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BACKGROUND: Febrile seizures are associated with a lot of modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors. Extensive research is currently going on to discover more and more risk factors of febrile seizures, so that they can be modified to decrease their incidence and recurrence. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the status of 25-hydroxy vitamin D in children presented with simple febrile seizures and to find its correlation with recurrence of seizures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted on 223 children of age group 7-59 months who presented with simple febrile seizures. 25-hydroxy vitamin D were sent to laboratory for quantitative estimation. All data were recorded, status of vitamin D in these children was analyzed, and statistical significance of correlation of vitamin D with the number of recurrent seizure episodes was derived. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The comparison among groups was carried out by analysis of variance and correlation was conducted by Pearson's correlation analysis. A value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: 25-hydroxy vitamin D insufficiency was present in 43.5% of the children, deficiency in 30.85 %, and normal level in 25.56% of children who had simple febrile seizures. Majority of the children presented with recurrent episodes of seizures had vitamin D deficiency followed by insufficiency and normal level. Comparison of Vitamin D showed significant negative correlation (As vitamin D level increases frequency of seizure febrile seizure recurrence decreases and vice versa) with recurrence of simple febrile seizures. CONCLUSION: Deficiency of vitamin D is associated significantly with simple febrile seizures and their recurrence is negatively correlated with it.
RESUMO
A total of 240 broiler chicken of same hatch with uniform weight were used in a biological experiment with completely randomized design to investigate the effects of incorporating organic chromium (Cr) in flaxseed meal based diet on the fatty acid profile, oxidative stability and functional properties of broiler chicken meat. Five diets were formulated as per the recommendations of BIS (Nutrient requirements for poultry 13: 9863, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1992) in which flaxseed meal was used to replace 10% of soyabean in basal diet and four levels of Cr (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/kg diet) as Cr-picolinate were used. The results revealed that flaxseed feeding significantly increased the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids, including MUFA, PUFA, ω-3, ω-6 fatty acids and ω-3:ω-6 and PUFA:SFA ratios, whereas, significant decline was seen in saturated fatty acids and no effect of Cr was observed on the fatty acid profile of broiler chicken. Flaxseed feeding significantly reduced the cholesterol and fat percentage of meat, whereas, significant progressive reduction was observed with increasing Cr levels. The combination of 10% flaxseed with 1.0 mg Cr/kg diet increased the final pH of broiler meat. The addition of flaxseed significantly reduced water holding capacity, extract release volume and antioxidant potential of broiler meat, whereas, increasing Cr supplementation progressively increased them. Flaxseed feeding significantly increased the drip loss and lipid peroxidation of broiler meat, whereas, Cr supplementation decreased them. It was concluded that inclusion of 10% flaxseed and 1.5 mg Cr/kg diet results in desirable fatty acid profile, oxidative stability and functional properties of broiler chicken meat.
RESUMO
AIM: This study was conducted to determine the effect of infrared lamps to ameliorate cold stress in Vrindavani (Holstein Friesian × Brown Swiss × Jersey × Hariana) calves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the present investigation, ten newborn Vrindavani calves were randomly divided into two groups (G1 and G2) of five each. The experiment was conducted from 2(nd) November to 8(th) February when the environmental temperature was at the lowest. The calves of G1 were provided with no additional protection while the calves of G2 were protected against the cold weather by providing heat using the infrared lamps. The body weight (kg) of the calves was recorded at weekly interval. The blood samples collected within 6 h of birth and then at fortnightly interval were analyzed for packed cell volume (PCV, %), hemoglobin (Hb, g/dl). Besides, the serum biochemical parameters, viz., Total serum protein (TSP, g/l), albumin (g/l), globulin (g/l), albumin globulin ratio (A:G) and important stress parameters, viz., triiodothyronine (T3, ng/ml), thyroxine (T4, ng/ml) and cortisol (ng/ml) were also estimated. RESULTS: The calves of G2 showed higher body weight gain as compared to G1. The differences were found to be highly significant (p<0.01). The calves in G1 showed comparatively higher values of PCV and Hb and the differences were found to be significant (p<0.05) on 45(th) day for PCV and highly significant (p<0.01) on 60(th) day for PCV and on 45(th) day for Hb. The values of TSP and albumin were comparatively higher in calves of G1 as compared to G2 and the differences were highly significant (p<0.01) on 45(th) day for both TSP and albumin and significant (p<0.05) on 60(th) day for albumin. Significantly (p<0.01) higher values of cortisol and T4 were observed on 15 and 45(th) day in calves of G1 as compared to G2. The T3 levels were also found higher in calves of G1 than G2 and the differences were significant (p<0.05) on 15 and 30(th) day and highly significant (p<0.01) on 45(th) day of the study. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, it could be concluded that the infrared lamps are efficient in providing favorable microclimate and hence can be effectively used in calf shed to protect newborn calves from adverse conditions of winter and to improve their body growth performance.
