Antidiarrheal and Antinociceptive Effects of a Probiotic Mixture in Rats

Diarrhea is diagnosed in millions of people per year in both developed and developing countries and is the second leading cause of death in children under five years of age. This common and impactful symptom is characterized by an alteration in bowel movement and an imbalance between secretory and absorptive activities in the intestine, which results in an increase in the frequency, fluidity and/or volume of stools, and may be accompanied with tenesmus, fever and abdominal pain. Diarrhea is usually a symptom of an infection, which can be caused by various types of bacteria, viruses, and parasites, but can have a multitude of other origins such as gastro-intestinal disorders and certain medications like antibiotics.

Treatment of diarrhea is generally nonspecific and aimed at reducing dehydration and the discomfort and inconvenience of frequent bowel movements. Major drugs currently available for the treatment of acute diarrhea, such as loperamide and diphenoxylate, are not completely free from adverse events.

Impediments to advancement of our understanding of the world within which we reside

It t so much what we don’t know that compromises science and its advancement, but what we know that isn’t so. Preconceived notions are often so ingrained in a field that they are never tested, or even considered appropriate to test. Often interdisciplinary efforts result in an interloper (scientists trained in a different field) naively questioning what the primary discipline has always believed. The interloper’s testing of that hypothesis often reveals “inconvenient truths.”

The “collective consciousness” of some fields is a major impediment even to publication of disparate evidence, let alone that which disproves pet theories. The term behavioral science could be used to describe the response of a field to new information, analogous to application of the term behavioral economics to describe response to assaults on the “imaginary world” in which some thrive.

Update on Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Control Technique of Newcastle Disease

Newcastle disease is a highly contagious economically devastating viral disease of poultry. The virus that cause Newcastle disease is grouped under family paramyxoviridae,genus Avulavirus and species Newcastle disease virus or avian paramyxovirus type 1 (APMV-1). The genus of this virus has RNA nucleotide, enveloped, single-stranded (SS) and has negative sense. The avian paramyxovirus contain six structural protein matrix(M), RNA polymerase(L), phosphoprotin(P), nucleoprotein(NP), hemagglutinin neuraminidase(NH) and fusion(F). Protein V and W are additionally encoded by RNA editing of P protein. Paramyxovirus type 1 can cause disease in birds of all types, sex and age.

Based on their virulence avia paramyxovirus (APMV-1) has been divided in to three or more pathotypes. Velogenic neurotropic strain typically associated with neurological andrespiratory sign. Velogenic viscerotropic strain typically associated with gastrointestinal lesion. These two strains are more virulent. Mesogenic strain is moderate virulence while, lantogenic strains is the least virulence and used for vaccine preparation.

Micro Propagation of cv. Basrai (Banana) Using Growth Hormones

In early nineties, 60% of banana field’s area of Pakistan (Sindh) was under high attack of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) which caused banana bunchy top virus disease and results in 90% decrease in its production. Mostly the plants having bunchy tops were infected by this virus due to their less flexible leaves and having rigidity in the leaves. As a consequence heavy loss in production by BBTV, farmers moved towards the cultivation of other crops like cotton and sugarcane but this choice was also not profitable as compared to banana. So to get rid of this virus, efforts were made by planting disease free plants. 

One perspective was to import healthy germplasm from other countries, but imported germplasm could not grow under local environment due to high alkaline nature of soil. The second approach was to fulfil the requirement of farmers by cleaning the existing germplasm and multiply them at higher rates. The micro propagation of banana plantlets is an excellent alternate approach adopted in many countries of the world like Israel, France, Australia and Cuba. Shoot tip and male floral apices can play a vital role for micro propagation of banana. According to Novak et al.regeneration and somatic embryogenesis can take place in liquid medium. The rate of multiplication is the important factor that affects the efficiency of micro propagation system.

Impact and Challenges of Marine Medicine to Man and its Environment

Medicines are medically recommended remedies intended for ameliorating disease conditions, restoring good health and vitality to man. Marine medicine is the restoring of health in relations to ocean derivatives. It encompasses a variety of practices using marine organisms to maintain health by prevention and treatment as medicine.

Marine medicine therefore is the science of healing, maintaining and restoring health by prevention and treatment in relation to the ocean derivatives. The Ocean which is called the ‘mother of origin of life’ is also the source of structurally unique natural products that are mainly accumulated in living organisms. Marine medicine is not separated from general medicine but rather the general medicine applied to the sea.

Analysis of Microfinance Banks Support to Agricultural Lending in Edo State, Nigeria

Globally, 1.2 billion people are extremely poor (surviving on less than USD 1 a day), and three quarters live in rural areas. Poverty is predominantly a rural phenomenon. Extremely poor people spend more than half of their income to obtain (or produce) staple foods, which account for more than two thirds of their caloric intake. Most of these people suffer from nutritional deficiencies, and many go hungry at certain times of the year. In recent years, development agencies and national governments have renewed their commitment to reducing poverty, hunger and other human deprivations, as evidenced by the Millennium Development Goals. Among other objectives, the goals aim to halve the proportion of people living on less than USD 1 a day by 2015 (from the starting level of 1990). That means cutting the share of extremely poor people in low- and middle-income countries from 28 to 14%.

The goals also call for halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015. Rural poverty and hunger fell sharply between 1975 and 1990, but the rate of poverty reduction has since slowed. Net aid (that is, official development assistance) to developing countries fell from 0.35% of the gross national income in the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1982-83 to 0.24% in 2002-03.

Growth, Mortality and Exploitation of Sardinella maderensis (Lowe, 1838) in the Liberian coastal waters

Sardinella maderensis also known as flat ‘sardinella’ forms part of the commercially important fish species of Liberia which prefers areas of lower salinities close to the mouth of river. Though S. maderensis appears throughout the year in Ivory Coast coastal waters with a strong reduction from May to July due to the transition from warm season to cold season, adults S. maderensis are more sedentary. S. maderensis fishery is of great importance to fishing households within most coastal communities in Liberia, both economically and food security wise. As a result, S. maderensis fishery like other commercially important fish species in Liberia is currently subjected to intense fishing pressure. Intensive fishing pressure on marine biodiversity by location and depth has led to decline of marine capture fisheries.

In Liberia, factors such as poor fisheries data collection, limited resources, conflicts and illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) do not only make it difficult to estimate the status of almost all of the marine biodiversity but also presents a great challenge to fisheries managers. However, Togba reported that Sardinella, Barracudas, Croakers, Sharks and Ilisha africana constituted 83% and 59.06% of local fish supply in 2004 and 2005 respectively; indicating that there has been a declined in fish catches.

Isolation of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria from White Lupin (Lupinus albus L.) Rhizosphere Soils Collected from Gojam, Ethiopia

Phosphorus is one of the least available and the least mobile mineral nutrients in soil for plant growth. However, it is vital for plants and they absorb only inorganic form of phosphorous but the level of inorganic phosphorus is very low in soil because most of the phosphorous is present as insoluble forms. Unlike nitrogen, there is no large atmospheric source that can be made biologically available to plants. P chemical fertilizer is widely applied in agricultural production. However, a large proportion of these fertilizers are also converted to insoluble form leads to low-fertilizer efficiency where the volume of phosphatic fertilizers as low as 15-20% are only utilized by plants due to fixation of P in acidic and alkaline soils.

Phosphorus deficiency is the most important problem of Ethiopian soils and more than 70-75% of highland soils are characterized by phosphorus deficiency. Around 70% of Ethiopian vertisols have available phosphorus below 5 ppm, which is very low for supporting good plant growth; and, fixation in vertisols is related more to calcium, than Al3+ and Fe3+. Yield is usually low under traditional farming system because of poor cultural practices that is compounded with poor soil fertility.

The Acute Toxicity of Copper to Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Fingerlings and its Effects on Gill and Liver Histology

Copper is an essential trace metal which plays an important role in several fish metabolic functions. It represents a crucial role in several enzymatic processes (e.g. enzymes involved in cellular respiration, free radical defense, neurotransmitter function, connective tissue biosynthesis and other functions), as well as, into some structural proteins.

In latest years, environmental pollution from heavy metals has been intensively examined in freshwater ecosystems due to the bioaccumulation and toxicity of these metals. Regardless of its important role in cellular metabolism, copper (Cu) is of particular interest because it is extremely toxic for aquatic animals if elevated concentrations are introduced into the water. High copper levels can cause fast generation of reactive oxygen species. It also binds histidine, cystein- and methionine-containing proteins, resulting in dysfunction.

Examination of Tectonic Activity Based on Knickpoint Distribution and Movement Potential of Faults in Khuzestan Province, South West Zagros, Iran

Although the distribution of fluvial knickzones, as an important geomorphic feature in bedrock river morphology, has been studied by many investigators, the role of them in examination of tectonic activity has not been well investigated, specially based on its comparision with movement potential faults over a broad area. This study examines the tectonic activity of Khuzestan province, South West Zagros, by considering two different parameters: distribution of the fluvial knickzones along Mountain Rivers and evaluation of faults activity in the study area. A segment of a river long-profile that is steeper than adjacent segments is commonly referred to as a knickzone or a knickpoint if it is visibly steeper than the trend of the longitudinal profile. 

Knickzones are often observed along bedrock rivers and the most visible form is a waterfall. Knickzones are supposed to be a response to base-level changes or to alternations of local lithology. Upstream migration of knickzones has been argued to cause rapid river incision and result in the formation of terraces and instability of valley-side slopes. Knickpoint evolution on a river can provide evidence for uplift of plate margins. Knickpoints can be used as geomorphic markers in steep, rapidly eroding landscapes that commonly lack datable river terraces.

Survey and Pathogenicity of Black Spot Disease of Rose in Pakistan

Rose (Rosa sp.) belongs to family Rosaceae. There are over 200 species and more than 18000 cultivars of roses. There is a shifting tendency towards sourcing floricultural products from developing countries like Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. This is due to the increasing labour and energy costs in Europe. This trend has built up a pressure on the successful cultivation of healthy rose plants in the developing countries, like Pakistan. Pakistan being an agricultural country with diverse agro climatic zones has a huge potential for the cultivation of roses . Rose is an economically important horticulture crop cultivated throughout the world and is generally referred as king of flowers. It is also cultivated because of its medicinal importance. 

Various parts of rose plants are being used in different types of medicinal formulations. Its cultivation is performed in both open fields and protected greenhouses. Rose cultivation is increasing in Pakistan because of its ornamental and medicinal values. Roses provide high revenue to farmers and increase employment opportunities. In case of Pakistan, area under flowering crops is estimated more than 17000 acres. The increased utilization of cut flowers in hotels, restaurants and banquet halls business has resulted due to increased living standard of people. Nevertheless, a big gap between demand and supply of flowers and relevant products still exists.

The Hypothesis of the Causes of Climate Change

“We do not exaggerate nor understate the extent of danger. We speak with numbers at hand. We have data on natural disasters, and it is absolutely clear that over the last ten years the planet has witnessed three times more natural disasters caused by weather change than, for example, in the 1960s.” Peter Hoppe, Munich Re insurance concern, the head of Geological Hazard Evaluation department.

Over the millions of years the nature has perfected the balance of interaction between its atmosphere and animal-vegetable worlds. The Earth’s land receives as much water as it needs for reproduction and existence of biosphere. In response the biosphere returns taken moisture with respiration and transpiration to the atmosphere. Man has destroyed this balance. The half of the land has been taken from nature - arable land, dumps, landfills, reservoirs, flood spills, deforestation, construction of cities and roads, etc. It is estimated that from 149 million km2 (149 million square kilometers), more than 63% of habitable land is destroyed by man .