Objectives: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and news of daily increasing cases inside Nepal and worldwide is adding to the fear that leads to anger, anxiety, frustration, and stress, emotions that directly affect sleep quality. This study aimed to assess sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Nepalese population. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 206 Nepali residents who completed anonymous self-administered questionnaires. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) questionnaire was used to measure sleep disturbances before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The gathered data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20 statistical software. Results: There was a significant variation in sleep disturbances among Nepalese residents before versus after the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001). The prevalence of clinical moderate insomnia has increased tremendously in Nepalese individuals. Before the pandemic’s onset, only 3.9% of the participants had moderate to severe levels of clinical insomnia; after its onset, this value increased to 17.5%. The mean ISI scores were 6.35±4.65 and 8.01±6.01 before and after the pandemic’s onset, respectively. Conclusions Our study findings suggest that people are suffering tremendously with sleep disturbances and calls for further research and active measures to help increase sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Anaemia in India is still a point of concern when it comes to adolescent girls. Adolescent girls are more prone to develop anaemia if they lack knowledge on how to manage the menace of anaemia in adolescence. The study was conducted to identify the prevalence of anaemia in adolescent girls and assess the effectiveness of teaching program on knowledge regarding prevention of anaemia in adolescent girls. Methods: The study was conducted in two phases. First phase adopted exploratory survey design and second phase involved one group pre-test post-test design. The sample consisted of 400 adolescent girls (13 – 15) years studying in rural schools of Haldwani block, Uttarakhand. Results: The study results revealed that about 90 (22.5%) adolescent girls were anaemic. Maximum 64 (71%) adolescent girls had average knowledge regarding anaemia and its prevention. There was 11% enhancement in the level of knowledge of anaemic adolescent girls post administration of teaching program and was significant at 0.05 level. Conclusion: The present study found that there was significant enhancement in the level of knowledge of adolescent girls in the post-test. Thus, it emphasizes the need to educate the adolescent girls regarding dietary choices they make so that it may help in reducing prevalence of anaemia in later ages of life in young girls of India.

[Objective] To explore the application of Quality by Design (QbD) tools in assessing geographical variations of Phyllanthus emblica (P. emblica) from five distinct Indian states. [Methods] In the current experiment, the Box-Behnken design with a reduced quartic model and 105 runs was employed with the use of the Design Expert software for randomized response surface mapping. Three different extraction methods (Soxhlet, maceration, and sonication) along with three solventst [distilled water, methanol, and water-methanol mixture (50 : 50 v/v)] were considered in the present study. The anti-oxidant activities, total flavonoid content (TFC), and total phenolic content (TPC) in the P. emblica were determined and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the major components. [Results] The QbD overlay plot showed that the extractive value of the P. emblica was no less than 30% w/w, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) no less than 60% mcg/mL (micrograms per millilitre), TFC no less than 75 mg QE/g (milligrams of quercetin equivalents per gram), and TPC no less than 80 mg GAE/g (milligrams of gallic acid equivalents per gram). Moreover, the GC-MS data confirmed the presence of variation in the bioactives of P. emblica extracts. [Conclusion] The model was significant in describing the variation in extractive value, DPPH, TFC, and TPC. The QbD approach may tend to prioritize thoroughness in the extraction process, ultimately resulting in improved quality in the extracted products.