Lycopene is a carotenoid present in fruits and vegetables. The richest sources of lycopene are tomatoes and tomato products. The beneficial effects of lycopene in human health and disease are mainly associated with its antioxidant properties. Lycopene is a carotenoid with strongest antioxidant property because of its capability of quenching the singlet oxygen. Eleven conjugated double bonds of lycopene give it a deep red color and are responsible for its antioxidant activity which is major functional feature of lycopene. Dietary intakes of tomatoes and tomato products containing lycopene have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases in numerous studies. Although there are evidences from many epidemiological and cell culture and animal studies explaining the inverse relationship between lycopene and cancer or cardiovascular disease risk, more clinical trial data is needed to support this hypothesis. In this article we outline the possible mechanisms of action of lycopene and review the current understanding of its role in human health and disease prevention.

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent cancer affecting women globally. It is the fourth most common cancer in women and the seventh overall. Cervical cancer can be cured and prevented by regular pelviccheck-up, screening test and vaccination against human papilloma virus. The objective of this study was to find out awareness regarding cervical cancer among women aged 18-49 years residing in Bharatpur MetropolitanCity-5, Chitwan. Methods: A community based descriptive cross-sectional research design was used, 186 women were selected using simple random sampling method. Structured interview schedule was used to collect the data within 2weeks. The collected data was entered in Epi data 3.1 and exported into IBM SPSS version 20. Data was analysed in terms of descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The study revealed that 72.6% of the women were >30 years and 93% of women were literate, among them 35.2% had completed secondary level of education. It was found that only 28.0% of women had good level of awareness and 43.5% of them had poor level of awareness regarding cervical cancer. There was statistically significant relationship between level of awareness with age (p=0.029), ethnicity (p=0.013), marital status (p=0.018) and heard about organism that causes cervical cancer (p=<0.001). Conclusions: Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that, almost half of the women have poor level of awareness regarding cervical cancer. Hence, there is need for community awareness program on cervical cancer, its screening and preventive measures through the medium of health personnel, friends and mass media.

Key Clinical MessageMad Honey Disease is characterized by intoxication symptoms secondary to over‐ingestion of grayanotoxin found in honey produced from rhododendron nectar. Cardiovascular symptoms are common, but psychiatric and neurological phenomena are rarely seen in this condition. Our case details a patient who presented with florid symptomology in all three aforementioned areas.

Trichosanthes dioica fruit pericarp has a powerful hypolipidemic and antioxidant properties. Wistar rats were divided into five groups (n = 30). The normal control group received vehicle and standard diet throughout the experimental period. Groups II, III, IV, and V were given a high-fat diet and free access of water for 21 days. Experimental groups IV and V were given high-fat diet along with T. dioica extract 400 and 800 mg/kg, respectively. Blood was collected at 21 days, and lipid profile estimation was performed. The phytochemical screening was performed by different phytochemical screening methods. Lipid peroxidation and catalase activity were done by taking a liver tissue sample. The phytochemical screening of extract showed good results and indicated the presence of phytoconstituents in extract. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity of T. dioica was found to be 65.79% at a concentration of 100 μg/ml extract, whereas that of the control was 94.06%. The Wistar rats fed with a high-fat diet with T. dioica showed a significant decrease in total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels and an increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level. The lipid peroxidation and catalase activity of methanol extract of T. dioica were significantly reduced with individual comparison with all groups. The methanol extract of T. dioica has the hypolipidemic effect, which showed a decrease in TC, TG, VLDL, and LDL levels and an increase in HDL level in Wistar rats. It also has antioxidant properties. In this study, we have evaluated the antioxidant and the antihyperlipidemic activities of T. dioica in high-fat diet induced hyperlipidemia in Wistar rats.

A review study was conducted to examine the adverse effects of styrene, styrene mixtures, or styrene and/or styrene mixtures and noise on the auditory system in humans employed in occupational settings. The search included peer-reviewed articles published in English language involving human volunteers spanning a 25-year period (1990–2015). Studies included peer review journals, case–control studies, and case reports. Animal studies were excluded. An initial search identified 40 studies. After screening for inclusion, 13 studies were retrieved for full journal detail examination and review. As a whole, the results range from no to mild associations between styrene exposure and auditory dysfunction, noting relatively small sample sizes. However, four studies investigating styrene with other organic solvent mixtures and noise suggested combined exposures to both styrene organic solvent mixtures may be more ototoxic than exposure to noise alone. There is little literature examining the effect of styrene on auditory functioning in humans. Nonetheless, findings suggest public health professionals and policy makers should be made aware of the future research needs pertaining to hearing impairment and ototoxicity from styrene. It is recommended that chronic styrene-exposed individuals be routinely evaluated with a comprehensive audiological test battery to detect early signs of auditory dysfunction.

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Background: ABO and Rh systems are most important types of blood group systems that should be taken into consideration during blood transfusion. Many studies have been done across the globe to determine the distribution of these blood groups among different strata of population. But there are very few studies done in Nepali population. Therefore, in this study we aimed to find out the distribution of blood groups among Nepali medical students and to compare it with the other studies done in Nepal and other countries of the World. Methods: This was a retrospective study, containing the data of ABO and Rh blood groups of medi­cal students recorded over a period of 21 years in Department of Physiology of Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa, Nepal. The blood group was determined by open slide test method by using commercially available standard monoclonal antibody. Results: A total of 2031 Nepali medical students were included in the study. Among them 1147 were male and 884 were female. In the present study we found that the most common blood group was O (739, 36.4%) followed by B (624, 30.7%) and A (522, 25.7%) and least common blood group was AB (146, 7.2%). Among all participants 96.8% of the people were Rh positive and 3.2% were Rh negative. Conclusions: This study done in Nepali medical students can provide a new insight for the further study of distribution of blood groups in Nepali population. A study with high sample size, repre­senting every zones of Nepal is the demand of future.

INTRODUCTION: Many studies have shown the association of waist circumference, waist hip ratio and body mass index with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Waist circumference and waist hip ratio have been used as measures of central obesity and body mass index has been used as a measure of general obesity. Objective of this study is to find out which type of obesity is better for prediction of risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.  MATERIAL AND METHODS:Total 100 participants with confirmed diagnosis of type 2 DM with age group 35-80 years were selected for the study. Anthropometric measurements like height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference were measured and body mass index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR) were calculated. Area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used for correlating the parameters with type 2 diabetes mellitus in both male and female patients.  RESULTS: Area under ROC curve, a measure of performance of the indices in predicting diabetes in total subjects, was found to be highest for waist hip ratio (0.840) followed by waist circumference (0.688) and BMI (0.608). Similarly, area under ROC curve was found maximum for waist hip ratio followed by waist circumference and body mass index in case of male and female patients.  CONCLUSION: The present study concludes that anthropometric indicators of central obesity (WHR and WC) are more predictive for type 2 DM than anthropometric indicator of general obesity (BMI).