Healthcare Workers and Burnout During COVID-19 Pandemic

Have you ever felt stuck? Or rather unmotivated and unsatisfied at your work? Maybe you do not feel like being a doctor anymore, but the fear of what will you do after; scares you more. Or maybe, you do wish to continue your medical practices but feel rather tired and let down at most times. In either scenario, you are not alone.Several healthcare workers feel underappreciated and suffer from lack of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism towards life and low sense of personal accomplishment, in short, they feel “Burnt out”. Burnout is on the rise in medical fraternity. Established professionals, residents in training, to young medical school trainees beginning their careers in medicine, none can escape from the brunt of burnout. Long working hours and increasing burden of bureaucratic tasks make the medical profession a tedious one. Continued exposure to human suffering and death introduces cynicism towards life and its purpose. Constant need to becompassionate to patients and their family members require immense mental and emotional fortitude.However, with an increase in violence against the medical fraternity,[5] a typical doctor begins to question the sanctity of the profession and feels unappreciated

Sea contribution to the charge radii and quadrupole moment of JP=12+,32+J^P=\frac{1}{2}^+, \frac{3}{2}^+ baryons

An operator formalism is used on the wavefunction of baryons to compute their charge radii and quadrupole moments. Total anti-symmetric wavefunction in spin, color and flavor space is framed for $J^P=\frac{1}{2}^+$ nucleons and $J^P=\frac{3}{2}^+$ hyperons. To understand the importance of sea, statistical model is used in conjugation with the detailed balance principle. Within the statistical approach, the importance of sea with quarks and gluons are studied using the relevant probabilities that are associated with spin, flavor, and color space. The present work also focuses on individual contributions of valence and sea which contains terms of scalar, vector and tensor sea. The obtained results are in agreement with available theories and few experimental outcomes. Our computed results may provide important information for upcoming experimental findings

Perceived Stress, Resilience, and Wellbeing in Seasoned Isha Yoga Practitioners Compared to Matched Controls During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Yoga practices, including breathing, meditation, and posture protocols (asanas), have been shown to facilitate physical and mental wellbeing. Methods: Seasoned yoga practitioners were recruited from the Isha Foundation. Recruitment of the comparison group was achieved using snowball sampling and were not yoga practitioners. Participants in the non-yoga group were randomized to a 3-min Isha practice or a comparator group asked to perform 15-min of daily reading. Participants completed a series of web-based surveys (REDCap) at baseline, 6, and 12 weeks. These surveys include validated scales and objective questions on COVID-19 infection and medical history. The validated questionnaires assess for: perceived stress (PSS), mood states [anxiety and depression (PHQ-4), joy (DPES-Joy subscale)], mindfulness attention and awareness (MAAS), resilience (BRS), mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) and recovery from traumatic event (PTGI). Weekly activity diaries were employed as a tool for collecting compliance information from study participants. Perceived stress scale scores were identified as primary outcome for this study. Findings: The median Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) score for the yoga practitioners compared to the active and placebo comparators was significantly lower at all time-points: baseline: 11 [IQR 7–15] vs. 16 [IQR 12–21] in both the active and placebo comparators (p \u3c 0.0001); 6 weeks: 9 [IQR 6–13] vs. 12 [IQR 8–17] in the active comparator and 14 [IQR 9–18] in the placebo comparator (p \u3c 0.0001); and 12 weeks: 9 [IQR 5–13] vs. 11.5 [IQR 8–16] in the active comparators and 13 [IQR 8–17] in the placebo comparator (p \u3c 0.0001). Among the randomized participants that were compliant for the full 12 weeks, the active comparators had significantly lower median PSS scores than the placebo comparators 12 weeks [10 (IQR 5–14) vs. 13 (IQR 8–17), p = 0.017]. Further, yoga practitioners had significantly lower anxiety at all three-time points (p \u3c 0.0001), lower depression at baseline and 6 weeks (p \u3c 0.0003), and significantly higher wellbeing (p \u3c 0.0001) and joy (p \u3c 0.0001) at all three-time points, compared to the active and placebo comparator groups. Interpretation: The lower levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and higher level of wellbeing and joy seen in the yoga practitioners compared to the active and placebo comparators illustrate the impact of regular yoga practices on mental health even during the pandemic

Low-smoke chulha in Indian slums: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background Biomass fuel is used as a primary cooking source by more than half of the world’s population, contributing to a high burden of disease. Although cleaner fuels are available, some households continue using solid fuels because of financial constraints and absence of infrastructure, especially in non-notified slums. The present study documents a randomised controlled study investigating the efficacy of improved cookstove on the personal exposure to air pollution and the respiratory health of women and children in an Indian slum. The improved cookstove was based on co-creation of a low-smoke chulha with local communities in order to support adaption and sustained uptake. Methods The study will be conducted in a non-notified slum called Ashrayanagar in Bangalore, India. The study design will be a 1:1 randomised controlled intervention trial, including 250 households. The intervention group will receive an improved cookstove (low-smoke chulha) and the control group will continue using either the traditional cookstove (chulha) or a combination of the traditional stove and the kerosene/diesel stove. Follow-up time is 1 year. Outcomes include change in lung function (FEV1/FVC), incidence of pneumonia, change in personal PM2.5 and CO exposure, incidence of respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, wheeze and shortness of breath), prevalence of other related symptoms (headache and burning eyes), change in behaviour and adoption of the stove. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Indian Institute of Public Health Hyderabad- Bengaluru Campus. Discussion The findings from this study aim to provide insight into the effects of improved cookstoves in urban slums. Results can give evidence for the decrease of indoor air pollution and the improvement of respiratory health for children and women. Trial registration The trial was registered with clinicaltrials.gov on 21 June 2016 with the identifier NCT02821650; A Study to Test the Impact of an Improved Chulha on the Respiratory Health of Women and Children in Indian Slums

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Structure Dependent Vibration and Elastic Properties of Nanocomposites

Abstract High thermal and chemical stability of double walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNT) can be used in various applications such as gas sensors, nanoelectronic devices, nanocomposites, emitters and dielectric devices etc. In this work, their application in nanocomposites is explored. Vibration characteristics and elastic properties of DWCNT reinforced composites are evaluated. Computational approach using multiscale modeling is adopted in which the structure of DWCNT is modeled using atomistic approach. While considering the matrix material as continuum medium. Two types of DWCNT structure are considered ie. zig zag and armchair. The simplicity of model enabled to explore the effect of structure, diameter and number of walls of DWCNT on elastic as well as vibration properties of composite. Vibration frequency of nanocomposite with zig zag and armchair DWCNT is determined for different modes. At higher mode number, higher frequency of nanocomposite is observed. With the increase in stiffness of matrix, the natural frequency of composite increases. The difference between natural frequencies of zig zag and armchair DWCNT composites is significant for the case of higher combination of DWCNTs. Increasing the number of walls in MWCNT increases the natural frequency of composite. Armchair structure is found to provide greater reinforcement than zig zag structure. From the results it is concluded that structure of DWCNT plays an important role in determining the vibration as well as elastic properties of the nanocomposite. Computational results obtained from present model are found to be in good agreement with the results from other modeling techniques

Differential responses of plumbagin content in Plumbago zeylanica L. (Chitrak) under controlled water stress treatments

A pot experiment was conducted on Plumbago zeylanica L. (Chitrak) under controlled water stress environment in greenhouse during the kharif season. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with five treatments of different water stress levels i.e. control, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% and four replications. Out of five stress levels, 80% water stress has influenced root length, dry herbage, plumbagin, potassium and proline content. In control conditions the plant height, number of leaf, total leaf area, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthesis, CO2 utilization, H2O utilization and chlorophyll were found to be maximum. The impact of water stress on plumbagin content has shown increase trend with respect to different water stress levels that is maximum at 80 % and minimum at control

Monocytes isolated by positive and negative magnetic sorting techniques show different molecular characteristics and immunophenotypic behaviour [version 3; referees: 2 approved]

Background: Magnetic sorting of cells, based on  microbead conjugated antibodies (Abs), employs positive as well as negative immunomagnetic separation methods, for isolation of a specific cell population. These microbeads are suggested to be nontoxic, biodegradable carriers conjugated to various antibodies. Isolation of cells through positive selection involves the attachment of antibody conjugated microbeads to the cells of interest, followed by their isolation in the presence of a strong magnetic field to obtain higher purity. Negative selection involves attachment of microbead conjugated antibodies to all other cell populations except the cells of interest, which remain untagged. In the present study, we compared the two methods for their effect on functional and immunophenotypic behavior of isolated CD14+ monocytes. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from blood collected from healthy volunteers by density gradient centrifugation. Human blood derived monocytes were isolated through positive selection and negative selection, making use of the appropriate monocyte isolation kit. Monocytes were then stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and their activation and proliferation capacity were examined. The degradation or dissociation of cell-bound microbeads was also investigated. Results: We observed an impaired LPS sensitivity as well as poor activation and proliferation capacity upon stimulation by LPS in positively sorted CD14+ monocytes as compared to negatively sorted CD14+ monocytes. The attached microbeads did not degrade and remained attached to the cells even after 6 days of culture. Conclusions: Our results suggest that positively sorted CD14+ cells exhibit hampered functionality and may result in inaccurate analysis and observations in downstream applications. However, these cells can be used for immediate analytical procedures