• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.1011-1018
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• 2011

Aflatoxin-contaminated feed cause mortality, suppression of the immune system, reduced growth rates and losses in feed efficiency. This research study was planned to investigate the immunomodulatory and growth promoting effect of milk thistle as feed additive against aflatoxin $B_1$ in broiler chicks at NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan. Two hundred and forty (240) day old broilers chicks were randomly assigned into four major groups AfF, aflatoxin free feed; Aflatoxin $B_1$ was present in the feed at the levels of 80-520 ${\mu}g/kg$ of the feed in the remaining three groups. Aflatoxin contaminated feed was provided for 5 weeks. Group AfB was supplemented with toxin binder "Mycoad" at 3 g/kg of feed and group AfT was supplemented with milk thistle at10 g/kg of feed. Each group was further sub divided into two sub-groups, vaccinated against ND (Newcastle disease), IB (Infectious bronchitis) and IBD (Infectious bursal diseases) according to recommended schedule of vaccination or non vaccinated. Each sub group carried three replicates with 10 chicks per replicate. Chicks were reared in pens in an open sided house. Supplementary heat was provided to all the chicks during brooding period. Mean body weight gain and dressing percentage were significantly (p<0.05) higher in group AfF, followed by AfT, AfB and Af. Weight gain and dressing percentage was the same in group AfB and AfT, while it was significantly lower in group Af. Feed intake, breast, thigh and leg weight were found significantly (p<0.05) higher in group AfF, followed by AfB, AfT and Af. Significantly lower (better) FCR value was recorded in group AfT. Water intake was significantly (p<0.05) higher in group AfT and AfF as compared to other groups. Mortality was significantly (p<0.05) higher in group Af. Mean bursa and thymus weights were found significantly (p<0.05) higher in group AfF, AfB and AfT followed by Af, while higher spleen weight was recorded in group AfT. Mean antibody titer against ND, IB and IBD was significantly (p<0.05) higher in group AfT, as compared to other groups. It is concluded that milk thistle at 10 g/kg of feed could effectively be utilized as immunostimulant and growth promotant in the presence of immunosuppressant aflatoxin $B_1$ in the feed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.311-324
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• 2017

Energy loss at manholes under surcharged flow is considered as one of the major causes of inundation in urban area. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the flow characteristics to reduce the energy loss in the surcharged four-way combining manhole. In this study, hydraulic experimental apparatus was constructed considering the results of the present survey. Square manholes and pipe diameters were reduced to 1/5 by applying sewer facility standards. Numerical simulations were carried out with the Fluent 6.3 model to derive the invert condition which can reduce the energy loss in the surcharged four-way combining square manhole. The hydraulic experiments were carried out according to the various conditions of the lateral flow rate($Q_{lat}/Q_{out}$), discharge of outflow pipe (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 4.8 l/sec), and invert shape (rectangle and square open conduit type). The crossed invert was not found to improve the drainage capacity of the surcharged four-way rectangular combining manhole. However, the improved rectangle open conduit type invert and square open conduit type invert were analyzed to improve the drainage capacity by reducing the head loss coefficients by about 8% and 28%, respectively. Therefore, in order to increase the drainage capacity of urban facilities, it is possible to install and use the improved invert proposed in this study.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2007

Red sea bream iridovirus disease (RSIVD) cause massive economic losses in marine aquaculture industry in Korea. The causative agent of this disease (RSIV) infects a wide range of fish species. The aims of this study were to monitor RSIV in wild marine fishes and to give critical information for controling the disease through prophylactic methods. Prevalence of the viral disease, geological distribution and reservoir of the virus were investigated using wild marine fishes captured in southern coast and east china sea for two years. (Polymerase Chain Reaction) PCR results showed that RSIV were detected in 39 (24.3%) out of 160 fish. MCP gene sequences of viral strains isolated in this study were closely related to that of a reference strain, red seabream-K, belonging to Megalocytivirus subgroup Ⅲ. The results suggest that some of wild marine fishes are RSIV carriers and may spread the pathogen directly to fish farmed in coastal area.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.478-487
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• 2017

Soybean is the most important legume crop in the world. Several diseases in soybean lead to serious yield losses in major soybean-producing countries. Moreover, soybean can be infected by diverse viruses. Recently, we carried out a large-scale screening to identify viruses infecting soybean using available soybean transcriptome data. Of the screened transcriptomes, a soybean transcriptome for soybean seed development analysis contains several virus-associated sequences. In this study, we identified five viruses, including soybean mosaic virus (SMV), infecting soybean by de novo transcriptome assembly followed by blast search. We assembled a nearly complete consensus genome sequence of SMV China using transcriptome data. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the consensus genome sequence of SMV China was closely related to SMV isolates from South Korea. We examined single nucleotide variations (SNVs) for SMVs in the soybean seed transcriptome revealing 780 SNVs, which were evenly distributed on the SMV genome. Four SNVs, C-U, U-C, A-G, and G-A, were frequently identified. This result demonstrated the quasispecies variation of the SMV genome. Taken together, this study carried out bioinformatics analyses to identify viruses using soybean transcriptome data. In addition, we demonstrated the application of soybean transcriptome data for virus genome assembly and SNV analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1061-1061
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• 2001

The scope of precision agriculture is to reach the put up cultivation goals by adjusting inputs as precise as possible after what is required by the soil and crop potentials, on a high spatial resolution. Consequently, precision agriculture is also often called site specific agriculture. Regulation of field inputs “on the run” has been made possible by the GPS (Geographical Position System)-technology, which gives the farmer his exact real time positioning in the field. The general goal with precision agriculture is to apply inputs where they best fill their purpose. Thus, resources could be saved, and nutrient losses as well as the impact on the environment could be minimized without lowering total yields or putting product quality at risk. As already indicated the technology exists to regulate the input based on beforehand decisions. However, the real challenge is to provide a reliable basis for decision-making. To support high spatial resolution, extensive sampling and analysis is required for many soil and plant characteristics. The potential of the NIR-technology to provide rapid, low cost analyses with a minimum of sample preparation for a multitude of characteristics therefore constitutes a far to irresistible opportunity to be un-scrutinized. In our work we have concentrated on soil-analysis. The instrument we have used is a Bran Lubbe InfraAlyzer 500 (1300-2500 nm). Clay- and organic matter-contents are soil constituents with major implications for most properties and processes in the soil system. For these constituents we had a 3000-sample material provided. High performance models for the agricultural areas in Sweden have been constructed for clay-content, but a rather large reference material is required, probably due to the large variability of Swedish soils. By subdividing Sweden into six areas the total performance was improved. Unfortunately organic matter was not as easy to get at. Reliable models for larger areas could not be constructed. However, through keeping the mineral fraction of the soil at minimal variation good performance could be achieved locally. The influence of a highly variable mineral fraction is probably one of the reasons for the contradictory results found in the literature regarding organic matter content. Tentative studies have also been performed to elucidate the potential performance in contexts with direct operational implications: lime requirement and prediction of plant uptake of soil nitrogen. In both cases there is no definite reference method, but there are numerous indirect, or indicator, methods suggested. In our study, field experiments where used as references and NIR was compared with methods normally used in Sweden. The NIR-models performed equally or slightly better as the standard methods in both situations. However, whether this is good enough is open for evaluation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1247-1247
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• 2001

Constituents of animal biofluids such as milk, blood and urine contain information specifically related to metabolic and health status of the ruminant animals. Some changes in composition of biofluids can be attributed to disease response of the animals. Mastitis is a major problem for the global dairy industry and causes substantial economic losses from decreasing milk production and reducing milk quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential of NIRS combined with multivariate analysis for cow's mastitis diagnosis based on NIR spectra of milk, blood and urine. A total of 112 bulk milk, urine and blood samples from 4 Holstein cows were analyzed. The milk samples were collected from morning milking. The urine samples were collected before morning milking and stored at -35$^{\circ}C$ until spectral analysis. The blood samples were collected before morning milking using a catheter inserted into the carotid vein. Heparin was added to blood samples to prevent coagulation. All milk samples were analyzed for somatic cell count (SCC). The SCC content in milk was used as indicator of mastitis and as quantitative parameter for respective urine and blood samples collected at same time. NIR spectra of blood and milk samples were obtained by InfraAlyzer 500 spectrophotometer, using a transflectance mode. NIR spectra of urine samples were obtained by NIR System 6500 spectrophotometer, using 1 mm sample thickness. All samples were divided into calibration set and test set. Class variable was assigned for each sample as follow: healthy (class 1) and mastitic (class 2), based on milk SCC content. SIMCA was implemented to create models of the respective classes based on NIR spectra of milk, blood or urine. For the calibration set of samples, SIMCA models (model for samples from healthy cows and model for samples from mastitic cows), correctly classified from 97.33 to 98.67% of milk samples, from 97.33 to 98.61% of urine samples and from 96.00 to 94.67% of blood samples. From samples in the test set, the percent of correctly classified samples varied from 70.27 to 89.19, depending mainly on spectral data pretreatment. The best results for all data sets were obtained when first derivative spectral data pretreatment was used. The incorrect classified samples were 5 from milk samples,5 and 4 from urine and blood samples, respectively. The analysis of changes in the loading of first PC factor for group of samples from healthy cows and group of samples from mastitic cows showed, that separation between classes was indirect and based on influence of mastitis on the milk, blood and urine components. Results from the present investigation showed that the changes that occur when a cow gets mastitis influence her milk, urine and blood spectra in a specific way. SIMCA allowed extraction of available spectral information from the milk, urine and blood spectra connected with mastitis. The obtained results could be used for development of a new method for mastitis detection.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.571-582
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• 2016

Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) is one of most important diseases in Cucurbitaceae due to infection of Acidovorax citrulli, causing huge economic losses damage worldwide. This seedborn disease spread rapidly at period of high temperature and humidity. The eco-friendly farming is getting popular. So far there was no effective agent to control BFB in eco-friendly farming. Therefore, effect of the material based on chinese nut-gall extract with antibacterial activity against BFB to was tested against A. citrulli. Different hosts showed various symptoms of BFB. Liquid formulation among exhibited most effective anti-bacterial activity on A. citrulli. Pot experiment in greenhouse showed the potential as an control agent of BFB in cucurbits. The treatment of material based on chinese nut-gall extract showed the positive effect on survival of the watermelon seedling and on the length of the cucumber seedling treated with A. citrulli. We cautiously conclude that the material based on chinese nut-gall extract used in this study may be good agents against major diseases of cucurbits in the future even though it is require to be tested with more study on field test.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.617-623
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• 2006

The mortality and morbidity rate of hemodialysis patients (HD) remain high. Among many factors, protein and calorie malnutrition has been shown to be a major risk factor for increased mortality in the HD patients population. Malnutrition can be caused by insufficient amino acid intake, nutrient losses in dialysate, oxidant stress and muscle catabolism. In this study, we evaluated the association of markers of nutritional status and essential amino acids intake in HD patients. We investigated nutritional status of 41 HD patients (mean age: $64.2\;{\pm}\;11.5\;y$, men: 24, women: 27) by measuring anthropometric, biochemical parameters and food intakes by using 24 hr recall methods. Subject's total energy intake and total protein intake were $1,648.0\;{\pm}\;397.31\;kcal/day,\;79.2\;{\pm}\;27.2\;g/day$:, respectively. The animal protein intake was $42.7\;{\pm}\;22.1\;g/day$, essential amino acids intake was $23.4\;{\pm}\;9.92\;g/day$, and the ratio of essential amino acids to total protein intake was $29.6\;{\pm}\;5.42%$. There were significantly positive correlation between muscle mass and lean body mass with serum creatinine level (r=0.435, p<0.01; r=0.435, p<0,01). There were also significant positive correlation in muscle mass and lean body mass with pre hemodialysis blood urea nitrogen (preHD BUN) (r=0.329, p<0.05; r=0.329, p<0.05). There were no significant correlation in total energy intake and total protein intake per kg ideal body weight (IBW) to muscle mass and lean body mass. However, there were significantly positive correlation between the ratio of essential amino acids and muscle mass and lean body mass (r=0.368, p<0.05; r=0.405, p<0.01). And serum hematocrit concentration was positively correlated with the ratio of essential amino acids (r=0.032, p<0.05). The results of this study indicate that strong associations exist in essential amino acid intakes with malnutrition than total protein intakes in HD patient. In conclusion, specialized nutrition education should be necessary to efficiently improve the quality of protein intakes.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.393-398
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• 2010

Early pregnancy diagnosis of bovine is an essential component for efficient reproductive plan in farms because long term of non-pregnancy results in economic losses by failure of offspring production and low milk yield in dairy cattle. The major steroid hormones related with reproduction are known to be progesterone and estrogen in bovine pregnancy. To evaluate detection level of hormones in milk, plasma and milk progestrone and estrogen of Holstein cows was analyzed during artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET). Progesterone concentration at 21 days postestrus was significantly different in plasma and milk between pregnant and non-pregnant cows. Estrogen concentration at estrus was higher in pregnant recipients than that in non-pregnant recipients. To analyze correlation between hormone levels and conception rates in Holstein, the conception and return rates were checked following AI, and the returned cows were on the track of pregnancy after consecutive AI. Pregnant cows following first AI were considered as high conception group while pregnant cows following third AI were rated as low conception group. Proportion of high and low conception groups in this study was 78.2% and 9.1%, respectively. Hormone analysis indicated that high conception group had higher estrogen level during estrus than low conception group ($26.45{\pm}3.32$ vs $19.017{\pm}2.97$). Progesterone level was not different between high and low conception groups during estrus but increased significantly after 21 days postestrus (21 day: $4.95{\pm}1.12$ vs $0.95{\pm}0.23$, 35 day: $12.47{\pm}3.82$ vs $2.41{\pm}1.21$). In conclusion, the pattern of progesterone and estrogen secretion in Holstein milk samples could be a good candidate for early pregnancy detection and selection of recipients during ET.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2008

Bio-implantable devices such as heart pacers, gastric pacers and drug-delivery systems require power for carrying out their intended functions. These devices are usually powered through a battery implanted with the system or are wired to an external power source. This paper describes an inductive power transmission link, which was developed for an implantable stimulator for direct stimulation of denervated muscles. The carrier frequency is around 1MHz, the transmitter coil has a diameter of 46mm, and the implant coil is 46mm. Data transmission to the implant with amplitude shift keying (ASK) and back to the transmitter with passive telemetry can be added without major design changes. We chose the range of coil spacing (2 to 30mm) to care for lateral misalignment, as it occurs in practical use. If the transmitter coil has a well defined and reliable position in respect to the implant, a smaller working range might be sufficient. Under these conditions the link can be operated in fixed frequency mode, and reaches even higher efficiencies of up to 37%. The link transmits a current of 50 mA over a distance range of 2-15 mm with an efficiency of more than 20% in tracking frequency. The efficiency of the link was optimized with different approaches. A class E transmitter was used to minimize losses of the power stage. The geometry and material of the transmitter coil was optimized for maximum coupling. Phase lock techniques were used to achieve frequency tracking, keeping the transmitter optimally tuned at different coupling conditions caused by coil distance variations.