Insect bite hypersensitivity in horses.

Insect bite hypersensitivity is an allergic reaction to the saliva of biting insects such as Culicoides , mosquitoes, black flies, and horn flies. The bites elicit an allergic response from sensitive horses, resulting in hives (urticaria) and/or crusty patches. The effects of these bites in horses are not limited to hypersensitivity,but most of these insects are vectors causing severe diseases that may be fatal in horses. The mosquitoes are the top of the list of insects with roller coaster effect in horses. The Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (EEE, WEE, and VEE) and the West Nile virus are arboviruses, and all are transmitted by blood-feeding insects or ticks--and these pathogens can cause fatal neurologic disease in horses. The bites and sores are usually on a horse’s: ears,back,tail,belly and mane.It is very important to keep biting insects away from horses not only because of hypersensitivity but because of severe fatal diseases that the elicit in horses. The use of insecticides in stables,tags and repellents are just a few methods that keep the insects off. The pet protector when worn on animals produces a scalar wave that repels mosquitoes,ticks,fleas and other biting insects. The protection is a 4-year plan,which saves you money, labor and the possibility of losing horses to "brain fever". Pet Protector’s Scalar waves are harmless to people and animals, and they are only effective against external parasites repelling them from the shielded area. The Pet Protector Disc acts by preventing fleas, ticks and mosquitoes from getting the chance to infest your pet. The pet protector is made from high quality steel alloys,charged with a specific combination of Magnetic and Scalar waves. These waves are triggered by the animal’s movement to produce an invisible energy field around the entire animal’s body. A horse can be fully protected by the pet protector get it Horses with insect bite hypersensitivity(IBH) usually have intense itching,and severe scratching results in pulling out of their manes and tail in the process. These intense scratching damage the coat,this break predisposes to secondary bacterial infection. There is a genetic disposition of certain horses to the insect bite hypersensitivity,although horses of all breeds can be affected. When horses have insect bite hypersensitivity, the treatment usually involve use of topical preparations containing antihistamines and feed containing omega3-fatty acids have been reported to reduce inflammatory reactions associated with IBH. Horses can also be protected in stables or outside using any of the following methods

Management of rostral mandibular fracture with cerclage wire in the horse.

When a horse breaks the lower jaw the surgical intervention usually include repairs with screws and plates but with a downside of postoperative complications, but a new method has been described that uses cerclage wires to hold the jaw with no side effects. The study documented in the veterinary research forum explains the procedure by a team of Iranian doctors which showcases the surgical treatment and unique management of rostral mandibular fracture with cerclage wire in a horse. Hadi Naddaf, DVM, DVSc, of the Department of Clinical Sciences in the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz Faculty of Veterinary Medicine stated that the technique used in the study is really easier than others, as it can be accomplished with less handling of bone and by creating only two holes. The technique he developed was designed for transverse fractures of the rostral portion of the mandible or maxilla/premaxillae area of the mouth in the interdental space (essentially, the front part of the jaw just under the front teeth). Traditionally, surgeons repair such fractures using lag-screw fixation, applying an internal or external acrylic prosthesis, or using dynamic compression plating and wiring. These procedures are not only complex but also frequently associated with post-surgical complications. Horses can experience tooth loss, malocclusion (bad alignment of the teeth for chewing), osteomyelitis (bone infection), sequestration (death of part of the bone), and chronic discharge. The technique used in this study had no such complications; Naddaf and his fellow researchers threaded a cerclage wire through two holes in the jaw bone to close a 3-year-old Arabian’s mandibular fracture. The post operative care was as follows ;1) horse received antibiotic 2) anti-inflammatory therapy but did not need any stall rest or specific exercise program.3) diet was strictly liquid (energy-glucose mix) for the first five days followed by a 20-day diet of semi-solid food, mainly bran mash. 4) Handlers washed out the mouth daily to keep it clean from food residue, and surgeons removed the wires after six weeks. The major advantage of the procedure aside the simplicity is the fact that hospitalization is not required and there is no need for an exercise program

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