Agrochemical use in Farming Practices and Risk Factors for Kidney Disease among Dwellers of Rural Farming Communities in South-West Nigeria.

Background: The outlook of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in low-and-medium-income-countries is poor. Modern farming practices in Nigeria are becoming increasingly associated with the use of herbicides and pesticides.

Aim: The study aimed to evaluate agrochemical use in farming practices and risk factors for kidney disease among dwellers of rural farming communities in South-West Nigeria.

Generation of contractile forces by three-dimensional bundled axonal tracts in micro-tissue engineered neural networks.

Axonal extension and retraction are ongoing processes that occur throughout all developmental stages of an organism. The ability of axons to produce mechanical forces internally and respond to externally generated forces is crucial for nervous system development, maintenance, and plasticity. Such axonal mechanobiological phenomena have typically been evaluated at a single-cell level, but these mechanisms have not been studied when axons are present in a bundled three-dimensional (3D) form like in native tissue.

Exploring the modulatory effects of brown seaweed meal and extracts on intestinal microbiota and morphology of broiler chickens challenged with heat stress.

Brown seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) is known for its prebiotic roles and can improve animal intestinal health by enhancing the growth of beneficial microbes and inhibiting pathogenic ones. However, the gut health-modulatory roles of brown seaweed on chickens challenged with heat stress (HS) are rarely studied. The current study examined the effects of brown seaweed meal (SWM) and extract (SWE) on the ceca microbiota and small intestinal morphology of chickens challenged or unchallenged with HS.

Research Note: Non-invasive urate sphere corticosterone metabolite as a novel biomarker for heat stress in poultry.

Heat stress (HS) poses a critical concern for the global poultry industry. To better understand its impact and mechanism on poultry species, as well as to develop effective HS mitigation options, it is crucial to validate reliable and effective biomarkers of HS. In this study, broiler chickens (96 mixed-sex, 1-day-old) were randomly assigned to 2 environmental conditions: HS at 31°C for 8 h/d versus a thermoneutral condition (TN) at 24°C ± 0.