Thyroid Function and Thyroglobulin Level in Iodine-Deficient Children of Eastern Nepal

Iodine deficiency during childhood affects physical and mental development. Iodine deficiency or excess both can negatively impact thyroid function. We conducted this study to assess iodine nutrition and thyroid function in children with insufficient urinary iodine concentration. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among the selected schools of Udayapur district. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured in 1012 school children (6-14 years). Based on UIC data, 83 blood samples were collected to measure serum thyroglobulin (Tg), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), and free thyroxine (fT4). UIC was measured by ammonium persulfate digestion method, and Tg, TSH, fT4, and fT3 were measured using ELISA kits. The median UIE was 236 µg/L, and 11.1% of the children had insufficient UIC. The mean fT3, fT4, and TSH in children with insufficient UIC were 2.55±0.43 pg/mL, 0.96±0.28 ng/dL, and 3.60±1.44 mIU/L respectively. Among children with low UIC levels, the median Tg was 17.5 ng/mL. Overt hypothyroidism was seen in 6%, and subclinical hypothyroidism in 3.6%. The children had sufficient iodine nutrition, and the frequency of thyroid dysfunction was low among the children with insufficient UIC

Effect of seedling age, seeding density and nitrogen fertilizer on growth and grain yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is first staple crop of Nepal. The national average yield of rice is less than its potential yield, for which poor agronomic management has been reported as the critical factor. Among various agro-management practices seedling age, seeding density and nitrogen rates significantly affect the growth and yield of rice. The lower seeding density produces the taller plant, more effective tiller, lower sterility and higher grain yield. On the other hand, seedling of older age from higher seeding density gives the lowest yield. Transplanting younger seedling with low seeding density and application of recommended dose of nitrogen gives a higher yield. This article summarizes various effects of seedling age, seeding density and nitrogen rates on plant height, number of effective tillers, number of filled grains, thousand grain weight and grain yield of rice. This information may be useful for maize growers and researchers

Psychological distress and quality of life among Opioid Agonist Treatment service users with a history of injecting and non-injecting drug use: A cross-sectional study in Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: Opioid use disorder is a serious public health problem in Nepal. People who use opioids often experience psychological distress and poor quality of life. Opioid agonist Treatment (OAT) is central in managing opioid dependence. This study aimed to examine factors associated with quality of life and serious psychological distress among OAT service users in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal and compare those who had injected opioids prior to OAT and those who had not. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 231 was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire, the Nepalese versions of the Kessler 6 psychological distress scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL-BREF). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken to examine factors associated with quality of life and serious psychological distress. Results: Most participants were males (92%) and about half had injected opioids before initiating OAT. Serious psychological distress in the past four weeks was significantly more prevalent among participants with a history of injecting (32.2%) than those who did not inject (15.9%). In the adjusted linear regression model, those who had history of injecting were likely to have lower physical quality of life compared to non-injectors. Those self-reporting a past history of mental illness were more than seven times and those with medical comorbidity twice more likely to have serious psychological distress over last four weeks. Lower socioeconomic status and a history of self-reported mental illness in the past were found to be significantly associated with lower quality of life on all four domains. Conclusion: Those who had history of injecting were younger, had frequent quit attempts, higher medical comorbidity, lower socioeconomic status and remained longer in OAT services. Alongside OAT, the complex and entangled needs of service users, especially those with a history of injecting drugs, need to be addressed to improve quality of life and lessen psychological distress. Copyright: © 2023 Pant et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.[Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (DIKU) ]: [2018/10039]publishedVersio

Effect of integrated watershed management on vegetation cover, soil organic carbon and soil fertility in mid-hills of Nepal

This research was objectively carried out to evaluate the effect of integrated management on watersheds. Thus, well managed and poorly managed watersheds were selected; where samples from three altitudinal ranges, four land use types and three consecutive soil depths were taken. Changes in vegetation cover was also analysed. The result showed an increase in vegetation cover by 27.82 % in well managed, and decrease in vegetation cover by 38.33% in poorly managed watershed from 1992 to 2015.  Soil organic carbon was found highest (43.57 t/ha) in shrublands of altitudinal range of 1700 -2000 m of well managed, and lowest (3.94 t/ha) in shrublands of below 1700m in poorly managed watershed. This paper summarises that the integrated watershed management is crucial for increasing organic carbon content at the watershed level, as a contribution to climate change mitigation.Keywords: Soil organic carbon, soil fertility indicators, watershed management, vegetation cover

Acid Peptic Disease among Patients with Acute Abdomen Visiting the Department of Emergency Medicine in a Tertiary Care Centre

Introduction: Acid peptic disease is caused by excessive acid secretion or weakened mucosal defense. Symptoms include epigastric pain, bloating, and nausea. Factors like gastric acid, Helicobacter pylori infection, alcohol consumption, smoking, and stress contribute to peptic ulcers. Imbalances between offensive and defensive factors can lead to ulcers. Acid-related disorders impact the quality of life and mortality. Accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment are vital. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of acid peptic disease among patients with acute abdomen in the Department of Emergency Medicine in a tertiary care centre. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 2 April 2022 and 2 April 2023 among the patients presented in the Department of Emergency Medicine in a tertiary care centre. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee. All patients presenting with acute abdominal pain in the Emergency Department were included in the study. Patients not giving consent were excluded from the study. Convenience sampling method was used. The point estimate was calculated at a 95% Confidence Interval. Results: Out of the 400 patients with acute abdomen, the prevalence of acid peptic disease was found to be 87 (21.75%) (17.71-25.79, 95% Confidence Interval). Conclusions: The prevalence of acid peptic disease among patients with acute abdomen was found to be lower than in other studies performed in similar settings

Sodium Houttuyfonate Alleviates Post-infarct Remodeling in Rats via AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway

With the chronic ischemia persisting after acute myocardial infarction, the accompanying low-degree inflammation and subsequent fibrosis result in progression of cardiac remodeling and heart failure. Recently, Sodium Houttuyfonate (SH), a pure compound extracted from Houttuynia cordata, has been confirmed exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects under diseased situations. Here, we aimed to investigate whether SH could reverse the cardiac remodeling post-myocardial infarction by alleviating cardiac inflammation and fibrosis. Left anterior descending coronary artery of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats was ligated to elicit myocardial infarction. Low and high dose of SH was administered by oral gavage for four consecutive weeks post-myocardial infarction. Long-term SH treatment decreased heart rate, heart weight/ body weight (HW/BW), and left ventricle weight/body weight (LVW/BW), reduced cardiac expression of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), improved left ventricular heart function, and ameliorated the histopathological changes caused by myocardial infarction. Western blotting revealed the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), collagen I, and collagen III of the infarcted ventricle were reduced by SH treatment. Meanwhile, we found that SH treatment post-myocardial infarction activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and suppressed nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65). Furthermore, on H9C2 cells induced hypoxic injury with cobalt chloride (CoCl2), the reduction of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β), activation of AMPK, and suppression of NF-κB p65 were also observed by SH treatment. However, transfection of H9C2 with AMPKα siRNA blunted the suppression of NF-κB p65 and inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β) by SH post-hypoxia. Taken together, these findings suggested that long-term administration of SH post-myocardial infarction reduced cardiac inflammatory and fibrotic responses, and reversed cardiac remodeling process. The underlying mechanism may be activating AMPK and suppressing NF-κB pathway

Design of Cold-In-Place Recycling using Superpave gyratory compactor

The main objective of this study is to validate the proposed performance based seven step mix design procedure for Cold-In-Place Recycling using RAP from different sources and to evaluate the mechanical characteristics and performance of the designed CIR mixtures.The representative samples of Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) were obtained from milling of streets from three different locations around Reno area (Redrock, Matterhorn and Alturus). Two RAP gradations which satisfy the requirement of the Pacific Coast Conference on Asphalt Specification (PCCAS) were chosen for the validation purpose. The mix designs were performed without using additives, with 1.0% hydrated lime and 0.5% Portland cement in order to compare the impact of additives on the performance of each mixes. For all three sources of RAP, the mix design was performed in accordance with the proposed seven step mix design procedure to come up with the best two combinations of emulsion content and water content.The designed CIR mixes were further evaluated for moisture susceptibility and raveling test. Out of the two combinations, the one which performed better in moisture susceptibility and raveling test was chosen as an optimum emulsion content and optimum water content. The tensile strength of CIR mixes without additives; with 1.0% hydrated lime and 0.5% Portland cement were also compared at different freeze-thaw cycles for some mixes. Once the optimum emulsion content and water content were decided for all the mixes, dynamic modulus property of all CIR mixtures were evaluated and the corresponding master curves were developed for by using time-temperature superposition principle. Furthermore, the rutting resistance of all the CIR mixtures were also evaluated in term of the flow number

Evaluation of Performace of Different Varieties of Potato (Sonalum tuberosum L.) in Bajhang, Nepal

A study to Evaluate the performance of different varieties of potato was conducted in Daulichaur, Bajhang from February to June, 2021. Six commonly grown potato varieties namely Cardinal, Janakdev, Khumal rato-2, Khumal Ujjwol, MS 42.3 and Bajhang local were used for the study. An experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 6 treatments replicating 4 times each. The data on plant height, number of main stems per hill, number of leaves, and canopy diameter were taken at different days after planting (DAP) and the data on number and weight of tubers were taken after harvesting of potato. Data entry and analysis was done in MS-Excel and R-Studio. Significant variation among the varieties in terms of plant height, main stem per hill, canopy diameter and leaves number per plant was observed. Number of stems per hill was found maximum (3.88) and minimum (1.63) on Bajhang local and Janakdev respectively. Plant height is found maximum on Janakdev (42.75 cm) and minimum on Khumal rato-2 (21.45 cm). The maximum (40.90) and minimum (27.55) number of leaves per plant was recorded on Khumal Ujjwol and Cardinal while maximum and minimum canopy diameter was observed on Bajhang local (40.90 cm) and Khumal rato-2 (36.12 cm). Similarly, yield and all the yield attributing parameters was found significant at 5% level of significance. Highest number of tuber per plant was observed on Bajhang local (17.25) and lowest number of tuber per plant was observed on Khumal rato-2 (8.25) in which highest number of marketable size tuber per plant (>25g) was recorded on Khumal Ujjwol (12.05) and lowest number of marketable size tuber per plant (<25g) was recorded on Khumal rato-2 (5.75) but variation among the varieties in case of unmarketable tuber per plant was non-significant. Highest tuber weight per plant (485.50g) and lowest tuber weight per plant (306.25g) was recorded from Khumal Ujjwol and MS 42.3 respectively. The highest tuber yield was recorded from Khumal Ujjwol (40.45 t/ha) and lowest from MS 42.3 (25.52 t/ha)

Evaluation of WELD Landsat Data for Monitoring Land Cover Change in the Pacific Northwest

In the United States, approximately 1.7 percent of the land surface changed between 2001 and 2006 and the highest land change occurred in the Pacific Northwest. In 27 years (1973-2000), the Coast Range, the Willamette Valley, and the Cascades ecoregions, the rate of land cover change was 26, 15, and 25 percent respectively, which is the highest among all the ecoregions of the United States. Land cover change is an important element of environmental change at all scales, so precise information is essential to ensure the optimum use of land resources, efficient management, and mitigation of the possible impacts of land cover change on the environment. The WELD Landsat is a new remotely sensed dataset that provides a viable source of information for monitoring land cover change. This study assessed the land cover change of three ecoregions (the Coast Range, the Willamette Valley, and the Cascades) and compared the pixel agreement between the WELD Landsat land cover maps with the USGS Land Cover Trends Project land cover maps. The WELD Landsat data was classified with unsupervised ISODATA clustering to map the land cover dynamics of these ecoregions, and 18 block maps, each with an area of 100 sq. km. (10 km by 10 km), equivalent to that of the Trends maps, were acquired to compare the blocks. In total, 2.3 percent of the land cover changed with an annual change of 0.46 percent between 2006 and 2010. Spatial comparison between the WELD Landsat map and the Trends map yielded an overall agreement of 89 percent with a kappa coefficient of 0.85. The result showed that the WELD Landsat data offers a high potential for land cover and other bio-physical change monitoring