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The main objective of the study is to find out the knowledge, practice and use of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) among workers of cement factory limited located at Mirchaiya, Siraha, Nepal. We have tried to identify the various sources of information regarding occupational hazards, frequency of health visit in case of health problems or illness, hygiene practices among factory workers and sociodemographic characteristics like age, sex, marital status, income among the workers of cement factory. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study containing both qualitative and quantitative data. The primary data has been collected through semi-structured questionnaire assisted by researcher. Non-purposive sampling technique was used during the collection of data. Nearly three fourths of the respondents had satisfactory knowledge about occupational hazards. 86% workers responded as Tuberculosis to be the disease caused during work in cement factories. All the workers had some basic knowledge about PPE but only 33% of workers said that mask, gloves, boot and clothes fall under PPE. More than three fourths had knowledge regarding the effectiveness of the PPE. 96% of the total respondents used PPE during their working time. About 31% workers had been suffering from illness. 72% workers had a trend to visit doctor only in case of illness or if required. Only 82% workers had a trend to wash eyes with water only in case of dust present in eye. Similarly, only 78% workers had a practice of hand washing with water. And, only 4% of the co-workers had information regarding occupational hazards and use of PPE. We conclude that the variables having significant influence on the knowledge and practice of workers about occupational hazards were education, receiving information about the job-associated hazards, and attending a training course about occupational health and safety. These variables should be taken into consideration in any program addressing occupational health and safety issues in Nepal.

The robust capacity of skeletal muscle stem cells (SkMSCs, or satellite cells) to regenerate into new muscles in vivo has offered promising therapeutic options for the treatment of degenerative muscle diseases. However, the practical use of SkMSCs to treat muscle diseases is limited, owing to their inability to expand in vitro under defined cultivation conditions without loss of engraftment efficiency. To develop an optimal cultivation condition for SkMSCs, we investigated the behavior of SkMSCs on synthetic maltose-binding protein (MBP)-fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2)-immobilized matrix in vitro . We found that the chemically well-defined, xeno-free MBP-FGF2-immobilized matrix effectively supports SkMSC growth without reducing their differentiation potential in vitro . Our data highlights the possible application of the MBP-FGF2 matrix for SkMSC expansion in vitro .

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The descriptive study conducted to assess the knowledge on tuberculosis among students of higher secondary school, Lalitpur, Nepal was carried out utilizing non-probability purposive sampling technique among +2 students.