‘ Probiotics : How probiotics is used to stop malnutrition

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Probiotics are microorganisms that promote health and well being . The probiotics have gained prominence especially in improvement of gut health by promoting proliferation of good bacteria in the gut. Probiotics improves the microbiome with resultant health improvement.

 Studies have shown use of probiotics to tackle malnutrition.  Enhanced probiotics’ pave the way in tackling malnutrition: ‘Smart’ gut bacteria that can improve the fermentation process? Super-efficient microorganisms that can turn empty calories into complete nutritional food?

Kano advises farmers to report outbreak of bird flu.

Kano advises farmers to report outbreak of bird flu.Kano State Government on Thursday advised poultry farms in the state to report outbreak of bird flu to the appropriate authority for prompt action. Dr Shehu Bawa, the Director, Veterinary services, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.“Prompt and timely report on the outbreak of the disease is very important as it will enable government to take appropriate action,” he said. He advised farmers against taking any fowl to their farms without proper disinfection.“Farmers must take bio-security of their farms serious to ensure the safety of their birds,” Bawa said. He said the state government had taken proactive measures to ensure that the resurfacing of the disease in one of the farms in the state did not spread to other farms.“We are making efforts to check the spread of the disease, which has so far affected only one of the farms in the state.“ Bawa said the government had directed the ministry of Agriculture to submit request for disinfectants and other drugs needed for the control of the disease.continue

How sleeping improves brain injury.

A recent study has shown that for patients with serious brain injuries, there's a strong link between sleep patterns and recovery. The study reported in neurology journal was of 30 patients hospitalized for moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries found that sleep quality and brain function improved in tandem . Patients who still had low levels of consciousness and cognitive functioning would sleep for a couple of minutes and then wake up for a couple of minutes,both day and night,but when the brain recovered, the [normal] sleep-wake cycle reappeared. The results raise the possibility that patients with brain injuries might recover more quickly if hospitals took steps to restore normal sleep patterns,by using drugs and making sure patients are exposed to sunlight or its equivalent during the day and at night rest in a dark, quiet environment.

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.