Understanding and Perceptions of Skin Donation and Skin Banking among Health Care Professionals – Tertiary Care Centre in Eastern India

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Introduction: The skin is our body’s most diverse organ. Other organs, such as the kidneys and liver, could be impaired and somehow still function, but the loss of 40percent of someone’s skin can be fatal. In developing countries, burns led to the deaths of the majority of people. The study aimed to establish the relationship between medical professionals’ awareness and attitudes regarding skin donation and skin banking.
Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, AIIMS, Odisha, between August 2020 to November 2020. A total of 124 health care practitioners from AIIMS, BBSR responded to the survey questions. It is divided into five sections: Social and economic data; Skin donation awareness survey, and skin bank attitude scale.
Results: Less than half of health care professionals, 53.74 %, reported a lack of awareness of skin donation, and 56.16 per cent said lack of understanding of skin bank. The fair, positive relationship prevailed among skin donation awareness, and then either attitude (r=0.36, P=0.01), and a similar relationship existed between skin banking awareness and attitude (r=0.32, P=0.01). According to the report’s findings, having a clear understanding of skin donation and skin banking leads to positive behaviours.
Conclusion: In this review, health care professionals’ awareness of skin donation and skin banking is average. Hospital and nursing administrators should be actively involved in education programmes to enhance nurses’ education and increase awareness about skin donation and skin banking.

Psychological Influence of Social Media on Body Standards of Youth in Dubai

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Due to increased social media usage among young people, there is a higher probability of certain digital interactions leading to risky behaviors among younger individuals. This study aims at investigating the negative psychological impact social media can have on the youth’s body standards and to better understand the correlation between social media and body standards. An online self-administered survey was used as a data collection instrument among 150 participants in Dubai through a systematic random sampling technique. SPSS program was used for the detailed analysis of gathered data. Based on findings, the study concluded that there is a strong correlation between social media and body standards, with the psychological impact of social media upon body standards of the youth being highly negative. Evidence also proved that this negative psychological influence may manifest itself in the form of harmful behaviors.

Recent Context or Recent Conflicts: Bangladesh vs Myanmar Concerning the Matter Related to the Territorial Jurisdiction in the Sea Opened the Door of Sea Foods Production and Mining of Minerals, Gas and Oil

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Territorial land and waters in sea is very important for a nation which increase the production of sea foods as fish & sea weeds, mining of mineral & important elements and gas & oil. This territorial water harvours valuable rear minerals reserve, at least 100 trillion cubic feet gas for nearly 100 years & good quantity of oil reserve, and different types of nutritionally rich fishes & sea weeds more than 500 species. Nation should take care about the proper management and justified attributes with honest step for its border territory with other country. Bangladesh Govt. took a brilliant efforts for its own real territorial sea waters with Myanmar through a case with the United Nations (UN) convention to the International Tribunal for the Law Of the Sea in an international court (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany against Myanmar on December 14, 2009. The case was trialed for more than two years through many arguments and debts between the learned lawyers of both the countries. Finally Bangladesh won the case on March 14, 2012. It helped the nation for its sea fish and sea weeds production and catch. It was a great success and win for the present Govt. and the Excellency Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as the people of Bangladesh.

The Use of Rewards to Stimulate Employee Creativity: The Mediating Moderation Role of Job Satisfaction and Creative Self-Efficacy

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This paper tested the moderated mediation model of intrinsic for creativity to explore the effects of intrinsic creativity on employee creativity. Using 320 supervisor-employee dyads of four educational institutes in Ghana. The results indicate that job satisfaction mediated the positive linkage between intrinsic rewards for creativity and employee creativity. By integrating social cognitive theory and the interactionist perspective, we further recognized that creative self-efficacy could serve as a personal moderator in the linkage between job satisfaction and employee creativity. As the level of creative self-efficacy rose, the linkage between job satisfaction and employee creativity became stronger. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.

Comparative Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Investigational Once-Daily Sustained-Release (SR) Vildagliptin 100 mg Tablet Formulation with Conventional 50 mg Twice-Daily Regimen in Healthy Indian Males

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Background- Among the gliptins, vildagliptin is the only therapy requiring twice-daily dosing and thus adversely impacts patient adherence. To reduce dosing frequency, we developed a once-daily sustained-release (SR) vildagliptin 100 mg tablet formulation with potential to furnish comparable dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibition coverage to the conventional twice-daily regimen.
Objective- The current study compares the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) characteristics of investigational once-daily SR vildagliptin 100 mg tablet formulation with the twice-daily dosage of marketed product, Galvus® in healthy Indian adult males after single and multiple-dose administration.
Methods- Single and multiple-dose PK-PD assessment was conducted in separate clinical studies enrolling thirty-six healthy subjects under fed-condition. Each study was a randomized, open-label, two treatment, two-period, crossover design. Drug plasma concentrations were quantified by validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. DPP-4 inhibition was estimated in the fluorescence-based assay. PK parameters were calculated from the plasma concentration-time curve employing Phoenix® WinNonlin® software. Formulation safety was evaluated by monitoring adverse events.
Results- SR vildagliptin 100 mg tablet resulted in peak-less, nearly steady drug concentration-time profile. Thus, its mean PK characteristics after single [Cmax (147.7), AUC(0-24) (1645.04), Tmax (5.29 hr), t1/2 (4.61 hr)] and multiple-dose [Cmaxss (163.59), AUCss (0-24) (1815.36), and Tmaxss (4.65 hrs), t1/2ss (3.71 hr)] administrations were significantly distinct from the Galvus® twice-daily regimen. SR vildagliptin 100 mg tablet demonstrated more than 80% DPP-4 inhibition profile for approximately 23 hrs in both the studies which was comparable to Galvus® twice-daily regimen.
Conclusions- Investigational SR vildagliptin 100 mg tablet formulation was found to be safe and well-tolerated. Its ability to provide nearly 80% DPP-4 inhibition coverage over 23 hrs post-dose may reduce the additional pill burden in patients on conventional twice-daily regimen.

COVID-19 Vaccines, What do we know so Far? A Narrative Review

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For more than a year, the world was paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t until the last few months that hope to a return of a quasi-normal way of living was starting to materialize. The era of the COVID-19 vaccines begun, and with it all sorts of concerns and complaints about their safety and efficacy. Large numbers of people believed the conspiracy theories about the new vaccines thus becoming reluctant and sometimes refused to take the new vaccines. Others justified their concern with the relatively short trial periods compared to previous vaccines that used to take years before adoption.

Multiple vaccines emerged around the same time, and thus the fight to conquer the market began. Pfizer-BioNTech, Vaxzervria, Moderna, Sputnik, Coronavac, Janssen, all were rapidly distributed to countries around the globe, in order to reduce the mortality rate and control the pandemic. To make things worse, new viral mutations started being detected and thus shed more doubt on the efficacy of these vaccines.

This review article summarizes the literature of these vaccines’ pathophysiology, mechanism of action, dosing and schedule, safety profile and lastly the documented side effects of each vaccine.

In conclusion, there is no certainty whether these vaccines will prevent infection and more importantly protect against forward transmission. It is sure that the immunity persists for several months, but the exact duration for every vaccine is yet to be determined. For the time being, safety precautions must still be continued; wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding crowded places must be applied.

The Value of Knowledge Translation in an Infectious Disease Context: The COVID-19 Pandemic Perspective

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As of 2021, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is evident in every facet of life, despite the availability of knowledge to prevent or mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. Infectious disease pandemics will continue to be a global challenge, and yet the hesitancy of decision makers to utilize the plethora of evidence based strategies in a pandemic response threatens the future global health security. Therefore, this paper focuses on exploring how knowledge translation (KT) practices can be integrated into infectious disease prevention and control using the current COVID-19 pandemic to identify KT barriers. By continually synthesizing and incorporating research findings into routine decision making processes, public health institutions can adequately prepare health systems to manage a pandemic. The application of KT can be approached from four different stages: synthesis of information, dissemination of knowledge, exchange of knowledge, and ethical application of knowledge. Using the four stages of KT, the following propositions were made: investing in links between knowledge synthesis and utilization, engaging broader stakeholders in knowledge dissemination activities, creating effective two-way communication lines between knowledge producers and users, and strengthening knowledge utilizing activities. By demonstrating the utility of applying the four KT stages in an infectious disease pandemic context, it is hoped that more discussions and research is stimulated to engage the incorporation of KT into future outbreak responses.

Vietnam-Asean Trade: Solutions for Vietnam’s Import and Export

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This study carries out to analyze the current state between Vietnam and other countries in the ASEAN region. Research outcomes show that Vietnam’s exports and imports with countries in the ASEAN region have increased during the study period. The expansion of trade activities is a good sign for exchange activities between countries. Based on that analysis, the study proposes several recommendations to expand further trade activities between Vietnam and ASEAN countries towards countries in the ASEAN region to become the main export and import market of Vietnam.

Spermatocele Mimicking Hydrocele: A Case Report in a Young Patient of 42 Years Old

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A spermatocele is a cyst-like mass that usually forms on the epididymis; they are benign cystic accumulations of sperm. Depending on their size, they can mimic a hydrocele clinically and radiologically. We report the case of a giant spermatocele in a 42-year-old married. The patient had fathered two children with no fertility problem. This spermatocele gradually increases in volume for 4 years and requires surgical management in front of the scrotal pain and functional gene presented by the patient. Through this case, we present the diagnostic difficulty, the therapeutic approach through a literature review on the subject.

Monitoring Heavy Metal Contamination in the Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Cultivated tracts of Kerala, India

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Agriculture plays an important role in the sustainable development of the country. Use of chemical fertilizers escalate certain components in excess quantity thereby deteriorate the productivity and leads to unpredicted outcome. This study makes an effort to reckon the accumulation of some selected heavy metals [Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni) and Cadmium(Cd)] and related indices [bio concentration factor(BCF) and translocation factor (TF)] from roots, leaves and fruits of pineapple plantations in Ernakulam district. Contamination factor(CF), enrichment factor(EF) and geo accumulation index (Igeo) disclose the extent of soil contamination in the pineapple cultivated regions of Ernakulam district. Root to shoot TF derived for Pb, Ni, and Cd were 0.25, 0.733 and 0.6731. TF of Pb, Ni and Cd from root to fruit was 0, 0.5 and 0.195 respectively. Values obtained for BCF of Pb, Ni and Cd in root of the pineapple plant were 0.2013,0.5758 and 0.3288. In pineapple leaves BCF showed the values 0.0503, 0.4222 and 0.2214 by Pb, Ni and Cd. Pineapple fruit showed BCF values Zero, 0.2879 and 0.0641 for Pb, Ni and Cd. Enrichment factor for Pb, Ni and Cd in pineapple cultivated areas comes under the value 4.2, 3.7 and 2.8 respectively. Furthermore, the contamination factor of Pb, Ni and Cd was 9.93, 8.26 and 6.23, respectively. The values of geo accumulation index obtained for different heavy metals pass on that the degree of pollution with respect to Pb (6.621) was very strong and extremely contaminated, heavily to extremely contaminated for Ni (5.513) and Cd (4.15).