Youths are lured to smoking to make them tobacco customers. Limiting access to tobacco products by youths is a proven strategy to reduce youth tobacco use. This study aimed to examine the burden of ...cigarette smoking and access to tobacco by youth in South-East Asia (SEA).
The burden along with the physical (methods of obtaining cigarettes), financial (cigarette affordability by pocket money), and illegal (sale to minors) access to cigarettes among school-going boys and girls were examined by analyzing the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data (2013-2016) from seven SEA member countries. Descriptive statistics using country-specific GYTS sample weight was used to estimate parameters with 95% confidence intervals.
The proportion of youths reporting cigarette smoking was highest in East Timor boys: 55.57 % (51.93-59.21) and girls: 11.35% (9.12-13.59) and lowest in Sri Lanka boys: 2.96% (2.91-3.0) and girls: 0%. Smoking prevalence was higher among boys than girls. Smoking among boys and girls was positively correlated (
= 0.849,
= 0.032). The most common method of obtaining cigarettes was "buying it from a store/kiosk/street hawker" and "other sources." Except in Indonesia, financial access was limited for most youths. Financial access had a positive but negligible influence on cigarette smoking. Despite legal restrictions on sales to minors, students could obtain cigarettes from vendors.
Contextual cigarette smoking and access to cigarettes by youths despite the legal ban and unaffordability is a concern. Country-specific socio-cultural-economic and legal dimensions need to be examined to limit cigarette use among youths.
Here in this research, Activated Carbon (AC)-γFe
2
O
3
composite structures were prepared by pyrolysis of bamboo at 700–1000 °C temperatures. Characterization of the as-obtained samples by ...field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of AC-γFe
2
O
3
composite. The alcohol sensing performance of the composite structure at room temperature was investigated for different ethanol concentrations, which showed self-activated faster response/recovery, improved range of detection, and sensitivity. Ethanol sensing by the drop-casted AC-γFe
2
O
3
films on a glass substrate was tested for various ethanol concentrations ranging from 50 to 500 ppm in water. The chemiresistive p-n-type heterojunctions formed between AC and γFe
2
O
3
were attributed to the room temperature alcohol sensing performance of the material. AC-γFe
2
O
3
prepared at 700 °C showed better sensitivity of 49% for 500 ppm ethanol concentration. The quickest response time was found to be 26 s for 100 ppm ethanol concentration with a recovery time of 15 s.
Graphical abstract
Herein, we report a facile and scalable approach to prepare fluorescent carbon nanostructures prepared from annealing of bamboo stems in argon atmosphere (BC). The resultant nano-structured carbon ...possesses an optical band gap of 2.8eV when annealed at 500 °C (BC-500). But BC annealed at 600 °C (BC-600) has an optical band gap of 3.3eV. X-ray diffraction study confirmed formation of graphite nanostructure (SP2 carbon clusters) embedded in amorphous carbon matrix. The as synthesized charcoal samples show two optical centers. When excited with UV light, two photoluminescence (PL) spectra were observed (one sharp intense emission spectra in green light region and another one in yellow light region), and found to be excitation wavelength independent. Both the PL spectra were originated from extrinsic sp2 clustered band gap. The graphitic band gap energy is altered due to -CO, -COOH and –NH2 group directly linked to sp2 carbon back bone. The PL properties of the synthesized Bamboo Charcoal nanostructures establish the material as a potential candidate for excitation wavelength-independent bio-based sensors that can convert UV light to visible light for detection and/or observation.
•Nanocrystallite sp2 carbon embedded in amorphous carbon.•Two optical centers due to bonding with two different group; -CO and –NH2.•Excitation independent PL spectra.•Conversion of UV light to green and yellow light.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder. Aluminium chloride induces AD like pathology in rats. Renin angiotensin system plays a significant role in the pathogenesis and ...occurrence of Alzheimer's disease. In the present study we evaluated and compared the effect of Captopril and Perindopril against aluminium chloride induced amyloidogenesis and cognitive dysfunction in rats. Wistar rats of both sex were divided randomly into four groups i.e. Group I was served as normal control and treated with normal saline, Group II was administered with AlCl3 (100 mg/kg, p. o.) and Group III and IV received Captopril (30 mg/kg, p. o.) and Perindopril (5 mg/kg, p. o.) respectively 1hr prior to administration of AlCl3. All the doses were given once daily for 42 days. The evaluation of memory function was carried out in Y-maze (spontaneous alternation), radial arm maze (number of correct responses) and elevated plus maze (transfer latency). After behavioral studies, estimation of antioxidant status (brain and serum), amyloid-β content (brain) and histopathology of brain hippocampus region was done. Administration of AlCl3 for 42 days impaired cognitive dysfunction. Captopril and Perindopril prevented AlCl3 induced cognitive dysfunction by improving spontaneous alternation behavior, number of correct responses and reducing transfer latency. They also increase the antioxidant status, reduce the Aβ42 content in the brain and reverse the histopathological changes caused by AlCl3 in hippocampal region. Both Captopril and Perindopril protects against aluminium chloride induced amyloidogenesis and AD like pathology. Captopril is found to be more effective than Perindopril.
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Amyloid-β, Oxidative stress, ACE, Rennin angiotensin system.
The noninvasive hemoglobin (NHb) devices are recently evaluated as an alternative to laboratory hemoglobin (LHb) in neonates. This systematic review explores the diagnostic accuracy of NHb devices ...for neonatal hemoglobin measurement.
Literature related to the comparison of NHb device with LHb in neonates was searched from Medline, PubMed Central, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases after PROSPERO registration. The quality of included publications was assessed by QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies). The pooled correlation coefficient and bias (precision) in Bland-Altman difference plots were used for summary statistics using MetaXL 5.0 software.
A total of 1,477 paired NHb-LHb observations were analyzed from 1,047 neonates in 10 studies. Massimo radical-pulse co-oximetry (8 studies) and Mediscan-2000 (2 studies) were used for NHb estimation. The pooled correlation coefficient between NHb and LHb was r = 0.94 (95% CI: 0.83-0.98, p < 0.001), and the pooled bias (precision) was -0.013 (1.4) gm/dL between NHb and LHb measurements in Bland-Altman analysis. NHb device had better precision in stable neonates (0.91gm/dL) over sick neonates (1.66 gm/dL).
Hemoglobin measurement by NHb is excellently correlated with LHb measurement with a minimal average difference. It may be used as a screening tool for hemoglobin measurement in neonates to avoid frequent phlebotomy.
There is a need for reliable diagnostic tests for early identification of sepsis to prevent neonatal mortality and antibiotic misuse. During sepsis, many immature neutrophils came into the ...bloodstream, altering the mean neutrophil volume (MNV) shown in the previous studies.
To summarize the diagnostic performance of mean neutrophil volume (MNV) in neonatal sepsis from the published literature.
Databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched from January 1990 to April 2023 for studies reporting MNV as a diagnostic test in neonatal sepsis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve of MNV were estimated with reference blood culture-positive sepsis and clinical sepsis for meta-analysis.
The diagnostic performance of MNV was analyzed in 1685 neonates, including 829 septic and 856 non-septic neonates, from six prospective studies. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of MNV were 0.87 and 0.75, respectively, for neonatal sepsis; the DOR was 20.01 (95% CI: 5.90–67.82); and the AUC of the SROC for MNV was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.69–0.88). Higgins I2 was 92.1% (95% CI: 85.5%–95.7%). The diagnostic performance of MNV was better during sub-group analysis of studies reporting culture-positive sepsis (DOR 85.61).
The diagnostic performance of MNV is moderate for neonatal sepsis. As the evidence originated from a small number of studies with marked heterogeneity, further large-scale diagnostic accuracy studies are recommended to resolve heterogeneity in the future.
The carbonization of bamboo at 400 °C-700 °C resulted in the formation of graphite crystals embedded in amorphous carbon. The high dielectric constants (≈10
3
at 1 Hz) of these carbon materials were ...attributed to the presence of polar groups such as -OH, -NH
2
and -COOH with marginal contribution from interfacial polarization. The dielectric constants were observed to be frequency-dependent and found to be decreased with increasing frequency. The measured dielectric loss was also found to be decreasing with increasing frequency. Conductance dominant dielectric loss observed in 400 °C-600 °C annealed samples was further supported by the Cole-Cole plot. Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars interfacial polarization relaxation along with conduction loss was observed only for the 700 °C annealed sample.
Pre-school education (PSE) has become one of the most important strategies to prepare children physically, emotionally, socially and mentally for formal learning as well as to prevent poor ...performance and early drop out in subsequent learning. It covers all forms of organized and center-based activities to foster the social, emotional and cognitive development of children. Pre-school education (PSE) is considered as one of the most important components of integrated child development services (ICDS) scheme in India. It helps children to perform in a better manner in primary education as well as in subsequent stages of learning. It also helps in the cognitive, social, emotional, psychological and physical development of children. This paper reviews some of the evidences of impact of pre-school education on the development of children.
This paper has made an attempt to (i) analyze the performance of DDU-GKY in Keonjhar District of Odisha, and (ii) analyze the socio and economic effects of DDU-GKY programme in Keonjhar district of ...Odisha. It provides a better scope to understand how many rural youths are skilled and self-employed in Keonjhar district through this programme. The study finds that performance of DDU-GKY is best in Keonjhar district. Income as well as expenditure of the respondents has increased after implementation of the DDU-GKY programme. The study also finds that those who have joined in the Industrial Assistance trade, they are earning more income than those in retail and/or sales job. Though, this programme is mainly for the benefit of economically marginalized people, the government should take appropriate policy not only to stop dropout from the training but also for mobilization and publicity of this programme. Therefore, policy makers should take care of proper placement, capacity development programmes for the faculty members, salary of both trainers as well as trainees and also use of modern technology for teaching.
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