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The experiment was conducted during the month of February and March, 2023 at Livestock Research Station, Kamdhenu University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India to evaluate the effect of dietary addition of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) seed on growth performance, haemato-biochemical profile and faecal microbiota of Kankrej calves. Eighteen Kankrej calves were randomly divided into three treatment groups, viz. Basal diet (control), Basal diet+5 g animal-1 day-1 of fennel seed powder supplementation and Basal diet+10 g animal-1 day-1 of fennel seed powder supplementation for a period of 60 days. Results revealed that there was numerically higher body weight gains were observed in groups fed 5 and 10 g of fennel seed daily than the control, the difference was statistically not significant (p>0.05) among the treatment groups. The mean faecal counts (log10 cfu g-1 in fresh faeces) of lactobacillus were increased, while coliform were reduced in groups fed 5 and 10 g of fennel seed daily as compared to control group. There was no effect (p>0.05) on the haemoglobin, haematocrit, total erythrocytes count and total leucocytes count among the treatment groups. No difference (p>0.05) was found in serum levels of total proteins, albumin, globulin, urea, triglycerides, cholesterol, ALT and AST concentrations among the treatment groups. It may be concluded that dietary fennel seed powder supplementation in calves improved growth performance and had beneficial effect on faecal microbiota with higher faecal lactobacillus count and lower faecal coliform count. Fennel seed supplementation did not affect haemato-biochemical profile of calves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A line x tester analysis was undertaken to estimates the magnitude of heterosis and dominance deviation in Gossypium hirsutum L. for yield, its components and other matricate characters in 60 test entries including (44 F1s along with 15 parents and 1 standard check hybrid). Analysis of variance indicated the significant difference among the parents and hybrids for all 12 characters studied which revealed existence of variability among the genotypes. Studies revealed that out of 44 cross combinations, only 3 hybrids viz., BC-68-2 x MCU 11, BC-68-2 x AC 738 and BN 1 x Reba-B-50 depicted significant and positive heterosis over standard check hybrid G. Cot. Hy. 12. The hybrid BC-68-2 x MCU 11 exhibited significant positive standard heterosis for seed cotton yield per plant and other attributing characters i.e. total number of bolls per plant, average boll weight, lint yield per plant and lint index. The mean values of potence ratio in all twelve characters suggested that degree of dominance was governed by over dominance genes for the expression of all the characters under study.

Tungsten Trioxide (WO3) thin films were grown by thermal evaporation method to study the effect of film's thickness on its electrochromic (EC) properties. The WO3 thin films of different thicknesses were grown on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) coated glass and soda lime (bare) glass substrate held at room temperature. The surface composition of the thin films was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement, which showed the oxygen to tungsten atomic composition ratio to be nearly 2.97. The EC properties of the thin films were examined using electrochemical techniques. Cyclic-voltammetery shows the diffusion coefficient (D) of the intercalated H+ ion in the WO3 thin film increases with the film's thickness. It turns out that the ‘thicker' film exhibits better coloration efficiency (CE) as compared to the ‘thi n- ner' film. The coloration time was found to be independent of film thickness; however, the bleaching time increases as the film thickness increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucellosis is an important zoonosis and a significant cause of reproductive losses in animals. Abortion, placentitis, epididymitis and orchitis are the most common clinical manifestations in animals. The present study a total of 168 clinical samples were collected from buffaloes (87) and cattle (81). All clinical samples were processed by cultural isolation on Brucella agar medium (BAM) with selective antibiotic supplements and genus specific PCR using B4/B5 (223bp) and F4/R2 (905bp) primer. Out of 168 clinical samples 15 samples yielded Brucella isolates by cultural isolation and 19 samples positive for Brucella organism by genus specific PCR. All genus specific PCR positive 19 samples also positive by Species specific PCR based on omp31, B. abortus +IS711 (498bp) primer. Amplicon of 498bp by B. abortus +IS711 primers indicates that all nineteen samples of cattle and buffaloes were found to be Brucella abortus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, non-contagious disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes severe disease in sheep, which is transmitted by insect vector belonging to Culicoides spp. It is particularly a viral disease of sheep, occasionally affecting cattle, buffaloes, goats, camels and other wild ruminants. Out of 377 (364-blood, 5-spleen and 8-pooled Culicoides) samples 110 (29.18%) and 28 (7.42%) were found positive for BTV antigen by s-ELISA and BT-AGID respectively. Specieswise incidence by s-ELISA recorded was 48.20 per cent in sheep, 57.14 per cent in goats and 2.60 per cent in cattle however, none of the blood sample found positive from buffalo and camel. Specieswise incidence by BT-AGID recorded was 12.23 per cent in sheep and 15.71 per cent in goats however, none of the blood sample found positive for BTV antigen from cattle, buffalo and camel. Higher incidence seen in goats by both the test. s-ELISA proved to be the most sensitive in detecting BTV antigen than BT-AGID. Considering s-ELISA as the reference test, the relative sensitivity, specificity and overall agreement between both the tests were 25.45 per cent, 100 per cent and 78.24 per cent respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased risk of cerebrovascular accident in diabetes cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors. Epidemiological studies show that postprandial hyperglycemia is strongly associated with cerebrovascular events and cerebrovascular-associated mortality. Postprandial hyperglycemia contributes to vascular damage by several mechanisms such as endothelial dysfunction, arthrosclerosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and hypercoagulability. Hyperglycemia has deleterious effects on the vascular endothelium and leads to the development of cerebrovascular disease. Thus, an important strategy to reduce cerebrovascular risk in patients with diabetes is to reduce postprandial hyperglycemia. Glucagonlike peptide-1 receptor agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, and α-glucosidase inhibitors predominantly reduce postprandial plasma glucose levels. Among all of these, ?-glucosidase inhibitors reduces postprandial hyperglycemia by delaying carbohydrate absorption from the intestine and this mechanism provides glycemic control without exacerbating coexisting cerebrovascular risk factors. Good glycemic control is proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications, but equivalent evidence for cerebrovascular risk reduction is lacking. This review examines the evidences that postprandial hyperglycemia plays a major role in vascular damage, along with the complex interplay between hyperglycemia and coexisting risk factors. Furthermore, the mechanism by which α-glucosidase inhibitors may prevent this vascular damage as well as risk of hypoglycemia with α-glucosidase inhibitors are examined. Thus, this review suggests that α-glucosidase inhibitors are useful in reducing the risk of cerebrovascular events in patients with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]