ABSTRACT
The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is a small domesticated species of the family Mustelidae within the order Carnivora. The present article reviews and discusses the current state of knowledge about housing, care, breeding, and biomedical uses of ferrets. The management and breeding procedures of ferrets resemble those used for other carnivores. Understanding its behavior helps in the use of environmental enrichment and social housing, which promote behaviors typical of the species. Ferrets have been used in research since the beginning of the twentieth century. It is a suitable non-rodent model in biomedical research because of its hardy nature, social behavior, diet and other habits, small size, and thus the requirement of a relatively low amount of test compounds and early sexual maturity compared with dogs and non-human primates. Ferrets and humans have numerous similar anatomical, metabolic, and physiological characteristics, including the endocrine, respiratory, auditory, gastrointestinal, and immunological systems. It is one of the emerging animal models used in studies such as influenza and other infectious respiratory diseases, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, cardiac research, gastrointestinal disorders, neuroscience, and toxicological studies. Ferrets are vulnerable to many human pathogenic organisms, like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), because air transmission of this virus between them has been observed in the laboratory. Ferrets draw the attention of the medical community compared to rodents because they occupy a distinct niche in biomedical studies, although they possess a small representation in laboratory research.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease which is one of the major causes of public health problem in India, and its control is often the major challenges of municipal bodies in the country, especially in West Bengal. The previous outbreaks of the disease can be used to forecast the future occurrence and burden, so that authorities may optimize the available resources in order to contain and minimize the impact. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Weekly disease outbreak data were extracted from Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme website and arranged as monthly data. Mann-Kendall test was used to determine the significance of the disease trends in various districts of Gangetic West Bengal. Time series analysis was done by using Seasonal ARIMA method to predict the number of Dengue outbreak cases for the year 2020. RESULTS: Murshidabad was the only district of Gangetic West Bengal that had a significant upward Dengue cases outbreak trend. Nadia had a downward trend but it was not statistically significant. Model SARIMA (1,0,0) (1,0,0) 12 was chosen to forecast the Dengue outbreak cases which showed that the cases might start from the month of June, peak in August and wane off in October 2020. However, this prediction was not significant. CONCLUSION: Gangetic West Bengal might experience similar dengue cases as the previous year, but their numbers would be low. Only the district of Murshidabad would have upward trend. Knowledge in advance about periods of disease occurrence may enable health authorities to initiate control measures during the start of the outbreak season.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The increasing number of multidrug-resistant Plasmodium strains warrants exploration of new anti-malarials. Medicinal plant research has become more important, particularly after the development of Chinese anti-malarial drug artemisnin from Artemisia annua. The present study shows evaluation of anti-malarial effects of two plants commonly used against malaria in the Garhwal region of north-west Himalaya, in order to discover the herbal-based medicine. METHODS: In vitro anti-plasmodial sensitivity of plant extracts was assessed using schizont maturation and parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) assay. Cytotoxic activities of the examined extracts were determined on L-6 cells of rat skeletal muscle myoblast. The 4-day test for anti-malarial activity against a chloroquine sensitive Plasmodium berghei NK65 strain in Swiss albino mice was used for monitoring in vivo activity of plant extracts. RESULTS: Chloroform extract of H. antidysenterica (HA-2) and petroleum ether extract of V. canescens (VC-1) plants significantly reduced parasitaemia in P. berghei infected mice. The extract HA-2 showed in vitro anti-plasmodial activity with its IC50 value 5.5 µg/ml using pLDH assay and ED50 value 18.29 mg/kg in P. berghei infected Swiss albino mice. Similarly petroleum ether extract of V. canescens (VC-1) showed in vitro anti-plasmodial activity with its IC50 value 2.76 µg/ml using pLDH assay and ED50 15.8 mg/kg in P. berghei infected mice. The extracts coded as HA-2 at 30 mg/kg and VC-1 at 20 mg/kg exhibited parasite inhibition in mice: 73.2% and 63.0% respectively. Of these two plant extracts, petroleum ether extract of V. canescens was found slightly cytotoxic. CONCLUSION: The present investigation reflects the use of these traditional medicinal plants against malaria and these plants may work as potential source in the development of variety of herbal formulations for the treatment of malaria.
