Effectiveness of Fortified Mid-Day Meal in Reducing Anemia Among School Children in Dhenkanal, Odisha: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Iron-deficiency anemia among school-aged children is widespread in India. The efficacy of micronutrient and iron fortified school-served meals in reducing iron deficiency anemia has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials in other parts of the globe. The current study evaluates its effectiveness in real-world Indian settings. METHODS: Mid-day-Meal (MDM) programme provides free lunch to students of grades 1 to 8 in all public-funded Indian schools. An implementation research project fortified MDM of all public schools of 4 out of 8 sub-districts ("blocks") of Dhenkanal district of Odisha state with fortified rice kernel (FRK). All the schools of the other 4 blocks fortified with micronutrient powders (MNP)-both FRK and MNP containing equal amounts of supplementary iron and other micronutrients. Schools of 4 matched blocks of neighboring nonimplementing Angul district served as control. Cross-sectional representative samples of students were drawn from the 3 arms, before and after intervention (n = 1764 and n = 1640 respectively). Pre-post changes in anemia prevalence and hemoglobin levels were estimated in the sampled children using difference-in-difference analysis after controlling for inter-arm differences in socioeconomic status, and iron and deworming tablet consumptions. RESULTS: Factoring in pre-post changes in control and adjusting for potential confounders, the proportion of children without anemia and mean hemoglobin improved by 1.93 (1.38, 2.24, P < .001) times and 0.24 (-0.03, 0.51, P = .083) g/dL in MNP; and 1.63 (1.18, 2.24, P = .002) times and 0.18 (-0.09, 0.45, P = .198) g/dL in FRK arms. CONCLUSIONS: Fortified MDM could effectively improve anemia status among Indian school-aged children under real-world conditions.

Strategic Supplementation of Antioxidant Micronutrients in Peri-parturient Murrah Buffaloes Helps Augment the Udder Health and Milk Production.

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of supplementation of designer dietary antioxidant micronutrients on udder health, milk yield, and its quality in buffaloes under field conditions. Sixteen healthy multiparous advanced pregnant graded Murrah buffaloes (around the last 3 months of gestation), identical in body weights, parity, and feeding conditions, were selected for the study. Feed offered and residues left of an individual animal were measured and recorded for 7 consecutive days with the sampling of feeds being offered to buffaloes and analyzed for dry matter and trace minerals Zn, Cu, and Se. Carotene and vitamin E content of offered feed samples were calculated based on reported values. The calculation was made to determine the deficiency of above micronutrients, and an antioxidant micronutrient supplement was designed to take care of the deficient micronutrients and supplemented in half of the buffaloes (n = 8) considered to be a treatment, while remaining half (n = 8) is considered to be control, fed as per the existing practice of farmer without additional supplementation. This supplementation study was continued for 2 months during advanced pregnancy and thereafter for 3 months post-calving. Dry matter intake recorded weekly during the pre- and postpartum period of study remained comparable (P > 0.05) between two groups. Udder health monitored fortnightly by modified California mastitis test, milk pH and somatic cell count indicated improvement (P < 0.05) of strategic antioxidant micronutrients supplementation. Milk yield started showing improvement (P < 0.05) as early as the first week after starting lactation with throughout enhanced (P < 0.05) values of milk protein, fat percentage, and fat-corrected milk yield. It may be concluded that strategic antioxidant micronutrient supplementation (Zn, Cu, and vitamins A and E) in the ration of peri-parturient buffaloes not only improved the udder health by reducing the occurrence of mastitis but also increased the milk yield as well as fat and protein percentage of milk.

Discovery of Novel Muscarinic Receptor Modulators by Integrating a Natural Product Framework and a Bioactive Molecule.

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) are important therapeutic targets for several diseases of the central nervous system and periphery. However, the lack of subtype-selective ligands for these receptors is a major challenge. A novel approach involving the integration of a natural product framework with a bioactive molecule (iNPBM) by using gephyrotoxin and the isoindoline framework is demonstrated for the discovery of new and selective mAChR modulators. We established a scalable and versatile synthetic scheme to enable the synthesis of various analogues that provided the first structure-activity relationship study of this class of compounds. Pharmacological profiling of these compounds demonstrated several ligands with high affinity and selectivity for mAChRs. Specifically, RG-06 and RG-09 were found to be antagonists of M3-mAChR, whereas RG-02 was found to be an agonist at M2-mAChR. Furthermore, RG-02 exhibited salutary effects in an established pharmacological model of a cognitive deficit in mice.