Search

Background: Ticks are the second most common vector of human infectious diseases after mosquitoes. Their transovarial transmission contributes to the maintenance of environmental diseases. This study evaluates the phytochemical screening and in vitro efficacy of Calpurnia aurea against the adult survival and egg hatchability of two transovarial transmission vectors: Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus., Methods: Plant material was extracted using maceration techniques, and concentrated solutions of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ppm were prepared. Distilled water and diazinon were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Ten adult ticks were exposed for 10 minutes, and dead ticks were counted after 24 hours of recovery. Twenty 15-day-old eggs were immersed for 10 minutes, and after 15 days of incubation, hatched and unhatched eggs were tallied. Preliminary phytochemical constituents were screened. A one-way analysis of variance and the probit regression model determined mean mortality and hatchability and estimated lethal and inhibitory concentrations, respectively., Results: The ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts caused 10±0.0% mortality in adult A. variegatum and R. microplus. The effective dose was LC50 of 27 and 29 ppm and LC50 of 37 and 41 ppm, respectively. At 400 ppm, the leaf ethanolic and aqueous extracts showed 18.7±0.9% and 18.3±1.7%; 18.3±1.2% and 19.7±0.3% egg hatching inhibition, respectively. The effective dose had an IC50 of 50 ppm and IC50s of 91 and 79 ppm, respectively. Flavonoids and saponins were found in both leaf and pod extracts., Conclusion: C. aurea extracts showed a more promising effect on tick survival and hatchability than synthetic diazinon. The susceptibility test indicated that the leaf extract could control vectors and contribute to environmental disease maintenance. Complex phytochemicals, especially phenolic compounds, are additional evidence of effectiveness in vector control. Further investigation of in vivo efficacy and advanced fractionation of phytochemicals is needed., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Negash et al.)

Chronic energy deficiency (CED) in pregnant women is a condition of energy and protein deficiency that lasts for years and causes problems in the mother and fetus. Due to its significant consequences, determining the determinants associated with CED incidence is of utmost importance. The aim of this study was to determine the determinants of the incidence of CED in pregnant women in Indonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on pregnant women in Banyumas, Central Java, Indonesia, in 2022. Plausible determinants included maternal age, pregnancy interval, parity, educational attainment, nutritional knowledge, employment, frequency of antenatal care (ANC), and nutritional intake. The Chi-squared test followed by multivariate logistic regression were used to determine the factors associated with the incidence of CED. Our data indicated that 32% of the pregnant women had CED. Univariate analysis found that maternal age ( p =0.022), pregnancy interval ( p =0.009), educational attainment ( p =0.012), knowledge of nutrition and CED ( p =0.023), frequency of utilization of ANC services ( p =0.028), energy intake ( p =0.002), protein intake ( p =0.006), vitamin C intake ( p =0.016), folate intake ( p =0.011), and calcium intake ( p =0.004) were significantly associated with CED incidence in the pregnant women. Multivariate analysis indicated that extreme maternal age (OR; 3.49; 95%CI: 1.10-11.05), low educational attainment (OR: 4.12; 95%CI: 1.37-12.33), short pregnancy interval (OR; 7.30; 95%CI: 1.84-28.99), low frequency of ANC (OR: 3.06; 95%CI: 1.01-9.19) and low protein intake (OR: 6.80; 95%CI: 1.62-28.59) were associated with CED incidence. This study underscores the importance of increasing nutritional intake, frequency of ANC, and pregnancy interval among pregnant women to reduce the risk of CED and its adverse health outcomes., Competing Interests: All the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 by the authors.)

Objective: The feeding effects of DoLa (a combination of Dayak onion extract and probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus ) on hematological indices and lymphoid organs as indicators of broiler health status were evaluated in the present study., Materials and Methods: 192 1-day-old unsexed broilers of the CP 707 strain with a body weight of 46.43 ± 1.65 gm were randomly divided into 4 dietary treatments with 6 replications. The dietary treatments applied were basal diet (BD) as a control with a code of DoLa0, BD + 0.1% DoLa (DoLa1), BD + 0.2% DoLa (DoLa2), and BD + 0.3% DoLa (DoLa3). The parameters monitored included hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC), heterophile (H), lymphocyte (L), white blood cell (WBC), heterophile-lymphocyte (H/L) ratio, the lymphoid organs (bursa Fabricius, spleen, and thymus) relative weight, as well as carcass weight., Results: The results indicated a significant improvement in WBC, L, and carcass weight ( p < 0.05) as the feeding level of DoLa increased while the H and H/L ratio decreased. However, the dietary inclusion of DoLa did not affect the lymphoid organs' relative weight, RBC, and Hb concentrations., Conclusion: The mixture at 0.3% significantly improved health status through the indicators of hematological indices, lymphoid organs, and carcass weight of broilers., Competing Interests: The authors reported no conflicts of interest with other organizations regarding financial support or the experimental material used., (Copyright: © Journal of Advanced Veterinary and Animal Research.)