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Introduction: Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also known as mass hysteria (MH), is a mental health disorder that frequently occurs in Nepal. It primarily affects female students in government high schools and occurs during the course of the school day over a few days without corresponding organic causes. Purpose of the study: This study set out to evaluate and give neuroeducation with the goal of preventing and/or managing MPI after documenting the existing state of knowledge regarding MPI. Materials and methods: A total of 234 female students in grades 6 through 10 who attended MH-affected schools (SMH, n = 119) and schools without a mass hysteria history (SNOMH, n = 114) participated in this mass hysteria awareness study. Participants received written pre- and posttests formatted as questionnaires before and after receiving neuroeducation by watching a drama, viewing a human brainspinal cord model demonstration, and attending an instructive lecture on the human neurological system, stress, and mass hysteria. Results: Our neuroeducation awareness study on mass hysteria was found to be effective among all of the participants from both SMH and SNOMH. The results indicated that the aforementioned neuroeducation tools are more effective in improving knowledge about mental stress differently in different grades of SMH and SNOMH students. The basic understanding of the human neurological system was not improved by the neuroeducation tool, according to our findings. Conclusion: Our study suggests that using day-structured neuroeducational tools might be an efficient way to treat mass psychogenic illness in Nepal.

Introduction: Blood pressure measurement has a great implication in medicine. Every medical personnel should have a sound knowledge regarding blood pressure measurement. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the knowledge regarding blood pressure measurement among first and second year medical students of a medical college. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by Department of Physiology of Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences from June to December 2021 after receiving the ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee with registration number 394. One hundred ninety-seven students from first and second year were included in the study using whole sampling technique. Data was entered and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2019 and Statistical Package for Social sciences version 16.0. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage for binary data and mean, standard deviation for continuous data were calculated. Results: Among 197 students from first and second year, 175 (88.83%) had satisfactory knowledge regarding blood pressure measurement with score≥8 in Objective Structured Practical Examination. Eighty five (85.86%) students from first year and 90 (91.84%) students from second year had scores ≥8, hence had satisfactory knowledge on blood pressure measurement. A total of 18 (18.18%) first year students achieved a score of 10, while 24 (24.49%) students of the second year scored 12, which were the modal score. Conclusions: The proportion of first and second year students having satisfactory knowledge regarding blood pressure measurement is higher in our study.

Introduction: Spirometry is the physiological test that measures how an individual breathes air volumes as a function of time. Smoking produces an increase in epithelial damage, cellular inflammatory infiltrates, muscles and fibrosis in respiratory airways and is responsible for acute respiratory various illnesses. Early identification of reduction in lung function of smokers by spirometry can be very important in order to encourage them to stop smoking. Methods: This study included a total of 106 individuals, 51 were smokers and 55 were non-smokers. The participants performed spirometry in the sitting position by open circuit method. Parameters of spirometry FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR were recorded in the form of a percentage of predicted. Results: The mean FVC in smokers and non-smokers was 99.98±9.88% and 102.97±8.03% respectively (p=0.092). The mean FEV1 in smokers and non-smokers was 99.65±9.61% and 104.58±10.03% respectively (p=0.011). The mean FEV1/FVC ratio in smokers and non-smokers was 103.25±4.60% and 105.57±5.10% respectively (p=0.016). The mean PEFR in smokers and non-smokers was 102.11±8.40% and 106.01±10.62% respectively (p=0.038). The mean FVC in smokers was less than in non-smokers (99.98±9.88% and 102.97±8.03%, p=0.092). FEV1, (99.65±9.61% vs 104.58±10.03%, p=0.011) FEV1/FVC ratio (103.25±4.60% vs 105.57±5.10%, p=0.016) and PEFR (102.11±8.40% vs 106.01±10.62%, p=0.038) were significantly lesser in smokers than non-smokers. Conclusion: The spirometry parameters of pulmonary function were poorer in the smoker group. Spirometry can be useful in detecting a reduction in pulmonary function before the appearance of any symptoms or before pulmonary functions become significantly abnormal. Keywords: COPD, FEV1, FVC, PEFR, pulmonary function test, smoking, spirometry DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jkahs.v2i3.26661

Introduction: In ABO system, O blood group is universal blood donor group. Knowing one's blood type is important for prevention of transfusion mis-match between recipients and donors. The aim of this study is to find out the proportion of O blood group among medical students in a medical college of Nepal. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students at Department of Clinical Physiology of Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences from June 2014 to April 2019 after taking ethical from the Institutional Review Committee. This study was conducted among 739 students by using convenient sampling method. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 software. Based on red blood cells agglutination, blood types were determined. Results: O blood group among the medical students of Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences was found to be 247 (33.4%) at 95% Confidence Interval (29.99-36.81). O positive and O negative blood groups were seen in 241 (32.6%) and 6 (0.8%) respectively. Blood group O was found to be more common among male and female i.e. 163 (32.73%) and 84 (34.85%) respectively. Out of seven main ethnic groups, blood groups O was found to be more in Brahmin/Chhetri 174 (35.1%), Dalit 5 (38.5%), Janajati 17 (34.7%), and others 8 (36.4%). Conclusions: Universal blood group O is more common among medical students of Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences which is similar to the studies done in other institutions.

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are an attractive platform for cell therapy due to their safety profile and unique ability to secrete broad arrays of immunomodulatory and regenerative molecules. Yet, MSCs are well known to require preconditioning or priming to boost their therapeutic efficacy. Current priming methods offer limited control over MSC activation, yield transient effects, and often induce the expression of pro-inflammatory effectors that can potentiate immunogenicity. Here, we describe a genetic priming method that can both selectively and sustainably boost MSC potency via the controlled expression of the inflammatory-stimulus-responsive transcription factor interferon response factor 1 (IRF1). MSCs engineered to hyper-express IRF1 recapitulate many core responses that are accessed by biochemical priming using the proinflammatory cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ). This includes the upregulation of anti-inflammatory effector molecules and the potentiation of MSC capacities to suppress T cell activation. However, we show that IRF1-mediated genetic priming is much more persistent than biochemical priming and can circumvent IFN-γ-dependent expression of immunogenic MHC class II molecules. Together, the ability to sustainably activate and selectively tailor MSC priming responses creates the possibility of programming MSC activation more comprehensively for therapeutic applications.

While the anti-inflammatory activities of Eriodictyol, a plant-derived flavonoid is well-known, reports on its anti-cancer efficacy and selective cytotoxicity in cancer cells are still emerging. However, little is known regarding its mechanism of selective anti-cancer activities. Here, we show the mechanism of selective cytotoxicity of Eriodictyol towards cancer cells compared to normal cells. Investigation reveals that Eriodictyol significantly upregulates TNFR1 expression in tumor cells (HeLa and SK-RC-45) while sparing the normal cells (HEK, NKE and WI-38), which display negligible TNFR1 expression, irrespective of the absence or presence of Eriodictyol. Further investigation of the molecular events reveal that Eriodictyol induces apoptosis through expression of the pro-apoptotic DISC components leading to activation of the caspase cascade. In addition, CRISPR-Cas9 mediated knockout of TNFR1 completely blocks apoptosis in HeLa cells in response to Eriodictyol, confirming that Eriodictyol induced cancer cell apoptosis is indeed TNFR1-dependent. Finally, in vivo data demonstrates that Eriodictyol not only impedes tumor growth and progression, but also inhibits metastasis in mice implanted with 4T1 breast cancer cells. Thus, our study has identified Eriodictyol as a compound with high selectivity towards cancer cells through TNFR1 and suggests that it can be further explored for its prospect in cancer therapeutics.

Histone phosphorylation is a ubiquitous post-translational modification. Here the authors present a programmable chromatin kinase, dCas9-dMSK1, that enables controlled histone phosphorylation and specific gene activation.

Previously we demonstrated that human glioblastoma cell lines induce apoptosis in peripheral blood T cells through partial involvement of secreted gangliosides. Here we show that GBM-derived gangliosides induce apoptosis through involvement of the TNF receptor and activation of the caspase cascade. Culturing T lymphocytes with GBM cell line derived gangliosides (10-20 μg/ml) demonstrated increased ROS production as early as 18 hrs as indicated by increased uptake of the dye H2DCFDA while western blotting demonstrated mitochondrial damage as evident by cleavage of Bid to t-Bid and by the release of cytochrome-c into the cytosol. Within 48-72 hrs apoptosis was evident by nuclear blebbing, trypan blue positivity and annexinV/7AAD staining. GBM-ganglioside induced activation of the effector caspase-3 along with both initiator caspases (-9 and -8) in T cells while both the caspase-8 and -9 inhibitors were equally effective in blocking apoptosis (60% protection) confirming the role of caspases in the apoptotic process. Ganglioside-induced T cell apoptosis did not involve production of TNF-α since anti-human TNFα antibody was unable to protect T cells from nuclear blebbing and subsequent cell death. However, confocal microscopy demonstrated co-localization of GM2 ganglioside with the TNF receptor and co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed recruitment of death domains FADD and TRADD with the TNF receptor post ganglioside treatment, suggesting direct interaction of gangliosides with the TNF receptor. Further confirmation of the interaction between GM2 and TNFR1 was obtained from confocal microscopy data with wild type and TNFR1 KO (TALEN mediated) Jurkat cells, which clearly demonstrated co-localization of GM2 and TNFR1 in the wild type cells but not in the TNFR1 KO clones. Thus, GBM-ganglioside can mediate T cell apoptosis by interacting with the TNF receptor followed by activation of both the extrinsic and the intrinsic pathway of caspases.