Glucose Insulin Ratio in Hyper Insulinemic Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Background: Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia that may play a key role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. Objectives: To determine and compare glucose-insulin ratio in hyper-insulinemic women with the polycystic ovarian syndrome and healthy controls. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted at Lahore General Hospital. A total of 80 women 24-35 years of age were recruited from Lahore General Hospital. 50 women had PCOS, and 30 were healthy controls. PCOS was diagnosed by using the Rotterdam criteria. Height, weight, and waist circumference were measured. Glucose and insulin were estimated by the glucose oxidase method and ELISA, respectively. HOMA-IR was calculated to determine insulin resistance (IR). HOMA- β was calculated to assess the β-cell function. Fasting glucose and insulin ratio were also calculated. Results: Mean age of the women with PCOS and healthy controls was 29.89±3.54 and 28.60±1.12 years, respectively (p>0.54). BMI and waist circumference of women with PCOS were higher compared to healthy controls (p>0.45). Fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA- β, and IR were significantly higher in women with PCOS compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). Conclusion: In addition to HOMA IR, the glucose-insulin ratio may be considered to assess hyperinsulinemia in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Growth Performance and Carcass Traits of Beetal Goat Reared under High Input Feeding System

Livestock sector has been one of the key sector in Pakistan during recent past and is fairly contributing to national economy (11.76 % share in GDP). The country being one of most livestock keeping countries contains 68.4 M goats and ranked 3rd in most goat keeping countries in the world after China (137.68 M) and India (125.45 M).As Pakistan does not possess any beef breed, the spent meat of dairy and draught is cherished as beef. There are some breeds of sheep and goat who have potential for mutton production. There are 28 different breeds of goat and Beetal goat is one of the most popular breed in the Punjab because of its beauty and high growth rate. The goats are reared mostly on the fodder and poor quality roughages. The diet of livestock in the country has deficiency of 29% in TDN and 33% DP. Moreover, the fodder based traditional feeding practices are not suitable especially for rain fed areas because of shortage and uncertainty in the supply of feed and fodder. Poor feeding management during pre-weaning period is one of the factors resulting in compromised growth of Beetal kids fattened for meat purpose. The main reason for this anomaly may be less milk offered to kids and non-serious efforts for its management. The first study was planned to find the most appropriate protein level suiting the age of the weaning while shifting animals to high input feeding system. Total 42 Beetal male kids having 30 (±10), 60 (±10) and 90 (±10) days of age were selected with 16 in each age group. They were designated as G30, G60 and G90 respectively. The weight of animals were; 8±2 kg (G30), 12±2 kg (G60) and 16±2 kg (G90), respectively. All animals were weaned by introducing the total mix feed gradually and withdrawing the milk during the adjustment period of two weeks. The pelleted starter ration (total mix feed) with three various dietary protein levels designated as R1 (16% CP), R2 (20% CP) and R3 (26% CP) were introduced. The control group was reared on the fodder. The starter rations were iso-caloric and were offered for 6 week duration. All animals were exposed to treatment using 2 factor factorial (3×3) plus control treatment arrangement under completely randomized design. The data were collected on average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), gain to intake ratio, Klieber ratio (KR), body measurements and blood metabolites of kids. The statistical analysis showed that starter feed protein levels and age of weaning had significant interaction for ADG (P<0.001), KR (P<0.001), ADFI ix (P<0.05) and blood urea nitrogen (P<0.05) while serum creatinine and feed conversion had non-significant interaction. The trend analysis (post-hoc analysis for means comparison) revealed that ADG had shown quadratic trend with protein levels and age of weaning interaction. It was found with R2; the animals weaned at 30 days showed better ADG (46.88 gm/day) while same trend was found for animals (87.06 gm/day) weaned at 60 days of age. The animals weaned at 90 days had ADG (127 gm/day) best with R1. It is extracted from the first study that Beetal kid‟s performance may be improved by minimizing the post weaning stress if choosing the appropriate protein level with respect to age of weaning. The high input feeding system have been found more reliable in fulfilling the requirement of the Beetal goat. It also resulted in improving the growth and meat potential of the animals. However, the investigation about which physical form of feed is better for the Beetal is still awaited. Similarly, use of yeast in the feed for improving the feed efficiency also requires the some experimentation in this breed. Total 16 kids of Beetal breed having 180 (±10) days of age and 17(±2) kg BW were selected for the study. Fattening ration was formulated and used in two physical forms i.e. mash or pellets. The both rations were iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. While they were further divided in two categories with presence or absence of live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). All animals were exposed to treatments using two factor factorial (2×2) arrangement with two form and two yeast addition groups for seventy days. Average daily gain showed the interaction effects of both the treatments whereas it was found that pellets form of feed supplemented with yeast culture showed the best performance (77.50 gm/day) followed by mash without yeast (61.56 gm/day). However, the animals fed on the mash form showed overall lower ADG performance. The same trend was noticed for Klieber ratio. Overall, pellets with yeast addition (PL) showed significantly better Klieber ratio (8.026) than all other groups. The ADFI was lowest (P<0.05) in MS (mash with yeast added) with (588.30 gm/day) followed by pellets without yeast (PLX) (610.0 gm/day), PL (648.8 gm/day) and MS (863.0 gm/d). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly affected by the main effects of physical form of feed and yeast addition. Yeast addition resulted in better FCR (9.50) than not added (12.24) while pellets form feed resulted lower FCR than mash (9.67 vs 12.48). Pellets with yeast addition resulted in higher (P<0.05) hue angle, hot carcass weight, dressing percentage, lower cook loss, serum glucose and ether extract in meat. The other carcass traits, sensory evaluation, blood metabolites x were not affected by the treatment groups. It is concluded that the pellets with addition of yeast has improved the growth performance without any bad effect on carcass quality. High input feeding system results in better growth performance in goats as compared to low input feeding system. Traditionally goats are reared under low input system while to see the effectiveness of high input feeding system, third study project was planned to study the growth performance and carcass quality among various classes of Beetal breed. Total 16 Beetal kids (12 male + 4 female) were selected considering 120 (±10) days average age and weight ranging from 16 (±2) kg for male and 14(±2) kg for female. The kids from various classes were divided into four treatment groups designated as S1 (Entire male or not castrated), S2 (castrated at 4 mo), S3 (castrated at 6 mo) and S4 (female). Animals were castrated during pre-fattening period and managed under same conditions before fattening. The duration of the study was 120 days (60 days pre-fattening + 60 day fattening). Total of 12 animals (randomly 3 from each treatment group) were slaughtered at the end of study for detail carcass quality evaluation. The average daily gain (ADG) was significantly affected (P<0.001) by the treatments. There was higher ADG noticed in S3 group (93.75 gm/d) as compared to S1 (90.42 gm/d), S4 (63.89 gm/d) and S2 (33.75 gm/d). Average daily feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) highest in S3 (878.00 gm/d). The serum cholesterol and serum glucose were also affected (P<0.05) by the treatments. There was non-significant (P>0.05) effect of treatments on the sensory panel score about color, chewability, flavor, tenderness and overall acceptability of the cooked meat. It is concluded from third experiment that sex and castration affected the growth in kids while the carcass traits were not affected. The age of castration need consideration in Beetal kids because castration at early age adversely affected the growth of kids in this study. It is concluded from this dissertation that the young kids of Beetal goat could be shifted to high input feeds as early as 2 month of age but consideration must be given to CP of the starter ration. The fattening of animals under high input feeding system at 6 month of age showed that age of castration may be more that 6 month. While the class of Beetal kids (meat grade classes) does not affect carcass traits. The fattening ration may be used in pellet form while the addition of live yeast was found beneficial.