ABSTRACT
Adolescents are the potential human resources of every nation. Various determinants may influence the mental and physical well-being of the youth. Examination anxiety is one such. It is a prevalent problem for many adolescent students; affecting approximately 10-40 percent of all students. Yoga can act as one of the best alternative methods of treatment. It aims at creating and preserving a proper balance between the body and the mind. 61 adolescent students, of age group 14-16 years, suffering from examination anxiety participated in this study. Examination Anxiety Scale for adolescents, developed and standardized by the investigators, was used for assessing examination anxiety. The subjects were divided into two groups randomly- the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group participated in the yoga intervention program for six weeks, whereas, the control group did not participate in the same. After six weeks, both the groups were assessed again. The result showed that the mean examination anxiety score reduced from 71.70 to 68.80 for the experimental group and it was statistically significant at (P<0.05). For the male and the female experimental groups, the mean examination anxiety score reduced from 71.84 to 68.92, and 72.12 to 68.71, respectively. For the male group, reduction in examination anxiety score was not statistically significant (P =0.106) whereas, for the female group changes were statistically significant (P <0.05). From the result, it can be concluded that yoga has a significant effect on attenuating the examination anxiety. Further, the result showed that yoga reduced examination anxiety in both males and females. However, the positive effect of yoga intervention was more significant in females than in males
ABSTRACT
Mental health is an integral and essential component of “Health”. It is more than the mere absence of mental disorders or disabilities. It determines the quality of life of the individuals. The progress and prosperity of a nation depend on the overall quality of health of its citizens. However, until early twentieth century the issues of mental health and well-being were inadequately addressed. Often people with psychological ailments were considered to be non-productive people, confined in asylums, received inhumane treatment and were completely secluded from the mainstream society. Since independence initiatives have been taken by individuals and by the central government and the state governments, to develop the mental health services in India. This paper reviewed published articles, book-chapters and books to explore the development of mental health services in India since Independence. It was observed that measures were taken to improve the conditions of the mental hospitals. A trend towards deinstitutionalization was set by the Government of India and that initiated the creation of general hospital psychiatric units and community mental health services. Humanistic approach in treatment, development of psychotropic drugs and psychotherapies facilitated the management and care of the patients with psychiatric diseases, thereby improving their quality of life.
ABSTRACT
Phytases catalyze the release of phosphate from phytic acid. In this study, a phytase producing bacterial strain Shigella sp. CD2 was isolated from the wheat rhizosphere. Phytase production started from the exponential phase of bacterial growth, showing the highest activity during the stationary phase. The enzyme activity was detected in both periplasmic and intracellular fractions. The enzyme was purified by about 133-fold with specific activity 780 U mg-1 protein. The optimum pH and temperature of the enzyme was 5.5 and 60oC, respectively. The enzyme was thermostable and retained 100% and 75% of its activity on pre-incubation at 70o and 80oC for 30 min, respectively. The Km value for the substrate sodium phytate was 0.25 mM. The enzyme was highly specific to substrate phytate, and no activity was detected in presence of other phosphorylated substrates, such as ATP, ADP, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate and p-nirophenyl phosphate. The activity declined dramatically in presence of Cu2+, Zn2+ and Fe2+ and SDS, whereas Mg2+ and Co2+ slightly enhanced the enzyme activity. The addition of other metal ions or chemicals had little or no effect on phytase activity. The enzyme was resistant to both pepsin and trypsin. Due to high specific activity, substrate specificity, good pH profile, protease insensitivity and thermostability, phytase encoding gene from Shigella sp. CD2 could be an interesting candidate for industrial applications. Further studies on cloning and expression of Shigella phytase gene are currently in progress.