Menstruation and the seclusion of girls.

Menstruation time for girls in some countries are hellish times,aside from the fact that many dont go to school during this time,many do not have protective towels to keep themselves clean .The onset of menstruation in girls marks the beginning of seclusion from family and friends because at that time she is termed unclean. The reaction of society to these girls have sparked heated debates because at that time she is termed unclean she is vulnerable to various environmental factors and should be taken care of and not secluded. Organizations are stepping out to help these girls see The story of a 15-year old that died in a menstrual hut is one death to many and all hands must be on deck to stop this seclusion.A 15-year-old girl died in a menstrual hut in western Nepal sometime between the night of Saturday, Dec. 17, and the morning of Sunday, Dec. 18. According to Nepal's Republica newspaper, Roshani Tiruwa, from Nepal's Achham district, went to the shed after eating dinner around 6 p.m. She lit a fire in the tiny mud hut before going to sleep. Tiruwa's father found her body the next morning. District police suspect the ninth-grader died from a lack of oxygen. This marks the second death related to the practice of menstrual seclusion in Nepal's Achham district in a month. On Nov. 19, the family of 26-year-old Dambara Upadhyay found her body inside a menstrual hut near her house. Officials initially suggested that she died from a heart attack, but a cause of death was not determined. Upadhyay's death caught the attention of the country's prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Local media reported that he called the district's chief officer to express his concern. Since 2007, at least eight other deaths related to menstrual seclusion have been reported in Achham, a district with a population of 250,000. Carbon monoxide poisoning from lighting fires to heat the sheds was a common cause of death. Wild animal attacks was another.more

Delhi Zoo animals given expired drugs.

Delhi Zoo animals given expired drugs.Delhi zoo was not only under-reporting deaths of animals and presenting falsified postmortem reports, but also administering expired medicines to the animals. A Central Zoo Authority (CZA) inquiry established that ketamine, known as a date rape drug and valued highly in the drugs market, was among the medications whose records were neither complete nor credible. Ketamine is used on animals as an anaesthetic and pain reliever.Among the expired medicines that the CZA found still in use at the zoo was replanta. "At the time of the inquiry, medicines that had outlived their shelf life were still being used. The records of medications being maintained were incomplete," said the CZA official. The CZA realised that the zoo was to have been supplied one 50ml vial of ketamine, but the zoo authorities admitted to actually holding five 10-ml vials of the medication. continue

Successful injectable chemotherapy in dogs leads to human trials.

Successful injectable chemotherapy in dogs leads to human trials. A pet dog,Cody was declared cancer free just months after he received a revolutionary injectable cancer-fighting chemotherapy regimen in July that delivers a compound containing cisplatin directly into a tumor. Researchers at the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical Center have created a new drug called Hylapat,they blended cisplatin, a platinum-containing anticancer medication with hyaluronan, a polymer that occurs naturally in the human body. The team used hyaluronan to create HylaPlat because it enables a non-destructive local injection and sticks well to cancer cells, allowing for an efficient uptake of cisplatin into the tumor cells. The compound molecule of hyaluronan and cisplatin is only 20 nanometers in size, after doing its work in the tumor, HylaPlat drains easily into the lymph nodes, delivering a high dose of chemotherapy to any cancer cells present there. In the initial clinical trial starting in 2012, seven large-breed dogs with small forms of oral cancer received what researchers determined to be a "good" formulation of the chemotherapy. They used pet dogs suffering with actual cancers as opposed to lab animals for a variety of reasons, one of which is the limits that model cancers pose for researchers. Lab cancers have to be grown carefully under strict conditions, while real-world cancers, are made much hardier, have ways to evade the body's immune system, and are made up of multiple kinds of different cells that make them hard to kill. In the trials,in 3 of the dogs the cancer disappeared while 2 showed remission signaling the success of drug and possibilities in human cases.

Leptospirosis in cattle.

Leptospirosis is one of the most common causes of abortion in cows and also causes infertility and milk drop in cows.The economic value of a farm where leptospirosis infection is present is reduced due to death of calves, and drop in milk . Leptospirosis is a zoonosis causing disease in humans, farmers / farm-workers, abattoir workers and vets are the main risk groups. The disease in man is usually acquired from contact with the urine, afterbirth or aborted fetus of an infected animal or with contaminated water. The signs of the disease in humans are flu-like, with headaches and fever which progresses to meningitis. The cattle shed leptospires in high levels in urine, milk and fetal fluids and this shedding persists for a number of weeks. Recovered animals may intermittently shed leptospires in urine as many animals become renal carriers of the bacteria after infection. At the onset of leptospiral infection,the bacteria localizes in the kidney and urinary tract,this is followed by sudden drop in milk yield which is usually followed by abortions 6-12 weeks after infection. The abortion rate in a herd is about 30% while a herd with previous history of infection is about 5%, this actually shows the importance of the infection as calving expectation is reduced not only that, where leptospires are shed in milk this becomes a waste as it cannot be sold because of public health concerns. The overall picture is that the cost of rearing the animals during that season brings no profit,hence a calving cycle/cow in the herd is lost. Infertility is another sign of leptospirosis,where conception rates are extremely low in the herd necessitating culling of unproductive cows,while cows that are infected during pregnancy have weak calves that die shortly after birth. Bio security measures must instituted on farms and followed strictly as the bacteria can survive in stagnant water,wet soil and streams for 6 weeks.Keep shed dry and clean and use of foot dips and car dips are also important. Handle any aborted calf carefully,wash hands and disinfect after coming in contact with abortion fluid or tissue.

Processed meat may ‘worsen’ asthma symptoms

Processed meat may ‘worsen’ asthma symptoms: Asthma sufferers could be at risk of making their symptoms worse, if they consume a high level of processed meat, according to French researchers.

Japanese drones lift off to track livestock

Japanese drones lift off to track livestock: A drone designed to make life easier for livestock farmers has been launched in Japan, with developers eyeing global sales in the future.

Traditional rainmaking ceremonies resurge in parched Zimbabwe.

Rainmaking makes a comeback in parts of parched Zimbabwe, scientists warn that such traditions may prove a distraction from more effective ways to deal with drought. Those include switching from the country's thirsty staple, maize, to more drought-hardy crops like millet and sorghum, capturing and storing more rainwater, and changing farming practices to preserve moisture in the soil. "We need to educate and train these village elders on the importance of... climate change adaptation measures like conservation agriculture and water harvesting," said Lawrence Nyagwande, who heads Environment Africa, a non-governmental organisation in Manicaland Province. Renewed attention on rainmaking ceremonies as the way to solve the growing problem is deterring some farmers from making those changes they have learnt to work. Even the backers of the rainmaking revival say the weather is nothing like they have seen before, with punishingly hot temperatures over much of the last decade and far more erratic rainfall.continue