ICDS in India: Policy, Design and Delivery Issues

India's excellent economic growth in the last two decades has made little impact on the nutrition levels of its children. Its main intervention, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, has not yet succeeded in reducing child malnutrition. The programme is reaching less than one?third of all children. ICDS also faces substantial operational challenges, such as lack of monitoring. The article discusses the flaws in the design of ICDS, and suggests practical measures to improve its implementation. It argues that the basic nature of the ICDS scheme should be changed from centre?based to outreach?based, with a focus on children under two years old. The emphasis should be on the difficult tasks of changing child?rearing practices, and the control and treatment of infectious diseases. The article argues against provision of packaged food, as this is unpopular with young children and has led to corruption

Targeted Therapies in Cancer Treatment: Unveiling the Latest Breakthroughs and Promising Approaches

This review article delves into the realm of cancer treatment, specifically focusing on targeted therapies. It aims to present the most recent breakthroughs and promising approaches in this rapidly evolving field. Targeted therapies have emerged as a revolutionary approach in cancer treatment, aiming to selectively and precisely attack cancer cells while sparing normal tissues. This article explores various targeted therapy strategies, including monoclonal antibodies, small molecule inhibitors, immunotherapies, and gene therapies. In recent years, there have been significant advancements in understanding the molecular and genetic basis of cancer, which has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets. The article sheds light on these newly discovered targets and highlights their potential in designing more effective and personalized treatment regimens for cancer patients. Furthermore, the review addresses the challenges and limitations associated with targeted therapies, such as resistance mechanisms and the heterogeneity of tumors. Strategies to overcome these obstacles are discussed, including combination therapies and the development of next-generation targeted agents. The role of precision medicine in cancer treatment is also explored, emphasizing the importance of biomarker-guided therapy selection to optimize treatment outcomes. Additionally, the review touches upon the integration of targeted therapies with conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, to enhance overall treatment efficacy. Finally, the article examines ongoing clinical trials and preclinical studies that are investigating cutting-edge targeted therapies, showcasing the potential impact of these approaches in transforming cancer care. In conclusion, targeted therapies in cancer treatment represent a rapidly expanding field with remarkable breakthroughs and promising avenues. Understanding the latest advancements and challenges in this domain is essential to harness the full potential of targeted therapies and ultimately improve patient outcomes in the battle against cancer

Estimation of Pesticide Residues in Fruits, Vegetables and Water

Nowadays, pesticide use is on increase day by day in every field of life like agriculture, household and in industry. Most of the pesticides are not biodegradable and those which are degradable cannot degrade completely. Hence, they reach to our fruits, vegetables, grains and water bodies. Even after washing the pesticide residues left in our foodstuffs. Since last decade, it has been observed that analysed pesticide residues were either BDL or < MRL in the majority of samples. In this study vegetable, fruits and grains are an important food item and proper care should be taken to use the very safe pesticide fort avoiding potential risks to human. It is, therefore, suggested that the food item collected from in and around Lucknow City, India is comparatively safe from pesticide residues. A periodical monitoring of pesticide residues in other food commodities is the recent need for the consumers as well as authorities of food quality control

Estimation of Pesticide Residues in Fruits, Vegetables and Water

Nowadays, pesticide use is on increase day by day in every field of life like agriculture, household and in industry. Most of the pesticides are not biodegradable and those which are degradable cannot degrade completely. Hence, they reach to our fruits, vegetables, grains and water bodies. Even after washing the pesticide residues left in our foodstuffs. Since last decade, it has been observed that analysed pesticide residues were either BDL or < MRL in the majority of samples. In this study vegetable, fruits and grains are an important food item and proper care should be taken to use the very safe pesticide fort avoiding potential risks to human. It is, therefore, suggested that the food item collected from in and around Lucknow City, India is comparatively safe from pesticide residues. A periodical monitoring of pesticide residues in other food commodities is the recent need for the consumers as well as authorities of food quality control

The Drug Discovery Development for Treatment of Tuberculosis

Since decades Tuberculosis (TB) has been a foremost cause of mortality and morbidity with more than one-third of the world population infected with latent TB. Recent fight with an age old disease continuously smack with a dawdling approach toward its treatment. In spite of extensive researches in this field for combating the disease we are lacking behind in race with its causing agent Microbacterium Tuberculosis. Multidrug (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis creates the worldwide open threat to human welfare. Thus there is a need of swift researches for its combat. Here in this review we are giving a brief description towards various chemical agents which have been used for its therapy and new families arrived as a potential drug candidate till date. Keywords: Tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Multidrug resistance (MDR), Extensively drug resistance (XDR), Directly Observed Treatment (DOTs), Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Short-course, Nanoparticles, Drug deliver

Estimation of pesticide residues in fruits, vegetables and water

Nowadays, pesticide use is on increase day by day in every field of life like agriculture, household and in industry. Most of the pesticides are not biodegradable and those which are degradable cannot degrade completely. Hence, they reach to our fruits, vegetables, grains and water bodies. Even after washing the pesticide residues left in our foodstuffs. Since last decade, it has been observed that analysed pesticide residues were either BDL or < MRL in the majority of samples. In this study vegetable, fruits and grains are an important food item and proper care should be taken to use the very safe pesticide fort avoiding potential risks to human. It is, therefore, suggested that the food item collected from in and around Lucknow City, India is comparatively safe from pesticide residues. A periodical monitoring of pesticide residues in other food commodities is the recent need for the consumers as well as authorities of food quality control

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Stage-Specific Changes in Plasmodium Metabolism Required for Differentiation and Adaptation to Different Host and Vector Environments

Malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.) encounter markedly different (nutritional) environments during their complex life cycles in the mosquito and human hosts. Adaptation to these different host niches is associated with a dramatic rewiring of metabolism, from a highly glycolytic metabolism in the asexual blood stages to increased dependence on tricarboxylic acid (TCA) metabolism in mosquito stages. Here we have used stable isotope labelling, targeted metabolomics and reverse genetics to map stage-specific changes in Plasmodium berghei carbon metabolism and determine the functional significance of these changes on parasite survival in the blood and mosquito stages. We show that glutamine serves as the predominant input into TCA metabolism in both asexual and sexual blood stages and is important for complete male gametogenesis. Glutamine catabolism, as well as key reactions in intermediary metabolism and CoA synthesis are also essential for ookinete to oocyst transition in the mosquito. These data extend our knowledge of Plasmodium metabolism and point towards possible targets for transmission-blocking intervention strategies. Furthermore, they highlight significant metabolic differences between Plasmodium species which are not easily anticipated based on genomics or transcriptomics studies and underline the importance of integration of metabolomics data with other platforms in order to better inform drug discovery and design