Use of woody plants for greenhouse gas mitigation has led to the demand for rapid cost-effective estimation of forest carbon stock and related factors. This study aims to assess the factors associated with carbon stock in Chure forest of Nepal. The data were obtained from Department of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS) of Nepal. A multiple linear regression model and then sum contrasts were used to observe the association between variables such as stem volume, diameter at breast height, altitude, districts, number of trees per plot, and ownership of the forest. 95% confidence interval (CI) plots were drawn for comparing the adjusted carbon stocks with each of the factors and with the overall carbon stock. The linear regression showed a good fit of the model (adjusted R2 = 83.75%) with the results that the stem volume (sv), diameter at breast height (dbh), and the number of trees per plot showed statistically significant (p value ≤ 0.05) positive association with carbon stock. The highest carbon stock was associated with sv more than 199 m3/ha, average dbh more than 43.3 cm/plot, and number of trees more than 20/plot, whereas the altitude, geographical location, and ownership had no statistical associations at all. The results can be of use to the government for enhancing carbon stock in Chure that supports both natural resource conservation and United Nations-Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program to mitigate carbon emission issues.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of knowledge and practice of breastfeeding among factory working mothers in Kathmandu who had a minimum of one child of less than two years of age. Design/methodology/approach -A cross-sectional survey, with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire, was completed. χ 2 or Fisher exact tests were applied for analysis using the SPSS program. Findings -In total, 36.0 percent of the mothers had adequate knowledge, and 40.0 percent had an appropriate practice of breastfeeding (BF). Also, 30 percent of them were supplementing their BF with additional milk and 54.0 percent began to give additional food at less than six months of age, mainly due to insufficient breast milk. However, 40.0 percent of mothers practiced exclusive BF; 34.0 percent of mothers continued BF until their child reached two years of age. BF was initiated within an hour by 64.0 percent of mothers. Regarding knowledge, the majority of them (82 percent) knew about initiation time of the feed, 64.0 percent of mothers knew that breast milk had positive effects on a child's health while 48.0 percent knew that it also had good effects on the mothers' health. There was a positive association between available facilities and BF knowledge levels ( p-value o0.00, χ 2 ¼ 4.25, df ¼ 1). The associations of knowledge levels against the education status of mothers ( p-value ¼ 0.11, χ 2 ¼ 2.59, df ¼ 1) and practice level of initiation of breast milk ( p-value ¼ 0.96, χ 2 ¼ 0.02, df ¼ 1) were not significant. Originality/value -The knowledge and practices of BF among factory working mothers are not satisfactory. Hence, an effective way to encourage BF is to increase the availability of facilities for the practice of BF at a mother's workplace.

Background & objectives:Leprosy type 1 reactions (T1R) are acute episodes of immune exacerbation that are a major cause of inflammation and nerve damage. T1R are diagnosed clinically and supported by histopathology. No laboratory marker is currently available that can accurately predict a T1R. Increased plasma and tissue expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS) and chemokine CXCL10 have been demonstrated in T1R. We studied the gene expression and immunoexpression of i-NOS, CXCL10 and its receptor CXCR3 in clinically and histopathologically confirmed patients with T1R and compared with non-reactional leprosy patients to understand which biomarker has better potential in distinguishing reaction from non-reaction.Methods:Gene expression of i-NOS, CXCL10 and CXCR3 was studied in 30 skin biopsies obtained from patients with borderline tuberculoid (BT), mid-borderline (BB) and borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy with and without T1R by real-time PCR. Further validation was done by immunhistochemical expression on 60 borderline leprosy biopsies with and without T1R.Results:Of the 120 patients histopathological evaluation confirmed T1R in 65 (54.2%) patients. CXCR3 gene expression was significantly (P<0.05) higher in BT- and BB-T1R patients compared to those without T1R. The CXCL10 gene expression was significantly higher (P<0.05) in BB leprosy with T1R but the difference was not significant in patients with BT with or without T1R. Immunoexpression for CXCR3 was significant in both BB-T1R and BB (P<0.001) and BT and BT-T1R (P<0.001). Immunoexpression of CXL10 was significant only in differentiating BB from BB-T1R leprosy (P<0.01) and not the BT cases. i-NOS immunoexpression was not useful in differentiating reactional from non-reactional leprosy.Interpretation & conclusions:Both CXCL10 and CXCR3 appeared to be useful in differentiating T1R reaction in borderline leprosy while CXCR3 alone differentiated BT from BT-T1R. CXCR3 may be a potentially useful immunohistochemical marker to predict an impending T1R.