scholarly journals Nutritional Intervention during Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Environments A Dietary Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-129
Author(s):  
Dev Kumar Yadav ◽  
Janifer Raj Xavier ◽  
Om Prakash Chauhan ◽  
Prakash Eknath Patki ◽  
Rakesh Kumar Sharma

The future war scenario is based on use and applications of various conventional and non-convectional agents which includes weaponised or non-weaponised chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN), toxic industrial materials, direct energy devices/ weapons, and or high yield explosives. These include nerve agents, blood agents, vesicants or skin blistering agents, lung irritants, asphyxiants or choking agents. Biological weapons are basically disease causing microorganisms and other replicating entities including viruses, infectious nucleic acids and prions. These agents have ability to infect host and are highly virulent, pathogenic and dangerous in nature. The interface between ammunitions and above agents is soldier whose physical and mental health is affected as enough precautionary measures are not adopted. The reducing environment thus created has various agents which enter into exposed body and lead to mild to serious damage to various vital parts of the human body. As food is important component for survival and intrinsic to basic human nutrition and health, therefore, it is imperative to develop certain kind of a wholesome meal system which can be consumed by the soldiers tasked with combating CBRN situations during such operations. Such meals can be in the form of solid or liquid type and packaged in suitable delivery system, compatible and amenable with the CBRN suit. Food can be contaminated during CBRN conditions by coming in direct or indirect contact with CBRN agents. Therefore, the food materials to be used under such conditions need to be protected in suitable coverings as consumption of contaminated food can be lethal. Designer meal for CBRN environment is not only suitable for soldiers but also to all human interface dealing with similar scenario viz. the low intensity conflicts and surgical operations, nuclear submarines, cosmonauts, pilots, individuals handling radiation equipment and patient undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Author(s):  
Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan ◽  
Yoshihiko Kadoya

The precautionary measures and uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have serious psychological impacts on peoples’ mental health. We used longitudinal data from Hiroshima University to investigate loneliness before and during the pandemic among older and younger people in Japan. We provide evidence that loneliness among both older and younger people increased considerably during the pandemic. Although loneliness among younger people is more pervasive, the magnitude of increase in loneliness during the pandemic is higher among older people. Our logit regression analysis shows that age, subjective health status, and feelings of depression are strongly associated with loneliness before and during the pandemic. Moreover, household income and financial satisfaction are associated with loneliness among older people during the pandemic while gender, marital status, living condition, and depression are associated with loneliness among younger people during the pandemic. The evidence of increasing loneliness during the pandemic is concerning for a traditionally well-connected and culturally collectivist society such as Japan. As loneliness has a proven connection with both physical and mental health, we suggest immediate policy interventions to provide mental health support for lonely people so they feel more cared for, secure, and socially connected.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rola A. Bekdash

Recent evidence suggests that physical and mental health are influenced by an intricate interaction between genes and environment. Environmental factors have been shown to modulate neuronal gene expression and function by epigenetic mechanisms. Exposure to these factors including nutrients during sensitive periods of life could program brain development and have long-lasting effects on mental health. Studies have shown that early nutritional intervention that includes methyl-donors improves cognitive functions throughout life. Choline is a micronutrient and a methyl donor that is required for normal brain growth and development. It plays a pivotal role in maintaining structural and functional integrity of cellular membranes. It also regulates cholinergic signaling in the brain via the synthesis of acetylcholine. Via its metabolites, it participates in pathways that regulate methylation of genes related to memory and cognitive functions at different stages of development. Choline-related functions have been dysregulated in some neurodegenerative diseases suggesting choline role in influencing mental health across the lifespan.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Yanet Cortés-Álvarez ◽  
Regino Piñeiro-Lamas ◽  
César Rubén Vuelvas-Olmos

ABSTRACTObjectives:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a new viral zoonosis of global concern that could cause psychological sequelae. We examined the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in a Mexican sample.Methods:An online survey was applied that collected information on demographic and financial status data, physical status, contact history, knowledge, concerns, and precautionary measures concerning COVID-19. Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale were included.Results:A total of 50.3% of respondents rated psychological distress as moderate-severe; 15.7% reported moderate-severe depressive symptoms; 22.6% reported moderate-severe anxiety symptoms; and 19.8% reported moderate-severe stress levels. Female gender, older age, divorced status, lack of confidence related to security of the test, lower satisfaction of health information concerning COVID-19, history of direct or indirect contact with a COVID-19 confirmed case, live with just 1 other person, and spent >9 h/d at home were associated with greater psychological distress and/or higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. By contrast, precautionary measures, such as hand hygiene and wearing masks, were associated with lower levels of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress.Conclusions:COVID-19 outbreak results in considerable psychological effects among the Mexican sample.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 99-111
Author(s):  
Roberto Grujičić ◽  
Jasmina Bogdanović ◽  
Sanja Stupar ◽  
Jovana Maslak ◽  
Milica Pejović-Milovančević

The global pandemic caused by Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to major lifestyle changes in people living in the affected countries. Namely, most countries declared the state of emergency which included the implementation of different precautionary measures, such as restriction of movement, travel ban, isolation, social distancing and wearing protective equipment. The global fight with the unknown virus generated an abundance of different, often contradictory and inconsistent information. These new changes can have a potentially major impact on the physical and mental health of both children and adults. Children are a particularly vulnerable population in crisis situations. Although research shows that children and young people exhibit clinically significantly milder forms of COVID-19 compared to adults, their vulnerability is reflected in a greater susceptibility to develop serious psychological consequences. Mental problems of children most often develop due to the inability to adequately understand the new situation, fear, separation from peers, changes in the mental state of parents and greater susceptibility to abuse and neglect. Also, systematic changes in the country (closure of educational institutions, reduced workload or closure of health institutions or institutions of support and assistance to children and vulnerable individuals) contribute to the difficulty of overcoming the pandemic. These changes especially affect children with pre-existing mental disorders, neurodevelopmental difficulties, and children from vulnerable and minority groups who require more care and services from different support systems. In order to avoid harmful consequences for the health of children, we will present recommendations focused on children and parents, which are intended for the easier overcoming of crisis situations such as the current pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (02) ◽  
pp. 395-402
Author(s):  
Aisha Rani ◽  
Aqeela Saghir ◽  
Sohaib Usman ◽  
Khalid Mahmood Ch. ◽  
Shoukat Ali

Objectives: The aim of this study is to check the farmer’s perception regarding use of chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides) in vegetables and its effects on human health in peri urban areas of tehsil Faisalabad Saddar. Instead of using organic matter, there is highly preference of fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and rodenticides in order to achieve the high yield and green revolution. Study Design: Prospective, cross-sectional, observational study. Setting: Institute of Agricultural Extension & Rural Development, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Period: September 2017 to August 2019. Material & Methods: Sample size comprises 128 respondents. From two peri-urban union councils (4 villages, vegetables growing) were selected purposively. While 32 farmers were selected from each village. A pre-tested and well-structured interview schedule was developed for data collection. Result: The results indicated that various diseases were present among farmers due to use of chemicals and residual effects. The diseases were chest pain, damage of liver, diarrhea, dizziness, eye irritation, sleeplessness, dryness of throat, shortness of breath, swelling of skin, fever, hypertension, tiredness and stomach disturbance. Pearson correlation coefficient shows significant and positive relation between age of the respondents and diseases they had P<0.05. More than half 56.3% of the respondents knew that ground water becomes contaminated by the use of chemicals. A vast majority 90.6% of the respondents used to avoid storing of pesticides, fungicides and weedicides. Results also indicated that diseases and adoption of precautionary measures were directly related with lack of awareness. Conclusion: There is dire need to start campaigns through media regarding awareness about harmful effects of residues on human health and organic farming should be preferred over chemicals.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cuiyan Wang ◽  
María Inmaculada López-Núñez ◽  
Riyu Pan ◽  
Xiaoyang Wan ◽  
Yilin Tan ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The differences between physical and mental health across continents during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was unknown. OBJECTIVE This study compared the levels of impact of COVID-19 and mental health between people from Spain and China, and to correlate mental health parameters with variables relating to symptoms similar to COVID-19, COVID-19 knowledge and precautionary measures. METHODS We collected information on demographic data, physical symptoms, contact history, COVID-19 knowledge and precautionary measures. Participants filled the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). To analyze the differences in the mental health parameters, the mean score between the Chinese and Spanish respondents was compared by the independent sample t-test. The differences in categorical variables between the two samples was analyzed by the chi-squared test. Linear regressions was used to calculate the univariate associations between independent variables and mental health parameters for the Chinese and Spanish respondents separately RESULTS A total of 1539 participants (678 from Spain; 861 from China) were recruited. Spanish participants reported significantly more symptoms similar to COVID-19 infection, contact history with COVID-19, higher perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, frequent use of medical services and less confidence in medical services as compared with Chinese (p<0.001). Spanish participants reported significantly higher stress and depression scores while the Chinese participants reported significantly higher IES-R scores (p<0.001). Chinese participants encountered more discrimination from other countries (p<0.001). Significantly fewer Spanish participants preferred to use face masks as well as obtained health information related to COVID-19 (p<0.001). Significantly more Chinese participants reported the use of face masks was associated with less depression but more health information was associated with adverse mental health in Spanish (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our study found that Spanish respondents reported higher levels of stress and depression as well as more symptoms and medical services. Before the next pandemic, Spain needs to establish a prompt policy to implement rapid response and enhanced medical services to safeguard physical and mental health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 163-167
Author(s):  
Dacai Huang ◽  

Taking 266 CSSCI records of sports dance from CNKI database as the research object, the relevant data were analyzed by CiteSpace software. By means of knowledge map, this paper combs the number of papers, high-yield institutions, high-yield authors, cooperation and research hotspots. This study draws the following conclusions, which are divided into three time periods according to the amount of documents issued; The cooperation between the authors is scattered, and the representatives are mainly concentrated in Beijing Sports University; The distribution of research institutions is scattered and the cluster scale is small; The keywords are clustered into nine cluster labels. Through sorting and summarizing, the nine clusters are summarized into six aspects: the development of sports dance, the development of sports dance in China’s mass sports, sports dance teaching, the cultural integration of national standard dance and Chinese classical dance, the aesthetic value of sports dance, and the impact of sports dance on College Students’ physical and mental health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
YANG-BO SUN ◽  
ZHI-LI ZENG

[Objective] To analyze the growth rule of literature, core authors, core institutions and Co-word Analysis in the field of methotrexate in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, to draw the knowledge map of key words and the cooperation network of authors, and to get the current frontiers and research hotspots through the research and analysis of these indicators, so as to provide reference for future researchers to choose research directions. [Methods] The three databases including CNKI, Wanfangdata and Cqvip were used as retrieval databases, and the key words of "rheumatoid arthritis" and "methotrexate" and their synonyms were used as retrieval keywords. The literature published in the three databases from 2009 to 2018 were retrieved and analyzed by bibliometrics analysis method. [Result] 2404 valid literature were screened out. The growth curve of literature showed a relatively stable upward trend, and formed a stable core group of high-yield authors. The main direction of research in this field in the past ten years was the effectiveness analysis of methotrexate combined with drug treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. [Conclusion] Domestic research on methotrexate in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis will continue to be the focus of medical research in the next few years. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic immune disease. Its early manifestations are mainly joint pain and dysfunction. It can lead to joint function loss and accompanied by atrophy of bone and skeletal muscle. It has a high disability rate and seriously threatens human physical and mental health [1].The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis was higher in women than in men [2]. According to statistics, the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in China is between 0.32% and 0.36% [3]. Therefore, searching for drugs with less side effects and obvious effects is a research hotspot in the medical field [4]. Methotrexate, as a gold standard antirheumatic drug, has been widely used in combination therapy and randomized controlled clinical trials [5]. In order to clearly understand the research and development trend of methotrexate in the field of rheumatoid arthritis, this paper makes bibliometric analysis of the relevant literature published in this field in the past 10 years, and provides reference for the future research and development of this field with objective and real data.


Author(s):  
N. Tempel ◽  
M. C. Ledbetter

Carbon films have been a support of choice for high resolution electron microscopy since the introduction of vacuum evaporation of carbon. The desirable qualities of carbon films and methods of producing them has been extensively reviewed. It is difficult to get a high yield of grids by many of these methods, especially if virtually all of the windows must be covered with a tightly bonded, quality film of predictable thickness. We report here a method for producing carbon foils designed to maximize these attributes: 1) coverage of virtually all grid windows, 2) freedom from holes, wrinkles or folds, 3) good adhesion between film and grid, 4) uniformity of film and low noise structure, 5) predictability of film thickness, and 6) reproducibility.Our method utilizes vacuum evaporation of carbon from a fiber onto celloidin film and grid bars, adhesion of the film complex to the grid by carbon-carbon contact, and removal of the celloidin by acetone dissolution. Materials must be of high purity, and cleanliness must be rigorously maintained.


Author(s):  
Hong-Ming Lin ◽  
C. H. Liu ◽  
R. F. Lee

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a crystallizable thermoplastic used as composite matrix materials in application which requires high yield stress, high toughness, long term high temperature service, and resistance to solvent and radiation. There have been several reports on the crystallization behavior of neat PEEK and of CF/PEEK composite. Other reports discussed the effects of crystallization on the mechanical properties of PEEK and CF/PEEK composites. However, these reports were all concerned with the crystallization or melting processes at or close to atmospheric pressure. Thus, the effects of high pressure on the crystallization of CF/PEEK will be examined in this study.The continuous carbon fiber reinforced PEEK (CF/PEEK) laminate composite with 68 wt.% of fibers was obtained from Imperial Chemical Industry (ICI). For the high pressure experiments, HIP was used to keep these samples under 1000, 1500 or 2000 atm. Then the samples were slowly cooled from 420 °C to 60 °C in the cooling rate about 1 - 2 degree per minute to induce high pressure crystallization. After the high pressure treatment, the samples were scanned in regular DSC to study the crystallinity and the melting temperature. Following the regular polishing, etching, and gold coating of the sample surface, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to image the microstructure of the crystals. Also the samples about 25mmx5mmx3mm were prepared for the 3-point bending tests.


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