ABSTRACT
Fungal chitosan (FCH) is superior to crustacean chitosan (CH) sources and is of immense interest to the scientific community while having a high demand at the global market. Industrial scale fermentation technologies of FCH production are associated with considerable challenges that frequently restrict their economic production and feasibility. The production of high quality FCH using an underexplored fungal strain Cunninghamella echinulata NCIM 691 that is hoped to mitigate potential future large-scale production was investigated. The one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) method was implemented to examine the effect of the medium components (i.e. carbon and nitrogen) on the FCH yield. Among these variables, the optimal condition for increased FCH yield was carbon (glucose) and nitrogen (yeast extract) source. A total of 11 factors affected FCH yield among which, the best factors were screened by Plackett-Burman design (PBD). The optimization process was carried out using the response surface methodology (RSM) via Box-Behnken design (BBD). The three-level Box- Behnken factorial design facilitated optimum values for 3 parameters-glucose (2% w/v), yeast extract (1.5% w/v) and magnesium sulphate (0.1% w/v) at 30ËC and pH of 4.5. The optimization resulted in a 2.2-fold higher FCH yield. The produced FCH was confirmed using XRD, 1H NMR, TGA and DSC techniques. The degree of deacetylation (DDA) of the extracted FCH was 88.3%. This optimization process provided a significant improvement of FCH yields and product quality for future potential scale-up processes. This research represents the first report on achieving high FCH yield using a reasonably unfamiliar fungus C. echinulata NCIM 691 through optimised submerged fermentation conditions. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-024-03919-6.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The study aimed to examine the effect of witnessing inter-parental violence and experiencing childhood abuse on victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) after marriage among adolescent and young girls. METHOD: Data were drawn from the second wave of the Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) survey (2018-2019). The sample size was 5480 married adolescent and young girls aged 13-23 years. The outcome variable of the study was the victimization of IPV. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) were performed. RESULT: A total of 39% of married adolescent and young girls experienced physical violence, followed by sexual violence (35%) and emotional violence (28%) by their partner. Around 30% of respondents witnessed inter-parental violence, and 32% of the participants were beaten by their parents during childhood. Participants who had witnessed inter-parental violence were significantly correlated with experiencing childhood abuse, and this association was positively correlated with exposure to IPV in adolescence and young adulthood. Further, the parameter estimates of the indicators of IPV were highest for emotional violence (1.10) followed by physical violence (1.00) and sexual violence (0.62). Witnessing inter-parental violence significantly increases parents' physical violence to adolescents and young adult girls (ß = 0.49, P<0.001, CI: 0.47-0.51). No tie between witnessing inter-parental violence and childhood abuse mediates their effect on later victimization of IPV. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that witnessing inter-parental violence is a strong risk factor for IPV victimization among adolescent and young adult girls. Our findings advocate prerequisite collaborative effort with multiple service providers for greater empowerment at national, state, community, and family levels to achieve SDG goals pertaining to eliminating violence against women.