The ‘Wildlife diaries’ in Sri Lanka

A dream that was 15 years in the making materialized for Rajiv Welikala past week. The ‘Wildlife diaries’, his maiden exhibition, comprises the essence of his photographs from expeditions in the wild.“Growing up, I have always been a nature enthusiast, but it was only when I joined the Wildlife Society at my Alma Mater St. Thomas College when I was 11 years old, that I gave this interest some life,” he said. “This society takes part in quarterly camping excursions to wilderness locations, and this start prompted me to ask my father for a basic point and shoot film camera to take. Using the most basic equipment, which in most cases were broken or not working properly, I learnt to capture some beautiful moments,” he recalled.

 

Over the years and through the wilderness of the many parks and rain forests he treaded, Rajiv honed his skills in photography mostly through trial and error. “First and foremost I am an ardent wildlife enthusiast who is passionate about conservation of our wildlife and wilderness habitats. Photography comes as a second. In fact photography is merely a tool to create awareness on our endangered habitats and wildlife that you won’t see every day,” he affirmed.

Rajiv is an executive in the apparel sector. “I would say this is my priority because if we don’t conserve wildlife and their habitats we won’t have anything to photograph. I am involved in a few community projects regarding the human elephant conflict. I try to do my part with the limited time and resources I have to make a difference,” he said. 

List of Names for Dogs

Training Tips for German Shepherd Puppies

1. Play with your puppy: You will want a puppy that is good-natured and not afraid. You absolutely cannot start training a German shepherd with fear or instructions. This will be just begging for disaster. Give him time to understand and adapt the new surroundings.

All German shepherd dogs are trainable and they are very powerful and strong animals. If you initiate with a puppy, you have the chance to mold and shape its personality and develop that trusting relationship. Some training tips to follow with a German Shepherd Puppy:-

2. One master for your dog: Only one person only should give the commands and instruction, in spite of how many people are in your family or will be living with the dog. German Shepherds in particular, will recognize one master and will respond to that one person.

3. Feed your dog before training: German shepherd Dogs respond to foodstuff as a reward before the training as well as after the training. If you instruct a dog to sit and reward him with a treat, he will learn it, however, you will need to emphasize this many times. These Dogs appear to memorize and counter better to training after he has been given food.

4. Spend no more than 20 minutes per training session: Younger pups attention extent is short; they get tired soon; your tolerance will give up trying to train an over exhausted puppy. Training has to be positive and joyful in order to get the utmost response from the dog.

Dog Eating Like a Person

Whey Protien

What is Whey?

Whey is a byproduct of cheese production. It is that pseudo-clear liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained that used to be tossed aside as waste material.

It has an impressive array of proteins:

• Beta-lactoglobulin
• Alpha-lactalbumin
• Serum albumin

These are complete proteins, comprised of the essential amino acids central to protein synthesis and increased muscular hypertrophy. Our bodies can produce non-essential amino acids from lesser amino acids, but we cannot produce the essentials ourselves; we must consume quality protein sources. Whey is a naturally occurring, essential protein that satisfies the body’s protein requirements.  

Composition and forms of whey protein

Whey protein is an approximate mixture of the following:

 

• Protein shake
• Whey protein milkshake
• 65 percent beta-lactoglobulin
• 25 percent alpha-lactalbumin
• 8 percent bovine serum albumin
• Immunoglobins
• There are three primary types of whey protein:
• Whey protein concentrate (WPC)
• Whey protein isolate (WPI)
• Whey protein hydrolysate (WPH)

 Whey protein concentrate- WPC contains low levels of fat and high levels of carbohydrates (lactose) and bioactive compounds.

The percentage of protein in WPC depends on how concentrated it is. Lower end concentrates tend to have 30% protein and higher end up to 90%.

Whey protein isolate - WPIs are further processed to remove all the fat and lactose. As a result, WPI has a high percent of protein by weight, generally over 90 percent.

Whey protein hydrolysate - WPH is considered to be the "predigested" form of whey protein as it is already undergone partial hydrolysis - a process necessary for the body to absorb protein.

As a result WPH doesn't require as much digestion as the other two forms of whey protein. In addition, WPH substantially increases insulin, providing more power for your muscles.

Muscle building with whey protein

Whey protein supplementation significantly improves muscle protein synthesis and promotes the growth of lean tissue mass. Whey protein supplementation during resistance training offers some benefit compared to resistance training alone. Much better gains in strength are associated with whey isolate supplementation compared to casein.

Whey protein contains all of the essential amino acids and also serves as a possible alternative to milk for people who are lactose intolerant.

In addition to being used as an alternative to milk and as a popular dietary supplement to improve strength.

 

Health benefits of whey protein

There are many benefits associated with the consumption of whey protein, and researchers are constantly finding new possible therapeutic properties. Whey protein is believed to have a range of therapeutic properties that could help treat, as well as reduce the risk of certain diseases.

Research has found that whey protein has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, and could possibly act as an effective supplementary treatment for diabetes and heart disease. It has also been found to help decrease weight loss among people suffering from HIV (AIDS).

The possible health benefits of consuming whey protein include:

Losing weight - People who took a specialized whey fraction lost significantly more body fat and showed a greater preservation of lean muscle compared to subjects consuming the control beverage.

Anti-cancer properties - The use of whey protein concentrate and glutathione modulation in cancer treatment have promising results.

High cholesterol - A significant decrease in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol at week 12 in the whey group compared with the casein.

Asthma - whey protein could improve immune response in children with asthma.

Lowering blood pressure and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease - Beverages that were supplemented with whey protein significantly reduced elevated blood pressure, and reduced the risk of stroke and heart disease.

Side effects

Some people who are allergic to milk may be specifically allergic to whey. If anybody is allergic to milk, there is a possibility to be allergic for whey protein. In moderate doses of whey protein doesn't generally cause any adverse events.

Consuming severely high doses can cause:

• Stomach pains
• Cramps
• Reduced appetite
• Nausea
• Headache
• Fatigue

How is whey protein produced?

When milk is left over and coagulates, it eventually turns into a 5% solution of lactose in water, loaded with minerals.

This left over by-product, called whey, makes up 20% of the protein in milk; the other 80% is called casein.

The liquid whey is separated from the casein and sent through filters to remove all non-whey ingredients. It is then purified in a process called "ion exchange".

The final step is removing the water from the whey by turning it into a powder at a drying tower. The protein powder is then ready to be packaged and consumed.

Research makes way for preventive medicine for cat allergy

Scientists have discovered how allergic reactions to cats are triggered, raising hopes of preventative medicine. A University of Cambridge team has identified how the body's immune system detects cat allergen, leading to symptoms such as coughing and sneezing.

New treatments to block this pathway raise hopes of developing medicines to protect sufferers, they say. Allergy UK says the research is "a big step forward" in understanding how cat allergen causes allergic reactions.

Researchers led by Dr Clare Bryant of the University of Cambridge studied proteins found in particles of cat skin, known as cat dander, which is the most common cause of cat allergy.

They found that cat allergen activates a specific pathway in the body, once in the presence of a common bacterial toxin.

This triggers a large immune response in allergy sufferers, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, sneezing and a runny nose.

Recreating Rover: Cloning Pets

So you’re living in the UK and dream of giving your dog’s genes a chance to live on in a cloned body? One South Korean firm is willing to offer a 70 per cent discount if you pose for the cameras and are not expecting them to copy the personality too.

The firm, Sooam Biotech, has been commercially cloning pets for years, with the majority of its customers coming from the US. The task is currently priced at $100,000, but the winner will receive a considerable slash from that tag. Contenders are encouraged to send a 500-word essay along with photos, videos of up to 5 minutes, and other material explaining why their dog should be cloned.

There are no restrictions on the breed, sex, size or age of the dog, but the winner must be prepared for the media appearances that would come into his or her life, along with the furry clone. Submissions are accepted until July 1.

The cloning technology itself is following the well-established routine. Sooam researchers will extract DNA from a viable skin cell taken from the dog and implant it into another dog’s egg cell, which had been cleared of DNA beforehand. The resulting embryo will then be implanted into a surrogate mother, which will give birth to a cloned puppy some two months later.

The South Korean firm is headed by controversial researcher Hwang Woo-suk, who rose to notoriety after falsifying research data in his 2004 study of human embryotic stem cells. Sooam was among the pioneers of dog cloning and also successfully cloned other canines, such as wolves and coyotes. Last year it announced its plans to recreate a woolly mammoth by extracting the extinct animal’s DNA from frozen samples and incubating an embryo in an elephant surrogate mother.

Pet cloning remains an ethically-controversial and niche business. Critics say that rich people who spend thousands of dollars on cloning their pets should instead help animal shelters and adopt a new pet from one of those. There is also the implication that cloning firms are misleading their clients, because the technology can offer replication of the body, while the behavior of the cloned pet may differ markedly from that of the original.

"I think that personality is really what most people are looking to clone," John Woestendiek, a dog cloning investigator and author, told Live Science. "And I don't think personality is clone-able."

Pet cloning may enjoy high media attention, but the market for it is surprisingly small, according to BioArts International, a US-based company that outsourced pet cloning to Sooam Biotech before going out of business in 2009.

Just like Sooam in UK, BioArts promoted its services in America with a 2008 competition offering free cloning. It received 237 applications, the firm said, eventually awarding the privilege to a rescue dog which had reportedly found the last survivor of the 2001 terrorist attack in New York.

Body Condition Score Charts of Dogs and Cats

COW-Lifornia Girls

The Food Animal and Reproduction Medicine (FARM) Club at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine recently won a new, handheld digital ultrasound machine in a national competition among veterinary medicine university organizations. After initial entries of photos and an essay — which were judged on knowledge, creativity, and desire for the machine — the contestant list was narrowed to the top eight universities. Those eight then had to create a short video which would be voted on by the public.

The FARM Club’s “COW-lifornia Girls” (spoofing the popular “California Girls” by Katy Perry) proved to be the most popular video. After a widespread marketing campaign, the FARM Club’s video garnered more than 2,000 votes out of a total of 8,000 for all eight videos. Being the only entry from the state of California, the FARM Club reached out for promotional help to a wide network of closely connected organizations that were eager to support a California cause, including the California Beef Council, the California Veterinary Medical Association, California 4-H, CBS13 Sacramento Evening News and Good Day Sacramento.

The ultrasound machine will provide an invaluable experience to FARM Club members, and other students, for years to come. It will allow UC Davis veterinary students early exposure to ultrasonography and become proficient with ultrasound technology before the clinical portion of their studies begins.

The UC Davis FARM Club provides extracurricular learning and networking opportunities for students interested in production medicine. The club promotes the belief of providing the utmost care for animals, while working to ensure a healthy, wholesome and safe food supply to benefit consumers. The FARM Club teaches students about the unique responsibility veterinarians have to bring sound scientific evidence to future clients and to educate the consuming public about the food they eat. This mission begins in veterinary school and continues throughout a career as a food animal practitioner.

10 Canine Commandments

The Percentages of Poisonous DCD in Imported Milk Powder

The authorities of the World Health Organization had confirmed to our Ministry of Health that the poisonous Dicyandiamide (DCD) substance is not found in the five types of imported milk powder. However in contrast, when investigations were carried out by the Ministry of Health, it was confirmed to contain the DCD poisonous substance.

When samples of the milk powder were sent to Singapore for a second opinion, it had revealed that these milk powders do contain the poisonous milk powder. The report sent had been sent to the attention of the ‘food and investigation’ unit of the Ministry of health.

The contents of the percentages of DCD contained in the milk powder are listed below:

Lakspray        15.17%

Raththi              7.42%

Maliban            0.46%

Anchor              0.43%

Nespray            0.36%

May 25, 2013 | lanka C news

Elephant Orphanage - Pinnawala, Sri Lanka

Pinnawela orphanage is situated Kegalla city, in Sabaragamuwa province in Sri Lanka. It was established 1975 by the Sri Lanka Wildlife department.This 24 acres large elephant orphanage is  also breeding place for elephants, and it has been the greatest herd of elephants in captivity in the world.

There are only a few elephant orphanages in the world. Pinnawela has now become one of the bigger orphanages and is quite well known worldwide. The elephants are stall fed. There is very little food material that they can gather from the premises of the orphanage except grass. Large quantities of food are brought in daily. Jackfruit, coconut, kitul, tamarind and grass form the bulk of the food given to the elephants at Pinnawela. Each animal gets approximately 76kg of green matter a day and in addition each gets 2kg of a food mixture containing maize, rice bran, powdered gingelly seed and minerals. They have access to water twice a day from the river Maha Oya that runs by the Orphanage.

 Elephants are walking to the river Ma Oya for a two-hour bath.

 Baby elephants are feeding with milk

 Baby elephants with their mothers

Tourists can observe elephants bathing in Ma Oya (River)

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is a rickettsial disease that can infect both dogs and humans. This disease spreads by ticks and caused by a small gram-negative obligate intracellular parasite named Rickettsia rickettsii. In many cases, the dog will be healthy within 2 weeks, but seeking veterinary care is recommended if you suspect that your dog suffers from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever because severe cases can be deadly if left untreated.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is most common during the period of the year when ticks are active. A majority of the infected dogs are less than 3 years old and have been living in or visiting habitats where ticks can be found.

 

Transmission

The disease is transmitted to dogs via a number of hard-bodied ticks. A majority of the cases in dogs are caused by ticks from the genus Dermacentor, but Amblyomma americanum and Rhipicephalus sanguineous have also been shown to carry Rickettsia rickettsii.

Symptoms

• Fever in the 102.6-104.9º F
• Hemorrhages on exposed mucosal surfaces
• Vasculitis that leads to oedema in the extremities- e.g. swollen ears, prepuce and scrotum
• A red rash
• Joint swelling
• Dyspnea
• Myalgia
• Meningoencephalitis that causes neurological symptoms, e.g. vestibular ataxia    

Incubation period of Rickettsia rickettsii is just 2 days to over 2 weeks. After the incubation period, the organism will enter the circulatory system of the dog, and proceed to invade the endothelial cells of the venules and capillaries where the organisms can start multiplying rapidly. Eventually, this can lead to vasculitis, oedema, vascular collapse, shock and haemorrhage. Brain, heart, kidneys and skin are usually the most damaged parts of the dog's body.

Treatment

• The antibiotic treatment should start within 24-48 hours of onset of clinical signs. If the dog is suffering from an advanced form of RMSF, it might not respond to antibiotics treatment.
• Fluid therapy should however be used with caution due to the risk of pulmonary and cerebral oedema.
• Two of the most commonly used antibiotics are tetracycline and doxycycline. Tetracycline is normally administered three times per day, 22-30 mg per kg body weight.
• Doxycycline is given only twice a day, and no more than 10-20 mg per kg body weight.
• Chloramphenicol is also the drug of choice for pregnant bitches and it also can be given to puppies at the rate of 15-30 mg per kg body weight three times per day.
• In older dogs, enrofloxacin is also effective, 3 mg /kg body weight given twice a daily.
• Retinal hemorrhage, chorioretinitis and other serious lesions can require systemic corticosteroid administration.

Prevention

• Check the dog for ticks several times a day and remove them.
• Anti-tick treatments can be used to discourage ticks. Fiprinol and Permethrin are effective against ticks.
• Use of an anti-tick collar.
• Limit the dog's access to tick infested habitats, at least during the warm season when ticks are active.
• There is no Rocky Mountain spotted fever vaccine.

No toxic material in MILCO products

In the backdrop of recent allegations that toxic material was found in some brands of imported milk powder, the nation’s primary milk producing company, MILCO (Pvt) Ltd, confirmed that there is no toxic material in their milk powder or other dairy products. MILCO Chairman Sunil Wickramasinghe told the Sunday Observer that their products are tested at regular intervals and no traces of any chemicals were found in them.

Wickramasinghe projected that Sri Lanka will produce 70 percent of its total milk requirements by 2016. Total self-sufficiency in milk will be achieved a few years later, saving a staggering US$ 400 million per year to the national coffers which could be used to improve the dairy farming sector, he said.

An average of 85,000 tonnes of milk products are imported every year, costing about Rs.30 billion, he said. The country’s present milk production has exceeded 200,000 liters per day which will be systematically increased to achieve self-sufficiency, he said.

The import of hybrid cattle from Australia and other countries, expanding the dairy farming network throughout the country including in the North and the East and introducing new breeding methods will be some of the measures to increase milk production, he said.

Last year’s import of 84,000 tonnes of milk products cost the national coffers Rs.30 billion, the MILCO Chairman said, adding that last year’s milk production recorded a 31 percent increase over the previous year.

by P. Krishnaswamy

Insulinoma to PSY's "Gangnam Style"

Students in the comparative endocrinology elective at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine produced this entertaining and educational video about insulinomas.

Dog & Kitty - Vet School Parody

Remix to "Black and Yellow" Vet School Style! This was all in good fun; no animals were harmed in the making of this video. Thoughts and opinions reflect those of the people included in the video and not MSU-CVM as a whole. Enjoy!

Yeah ah ha

You know what it is

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

(repeated)

[Chorus]

Yeah ah ha, you know what it is

everything we do, we do for your "friends"

Yeah ah ha, yea its not for nothing

Late nights in the MDL to make an 80-somthin

Physiology...I don't know anything

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

Oh my gah! Is it time for the NAVLE??

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

Dog & kitty, Dog & kitty

[ Verse 1]

1st years, dress nice

We got our boots on & bowties

Linny-poo, and Cooper too..

They teach us how to do the brachialis groove

Trucks outside, engines roaring

Had to downsize and drive something boring

And I got my coffee and some Monsters

Taco Thursday makes my autonomic get the upper hand yo

Hear those Doctors talk, but it all sounds just like Sharon

Gone all day, 8 to 5, get home to find destruction

Put your lint roller in the air

Picking up, cat hair

[Chorus]

[ Verse 2]

Some of us like big furry friends

Pasture, smelly dairy and big bull pens

Not a redneck, just an equine freak

Head to Stall Rounds, there ain't no time to eat

Necropsy too, but that ain't no fun to me

Bab's asleep so he can't tell you anything

And I got my apron, I ain't playing

Throw em up if you love cow butts, Tyler!

[Chorus]

Ding! The grades are up, better hurry up...

Naw, just another email sayin we messed up

But Scantrons are confusing

So many bubbles make me wanna go swimming

In the lake with some fish

Maybe with some cake and Sunkist?

Relax and take trips

Oh crap, I was just asleep with my eyes open

I don't think he noticed...... FACEBOOK!