University Grants Commission

Background: Junk food is high in calories but low in essential nutrients, posing a health risk particularly during adolescence. Many low and middle income countries, like Nepal, are experiencing a nutritional shift along with a rising consumption of junk food among school-aged adolescents. Despite its known health risks, junk food remains popular among adolescent school students. This study aims to determine the prevalence of junk food, its consumption patterns and associated factors, among secondary school students of Banganga, Nepal. Methods: A school-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 270 secondary school students in Banganga municipality ward number 2, selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected via a self-administrated structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done using IBM-SPSS version 20. Results: The prevalence of junk food consumption among secondary school students was 74.4%. Fast food was the most consumed category (74.13%) and the most frequently consumed items were biscuit, chocolate, coke and chowmein. Sex, grade, father‘s occupation, living status and parent‘s habit of junk food consumption were significantly associated with junk food consumption at 95% of confidence interval. Conclusion: The high prevalence of junk food consumption among adolescents highlights an urgent need for collaborative efforts between parents, school administrations and other relevant stakeholders to promote healthier food options in school cafeterias and encourage homemade, nutritious foods.

Abstract This chapter examines the complex relationship between federalism and digitalization in India focusing on how constitutional arrangement and institutional mechanisms shape the country's evolving digital governance landscape. The chapter explores whether India's federal system acts as a facilitator or a barrier to digital governance. In doing so, the chapter outlines constitutional distribution of powers between the central and state governments and explains how cooperative, competitive and conflicting phases of federalism have influenced governance in the digital domain in India. The chapter presents case studies from Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura demonstrating how subnational governments have used centralized platforms to design localized solutions. It also examines how cooperative mechanisms—such as public private partnership and cross jurisdictional cooperation during the COVID-19 Pandemic—illustrate the adaptive capacity of India’s federal system. Overall, the chapter show that India’s federal architecture balances centralized tendency with decentralized flexibility that remain crucial for building an equitable and resilient digital governance system.

In an effort to discover a dual-functional and eco-friendly platform to address the challenges of halide entrapment and removal of toxic metal ions from wastewater concurrently, this work delineates a novel approach of fishing out a potential weapon compound I, from a pool of three constructs, harnessing the concept of hydrophobic orchestration. We propose that the chloride-palmitic acid derivative, formed through nucleophilic substitution of the palmitic acid's alcoholic hydroxy group, plays a crucial role in driving self-assembly, which ultimately leads to hydrogel formation and halide entrapment. Furthermore, the resulting chloride-palmitic acid derivative undergoes heavy metal ion (Pb2+/Cd2+)-induced syneresis, likely due to the formation of metal-ligand complexes under the given experimental conditions, as supported by extensive experimental evidence. This dual-responsive behavior of compound I, along with its reusability for up to three cycles, represents a promising and effective strategy for environment management.

<title>Abstract</title> Purpose: Clindamycin phosphate (CP) is widely prescribed for the treatment of anaerobic and gram-positive bacterial infections. Accurate quantification of residual solvents, particularly isopropyl alcohol (IPA), is essential to ensure product safety and compliance with regulatory standards. This study aimed to formulate CP pledgets and to develop and validate a sensitive Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) method for IPA determination. Methods: Chromatographic separation was achieved using an Rtx-1301 column under optimized GC-FID conditions, enabling selective detection of IPA without interference from the matrix. The method was validated in accordance with ICH Q2 (R1) guidelines, evaluating linearity, specificity, accuracy, precision, and robustness. Results: The method demonstrated excellent linearity from the LOQ to 200% of the specified limits, with correlation coefficients (R²) of 1.000. Recovery studies confirmed high accuracy (99.1–101.8%), while both method and intermediate precision yielded %RSD values below 15%. Chromatographic performance showed sharp peak resolution and reproducible separation without excipient interference, confirming specificity. Conclusion: The validated GC-FID method provides a reliable, accurate, and robust analytical tool for quantifying IPA in CP pledgets. Its high precision and specificity make it suitable for routine quality control and regulatory compliance, thereby ensuring product safety and efficacy.

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> The carbon cycle in the Arctic atmosphere is important in understanding abrupt climate changes occurring in this region. Two-years of measurements (summer 2016&ndash;spring 2018) of carbonaceous aerosols at the High Arctic station Alert, Canada, showed that in addition to organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), carbonate carbon (CC) was episodically but not negligibly present. The relative abundances of CC in total carbon (TC) ranged from 0&ndash;65 % with an average of approximately 11 % over the entire period. Also there was a strong correlation of CC with aerosol Ca²⁺ which is associated mostly with soil dust and to a lesser extent sea salt aerosol. Based on this and the analysis of air mass back trajectories (AMBT), we infer two possible sources of CC in the Arctic total suspended particles (TSP). The major one is the erosion and resuspension of limestone sediments, particularly in the semi-desert areas of the northern Canadian Arctic. Another potential more minor source of CC is from marine aerosol sources including calcified marine phytoplankton shells (coccoliths) introduced into the atmosphere via sea-to air emission. The CC content significantly influenced the stable carbon isotopic composition (&delta;¹³C) of TC. The higher the CC content, the higher the &delta;¹³C values, which is consistent with the strong ¹³C enrichment in carbonates. Therefore, carbonates in Arctic TSP must be taken into account not only in isotopic studies using &delta;¹³C analyses but also when <span>assessing</span> the impact of carbonaceous aerosols on the Arctic climate.

Deciphering the most promising strategy for the evolution of cancer patient management remains a multifaceted, challenging affair to date. Additionally, such approaches often lead to microbial infections as side effects, probably due to the compromised immunity of the patients undergoing such treatment. Distinctly, this work delineates a rational combinatorial strategy harnessing stereogenic harmony in the diphenylalanine fragment, tethering it to an amphiphile 12-hydroxy-lauric acid at the N-terminus (compounds I-III) such that a potential therapeutic could be extracted out from the series. Aligned to the goal, the cytotoxic properties and cell viability of the compounds were investigated using two distinct cell lines: MCF-7 (human breast cancer cell) and HEK 293 (human embryonic kidney). Our rigorous investigations revealed that compounds I-III exhibited substantial cytotoxic impact on the MCF7 cell line. But from a pool of three constructs, compound III (12-hydroxy-lauric acid -d-Phe-l-Phe-OH) showed better selectivity toward cancerous MCF7 over normal HEK 293 in comparison to others, backed by computational calculations. Henceforth, it was fished out from the series and used for its elaborate anticancer activities using cell reactive oxygen species generation, DNA fragmentation, and caspase-dependent gene expression employing extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic factors as well as inflammatory biomarkers, namely, TNF-α and IL1-β. We anticipated that compound III, possessing mechanoresponsiveness and a nanofibrillar network, could be administered in patients with injections because of its shear-thinning properties. Moreover, the optimum partition coefficient of compound III might have allowed the scaffold to penetrate the cellular membranes and form a dilactate complex (compound VI) when exposed to the accumulated lactates/lactic acids, a common phenomenon observed within the hypoxic cancerous tumor cores, in accordance with the Warburg mechanism, thereby evading the cytotoxicity within normal cells. Besides, the supramolecular β-sheets of compound III manifest substantial antimicrobial efficacy against the common pathogens, two Gram-positive bacteria, S. aureus and B. subtilis, two Gram-negative bacteria, E. coli and P. aeruginosa, and a fungus, C. albicans, along with proteolytic stability and high mechanical strength at physiological pH. Overall, we speculate that the discovery of these multifunctional bioinspired materials holds future promise as preferential therapeutics for the remediation of immune-susceptible cancer patients, afflicted by microbial infections arising alone or as side effects of chemotherapeutic medications.

A 57-year-old man with primary aldosteronism exhibited multiple nodules in the left adrenal, pancreatic tail, and splenic region. The left adrenal nodule showed positive 68 Ga-pentixafor and negative 68 Ga-FAPI-04 uptake, suggesting an aldosterone-producing adrenal adenoma. The nodule in the pancreatic tail exhibited high 68 Ga-pentixafor and low 68 Ga-FAPI-04 uptake, similarity with the nodule in splenic region, indicating accessory splenic nodule. Postoperative pathology confirmed an adrenal cortical adenoma and an accessory splenic nodule in the pancreas. This case underscores the complementary role of 68 Ga-pentixafor and 68 Ga-FAPI-04 PET/MR in diagnosing complex adrenal and pancreatic pathologies.

This work proposes and investigates the performance of a feedback field effect device for biosensing applications. The device features a partially gated structure, enabling its function as a high-sensitivity, charge-modulated biosensor. The sensing principle relies on the regenerative feedback effect, giving rise to ultra-steep slope characteristics. 2D TCAD device simulations show a sharp turn-on profile in response to the conjugation of charged biomolecules on the ungated sensing surface. Consequently, a large shift in turn-ON voltage (AV<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</inf>) exceeding 50% and a very high current sensitivity (~10<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sup>) are observed, which are both considerably higher than the conventional FET-based biosensors. By simultaneously achieving a high ON-state current, low leakage, and ultra-steep subthreshold slope at low voltages, the device overcomes limitations of the existing steep slope FET biosensors. Given these attributes and compatibility with the standard semiconductor process technology, the proposed device is a promising candidate for future ultra-high sensitivity integrated biosensors.

A common-ground transformer-less five-level (5L) inverter topology is presented in this research with a voltage-boosting ability of four times compared to the typical neutral point clamped multi-level inverter topologies for single and three-phase distributed energy resources. The proposed topology depends on flying capacitor operation and requires ten active power semiconductor switches and two flying capacitor units per leg. A simple level-shifted sinusoidal pulse width modulation strategy is employed to self-balance the flying capacitors, while also mitigating the output current ripples and lowering the filter rating. The merits of the proposed five-level inverter topology are: (i) no leakage current in the industrial system due to the common ground operation; (ii) the input DC link voltage requirement is half of the grid voltage peak, whereas the neutral point is clamped; and (iii) the capability of reactive power compensation. The principles of operation, modulation techniques, and steady-state analyses for the proposed inverter topology are discussed. The proposed inverter topology is validated through both the MATLAB/Simulink and PSIM platforms. To analyze the effectiveness of the proposed inverter architecture, loss distribution, current and voltage stress across the switches, and efficiency of the inverter topology are provided.