Snakes and medical benefits.

Snakes as creepy but help preserve the ecosystem by the predation on rodents and smaller mammals. The snakes make up a significant proportion of the middle-layer predators that keep our natural ecosystems working, without them the numbers of prey species would increase to unnatural levels and the predators that eat snakes struggle to find food will turn to other species thus endangering other species thus tilting the ecobalance. Snakes keeping the number of rodents and other reptiles under control are also beneficial to man directly because of the venom. Snake venom has been reported to provide treatment in certain disease conditions. Snake venom though awkward to comprehend its usefulness is basically protein and some enzymes,so the building,repairing and regenerative properties of protein is the key to the usefulness of the venom. The snake venom is categorized based on the site of action thus it could be neurotropic,hemotropic cardio tropic and this information is the platform that sets the stage as which venom to use in the case of any medical conditions. Snake venom's are collected purified ,processed and tested before use in medicine. Snake venom has been found to have hemostatic properties thus useful to stop excessive bleeding during surgery.see Snake venom has ability to break blood clots,this has been used in treatment of stroke patients.The neurotropic venom have been used in treatment protocols for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. The use of the venom has been explored in treatment of certain cancers such as breast cancer,and also in the cosmetics industry as anti aging cream. The fashion industry have benefited from snakes by using the skin for fashion accessories such as bags,shoes and belts racking in a lot of forex.

WHY DOES THAT EGG HAVE FISHY TAINT?

Fishy egg taint is an unpleasant experience both for farmer and customers and also the financial implication of this can be devastating.Some school of thought have proposed that excessive addition of fish meal to diet is the cause of taint,which was quickly discredited because experiment showed that chicken exposed to same feed had different results as only few eggs had the taint and some not exposed to ration with fish meal had eggs with fishy taint. Another school of thought proposed that it was the side effect of rapeseed in layer ration that causes the taint as some others that were not exposed to such rations had tainted eggs.Egg taint has been found to be caused by transfer and excretions of smelling substances resulting from endogenous metabolism in chicken to the eggs.The fishy taint is caused by accumulation of trimethylamine in the yolk. Trimethylamine (TMA) is caused by bacterial fermentation of choline in the small intestine and caeca. The liver converts TMA to non smelly TMA N-oxide, the smelly taint can arise from dietary of TMA or from precursors for TMA formation. The culprit in the taint has been linked to a gene FOM3-gene, hence a hen lacking this gene will not be able to convert TMA to the non smelly TMA N-oxide.This defect has been observed in certain strains of brown layers hence sourcing from genetically tested and proven strains is important.

HOW TO TURN POOP INTO FUEL.

Poop better referred to as feces or waste has found another use aside from fertilizer and electricity generation,now there is a new technique that converts poop to petrol. The need to look at alternative to promote environmental safety as regards waste management has produced so many by-products that are economical but also eco-friendly. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have successfully taken raw sewage and converted it to what they call biocrude oil, which can be refined in the same way as crude oil to make fuels like gasoline and diesel. The technique is called hydrothermal liquefaction, and it’s an accelerated, artificial version of the process by which crude oil is created inside the Earth’s crust. Waste is subjected to high pressure and temperature—3,000 pounds per square inch and 660 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively—which cause it to break down into basic chemical compounds.Scientists have essentially taken a natural process that normally takes millions of years and replicated it in a lab such that it can be done in hours. The researchers working on this project estimated one person, over the course of a year, could generate two to three gallons of biocrude oil. A 42-gallon barrel of crude oil yields about 19 gallons of gasoline, so assuming a similar conversion rate, three gallons of biocrude may yield about 1.4 gallons of gasoline. This waste to wealth initiative if properly harnessed can revive countries whose economy is fuel-dependent and also boost other countries that have no reliable means of survival but have enormous waste they generate and litter the environment constituting a nuisance. The first step towards harnessing this waste will be to build proper toilets with sewage treatment plants to collect the waste and start the journey towards conversion and fuel generation.

Medicinal mushrooms and cancer treatment.

When an agile,active bird dog was diagnosed with osteosarcoma,the owners sought out options that will ensure survival and longevity. This search lead to the discovery of medicinal mushrooms and how they boost immune system to strengthen it to fight cancer because of their anti-tumor, immune regulating beta-glucans compounds. The medicinal mushroom help the body in these ways 1)Strengthen and stimulate the immune system. 2)Give the body more energy to fight disease. 3)Help patients rebound from the effects of chemotherapy.The mushrooms available in the K9 Immunity Plus™,was incorporated into the daily supplements and today,2 years after the dog is still alive and healthy. This is the journey of a champion bird dog and how he survived the osteosarcoma saga more

The use of IoT to stop fires on farms.

Fire accidents are quite devastating in any environment but much more horrific when it involves livestock. The race to ensure food security often lead to expansion of projects with much more investment in properties ,animals and seedlings ,the economic effect of losses in agriculture due to fires can be quite huge and as such a lot of strategies are put in place to prevent fire outbreaks. Farm protocols involve preventive efforts such as 1) switching off all electrical appliances 2) prevent unsupervised burning in and around farm areas. 3)installation of smoke detectors to alert and put out any fire accident. The protocols are reliable but surveillance is key to ensure an accident free environment,with precision agriculture sensors,scanners and cameras are aiding farmers to prevent accidents,manage farm activities and also prevent theft. The IoT has simplified the work of farmers not only reducing labor cost but ensuring maximum productivity and boosting profit. The IoT approach ensures instant response as data,pictures and updates are uploaded on phones real-time. Nare IoT Labs a South Korean startup, has developed a cost effective solution to prevent and warn farmers of any faults, before the onset of a fire. The system, called Prevention System for Electrical Arc Fires was developed when it was discovered that the surge in farm fires are caused by electrical arc faults which basically is a high-power discharge of electricity between two or more conductors. The Prevention System for Electrical Arc Fires can recognize the difference between a harmless arc and a dangerous one that could spiral into a fire, the Nare IoT is then able to send warnings to a farmer’s smartphone and let the farmer turn off a power grid near the electrical arc to avoid further damage. There is an alarm in the system which goes off when a dangerous electrical arc happens.more

New test and better understanding of deadly inclusion body disease in boas and pythons.

A new research has revealed a New test and better understanding of deadly infection in boas and pythons. This new study sheds light on inclusion body disease, and may help veterinary care teams better protect the health of their populations of large snakes. A newly published study in The Veterinary Journal sheds light on the disease, and may help veterinary care teams better protect the health of their populations of large snakes.Inclusion body disease (IBD) found in both boa constrictor and python species and signs may include periodic or chronic regurgitation, head tremors, abnormal shedding, anorexia, clogged nostrils, and pneumonia. The disease can rapidly progress to nervous system signs, such as disorientation, corkscrewing of the head and neck, holding the head in abnormal and unnatural positions, rolling onto the back or stargazing. The current strategies for IBD control include identification and isolation of affected snakes, but making a definitive diagnosis of IBD in a living animal can be challenging. Infected snakes may continue to feed and otherwise behave normally, and may infect other snakes prior to developing clinical signs of illness and chronic disease. The inclusion body disease is caused by the reptarenavirus and this was observed in apparently healthy boa constrictors which buttressed the fact that sub clinical cases are common.Researchers at the University of Florida, in collaboration with Colorado State University and University of California, San Francisco, sought to understand disease prevalence in captive snake populations using both routine and specialized immunohistochemical cell-staining techniques. The research team tested 131 snakes and determined that 19 percent of their study population had inclusion body disease. In snakes positive for IBD, 87 percent were clinically healthy.

World Bank tasks farmers on how to boost agriculture.

The World Bank tasks farmers on how to boost agriculture.A World Bank assisted programme in Africa, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), has revealed that farmers do not need huge capital to be successful and maximise profit in agriculture. This was stated during the last World Bank Support Mission visit to the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) adopted communities and schools, where it lauded the various projects embarked upon by WAAPP-FECA. Leader of the delegation, Prof. Victoria Ayuba, said the level of projects going on was a pointer to the fact that people can start making profit in agriculture if they start with little capital. Ayuba, who is the current Dean, College of Forestry and Fishery, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, encouraged the people, especially the youth, that they could utilise the opportunities in the sector to be employers of labour. The Dean noted that the essence of the visit was to evaluate and assess what the institution is doing with the World Bank assisted programme with member-countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to make agriculture more sustainable and productive.more