Factor Influencing Gender Based Violence Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic in PHC of Syangja District, Nepal

Pregnancy and childbirth were a time of unique vulnerability to violence victimization because of changes in women’s physical, social, emotional, and economic needs during pregnancy. This study aims to determine the factors associated with gender-based violence among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic (ANC). A cross-sectional study was conducted among 202 pregnant women attend antenatal ward of primary health care centre (PHC) of Syangja district during September 2014 to December 2014 by using semi-structure questionnaire with face to face interviews. SPSS software was used for analysis the data. The prevalence of gender based violence (GBV) among pregnant women was found to be 91.1%. The socio-demographic variables such as ethnicity, religious, the age of respondents, the age of marriage, occupation, and annual income had no association with the experience of different types of GBV (p>0.05). However, there was a statistically association between husband education (p=0.03), the age of marriage (p=0.039) and type of marriage (p=0.013) in case of psychological and economic violence whereas there was no statistically association between with other types of violence. In conclusion, gender based violence during pregnancy was a major prevalent public health problem is Syangja district of Nepal. Focus on age of marriage, types of marriage and education of husband may reduce gender based violence among the pregnant women. Women’s empowerment, economic autonomy, sensitization, awareness and needed of large-scale population-based surveys were the major recommendation of this study

Evaluation of Barley Genotypes Against Spot Blotch Disease in Inner Tarai Region of Nepal

Spot blotch caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (Sacc. in Sorok.) Shoem. is an important disease of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). A total of 126 barley genotypes received from Hill Crops Research Program, Kabre, Dolakha having SoluUwa as a susceptible check and Bonus as a resistant check were evaluated as barley disease screening nursery (BDSN) under natural epiphytotic condition at National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan during winter seasons of 2017 and 2018. The nursery was planted in augmented design. The resistant and susceptible checks were repeated and planted after each 10 tested entries. The unit plot size was 2 rows of one meter length for each genotype planted continuously with 25cm row to row spacing. The seed rate was 100 kg/ha. The recommended fertilizer dose of 23:30:0 N:P2O5:K2O kg/ha was applied. The double digit scale (00 to 99) was used to measure overall foliar infection on the whole plant during flowering, soft dough and hard dough stages. Other agronomic practices were followed as per recommendation. Genotypes B86019-1K-3K-0K3, ACC 2087, ACC 2441, ACC GHv-06816, ACC 1597, ACC 1612, ACC 2059 and ACC 2032 were resistant against spot blotch disease. Similarly, 32 barley genotypes were moderately resistant and rest of the tested genotypes were susceptible to the disease. The selected resistant barley genotypes can be used in crossing program and/or promoted for further testing to develop spot blotch resistant varieties for inner Tarai region of Nepal

RIVER ECOLOGICAL STUDY: BUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR VARIETY OF ASSESSMENTS SUCH AS CLIMATE CHANGE IN NEPAL

Climate change is now universally acknowledged to be taking place across the globe. It is generally presumed that the impacts of climate change would be more severe in the country like Nepal due to its location, physiography, poverty and lack of preparedness to cope with the changes. The last reason is mainly associated with knowledge, information and ability to use technologies based on science.The main objective of this research is to analyze and evaluate the effects of climate change by taking fish as an indicator. However, an even more important outcome is to prepare a solid foundation of fish-based information, which could be used in the future as a reference for a variety of purposes including the study of climate change. Two sets of examples, one in the tributaries of a glacial river and another in the tributary of a rain -fed river are compared in terms of fish ecological attributes to test for effects of climate change. In addition to fish-based information, this research also studies physico-chemical parameters and benthic fauna so as to build up an ecological profile of the rivers

Morphological characterization and secondary metabolites profile of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) genotypes from Sikkim

Quantification of volatile oil and analysis of four major metabolites using HPLC was done in 24 black pepper genotypes collected from south Sikkim. The amount of volatile oil ranged from 2.01% to 0.022%. Secondary metabolites like piperine ranged from 2.75-0.022%, myrcene from 2.094-0.022%, alpha- phellandrene from 1.373-0.008% and linalool from 0.834-0.012%. Genotype 23 had the highest amount of myrcene and linalool, genotype 13 had the highest quantity of piperine and genotype 8 had high amount of alpha-phellandrene. The principal component analysis (PCA) of analyzed metabolites grouped the genotypes into four categories. The study revealed that some of the genotypes were as good as pepper varieties grown in traditional areas. These genotypes will be useful in crop improvement strategies and suitable for Sikkim Himalaya

Aspirin for prophylactic use in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer : a systematic review and overview of reviews

Background: Prophylactic aspirin has been considered to be beneficial in reducing the risks of heart disease and cancer. However, potential benefits must be balanced against the possible harm from side effects, such as bleeding and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. It is particularly important to know the risk of side effects when aspirin is used as primary prevention - that is when used by people as yet free of, but at risk of developing, cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer. In this report we aim to identify and re-analyse randomised controlled trials (RCTs), systematic reviews and meta-analyses to summarise the current scientific evidence with a focus on possible harms of prophylactic aspirin in primary prevention of CVD and cancer. Objectives: To identify RCTs, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs of the prophylactic use of aspirin in primary prevention of CVD or cancer. To undertake a quality assessment of identified systematic reviews and meta-analyses using meta-analysis to investigate study-level effects on estimates of benefits and risks of adverse events; cumulative meta-analysis; exploratory multivariable meta-regression; and to quantify relative and absolute risks and benefits. Methods: We identified RCTs, meta-analyses and systematic reviews, and searched electronic bibliographic databases (from 2008 September 2012) including MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, and Science Citation Index. We limited searches to publications since 2008, based on timing of the most recent comprehensive systematic reviews. Results: In total, 2572 potentially relevant papers were identified and 27 met the inclusion criteria. Benefits of aspirin ranged from 6% reduction in relative risk (RR) for all-cause mortality [RR 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88 to 1.00] and 10% reduction in major cardiovascular events (MCEs) (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.96) to a reduction in total coronary heart disease (CHD) of 15% (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.06). Reported pooled odds ratios (ORs) for total cancer mortality ranged between 0.76 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.88) and 0.93 (95% CI 0.84 to 1.03). Inclusion of the Women's Health Study changed the estimated OR to 0.82 (95% CI 0.69 to 0.97). Aspirin reduced reported colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.02). However, including studies in which aspirin was given every other day raised the OR to 0.91 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.11). Reported cancer benefits appeared approximately 5 years from start of treatment. Calculation of absolute effects per 100,000 patient-years of follow-up showed reductions ranging from 33 to 46 deaths (all-cause mortality), 60-84 MCEs and 47-64 incidents of CHD and a possible avoidance of 34 deaths from CRC. Reported increased RRs of adverse events from aspirin use were 37% for GI bleeding (RR 1.37, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.62), between 54% (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.82) and 62% (RR 1.62, 95% CI 1.31 to 2.00) for major bleeds, and between 32% (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.74) and 38% (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.82) for haemorrhagic stroke. Pooled estimates of increased RR for bleeding remained stable across trials conducted over several decades. Estimates of absolute rates of harm from aspirin use, per 100,000 patient-years of follow-up, were 99-178 for non-trivial bleeds, 46-49 for major bleeds, 68-117 for GI bleeds and 8-10 for haemorrhagic stroke. Meta-analyses aimed at judging risk of bleed according to sex and in individuals with diabetes were insufficiently powered for firm conclusions to be drawn. Limitations: Searches were date limited to 2008 because of the intense interest that this subject has generated and the cataloguing of all primary research in so many previous systematic reviews. A further limitation was our potential over-reliance on study-level systematic reviews in which the person-years of follow-up were not accurately ascertainable. However, estimates of number of events averted or incurred through aspirin use calculated from data in study-level meta-analyses did not differ substantially from estimates based on individual patient data-level meta-analyses, for which person-years of follow-up were more accurate (although based on less-than-complete assemblies of currently available primary studies). Conclusions: We have found that there is a fine balance between benefits and risks from regular aspirin use in primary prevention of CVD. Effects on cancer prevention have a long lead time and are at present reliant on post hoc analyses. All absolute effects are relatively small compared with the burden of these diseases. Several potentially relevant ongoing trials will be completed between 2013 and 2019, which may clarify the extent of benefit of aspirin in reducing cancer incidence and mortality. Future research considerations include expanding the use of IPD meta-analysis of RCTs by pooling data from available studies and investigating the impact of different dose regimens on cardiovascular and cancer outcomes

Gene therapy for inherited metabolic diseases

Over the last two decades, gene therapy has been successfully translated to many rare diseases. The number of clinical trials is rapidly expanding and some gene therapy products have now received market authorisation in the western world. Inherited metabolic diseases (IMD) are orphan diseases frequently associated with a severe debilitating phenotype with limited therapeutic perspective. Gene therapy is progressively becoming a diseasechanging therapeutic option for these patients. In this review, we aim to summarise the development of this emerging field detailing the main gene therapy strategies, routes of administration, viral and non-viral vectors and gene editing tools. We discuss the respective advantages and pitfalls of these gene therapy strategies and review their application in IMD, providing examples of clinical trials with lentiviral or adeno-associated viral gene therapy vectors in rare diseases. The rapid development of the field and implementation of gene therapy as a realistic therapeutic option for various IMD in a short term also require a good knowledge and understanding of these technologies from physicians to counsel the patients at best

Optical Studies of Zero-Field Magnetization of CdMnTe Quantum Dots: Influence of Average Size and Composition of Quantum Dots

We show that through the resonant optical excitation of spin-polarized excitons into CdMnTe magnetic quantum dots, we can induce a macroscopic magnetization of the Mn impurities. We observe very broad (4 meV linewidth) emission lines of single dots, which are consistent with the formation of strongly confined exciton magnetic polarons. Therefore we attribute the optically induced magnetization of the magnetic dots results to the formation of spin-polarized exciton magnetic polarons. We find that the photo-induced magnetization of magnetic polarons is weaker for larger dots which emit at lower energies within the QD distribution. We also show that the photo-induced magnetization is stronger for quantum dots with lower Mn concentration, which we ascribe to weaker Mn-Mn interaction between the nearest neighbors within the dots. Due to particular stability of the exciton magnetic polarons in QDs, where the localization of the electrons and holes is comparable to the magnetic exchange interaction, this optically induced spin alignment persists to temperatures as high as 160 K.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figs - submitted for publicatio

The exosome journey: from biogenesis to uptake and intracellular signalling.

The use of exosomes in clinical settings is progressively becoming a reality, as clinical trials testing exosomes for diagnostic and therapeutic applications are generating remarkable interest from the scientific community and investors. Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles secreted by all cell types playing intercellular communication roles in health and disease by transferring cellular cargoes such as functional proteins, metabolites and nucleic acids to recipient cells. An in-depth understanding of exosome biology is therefore essential to ensure clinical development of exosome based investigational therapeutic products. Here we summarise the most up-to-date knowkedge about the complex biological journey of exosomes from biogenesis and secretion, transport and uptake to their intracellular signalling. We delineate the major pathways and molecular players that influence each step of exosome physiology, highlighting the routes of interest, which will be of benefit to exosome manipulation and engineering. We highlight the main controversies in the field of exosome research: their adequate definition, characterisation and biogenesis at plasma membrane. We also delineate the most common identified pitfalls affecting exosome research and development. Unravelling exosome physiology is key to their ultimate progression towards clinical applications. Video Abstract

Generation, characterization and application of atmospheric pressure plasma jet

The development of a non-thermal plasma jet with a capillary configuration working at atmospheric pressure is reported in this paper. The plasma jet is powered by a power source with frequency of several kilohertz. The working gas is argon. The plasma obtained has been characterized by optical emission spectroscopic measurements and electrical measurements of the discharge using voltage and current probes. The electron temperature has been estimated by using the modified Boltzmann plot method utilizing the Ar 4p-4s transition. The electron temperatures at various positions along the plasma jet length have been obtained and it is found that the electron temperature decreases at position further from orifice. The electron density has been estimated from current and voltage measurements using the power balance method. The effects of gas flow rate, applied voltage and frequency on the characteristics of the plasma jet have also been investigated. The applications of the atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) developed to modify the surface properties of Polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) have been tested. Our results showed that the atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma jet can be effectively used to enhance the surface wettability and surface energy of the PET and PC. The plasma jet has also been tested for inactivation of prokaryotic cells (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus). In the case of E. coli, better than 4 log10 reduction can be achieved. The effect of plasma jet on the pH of cell culture medium has suggested that the plasma species, particularly the electrons, are solely responsible for the effect of inactivation of living cells