Isolation, characterisation and in vitro screening of anticataract potential of Fucoidan from Sargassum wightii Greville

Introduction: The present study was designed to isolate Fucoidan from Sargassum wightii Greville and to evaluate its in-vitro anti cataract potential against galactose induced cataract in isolated goat lenses. Methods: Fucoidan was isolated from S. wightii Greville and its sulfate content was estimated through barium chloride method. Isolated goat lenses were divided into 5 groups as group-I (normal control- vehicle treated), group-II (disease control- galactose treated 55 mM), group-III (galactose 55 mM + standard-ascorbic acid 20 μg/mL), group-IV (galactose 55 mM + Fucoidan-20 μg/mL) and group-V (galactose 55 mM + Fucoidan 40 μg/mL) and incubated for 72 hours, respectively, and subjected to biochemical estimations. The opacity of lenses was also noted prior to biochemical estimation. Results: The percentage yield of isolated Fucoidan was found to be 0.65%. The extent of sulfation in the isolated Fucoidan was found to be as high as 33%. In high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) studies, Peak 3 with Rf value of 0.18 matched with the standard D-glucose Rf value. Galactose induced cataractous lenses showed significant oxidative stress when compared to normal lenses whereas treatment with Fucoidan 20 and 40 μg/mL significantly combated oxidative stress and prevented the development of cataract when compared to cataractous lenses. The results obtained with the treatment of Fucoidan were dose dependant and comparable to standard. Conclusion: The present study substantiates the claim of anti-cataract potential of Fucoidan, which may be correlated to its anti-oxidant property

Nursing professional’s understanding and screening practices in the identification of children with autism spectrum disorder: A scoping review

Introduction: Early identification and intervention of childhood autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is recognised to have a valuable impact on a child’s life. Nurses who are adequately prepared with the necessary screening practices to do early identification of the children with risk for ASD and knowledge surrounding ASD may enhance the screening practices in the child care delivery system. Objectives: This study was to discuss nurses’ knowledge and understanding about childhood ASD and its’ screening practices among nurses. Methodology: The scoping review approach was adopted for the present study utilised by reviewing electronic databases from inception to 2021. Results: The authors have searched 160 related studies from above-said database and found only 10 full-text studies based on the objective and research question. Based on the review, researchers understood that the Nursing Professionals have scant to moderate knowledge and understanding on childhood ASD and its ‘Screening Practices.’ Effective training programmes and continuing nursing education would hasten the early identification and intervention process in this arena. </jats:sec

Effectiveness of training on primary care nurses’ knowledge and screening practice in identification of children at risk for developmental delay: An Indian perspective

Background: In India, overall, 1.5–19.8% of the children were found to be developmentally delayed. The evaluation of development in young children and health professionals’ early referrals for diagnostic assessment will accelerate appropriate early intervention as early as possible. Nurses can screen the children and help the parents by providing the necessary information and support. Aim: To train the primary care nurses on developmental screening and early identification of developmental delay (DD) in children and find the effectiveness of the same. Objectives of the study: To evaluate the effectiveness of the training program on the knowledge and screening practice of the nurses towards the identification of children at risk for DD and to find out the relationship between nurses’ knowledge and screening practice. Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest, post-test design was adopted among 69 nurses, who were providing child care services and working in the selected government hospitals in Bengaluru, South India. Nurses’ knowledge and screening practice in identifying children at risk for DD were assessed before and after the training. SPSS package 21.00 version was used to analyse the descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The training program was effective in the enhancement of primary care nurses’ knowledge and screening practice in the identification of DDs in under-five children. Conclusion: The findings of this study concluded that developmental screening can be performed by nurses with suitable training programs. The training program played a significant role in the enhancement of nurses’ knowledge and screening practice in the identification of DDs in under-five children

Self-harm Behaviors in Adolescents: Knowledge and Risk Assessment Skill among Novice Nursing Officers

Background: Self-harm behavior is an important public health issue that needs to be addressed by general or specialized psychiatric health services at the earliest to bring down the negative impact on individuals, the community, and society at large. Aim: The present study was adopted to assess the effectiveness of a training program for nursing officers in handling self-harm behavior among adolescents. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the tertiary care hospital in Bengaluru. One group pretest and posttest research design was adopted. Forty consented newly recruited nursing officers who met the selection criteria were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The nurses’ knowledge and skill in assessing the risk of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents were measured using a knowledge questionnaire and risk assessment skill questionnaire, which were prepared by the researchers. The data were collected at the pre- and postintervention periods. The structured skill training program was administered in four consecutive days. Post-test was conducted 10 days after the training. Analyses were performed using the SPSS 26 version with t-test and Wilcoxon rank test to find the effectiveness of the structured skill training program. Results: Findings revealed that there were statistically significant changes in knowledge score and risk assessment skills on NSSI in adolescents among nursing officers, followed by the structured skill training program at P < 0.05 level. However, no significant association was found between sociodemographic variables with knowledge level and risk assessment skills of the nurses. Conclusion: The study findings show that a structured skill training program was effective in improving the nurses’ knowledge and skill in assessing the risk of NSSI behaviors in adolescents among nursing officers. The study has implications for nursing practice, education, research, and administration

Synthesis of pyranoquinolines <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">via </i>imino Diels-Alder reaction: Comparison of antibacterial efficacy of chirally separated individual diastereomers

193-199The first ever attempt to separate the four diastereomers formed during pyranoquinoline synthesis via imino Diels-Alder reaction mediated by chiral catalyst is successful. The comparison of the antibacterial efficacy of individual diastereomers is revealed

Effectiveness of structured teaching program on parents' knowledge about child physical abuse

BACKGROUND: The issue of child physical abuse (CPA) is complex and challenging to study. According to World Health Organization fact sheets for 2020, about 3 in 4 children between 2 and 4 years of age regularly face physical maltreatment by parents or caregivers. It may cause a lifelong impact on physical and mental health. OBJECTIVE: To assess the parents' knowledge and to evaluate the effectiveness of the structured teaching program (STP) regarding child physical abuse (CPA) among parents. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The pre-experimental, “ One-group Pre-test Post-test design” was adopted for this study. Parents of children who were admitted for treatment in the child psychiatry centre (CPC) of a tertiary care referral center between January 2019 and January 2020 were recruited for this study. Thirty parents were recruited with a convenience sampling technique. The study was conducted through an online platform (Zoom). Pre-test and post-tests were conducted through Google survey form. Data were collected with a self-developed knowledge questionnaire on CAP. An online structured teaching program (STP) was administered for three alternative days after the pre-test assessment. The post-test assessment was conducted at a two-point time, that is immediately after the STP and after the one-week gap. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The pre-test knowledge assessment means score regarding child physical abuse was found to be 12, with a standard deviation of 1.73. In the post-test one, 17.30 ± 1.39 and in the post-test two, 16 ± 1.55 with P < 0.001. Analysis revealed statistically significant improvement was found in the post-test knowledge regarding child physical abuse among the parents. There was no significant (p < 0.05) relationship found between the socio-demographic variables of the participants and their pre-intervention knowledge scores on child physical abuse. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings reveal that parents have a fair knowledge of CPA and the STP was effective and feasible to administer in improving the subjects' knowledge regarding child physical abuse

A Novel Trust Model for Secure Group Communication in Distributed Computing

Distributed networks are networks in which each node can act as a server or client and hence any node can provide service to any other node. In such a scenario, establishing a trust model between the service providing user and the service utilizing user is a challenging task. At present, only a few approaches are available in the past literature to provide this facility. Moreover, the existing approaches do not provide high trust accuracy. Therefore,a novel efficient trust model has been proposed in this article to support the secure dynamic group communication in distributed networks. The main advantage of the proposed work is that it provides higher trust accuracy. Moreover, the proposed work takes less memory for maintaining the trust values and increases the packet delivery ratio in comparison with other existing works which are in the literature.</p