The prevalence and associated risk factors for amphistomosis in buffaloes of Jammu region (India) were assessed for one year study using faecal examination. The overall prevalence was recorded to be 16.61% (279/1680). Seasonally, the highest prevalence was found in monsoon season (32.6%), followed by summer (23.8%), post-monsoon (6.4%) and winter (3.6%) seasons. Animals above 1 year of age had significantly higher (P<0.05) prevalence (17.47%) than animals up to 6 months (7.1%) of age groups. Females had a non-significant (P>0.05) higher prevalence (16.94%) than the males (12.29%). Between agroclimatic zones, the buffaloes of irrigated area had a significantly higher (P<0.01) prevalence (24.3%) in comparison to rain-fed area (8.9%). From the study, it can be concluded that the season, age and agro-climatic conditions have direct effect on the prevalence of amphistomosis in buffaloes and the administration of an efficient anthelmintic during summer and rainy seasons can reduce the burden of this economically important parasite.

Present study was conducted to carry out morphological and molecular confirmation of sandflies collected at the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, R.S. Pura, Jammu, India. Larva was maggot like with large head, thorax and abdomen with typical black head, 12 abdominal segments and last abdominal segment carried two pairs of caudal bristles with matchstick hairs on each segment. The adult fly possessed head, abdomen and thorax. Head consisted of pair of long, hairy and beaded antenna, proboscis and one pair of prominent black eyes. Thorax possessed a pair of wings and three pairs of legs, wings were hairy and pointed with 2nd longitudinal vein branched twice. The abdominal segments were covered with small hairs and last abdominal segment was having a pair of anal recti. These identification characteristics confirmed the fly under study as Phlebotomus argentipes that confirms its occurance in this region. Molecular characterization of identified flies was carried out on positive morophological flies. Confirmation of Phlebotomus species was ascertained by amplifying the 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequence using PCR. Clear amplification was observed for Phlebotomus argentipes (538 bp). After sequencing/genotyping, Phlebotomus argentipes (OP646634) isolate of present study was clustering in same clade with Phlebotomus argentipes sequences obtained from GeneBank from other locations across globe, irrespective of their geographical location, thus providing the molecular evidence of this species present in Jammu region of North India.

Background: Cryptosporidiosis caused by Cryptosporidium spp. is a zoonotic disease and is the most prevalent pathogens worldwide and leads to severe diarrhoeal diseases and affects the immunological status of the individual. Thus, the study was undertaken to examine the anti-cryptosporidial efficacy of curcumin in comparison with ethanolic extract of curcuma longa in immunocompromised mice infected with oocysts isolated from cattle calves of Jammu region and identified as Cryptosporidium parvum using nested PCR on small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene. Methods: Two hundred female Swiss albino mice were equally divided into ten groups. Group I were kept as a healthy control, group II were immunocompromised, group III were immunocompromised and infected, group IV animals were immunocompromised, infected and treated orally with nitazoxanide. Animals in groups V to VII were immunocompromised, infected and treated with ethanolic extract of C. longa @ 4, 6 and 8 mg/kg/day/os respectively whereas groups VIII to X were immunocompromised, infected and treated with pure salt of curcumin @ 4, 6 and 8 mg/kg/day/os respectively for 5 successive days. Thus, mean oocysts per gram faeces, body weight gain and histopathological changes were measured in different groups. Result: Administration of curcumin as a therapeutic agent @ 8 mg/kg body weight for five days resulted in higher percent mean oocyst reduction of 74.03% and improved body weight gain in experimentally infected mice. Histopathological changes showed that treatment with oral curcumin (group X) in animals had minimal and improved intestinal lesions as compared to animals treated with C. longa (group VII). Altogether, curcumin showed promising anticryptosporidial effects under in vivo conditions and deserves further exploration.

Economic impact of amphistomosis in goats of Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir was assessed during November 2020 to October 2021. In the study, for a flock of 343 goats, total annual economic loss due to amphistomosis was Rs. 419910 (Rs. 2586/animal/annum). Among the various production losses, reduced body weight contributed 63.2% economic loss followed by reduced milk yield (33.4%) and birth weight of kids (3.4%). The total annual economic recovery of losses by sustainable control of amphistomosis in goats (n=103) was Rs. 241621 (Rs. 4766/ animal/annum). The increase in milk yield contributed 62.1% in economic recovery followed by weight gain of animals (34.5%) and birth weight gain of kids (3.4%). In conclusion, higher recovery in economic losses can be achieved by sustainable control of amphistomosis by targeting the parasitic burden at the right time.

The present study was conducted to evaluate resistance against ionophores (salinomycin and maduramicin) in four field isolates (F) of Eimeria tenella collected from four distantly located poultry farms from Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The purity of isolates was ascertained by COCCIMORPH and ITS-1 gene amplification for E. tenella. For the drug sensitivity trial, Cobb strain, day-old male broiler chicks were used. At the age of 10 days, the birds were transferred ad random in 13 groups to battery cage system. All birds, except non infected non-medicated control were infected with 105 sporulated oocysts each at two weeks. Prophylactic medication with ionophores commenced two days prior to infection in eight groups (two medicated groups for each of the four isolates). Another four groups served as infected and non-medicated control. Seven days post infection, all the surviving birds were sacrificed to study drug resistance by assessing the global index for individual ionophore compounds. The F-1 exhibited resistance against salinomycin and maduramicin whereas, the F-2 showed comparatively improved global index for both salinomycin and maduramicin thus indicating limited efficacy. The F-3 exhibited partial resistance against salinomycin and limited efficacy in case of maduaramicin, and the F-4 was observed to be resistant against salinomycin whereas partially resistant against maduramicin. The present study provides evidence of resistance against maduramicin and salinomycin in field isolates of E. tenella from Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which may aid in management of poultry coccidiosis.

Goat warble fly infestation (GWFI) is an economically important myiasis caused by larvae of Przhevalskiana silenus (Diptera, Oestridae), prevalent in countries of the Mediterranean Basin and Indian subcontinent. GWFI is characterized by the presence of subcutaneous warbles at the lumbar and sacral region of dorsum in the infested animal. The early larval instars (L1 and L2) remain inaccessible to physical detection due to their small size and subcutaneous presence thus causing prolonged economic loss to animal productivity. The early diagnostic intervention is needed during the disease monitoring and prophylactic management for effective control of the disease. The present study has developed an in-house dot-ELISA for the serodiagnosis of GWFI based on recombinant Hypodermin C (rHyC) antigen of Przhevalskiana silenus, expressed in E. coli. The purified protein was used for optimizing dot-ELISA in a checkerboard titration using goat warble fly infested serum as known positive. The optimized conditions require 188 ng of protein/dot, 1:800 dilution of serum sample, 1:4000 dilution of anti-goat IgG conjugate and 5% skim milk powder in phosphate buffer saline as blocking buffer. The assay was found to have a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 97.3% and 95.8%, respectively. The inter-rater reliability of dot ELISA with rHyC indirect ELISA was found to be almost perfect with a Cohen’s kappa index of 0.973. Further testing at ambient temperature (18 C) and shorter incubation steps (30 min) supported suitability of the assay for field diagnosis of GWFI. The rHyC protein based Dot-ELISA was evaluated using random field serum samples suspected for GWFI. The present study provides the first report of a sensitive and specific dot-ELISA for early diagnosis of GWFI which is rapid and cost effective. The test may provide an effective tool for sustainable control of GWFI.

Goat warble fly infestation (GWFI) is an economically important myiasis caused by larvae of Przhevalskiana silenus (Diptera, Oestridae), prevalent in countries of the Mediterranean Basin and Indian subcontinent. GWFI is characterized by the presence of subcutaneous warbles at the lumbar and sacral region of dorsum in the infested animal. The early larval instars (L1 and L2) remain inaccessible to physical detection due to their small size and subcutaneous presence thus causing hindrance in the diagnosis. The objective of present study was to develop a field applicable early diagnostic intervention for GWFI monitoring and prophylactic management for effective control of the disease. Recombinant Hypodermin C (rHyC) antigen of P. silenus was expressed in Escherichia coli. The purified protein was used for optimizing dot-ELISA in a checkerboard titration using goat warble fly infested serum as known positive. The optimized assay was further tested for lower temperature (18°C) and incubation time (30 min). The optimized assay was assessed for inter-rater reliability and field samples. The optimized conditions require 188 ng of protein/dot, 1:800 dilution of serum sample, 1:4000 dilution of anti-goat IgG conjugate and 5% skim milk powder in phosphate buffer saline as blocking buffer. The assay was found to have a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 97.3% and 95.8%, respectively. The inter-rater reliability of dot ELISA with rHyC indirect ELISA was found to be almost perfect with a Cohen's kappa index of 0.973. Further testing at ambient temperature (18°C) and shorter incubation steps (30 min) supported suitability of the assay for field diagnosis of GWFI. The present study provides the first report of a sensitive and specific dot-ELISA for early diagnosis of GWFI which is rapid and cost effective. The test may provide an effective field applicable tool for sustainable control of GWFI.

Larval packet test (LPT) was used to evaluate resistancestatus against deltamethrin and cypermethrin in R. microplusticks collected from 8 districts of Jammu region. Resistanceagainst deltamethrin was detected at level 1 in three isolates,level 2 in two isolates and level 3 in one isolate while twoisolates were found susceptible. Four isolates were foundresistant to cypermethrin whereas, other four isolates weresusceptible. Quantitative analysis of general esteraseactivity revealed a range of 2.466±0.29 to 8.908±1.68 and1.279±0.22 to 5.793±1.24 μmol/min/mg protein for α- andβ-esterase activity, respectively. Multiple pairwisecomparisons of the mean values with susceptible fieldisolate revealed significant elevated levels of both α- andβ-esterases in Jammu isolate having highest RFs to bothdeltamethrin and cypermethrin. It can be concluded thatthe resistance against SPs has developed in R. microplusticks of north-western Himalayan region, India and esterasesplay a significant role in conferring the SPs resistance.

Status of ivermectin resistance was studied in 16 isolates of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus ticks collected from north-western Himalayan region of India using larval immersion test (LIT). Regression graphs of probit mortality of larval ticks plotted against log values of concentrations of ivermectin were utilized for the determination of slope of mortality, lethal concentrations (LC50 and LC95) and resistance ratios (RRs). Out of 16 isolates examined, 15 were found resistant against ivermectin. Level II resistance was detected in eleven isolates (RR50 ranged from 5.72 to 7.62), whereas four isolates exhibited level I resistance (RR50 ranged from 1.58 to 2.77). Only one isolate was found susceptible (RR50: 1.23). Higher RR values were observed in tick isolates from low altitude areas where intensive animal husbandry activities are practiced as compared to tick isolates of high altitudes accredit the fact that managemental practices, availability of drug and its frequency of application play an important role in development of resistance.

Goat warble fly infestation (GWFI) is a subcutaneous myiasis caused by larvae of Przhevalskiana silenus, an insect belonging to the order Diptera. The diagnosis of GWFI is challenging in the early larval instars (L1 and L2) as they are occult under the skin and hair coat causing prolonged economic loss in form of meat and hide damage. This necessitates early diagnosis for disease control at herd level and its prophylactic management to prevent economic losses. Hypodermins, a class of serine proteases from Hypoderminae subfamily have been used as serodiagnostic antigens for the past four decades for diagnosis of warble fly myiasis. In this study,the immunodominant antigen Hypodermin C (HyC) from P. silenus has been recombinantly expressed in E. coli and immunogenic characterisation of expressed protein was done. The protein shows hallmark residues in conserved cysteine and catalytic triad typical of serine proteases along with similar profile of immunoreactivity towards Hypoderminae infestation. The present study reports an optimised indirect-ELISA based on recombinant HyC derived from P. silenus for early diagnosis of GWFI. The optimised indirect ELISA provides a sensitive and specific immunodiagnostic for mass surveillance of the GWFI with diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of 96% and 100%, respectively and not showing any cross reactivity against other important parasitic and bacterial diseases of goats. This study presents the first report of indirect ELISA based on recombinant Hypodermin C antigen derived from P. silenus for the serosurveillance of goat warble fly disease.

RRC (Root Raised Cosine) filters used in wireless communication as transmit and receive filters help in mitigating the lSI (Inter Symbol Interference). In this paper, the effect of root raised cosine pulse shaping filter with different roll off factors in a 2xl MIMO-OFDM system employing 256 sub carriers is analysed. In particular, the work focuses on the selection of quantization bits, truncation length and rolloff factors in a practical WiMAX system. BER analysis at different rolloff factors is presented. To evaluate the performance of the proposed design, simulations were carried out in Matlab-Simulink.

Abstract Amphistomosis in sheep (n=1210) was examined from November 2020 to October 2021 from north-western Himalayan region of India. This study took into consideration the seasonal prevalence, the intensity of infection and the economic impact of amphistomosis on production parameters of sheep. The overall prevalence was recorded to be 36.3%. Although infection encountered throughout the year, the significantly (p<0.05) higher prevalence was found in monsoon (49.8%) and post-monsoon (42.7%) seasons than winter (31.4%) and summer (25.9%) seasons. Significantly (p<0.05) higher mean egg output (46.5±0.42) was observed in monsoon season followed by summer (27.6±0.41), post-monsoon (22.0 ± 0.17) and winter (12.7±0.42) seasons. Animals aged 6 months to 1 year had significantly higher (p<0.05) prevalence (40.4%) than animals above 1 year (31.6%) and below 6 months (16.9%) of age groups. The total annual economic loss due to amphistomosis in sheep for the study flock was estimated as rupees 462384.0 (US $6188.2) and may be concluded as loss of rupees 1235.0 per animal per annum. Among the various production parameters, reduced body weight contributed the highest in economic loss (95.5%) followed by reduced birth weight of lambs (3.9%) and the least by reduced wool yield (0.6%). Evaluation of the total annual economic recovery by sustainable control of amphistomosis in sheep for the study flock was estimated as rupees 107745.0 (US $1441.9) and may be concluded as recovery of rupees 981.0 per animal per annum. Among the various production parameters, increased body weight contributed the highest in economic recovery (90.1%) followed by increased birth weight of lambs (8.3%) and the least by increased wool yield (1.6%).

Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of objects or sensors which are interconnected through communication technologies for exchange of information to provide services. Sensors for atmospheric studies can be integrated into a module and mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and data from these sensors can be uploaded to cloud for real time access. In cases where UAVs are used, most of the papers discuss atmospheric studies or air pollution monitoring through IoT where WiFi module/RF communication module and base stations on ground are used. This limits the range of the studies carried out. The proposed study intends to build a portable sensor system to be mounted on UAV for atmospheric studies and couple the same with cellular IoT using a 4G LTE modem for internet connectivity. The sensors’ data is uploaded to cloud via the cellular networks and accessed anywhere in real time directly from the cloud platform without range limitations. The proposed system does not require Wifi modules or base station on ground thus reducing the hardware complexity. The designed system is capable of measuring temporal data of atmospheric parameters like PM2.5, PM10, Co 2 , CO, NH 4 , barometric pressure, temperature periodically along with spatial data: latitude, longitude and altitude.

A study aims to determine comparative pathology of induced anchylostomiasis was conducted in murine model. L3 larvae of Ancylostoma caninum were given at the rate of 200 larvae per rat orally and 1000 per rat through per cutaneous route in both healthy and diabetic groups as per the design of the experiment. Blood samples were collected on day 15, 30 and 45 for haemato-biochemical investigations. Decrease in Hb, PCV, TEC was observed in all groups as compared to healthy control. Leukocytosis with neutrophilia and eosinophilia was also recorded. An increase in glucose, cholesterol, ALT and AST was recorded in diabetic groups as compared to their counterparts. BUN and creatinine was elevated in all infected group. Similarly total protein and albumin gradually declines (after initial increase) in all the groups. Most of the parameters remain unaffected in group V as compared to control. It was concluded that the pathology of induced anchylostomiasis in murine model is more sever in diabetic group as evident by the significantly altered haemato-biochemical parameters when compare to their counterparts. This may be due to damage caused by non treated diabetes to different body system in addition to the anchylostomiasis.

The present study was conducted from January 2018 to December 2019 to know the prevalence of coccidiosis in backyard poultry in Jammu, Samba, and Udhampur districts of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, North India. A total of 600 pooled fecal samples collected from backyard poultry were examined for presence of Eimeria oocysts. Morphometry and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based amplification of ITS-1 gene was carried to characterize the Eimeria species infecting the backyard poultry of the study area. An overall prevalence of 28.5% Eimeria spp. infection among backyard poultry birds was recorded. Among the seasons, highest prevalence was recorded during rainy season (32%) with significantly (p < 0.05) high oocyst excretion (1.77 ± 0.01) and lowest during summer (19.3%) with low oocyst excretion (0.17 ± 0.006). Young birds up to 3 months of age were found to be more susceptible to infection than older birds, with a significantly (p < 0.05) high prevalence percentage of 38.02. Morphometry with COCCIMORPH software revealed presence of Eimeria tenella, Eimeria necatrix, Eimeria acervulina, and Eimeria maxima species with prevalence rates of 27.6%, 21.3%, 16.5%, and 3.6%, respectively. The amplified fragments of ITS-1 gene presented different sizes of Eimeria spp. viz. E. acervulina (321 bp), E. tenella (278 bp), E. maxima (145 bp), and E. necatrix (383 bp). The study concluded that although backyard poultry did not show clinical form of coccidiosis, it may act as source of potential reservoir.

Development of acaricidal resistance and environmental pollution has driven need for eco-friendly pesticides and herbal acaricides. Rhizome extracts of Curcuma longa in three different solvents (acetone, chloroform and ethanol) were used in the range of 0.625-10.0% for larval immersion test against unfed larvae of Rhipicephalus microplus ticks. HPLC-PDA chromatogram showed peak of Bis demethoxy curcumin, Demethoxy curcumin and Curcumin at 430 nm with the retention time of 14.502, 15.840 and 17.33 min, respectively, in a standard marker preparation and in the sample. Ethanolic extract showed much higher yield of Demethoxy curcumin and Curcumin in comparison to acetone and chloroform extracts. Mortality rates of larval ticks were in dose-dependent manner and 100% mortality of tick larvae was achieved at 10% concentration for acetone and chloroform extracts whereas ethanolic extract showed 100% mortality of tick larvae from 7.5% concentration onwards. Among the three extracts, the highest acaricidal activity was shown by ethanolic extract with 2.43%, 9.12%, 13.26% and 26.77% values of LC50, LC90, LC95 and LC99, respectively. Significant larvicidal activity of C. longa rhizome extracts against unfed larvae of R. microplus qualifies them as green pesticides which could be combined with other tools for integrated pest management.

Covid-19 made us realize the magnitude of one health and how essential is it to dwell deep into connecting links between animal borne infections that appear of lesser importance to humans. Three quarters of emerging human pathogens are zoonotic and the probability of viral and protozoan disease to emerge as major pathogens is more than other infectious agents. The major contributors to the global burden of parasitic zoonoses are toxoplasmosis, food borne trematode infections, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, leishmaniosis and zoonotic schistosomosis. However, giardiosis, trichenellosis, angiostrongylosis are emerging as upcoming challenges. The foremost possibilities for skewed research on particular parasites is the proportion of populations being affected by the disease mainly driven by the socio economic status/research funding agencies and other being the elusive lifestyle of parasite/ difficult to study/ rarity. As the world is turning into a global village with ease of transportation, travel and trading, the emerging neglected parasites maysoon traverse the socio economic or geographical barriers. It is therefore imperative to include them in international debate, divulge into their epidemiology and transmission to ensure effective monitoring and control.

The study was conducted to evaluate the resistance status against fenvalerate and diazinon in Rhipicephalus microplus ticks collected from five districts of north-western Himalayan region of India using Adult immersion test. Resistance factors (RFs) were calculated between 1.06 to 3.33 for fenvalerate and 2.01 to 3.83 for diazinon. Resistance to fenvalerate was detected at level I in three isolates while two isolates were susceptible. Resistance against diazinon was found at level I in all the isolates examined. Ticks from plains and low altitude areas showed higher RFs wherein intensive animal husbandry practices were followed and the use of chemical acaricides was widespread in comparison to high altitude areas. Data generated on fenvalerate and diazinon resistance status of ticks in north-western Himalayan region will provide new insights in acaricidal resistance particularly from remote areas of this region and will help in formulating suitable control measures.

The study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of maggot therapy in healing of cutaneous infected wound in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic Wistar rat. For live maggots, the sterilized eggs of Lucilia sericata were obtained from colonies established in laboratory. Diabetes model was established in 48 male Wister rat by intra-peritoneal injection of STZ at the dose of 60 mg/kg body-weight. Cutaneous wounds exposed with mixed colonies of bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were prepared in all rat. The animals equally divided in 4 groups with 12 rats each being presented as treatment group of control, antibiotic, maggot and maggot with antibiotic in combination. All treatments were done once and hold for 24 hours. Wound kinetics and bacterial bio burden were measured at weekly interval to till complete healing. Significant reduction in wound area with maximum contraction was found (>95%) in maggot treated group when compared to antibiotic treated (79%) and control (72%). In maggot as well as maggot and antibiotic in combination group showed early elimination of bacterial bio-burden 7.88±0.03log CFU/ml to 1.12±0.65log CFU/ml and 7.86±0.04) log CFU/ml to 1.54±0.52log CFU/ml respectively in three weeks of time. Early healing indication was also experienced on histomorphological examination of wounded tissue of maggot treated groups by early and better epithelialization, collagenation and neovascularization with complete healing of wound in three weeks in comparison to antibiotic and control respectively. However, the present study did not show any difference in healing of wound with use of maggot alone or in antibiotic combination. Live maggot of Lucilia sericata effectively lower bacterial bioburden and and accelerate healing of infected cutaneous wound in diabetic conditions.