Zinc-exchanged montmorillonite clay: A promising slow-release nanofertilizer for rice (Oryza sativa L.).

This study is to examine zinc exchanged montmorillonite (Zn-MMT) as a potential slow release nanofertilizer for rice crop. The effective intercalation of zinc within the montmorillonite inter layers was firmly established via analytical techniques including Zeta potential, FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The efficacy of Zn-MMT was examined by evaluating its ability to facilitate controlled zinc release, as confirmed through an incubation study. Subsequently, the kinetics of zinc release was analyzed by different mathematical models such as Zero-order kinetics, First-order kinetics, the Higuchi model, and the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. From the pot culture study spanning 90 days the results indicated that Zn-MMT had significantly high plant height, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Dry Matter Production (DMP), number of tillers per hill, panicles length, increased grain and straw yield, in comparison with conventional zinc sulphate (ZnSO4). Total phenol, total protein and total chlorophyll content were significantly at higher levels with Zn-MMT treated rice crops as compared to conventional fertilizers and control. A similar trend was seen with phytochemicals such as Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Carbonic Anhydrase (CA). Notably, rice grains harvested from Zn-MMTtreated crops exhibited significantly higher zinc content than those using other treatments. This Zn-MMT can be confirmed as a better alternative to conventional zinc sulphate fertilizers owing to its slow-release of nutrient into the soil and thus increased zinc use efficiency.

Assessment of fear among the general public of Kerala, India, following a surge of COVID-19 cases.

During the initial stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the community spread of the virus had efficiently been prevented in Kerala, India. The present study aimed to assess fear and its predictors among the general public following the unforeseen surge of COVID-19 cases in July, 2020 using a reliable and validated tool, the 'Fear of COVID-19 Scale', administered through social media. Of 1,100 responses, 1,046 responses were included in the analysis. The majority of the respondents expressed mild fear 44.6%; moderate fear was found in 39.4% of the respondents, severe fear in 13.6% and very severe fear in 2.4% of the respondents. The mean fear score was found to be 15.93±5.81. Statistically significant (P≤0.05) associations were found between fear and sociodemographic variables, such as age, sex, education and occupation, along with predictors, such as the district of residence, healthcare stakeholders in the family, and the presence of an infected individual in the family. Women and students were found to be the most affected. On the whole, the present study provides sufficient insight into the fear associated with COVID-19. The findings presented herein may enable authorities to take adequate measures to prevent the aftermath.

Impact assessment of accreditation in primary and secondary public health-care institutions in Kerala, India.

BACKGROUND: Accreditation has become a benchmark for health-care organizations that require huge investment and effort. The impact of accreditation in health-care delivery needs to be assessed. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to assess the impact of accreditation on the quality of public healthcare delivery in primary and secondary healthcare settings in Kerala. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2017 to July 2018 among 621 in-patients in medical wards at accredited (312) and nonaccredited (309) primary (community health center) and secondary (general, women and children, and taluk level hospitals) public health-care facilities. Ten constructs such as physical facility, admission services, patient centeredness, accessibility of medical care, financial matters, professionalism, staff services, medical quality, diagnostic services, and patient satisfaction were used in the study. Nonaccredited and accredited hospitals were compared using Median and Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS version 22, with a set significance level of P ≤0 .05. RESULTS: The median score of constructs of accredited primary health-care facilities in the Structure, Process, and Outcome domains are higher than the nonaccredited hospitals. There are significant differences between the scores of these three domains in accredited and nonaccredited primary health-care institutions but absent in secondary care institutions. CONCLUSION: If accreditation has to bring the embedded quality, structural, and procedural aspects of health-care facilities must be improved. Structural upgradation of a health-care facility alone cannot guarantee patient satisfaction. Accreditation process must be perceived as a tool for holistic and continuous transformation of a health-care facility overarching infrastructural and interpersonal domains.

A citizen science initiative for open data and visualization of COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala, India.

OBJECTIVE: India reported its first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case in the state of Kerala and an outbreak initiated subsequently. The Department of Health Services, Government of Kerala, initially released daily updates through daily textual bulletins for public awareness to control the spread of the disease. However, these unstructured data limit upstream applications, such as visualization, and analysis, thus demanding refinement to generate open and reusable datasets. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through a citizen science initiative, we leveraged publicly available and crowd-verified data on COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala from the government bulletins and media outlets to generate reusable datasets. This was further visualized as a dashboard through a front-end Web application and a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) repository, which serves as an application programming interface for the front end. RESULTS: From the sourced data, we provided real-time analysis, and daily updates of COVID-19 cases in Kerala, through a user-friendly bilingual dashboard (https://covid19kerala.info/) for nonspecialists. To ensure longevity and reusability, the dataset was deposited in an open-access public repository for future analysis. Finally, we provide outbreak trends and demographic characteristics of the individuals affected with COVID-19 in Kerala during the first 138 days of the outbreak. DISCUSSION: We anticipate that our dataset can form the basis for future studies, supplemented with clinical and epidemiological data from the individuals affected with COVID-19 in Kerala. CONCLUSIONS: We reported a citizen science initiative on the COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala to collect and deposit data in a structured format, which was utilized for visualizing the outbreak trend and describing demographic characteristics of affected individuals.

Contrasting tunability of quinizarin fluorescence with p-sulfonatocalix[4,6]arene hosts.

This study reveals the intriguing modulations in the photophysics of quinizarin (QZ) on its interaction with p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene (SCX4) and p-sulfonatocalix[6]arene (SCX6) hosts. While the SCX6-QZ system shows the usual reduction in both fluorescence intensity and lifetime, the SCX4-QZ system shows a contrasting effect of enhancement in the fluorescence intensity and reduction in the fluorescence lifetime. Such a contrasting effect is not only unusual but also observed for the first time for any host-guest system. The observed results are justifiably correlated with the changes in both radiative and nonradiative decay rate constants for the SCX4-QZ system.