Therapeutic use of music in neurological disorders: A concise narrative review.

Background: Music elicits multifactorial benefits in emotional, social, cognitive, and academic aspects of human life. Music is clinically proven to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood and self-expression, particularly after traumatic events. Studies have also demonstrated that music promotes parasympathetic autonomic systems, suppresses hyperactivation of stress responses, and boosts immune functions.

Evaluation of prescriptions from tertiary care hospitals across India for deviations from treatment guidelines & their potential consequences.

Background Objectives: Irrational prescribing practices have major consequences on patient safety and also increase the economic burden. Real-life examples of impact of irrational prescription have potential to improve prescribing practices. In this context, the present study aimed to capture and evaluate the prevalence of deviations from treatment guidelines in the prescriptions, potential consequence/s of the deviations and corrective actions recommended by clinicians.

Assessment of prescribing pattern of drugs and completeness of prescriptions as per the World Health Organization prescribing indicators in various Indian tertiary care centers: A multicentric study by Rational Use of Medicines Centers-Indian Council of Medical Research network under National Virtual Centre Clinical Pharmacology activity.

Objective: The rational use of medicines as per the World Health Organization (WHO) should be practiced globally. However, data regarding the completeness of the prescriptions and their rational use is lacking from developing countries like India. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prescribing patterns of drugs and completeness of prescriptions as per WHO core drug use and complementary indicators to provide real-life examples for the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) online prescribing skill course for medical graduates.

Highly effective and stable MWCNT/WO nanocatalyst for ammonia gas sensing, photodegradation of ciprofloxacin and peroxidase mimic activity.

The present study discusses the ammonia (NH) sensing characteristics, photocatalytic degradation of emerging pollutants, and peroxidase mimic activity of multifunctional multi-walled carbon nanotube-tungsten oxide nanocomposite (MWCNT/WO) prepared by conventional solvothermal method. The prepared MWCNT/WO nanocomposites were characterized by various analytical techniques like XRD, Raman, XPS, N adsorption, FESEM with elemental analysis and diffuse reflection spectroscopy. The prepared 1% MWCNT/WO nanocomposite showed better gas sensing performance for the NH vapors at 10-100 ppm than the pristine WO and the response and recover time of about 13 and 15s towards 20 ppm of ammonia (NH) was achieved.

Porous reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/WO nanocomposites for the enhanced detection of NH at room temperature.

Incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) modifies the properties of semiconducting metal oxide nanoparticles and makes it possible to tune the surface area and pore size to optimum values, which in turn improves their gas sensing properties. In this work, to improve the ammonia (NH) gas sensing characteristics, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was incorporated into tungsten oxide (WO) nanospheres using a simple ultrasonication method. The rGO-WO nanocomposites exhibited porous nanosheets with nanospherical WO as observed with field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM).

Cytotoxic consequences of Halloysite nanotube/iron oxide nanocomposite and iron oxide nanoparticles upon interaction with bacterial, non-cancerous and cancerous cells.

Cytotoxic effects of iron oxide (FeO) nanoparticles and Halloysite nanotube/iron oxide (HNT/FeO) nanocomposite are compared based on their interaction with Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis. Similarly, the action of these two nanomaterials on non-cancerous Vero cell lines and human lung cancerous (A-549) cell lines are compared. The cytotoxicity studies on FeO nanoparticles and HNT/FeO nanocomposite showed difference in the rate of killing of bacterial cells.

Application of microwaves for microbial load reduction in black pepper (Piper nigrum L.).

Background: Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is exposed to microbial contamination which could potentially create public health risk and also rejection of consignments in the export market due to non-adherance to microbial safety standards. The present study investigates the use of microwave (MW) radiation for microbial load reduction in black pepper and analyses the effect on quality.

Recent Developments in Superheated Steam Processing of Foods-A Review.

Although the use of superheated steam has been known for quite a long time, only in the recent past has it emerged as a viable technology for food processing. Superheated steam, having higher enthalpy, can quickly transfer heat to the material being processed, resulting in its rapid heating. The major advantages of using superheated steam for food processing are better product quality (color, shrinkage, and rehydration characteristics), reduced oxidation losses, and higher energy efficiency.