Probiotics are live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits to the host. The use of probiotics in poultry has increased steadily over the years due to higher demand for antibiotic-free poultry. The objective of this systematic review is to present and evaluate the effects of probiotics on the nutrient utilization, growth and laying performance, gut histomorphology, immunity, and gut microbiota of poultry. An electronic search was conducted using relevant keywords to include papers pertinent to the topic. Seventeen commonly used probiotic species were critically assessed for their roles in the performance and gut health of poultry under existing commercial production conditions. The results showed that probiotic supplementation could have the following effects: (1) modification of the intestinal microbiota, (2) stimulation of the immune system, (3) reduction in inflammatory reactions, (4) prevention of pathogen colonization, (5) enhancement of growth performance, (6) alteration of the ileal digestibility and total tract apparent digestibility coefficient, and (7) decrease in ammonia and urea excretion. Thus, probiotics can serve as a potential alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in poultry production. However, factors such as the intestinal health condition of birds, the probiotic inclusion level; and the incubation conditions, feedstuff, and water quality offered to birds may affect the outcome. This systematic review provides a summary of the use of probiotics in poultry production, as well as the potential role of probiotics in the nutrient utilization, growth and laying performance, and gut health of poultry.

Dietary fiber (DF) was considered an antinutritional factor due to its adverse effects on feed intake and nutrient digestibility. However, with increasing evidence, scientists have found that DF has enormous impacts on the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) development, digestive physiology, including nutrient digestion, fermentation, and absorption processes of poultry. It may help maintain the small and large intestine’s integrity by strengthening mucosal structure and functions and increasing the population and diversity of commensal bacteria in the GIT. Increasing DF content benefits digestive physiology by stimulating GIT development and enzyme production. And the inclusion of fiber at a moderate level in diets also alters poultry growth performance. It improves gut health by modulating beneficial microbiota in the large intestine and enhancing immune functions. However, determining the source, type, form, and level of DF inclusion is of utmost importance to achieve the above-noted benefits. This paper critically reviews the available information on dietary fibers used in poultry and their effects on nutrient utilization, GIT development, gut health, and poultry performance. Understanding these functions will help develop nutrition programs using proper DF at an appropriate inclusion level that will ultimately lead to enhanced DF utilization, overall health, and improved poultry growth performance. Thus, this review will help researchers and industry identify the sources, type, form, and amount of DF to be used in poultry nutrition for healthy, cost-effective, and eco-friendly poultry production.

Early growth and development of the gastrointestinal tract are of critical importance to enhance nutrients' utilization and optimize the growth of poultry. In the current production system, chicks do not have access to feed for about 48–72 h during transportation between hatchery and production farms. This lag time affects early nutrient intake, natural exposure to the microbiome, and the initiation of beneficial stimulation of the immune system of chicks. In ovo feeding can provide early nutrients and additives to embryos, stimulate gut microflora, and mitigate the adverse effects of starvation during pre-and post-hatch periods. Depending on the interests, the compounds are delivered to the embryo either around day 12 or 17 to 18 of incubation and via air sac or amnion. In ovo applications of bioactive compounds like vaccines, nutrients, antibiotics, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, creatine, follistatin, L-carnitine, CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, growth hormone, polyclonal antimyostatin antibody, peptide YY, and insulin-like growth factor-1 have been studied. These compounds affect hatchability, body weight at hatch, physiological functions, immune responses, gut morphology, gut microbiome, production performance, and overall health of birds. However, the route, dose, method, and time of in ovo injection and host factors can cause variation, and thereby inconsistencies in results. Studies using this method have manifested the benefits of injection of different single bioactive compounds. But for excelling in poultry production, researchers should precisely know the proper route and time of injection, optimum dose, and effective combination of different compounds. This review paper will provide an insight into current practices and available findings related to in ovo feeding on performance and health parameters of poultry, along with challenges and future perspectives of this technique.

Introduction: Drug-induced gingival enlargement is a well documented side effect with the use of phenytoin, cyclosporine and calcium channel blockers. The prevalence of gingival enlargement induced by calcium channel blockers is uncertain. Several studies show confl icting results ranging from 20% to 83%. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of gingival enlargement in patients taking antihypertensive medication. Methods: All consecutive patients on antihypertensive agents attending the Dental OPD were studied. The prevalence of drug induced gingival enlargement was determined. The periodontal condition of all subjects were assessed including plaque index and probing depth. Results: Total 81.2% of subjects taking antihypertensive were seen to have signifi cant enlargement. Among them 71.1% were taking calcium channel blocker, 21.5% were taking ACE Inhibitors, and 7.4% were taking β- blockers. Conclusions:Patients taking antihypertensive agents are at increased risk for gingival enlargement and infl ammation is an important cofactor for the expression of this effect.Key Words: anti-hypertensive drugs, gingival enlargement

Introduction: The prevalence of suicide has been increasing globally in all age groups. There is dearth of literature on suicide among younger patients from developing country. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence and cause of suicide as well as to identify the vulnerable groups of children and young adults to suicide. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective observational study. Data was collected from the Police Head Quarters in Kathmandu and included all completed suicide cases of less than twenty one years of age from January 2005 to December 2009. Results: There were a total of 2172 documented cases of completed suicide in the age group between 4 to 21 years. The majority were female and belonged to the adolescent age group. The incidence of suicide showed an increasing trend within the five years of the study. A monthly breakdown of the cases revealed that the incidence of suicide was lowest in January and February and peaked from April to October. Hanging was the most common mode of suicide followed by poisoning and drowning. The reason for suicide could be ascertained only among 25.5 % of cases. Domestic violence (35%), mental illness (24%), failure in academic achievement (15.8%) and end of a romantic relationship (8.7%) were found to be common causes of committing suicide. Of the 87 cases found who committed suicide because of academic failure 46.6% were at a grade ten level. Conclusions: Suicide in children and young adults in Nepal appears to be a concealed but serious problem requiring immediate attention and systematic efforts. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v33i2.7512   J Nepal Paediatr Soc. 2013; 33(2):110-116

This study was performed to investigate the recurrence of the umbilical hernia in bovine calves at Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. A total of 34 animals were admitted to VTH diagnosed to have the umbilical hernia, among them 13 were recurrent cases. The diagnosis of umbilical hernia was based on the disease history, clinical signs, palpation, needle exploration, and auscultation. The risk factors like age, sex, breed, body weight, the season of affection, size of the hernial ring, suture materials, error in suture patterns and involvement of infections in the recurrence were considered.  Infected samples were collected from recurrent patients with infected umbilicus region, and subjected to bacteriological analysis. We found the recurrence percentage was higher in the crossbred (44%) than that in the indigenous (22.22%) calves. It was also observed that recurrence percentage was higher in male (42.11%) than those in female (33.33%) patients. The recurrence percentage was also higher in calves aged below three months (40.74%) than the calves of above three months (28.57%). It was found that recurrence percentage was most frequent in summer (46.15%) and the least in the winter (30%). Among 13 recurrent bovine calves after herniorrhaphy, three calves returned to VTH with umbilical abscess, six calves recurred due to non-infectious causes like failure of suture materials, errors in suture pattern or management fault and 4 calves recurred with both umbilical abscess and non-infectious causes. From this study, it may be concluded that synthetic absorbable suture materials with secured suture pattern and good postoperative management may help in reducing the recurrence of an umbilical hernia. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(3): 464–470, December 2018

The study mentioned here was designed to investigate both bacterial pathogens and risk factors associated with the occurrence of naval ill in calves. A total of 350 calves diagnosed to have navel ill formed the population in our study. Incidence density reports representing the period between 2009 and 2018 were obtained from Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Bangladesh Agricultural University where information about age, sex, breed, seasonal effect was also included. Umbilical swab from each individual suffering from confirmed navel ill was collected for microbiological study. The occurrence of navel ill in the age of <30 days (n = 244, 69.71%) was noted higher compared to the age of ≥30 days (n = 106, 30.29%). Male calves were highly susceptible (n = 192, 54.86%) compared to females (n=158, 45.14%). In cross breed individuals, the occurrence was higher (n = 330, 94.29%) in regard of indigenous calves (n=20, 5.71%). The occurrence of the illness in summer (March-June) was more common (n = 159, 45.43%) in comparison to both rainy (n = 111, 31.71%) and winter (n = 80, 22.86%) seasons. In term of microbiological study, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Proteus spp. were identified and isolated from the infected areas of the calves with the disease. In conclusion, navel ill occurred more commonly in male calves with the age of less than one month. The appearance of navel ill was noted to be more frequently in summer season (March-June) in cross breed calves. The results also demonstrated that the condition is mediated by mixed bacterial infection formed by gram-positive and gram-negative agents which induce the initial inflammation.

A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the occurrence of Schistosomus reflexus in calves from January 2012 to December 2016. Occurrence of Schistosomus reflexus in neonatal calves was studied in relation to breed, sex and seasons of calving. Clinical signs were angulation of limbs and no abdominal closure. Results showed 8.41% Schistosomus reflexus in surgically intervened cows. The percentage of indigenous calves affected with Schistosomus reflexus was as high as 42.86%, and in crossbred this was 57.14%. The percent of female calves born with Schistosomus reflexus was higher (60.0%) than the males (40.0%). Maximum occurrence (42.86%) of Schistosomus reflexus was recorded in the summer followed by rainy (37.14%) and winter seasons (20.0%). Among the studied areas, highest occurrence was recorded in Mymensingh Sadar (68.57%) followed by in Patuakhali Sadar (17.14%) and Bauphal (14.29%) upazilla of Patuakhali district. However, this study provides some basic information to veterinarians, researchers and farmers about the occurrence of Schistosomus reflexus in calves.