ABSTRACT
Background: Objective was to study the prevalence of asthenopic symptoms among computer operators in central India and assess the change in their practices related to factors affecting asthenopia symptoms and relief measures.. Methods: Longitudinal Educational Interventional Study, done on 150 employees of computer based company offices of Bhopal city in duration of 3 months from August 2018 to October 2018 after obtaining Ethical clearance from the institutional ethics committee and they were asked to fill a pre-tested questionnaire, after obtaining their verbal consent. Other relevant information was obtained by personal interview and inspection of their working area. The data was entered in MS excel and analysis was done using Epi-info 7 software. Results: Among the 150 participants studied, the overall prevalence of asthenopia (at least 1 symptom present) is 87.3%. The prevalence of various asthenopic symptoms varied from 85.3% (eye fatigue) to 18.7% (blurring of vision). With educational intervention, significant change was observed in symptoms and relief measures. Conclusions: Prevalence of asthenopia was found to be quite high in computer operators, especially in those who started its use at an early age. Individual as well as work-related factors were found to be associated with asthenopia.
ABSTRACT
Natural sources, particularly microbes yield active molecules that have wide application in food and pharmaceutical industries, degradation of hazardous bacterial biofilms, etc. Safety and acceptability of such drugs attract researchers’ attention for new drug discovery. Here, we explored biologically active microbial strains having therapeutic applications isolated from five different geographical areas of India. On screening, we found 10 strains capable of producing chitinase (Chi), seven cholesterol oxidase (COD), five glutaminase (Gln) and two heparinase (Hep) producing strains. Most of the isolated strains were found to be actinomycetes. Morphological and biochemical characterization of the strains suggest that the selected 13 isolates belong to the genus Streptomyces. Out of which, four were characterized through 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis as Streptomyces xanthochromogenes MTCC 11937 (S1), Streptomyces violascens (N1), Streptomyces xanthopheus MTCC 11938 (H1) and Streptomyces rimosus MTCC 10792 (Ay). Results suggest that the soil isolated Streptomyces strains continue to act as a fascinating source of clinical and commercially importance enzymes. Partially purified enzymes were found to possess a broad range of pH and temperature stability indicating their capability to be used in clinical and pharmaceutical fields.