Background: Health care associated infections and emerging multi drug resistance in nosocomial pathogens is perceived as a serious public health threat with grievous concerns. Hand hygiene if practiced properly is cheapest, simplest and most effective tool in tackling this problem. The objective of this study was conducted to assess levels of knowledge, attitude and practice in various aspects of hand hygiene in undergraduate nursing students in the study area for identifying gaps for planning necessary corrective measures. Methods: A cross sectional study involving self-administered pre-structured anonymous questionnaires administered to all undergraduate nursing students (182) enrolled at Shalmar Nursing College Lahore, Pakistan. Results: Most of the study participants exhibited moderate levels of knowledge and practice with marginal difference while attitude were found to exhibit a remarkably higher, difference being statistically significant. Conclusions: This study stresses upon the growing need for prompt interventions at institutional level for addressing the gaps evident from the study.

Purpose: To study the effect of intravitreal injection of bevacizumab on central macular thickness in retinal vein occlusion patients at a tertiary care centre of North India. Material and methods: A retrospective, data based study was carried out on 89 patients of acute retinal vein occlusion, including 35 cases of CRVO and 54 cases of BRVO, presented to our OPD over a period of 10 years. All cases included in this study received intravitreal injection of bevacizumab (2.5mg/0.1ml) at presentation and were followed up every month post-injection to record any change in BCVA and CMT. Results: The mean age of patients in BRVO and CRVO group was 56.81+7.02 and 57.02+7.8 years. Mean CMT at baseline was 449.16+121.28 µm in BRVO group which significantly reduced to 304.84+78.14 µm at 1 month post-injection follow up visit. In CRVO group, mean CMT at baseline was 680.17+ 175.12 µm which significantly reduced to 399.97+88.43 µm at 1 month post injection. Mean BCVA in BRVO group at baseline was 0.96+0.36 LogMAR which got significantly improved to 0.65 +0.24 LogMAR at 1st month post-injection while in CRVO group, mean BCVA at baseline was 1.59+0.48 LogMAR which got significantly improved to 1.02+0.34 LogMAR at 1st month post-injection. Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab is beneficial in the improvement of BCVA and treatment of macular edema due to venous occlusion. However, any beneficial effect on visual acuity and reduction of macular edema on OCT seen initially starts weaning off after 2 months and gradually reaching to baseline value at 6 months.

This study investigated the effects of the change in oil price to the bank’s profitability and stability in the Sultanate of Oman. The decreasing oil prices and the role of banks in the country’s economic diversification goals are the researcher’s primary motivation to embark on the study. Trend and financial ratio analysis and simple linear regression were used to examine the association between oil price and bank performance. Findings of the study include downward trend on the ROE and ROA of banks but upward trend on CAR in the last ten years. The study also found strong positive correlation between oil price and ROE where the impact of oil price to ROE is statistically significant. There was moderate positive correlation between oil price and ROA and oil price and CAR but these associations were statistically insignificant. Findings of this research can be useful for the authorities in setting policies related to economic diversification efforts and to bank management for policies to improve bank performance.

Background: Blood transfusion is one of the commonest and important procedures done in patient care to treat variety of disorders like accidental trauma, pre operative blood transfusion and various other hematological diseases. In India the annual requirement of blood is close to 8 million units of which only 30% is being procured from voluntary donors. Healthy young adults are more proactive and motivated to voluntarily donate blood. Medical students can form one of the important cohort of voluntary blood donors to the hospitals to which they are attached. Objectives: To assess the background knowledge and perceptions of the first year medical students about voluntary blood donation. Methodology: A self structured questionnaire was prepared consisting of questions which were used to assess the knowledge and perceptions of first year medical students regarding voluntary blood donation. The responses were analyzed using Microsoft excel and Epi Info 7. Results: All the 130 students (100%) revealed that they had heard about blood donation and entire study group knew their blood group types. 65 (50%) reported that they knew about the average amount of blood donated by the donor and 71(54.61%) cited that they had prior knowledge about the criteria for selecting a voluntary blood donor. 95.38% opined that they were willing donate blood if and when the need arises. Conclusion: First year medical students had good background knowledge about blood donation and majority of the study group were willing to voluntarily donate blood and render their service to the society.

An expression’s meaning depends on both the objective situations being described and the specific ways that the situations or ‘scenes’ are construed (Langacker, 1987). Construal is our ability to conceptualize and describe the same situation in alternate ways (Langacker, 2015, p. 120). However, each construal factor, classified by Langacker (2015) as prominence, dynamicity, selection, perspective and imagination, has complex properties and these factors often interact in particular usage events. Based on instances extracted from historical corpora of Chinese language, this study applies the various construal operations to the diachronic development of a locative word shang ‘above’ in Chinese. We demonstrate that although there are overlaps, each construal element performs a unique role on the development of shang in its meanings and grammatical functions. It is evident that the particular set of developments for shang would not occur if there were just one construal factor. Our study sheds light on the history of Chinese language, the nature of semantic change and grammaticalization, and also on the relations between spatial language and cognition.

Lakshadweep is a place where women have a lot of space in their family system and society. The crime rate against women and the other gender line segregation are much low in island. This paper examined, whether this social potential is reflected in the employment of women. Author calculated all the statistical indicators of employment from unit level data provided by National Sample Survey Organisation and Periodic Labour Force Survey. This study finds, there is huge gender gap in the Lakshadweep labour market. From the time to time, demand for women employment comes from social infrastructure and public administration run by government. Lack of diversification in the employment sectors is mainly works in demand side of the labour market, whereas in supply side lack of technically skilled, vocationally trained youth failed to explore the employment opportunities from both inside and outside of the island. The large proportion of unemployed and discouraged job seekers turned unproductive and engaging in unpaid domestic duties creates a large proportion of economically dependent group in the midst of all positive social possibilities.

Background: Biopsy is a critical procedure in the diagnosis and treatment plan of surgical cases and is also highly technique-sensitive. Various biopsy techniques are conventionally used with each technique having its own pros and cons. A study was carried out to compare scalpel versus Punch for biopsy of oral lesions under various parameters vital to histopathological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 16 patients (08 in each group) satisfying the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated using odd-even scheme into scalpel and Punch groups by a operator. The patients were evaluated intraoperatively for patient comfort, bleeding, time taken for excision, and postoperatively for pain and healing. The excised samples were sent for histopathological analysis as follows: Loss of architecture in epithelium, loss of architecture in connective tissue and artifacts. Results: The mean time taken for excision was statistically similar in both the groups. Distribution of patient comfort and pain was statistically not significant. Healing was uneventful in both the groups. In the histological parameters, there was loss of architecture in epithelium in many cases in the punch group. In the same group, there was loss of architecture in the samples. Conclusion: Both techniques seem to be equally effective in performing incisional biopsies of oral lesions. Punch biopsy has the advantage of fast and avoidance of suturing as well. However, due to the Size of tissue caused, there may be minor loss of histological architecture.

Background: Entecavir has been shown to be effective in randomized controlled trials in highly selected patients with hepatitis B virus infection. Entecavir does not cure HBV and may not prevent complications of hepatitis B such as cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. The dose is double for people who have persistent hepatitis viremia (the presence of virus in the blood) while taking lamivudine or have lamivudine reesistance. It’s recommended to take entecavir on an empty stomach, two hours before or after a meal. For some people, hepatitis B infection become chronic, meaning it lasts more than six months. Having chronic hepatitis B increases your risk of developing liver failour, liver cancer or cirrhosis a condition that permanently scares of the liver. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of in cronic hepatitis B patients in the real world setting. Methodology: In this study a total of 32 acute on chronic Hepatitis B liver failure patients (age > 18 years with both sexes but male predominant) were included in Hepatology department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka during January 2013 to December 2015. The patients were randomized into two groups: Entecavir group (N=32) and followed at least for 03 months. Result: Table I shows the Majority 26(81.3%) patients were male and 6(18.7%) patients were female in entecavir group. Altered level of consciousness was found 14(43.8%) in entecavir group. Moderate ascites was found 26(81.3%) in entecavir group. Encephalopathy was found 16(50.0%) in entecavir group. The entecavir not statistically significant (p>0.05) of the groups. Table II shows Baseline investigation of the study patients (n=32). It was observed that mean total countwas found 10181.3±3594.1 /mm3 in entecavir group. Mean serum bilirubinwas found 22.0±5.7 mg/dl in entecavir group. Mean Rank ALT was found 18.0 U/L in entecavir group. Mean Rank AST was found 17.8 U/L in entecavir group. Mean prothrombin time was found 23.1±4.2 secant in entecavir group. Mean international normalized ratio was found 2.0±0.3 in entecavir group. Mean serum albumin was found 2.3±0.5 gm/dl in entecavir group. Mean serum creatinine was found and 0.85±0.31 mg/dl in entecavir group. Mean serum sodium was found 134.1±5.2 mmol/l in entecavir group. Mean serum potassium was found 3.7±1.0 mmol/l in entecavir group. Mean MELD scorewas found 26.5±2.0 in entecavir group. Mean Child Pugh scorewas found 12.0±1.5 in entecavir group. The mean entecavir was not statistically significant (p>0.05) of the groups. Liver function, Child Pugh score and MELD score improvement by three months after entecavir therapy: In entecavir patients, mean serum bilirubinwas found 22.0±5.7 mg/dl in pretreatment and 5.1±1.7 mg/dl at 90 days. Mean international normalized ratio was found 2.0±0.3 in pretreatment and 1.4±0.2 at 90 days. Mean serum albumin was found 2.3±0.5 gm/dl in pretreatment and 3.1±0.3 gm/dl at 90 days. Mean Child Pugh scorewas found 12.0±1.5 in pretreatment and 9.3±0.9 at 90 days. Mean MELD scorewas found 26.5±2.0 in pretreatment and 17.0±2.1 at 90 days. Negative Mean Ranks ALT was found 4.0 U/L and sum of Ranks 28.0 U/L. Positive mean rank and sum of rank 0.The difference were statistically significant (p<0.05) between two groups. Table VIII: Entecavir induced improvement of liver function, Child pugh score and MELD score three months after therapy (n=16). Conclusion: In conclusion entecavir is very potent anti-HBV drug with a high genetic barrier to resistance, highly effective in lamivudine-naïve CHB patients and most promising for their long term treatment but not very suitable for CHB patients harboring LAM resistant HBV mutants.

This research paper reviews relevant literature concerning motivations for second language acquisition and possible research methods to this regard. This paper aims at exploring whether experimental research method could help discover Chinese students’ motivation for foreign language learning. It finds out that with semi-structured interview as the research method, it would be easier for the respondent to express his or her opinions freely on his or her personal feelings of motivation for foreign language learning. Thus, experimental research methods such as a semi-structured interview could complement research in motivations for foreign language acquisition.

The study investigated the challenged encountered by school administrators amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and suggested measures for mitigating its impact in secondary schools in Nigeria. Two research questions were posed to guide the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The entire population of 258 principals was studied without sampling as the size was manageable. A researcher-developed questionnaire 4-point rating scale containing 23 items in two clusters which was validated by three experts from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University was used to collect data for the study. Reliability of the instrument was determined through pilot test and data collected were analyzed using Cronbach alpha which yielded reliability coefficients of 0.85 and 0.77 for the two clusters respectively with an overall co-efficient value of 0.81. Mean was used to answer the research questions and standard deviation used to determine the closeness or homogeneity of the respondents’ ratings while t-test was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that failure to maintain social distancing, lack of capacity building of staff, desperation and anxiety on the part of parents and community members, failure to maintain good sanitation practices like regular hand washing among students, and vague orders from school inspectors among others were some of the challenges faced by secondary school administrators during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings also showed that in order to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 school administrators need to participate in capacity building programmes on Covid-19, project hygiene and health practices in their schools as well as adopt blended learning and technology in teaching students. The location of principals did not influence their opinions. Based on these findings the researchers recommended among others that school administrators should ensure that they attend in-service programmes that will educate them properly on Covid-19 and measures that would help forestall its impact in their schools.

The anterior cerebral artery A1 segment aplasia is an anatomical variation of the Willis circle. It is very rare and mostly associated with the anterior communicating artery aneurysm, but this relationship has still not been thoughtfully explored. The hemodynamic factors are speculated to be the main pathophysiological mechanism of the aneurysm formation. The risk of the aneurysm rupture in the setting of A1 aplasia is not well elucidated. Endovascular treatment may have good outcome in short term. Long term studies are needed to evaluate the recurrence and recanalization rate. Here, we describe a case of unilateral anterior cerebral artery A1 segment aplasia associated with a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm in which the endovascular embolization was successful performed without any complication.

Stevia rebaudiana is a nutrient rich natural sweetest plant of Asteraceae family. The leaves naturally contain diterpene glycosides (Stevioside and Rebaudioside-A), steviobioside and dulcoside, which are responsible for its sweet taste. Along with these compounds it also contains functional compounds like phenolic acids, free radical scavenging and antioxidant capability, flavonoids, condensed tannins, anthocyanins, nutraceutical properties, etc. Stevia exhibits strong antioxidant potential as a sugar substitute owing to the presence of various compounds with medicinal significance. However, in large amounts they also possess several beneficial effects on disease in which radicals are involved. As there is no targeted Covid-19 therapy available, Stevia crude extracts and steviol glycosides are suggested to treat Covid-19 patients. Stevia has many pharmacological and therapeutic applications as suggested by many preclinical and some clinical studies, these are nontoxic and possess antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal and anticarcinogenic activity. Antioxidants through their scavenging power are useful for the management of various diseases that aids in combating different chronic diseases as well as increase immunity against the severity of various infections like in case of Covid-19. It is also generally accepted that consumption of 5gm dried Stevia leaves is without health problems.

Analytical methods refer to techniques used for the detection, identification, characterization and quantification of chemical compounds. These methods are commonly used in chemical sciences for research, development and quality control of pharmaceutical products. MALDI-TOF is a mass spectrometer that couples an ionisation source, the matrix-assisted lasers desorption/ionization (MALDI) with a Time of Flight (ToF) analyser is particularly recommended when a limited number of species are present in each sample analyzed. ICP-OES is a trace-level, elemental analysis technique that uses the emission spectra of a sample to identify, and quantify the elements present. Gas Chromatography (GC) provides a quantitative analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds found in a variety of matrices (gases, liquids and solids) in foods, medical materials, plastics, environmental samples and occupational monitoring samples. NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Spectroscopy provides physical, chemical, electronic and structural information from organic compounds in liquid or solid form. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy provides cost-effective viable solutions for the analysis of trace amounts of metals in the entire range of natural and manmade materials such as Geological samples, Environmental samples, Biological Specimens, Agricultural produce and soils, Pharmaceuticals, Foods and Drinking water.

The paper examines entrepreneurship education as predictor of youth restiveness in Imo State and how this has affected her peaceful co-existence and development. Poverty, unemployment and lack of access to quality education, among others, have been responsible for this unprecedented increased restiveness. Entrepreneurship education empower youths technically through entrepreneurship training to cope with the changing times and productivity using their entrepreneurial skills for setting and sustaining enterprises. Issues of youth empowerment, skill development, instructional materials, curriculum content and effective teaching methodologies to curb youth restiveness were conceptualized. The study, which was correlational, was based on three (3) research questions and three (3) null hypotheses. A sample of three hundred and sixty (360) respondents were selected through stratified-random sampling technique. Data was collected through a self-developed questionnaire and analyzed using mean scores, standard deviation and Analysis of Variance. The findings of the study indicated that development of infrastructures and physical facilities, textbooks, staffing, consumables and expendables for practical lessons are adequately available. Curriculum content and methodologies for the effective teaching of entrepreneurship education reflects the course of National Policy of Education in Nigeria and that entrepreneurship education is practical oriented as it motivates students to work as a team which have helped in inculcating entrepreneurial skills successfully. It was recommended among other things that the government via the ministry of education should emphasize on the practical aspect of entrepreneurship education in the curriculum, support schools in the provision of more manpower, facilities and instructional materials needed to ensure that entrepreneurship education will equip and empower students for self-reliance and employment.

Stranger bodies (EC) of the middle ear are among the emergencies least encountered by otolaryngologists (ENT). A 16-year-old patient with no otological history had seen a right chronic otorrhee with otalgia and hypoacousia for 6 months. Microscopic examination of the diseased ear had resulted in purulent secretions with inflammation of the external auditory canal. After aspiration, a blackish appearance was observed occupying the lower quadrants of the eardrum with associated myringitis. The gentle mobilization with the suction cannula and a spike revealed a fixed, painful CE, impacting the tympanic membrane and deeply introduced into the middle ear. The extraction of the EC could be carried out without difficulty (fig. 2), completed by myringoplasty with an aponevrotic graft. The first observation of a Tallic CE of the middle ear has been neglige for more than 20 years reported to you in 1883 by Lucius Holland [4]. Since then, few cases have been written down. Syms and Nelson reported 4 cases of EC in the middle ear with chronic otitis media [2]. Average EC penetrants from the ear are relatively rare. They may go unnoticed, especially in children, to reveal themselves later by complications. Hence the interest of prevention and diagnosis precoce allowing a simple extraction.