ABSTRACT
Background: Depression has become one of the commonest mental ailments in current era. Its impact is far more in medical personnel than general population. Most of the medical students leave their houses for the first time and enter into the new environment of knowledge and responsibility. Though various studies have reported high prevalence of depression among undergraduate students, it was desirable to know its status in south Rajasthan. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted on 302 undergraduate medical students to know prevalence and risk factors for depression. Along with the pre-designed questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) Scale was used as study tools. Cut off value of 17 and above was considered to define the depression on BDI scale. Results: Prevalence of depression was 10% among undergraduate medical students. Statistically, female gender and students studying in fifth semester were significant risk factors. Residence, socio-economic class and family history of depression were not significant associated factors. Conclusion: Prevalence of depression is higher among medical undergraduates as compared to general population with female gender and fifth semester students being important risk factors
ABSTRACT
Abstract Owing to the excellent catalytic potential, β-galactosidase (EC: 3.2.1.23) has been exploited as an important industrial enzyme for obtaining galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and lactose-free products in dairy industries. Moreover, novel technologies have been implemented in the recent past for preparing and modifying nanoparticles (NPs) for immobilizing therapeutically and industrially important enzymes. Nanoparticles based enzyme immobilization (NBEI) offered more stability and robustness to the enzymes due to their fixed conformation and hence extend their applications in broader areas. A quick overview of the results exhibited greater activity for the enzymes immobilized on NPs as compared to enzyme immobilized on 2-D matrices. Based on these findings, this review was aimed to emphasize the recent development achieved for immobilizing β-galactosidase on NPs with their specific utilization in obtaining dairy products. These studies includes β-galactosidases from various sources that were immobilized on various NPs for hydrolyzing lactose in batch and continuous reactors, and for the production of GOS in biotechnology industries. NBEI of β-galactosidase offered profound stability for transporting substrate and product for enzymatic reactions, apart from cost effective advantage due to reusable nature of immobilized enzyme.
Subject(s)
beta-Galactosidase , Dairying , Enzymes , NanoparticlesABSTRACT
Background: Looking at the increasing use of internet, it is time to concern about internet addiction(IA) and its consequences. Though researchers have started paying attention to it, it is desired to study IA among adolescents residing in smaller cities and towns of India. Aim and Objectives:To knowthe prevalence of IA among school going adolescents and to find out its risk factors, impact on scholastic performance and presence of anxiety/ depression. Material and Method: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Jhalawar city of Rajasthan. A total of 421 students studying in class VIII to XII were recruited after taking complete enumeration sample from two schools. Along with proforma, study tools includedYoung’s Internet Addiction Test 20 (YIAT-20)and Patient Health Questionnaire-Anxiety & Depression Scale (PHQ-ADS). Results: Observed IA prevalence was 14%. IA was found to have deteriorating effect on scholastic performance. 64.4% and 54.2% of internet addicted students suffered from various grades of depression and anxiety respectively, which is quite high. Male gender and use of internet mainly for entertainment were predominant risk factors for IA on logistic regression.Conclusion:IA has adverse impact on adolescents in terms of poor scholastic performance and psychiatric co-morbidities.
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This review article highlights the role of glutaraldehyde as a matrix activator/stabilizer in imparting higher operational and thermal stability to β-galactosidase (βG) for biotechnological applications. Glutaraldehyde has been used extensively as a crosslinking agent as well as for functionalization of matrices to immobilize β-galactosidase. Immobilized β-galactosidase systems (IβGS) obtained as a result of glutaraldehyde treatment has been employed to hydrolyze whey and milk lactose in batch reactors, continuous packed-bed and fluidized bed reactors under various operational conditions. Moreover, these IβGS have also been utilized for the production of galactooligosaccharides in food, dairy and fermentation industries. It was observed that glutaraldehyde provided remarkable stability to immobilize βG against various physical/chemical denaturants, thus enhancing thermal/operational stability and rendering it more suitable for repeated utilization in industrial scale operations.