High stocking density predisposes broilers to necrotic enteritis.

Researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have shown that high stocking density has adverse effects on broiler welfare and intestinal health and predisposes the birds to necrotic enteritis (NE). The study was carried out as follows, the team randomly assigned 240 day-old broilers to one of four groups. Two groups had normal stocking density, defined as 15 birds/square meter (10.7 square feet), and two more groups had high stocking density, defined as 30 birds/square meter. Researchers challenged one of the normal and one of the high stocking-density groups with a 10-fold oral dose of an attenuated anticococcidal vaccine plus multiple oral inoculations with a strain of Clostridium perfringens. The remaining two groups were not challenged and were used as controls. The researchers then collected and scored the birds for gross lesions; they also collected intestinal digesta to test for pH and viscosity, and caeca for microbiological analysis. Investigators found a significant correlation between high stocking density and challenge based on their evaluation (p ≤ 0.05). Compared to unchallenged controls, high stocking density in challenged birds also increased the gross lesion score in the intestines.

Pneumonia and the iron connection.

This is how pneumonia affects the body; A new research has found that iron in the blood is targeted by the bacteria as a way to spread around the body as iron is essential for the bacteria to grow. The study published in the mBio journal research has shown that some strands of the pneumonia bacteria use iron to spread the disease round the body.This discovery could be used to inform how antibiotics can target the bacteria and prevent it spreading. Scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School discovered that the race for iron increases the risk we can face from Klebisella.pneumoniae, a bacteria that commonly causes pneumonia in patients in hospital. It also causes bloodstream, wound and urinary tract infections. When a body is infected with pneumonia, there is a competition for iron that both the bacteria and the host need for essential cellular processes. The study detailed how the k. pneumoniae sends out tiny iron-scavenging molecules, called siderophores, to grab the iron and potentially cause infection. The Siderophores are used as a soldiers to acquire iron for bacterial growth: they are secreted by the bacteria, they grab a molecule of iron from the host, and return to the cell to provide it as a nutrient. The siderophores from k. pneumoniae are hundreds of times more powerful at grabbing iron than the proteins that our own bodies produce,thus allowing the molecules to invade the rest of the body beyond their initial point of entry to bring on inflammation caused by the human immune system. The bacterium has evolved new ways to get iron, and the mechanism it uses also causes cellular stress during infections, as that response triggers an immune response that tells our bodies to fight the infection, but it also activates a mechanism that allows bacteria to escape and travel to the rest of the body. This mechanism that allows the bacteria to travel around the body is called HIF-1alpha, and is normally used in a positive way to help our bodies respond to low oxygen or low iron, but when it is activated by the k. pneumoniae siderophores, it worsens the infection. The researchers discovered the role that siderophores play in the infection by working out how to create bacteria that would not reproduce, while still producing siderophores.

Eagles trained to drop drones .

Dutch police are employing eagles to take down illegal drones following successful trials.The force has become the first in the world to recruit birds to tackle the increasing number of drones invading the Dutch skies. It's a low-tech solution to a hi-tech problem,police spokesman Dennis Janus said, the birds are not in any danger. The animal rights group raise concerns,but have been assured that the birds are not exposed to any danger. A number of tests have been conducted since January and police seem confident about the programme. The eagles will now be deployed whenever drones are believed to be posing a threat to the public or flying close to airports or sensitive areas. The eagles see the drones as prey and intercept them as they are flying, before landing where they feel safe with the drone still in their claws, about 100 officers will be trained to work with the eagles. After successful trials, Dutch police bought four sea eagle chicks. They are now five months old. As the police wait for their birds to mature, they will be using eagles supplied by a specialist company, Guard From Above.more

PepperPay’s robot photographer replaces cashiers.

Machine vision technology will let any smartphone or tablet recognize objects so we don’t have to rely on humans or barcode scanners,PepperPay brings machine vision to the checkout process. This is how PepperPay works ; just hold up the item you want to buy in front of a robot wielding a PepperPay-equipped device that can take a picture of it and instantly recognize what it is. The transaction is then completed at purchase checkout and escape the store without standing in a long line. Checkout automation holds big opportunities for reducing overhead costs of brick-and-mortar businesses and increasing customer satisfaction. More grocery stores are offering self-checkout, but barcode scanning is clumsy for untrained users. Replacing that process with simply holding up an item and taking a photo of it could speed up checkout and vastly reduce the need for specialized hardware.

Diagnose your plant’s health with your smartphone camera and Plantbot.

A team of a bunch of plant nuts decided to build Plantbot,to help people figure out whether their plants are healthy and what they need to do to make them better. This is how the plant bot works: You take or upload a photo of a plant, and using some machine learning tools available online and it’ll tell you whether or not your plant is healthy and what might be wrong with it. The process takes a few seconds, and then if users have additional questions, they can query them a chat interface in the app. There are a couple common problems that the app can diagnose such as what a differently colored leaf might signal ,that there’s not enough nitrogen in the soil, and brown tips on the leaves may mean there are too many nutrients in the soil, This handles the issue of quickly answering questions that most plant owners might have.The team feeds in photos themselves with some common problems, and then matches it against the photos that are coming in, so there will be some hurdles to getting enough data online and encompassing the wide array of problems. The team behind Plantbot — an international group consisting of Capeletto,more

AGRIBUSINESS: Urban agriculture and food security.

AGRIBUSINESS: Urban agriculture and food security. Urban agriculture is simply the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around cities. The most striking feature of urban agriculture that sets it apart from from rural agriculture, is that it is integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. Urban agriculture can be aptly termed city farming or city agriculture. Urban agriculture usually takes place in locations within the cities that is intra-urban or around the city termed peri-urban areas. The capacity /intensity of activities depends on space. as the venture can be practiced within living quarters such as on a on-plot of land or on land away from the residence (off-plot), on land owned or leased and on public space such as parks, conservation areas, along roads,,sidewalks streams ,alleys or semi-public land like schools, and hospitals. AGRIBUSINESS: Urban agriculture and food security. Urban agriculture includes agricultural activities as well as related processing and marketing activities and affiliated agribusiness ventures. Read here The ever growing population has brought with it a demand for more food to ensure food security.The rapid urbanization has put pressure on the land as more structures for houses,companies and stores are competing for available land ,thus urban agriculture is the key to ensure food security. By 2020 the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America will be home to some 75% of all urban dwellers, and to eight of the anticipated nine mega-cities with populations in excess of 20 million. It is expected that by 2020, 85% of the poor in Latin America, and about 40-45% of the poor in Africa and Asia will be concentrated in towns and cities. Urban agriculture may improve both food intake by providing improved access to a cheap source of proteins and the quality of the food may improve as families involved in urban farming eat more fresh vegetables than other families.The contribution of urban agriculture to food security and healthy nutrition is an important asset to urbanization. Urban farmers produce substantial amounts of food for urban consumers aside from producting for their own consumption needs, large amounts of food are also produced for other categories of the population for sale. According to UNDP 1996; FAO 1999 , 200 million urban residents provide food for the market and 800 million urban dwellers are actively engaged in urban agriculture in one way or another. The international development research center(1998) shows that urban agriculture to a large extent complements rural agriculture and increases the efficiency of the national food system because it provides products that rural agriculture cannot supply easily such as perishable products, that require rapid delivery upon harvest. Food that can substitute for food imports and can release rural lands for export production of commodities are also added advantage of urban agriculture. Urban agriculture is as an important strategy for poverty alleviation and social integration as the participants in the project may feel enriched by the possibility of working constructively, building their community, working together and in addition producing food and other products for consumption and for sale. This is the case of former convicts that have returned to their communities to practice urban agriculture and keep youths out of drugs. see Benefits of urban agriculture is not limited to food security but encompasses the environment,as its eco-friendly.Farmers use wastewater for irrigating their farms when they lack access to other sources of water or because of its high price. The use of fresh (untreated) wastewater has the additional advantage for urban farmers because it contains a lot of nutrients. Technologies such as hydroponics , drip irrigation, zero farming substantially reduce water needs and health risks and are of value in the urban environment and can be found in many cities. Urban agriculture impact the green effect and cleaning of the city by turning derelict open spaces into green zones and maintaining buffer and reserve zones free of housing, with positive impacts on the micro-climate.

Pet protector.

The effect of ticks and fleas on pets is not a small issue and the pet and pet owners are seeking protection. Now pets and super pet owners can heave a sigh of relief with their pet protector. This metal tag keeps your flurry friends tick,fleas,mosquitoes free for 4-years. A simple one time investment will save you a lot of money,several trips to your groomer and most importantly save your pet's life. Pet Protector repels ticks and fleas from your pet, – the Pet Protector Disc is 96.97% effective and 100% safe for your pets, your family and your environment. This non-invasive, natural defense system requires more time to begin functioning than chemical anti-parasite products. After attaching the disc, 7 to 20 days are needed for the protective field to form, depending on the size and weight of the animal. It is important to understand that Scalar waves do not kill existing ticks and fleas on the animal, but rather act as a preventative, hence before attaching the Pet Protector Disc to your pet’s collar, it is important to completely remove ticks and fleas from the pet also fumigation of premises and kennels is necessary. Pet Protector’s Scalar waves does not have any negative effect on the health of your dog or cat as this product can even be used freely on sheep or horses and other living beings. Therefore, there is no limit regarding the age of the animal, its size or limited by any medical conditions,even safe in pregnant animals. Its save,cheap and easy to use.This will be very handy for horses,because of the deadly mosquito-borne diseases that are often fatal. Buy now