Practices of face mask use and associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic among school-going children in Shimla city

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the practices of face mask use and associated factors during the COVID-19 pandemic among school-going children in Shimla city.Methods: An observational study was performed in October 2021 to November 2021, with 703 students chosen using a simple random sampling procedure in Shimla city. Data was collected based on observation and analyzed using Epi info version 7. To predict the relationship between the student mask-wearing compliance and its associated factors, a univariate analysis was done.Results: A total of 703 students, 41.8% (n=294) were males while 58.2% (n=409) were females, 40.5% (n=285) 15 years of age. 97.2% (n=683) were Hindu and 72% (n=506) were studying in Government schools. All of the observed (100%) were wearing masks. 76.2% (n=536) students were using cloth mask, 12.1% (n=85) N95 masks while 11.7% (n=82) surgical masks. 81.8% (n=575) covered their mouth, as well as nose, 3.7% (n=26), had masks below the chin, 2.6% (n=18) had only their mouth covered while 11.9% (n=84) had partially covered their nose. Cloth mask was considerably more used by girls besides that there was no significant difference in the type of face mask according to age, standard of class, father’s occupation and type of school. The face mask was significantly more appropriately used by the students <15 years old and studied in junior classes, there was no significant difference in mask-wearing habits according to gender, father’s occupation and type of school.Conclusions: Every student was wearing a mask, and most had good face coverage. School authorities should plan and implement IEC activities, about, types of face masks and their proper usage

Oxygen requirements in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children admitted in tertiary care hospital of North India

Background: Study was aimed to describe the oxygen requirements among children admitted as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, from January 2021 to July 2021, in the pediatric ward of Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla. Children admitted with a diagnosis of MIS-C were included. Data regarding socio-demographic factors and oxygen requirements were extracted and analyzed using Epi Info V7 software.Results: A total 31 children diagnosed as MIS-C were included. Tachypnea was present in 18 (58.1%) respiratory distress in 15 (48.4%). Optimal oxygen saturation (SpO2) more than 94% in 9 (25.8%), 93-94% in 8 (25.8%), 91-92% in 5 (16.1%), 86-90% in 2 (6.5%), 81-85% in 4 (12.9%), 75-80% in 1 (3.2%), 71-75% in 1 (3.2%) and <60% in 1 (3.2%). Oxygen at the rate of 2 l/min in 1 (3.2%), 3 l/min in 2 (6.5%), 4 l/min in 1 (3.2%), 5 l/min in 5 (16.1%) and 10 l/min in 9 (29.0%), was given through nasal prong in 1 (3.2%), Venturi mask in 3 (9.7%), NRM in 7 (22.6%) and mechanical ventilation in 7 (22.6%). Duration was for 2 days in 4 (12.9%), for 3 days in 7 (22.6%), for 4 days in 3 (9.7%), for 7 days in 1 (3.2%), for 10 days in 1 (3.2%), for 11 days in 1 (3.2%) and for 13 days in 1 (3.2%). Ventilatory support was given to 7 (22.6%), for 4 days in 2 (6.5%), for 7 days in 2 (6.5%), for 10 days in 1 (3.2%), for 11 days in 1 (3.2%) and for 13 days in 1 (3.2%).Conclusions: Oxygen is a crucial component of MIS-C therapy, children, observing a dip in SpO2 level should immediately start oxygen therapy

Bibliometric Survey of Privacy of Social Media Network Data Publishing

We are witness to see exponential growth of the social media network since the year 2002. Leading social media networking sites used by people are Twitter, Snapchats, Facebook, Google, and Instagram, etc. The latest global digital report (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick 2019) states that there exist more than 800 million current online social media users, and the number is still exploding day by day. Users share their day to day activities such as their photos and locations etc. on social media platforms. This information gets consumed by third party users, like marketing companies, researchers, and government firms. Depending upon the purpose, there is a possibility of misuse of the user\u27s personal & sensitive information. Users\u27 sensitive information breaches can further utilized for building a personal profile of individual users and also lead to the unlawful tracing of the individual user, which is a major privacy threat. Thus it is essential to first anonymize users\u27 information before sharing it with any of the third parties. Anonymization helps to prevent exposing sensitive information to the third party and avoids its misuse too. But anonymization leads to information loss, which indirectly affects the utility of data; hence, it is necessary to balance between data privacy and utility of data. This research paper presents a bibliometric analysis of social media privacy and provides the exact scope for future research. The research objective is to analyze different research parameters and get insights into privacy in Social Media Network (OSN). The research paper provides visualization of the big picture of research carried on the privacy of the social media network from the year 2010 to 2019 (covers the span of 19 years). Research data is taken from different online sources such as Google Scholar, Scopus, and Research-gate. Result analysis has been carried out using open source tools such as Gephi and GPS Visualizer. Maximum publications of privacy of the social media network are from articles and conferences affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Science, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Social networking is a frequently used keyword by the researchers in the privacy of the online social media network. Major Contribution in this subject area is by the computer science research community, and the least research contribution is from art and science. This study will clearly give an understanding of contributions in the privacy of social media network by different organizations, types of contributions, more cited papers, Authors contributing more in this area, the number of patents in the area, and overall work done in the area of privacy of social media network

Cocos nucifera L. inflorescence extract: An effective hepatoprotective agent

The flowering inflorescence of Cocos nucifera, a main constituent of several traditional drug formulations was investigated with a view to study the effect of the acetone extract of C. nucifera inflorescence (CnAE) on acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity. The total phenol and flavonoid contents of the extract are found to be 222.6 µg gallic acid equivalent/g and 120.8 µg quercetin equivalent/g, respectively. The LD50 value was &gt;5000 mg/kg b.w. The antioxidant activity was assessed using three methods, namely, 2,2’- diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl assay, 2,2’-azinobis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay and the IC50 values were found to be 65.72, 66.94 and 89.84 μg/mL, respectively. Effect of CnAE (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg b.w.) and silymarin (100 mg/kg b.w.) against acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity was evaluated in Wistar rats. The study showed that CnAE pre-treated groups remarkably prevented the increase in serum alanine amino transferase, aspartate amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase level and decrease in the level of liver superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidise. The extract also suppressed the elevated level of malondialdehyde. The biochemical determinations supported the histopathological examination and blood parameter findings. The findings of our study indicated that the phenolic-rich CnAE could be an interesting alternative candidate against acetaminophen-induced hepato-toxicity and associated oxidative stress

Cocos nucifera L. inflorescence extract: An effective hepatoprotective agent

128-136The flowering inflorescence of Cocos nucifera, a main constituent of several traditional drug formulations was investigated with a view to study the effect of the acetone extract of C. nucifera inflorescence (CnAE) on acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity. The total phenol and flavonoid contents of the extract are found to be 222.6 &micro;g gallic acid equivalent/g and 120.8 &micro;g quercetin equivalent/g, respectively. The LD50 value was &gt;5000 mg/kg b.w. The antioxidant activity was assessed using three methods, namely, 2,2&rsquo;- diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl assay, 2,2&rsquo;-azinobis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay and the IC50 values were found to be 65.72, 66.94 and 89.84 &mu;g/mL, respectively. Effect of CnAE (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg b.w.) and silymarin (100 mg/kg b.w.) against acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity was evaluated in Wistar rats. The study showed that CnAE pre-treated groups remarkably prevented the increase in serum alanine amino transferase, aspartate amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase level and decrease in the level of liver superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidise. The extract also suppressed the elevated level of malondialdehyde. The biochemical determinations supported the histopathological examination and blood parameter findings. The findings of our study indicated that the phenolic-rich CnAE could be an interesting alternative candidate against acetaminophen-induced hepato-toxicity and associated oxidative stress

From Challenges to Creativity: Enhancing SMEs’ Resilience in the Context of COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant and multiple challenges for SMEs. While SMEs have traditionally faced financial and non-financial crises, the pandemic has brought about additional uncertainties on how to maintain business continuity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how SMEs can mitigate against COVID-19-related crisis by examining the impacts that the pandemic has had on them through a review of 34 articles. The thematic analysis from the literature covered three overarching and inter-related challenges including (i) cost and finance-related challenges, (ii) disruption of activities, and (iii) existential difficulties. The paper’s value lies in addressing the gap between the espoused literature’s claim of the beneficial impact of new technological advancements and SMEs’ ability to survive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional value of this paper is a framework of recommendations to help enhance SMEs’ resilience and responsiveness in the context of COVID-19. These recommendations include collaboration, openness, taking advantage of opportunities/victory, and durability

From Challenges to Creativity: Enhancing SMEs’ Resilience in the Context of COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant and multiple challenges for SMEs. While SMEs have traditionally faced financial and non-financial crises, the pandemic has brought about additional uncertainties on how to maintain business continuity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how SMEs can mitigate against COVID-19-related crisis by examining the impacts that the pandemic has had on them through a review of 34 articles. The thematic analysis from the literature covered three overarching and inter-related challenges including (i) cost and finance-related challenges, (ii) disruption of activities, and (iii) existential difficulties. The paper’s value lies in addressing the gap between the espoused literature’s claim of the beneficial impact of new techno�logical advancements and SMEs’ ability to survive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional value of this paper is a framework of recommendations to help enhance SMEs’ resilience and responsiveness in the context of COVID-19. These recommendations include collaboration, openness, taking advantage of opportunities/victory, and durability

NewsPanda: Media Monitoring for Timely Conservation Action

Non-governmental organizations for environmental conservation have a significant interest in monitoring conservation-related media and getting timely updates about infrastructure construction projects as they may cause massive impact to key conservation areas. Such monitoring, however, is difficult and time-consuming. We introduce NewsPanda, a toolkit which automatically detects and analyzes online articles related to environmental conservation and infrastructure construction. We fine-tune a BERT-based model using active learning methods and noise correction algorithms to identify articles that are relevant to conservation and infrastructure construction. For the identified articles, we perform further analysis, extracting keywords and finding potentially related sources. NewsPanda has been successfully deployed by the World Wide Fund for Nature teams in the UK, India, and Nepal since February 2022. It currently monitors over 80,000 websites and 1,074 conservation sites across India and Nepal, saving more than 30 hours of human efforts weekly. We have now scaled it up to cover 60,000 conservation sites globally.Comment: Accepted to IAAI-23: 35th Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence. Winner of IAAI Deployed Application Award. Code at https://github.com/NewsPanda-WWF-CMU/weekly-pipelin

Forest governance in Nepal : rationale for centralised forest and wildfire management

Numerous inter-related social and institutional factors are causing concern as to effective responses to the increasing number and severity of forest and wildfires in Nepal, due in similar measure to socio-cultural, politico-bureaucratic as well as global climatic issues. Our binational team of multisectoral field practitioners in bureaucratic as well as natural resource and fire management compiled and verified background information to more clearly discern the issues affecting improved fire governance and thereupon has made supportive recommendations for the belated establishment of a dedicated unit within the Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation to coordinate, administer and manage a comprehensive forest fire management programme