Epidemiology, burden and seasonal variation of fasciolosis determined through faecal examination and excretory/secretory antigens based ELISA

ΔΕΝ ΔΙΑΤΙΘΕΤΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗThe study was conducted to evaluate predominance and the related risk factors of sheep fasciolosis in Faisalabad district, Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, comparison of the coprological examinationand excretory/secretory antigens (ES Ag)-based ELISA was also performed to determine the variation in the prevalence of fasciolosis. Ofthe1200 faecal and blood samples,128 (10.67%) and 241 (20.08%) samples were found positive for Fasciola infection and anti-Fasciola antibodies respectively.The prevalence of fasciolosis was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in female and adultanimals. Most of the animals showed moderate (55.47%) infection which was significantly higher than mild (28.91%) and severe (15.63%) infections. The highest prevalence of fasciolosis was determined in December (26.00% through faecal examination; 42.00% through ELISA) with a mean EPG of 842.3 while lowest in May (02.00% through faecal examination; 07.00% through ELISA) with a mean EPG of 650. The frequency distribution of fasciolosis was significantly (P < 0.05) highest in the winter (faecal examination 20.67%; ELISA 34.67%) followed in order by the monsoon (faecal examination 09.00%; ELISA 18.67%), spring (faecal examination 08.33%; ELISA 17.33%) and summer (faecal examination 04.67%; ELISA 09.67%). The highest mean EPG of fasciolosis was determined in the spring (894) followed in order by the winter (851.67), summer (654.67) and monsoon (616.33). Although the faecal examination is the gold standard and the “best method” in the diagnosis of sheep fasciolosis; however, the serological tests should not be excluded especially the home-made ES Ag-based ELISA which might be preferred and more affordable risk assessment tool in the field epidemiology

Pharyngitis and sore throat: A review

Pharyngitis is a sore throat caused by inflammation of the back of the throat. It is one of the most common reasons for visits to family physicians. Throat may be scratchy and swallowing can be painful. Usually, a sore throat is the sign of another illness, such as a cold or the flu. In this review article, epidemiology, national perspective, regional perspective, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, clinical presentation and causes of pharyngitis was described.Key words: Pharyngitis, sore throat, inflammation

Laser cooling of a nanomechanical oscillator into its quantum ground state

A patterned Si nanobeam is formed which supports co-localized acoustic and optical resonances that are coupled via radiation pressure. Starting from a bath temperature of T=20K, the 3.68GHz nanomechanical mode is cooled into its quantum mechanical ground state utilizing optical radiation pressure. The mechanical mode displacement fluctuations, imprinted on the transmitted cooling laser beam, indicate that a final phonon mode occupancy of 0.85 +-0.04 is obtained.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Open-source electronic health record systems: A systematic review of most recent advances

Open-source Electronic Health Records (OS-EHRs) are of pivotal importance in the management, operations, and administration of any healthcare organization. With the advancement of health informatics, researchers and healthcare practitioners have proposed various frameworks to assess the maturation of Open-source EHRs. The significance of OS-EHRs stems from the fact that vendor-based EHR implementations are becoming financially burdensome, with some vendors raking in more than $1 billion with one contract. Contrarily, the adoption of OS-EHRs suffers from a lack of systematic evaluation from the standpoint of a standard reference model. To this end, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has presented a strategic road map called EMR Adoption and Maturity (EMRAM). The HIMSS-EMRAM model proposes a stage-wise model approach that is globally recognized and can be essentially applied as a benchmark evaluation criteria for open-source EHRs. This paper offers an applied descriptive methodology over the frequently studied open-source EHRs currently operational worldwide or has the potential of adoption in healthcare settings. Besides, we also present profiling (User Support, Developer’ Support, Customization Support, Technical details, and Diagnostic help) of studied OS-EHRs from developer’s and user’s perspectives using updated standard metrics. We carried out multi-aspect objective analysis of studied systems covering EHR functions, software based features and implementation. This review portrays systematic aspects of electronic medical record standards for open-source software implementations. As we observed in the literature, prevalent research and working prototypes lack systematic review of the HIMSS-EMRAM model and do not present evolving software features. Therefore, after the application of our assessment measures, the results obtained indicate that OS-EHRs are yet to acquire standard compliance and implementation. The findings in this paper can be beneficial in the planning and implementation of OS-EHRs projects in the future. </jats:p

Epidemiology, burden and seasonal variation of fasciolosis determined through faecal examination and excretory/secretory antigens based ELISA

The study was conducted to evaluate predominance and the related risk factors of sheep fasciolosis in Faisalabad district, Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, comparison of the coprological examinationand excretory/secretory antigens (ES Ag)-based ELISA was also performed to determine the variation in the prevalence of fasciolosis. Ofthe1200 faecal and blood samples,128 (10.67%) and 241 (20.08%) samples were found positive for Fasciola infection and anti-Fasciola antibodies respectively.The prevalence of fasciolosis was significantly (P &lt; 0.05) higher in female and adultanimals. Most of the animals showed moderate (55.47%) infection which was significantly higher than mild (28.91%) and severe (15.63%) infections. The highest prevalence of fasciolosis was determined in December (26.00% through faecal examination; 42.00% through ELISA) with a mean EPG of 842.3 while lowest in May (02.00% through faecal examination; 07.00% through ELISA) with a mean EPG of 650. The frequency distribution of fasciolosis was significantly (P &lt; 0.05) highest in the winter (faecal examination 20.67%; ELISA 34.67%) followed in order by the monsoon (faecal examination 09.00%; ELISA 18.67%), spring (faecal examination 08.33%; ELISA 17.33%) and summer (faecal examination 04.67%; ELISA 09.67%). The highest mean EPG of fasciolosis was determined in the spring (894) followed in order by the winter (851.67), summer (654.67) and monsoon (616.33). Although the faecal examination is the gold standard and the “best method” in the diagnosis of sheep fasciolosis; however, the serological tests should not be excluded especially the home-made ES Ag-based ELISA which might be preferred and more affordable risk assessment tool in the field epidemiology.</jats:p

Role of different planting techniques in improving the water logging tolerance and productivity of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame is a well known oil seed crop in arid and semiarid region of Pakistan and its productivity is affected due to sensitiveness to water logging in the root zones. The experiment was conducted at research area of Agronomic Research Station, Bahawalpur during the year 2010 and 2011. The crop was sown by three different planting techniques i.e. flat sowing with 45cm apart rows, ridge sowing with 45cm apart, bed sowing with 60/30 cm i.e. 60 cm wide beds with 30 cm furrow between the beds. The data revealed that maximum number of plants wilted in flat planting as compared to other methods of planting were taken in this experiment. It was also recorded that bed planting at 90cm apart beds gave maximum grain yield of 843 kg ha-1 followed by ridge planting (seed spreading by broadcast and with augmented furrows) with a grain yield of 811 kg ha-1. The lowest yield was obtained from conventional method of sowing which gave 349 kg ha-1 grain yield. Water logging stress in the root zone can successfully be avoided by planting sesame on beds or ridges under climatic conditions of Bahawalpur.Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 50(3), 193-198, 2015</jats:p