Annual Research & Review in Biology

To develop an acceptable manure management and pollution prevention plan in poultry production, accurate accounting of waste generation and concentration of the waste need to be ascertained. In view of this, a study was conducted in Minna, Nigeria to assess quantity of waste generated and the quality of the wastes in selected registered poultry farms. This is with a view to knowing present waste generation status and managements strategies with respect to environmental protection and recommending appropriate management methods to protect air, surface and groundwater environments. Questionnaires focusing on farm information, birds’ information and waste management were administered in the farms. Findings from the questionnaires showed that a total of 2,131,400 layers, 1,224,840 broilers and 848,570 cockerels which amount to a total of 4,204,810 birds are raised annually in confinement in the farms covering an area of 170 hectares of land. From calculation, the farms generate 100.97 metric tons of dead birds over a brooding cycle with about 159,430 metric ton of poultry waste excluding slaughter house litter and hatchery wastes. Management of the waste is poor in the farms visited as indiscriminate dumping on land and burning are major waste management systems in these farms. Only a few adopt re-feed method, dead birds are buried without minding the shallow water table of the area. This waste generation and management method need to be changed to safe Minna environment from imminent hazards. Modern management strategies like green disposal, gasification and biogas production and composting are recommended for Minna poultry farmers because are more environmental friendly and can generate of resources from the waste.

Aim: Determine effect of enrichment on tiger pacing in Liberec zoo.
Study Design: The design of the study was a randomized one.
Place and Duration of Study: The experiment lasted 60 days; 360 min per day; 9.00 – 11.00 and 13.00 – 15.00. Four tigers were monitored: two males ages 5 and 17 years and two females ages 5 and 15 years. There were 30 days with enrichment and 30 days without enrichment (baseline). The study was carried out in the Liberec zoo.
Methodology: A ball made of fire hoses, a plastic barrel with the lidremovedandungulates´ excrement (controlled by the vet) were used as enriching elements (toys). We found differences between baseline (not enriched) and treatment (enriched).
Results: Pacing decreased significantly after enriching the enclosures for 3 animals: young male Paris P<0.004, young female Artemis P<0.024 and old female Isabella P<0.032. There was no significant change for the old male (Tibet) P<0.256. Pacing decreased in alltigers with a significance of P<0.0412.
Conclusion: An enriched environment may improve the lives of animals under human care. Enrichment can be a very good and effective mechanism for the reduction of pacing in tigers. It is important to periodically modify and change the types of enrichment items used.

Aims: Phobic or handicapped patients presenting a lack of cooperation need pharmacological sedation techniques for performing dental procedures. The purpose of the study was to retrospectively evaluate the morbidity outcomes of dental patients receiving various levels of sedation in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic supervised by an anesthesiologist.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was performed in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Gazi University Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara, Turkey from January 2009 to July 2010.
Methodology: This study was approved by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Gazi University Faculty of Dentistry. All relevant data were obtained from the patients' dental records. The sample consisted of 321 patients. Dental procedures performed included tooth extractions (simple tooth and impacted tooth extractions), orthognathic surgery, maxillofacial trauma procedures, tumor resections, cystenucleations, excisional biopsies, reconstructive surgery, abscess drainage, prosthetic, endodontic, periodontal, combined treatments or surgery for orthodontic purposes.
Results: There were 164 males and 157 females (American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I:181, ASA II:137, ASA III:3). Their ages ranged from 2.5 to 85 years with a median age of 25.8 years. 177 patients had phobic anxiety disorder and 96 patients had mental motor retardation. Sedation level was minimal (50), moderate (94), deep sedation or general anesthesia (177). Of the 321 cases nausea and vomiting (23, 7.1%), postoperative agitation (8, 2.5%), desaturation (5, 1.6%), bradycardia (3, 0.9%), hypotension (3, 0.9%), ventricular extra systoles (1, 0.3%) and tachycardia (1, 0.3%) were determined as a complication.
Conclusion: Careful consideration needs to be given to the objectives of the sedation when deciding which pharmacologic agents to be used because they all possess slightly different clinical characteristics and various degrees of risk. Patient and agent selection are the most critical factors when making decisions about sedation because the patient's expectations and general health status are of big importance for keeping the procedure safe. There are safe and effective sedative combinations for reducing patient fear and improving the level of comfort. But unexpected, rare and catastrophic events can occur with sedation.

Objectives: The present study was aimed at improving the quality of fried sunflower oil. Synthetic (Magnesol XL) natural (agriculture wastes of date industry) were used to absorb the oxidation products of fried sunflower oil.
Study Design: Recycling of wastes (date pits).
Place and Duration Study: Food Science and Nutrition Department, Faculty of Agricultural Science and Foods, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Oils & Fats Research Department, Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt, between January 2012 and October 2013.
Methodology: The mineral (Si, Mg, Ca, Fe, Al, Mn and Cu) of the aforementioned substances were determined. The physico-chemical properties of non-fried, fried and fried-treated sunflower oil were determined. The frying process was carried out at 180±5ºC for 16hrs, 4hrs heating per day for four consecutive days. The fried sunflower oil was treated with synthetic, natural and activated carbon of date pits at level 2%. A set of nutritional experiments was conducted in which rats administrated standard diets were containing non-fried, fried and fried–treated oils with adsorbent materials. The safety limits of the fried-treated oils were determined by measuring the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatatse (AP) and levels of total lipids, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol of rat sera.
Results: The results indicated that Magnesol XL, diatomaceous earth and activated carbon of date pits contained Si + Mg + Si + Mn + Ca and Si +Mg + Ca as the basic metals, respectively. Frying of sunflower oil led to significant increase in physico-chemical properties. Treatments of fried sunflower oil with the aforementioned substances greatly improve the quality of fried oil. Also, the results highlight the potential effect of Magnesol XL, diatomaceous earth and activated carbon of date pits in improved rat liver (AST, ALT and AP) and levels of sera constituents were similar to those of rats given non-fried oils.

Conclusion: The natural adsorbent material (diatomaceous earth) and activated carbon of date pits do not exhibit any harmful effects on humans and possess nearly the same adsorbing effects in removing oil oxidation products. In addition, they are cheap and are useful for regenerating the quality of fried oils.

Aim: Using fluoride releasing materials such as Glass Ionomer Cement (GIC), can control the demineralization around brackets. In this study, the shear bond strength of resin reinforced GIC modified by Nano-hydroxyapatite (NHA) on ceramic bracket debonding is evaluated. In addition, using full-dimension wire for safe debonding is also examined.
Study Design: Original article.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Dentistry, Shahed University, Tehran, IRAN, June 2013.
Methods and Material: 80 extracted human premolars received from a clinic were partitioned into 4 groups. Bonding materials used in each group was as follows: Group 1: Transbond XT as a control group, Group 2: Resin Modified GIC (RMGIC), Group 3: RMGIC added 5% NHA and Group 4: RMGIC added 10% NHA. In all groups the enamel was etched with 37% phosphoric acid and ceramic brackets were used. Each group halved into 2 subgroups which just in one of them full dimension wire was employed at the time of debonding. The shear bond strength, Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI) and bracket failure figures were collected for each group. The data was latter analyzed using one-way Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA), Tukey’s HSD (Honestly Significant Difference) Post-hoc and Kruskal Wallis Test methods.
Results: According to ANOVA, RMGIC added 5% NHA has no negative effect while adding 10% NHA lowered the shear bond strength significantly. No bracket failure occurred at debonding, either using or not using full dimension wire. ARI for RMGIC groups were more cohesive than the control group.
Conclusion: RMGIC containing 5% NHA contributes bond strength similar to composite resins, in bonding ceramic brackets, while its known demineralization resistance is a favor.

Aims: Polymethylmethacrylates (PMMAs) remain the most popular material for use in orthodontics, particularly in developing countries, because of their low cost and ease of use. Biofilm formation of cariogenic bacteria on these surfaces may contribute to tooth decay, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Nanoparticle-sized silver (NanoAg) inhibits the growth of microorganisms, but anticariogenic effects of NanoAg in situ in PMMA (NanoAg-IS-PMMA) in orthodontics have not been explored. Therefore, the primary purpose of the current study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of NanoAg-IS-PMMA against primary colonizers of human dental plaque and cariogenic bacteria in planktonic and biofilm cultures, grown as mono-species biofilms and mixed-species biofilms.
Study Design: In vitro.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Microbiology, Department of Orthodontics, Pediatrics Infectious Disease Research Center; Tehran, Iran. August, 2012–May, 2013.
Methodology: Chemical-cure orthodontic resin was used to synthesize NanoAg-IS-PMMA using silver benzoate. Antibacterial effects of NanoAg-IS-PMMA were assessed against Streptococcus sobrinus, S. sanguinis, S. mitis, and Actinomyces naeslundii as well as cocultures of the four species by inhibition of bacterial adherence and growth inhibition of planktonic and biofilm bacterial cells on NanoAg-IS-PMMA.
Results: NanoAg-IS-PMMA reduced bacterial adhesion by 36.2%–88.1%, depending on the bacterial type. Planktonic cultures of the microorganisms exposed to NanoAg-IS-PMMA showed a significant decrease (99.99%) in a time-dependent manner, over 28 days. Exposure to NanoAg-IS-PMMA inhibited biofilm formation of all test bacteria and their cocultures by 77.6%–99.96%, compared to PMMA. In addition, NanoAg-IS-PMMA retained some inhibitory effects for the third generation of biofilm formation.
Conclusion: Our data supports the finding that NanoAg-IS-PMMA effectively inhibited adherence of primary colonizers of human dental plaque and cariogenic bacteria to NanoAg-IS-PMMA surfaces, in addition to rendering strong anticariogenic effects in the planktonic and subsequent mono-species biofilms and mixed-species biofilms formation. This demonstrated that NanoAg-IS-PMMA has the potential to minimize colonization of cariogenic bacteria and biofilm formation on orthodontic appliances.

Aims: The present study was conducted to determine effect of dietary energy and protein level and enzyme supplementation on performance and egg quality traits of laying hens.
Study Design: A total of 96 Lohman LSL-Lite laying hens (66 weeks of age) were randomly divided in 16 cages with 6 hens per cage. Hens within every four cages (replicates) allotted to feed each of four experimental diets. Collected data were analyzed based on a completely randomized design using GLM procedure of SAS.
Place and Duration of Study: This 6-weeks study was done in the Department of Animal Science, Agriculture Faculty, Razi University.
Methodology: Based on a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments, four diets consisted of two levels of dietary energy and protein (ME (MJ) and CP%: 11.39, 15 and 10.80, 14.25) and enzyme (0.0 or 0.9 g/kg, Endo-xylanase units/g: 9,000 U/g) were formulated based on the Lohmann catalogue. The first two weeks of experiment was considered as adaptation period and after this the performance data were collected. Egg production and egg weight were daily recorded. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured weekly. Egg quality traits were measured at the last week of experiment.
Results: Reduced dietary energy and protein level increased FCR of hens. Diet supplementation by enzyme improved FCR and egg shell weight.
Conclusion: From the results of the present experiment it can be concluded that dietary enzyme supplementation can improve FCR of laying hens fed diets with reduced level of dietary energy and protein.

Aims: Dietary acidifiers appear to be a possible alternative to feed antibiotics in order to improve performance of broilers. It is generally known that dietary acidifiers lower gastric pH, resulting in increased activity of proteolytic enzymes, improved protein digestibility and inhibiting the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in GI tract. The present paper assesses the different dosage of an acidifier on commercial broilers.
Study Design: Two hundred and Forty day-old chicks were randomly distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with four treatments and three replications of twenty chicks each. Diets prepared without additive as Control (CON) (group1); 0.025% Acidifier Agent (AA1) (group2); 0.05% Acidifier Agent (AA2) (group3) and 0.1% Acidifier Agent (AA3) (group4).
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Animal Science, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran, between May 2013 and September 2013.
Methodology: At the end of the trials, six birds from each replicate were sacrificed by cutting the jugular vein and blood samples were individually collected in 10-mL heparinized tubes and stored on ice for hematological analysis. Serum was separated after 8 to 10 hours and was stored at –20ºC for subsequent analysis. The individual serum samples were analyzed for antibody titers against Newcastle disease (ND), Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) and Avian Influenza (AI) by ELISA technique and using an automatic analyzer. Treatment-wise means of titers were computed. The collected blood samples were analyzed for total proteins, serum albumin, uric acid and the activities of gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) and alanine amino transferase (ALT).
Results: Results showed that there was no significant difference among the dietary treatments for all antibody titers again Newcastle Disease (ND), Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) and Avian Influenza (AI). The results of total protein, serum albumin and serum globulin showed no significant difference among the dietary treatments for these parameters. Activities of serum gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) also remained non-significant.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that dietary acidifier agent did not have a clear positive effect on immune response and serum biochemical levels; however, there was a slight positive effect on 0.1 % level of inclusion in the diet.

Aims: This article aim is three-fold: (1) first, it intends to depict the profile of food consumption in the poorest district of STP, Caué, before and after distribution of land; (2) second, it aims to screen the evolution of food security in the district Caué facing the emergence of this new class of Small Family Farmer (SFF) in society of STP; (3) we plan to answer the following question: does land tenure benefit the rural poor of STP? The necessity of this research consists on trying to mitigate the gaps of solutions to contribute to improve welfare of the rural poor.
Study Design: n = 385 SFFs were surveyed, using a cluster sampling plan. In the first stage were randomly selected 17 communities (clusters) of the 33 existing through simple random sampling; we gave up the community Rolas Island for two specific reasons: accessibility difficult and reduced population. In the second stage of sampling plan we selected random subsamples, by simple random sampling from the remaining 16 communities selected, corresponding to 48.5% of the 33 existing locations in this district.
Place and Duration of Study: Sample: district Caué, STP between April 2013 and July 2013.
Methodology: We proceeded to data analysis to meet the objectives outlined by using clustering via estimation of latent class models in the software LatentGOLD 3.0 in order to profile consumers before and after the land distribution and Wilcoxon test with SPSS 20 for comparing consumption before and after the distribution of land. We depicted the profile of food consumption in the poorest district of STP, before and after distribution of land, for the two cases of consumption: general and meats.
Results: By comparison of before and after profiles, our results show a reversal in revenues because now 78% of respondents (cluster 1) have higher revenues and interestingly, they have increased revenues and decreasing costs. On the other hand, we can see that the population of Caué now uses a better diet.
Conclusion: Combining this result with the previous (increasing revenues and decreasing expenses), we can conclude for a positive evolution of food security in the district Caué facing the emergence of this new class SFF in society of STP. Thus, we are able to conclude that the land tenure has benefited the poorest rural.
Concerning policy recommendations based on the findings of this study, we recommend that government can encourage SFF in order to obtain greater production.
Thus, we think that the increase in production will contribute to improve welfare of the rural poor.

Maintaining water resourcesquality,due to the recentdroughts andurban, ruraland industrialdevelopments isan important taskinenvironment. According to the importance and critical role of GharasouRiver inwatersupplyof Ardabil province which is located onNorth West of Iran, its quality evaluationseemsnecessary.In order to evaluate water quality of GharasouRiver for this purpose, samplingof benthoswas conductedinlowwaterandhigh waterseasons in 2012-2013 growing season. According to the results based on Hilsenhoffindex values, water qualities is average in first round and second round at all stations.The first and second stations were in the best situation. So, physico-chemical parameters including dissolved oxygen(DO), pH and BOD are seen the best in the first and second stations. The results showed that Hilsenhoff index was a good index to be used to indicate the state of the general water quality of the study river.

In this study, we estimated the antioxidant activity of various extracts prepared from Artemisia campestris L. aerial parts used in Algeria to treat gastro-intestinal disorders. The determination of polyphenols and flavonoids contents showed that the ethyl acetate extract (EAE) is rich in phenolic compounds with 481.25±0.026 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight, while the chloroform extract (CHE) had the highest content of flavonoid with 34.37±0.056 mg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight. The evaluation of DPPH scavenging activity of extracts confirmed that EAE is the most active extract with IC₅₀ of 0.0058 mg/ml. In addition, EAE showed the most scavenging activity against hydroxyl radical generated in the H₂O₂/Fe⁺² system with IC₅₀ of 0.17 mg/ml which is comparable to the activity of the standard antioxidant ascorbic acid (0.15 mg/ml). Ferrous ion chelating capacity assay showed that aqueous extract (AQE) was the most active with 0.11 mg/ml. The inhibition of linoleic acid/ß-carotene coupled oxidation was estimated by the ß- carotene bleaching assay, which showed a highest relative antioxidant activity for the crude extract (CE) (82.72% of inhibition). In conclusion, the present study showed that EAE of A. campestris L. is rich in phenolics and flavonoids and has a considerable antioxidant activity.

The evolutionary spread of schistosomes infection was reportedly prominent more in Africa and Asia continents. This study therefore examined the evolutionary trend of this parasite while limiting the investigation to Schistosoma species peculiar to this region of the world. The evolutionary history of this species group was inferred using DNA sequences from NCBI Genbank database and Maximum likelihood, Ancestral inference; Neighbor-Joining method analysis was employed in this study. All members of this species complex were AT rich, with S. mekongi and S. malayensis having the highest AT nucleotide composition. The smallest evolutionary divergence was also observed in S. curassoni and S. bovis. The finding of this study slightly contradict previous report on ancestral prediction of Schistosomes.

A great diversity of medicinal plants have been traditionally used against gastropathy, infections and inflammatory pathological ailments. C. brasiliense (Clusiaceae) is a large tree native to the tropical forest which thrives from Brazil to Mexico. It is a plant commonly used in traditional medicine against several diseases, infections and other pathological disorders. Phytochemical isolations of heartwood, leaves, stem bark, and seed oil have confirmed the existence of several coumarins, xanthones and triterpenes which have a wide biological activity against bacteria, protozoa, fungus, virus and cancer. C. brasiliense is highlighted as an important resource of calanolides, a dipyranocoumarins that inhibit reverse transcriptase of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 RT). Despite having wide medicinal importance, the fact that in Mexico it is poorly known is causing a reduction of this species. In this regard, studies on preservation and production of chemical compounds by plant cell culture need to be developed. The aim of this review is to provide the general characteristics of C. brasiliense, the most common traditional uses, and its phytochemical constituents. In particular, we discussed extracts and phytochemical components that have displayed anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity reported in the current literature. In addition, we intended to inspire new studies on phytotherapy, bioproduction and conservation to be developed.

Phylogenetic analysis attempts to reconstruct the genealogical history of evolutionary change in biological organisms. If the genealogy is complex, involving so-called horizontal evolutionary processes (such as recombination, hybridization, introgression and horizontal gene transfer) then an evolutionary network is required in order to graphically represent the history. Empirical examples of such networks have been used since the 1750s but only rarely. They fell out of favor from the late 1800s, when phylogenetic trees, which can represent only so-called vertical evolutionary processes (transfer of hereditary information directly from parent to offspring), were introduced to represent the Tree of Life. However, in the past 20 years there has been increased interest in using networks, as the evolutionary importance of horizontal processes has become increasingly more apparent. Unfortunately, there are currently few automated methods available, although this is an area of active algorithmic development. In this review, I discuss the development of both trees and networks as icons (or metaphors) for displaying phylogenetic relationships, to clarify some misunderstandings. I then provide an overview of the current approaches to using networks for the study of reticulate evolutionary relationships, explaining how the reticulation processes are detected based on the genetic patterns (or fingerprints) they produce. Finally, I review the current empirical use of evolutionary networks for displaying reticulate evolutionary histories. Due to the limitations of the current methods, many empirical networks have been produced manually or by modifying the output of a computer program.

Dietary supplementation of lactating dairy cows with fat has long been used as a management tool to increase the energy density of feeds, improving milk production, reproduction and alleviating the menace of postpartum negative energy balance. In this paper, we show that while attempts have been made to investigate the effects of omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) on reproduction and fertility parameters the results have been diverse and inconsistent. The effect of n-3 fatty acids on prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) synthesis are well established, however, little is known about the effect of n-3 PUFA on progesterone, oestrogen, luteinising hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and fat related genes linked to reproductive performance. There is contrasting evidence linking n-3 PUFA with ovulation, oestrous cycle, PGF2α and progesterone production. In addition, the mechanisms behind the influences of n-3 PUFA on reproductive traits such as, number of services per conception and embryo survival are not well understood. Therefore, this paper reviews the effect of n-3 PUFA on cow reproduction and the causal factors of fertility problems in the dairy industry. It also substantiates the need to establish a better understanding of the interactions between n-3 PUFA and cow fertility, with the aim of ameliorating the progressive subfertility issues emerging in the dairy industry. This review also summarizes the identified knowledge gaps and highlights fruitful directions for future research on high producing dairy cows in pasture-based systems.