In vitro efficacy of selected medicinal plants from Cholistan desert, Pakistan, against gastrointestinal helminths of sheep and goats

Gastrointestinal helminths are a major constraint to small ruminants in extensive husbandry systems of tropical regions. Yet, unavailability, high prices, side effects, and development of parasite resistance often limit the use of synthetic anthelmintics. Traditional medicinal plants might be an effective low-cost alternative. Therefore the in vitro anthelmintic activity of leaf extracts of the ligneous plants Capparis decidua, Salsola foetida, Suaeda fruticosa, Haloxylon salicornicum, and Haloxylon recurvum from Cholistan, Pakistan, was investigated against adult worms of Haemonchus contortus, Trichuris ovis, and Paramphistomum cervi. Various concentrations (from 7.8 to 500 mg dry matter ml^(−1)) of three extracts (aqueous, methanol, and aqueous-methanol) of each plant were tested at different time intervals for their anthelmintic activity via adult motility assay. Plant species (p<=0.01), extract type (p<=0.001), parasite species (p<=0.001), extract concentration (p<=0.001), time of exposure (p<=0.001) and their interactions (p<=0.001) affected the number of immobile or dead helminths. The 50% lethal concentration (LC_(50)) values indicated that the methanol and aqueous-methanol extracts of C. decidua, H. recurvum, and H. salicornicum as well as the methanol extract of S. fruticosa have the potential to be developed into plant-based remedies against the studied helminths. Further studies are needed to investigate the in vivo anthelmintic activity of these extracts, in order to develop effective, cheap and locally available anthelmintics for pastoralists in Cholistan and neighbouring desert regions.

50 Jahre Gesetz über die Vereinheitlichung des Gesundheitswesens

Vor 1933 hatte sich in Deutschland im staatlichen und im kommunalen Bereich ein vielfach differenziertes öffentliches Gesundheitswesen entwickelt. Für die Protagonisten der nationalsozialistischen Erbpflege und Rassenhygiene war aber ein einheitlich gestaltetes öffentliches Gesundheitswesen eine wesentliche Voraussetzung, um ihre gesundheitspolitischen Ziele zu verwirklichen. Dem für Erbgesundheits- und Rassenpflege zuständigen Referenten Dr. Arthur Gütt und dem Reichsministerium des Innern gelang es in der noch "staatsorientierten" Phase der Konsolidierung des NS-Regimes, gegen den Widerstand eigener Abteilungen, anderer Ministerien, der Länder, des Deutschen Gemeindetages und der gesundheitlichen Unterorganisation der NSDAP des "Gesetz über die Vereinheitlichung des Gesundheitswesens" (= GVG) durchzusetzen: durch das GVG vom 3. Juli 1934 wurden staatlicher Gesundheitsschutz, kommunale Gesundheitspflege und nationalsozialistische Erb- und Rassenpflege zu reichseinheitlichen Pflichtaufgaben; diese durchzuführen, oblag dem jetzt erst geschaffenen öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst, den Gesundheitsämtern und den Einheitsmedizinalbeamten.

Assessment of land use and land cover changes during the last 50 years in oases and surrounding rangelands of Xinjiang, NW China

An analysis of historical Corona images, Landsat images, recent radar and Google Earth® images was conducted to determine land use and land cover changes of oases settlements and surrounding rangelands at the fringe of the Altay Mountains from 1964 to 2008. For the Landsat datasets supervised classification methods were used to test the suitability of the Maximum Likelihood Classifier with subsequent smoothing and the Sequential Maximum A Posteriori Classifier (SMAPC). The results show a trend typical for the steppe and desert regions of northern China. From 1964 to 2008 farmland strongly increased (+ 61%), while the area of grassland and forest in the floodplains decreased (- 43%). The urban areas increased threefold and 400 ha of former agricultural land were abandoned. Farmland apparently affected by soil salinity decreased in size from 1990 (1180 ha) to 2008 (630 ha). The vegetated areas of the surrounding rangelands decreased, mainly as a result of overgrazing and drought events.The SMAPC with subsequent post processing revealed the highest classification accuracy. However, the specific landscape characteristics of mountain oasis systems required labour intensive post processing. Further research is needed to test the use of ancillary information for an automated classification of the examined landscape features.