King’s University

ABSTRACTBackgroundRising feed costs and concerns about poultry supplements have sparked interest in natural, complementary and alternative methods to enhance poultry productivity.ObjectiveThis pilot study aimed to compare the growth and quality of meat and eggs from blessing/biofield energy‐treated Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens with those from untreated control hens.MethodsFifty 18‐week‐old RIR laying hens were divided into two groups: control (CONHG; n = 25) and treated (BETHG; n = 25). We assessed egg‐laying performance, quality, nutritional content, carcass characteristics, sensory attributes and microbial analysis.ResultsThe BETHG group showed significant improvements in both external and internal egg quality parameters (specifically, egg weight, height, diameter, albumen weight, albumen height, yolk weight, yolk height and yolk index) compared to the CONHG group. The egg‐laying rate and edible meat weight increased significantly (p ≤ 0.001) by 28.38% and 40.95%, respectively, in BETHG. Cholecalciferol (D3) levels in BETHG increased by 140.36% (meat) and 160.27% (eggs), while iron levels rose by 73.92% (meat) and 95.17% (eggs). Zinc levels were significantly higher in BETHG by 122.39% (meat; p = 0.002) and 70.81% (eggs; p ≤ 0.001). Additionally, linoleic acid (C18:2) increased by 383.33% (meat; p ≤ 0.001) and alpha‐linolenic acid (C18:3) by 166.67% (eggs; p = 0.024). In the BETHG eggs, lutein improved by 100% (p = 0.002) and cis‐zeaxanthin enhanced by 87.5% (p = 0.035) relative to the CONHG group. Sensory characteristics in both meat and eggs improved significantly (p ≤ 0.001) in the BETHG group compared to the CONHG group.ConclusionBlessing/biofield energy treatment significantly enhanced the quality and nutritional value of both meat and eggs compared to control group.

Aim: To assess the predictive effect of threshold deviations for multiple liver biomarkers on negative clinical outcomes, including hepatic decompensation, liver transplantation, and death in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) using longitudinal data from a large administrative claims database. Materials & methods: A time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model with time-dependent covariates assessed time to first occurrence of hospitalization for hepatic decompensation, liver transplantation, or death in patients with PBC in the Optum Clinformatics Data Mart™ database. Separate models analyzed proportion of time outside prespecified biomarker thresholds (defined as multiples of upper limit of normal [ULN] for alkaline phosphatase [ALP], total bilirubin [TB], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], and alanine aminotransferase [ALT]; lower limit of normal for albumin). Another model evaluated both ALP and TB with the lowest relevant threshold applied for each biomarker. Results: Overall, 2402 patients were included; 85.3% were female, mean age was 63.3years, median follow-up was 2.2years (interquartile range: 1.1-3.9years). On average, patients had approximately five reported measurements for each biomarker evaluated. Each 10% increase in time outside thresholds was associated with a 6.5%, 9.2%, 9.9%, 7.3% and 23.3% increase in risk of negative outcomes for ALP, TB, AST, ALT and albumin, respectively. Conclusion: In patients with PBC, values outside predefined thresholds for biomarkers including ALP, TB, AST, ALT and albumin strongly predicted negative clinical outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of managing biomarkers beyond ALP in monitoring and the treatment of patients with PBC.

Researchers and educators have been exploring systems thinking (ST) in chemistry education to better equip citizens for 21st century challenges; however, little is known about students' perspectives and experiences. In this study, we investigated students' perspectives of ST and their experiences with ST activities. We designed and implemented a ST intervention, performed individually and collaboratively, as well as follow up interviews. Twenty-four university undergraduate and graduate students participated in this study and reported a variety of experiences and perspectives. For students' experiences, we found that (1) while collaborating, participants recognized and appreciated different perspectives, (2) participants included chemistry concepts and connections in their system maps despite having difficulties, (3) system maps emphasized problems/solutions and causes/effects and differed in terms of organization and intended purpose, and (4) limitations to system map construction included time, knowledge, and technology skills. Students also expressed positive perspectives of a ST approach based on their experience engaging with the ST intervention and believed a ST approach (1) is beneficial to learning, (2) captures interest and engagement, (3) allows perspectives to be shared and gained, and (4) provides personal, social, and professional relevance. Based on these findings, we suggest aspects to consider when planning and implementing ST activities and identify future research required to better understand the impacts of ST in chemistry education.

While observed by commentators, only two works provide sustained explorations the Didache’s ambiguous use of ho kyrios (the Lord). These studies reach opposing conclusions. Aaron Milavec contends that kyrios always refers to Israel’s God and never to Jesus. Murray Smith argues that it consistently denotes, or at least includes, Jesus as its referent. This essay argues that Milavec and Smith’s claims are complementary. The Didache interconnects the identity of Jesus and Israel’s God, establishing them as the concomitant referent(s) of kyrios. Neither God nor Jesus is labeled ho kyrios explicitly. Both are insinuated to be ho kyrios simultaneously. The Didache does not require over-determining one as the sole referent throughout the text. Where context allusively suggests God or Jesus as the primary referent, each use of kyrios contains sufficient ambiguity to include both. The cumulative effect is that the referent(s) of ho kyrios in the Didache is simultaneously theological and Christological. Jesus and God are distinguishable but inextricably linked as ho kyrios. The Didache’s bivalent use of ho kyrios, then, reflects a high Christology.

Smallholder poultry production accounts for about 80% of the poultry flock in low-and middle-income countries. The birds play important roles in rural livelihoods, food security, household income, culinary and traditional medicine and strengthening of social relationships (Li et al., 2020; Bamidele and Amole, 2021; OchoraKasima et al., 2023). Despite the benefits derived from Smallholder poultry production systems (SPPS), the production as well as the productivity is low. The low performance of the birds could be attributed mainly to low genetic potential, genetic erosion occasioned by indiscriminate crossbreeding, poor nutrition, health and housing and vagaries of climatic factors (Samaraweera et al., 2021; Birhanu et al., 2021; Wilson et al., 2022). This, according to Birhanu et al. (2023) , necessitates poultry research and development using innovative and technological approaches in genetics, feed supply, health services, housing, and publicprivate partnership to deliver integrated innovation packages. The outcome will not only boost production, but ensure increased productivity and profitability of the SPSS. This Research Topic (Technologies in smallholder poultry development: characterization, utilization, conservation, and improvement) centred on phenotypic and molecular characterization, quantitative and population genetics, genetic/genomic/proteomic evaluation and application of classical phenotyping methods to health, nutrition, production and reproduction including the interaction between the environment and poultry species. The ten articles contributed to this Research Topic are summarized below: Feather pecking, which is a complex trait, and partly under genetic control, remains an important welfare and economic Research Topic in chickens. This prompted the work of Mott et al. to identify a potential key regulator for this behavioural disorder in laying hens.

This article documents and analyses Black student-led organizing by Community-University Talks, a collective of academics and local community members who organized together between 2012 and 2017 in Montreal. The co-authors of this article founded Community-University Talks in December 2011, as Black women who had just begun doctoral studies in Educational Studies at McGill University. Now, a decade later, they recall and respond to this experience through narrative inquiry involving collaborative remembering, writing, and dialogue. This study is further guided by a critical engagement with the material culture of the Community-University Talks archive, which includes notes and correspondences, minutes from meetings, reports, event posters, memorabilia,photographs, and video footage.

The number of Chinese-speaking students in Canadian schools is increasing dramatically. This article discusses a study in which we explored reading processes in Chinese and English through examining children’s reading in both languages. Based in a socio-psycholinguistic framework (K. Goodman, Wang, Iventosch, & Y. Goodman,2012; Kabuto, 2017) and through using miscue analysis, we examined how children apply their knowledge of language to Mandarin and English reading. This qualitative research included interviews with four Chinese-English bilingual children between grades 3 and 5 in an urban center as well as the analysis of their reading performance in both languages. From a comparative perspective, we discuss some of the similarities and differences between these two different orthographic language systems by offering syntactic comparisons of the two languages through psycholinguistic language cueing systems. We believe that knowing about how Chinese and English readers construct meaning in both languages will help English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers, in fact all classroom teachers, to teach reading to bilingual and biliterate children.

This study examined the challenges most organizations face concerning marketing strategies and investigated the nature and effects on organizational growth in some notable industries in Lagos State. The exploration strategy took on for this review was study and narrative investigation. The survey research included assortment of information from existing records and discoveries of the assessment regarding the matter using well structured questionnaire. Stratified sampling technique was utilized to choose the respondents for the study. The population for the study comprised selected company trainers, practitioners, marketing managers and sales supervisors from various organizations in Lagos State. A total of 420 trainers, managers and supervisors were randomly selected for the study. Out of this number, 359 responded to the questionnaire. The Cronbach Alpha was utilized in determining the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Information acquired were dissected utilizing mean, frequency count, percentages and analysis of variance. The study revealed that there was a relationship between Marketing Strategies and performance of organizations. The study also revealed that there exist significance of Marketing – mix Strategies on organizational growth particularly in a competitive environment. It is therefore recommended that organizations should use a set of effective Marketing mix Strategies such as product, price, place and promotion for increased sales volume and the realization of strategic objectives.

Texts by young conflict survivors, including the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are worthy of historical and literary consideration on many fronts. How did young people experience, understand, and cope with damage to their bodies? What stigma did they face, and how did they make sense of their changed futures? How did they translate their experiences into prose, and how did they negotiate the meanings that such prose held within their societies? This essay suggests that juvenilia offers a deep well for other fields—trauma studies, the history of childhood, and even disability studies—to consider, and juvenilia studies might also incorporate new theoretical apparatuses that can help elucidate the personal, social, and political implications of young writers’ experiences of trauma and injury. Attention to children’s writing about their injuries may approach the asymptote of their trauma and offer insights for scholars working from numerous disciplinary points of origin. .

<jats:p>Novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents an emergent global health burden that has challenged the health systems worldwide. Since its sudden upsurge in 2019, many COVID-19 patients have exhibited neurological symptoms and complications. Till now, there is no known effective established drug against the highly contagious COVID-19 infection despite the frightening associated mortality rate. This article aims to present the mechanism of action of coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the clinical neurological manifestations displayed by COVID-19 patients, and present polyphenols with neuroprotective ability that can offer beneficial effects against COVID-19-mediated neuropathology. Reports from COVID-19 clinical studies, case reports, and other related literature were evaluated for this review. Neurological complications of COVID-19 include anosmia, acute cerebrovascular disease, acute disseminated post-infectious encephalomyelitis, encephalitis, etc. Also, SARS-CoV-2 sould be a neurotropic vіruѕ due to its iѕolatіon from serebroѕrіnal fluіd. Multіrle neurologіsal damages displayed by COVID-19 patients might be due to hyperinflammation associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Resveratrol, kolaviron, quercetin and apigenin are polyphenols with proven anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties that can extenuate the adverse effects of COVID-19. These polyphenols have been documented to suppress c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3-K), extrasellularѕіgnal-regulated kinase (ERK), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B-cells (NF-kB) and mіtogen-astіvated protein kіnaѕe (MAPK) pathways which are essential in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. They also showed significant inhibitory activities against SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Taken together, these polyphenols may offer neuroprotective benefits against COVID-19 mediated neuropathology via modulation of the pathogenic pathways.</jats:p>