Biosecurity practices are a must in broiler farms to reduce the risk of infectious agents. This study aimed to evaluate biosecurity measures in nine broiler farms in the Suez Canal area - Egypt with ...measuring the seasonal prevalence of salmonellosis.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected nine broiler farms of different housing systems based on the ventilation methods from March 2018 to April 2019. A total of 12,600 samples (6480 environmental, 4320 non-environmental, 1080 sera, and 720 live birds) were collected during four successive seasons.
Highly significant increases (p<0.01) were recorded in body weight gains in opened and closed-houses during summer; in food conversion ratios in opened-houses during winter and in closed-houses during winter and fall; in performance indices in opened-houses during summer and closed-houses during winter; and in live body weights, carcasses weights, liver, spleen, and bursa's weights in opened-houses during spring and in closed-houses during fall. Highly significant increases (p<0.01) were recorded in total bacterial, Enterobacteriaceae, and
counts in opened-houses during spring and in closed-houses during summer, in
Typhi O and H, and
Paratyphi A and B sera titer in opened-houses during summer and closed-houses during fall. Biosecurity measures scored 34 out of 43 with an average salmonellosis prevalence of 6.0% in closed-house and 24 out of 43 with an average salmonellosis prevalence of 24.67% in opened-house broiler farms.
Weak biosecurity measures in broiler houses (opened and closed) were not sufficient to prevent the entrance and multiplication of
spp. Disciplines, commitment, and regulations of biosecurity need to be enforced in broiler houses to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases.
The modeling, design, and optimization of a new substrate integrated waveguide middle-fed series rectangular dielectric resonator antenna array with 45° linear polarization are presented. The ...implicit space mapping technique is applied for the optimization of the antenna array. A tunable circuit model is built, which serves as the coarse/surrogate mode, and a full-wave solver is used as the fine model. High design and optimization efficiency is demonstrated using an eight-element array. The reflection coefficient of the array antenna is optimized with only two iterations. The experimental data for the eight elements antenna array, operating at the millimeter-wave band (34-36 GHz), are used for the validation of both performance of the design and modeling techniques. The measured radiation pattern demonstrates a broadside beam with a maximum radiated gain of 13.55 dB over an operating impedance bandwidth of 2.2 GHz.
Probiotics improve intestinal balance through bacterial antagonism and competitive exclusion. This study aimed to investigate the
o antimicrobial activity, as well as the
o preventive, immunological, ...productive, and histopathological modifications produced by probiotic
s.
The
antimicrobial activities of
(5×10
CFU/g; 0.5, 1.0*, 1.5, and 2.0 g/L) were tested against
O157: H7,
Typhimurium,
, and
after exposure times of 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 h using minimal inhibitory concentration procedures. A total of 320 1-day-old female Ross broiler chickens were divided into five groups. Four out of the five groups were supplemented with 0.5, 1.0*, 1.5, and 2.0 g/L probiotic
from the age of 1 day old. Supplemented 14-day-old broiler chickens were challenged with only
O157: H7 (4.5×10
CFU/mL) and
. Typhimurium (1.2×10
CFU/mL). A total of 2461 samples (256 microbial-probiotic mixtures, 315 sera, 315 duodenal swabs, and 1575 organs) were collected.
The
results revealed highly significant (p<0.001) killing rates at all-time points in 2.0 g/L
: 99.9%, 90.0%, 95.6%, and 98.8% against
,
. Typhimurium,
, and
, respectively. Broilers supplemented with 1.5 and 2.0 g/L
revealed highly significant increases (p<0.01) in body weights, weight gains, carcass weights, edible organs' weights, immune organs' weights, biochemical profile, and immunoglobulin concentrations, as well as highly significant declines (p<0.01) in total bacterial,
, and
counts. Histopathological photomicrographs revealed pronounced improvements and near-normal pictures of the livers and hearts of broilers with lymphoid hyperplasia in the bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and spleen after supplementation with 2.0 g/L
.
The studies revealed that 1.5-2.0 g of probiotic
at a concentration of 5×10
CFU/g/L water was able to improve performance, enhance immunity, and tissue architecture, and produce direct antimicrobial actions.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a relapsing inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. The increased risk of cancer in UC patients warrants for the development of novel drug treatments. Herein, this work ...concerns with the investigation of the protective effects of Acacia saligna butanol extract (ASBE) and its nanoformulations on UC in a rat model and its underlying mechanism. Colitis was induced by slow intrarectal infusion of 2 mL of 4% (v/v in 0.9% saline) acetic acid. Colon samples were evaluated macroscopically, microscopically, and assayed for pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. To monitor associated metabolic changes in acetic acid-induced UC model, serum samples were analyzed for primary metabolites using GC–MS followed by multivariate data analyses. Treatment with ASBE attenuated acetic acid-induced UC as revealed by reduction of colon weight, ulcer area, and ulcer index. ASBE treatment also reduced Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) & Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) levels in the inflamed colon. The nano-formulation of ASBE showed better protection than the crude extract against ulcer indices, increased PGE2 production, and histopathological alterations such as intestinal mucosal lesions and inflammatory infiltration. Distinct metabolite changes were recorded in colitis rats including a decrease in oleamide and arachidonic acid along with increased levels of lactic acid, fructose, and pyroglutamic acid. Treatment with nano extract restored metabolite levels to normal and suggests that cytokine levels were regulated by nano extract in UC. Conclusion: ASBE nano extract mitigated against acetic acid-induced colitis in rats, and the underlying mechanism could be attributed to the modulatory effects of ASBE on the inflammatory cascades. The applicability of metabolomics developed in this rat model seems to be crucial for evaluating the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of new therapeutics for acute colitis.
Avian orthoavulavirus
1, formerly known as avian paramyxovirus type-1 (APMV-1), infects more than 250 different species of birds. It causes a broad range of clinical diseases and results in ...devastating economic impact due to high morbidity and mortality in addition to trade restrictions. The ease of spread has allowed the virus to disseminate worldwide with subjective virulence, which depends on the virus strain and host species. The emergence of new virulent genotypes among global epizootics, including those from Egypt, illustrates the time-to-time genomic alterations that lead to simultaneous evolution of distinct APMV-1 genotypes at different geographic locations across the world. In Egypt, the Newcastle disease was firstly reported in 1947 and continued to occur, despite rigorous prophylactic vaccination, and remained a potential threat to commercial and backyard poultry production. Since 2005, many researchers have investigated the nature of APMV-1 in different outbreaks, as they found several APMV-1 genotypes circulating among various species. The unique intermingling of migratory, free-living, and domesticated birds besides the availability of frequently mobile wild birds in Egypt may facilitate the evolution power of APMV-1 in Egypt. Pigeons and waterfowls are of interest due to their inclusion in Egyptian poultry industry and their ability to spread the infection to other birds either by presence of different genotypes (as in pigeons) or by harboring a clinically silent disease (as in waterfowl). This review details (i) the genetic and pathobiologic features of APMV-1 infections in Egypt, (ii) the epidemiologic and evolutionary events in different avian species, and (iii) the vaccine applications and challenges in Egypt.
The prognostic significance of cytokine receptor-like factor 2 (CRLF2) overexpression in pediatric B-cell precursor (BCP) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is still controversial. We aimed to ...investigate the role of CRLF2 overexpression and JAK2 mutation in the diagnosis and prognosis of newly diagnosed pediatric B-ALL patients.
CRLF2 expression was assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 115 pediatric patients newly diagnosed with precursor B-ALL patients compared with 24 age- and sex-matched controls. JAK2 R683G mutation status was performed by the qBiomarker Somatic Mutation PCR Assay.
CRLF2 overexpression was identified in 21 patients (18.3%), while the JAK2 R683G mutant type was found in only in 7 patients (6.1%). There was a significant CRLF2 overexpression in patients with high initial TLC, high blast count in blood, and organomegaly (P .04, 0.005 & 0.05 respectively). No patients with CRLF2 overexpression expressed any recurrent cytogenetic translocations. 4 patients with CRLF2 overexpression showed JAK2 R683G mutation. CRLF2 levels and JAK2 R683G mutation status did not have a significant impact on either overall survival or disease-free survival.
CRLF2 expression was significantly higher in Egyptian precursor B-ALL pediatric patients. CRLF2 overexpression was associated with a number of unfavorable prognostic factors with high tumor load, but was not an adverse independent parameter in pediatric BCP-ALL patients. Some patients with CRLF2 overexpression display JAK2 mutation, which may benefit from targeted therapy by kinase inhibitors.
Role of CRLF2 overexpression and JAK2 mutation in newly diagnosed Egyptian pediatric B-ALL patients. 115 patients and 24 controls were assessed by RT-qPCR assays for CRLF2 and JAK2 R683G mutation status. CRLF2 overexpression was not an independent adverse prognostic parameter in our pediatric B-ALL. Patients with CRLF2 overexpression may harbor JAK2 mutations, presenting a subset that can benefit from specific therapeutic strategies targeting these abnormalities, which may improve the prognosis of B-ALL.
Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H9N2 virus is one of the major poultry pathogens associated with severe economic losses in the poultry industry (broiler, layers, breeders, and grandparents' ...flocks), especially in endemic regions including the Middle East, North Africa, and Asian countries. This work is an attempt to evaluate the efficacy of whole inactivated H9N2 vaccine (MEFLUVAC
H9) in turkey poults kept under laboratory and commercial farm conditions. Here, 10,000 white turkey poults (1-day old) free from maternally derived immunity against H9N2 virus were divided into four groups; G1 involved 10 vaccinated birds kept under biosafety level-3 (BLS-3) as a laboratory vaccinated and challenged group, while G2 had 9970 vaccinated turkeys raised on a commercial farm. Ten of those birds were moved to BLS-3 for daily cloacal and tracheal swabbing to check for the absence of any life-threating disease, before conducting analyses. G3 (10 birds) served as a non-vaccinated challenged control under BSL-3 conditions, while G4 (10 birds) was used as a non-vaccinated and non-challenged control under BSL-3 conditions. Sera were collected on days 7-, 14-, 21-, and 28-post-vaccinations to monitor the humoral immune response using a hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test. At these same intervals, cloacal and tracheal swabs were also checked for any viral infection. The challenge was conducted 28 days post-vaccination (PV) using AI-H9N2 in BSL-3 by intranasal inoculation of 6-log10 embryo infective dose
(EID
). At 3-, 6-, and 10-days post-challenge, oropharyngeal swabs were taken from challenged birds to quantify viral shedding by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The results of this study showed that vaccinated groups (G1/2) developed HI titers of 1.38, 4.38, 5.88, and 7.25 log
in G1 vs. 1.2, 3.8, 4.9 and 6.2 log
in G2 when measured at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days PV, respectively, while undetectable levels were recorded in non-vaccinated groups (G3/4). Birds in G3 showed 90% clinical sickness vs. 10% and 20% in G1/2, respectively, over a 10-day monitoring period following challenge. Vaccinated birds showed a significant reduction in virus shedding in terms of the number of shedders, amount of shed virus and shedding interval over the non-vaccinated challenged birds. Regarding mortality, all groups did not show any mortality, which confirms that the circulating H9N2 virus still has low pathogenicity and cannot cause mortality. However, the virus may cause up to 90% clinical sickness in non-vaccinated birds vs. 10% and 20% in laboratory- and farm-vaccinated birds, respectively, highlighting the role of the vaccine in limiting clinical sickness cases. In conclusion, under the current trial circumstances, MEFLUVAC
-H9 provided protective seroconversion titers, significant clinical sickness protection and significant reduction in virus shedding either in laboratory- or farm-vaccinated groups after a single vaccine dose.
Colibacillosis is a common infectious bacterial disease that can cause enteritis and high mortality in young rabbits, threatening the breeding industry. This work was performed to express some ...virulence-determining genes and antimicrobial resistance patterns of isolated E. coli and to study the efficacy of herbal oils and/or probiotic on reducing E. coli infection in rabbits. Vaginal swabs and semen samples were collected from rabbits with reproductive problems (farm 1) and anal swabs were collected from rabbits with diarrhea (farm 2) in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt. Samples were subjected for bacterial identification, antibiogram-testing and molecular monitoring of iss and eaeA virulence genes. An experiment was performed in which 54 weaned California rabbits were divided into 6 equal groups, negative control group (G1), non-infected treated with probiotic and both fennel and moringa oils (G2), Infected and treated with probiotic, fennel and moringa oils (G3), treated with probiotic only (G4), treated with colistin sulfate (G5) and Positive control (G6). Infected groups (G3, G4, G5 and G6) were challenged orally with E. coli (1x107 CFU). The detection of E. coli was 15.3% (2/13) and 62.5% (10/16) in farm (1) and (2) respectively. The isolated E. coli was multidrug-resistant (MDR), carrying virulence genes iss and eaeA, with prevalence of 100% (12/12) and 50% (6 /12) respectively. Clinical symptoms were prominent in the experiment E. coli infected untreated group (6), with the least evidence in group (5). The E. coli colony counts were significantly higher in group (6) while rabbits in group (3) had significantly higher body weights compared to infected groups. Thus, we concluded that, the use of two herbal oils and probiotics were able to reduce mortality rates, clinical signs, and the total E. coli count in experimentally infected rabbits.
Sarcoptic Mange is a highly contagious parasitic disease that can cause huge economic losses to rabbit producers and has the potential to infect humans. This study aimed to perform molecular ...characterization and phylogenetic analysis of Sarcoptes scabiei, assess redox and inflammatory state, evaluate the cost and efficacy of a single dose of a commercially available ivermectin with a topical application of sulfur ointment for control of this issue. Skin scraping was collected from infested rabbits in Ismailia governorate, Egypt, and submitted for parasitological examination. The mite specimens were identified based on ITS2 PCR gene. Forty-four adult rabbits naturally infected with mange and 5 free animals were divided into three groups, group 1, 1% ivermectin was injected subcutaneously once, the affected area was soaked with 1% deltamethrin, and sulfur ointment 10% was applied every 2 days. Group 2 received two injections of ivermectin with an interval of 2 weeks while group 3 was non-infested rabbits. Skin scraping and serum samples were taken for parasitological and clinicopathological examination and the cost of each treatment was calculated. A high degree of sequence variation was observed between our sequence sample and some other Sarcoptes scabiei sequences from Egypt and different geographic areas. MDA and IL-6 levels were significantly increased, and TAC was significantly decreased in the infected groups compared with the uninfected group. On the 28th day of treatment, hair growth and complete skin recovery were observed in both treated groups. A single dose of 1% ivermectin with topical treatment is sufficient to eliminate Sarcoptes scabiei but is costly.
This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence, molecular characterization, partial sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis of the chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) circulating in chicken flocks in ...Ismailia and Sharkia Provinces, Egypt. Tissue pool samples (liver, thymus, spleen, and bone marrow) were collected from commercial and backyard flocks with anemia, uneven growth, and vaccinal failure history. The occurrence of CIAV was 51% (51/100) using specific primers through the polymerase chain reaction test, which was higher in the backyard (26/50) 52% than that in commercial flocks (25/50) 50%. The highest rate of CIAV detection was 77% (13/17) and 75% (9/12) in Saso and Arbor Acer breeds respectively, followed by the Baladi 52% (26/50) and Cobb 27 % (4/15). The histopathological study reflected severe lymphocytic depletions in lymphoid organs with the presence of apoptotic cells and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. Partial sequence analysis of six selected field circulating CIAVs showed changes in VP1 at position H 22 Q, VP2 at position A 153 V, T 180 S and VP3 at position R 118 C indicating low affinity of the obtained viruses to grow in the cell line. Some obtained viruses showed mutations in the epitopic site which may develop escape mutation virus from the currently used vaccines. Phylogenetically, the six selected fields CIAVs were classified into two distinct groups. The continuous surveillance activities and epidemiological mapping for CIAV among Egyptian governorates using updating primers are essential to facilitate control program strategies.
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