Compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among nurses after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Nurses frequently experience compassion fatigue and burnout, which impact their personal lives and patient care. The COVID-19 pandemic additionally caused stress, uncertainty, and fear of death among healthcare professionals. Aim: To assess professional quality of life (ProQoL) among nurses after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 203 nurses using a purposive sampling technique in the month of September to December 2021. Data were collected using a self-administered ProQoL scale version 5. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used. Bivariate correlations were used to correlate the main variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was also performed. Results: The majority of the nurses reported a moderate level of compassion satisfaction (CS) (62.6%), burnout (BO) (66.0%), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) (63.1%). Residence and education emerged as a factor whether the nurses experienced BO or STS, respectively. Additionally, CS negatively correlated with BO (r = -0.732: P < 0.001) and STS (r = -0.141: p-0.04). Conclusions: The majority of the nurses experienced moderate levels of CS, BO, and STS after the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis and nurse patient-ratio emerged as a significant factor to predict CS, BO, or STS. Hence, effective measures need to be implemented by hospital administration to enhance the nurses' satisfaction and reduce fatigue and burnout.

Carbendazim Modulates the Metabolically Active Bacterial Populations in Soil and Rhizosphere.

The impact of fungicide residues on non-target soil bacterial communities is relatively unexplained. We hypothesize that the persistence of fungicide residues in the soil will affect the soil bacterial populations. Persistence depends on biotic and abiotic factors, primarily determined by agricultural activities. Activities such as fallow soil (F), farmyard manure (FYM) amendment, rice straw (RS) mulching, and cultivation of maize (Zea mays) and clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) were used as treatments. The soil CO2 efflux showed no effect of Carbendazim on dormant bacteria (unwatered condition). However, in irrigated condition, Carbendazim enhanced the CO2 efflux by 8, 164, 131, 249, and 182% in fallow, FYM, RS, maize, and Trifolium treatments, respectively. However, 16S rRNA metagenome study after 30 days of carbendazim treatment showed that maize rhizosphere microflora was most susceptible, decreasing the Shannon diversity index from 0.321 to 0.165. Diversity indices generally increased in maize and RS treatments, and Proteobacteria was the most prominent bacterial phyla in the maize rhizosphere. The microbial communities separated into distinct groups on the Principal Co-ordinate analysis (PCoA) plot. The separation on scale 1 (35%) and scale 2 (13%) was based, respectively, on microbial activity and carbendazim treatments. Functionally Maize+Carbendazim treatment showed the highest enzyme activities dehydrogenase (82.25%), acid phosphatase (78.10%), alkaline phosphatase (48.26%), ß-glucosidase (59.99%), protease (126.65%), and urease (50.66%) compared to fallow soil. Overall, Carbendazim enhanced non-target bacterial activity in metabolically active niches, while it did not affect the dormant microflora. Thus, organic amendments and cultivation of fungicide-contaminated soil may help render the contaminant through bacterial activity.

Synergistic action of Trichoderma koningiopsis and T. asperellum mitigates salt stress in paddy.

Intensive cultivation increases the salinity and alkalinity of soil leading to its degradation. Such soil lead to abiotic stress conditions in plants causing ROS-mediated cellular damage. Microbes constitute an important group of bio-stimulants, which are promising alternatives to reduce ROS-mediated abiotic stresses and improve plant growth. In the present study synergistic activity of stress-tolerant Trichoderma koningiopsis NBRI-PR5 (MTCC 25372) and T. asperellum NBRI-K14 (MTCC 25373) (TrichoMix) was assessed in paddy crop under salt stress conditions. Improved soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), total organic carbon (TOC), and available nutrients N/P/K by 2-3 folds was observed in the pot experiment using the TrichoMix. It restored the heterogeneous microbial population of the paddy rhizosphere during salt stress and modulated the soil enzyme activities. The anatomical distortions in rice roots due to salt stress were stabilized in presence of the TrichoMix. Different stress marker genes (OsMAPK5, OsAPX, OsGST, OsUSP, OsBADH, OsLYSO, OsNRAMP6, and OsBz8) were differentially modulated by the TrichoMix in presence of salt stress as compared to the control. The TrichoMix increased the yield by 10% in marginally stressed fields; however, it enhanced the yield by approximately 60% when used with the 50% recommended dose of NPK. In the integrated treatment, Fe and Zn were fortified by approximately 40% and 29% respectively in the grains. From the present study, it was concluded that the TrichoMix stimulated the rice plants to accumulate osmoprotectants, improved the anatomical features, modulated the plant defense system, and improved the grain yield and quality. Therefore, the NBRI-PR5 and NBRI-K14 mixture may be used as a bio-stimulant to increase productivity in the rapidly deteriorating soil and reduce the NPK inputs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-022-01192-6.