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Nanoparticles composed of Levan and Dolutegravir (DTG) have been successfully synthesized using a spray drying procedure specifically designed for milk/food admixture applications. Levan, obtained from the microorganism Bacillus subtilis, was thoroughly characterized using MALDI-TOF and solid-state NMR technique to confirm its properties. In the present study, this isolated Levan was utilized as a carrier for drug delivery applications. The optimized spray-dried nanoparticles exhibited a smooth surface morphology with particle sizes ranging from 195 to 329 nm. In the in-vitro drug release experiments conducted in water media, the spray-dried nanoparticles showed 100 % release, whereas the unprocessed drug exhibited only 50 % release at the end of 24 h. Notably, the drug release in milk was comparable to that in plain media, indicating the compatibility. The improved dissolution rate observed for the nanoparticles could be attributed to the solid-state conversion (confirmed by XRD analysis) of DTG from its crystalline to amorphous state. The stability of the drug was verified using Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy and Thermogravimetry-Differential Scanning Calorimetry analysis. To evaluate the in-vitro cellular toxicity, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was conducted, which revealed the CC 50 value of 88.88 ± 5.10 µg/mL for unprocessed DTG and 101.08 ± 37.37 µg/mL for DTG nanoparticles. These results indicated that the toxicity of the nanoparticles was comparable to the unprocessed drug. Furthermore, the anti-HIV activity of the nanoparticles in human cell lines was found to be similar to that of the pure drug, emphasizing the therapeutic efficacy of DTG in combating HIV., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 American Pharmacists Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Understanding the emotional intelligence (EI) and self-esteem of Indian and Saudi nursing students is important because their future nurse-patient relationships may be influenced by factors related to their unique cultural contexts. Hence, this study sought to investigate the EI and self-esteem of nursing students in Saudi Arabia and India., Methods: A descriptive-comparative research design was used to compare 660 nursing students from Saudi Arabia and India who were enrolled in the study from September 2022 to January 2023. Nursing students were recruited from University A in Riyadh and University B in Abha, Saudi Arabia, and from University C in India., Results: The study found significant differences in EI scores based on year of study (p < .011), age (p < .024), residence (p < .005), and academic performance (p < .008). Students in later years, over 20 years old, from urban areas, and with good grades, had higher EI scores. Conversely, only age showed a significant difference in the self-esteem scores (p < .002). The year of study (p > .670), residence (p > .430), and academic performance (p > .526) did not significantly affect self-esteem. Finally, urban residence and good academic performance were significant predictors of EI (p < .005), while none of the demographics predicted self-esteem (p > .005)., Conclusion: Higher emotional intelligence among nursing students can be associated with several variables, such as being in the higher years of study, older age, residing in an urban area, and good academic performance, whereas self-esteem appears to be hardly affected by these indicators but probably influenced by other aspects that were not measured. This implies that educators in relation to self-esteem should know the relationship between emotional intelligence and nursing practice besides healthcare establishments; they need to enhance their teaching methods so that learners can have more resilient attitudes towards work, provide quality patient care, and promote a better learning environment for nurses who will become stronger professionally in the future., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Traditional and emerging contaminants pose significant human and environmental health risks. Conventional physical, chemical, and bioremediation techniques have been extensively studied for contaminant remediation. However, entomo- or insect-driven remediation has received limited research and public attention. Entomo-remediation refers to the use of insects, their associated gut microbiota, and enzymes to remove or mitigate organic contaminants. This novel approach shows potential as an eco-friendly method for mitigating contaminated media. However, a comprehensive review of the status, applications, and challenges of entomo-remediation is lacking. This paper addresses this research gap by examining and discussing the evidence on entomo-remediation of various legacy and emerging organic contaminants. The results demonstrate the successful application of entomo-remediation to remove legacy organic contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants. Moreover, entomo-remediation shows promise in removing various groups of emerging contaminants, including microplastics, persistent and emerging organic micropollutants (e.g., antibiotics, pesticides), and nanomaterials. Entomo-remediation involves several insect-mediated processes, including bio-uptake, biotransfer, bioaccumulation, and biotransformation of contaminants. The mechanisms underlying the biotransformation of contaminants are complex and rely on the insect gut microbiota and associated enzymes. Notably, while insects facilitate the remediation of contaminants, they may also be exposed to the ecotoxicological effects of these substances, which is often overlooked in research. As an emerging field of research, entomo-remediation has several knowledge gaps. Therefore, this review proposes ten key research questions to guide future perspectives and advance the field. These questions address areas such as process optimization, assessment of ecotoxicological effects on insects, and evaluation of potential human exposure and health risks., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors listed below declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Nursing students frequently encounter the challenge of balancing their studies with the demanding requirements of hands-on practice and this can greatly affect their mental wellbeing. This study aimed to investigate the impact of sleep and psychological well-being on the academic and clinical performance of nursing students in Saudi Arabia., Methods: This study used a cross-sectional approach with 218 student nurses selected through convenience sampling from King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia. The sleep quality, psychological wellbeing, academic performance and clinical performance questionnaires were adopted to measure the variables. The Google Forms survey was used to gather the data, which were collected in August through October 2023. t -test and chi-square were used to analyze the data., Results: The sleep quality was higher with good/very good performers (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference with academic performance on positive relations (p < 0.007) and purpose in life (p < 0.004). Additionally, there was a significant difference in autonomy (p < 0.01), environmental mastery (p < 0.026), positive relations (p < 0.001), and purpose in life (p < 0.001) with clinical performance. Among students with good academic performance, those who were older than 25 years of age (p < 0.043) and level 3 students (p < 0.001) were found to have a significant correlation. Furthermore, those who were 25 years of age (p < 0.012) and level 3 students (p < 0.001) were also found to have a significant correlation with clinical performance., Conclusion: The sleep quality, positive relations, purpose in life, autonomy, and environmental mastery are all important factors for academic and clinical success. Moreover, older students and level 3 students may be more likely to have the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in these areas. Further research exploring factors influencing academic and clinical success must be conducted., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Benjamin et al.)

An alternate medium consisting of sugarcane juice (SJ) ( Saccharum spp.) and chicken feather peptone (CFP) was employed for microbial synthesis of levan. SJ has considerable amounts of vital minerals, vitamins, and amino acids in addition to its major constituent, sucrose. Meanwhile, CFP is also a rich source of essential nutrients such as amino acids, micro and macro elements. Amino acids present in SJ and CFP, such as glutamic acid, arginine, aspartic acid, asparagine and elements such as Ca, Mg favoured the cell growth and levan production. In this present work, levan was produced using Bacillus subtilis MTCC 441 in five different media, namely, sucrose along with defined nutrients (M1), Sugarcane Juice without nutrients (M2), SJ with defined nutrients (M3), SJ along with chicken feather peptone (M4) and sucrose without nutrient (M5). Alternative nutrient medium using SJ and CFP (M4) showed a promising levan yield of 0.32 ± 0.01 g of levan/g of sucrose consumed, which is 64% of the theoretical levan yield possible. Levan produced was characterized using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). There is a change in low molecular weight fractions of levan obtained from SJ and CFP medium compared to the defined medium. Produced levan from the composite medium exhibited strong antioxidant activity and was biocompatible when tested against endothelial cells. The substrate cost was 20% lower than the cost of defined medium. Thus, a composite medium made of SJ and CFP can serve as an alternate low-cost medium for microbial fermentation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: Hypopigmented patches in patients with skin of color are usually a cause of concern. Pityriasis alba is a common skin condition that causes visible patches of hypopigmentation in children and adolescents. In addition to the cosmetic impairment, parents are concerned about the diagnosis of vitiligo and leprosy which also cause hypopigmented patches and have negative social implications. Dermoscopy is a useful diagnostic aid that is acquiring prominence in diagnosing a variety of skin diseases. Few studies exist that validate the use of dermoscopy as an effective tool in the diagnosis of Pityriasis alba., Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of dermoscopy by correlating the clinical features of Pityriasis alba with dermoscopic images., Methods: Hypopigmented patches in 16 patients that were clinically diagnosed as Pityriasis alba were examined with a DermLite DL200 Hybrid dermoscope (Dermlite, CA, USA). All the dermoscopic images were photographically recorded and the findings were noted and correlated with the clinical stages of the disease., Results: Out of the 40 patches examined in 16 patients, dermoscopic images of white structureless spots, scaling, indistinct borders and normally pigmented hairs were consistently present in all the patches to propose these as the four dermoscopic criteria for the diagnosis of Pityriasis alba. Areas of light brown pigmentation, 17 (42.5%), erythema, 3 (7.5%), and faint pigmented network,11 (27.5%) were the other features noted in some of the patches., Conclusion: In an ethnic South Indian population where the skin color is predominantly brown, hypopigmented patches are visibly obvious and concerning. Pityriasis alba, Pityriasis versicolor, Vitiligo, Nevus depigmentosus, and Leprosy are the five common conditions seen among children of which Pityriasis alba is the most prevalent. Offering the right diagnosis is essential for the correct management as well as excluding more serious conditions such as leprosy and vitiligo. In this study, Dermoscopy provided a valuable diagnostic aid in achieving this objective., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Thomas et al.)

Objectives: To analyse the impact on mental health of the lockdown forced by the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic., Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in Aseer, Saudi Arabia, in May and June 2020, and comprised adult natives of either gender ho could read and write Arabic. Data was collected using a self-developed questionnaire which was distributed online via Google Forms. Data was analysed using SPSS 22., Results: Of the 306 respondents, 238(77.8%) were females, 163(53.3%) were age 18-30 years 121(39.5%) were students, 166(54.2%) lived in a joint family, 257(84%) had undergone university education, 157(51.3%) were single, and 247(80.7%) resided in urban areas. During the lockdowns, 195(60%) participants felt moderate distress symptoms. Emotional distress and gender were significantly interlinked (p<0.01)., Conclusions: The lockdowns forced by the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic had a moderate impact on the mental health of the participants, especially on females.

Background and aims Abnormal vaginal discharge is a prevailing gynecological problem among women in the reproductive age group. Vaginal discharges have multiple etiologies, and the present study was conducted with the objective of determining the prevalence of common organisms causing vaginal discharge and correlating with its various types of clinical presentations in those women attending a rural health centre of a medical college in Tamil Nadu, India. Materials and methods The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted in a rural health center of a teaching hospital in Tamil Nadu, India, from February 2022 to July 2022. All the patients clinically having the symptoms of vaginitis and with a discharge were included in this study, and postmenopausal women and pregnant women were excluded. Data was collected from a total of 175 patients. Results The mean (SD) age of the study population was 34.8 (6.9) years. Almost half, 91 (52%), of the study participants were in the age group of 31-40 years. Bacterial vaginosis was found in 74 (42.3%) and was the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge in our study participants, followed by vulvovaginal candidiasis, 34 (19.4%). There were significant associations between high-risk sexual behavior and the presence of co-morbidities with abnormal vaginal discharge. Conclusion The most common causes of abnormal vaginal discharge were found to be bacterial vaginosis followed by vulvovaginal candidiasis. The study results help to initiate early appropriate treatment for effective management of a community health problem., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Shanmugam et al.)

The fungi, Cryptococcus neoformans cause major infections such as cryptococcal meningitis and cryptococcosis. Therefore, we explored the use of Thioredoxin reductase (Trr1) from C. neoformans as a gene target for the development of novel antifungal agents. Trr1 plays an essential role in the survival in the oxidative environment of macrophages and is important for the virulence of C. neoformans . During the thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis) of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB), a cocktail of compounds is produced by the decomposition and degradation. In general, LCB-derived cocktail of compounds is a rich source of aromatic compounds that have been shown to be antifungal in nature. Usually, the aqueous phase produced during biomass pyrolysis is generally regarded as waste. Here, we used Parthenium hysterophorus biomass as the antifungal source and obtained the aqueous phase after pyrolysis. Using GC-MS analysis of the aqueous phase collected from P. hysterophorus biomass revealed the presence of a large number of aromatic and organic compounds. Using virtual screening, the compounds present in the aqueous phase were docked against Trr1 using GLIDE. Two promising candidates were analyzed further by performing molecular dynamics simulation using GROMACS, to establish stable interactions. We validated the computational results with clustering analysis. We report that 2,4-Di-tertbutyl phenol and 1H-Pyrazole, 4-ethyl-3,5-dimethyl have a potent antifungal property and we postulate that they could be a potent antifungal agent against Trr1 of C. neoformans.

Chicken feather peptone (CFP) derived from poultry waste is a rich source of essential minerals and amino acids. This, along with suitable carbon source, can be used as a low cost complex supplemental nutrient source for microbial fermentation. In the present work, CFP blended with sucrose was evaluated for the production of levan using Bacillus subtilis MTCC 441. Amount of CFP added to the medium significantly influenced levan production and it was found that at a concentration 2 g/L, maximum levan yield of 0.26 ± 0.04 g/g sucrose was obtained. The levan yield obtained with CFP as a low cost supplemental nutrient source was comparable with that obtained from commercial medium (0.31 ± 0.02 g/g sucrose). Levan produced using CFP was tested on primary cell lines at various concentrations (100-1000 μM) and found to be non-toxic and bio-compatible in nature. This indicates that CFP could be used as low cost nutrient source for levan production., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Levan is a water soluble biopolymer widely used in food, pharma, personal care and aquaculture industries. In this work, levan was synthesized by Bacillus subtilis MTCC 441 using sucrose as a sole carbon source. Effects of pH, sucrose concentration, nitrogen source, nitrogen concentration, inoculum size and agitation speed on levan production were studied. Yeast extract (YE) was found to be the best nitrogen source. Sucrose concentration - 100 g/L, pH - 7, YE concentration - 2 g/L, inoculum size 10% (v/v) and RPM - 150 were found to be optimal values for levan production. Effects of precipitation pH (3-12), choice of solvent (ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, and methanol) and supernatant to solvent ratio (1:1 to 1:6) on levan yield were also studied. Isopropanol resulted in maximum levan recovery among the four solvents considered. Optimal pH and supernatant to solvent ratio for levan precipitation were found to be 11 and 1:5, respectively. Corresponding levan yield was 0.395 g/g of sucrose supplied. The product obtained was characterized using FTIR, 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, and GPC. The cytotoxicity of the precipitated levan was studied on EA.hy926 cell line using MTT assay and the compound was proven to be non-toxic to the cells., (© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Anaerobic digestion of poultry litter is a potentially sustainable means of stabilizing this waste while generating biogas. However, technical challenges remain including seasonality of litter production, low C/N ratios, limited digestibility of bedding, and questions about transformation of nutrients during digestion. This study investigated biogas production and nutrient transformations during anaerobic digestion of poultry litter leachate and whole litter. Use of fresh litter collected from within the house was also compared to waste litter cake that was stored outdoors on the farm. The results showed that litter leachates had higher biomethane potential (0.24-0.30 L/gVS) than whole litter (0.15-0.16 L/gVS) and the insoluble bedding material left after leaching (0.08-0.13 L/gVS). Leachates prepared from waste litter cake had lower uric acid and higher acetic acid concentrations than fresh litter indicating that decomposition had occurred during storage. Consequently, waste litter cake had faster initial biogas production but lower final biogas yields compared to fresh litter. In all reactors, uric and acetic acids were completely consumed during digestion, phosphate levels decreased but ammonium levels increased. The results demonstrate that poultry litter leachate is amenable to digestion despite a low C/N ratio and that the remaining insoluble bedding material has been partially stripped of its nutrients. Moreover, litter can be stored prior to digestion but some losses in biomethane potential should be expected due to decomposition of organics during storage., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of nine algae species were performed at two reaction temperatures (280 and 320°C) to compare the effect of their biomass composition on product yields and properties. Results obtained after HTL indicate large variations in terms of bio-oil yields and its properties. The maximum bio-oil yield (66wt%) was obtained at 320°C with a high lipid containing algae Nannochloropsis. The higher heating value of bio-oils ranged from 31 to 36MJ/kg and around 50% of the bio-oils was in the vacuum gas oil range while high lipid containing algae Nannochloropsis contained a significant portion (33-42%) in the diesel range. A predictive relationship between bio-oil yields and biochemical compositions was developed and showed a broad agreement between predictive and experimental yields. The aqueous phases obtained had high amount of TOC (12-43g/L), COD (35-160g/L), TN (1-18g/L), ammonium (0.34-12g/L) and phosphate (0.7-12g/L)., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Removal of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) as struvite from bio-oil aqueous phase generated via hydrothermal liquefaction of algae was evaluated in this study. Effect of process parameters such as pH, temperature and reaction time on struvite formation was studied. More than 99% of phosphorus and 40-100% ammonium nitrogen were removed under all experimental conditions. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of struvite, and the struvite recovered from bio-oil aqueous phase can be used as a slow-release fertilizer. Biogas production from struvite recovered bio-oil aqueous phase showed 3.5 times higher CH 4 yield (182±39mL/g COD) as compared to non-struvite recovered aqueous phase. The results from this study indicate that both struvite and methane can be produced from bio-oil aqueous phase., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Hydrothermal liquefaction of wet biomass such as algae is a promising thermochemical process for the production of bio-oil. Bio-oil aqueous phase generated during liquefaction process is rich in complex organics and can be utilized for biogas production following its pre-treatment with granular activated carbon. In our study, use of 30% activated carbon resulted in higher chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction (53±0.3%) from aqueous phase. Higher CH 4 production (84±12mL/gCOD) was also observed in 30% carbon-treated aqueous phase fed cultures, whereas only 32±6mLCH 4 /gCOD was observed in control (non-carbon treated) cultures. The results from this study indicate that almost 67±0.3% initial COD of aqueous phase can be reduced using a combination of both carbon treatment and biogas production. This study shows that aqueous phase can be utilized for CH 4 production., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)