Cultivation of filamentous fungi to produce sustainable, nutrient rich meat replacements has recently attracted significant commercial and research interest. Here, we report evidence for the safety ...and nutritional value of Neurospora crassa mycoprotein, a whole mycelium food ingredient produced by fermentation and minimal downstream processing. N. crassa has a long history of human use in fermented foods and in molecular biology research. A survey of studies that used N. crassa in animal feed revealed no adverse effects to the health of the animals. Furthermore, a review of the literature found no reports of confirmed allergenicity or toxicity in humans involving N. crassa. Genomic toxigenicity analysis and in vitro testing did not identify any toxins in N. crassa mycoprotein. Two independent genomic allergenicity studies did not identify proteins that would be considered a particular risk for allergenic potential. Furthermore, nutritional analysis demonstrated that N. crassa mycoprotein is a good source of complete protein and is rich in fiber, potassium, and iron. Taken together, the presented data and the history of human use without evidence of human or animal harm indicate that foods containing N. crassa can generally be regarded as safe.
The safety of the structure during construction depends on the load transfer mechanism from slab to shore making these components important in the horizontal formwork system. The data has been ...collected from India and the selection criteria for single and multi-leg shores for horizontal formwork system has been developed using the principal component analysis. This has extracted five factors in case of single-leg shores selection: (1) Shore characteristics, (2) Convenience in shore placement, (3) Cost of shore, (4) Availability of shore in required quantity, (5) Reusability of shore; and seven factors for multi-leg shores selection: (1) Tower shore characteristics, (2) Intrinsic characteristics of tower shore, (3) Availability of tower shore in required quantity, (4) Ease of shore placement, (5) Shore connection and installation equipment, (6) Cost of shore and (7) Reusability of shore. The ranking of these factors has been computed using analytical hierarchy process making it useful to the decision makers in the shore selection.
Abstract
Background
Vitamin D deficiency and anemia are clinical conditions that coexist during pregnancy. A high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency ranging from 50 to 94% is seen throughout the ...country. The aim of the study was to discover the association between Vitamin D status and iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy. Improving the vitamin D status of pregnant women is crucial to prevent iron deficiency anemia and can improve maternal and fetal outcomes.
Methods
A case–control study including 94 primigravida women of age within the age group 18 to 30 years, divided into two groups: a Case Group of 48 patients with already diagnosed iron deficiency anemia (mild to moderate) and a Control Group of 46 antenatal women with normal hemoglobin levels. Data on sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, and the levels of 25(OH) Vitamin D was estimated in both the groups. The association of 25(OH)D levels and anemia was then determined using suitable statistical analysis.
Results
Among pregnant women affected with anemia, 75% of women had serum Vitamin D concentrations < 20 ng/ml compared to 52.2% of women in the controls. Maternal serum vitamin D level was significantly lower in pregnant women affected with anemia (19.61 ± 13.12) as compared to control (29.43 ± 24.05); (
p
= 0.024). A positive correlation was found between hemoglobin and vitamin D levels in pregnant women (Pearson’s
r
= 0.200,
p
= 0.05).
Conclusions
These findings provide evidence suggesting that Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency during pregnancy may be a risk factor for anemia and correction of Vitamin D levels can improve hemoglobin levels. Educational efforts should be made to include safe vitamin D intake in antenatal care.
Microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) and its potentiality in plant growth and development is still an unexplored area. The in vitro study on bipartite plate showed inhibition of
Fusarium ...oxysporum
f.sp
lycopersici
(FOL) by volatiles of
Trichoderma asperellum
BHU P1 and
Ochrobactrum
sp. BHU-PB1 over control. The seed germination and seedling growth was recorded maximum in plant exposed to VOCs of
Ochrobactrum
sp. in both magenta box (in vitro) and pot (in vivo) experiment. The growth parameters as seed germination, shoot length, root length, fresh weight, dry weight, number of lateral roots and number of leaflets was compared to be higher in microbial volatile metabolites treated plants as compared to control. Disease incidence in
T. asperellum
and
Ochrobactrum
sp. volatile treated tomato plants were 43.66% and 41.33%, respectively at 20 days post inoculation (dpi) whereas untreated control showed disease incidence up to 79.16%. GC–MS analysis of volatile metabolite of
T. asperellum
BHU P1 detected 42 compounds and
Ochrobactrum
sp. BHU-PB1 detected 50 compounds over PDB and NB control. HPLC analysis of volatile treated tomato leaves showed enhanced concentration of gallic acid, t-chlorogenic acid, rutin, p-caumeric acid, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, capsacin, salicylic acid, syringic acid and quercetin over control at 0, 48 and 72 h of FOL challenge. Above observations led to the conclusion that tomato roots which perceived the volatiles of
Ochrobactrum
sp. BHU-PB1 showed better plant growth promotion and enhanced plant defense, revealed by higher phenolic compound production followed by
T. asperellum
BHU P1 volatile treated plant.
Sexual dysfunction in women is common yet often remains underdiagnosed due to the lack of adequate training and experience of the doctors to manage female sexual dysfunctions. This study was done to ...assess the knowledge and attitude of medical professionals toward female sexual dysfunction and the various practices and barriers they encounter while managing women with sexual dysfunction.
A web-based cross-sectional study was done using the snowball sampling method. A well-structured, self-administered, and pre-validated questionnaire containing 27 items was administered through social media. Data was collected and evaluated to assess their knowledge, practices they follow, and barriers encountered while managing female sexual dysfunction.
A total of 513 doctors participated in the study. Out of all, only 11.1% of the doctors were often seeing patients with sexual dysfunction. Loss of desire (44%), painful intercourse (33%), lack of lubrication (18%), and anorgasmia (5%) are common symptoms with which women present. The majority of doctors (78.9%) were comfortable in starting a conversation, over half (52.6%) were confident in making a diagnosis, and 51.3% were confident in providing sexual counseling. Yet, only 11.1% were routinely screening women for sexual dysfunctions, and 33.8% were providing counseling regarding sexual issues. Lack of time (31.6%), lack of adequate training (57.3%), unavailability of effective treatment (11.9%), patient discomfort (60.62%), and patient's reluctance to seek treatment (15.8%) were the barriers encountered by doctors. When assessed for knowledge, around 30.9% had excellent knowledge (≥75
percentile) about female sexual dysfunction.
Sexual dysfunction among women is an important health issue that significantly affects the social, mental, and physical well-being of those suffering from it. Screening for sexual dysfunction should be done routinely in day-to-day clinical practice to improve the overall quality of life of a couple.
BACKGROUND: People living with noncommunicable diseases (PLWNCDs) are often disproportionately affected due to adverse interaction with socioecological and biological factors. Hence, it is imperative ...to learn from their lived experience to gain a greater understanding of interactions as well as explore their priorities and needs in accessing care and identify areas of priority action through multistakeholder engagement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The qualitative study with grounded theory approach was conducted between October and December 2020. An online key-informant interview with the health policymaker, virtual group discussion with eight PLWNCDs, and in-depth telephonic interviews with five PLWNCDs were conducted, after obtaining informed consent using interview guide, developed, and validated by the experts. Data collection continued till data saturation was achieved. Transcripts generated from the interview recordings were coded using hand-code technique and analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Challenges faced by PLWNCDs in accessing care were lack of empathy and support from health-care professionals, stigma, financial hardship, and hospital overcrowding. Caregivers emphasized on the felt need to involve civil society organizations (CSOs) in raising awareness toward noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) at family, community, and policymaking levels. The need for home-based NCD care and rehabilitation centers was voiced by the PLWNCDs. Impediments toward effective implementation of NCD policies were adoption of a “top-down” approach, poor awareness about government health insurance schemes, skewed distribution of empanelled hospitals in and around cities, nonavailability of qualified health-care professionals in underserved areas, aggravated allocation-utilization disparity during COVID-19 pandemic, and lack of robust information technology infrastructure to support access to telemedicine services. CONCLUSION: The collective role of governments, CSOs, and health-care providers, along with meaningful involvement of PLWNCDs, would help to create an enabling environment for overcoming the challenges of access to care and thus achieve universal health coverage.
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