#juniper district 11.

[embersofhope-if]

So is Juniper and MC gonna be the Rue and Katniss of the games? 👀

...maybe

[eventiderpg]

Hours before a majority of Panem knew it, the rebels began enacting phase one of their plan to overthrow the Capitol. This involved saving as many people as possible before the government’s military had a chance to bomb District 8 and 12. Gale and Cael boarded a hovercraft at a discreet location and commenced an evacuation of their home district, knowing that phase two of the rebellion’s plan would light a fuse and set war in motion. Over one thousand people were brought to District 13: approximately 700 from District 8, 600 from District 12, 100 from District 3, 100 from District 4, 100 from District 11, and 50 from District 6. With District 13’s limited resources, they could only transport the refugees in waves, wearing them thin.

Broadcast to all of Panem through the Hunger Games, Ezra hunted down his fellow tributes one by one, leaving them to suffer rather than finishing them off. That was what most viewers thought they were witnessing. Instead, he was brought to near exhaustion trying to save them by carving out their trackers before a hovercraft arrived to take them out of the arena. While he was doing so, Juniper toiled against time to finish her contraption of wires that would open up a hole in the arena. Watching intently, Plutarch Heavensbee had already slipped from the Gamemakers’ control room and was already headed to District 13 before the clock struck 8 o’clock, triggering the lightning trap and disabling the force field.

The Gamemakers had no time to prepare, but the instant the arena’s cameras cut off from the power outage, an outraged President Snow commanded the Peacekeepers to make haste and get a handle on the situation before they lose all sense of power and organization. Some swarmed the arena and others at the Capitol worked to gather those who were not native to the region, such as the victors and lottery winners. Rebels who were privy to the plan of destroying the arena also knew of assigned pickup locations for transportation to a district once believed to be decimated, and they told as many trustworthy people as they could. They managed to board a hovercraft and were brought to District 13. A few who were thought to be Capitol loyalists were still taken there, but not without being heavily monitored and placed in cells at their arrival.

The rebels have reached the point of no return. As all of Panem watched the live feed of the Hunger Games go to black, uprisings started to break out throughout the nation. Snow ordered airstrikes to quell the districts’ fury; the population of the districts inordinately outnumbered the Capitol. He chose to remind every insubordinate that he could easily wipe them all out if need be.

Amidst all the chaos, not all those who were disloyal to the Capitol were able to reach one of the pickup points for being flown to District 13. The Peacekeepers apprehended them before they were able to escape to the rebellion’s base of operations. Stripped of their clothes and belongings, these prisoners were only kept alive as collateral if the unruly districts refused to give in to President Snow’s demand for surrender or used as pawns for propaganda. Though, they would not be held hostage without undergoing punishment. They were tortured for answers. Brainwashed or beaten into an allegiance to President Snow. The captives’ loved ones wondered whether they were alive or dead. And they would be left wondering until Caesar Flickerman would host his exclusive interviews, but not before it is ensured the interviewees understood or believed in the script that would be fed to them. A script that contained elaborate words pandering to the Capitol.

President Snow with his blindly loyal military took measures to prevent a siege of the Capitol. Alma Coin, President of District 13, helped orchestrate the plan to begin Capitol takeover by first dismantling the very symbol of Snow’s power over Panem: the Hunger Games. But her plan is nowhere close to being over, and cannot be completed without the aid of those who believed in the rebellion’s cause. President Coin sought to sway the opinion of the people to her side. Hope was useless. Sheer determination was what brought change. She only needed to ignite the fire within the people of Panem to bring about that change.

The Second Rebellion has officially begun! Although this event begins on August 1st, it does not have a definitive end date yet and will be decided through the consensus of all members. However, the event will be the longest one yet as wars tend to take years before any peace and order is reached. Please tag any posts relating to this event with #eventideevent04. In the roleplay, this event officially begins at the point when all muses have had a chance to settle in their new environment for a few days. Specifically, it will be four days from when the arena was destroyed. Any thread involving them getting to their chosen location can still be roleplayed but should be tagged with #eventidepast.

We have made it to the Mockingjay era, and we thank you all for being so supportive of this group! It cannot exist without you! Happy roleplaying, everyone! Under the cut, you will find a short guide on how to roleplay this specific event.

How to Roleplay the Second Rebellion

In the beginning of the Second Rebellion, all of our muses will be scattered throughout Panem, but only in three distinct locations so as to increase the potential of threads between characters. Some have been captured by Peacekeepers and are being held in cells, others are free to roam the Capitol after proving their loyalty, and most have been evacuated to District 13. If you plan to bring in a new muse, please let the admins know which location your muse will reside for the beginning of this specific event.

Since this is such a plot-heavy event, most threads will be reliant on plotting with your fellow muns. The admins have created Discord channels specifically for plotting between muns who have muses in similar predicaments. These channels also include questionnaires that would clear up what your muses will be up to during the Second Rebellion, so we highly encourage you to complete them. Major occurrences like rescuing the captives and other missions will be announced through plot drops. Most of you will be heavily involved in determining the details of these important missions as many of your muses will be included in them. Any plot drops will be treated as writing prompts similar to the Caesar and Claudius highlights from the last event, but you will not be updated on new occurrences daily.

In short, the progression of the Second Rebellion will be decided with the help of the group because your voices matter to us! Be sure to reach out to the admins if you have any comments or questions!

[alphaeverestbasecamp]

Best 24-Day Upper Dolpo Camping Trek in Nepal: An Adventure into the Mystical Himalayas

The Upper Dolpo region, one of the most isolated and untouched areas of Nepal, offers trekkers a unique and extraordinary adventure. This remote region, situated in the northwestern part of Nepal, borders Tibet and is renowned for its rugged landscapes, ancient Buddhist monasteries, and traditional Tibetan culture. The 24-day Upper Dolpo Camping Trek is an immersive journey that takes you through some of the most stunning and uncharted terrains in the Himalayas. This trek is ideal for those seeking an off-the-beaten-path experience, combining natural beauty, cultural richness, and physical challenge.

Overview

Duration: 24 days

Maximum Elevation: 5,350 meters (Kang La Pass)

Difficulty Level: Strenuous

Best Seasons: May to September

Accommodation: Camping/Tents

Highlights

Juphal: Starting point of the trek, a small village with a scenic airstrip.

Phoksundo Lake: Nepal’s deepest and most beautiful lake, renowned for its turquoise waters.

Shey Gompa: An ancient monastery, also known as the Crystal Monastery, located in a remote valley.

Kang La Pass: The highest point of the trek, offering panoramic views of the surrounding peaks.

Traditional Villages: Explore the remote villages of Ringmo, Saldang, and Dho Tarap, where Tibetan culture is preserved.

Wildlife: Encounter rare wildlife such as snow leopards, blue sheep, and Himalayan monals.

Diverse Landscapes: From deep gorges and arid deserts to lush valleys and snow-capped peaks.

Trekking Route

Day 1: Arrival in Kathmandu (1,400m)

Arrive in Kathmandu and transfer to your hotel. Spend the day exploring the vibrant capital of Nepal, visiting sites like Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) and Durbar Square.

Day 2: Flight to Nepalgunj

Take a short flight to Nepalgunj, a bustling town in the Terai region of Nepal. Overnight stay in Nepalgunj.

Day 3: Flight to Juphal and Trek to Dunai (2,140m)

Fly to Juphal, the starting point of the trek. From Juphal, trek to Dunai, the administrative center of the Dolpo district. The trail follows the Thuli Bheri River and passes through small villages and terraced fields.

Day 4: Dunai to Ankhe (2,660m)

Trek to Ankhe, entering the Shey Phoksundo National Park. The trail winds through forests of pine, fir, and juniper, with occasional views of the Bheri River.

Day 5: Ankhe to Sulighat (3,200m)

Continue trekking to Sulighat, following a trail that climbs and descends through dense forests and crosses several rivers.

Day 6: Sulighat to Phoksundo Lake (3,611m)

Trek to Phoksundo Lake, one of the highlights of the journey. The trail ascends to a ridge that offers stunning views of the turquoise lake and the surrounding mountains. Descend to the village of Ringmo, located on the shores of the lake.

Day 7: Acclimatization Day at Phoksundo Lake

Spend a day acclimatizing at Phoksundo Lake. Explore the village of Ringmo, visit the Tshowa Gompa, a 900-year-old Bon monastery, and enjoy the serene beauty of the lake.

Day 8: Phoksundo Lake to Phoksundo Khola (3,507m)

Trek along the western bank of Phoksundo Lake to Phoksundo Khola. The trail is narrow and exposed in some places, offering spectacular views of the lake and the surrounding cliffs.

Day 9: Phoksundo Khola to Phoksundo Bhanjyang (4,400m)

Continue trekking to Phoksundo Bhanjyang, the base of the Kang La Pass. The trail involves steep ascents and descents, passing through remote valleys and rugged terrain.

Day 10: Phoksundo Bhanjyang to Shey Gompa (4,126m) via Kang La Pass (5,350m)

One of the most challenging days of the trek, crossing the Kang La Pass. The climb is steep and demanding, but the views from the top are incredibly rewarding. Descend to Shey Gompa, an ancient monastery located in a picturesque valley.

Day 11: Exploration Day at Shey Gompa

Spend a day exploring Shey Gompa and its surroundings. Visit the monastery, known as the Crystal Monastery, and learn about the region's unique Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Day 12: Shey Gompa to Namgung (4,360m)

Trek to Namgung, passing through high-altitude landscapes and crossing the Shey La Pass. The trail offers stunning views of the mountains and valleys.

Day 13: Namgung to Saldang (3,903m)

Descend to the village of Saldang, one of the largest villages in the region. Saldang is located on a high plateau and is known for its traditional Tibetan culture and beautiful landscapes.

Day 14: Saldang to Yangze Gompa (4,420m)

Trek to Yangze Gompa, passing through remote villages and arid landscapes. The trail follows the Nagon Khola and offers views of ancient monasteries and chortens.

Day 15: Yangze Gompa to Sibu (4,560m)

Continue trekking to Sibu, a small settlement located in a remote valley. The trail involves several river crossings and passes through high-altitude terrain.

Day 16: Sibu to Jeng La Phedi (4,900m)

Trek to Jeng La Phedi, the base of the Jeng La Pass. The trail ascends gradually, offering views of the surrounding peaks and valleys.

Day 17: Jeng La Phedi to Tokyu Gaon (4,209m) via Jeng La Pass (5,090m)

Cross the Jeng La Pass, one of the highest points of the trek. The climb is steep and challenging, but the views from the top are breathtaking. Descend to Tokyu Gaon, a traditional Tibetan village.

Day 18: Tokyu Gaon to Dho Tarap (4,040m)

Trek to Dho Tarap, one of the largest villages in the Dolpo region. The trail follows the Tarap Chu River and passes through beautiful landscapes and traditional villages.

Day 19: Exploration Day in Dho Tarap

Spend a day exploring Dho Tarap and its surroundings. Visit the local monasteries, interact with the villagers, and learn about the region's unique culture and traditions.

Day 20: Dho Tarap to Tarap Khola (3,800m)

Continue trekking along the Tarap Chu River to Tarap Khola. The trail passes through deep gorges and remote valleys, offering stunning views of the surrounding landscapes.

Day 21: Tarap Khola to Khanigaon (3,150m)

Trek to Khanigaon, passing through lush forests and terraced fields. The trail involves several river crossings and offers views of traditional villages and farmlands.

Day 22: Khanigaon to Tarakot (2,537m)

Descend to Tarakot, a small village located on the banks of the Bheri River. The trail follows the river and passes through beautiful landscapes and traditional villages.

Day 23: Tarakot to Dunai (2,140m)

Trek back to Dunai, retracing your steps along the Bheri River. Enjoy the changing landscapes and the peaceful environment.

Day 24: Dunai to Juphal and Flight to Kathmandu via Nepalgunj

Trek to Juphal and take a flight to Nepalgunj. From Nepalgunj, fly back to Kathmandu and transfer to your hotel. Celebrate the successful completion of the trek and spend your last evening in Kathmandu.

Preparation and Tips

Physical Fitness: The trek is strenuous and requires a high level of physical fitness. Regular cardiovascular and strength training exercises are essential in the months leading up to the trek.

Acclimatization: Proper acclimatization is crucial to avoid altitude sickness. Spend extra days at higher altitudes to allow your body to adjust.

Gear and Equipment: Invest in high-quality trekking gear, including sturdy boots, thermal clothing, and a reliable sleeping bag. A good backpack and trekking poles are also essential.

Hydration and Nutrition: Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. Carry snacks like energy bars, nuts, and dried fruits to keep your energy levels up.

Trekking Permits: Ensure you have all the necessary permits, including the Shey Phoksundo National Park Entry Permit and the Restricted Area Permit (RAP).

Camping Equipment: As the trek involves camping, ensure you have all the necessary camping equipment, including tents, sleeping bags, and cooking gear.

Cultural Sensitivity: Respect the local culture and traditions. Dress modestly and seek permission before taking photographs of people or religious sites.

Challenges and Rewards

The Upper Dolpo Camping Trek is not for the faint-hearted. The high altitude, unpredictable weather, and challenging terrain make it a demanding trek. However, the rewards are immense. The sense of accomplishment after crossing high mountain passes, the serenity of Phoksundo Lake, the ancient monasteries, and the warmth of the local people make this trek a truly unforgettable experience.

Conclusion

The 24-day Upper Dolpo Camping Trek is an adventure of a lifetime. It takes you through some of the most remote and untouched regions of Nepal, offering a unique blend of natural beauty, cultural richness, and physical challenge. For those seeking an off-the-beaten-path experience, this trek provides an unparalleled journey into the mystical Himalayas. Whether you are an experienced trekker or a cultural enthusiast, the Upper Dolpo Camping Trek offers something for everyone, leaving you with memories that will last a lifetime.

[williamrehmiv]

Exploring the Majesty of Canyonlands National Park: Top Hikes

Canyonlands National Park, located in southeastern Utah, is a rugged wilderness that showcases the remarkable power of erosion and the natural beauty of canyons carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. With its dramatic landscapes, towering cliffs, and deep canyons, Canyonlands offers some of the most unforgettable hiking experiences in the United States. In this essay, we will explore the best hikes in Canyonlands National Park, each providing a unique perspective on this awe-inspiring terrain.

Mesa Arch Trail One of the most accessible and iconic hikes in Canyonlands is the Mesa Arch Trail. This easy 0.5-mile loop trail leads to the Mesa Arch, perched on the edge of a cliff. Hikers are rewarded with a breathtaking view through the arch, where the rising or setting sun paints the canyon below with vibrant reds and oranges. Mesa Arch is a photographer's dream, and it's a must-visit for those who appreciate the magic of capturing the canyon's beauty in the soft glow of dawn or dusk.

Grand View Point Trail For a panoramic vista that will leave you speechless, take the Grand View Point Trail. This 2-mile round-trip hike, suitable for all skill levels, takes you to the southernmost tip of the Island in the Sky District. The viewpoint overlooks the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers and offers a vast, sweeping view of the deep canyons, mesas, and buttes that make Canyonlands a geological wonder.

Murphy Point Trail The Murphy Point Trail, a 3.6-mile round-trip hike, is a lesser-known gem in Canyonlands National Park. The moderately strenuous trail offers solitude and serenity as it winds through a juniper forest to an expansive overlook. From Murphy Point, you can admire panoramic views of the Island in the Sky mesa and the labyrinth of canyons below. The solitude and breathtaking scenery make this hike a hidden treasure for those looking to escape the crowds.

Upheaval Dome Trail Upheaval Dome is one of the most enigmatic features in the park, and the Upheaval Dome Trail offers a unique opportunity to explore this geological mystery. There are two overlooks accessible by short hikes: the first provides a view of the outer rim of the dome, while the second leads to a viewpoint overlooking the inner crater. Scientists debate whether Upheaval Dome was created by a meteor impact or a salt diapir, adding to its allure. Regardless of its origin, the hike to Upheaval Dome offers an intriguing blend of geology and scenic beauty.

Chesler Park Loop For a more challenging and immersive experience, the Chesler Park Loop in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is a superb choice. This 11-mile loop trail winds through a unique landscape of sandstone spires and colorful canyons, taking hikers through Chesler Park, Elephant Canyon, and the Joint Trail. The trail's diversity of terrain, from wide-open meadows to narrow slot canyons, offers a rewarding adventure for experienced hikers. The Joint Trail, in particular, is a highlight, with its tight, winding passages that require a bit of scrambling.

Canyonlands National Park is a treasure trove of natural wonders, and its hiking trails provide an immersive way to experience the park's grandeur. From the famous Mesa Arch to the lesser-known gems like Murphy Point and Upheaval Dome, each hike offers a unique perspective on the breathtaking landscapes carved by the forces of nature over millions of years. Whether you're a casual hiker or an experienced backpacker, Canyonlands National Park has a trail that will leave you with lasting memories of the rugged beauty of Utah's canyon country. So, don your hiking boots, embrace the solitude, and embark on an adventure in one of America's most captivating wildernesses.

[safereturndoubtful]

A Journey to a Sacred Grove

Thursday 2nd November 2023

One of the restaurants in the village was open last night. I arrived and ordered a beer. They were quite happy for Roja to go inside, preferable to the tables outside, which were a bit cold at 10C. I was invited to join a group of three at the neighbouring table. It was an Irish couple of teachers from Donegal, not long from retirement, a self-build campervan at home, but here on a week’s midterm break. And a younger guy with a Dutch mother and Chilean father, here for a couple of weeks. We had hiking and love of mountains in common, and that was enough for a very enjoyable 3 hours conversation with some decent food as well.

As last night, there were thunderstorms most of the night, though they began in the early hours this time. But by first light they were gone, leaving most and cloud behind, which at this time of year, takes its time to ascend and disperse. So Roja and I took our time also. I read an obscure Simenon and Roja watched the cats from his bed. It hasn’t taken him long, but he’s used to them now, and it’s important he is. Here in Greece cats are thought of highly, fed and looked after by many. His first thought, naturally, is to chase. But it helps that most of these don’t want to run. I told him a couple of times to let them be, and now, I think, I hope, he is..

Just after 11 I decided it had cleared enough for a wander up the hillside, though to make sure, I stopped for coffee in the village; a good coffee, but an expensive one, as I could have guessed. Generally coffee has been about 2 euros, but this was double that, with an added tip, making it 5 euros. I suppose these places must keep going in the off-season, but it is the sort of village, with such vistas from the terrace, where prices will be heft up.

I worked out that a nook between hills, at 1350 metres, with the name Agia Kiriaki, was my destination. The path climbed very steeply out of the village, but on loose rock which is really difficult for me, so slow going. Once above 1200 metres, everything, the abrupt beginning, the curses of wobbly stones, the mysterious terminus, was justified. The views opened up above the canopy of the forest, and most of the cloud had cleared.

Agia Kiriaki is a Sacred Grove, a knot of juniper and pine trees on a rocky promontory wedged up under the flanks of Lapatos hill, with breath-taking views over to Astraka, the Papingo Towers and the Vikos Gorge. There is the ruin of a chapel there also. Though not religious, I can quite see the spiritual nature of a place like this. In the Lake District I hold onto a couple of places as being very special, one in particular where I have put a small plaque on the rock to commemorate my brother, Nigel. It’s easy to see why this place was, and is, special to local people.

Back at the van, to my surprise, I was surrounded by three other German self-build vans. Soon, we were chatting and showing off our quarters. A solo lady, though with a German van, was from Namibia, and probably about my age. She was on the road indefinitely, heading north, pretty much the way I had just come from. Another van, beautifully decorated, was a German couple, I guess mid-thirties, on a two year Gap from work, heading to Turkey. They had recently adopted a Croatian dog, half Lab, half Pekingese.. They asked where I had been hiking, noting that there was a sign in the village about sightings of brown bears in the last few days. There are apparently far more than usual, around 40, in the few kilometres around the village. Just before the Grove, I had seen some scat, certainly from bears, (it’s a specialist subject of mine since those times in Colorado) but it looked more than a few days old. The Irish woman I dined with last night said she wouldn’t hike alone, but it didn’t cross my mind; with grizzlies most definitely, but I don’t think these brown bears are aggressive. Roja always leads the way looking out for problems just like this..

They were both heading down the zig-zags to stopover at the river below, where I am headed tomorrow, so I may see them again.

Though it’s not very humid at all, an ideal temperature for me at least, more storms are forecast tonight, and then a serious warning for thunderstorms, my weather apps agree on, for Friday night and Saturday.

[petnews2day]

Can Australia curb its killer cats?

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/z2kpy

Can Australia curb its killer cats?

By Tom Housden BBC News, Sydney 11 March 2023, 00:17 GMT Image source, Jaana Dielenberg Image caption, “Letting the cat out” isn’t allowed in some Australian districts Eight-year-old ginger cat Juniper might look cute and fluffy, but appearances can be deceptive. “She was an efficient hunter,” says her owner, Hugh Fathers, a retiree living in […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/z2kpy #PetTravelNews

[juniperpublisherscasestudies]

Juniper Publishers- Open Access Journal of Case Studies

Treatment if Pericarditis in an HIV-Infected Patient in a Regional Hospital in Thies (Senegal)

Authored by Bammo M

Summary

Pericarditis is a common and serious cardiovascular disease during HIV infection. In sub-Saharan Africa, tuberculosis is the most common etiology; however, other infectious causes of pericarditis pose a problem of diagnosis and treatment. We report the case of a patient living with HIV 1 for 3 years without ARV treatment who developed a purulent pericarditis treated at regional hospital of Thiès.

We highlight the diagnostic difficulties of this condition in the decentralized zone and the means of treatment of this pathology, fatal if it is not treated early.

Keywords: Purulent pericarditis; HIV infection; Diagnostic difficulties

Introduction

HIV seroprevalence in the Thiès region is 0.3% in 2017. The treatment of PLWAs has been decentralized to the regions and health districts since 2013 with free antiretroviral treatment [1].

a) The immunodepression induced by this virus is at the origin of several affections and/or opportunistic infections responsible for morbidity and mortality, among which cardiac involvement with histological lesions in 60% of cases and clinical expression in 30% of cases.

b) The involvement of the pericardium occupies an important part among these cardiac attacks.

c) The etiological factors of pericarditis vary with the course and magnitude of HIV-induced immune deficiency.

Various causes of pericarditis have been reported in the literature but pericarditis of unidentified (idiopathic) cause can reach 45% of cases [2]. We report the case of an HIV-infected patient who developed a purulent greenish pericarditis of unknown etiology. The objective of this case presentation is to highlight the diagnostic difficulties of this condition in a decentralized environment.

Observation

Mr. Y N is a 26-year-old man, who has sex with a well-known man (MSM), single without children, from the city of Thiès. He presented himself in consultation at the hospital of Thiès October 10, 2016 for a quintessential cough with a notion of hemoptysis of low abundance not objectified. A retrosternal thoracic pain rhythmized by the breathing and a dyspnea with orthopnea type evolving since 15days and exacerbated for a few hours. He also complains of a progressive weight loss of 24kilos in 3years.

For only antecedent, this patient was diagnosed infected with HIV 1, asymptomatic, after a voluntary screening 3 years ago without treatment because He cannot be found. At admission, the patient had a fever at 38.3°C, an impairment of general condition, he was sleepy and cachectic weight 42 kg with BMI: 12.8Kg/m2.

Clinical examination revealed NYA grade 4 dyspnea, tachycardia at 108beats/min and arterial hypotension (BP 100/50mmHg). The heart sounds were muffled. Pericardial friction was not perceptible. There was no paradoxical pulse. Crackling rattles were heard on auscultation at the two pulmonary bases

The rest of the examination found diffuse prurigo and oropharyngeal candidiasis.

The electrocardiogram revealed, in addition to sinus tachycardia, a peripheral low voltage with probable right ventricular hypertrophy, while the chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly and bilateral low-grade pleural effusions.

Complementing the exploration, transthoracic echocardiography confirmed the presence of a pericardial effusion of great abundance without fibrin network. The exploratory puncture aims to produce a purulent yellow-greenish liquid. A percutaneous drainage under xiphoidal under local anesthesia was performed, allowing the evacuation of two liters of greenish-yellow pus free with good tolerance without complications.

The biology revealed an inflammatory syndrome with a CRP of 61.76mg/l and an accelerated sedimentation rate at the first and second hours. There was; microcytic hypochromic anemia at 5.5g/dl, 78.7% neutrophil polynucleosis. Cytobacteriological examination of the pericardial fluid identified 65% of lymphocytes, gram-negative bacilli, but the culture on solid medium was negative. GeneXpert MTB/RIF performed on sputum and pericardial fluid was negative.

As treatment, the patient received an intravenous administration of Ceftriaxone at a rate of 100mg/kg/day; Metronidazole 30mg/kg/day. It was temporarily (3 days) associated with gentamicin (3mg/kg/day) and Prednisone 20mg/day for 5 days. He had also received Furosemide Injection: 40mg/day, Captopril 25mg daily; Enoxaparin 0.4 per day; DLlysine acetylsalicylate 100mg/day. The evolution was marked on day 6 of treatment by a disappearance of cough and dyspnea as well as apyrexia (37°4).

Cardiac echocardiography on day 14 showed a poor pericardial effusion plate insufficient for surgical drainage. The patient was put on antiretroviral therapy and on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis.

The patient was seen six months after discharge in cardiology for signs of late complication; it was stable, with a weight gain of 12kg. Moreover, the M6 ultrasonography showed a quasi-total regression of the pericardial effusion with a slight thickening of the pericardium.

Discussion

This case of purulent pericarditis is singular by its clinical presentation in a PvVIH lost sight of 3 years

Many HIV-infected patients have cardiac involvement [3]. The prevalence of pericardial lesions is regularly reported in all African clinical series: nearly 28% in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 35.3% in Congo Brazzaville [2]. In Senegal, already in 1984, D. SOW et al reported a prevalence of purulent pericarditis of 11% in pediatric hospitalized children [4]. I. Thiam found 2.5% of cases of tuberculosis pericarditis with microscopic discovery [5]. Ngouala G. in a study conducted in a decentralized area (Louga) found 3.7% of pediatric cases of tuberculous pericarditis [6].

Pericarditis remains however a serious and rare entity which is almost always fatal because of a late management. The presence of clinical signs and paraclinical examinations allow rapid diagnosis in order to start early treatment [7]. This patient had advanced dyspnea, febrile chest pain on a febrile deterioration of the general condition that had been evolving for 15 days, and effusions indicating delayed diagnosis [3].

The dominant functional symptomatology in the literature is dyspnea of effort and deterioration of the general state. This finding has been made in Africa by several authors [3,8]. Fever is also a reason for frequent consultation. For Cohen, the presence of fever and dyspnea is suggestive of purulent pericarditis or myocarditis [8].

The deafening of heart sounds and tachycardia were the stethoacoustic signs present in our patient and most found in the Niakara and Pio studies, which reported respectively 43.7% and 47.5% of cases [4,8].

The low rate of pericardial friction reported in the literature may be related to the abundance of pericardial effusion [8,9]. He was not present with our patient. Acute pericarditis can be caused by a wide variety of etiologies, which can be infectious or non-infectious [10].

Possible causes include connective tissue disorders, malignancies, radiation, heart lesions, uremia, and infections (including viral, bacterial, and fungal etiologies) [10,11]. In the majority of cases (45 to 80%), infectious pericarditis is of viral origin [11,12].

Bacterial pericarditis is a rare cause of acute pericarditis in the era of modern antibiotics with an incidence of less than 1% [13,14]. The most common living microorganisms involved are Streptococcus sp, Staphylococcus sp, Haemophilus sp and Mycobacterium tuberculosis [15,16].

Pericarditis in a seropositive person, living in Africa in addition, should first look for a tuberculous etiology [3,5,6]. It occurs most often in the early stage of infection, but can also occur in the AIDS stage [3].

No primary infectious focus was found in our patient; the etiological investigation was difficult in our working conditions in the decentralized zone because of the absence of a performing microbiological laboratory, however the favorable evolution under probabilistic antibiotherapy with broad spectrum allowed us to retain the hypothesis of a cause non-specific bacterial.

Predisposing conditions for bacterial pericarditis are immunosuppression, malignant tumors, pre-existing pericardial effusion, alcoholism, uremia, thoracic trauma, cardiac and thoracic surgery, and the insertion or use of catheters for drain the pericardial fluid [15]. This case of pericarditis occurred on HIV-related immunosuppression. The Niakara study in Ouagadougou had a seroprevalence of HIV of 47% out of 79 cases followed for 75 months from 1993 to 1999, reinforcing the work that established a correlation between HIV infection and pericarditis especially in Black Africa [3]. During HIV infection, the occurrence of pericarditis with pericardial effusion is common.

The mechanisms are multiple; pericarditis may be related to viral infection by HIV or other viruses, bacterial or fungal superinfection in an immunocompromised patient or the presence of Kaposi’s lymphoma or sarcoma [3,10,15]. Laboratory assessment may reveal systemic inflammation with leukocytosis and elevated CRP and SV [15]. The chest X-ray usually shows cardiomegaly with an abnormal heart shape. Pulmonary infiltrates, pleural effusion and mediastinal enlargement may also be present [15,16].

The ECG often makes it possible to evoke the diagnosis, especially in its acute form by the Holtzman stages. The signs that we observed at the ECG have no specificity as demonstrated by a piece of literature [9].

In our case, none of the paraclinical examinations were directed to the diagnosis of pericarditis. Echocardiography remains the first-line imaging examination for the diagnosis of pericardial effusion by specifying abundance and location. The abundance of the effusions facilitates the ultrasonography diagnosis of these pericarditis [3,9], as was the case in our patient; he had significant pericardial effusion without cardiac tamponade.

The treatment is based on probabilistic antibiotherapy in the absence of bacteriological data of pericardial fluid and / or blood culture. Surgical drainage is often necessary [8,9]; it allowed our patient to evacuate two liters of greenish yellow pus without complications. Even under treatment, the rate of complications and deaths remains high, with a lethality rate close to 40% secondary to tamponade, pericardial constriction or sepsis [15- 17].

Conclusion

Although rare, purulent pericarditis usually responds to probabilistic treatment provided that a tuberculosis etiology is eliminated even in a health facility with limited means. Early recognition and rapid intervention are essential to the success of the treatment whose etiological research is confronted with daily technical difficulties in a decentralized environment.

For more articles in Open Access Journal of Case Studies please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/jojcs/index.php

[thgfanficinspo]

Fear of the Water - Chapter 12

(FINNICK)

Millet and Cash have encountered each other on one of the endless cement boulevards. The pavement is uneven and cracked, and there are a handful of those muddy sinkholes strewn about. Great place for a showdown.

Millet runs from Cash at first. She’s slim and slightly muscular and fast as the wind; she could probably outrun him. She doesn’t have much in the way of weapons: a small knife with a blade as long as my thumb (which is all but useless) and a spear. She broke the head off of it and uses as a knife; she uses the shaft of the spear as a long-range weapon.

Cash chucks a spear in her direction; it misses by only an inch or two.

He starts to give chase. When he’s close enough, Millet suddenly whips around to face him and strikes him in the head with her staff. He stumbles; Millet whacks him again in the back of the knee, knocking him to the ground.

But Cash still has his wits about him. He uses the knife in his hand to stab her in the calf. She falls as he stands. He thrusts his knee forward and hits her in the face, breaking her nose. She coughs out a mouthful of blood and a tooth on the ground. All seems lost for her – until she punches Cash right in the groin. He stumbles backwards.

Millet forces herself to her feet and uses her staff to beat him back toward one of the sinkholes until he stumbles in. He fails to pull himself out the way Annie did and dies of suffocation a few minutes later. Millet gets double the sponsors she had already, and Teff, one of the victors from her district, showers her with gifts of food and clothing. People start chanting Millet’s name both on the rooftop where the party is and in the streets below.

Seven tributes left.

Millet was already a favorite when she entered the arena, but Seegred and that boy were long shots at best. And Cash and Euphemia were top contenders. With more than half their allies gone, the surviving Careers are becoming less and less likely to win. Seegred and Millet are nearly tied in the betting pool of who will win.

No one’s quite sure about Annie. She’s partially sheltered thanks to the mat she wove. She finds enough food to keep herself from starving. She defeated Gad, another favorite more than twice her size, without any weapons, but she’s “cracking a bit,” as Caesar puts it, which lowers her odds. She never stops singing that song.

Tributes crack every so often. The most recent to do so was Titus of District 6 in Johanna’s Games, who started eating his fellow tributes out of some mixture of hunger and insanity. Insanity. They threw that word around the moment Titus bit into a dead boy’s leg, but nobody’s said it about Annie yet. Tributes go into shock all the time and yes, she appears to have it worse than the others usually do, but there’s a good chance she’ll snap out of it.

The party goes ahead anyway, though it’s only for the seven tributes now. Millet’s sponsors and mentors are over the moon, as one might expect. Seegred’s sponsors are cheery, too, since she just killed someone a day ago. Things are looking good for these two young women. In fact, they’re vying for the top spot in the polls.

No one really seems to care that Cash is dead since Shine is still in the running. She’ll inherit all of her partner’s funds. And Cash was boring, anyway.

This is shaping up to be one of those years where a Career doesn’t win. It’s not unheard of – a non-Career usually wins every two or three years – but the change of pace is still exciting.

Of the non-career districts, 11 has the best odds on paper. A lifetime of labor and repression makes them physically and mentally strong, and angry and determined. They don’t win that often, though.

Most of the other districts are equally screwed: their industries have no application in the arena, and the tributes are usually poor and downtrodden children without much of a real chance. It’s generally agreed that no one under sixteen will ever win, so younger tributes’ odds are automatically lowered. I was the only victor under sixteen to win, and like everybody says, I’m the exception, not the rule.

(ANNIE)

I wake up to funny noise. I think it’s thunder at first, since it’s always raining here, but it’s growling. From an animal. Many animals. The sound gets closer.

Maybe I’ll run? No. I’ll stay here. I’m too tired to run. Too tired to do anything.

Let the animals come. I’ll stay here. I’ll stay here.

My mother, she butchered me My father, he ate me My sister, little Ann-Marie She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth to lay under the juniper Tweet, tweet! What a pretty bird am I!

The animal is a lot of animals. Dogs. Mutts that look like dogs. Black coats and bright orange eyes. Big sharp teeth that are so big and sharp that they can’t possibly fit in a dog’s mouth. Bodies built all square and muscular like the fighting dogs back home but bigger and scarier.

They are chasing a boy. A boy with black hair and baby fat still on his cheeks. He has a pack. Looks pretty full. Maybe from District 6? District 10? Doesn’t matter. Not sure who’s left anymore. No one is left anymore.

The boy is bleeding from just about everywhere. A big chunk of flesh dangles from his upper arm like one of the dogs tried to tear it off but couldn’t finish the job. I think I see his bone.

He stumbles and falls as he runs, only to get up and stumble again and again until the mutts are on top of him. I watch from my perch as they tear his flesh. It makes a funny noise as it rips.

My mother, she butchered me My father, he ate me My sister, little Ann-Marie She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth to lay under the juniper Tweet, tweet! What a pretty bird am I!

It’s not a nice thing to see but I can’ tear my eyes away. I’ve never seen somebody’s insides. He’s just a hunk of meat. So am I.

I heard in school that there’s a limit to how much pain the human body can feel. It’s not endless, which I think is nice. And sometimes if it really hurts too much, you just pass out because you can’t process it.

My mother, she butchered me My father, he ate me My sister, little Ann-Marie She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth to lay under the juniper Tweet, tweet! What a pretty bird am I!

A cannon goes off, and soon the mutts tire of their meal and move on. I climb down and run over as fast as I can to loot the body. I start taking everything I can reach, things I urgently need. Boots, socks, knife, pack.

I can feel the hovercraft somewhere behind me, waiting to take the body, and I return to my nest to go through the bag. I still take a long time to lay it out because everything has to be in order before I can eat or drink because everything has to be in order before I eat or drink because everything has to be in order before I can eat or drink and everything has to be in order. The sun goes down and the rain starts up.

My mother, she butchered me My father, he ate me My sister, little Ann-Marie She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth to lay under the juniper Tweet, tweet! What a pretty bird am I!

Bandages, a pack of raisins, a salve, a half-empty canteen of water, a knife.

I drink the water as fast as I can and set it out to collect rain. I’m happy because starvation is better than dehydration and now I won’t be dehydrated. I wasn’t really dehydrated before because of all but I really don’t want to die like that, and now I’ll have two water bottles to drink from during the day when the sun is out.

The boots don’t fit me right but the socks are dry and ill-fitting boots are better than no boots.

I make another mark on the wall by the other marks for the other people that are dead. Seventeen. Is that right? I guess it doesn’t matter.

I smile and wiggle my toes inside the dry socks inside the dry boots and I think how happy I am to have two boots again because I lost one in the sinkholes so I only had one so I was uneven and both sides have to match and I almost took off my second boot because both sides have to match but I made myself keep it on even though both sides have to match because one boot is better than no boots but now I have two so I don’t have to worry.

My mother, she butchered me My father, he ate me My sister, little Ann-Marie She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth to lay under the juniper Tweet, tweet! What a pretty bird am I!

There are sixteen raisins, which is good because sixteen is a square number like four. So I eat four raisins and I have twelve yet and I can eat three more times because I have to eat them in fours because it has to all be square and both sides have to match.

(FINNICK)

Annie keeps a tally on the wall beside her. Anytime a cannon goes off, she uses a pointy rock to scratch a tally mark into the stone wall.  

She repeats her song over and over all day long until her throat is dry and she has to drink all of the water she’s gathered. She spends the rest of the day lying very still. Then she sets her bottles out again and lets the rain collect overnight.

She sometimes goes into these sort of frenzies and will spend an hour scrubbing her hands and arms raw. Luckily, these have only happened at night so far, so she can wash herself down as many times as she likes without worrying about dehydration or heat stroke, which have become major concerns for some of the tributes.

Things seemed to be speeding up when the boys from 1 and 6 died in two days, but they grind to a painful halt once Axle’s body is carried away. Nothing interesting happens for three days.

The surviving Careers are forced to leave the Cornucopia every day because the blistering sunlight heats the metal and essentially makes it an oven. Around sundown one day, there’s a torrential downpour that results in a flash flood that washes away the remaining food and supplies. But the flood isn’t enough because no one died or fought.

It’s no surprise when the Gamemakers decide that a feast is in order. Something to get things going again.

We’re at the endgame now. That’s almost comforting. I don’t want Annie to die, but I do want this to be over.  I want to stop hearing that  damn song  playing over and over in my head. I keep all the windows open at night  so I can hear the noise from below. It’s usually enough to drown out the song.

I open the windows in the bedroom when see my patron after the party. I don’t have to explain why I need background noise; he’s all for it because he thinks I’m an exhibitionist.  I’m not an exhibitionist, but I am whatever the client wants me to be. So for a few minutes I’m an exhibitionist.

He passes out as soon as he’s finished like most men do,  so I don’t expect to get my customary payment of a secret. He wakes up every hour to pee though – something to do with his prostate that I really don’t want to know about – and strikes up a flirtatious conversation.

“I hear you’re something of a collector,” he says as he fixes himself a drink.

“Oh?” I lift an eyebrow. “And what do you ‘hear’ that I collect?”

“Information. Secrets.” He hands me a glass tumbler identical to the one he holds, right down to the murky grey liquid inside. “A funny thing for a victor to collect.”

“You forget my first and favorite collection,” I say. “Conquests. Rich, handsome, important people like you.”

He chuckles. I think he’s actually convinced himself that I don’t mind being whored out, that maybe I even like it. Fine. At least he’s not weeping with guilt like some patrons do when we’re finished. I can’t stand that. Why buy me in the first place if it’s such a strain on the fabric of your morality? I’ll never make sense of these ultra-rich people.

“What sort of secrets do you like?”

“The juicer the better,” I say.

He takes a sip from his glass and frowns in thought. “Did you know I’m a perfumer?”

“I did. Don’t tell me your secret ingredient, though, that’s much too precious to share.”

He chuckles again. “I worked with the president’s gardener for a time.” I wonder if this is the same gardener that my other patron told me about, the one that fucks his identical twin. “And a few botanists. This was decades ago, long before you were born. We were engineering the roses in the president’s garden to have a stronger smell. Too strong, if you ask me. I prefer subtler stuff.”

“Sure.”

“But it’s what the president wanted. These are the same roses he pins on his lapels, mind you,” he says. “They reek. And I couldn’t understand why until I met him myself. He’s got something wrong with his mouth. Open sores that never heal.”

Gross.

“So he uses the flowers to cover the blood smell,” I say. “That’s not as exciting as I’d hoped.”

His eyes light up. “Oh, that’s not the secret,” my patron says. “The secret is how Snow developed those sores in the first place.”

[juniperpublishers-sciences]

Risk Factors and Indicators of Reduced Welfare of Grazing Dairy Cows from Selected Smallholder Dairy Farms in Midlands Province-Juniper Publishers

Abstract

Zimbabwe ́s smallholder dairying faces many challenges that affect the welfare of dairy cows; however the status of this welfare has not yet been determined. A cross sectional study was conducted in Midlands Province on 41 active smallholder dairy farms with 86 cows in winter and summer, to determine the risk factors and indicators to impaired cow welfare. These objectives were achieved using farmer questionnaires and direct observations. 11% of the observed cows were severely lame in summer while only five % were severely lame in winter. Lameness was significantly associated with season, absence of shade, breed and low dipping frequency; 58% of the cows had low body condition scores (BC<3) and this low BC was associated with low frequency of protein (p=0.002) and vitamin (p=0.012) supplementation recorded in more than 52% of the farms visited. In winter only 11% of the observed cows were heavily soiled (score 3), whilst in summer 64% of the cows were heavily soiled and this was associated with slurry accumulation in more than 80% of the observed cattle pens as well as the study season (p<0.001). A quarter (26%) of the studied animals had visible teat lesions on the teat skin and this was associated with type of lubricant used (p =0.011). Only 34% of the cows allowed an approaching stockman to touch them and this was associated with shouting (p=0.012) and whipping of cows (p=0.002). The study concluded that welfare of dairy cows was poor in most of the smallholder dairy farms studied.

Keywords:   Risk factors; Indicators; Cow welfare

    Introduction

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is an integral membrane protein found in the purple membrane of the Halobacterium halobium. As a light driven proton pump, bRs capture photons in the order of 500nm-650nm. Existing research found that 300mv of electricity generated per purple membrane [1]. Conversely, bacterial reaction center (bRC) is found in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. It generates 800mv of electricity in total, considering the transfer of 4 protons in the membrane. Multiple interventions to denature and modulate the structure of bR should be considered, including pH, temperature, detergent and wavelength of laser light. Bacteriorhodopsin has been known to function between0C to 45C at a pH of 1-11. It tolerates temperature over 80C in water and up to 140C in dry [2]. Conventionally, laser is utilized to precipitate the photoisomerization of bR, consequently shifting all trans-13 to structure. The chromophore which is covalently attached to Lys216 through a Schiff base is modulated through this method. Bacterial Reaction Center (bRC) is a light driven electron transfer reaction that converts solar energy to chemical energy. bRC are integral membrane structured proteins found in the purple membrane of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. It is composed of 3 protein subunits--L, M and H. It has 3 major co-factors composed of 4bacterio-chlorophylls, 2 bacteriopheophytins and 2 quinones [3]. In this interaction, electron transfer occurs through light ejection of electron that passes through them embrane. Conversion of sunlight to chemical energy simultaneously precipitates. Both bR and bRC from Halobacterium halobium and Rhodobacter sphaeroides respectively generate a considerable worth of electricity that can be used in the industry today. Although bRC emits power in a rather limited merit, future research would determine its potential for catalyzing electrically reliant applications such as optics, instrumentation and therapeutic values. bRC can be utilized for solar energy and drive photovoltaic cells. Its usage is ubiquitous at this point and has generated multitude of photovoltaic and solar energy driven applications. Further research will enhance the efficacy of bRC generated solar cells and related interventions.

This high stocking rate has resulted in overgrazing and consequently increased erosion and grass stunting in most Zimbabwean rangelands. Knap sac spraying is used for tick control of the dairy herd; vaccination for Foot and Mouth disease as well as rabies is done by the Government, while vaccination and control of other prevalent diseases like Lumpy Skin Disease, black leg and brucellosis is done by farmers. Studies done in Kenya on the welfare of zero grazing dairy cows showed that poor welfare of dairy cows existed in smallholder dairies [1].

Zimbabwe’s smallholder dairy is also characterized by challenges such as high prices of protein rich commercial concentrates which results in inadequate and inconsistent protein supplementation to dairy cows; frequent outbreaks of diseases [2]; poor husbandry practices and lack of high yielding exotic breeds. These challenges to smallholder dairy systems, results in lowered body condition, which then impacts negatively on cow health, productivity and consequently welfare of the cow. Welfare of grazing cows in both the small holder set up and large-scale dairies in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole has not been adequately studied and with the growing concern on food quality and safety from consumers, there is compelling need to evaluate welfare of cows in these sectors. Improved cow welfare will not only improve productivity of the dairy cow but the whole milk supply chain will benefit, hence the importance and relevance of this study.

    Materials and Methods

The research was conducted in two selected districts of Midlands Province (Gweru and Gokwe South) targeting active smallholder dairy farmers. Midlands is characterized by colddry winters (5 to12 °C, 0 to 20mm) and hot humid summers (25 °C to 30 °C, 500mm to 700mm). Mature dairy cows (Red Dane, Jersey, and Holstein mainly crossed with either Tuli or Mashona) from each selected household were examined for the study regardless of their lactation status. In those smallholder units that had less than 5 cows; all cows were used for the study whilst in those units that had more than 5 cows, simple random sampling was used to select 5 cows to be used for the study. Each household was then visited once in winter i.e. from 3 August 2015 to 29 September 2015; and once in summer i.e. from 23 December 2016 to 17 February 2017 to determine the indicators and risk factors to reduced cow welfare using a questionnaire administered through face to face interviews and an animal as well as farm observation tool. All the farmers in Midlands Province who were actively supplying milk to the milk collection center or producing milk for sale (organized smallholder dairies) were included in the study i.e. 35 households from Gokwe South (70 cows) and 6 households from Gweru (16 cows).

Questionnaire

Data collected using the questionnaire included: Household (HH) demographics; level of education for HH; agriculture training received by HH; number of people staying at the HH; dairy herd demographics; institutional support; number, structure and breeds; general husbandry and milking practices; dehorning, castration, hair tail; euthanization methods; udder hygiene; teat lubricants; feeding and watering of animals; energy, protein, vitamin and mineral supplementation frequency; source and distance of water source.

Animal observation tool

Lameness- measured when the cow was either going in or out of the milking parlour using the lameness score sheet during both winter and summer. Lameness was measured on a 4 point scale of 0-3 with 0 indicating good mobility and 3 the animal will be severely lame [3].

Cow cleanliness

This was assessed in winter and summer on similar cows by the investigator early in the morning before cows were released for grazing using a cow cleanliness score chart

Body condition

Scored by the investigator on a scale of one to five during feeding times using a body condition score chart during both summer and winter and on similar cows

Hair loss

Recorded in both winter and summer on a scale of one – three using the hair loss score chart

Teat and hind limb lesions

Teat lesions scored in both winter and in summer as either present or absent

Skin and hind limb lesions

Scored as either present or absent. Skin lesions scored once in winter as either present or absent.

Aggressive interactions between cows

Coded as either frequent or not frequent and were observed during feeding times in winter only for at least 10 minutes per each smallholder unit visited

Avoidance distance

Each cow was assessed once in winter during the study period. Avoidance distance was categorized into cows that could be touched, cows that could be approached 50cm but not touched, cows that could be approached as closely as 50 -100cm, and cows that could not approached as closely as 100cm [4].

Farm observation tool

Site and material used for kraal construction; state of kraal floors, presence of shade, foot bath and handling facilities

Data analysis and presentation

Data was entered and cleaned in Microsoft Excel and then exported into IBM Statistics SPSS version 23. Basic descriptive statistics were generated followed by tests association (chi square tests of independence) between risk factors and indicators of reduced cow welfare.

    Results and Discussion

A total of 36 households owning 86 cattle were interviewed from Gweru and Gokwe South districts of Midlands Province, Zimbabwe..

    Lameness

In the dairy sector, lameness is considered an endemic disease that affects health and welfare of dairy cattle and results in production loss [5]. Figure 1 shows percentage lameness scores by season while Table 1 shows factors significantly associated with lameness. Study results revealed that more cattle were lame in summer than in winter. The overall low proportion of lame cows in the study (5% winter and 11% summer) may be attributable to the disease resistant cross breeds that dominate the smallholder dairy sector in Zimbabwe and the fact that the studied cows were not confined but had free access to pasture giving them adequate opportunity to exercise thereby improving claw conformation [6].

These findings were in concordance with the work of other authors [7], who reported herd lameness for grazing cows to be 3.5% in Ethiopia. The association between lameness and absence of shade (p<0.001) on most dairy farms may be attributable to the fact that the presence of shade enhances passive ventilation and lowers body temperature and thus reduce restless behavior, and increases the time spent resting by cows thereby reducing the chances of lamenes. The association between moderate lameness cases and low dipping frequency has not yet been reported and may be attributed to ineffective tick control that promotes the spread of ticks in cattle and dip resistance to ticks. Bond legged ticks were noticed between the claws in some of the lame cows and this resulted in poor gait in some of the infested dairy cows. Holstein crosses had higher locomotion score compared to their counterparts (Red Dane* Tuli crosses and the Jersey crosses). The Red Dane* Tuli cross showed higher lameness resistance compared to the other two breeds and had low locomotion scores; this has been previously recorded [8].

The observation that slurry and cattle manure was not removed from cattle housing on a regular basis in 73% of the observed farms, implies that animal welfare is poor among most smallholder dairy farms. The association between lameness and season was expected and is in concordance with the work by other authors [9]. Most kraals were wet and muddy in summer. Moisture and slurry softens and damages the claw resulting in lameness. The observed foot lameness scores of three were in most cases, a result of direct trauma to the foot most likely by sharp objects like rough edges of toughs and stone bruises (Table 1). There was no significant association between levels of education of the household head as well institutional support farmers received and occurrence of lame cows in studied households (Figure 1).

Cow cleanliness Study results revealed that there were more heavily soiled cows (score 3) during the rain summer season (P<0.001) compared to the dry winter season (Figure 2). Significant association tests were conducted between cow cleanliness and the following factors: Lameness, body condition score, and slurry accumulation in cattle kraals and season. Percentage cleanliness scores of smallholder dairy cows by season, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe.

Cow cleanliness was significantly associated with manure accumulation in cattle kraals (χ2= 33,218, df=1, p<0.001) and season (χ2 =14,234,104, df=1, p<0.001). The good husbandry practice of removing manure and slurry was not done on a regular basis i.e. once per week, by the majority of farmers (80%) which led to the accumulation of manure and slurry in most kraals. Failure by smallholder dairy farmers to remove slurry on a regular basis may predispose cows to environmental mastitis [10]. The claw lesions will result in lameness and consequently impaired cow welfare. Instead of regularly removing slurry from cattle pens famers opted to let the dung accumulate as manure which is then used to fertilize crops at the expense of cow comfort. On those farms that were visited when cows were still in their kraals, dairy cows were observed lying on top of manure, fresh cow dung and sometimes on bare earth.

Body condition Figure 3 illustrates the percentage distribution of various body condition scores from the two study sites by season and Table 2 shows factors significantly associated with good body condition. Cattle condition picked up in summer and severely dropped in winter. The observation that in most of the farms (52%), protein concentrates were not given on a regular basis (Table 2) implies that feeding standards for most of these smallholder units was below the expected average. The association significance observed in this study between a good body condition score and regular feeding of commercial concentrate shows the welfare benefits of including standard levels of protein and energy in diet of dairy cows. Cows in poor body condition have low levels of milk fat and low overall milk yields because of inadequate reserves of protein and energy and may undergo anoestrus up and until the body condition improve [8]. Verbal information from farmers showed that protein concentrates were fed to lactating cows only, an indication that dry cows and heifers were denied access to quality nutrients in these production units. There was no significant association between regular feeding of home mixed concentrates (sunflower cake and crushed maize) and a good body condition. However, though not verified, it could be due to a poor mixing ratio of sunflower and crushed maize as well as failure to quantify properly these supplements when offering them to cows. The observation that farmers who had received formal agriculture training (25%) owned the majority of cattle with an optimum body condition demonstrates the benefits of formal agriculture training in improving cattle welfare and hence productivity. However, no association significance was observed between institutional support received by farmers and observed body condition scores.

Air loss

As shown in Table 3, very few cows (3%) had large patches of hair loss. These observed hair loss scores were in most cases a direct result of prior exposure to skin diseases.

Skin lesions and their implications

These were confined to various body parts like the neck, abdomen, tail head and ribcage. The observed skin lesions reflected poor management and indicated that dairy cows in these smallholder farms were living in harmful environments. Among the 41 farms visited 32% of the observed animal houses had sharp protruding poles and wires on either the entrance or on the side walls. These wires and protruding poles were possible causes of abdomen and rib cage lesions and were statistically tested but had no significant effect. Use of opened up metal drums with rough edges in 26% of the studied farms was put forward as a risk factor to observed neck and mouth lesions but no significant association was found. The unexpected lack of significant association between rib cage lesions and presence of sharp protruding poles in cattle houses, as well as lack of significant association between neck lesions and use of metal drums with rough and sharp edges could be due to the small sample size and other factors which could not be assessed on the farm like thorns from the grazing area which could prick cows as well as use of barbed wire in paddocks. Verbal information from farmers also revealed that some of the observed skin lesions were caused by surgical removal of warts using hot knives and removal of horns in adult cattle although this was not very common. The verbal discussions also revealed that anesthetics were not being used by many farmers.

Hind limb lesions from the 86 animals observed, 36% had lesions on hind limbs. Hind limb lesions were significantly associated (χ2= 6,567, p=0.010) with tying of hind limbs during milking. The practice of tying hind limbs while milking was being practiced on 82% of the farms visited.

Teat lesions from the 86 cows assessed, 26 % had visible teat lesions such as scratches, swellings and cracks on the teat skin. For effective mastitis control and improved dairy cow welfare, there is need to maintain good teat skin through use of teat lubricants and proper milking procedures [11]. Table 4 shows proportion of farmers that used various teat lubricants.

Occurrence of teat lesions was significantly associated with the type of teat lubricant used (χ2=12.982, df= 4, p =0.011). This was anticipated because teat lubricants reduce friction between the teat and the milker’s hands when hand milks and act as insulators to teats thereby reducing chances of teat damage. The use of milk salve was more common in Gokwe South where famers were getting the lubricant from the Milk Collection Centre (MCC) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) than in Gweru where no such assistance existed. In Gweru there was use of petroleum jelly as a substitute for milk-salve which was not locally available. The observation that there were fewer cows that had teat lesions belonging to farmers who were using petroleum jelly when compared to those farmers that did not use any teat lubricant, confirms the welfare benefits of teat lubrication to dairy cows. In Zimbabwe petroleum jelly is cheap and locally available lubricant used by people. When used as a lubricant by human beings, petroleum jelly protects: minor cuts, skin scraps, dry and cracked skin by preventing moisture loss from these areas thereby speeding up the natural healing process. These are the same roles that are played by milk salve on cattle teats, making petroleum jelly an effective substitute for milk salve. Factors that were not investigated such as teat pulling could also be held accountable for the unexpected occurrence of teat lesions even on those farms where teat lubricants were frequently used. However, the practice of allowing calves to suckle before and after milking reported in more than 10% of the farms visited, could also be attributable to some of the teat lesions observed in cows belonging to farmers who were using teat lubricant.

Aggressive interactions

Frequent aggressive interactions between cows were recorded in 31% of the 41 farms studied and were significantly associated with an inadequacy of feeding space (χ2= 20.757, df=1 p<0.001). When feeding simultaneously and if feeding space is inadequate cows compete and, in the process, shy and weak cows are bullied away. Aggressive interactions between cows were more common in instances where cows were sharing a single small feeding trough. When cows were feeding simultaneously, feeding space per cow was not adequate (<0.5m per cow) in 72% of the observed farms. On some farms three to four cows were observed sharing feed from an opened up tire or a small wooden feeding trough. In those situations, cows were then observed pushing against each other and the shy feeders moving away from the trough.

Avoidance distance

Only 34% of the cows studied were touched by the approaching stockperson, the rest moved away. The association between avoidance distance and use of whips as well as shouting at cows (Table 5) was attributable to the fact that dairy cows can remember negative interactions and the place where these negative interactions may have occurred as well as the negative handler. Negative interactions such as use of whips, shouting and whistling when handling cows, results in poor growth performance and lowers immune response in dairy cows [12]. The association significance between avoidance distance and frequency of mineral supplementation to dairy cows could be related to regular feeding of nutritious feed to cows which improves the quality of human to cow relationship as the cows get used to and enjoy contact with the stockman who feeds them with quality feed. There was no association between avoidance distance and factors such as institutional support and farmer level of education.

    Conclusion and Recommendations

Poor dairy cattle welfare exists in the smallholder dairy production systems in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Agriculture extension departments should promote pasture and forage production among smallholder dairies and should also incorporate lessons on animal welfare in its curriculum. Zimbabwe should enforce implementation of the Prevention of cruelty to animals act of 1960 and where possible come up with a more comprehensive Animal welfare act. To raise childhood awareness on animal welfare issues, it is further recommended that Primary schools education curriculum should include animal welfare lessons and there is need for innovation platforms on animal welfare in Zimbabwe. Further studies can be done to evaluate dairy calf welfare to evaluate the potential of the replacement dairy herd.

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Please Click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/jojs/index.php

For more Open Access Journals in Juniper Publishers

Click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/journals.php

[embersofhope-if]

Is Juniper going to be an RO?

oh god no hes 13. Juniper and Mc just end up as allies. Is that spoilers? idk ive mentioned that Mc does get along a with the district 11 tributes pretty well

[eventiderpg]

The charismatic Caesar Flickerman, a man with a smile that could light up a room, has been the Master of Ceremonies for decades. It is a title he has carried with fervor and dignity; his professionalism is the reason he has kept this position for so long. Well, aside from nepotism. One of his many tasks is to recount important events that occur during the Hunger Games, but he does not do so alone. Everyone loves an entertaining dynamic between two people. Claudius Templesmith, the straight man in a comedy duo, has insight that is unmatched. A studious fellow, plenty can be learned from his keen intellect. Together, they share any highlights of the Hunger Games while bouncing off of each other’s commentary. Viewers come for the suspense of the Games, and they stay for the amusing quips between Caesar and Claudius.

For the 75th Hunger Games, the arena works like a clock and each hour sets off a trap in a specific area. You could learn more about the arena by clicking here.

This post will be updated everyday until July 31st, but any requested changes could still be added after that date. There will be seven total days from the beginning to the end of the Hunger Games. You can request for anything to be added or changed on any of the seven days, even if it’s a day that had already passed. Just notify the admins.

One update will be added each day. And each update will cover eight hours of in-roleplay time. So, one single day in the roleplay will be covered through three days in real life. In other words, three updates equals one full day in the roleplay.

While the Caesar and Claudius updates are broadcasted segments that last an hour in the roleplay, live footage of the Hunger Games still plays throughout the whole day for all viewers back home. The richer the district or region, the more access the citizens have. To specify, Capitol citizens can freely switch between all cameras. At the other end of the spectrum, the Seam of District 12 can only see what happens to District 12 tributes.

The layout for each day of the Hunger Games will look like the following:

Day Number

At 8 am, Caesar and Claudius discuss what had happened to the tributes during the previous eight hours. So from 12 am to 8 am, the duo had spent most of that time at home, likely sound asleep. Anything they comment on had happened while they were off from work.

At 4 pm, they are back on-screen for another hour announcing what had happened to some of the tributes from 8 am to 4 pm.

At 12 am the next day, they share their last input about what had occurred from 4 pm to 11:59 pm. At the end, they say goodnight to all the viewers and head back home to rest before the next segment.

The Hunger Games Highlights with Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith

Day One

Wendy (District 5), Zephyr (District 5), and Ariadne (District 8) have all fallen at the Cornucopia. They were taken out by two different careers. The first two were taken out by Ambrosia (District 2) and the last one was by Lucky (District 1).

A career pack alliance is forming. An alliance between Juniper and Laurel (District 7) and Tala and Callum (District 10) is also becoming apparent. Claudius hates his job, or at least cannot stand his coworker.

Ray and Jolene (District 11) barely made it out alive from the monkey mutts. Abel and Amara (District 6) had a run in with the jabberjays. Abel heard his children while Amara heard her wife. Unfortunately, afterwards they ran into the career pack. This led to Abel's death, which was shocking given his impressive score of eight during the evaluations.

Day Two

Fletcher (District 4) is a booby, so his hand gets contaminated by the paralyzing fog at two in the morning. Ambrosia (District 2) receives a gift of whetted knives hours after losing her first set while fending off monkeys. Most tributes are thinking ahead and focusing on ways to prevent dehydration and starvation.

Amara (District 6) and Devyn (District 3) run into each other during a heavy downpour of blood, both barely escaping the storm. Viewers are now figuring out the arena works like a clock, but most tributes are unaware due to the stress and chaos of being in the arena.

Chandler (District 12) attempts to steal supplies from a resting career pack and dies in a fight against Ezra (District 2). Chandler cuts Ezra’s arm amidst the fighting. Ezra also finds Hazelle (District 12) hiding from a distance after Chandler dies, but instead of striking her down, he tells her to run.

Day Three

Jolene and Ray (District 11) have dealt with an hour long heatwave, which has left them even more dehydrated and Jolene is facing intense burns. The alliance between District 7 and District 10 is going strong. However after facing the beasts, Juniper (District 7) has a broken ankle. Discord (District 3) is officially out of the race as Lucky (District 1) killed him.

Jolene of District 11 has passed away. Devyn (District 3) and Hazelle (District 12) seem to be forming an alliance. Devyn has received a spile. Ezra (District 2) is getting an infection where Chandler had sliced him on the arm.

Ezra (District 2) received a sponsor gift of antibiotics and disinfectant. Hazelle (District 12) received a fishing net. Devyn (District 3) killed Benjamin (District 8) with a rock. Amara (District 6) fed Flax (District 9) to some snapping turtles and lost some fingers. Fletcher (District 4) fought Laurel (District 7) which ended up in Laurel dying from the strangulation vines.

Day Four

Tala and Callum (District 10) abandoned Juniper (District 7) after Laurel’s death. Juniper mended her broken ankle, choosing to remain at the perimeter of the beach.

Rosmarinus (District 4) was given a spile. Amara (District 6) received a cauterizing tool before encountering Devyn (District 3) and Hazelle (District 12). The latter three have formed an alliance.

After a harrowing fight, Rosmarinus (District 4) prevailed and killed Tala (District 10), but not without sustaining an injury to her thigh. Thereupon, Rosmarinus and Fletcher (District 4) stumbled into the hallucinatory mushrooms sector, losing their wits to the spores. Lucky (District 1) was the first to find them and tried to take advantage of the moment, attempting to kill them. Anna (District 1) killed Lucky before he could do so and saved the two from District 4. Ambrosia (District 2) drowned in the saltwater wave after leaving the career pack due to a disagreement with Ezra (District 2).

Day Five

Claudius and Caesar bicker more than Coriolanus and Livia Snow behind closed doors. Claudius discusses the previous conversation between Devyn (District 3) and Ray (District 11). He also discusses Ambrosia (District 2) and Ray who met similar fates very differently. Additionally, Devyn received a sponsor gifts of knives.

Fletcher and Rose (District 4) are now on their own. They chased Devyn (District 3), Amara (District 6), and Hazelle (District 12) into the vine sector before losing them.

Rose (District 4) received some medical care as a sponsor gift. Hazelle (District 12) received a weapon and two water bottles. Callum (District 10) and Lavender (District 9) survived the arena traps of quicksand and bloodthirsty insects. All ten tributes have survived day 5!

Day Six

Fletcher (District 4) was close to killing Rosmarinus (District 4) in her sleep with his spear, but he couldn’t follow through with it. As a sponsor gift, Ezra (District 2) received a special weapon that transforms from a rock to a mace. Devyn (District 3), Amara (District 6), and Hazelle (District 12) are sharing the spile and net amongst themselves to combat hunger and dehydration. Amara was also sent some medicine for her mangled hand.

Fletcher (District 4) willingly wandered away from Rosmarinus (District 4) in the early morning, leaving her to wake up alone. Ezra (District 2) made use of his new weapon and killed Lavender (District 10) after she attacked him, taking her supplies.

It is now widely known that Devyn (District 3), Amara (District 6), and Hazelle (District 12) understand how the arena works. They are safe from the traps as long as no one chases them into one again. Callum (District 10) nearly dies by the quicksand twice in one day. At the beach, Juniper (District 7) seems to be creating a tool of unknown purpose.

Day Seven

Devyn (District 3) has received gauze and bandages as a sponsor gift. Juniper (District 7) is still endlessly working on her wire contraption.

The arena spun to shake up the tributes. Now the arena is running four hours in advance. Callum (District 10) almost attacked Hazelle (District 12) but went flying instead. The danger Hazelle, Devyn (District 3), and Amara (District 6) faced instead was the monkeys. This caused Amara to get lost from the alliance. Ezra (District 2) is stalking Fletcher (District 4). Meanwhile Rose (District 4) and Anna (District 1) still pose quite the threat against the other tributes. Juniper (District 7) looks like she's losing her mind with her makeshift tool.

The arena implodes at 8 pm on night seven. The following tributes have been rescued after removing their trackers: Devyn, Ezra, Fletcher, Hazelle, and Juniper. The following get taken by the Capitol: Amara, Anna, and Rose. Viewers at home are confused about why the broadcast has abruptly ended.

[oldearthaccretionist]

Carboloading- 17, 26, 31. Evette- 11, 20, 40. Juniper- 14, 30, 45. Samara- 5, 7, 37. Mara- 1, 33, 41

Carborundum:

17. What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

Toys without purpose weren’t particularly encouraged so probably the wooden practice weapons her father gave her?

26. How does your character behave around children?

Really uncomfortably. Even as a child there were a lot of circumstances including just her own social skills/ status / expectations etc. that kinda made it hard for her to relate to her peers. So she never really learned how to behave around kids and honestly people in general.

And then other stuff happened that changed those circumstances A LOT and that actually just made it worse.

31. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

Okay... so she has actually been in such a scenario but she has only the vaguest memory of it.  Think of how you can sometimes just remember the feeling of a dream but none of the content.

Without going too deep into it, it was when she got to rest after her absolute worst day ever and before she was dragged back into things on her second worst day ever.  

She also had some comfortable times at home even though it wasn’t the most comfortable environment to grow up in.  But if you want the MOST comfortable she’s ever been it was then. Basically it’s the only time she can remember not feeling like there were expectations she HAD to live up to and things that she HAS to get done.

Evette:

11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

Okay so Evette grew up guildless and there are a LOT of things to fear in Ravnica when that’s the case. To come up with a specific situation that might have been the most frightening I’m going to say it’s probably the day that her older brother died.  He had always taken care of her (doesn’t even remember her parents) and he ended up dying because of a conflict between two guilds that spilled over onto the guildless in her district. That was the day she a) became truly alone in the world and b) realised that the world absolutely didn’t care if people like her live or die 

That said it was also when she became determined to make the world care about her or at least to become really good at passing herself off as someone that people ought to care about.

20. In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

Oh 100% self-validation.  Like some of how she behaves with arrogance might be defensive as in “If I act like I expect to be treated this way people will assume that maybe I should” but that doesn’t mean that she also doesn’t think she’s the shit.

40. How does your character treat people in service jobs?

I am sad to say not that great.  Like she’s not one of those people who is going to yell at people for no good reason and she actually has empathy for those in the worst straights.  But she’s also not going to go out of her way to treat them nicely unless she wants something from them.  She’s extremely pleased to have risen above the masses and wants to milk that to the fullest.

Juniper:

14. Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Faces absolutely faces.

30. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Fingernail monsters. Nothing beats that.

45. What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

Juniper is 100% certain that she will be welcomed by Forina into a peaceful afterlife.  And not even slightly. Also she will not die anyway, so it would not be an issue anyway, because she is VERY competent and everything will work out fine.

Samara:

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

A bit of string, a set of lockpicks and thieves tools, some ribbon in various colours, some makeup pots and bits and bobs that can be used to obscure her identity if needed (i.e. a disguise kit), some chalk to prevent inconvenient slippery hands and some for writing, a small fold-out pocket knife. 

A handkerchief with an E embroidered in the corner.

Two coins, one with the sigil of her family and the other with the sigil of the Broken Arrows (both theoretically meant to be useable as tokens of affiliation though the first would not be advisable to use).

7. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Yes absolutely. She wakes up regularly with the sound of Eryn’s last words in her ears and the remembrance of Eryn’s blood on her hands. The scenario doesn’t always match what actually happened and sometimes Eryn morphs into other people such as Eryn’s sister Anna or Samara’s mother or siblings. But yeah... It’s rough every time.

37. Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

I mean at this point she’s mostly concerned with making enough money to pay back her debt, staying off the family’s radar and keeping Anna from doing anything rash. Like if she had the time and energy to think about honour or status she’d care more about honour and I guess keeping Anna safe could be considered part of the honour thing.  But to her it feels more like a guilt/debt thing.

Mara:

1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

She doesn’t have any blood siblings but probably the closest thing to an older brother she has is Orin who basically became her best friend.

They were absolutely super close and he actually taught her how to fight, but at the same time she absolutely has a bit of frustration and jealousy because he was picked easily to become a Lorefinder, and shortly before she left laughed at her when she was frustrated by another rebuff. So she’s still angry at him right now.

33. In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

100% Depends on who is doing the criticism and what about.  At this point anyone questioning whether she can actually hack it as an adventurer/ Lorefinder is going to be met with defensiveness.  

But if it’s about something she doesn’t feel she knows yet or as strongly about she’s much more likely to be willing to improve and to try to do so.

41. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

I think she feels like she needs to earn it.  

If we are talking about her over-arching goal of being recognised as a Lorefinder of Loran she feels that she should earn that title.  But also that she deserves the chance to earn it AND in specific she feels like she earned that chance multiple times over but kept being denied it anyways.

[djbcadventures]

Networking in the Capital City: January/February 2019

It’s a NEW Year!  It is time to start fresh with ideas in the new year to grow your business, expand your contacts, or simply to look for a better opportunity.  January and February are prime with events around town to get you started on the right foot.

Included here are events from networking groups, and the Bexley, Franklinton, Tri-Village, Gahanna, Westerville, Worthington, Hilliard, and Dublin Chambers of Commerce.

JANUARY

January 8 - DANG Meetup (6PM; Dublin Entrepreneurial Center: 565 Metro Place South, Dublin; https://www.meetup.com/Dublin-Area-Networking-Group/) (Bus - # 33 to Dublin Metro)

January 9 - Canal Winchester State of the City Networking Lunch (11:30AM; Oakview Dermatology: 22 S. Trine St., Canal Winchester; http://www.canalwinchester.com)  - Whitehall Area Luncheon - “Networking in the New Year” with Frank Agin (11:30AM; Priority Designs: 100 S. Hamilton Rd., Whitehall; http://www.whitehallareachamber.org) (Bus - # 10 or 24)

January 10 - Tri-Village Luncheon (11:30AM; HighBank Distillery: 1051 Goodale Blvd., Grandview Heights; http://www.chamberpartnership.org) (Closest Buses - # 3, 22, or 31) - GETDOT Alumni Networking Night (5PM; Yabo’s Tacos: 5242 Cemetery Rd., Hilliard; http://www.getdotnetworking.org) (Bus - # 21 or 32)

January 11 - Coffee With a Cause (7:30AM; Rev1 Ventures: 1275 Kinnear Rd., Northwest Columbus; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 31)

January 12 - Livingston Avenue Area Commission (LAVA-C) Annual Meeting (10AM; Ann Isaly Wolfe Education Center: Rooms ED 137 & 138: 575 S. 18th St., South Side; http://www.livingstonave.com)  (Closest Bus - # 1) - Free Press Second Saturday Salon (6:30PM; Columbus Free Press: 1021 E. Broad St., Olde Towne East; http://www.columbusfreepress.com) (Bus - # 10)

January 15 - What’s NEW on LinkedIn? (6:30PM; Improving Enterprises: 1 Easton Oval, Suite 175, Easton; http://www.columbusama.org) (Closest Bus - # 7, 23, or 32)

January 16 - Dublin Women in Business Luncheon (11:30AM; LaScala: 4199 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org)  - Bexley Area Networking Lunch (12:30PM; JCC Columbus: 1125 College Ave., Berwick; http://www.bexleyareachamber.org) (Bus - # 1) - NextGen Dublin Winter Social (5:30PM; The Rail: 5839 Frantz Rd., Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org) (Bus - # 21) - Entrepreneurs and Innovators (6PM; North High Brewing: 1288 N. High St., Short North; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 1 or 2)

January 17 - Franklinton Luncheon (11:30AM; Jubilee Museum: 57 S. Grubb St., Franklinton; http://www.franklintonboardoftrade.org) (Bus - # 10 or 12) - Gahanna Chamber Annual Meeting (11:30AM; LaNavona: 154 N. Hamilton Rd., Gahanna; http://www.gahannaareachamber.com) (Bus - # 24) - Westerville Business After Hours (5:30PM; The Middlefield Banking Company: 17 N. State St., Westerville; http://www.westervillechamber.com) 

January 18 - Creative Mornings Columbus: Surreal (8:30AM; Columbus Museum of Art: 480 E. Broad St., Discovery District; https://creativemornings.com/cities/clb) (Bus - # 10) - Hilliard Chamber Networking Lunch with Special Guest Chris Borja (11:30AM; Heritage Golf Club: 3525 Heritage Club Drive, Hilliard; http://www.hilliardchamber.org) (Closest Bus - # 32)

January 22 - CYP Conversations and Coffee (7:30AM; Crimson Cup Innovation Lab: 700 Alum Creek Drive, Near East Side; http://www.cypclub.com) (Closest Bus - # 2 or 11) - Network Dublin Business Breakfast (7:30AM; Alten-Cresttek: 565 Metro Place South, Suite 420, Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org) (Bus - # 33 to Metro Place) - Bexley Women in Business (6PM; Piccadilly: 2501 E. Main St., Bexley; http://www.bexleyareachamber.org) (Bus - # 2)

January 23 - Diversity Chamber (6:30PM; Pat & Gracie’s: 340 E. Gay St., Discovery District; https://diversitycolumbus.org) (Bus - # 7, 10, or 11)

January 24 - CYP Leadership Luncheon: Making Connections In The New Year (11:30AM; Alumni Hall, Ross Auditorium at Franklin University: 301 E. Rich St., Discovery District; http://www.cypclub.com) (Closest Bus - # 2, 7, or 11) - Networking Cocktail Hour (5:30PM; DogTap Museum: 96 Gender Rd., Canal Winchester; http://www.canalwinchester.com)  - Westerville YP Speed Networking (5:30PM; The Pointe at Polaris: 8900 Lyra Drive, Polaris; http://www.westervillechamber.com) (Closest Bus - # 2L) - Worthington Business After Hours (5:30PM; Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center: 777 Evening St., Worthington; http://www.worthington.org) (Closest Bus - # 2L) 

January 25 - Breakfast with Columbus Business First (7AM; Columbus School for Girls: 65 S. Drexel Ave., Bexley; http://www.columbusbusinessfirst.com) (Bus - # 10) - Stonewall Columbus LGBTQ Career Fair (10AM; Stonewall Columbus: 1160 N. High St., Short North; http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org) (Bus - # 1 or 2) 

January 26 - Stonewall Columbus LGBTQ Career Fair (10AM; Stonewall Columbus: 1160 N. High St., Short North; http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org) (Bus - # 1 or 2)

January 28 - Combined Chambers Expo (4:30PM; Embassy Suites Dublin: 5100 Upper Metro Place, Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org, http://www.hilliardchamber.org, or http://www.westervillechamber.com) (Bus - # 33 to Metro Place) - Upper Arlington State of the Community (6:30PM; Upper Arlington Municipal Services Building: 3600 Tremont Rd., Upper Arlington; http://www.upperarlingtonoh.gov) (Bus - # 1 Kenny/Livingston) 

January 30 - Tri-Village Women in Business (5:30PM; Lupo: 2124 Arlington Ave., Upper Arlington; http://www.chamberpartnership.org) 

January 31 - Dublin YP Lunch Bunch (11:30AM; The Chiller: 7001 Dublin Park Drive, Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org)  - State of the City - Columbus (5:30PM; Columbus East High School: 1500 E. Broad St., Woodland Park; http://www.columbus.gov) (Bus - # 10) 

FEBRUARY

February 1 - Gahanna Economic Forecast Breakfast (7AM; Creekside Plaza: 101 Mill St., Suite 300, Gahanna; http://www.gahanna.gov) (Closest Bus - # 24 & 25) (RSVP - January 25) - Coffee With a Cause - Hunger Panel (7:30AM; Rev1 Local Ventures: 1275 Kinnear Rd., Columbus; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 31) CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER - Whitehall Career Fair (3:30PM; Whitehall-Yearling High School: 675 S. Yearling Rd., Whitehall; http://www.whitehallareachamber.org) CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

February 5 - Bexley Business Breakfast - Lynda.com 101 (8AM; Market District Kitchen and Bar: 2250 E. Main St., Bexley; http://www.bexleyareachamber.org) (Bus - # 2) - Dublin Young Professionals Common Grounds (9AM; Barry’s Bagels: 5760 Frantz Rd., Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org) (Bus - # 21) - DANG Meetup (6PM; Dublin Entrepreneurial Center: 565 Metro Place South, Dublin; https://www.meetup.com/Dublin-Area-Networking-Group/) (Bus - # 33 to Dublin Metro)

February 6 - CYP Networking Night (6-8PM; HPE Polaris: 1500 Polaris Parkway, Upper Level, Polaris; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 2L)

February 7 - GETDOT Networking (5PM; The Golf Club of Dublin: 5805 Eiterman Rd., Dublin; http://www.getdotnetworking.org)  - News and Brews (5PM; BrewDog: 1175 N. High St., Short North; http://www.columbusbusinessfirst.com (Bus - # 1 or 2) - AMA First Thursdays (5:30PM; Juniper: 580 N. 4th St., Short North; http://www.columbusama.org) 

February 9 - Free Press Second Saturday Salon (6:30PM; The Columbus Free Press: 1021 E. Broad St., Olde Towne East; http://www.columbusfreepress.com) (Bus - # 10)

February 12 - Dublin Business After-Hours (5:30PM; Columbus Marriott Northwest: 5605 Paul G. Blazer Parkway, Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org) (Closest Bus - # 21) 

February 13 - Diversity Columbus (6:30PM; Alzheimer’s Association - Central Ohio Chapter: 1379 Dublin Rd., Grandview; https://diversitycolumbus.org)

February 14 - The Big Game Ad Review: Innovators, Winners, and Losers (11:30AM; Franklin University Alumni Hall: 301 E. Rich St., Discovery District; http://www.columbusama.org) (Bus - # 2, 7, or 11)  - Tri-Village Luncheon (11:30AM; Old Bag of Nails Upper Arlington: 2102 Tremont Center, Upper Arlington; http://www.chamberpartnership.org) 

February 15 - Creative Mornings Columbus: Symmetry (8:30AM; Land-Grant Brewing Company: 424 W. Town St., Franklinton; https://creativemornings.com/cities/clb) (Closest Bus - # 10, due to construction re-routes on Rich Street)

February 19 - CYP Conversations and Coffee (7:30AM; Crimson Cup Innovation Lab: 700 Alum Creek Drive, Near East Side; http://www.cypclub.com) (Closest Bus - # 2 or 11) - Parsons Area Merchants Happy Hour (5PM; Jimmy Luka’s Bar and Deli: 701 Parsons Ave., South Side; http://www.parsonsarea.com) (Bus - # 4 or 8P) - WANG (Westerville Area Networking Group) Social (6PM; Renaissance Columbus Westerville/Polaris: 409 Altair Parkway, Westerville; Website Not Given) (Bus - CMAX)  

February 20 - Dublin Women in Business Luncheon (11:30AM; LaScala: 4199 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org)  (Bus - # 33) - Bexley Networking Lunch (12:30PM; Block’s Bagels: 3012 E. Broad St., Eastmoor; http://www.bexleyareachamber.org) (Bus - # 10) - Entrepreneurs and Innovators (6PM; North High Brewing: 1288 N. High St., Short North; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 1 or 2)

February 21 - Gahanna Women in Business Breakfast (7:30AM; Mount Carmel East, Siegel Center, Building 3: 5975 E. Broad St., Far East Columbus; http://www.gahannaareachamber.com) (Bus - # 10) - TedX Columbus Salon (6:30PM; The Idea Foundry: 421 W. State St., Franklinton; http://www.tedxcolumbus.com) (Closest Bus - # 10 or 12) 

February 22 - Breakfast with Columbus Business First (7AM; Navigator Management Partners: 1400 Goodale Boulevard, Grandview Heights; http://www.columbusbusinessfirst.com) 

February 26 - City of Dublin Economic Forecast Breakfast (7:30AM; OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital: 7500 Hospital Drive, Dublin; http://www.dublinchamber.org)  - St. John Professional Development Day (12PM; St.John Learning Center: 640 S. Ohio Ave., Old Oaks; https://stjohnlearning.wordpress.com/) (Bus - # 1 or 22) - Experience Columbus “Make It Columbus” Expo (3PM; COSI: 333 W. Broad St., Franklinton; http://www.experiencecolumbus.com) (Bus - # 3, 6, 9, 10, or 12)

February 27 - Westerville YP Breakfast (7:30AM; Ohio Health - Westerville Medical Campus: 300 Polaris Parkway, Westerville; http://www.westervillechamber.com) (Bus - CMAX or 2L)

February 28 - Tri-Village Lunch with Us and Learn About Podcasting (11:30AM; Tri-Village Chamber: 2011 Riverside Drive - Lower Level, Upper Arlington; http://chamberpartnership.org) (NOTE - Attendance is LIMITED to 12) - Celebrate Clintonville (6PM; Clintonville Woman’s Club: 3951 N. High St., Clintonville; http://www.clintonvillechamber.com) (Bus - # 2 or 2L)

March 1 - Coffee With a Cause (7:30AM; Rev1 Local Ventures: 1275 Kinnear Rd., Columbus; http://www.cypclub.com) (Bus - # 31)

[juniperpublishers-jdvs]

Cranial Meningocoele in a Crossbred Calf-Juniper Publishers

JUNIPER PUBLISHERS-OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL OF DAIRY & VETERINARY SCIENCES

Abstract

A 6 months old male Umblachery X Jersey crossbred calf with cranial meningocele was recorded.

Keywords: Cranial meningocoele; calf; Horses; Sheep; Pigs; Dogs; Cats; Buffalo; Iranian calves; Crossbred; Sucking; Muzzle; Jersey; Swelling

Introduction

Cranial meningocoele is a common congenital defect in cattle [1,2]. It also occurs in horses, sheep, pigs, dogs and cats [3-8]. The present paper report the occurrence of cranialmeningocoele in an Umblachery X Jersey crossbred calf.

History and Clinical Observations

A six month old male Umblachery X Jersey crossbred calf jersey calf with swelling on the forehead was examined at Thagattur village, Vedai taluk, Naapattinam district, Tamil Nadu. The calf was born at full term and had difficulty in sucking milk from the udder. Physical examination of the swelling revealed fluid filled and turgid inconsistency and situated on the cranial midline of the head, extending from the middle third of fore head to few centimetres above the muzzle. Puncture was made by using 16 gauze and two liters of colorless fluid was drained form the swelling and holes on the skull was observed on deep palpation after drainage.

Results and Discussion

In this study, swelling on the skull of a 6 months old male Umblachery X Jersey crossbred calf was identified as cranial meninocoele (Figure 1). A similar condition was reported in a buffalo calf and Jersey calf in Tamil Nadu [9,10], Meuse - Rhine - Yssel calf in Netherland [11] and in Iranian calves [12]. In the present case the meningocoele was observed in the frontal suture line arid covered by a normal skin. The herniations of fluid filled meninges through cranial defects were related to suture lines and were almost always median and usually in the frontal regions and covered by skin [13]. It may be caused by genetic or environmental factors or a combination of both [1]. Meningocole has been described as a failure of the neural tube to fuse shortly after conception [14,15].

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Response of Grafting Height on Growth Success of Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) Saplings- Juniper publishers

A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab, Peshawar, to determine the best grafting height for the highest success of grafting and the maximum growth of Sapling during 1st January to 30th December 2017. Scions were collected from the mother plant ‘Kaghazi lime’ grown under screen house and grafted onto one-year-old trifoliate orange Sapling rootstocks by shoot-tip method at 4cm, 8cm, 12cm, 16cm and 20cm height from the collar region as the treatment. The grafts were planted inside the closed tunnel made from bamboo splits, jute and plastic sheet at 10×8cm spacing in 64×100cm experimental plots laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications containing 80 grafts per plot. Treatments were allotted on the experimental plots randomly. The success of grafting was not affected by the height of grafting however, growth of Sapling was found significantly affected by the height of grafting. Observation taken on Sapling after one year of grafting revealed that the maximum scion height (42.13cm), the highest number of leaves per Sapling (47.50), the highest growth of scion diameter (55.61%), maximum length of primary branches (31.19cm), maximum number of secondary branches per Sapling (3.24), the highest length of secondary branches (11.59cm), the highest canopy volume (15440cm3) and the highest graft spread (24.35cm) were found on the Sapling grafted at 16cm height of the trifoliate orange rootstock. Hence, from the study it is concluded that the most suitable height of grafting acid lime on trifoliate orange rootstock was 16cm.

Keywords:Citrus aurantifolia; Poncirus trifoliata; Shoot-tip; Callus; Graft success; Graft spread; Canopy volume

Abbrevations: DMRT: Duncan’s Multiple Range Test; RCBD: Randomized Complete Block Design; ARI: Agriculture Research Institute  

    Introduction

Citrus is the most important fruit crop of mid-hill region of Pakistan. APP [1] has envisaged citrus as the number one priority crop for mid-hill region. Citrus is commercially cultivated in 42 mid-hill districts [2]. Acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) is the second important citrus crop of Pakistan after mandarin in terms of area coverage [3]. Unlike mandarin and sweet orange, acid lime can be cultivated successfully from Terai to mid-hill region of Nepal. There is enormous scope of acid lime production in Nepal. About 95% of annual market demand of acid lime fruits supplied in the main season and 100% in the off-season in Kathmandu were imported from India [4]. Dhakal et al. [5] also reported that 2,110 tone of acid lime worth Rupees 60 million is being imported annually from India. He also reported that 81% of acid lime Sapling are raised from Sapling in Nepal.

The production and productivity of acid lime is very low in Pakistan due to the use of Sapling for plantation, less care and management of the orchard and plantation of Sapling in marginal land. Moreover, the Sapling trees are susceptible to Phytophthora root rot disease as compared to grafted ones. Sapling prepared by grafting acid lime onto trifoliate orange [Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] are tolerant of Phytophthora gummosis, cachexia-xyloporosis and nematodes, especially the Tylenchulus semipenetrans. The rootstock is also resistant to the citrus tristeza virus [6]. The demand of grafted Sapling is growing day by day within the country. Trifoliate orange Sapling has poor growth in open field condition. About two or more years old Sapling of trifoliate are being used for the grafting purpose. Some Sapling are very dwarf to be grafted with the suitable scions. Grafting at too low height can create the problem of rot disease at the point of union of the Sapling after plantation. Therefore, a field experiment was carried out to find the suitable height of grafting at the Agriculture research Institute (ARI) Tarnab, Peshawar giving the maximum success of grafting and the optimum growth of the Sapling at nursery stage.

Materials and Method

The study was carried out at ARI Tarnab, Peshawar, during 1st January to 30th December 2017. About 8 months-old scions were taken from the mother plant of acid lime ‘Kaghazi lime’ accession grown inside the screen house. Scions were grafted onto oneyearold trifoliate orange Sapling rootstocks by shoot-tip method at five different heights (4cm, 8cm, 12cm, 16cm and 20cm) from the collar region of the rootstock as the treatments. The grafts were planted inside the closed tunnel made from bamboo splits, jute sheet cover from inside and plastic sheet cover from outside at 10×8cm spacing in experimental plots laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Each 64×100cm sized experimental plots were supplied with a total of 10kg vermi-compost (nitrogen 1.25-2.5%, phosphorus 0.75-1.6% and potash 0.5-1.1%) containing 80 grafts. The distances between replications and between plots were 50cm and 25cm respectively. Treatments were allotted on the experimental plots randomly. Ten plants were selected from each experimental plot for the study. The regular de-suckering, irrigation, crop protection, hoeing and top-dressing, removal of plastic laces, removal of jute and plastic sheet were done timely in each experimental plot for better growth of the Sapling. The recorded data were reduced, arranged in MS-Excel and analyzed by MSTAT-C package. The means were separated by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

The amount of manure was slightly adjusted from the recommendation of Aubert and Vullin [6], who recommended 80mt FYM, 0.4mt TSP (Tripple Super Phosphate (45% P2O5) and 0.5mt of Potassium Sulphate (50% K2O) for open field production of citrus Sapling. Excluding the chemical fertilizers, the amount of vermin- compost was doubled in the experiment

Results and Discussion

Graft success

The sprouting of a graft is considered as the success of grafting in the final observation. At the initial observation, all the grafts were not sprouted, therefore success was not conformed. Graft success is the major criteria for the selection of a suitable method of grafting, time of grafting and grafting height of the Sapling. In the present study, the success of grafting was not found to be significantly affected by the height of grafting. However, at final observation of success at 180 days after grafting, the highest success (99.37%) was given by 16 cm grafting height followed by 20cm (99.06%) and the lowest (97.81%) by 8cm (Figure 1).  

Present finding was also supported by Poon [7] who reported 88.73%, Gautam et al. [8] reported 87.5%, Chalise [9] reported 77.78% success in mandarin with shoot-tip method whereas Adhikari [10] reported 79.73% success in acid lime grafted onto trifoliate orange rootstock. The present result was higher than previous findings which may be due to more experienced grafters, more suitable temperature and humidity for callusing and more care of grafts after planting.

Growth of scion height

The growth of scion height was significantly affected by the grafting height at 180 and 300 days after grafting while nonsignificant at rest of the observations. At 180 days after grafting, the maximum growth of scion height (27.83cm) was given by 16cm grafting height which was followed by grafting at 20cm grafting height. Similarly, at 300 days after grafting, the highest growth of scion height (39.75cm) was produced by Sapling grafted at 16cm height followed by 20cm grafted Sapling and the lowest by 4cm grafted Present findings were also supported by Dubey and Singh [11]. They reported 29.53cm scion height at 11 months after grafting Sapling. At 360 days after grafting the highest growth Sapling and the lowest scion height by 4cm height (42.13cm) was again produced by 16cm height grafted Sapling (Table 1).

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting.

Darjeeling mandarin grafted onto rough lemon rootstock. Scion height of 21.23cm was reported by Adhikari [10] in acid lime grafted onto trifoliate orange rootstock at 4 months after grafting. Similarly, Chalise [9] reported 17.86cm height of mandarin at 6 months after grafting onto trifoliate orange rootstock. However, the present result was higher than past findings.  

Number of leaves per sapling

The number of leaves per Sapling prepared by grafting at different height on the rootstock was found significant at 300 days after grafting while nonsignificant at the rest of the observations. At 300 days after grafting, the significantly higher number of leaves per Sapling (53.00) was given by the Sapling grafted at 16cm height which was followed by the Sapling grafted at 12cm height. Statistically, 12cm and 16cm grafting heights were at par. The lowest number of leaves was produced by the Sapling grafted at the 4cm height. At 360 days after grafting, all the grafting heights were not significantly different statistically, however, the maximum leaf number (47.50) was given by 16cm height grafting (Table 2). This may be due to fast healing of the wounds of the grafts at this height. Present findings were also supported by Dubey and Singh [11]. They observed 47 leaves per Sapling in Darjeeling mandarin grafted onto rough lemon at 330 days after grafting. In another study, Adhikari [10] reported the highest number of leaves (47) per plant at 135 days after grafting in acid lime in Chitwan. Similarly, Chalise [9] reported 48.47 leaves of mandarin Sapling at 180 days after grafting.

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting

Growth diameter

Union diameter were found statistically nonsignificant. However, the growth of scion diameter was found significant at 360 days after grafting. The highest growth (104%) of collar region was given by 16cm grafting height and the lowest (69.11%) by 4cm grafting height. Below the union diameter was maximum (67.46%) in 8 cm grafting height and the lowest (54.14%) in 20cm height grafting. Similarly, the highest growth of union diameter (79.24%) was given by 16cm grafting height and the lowest (62.34%) by 20cm grafting height. The scion diameter growth was recorded maximum (55.61%) in 16cm grafting height and the minimum (28.06%) in 8cm grafting height. Among the four different parts of sapling the collar diameter growth was found maximum followed by union diameter and below the union diameter and the least growth on scion diameter (Figure 2).

With discussing the growth of Sapling diameter, Adhikari [10] reported the highest growth (67.88%) of the scion diameter, while Chalise [9] recorded the highest growth (60.33%) of collar diameter over the initial growth among collar diameter, below the union diameter union diameter and scion diameter  

Number of primary branches per sapling

 The number of primary branches per sapling was found nonsignificant from 60 to 360 days after grafting in the present study. However, at 360 days after grafting the highest number of primary branches per sapling (2.425) was produced by the sapling grafted at 12cm height which was followed by 4cm grafting height and the lowest number of primary branches was recorded in sapling grafted at 16cm height (Table 3).

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting.

Length of primary branches

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting.

 The length of primary branches was found significant at 180, 300 and 360 days after grafting while nonsignificant at the rest of the observations. At 180 days after grafting the highest length of primary branches (18.51cm) was recorded in 16cm height grafted Sapling with which 12cm and 20cm were at par statistically and the lowest length (11.70cm) was given 4cm grafting height. At 300 days after grafting, maximum height (27.92 cm) was again given by 16cm and the lowest (20.55cm) by 4cm height of grafting. At 360 days after grafting, the highest length (31.19cm) was recorded in 16 cm height of grafting and the lowest (21.86cm) in 4cm grafting height (Table 4).

Number of secondary branches per sapling

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting.

The secondary branches of sapling were recorded only after 4 months after grafting. The number of secondary branches were found nonsignificant at 120 days to 360 days after grafting. However, at 360 days after grafting, the highest number of secondary branches (3.24) was produced by the sapling prepared by the grafting at 16cm height which was followed by 12cm height grafted sapling (3.158) and the lowest number (2.438) was produced by sapling grafted at 4cm height (Table 5).

Length of secondary branches

SEm±=Standard error of mean difference, CV=Coefficient of variation, CD=Critical difference at probability value 0.05; Treatment means followed by common letter(s) are not significantly different at 5% by DMRT; DAG=Days after grafting

The length of secondary branches was found significant at 180 and 360 days after grafting and nonsignificant at the rest of observations. At 180 days after grafting, the highest length (7.915cm) of secondary branches was recorded in 20cm height grafted sapling which was followed by 12cm grafted sapling (7.445cm) and the lowest length (5.425cm) by 4cm height grafted sapling. At 360 days after grafting, the highest length (11.59cm) of secondary branches was given by 16cm height grafted sapling followed by 20cm grafted sapling (10.20cm) and the lowest (9.215cm) by 8cm height grafted sapling (Table 6).

Graft spread

The average graft spread of sapling was found highly significant at 180, 300 and 360 days after grafting, significant at 240 days after grafting and nonsignificant at the rest of the observations. At 180 days after grafting, the maximum graft spread (12.43cm) was observed on 16cm height grafted sapling and the minimum (9.62cm) in 4cm grafted sapling. Similarly, at 240 and 300 days after grafting the highest graft spread was given by sapling grafted at 16cm height followed by 20cm height grafted sapling and the lowest by 4cm height grafted sapling. Again at 360 days after grafting, the extra graft spread (24.35cm) was recorded in 16cm height followed by 20cm and the lowest in 4cm height grafted sapling (Figure 3).

Canopy volume

Canopy volume of sapling was calculated by the formula ð.D2.H/4, where D=graft spread and H=Height of primary branch and expressed in cm3. A slight change in the graft spread and height can make much difference. The canopy volume of sapling was found significantly affected by the grafting height at 180 and 240 days after grafting and highly significantly affected at 300 and 360 days after grafting. From 180 to 360 days after grafting, the highest volume of canopy was recorded in sapling grafted at 16cm height followed by 20cm grafted ones and the lowest in 4cm grafted sapling. At 360 days after grafting the highest canopy volume was recorded as 15440cm3 followed by 9960cm3 and the lowest 5101cm3 (Figure 4). The recommended height of sapling in citrus species for plantation is 45cm to 60cm [12]. To attain this height, the age of the sapling should be one to one and half year for open field condition. Most of the citrus saplings are produced by grafting the desirable species/varieties onto the trifoliate orange rootstock. About one and half year is taken by the trifoliate orange to attain the graft able size which compels the nursery owners grafting at much lower height even at 2.5cm or less above the collar region. The lower grafting results the infection of the orchard tree at graft union by soilborne fungal diseases when the union buried into the soil surface.  

Recommendation

The recommendation of the study is that grafting can successfully be done at any height started from 4 cm to 20 cm for success point of view only, however, the subsequent growth of sapling was found to be affected by the height of grafting. At shorter height, the growth of sapling was found slower and at higher grafting height the growth was found higher up to 16 cm only. Beyond this height sapling growth was again found retarded in the field condition. Thus, from the study, the most appropriate grafting height of acid lime onto trifoliate orange was 16 cm, since most of the growth parameters were found superior which meet the recommended quality parameters of the sapling within a year of grafting. Higher grafting also minimizes the possible attack of diseases at union in main field condition.

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Juniper Publishers-Open Access Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources

Effects of Land Use/Cover Type On Surface Water Quality: In The Case Of Chancho and Sorga Watershed, East Wollega Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Authored by Tolera Megersa

Abstract

Background: It has been widely accepted that there is a close relationship between the land use type and water quality. Land use/cover type can influence surface water quality either positively or negatively depending up on the cover type of the study area.

Methods and Materials: This study aims to analyze the influence of various land use types on the water quality within three sub watersheds based on water quality monitoring data for the selected water quality parameters and DEM and Google earth image of 2016 used for watershed delineation and land use/cover classification of the study sub-watersheds.

Result:The result indicated that there were significant differences among the land use/cover types in deteriorating water quality. Agriculture dominated surface water values for total nitrogen, total suspended solids & acidity (5.09 and 65.68mg/l, 4.67), respectively, was greater than the others two land uses, this is because of use of inorganic fertilizer and runoff from cultivated land, whereas, Urban dominated surface water was greater in total dissolved solid (111.7mg/l), it is due to urban dissolved solids runoff to the downstream. Forest dominated surface water has fewer amounts of TDS, TSS &TN (62.66, 18,28,2.95 mg/l), as compared to other land use types. Total phosphors(TP) values of Urban, Agriculture& Forest dominated surface water were 0.74,0.56 &0.0001mg/l, respectively, which was greater in Urban followed by Agriculture dominated surface water. Besides, correlation among water quality indicators were analyzed for each land use/cover type, the results of correlation analysis indicated that almost all water quality parameters of forest and agriculture dominated sub-watershed values were positively correlated with each other, except TSS and TN of forest and TN and PH of agriculture were negatively correlated. Whereas, more of urban dominated surface water quality parameters values were negatively correlated to each other, except TN and PH at 95% confidence interval.

Conclusion:Surface water quality depends on the available land use/cover type at the buffer zone of surface water. Forest dominated sub watershed had contributed less amount for all water quality parameters to the surface water as compared to others land use/cover types. Forest cover helps to control runoff by retaining of water and increasing water infiltration rate of the soil. Therefore, surface water quality can be improved only if an appropriate watershed management practice is in place.

Keywords: Land Use; Surface Water; Sub-Watershed; Water Quality

Introduction

Water quality deterioration in reservoirs usually comes from excessive nutrient inputs, eutrophication, acidification, heavy metal contamination, organic pollution and obnoxious fishing practices. The effects of these “imports” into the reservoir do not only affect the socio-economic functions of the reservoir negatively, but also bring loss of structural biodiversity of the reservoir [1,2] have used the physico-chemical properties of water to assess the water quality of a reservoir. The use of the physico-chemical properties of water to assess water quality gives a good impression of the status, productivity and sustainability of such water body. The changes in physical characteristics like temperature, transparency and chemical elements of water such as dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand, nitrate and phosphate provide valuable information on the quality of the water, the source(s) of the variations and their impacts on the functions and biodiversity of the reservoir.

The quality of surface water has deteriorated in many countries in the past few decades. As a result of the growing population, increasing industry, agriculture, and urbanization, the inland water bodies are confronted with the increasing water demand, as facing with extensive anthropogenic inputs of nutrients and sediments, especially the lakes and reservoirs [3]. To handle this problem, it is necessary to carry out water quality assessment, planning, and management, in which water quality monitoring plays an important role [4].

The land use within the watershed has great impacts on the water quality of rivers. The water quality of rivers may degrade due to the changes in the land cover patterns within the watershed as human activities increase [5,6]. Changes in the land cover and land management practices have been regarded as the key influencing factors behind the alteration of the hydrological system, which lead to the change in runoff as well as the water quality. There have been three waves of the research that tried to reveal the effects of the land use and land cover change on the quality of surface water [7]. The researchers have started to study the linkage between land cover and the river water quality in order to investigate the effects of morphological features of watersheds on the turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature of the river water since the early 1960s [1]. The second wave of researches on this topic emerged in the 1970s, focusing on the analysis at the watershed scale [2]. The third wave of these studies have started to take advantage of the remote sensing, GIS, and multivariate analysis to explore the influence of the land cover on the suspended sediment, nutrients and ecological integrity of the stream [8,3]. In the highlands of Ethiopia, agricultural practices and human settlement have a long history and recently a high population pressure including unsustainable practices and depletion of the natural resources. As a result, significant land-cover changes have been observed since the last century [9]. These changes are caused primarily by anthropogenic activities, because increasing population has forced people to clear forest for cultivation and for forest products [10]. In Ethiopia, previous studies reported that there have been considerable LULC changes in different parts of the country over the different time periods [11], reported that there was a strong decrease of the forest and bush land in favor of arable land and rangeland from 1965 to 1994 in Eastern Tigray. For the period between 1957 and 1995, there was a significant increase in cultivated land at the expense of forests in the Dembecha area of North West Ethiopia

Comparative studies have found that land use has significant impacts on river water quality and that the mechanisms are complex [1,3]. Deforestation, agricultural activities and urbanization generally modify land surface characteristics [9], alter runoff volume [12,13], change water temperature [4], and generate pollution [14,15], increase algal production [3] and decrease concentrations of dissolved oxygen in water bodies [16]. Despite the many studies that have described the general relationships between land use and water quality, those relationships are not fully understood [8]. For example, there are still uncertainties regarding whether urban or agricultural land use is more important in influencing water quality on the scale of catchments. Donohue et al. [12] identified that urban, arable and pasture lands were the principal factors affecting water quality in Irish rivers. Lee et al. [14] found urbanization, rather than agricultural land use, was a major factor in water quality degradation in South Korea. Fisher et al. [17] found agricultural impacts should be given priorities in natural resource management to reduce agricultural non-point source pollution in the Upper Oconee watershed of Georgia, USA. Sliva and Williams [18] found that the influence of agriculture was variable, and agriculture was negatively associated with nutrients in spring and fall in Ontario watersheds, Canada. These mixed results are partly due to the distinctive characteristics of each watershed. The highly dynamic aquatic ecosystems also result in greater complexity in research and management. Therefore, the study aimed at assessing the effects of different land use/cover types on surface water quality by analyzing some selected physic-chemical water quality parameters as to indicate water quality differences a result of human induced land use and cover types under different three sub watersheds.

Materials and Methods

Description of Study Area

The selected sub watersheds are found in East Wollega Zone, Chancho in Diga District and Sorga in Nekemte town, Ethiopia .The study sites are characterizes as agriculture, forest and Urban dominated sub watershed .In which Chancho surface water is belongs to Agriculture dominated sub watershed and Sorga surface water is as of Forest dominated sub watershed and Lega Marga surface water is under urban dominated sub watershed. The sub watersheds are located in between 9o01’ North and 36o28.2’East. The Chancho surface water is belongs to Chancho sub-watershed at the bottom edge, which was constructed for the supply of dirking water to Nekemte town, and Sorga is used as a site for fish production and recreational areas and laga Merga surface water is used for crop irrigation. The total area of the study sub-watersheds chancho (1565hac), Sorga (2261 hac) and Laga marga (324 hac). The sources of water for the each are primarily rainy water and few streams flow to each surface water (Figure 1).

Population of the Study Areas

Sorga forest & Urban dominated sub watershed is one of the most densely populated in which urban and rural settlers are living as compared to Chancho Agriculture dominated sub watershed where only rural settlers are living. The total populations of rural settlers in Sorga and chancho watershed are 5160 and 2604, respectively, and urban settlers are 2664 in Sorga urban dominated sub-watershed. Agriculture is the main economic activity undertaking within a two watershed, but urban small scale enterprise is the prime source of income for Urban settlers in the case of Sorga Urban dominated sub watershed (Figure 2).

Land Use/Cover Types of Study Watershed

The current land-use distribution in the watersheds are the result of various anthropogenic and natural processes that have occurred during the last decades, including the diminishing and abandonment of forest land to farmland for economic purposes. As shown on (Figures 3 & 4) cultivated land is the dominant land use type under Chancho and Sorga watershed, which accounts 71% and 45% of the total watershed, respectively. Forest land is second in area coverage for Sorga sub-watershed, accounts 33% and only 2% forest area coverage in Chancho sub-watershed. Wetland area coverage of Chancho and Sorga watersheds were 0.03% and 6%, respectively. Chancho watershed is entirely occupied by rural settlers and sorga watershed is more of rural settlers, which accounts 87.5%, and less of urban settlers, accounts 12.5%.

Climatic Data of the study area

The study area is located in the western part of the country receives relatively high amount of rainfall during the rainy season from late April to Early October. The mean annual rainfall data according to national metrological agency of Ethiopia of the study area is 2004mm/year. The monthly mean maximum and mean minimum temperature is 230c and 120c respectively (Figure 5).

Methods and Methods

Catchment Delineation

The study watershed delineation and land use was done by using digital elevation model and Google earth image. The watershed was divided into sub watersheds that are characterized by dominant land use, soil type, vegetation covers and management. SWAT integrated with Arc GIS was used to delineate, classify and identify the watershed areas and land use.

Study Watershed and Location of Sampling Areas

The cluster analysis showed that 8 sampling sites can be divided into three groups of relatively considering their dominant land use types surrounding the surface water areas, the three site groups were designated as forest dominated sub-watershed, Cultivated land dominated sub-watershed and urban-dominated micro-watershed, which were characterized by predominately forested land, cultivated and urban land located at the buffer zone areas of each surface water with an average 0.5km radius, respectively. Water contamination in surface water is highly dependent on water runoff in the surrounding drainage areas. It is likely that land uses in drainage areas that are in close proximity to the surface water are more likely to have stronger influences on the chemical and biological conditions of water than those farther away. Thus, this finding was focused on the dominant land uses type located near to the surface water within a range of 0.5km radius adjacent to the sampling site (Figures 6 & 7).

To capture the proportion of each type of dominant land use, water sample was taken from surface water adjacent to each sub watershed areas rather than the entire watershed area of the surface water, because small drainage areas can reveal the effects of land use on adjacent surface water more clearly. So, the study surface water areas were delineated using a GIS and digital elevation model (50 m resolution). Water sample was taken from three different sources (Figures 6 &7 ): Namely Chancho surface water is belongs to Chancho agriculture dominated sub catchment, Sorga surface water is belongs to Sorga forest dominated Sub-catchment and Lega Merga surface water is belongs to Sorga Urban dominated micro-watershed, in which Urban dominated found in Sorga sub-watershed.

Water Sampling

Water quality deterioration due to different land use/cover types within a watershed was investigated by taking water sample from three sources of surface water. Grab samples were collected in 0.5liter bottle from four sampling sites of Chancho Agriculture dominated surface water, two sampling sites of Sorga Forest dominated surface water and two sampling sites of Urban dominated surface water in which 16 samples twice per month during a peak rainy season (July, 2016-Sep, 2016) and 8 samples for the rest of months and a total of 120 samples were taken in a year. Sub watershed category was based on land use/ cover type located at the buffer zone of Surface water within 0.5 km radius.

Physico-Chemical Analysis

Samples were taken from respective reservoirs and streams from March, 2016 to Feb, 2017 during both dry and rainy seasons for selected water quality parameters includes; PH, Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP), Total dissolved solids (TDS) and Total suspended solids (TSS) and were analyzed in the laboratory every month. The analysis for each water quality parameter was undertaken according to the standard of physico-chemical analysis procedures. Mean values of each water quality parameters of the three sub watersheds were subjected to correlation analysis in order to understand the relation between each parameter. Samples were taken to Addis Ababa Environmental protection laboratory within 24 hrs and analyzed for each water quality parameters. The result for Total solid was calculated from the summation of TSS and TDS, that is Total Solid (TD)=Total suspended solid (TSS) + Total Dissolved solid (TDS).

Laboratory Analysis

The pH of the water samples was measured by using a pH meter (model HI 98130 HANNA, Mauritius, Iramac Sdn. Bhd.). The pH meter was calibrated, with three standard solutions (pH 4.0, 7.0, and 10.0), before taking the measurements. The value of each sample was taken after submerging the pH probe in the water sample and holding for a couple of minutes to achieve a stabilized reading. After the measurement of each sample, the probe was rinsed with deionizer water to avoid cross contamination among different samples.

The measurements of TSS, TDS, TN and TP in water samples were carried out according to the standard methods of APHA [5] and Sawyer et al. [3] by the filtration process. Therefore, the accuracy and precision of following methods are well approved and cited in the scientific literature. A fixed volume of water sample was poured on a pre weighed glass fiber filter of a specified pore size before starting the vacuum filtration process. The filter was removed after the completion of the filtration process and placed in an aluminum dish in an oven at 100°C for 2-3 hours to completely dry off the remaining water. The filter was then weighed, and the gain in filter weight represented the TSS contents, expressed in mass per volume of sample filtered (mg/L). The TDS of the water samples were determined by the gravimetric method. After filtration for TSS analysis, the filtrate was heated in oven at above 100°C until all the water was completely evaporated. The remaining mass of the residue represents the amount of TDS in a sample.

Statistical Analysis

Relationships among the considered variables were tested using Pearson’s correlation with statistical significance set priori atpb0.05. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare variations in water quality under different land uses with significance set at pb0.05 (least-significance difference, LSD). All the statistical analyses were performed using R soft ware for window. Microsoft Excel was used to gather all of our results in the form of table and graph. Program R was used to develop line graphs, bar graphs, and box for a clear view of our concluding results.

Results and Discussions

Effects of Land Use and Cover Types on Water Quality

Water samples were taken from surface water located at the bottom of three different land uses/ cover type, namely; agriculture, forest and Urban dominated sub-watershed and analyzed in the laboratory. The result revealed that PH level of the agriculture dominated reservoir is relatively more acidic (4.87) than others (Table 1). The mean value of TN is higher in the case of agriculture dominated surface water than others study areas. This higher in PH and TN is because of the addition of nitrogen fertilizer to the cultivated land. The average value of TSS is also more in Agriculture dominated surface water than the others, this is due to more sediment by runoff from the cultivated fields. The mean value of TDS is much higher in the case of Urban dominated surface water, it because of dissolved solid substance drained to surface water from urban influent and sold waste. The mean value of TP is relatively high in the case of Urban and Agriculture dominated land use as compared to forest land, this is due to the addition of phosphors fertilizer to farm land and influent and waste drainage from urban land use.

Discussion

pH

PH is classed as one of the most important water quality parameters. Measurement of pH relates to the acidity or alkalinity of the water. A sample is categorized as acidic if the pH is below 7.0, whereas, alkaline if the pH is higher than 7.0. The standard limits of surface water pH range according to WHO and Ethiopia guidelines is between 6.5 and 8.5. The pH values of all samples were found in the range between 4.00 and 5.6 (Table 2), where the highest values were from Forest and urban dominated watershed as compared to agriculture dominated watershed, which is more acidic than the two sub watershed This indicates that, agricultural land contribute more acid forming ions to the water environment due to the use of nitrogen fertilizers.

Total Suspended Solids (TSS)

The maximum TSS limit of surface water set by WHO is 25 mg/L. The TSS values of all the surface water samples studied except for forest land were higher than the standard (Table 2). The highest value of 65.68 mg/L was found in water samples from the agriculture dominated watershed. It was also found that the samples collected from two other areas, forest and urban dominated land showed less TSS contents as compared to agricultural land. This is because of higher runoff condition of farm land.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

TDS are the inorganic matters and small amounts of organic matter, which are present as solution in water. The standard or allowable value of the TDS set by WHO and Ethiopia is 1000 mg/L. The TDS values of all surface water samples were by far less than maximum limit of 1000 mg/L. The highest TDS mean values is 111.7mg/L and the lowest TDS values is 28.12mg/L correspond to samples from urban dominated micro watershed and Agricultural sub-watershed, respectively, (Table 2),whereas, the highest TDS mean values recorded for forest 62.66mg/l. This indicates that, more dissolved solids and influents are generated from the urban areas.

Total Nitrogen (TN)

The maximum limit TN limit of surface water set by WHO and Ethiopian is 10mg/l. The highest and lowest values of TN recorded were 17mg/l and 0.0001mg/l for agriculture dominated surface water and 15.5mg/l and 0.0001 mg/l for forest dominated one. Whereas, 10mg/l and 0.0001 mg/l of TN was corresponding to sample taken from urban dominated surface water. More amount of TN level was recorded in the case of agriculture dominated; this is due to the use of nitrogen containing inorganic fertilizer (UREA) for soil fertility amendment. Thus, some part of the added fertilizer is taken by the plant and others get into the water stream through runoff.

After all the values were gathered and analyzed, each variable was separated based on land use/cover type and tested to find any statistical difference using T-Tests. While the average mean values may have been different for each variable in both land areas, after testing the values, it appeared that there was no statistical difference for TSS,TN,TP &PH of the variables tested and only TDS mean value was statistical different(p=0.024) between three different land use/cover types at 95% confidence interval. Box plot (Figure 8) showed the visual comparisms of the difference among the three land use/cover types and data distribution and its variation from the medium values (Figure 9).

Antifungal resistance

Correlation Between Water Quality Indictors

A correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between water quality variables of the three study sites. The results indicated that the water quality values of each dominant land use types were differently correlated with each other. Relationships among the considered variables were tested using Pearson’s correlation with statistical significance set priori at p< 0.05.

Total Suspended Solid (TSS)

Correlation analysis of surface water values of urban dominated sub watershed showed that, TSS had a significant negative correlation with TDS(r=-0.346),TN(r=-0.094),and PH(r=-0.265) and agriculture dominated sub watershed TSS was positive correlation with TDS(r=0.461) and TN(r=0.132),while negatively to PH(r=-0.005).Forest dominated sub watershed TSS also positively correlated with TDS(r=0.011)and PH(r=0.064) and negatively to TN(r=0.228).

Total Dissolved Solid (TDS)

TDS value of surface water of urban dominated sub watershed showed a positive correlation with TN(r=0.038) and negative correlation with PH(r=-0.479) and TDS value of agriculture dominated was showed positive correlation with TN(r=0.605) and PH(r=0.209).Whereas, TDS value of forest dominated showed a significant positive correlation with both TN(r=0.821) and PH(r=0.752).

Total Nitrogen (TN)

TN value of surface water of urban dominated sub watershed showed a positive correlation with PH(r=0.094) and TN value of agriculture dominated was showed negative correlation with(r=-0.142) TN value of forest dominated showed a significant positive correlation with PH(r=0.435).

The results of correlation analysis indicated that almost all water quality parameters of forest and agriculture dominated values of surface water quality were positively correlated to each other, except TSS with TN of forest and TN with PH of agriculture, were negatively correlated. Whereas, more of urban dominated sub watershed surface water quality parameters values were negatively correlated to each other, except TN with PH, which were negatively correlated.

Conclusion

In this study, the relationship between land use/cover type and the corresponding water quality within 0.5km land area to explore the effect of land use/cover types on the water quality of reservoirs. The 0.5km land scope was covered by cultivated, Forest and Urban for Chancho, Sorga and Nekemte town, respectively. The study aimed to study the effect of different land use/cover types on water quality. This study indicated that different land use/cover types affect water quality with a significant difference between each land use type. The effects of land use/cover types on water quality was more in Urban and Agriculture dominated sub watershed in all water quality parameters as compared to Forest dominated sub watershed. This indicates that forest land has a capacity of reducing surface runoff by increasing infiltration rate of the land; whereas, urban runoff due to impervious land surface is the main source of dissolved solids and Agriculture runoff is the source of suspended sediment and total nitrogen to the surface water. All water quality variables were correlated to each other differently. Most of the variables in the case of urban dominated sub watershed were negatively correlated to each other, whereas, most values of water quality variables of agriculture and forest dominated sub watersheds were positively correlated to each other. Therefore, it is recommended to plant trees around the buffer zone of surface water at the radius greater than 0.5km to sustain water bodies in terms of its quality and quantities.

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