bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Systematic and Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships of Polymeric Medical Nanomaterials: From Systematic Synthesis and Characterization to Computer Modeling and Nano-Bio Interaction and Toxicity
Authors: Liu kegang , wang xueya , Li-Blatter Xiaochun , Wolf Marc P. , Hunziker Patrick 
Published: May 2020

Nanomaterials are suitable for numerous applications in medicine. Building on their design versatility, they enable construction of novel targeted therapies, including personalized medicine. However, the freedom of design entails a multitude of parameters, which have to be optimized for application in nanomedicine. Currently,nonamaterial assortment is mainly anecdotal, non-systematic and non-representative. In contrast to the mostly oligo-disciplinary nature of many publications, we here present a systematic and comprehensive multidisciplinary approach to chemical synthesis, physicochemical characterization, computer modeling, and in vitro and in vivo exploration of nanomaterials that may be suited for medical application. Specially, we design and synthesize a library of amphiphilic oxazoline/siloxane block co-polymers with varying chain lengths and different end groups. In this regard, the computer modeling of the current polymer library is contributing to further optimization of these nanomaterials in a fast and reliable, and efficient way. In conclusion, these outstandingly versatile and non-toxic polymers can be synthesized rapidly and easily and self-assemble to polymeric micelles in aqueous solutions, thus rendering them amenable for numerous medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications
Molecular detection of Multi-Drug Resistant Mycobacterium species in a Tertiary Care centre
Authors: Ancy Justin J K  , Bhuvaneshwari G  , Kalyani M  
Published: May 2020

Tuberculosis (TB) - one of the leading causes of adult death in the Asia-Pacific Region, is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). TB remains a major public health issue especially in developing nations due to the lack of adequate rapid diagnostic testing facilities. Drug resistance in tuberculosis was observed nearly fifty years ago. The risk is now due to the emergence of new strains which are most resistant to the potent anti-tuberculosis drugs. The resistance to drugs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is conferred by mutations witⱨ the genes encoding drug targets or drug converting enzymes. In suspected extra pulmonary tuberculosis cases also, fast and accurate laboratory diagnosis is of primary importance, since the techniques which are followed from past years for detecting acid-fast bacilli have many limitations. This study may also help in standardizing the technique for rapid identification of MDR TB in extra pulmonary TB patients in this Tertiary care Hospital. The current study describes the importance and use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the detection of Multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium species. The target genes encoding resistance to Isoniazid and Rifampicin were detected by Polymerase Cain reaction and Agarose gel electrophoresis. Among the 359 samples, 2% were resistant to botⱨ Isoniazid and Rifampicin and tⱨe prevalence of drug resistance was found to be more in adult age groups.
Paean to Bicillin L-A ® and the End of Harry Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments
Authors: Munson Peggy 
Published: May 2020

I was in Harry Harlow's “Pit of Despair,” that walled
isolation chamber with a one-way mirror: spent months there,
rocking like a horse turned wooden by the blank stare
of a mute whisperer into part of an attic's
unaccounted boneyard. I do know how it feels to suckle
at a wire mother, because a tin mom's teleprompter
was the script given me by captors
whose transgenic faces tarred my raptor-feathered fight.
Isolation, that velvet rope of triage that cannot be deveined,
spelled out America's subliminal apartheids
like a bride's soft skin that lives within her hardened marriage.

I started off homebound, a leitmotif of the Mandela
Effect, once a latchkey kid, keyed up in the collective amygdala,
then gently cordoned off the way a capsized crew
is threaded off from where they tread together
until one of them goes lost. Later, I was rigid as the monkey
huddled in a corner, egg-eyed like the tempest
of an anthropomorphic psychosis that society sections away.
That monkey's mutagenic life became the DNA of
all human cruelty. I pined for touch
while the chemical cartel nudged me with its ammonia
waves, and even now, I cry for the word felt.
Toxic Soldiers, Flickering Knowledges, and Enlisted Care
Authors: Morgan Alli , Fortun Kim 
Published: May 2020

Based on many years of fieldwork with US veterans, this essay examines the production of “toxic subjects” through three types of toxic exposures in the history of US soldiering—from Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, to still unspecified exposures that produced Gulf War Syndrome in the first Gulf war, and to the burn pits used for waste disposal on bases throughout the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. While all toxic subjects are at odds with established systems of medicine and law, we argue that toxic subjects in military formations are especially challenging. Deeply entrenched ideas about soldiers’ able-bodied masculinity and readiness for sacrifice (coupled with the logics of entrenched legal and biomedical systems) make toxic soldiers particularly difficult to account and care for. We describe the experiences, structural positioning, dispossession and resistances of toxic soldiers at different historical conjunctures, pointing to cultural logics that connect them. Working with an especially literal instantiation of “the subaltern,” we hope to help toxic soldiers speak, so to speak, giving them “access to metonymization” (Spivak, 2004)—capacity to understand and experience their conditions collectively, politically and culturally. We cast toxic subjects as sentinel figures of “late industrialism,” a historical juncture characterized by pervasive contamination (of bodies, landscapes and political systems) and out-of-date infrastructure (conceptual, biomedical, legal, technological).
Chemical Kinship
Authors: Balayannis Angeliki , Garnett Emma 
Published: May 2020

Feminist technoscientific research with chemicals is proliferating. This critical commentary considers how this scholarship extends environmental justice research on pollution. We are concerned with two key questions: How can we do/design ethical research with chemicals? And, what methods allow for researching chemicals without resorting to an imagined space of purity? We consider unfolding projects which reorient relations with chemicals from villainous objects with violent effects, to chemical kin. We imagine chemical kinship as a concept, an analytical tool, and a mode of relating. Emerging through feminist and anticolonial work with chemicals, it involves a tentativeness towards making normative claims about chemicals because, like kin, these materials are never entirely good nor bad, at once they can both be enabling and harmful. This commentary considers what the unfolding research with chemicals generates, and consolidates conceptualisations of chemical kinship; we ultimately articulate an agenda for ethical research with chemicals as an experimental process of invention.
Factors associated with antibiotic prescription among healthcare workers at tertiary hospitals in Nairobi County, Kenya
Authors: Mbuthia OW , Ndonga EN , Odiwour SO , Muraguri MW 
Published: May 2020

Background: Globally, there has been an overall decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics resulting in an upsurge in bacterial resistance, increased cost of healthcare and consequent high morbidity and mortality rates.
Objective: To determine antibiotic prescription practices among healthcare workers at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Mbagathi, Pumwani Maternity and Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospitals, Nairobi, Kenya.
Methods: The study design was a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather information from 230 prescribing healthcare workers. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted purposively with the prescribing healthcare workers and patients to obtain qualitative data.
Results: There was a significant difference in the distribution of study participants with regards to the availability of antibiotics prescribing policy (p = 0.05). Only 53 (23%) prescribers prescribed antibiotics as per the policy guide while 51 (22.2%) did not and 126 (54.8%) were not sure. Oral antibiotics (OR = 0.5, 95%CI 0.3-0.9), always referring to the 2016 Kenya Essential Medicines List (KEML) to prescribe antibiotics (OR = 4.2, 95%CI 1.3-13.1), separating antibiograms for inpatient and outpatient departments (OR = 4.3, 95%CI 1.11-15.5), and confidence of healthcare workers to prescribe antibiotics without laboratory tests (OR = 0.3, 95%CI 0.2-0.8) were associated with the prescription of antibiotics.
Conclusion: There is need to improve antibiotic prescription practices among healthcare workers in public tertiary hospitals in Nairobi County to promote rational antibiotic use and control bacterial resistance.
The Productivity of Duck in Different Temperature Cage Management
Authors: Nova Tertia Delia , Syahruddin Erman , Zein Rijal 
Published: May 2020

This study aims to determine the performance of ducks on the effect of differences in cage temperature. This study used 54 5-week-old male ducks selected from 66 ducks. The research method used was randomized block design (RBD). The treatment used is the regulation of the temperature of the cage which is divided into three temperature levels, namely: A (cold temperature), B (room temperature), and C (hot temperature). The observed variables were duck performance in the form of feed consumption, body weight gain and feed conversion. The results of this study indicate that the difference in temperature of the cage became a very significant (P<0.01) on the consumption of rations, weight gain and conversion. The results of the study concluded that the maintenance of ducks at three different cage temperatures had a very significant (P<0.01) on feed consumption and body weight gain, but had no effect on feed conversion. The best results were found in the temperature of the cold cage with the consumption of rations of 2964.33 g/head, which resulted in body weight of 711.83 g/head of g/head, and conversion of 4.2. While the body weight of 1437 percentage of carcass was 67.64% in the study. The highest yield IOFC results (income over feed cost) cage in cold temperatures with a profit of Rp. 3,375.15/head. The maintenance of ducks at three different cage temperatures had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the weight of the spleen, thyroid and kidney and the work of the spleen, thyroid and kidney organs was still normal
Childhood Neurocysticersosis: A Rural Teaching Hospital Experience
Authors: Bhalla Arjun Sakha , Maini Baljeet , Gaur Bablu Kumar 
Published: May 2020

Introduction: Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is caused by the larval stage of Taenia Solium. Neurocysticercosis is the most common cause of acquired epilepsy in developing countries. In India NCC has been identified as a significant cause of seizures.
Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on 150 children of NCC up to 18 years of age in a tertiary care hospital. The diagnosis was based on clinical and laboratory/ radiological evaluation of the patients. Socio-clinical, radiological and serological data of the patients were analysed.
Results: A total of 150 children were enrolled in this study. The commonest age group of the cases in this study was six to 10 years. Male to female ratio was 1.8:1. The largest percentage of cases belonged to upper lower class (56%) and lowest was 4% in upper class. Sixty percent subjects were non vegetarian. Seizures were the most common presentation (96%). Headache was present in 44% cases. Single lesion was commonest type of lesion on radiological examination with frontal cortex as most commonly involved area of brain. Stage II NCC was commonest type of lesion on MRI. EEG was abnormal in 38% cases. Serum ELISA for cysticercosis was positive in 10% cases. Number of lesions was not associated with age group, type of seizure or any particular area of brain.
Conclusion: Stage II NCC the commonest type of NCC. Single lesion NCC was more common than multiple lesions. All cases with atypical presentation and positive ELISA had multiple lesions. Frontal portion of cortex was most commonly involved.
Prevalence of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with Perinatal Asphyxia in Tertiary Hospital
Authors: Shrestha Nisha Jyoti , Subedi Kalpana Upadhaya , Shakya Shristi , Adhikari Saroja 
Published: May 2020

Introduction: Perinatal asphyxia has multisystem involvement, kidneys are most frequently affected. This study was conducted to determine the relation between severity of Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) with acute kidney injury in term neonates.
Methods: Retrospective study was done over a period of six months (Sept 2016 to Feb 2017) at Department of Neonatology of a tertiary level maternity hospital. Total 98 cases of Perinatal asphyxia cases which were diagnosed with certain degree of HIE were evaluated for its relation with renal involvement in different stage of HIE.
Results: Out of 98 cases of perinatal asphyxia, HIE I was 21%, HIE II was 69% and HIE III was 10%, among which 72% cases had some degree of renal problem. seventy two cases had renal problem, oliguric cases were 41 (57%) among which 33% case had persistent symptoms and associated renal function deterioration. Among 42 cases of deranged RFTs, 40% of cases has persistently deranged RFTs. In comparison to HIE II in HIE III, 22% of cases had one time derangement of RFTs and 33% cases had at least one observation of oliguria, while remaining 45% cases had persistent deterioration of RFTs and urine output, suggesting that progression in HIE stage has significant association with renal dysfunction (p < 0.05). More than half of the cases of HIE III had mortality while 20.3% of HIE II cases had mortality, indicating that the mortality is highly significant with higher HIE grade (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Renal involvement is very common in cases of perinatal asphyxia, and severity of renal involvement increases as the HIE grading increases.
Perception of understanding COVID-19 among doctors at Patan Hospital, Nepal
Authors: Pandey Bimal , Lama Mipsang , Shah Prashant Kumar , Rajbhandari Piyush , Sigdel Keshav , Hirachan Niroj 
Published: May 2020

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and presents with fever, dry cough, fatigue, myalgia, and dyspnea. This study aims to is find out the understanding of COVID-19 among doctors at Patan Hospital.
Method: A cross sectional was conducted among doctors at Patan Hospital, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Nepal. The questionnaire in Google form consisted, part1 perception on COVID-19 and part2 understanding using multiple choice questions corresponding to the one to fifteen questionnaire in part1. Ethnical approval was obtained.
Result: Sixty-one doctors participated in the study, of which 65.5% were directly involved in management of COVID-19. Perception and understanding regarding transmission status in country was 65.6% and 63.95% respectively, about case definition 90.1% and 62.2%, about when to do diagnostic tests 75.4% and 90.2%.
Conclusion: There was difference in perception and understanding regarding COVID-19 among doctors, and areas to be reinforced were case definition, transmission classification, diagnostic tests.
Effectiveness of lockdown as COVID-19 intervention: official and computed cases in Nepal
Authors: Bhandary Shital 
Published: May 2020

Introduction: COVID-19 was first reported on 31 December 2019 from China. It was first confirmed in Nepal on 23 January 2020. Government enforced first wave of nationwide ‘lockdown’ for one week on 24 March 2020 and fourth from 16 April for 12 days. This paper aims to compute effectiveness of lockdown on COVID-19 cases in Nepal.
Method: Doubling times were calculated using official COVID-19 records first, and then, the number of COVID-19 cases based on various doubling time scenarios staring 23 January 2020 were computed and compared with the official cases of Nepal. All the calculations were done in Microsoft Excel.
Result: Doubling time was 60-day between first and second case, 5-day between 2nd and 5th, 15-day between 5th and 12th and again 5-day between 12th to 30th cases. Doubling time increased to 15-day after the lockdown. Estimated doubling time was 28 days till March, 21 days till 12 April and 18 days till 17 April 2020 and it is expected to reach 15 days on 24 April 2020.
Conclusion: The reported COVID-19 cases doubling time was 5, 15 and 5 days in Nepal after the lockdown. The doubling time increased due to lockdown.
Awareness, attitude and practice on contraception among the clients attending abortion service at a zonal hospital
Authors: Saud Mithu 
Published: May 2020

Introduction: Contraceptive methods are important components to reduce unwanted pregnancy, abortion, maternal and child morbidity mortality. This study aim to identify awareness, attitude and practice on contraception among women attending abortion services at Seti Zonal Hospital, Nepal.
Method: Cross-sectional enumeration sampling techniques from Safe abortion Unit of Seti Zonal Hospital, Nepal, from August to September 2018 was taken for structured face to face interview using questionnaire to find out awareness, attitude and practice on contraception among women. Ethical approval was obtained. The SPSS version 16 was used to analyze data.
Result: Out of total 94 women, 59 (73.8%) had adequate awareness, 78 (83%) had positive attitude for use of contraception, 44 (46.8%) had inadequate practice of contraception and 19 (20.2%) had adequate practice. There was a significant association between types of family and level of awareness (P<0.001). There was no correlation between awareness, attitude and practice.
Conclusion: Two thirds of women attending abortion clinic were aware of and had positive attitude in regard to contraception, but less than half practiced it.
Analytic prognostication of sensitivity to fluoroquinolones in S. aureus, as pathogens of infectious complications in burn patients
Authors: Nahaichuk V. I. , Nazarchuk O. A. , Babina Yu. M. , Osadchuk N. I. , Bobyr V. V. , Dmytriiev D. V. , Palii D. V. , Makats Ye. F. , Chornopyshchuk R. M. 
Published: May 2020

Annotation. In the research, the new data of S. aureus clinical strains’ sensitivity to fluoroquinolones is presented. The aim of the research was to carry out analytic prognosis of sensitivity to fluoroquinolones in clinical strains of S. aureus, isolated from patients with burns. Our research was carried out in 2011–2018. From patients there were isolated 204 clinical strains of S. aureus. There was studied the sensitivity of S. aureus clinical strains to such fluoroquinolones as ofloxacinum, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin. The sensitivity was carried out by means of standard qualitative disc-diffusion method on dense medium and quantitative serial dilution one. The analytical dependence of dynamic prognostic changing criteria of S. aureus clinical strains’ sensitivity to fluoroquinolones was found by means of mathematical prognostication. Prognostic mathematical models were conducted. Authenticity of every model and substantiation of the prognosis of antibiotic sensitivity of S. aureus were estimated due to determination criteria (r2). “STATISTICA 10.0”; “Matlab 7.11” programs were used. In the result of the statistical analysis of the data, obtained in research, we found decreasing sensitivity of S. aureus to ofloxacinum and levofloxacin. The sensitivity to ofloxacinum in S. aureus strains was found to be reduced the 94,12% in 2012 years to 56,2% in 2020 years.). The resulting mathematical model showed a prognostic decrease in the sensitivity of hospital strains of S. aureus to levofloxacin. A mathematical prognostic model indicated a likely improvement in staphylococcus sensitivity to gatifloxacin in 2020 (94.1%). Obtained formulas of analytical prognosis of sensitivity of S. aureus, colonizing burn surfaces in patients, proved the decreasing effectiveness of fluoroquinolones in prophylaxis and treatment of infectious complications, caused by this opportunistic pathogen. That is why microbiological research at the beginning of management administration of antimicrobials in these patients is of great importance.
Research of antimicrobial efficacy of a composition with prolonged antiseptic effect against planktonic and film forms of clinical strains of non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria
Authors: Nazarchuk O. A. , Nahaichuk V. I. , Rymsha O. V. , Palii V. H. , Vovk I. M. , Bobyr N. A. , Prokopchuk Z. M. , Stukan O. K. 
Published: May 2020

Annotation. The problem of treatment of burn wounds is closely related to the specificity of the spectrum of microorganisms that impair wound healing in this category of patients. A generally alarming trend in recent years is the significant increase in the etiological structure of wound infection, both in frequency and in severity and in the difficult choice of treatment tactics in the isolation of poly antimicrobial resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii. The aim of our study was to create a model of biofilm formed by bacteria on the wound surface and to investigate, in a comparative study, the sensitivity of planktonic and film forms of non-enzymatic gram-negative bacteria to a composition based on decamethoxin with prolonged antiseptic action. To determine the effect of the antiseptic composition on planktonic and film forms of bacteria there was used the method of two consecutive dilutions. The results of a comparative study of the activity of the antiseptic composition with decamethoxin planktonic and biofilm forms of strains of NFGB indicated that in the bacterial film bacteria were more resistant to drugs than in planktonic form. Film forms of A. baumannii and B. cepacia have a sensitivity to decamethoxin at a concentration of 13.6±1.95 µg/ml and 15.6±0 µg/ml, respectively. P. aeruginosa film forms have a higher degree of resistance to the test composition with decamethoxin (MBc 137.5±30.6 μg/ml). Disinfection of the planktonic form of NFGB is 10 times faster than the film form, the destruction of which is achieved with prolonged exposure of 120–150 minutes.