Effect on growth performance, carcass traits, and myostatin gene expression in Aseel chicken fed varied levels of dietary protein in isocaloric energy diets

A study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding different crude protein (CP) levels with isocaloric metabolizable energy (ME) diets on growth performance, carcass traits, and myostatin (MSTN) gene expression of Aseel chicken during 0 to 16 weeks of age. A total of two hundred and ten day-old Aseel chickens were randomly allotted to seven dietary treatment groups. Each group had thirty chicks distributed into three replicates of ten chicks in each. Experimental diets were formulated to have varying levels of CP, viz. 18.5, 19.0, 19.5, 20.0, 20.5, 21.0, and 21.5%, with isocaloric energy of 2800 kcal ME/kg diets of mash feed fed to birds in a completely randomized design. Different CP levels had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the body weight gain (BWG) of Aseel chicken. At the end of 16 weeks of age, the group fed 21% CP gained 223.53 g more than the lowest CP (18.5%)-fed group. The different CP levels did not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced the feed intake of all treatment groups, but numerically highest feed intake was observed in the lowest CP (18.5%)-fed group. However, significant differences in feed efficiency (FE) appeared from the 13th week only with the 21.0% CP-fed group showing the best FE until the 16th week (3.86 to 4.06). The maximum dressing % (70.61) was observed by the 21% CP-fed group. The CP 21% diet down-regulated the MSTN gene expression in breast muscle tissue to 0.07 folds when compared to the diet of CP 20%. The best economical coordinates for maximum performance for Aseel chicken appeared to be CP of 21% and ME of 2800 kcal/kg to achieve the best FE of 3.86 at the earliest age of 13 weeks. In conclusion, 21% CP in an isocaloric diet of 2800 kcal ME/kg, in Aseel chickens, would be optimum to improve the growth performance at maximum in terms of BWG and FE up to 16 weeks of age.

Rare survival of high-tension electrocution shock in a crossbred Jersey cattle: a complete profile on critical care monitoring

Background

Accidental electrocution was more common in animals and death was mostly due to shock and cardiac arrest. Survival of animals or humans could be possible if victims receive immediate medical support.

Case description

A 3-year-old crossbred Jersey heifer was presented to the Emergency and Critical Care Medicine Referral Clinic of the Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu, with a history of accidental electrocution by broken high-tension overhead power transmission line during grazing in the paddy fields. The animal was dull and depressed, dark red, and some areas were charred in appearance on the dorsum and limbs. The animal showed difficulty walking due to the electrocution burn injury and was poorly responding to the surroundings. Clinical examination revealed subnormal temperature, polypnea, pale mucous membranes, ruminal atony, and arrhythmias on auscultation.

Findings/treatment and outcome

On point of care (PoC) hematology testing, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, and microcytosis were observed. PoC electrolyte analysis revealed hypocalcemia (ionized calcium 0.89 mmol/L), mild hypochloremia, and severe hypokalemia (2.81 mmol/L). PoC biochemistry revealed hypoglycemia (41 mg/dl). PoC elevated levels of serum cardiac troponin (0.33 ng/dl) indicated cardiac damage. Aspartate aminotransferase (1794 U/L), CK-MB (699 U/L) and LDH (6.7 U/L) were also elevated. On PoC urinalysis, proteinuria, myoglobinuria, and glucosuria were observed. Evident clinical recovery, wound healing, and improvement in animal activities were observed.

Conclusion

High-voltage electrocution injury is a serious type of accident with the potential risk of multi-organ damage and death. Early diagnosis of electrocution and immediate management enhances the expectancy of complete recovery.

Deep Learning-based Mental Health Monitoring Scheme for College Students Using Convolutional Neural Network

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has recently been promising using deep neural networks. It is indeed even been in clinical trials more and more, with positive outcomes. Deep learning is the process of using algorithms to train a neural network model using huge quantities of data to learn how to execute a given task and then make an accurate classification or prediction. Apart from physical health monitoring, such deep learning models can be used for the mental health evaluation of individuals. This study thus designs a deep learning-based mental health monitoring scheme (DL-MHMS) for college students. This model uses the most efficient convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify the mental health status as positive, negative, and normal using the EEG signals collected from college students. The simulation analysis achieves the highest classification accuracy and F1 scores of 97.54% and 98.35%, less sleeping disorder rate of 21.19%, low depression level of 18.11%, reduced suicide attention level of 28.14%, increasing personality development ratio of 97.52%, enhance self-esteem ratio of 98.42%, compared to existing models.

Equivalent-input-disturbance estimator-based event-triggered control design for master-slave neural networks

This paper investigates the robust synchronization problem for a class of master-slave neural networks (MSNNs) subject to network-induced delays, unknown time-varying uncertainty, and exogenous disturbances. An equivalent-input-disturbance (EID) estimation technique is applied to compensate for the effects of unknown uncertainty and disturbances in the system output. In addition, to reduce the burden of the communication channel in the addressed MSNNs and improve the utilization of bandwidth an event-triggered control protocol is developed to obtain the synchronization of MSNNs. In particular, event-triggering conditions are verified periodically at every sampling instant in both sensors and actuators to avoid the Zeno behavior in the networks. By designing an appropriate low-pass filter in the EID estimator block, the accuracy of disturbance estimation performance is improved. Moreover, by concatenating the synchronization error, observer, and filter states as a single state vector, an augmented system is formulated. Then the tangible delay-dependent stability condition for that augmented system is established by employing the Lyapunov stability theory and reciprocally convex approach. Based on the feasible solutions of the derived stability conditions, the event-triggering parameters, controller, and observer gains are co-designed. Finally, two toy examples are given to illustrate the established theoretical findings.

Dynamic data processing system for sports training system using internet of things

BACKGROUND

The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently become a prevalent technological culture in the sports training system. Although numerous technologies have grown in the sports training system domain, IoT plays a substantial role in its optimized health data processing framework for athletes during workouts.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, a Dynamic data processing system (DDPS) has been suggested with IoT assistance to explore the conventional design architecture for sports training tracking.

METHOD

To track and estimate sportspersons physical activity in day-to-day living, a new paradigm has been combined with wearable IoT devices for efficient data processing during physical workouts. Uninterrupted observation and review of different sportspersons condition and operations by DDPS helps to assess the sensed data to analyze the sportspersons health condition. Additionally, Deep Neural Network (DNN) has been presented to extract important sports activity features.

RESULTS

The numerical results show that the suggested DDPS method enhances the accuracy of 94.3%, an efficiency ratio of 98.2, less delay of 24.6%, error range 28.8%, and energy utilization of 31.2% compared to other existing methods.

Synchronization of complex dynamical networks with random coupling delay and actuator faults

This paper addresses the issue of passivity-based synchronization problem for a family of Markovian jump neutral complex dynamical networks (NCDNs) with coupling delay and actuator faults. Also, by considering the effect of random fluctuation in complex dynamical network systems, the occurrence of coupling delay are taken in terms of a stochastic distribution, which obeys the Bernoulli distribution. To handle the fault effects in actuators of proposed complex network systems, an actuator fault model is considered. The main objective of this paper is to develop a robust state feedback controller such that for all possible actuator failures and random coupling delays, all nodes of the proposed Markovian jump NCDNs is globally asymptotically synchronized to the reference node in mean square sense and guarantee the output strict passivity performance. By developing a suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and utilizing the Wirtinger-based integral inequality, the required a set of sufficient conditions for the synchronization of proposed system is established in form of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, three numerical examples including a 3-dimensional Lorenz chaotic model are provided to demonstrate the correctness and superiority of the proposed control scheme.

Data set on prediction of friction stir welding parameters to achieve maximum strength of AA2014-T6 aluminium alloy joints

Statistical tools such as design of experiments (DoE), analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to develop the empirical relationship, to predict the ultimate tensile strength of the joint at the 95% percent confidence level. Response surface graph and contour plots were constructed using response surface methodology (RSM) concept. From this investigation, it is found that the joint fabricated with a tool rotational speed of 1500 rpm, welding speed of 40 mm/min, tool tilt angle of 1.5° and tool shoulder diameter of 6 mm, exhibited maximum tensile strength of 380 MPa.

Prevalence of haemoprotozoan diseases in cattle of Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu

A study was carried out to determine the prevalence of haemoparasites in cattle in Cauvery delta region over a period of one year. A total of 228 giemsa stained blood smears were screened for the presence of haemoprotozoa, out of which 34 animals were found to be positive. An overall prevalence of haemoparasites in the sampled cattle were 14.9%, among this Anaplasma sp (8.3%), Babesia sp (3.95%), Theileria sp (2.19%) and Trypanosoma sp (0.44%) as single or mixed blood parasitic infections. In this study Anaplasmosis (14%) was highly prevalent during the winter season and Babesiosis (13.73%) was highly prevalent during summer months followed by Anaplasmosis (9.8%) and Theileriosis (7.8%), the lowest prevalence of Trypanosomiasis was observed during the rainy season. The seasonal variation in prevalence of haemoprotozoan disease might be due to influence of climatic factors on density of vector population in that geographical area. Haemogram revealed decreased level of haemoglobulin, packed cell volume and total erythrocyte count. The serum biochemistry revealed elevated level of liver enzyme Asparate transaminase enzyme. All haemoparasitaemic animals were treated with specific drugs and recovered successfully.

Disturbance and uncertainty rejection performance for fractional-order complex dynamical networks

This paper investigates the synchronization issue for a family of time-delayed fractional-order complex dynamical networks (FCDNs) with time delay, unknown bounded uncertainty and disturbance. A novel fractional uncertainty and disturbance estimator (FUDE) based feedback control strategy is proposed to not only synchronize the considered FCDNs but also guaranteeing the precise rejection of unmodelled system uncertainty and external disturbance. Especially, in FUDE-based approach, model uncertainties and external disturbance are integrated as a lumped disturbance and it does not require a completely known system model or a disturbance model. On the other hand, the design algorithm for the proposed control strategy is based on the state-space framework, rather than frequency-based design methodologies in the literature, which helps for predominant comprehension of the inner system behaviour. Also, by the temperance of Lyapunov stability theory and fractional calculus, a set of adequate conditions in the linear matrix inequality framework is obtained, which guarantees the robust synchronization of the closed-loop system. Furthermore, an iterative optimization algorithm is proposed to improve control robustness against the external disturbance and model uncertainties. Finally, two numerical illustrations including financial network model, where the influence of adjustment of macro-economic policies in the entire financial system are given to exhibit the rightness and important features of the acquired theoretical results.

Diabetic ketoacidosis in a buck: a case report

BACKGROUND

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism that causes frequent urination, emaciation, extreme tiredness and dehydration. There is little or no information available on DKA in male goat (buck). The present study was carried out to report a rare case of DKA in a buck.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 1.5 year old buck was presented with anorexia and cough. On physical examination of buck showed fever, dullness, poor body condition and pale conjunctival mucous membrane.

FINDINGS/TREATMENT AND OUTCOME

The peripheral blood smear revealed the mixed infection of Theileria sp. and Anaplasma sp. The blood picture showed anaemia and leukocytosis. The animal was treated with buparvaquone )2.5 mg/kg( and long acting oxytetracycline (20 mg/kg). Post treatment evaluation was done 7 days after initial treatment. Animal showed mild improvement in feed intake, the body temperature becomes normal, but showed tachycardia with weak pulse. Subsequently, animal showed severe emaciation with frequent urination. Urinalysis revealed glycosuria, ketonuria and acidic urine (pH = 6.0). Serum biochemistry revealed hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia, increased level of fructosamine and triglycerides and confirmed spontaneous DKA. It was treated with biphasic isophane insulin (1.0 IU/kg) twice a day, regularly. The blood glucose level becomes normal after insulin therapy. Animal resumed adequate feed intake, improvement in haemoglobulin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), total erythrocyte count (TEC), and weight gain was observed.

CONCLUSION

This case study gains significance, due to its successful recovery after insulin treatment, but it requires lifelong insulin therapy to manage insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in this goat.

Dietary encapsulated probiotic effect on broiler serum biochemical parameters

AIM

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of encapsulated probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus lactis and Bifidobacterium bifidum) on broiler serum biochemical parameters.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Encapsulation protects the probiotics and increases their livability on exposure to unfavorable processing and storage temperatures and gastrointestinal pH. Hence, an in vitro study was undertaken to encapsulate the probiotic bacteria L. lactis and B. bifidum with sodium alginate and chitosan and evaluate the encapsulation efficiency. This experiment was conducted with 288-day-old broiler chicken; they were distributed randomly into eight treatments and six replicates in each treatment (six birds in each replicate) and given with standard feed.

RESULTS

Supplementation of the encapsulated bacteria either alone or in combination (T4, T6, and T8) significantly (p<0.05) increased mean total serum protein, albumin, and globulin as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic (T1 and T2) or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria (T3, T5, and T7). Supplementation of the encapsulated bacteria either alone or in combination (T4, T6, and T8) significantly (p<0.05) lowered mean total serum cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and serum triglycerides, as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic (T1 and T2) or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria (T3, T5, and T7).

CONCLUSION

It may be concluded that supplementation of the encapsulated probiotic bacteria either alone or in combination significantly increased total serum protein, albumin, and globulin and significantly lowered mean total serum cholesterol, serum LDL cholesterol, and serum triglycerides as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria.

1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 downregulates cytotoxic effector response in pulmonary tuberculosis

1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD₃ [1,25(OH)₂D₃] modulates both the innate and adaptive immunity in tuberculosis. We explored the effect of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ on cytolytic molecules like perforin, granulysin, and granzyme-B in T-cells and natural killer cells during M. tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 45 healthy controls (HCs) and 45 pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients were cultured with Mtb in the absence or presence of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ for 72 h. The percentage of perforin, granulysin, and granzyme-B positive cells were estimated by flow cytometry. 1,25(OH)₂D₃ significantly decreased the percentage of cytolytic molecules in total, CD4+, CD8+ and CD56+ cells in HCs and PTB patients (p < 0.05). Moreover, 1,25(OH)₂D₃ downregulates IFN-γ levels while upregulate the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Correlation revealed that the total percentage of cytolytic molecules were positively correlated with IFN-γ level, whereas negatively correlated with IL-10 level in both the study subjects (p < 0.05). This results suggests that 1,25(OH)₂D₃ downregulate the expression of cytolytic molecues and act as anti-inflammatory in adaptive immune response, which might help to reduce inflammation and tissue damage during the active stage of the disease.

Need of Algorithm Selection in Next Generation Optical Networks

The IP-based data networks and optical networks have been managed independently with layered protocol stack approach. Both of them were over-provisioned to manage any traffic anomalies and failures. The next generation optical network is expected to handle the needs of the emerging applications in a cost-effective way while satisfying the required QoT. In such scenario, the intents of the application layer must be accounted in the path computation. There is no single path computation algorithm exists which behave optimally under varying traffic conditions. Hence the need for the intent-driven automated algorithm selection was identified. The authors have phrased this intent specific lightpath provisioning problem as the path computation algorithm selection problem. An algorithm selection methodology was proposed with the study of the least congested path in ONOS based software defined controller environment. This approach is claimed as an amenable candidate for the next generation software-defined optical network.

Effect of feeding cottonseed meal on some hematological and serum biochemical parameters in broiler birds

Aim:

The study was undertaken to find out the effect of feeding cottonseed meal (CSM) on performance of hematological and serum biochemical parameters in broiler birds.

Materials and Methods:

A 6-week biological trial was carried out with 432-day-old Cobb 400 broiler chicks distributed to nine experimental diets with six replicates, each containing eight chicks. The experimental diets were formulated based on total amino acids (BTAA) or based on digestible amino acids (BDAA) with or without iron supplementation with two levels of CSM (2% and 4%) and control diet based on maize – soybean. The whole blood was subjected to hematological studies. The serum samples were analyzed for protein fractions and lipid profiles.

Results:

The packed cell volume (PCV) value, red blood cell (RBC) numbers, and hemoglobin (Hb) were lower in iron unsupplemented CSM BTAA or BDAA diets than the control (33.86-35.54 vs. 36.41%, 2.78-2.87 vs. 2.98 × 10⁶/μl, and 10.30-10.70 vs. 10.88%). Supplementation of iron in CSM diets improved the PCV, RBC numbers, and Hb, and the values were comparable to the control. White blood cell numbers, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular Hb (MCH), and MCH concentration values were comparable to the control. The erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF) was poor in birds fed diets containing up to 4% CSM BTAA or CSM BDAA without iron supplementation (32.02-32.57 vs. 28.77%). Supplementation of iron improved the EOF. The serum cholesterol level did not change with or without iron supplementation.

Conclusion:

This study suggested that feeding of CSM BTAA or BDAA up to 4% level voiding iron supplementation lowers the hematological parameters, whereas supplementation of iron did not alter serum protein fractions and cholesterol profile; however, it had lowered some hematological parameters, which was rectified by iron supplementation.

Effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the expression of mannose receptor, DC-SIGN and autophagy genes in pulmonary tuberculosis

1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] is a powerful immuno-modulator, which enhances expression of antimicrobial peptides and induces autophagy in monocytes/macrophages. Since 1,25(OH)2D3 increases the phagocytic potential of monocytes/macrophages, we have explored the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on the expression of receptors such as mannose receptor (CD206) and DC-SIGN (CD209) as well as autophagy genes such as ATG5 and Beclin-1 (BECN1) in monocytes/macrophages of healthy controls (HCs) and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients with and without cavitary disease. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 40 HCs and 40 PTB patients and were cultured for 72 h with Mtb in the presence or absence of 1,25(OH)2D3 at 10(-7) M concentration. 1,25(OH)2D3 significantly upregulated the expression of mannose receptor, ATG5 and BECN1; whereas DC-SIGN expression was suppressed in Mtb infected cells of both study groups (p < 0.05). The 1,25(OH)2D3-induced expression of CD206, ATG5 and BECN1 genes was lower in PTB patients compared to HCs, whereas expression of these genes was impaired in PTB patients with cavitary disease. Moreover, the relative expression of ATG5 and BECN1 was positively correlated with monocyte/macrophage phagocytosis and cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide gene expression in HCs and PTB patients (p < 0.05). Our study results suggest that vitamin D supplementation in PTB patients without cavitary disease could enhance innate immune functions and may help to control intracellular growth of mycobacteria in macrophages.

Effect of 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 on cathelicidin expression in patients with and without cavitary tuberculosis

1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) is a potent immuno-modulator which induces LL-37, the active peptide of cathelicidin, and restricts the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in human macrophages. In the present study, we investigated the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) expression in healthy controls (HCs) and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 50 HCs and 35 PTB patients were cultured for 72 h either with Mtb alone or Mtb with 1,25(OH)2D3 at 10(-7) M concentration. 1,25(OH)2D3 significantly up regulated the macrophage phagocytosis, CD14, CAMP gene expression and hCAP18 protein in HCs and PTB patients (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was observed between macrophage phagocytosis and CAMP gene expression in both the study groups (p < 0.05). Moreover, 1,25(OH)2D3 up regulated CAMP gene expression was more prominent in PTB patients without lung cavity (less severe form of disease) as compared to patients with cavitary TB (severe form of disease) (p < 0.05). The present study suggests that vitamin D may be used as an adjunct to anti-TB treatment and may be useful for a quicker recovery from less severe forms of TB disease.

CCL2, CCL3 and CCL4 gene polymorphisms in pulmonary tuberculosis patients of South India

Polymorphisms in chemokine genes are important to determine the host-pathogen interactions which influence the chemokine levels. This study was carried out to find whether various CC chemokine gene polymorphisms, located in the promoter, exon-2 and intron-1 regions are associated with susceptibility or resistance to pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in south Indian population. The polymorphisms in various CC chemokine genes, MCP-1 (CCL2) [-2518A/G, 903C/T], MIP-1α (CCL3) [-2021C/T, +740A/G] and MIP-1β (CCL4) [-5725A/C] were studied in 295 healthy controls (HCs) and 303 patients with PTB using polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The allele and genotype frequencies of CCL2, CCL3 and CCL4 were not different between HCs and patients with PTB. However, a significantly decreased frequency of CCL2 -2518GG genotype was observed in male patients with PTB [P value = 0.015, P corrected (Bonferroni correction) Pc = 0.045, odds ratio (OR) 0.43 95% CI (0.21-0.86)], and a significantly increased frequency of the same genotype was observed among female patients with PTB [P value = 0.049, Pc = 0.147, OR 2.28 95% CI (1.00-5.27)]. The results suggest that -2518GG genotype may be associated with protection in males and susceptibility to PTB in females. Moreover, we also observed differences in the haplotype frequencies of these chemokine genes between HCs and patients with PTB. However, these polymorphisms are not associated with disease independently, probably in combination with other genes, they may be associated with susceptibility or resistance to TB in south Indian population.