Effect of different levels of charcoal and nitrogen on growth and yield traits of broccoli

Saabunud / Received 19.11.2021 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 05.02.2022 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 05.02.2022 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Prayusha Bhattarai; [email protected] is a carbon-rich organic matter, which serves as a soil conditioner when applied to agricultural fields. When used in combination with nitrogen fertilizers, it has a synergistic effect that boosts plant growth. However, charcoal application alone or in combination with nitrogen fertilizer on vegetable crops is not fully understood. Therefore, a pots experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of charcoal and nitrogen levels on the growth and yield of broccoli. The variety of broccoli used was Centauro. The experiment was laid out in a two-factor Completely Randomized Design with five replications during the winter season of 2019–2020 at Sundarbazar, Lamjung, Nepal. Treatments consisted of four levels of charcoal (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% per weight of soil) and three levels of nitrogen (0, 187.5 and 375 kg N ha–1). Results revealed that increasing nitrogen levels from 0 to 375 kg N ha–1 significantly increased the number of leaves, leaf area, head diameter, head weight and aboveground biomass. The maximum head weight per plant (258.77 g) was found by applying a nitrogen level of 375 kg N ha–1 and the lowest value at 0 kg N ha–1. The application of increasing levels of charcoal significantly improved root length, leaf area and head diameter. It was concluded from the results that the optimum nitrogen level for broccoli production could be 375 kg N ha–1

Evaluation of phytochemical parameters, antibacterial and antihelminthic activity of leaves and bark extracts of plant Bombax ceiba

Bombax ceiba, commonly known as the red silk-cotton tree, is a large, briefly deciduous tree occurring in warm monsoon forests in southern Asia. Various phytochemical constituents present in different plant parts has been already reported earlier to possess many biological activities, here in this work extraction was performed by mixture of solvent (distilled water: ethanol) as well as the individual solvents (water) and (ethanol). The phytochemical screening of the leaves and barks was found to exhibit the presence of carbohydrates, glycoside, saponin, phytosterol phenol, tannins, flavonoid, proteins and diterpenes and negative result for alkaloids in all the solvent extracts. The ethanolic extract of leaves was subjected to antihelmenthic activity and the result was found to be moderat

Phytochemical screening and antihelminthic activity of leaf and root extracts of Cassia tora plant

Cassia tora is one of the most important sources of medicinally important phytochemicals and widely used in Ayurvedic and Chinese system of medicine. The fresh plants of cassia tora were collected from the different locality of Dharan, Sunsari district during the month of August. In this study leaves and root extracts were subjected to extraction by soxheletion by using ethanol and water and the extracts were subjected to antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. and Citrobacter koseri, the ethanolic extracts were screened for antihelmenthic activity against Indian adult earth worm (Pheretima posthuma) with a moderate result. The result of antibacterial activity revealed that aqueous extract  of leaves and roots showed better activity in comparison to aqueous extracts particularly against gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus)

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Optimization Strategies: Cusp Overlap, Commissural Alignment, Sizing, and Positioning

As transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) rapidly expands to younger patients and those at low surgical risk, there is a compelling need to identify patients at increased risk of post-procedural complications, such as paravalvular leak, prosthesis–patient mismatch, and conduction abnormalities. This review highlights the incidence and risk factors of these procedural complications, and focuses on novel methods to reduce them by using newer generation transcatheter heart valves and the innovative cusp-overlap technique, which provides optimal fluoroscopic imaging projection to allow for precise implantation depth which minimizes interaction with the conduction system. Preserving coronary access after TAVR is another important consideration in younger patients. This paper reviews the significance of commissural alignment to allow coronary cannulation after TAVR and discusses recently published data on modified delivery techniques to improve commissural alignment

RESPONSE OF AZOTOBACTER IN CAULIFLOWER (BRASSICA OLERACEA L. VAR. BOTRYTIS) PRODUCTION AT LAMJUNG, NEPAL

A field experiment was carried out at research field of Lamjung Campus, Nepal during September 2015 to February 2016 to assess the response of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) to different combination of nitrogenous fertilizer with Azotobacter. 6 treatment with 4 replications were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design. Phosphorous and potassium was applied full does in all the treatments with chemical fertilizer. It was recorded that the application of recommended doses of nitrogen along with the bio-fertilizer significantly increased morphological characters and yield as compared to other treatments. Besides, the stem diameter was non-significant to the different treatments. It was followed by the full dose of NPK without azotobacter and then 50% nitrogen with azotobacter, which was statistically at par with 25% nitrogen with azotobacter, followed by FYM + Azotobacter. Curd yield along with all the morphological characters were seen lowest in control. Cauliflower curd yield at recommended dose of nitrogen did not significantly differ with the curd yield recorded at half of recommended dose of nitrogen with azotobacter. The finding demonstrated a saving of 50% of nitrogen where it can be substituted with the application of bio-fertilizer to increase the yield and morphological character

Effectiveness of community-based health education and home support program to reduce blood pressure among patients with uncontrolled hypertension in Nepal : a cluster-randomized trial

Background Hypertension is a major global public health problem. Elevated blood pressure can cause cardiovascular and kidney diseases. We assessed the effectiveness of health education sessions and home support programs in reducing blood pressure among patients with uncontrolled hypertension in a suburban community of Nepal. Methods We conducted a community-based, open-level, parallel-group, cluster randomized controlled trial in Birendranagar municipality of Surkhet, Nepal. We randomly assigned four clusters (wards) into intervention and control arms. We provided four health education sessions, frequent home and usual care for intervention groups over six months. The participants of the control arm received only usual care from health facilities. The primary outcome of this study was the proportion of controlled systolic blood pressure (SBP). The analysis included all participants who completed follow-up at six months. Results 125 participants were assigned to either the intervention (n = 63) or the control (n = 62) group. Of them, 60 participants in each group completed six months follow-up. Theproportion of controlled SBP was significantly higher among the intervention participants compared to the control (58.3% vs. 40%). Odds ratio of this was 2.1 with 95% CI: 1.01–4.35 (p = 0.046) and that of controlled diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 1.31 (0.63–2.72) (p = 0.600). The mean change (follow-up minus baseline) in SBP was significantly higher in the intervention than in the usual care (-18.7 mmHg vs. -11.2 mmHg, p = 0.041). Such mean change of DBP was also higher in the intervention (-10.95 mmHg vs. -5.53 mmHg, p = 0.065). The knowledge score on hypertension improved by 2.38 (SD 2.4) in the intervention arm, which was significantly different from that of the control group, 0.13 (1.8) (p<0.001). Conclusions Multiple health education sessions complemented by frequent household visits by health volunteers can effectively improve knowledge on hypertension and reduce blood pressure among uncontrolled hypertensive patients at the community level in Nepal

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Reply to the Comment on: Subrat Khanal et al. The Repertoire of Adenovirus in Human Disease: The Innocuous to the Deadly. <i>Biomedicines</i> 2018, <i>6</i>, 30

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The Repertoire of Adenovirus in Human Disease: The Innocuous to the Deadly

Adenoviridae is a family of double-stranded DNA viruses that are a significant cause of upper respiratory tract infections in children and adults. Less commonly, the adenovirus family can cause a variety of gastrointestinal, ophthalmologic, genitourinary, and neurologic diseases. Most adenovirus infections are self-limited in the immunocompetent host and are treated with supportive measures. Fatal infections can occur in immunocompromised patients and less frequently in the healthy. Adenoviral vectors are being studied for novel biomedical applications including gene therapy and immunization. In this review we will focus on the spectrum of adenoviral infections in humans