Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards hepatitis among patients visiting the hepatitis clinic in tertiary care hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of hepatitis B and C patients towards the disease. METHODS: The cross-sectional, descriptive, questionnaire-based study was conducted at the Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and its allied hospitals, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from October to December 2017, and comprised hepatitis B and C patients aged ≥18 years who were visiting the outpatient department. A structured, close-ended, 30-item questionnaire was used to collect data which was then analysed using SPSS 23. . RESULTS: Of the 399 patients, 230(57.6%) were women, 103(26%) did not have any formal education, and TV, radio and the internet was the main source of information regarding hepatitis for 138(34.6%) patients. The overall mean age was 42.82}11.78 years. The sample showed poor knowledge with a mean score of 7.33}2.03, adequate attitude with a mean of 4.33}1.19, and poor practice with a mean of 2.97}1.05. Correlation was statistically significant between knowledge and practice (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Lack of imperative knowledge of hepatitis in patients was the main reason for negative attitude and poor practices.

Potentiation of Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy by Curcumin-loaded Graphene Quantum Dots.

Increasing resistance to existing antibiotics by microbes is currently the biggest dilemma. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy is a promising alternative for the treatment of multidrug-resistant infections. The aim of the current study was to fabricate graphene quantum dots loaded with curcumin as photosensitizer for improved antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. The study involved fabrication of blank and curcumin-loaded graphene quantum dots, their characterizations (TEM, UV-visible and fluorescence emission spectra), cytotoxicity assay, ROS assay and investigation of enhanced antimicrobial photodynamic effect against resistant microbes. The fabrication of blank and loaded graphene quantum dots was confirmed by the observation of peak shift and changes in peak intensity of blank graphene quantum dots, curcumin alone compared with curcumin-loaded graphene quantum dots in UV-visible and fluoresce emission spectra. Cytotoxicity assay showed that 100 µm concentration was not toxic to NIH/3t3 fibroblasts. In ROS assay, the curcumin-loaded formulation showed three-fold increase in ROS production. Blue-light (405 nm) irradiance of 30 J cm-2 and photosensitizer concentration of 100 µm showed ~3.5 log10 enhanced CUF reduction against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, MRSA, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. In conclusion, curcumin-loaded graphene quantum dots shoed enhanced antimicrobial photodynamic effects and can be used as an alternative effective treatment for resistant infections.

Antimicrobial blue light: A 'Magic Bullet' for the 21st century and beyond?

Over the past decade, antimicrobial blue light (aBL) at 400 - 470 nm wavelength has demonstrated immense promise as an alternative approach for the treatment of multidrug-resistant infections. Since our last review was published in 2017, there have been numerous studies that have investigated aBL in terms of its, efficacy, safety, mechanism, and propensity for resistance development. In addition, researchers have looked at combinatorial approaches that exploit aBL and other traditional and non-traditional therapeutics. To that end, this review aims to update the findings from numerous studies that capitalize on the antimicrobial effects of aBL, with a focus on: efficacy of aBL against different microbes, identifying endogenous chromophores and targets of aBL, Resistance development to aBL, Safety of aBL against host cells, and Synergism of aBL with other agents. We will also discuss our perspective on the future of aBL.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution: a global research framework, challenges, and future perspectives.

As a result of extreme modifications in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the status of air quality has recently been improved. This bibliometric study was conducted on a global scale to quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution, identify the emerging challenges, and discuss the future perspectives during the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For this, we have estimated the scientific production trends between 2020 and 2021 and investigated the contributions of countries, institutions, authors, and most prominent journals metrics network analysis on the topic of COVID-19 combined with air pollution research spanning the period between January 01, 2020, and June 21, 2021. The search strategy retrieved a wide range of 2003 studies published in scientific journals from the Web of Sciences Core Collection (WoSCC). The findings indicated that (1) publications on COVID-19 pandemic and air pollution were 990 (research articles) in 2021 with 1870 citations; however, the year 2020 witnessed only 830 research articles with a large number 16,600 of citations. (2) China ranked first in the number of publications (n = 365; 18.22% of the global output) and was the main country in international cooperation network, followed by the USA (n = 278; 13.87% of the global output) and India (n = 216; 10.78 of the total articles). (3) By exploring the co-occurrence and links strengths of keywords "COVID-19" (1075; 1092), "air pollution" (286; 771), "SARS-COV-2" (252; 1986). (4) The lessons deduced from the COVID-19 pandemic provide defined measures to reduce air pollution globally. The outcomes of the present study also provide useful guidelines for future research programs and constitute a baseline for researchers in the domain of environmental and health sciences to estimate the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution.

Perspectives from remote sensing to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic: A future-oriented approach.

As scientific technology and space science progress, remote sensing has emerged as an innovative solution to ease the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine the research characteristics and growth trends in using remote sensing for monitoring and managing the COVID-19 research, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on the scientific documents appearing in the Scopus database. A total of 1,509 documents on this study topic were indexed between 2020 and 2022, covering 165 countries, 577 journals, 5239 institutions, and 8,616 authors. The studies related to remote sensing and COVID-19 have a significant increase of 30% with 464 articles. The United States (429 articles, 28.42% of the global output), China (295 articles, 19.54% of the global output), and the United Kingdom (174 articles, 11.53%) appeared as the top three most contributions to the literature related to remote sensing and COVID-19 research. Sustainability, Science of the Total Environment, and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health were the three most productive journals in this research field. The utmost predominant themes were COVID-19, remote sensing, spatial analysis, coronavirus, lockdown, and air pollution. The expansion of these topics appears to be associated with cross-sectional research on remote sensing, evidence-based tools, satellite mapping, and geographic information systems (GIS). Global pandemic risks will be monitored and managed much more effectively in the coming years with the use of remote sensing technology.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Amoxicillin Loaded Hybrid Material Composite Spheres Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

BACKGROUND: Incoherent use of antibiotics has led toward resistance in MRSA, becoming multidrug-resistant with a high rate of virulence in the community and hospital settings. OBJECTIVE: Synergistic anti-MRSA activity was investigated in this study for hybrid material composite spheres of amoxicillin, Ag nanoparticles, and chitosan, which were prepared by one-step synthesis method, and various characterizations were performed. METHODS: Antimicrobial-susceptibility assay on MRSA was achieved by disc diffusion and agar dilution techniques, while agar well diffusion was used for hybrid composite spheres. The in vitro and cytotoxicity studies were conducted on the skin abrasion mouse model and MTT assay on RD cell, respectively. RESULTS: All isolates showed resistance to the tested antibiotics except vancomycin. MIC against MRSA showed high resistance with amoxicillin from 4 to 128 mg L-1. The mean diameter of chitosan spheres and Ag nanoparticles was 02 mm and 277 nm, respectively. Morphology of spheres was uneven, varied, porous, and irregular in SEM, and Ag nanoparticles presence and formation was also seen in the micrograph. No substantial interface among drug, nanoparticles, and polymer was found in XRD, and IR showed characteristic peaks of all compounds in the formulation. The in vitro assay showed augmented anti-MRSA activity with amoxicillin loaded hybrid composite spheres (22-29 mm). A significant reduction in microbial burden (~6.5 log10 CFU mL-1) was seen in vivo with loaded hybrid composite spheres formulation. The MTT assay indicated no potential cytotoxicity with hybrid composite spheres. CONCLUSION: The synergistic effect of Amoxycillin in the current study predicts a promising hybrid formulation with enhanced anti-MRSA activity.

Biocompatible biodegradable polymeric antibacterial nanoparticles for enhancing the effects of a third-generation cephalosporin against resistant bacteria.

PURPOSE: In the present study, enhancement of the the antibacterial activity of ceftriaxone against Gram-positive (meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria with a biodegradable polymer was attempted. METHODOLOGY: MRSA and E. coli were collected and identified by biochemical and molecular tests. Blank and ceftriaxone-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) were prepared by the ionic gelation method. In vitro antibiotic-susceptibility studies were performed by disc diffusion, agar well plate method, Etest and time-kill assay. In vivo activity was assessed using the neutropenic mouse thigh model and cytotoxicity was estimated by MTT (methylthiazolyldiphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay with the MCF-7 cancer cell line. RESULTS: MRSA showed 97 % and E. coli 83 % resistance against ceftriaxone in the disc diffusion test. The isolates showing a ≥1024 mg l-1 MIC value for ceftriaxone were selected for further evaluation. In the agar well plate method, the mean zones of inhibition for blank and ceftriaxone-loaded CNPs were 17 and 23 mm, respectively, for MRSA isolates and 15 and 25 mm, respectively, for E. coli isolates. In the time-kill assay, ~1 log10 to ~2.5 log10 reduction in viability was seen with both isolates when treated with ceftriaxone-loaded CNPs over 24 h. The in vivo studies also showed the enhanced antibacterial activity of ceftriaxone-loaded CNPs, with a 41 % reduction in MRSA and a 27 % reduction in E. coli burden. A low cytotoxicity of blank and ceftriaxone-loaded CNPs was seen, with a slight reduction in the percentage viability of cells from 87 to 83 % and from 88 to 81 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: The synergistic effect of ceftriaxone-loaded CNPs is a useful finding for the treatment of MRSA and E. coli infections.

Comparison of articaine and lignocaine for uncomplicated maxillary exodontia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare single buccal articaine injection versus conventional lignocaine buccal and palatal injections for uncomplicated maxillary tooth extractions. STUDY DESIGN: Single blinded randomized control trial. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The outpatient department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry, Rawalpindi, from February to September 2011. METHODOLOGY: Patients aged 20 - 60 years under simple extraction in the maxillary arch were included in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups-A and B toss method. Maxillary teeth were divided into three groups; group-1 (posterior teeth) including first, second and third molars on either side, group-2 (middle teeth) including the premolars and group-3 (anterior teeth) including incisors and canines. Group-A (study group) received buccal infiltration of 4% articaine with 1:200,000 adrenaline and group-B (control group) received buccal and palatal infiltration of 2% lignocaine/HCl with 1:100,000 adrenaline. Faces Pain Scale (FPS) and a Visual Analogue Score (VAS) was used for objective and subjective assessment of per operative pain respectively. RESULTS: A total of 194 patients were included in the study. Group-A comprised of 100 patients while group-B consisted of 94 patients. The mean age of the total sample was 41.12 ± 13.6 years. Statistically significant difference was found for the VAS scores of anteriors (p=0.9), premolars (p=0.2) and molars (p=0.2) for groups A and B. The FPS scores for both groups were also statistically insignificant (p=0.864). CONCLUSION: Buccal infiltration with a single articaine injection and lignocaine buccal and palatal infiltration were equally effective for maxillary exodontia.