Economic analysis of smallholder dairy cattle enterprises in Senegal.

Smallholder dairy production in Senegal is important to both livelihoods and food and nutrition security. Here, we examine the economic performance of smallholder dairy cattle enterprises in Senegal, using data from longitudinal monitoring of 113 households. The mean (and standard deviation) of the net returns (NR) per cow per annum (pcpa) was 21.

Spatial distribution of African Animal Trypanosomiasis in Suba and Teso districts in Western Kenya.

Background: Studies on the epidemiology of African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) rarely consider the spatial dimension of disease prevalence. This problem is confounded by use of parasitological diagnostic methods of low sensitivity in field surveys. Here we report a study combining highly sensitive and species specific molecular diagnostic methods, and Geographical information system (GIS) for spatial analysis of trypanosome infection patterns, to better understand its epidemiology.

Comparative evaluation of three PCR base diagnostic assays for the detection of pathogenic trypanosomes in cattle blood.

Currently, several PCR based diagnostic assays have been developed to improve the detection of pathogenic trypanosomes. These tests include use of species specific primers, single and nested PCRs' based on primers amplifying the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal DNA. This study compares three PCR based diagnostic assays and assesses the agreement of these three asaays by screening 103 cattle blood samples randomly collected from trypanosome endemic areas in western Kenya.

Establishment and comparative analyses of different culture conditions of primary hepatocytes from Nile tilapia (oreochromis niloticus) as a model to study stress induction in vitro.

We established an in vitro hepatocyte primary culture system from Oreochromis niloticus, a tropical fish species of great economical importance, and evaluated its ability to express albumin, a liver-specific protein, consistently for a period of 3 wk. Serum requirements for fish hepatocyte cultures were assessed. A one-step in situ perfusion of tilapia liver retrogradely followed by collagenase liver dissociation and subsequent washing produced nearly 90% homogenous viable hepatocytes, as shown by trypan blue exclusion test.