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This paper investigates the effect of selected macroeconomic factors viz. remittances, money supply, exchange rate, and interest rate on stock market performance based on literatures available in international and Nepalese context. The major objective of this paper is to find out the new area of research in Nepalese perspective with the help of literature review. The study demonstrates that remittance and money supply positively affect the stock market whereas interest rate and exchange rate negatively affect the stock market performance. However, there is lack of consensus on the effect of each macro-economic variable on stock market performance as it has number of literatures available which are similar as well as opposite to these findings. Thus, similar study can be extended employing different methodology with this combination of variables in Nepalese context that may better describe and analyze the performance of Nepalese stock market and helps to reduce the confusion among the literatures.

Identification of potential drug compounds and drug–target interactions are fundamental steps in the drug-designing process. However, the conventional process of drug discovery is expensive, time consuming, and insufficient to explore novel interactions and activity predictions. Thus arises the need for in silico chemoinformatics approaches with improved strategies that are useful to elevate predictive performance in drug designing. The objective of this study is to discuss the current approaches and major chemoinformatics tools available to perform data extraction, structure-based virtual screening, designing of new molecule identification using quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR), and applications of machine learning (ML) in biological or chemical evaluation. Recently, a large amount of research has been done and considered for applications of chemoinformatics in drug discovery. Reviewing various tools and techniques, the chapter mainly discusses different aspects such as (1) compound databases/libraries, (2) important tools of structure-based and ligand-based virtual screening, including molecular docking and pharmacophore-designing tools, (3) different toolkit and ML algorithms with a strong emphasis on QSAR modeling, and (4) future challenges and directions in the present state. This study would likely provide insights into advanced approaches in utilizing effective strategies and the generation of favorable bioprediction methods in drug designing.

Since their use during the First World War, Blister agents have posed a major threat to the individuals and have caused around two million casualties. Major incidents occurred not only due to their use as chemical warfare agents but also because of occupational hazards. Therefore, a clear understanding of these agents and their mode of action is essential to develop effective decontamination and therapeutic strategies. The blister agents have been categorised on the basis of their chemistry and the biological interactions that entail post contamination. These compounds have been known to majorly cause blisters/bullae along with alkylation of the contaminated DNA. However, due to the high toxicity and restricted use, very little research has been conducted and a lot remains to be clearly understood about these compounds. Various decontamination solutions and detection technologies have been developed, which have proven to be effective for their timely mitigation. But a major hurdle seems to be the lack of proper understanding of the toxicological mechanism of action of these compounds. Current review is about the detailed and updated information on physical, chemical and biological aspects of various blister agents. It also illustrates the mechanism of their action, toxicological effects, detection technologies and possible decontamination strategies.

Radiation induced skin wound/dermatitis is one of the common side effects of radiotherapy or interventional radiobiology. In order to combat impaired healing of radiation wounds, alternative therapy to use sildenafil citrate (SC) topical hydrogel as a therapeutic option was proposed that has known to enhance nitric oxide in wounds. Our aim was to develop a radiation induced skin wound model and to investigate the wound healing efficacy of 5% SC hydrogel formulation in Sprague-Dawley rats. In the present study, the radiation wound inducing dose was optimized using a multi-dose localized γ-radiation trail with 10-55Gy range (15Gy interval). Optimal irradiation dose for wound induction was selected based on radiation skin damage assessment criteria followed the relative change from35Gy or55Gy showed significant variation and median 45Gy γ-dose was selected for studying acute effects of radiation on wound healing. Significant (p0.05) higher wound contraction (88±1.02%), skin damage reduction (81±0.82%), tensile strength (45±1.61%), nitric oxide and protein recovery (53±0.72%) at dermal level prove the wound healing efficacy of 5% SC hydrogel formulation as compared to Rad 45Gy control. In addition, the dose modifying factor (DMF) for SC hydrogel treatment was found to be 1.83 and 1.57 with respect to total wound area contraction and skin damage reduction. Skin histopathology in treated tissues showed improved granulation tissue formation, less inflammatory infiltrates and mature collagen fibres in the dermis. Thus, the modality could help to improve delayed wound healing in irradiated skin tissues.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress elicits unfolded protein response to counteract the accumulating unfolded protein load inside a cell. The chemical chaperone, 4-Phenylbutyric acid (4-PBA) is a FDA approved drug that alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress by assisting protein folding. It is found efficacious to augment pathological conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity and neurodegeneration. This study explores the binding nature of 4-PBA with human serum albumin (HSA) through spectroscopic and molecular dynamics approaches, and the results show that 4-PBA has high binding specificity to Sudlow Site II (Fatty acid binding site 3, subdomain IIIA). Ligand displacement studies, RMSD stabilization profiles and MM-PBSA binding free energy calculation confirm the same. The binding constant as calculated from fluorescence spectroscopic studies was found to be k(PBA) = 2.69 x 10(5) M(-1). Like long chain fatty acids, 4-PBA induces conformational changes on HSA as shown by circular dichroism, and it elicits stable binding at Sudlow Site II (fatty acid binding site 3) by forming strong hydrogen bonding and a salt bridge between domain II and III of HSA. This minimizes the fluctuation of HSA backbone as shown by limited conformational space occupancy in the principal component analysis. The overall hydrophobicity of W214 pocket (located at subdomain IIA), increases upon occupancy of 4-PBA at any FA site. Descriptors of this pocket formed by residues from other subdomains largely play a role in compensating the dynamic movement of W214.