Search

Low adoption of improved agricultural practices is one of the major challenges to improve food security. A case study was carried out to assist the farmer's fertilizer application gap in rice cultivation in Nepal. To collect data a household survey was conducted in 2017 by selecting 90 households randomly from rice growing pocket area of Banke district of Nepal. The rates of fertilizers use were assessed in relation to farm size, crop variety, irrigation etc. The applications of both organic and mineral fertilizers vary highly by farmer type. Small and medium farmers applied twice the amount of organic manure compared to large farmers. For inorganic fertilizer use, large farmers applied higher amounts of nitrogen (N) fertilizer compared to medium and small farmers. Across farmer types, a higher amount of N and P fertilizers was used for hybrid varieties than inbred varieties and in irrigated fields than in rainfed fields. The use of potassium (K) fertilizer was low and not affected by farmer type or variety. Overall, farmers used a lower amount of N and K and a higher amount of P than the recommendation. The imbalanced use of fertilizers was associated with poor access to agricultural extension services. Variations of fertilizer use among farmers and the role of extension in the adoption of improved practices are still under-researched, and hence this study exposes the need to investigate in-depth knowledge, determinants of fertilizer use and role of extension education. Results from this study could be important to develop an innovative extension program using multiple channels to increase farmers' access to and awareness regarding balanced use of fertilizers to increase soil fertility and crop productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large carnivores such as leopards (Panthera pardus) experience continuing threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, depletion of prey populations, and retaliatory killing following conflicts with humans. We aimed to identify factors affecting leopard occupancy and temporal overlap between leopards and tigers (P. tigris), their major prey, and human activities in the Parsa‐Koshi Complex (PKC), Nepal. We deployed 154 cameras for 21 days each along wildlife trails throughout PKC during December 2022–March 2023. We found low leopard occupancy (0.17 ± 0.04) in PKC, with greater occupancy rates within protected areas, particularly in Parsa National Park and its buffer zone. Human (63.10 ± 23) and livestock (36.46 ± 102) detections were higher across the PKC. Leopard occupancy was positively associated with the presence of tigers and prey. Temporal overlap was moderately high between leopards and tigers, as well as between leopards and their prey. Our research suggests that coexistence between leopards and tigers is likely largely facilitated by higher prey availability, which may reduce competition. Further, we demonstrate that maintaining forest cohesion can improve habitat for leopards. Intensifying use of agricultural areas could reduce forest fragmentation and increase leopard habitat overall, in turn reducing leopard depredation of livestock and improving leopard‐human co‐existence and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane proteins play a vital role in various cellular functions and are important targets for drug interactions. However, determining their local secondary structure is challenging due to their hydrophobic nature and limited experimental techniques. This study focuses on the use of electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy, in combination with site-directed spin labeling (SDSL) and 2 H-labeled amino acid side chain (d 10 -Leu), to study the local secondary structure of a recently discovered phage-encoded lytic protein, gp28. gp28 is a membrane protein with three predicted helices that plays a crucial role in the lysis process of bacteriophages that lack spanins. gp28 is an antimicrobial protein specifically involved in disrupting the outer membrane of the host cell. Through the synthesis of nine constructs of gp28 peptides, we systematically probed the three predicted helices. The local secondary structure of the gp28 protein in POPC/POPG vesicles was investigated using ESEEM spectroscopy. Additionally, the global secondary structure was verified using CD spectroscopy. Subsequently, the ESEEM technique allowed us to determine the local secondary structure within the three predicted alpha helices of gp28 in a membrane. This study revealed the presence of alpha helical structural components in all three predicted helices of gp28. These results not only enhance our comprehension of the local secondary structure of gp28 but also showcase the effectiveness of the ESEEM spectroscopic technique in studying membrane protein systems encoded by bacteriophages.

Background: Acute kidney Injury associated with Coronavirus disease COVID-19 appeared to negatively influence clinical outcomes and is found to be associated with significant risk of death. This retrospective study aimed to describe the incidence of Acute Kidney Injury, its associations with clinical characteristics and outcomes among COVID-19 patients in Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, a tertiary infectious disease hospital in Nepal., Methods: A cross-sectional study was done where. Medical and lab records of reverse transcriptase Polymerase chain reaction positive COVID-19 inpatients, admitted between April 2021 to July 2021 were reviewed. It represented the second wave of wave of coronavirus pandemic caused by the delta strain. Patients aged less than 18 years, pregnant females and patients with known chronic kidney disease were excluded Results: Of 393 admissions, 83 (21.1%) patients developed Acute Kidney Injury. Characteristics found to have significant association with development of AKI was age (p <0.001), multiple co morbidities (2 or more) (p <0.001), use of mechanical ventilation (p <0.001), lymphopenia (p<0.001), Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (p =0.001) and d-dimer levels (p <0.001). Mortality was found to be significantly higher in COVID-19 patients with AKI compared to COVID-19 patients without AKI ((36.14% vs 15.8%, p value <0.01)). The median duration of hospital stay for patients with AKI was higher than for patients without AKI (10 days vs 6 days,p <0.01)., Conclusions: AKI develops in a sizeable percentage of patients with COVID-19 and is significantly associated with increasing age, multiple comorbidities, increased biomarkers, use of mechanical ventilation and is associated with poor outcome in terms of mortality and morbidity.

Timely diagnosis and surgical intervention are crucial in managing hydrocele of the canal of Nuck. A systematic approach, including thorough examination and appropriate imaging, followed by meticulous surgical technique, ensures successful treatment and favorable long-term outcomes for patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). Clinical Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Early recognition and prompt intervention are crucial in managing aconite poisoning. Rapid treatment with intravenous magnesium sulfate and amiodarone can stabilize severe cardiac arrhythmias. Vigilant monitoring and tailored therapeutic strategies enhance recovery and improve patient outcomes in acute poisoning cases., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). Clinical Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Cannabis and its derivatives show encouraging therapeutic effects in the treatment of various diseases. However, further studies are needed to better assess their efficacy and safety. A promising base for research in the field of medicine and additional pharmacovigilance is social networks, in which experience and knowledge are exchanged between researchers, doctors, and patients, as well as information about the potential risks and benefits of using drugs for medical purposes is disseminated. The aim of this study was to investigate the reported efficiency and safety of medical use of cannabinoids in patients using posts on the social media Instagram and analyze the observed trends., Methods: Social media listening platform Apify was used to collect data with hashtags as of June 4, 2024, including posts from 2023 and 2024, with some data extending into later periods, in compliance with a systematic approach to data collection. The analysis of the data obtained from the research was conducted using the RStudio platform., Results: The analysis covered 1,466 posts containing hashtags related to cannabinoids. The posts studied were categorized as follows: 33.08% focused on advertising and commercialization, 25.58% on personal experience, 21.35% on other topics, and 19.99% contained educational content. An analysis of overall content relevance found that the majority of Instagram posts (81.79%) related to cannabis and cannabinoid hashtags are relevant. Most of the Instagram posts studied were posters, followed by personal photos and videos. The analysis shows that English dominates the studied category (70.74% of posts), while German, French, Spanish, and other languages also occupy a significant place, emphasizing the importance of a multilingual approach in content analysis. It has been revealed that organizations publish a larger percentage of posts under this study, with a higher percentage of relevance. Personal experience stories receive a significant number of "likes" indicating a strong emotional connection between audience and content. Instagram discussions about cannabinoid treatment support evidence from scientific studies about their effectiveness in treating a range of diseases, such as epilepsy with Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and HIV-cachexia, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. At the same time, they emphasize the need for further clinical studies to better assess safety, side effects, and optimal dosages. Advertising and commercial posts can contribute to increased cannabis use, highlighting the need to raise awareness of risks and strengthen preventive measures., Conclusion: Analysis of content on the social media Instagram can complement traditional scientific research by providing information on the real use of cannabis and its derivatives, contributing to the development of safe and effective recommendations for its use., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Litvinova, Baral, Wochele-Thoma, Matin, Tzvetkov, Adamska, Kamińska, Łapiński, Stolarczyk and Atanasov.)

Background/introduction: Leprosy control remains a challenge in Nepal. Single-dose rifampicin post-exposure prophylaxis (SDR-PEP) shows promise in reducing leprosy incidence among contacts of index cases, contributing to reducing the transmission of Mycobacterium (M.) leprae. This study evaluates the effectiveness of routine SDR-PEP implementation in Nepal in addition to contact screening, focusing on its impact on reducing leprosy risk among contacts and potential population-level effects., Methodology: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare leprosy case notification rates and leprosy risk among close contacts. We compared two districts implementing SDR-PEP (the intervention group) and two without (the comparator group). Data from 2015 onwards included demographics, index case types, and contact relationships. Statistical analyses, including Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival curves, assessed the impact of SDR-PEP implementation., Findings: All four districts showed a decrease in case notification rates since 2015, with the steepest decline in the intervention districts. The risk of developing leprosy among contacts was significantly lower in the intervention districts (HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.18-0.44). SDR-PEP offered 72% protection, consistent over time, as shown in Kaplan-Meier plots. The protective effect was equally strong in blood-related contacts (HR 0.29 versus 0.27 in others, p = 0.32), and the proportion of MB cases among incident cases was not significantly different post-PEP (51.4% vs. 53.6%, p = 0.82)., Conclusions: This study demonstrates the substantial protective effect of integrating SDR-PEP in routine leprosy control programs with contact screening, significantly lowering leprosy risk among contacts. SDR-PEP is equally effective for blood-related contacts and does not preferentially prevent PB cases. While suggesting potential population-level impact, the study design does not allow for firm conclusions at this level. Further research is needed to fully assess SDR-PEP's effectiveness in diverse contexts and optimize its implementation. Integrating SDR-PEP within well-organized contact screening programs is effective and is expected to reduce leprosy transmission when applied as a rolling intervention., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Banstola 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.)

Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacterium that causes gastritis and gastric carcinoma. Besides gastric complications its potential link with gut-brain axis disruption and neurological disorders has also been reported. The current study investigated the plausible role and its associated molecular mechanism underlying H. pylori mediated gut-brain axis disruption and neuroinflammation leading to neurological modalities like Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have chosen the antimicrobial resistant and susceptible H. pylori strains on the basis of broth dilution method. We have observed the increased inflammatory response exerted by H. pylori strains in the gastric as well as in the neuronal compartment after treatment with Helicobacter pylori derived condition media (HPCM). Further, elevated expression of STAT1, STAT3, and AD-associated proteins- APP and APOE4 was monitored in HPCM-treated neuronal and neuron-astrocyte co-cultured cells. Excessive ROS generation has been found in these cells. The HPCM treatment to LN229 causes astrogliosis, evidenced by increased glial fibrillary acidic protein. Our results indicate the association of STAT3 as an important regulator in the H. pylori- mediated pathogenesis in neuronal cells. Notably, the inhibition of STAT3 by its specific inhibitor, BP-1-102, reduced the expression of pSTAT3 and AD markers in neuronal compartment induced by HPCM. Thus, our study demonstrates that H. pylori infection exacerbates inflammation in AGS cells and modulates the activity of STAT3 regulatory molecules. H. pylori secretome could affect neurological compartments by promoting STAT3 activation and inducing the expression of AD-associated signature markers. Further, pSTAT-3 inhibition mitigates the H. pylori associated neuroinflammation and amyloid pathology.

The Watson-Crick base pairing property of DNA is widely used for fabricating DNA nanostructures with well-defined geometry. Moreover, DNA nanostructures can be easily modified in terms of shape, size and function at the nanoscale level. Therefore, investigation on smaller and stable branched DNA (bDNA) is of critical significance for biomedical applications. In the present communication, we report smaller and stable branched DNA (bDNA) which is of critical significance for biomedical applications. In this study, a novel strategy has been used in identifying stable bDNA nanostructures with a minimum number of Watson-Crick base pairings. The importance of hybridizing regions and helical twists between multiple oligonucleotides has been explored using various biophysical techniques. The electrophoretic analysis demonstrated that hybridizing regions with ≥12 nt nucleotides can form stable bDNA structures. Substantial negative enthalpic contributions determine the significance of base stacking and the length of oligonucleotides in the hybridization process. Finally, thermal melting investigations confirmed the creation of bDNA nanostructures with ≥12 nt long hybridizing regions. In general, our findings indicate that bDNA oligonucleotides do not undergo hybridization if the number of base pairs is lesser for a single helical turn. Furthermore, the yield and stability of smaller bDNA nanostructures in physiological conditions are comparable with the earlier reported higher-order structures. Hence, smaller bDNAs are more stable which may be preferred over conventional bDNA nanostructures for advanced biomedical applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement. None declared.

Helicobacter pylori and Epstein Barr virus (EBV) are group1 carcinogens and their role in Gastric cancer (GC) is well established. Previously we have shown that H. pylori and EBV appears to support aggressive gastric oncogenesis through the upregulation of oncoprotein Gankyrin. Natural plant active molecules have the potential to interrupt oncogenesis. Herein, we investigated the potential of Withania somnifera root extract (WSE) as a possible chemotherapeutic agent against host oncoprotein Gankyrin whose expression was altered by H. pylori and EBV-associated modified cellular milieu. The results show that WSE does not have any inhibitory effect on H. pylori and EBV-associated gene transcripts except for the lmps ( lmp1 , lmp2a, and lmp2B ). Moreover, the WSE exert their anticancer activity via host cellular response and decreased the expression of cell-migratory ( mmp3 and mmp7 ); cell-cycle regulator ( pcna ); antiapoptotic gene ( bcl2 ); increased the expression of the proapoptotic gene ( apaf1 and bax ); and tumor suppressor ( p53 , prb, and pten ). Knockdown of Gankyrin followed by the treatment of WSE also decreases the expression of TNF-ɑ, Akt, and elevated the expression of NFkB, PARP, Casp3, and Casp9. WSE also reduces cell migration, and genomic instability and forced the cells to commit programmed cell death. Moreover, molecular simulation studies revealed that out of eight active compounds of WSE, only four compounds such as withaferin A (WFA), withanoside IV (WA4), withanolide B (WNB), and withanolide D (WND) showed direct stable interaction with Gankyrin. This article reports for the first time that treatment of WSE decreased the cancerous properties through host cellular response modulation in gastric epithelial cells coinfected with H. pylori and EBV.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The intermittent nature of solar energy presents a significant challenge to its reliability, particularly in applications that require a consistent energy supply, such as cooking. This issue is especially critical in emerging economies with abundant solar resources, where sustainable energy solutions are needed to reduce reliance on traditional fuels. To address this challenge, this study introduces a novel solar thermal storage (STS), utilizing a metal-based material to accumulate and retain heat for off-sunshine hour cooking. The research focuses on optimizing aluminium as the STS material, evaluating its temperature suitability, efficiency, and heat retention capabilities for household solar cooking applications. Numerical simulations using the OpenFOAM framework were conducted to analyze heat transfer within the cooker, determining the optimal size of the aluminium block based on existing literature and predefined parameters. Practical experiments, including solar-induced heating-cooling cycles and controlled cooking tests, were carried out to validate the findings. Experimental results demonstrate STS's ability to efficiently absorb and retain heat, reaching a maximum of 235 °C during a 5.5-h heating session. The water boiling experiment further confirmed STS's practical utility, effectively transferring stored heat to cooking tasks and sustaining temperatures up to 160 °C even after the test. Additionally, experiments with black lentils and chicken stew highlighted aluminium's suitability for practical cooking applications, showcasing its ability to sustain high temperatures and efficiently transfer stored heat despite longer cooking times. The study's novelty lies in integrating numerical modeling with experimental analysis to optimize STS systems, providing practical guidelines for efficient thermal storage in cooking applications. This research advances beyond previous efforts by providing a validated methodology for the design and optimization of thermal storage systems. It improves the reliability and adaptability of solar energy for cooking applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: Recurrent squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck (SCCHN) remains a formidable clinical challenge despite available treatments. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway has been identified as a potential therapeutic target, and alpelisib, a selective PI3Kα inhibitor, has demonstrated efficacy in certain malignancies. Combining this targeted therapy with immunotherapy has been suggested in previous studies as a promising strategy to bolster the immune response against cancer., Cases: A 69-year-old woman with locoregional recurrence of PIK3CA-mutated SCC of the left maxilla and cervical nodal metastases. Several chemotherapeutic regimens, including cisplatin, docetaxel, 5FU, chemoradiotherapy, and mono-immunotherapy, resulted in disease progression. Alpelisib combined with pembrolizumab led to a sustained response for 9 months. A 58-year-old man with recurrent metastatic PIK3CA-mutated SCC of the oropharynx, involving the left lung, hilar, and mediastinal lymph nodes. Despite prior palliative radiation and platinum-based chemotherapy with pembrolizumab and cetuximab, treatment with alpelisib and nivolumab resulted in a partial response. Severe hyperglycemia and rash led to treatment discontinuation., Conclusion: Our findings highlight the potential of this innovative therapeutic combination, suggesting a need for further investigations in this setting., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)