Health Literacy Levels among Outpatients at a Tertiary Hospital in Delhi, India

Background: Health literacy is defined as the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health. This study was conducted to determine health literacy levels and the associated factors among patients attending the outpatient departments of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Delhi over a period of four months. A total of 150 patients were included in the study. Fifty patients from the Diabetes Clinics, 50 patients from Hypertension Clinics, and 50 patients with anemia from the Antenatal Outpatient Department (OPD) were selected using a convenience sampling method. Data was analyzed using Epi Info software. Statistical analysis was conducted with the chi-square test and the Fisher’s exact test. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Out of 50 diabetic subjects, 37 (74%) understood the information about their blood sugar levels as explained to them by the doctor. Similar results were found among hypertensive subjects as well. Furthermore, education status was significantly associated with health literacy. In terms of understanding the regimen of medications, significant association was seen with age, sex, and education. Conclusion: Education status, age, and gender are important determinants of health literacy. Our results support that innovative strategies of communication should be used to improve health literacy among patients

Mesenchymal stem cell fate : applying biomaterials for control of stem cell behavior

The materials pipeline for biomaterials and tissue engineering applications is under continuous development. Specifically, there is great interest in the use of designed materials in the stem cell arena as materials can be used to manipulate the cells providing control of behaviour. This is important as the ability to 'engineer' complexity and subsequent in vitro growth of tissues and organs is a key objective for tissue engineers. This review will describe the nature of the materials strategies, both static and dynamic, and their influence specifically on mesenchymal stem cell fate

Analysis of enzyme-responsive peptide surfaces by Raman spectroscopy

We report on the use of Raman spectroscopy as a tool to characterise model peptide functionalised surfaces. By taking advantage of Raman reporters built into the peptide sequence, the enzymatic hydrolysis of these peptides could be determined

Biocatalytic self-assembly on magnetic nanoparticles

Combining (bio-)catalysis and molecular self-assembly provides an effective approach for the production and processing of self-assembled materials, by exploiting catalysis to direct the assembly kinetics and hence control the formation of ordered nanostructures. Applications of (bio-)catalytic self-assembly in biologically interfacing systems and in nanofabrication have recently been reported. Inspired by self-assembly in biological cells, efforts to confine catalysts on flat or patterned surfaces to exert spatial control over molecular gelator generation and nanostructure self-assembly have also emerged. Building on our previous work in the area, we demonstrate in this report the use of enzymes immobilized onto magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) to spatially localize the initiation of peptide self-assembly into nanofibers around NPs. The concept is generalized for both an equilibrium biocatalytic system that forms stable hydrogels and a non-equilibrium system that normally has a preset lifetime. Characterization of the hydrogels shows that self-assembly occurs at the site of enzyme immobilization on the NPs, to give rise to gels with a “hub-and-spoke” morphology where the nanofibers are linked through the enzyme-NP conjugates. This NP-controlled arrangement of self-assembled nanofibers enables remarkable enhancements in the shear strength of both hydrogel systems, as well as a dramatic extension of the hydrogel stability in the non-equilibrium system. We are also able to show that the use of magnetic NPs enables external control of both the formation of the hydrogel and its overall structure by application of an external magnetic field. We anticipate that the enhanced properties and stimuli-responsiveness of our NP-enzyme system will have applications ranging from nanomaterial fabrication to biomaterials and biosensing

Dynamic surfaces for the study Of mesenchymal stem cell growth through adhesion regulation

Out of their niche environment, adult stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), spontaneously differentiate. This makes both studying these important regenerative cells and growing large numbers of stem cells for clinical use challenging. Traditional cell culture techniques have fallen short of meeting this challenge, but materials science offers hope. In this study, we have used emerging rules of managing adhesion/cytoskeletal balance to prolong MSC cultures by fabricating controllable nanoscale cell interfaces using immobilized peptides that may be enzymatically activated to change their function. The surfaces can be altered (activated) at will to tip adhesion/cytoskeletal balance and initiate differentiation, hence better informing biological mechanisms of stem cell growth. Tools that are able to investigate the stem cell phenotype are important. While large phenotypical differences, such as the difference between an adipocyte and an osteoblast, are now better understood, the far more subtle differences between fibroblasts and MSCs are much harder to dissect. The development of technologies able to dynamically navigate small differences in adhesion are critical in the race to provide regenerative strategies using stem cells

Spontaneous aminolytic cyclization and self-assembly of dipeptide methyl esters in water

Dipeptides are known to spontaneously cyclize to diketopiperazines, and in some cases these cyclic dipeptides have been shown to self-assemble to form supramolecular nanostructures. Herein, we demonstrate the in situ cyclization of dipeptide methyl esters in aqueous buffer by intramolecular aminolysis, leading to the formation of diverse supramolecular nanostructures. The chemical nature of the amino acid side chains dictates the supramolecular arrangement and resulting nanoscale architectures. For c[LF], supramolecular gels are formed, and the concentration of starting materials influences the mechanical properties of hydrogels. Moreover, by adding metalloporphyrin to the starting dipeptide ester solution, these become incorporated through cooperative assembly, resulting in the formation of nanofibers able to catalyse the oxidation of organic phenol in water. The approach taken here, which combines the chemically activated assembly with the versatility of short peptides might pave the way for achieving the spontaneous formation of supramolecular order and function using simple building blocks

Challenges and opportunities in mixed method data collection on mental health issues of health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic in India

Background: The present paper describes the key challenges and opportunities of mixed method telephonic data collection for mental health research using field notes and the experiences of the investigators in a multicenter study in ten sites of India. The study was conducted in public and private hospitals to understand the mental health status, social stigma and coping strategies of different healthcare personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.Methods: Qualitative and quantitative interviews were conducted telephonically. The experiences of data collection were noted as a field notes/diary by the data collectors and principal investigators.Results: The interviewers reported challenges such as network issues, lack of transfer of visual cues and sensitive content of data. Although the telephonic interviews present various challenges in mixed method data collection, it can be used as an alternative to face-to-face data collection using available technology.Conclusions: It is important that the investigators are well trained keeping these challenges in mind so that their capacity is built to deal with these challenges and good quality data is obtained

Cooperative, ion-sensitive co-assembly of tripeptide hydrogels

Peptide co-assembly is of interest for the development of functional supramolecular biomaterials. Herein, computational simulations were combined with experimental validation to aid the design and understanding of cooporative co-assembly of a structure-forming tripeptide (FFD) and a functional copper-binding tripeptide (GHK) leading to hydrogel formation in response to complexation with copper ions

Do socio-demographic factors still predict the choice of place of delivery: A cross-sectional study in rural North India

Improving maternal health is one of the goals to be achieved under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), especially MDG-5. One of the predictors of maternal health is place of child birth. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of home delivery and different socio-demographic factors associated with them. This study was a community-based cross-sectional study. Women who delivered a baby in the past 1 year were included in this study. A total of 300 women responded (93.2%) and gave consent to participate in the study. Prevalence of home delivery was 37.7%. Bivariate analysis showed that religion, caste, education of women and their partners, occupation of the spouse, monthly family income and socioeconomic status had a significant association with the choice of place of delivery. But multivariate regression analysis showed only religion, caste, education of spouse and monthly income to be significant factors in determining place of delivery. The findings of this study suggest that individual countries have to formulate interventions which will target marginalized or vulnerable populations with reference to caste, religion and wealth. A significant improvement in reaching the 5th MDG can be achieved if the first three MDG goals are focused on, i.e., eradication of poverty, achieving universal education and women empowerment