed on to their offspring referred to as epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to the inheritance of traits that are not determined in the primary sequence of the DNA (the genes) and RNA transcripts and chemical modifications of the chromatin (e.g. on the DNA or the histones) have been considered as carriers of this epigenetic information. This study shows is important because it proves for the first time that an acquired metabolic disorder can be passed on epigenetically to the offspring through eggs and sperm as Darwin stated.