Geo-environmental factors and the effectiveness of mulberry leaf extract in managing malaria.

Malaria prevalence has become medically important and a socioeconomic impediment for the endemic regions, including Purulia, West Bengal. Geo-environmental variables, humidity, altitude, and land use patterns are responsible for malaria. For surveillance of the endemic nature of Purulia's blocks, statistical and spatiotemporal factors analysis have been done here. Also, a novel approach for the Pf malaria treatment using methanolic leaf extract of Morus alba S1 has significantly reduced the parasite load. The EC50 value (1.852) of the methanolic extract of M. alba S1 with P. falciparum 3D7 strain is close to the EC50 value (0.998) of the standard drug chloroquine with the same chloroquine-sensitive strain. Further studies with an in-silico model have shown successful interaction between DHFR and the phytochemicals. Both 1-octadecyne and oxirane interacted favourably, which was depicted through GC-MS analysis. The predicted binary logistic regression model will help the policy makers for epidemiological surveillance in malaria-prone areas worldwide when substantial climate variables create a circumstance favourable for malaria. From the in vitro and in silico studies, it can be concluded that the methanolic extract of M. alba S1 leaves were proven to have promising antiplasmodial activity. Thus, there is a scope for policy-driven approach for discovering and developing these lead compounds and undermining the rising resistance to the frontline anti-malarial drugs in the world.

COVID-19: impact on quality of work life in real estate sector.

COVID-19 pandemic has been spread like wildfire and left its deadly impact throughout the world. This would harm businesses according to the sectors. Like other sectors real estate sector under the construction industry is also facing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It becomes very detrimental about labour market, company liquidity, the supply of materials, project delivery, and key cost components, and so on. In general, it happens that the real estate sector often experiences complexities in case of project completion, scheduling, and financing. The planned work cannot be carried out due to the non-availability of sufficient numbers of skilled labours and staff. Moreover due to effects of pandemic real estate sectors and the work-life of real estate professionals are being hampered. It is very much obvious that human resources act as the lifeline of any organization and they need to be handled and managed with the utmost care and dignity. Despite the physical, technological and financial resources in the business, human resource is such a critical asset that employers should take care of their quality of work-life all the time, not only during the crisis period. By satisfying them the business can achieve its objectives in terms of revenue and recognition. After a strict lockdown when things return to new normal and employees return to work, the company needs to take certain 'human resource' perspectives for maintaining a good quality of work life. All the employers should implement some strategies concerning to qualitative work life of the employees during this epidemic situation. The real estate sector is labour intensive and employees are a very critical resource that helps to increase productivity and enhancing competitiveness in the market. The impact of the pandemic on the quality of work-life among real estate employees in Kolkata, India is also studied.

Giant Dielectric Constant of Copper Nanowires/Amorphous SiO2 Composite Thin Films for Supercapacitor Application.

Transparent thin films comprising ultralong (within the range 52-387 µm) copper nanowires with diameter ∼7-9 nm encapsulated in amorphous silica have been successfully fabricated using an electrodeposition technique. The length and number density were controlled by electrodeposition time and concentration of precursor materials, respectively. Giant dielectric constant values (∼1010) obtained from these systems were quantitatively explained as a function of the length of the nanowires on the basis of quantum mechanical theory derived by Rice and Bernasconi. These transparent thin films offer a specific capacitance value of 550 F/g with more than 73% cyclic stability over a period of 900 cycles. Our findings demonstrate a facile pathway to control and improve the properties of metal nanowire-based transparent materials for use in supercapacitor applications.

Effect of age on presentation with diabetes: Comparison of nondiabetic patients with new smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been reported to modify the presenting features of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), but data regarding the effect of diabetes on the presentation of PTB are highly variable. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether DM alters the demographic, clinical, and radiological manifestations of tuberculosis and whether the effect of diabetes varies with the age group of PTB patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted on new smear-positive PTB patients with DM (PTB-DM group) and non-diabetic PTB patients (PTB group). Patients of both groups were again divided into six age groups (15-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and >70 rears) to analyze and compare the impact of age on clinicoradiological presentations of PTB. RESULTS: Patients in the PTB-DM group were significantly older (53.34 ± 14.06 year) in comparison to their nondiabetic counterparts (PTB group) (44.35 ± 18.14 year) (P < 0.001). The former group also had a lower male:female ratio, although the difference was not statistically significant (1.16:1 vs. 2.05:1, P = 0.101). Tuberculin positivity was significantly higher in the PTB group, compared with patients in the PTB-DM group (P < 0.004). The proportion of patients with lower lung field involvement (P = 0.003) and cavitations (P = 0.005) was also higher in the former group compared with the latter. CONCLUSION: Diabetic patients with tuberculosis were relatively older, had lower tuberculin positivity, and higher proportion of lower lung field involvement and cavitation in comparison to nondiabetic patients.