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Introduction on how to Start Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh, Management Practices: Poultry farming is the process of raising poultry birds for meat, egg, feathers, etc. These poultry birds are grown within a protected environment by the poultry farmers. Poultry farming is a profitable business that gives good returns. The poultry farmers must regularly give poultry feed supplements to provide commercial poultry nutrition to birds. If there is a lack of poultry nutrition, birds can affect by some common chicken diseases. It is the fastest developing area in the agriculture and farming business. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are of importance in poultry birds.
The poultry farming business is the process of raising birds for meat and egg production such as chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese. These poultry birds are farmed in great numbers among these chickens are the most common. It is one of the fastest-growing segments of the agricultural sector in India with around an 8% growth rate per annum. Poultry farming in Andhra Pradesh is the fastest-growing segment in the agriculture sector.
A Step-by-Step guide on How to Start Poultry Farming In Andhra Pradesh
Globally, India ranks 3rd in the world in egg production and 5th in the world in chicken meat production. While poultry production is mainly achieved through commercial means, the rural poultry sector contributes to the Indian poultry industry. Then, it is looked upon as a reliable economic and nutritional source. The government of Andhra Pradesh has identified Poultry Sector as one of the Growth Engines for employment development in rural regions and to ensure food security for the masses at the cheapest price.
Andhra Pradesh is positioned to capture this growth opportunity. It is India’s 2nd largest egg-producing state, accounting for one-fifth of the country’s entire egg output; and it has one of the largest broiler (40 million) and layer (40 million) populations in the country; and enjoys a 10% share of total Indian broiler meat production. Because of the intensive poultry activity in Andhra Pradesh, growers have to be well trained to have sufficient knowledgeable manpower.
Advantages of Poultry Framing in Andhra Pradesh
- Start with Less Amount – The main benefit is that it doesn’t need high capital for starting. You need some basic capital to start raising poultry farming. Also, poultry birds like chickens and hens are not expensive to start raising.
- No Need for Bigger Space – It doesn’t require a big space unless you are going to start commercially. You can easily raise poultry birds in the backyard with one or numerous coops or cages. Also, you can simply do it in your backyard with several birds.
- It requires less investment compared to other livestock animals. It needs around Rs. 10,000/- on fixed capital for the rearing of 100 chickens. Also, the small and marginal farmers can start small-scale poultry farming. The chicken will start laying eggs in about 8 to 10 weeks; broilers can be sold after 6 weeks.
- Poultry farming gives a rapid return on investment. The chicken starts laying eggs in about 8 to 10 weeks and broilers can be sold for meat between 6 and 10 weeks. The interval between generations is small and production can be phenomenally increased within a short period.
- Broilers’ intake of feed is low while it produces the maximum possible amount of food for us.
- Poultry farming is a continuous income source. It is not seasonal and then produces income for the entire year. The income-generating products in poultry farms are meat, eggs, feathers, and manure of chicken and broiler breeds. It requires only minimum space and they can be reared even in the backyards.
- Poultry farming requires little water for drinking and cleaning. About one liter of water is sufficient for 5 birds for a day. Poultry droppings are rich in nitrogen and organic material is considered valuable as fertilizers.
- High Returns –Poultry farming gives a high return on investment compared to other systems within a short period. In these, few poultry birds take a shorter duration of time to mature and generate profit.
- Income and Employment Opportunities – Poultry farming makes income and employment opportunities. Unemployed educated youth can make a great income by raising poultry birds.
- Easy Bank Loans – All banks approve loans for these types of business ventures. If you can apply for poultry farming loans from your local banks you want to start this poultry business commercially.
Housing for Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh
- Poultry bird shelters are the next important factor after farm sites in poultry rearing. The shelters should be raised adequately to prevent the risk of flooding. The selected house must be spacious enough to move and running of the poultry birds. The shelter must be adequately ventilated and also protected from sunlight. It is advisable to construct the poultry shelters in a south-facing direction. There must be adequate drainage facilities in the shelter. If there is more than one shelter then the distance between the two of them must be maintained at least 50 feet.
- This ensures proper ventilation and non-accumulation of ammonia inside the poultry house. The entrances in the shelter should be fastened properly. The shelter design mainly depends on the poultry breed, type of production, etc.
- Make a proper ventilation system in the house and a good ventilation system ensures good health and proper growth of the birds.
- Ensure the flow of a sufficient amount of fresh air and light inside the poultry house. Try to make south faced the house. Then, this will help to entrance sufficient amount of clean and fresh air.
- If you go for large-scale commercial production and make numerous houses, then the distance from one house to another house will be at least 40 feet.
- Always keep the house clean and fresh. Make good facilities so that rainwater and cold wind can’t enter the poultry house. Make a suitable drainage system inside the house and it will help you to clean the house easily.
Important Factors to Start Poultry Farming Business for Beginners
The poultry farming business is a multibillion-dollar industry, the below factors are important for a successful poultry farming business;
Step 1) Choosing Poultry Farm Site
The farm site should be away from the chaos and hustle-bustle of the city. It must be a calm and pollution-free environment. The farm has adequate, clean, and fresh drinking water sources nearby. Also, the location must be free of poultry enemies and predators. The selected place must be easily accessible from the main roads. In other words, transportation should be easy and not very difficult. Also, the local markets must be easily accessible.
Step 2) Climate Conditions for Poultry Farm
Climate condition plays a major role in a successful venture. If you are planning environmentally controlled houses, temperature control is crucial. Check if your location in Andhra Pradesh supports poultry farming. If the climate condition is more than 35°C in the house, birds begin to die suddenly and all your investment will be gone. In those cases, we have to take precautions by using water sprinklers to reduce the temperature levels.
Step 3) Creating a business plan
A poultry business plan is a roadmap that includes the specifics of how to achieve business goals. The business plan for poultry farming is given below;
1. Finding a suitable place to start the poultry farm.
2. List of required equipment.
3. Deciding on the variety of poultry birds on the farm.
4. Details of processes such as egg production, broiler breeding, etc.
5. Specifics relating to various resources such as human resources, financial resources, etc.
6. Plans for marketing and advertising strategies.
7. Information on legal clearances required like licenses and permissions.
Step 4) Selection of Equipment
One of the most important steps is to find the appropriate land for the business. This poultry equipment is the costliest while setting up the poultry business. The size of the land may change depending on the type of the business. There are mainly four types of poultry farms, they are;
1. Free Range Poultry Farm – For a free-range poultry farm approximately 12,000 to 36,000 sq. ft. is required as poultry birds will be allowed to move around freely.
2. Semi Range Poultry Farm – For this type of poultry farm, approximately 8000 sq. ft. is required for this poultry farm type.
3. Battery Cage Poultry Farm – For the Battery Cage poultry birds, approximately 6,000 sq. ft. is required. In this type of farm, the poultry birds will not be let loose to move around.
4. Completely Wild Poultry Farm – This is similar to the birds’ natural habitat with plenty of trees. Approximately 44,000 sq. ft. will be required for the same.
Other important factors to consider when selecting the place would be to find an area away from the city, preferably safe, calm, and pollution-free, with easily accessible amenities.
Step 5) Deciding the Variation of Poultry Bird used in Poultry Farming
India is home to one of the biggest markets for the poultry industry around the world. Different types of poultry birds are available such as chicken, geese, turkey, ducks, guinea fowl, quail, etc., but the poultry farms majorly raise chickens.
Step 6) Taking Measures for the Poultry Farm Care and Management
It is imperative to keep precautionary measures to ensure the poultry birds’ health and safety, which will help in their proper nurturing and growth. There are some threats when running a poultry farm business, but the main one remains poultry diseases. Providing clean water, nutritious food, and regular vaccinations to the poultry is essential. Taking adequate measures and having consistent regulation will ensure one does not face huge losses due to some diseases and other potential risks.
Step 7) Getting the required Licenses/Permissions for starting a Poultry Farm
India’s Government is taking steps to support and promote the poultry farm business for increasing poultry product demand. The person can start and maintain a poultry farm in India without much maintenance after getting the required permissions and licenses with the right legal assistance.
Types of Poultry
Many different chicken breeds have been developed for different purposes. For simplicity, you can place them into three main categories. They are;
- Meat-producing and
- Dual-purpose breeds.
Laying Breeds – These laying breeds are known for their egg-laying capacity. Hens begin to lay at 16 to 20 weeks of age and will lay between 20 to 23 dozen eggs in the 1st year. At 14 months, usually laying hens begin to molt, the process by which they drop their old feathers and grow new ones. No eggs are laid during this period. Hens will lay larger but fewer eggs per year about 16 to 18 dozen after molting.
Meat Breeds – Meat poultry breeds are efficient at converting feed to meat. Meat-producing chickens are broad-breasted and larger compared to the laying breeds. They grow and feather rapidly and will weigh 5 pounds or more at eight weeks. The roaster is butchered at about 6 to 8 pounds while broilers and fryers are butchered at 31/2 to 5 pounds.
Dual-Purpose Breeds – The dual-purpose poultry breed is the classic backyard chicken. Most lay large brown-shelled eggs. Egg production will be affected because broody hens don’t lay eggs. So, consult with a local extension agent or poultry expert to help you choose the right poultry breeds.
Egg Production in Andhra Pradesh
The main share in egg production of Andhra Pradesh is East Godavari district along with West Godavari and Krishna. In Andhra Pradesh, the poultry industry growth is phenomenal and now reached a stage of self-sufficiency in the production of breeding stock, feed, vaccines, and equipment to meet the necessary needs. The poultry industry assures the provision of quality protein through eggs and meat and also promotes employment generation. In Andhra Pradesh, the egg consumption is 99 eggs per annum approximately 525 crores.
Facts about Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh
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In Andhra Pradesh, the highest layer bird population with approximately 6.27 crores in the East and West Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur districts. Also, the poultry prominent districts with a medium number of layer farms are Chittoor, Nellore, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, and Visakhapatnam districts. Prakasam and Kurnool districts have got little broiler population in Andhra Pradesh. There are approximately 26 hatcheries, 22 commercial feed manufacturing mills excluding feed mixing facilities owned by poultry farmers on their farms, and 29 layer and broiler breeder farms. Andhra Pradesh produces nearly 65% of the eggs produced are sent to several states like Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and to cities daily in trucks. Each truck carries about 1.50 to 2.00 lakh eggs packed in plastic trays and placed in cardboard boxes loaded in trucks to various markets daily. The rest of the eggs are consumed within Andhra Pradesh, with an average of about 99 eggs per head per annum as per the National Nutrition Council (N.N.C). As the economic status of people improves, the purchasing power will increase, thus giving scope for further growth of about 10% per annum in the layer sector. The total number of commercial broilers raised in a year will be approximately 11 crores.
About 70 to 75 % of broiler farmers are in the integration system and the remaining are non – integrators in Andhra Pradesh. Integrators will supply feed, medicines, etc., whereas the farmer has to prepare the shed and then meet electricity and labor expenses by himself. At the marketing stage, the grower will be paid based on live weights obtained. Whether an individual farmer, the chain ends with live bird marketing which is called horizontal integration. Though vertical integration needs to be developed, where live birds are dressed in the processing plant and value addition is done. The processing sector is limited today, and this will gradually increase as the per capita income increases due to urbanization.
Poultry Breeds in Andhra Pradesh
Assel or Asil Breed
Aseel is also known as Asil and it is an ancient game bird reared in rural regions and has good meat qualities. This Aseel breed has been used for developing improved broiler varieties.
This is found in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan in India. The chickens weigh about 4-5 kilograms and the chickens weigh 3-4 kgs. The ability of chickens to lay eggs is low. It is an ancient breed from India and is kept for mainly ornamental purposes. Also, they are popularly found in Andhra Pradesh. The feather is red, black, or a mix of both and is known as a hard feather. Aseel breed eggs are light brown.
Nurie (white), Kagar (black), Chitta (black and white silver), Peela (golden red), Yarkin (black and red), Teekar (brown), and Reza (light red) are the popular Aseel breed varieties. The birds of this chicken breed are well-known for their meat qualities. Its face is long and slender, and not covered with feathers.
CARI NIRBHEEK (Aseel Cross)
The meaning of Aseel is real or pure. It is well known for its high stamina and majestic gait and dogged fighting qualities. CARI Nirbheekbreed is a cross of Aseel breed with CARl Red. These birds are active, and pugnacious with high stamina and majestic gait. They can save themselves from their predators due to their fighting characters and activeness and are mostly adapted to all climatic zones of the country.
Srinidhi breed is a dual-purpose variety. It has optimum body weight and better egg production. The survivability was more than 95%. This Srinidhi variety was under field conditions in Tripura, Jharkhand, and Andhra Pradesh.
Danki breed is distributed in the Vizianagram district (Bobli region) and adjoining parts of the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. Its color is mainly brown followed by black.
Ghagus breed is a pure Indian breed and is mostly found in Andhra Pradesh. This is a good table bird and the hen is a fair layer, a good sitter, and a real mother. The color pattern is patchy in males and spotted in females. The neck is covered with golden feathers and wattles are absent. The birds are maintained largely for eggs and game purposes and are mainly reared in a backyard. The hens are good layers.
Kalasthiis are native to the Chittoor district. The common plumage color is bluish-black but brown color birds are also noticed. The color pattern is patchy in males and spotted in females.
Backyard Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh
Backyard poultry farming in Andhra Pradesh is more beneficial to small, marginal farmers, landless laborers, and tribal and backward areas. But it has been encountering constraints such as low egg production and poor weight gain, poor vaccination, and higher mortality rate, and also increased nutrition status of tribal people.
By adopting rural poultry farming, the high incidence of protein hunger in the rural population particularly in pregnant and lactating mothers and growing kids can be obviated.
Backyard poultry farming will generate petty cash for household requirements to providing balanced food within rural areas. Feeding management of poultry birds in the backyard is easy by using household wastes, farm products, and green vegetation. The poultry birds reared in the backyard farming fetches premium rates due to high consumer acceptability even in the urban regions even though plenty of eggs and poultry meat from commercial units are accessible.
Backyard poultry farming utilizes minimum inputs, least human attention, and causes less environmental pollution. These birds can thrive well under adverse environmental conditions such as poor housing, poor management, and poor feeding. These poultry birds are sturdy and resistant to most common poultry diseases because of their high immune competence. Less fat content in the meat of these poultry birds makes it acceptable to even-aged people.
Process for Poultry Framing Business in Andhra Pradesh
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1. Select the poultry sector that is well suited for your requirements
- Meat production (through broilers breeding)
- Eggs production (through layers breeding)
- Production of poultry feed
- Equipment manufacturing required in poultry farming
- Eggs and meat processing
- Chicken hatching
- Packaging and marketing of meat and eggs
Depending upon one’s interest and feasibility, the entrepreneur can choose more than one section to start the business.
2. Select the type of poultry birds you want to breed and raise on your farm. It is advisable to choose from limited types of broilers and layers for meat and egg production. As the business grows, one can add more variety of poultry birds depending upon the demand and profitability.
3. Select the poultry farm location – Poultry farm located not too far away from the place of consumption of goods. After that, finalize the place in advance from where the operations can be managed conveniently.
4. It is important to name your poultry farm and register it based on state laws. Also, it is necessary to create a logo and a website for your business, if you intend to market your products online and supply them to distant places.
5. Arrange the finances – Poultry farming requires a limited capital amount in the beginning. Funds are required for several purposes, including buying/renting land, equipment, hiring staff, birds, and raw-material, managing cash flow, paying salary, etc.
6. Marketing your poultry products among the target audience is necessary.
7. After marketing the products, supplying the product to consumers is essential. Consumers can be retailers, shop vendors, wholesale markets, restaurants, etc.
Essential Nutrients for Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh
The best nutritious diet is important for poultry growth. The health of the poultry birds depends on the nutrients found in poultry feeds. The poultry diet must contain water, carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, fats, and minerals. The reduction in these 6 components may lead to nutrition-related problems for poultry.
Common Nutrition-Related Problems of Poultry
Water Shortage – The poultry can live without food, but water is a necessary component that should be provided for birds regularly. Shortage of water for a few hours can result in the reduction of egg production. Water will act as a cooling factor and also helps digestion. Water takes the chicken nutrition to the cell and produces energy. Clean water shortage will provide problems in poultry production.
Carbohydrate Deficiency – It is the highest proportion of feed supplements for poultry birds. Carbohydrate deficiency can result in weight loss and poultry production.
Vitamin Deficiency – Vitamins are provided in small quantities in poultry birds. But, vitamins play a major role in poultry birds’ body function, reproduction, and growth. The poultry birds get affected by several vitamin deficiency problems due to the omission of vitamins in the chicken diet.
Protein Deficiency – Protein is the source of amino acids. The protein intake as poultry nutrition is broken down into amino acids and absorbed by the blood, and then transported to cells. Protein deficiency leads to slow growth or stops ovulating, which leads to a drop in egg production.
Mineral Deficiency – The mineral nutrients found in poultry feed are essential for bone development in birds. The best feed components must be selected and provided as feed to maintain the broiler chicken nutrition at the stable line.
Feed Management for Poultry Farming in Andhra Pradesh
Good quality and highly nutritious food is a must for commercial poultry production. The rate of productivity in birds is high. They quickly convert their feed into food products. Regularly, they require about 38 nutrients in adequate amounts for their regular diet pattern. The feed can be given in different forms such as crumbles, mash, or pellets. In addition to providing the birds with feed, they should be given an ample amount of clean and fresh drinking water.
For keeping the poultry birds healthy, feed birds with good quality and nutritious food. Therefore, good and high-quality nutritious food is a must for commercial poultry production. They produce feeds for all types of poultry birds and you can easily use those foods for your birds.
If you want to prepare the feed at your home, then you should have to know the necessary nutrient elements in their food. You have to buy all those elements separately from the market and mix it in the proper ratio. Along with providing fresh and nutritious food, always try to serve them a sufficient amount of fresh and clean water based on their daily demands.
Loans for Poultry Farming Business
What all do you need to start poultry farming?
- For starting poultry farming, land is required.
- To start a poultry farming business, you should choose a place at a short distance from your village or city.
- Select a place where there is good provision of water, clean air and sunlight, and vehicles.
How can you get a loan?
- For the poultry farming business, you can obtain a loan from any government bank.
- State Bank of India (SBI) gives loans up to 75% of the total cost for this business. You can take a loan of up to 9 lakh rupees and this loan from SBI has to be returned in 5 years. If you are unable to repay the loan in 5 years, then 6 months more time is given. This scheme is a ‘Broiler Plus’ scheme by the State Bank of India.
Problems of Poultry Industries in Andhra Pradesh
The poultry farming business has certain challenges and problems like feeding, meat, production, and marketing. It has progressed considerably during the last decade which is a positive sign.
The Government agencies shall be liberal and help in setting up new feed production units not only under the government sector. There is a need for government schemes to provide the much-needed finances to the poultry farmers at reasonable rates of interest.
Feeding – The number of farmers responded as all the problems associated with the feeding of birds were considered the main problem. Interestingly, 50% of the respondents said that the feeding of birds was expensive, particularly with fish, soya beans, and wheat. Inadequacy of supply to feed birds (30%) and bad feed formulation (20%). Due to the high cost of feed and the difficulty in measuring the right quantities of birds, 80% of producers buy their feeds from the south; only 20% reported that they prepare the feed themselves.
Water – Access to water for birds is considered a model problem and this is due to the availability of water in the Municipality. It becomes a problem if the farm is located at the outskirt of the study area without immediate capital to construct a borehole for the water supply. The cost of buying water from water tankers is costly and the use of automated drinkers which makes the work of the laborers simpler.
Weather – Prevailing weather condition is another issue that is a hindrance to poultry production. Particularly in the dry season, temperatures in the area range between 40 to 43°C which affects poultry productivity as birds cannot thrive well in those high temperatures.
Labor – Availability of labor and land are not considered much of a problem. Producer focus groups regarded labor as a minor problem as they indicated that there are lots of people without jobs. However, these laborers turn to acquire the skills gradually as they stay on the job.
Land – Landholding is considered sometimes the main problem. This is because land for the poultry industry is restricted by the local authorities and the intention of expanding and creating more farms becomes difficult.
Suggestions for Betterment of the Poultry Industry in Andhra Pradesh
The below suggestions are offered for the growth of the poultry industry in Andhra Pradesh;
- The poor quality and misleading brands of feed proved ineffective in improving the health of birds and at times even harmful to the health of the birds. Suitable statutory measures should be adopted to ensure that quality feed is produced and marketed.
- The Government agencies help set up new feed production units not only in the government sector but also in the private sector. It would go a long way in overcoming the problem of the non-availability of feed.
- The poultry farmers follow scientific poultry management practices in the area of health care of poultry birds. Proper vaccination and diet supplements will reduce the mortality rate of poultry birds. Also, the keeping of birds in a healthy and hygienic environment can reduce the cost of health care.
- The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development scheme ensures that the refinance facilities to the banks for the poultry industry growth are carried out without fail.
Marketing Plan for Poultry Farming
You can easily sell your poultry products in your nearest local market. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about marketing your products. If the local market is located so far from your farm then transport the products very carefully.
If you are new in this poultry business, first of all, try to visit some farms practically and start raising on small scale. After gaining sufficient knowledge go for large-scale poultry production.
If you live in the following districts, cities, towns, and villages of Andhra Pradesh(AP) and plan to set up a Poultry Farm, this article might be helpful to construct and run a poultry farming business in Andhra Pradesh.
|Alluri Seetharam Raju||Manyam||Rajahmundry/Rajamahendravaram|
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Visit the Environmental and Occupational Health Program website.
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Hello, We were wondering if you could help us with some ideas. For en EEG project, we would like to integrate and synchronize the Biosemi EEG recording with other signals, specifically with EMG -from the wireless Delsys system- and speech, recorded with a microphone. Do you know how is it possible t...


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Since the drug is still under research and trial, scientists hope that curing HIV/AIDS with gammora is possible.


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Epidemiological studies indicate that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease have a lower risk of developing lung cancer, and suggest a higher risk of developing glioblastoma. Here we explore the molecular scenarios that might underlie direct and inverse co-morbidities between these diseases. Transcriptomic meta-analyses reveal significant numbers of genes with inverse patterns of expression in Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer, and with similar patterns of expression in Alzheimer’s disease and glioblastoma. These observations support the existence of molecular substrates that could at least partially account for these direct and inverse co-morbidity relationships. A functional analysis of the sets of deregulated genes points to the immune system, up-regulated in both Alzheimer’s disease and glioblastoma, as a potential link between these two diseases. Mitochondrial metabolism is regulated oppositely in Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer, indicating that it may be involved in the inverse co-morbidity between these diseases. Finally, oxidative phosphorylation is a good candidate to play a dual role by decreasing or increasing the risk of lung cancer and glioblastoma in Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a leading global healthcare burden1 and, while over one hundred drugs have been developed to treat this disease, only a dozen have been approved for AD treatment in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, none of these halt the disease’s progression2. Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with nearly 1.4 million deaths every year3. Malignant glioblastomas (GBM) are the most common primary brain tumors in adults and, despite recent therapeutic advances, the life expectancy of patients with GBM continues to be less than 2 years4. Thus, these three diseases are considered among the most challenging public health conditions worldwide, emphasizing the need for innovative approaches to deal with them.
Insight into the connections between diseases offer new opportunities to better understand their pathogeneses5, 6. Direct co-morbidities are common for many diseases, representing a higher-than-expected joint occurrence of medical conditions in individuals. For example, a direct co-morbidity between AD and brain tumors is currently suspected7,8,9. By contrast, inverse co-morbidities are defined as a lower-than-expected probability of a specific disease in individuals diagnosed with another medical condition. For instance, AD is associated with a lower risk of various cancers, including LC9, 10.
Various factors have been proposed to be involved in direct and inverse co-morbidities, such as the environment, lifestyle or drug treatments11, and we hypothesize that genetic and molecular factors could also play a role in these relationships. We recently studied a set of Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders and cancers known to display patterns of inverse co-morbidity. Thanks to transcriptomic meta-analyses, we were able to identify a molecular signature of deregulated genes in opposite directions in these diseases12. Here we aim to challenge the molecular bases of inverse and of direct co-morbidities, and the role of the affected tissues in these associations. As such, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of transcriptomic gene expression data in AD, GBM and LC, comparing the deregulated genes in each disease to each other. Brain and lung control samples were used to detect basal tissue-associated gene expression in order to rule out confounding data. Accordingly, we identified a significant number of genes that were deregulated in opposite directions in AD and LC, inverse expression that was associated to the proteasome, protein folding and mitochondrial processes. We propose that such deregulation could represent a molecular substrate for the inverse co-morbidity observed between these 2 diseases. By contrast, we found a significant number of genes that were deregulated in the same direction in AD and GBM. This deregulation affected the immune system and the potential establishment of a chronic inflammatory state, suggesting that these changes are associated with direct co-morbidity between AD and GBM.
Gene expression variations associated to the tissues of origin
To take into account any variations in gene expression associated to the diseased tissues when comparing AD and GBM with LC, we first compared control brain and lung samples (see Methods). A Principal Component Analysis revealed distinct basal expression of genes in the control brain and lung samples, with 66% of the variability explained by the origin of the tissue (Supplementary Fig. S1). An enrichment analysis showed that genes up-regulated in the control lung samples relative to the brain tissue are significantly enriched in immune system-related processes (e.g., “defense response”, “cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction”, “immune response”, “inflammatory response”: Supplementary Table S1). Conversely, the genes up-regulated in the control brains relative to the lung tissue are enriched in brain-related processes, such as “synaptic transmission”, “neurotransmitter release”, “neuron differentiation” and “glucose metabolism” (Supplementary Table S2). All the processes differentially expressed in lung and brain tissues will be further used in our analyses in order to distinguish tissue-associated variations from true changes in gene expression associated to the disease.
Molecular relationships between Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer
We conducted transcriptomic meta-analyses and identified “significantly Differentially Expressed Genes” (sDEGs) in AD, GBM and LC (see Methods, Supplementary Table S3). We first focused on the molecular relationships between AD and LC, two diseases that display inverse co-morbidity according to epidemiological data9, 10. As such, we compared the up- and down-regulated sDEGs in these 2 diseases, finding significant overlaps (FDR ≤ 0.05) between sDEGs deregulated in opposite directions in AD and LC (i.e., AD+/LC− or AD−/LC+: Fig. 1a), confirming previous observations12. These results persisted when more stringent FDR cut-offs were established for the detection of sDEGs (FDR ≤ 0.05, 5 × 10−4 and 5 × 10−6: Fig. 1a), as well as with an alternative meta-analysis approach (Methods and Supplementary Fig. S2).
We conducted gene set enrichment analyses independently for each disease13, and we found 395 biological processes and pathways significantly deregulated in either AD and/or LC (Supplementary Table S4). Of these, 92 were common to both diseases, including 21 processes up-regulated in AD and down-regulated in LC (AD+/LC−), and 71 processes down-regulated in AD and up-regulated in LC (AD−/LC+: Fig. 2, Table 1). These common processes annotate a total of 31% (315/1031) of the AD+/LC− sDEGs and 29% (553/1934) of the AD−/LC+ sDEGs (Supplementary Table S5). No processes were deregulated in the same direction in AD and LC at the threshold selected (FDR ≤ 0.05).
The processes in which the genes up-regulated in AD and down-regulated in LC are enriched include immune and inflammatory responses (Table 1). These functions are also expressed differentially between control brain and lung samples, and the enrichment is probably due to the tissue of origin of the diseases (Supplementary Table S1). This was confirmed by extracting information regarding tissue-specific gene expression from GTEx14 and by conducting a gene enrichment analysis15 on AD+/LC− lung-specific genes (Supplementary Table S6). Similarly, the processes down-regulated in AD and up-regulated in LC included processes related to synaptic transmission (Table 1), that were also expressed differentially between control brain and lung samples (Supplementary Table S2). As described previously, these results were confirmed with an enrichment analysis on AD−/LC+ brain-specific genes (Supplementary Table S6).
Nevertheless, other processes associated with either AD−/LC+ or AD+/LC− are unlikely to be related with the tissue of origin. These include processes related to mitochondrial activity, such as “proteasome”, “protein folding”, “glutathione metabolism”, “TCA cycle and respiratory electron transport” and “oxidative phosphorylation” (Table 1). The deregulation of these processes in opposite directions in AD and LC could be implicated in the inverse co-morbidity observed between these diseases at the epidemiological level.
Given the enrichment observed in mitochondrial-related processes, we assessed whether the gene expression signatures associated to both diseases might be related to inhibition of the electron transport chain (ETC). With this in mind, we collected a set of inhibitors of the respiratory chain from the LINCS library (http://www.lincscloud.org), and we used a drug-set enrichment approach to compare the expression signature induced by these drugs to the expression signature of both AD and LC. This approach reveals that the changes in gene expression associated to inhibitors of the respiratory chain are similar to the changes in gene expression associated with AD in patients, but they are not significantly different to those observed in LC (FDR ≤ 0.05).
Overall, using different datasets and meta-analysis approaches these results confirm our previous results from a comparison of CNS disorders (AD, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia) and three types of cancer (LC, prostate and colorectal)12.
Molecular relationships between Alzheimer’s disease and glioblastoma
We applied the same methodology to analyze the molecular relationships between AD and GBM. The epidemiological data concerning the association between these diseases point to a direct co-morbidity relationship7,8,9. This tendency to a higher risk of developing brain tumors in AD patients is also described in HuDiNe, reporting a relative risk value of 2.94616. We conducted 6 independent meta-analyses using control samples from 5 different regions of post-mortem brains, and one set of epileptic pre-mortem brains (Methods, Supplementary Fig. S3). We found that sDEGs in GBM varied depending on the brain samples used as controls, as described elsewhere17,18,19, and in the 6 meta-analyses, only 35% and 26% of the sDEGs were consistently up- and down-regulated, respectively (Supplementary Fig. S4). We considered the genes that were consistently deregulated in all 6 GBM meta-analyses as GBM sDEGs (see the sDEGs and their corresponding FDR in Supplementary Table S3).
By contrast to the AD−LC molecular relationships, we found significant overlaps between the sDEGs deregulated in the same direction in AD and GBM (AD+/GBM+ and AD−/GBM−: Fig. 1a). The results were also consistent for the selection of sDEGs with more stringent FDR cut-offs (FDR ≤ 0.05, 5 × 10−4 and 5 × 10−6), and with an alternative meta-analysis approach (Supplementary Fig. S2). Since the incidence of seizures in GBM patients is between 25–50% at onset and 20–30% during the course of the disease20, we verified the significance of the overlaps between AD and GBM using control healthy and epilepsy samples separately for GBM. Irrespective of the samples used as controls (healthy or epilepsy), we obtained significant overlaps between the sDEGs in the same direction in AD and GBM (Supplementary Table S7).
Functional enrichment analyses revealed 301 processes significantly enriched in either AD or GBM, of which 8 are AD+/GBM+, 14 AD−/GBM− and 11 AD−/GBM+. We found that AD+/GBM+ processes were related to the immune system (Table 1). As AD and GBM develop in the same organ, these processes could potentially be molecular substrates of a direct co-morbidity between both diseases at an epidemiological level. Additionally, 10 AD−/GBM− processes denote potentially common neuronal features, such as “synaptic transmission” and “generation of neurons”. Finally, 10 of the 11 processes deregulated in opposite directions (AD−/GBM+) were also associated to LC, as will be discussed in the global comparison of the 3 diseases.
Molecular relationships between glioblastoma and lung cancer
Finally, we studied the molecular relationships between GBM and LC. To our knowledge, no epidemiological data are available to determine the co-morbidity between these two cancers, although lung cancers often produce brain metastases21, 22. We discovered significant overlaps between the sDEGs deregulated in the same direction in both diseases (GBM−/LC− and GBM+/LC+), as well as in those up-regulated in GBM and down-regulated in LC (GBM+/LC−: Fig. 1a).
Among the 70 processes up-regulated in GBM and the 177 processes up-regulated in LC, 43 are up-regulated in both conditions (GBM+/LC+: Table 1 and Fig. 2). Most of these functions are related to the cell cycle, for instance “mitosis” or “DNA repair”. Conversely, only two of the 37 and 82 processes down-regulated in GBM and LC, respectively, are down-regulated in both diseases (GBM−/LC−). As expected from the comparisons between control lung and brain samples, the 5 processes deregulated in opposite directions between the two cancer types (GBM+/LC−) are related to the immune system, and they correspond to variations in tissue-related gene expression (Table 1 and Supplementary Table S1).
Global comparison of the three diseases
We finally searched for sDEGs and processes that are deregulated jointly in the three diseases, and that therefore might potentially play a dual role in protecting against LC development and promote GBM development in AD patients. With the more restrictive lists of sDEGs (FDR ≤ 5 × 10−6: Fig. 1b), 112 of the 198 genes significantly deregulated in the three diseases had a similar pattern of deregulation in AD and GBM, and the opposite pattern in LC, with 60 AD+/GBM+/LC− sDEGs and 52 AD−/GBM−/LC+ sDEGs (Table 2 and Fig. 1b). Similar results were obtained with the lists of sDEGs with a FDR ≤ 0.05 (Supplementary Fig. S5). A comparison of the pathways and processes enriched in AD, GBM and/or LC revealed “oxidative phosphorylation” to be down-regulated in AD and GBM, and up-regulated in LC, pointing to potential metabolic differences between these two types of tumor (Table 1). Additionally, 10 of the 11 processes down-regulated in AD and up-regulated in GBM were also up-regulated in LC. Among these processes, the large majority were related to the cell cycle, a central activity in tumorigenesis (Table 1).
We applied text-mining and information extraction methods specifically to these 112 sDEGs, and the same pattern of deregulation was observed in AD and GBM in PubMed abstracts associated with these diseases, and the opposite in LC. Among the most cited genes in papers related to the three diseases we found CDKN1A, NFKBIA, MYD88 and CD44, which were up-regulated in AD and GBM, and down-regulated in LC (Supplementary Fig. S6). For instance, CD44 is involved in cell-cell interactions, as well as cell adhesion and migration, and it is down-regulated in LC, potentially favoring escape from tumoricidal effector cells23. By contrast, CD44, which may favor migration, is expressed weakly in normal brain tissues and overexpressed in GBM, with even greater intensity in high-grade glioblastoma than in low-grade astrocytomas24. In AD patients, CD44 appears to be up-regulated in blood vessel-associated astrocytes25 and in lymphocytes, perhaps playing a role in the immune response in affected tissues26. Hence, CD44 appears to be clearly associated to the three diseases and it is a good candidate to play a role in their co-morbidity.
On the other hand, UCHL1, ENO2 and CDK5 are among the most cited sDEGs with an AD−/GBM−/LC+ pattern (Supplementary Fig. S7). UCHL1 is a gene encoding a thiol protease that is specifically expressed in neurons, and it has been strongly associated with a poor prognosis when overexpressed in LC as it seems to promote metastasis by abrogating HIF-1α ubiquitination27. By contrast, this gene is down-regulated in GBM brains28, increasing NF-κB activity by activating IKK29, and in AD mouse brains where its up-regulation improves memory deficits30.
Through text-mining and information extraction, we were able to confirm that some of the most significant sDEGs were among the most cited ones in each of the disease-specific abstracts for all three diseases. These genes could be good candidates to study the molecular mechanisms shared between these three diseases.
Alzheimer’s disease, glioblastoma and lung cancer have been widely analyzed at the transcriptome level, although studying each condition separately. Thus, to our knowledge we present here the first joint analysis of these three diseases at the transcriptome level.
Molecular substrates for the inverse co-morbidity between Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer
We identified 92 processes that were deregulated in both AD and LC, none displaying a pattern of deregulation in the same direction. If we increase the threshold of significance from 0.05 to 0.1, only three pathways appear to be down-regulated in both AD and LC, and none were up-regulated in both diseases.
Many processes linked to down-regulated genes in AD and up-regulated genes in LC are related to or have been described to influence mitochondrial activity, such as “proteasome”, “protein folding”, “oxidative phosphorylation” and “glutathione metabolism”. Based on these results and previous publications, we propose the following scenario (see Fig. 3a). First, proteasome inhibition could promote mitochondrial dysfunction in AD31, 32, dampening oxidative phosphorylation and TCA cycle rates33, 34, while increasing the generation of mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)30, 31. Oxidative phosphorylation is required for A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line growth and thus, it might decrease tumor growth capacity in AD patients32. The increase in ROS is one of the first observable changes in AD brains, preceding even Aß plaque deposition and neurofibrillary tangle formation35, and it might be facilitated by diminished levels of glutathione36. Indeed, glutathione has potentially a major influence on chemoresistance in LC and a decrease in glutathione would make LC more sensitive to chemotherapy37. Additionally, mitochondrial ROS generation drives the activation of redox-sensitive transcription factors like FOXO, and these in turn induce cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase by repressing CDK4 activity38,39,40,41. In our analyses, FOXO is AD+/LC− and it might play a role in the inverse co-morbidity between both diseases.
Finally, DNA repair is hindered as a consequence of the down-regulation of the proteasome42, which could make LC more sensitive to radiotherapy43 and at the same time, enhance mitochondrial dysfunction as a consequence of the DNA-damage caused by ROS44. Furthermore, proteasome and protein folding inhibition has been seen to attenuate cell migration and to increase cell death in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines45. Together, these distinct mechanisms are candidates to reduce the incidence of LC in patients with AD. The proposed chain of events that follow mitochondrial dysfunction as indicated above has also been described in the SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cell line when treated with the insecticide rotenone. This compound mediates NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase inhibition46, as confirmed by drug enrichment analysis using LINCS, and we found that the changes in gene expression produced in AD were similar to those observed when treating cells with such electron transport chain inhibitors.
Molecular substrates for direct co-morbidity of Alzheimer’s disease and glioblastoma
There is little epidemiological data on the co-morbidity relationships between AD and brain tumors7,8,9. However, current evidence seems to point to the existence of direct co-morbidities between brain tumors and CNS diseases16, 47, 48. Additionally, a mouse model of AD displays high sensitivity to brain tumors49. We propose here that the significant number of genes deregulated in the same direction in both diseases could be an additional argument in favor of direct co-morbidity between AD and GBM. Interestingly, 10 of the 71 genes mutated in GBM50 are found in the overlap between sDEGs in AD and GBM (Supplementary Table S8).
Given the complexity of these diseases, it is obvious that these initial results will require additional confirmation with larger and better datasets. For example, the white matter control samples available in public databases (6 control samples in GSE35864) are insufficient to pair with the GBM cases, and grey matter controls were used as –admittedly imperfect- surrogates. As such, deregulation of similar sets of genes in both brain diseases might be due to different processes as a consequence of different cellular composition, with grey matter characterized by the presence of neuronal bodies and astrocytes, and white matter characterized by the predominance of axons and oligodendrocytes.
Comparing the sDEGs in AD and GBM, we found “oxidative phosphorylation”, “synaptic transmission” and “neurotransmitter release cycle” to be down-regulated in both diseases (AD−/GBM−), and “innate immune system”, “Rig-1 MDA-5-mediated induction of IFN alpha beta” and “interferon alpha beta signaling” to be up-regulated (AD+/GBM+: Table 1). The down-regulation of oxidative phosphorylation in cancer is usually accompanied by an increase in the rate of aerobic glycolysis, a process termed the Warburg effect51. Our finding that oxidative phosphorylation is down-regulated in both AD and GBM is supported by two independent studies proposing the use of methylene blue to treat both AD52 and GBM53 as it increases oxidative phosphorylation. As a consequence of the diminished oxidative phosphorylation, less mitochondrial energy is generated and synaptic transmission fails54. Finally, we propose that persistent activation of the immune system by different routes – including activation through Aß’s interaction with pattern recognition receptors55 and interferon alpha beta signaling – leads to the establishment of a local chronic inflammatory state. Such a state was previously proposed to be potentially related to bacterial56 or viral infection57, increasing the risk of developing brain tumors in AD patients at the epidemiological level8, 9 (Fig. 3b). This hypothesis is supported by associations between local chronic inflammation and cancer described previously in various tissues (e.g., chronic asthma and lung cancer or chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer)58. In support of the hypothesis that inflammation promotes tumor growth, M2 macrophage polarization markers CD163 and MSR1 favor tumor development59, and they were found to be up-regulated in both AD and GBM.
Finally, the joint analysis of AD, GBM and LC, allowed us to propose potential molecular substrates of the direct and inverse co-morbidities between these diseases. These results could help to suggest drug repurposing and drug combination strategies in the future. Initial relevant examples could include combinations of proteasome and chaperone inhibitors, anti-oxidants and oxidative phosphorylation or TCA cycle inhibitors for LC treatment.
Materials and Methods
Comparison of control Brain and Lung samples
The LIMMA package was used to identify gene expression variations60 in control brain and lung samples, merging all the samples from the HG U133 Plus 2 microarray platform and using fRMA61 for data normalization. We applied a Principal Component Analysis to normalized expression data to evaluate the variability explained by the tissue’s origin. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA)13 was applied to the pre-ranked list of genes based on z-scores to identify enriched pathways/processes. In addition, brain and lung specific genes were extracted from GTEx14, selecting the genes with a RPKM value of 1 or higher as those expressed in a given tissue. The genes expressed in the brain and lung were compared to each other. Those found to be expressed only on the brain were selected as brain-specific genes, while those found to be expressed only on the lung were selected as lung-specific genes. Enrichment analysis were conducted using gProfileR15 on brain and lung specific genes present in AD+/LC− and AD−/LC+ sDEGs using Gene Ontology Biological Processes62, KEGG63 and Reactome64 pathways.
Microarray gene expression data
Raw data on gene expression (CEL files) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, GSE* files http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo), ArrayExpress (EMTAB* files https://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA; https://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/tcga/) for AD, GBM and LC (Supplementary Table S9). Studies undertaken on HT HG U133A, HG U133A, and HG U133Plus2 Affymetrix microarray platforms were selected to allow the frozen Robust Multiarray Analysis (fRMA) normalization method to be used and to reduce inter-platform differences65.
Study design and meta-analyses
Gene expression data preprocessing and meta-analysis
Following steps defined previously66, disease-specific meta-analyses were conducted to increase the statistical significance and to minimize the noise intrinsic to gene expression measurements. Microarray datasets were normalized using fRMA61 from the R Affy package67. When multiple probes matched the same gene symbol, probes presenting the greatest inter-quartile range were selected. Only genes present in all the selected platforms were considered (using the MetaDE.match and MetaDE.merge functions of the MetaDE package68).
The P-values and effects sizes (ES) were calculated for every gene associated with each disease using the ind.analysis and ind.cal.ES functions of the MetaDE package68, respectively. Inter-study heterogeneity was evaluated calculating Q-statistic for every gene (assumed to follow a Chi-squared distribution under the hypothesis of homogeneity), representing quantile-quantile plots of observed vs. expected distributions. The Random Effects Model was applied to combine ES due to the existence of inter-study variability based on quantile-quantile plots (Supplementary Fig. S8). In addition, we conducted an alternative meta-analysis to double-check our results. Left- & right-tailed p-values were combined separately to identify down- and up-regulated genes using the maxP_OC function of the MetaDE package68 (Supplementary Fig. S2).
Particular case of GBM
Healthy brain samples are not available for obvious ethical reasons. To overcome this problem, we used five sets of healthy post-mortem control samples from different brain regions (anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, post-central gyrus, entorhinal cortex and occipital lobe) and one set of epileptic brain biopsies as controls. One meta-analysis was performed with each of the 5 control sets (Supplementary Fig. S3). For the TCGA study, carried out on the HT HG U133A platform, epileptic samples were the only control samples available.
The sDEGs for GBM were selected restrictively as those deregulated in the same direction in all GBM meta-analyses. The small percentage of genes consistently expressed differentially in GBM (35% up-regulated and 26% down-regulated) may be explained by differences in gene expression profiles due to the delay between death and the time of tissue freezing, as described previously17,18,19, or by differences between brain regions, as indicated by Khaitovich69, who proposed that these variations were driven by distinct neuron-oligodendrocyte ratios70.
Overlap analysis between sDEGs
Following an earlier strategy12, overlaps between pairs of diseases (AD/GBM, AD/LC and GBM/LC) were assessed by one-tailed Fisher’s exact tests on lists of sDEGs with three different FDR thresholds (FDR ≤ 0.05, 5 × 10−4 and 5 × 10−6), followed by the Bonferroni test to correct for multiple comparisons, and establishing the background number of genes as 14,538 (corresponding to the number of genes studied in the smallest platform, HT HG U133A). In the case of GBM, the intersection of the sDEGs found when using the different sets of control samples was selected.
Functional enrichment analysis
A GSEA13 was performed separately on the ranked list of gene expression data for each disease (based on the z-scores obtained by the meta-analysis), and using annotations from Gene Ontology Biological Processes62, KEGG63 and Reactome64 pathways. Pathways and processes with a FDR ≤ 0.05 were considered significant. The pathways deregulated in more than 1 disease were selected for further analyses. We use the syntax “up-regulated pathways” and “down-regulated pathways” in the manuscript to refer to the pathways associated to up- and down-regulated genes according to the GSEA13 analyses. In addition, gProfileR15 was used to conduct gene set enrichment analysis when working on sets of sDEGs rather than the ranked list of differentially expressed genes.
L1000 LINCS analysis
The 250 genes most strongly up- and down-regulated in AD and LC were used as gene expression signatures of the diseases, and compared against the LINCS L1000 library (http://www.lincscloud.org/), as performed previously71. The LINCS L1000 library is a large catalogue of gene expression signatures in cancer cell lines induced by drug treatment or gene knockdown. All signatures from all the cell lines were considered for the analysis. The Compute Connectivity on the Cloud (C3) environment was used to obtain the similarities between the AD and LC gene expression signatures with those of the drugs in L1000. The Weighted Connectivity Score13 was used as a similarity measure.
Drug-set Enrichment Analysis
The drug enrichment analysis was carried out by applying the GSEA algorithm13 but using a ranked list of drugs and drug-sets instead of genes and gene sets. As in the classical GSEA, this approach reveals if a given group of drugs, a drug set, is preferentially located in one the extremes of a ranked list of drugs. In this case, the drugs were ranked according to the similarity of their L1000 gene expression with respect to the AD or LC gene expression signatures. A search of rotenone-like ETC inhibitors in the L1000 LINCS collection gave 30 different perturbagens, corresponding to 21 different drugs. We used the drug set enrichment approach to study if the drugs with similar or opposite signatures to those of AD and LC were enriched by this type of compound.
Text mining analysis
Abstracts of papers in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) associated to AD, GBM and LC were analyzed (disease-specific queries on Supplementary Information) looking for any of the genes mentioned in relation to each of these diseases. Then, the AD+/GBM+/LC− and AD−/GBM−/LC+ sDEGs (FDR ≤ 5 × 10−6) located over the third-quartile of genes mentioned in the abstracts of the three diseases were selected as the most relevant genes common to the three diseases.
Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (grant No’s BIO2012-40205 and BFU2015-71241-R) and it was carried out in the framework of the Platform for Biomolecular and Bioinformatics Resource (PT 13/0001/0030 of the ISCIII), which is funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). RT-S acknowledges funding from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2015/021) and the national grant PI14/00894 from the Spanish “Plan Nacional de I + D + I 2013-2016,” co-funded by the “ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER).
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Transcription profile of the insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway during human ovarian follicular development
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics (2019)

domain: medical


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To improve the safety and quality of life of those we serve.
Individuals and families will develop to their full potential in order to live a healthy and satisfied life.
Mental Health Services for Clark and Madison Counties, Inc. is committed to fostering a culture of appreciation for diversity in our workforce, our client population, and within our community. Mental Health Services promotes the idea of moving beyond the concept of tolerating differences. We believe all individuals and groups can realize their full value not in spite of their differences but because of them. Achieving our mission and vision is only possible through inclusion and the intentional lifelong work of educating ourselves and one another to overcome personal biases, end racism and other forms of discrimination, promote health equity, and create a safe space for individuals of all backgrounds to find support.

domain: sociology


text:
Thursday, July 22, 2010
LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS TO SQUANDER / Part 255 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/
My own life is almost spent. Sure I may have many years to live. Yet my energetic working years are done. The strong blond man of my high school and college years lives only in pictures seldom viewed by anyone. My children now in their own mid years don’t remember me in my youth. In their minds they have only grown accustomed to the ‘me’ with escalating limitations. Their children will always know me ‘old.’ Papa and Grandpa I am.
I am not complaining mind you. This is life. It’s good. There are large measures of joy and satisfaction attached to this personal definition of life in Canada. Last evening I went to White Rock with three of my grandchildren to enjoy an ice cream cone at Andy's. We walked one the rocks near the water, skipped stones on the surface, and laughed.
That’s why the wounded lives of Paul and Zabeth Bayne and their children K, B and Baby B have troubled me so much and for so long. That's why the Court Case, the result of which will determine whether the children can come back to their parents or whether they must be forced to become adopted children to adoptive parents, is one of the most important events in B.C. right now. That's the way I see it anyway. It is only one family of course. However, this single case forecasts the likelihood of an overhaul of the structure, protocol, personnel and policies of this beleaguered child protection agency. It is unthinkable that the Judge's conclusion might greenlight further injustices to more innocent parents and children as zeal and power without wisdom decides the lives of citizens.
The Baynes should not be enduring this broken family unit, the financial ruin, the daily tears, the eyes of three children filled with worry and doubt about so many things that should not harass a child in Canada.
Justice needs to be served on a silver platter to this family so that what remains of three children’s formative years will be spent in the affectionate and daily embrace of parents who love them so tenaciously that they will plead ardently until the custody of their children is restored to them. They will also unceasingly declare their innocence. Innocent, they will never admit to a guilt that is implied by a two and one half year old medical diagnosis of baby B with which a long list of medical professionals disagree. This court case, painfully lengthy, will validate the Baynes as worthy parents who have suffered an incalculably horrific two and a half year travesty of human rights, freedom and justice. Court resumes August 8-13th.

domain: literature


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Mars Wrigley's Purpose is around better moments and more smiles, including a connected and caring world. This includes a connected supply chain that cares for our planet and supports Mars' Sustainable in a Generation plan. The joint development agreement is a key component of Mars Wrigley's comprehensive strategy to transform its packaging portfolio to support a circular economy and to drive progress against its goal of 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
For Mars Wrigley, collaborating with Danimer Scientific represents a step change for its packaging sustainability strategy and brings the business closer to its vision for a circular economy where no packaging becomes waste. As part of Mars, Incorporated's $1B Sustainable in a Generation Plan to help create a healthier planet, Mars Wrigley is testing a range of material solutions in markets around the world, such as mono material and paper-based alternatives, to make incremental progress toward its goals.
The aim of this collaboration is new, biodegradable packaging for various Mars Wrigley brands, starting with smaller and single packs that are more likely to be littered and typically less likely to be recycled. Mars Wrigley is leaning into this problem by creating new-to-world packs for a wide range of formats that can significantly support a sustainable planet. Initial development work with kick off in North America with the goal of reaching additional markets with underdeveloped recycling infrastructures where littering and leakage into nature are especially problematic. Mars Wrigley's first on-the-shelf offerings are tentatively targeted for late 2021 or early 2022, featuring their SKITTLES brand in the U.S.
"The impact of plastic on nature is one of the major sustainability challenges of our generation. There are no simple solutions and transformational innovation is necessary, we have to think and act differently," said Alastair Child, Mars Wrigley VP of Global Sustainability. "Collaborating with Danimer to advance this breakthrough technology represents a major step to creating positive societal impact and better environmental outcomes across the full lifecycle of small, flexible packaging."
"Expectations for sustainable packaging vary from market to market, making it essential for new materials to be adaptable in meeting different standards without sacrificing quality," said Stephen Croskrey, CEO at Danimer Scientific. "PHA provides a versatile platform for manufacturing material that is renewably sourced and leaves a minimal impact on the environment upon disposal. We look forward to working with Mars Wrigley in fighting the global crisis of plastic waste."
For further information on Mars' approach to sustainable packaging, visit https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/sustainable-packaging.
Danimer Scientific's Nodax®PHA possesses six TUV AUSTRIA certifications of industrial and home compostability, is biodegradable in soil, fresh water and marine environments and is 100% biobased. All of Danimer Scientific's biopolymers, including Nodax®PHA, are FDA approved for food contact. For more information on Danimer Scientific, visit www.DanimerScientific.com.
Tel: +1 - 201-841-8350
Tel: +1 (404) 876-1309
About Mars, Incorporated
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.
Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world's best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M's®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, BEN'S ORIGINAL™, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world's pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™.
We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.
About Danimer Scientific
Danimer Scientific is a pioneer in creating more sustainable, more natural ways to make plastic products. For more than a decade, our renewable and sustainable biopolymers have helped create plastic products that are biodegradable and compostable. They return to nature instead of polluting our lands and waters. Our technology can be found in a vast array of plastic end products that people use every day. Applications for our biopolymers include additives, aqueous coatings, fibers, filaments, films, hot-melt adhesives and injection-molded articles, among others. We now hold more than 150 granted patents and pending patent applications in more than 20 countries for a range of manufacturing processes and biopolymer formulations. For more information, visit www.DanimerScientific.com.
Please note that in this press release we may use words such as "appears," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "expects," "intends," "future," and similar expressions which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are made based on our expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks and uncertainties. We caution that forward-looking statements are not guarantees and that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, the overall level of consumer demand on our products; general economic conditions and other factors affecting consumer confidence, preferences, and behavior; disruption and volatility in the global currency, capital, and credit markets; the financial strength of the Company's customers; the Company's ability to implement its business strategy, including, but not limited to, its ability to expand its production facilities and plants to meet customer demand for its products and the timing thereof; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to the Company; the ability of the Company to execute and integrate acquisitions; changes in governmental regulation, legislation or public opinion relating to our products; the Company's exposure to product liability or product warranty claims and other loss contingencies; disruptions and other impacts to the Company's business, as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and government actions and restrictive measures implemented in response; stability of the Company's manufacturing facilities and suppliers, as well as consumer demand for our products, in light of disease epidemics and health-related concerns such as the COVID-19 global pandemic; the impact that global climate change trends may have on the Company and its suppliers and customers; the Company's ability to protect patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights; any breaches of, or interruptions in, our information systems; the ability of our information technology systems or information security systems to operate effectively, including as a result of security breaches, viruses, hackers, malware, natural disasters, vendor business interruptions or other causes; our ability to properly maintain, protect, repair or upgrade our information technology systems or information security systems, or problems with our transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems; the impact of adverse publicity about the Company and/or its brands, including without limitation, through social media or in connection with brand damaging events and/or public perception; fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of raw materials and contracted products as well as foreign currency fluctuations; our ability to utilize potential net operating loss carryforwards; and changes in tax laws and liabilities, tariffs, legal, regulatory, political and economic risks. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results is included from time to time in the Company's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this press release, and speak only as of the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
SOURCE Mars Wrigley


GRAMMYs Recap: All The Winners And Performances
The 56th annual GRAMMY awards went down last night, and we're highlighting the best moments from the show!
The 56th annual GRAMMY awards took place last night at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California, and it was truly Music's Biggest Night. We've been waiting for the awards show for months now, ever since the nominees were announced back in December, and finally seeing the winners and performances was a definite treat. We were live-tweeting the event for your viewing pleasure, but in case you missed the show, we wanted to type up a recap to relive the entire 2014 GRAMMY awards. Let's get started!
The night began with our prediction, which was awesome to see unfold: Beyonce opened the awards show by belting out her new hit "Drunk In Love", and husband Jay Z was on hand to join her. To a lot of GRAMMY fans, this was the performance they were waiting for, and the famous pair delivered, setting the bar high for what was to come at the awards show.
The first award of the night went to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for Best New Artist, and you can watch their acceptance speech below:
With one of our favorite performances of the night, Lorde was up next on the GRAMMYs stage, singing a minimal version of her hit "Royals". We loved the rendition, simply because it wasn't over the top, and it allowed Lorde's famous lyrics to really shine through. Up-and-coming country cutie Hunter Hayes then took the stage to debut his single "Invisible", where the lyrics dig into that feeling of growing up feeling out of place.
Daft Punk really "got lucky" when they scored their first win of the night for Best Pop Duo / Group Performance: watch them accept it here!
Katy Perry then worked her black magic with a literal spooky performance of "Dark Horse", and rapper/collaborator Juicy J showed up to drop his verse in the witchy track. Speaking of collaborations, the next mix-up of artists to hit the GRAMMYs stage was legendary rock band Chicago and crooner Robin Thicke, each helping each other out on their hit songs ("Saturday In The Park" and "Blurred Lines", respectively). It was Keith Urban and Gary Clark Jr.'s turn to perform next, with the unlikely duo performing Urban's new single "Cop Car" together and shredding on their guitars.
John Legend got romantic when it was just him and the piano, performing his simple track "All Of Me" with wife Chrissy Teigen in the audience wistfully looking on. Focusing on the rock side of the GRAMMYs, Best Rock Song went to Paul McCartney's collaboration with Dave Grohl for "Cut Me Some Slack" off the legendary rock's album New.
Taylor Swift was up next at the awards show, surprising everyone by playing one of her more subdued songs off Red, "All Too Well", and she was followed by Pink who performed her trademark Cirque-du-Solei moves for the uplifting track "Try". Joined by Nate Ruess on stage for "Just Give Me A Reason", the pair put their amazing pipes together and put on a truly stunning show.
Lorde took home her first GRAMMY ever when she accepted the trophy for Best Pop Solo Performance for "Royals". Take a look at her gracious acceptance below:
Legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr appeared on the GRAMMYs stage next, belting out his hit "Photograph" with shots of himself and members of the legendary rock band popping up on the screen behind him. Following the performance, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake took home the GRAMMY for Best Rap Collaboration for "Holy Grail". It may have been his only win of the night, but Jay Z was happy to win and thanked Beyonce and gave a shout out to Blue Ivy:
With one of the most talked-about performances of the night, Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons came together to perform a mash-up of "Radioactive" and "m.A.A.d city" that made Taylor Swift and her pal get up to dance. Shortly following the epic performance, Kacey Musgraves brought her modern-country vibes to the middle of the GRAMMYs room and played "Follow Your Arrow", with truly touching lyrics about staying true to yourself, no matter what people say.
Everybody was wowed when famous actress Julia Roberts showed up to introduce Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performing together on Paul's song "Queenie Eye", and their reunion was followed by none other than Bruno Mars taking home the GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Album. Unorthodox Jukebox, indeed!
One of the biggest moments of the night went to Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Blake Shelton when the four country stars shared the GRAMMYs stage and countrified the entire night! Performing the classic cowboy hit "Mamas Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up To Be Cowgirls", their set made everybody stand up in their seats to pay their respects to the country legends.
Speaking of going country, the award for Best Country Album went to newcomer Kacey Musgraves for Same Trailer, Different Park. A starstuck Musgraves gave her genuine speech which you can watch below:
Back on the GRAMMYs stage for their second live performance when it comes to Music's Biggest Night, Daft Punk was joined by collaborators Pharrell and Nile Rodgers, while R&B legend Stevie Wonder took to the stage as well. Putting out a funky rendition of "Get Lucky", as well as "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" and even throwing in a little "Le Freak", it was a memorable performance indeed.
Singer/songwriter Carole King was joined by fellow singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles with back-to-back pianos on the GRAMMYs stage, with both performers lending a hand to one another's songs ("Beautiful" and "Brave") before announcing the winner of Song Of The Year. You guys predicted it would be Katy Perry's "Roar" in our user poll, but the winner was Lorde with "Royals": watch her accept the award with her songwriting partner Joel Little!
Metallica then shook things up on the GRAMMYs stage by performing with famed pianist Lang Lang, and the winner for Record Of The Year was announced shortly after. Who took home the award? Why, none other than Daft Punk with their third win of the night for "Get Lucky". They certainly did!
The tears were a-flowin' when Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, and Mary Lambert all appeared pn stage together for their rendition of "Same Love", joined by Madonna, who sang lines from her hit "Open Your Heart". What made the performance so special was the marriage of 33 couples of all shapes, sizes and sexuality. Queen Latifah led the nuptials, and artists like Keith Urban were moved to tears. Katy Perry even caught one of the bouquets! We'll never forget that touching GRAMMY moment.
Right before the coveted Album Of The Year award was announced, Miranda Lambert and Billie Joe Armstrong paid tribute to fallen Everly Brother Phil by singing the classic hit "When Will I Be Loved". Over here at MetroLyrics, we were predicting that Taylor Swift would walk away with AOTY for Red, but to her mistake, when team Taylor heard "R..." when the album title was announced, she thought she won! Turns out Daft Punk's Random Access Memories was the winner of AOTY, shocking not only us but Taylor herself!
Closing the show was Queens Of The Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails, Dave Grohl and Lindsey Buckingham with renditions of "Copy of a" and "My God Is The Sun". We could have watched that performance all night!
For a full list of all the GRAMMY winners, head on over to grammy.com. What was YOUR favorite moment from the 56th annual GRAMMY awards? Let us know in the comments.
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Daughters of Triton Long Sleep Set - Indigo
This comfortable sleep set features a long-sleeve top, long pants and a matching drawstring bag.
- 28" inseam (for all sizes), ankle length on most
- Mid rise with elastic waistband, drawstring and pockets
- 100% cotton poplin with contrast piping details
- Fabric embroidered with mermaid motifs
- Wash on delicate cycle and tumble dry low heat
- This set runs a little small, sizing up is recommended
FIT & SIZING
For sizing guidance, you can find our Size Chart here.
Lynn and Lauren Y are both 5'9" and wear size S.
WHY WE LOVE IT
Our long pajama sets are sewn from a lightweight, breathable cotton poplin that becomes softer with each wash. They are perfect for lounging around on a relaxing Sunday morning or curling up for a cozy evening with a good book.
Mermaids come in all shapes and sizes, and the unique beauty of these under-the-sea beings is brought to life with quirky illustrations rendered in delicate, multi-colored embroidery. Contrast piping on hem, cuffs and pockets make these bohemian nautical pajamas pop.


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Welcome to Wind+Wing Technologies
We are currently developing the nation’s first wing and wind-assisted passenger ferry for public use in San Francisco. In a region where both wind and innovation is abundant, our team designed an advanced vessel to automatically harness wind power and transform it into clean transportation. The concept offers drastic reductions on fuel costs, pollutants, and green house gases - all in a safe, reliable ride with consistent scheduling that commuters can rely on. It’s an investment in our community’s future, a leap into tomorrow, and our wind...at its best.
Watch our recent feature video from The Verge
How it Works
Our step by step explanation of a wing and how it can assist motorized vessels to maximize full efficiency.More
In the Press
Check out our numerous appearances on television, in print and on the radio.
Read about and see photos of our recent demo projects as well as plans for future projects.More
Our Mission Statement
Our mission at Wind+Wing Technologies is to create safe and reliable transportation vessels utilizing the abundant, natural resource of wind. All regions of the world have winds, and we are dedicated to harnessing this clean, free power by outfitting vessels with computer-controlled wings. The goal is to significantly reduce not only energy costs and our reliance on fossil fuels, but also emissions and green house gases.

domain: design


text:
Chris Jones appointed CFO of Bauer Media Audio UK
Bauer Media Audio UK has today announced the appointment of Christopher Jones as Chief Financial Officer. Reporting into both Simon Myciunka, CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK, and Richard Jackson, Interim CFO of Bauer Media Audio Business Area, Chris will be responsible for ensuring the finance function supports the digital transformation of Bauer Media Audio UK. As part of the position, Chris will support the innovation and growth of the UK and the wider audio business, championing operating efficiency, effectiveness and automation.
Chris joins Bauer from global sports and entertainment media company beIN IP where he held the position of Finance Director for almost three years. Prior to that he was Finance Director at payment provider company Paymentsense (Dojo) and mobile interactive entertainment company King.
Simon Myciunka, CEO, Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his previous roles in finance across multiple industries and countries, spanning entertainment, media and tech. We’re delighted to have Chris with us to build and lead a brilliant commercial finance team, helping Bauer Media Audio to continue to grow – in the UK and across Europe.”
On his appointment, Chris Jones added: “It’s such an interesting time in the audio market at the moment, with constant change, innovation and increasingly more people listening to radio and digital audio. I’m thrilled to be joining the Bauer Media team at such an exciting time and am looking forward to help Bauer Media Audio continue to grow.”
Chris Jones takes his role as Chief Financial Officer from Monday 15th April.
– ENDS –
For further press information, please contact:
Cat Martin – Communications Director, Bauer Media Audio
Odelia Yu – Commercial Communications Manager, Bauer Media

domain: news


text:
Africa RISE's first stakeholders engagement workshop of the Botswana pharmaceutical ecosystem
The Africa rise consultants (From the left to the right): Matshidiso Matome, Dr Marisol Correa Ascencio, Dr Ricardo Godinez (the team leader) and Dr Joyce Kgatlwane
Botswana’s interest in local production of pharmaceutical products increased after the pandemic due to the "low access to essential medicines". At the US Africa leaders summit held in Washington DC, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi reiterated Botswana’s determination to attain health system resilience and security through development of national capacity for pharmaceutical production. In order to assess the local production challenges, validate the risks and opportunities for European investment and find the "way forward" for Botswana'’ pharmaceutical industry, Africa Rise consultants went on a field trip to Gaborone, to visit and held a stakeholder workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to collaborate with Botswana Investment and Trade Center (BITC) and bring together stakeholders to identify their challenges and opportunities for the development of the pharmaceutical industry, while creating a conducive context for attracting European investment and output through local manufacturing.
Challenges that Botswana has with growing the pharmaceutical sector
The main challenges experienced by Botswana are a small population and market size, which is common in many African countries, medicine shortages that result from depending on imports availability and an emerging but driven pharmaceutical and financial ecosystem. Regardless, the country can leverage on having a young educated population, forward thinking education and innovation institutions and parastatal companies such as the vaccine manufacturing institute with over 40 years experience, the Sowa and Botash companies which could further provide raw materials such as pharmaceutical grade salt and sodium bicarbonate to the industry which along with a fair regulatory framework for enhancing competition, further transparency on pharmaceutical demand and more public private partnerships, altogether have the potential to build the way forward for Botswana's pharmaceutical sector.
Africa Rise held a workshop on 31st January and 1st of February 2023. A total of 67 attendees contributed to the workshop, including 11 stakeholders which presented on various topics related to the pharmaceutical sector in Botswana, shown in (Figure 1).
Key findings from the stakeholders
Botswana has more than 50 institutions in the biopharmaceutical ecosystem. The biopharmaceutical ecosystem of Botswana consists of the government, a regulatory agency, 38 universities and colleges, 7 research institutions, an Intellectual Property Authority company, 3 human medicines secondary manufacturers, a veterinary vaccine manufacturing company, 32 wholesalers, public procurement entity, 7 local investment funding agencies and 300 licensed community pharmacies. Furthermore, Botswana Medicine Regulatory Authority has a corporate strategy of 2019-2024, which was adopted as the roadmap for reaching WHO maturity level 3 by 2024.
What is next
A validation workshop will be done to review, discuss and validate the findings from the stakeholder workshop. An investment forum will be held to bring investors to Botswana.
Presentations can be found here: