Representation of Religion in Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh- (2075)

Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh (2075 B. S), claims that it has selected those lexical items which are available in the Nepali speech communities. This article contends the claim and proposes of lexicographers’ ideology guides the content of the dictionary. It focuses on: How different religions/religious people are named and referred to linguistically? What kind of religious traits, features, qualities and features are ascribed to them? How are the lexical items related to religion are explained, defined and presented? To meet the objectives, it implies qualitative approach and uses content analysis method to exhibit the disproportional representation of religions in the Kosh. Swatantra Varna 'Ra' is selected for this purpose. Critical discourse analysis is used as a tool to scrutinize the lexical items. Primarily all the lexical items under the Swatantra Varna 'Ra' are studied and a list of lexicons related to all religions is prepared. Then the selected lexicons are scrutinized from the lenses of critical discourse analysis to meet the objectives of the study. The findings establish the fact that Hinduism is overlexicalized and other religions are excluded, misrepresented, backgrounded, underlexicalized/overlexicalized, intensified and mitigated. This signifies that the whole Kosh-2075 reflects the psyche of Hindu Brahmin upper-class lexicographers

A Tiger for Malgudi: Representation of Cultural Deterioration

This research article concentrates on cultural deterioration as projected in R. K. Narayan's A Tiger for Malagudi. The author picturizes the pain of post-colonial India that was struggling to preserve her pre-colonial culture. The novel depicts how the colonizers injected their philosophies in the psyche of the colonized. The concept of “we superior” allured the society. The temptation of new culture grew more in India and that transformed the society into new hybrid culture. On the backdrop of colonial era, the novel demonstrates a tendency of new culture and its impact upon Indian society. Characters are placed to exhibit how colonized adopt new culture and so much so that they even converse their names to be incorporated in British culture. British culture and practice restructured Indian society. Postcolonial theory and theory of mimicry are applied in this dissertation as a framework for analyzing the condition of Indian culture. The colonial period established British cultures which by mixing with Indian culture turn out to be hybrid deteriorating the traditional Indian culture. With view of advanced culture, Indian society accredited new culture. Colonial period in India transformed social and cultural structure

ANALYSIS OF PHYTO-CONSTITUENTS, ANTIOXIDANT, AND ALPHA AMYLASE INHIBITORY ACTIVITIES OF PERSEA AMERICANA MILL., RHODODENDRON ARBORETUM SM. RUBUS ELLIPTICUS SM. FROM ARGHAKHANCHI DISTRICT NEPAL

Objective: To evaluate the phytochemical, antioxidant activities, and α-amylase inhibition assay for methanolic extract of three ethnomedicinal plants, namely Persea americana Mill., Rubus ellipticus Sm., and Rhododendron arboretum Sm. collected from Arghakhanchi District of Nepal using in vitro studies.Methods: Methanolic plant extracts were prepared by cold percolation method. Analysis of phytochemical constituents was carried out using standard methods. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used to evaluate in vitro antioxidants activities. Furthermore, inhibition effect of extracts on α- amylase enzyme was carried out by using starch as a substrate, pancreatic α-amylase as the enzyme, and acarbose as standard.Results: Phytochemical screening of methanolic extract of all three selected plants displayed the presence of different chemical constituents such as alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, glycosides, and tannins. The results of DPPH assay revealed that R. ellipticus and R. arboreum were most active with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values 33.41 μg/ml and 47.28 μg/ml, respectively. R. ellipticus was found to be effective toward α-amylase inhibition with IC50 values 269.94 μg/ml.Conclusion: The preliminary results of this study have put forward R. ellipticus into promising herbs with good antioxidant activities and α-amylase inhibition potential although further studies are needed to assess its mechanism of action

A Healthy City Project: A Case Study of Wonju City, South Korea and its Relevance to the Cities in Nepal

Introduction: One of the goals of sustainable development is to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The healthy city approach is becoming increasingly important in addressing a large number of urban health problems and promoting healthy lifestyles in city dwellers. Objectives: We performed a case study of the healthy city project in Wonju, South Korea to find out its characteristics and approaches, and to explore its relevance to the cities in Nepal. Methods: We conducted a case study of the healthy city Wonju project by reviewing relevant published articles and web pages of the city (http://healthycity.wonju.go.kr), alliance for healthy cities, Korean statistical information service and World Health Organization. We also reviewed articles and documents related to healthy cities in South-East Asian countries and Nepal. Results: The healthy city Wonju project, started in 2004, executed its five-year plan between 2006 and 2010, and is currently running with its 10 year long-term plan (2011- 2020). For its success, Wonju City has been awarded six times by WHO. Recently, Wonju city organized the seventh global conference of the AFHC in August, 2016 in Wonju with the main theme of “our cities, our health, our future”. Key features of the healthy city Wonju project included: Strong political commitment of local government, financing the healthy city initiative with tobacco consumption tax, partnerships with universities, well organized healthy city teams under city administration, coordination with national and regional healthy cities alliance, community participation, and involvement in research for evidence-based planning and evaluation. Nepal, one of the fast urbanizing countries in South-East Asia faces large number of urban health problems. Conclusions: Though numbers of cities and city dwellers are increasing rapidly, Nepal lacks healthy city projects and networking. The approaches of healthy city Wonju might be useful for developing countries such as Nepal to initiate and develop healthy cities projects in a sustainable way.  Journal of Gandaki Medical College Vol. 10, No. 1, 2017, page: 34-4

Prevalence and correlates of insufficient physical activity in school adolescents in Peru

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence and correlates of insufficient physical activity in adolescents in Peru. METHODS: We used a self-administered questionnaire developed from Global school-based Student Health Survey to collect information from secondary school students in North Lima and Callao in 2015. We carried out Poisson regression with robust variance using generalized linear models to estimate the crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of insufficient physical activity for its correlates. RESULTS: We have found that 78% of the adolescents did not meet the global recommendation of the World Health Organization on physical activity in the last week before the survey. Female respondents (APR = 1.13, 95%CI 1.04–1.21), respondents who perceived themselves as overweight (APR = 1.10, 95%CI 1.03–1.18), and respondents who consumed insufficient vegetables and fruits [no vegetables (APR = 1.30, 95%CI 1.06–1.59), no fruits (APR = 1.15, 95%CI 1.00–1.31) as compared to those who consumed ≥ 2 servings every day in the last seven days] were more likely to report insufficient physical activity. Adolescents who worked after school (APR = 0.92, 95%CI 0.84–0.99), had physical education classes five times per week (APR = 0.94, 95%CI 0.88–0.99), and had parental supervision (APR = 0.92, 95%CI 0.87–0.98) were less likely to report insufficient physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Sex, work after school, perceived body weight, physical education class, parental support, and healthy dietary behaviors were associated with insufficient physical activity. Attempts to improve physical activity should look for ways to enhance leisure-time physical activity, parental support, physical education classes, healthy dietary behaviors, and normal body weight maintenance in adolescents with integrated efforts from the family and school

Workplace Violence Experienced by Nursing Staff at a Tertiary Hospital in Urban Nepal

Background: Healthcare workplaces are prone to the occurrence of violence of varying types and degrees. This study assessed the prevalence of violence experienced by nursing staff at a tertiary hospital in urban Nepal. Methods: A self-administered, cross-sectional survey was distributed to the entire nursing staff (N=146) currently working at a large teaching hospital in Kathmandu. The types of violence ascertained included verbal abuse, general harassment, physical assault, and sexual violence. Descriptive and logistic regression were applied to the data analysis. Results: General harassment was the second most commonly experienced; 44% reported having experienced it any time in the past; and 28% reported to have experienced it in the last 12 months. Overall, 68% of all the respondents reported having experienced any type of violence, and 47% reported having experienced it any time in the last 12 months. Compared to single nurses/respondents, married nurses were particularly more likely to experience violence. Conclusion: Development of workplace standards, orientation for all staff members, and the establishment of an effective monitoring and enforcement system are needed to minimize workplace violence at the study site, and most likely elsewhere in Nepal as well

Perceived risk, preventive behavior and enabling environment among health workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: an Online Survey

Introduction: Perceived risk, preventive behavior and enabling environment play vital role to prevent COVID-19 transmission in health care settings. The study aimed to assess perceived risk, preventive behavior and enabling environment among healthcare workers of different cadre during COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. Methods: A cross sectional online survey was conducted among 427 health workers from April 25 to June 10, 2020. A structured questionnaire was prepared in Google form. Perceived risk was measured using 10 items scale, value ranging from 10 to 50. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed at 5% level of significance. Ethical approval was taken from Nepal Health Research Council. Results: Of total, 49.6% respondents were male; 38.4% were from government organizations and 48.0% were doctors. Mean perceived risk was 31.8, 32.8, 31.3 among doctors, nursing professionals and others respectively; and it did not have significant difference among them. However, significant differences were observed in different items of perceived risk across difference cadre of health workers. Most of the health workers reported practice of preventive behavior always or most of the time. Of total, 5.4% doctors and 6.9% other health workers reported they had sometimes access to soap and water. 11.7% doctors, 7.5% nursing professionals and 7.8% other health workers had sometimes access to hand sanitizer; 18.0% doctors, 10.4% nursing professionals and 12.1% other health workers had sometimes access to face mask. Conclusion: Perceived risk of COVID-19 was high, preventive behavior was satisfactory; but access to enabling environment was poor. Therefore, adequate attention should be given to ensure the availability of protective equipment at work place

Socio-economics of wheat production in Kailali and Sunsari districts of Nepal

For socio-economic assessment on wheat production, research was conducted from March to June, 2019 in two major wheat growing districts of Nepal, Kailai and sunsari. The primary information was collected by face to face interview using the pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule, two Key Informant Surveys were also done.In addition, the secondary information were collected from the review of related literatures. The survey areas were selected by consultating with Agriculture Knowledge Centre and agricultural officials of the local government; sample were selected by using simple random sampling. All total, 194 samples were selected for this study; the outliers and incomplete responses were omitted. The descriptive statistics revealed that Nepal 297 (66.16 %) has the highest area coverage in Sunsari while Gautam (36.50%) has the highest coverage in Kailali. Multiple regression model revealed that wheat cultivated area (p= 0.000), adoption of NARC released varieties (p= 0.000), gender of the household head (p= 0.017), age of the household head (p= 0.040), membership of organization (p= 0.094) and number of family members between age group 15 to 59 years (p= 0.085) have significant effect on wheat production. Furthermore, the unpaired t-test showed that the mean productivity of wheat in Kailali (2.99 Mt./ha) is significantly higher than that of Sunsari (2.81t./ha) at 5% level of significance. To increase the wheat productivity, the concerned government agricultural institutions should: assure access to NARC released improved varieties, make policy to consolidate the fragmented land, encourage the economically active population and the household heads towards wheat production by providing the efficient technical and financial support

Phytochemistry, Biological Activities, and Chemical Profiling of Berberis asiatica

This study focused on chemical profiling and assessed the total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial effect of the medicinal plant Berberis asiatica. The results revealed that this plant has high concentrations of TPC (Total phenol content) and TFC (Total flavonoid content) of 37.686 ± 2.728 mg GAE/g and 115.568 ± 8.012 mg QE/g, respectively. The DPPH free radical scavenging assay demonstrated strong inhibition, with an IC50 of 205.7 ± 5.353 μg/mL, and also showed robust antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with a zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 14 mm and 19 mm, respectively. The extract exhibited an excellent inhibitory potential against S. aureus, and K. pneumoniae with an MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) of 0.39 mg/mL, and 3.125 mg/mL respectively, indicating significant inhibitory action. Furthermore, the MBC (Minimum bactericidal concentration) for both S. aureus and K. pneumoniae was found to be 6.25 mg/mL, emphasizing the extract's consistent bactericidal effectiveness against these bacteria. These findings underscore the potential utility of the methanolic extract of Berberis asiatica as a natural antibacterial agent. GC-MS analysis of hexane fraction indicates the plant is rich in secondary metabolites, specifically 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol, 2-methyl-2-pentanol, 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3-hexanone, 3-hexanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanol are identified. Overall, this study highlights the importance of plant-based natural products as potential sources of antioxidants and antibacterial agents that contributes to the future drug development process

Phytochemistry, Biological Activities, and Chemical Profiling of Berberis asiatica

This study focused on chemical profiling and assessed the total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial effect of the medicinal plant Berberis asiatica. The results revealed that this plant has high concentrations of TPC (Total phenol content) and TFC (Total flavonoid content) of 37.686 ± 2.728 mg GAE/g and 115.568 ± 8.012 mg QE/g, respectively. The DPPH free radical scavenging assay demonstrated strong inhibition, with an IC50 of 205.7 ± 5.353 μg/mL, and also showed robust antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with a zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 14 mm and 19 mm, respectively. The extract exhibited an excellent inhibitory potential against S. aureus, and K. pneumoniae with an MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) of 0.39 mg/mL, and 3.125 mg/mL respectively, indicating significant inhibitory action. Furthermore, the MBC (Minimum bactericidal concentration) for both S. aureus and K. pneumoniae was found to be 6.25 mg/mL, emphasizing the extract's consistent bactericidal effectiveness against these bacteria. These findings underscore the potential utility of the methanolic extract of Berberis asiatica as a natural antibacterial agent. GC-MS analysis of hexane fraction indicates the plant is rich in secondary metabolites, specifically 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol, 2-methyl-2-pentanol, 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3-hexanone, 3-hexanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanol are identified. Overall, this study highlights the importance of plant-based natural products as potential sources of antioxidants and antibacterial agents that contributes to the future drug development process