Knowledge regarding Basic Life Support among Health Care Workers of the Hospital of Nepal.

Basic life support refers to a sequence of care provided to patients who are experiencing respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, or airway obstruction. It is a specific level of prehospital medical care provided by the trained responders, including emergency medical technicians, in the absence of advanced medical care to maintain the patient's life. BLS course trains participants to promptly recognize several life-threatening emergencies, give high-quality chest compressions, deliver appropriate ventilations, and provide early use of an AED. According to American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines, every missed minute in applying defibrillation in a cardiac arrest decreases the survival rate by 70%-10%. According to European Resuscitation Council (ERC), early resuscitation and prompt defibrillation (within 1-2 minutes) can result in >60% survival. A quantitative, descriptive study design is used in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used, and the sample size was 95. A self-structuredclose-ended questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge of the participants. The finding revealed that among 95 participants, only 12% had adequate, 55% had moderate, and 32% had inadequate knowledge about Basic Life Support. The study showed that knowledge among healthcare workers about basic life support is insufficient for the majority of participants. There is a significant association between dependent and independent variables.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on learning status of student in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning status of students from different educational boards and universities of Nepal. An online survey was conducted from tenth to twentieth of September 2020 to record the data. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A self-designed questionnaire link, using "Google form" was sent to the students via social networks. A total of 589 participants shared their complete information. The simple percentage distribution was employed to evaluate the learning status of the students. RESULTS: During the lockdown period, >70% of the students were engaged in online classes, most commonly by using the Zoom app. The majority of the students were using WIFI as an internet source to attend online classes. Students have been suffering from various problems related to anxiety, stress, economic crises, poor internet connectivity, deprivation of study materials, required e-learning accessories, and an unsuitable study environment. Mainly, students from remote areas and middle income families suffered enormously. Among those participants, who were able to attend the online classes, the majority of students (70%) were dissatisfied with the ongoing online classes. Only 23.3% of the participants suggested the feasibility of online classes in the near future. CONCLUSION: Our study recommended that training teachers and students about online classes might create effectiveness toward e-learning. The government needs to provide free internet services to the remote areas and the poor students since in the current scenario, huge numbers of the population are struggling with the economic burden.

Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Prinsepia utilis Royle Leaf and Seed Extracts.

Our study was designed to screen the antibacterial potency of Princepia utilis leaf and seed extract and to measure their antioxidant effects, total phenol content, total flavonoid content, and total carbohydrate content. Collected samples were extracted by cold maceration. Hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and distilled water were used as extraction solvents. In the disc diffusion method, P. utilis ethyl acetate leaf extract was most prominent against Staphylococcus epidermis with a zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 13.83 mm. Similarly, methanolic leaf extract was most prominent against Staphylococcus aureus (ZOI-12.33 mm). Furthermore, the methanolic seed extract was most sensitive against Klebsiella pneumoniaee (ZOI-11.66 mm) Escherichia coli (ZOI-9.0 mm). The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of 0.5 mg/mL and 0.6 mg/mL, respectively, were shown by ethyl acetate leaf extract against S. epidermis. Similarly, the highest values of MIC and MBC, i.e., 20.8 mg/mL and 33.3 mg/mL, respectively, were shown by hexane leaf extract against S. epidermidis. On the other hand, evaluation of antioxidant capacity revealed that ethyl acetate leaf extract showed the maximum antioxidant effect (IC50: 66.69 µg/mL). The total flavonoid contents of different extracts were measured in the range of 37 ± 0.74 µg QE/mg dry extract weight (methanolic seed extract) to 321.84 ± 4.82 µg QE/mg dry extract weight (hexane seed extract). Likewise, the total polyphenol content ranged from the hexane leaf extract (17.33 ± 0.642 µg GAE/mg dry extract weight) to ethyl acetate leaf extract (62.56 ± 1.284 µg GAE/mg dry extract weight). We found a variation in total carbohydrate content in the range of 23.55 ± 1.125 µg glucose/mg dry extract weight (hexane leaf extract) to 96.63 ± 2.253 µg glucose/mg dry extract weight (aqueous leaf extract). Overall, this study revealed that leaf and seed extract of P. utilis exhibited noteworthy antibacterial effects against diverse pathogenic microorganisms.

Caregivers' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Pressure Injuries in Spinal Cord Injury at Rehabilitation Center in Bangladesh.

The purpose of this study was to determine caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on the prevention and care of pressure injuries (PIs) in individuals with spinal cord injury. A quantitative cross-sectional study with descriptive correlation design was used to implement a modified semistructured questionnaire using a convenient sampling method. McDonald's standard of learning outcome measurement criteria was used to categorize caregivers' KAP. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) was utilized to assess the relationships between caregivers' KAP, with a p value of 0.05 or less considered statistically significant. The study findings indicate that caregivers had a moderate level of knowledge (M = 73.68%, SD = 6.43), a neutral attitude (M = 70.32%, SD = 6.89), and a moderate level of practice (M = 74.77%, SD = 9.08). A positive correlation existed between caregivers' knowledge and attitude (r = 0.30, p < 0.01), as well as between knowledge and practice (r = 0.37, p < 0.01). Nevertheless, there was no correlation between attitude and practice (r = 0.12, p > 0.05). The study findings suggest that caregivers need to develop a positive attitude and expand their knowledge in order to improve their practice. The KAP factors that require higher priority were positioning and turning the patient, preventing skin breakdown, assessing weight changes over time, interest in patient care, additional care for PIs, frequently changing the individual's position, priority to PI care, interest in other types of care other than PIs, using special cushions, consulting doctors on a regular basis, being aware of clothing and fabrics, proper transfer technique, pressure relief, and skin inspection, among others.

Study of Antibacterial Activity of Root Bark, Leaves, and Pericarp Extracts of Diploknema butyracea and Evaluation of Prospective Antioxidant Activity.

This study was aimed to determine the antibacterial activity of root bark, leaves, and pericarp extract of Diploknema butyracea and to evaluate the prospective antioxidant activity, total flavonoid, polyphenol, and carbohydrate content. The plant parts were collected and extracted by cold maceration, using hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and distilled water. Phytochemical screening of different samples of D. butyracea in different solvents revealed the presence of varied extent of alkaloid, saponin, terpenoid, anthraquinones, tannin, cardiac glycoside, flavonoid, carbohydrate, polyphenol, protein and amino acid, resin, and phytosterol. Our study showed that methanolic root bark extract exhibited the potent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Klebsiella pneumonia with an average zone of inhibition of 17.33 mm, 14.33 mm, and 13.0 mm, respectively. Surprisingly, all of the extracts were insensitive to Escherichia coli. The lowest minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), 4.6 mg/ml, was observed with the aqueous pericarp extract against S. epidermidis and the highest was of 50 mg/ml shown by ethyl acetate pericarp against K. pneumonia. Our results showed that both the polar and nonpolar components present in the different parts of D. butyracea exhibit prominent antibacterial activities against different bacterial strains. The in vitro 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity showed that the methanol extract of root barks displayed the most potent antioxidant activity (IC50 : 6.1 µg/ml). The total polyphenol content of the plant part extracts was observed between 19.48 ± 0.23 and 123.48 ± 1.84 µg gallic acid equivalent/mg of dry extract weight. Likewise, flavonoid content ranged from 40.63 ± 1.28 µg to 889.72 ± 3.40 µg quercetin equivalent/mg of dry extract weight and total carbohydrate content ranged from 11.92 ± 0.60 µg to 174.72 ± 0.60 µg glucose equivalent per/mg dry extract weight. Overall, our study showed that the root bark, pericarp, and leaves extract of D. butyracea evinced prominent antibacterial properties against various pathogenic bacterial strains.