bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Teacher Leadership Styles and their Effects on Students’ Academic Performance in Selected Secondary Schools in Bamenda III Sub-Division
Authors: Tim Ndi Obed
Published: January 2025

This research seeks to study the contribution of Teacher Leadership Styles on Students’ Academic Performance in selected secondary Schools in Bamenda III Sub-Division, Mezam Division in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. It was carried out using four selected secondary schools in Bamenda III Sub-Division Mezam namely GBHS ATIELA, GBHS Bamenda, CAMSCI Nkwen and St. Paul’s College Nkwen. Three research objectives were formulated from which three research questions were generated to guide the study. The research objectives were as follows, (1)To examine the extent to which laissez faire leadership style of teachers has an influence on academic performance of students. (2)To investigate the impact of the autocratic leadership style of teachers on students’ academic performance. (3)To examine the influence of the coaching leadership style of teachers on students’ academic performance. The hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression. The study employed mixed research design. A sample of 203 teachers was selected for this study using the simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using a close-ended questionnaire structured on a four (4) – point Likert scale. The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS version 25.0. Findings revealed that; leadership styles are significantly related to the students’ academic achievement. The means were greater than 2.5 which is the cuff of mean. On autocratic leadership style 3.21, on Laissez-faire leadership style 2.80, on coaching leadership style2.85, Academic performance2.92.This indicates that the respondents all agreed that these different facets put together will improve academic performance. Also the qualitative analyses (thematic analyses) was done using NVIVO version 12 on focus group discussion data (96 students ), distributed in eight groups.
Enhance the Understanding of Learning Sorting and Searching Algorithms through Card Ranking Methods (Game-Based Approach)
Authors: J Janani.
Published: January 2025

Teaching sorting and searching algorithms in Data Structures and Algorithms courses is often challenging due to their abstract nature. Traditional lecture-based methods frequently fail to provide students with an intuitive understanding of these essential concepts, leading to poor engagement and comprehension. This research explores the use of a game-based learning approach, specifically the card ranking method, to address these challenges and enhance student learning. The study was conducted with the 2021/2022 batch of students enrolled in the Data Structures and Algorithms course. The card ranking method involved creating ten cards, each representing a number, and having ten students hold these cards. A sorting algorithm, such as insertion sort, was displayed on the screen, and the students physically enacted the algorithm by swapping positions based on the logic of the displayed algorithm. This interactive approach allowed students to visualize and actively participate in the sorting process, transforming an abstract concept into an engaging physical activity.

Findings revealed that this method significantly improved students’ understanding of sorting and searching algorithms. Feedback collected from students indicated a high level of satisfaction, with many requesting the continuation of this method for teaching other algorithms. The activity fostered active participation, collaboration, and engagement, which are essential components of effective learning. This research underscores the potential of game-based learning approaches to address learning challenges in computer science education. By integrating interactive methods such as the card ranking method, educators can foster deeper comprehension and increase student interest in complex topics. Future work will explore the application of this method to additional algorithms and assess its scalability in larger classrooms.
Service Quality and Stakeholder Satisfaction in HEMAM Inclusive Education Centers: An Abu Dhabi Case Study
Authors: Hammadi Ameena Al
Published: January 2025

In an increasingly competitive educational landscape, understanding and enhancing service quality is paramount for institutions seeking to meet and exceed stakeholder expectations. This study investigates how service quality and stakeholder satisfaction works within the context of HEMAM centers in Abu Dhabi. With a quantitative study and SPSS for data analysis, the research examines the service quality and satisfaction of teachers and parents regarding the given services. The analysis brings to light that high-quality services correlate with a high level of satisfaction for both stakeholders. Communication, empathy, and responsiveness were deemed as key factors that could improve service quality. This study contributes to the understanding of different stakeholders’ views on providing inclusive education services at HEMAM centers and provides practical recommendations for their improvement.
Morphological Sex Determination of East Asian Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) in Tropical Wintering Region
Authors: Ismail Nor Adibah , Daud Ummi Nur Syafiqah , Arazmi Noor Fatihah Najihah , Md Ali Nurfatin Batrisyia , Md Nor Shukor , Mohammad Saiful Mansor
Published: January 2025

The Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica is a non-breeding, sexually dimorphic, and diurnal migrant that overwinters worldwide, including in Peninsular Malaysia. While numerous studies on Barn Swallows have been conducted, their ecology in wintering sites, particularly tropical regions, remains poorly understood. Notably, little information is available on the morphological sex determination of Barn Swallows, especially for the East Asian Barn Swallow H. r. gutturalis population. This population migrates through or winters in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, while breeding occurs from the eastern Himalayas to northeast Russia (Siberia), China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan. This study aims to determine the best parameters for the morphological sexing of East Asian Barn Swallows and was conducted in Bentong, Pahang, central Peninsular Malaysia. Swallows were captured using a modified scoop net attached to a telescopic pole, and their morphological data were recorded. A total of 46 individual East Asian Barn Swallows (19 females and 27 males) were captured for sex determination. We confirmed the sex and subspecies of sampled individuals using a molecular approach. We observed that two of the seven measured variables—tail fork depth (the length difference between the outermost and innermost tail feathers; T6-T1) and the length of the outermost tail feather (6th rectrix; T6) were chosen as the best predictors for sex determination. According to the quadratic discriminant functions constructed, approximately 89.47% of females and 96.3% of males were correctly classified using a combination of both chosen predictors. These morphological determination findings represent baseline knowledge that can help to provide more accurate and convenient Barn Swallow sex determination in the field.
Nanoemulsion and Topical Cream for Delivery of Tocotrienol-rich fraction, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, and Carotenes: Formulation and in vitro Release
Authors: Gan Yee-Lin , Chin Ping Tan , Cheah Yoke Kqueen , Ariffin Hidayah , Wasoh Helmi , Oi Ming Lai
Published: January 2025

Objectives of this study were to encapsulate tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF), ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate (AT) and carotenes into nanoemulsion, incorporate the formulated nanoemulsion into moisturizer cream, and characterize the formulated nanoemulsion and cream. A stepwise factorial design methodology was used to screen the nanoemulsion’s ingredients and preparation parameters. With mean droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), creaming index (CI) and irritational potential as evaluation criteria, the ideal nanoemulsion formulation comprised deionized water, red palm oil (RPO) and Kolliphor® EL in a ratio of 20.00:6.25:73.75, fabricated using a high-shear mixer at 7000 rpm and 45°C for 10 min followed by a high-pressure homogenizer at 750 bars for five cycles. The nanoemulsion’s mean droplet size and PDI were 121.5 ± 1.8 nm and 0.178 ± 0.010, respectively. The cream formulation was then screened using a factorial experiment that considered lipid and emulsifier concentrations. The optimal cream formulation contained deionized water, formulated nanoemulsion, petrolatum, mineral oil, glycerol, emulsifying wax and carbomer 940 in a ratio of 66.8:10.0:7.5:7.5:5.0:3.0:0.2, showing the preferred shear-thinning behavior, excellent physical stability and high conclusiveness. The formulated cream exhibited Korsmeyer-Peppas and Weibull release kinetic mechanisms during the in vitro release. This study showed that the developed formulations were suitable for the topical delivery system for TRF, AT and carotenes.
Dietary Administration of Karonda (Carissa carandas) on the Growth, Digestive Enzymes, Skin Mucosal Immunity, and Pigmentation in Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens)
Authors: Ponsin Kotchaporn , Khunchalee Janeeya , Munglue Phukphon
Published: January 2025

Karonda (Carissa carandas) fruit contains natural colorants; however, no research has investigated its effects on fish growth and coloration. Thus, this study examined the impacts of C. carandas fruit powder (CCFP) on growth, skin mucosal immunity, digestive enzymes, and pigmentation in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Flavonoids (15.97 ± 0.48 mg quercetin equivalent/g CCFP), phenolics (43.52 ± 1.73 mg gallic acid equivalent/g CCFP), terpenoids (350.00 ± 15.66 mg linalool equivalent/g CCFP), tannins (40.97 ± 0.15 mg tannic acid equivalent/g CCFP), carotenoids (5.53 ± 0.73 µg/g CCFP), and β-carotene (0.67 ± 0.05 µg/g CCFP) were estimated in CCFP. In the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay, CCFP showed antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 256.12 ± 7.68 μg/ml. Fish (0.42 ± 0.02 g weight and 3.20 ± 0.07 cm length) were fed diets containing CCFP at 0 (control), 3, 6, and 9 g/kg for 8 weeks. The results showed that CCFP administration significantly enhanced final weight, length, weight gain, specific growth rate, and average daily gain (p < 0.05). No changes in feed conversion ratio, survival, and condition factor were observed (p > 0.05). Dietary CCFP significantly increased skin mucus lysozyme, alkaline phosphatase, IgM, myeloperoxidase, total protein, antioxidant capacity, catalase, and superoxide dismutase. Fish treated with CCFP showed significant increases in intestinal protease, lipase, and amylase activity, as well as skin, muscle, and fin carotenoid levels. In conclusion, the administration of CCFP at 9 g/kg is optimal for improving growth, digestive enzymes, skin mucosal immunity, and pigmentation in B. splendens.
Optimizing Internal Audit Practices for Combatting Occupational Fraud: A Study of Data Analytic Tool Integration in Zimbabwean Listed Companies
Authors: Thakkar Himanshu , Fanuel Gudoshava Chrispen , Datta Saptarshi , Bhadra Priyam , Dabhade Siddharth Baburao
Published: January 2025

Various types of fraud exist in almost every country, classified as corruption, asset misappropriation, and financial statement fraud. Occupational fraud, a mixture of corruption and asset misappropriation, has been mostly committed within companies, significantly impacting their economic stability. Interview and questionnaire techniques were employed to collect data from the companies listed on the Zimbabwe stock exchange. Primary data has been collected from 44 respondents through questionnaires. It is found that companies in Zimbabwe are widely using Excel for internal audits. Internal audits play a crucial role in fraud prevention and detection, but there is room for improvement, particularly in leveraging data analytics to enhance effectiveness. To prevent occupational fraud, companies in Zimbabwe should strengthen their internal audit mechanism and leverage data analytics tools such as ACL, IDEA, SQL, Power BI, Tableau, Python, and R. These measures can help detect and prevent fraud at an early stage, safeguarding organizational assets and improving the quality of internal audits. In addition to adopting data analytics tools, companies should focus on integrating advanced fraud detection methodologies, such as machine learning and predictive analytics, into their internal audit systems. Regular auditor training on emerging fraud schemes and digital threats is essential for maintaining effective fraud prevention. Establishing stronger internal controls, periodic audits, and fostering a culture of accountability and transparency within organizations can further mitigate the risk of occupational fraud. Furthermore, collaboration with external auditors can provide an independent assessment, adding extra protection against fraud.
Identifying Respiratory Muscle Strength in Middle Aged Males and Females Based on Reference Equation
Authors: K Patel Tvisha , Kumar Arvind , K Khamar Zarana
Published: January 2025

Respiratory muscle strength is an essential part of respiratory system evaluation as the process of ventilation eventually depends on the muscles of respiration. Aging reduces the muscle mass commonly referred to as ‘sarcopenia’. Thus, the middle-aged population goes under a sequential change of thoracic cages that affects the respiratory system. There are various tools available for assessment of the strength of these respiratory muscles. However, the feasibility of applying these tools is limited by their availability in various clinical settings, which poses a significant drawback when assessing their effectiveness. The reference equations on the other hand which address this issue are available to assess the respiratory muscle strength (RMS) using the maximal mouth pressures as maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) and maximum expiratory pressure (MEP). The MIP and MEP are calculated on the basis of individual’s age, height and weight. The present study thus applied the available equation to assess the RMS which included 200 volunteers (100 males and 100 female) with mean age was of 56.67± 6.89 and 58.45± 6.85 for males and females with the average height was of 167.18 ± 3.99 and 159.3 ± 2.74 with the weight of 69.14 ± 3.37 and 60.30 ± 4.08 respectively. The BMI of the study cohort was 24.26±0.70 kg/m2. The mean MIP for males is 93.63 ± 4.84 and mean MEP is 84.84 ± 4.78 while in females the mean MIP was 69.84 ± 2.85 and mean MEP was 63.46 ± 2.86. The equations can further be utilized for identifying individual’s cut off respiratory pressure for evaluating respiratory muscle weakness. It can significantly be of much importance while diagnosing neurologically affected patients for their RMS as it gives an individual’s limit for inspiratory as well as expiratory muscle strength.
FLNCVD-net: COVID-19 Detection Using Chest X-rays
Authors: Leema A Anny , Mukthineni Venkat , Mukthineni Rahul , P Balakrishnan
Published: January 2025

This research work proposes faster alternative ways of predicting the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in the patient’s body. Firstly, this research work proposes a transfer learning-based solution methodology that trains the following models, VGG16, VGG19, MobileNetV2, NASnet Moblie and ResNet-50 to find out an efficient base model for Novel Corona Virus Detect-net (NCVD-net) to detect COVID-19 infected patients using chest X-rays. Among these, VGG-19 is chosen as the best base model as it outperforms the other models. Afterward, the chosen VGG-19 is transformed to VGG-19 based NCVD-net by replacing its fully connected layer with an average max pooling layer, flattened layer, three dense layers (1 x 256, 1x128, 1 x 64) with leaky ReLU activation function and one output dense layer (1 x 2) with softmax activation. Following that, VGG-19-based NCVD-net is tested against unseen chest X-rays and successfully detects COVID-19-infected patients with 99.91% accuracy. Secondly, this paper employs Federated Learning-based Novel Corona Virus Detect-net (FLNCVD-net) by considering VGG-16, VGG-19 and ResNet101 as its base model. Later, these models are distributed securely to each hospital and trained on the chest X-rays available in that hospital. Finally, the model parameters from each FLNCVD-net are securely transmitted and combined to build a global FLNCVD-net. The proposed FLNCVD-net using the above-said three base models are validated against unseen COVID-19 +ve and COVID-19 –ve chest X-ray images from Dr. Joseph Cohen’s GitHub repository and Kaggle respectively. Surprisingly, it is observed that the VGG-16-based FLNCVD-net marginally outperforms VGG-19-based FLNCVD-net.
The Impact of Human Resource Practices on Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement
Authors: Kavitha SR
Published: January 2025

The paper shows the mediation role played by the work engagement of human resource practices in organisational performance. The human resource practices considered include recruitment, training and development, performance management, and employee engagement; these were pivotal drivers toward good organisational culture and for more desirable results in the sphere of performance in this evidence. An essential finding of this research is that investing in extensive HR practices enhances employees' commitment, reduces turnover rates, and increases productivity. Work engagement emerges as a critical mediator, significantly influencing the link between HR practices and performance. Engaged employees display enthusiasm, creativity, and commitment, contributing to higher alignment with organisational objectives. This study found that aligning HR strategies with organisational goals increases employee engagement, offering clear direction and fostering a more motivated workforce. Organisations implementing strategic HR approaches focused on work engagement have significantly superior performance metrics regarding greater operational efficiency and competitive advantages. Integration of engagement-focused practices builds a workforce capable of driving sustained performance improvements.
Emerging Trends in Employee Engagement Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Published Articles
Authors: Awasthi Arti , Khan Farhina Sardar , Mazhar Syed Shahid , Dipti  , Singh Anamika , Khan Hiba
Published: January 2025

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of research on employee engagement, focusing on the literature published between 2013 and 2023. Using VOS viewer software, this study visualizes research trends, identifies influential contributors, highlights leading journals, and pinpoints active countries in the field over the past few years. The analysis employed logical operators (“employee engagement” OR ‘Work engagement’) to comprehensively capture relevant publications. The results indicated a significant increase in research output on employee engagement, particularly with a peak of 238 articles indexed in SCOPUS in 2020, reflecting the increasing recognition of employee engagement as a pivotal driver of organizational success. India emerged as the second most active country in employee engagement research, after the USA, followed by the United Kingdom, China, Australia, and Malaysia. This upward trend reflects the global relevance of employee engagement in regional contexts, shaping research contributions. Beyond mapping research activities, this study provides a comprehensive overview of prominent journals and researchers, shedding light on interconnected themes and trends within the field of study. The insights from this analysis emphasize the importance of incorporating broader and more diverse data sources in future studies to enrich the understanding of employee engagement and enhance the effectiveness of engagement strategies in organizations.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence in Advancing Healthcare Quality: A Systematic Review
Authors: Dhwany DB  , Kansal Amit
Published: January 2025

AI provides a workable solution in healthcare for enhancing patient care, improving diagnostic precision, allocating resources and optimising services as possible. AI can improve healthcare delivery system by utilising machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics in various domains, including patient management and disease detection. However, issues about privacy, data security, and ethical consequences have been highlighted in the increasing usage of AI in healthcare. Clear legal frameworks and norms must be in place to guarantee the accountable integration of AI technology in healthcare settings. This systematic study conducted a thorough literature search across electronic databases to assess the usefulness of AI in improving healthcare quality. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, crosssectional research, and qualitative meta-syntheses concentrating on AI applications and their influence on healthcare quality were among the selection criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment adhered to established protocols were used to validate and ensure the reliability of the studies included. Synthesized findings from the selected studies revealed significant insights into AI's potential benefits and challenges in healthcare. AI tools, such as ordinary linguistic processing and machine learning, have shown promising impact on patient outcomes, personalised therapy, and diagnostic accuracy. However, incorporating AI into healthcare systems requires careful thought because issues like data theft, moral quandaries, and possible financial ramifications are persistent. Despite challenges, AI can enhance healthcare quality by optimising resource allocation, supporting clinical decision-making, and improving patient care efficiency. Prioritizing ethical and regulatory considerations is needed to unlock AI's full potential in healthcare and guarantee equitable access to its advantages.
Digital tools and digital solutions in the practice of Hungarian SMEs
Authors: Csiszárik-Kocsir Ágnes , Garai-Fodor Mónika , Varga János
Published: January 2025

The digital wave of the 21st century has reached and affected all sectors of the economy. The IT developments that started after the turn of the millennium have brought a level of change to organisations that was unprecedented in previous years. The pandemic has given a new impetus to this process. While larger companies were prepared for these challenges well in advance, it was only during the pandemic, and thanks to the shutdowns, that small and medium-sized enterprises made a significant shift towards digitalisation. The digital imperative has created many obstacles for businesses. In many cases, there is a lack of skills, knowledge and capability, as well as considerable resistance to the processes at both organisational and employee level. The aim of our study is to present the digital aspirations of SMEs after the pandemic, covering the tools used, the applicability of online solutions, the barriers and obstacles to their adoption, based on the results of a primary research conducted in Hungary.
Covid-19 Lockdown and Spike in Yahoo Activities in Nigeria
Authors: Ene Warikiente , Otobo Irene
Published: January 2025

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the
COVID-19 Lockdown on the prevalence of Yahoo
Activities in Nigeria. The work seeks to deepen our
understanding of the socio-economic conditions enabled by
the Covid-19 which may have bred a surge in Yahoo
activities and its dynamics with a view to providing more
robust remedial insights to stakeholders and policy makers.
In a bid to achieve these objectives, the study utilized the
Anomie and Strain Theories using Qualitative Research
method. In this light, it engaged textual analysis of
secondary data of documentary works sourced from the
internet and library. The result indicates positive
correlation between COVID-19 lockdown and surge in
Yahoo Activities. The findings show that the increased
online activity (i.e. of individuals and businesses) due to the
lockdown propelled many Yahoo boys to intensify their
online activities given the relative dominance of the virtual
society of the time. Also, the socio-economic hardship and
unemployment occasioned by the lockdown, pushed many
young persons into the act, all contributing to the upsurge.
There is an indication that the surge will not dwindle after
the lockdown and therefore, may pose more socio-
economic damage to the country. To this end, an urgent and
a multi-pronged approach that includes law enforcement,
technological advancement, public awareness and industry
collaboration is essential to address the threats of the fast-
spreading Yahoo activities.
Ecowas Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Northeast Nigeria
Authors: Nwokah Imere , Murtala Mohammed , Adiele Alechi
Published: January 2025

A destabilizing factor that is gradually and steadily
c o m p r o m i s i n g t h e s e c u r i t y o f s t a t e s
includingNigeria is the proliferation of arms.
Paradoxically, with prolong insecurity in the northeast;
morepeople have been killed with small arms than any
other weapon of mass destruction. Fundamental to this is
the movement of persons across national borders. This
paper examines the ECOWAS free movement protocol and
the proliferation of small arms in northeast. Using
d e s c r i p t i v e d e s i g n , s e c o n d a r y d a t a , t h e o r y o f
transnationalism and descriptive analysis, it argues that the
spongy nature of Nigeria's borders due to the
implementation of the protocol is a conduit pipe in the
proliferation of small arms. Again, the availability of arms is
a development that has affected virtually all parts of
northeast and concludes that the challenges posed by the
protocol outweigh any intended benefits. It recommends
among others that Nigeria should put in place mechanisms
to enhance border security.
Food Security and Life Expectancy in Selected Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Authors: Chika Priscilla , Kalu Chris , Uzoechina Benedict , Nwokoye Ebele
Published: January 2025

The considerable argument on the role of edible food
and other relevant factors that influence life
expectancy remains debatable among researchers.
Various conclusions have been drawn with different
methodologies and variables considered in the existing
studies. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of food
security on life expectancy in ECOWAS countries over the
period 2012 to 2022. Life expectancy was proxy by life
expectancy at birth, government expenditure on health,
education, GDP per capita income, carbon dioxide emission,
population growth rate, and control of corruption was
sourced mainly from the World Development Indicator,
Food and Agriculture Organization. This cross-sectional
study employed the panel random effect model, vector error
correction model, and Eviews 10.0 for regression analysis.
The study used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to
select the food security indexes, with the result showing that
food affordability is the most appropriate for the study. The
result revealed that even though food affordability positively
impacted life expectancy, the impact is insignificant. It also
showed that both government expenditures on health and
education had a positive and significant impact on life
expectancy, while carbon dioxide emission was negative and
significant. The study also found that the population growth
rate and income per capita granger caused carbon dioxide
emissions without feedback. Consequently, this study
recommended that policies to enhance food security should
be given adequate attention by the governments of the
selected ECOWAS countries through incentivizing farmers.
The need to address high levels of income inequalities in
these countries through institutional overhaul remains
paramount, while mechanisms should be on the ground to
ensure proper utilization of budgeted funds on health and
education and embracing environmentally friendly
practices.
The saga of the humanized mouse: a giant leap into the galaxy or a small step for humankind?
Authors: R H Nagendra
Published: January 2025

Laboratory animals have contributed greatly in understanding human physiology and pathology. However,  differences in biology do not allow us to definitively interpret the results of experiments in animals.  Transplanting human cells and tissues into mice has therefore been one of the milestones in humanizing  laboratory animals. However, this necessitates complete replacement of the mouse system by the human  system, the most explored of which is the immune system. But this has not been easy as each phenotypic  deletion in mice has unraveled the complexity of host (mouse) defense mechanisms and at the same time shed  more light on the development of the human immune system. Because humanized immune mice lack the  armory to reject xenotransplants, they are being extensively used to implant and study other human systems,  including infectious diseases. This review summarizes the history of humanizing the mouse, the technical  advancements, the knowledge gained in the process, their use as well as the outlook in this fascinating and  rapidly advancing field.
Dietary supplementation of curcumin ameliorate aflatoxn B1 induced oxidative stress in mice
Authors: N Prakash , U Sunilchandra , M Vijaykumar , B H Pavithra , V Naghabhushan , S G Ramachandra
Published: January 2025

Studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of curcumin on toxicopathology of  aflatoxicosis in laboratory mouse following short-term exposure to aflatoxin B1. Sexually matured Swiss albino  mice of either sex weighing between 28-30g were divided into two groups consisting of six animals each.  Animals in group I (positive control) were fed with aflatoxin B1 mixed in standard rodent chow (7.5 ppb) and  group II (treatment) received aflatoxin B1 (7.5 ppb) along with curcumin (1g/kg feed) for a period of 14 days.  At term, oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity were assessed by determining tissue and serum specific enzymes  and by histopathology. Short term exposure to aflatoxin-B1 significantly (P< 0.05) decreased hepatic GSHr levels on account of oxidative stress as evidenced by elevated TBARS levels (group I). However, concomitant  administration of curcumin has significantly (P< 0.05) reduced the TBARS and protected depletion of hepatic  GSHr levels. Curcumin supplementation (group II) has markedly reduced the toxicopathological lesions in  liver induced by aflatoxin B1 and consequent reduction (P< 0.05) in serum levels of both aminotransferase  (s) and phosphatase. Thus, the present study demonstrated the potential benefits of dietary supplementation of  curcumin in ameliorating aflatoxin induced oxidative stress in mice
Sentinel Monitoring Program: Quality Assurance in Laboratory animal facility
Authors: Devan R.K Shakthi , N Parthiban , Narayanan Samarendra , Poosala Suresh
Published: January 2025

Sentinel animal testing plays a pivotal role in management of any modern vivarium. It is an extremelyuseful tool to assess the microbial status of the laboratory animals as part of the comprehensive animalcare program. Sentinels pick up the early infection if any, in the micro and/or macro environment, as theseanimals are placed in a similar environment intentionally. Sentinels are representative animals, independentof the research colonies and are maintained only for the purpose of screening the pathogenic organismsat regular intervals. At times, as part of 3R's, we have on occasion used research animals to confirm oursentinel results. Sentinel program is concerned with prompt detection of pathogens and the measuresto deal with them thereby ensuring the health status of the resident colony. With an effective sentinelmonitoring program preventive measures can be taken to enact either, treat, contain or eradicate thepathogen. This review provides insights into the sentinel program with respect to disease surveillance oflaboratory animals and conveys why it is necessary for effective in laboratory animal program management.
Checking the genetic integrity of laboratory mice with the help of conventional methods
Authors: Ingle Arvind D , Ahire Shashi D
Published: January 2025

Animal models are well documented in the literature and are used for experimentation due to their specific  characters or response to the chemicals. Any deviation of these animals from the reported characters or  response renders the animal unsuitable for the research. Therefore, use of genetically defined laboratory  animal model is equally important to that of use of pure chemicals in any biomedical research. Procurement  of pure lines and their sustained maintenance in the animal facility is of utmost importance for the existence  and functioning of any animal facility. Keeping in view of the fact that despite careful and defined breeding  program, genetic contamination and strain alterations may occur. The present study was undertaken to  ascertain the genetic purity of strains of laboratory mice maintained at ACTREC. Skin grafting, coat colour  testing and seven biochemical markers were studied. The results of all these tests showed that the rodent  strains maintained at ACTREC have no genetic contaminations/ drift even after maintaining the strains for  as many as 136 generations. The data indicates that merely conducting these simple tests, it is possible to  establish in-house genetic quality control program and check the authenticity of the laboratory animals.
Efficacy of Momordica charantia in alleviation of streptozotocin- induced diabetes effects in rats
Authors: G Mallikarjuna , Rao Suguna , N B Shridhar , M L Sathyanarayana , S M Byregowda , Krishna B Dhanush
Published: January 2025

The pathomorphological evaluation of antidiabetic effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Momardica charantia (M. charantia) plant’s fruit pulp was studied in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes in Wistar albino rats  against glibenclamide. Hydroalcoholic extract of M. charantia at 200 mg/kg was administered to the diabetic  subjects for 45 days. The antidiabetic effect was evaluated by estimation of serum glucose, cholesterol,  triglyceride, ALT, AST and serum insulin. Detailed histopathologic evaluation of islets of Langerhans, liver  and other organs was performed to assess its pathomorphological effects. The diabetic rats which received  the hydroalcoholic extract of the M. charantia fruit pulp showed significant decrease (P≤0.001) in the serum  levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, ALT and AST and the serum insulin was significantly increased  (P≤0.001) compared to diabetic control animals. The effect observed was almost comparable to those of  glibenclamide. The microscopic evaluation of islets of Langerhans indicated either the regeneration or repair  of the affected beta cells and also the extract found to have marked hepatoprotective effect against STZ  induced liver injury
Two different rat models for cardiac hypertrophy by constriction of ascending and abdominal aorta
Authors: Sankaran Santhosh Kumar , Kumar  G S Ajith , Raj S S Binil , R Rajagopal
Published: January 2025

Atherosclerosis is one of the important life style diseases of human beings. There are several animal models in vogue  for studying the patho-physiology of Atherosclerosis. It is usually done by inducing pressure overload of aorta. In  this study we attempted two different murine models by constriction of thoracic aorta (ascending aorta) and by  constriction of abdominal aorta, using metal clips. It was observed that thoracic aorta banding requires expertise,  expensive equipment and an increased mortality rate compared to abdominal aorta banding. But the time period for  the development of cardiac hypertrophy was lesser in thoracic method (2-4 months) compared to abdominal aorta  approach (20-24 months).
Total Leucocytes and Lymphocytes Correlates with T cell deficiency and not on B or NK cell deficiency in mice
Authors: Arindkar Shailendra , Iyer Srikanth , Kumar Jerald Mahesh , Perumal Nagarajan
Published: January 2025

The objective of this study was to compare changes in leucocyte and lymphocyte analytes in various models of  immunodeficient mice lacking T or B or NK cells or both T and B cells. In this study, we used the following immunodeficient  mice (nu; T inactive B+ NK+), (IgH-6-/-; T+B inactive NK+) (beige; T+B+NK inactive) and SCID and RAG-1-/- (T inactive  B inactive NK+). Among the T cell deficient (Ii-/-, CD8+, CD4 Inactive) and (TAP-1-/-; CD 4 inactive and CD8+) were  used. FACS analyses of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells were performed to determine the percentage of CD3+ T cell,  B220 + B cell and NK cell along with analysis of hematological parameters. There were marked differences in the relative  proportions of leucocytes and lymphocytes blood cell population among the immunodeficient strains. These results indicate  that WBC and lymphocytes population in whole blood depends on T cells percentage. B cells and NK cells deficiency has  minor role in the leucocytes and lymphocytes population in immunodeficient status in mouse models. The hematological  differences described here are based on the level of CD3, B220 and NK1.1 cells. This study will provide baseline information  for researchers who use various immunodeficient mice for immunological, genetic and cancer studies.
Corncob :A comfort to laboratory rodents or A risk to research objectives ?
Authors: Kansara Bhavin R , Hole Jayant P , Joshi Himanshu , Deshmukh Pradeep B
Published: January 2025

Corncob has been the most common choice of bedding material for laboratory animals in many countries due to its ready  availability, low cost and better absorbance properties. However, corncob has been reported to have estrogenic, endocrine  disruption and mitogenic properties by few authors. Animal facilities need to make a wise decision while selecting a  particular bedding type, such that the unwanted effects associated with bedding like corncob, may not interfere with  the research objectives. Chip bedding made from hardwood is one of the most common choices of bedding by most  international animal facilities for commercial breeders, academic research institutes, pharmaceutical industry and pre clinical contract research organisations.
Latest diagnostic techniques in rodent pathogens
Authors: S G Ramachandra , M Shrruthi , G K Prachet , J S Rosa , N Krishnaveni
Published: January 2025

The use of animal models is critical to the biomedical research. Animals used for biomedical research should be in a state  of absolute good health for reliable and reproducible results. It has been reported that infections,environmental factors,  genetic factors and interactions of all these may influence the suitability of an animal for research.Sometimes, apparent  healthy animals also suffer from latent infections. Majority of these infections are subclinical and may go undetected in  gross examination, but clinical symptoms may appear under conditions of stress during experimentation. Also, it has  been reported that even subclinical infections in rodents modify or alter research outcome. Many infectious agents affect  results in the field of immunology, physiology, reproductive physiology, oncology and many more research areas. Hence,  proper and periodic health monitoring programme is important to define the health status of experimental animals. In  India, more than 1500 facilities are using laboratory animals for biomedical research. However, majority of them have not  adopted the comprehensive health monitoring or disease diagnostic programme due to prohibitive cost of the diagnostic  kits. Few facilities in India have adopted international guidelines in health monitoring/disease diagnosis and this includes  conventional culture techniques, ELISA and PCR for rapid diagnosis. However, recent techniques such as MFI, Micro  ELISA, Microarray and LAMP that have been developed and adopted elsewhere needs to be adopted in India for rapid and  accurate diagnosis of pathogens in rodents.
Management of gastric dilatation/bloat in a rabbit
Authors: Singh Karan , Yadav Shikha , Yadav Inderjeet , Kanwar Dinesh , Singh Vijay Pal
Published: January 2025

A rabbit doe which was one and half year old and weighing 2.4 Kg was presented to clinic with history of anorexia,  lethargy and constipation. Physical examination revealed difficult breathing, hunched posture, distention of the stom ach and abdomen, head pressing, minimally responsive to any stimuli, slightly pale mucus membranes and rectal  temperature of 99.9 oF. The radiographic examination revealed gas distended gastric shadow with various degrees of  gas filled small or large intestine. After complete clinical examination of rabbit, the condition was diagnosed as gastric  dilatation/bloat in rabbit. The rabbit was treated with needle trocarization, intravenous fluid, antibiotics, analgesic/anti-inflammatory drug and laxative. On day 4 of treatment, she was active and behaving normally so all treatment  was discontinued and she was discharged on same day.
Cryopreservation of mouse embryo using vitrification method
Authors: Thorat Rahul , Ingle Arvind
Published: January 2025

Cryopreservation plays an important role in storing the embryos of unwanted strains of laboratory animals in liquid  nitrogen and maintaining the lines in smallest available space. This not only helps in curtailing the unwanted  expenditure of maintaining these lines but also saving time and energy. Laboratory Animal Facility of ACTREC is  maintaining various strains of mice, rats and hamsters. Our facility has established rodent embryo cryo-bank which  acts as a backup for the valuable strains. Initially, we have made a successful attempt by slow freezing and fast thawing  method. Considering the recent advances in cryopreservation technique and success rate, we report here an attempt  of the cryopreservation of mouse embryos by vitrification technique. In the present study, in all 851 embryos were  collected from 132 donor female mice from four strains of different background. An average gain of 7 embryos per  female was recorded by natural mating. Collected embryos were stored in 45 cryovials. As a quality control measure  and to check the efficiency of newly adopted vitrification protocol, we thawed few vials at periodic interval. The  percentage of recovery of embryos was ranging from 91.67% to 97.5%. The lower percentage of 91.67% was found  in Smo/Smo strain, while higher percentage of 97.5% was found in outbred, Crl: CD1 (ICR) strain. These embryos were  kept in CO2 incubator for 1 hr for maintaining morphology. After incubation, the percentage of embryos maintained  morphology in these four strains was ranging from 57.33% to 100%. The lowest percentage 57.33% of morphology  was found in spontaneous mutant S/RV/Cri-ba strain. The morphology maintained embryos were surgically transferred  in 1.5 day post-coitus pseudo-pregnant female mice of CD1 strain. Out of 17 females, 12 females became pregnant  and delivered total 51 live pups which were subsequently weaned and allowed to breed further. The percentage of  embryo transferred Vs live births was ranging from 14.89% to 31.03%. Based upon the results, it is evident that there is  an increase in overall success of the newly adopted technique of vitrification which is simple and less time consuming  than slow freezing and fast thawing method.
A study on hematological, serum biochemical and microbiological parameters in wild caught rodents
Authors: H Nidhi , S Sandhya , N Krishnaveni , M Shrruthi , J S Rosa , S G Ramachandra
Published: January 2025

Laboratory mice constitute the most popular animal models used in biomedical research today. Like all animals, even  mice housed in ‘barrier’ facilities are prone to infection. Wild mice (Mus musculus) living near vivaria could serve as  a source of infection or infestation in laboratory mouse colonies, although little is known about the prevalence of  infectious diseases in wild mouse. Very few surveys have been conducted on wild rodent populations to determine  the prevalence of viruses and bacteria and also health monitoring of the wild rodents. Pathogens (bacteria, parasites)  often gain entry into colonies through the introduction of infected animals or infected animal products, but viral  dissemination via contaminated fomites or local wild rodents has also been implicated in the spread of disease. Hence,  a preliminary study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of rodent pathogens and health status in wild mouse  populations in and around and Bangalore. The present study revealed that none of the animals tested were positive  for viral pathogens. However, bacterial pathogens and parasites were found in wild caught mice. Hematological and  serum biochemical parameters were comparable to the colony bred anim
Post-operative aural surgical wound dressing in rats
Authors: Dkhar Barilin , Saikia Pranjal P , Pyngrope Haphidasara , Bhatia Abhijeet
Published: January 2025

Wound dressing is an integral technique of animal care in various studies involving animal models. This post-operative  technique often determines the mortality and morbidity of the animal used and also influences experimental outcomes. Post  auricular surgical wounds presents a challenge for dressing on account of presence of sense organs in the vicinity. Rats are  also prone to damaging the dressing and the underlying sutures. Hence, an appropriate technique for dressing the region  is vital for successful surgical outcomes. Literature on dressing of post auricular surgical wounds in rats are scarce. The  present work describes in detail the wound dressing technique in adult Wistar rats developed by the authors. A total of 14  animals were used for the study and with this technique, the wrap around the incision was found to be intact till the next  day of post-operative dressing. The wound healing process appeared to be normal with no visible signs of infection at the  incision.
Role of PET-CT imaging system in diagnosis of spontaneous lesion in laboratory New Zealand White rabbit: A case report
Authors: Pawar Yogita , Rakshit Sutapa , Damle Archana
Published: January 2025

Recently procured New Zealand White rabbits were brought to the department and kept for quarantine in the animal house  facility. Out of 5 rabbits, one rabbit was anorexic, corner seating setting, and could not respond to the physical stimuli.  On physical examination, we found the raised subcutaneous nodule covered under fur at lateral side of the face. PET CT imaging was done which indicated the central area of dead tissue with peripheral uptake of 18F-FDG. Fine needle  aspiration was performed and collected sample was subjected for bacteriology and cell cytological examination. Cell  cytology showed many degenerated heterophils, few RBC’s, and other cellular debris. Predominantly Klebsiella and few  Escherichia coli bacterial colonies were grown on agar. A broad spectrum Enrofloxacin antibiotic was given to the other  animals as a preventive measures to control the infection