Nutritional knowledge attitudes and practices towards the prevention and control of COVID-19 among educated young adults in Bangladesh

Background: To strengthen the immune system and reduce the risk of infectious diseases like novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a sound knowledge, attitude, and practice about healthy eating patterns and well-balanced diet ensuring proper nutrition is highly important. However, the relevant information is quite limited and still unknown in Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to assess the levels of nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the prevention and control of COVID-19 among the educated young adult population in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 166 educated young adults (aged 20– 40 years) recruited conveniently using online social media platforms. A Google form link of the structured questionnaire was distributed to the potential respondents through Facebook and Messenger, and also invited to participate. Participant’s self-reported responses were recorded. Both descriptive and comparative (Chi-square) statistics were used. Results: Of all [mean ± standard deviation (SD) age 27.4±3.5 years], majority were men (54.8%). Around two-third of the respondents had an average level of nutritional knowledge (65.4%), attitudes (68.1%) and practices (68.6%) about prevention and control of COVID-19, while the good levels were found in around one-fifth of them. And, the level of nutritional practices was found to be significantly related to sex (P=0.012). Conclusions: Majority of the study population had an average level of nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the prevention and control of COVID-19. It demands nutrition-related health promotion and health educational programs for the population.journal articl

The economic costs of a multisectoral nutrition programme implemented through a credit platform in Bangladesh

Bangladesh struggles with undernutrition in women and young children. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture programmes can help address rural undernutrition. However, questions remain on the costs of multisectoral programmes. This study estimates the economic costs of the Targeting and Re-aligning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN) programme, which integrated nutrition behaviour change and agricultural extension with a credit platform to support women's income generation. We used the Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multisectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) approach. The approach aligns costs with a multisectoral nutrition typology, identifying inputs and costs along programme impact pathways. We measure and allocate costs for activities and inputs, combining expenditures and micro-costing. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected retrospectively from implementers and beneficiaries. Expenditure data and economic costs were combined to calculate incremental economic costs. The intervention was designed around a randomised control trial. Incremental costs are presented by treatment arm. The total incremental cost was $795,040.34 for a 3.5-year period. The annual incremental costs per household were US$65.37 (Arm 2), USD$114.15 (Arm 3) and$157.11 (Arm 4). Total costs were led by nutrition counselling (37%), agriculture extension (12%), supervision (12%), training (12%), monitoring and evaluation (9%) and community events (5%). Total input costs were led by personnel (68%), travel (12%) and supplies (7%). This study presents the total incremental costs of an agriculture-nutrition intervention implemented through a microcredit platform. Costs per household compare favourably with similar interventions. Our results illustrate the value of a standardised costing approach for comparison with other multisectoral nutrition interventions.PRDCA; IFPRI3; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; Capacity Strengthening; CRP4; ISIA4NH; PHNDCGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH

Valorisation of Side Stream Products through Green Approaches: The Rapeseed Meal Case

Rapeseed meal (RSM) is a by-product of rapeseed oil extraction and is a rich source of bioactive compounds, including proteins and antioxidants. This study compared two methods for extracting antioxidants from RSM: conventional ethanol Soxhlet extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction. These procedures were applied to both native RSM and RSM after protein removal to evaluate their bio-compound composition and potential applications. HPLC-DAD, NMR, and GC/MS analyses revealed a rich polyphenolic profile in the extracts, including the presence of sinapic acid. The concentration of sinapic acid varied depending on the extraction method used. The anti-radical activity of the extracts was also analysed using the DPPH assay, which confirmed the potential of RSM as a source of antioxidants for use in cosmetics, food, and pharmaceutical formulations

Highly Efficient and Mild Gold (I) Catalyzed Synthesis of 3,8-Diarylidene-2,7-dioxaspiro[4.4]nonane-1,6-diones

The gold-catalyzed cyclization of 2,2-bis(3-arylprop-2-yn1-yl)malonic acid has been proposed as an efficient approach to substituted 3,8-dibenzyl-2,7-dioxaspiro[4.4]nonane-1,6-diones. The reaction proceeds smoothly in mild reaction conditions to give the desired products in quantitative yields in the presence of variously substituted starting materials. In addition, the synthesis of gamma-arylidene spirobislactone bearing different substituents on the two aromatic rings has been achieved. This kind of compound could be of great interest in pharmaceutical science given the widespread presence of this scaffold in bioactive natural and synthetic products

Development of a Cytopathic Effect-Based Phenotypic Screening Assay against <i>Cryptosporidium</i>

Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease predominantly caused by <i>Cryptosporidium parvum</i> (<i>Cp</i>) and <i>Cryptosporidium hominis</i> (<i>Ch</i>), apicomplexan parasites which infect the intestinal epithelial cells of their human hosts. The only approved drug for cryptosporidiosis is nitazoxanide, which shows limited efficacy in immunocompromised children, the most vulnerable patient population. Thus, new therapeutics and <i>in vitro</i> infection models are urgently needed to address the current unmet medical need. Toward this aim, we have developed novel cytopathic effect (CPE)-based <i>Cp</i> and <i>Ch</i> assays in human colonic tumor (HCT-8) cells and compared them to traditional imaging formats. Further model validation was achieved through screening a collection of FDA-approved drugs and confirming many previously known anti-<i>Cryptosporidium</i> hits as well as identifying a few novel candidates. Collectively, our data reveals this model to be a simple, functional, and homogeneous gain of signal format amenable to high throughput screening, opening new avenues for the discovery of novel anticryptosporidials

Development of a Cytopathic Effect-Based Phenotypic Screening Assay against <i>Cryptosporidium</i>

Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease predominantly caused by <i>Cryptosporidium parvum</i> (<i>Cp</i>) and <i>Cryptosporidium hominis</i> (<i>Ch</i>), apicomplexan parasites which infect the intestinal epithelial cells of their human hosts. The only approved drug for cryptosporidiosis is nitazoxanide, which shows limited efficacy in immunocompromised children, the most vulnerable patient population. Thus, new therapeutics and <i>in vitro</i> infection models are urgently needed to address the current unmet medical need. Toward this aim, we have developed novel cytopathic effect (CPE)-based <i>Cp</i> and <i>Ch</i> assays in human colonic tumor (HCT-8) cells and compared them to traditional imaging formats. Further model validation was achieved through screening a collection of FDA-approved drugs and confirming many previously known anti-<i>Cryptosporidium</i> hits as well as identifying a few novel candidates. Collectively, our data reveals this model to be a simple, functional, and homogeneous gain of signal format amenable to high throughput screening, opening new avenues for the discovery of novel anticryptosporidials

Pharmacokinetics-Pharmacodynamics Analysis of Bicyclic 4-Nitroimidazole Analogs in a Murine Model of Tuberculosis

<div><p>PA-824 is a bicyclic 4-nitroimidazole, currently in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of tuberculosis. Dose fractionation pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic studies in mice indicated that the driver of PA-824 <i>in</i><i>vivo</i> efficacy is the time during which the free drug concentrations in plasma are above the MIC (<i>fT_>MIC</i>). In this study, a panel of closely related potent bicyclic 4-nitroimidazoles was profiled in both <i>in</i><i>vivo</i> PK and efficacy studies. In an established murine TB model, the efficacy of diverse nitroimidazole analogs ranged between 0.5 and 2.3 log CFU reduction compared to untreated controls. Further, a retrospective analysis was performed for a set of seven nitroimidazole analogs to identify the PK parameters that correlate with <i>in</i><i>vivo</i> efficacy. Our findings show that the <i>in</i><i>vivo</i> efficacy of bicyclic 4-nitroimidazoles correlated better with lung PK than with plasma PK. Further, nitroimidazole analogs with moderate-to-high volume of distribution and Lung to plasma ratios of >2 showed good efficacy. Among all the PK-PD indices, total lung <i>T_>MIC</i> correlated the best with <i>in</i><i>vivo</i> efficacy (<i>r_s</i> = 0.88) followed by lung C_max/MIC and AUC/MIC. Thus, lung drug distribution studies could potentially be exploited to guide the selection of compounds for efficacy studies, thereby accelerating the drug discovery efforts in finding new nitroimidazole analogs.</p></div