Morphological description of the digestive canal in Taeniopygia guttata (zebra finch) and Sturnus vulgaris (starling)

The present study is designed to identify the morphological description of the digestive tract in two species of different birds; these birds were Taeniopygia guttata (zebra finch) which is granivorous and Sturnus vulgaris (Starling) which is omnivorous. The results showed that the digestive canal of both birds was similar in the essential structure. It begins with the oropharyngeal cavity, which starts with the beak. The beak appeared different in the outer shape, which depends on the feeding. The mouth palate in both birds contains slit localized in the hard palate. This slit represents as beak nostril. The tongue appeared at the bottom of the oropharyngeal cavity. The esophagus appeared as a muscular tube containing the crop, which is divided into two parts the cervical part and the thoracic region, while the stomach was composed of two clear parts in both birds. The first one was a conical shape called proventriculus. The second was a spherical shape called the gizzard, and they are separated by a transitional zone called the isthmus, which was more apparent in the zebra finch, while the small intestine developed mostly in both birds. It is divided into three parts, which were the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, as well as the large intestine, which appeared as tube shape, which is the rectum. There was a pair of caecum located in the contact area of the ileum and rectum. The digestive canal ends with the cloaca in both birds. These results indicate that there are differences in the anatomical structure of the gastrointestinal tract organs between the two birds to be compatible with the quality and method of obtaining food.

Once-Weekly Somapacitan vs Daily GH in Children With GH Deficiency: Results From a Randomized Phase 2 Trial

Daily growth hormone (GH) injections can be burdensome for patients and carers. Somapacitan is a long-acting, reversible albumin-binding GH derivative in development for once-weekly administration in patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD).

Study on the effect of the substrate material type and thickness on the performance of the filtering antenna design

Design and optimization of microstrip filtering antenna with modified shaped slots and SIR filter to improve the impedance bandwidth

Optimized image processing and clustering to mitigate security threats in mobile ad hoc network

Comparison between piezoelectric transformer and electromagnetic transformer used in electronic circuits

Wearable, low-cost device for monitoring cerebral blood flow with speckle contrast optical spectroscopy

Two-year efficacy of varenicline tartrate and counselling for inpatient smoking cessation (STOP study): A randomized controlled clinical trial

Varenicline tartrate is superior for smoking cessation to other tobacco cessation therapies by 52 weeks, in the outpatient setting. We aimed to evaluate the long-term (104 week) efficacy following a standard course of inpatient-initiated varenicline tartrate plus Quitline-counselling compared to Quitline-counselling alone. Methods Adult patients (n = 392, 20–75 years) admitted with a smoking-related illnesses to one of three hospitals, were randomised to receive either 12-weeks of varenicline tartrate (titrated from 0.5mg daily to 1mg twice-daily) plus Quitline-counselling, (n = 196) or Quitline-counselling alone, (n = 196), with continuous abstinence from smoking assessed at 104 weeks. Results A total of 1959 potential participants were screened for eligibility between August 2008 and December 2011. The proportion of participants who remained continuously abstinent (intention-to-treat) at 104 weeks were significantly greater in the varenicline tartrate plus counselling arm (29.2% n = 56) compared to counselling alone (18.8% n = 36; p = 0.02; odds ratio 1.78; 95%CI 1.10 to 2.86, p = 0.02). Twenty-two deaths occurred during the 104 week study (n = 10 for varenicline tartrate plus counselling and n = 12 for Quitline-counselling alone). All of these participants had known or developed underlying co-morbidities. Conclusions This is the first study to examine the efficacy and safety of varenicline tartrate over 104 weeks within any setting. Varenicline tartrate plus Quitline-counselling was found to be an effective opportunistic treatment when initiated for inpatient smokers who had been admitted with tobacco-related disease.

External quality assessment of Rift Valley fever diagnosis in 17 veterinary laboratories of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arboviral zoonosis that primarily affects ruminants but can also cause illness in humans. The increasing impact of RVF in Africa and Middle East and the risk of expansion to other areas such as Europe, where competent mosquitos are already established, require the implementation of efficient surveillance programs in animal populations. For that, it is pivotal to regularly assess the performance of existing diagnostic tests and to evaluate the capacity of veterinary labs of endemic and non-endemic countries to detect the infection in an accurate and timely manner. In this context, the animal virology network of the MediLabSecure project organized between October 2016 and March 2017 an external quality assessment (EQA) to evaluate the RVF diagnostic capacities of beneficiary veterinary labs. This EQA was conceived as the last step of a training curriculum that included 2 diagnostic workshops that were organized by INIA-CISA (Spain) in 2015 and 2016. Seventeen veterinary diagnostic labs from 17 countries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions participated in this EQA. The exercise consisted of two panels of samples for molecular and serological detection of the virus. The laboratories were also provided with positive controls and all the kits and reagents necessary to perform the recommended diagnostic techniques. All the labs were able to apply the different protocols and to provide the results on time. The performance was good in the molecular panel with 70.6% of participants reporting 100% correct results, and excellent in the serological panel with 100% correct results reported by 94.1% of the labs. This EQA provided a good overview of the RVFV diagnostic capacities of the involved labs and demonstrated that most of them were able to correctly identify the virus genome and antibodies in different animal samples.

Modern studies of training modalities in the professional sport field