A New Range of Chitosan Based Nano-antiviral Agents

ABSTRACT The current study involves the synthesis of fourteen analogs of oligochitosan and their screening for antiviral potential against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Coxsackie virus. The synthesized oligochitosan analogs were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and FTIR techniques. HIV-1 p24 ELISA was performed using HIV-1 p24 antigen capture assay in order to estimate the viral infectivity loss. It was observed that sulfated oligochitosan was devoid of antiviral activity as compared to oligochitosan UN102 analog. The rest of UN102 analogs which include N-thiol (UN105), N-glutaryl (UN106), N-Azido (UN111) and N-phthaloyl (UN114) and N-citric analog (UN117) exhibited antiviral activity against HIV. The UN102 also decreased viral infection caused by RSV. In addition, UN102 was found to bind Coxsackie virus, which causes autoimmune myocarditis. The findings were of great interest to proceed for the development of novel antiviral agents.

Nutritional Status of Primary Schoolgoing Santhal Children of Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India

ABSTRACT Rural tribal children of India are facing difficult growing conditions. It is very important to track the nutritional status of tribal children to understand their current situation. The present study was conducted to understand the nutritional status of Santhal children of Paschim Medinipur in West Bengal, India. The present study is cross-sectional, ex-post-facto research. The study depicts that nearly one-third of the study children are undernourished (26.38% stunted, 37.78% underweight, 25.73% thin). A higher percentage of underweight (41.6%), stunting (29.8%) and thinness (28%) can be observed among boys compared to the girls (33.6%, 22.6%, 23.3% respectively) in this area. The differences in the nutritional status of boys and girls are not statistically significant. The study concludes that Santhal children of this area are facing difficult situations concerning nutritional status, which indirectly indicates compromised health and wellbeing

Study on Maternal Health Care Services in the Eastern Indian States

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate the maternal healthcare services in Eastern Indian States (West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar). The present study also tried to understand the effect of socio-economic and demographic factors in the utilization of maternal health care services in the above mentioned states of India, using NFHS-4 data. The present study considered only those women who conceived baby within last five years. All the study women were married and the age range was 15-49 years. Total sample size consisted of 170995 of ever married women. For statistical analysis, Pearson Chi-squre test and Binary logistic regression were performed. The present study revealed that statistically significant difference in utilization of maternal health care services were present among women of different Eastern Indian states.The present study also depicted that residential pattern, caste, religion, respondent’s occupation, respondent’s age, respondent’s educational attainments, Wealth Index had significant association with maternal health care services

Psychological Distress among Bangladeshi Adults during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

The world community including Bangladesh is doing its best to control COVID-19 but its effects on mental health are not being adequately addressed. This study aimed to investigate the psychological distress of COVID-19 among Bangladeshi adults. This cross-sectional study is conducted from 10 to 20 April, 2020, through an online survey and 320 samples were selected by simple random sampling. The frequency distribution revealed that 23.8 percent, 30.9 percent and 45.3 percent of the respondents were suffering from low, moderate, and high levels of psychological distress. Male, professions other than service and housewife, and large family size were the most influential predictors of psychological distress. This study revealed that the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was remarkably significant in Bangladesh and it might emerge as a serious public health concern. The country should prepare and realize guidelines for psychological crisis management in this regard.