There is a wide range of feed additives deliberately designed to be used in sheep diets that can improve production performance. Whereas herbal supplementation is gaining popularity not only for improving sheep productivity and mutton quality but also for safe application without any harmful residual effects. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) and/or garlic leaf (Allium sativum) dietary supplementation on growth performance, immunity, rumen histology, serum antioxidants and meat quality of sheep. The experiment consisted of a completely randomized design with 32 one-year-old sheep (initial mean live weight 9 ± 0.2 kg) allocated to four groups (8 sheep per group). Rice straw and concentrates-based total mixed ration pellets (2390 kcal/kg DM, CP = 15.1%) were offered as a control diet (CL diet). Herbal treatment diets included (i) CL diet + 10 g DM of plantain herb (PL diet), (ii) CL diet + 10 g DM of garlic leaf (GL diet) and (iii) CL diet + 5 g DM of PL and 5 g DM of GL (PG diet). Compared with the CL diet group, the live weight gain and feed conversion ratio were 18% to 26% and 13% to 20% higher in herbal-supplemented groups, respectively. Moreover, the herbal-supplemented groups, especially the PL diet group had higher serum immunoglobulin concentration, antioxidant capacity and rumen papillae size compared to the control. Besides, the lowest caul fat and pelvic fat levels were observed in the PL diet group followed by PG, GL and CL diet groups. In addition, lower mutton ether extract and saturated fatty acid along with higher polyunsaturated fatty acid levels were found in all herbal-supplemented groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with PL and/or GL might be used as an alternative in sheep to promote growth, health status and lean mutton production.

The propagation of dust-acoustic (DA) shock waves (SWs) is studied in a four-component dusty plasma system containing viscous dust fluids of opposite polarity, Schamel distributed ions and Boltzmann distributed electrons. The reductive perturbation method is employed to derive a modified Burgers equation which gives rise to the DA shock waves with stronger nonlinearity. The viscous force acting in the dust fluids is identified as a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of the DA shock waves. The basic characteristics (viz., speed, amplitude, width) of the DA shock waves are found to be significantly modified by the combined effects of opposite polarity dust fluids and trapped ions. The applications of this investigation in different space plasma environments and laboratory devices are pinpointed.

Frequent switching of resistive memory cell may lead to a local accumulation of Joules heat in the device. Since the ReRAM cells are arranged in crossbar arrays with the two electrodes running perpendicular to each other, the heat generated in one device spreads via common electrode metal lines to the neighboring cells causing their performance degradation. Also cells that do not share any of the two electrodes (e.g. the diagonal array cells) with the hot device may also degrade provided the intermediate cells are set to an on-state establishing thus a continuous thermal conduction path between the heated and the probed device. It is found that the heat conduction along the active Cu electrode is more pronounced than that along the inert Pt electrode. Devices with Rh inert electrode performed better than those with Pt electrode due to better heat conductivity properties of Rh vs Pt. The heat dissipation is also found worse for a heated device with narrow and thin lines causing, however less degradation of more distant neighbor cells than for wide and thick metal lines. Finally, there is a trade-off between dissipating the heat quickly form the heated device to increase its maximum switching cycles and the heat exposure of the neighboring devices.

The self-similar expansion of an adiabatic electronegative dusty plasma (consisting of inertialess adiabatic electrons, inertialess adiabatic ions and inertial adiabatic negatively charged dust fluids) is theoretically investigated by employing the self-similar approach. It is found that the effects of the plasma adiabaticity (represented by the adiabatic index  $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ ) and dusty plasma parameters (determined by dust temperature and initial dust population) significantly modify the nature of the plasma expansion. The implications of our results are expected to play an important role in understanding the physics of the expansion of space and laboratory electronegative dusty plasmas.

The use of herbal plants as traditional medicines has a century long history. Plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) is a perennial herb containing bioactive components with free radical scavenging activities. An isotope dilution technique using [U-13C]glucose was conducted to determine the effect of plantain on the responses of plasma glucose metabolism to exogenous insulin infusion in sheep. Six crossbred sheep (three wethers and three ewes; mean initial BW=40±2 kg) were fed either a mixed hay of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) (MH-diet) or mixed hay and fresh plantain (1 : 1 ratio, dry matter basis, PL-diet) and exposed to a thermoneutral (TN, 20°C; 70% relative humidity (RH)) environment or a heat exposure (HE, 30°C; 70% RH) for 5 days using a crossover design for two 23-day periods. The isotope dilution was conducted on days 18 and 23 of the experimental period during TN and HE, respectively. Plasma concentration of α-tocopherol was greater (P<0.0001) for the PL-diet than the MH-diet and remained comparable between environmental treatments. Plasma glucose concentration before isotope dilution technique was reduced for sheep (P=0.05) during HE compared with TN and remained comparable between diets. Plasma glucose turnover rate during the preinfusion period of insulin did not differ (P=0.10) between dietary treatments and between environments (P=0.65). The response of plasma glucose utilization to exogenous insulin administration was lower (P=0.04) for the PL-diet than the MH-diet. Under present experimental conditions, the plantain group was found to be resistant to the effects of insulin infusion.

The aim of this study was to investigate the socioeconomic and demographic factors influencing the body mass index (BMI) of non-pregnant married Bangladeshi women of reproductive age. Secondary (Hierarchy) data from the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, collected using two-stage stratified cluster sampling, were used. Two-level linear regression analysis was performed to remove the cluster effect of the variables. The mean BMI of married non-pregnant Bangladeshi women was 21.60±3.86 kg/m2, and the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity was 22.8%, 14.9% and 3.2%, respectively. After removing the cluster effect, age and age at first marriage were found to be positively (p<0.01) related with BMI. Number of children was negatively related with women’s BMI. Lower BMI was especially found among women from rural areas and poor families, with an uneducated husband, with no television at home and who were currently breast-feeding. Age, total children ever born, age at first marriage, type of residence, education level, level of husband’s education, wealth index, having a television at home and practising breast-feeding were found to be important predictors for the BMI of married Bangladeshi non-pregnant women of reproductive age. This information could be used to identify sections of the Bangladeshi population that require special attention, and to develop more effective strategies to resolve the problem of malnutrition.

We conducted a longitudinal assessment in 466 underweight and 446 normal-weight children aged 6–24 months living in the urban slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh to determine the association between vitamin D and other micronutrient status with upper respiratory tract infection (URI) and acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI). Incidence rate ratios of URI and ALRI were estimated using multivariable generalized estimating equations. Our results indicate that underweight children with insufficient and deficient vitamin D status were associated with 20% and 23–25% reduced risk of URI, respectively, compared to children with sufficient status. Underweight children, those with serum retinol deficiency were at 1·8 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1·4–2·4] times higher risk of ALRI than those with retinol sufficiency. In normal-weight children there were no significant differences between different vitamin D status and the incidence of URI and ALRI. However, normal-weight children with zinc insufficiency and those that were serum retinol deficient had 1·2 (95% CI 1·0–1·5) times higher risk of URI and 1·9 (95% CI 1·4–2·6) times higher risk of ALRI, respectively. Thus, our results should encourage efforts to increase the intake of retinol-enriched food or supplementation in this population. However, the mechanisms through which vitamin D exerts beneficial effects on the incidence of childhood respiratory tract infection still needs further research.

The nonlinear propagation of positron-acoustic waves (PAWs) in an unmagnetized, collisionless, four component, dense plasma system (containing non-relativistic inertial cold positrons, relativistic degenerate electron and hot positron fluids as well as positively charged immobile ions) has been investigated theoretically. The Korteweg–de Vries (K–dV), modified K–dV (mK–dV) and further mK–dV (fmK–dV) equations have been derived by using reductive perturbation technique. Their solitary wave solutions have been numerically analysed in order to understand the localized electrostatic disturbances. It is observed that the relativistic effect plays a pivotal role on the propagation of positron-acoustic solitary waves (PASW). It is also observed that the effects of degenerate pressure and the number density of inertial cold positrons, hot positrons, electrons and positively charged static ions significantly modify the fundamental features of PASW. The basic features and the underlying physics of PASW, which are relevant to some astrophysical compact objects (such as white dwarfs, neutron stars etc.), are concisely discussed.

The nonlinear propagation of dust ion-acoustic (DIA) waves in a unmagnetized collisionless degenerate dense plasma (containing degenerate electron and positron, and classical ion fluids) has been theoretically investigated. The K-dV equation has been derived by employing the reductive perturbation method and by taking into account the effect of different plasma parameters in plasma fluid. The stationary solitary wave solution of K-dV equation is obtained, and numerically analyzed to identify the basic properties of DIA solitary structures. It has been shown that depending on plasma parametric values, the degenerate plasma under consideration supports compressive or rarefactive solitary structures. It has been also found that the effect of pressures on electrons, ions, and positrons significantly modify the basic features of solitary waves that are found to exist in such a plasma system. The relevance of our results in astrophysical objects such as white dwarfs and neutron stars, which are of scientific interest, is discussed briefly.

There is limited information on percent expenditure of household income due to childhood diarrhoea especially in rural Bangladesh. A total of 4205 children aged <5 years with acute diarrhoea were studied. Percent expenditure was calculated as total expenditure for the diarrhoeal episode divided by monthly family income, multiplied by 100. Overall median percent expenditure was 3·04 (range 0·01–94·35). For Vibrio cholerae it was 6·42 (range 0·52–82·85), for enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli 3·10 (range 0·22–91·87), for Shigella 3·17 (range 0·06–77·80), and for rotavirus 3·08 (range 0·06–48·00). In a multinomial logistic regression model, for the upper tertile of percent expenditure, significant higher odds were found for male sex, travelling a longer distance to reach hospital (⩾median of 4 miles), seeking care elsewhere before attending hospital, vomiting, higher frequency of purging (⩾10 times/day), some or severe dehydration and stunting. V. cholerae was the highest and rotavirus was the least responsible pathogen for percent expenditure of household income due to childhood diarrhoea.

A theoretical investigation is carried out to study the basic properties of dust-acoustic (DA) shock waves propagating in a magnetized non-thermal dusty plasma (containing cold viscous dust fluid, non-thermal ions, and non-thermal electrons). The reductive perturbation method is used to derive the Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equation. It is found that the basic properties of DA shock waves are significantly modified by the combined effects of dust fluid viscosity, external magnetic field, and obliqueness (angle between external magnetic field and DA wave propagation direction). It is shown that the dust fluid viscosity acts as a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of DA shock structures in the dusty plasma system under consideration. The implications of our results in some space and laboratory plasma situations are briefly discussed.

The propagation of dust ion-acoustic shock waves (DIASHWs) in an unmagnetized dissipative dusty plasma system consisting of inertial ions, non-inertial, non-extensive q-distributed electrons, and negatively charged stationary dust is investigated in bounded non-planar (cylindrical and spherical) geometry. A modified Burgers equation is derived and its numerical solution is obtained. It is found that the basic features of DIASHWs are significantly modified by the effects of electron non-extensivity and ion kinematic viscosity in bounded geometry. It is also shown that the propagation characteristics of non-planar DIASHWs in a non-extensive plasma are qualitatively different from those of planar ones.

Time-dependent cylindrical and spherical dust-acoustic (DA) solitary and shock waves propagating in a strongly coupled dusty plasmas (containing strongly correlated negatively charged dust grains and weakly correlated adiabatic electrons and ions) are investigated. It is shown that cylindrical and spherical DA solitary and shock waves exist with negative potential, and that the strong correlation between the charged dust grains is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of cylindrical or spherical DA shock structures. It is also shown that the effects of a non-planar geometry (cylindrical and spherical) significantly modify the basic features (e.g. amplitude, width, speed, etc.) of DA solitary and shock waves. The implications of our results in laboratory experiments are briefly discussed.

Properties of dust-ion-acoustic shock waves (DIASWs) in an unmagnetized dusty plasma (containing inertial ions, Maxwellian electrons with two distinctive temperatures and negatively charged immobile dust) are investigated. The hydrodynamic equation for inertial ions has been used to derive the Burgers equation. The effects of two-electron-temperature and ion kinematic viscosity, which are found to significantly modify the basic features of the DIASWs, are discussed.