Antimicrobial stewardship hindered by inadequate biosecurity and biosafety practices, and inappropriate antibiotics usage in poultry farms of Nepal-A pilot study.

Nepal's poultry industry has experienced remarkable growth in the last decade, but farm biosafety and biosecurity measures are often overlooked by farmers. As a result, farms often suffer from sporadic and regular outbreaks of many diseases, impacting production and creating public health challenges. Poor management practices, including overuse of antibiotics for prophylaxis and therapeutics, can enhance the spread of poultry diseases by propagating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that is threatening poultry and human health. We assessed biosafety, biosecurity risks and AMR stewardship in sixteen poultry farms located in four districts: Ramechhap, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, and Kavre. Risk assessment and AMR stewardship evaluation questionnaires were administered to formulate biosafety and biosecurity compliance matrix (BBCM). Risk assessment checklist assessed facility operations, personnel and standard operating procedures, water supply, cleaning and maintenance, rodent/pest control and record keeping. Oral and cloacal samples from the poultry were collected, pooled, and screened for eight poultry pathogens using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. Based on BBCM, we identified the highest BBCM score of 67% obtained by Sindhupalchowk farm 4 and the lowest of 12% by Kavre farm 3. Most of the farms (61.6%) followed general poultry farming practices, only half had clean and well-maintained farms. Lowest scores were obtained for personnel safety standard (42.4%) and rodent control (3.1%). At least one of the screened pathogens were detected in all farms. Mycoplasma gallisepticum was the most common pathogen detected in all but three farms, followed by Mycoplasma synoviae. More than half of the farmers considered AMR a threat, over 26% of them used antibiotics as a preventive measure and 81% did not consider withdrawal period for antibiotics prior to processing of their meat products. Additionally, antibiotics classified as "Watch" and "Restrict" by the WHO were frequently used by the farmers to treat bacterial infections in their farms.

Separation of motile human sperms in a T-shaped sealed microchannel.

Microfluidic methods act as an effective motile sperm separation technique used in infertility treatments. This work presents a standalone microfluidic device to separate motile sperm cells from non-motile sperm cells and debris. The separation mechanism is based on the centrifugal force acting on sperms and the ability of progressive motile sperms to swim upstream. The separation of motile sperm is carried out using a simple T-shaped microchannel which constitutes three reservoirs: one inlet and two outlets. Herein, one of the outlets is kept sealed. The sealed channel leads to a high-velocity gradient and a rheotaxis zone at the T junction resulting in the separation of motile sperms. Separated sperms are isolated in a sealed channel with a low Reynolds number flow so that sperms cannot have a net displacement, which ensures that the sperms do not re-enter the fluid flow. CFD simulation is conducted to study the flow fields inside the channel and experimental investigation is carried to observe the separation behaviour of sperms. The reported device provides 100% sperm separation efficiency and ensures the entrapment of sperm cells for a longer period. A modified colorimetric nitroblue tetrazolium test conducted on separated sperm cells shows that there is only a marginal increase in superoxide (O2 -) production, proving normal sperm integrity. This device offers an effective and safe alternative to conventional sperm sorting methods. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13534-022-00229-9.