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Infectious bursal disease is a highly contagious disease of young chickens caused by the infectious bursal disease virus. This disease poses an important threat to the commercial poultry industry globally. This study was designed to develop an In-House Indirect Enzyme-Linked Immune Sorbent Assay Kit for the serological detection of antibodies against infectious bursal disease viruses. An infectious bursal disease virus antigen dilution (1:2), sample serum (1:500), and mouse anti-chicken immunoglobulin G (IgG) labeled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (1:2,000) were used in this assay. The calculated cutoff value was 0.24. This in-house indirect ELISA method was compared with a commercial ELISA kit for the detection of antibodies against infectious bursal disease virus in chickens. The performance of the newly developed and commercial ELISA kit was evaluated as described by Samad et al. (1994). The sensitivity and specificity of the current ELISA method were 98% (95% CI: 92.96–99.76) and 97% (95% CI: 91.48–99.38), respectively. The average intra-assay % CV of the triplet of 2 samples was 7.6, and interassay comparisons indicated a CV of 5.45%. As indicated by the results, we described a valuable and cost-effective, sensitive and specific in-house indirect ELISA kit for the serological diagnosis of infectious bursal disease in Ethiopia.

Marek’s disease (MD) is a lymphoproliferative and neuropathic disease of domestic chickens and less commonly, turkeys and quails, caused by a highly contagious, cell-associated, oncogenic herpesvirus. In Ethiopia, MD is believed to be introduced with importation of exotic and crossbred to improve the poultry production and has been reported to be a potential threat to the poultry sector both in backyard and commercial farming systems. This study was aimed at isolation and molecular analysis of MD virus isolates circulating in chicken population in the central part of Ethiopia where commercial farms are populated. From September 2013 to January 2014, clinical and post-mortem examination were conducted on diseased chickens suspected of MD virus infection. Representative spleen and feather follicle samples were collected following sterile procedure, and infectious virus isolation was performed using primary chicken fibroblast cell culture. Cell culture inoculated with suspension of pathological samples developed characteristic MD virus cytopathic effect of rounding of the cells and small plaques. Further analysis of the virus was conducted by conventional PCR amplifying the ICP4 gene fragment from eleven tissue samples using MD virus specific primers. PCR products were further sequenced and analyzed. Nucleotide sequence similarity search of the local isolates resulted a high degree of sequence similarity with Gallid Herpes virus type 2 strain (Marek’s disease virus type 1, JN034558). To our knowledge, the present study is the first report conducted on virus isolation and molecular characterization of MD virus isolates circulated in Ethiopia. Eleven ICP4-like gene fragment (318 bp) sequences generated in the present study were uploaded in the public database (KU842366–76). Further research on virus isolation, genetic characterization, and infection dynamics is recommended targeting chickens of all age groups reared in different agro-ecological zones under different production system.

In the 21stcentury, an interactive student-centred teaching and learning approach is a dominant approach in schools. As the interactive learning approach took dominance over the traditional teacher-centred teaching approach, reflective practice became a popular teaching and learning strategy in teacher education programmes globally. With the intention of improving the quality of education particularly educating practice-oriented teachers and students, many countries revised their teacher education programmes, with reflective practice taking centre stage. It initiated teachers’ creativity, critical thinking, teacher-student collaboration, and research in gathering data for changing classroom tradition. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how successfully teacher educators implemented reflective practice in educating reflective English Language Teacher (ELT) trainees in the Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) programme. Critical thinking, reflective practice, transformative learning, teacher’s efficacy and social constructivism theories underpinned this study. The participants were purposively selected from two types of institutes, the university and two secondary schools. Five ELT trainee teachers, three teacher educators were sampled from the university and two academic vice-principals were sampled from two secondary schools respectively. The research, framed in a qualitative case study, collected data using semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. To critically analyse the differences and similarities among the data collected via different instruments from different participants, inter-case analysis was utilised. In analysing the teaching and learning practices, critical discourse analysis (CDA) contributed to answering the research questions which were informed by the main research question. CDA also enabled the researcher to examine the spoken and written words of the reports in detail according to the emerging themes, sub-themes and text content. The concept reflective practice in educating reflective trainee teachers is well endorsed in the curriculum. However, the practice at the university during the teaching of courses and during school-based practicum was compromised due to a number of factors linked to all stakeholders. However, in accordance with constructivist theory, the researcher was able to create new knowledge with the development of a proposed conceptual framework for reflective English Language Teacher (ELT) education in the PGDT programme.