Objectives:To study the antiovulatory and abortifacient effects of ethanolic extract of Areca catechu in female rats.Materials and Methods:For antiovulatory effect, ethanolic extract of A. catechu at 100 and 300 mg/kg doses was administered orally for 15 days. Vaginal smears were examined daily microscopically for estrus cycle. Rats were sacrificed on 16th day. Ovarian weight, cholesterol estimation, and histopathological studies were done. Abortifacient activity was studied in rats at 100 and 300 mg/kg doses administered orally from 6th to 15th day of pregnancy. Rats were laparotomised on 19th day. The number of implantation sites and live fetuses were observed in both horns of the uterus.Results:The extract of A. catechu showed a significant decrease in the duration of estrus at 100 mg/kg (P = 0.015) and 300 mg/kg doses (P = 0.002) as compared with control. Metestrus phase was also significantly reduced at 100 mg/kg (P = 0.024) and 300 mg/kg doses (P = 0.002). There was a significant increase in proestrus (P < 0.001) phase. However, diestrus phase was unchanged. Histopathological study of the ovaries showed mainly primordial, primary, and secondary follicles in the test groups as compared to control. There was also a significant (P = 0.002) decrease in ovarian weight and a significant (P = 0.021) increase in ovarian cholesterol level at 100 mg/kg dose. In the study to evaluate abortifacient effect, the mean percentage of abortion with 100 and 300 mg/kg doses were 75.5% and 72.22%, respectively, which was significantly (P = 0.008 and P = 0.006, respectively) increased when compared with control.Conclusion:The ethanolic extract of A. catechu at doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg has antiovulatory and abortifacient effects.

Background. Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has become a major global problem. There is an urgent need to measure the knowledge of the disease among health science students who can play an active role in pandemic control. The research was conducted to examine COVID-19 knowledge among medical and dental students in a Nepalese medical college, compare the knowledge to other studies in the literature and identify educational needs of students who may be involved in treating COVID-19 patients.  Methods. The cross-sectional study was performed during the third week of June among first to final year medical and dental students. As the country was in lockdown, a structured online questionnaire was used. The responses obtained were entered into IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows and the normality of the data checked using one-sample Kolmogorov Smirnov test. The demographic parameters were tabulated, and total score compared among different subgroups of participants. The frequency of different measures mentioned by respondents were also noted. Results. More than half of the participants were males (59.6%). Nearly half 282 (49.8%) belonged to age group 21-23 years. The majority 415 (73.5%) were undergraduate medical and 150 (26.5%) were undergraduate dental students. The largest number of respondents, 140 (24.9%), were from the second year of study and 344 (60.9%) were from urban areas. The median total score was 20 and the interquartile range 4. The maximum possible score was 29. The scores among students belonging to different years of study were significantly different (p=0.006). Total scores were not significantly different among other subgroups. Conclusions. The knowledge of the participants was good. Deficiencies in knowledge were noted in certain areas and these should be addressed through an educational intervention. One of the challenges is the rapid evolution of our knowledge about this condition, which may require regular refresher sessions. Similar studies can be undertaken in other medical colleges in the country and in nursing and pharmacy colleges.

Introduction: Self-medication is common among medical students. Medical and dental students can also educate the population about the use of medicines. The aim of the study was to find the mean knowledge score of self-medication among first and second year medical and dental students at a medical college in Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a medical college from 1st to 28th February 2021 using a structured online questionnaire after obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Committee (approval number 077/78/32). Convenience sampling method was undertaken. The responses were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26. Results: Out of 173 students the mean±SD knowledge score was 79.47±6.76. The mean knowledge score of the participants of age group 17-18, 19-20 and 21-22 years were 83.8, 79 and 79.1 respectively. The mean knowledge scores of the male and female participants were 80.2 and 78.6 respectively. Similarly, the knowledge scores of respondents from undergraduate medical and dental backgrounds were 80.1 and 77.7 respectively. Conclusions: Knowledge of self-medication was high among the students. However, educational sessions to further improve and strengthen knowledge can be carried out to improve the knowledge.

Background The number of cases of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is still increasing especially in South Asia. There is an urgent need to measure the knowledge of the disease among health science students who may be required to play an active role in pandemic control. The research was conducted to answer how does Nepalese medical students' knowledge about coronavirus compare to medical students in other countries and what are the educational needs of medical students who may be called in to support the treatment of COVID-19 in Nepal. Methods A cross sectional study was performed during the third week of June among first to final year medical and dental students. As the country was in lockdown, a structured online questionnaire was used to obtain data. The responses obtained were cleaned, coded, entered in IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows and the normality of the data checked using one-sample Kolmogorov Smirnov test (p<0.05). The demographic parameters were tabulated and total score compared among different subgroups of participants. The frequency of different measures mentioned by respondents to control the pandemic were also noted. Results Out of the 565 participants, 336 (59.6%) were females followed by 229 (40.4%) males. Nearly half of the participants, 282 (49.8%) were belonging to age group 21-23 years. Majority 415 (73.5%) were undergraduate medical and 150 (26.5%) were undergraduate dental students. The largest number of respondents, 140 (24.9%) were from second year of study and 344 (60.9%) were from urban areas. The median total score was 21 and the interquartile range 4. The maximum possible score was 30. The scores among students belonging to different years of study were significantly different (p=0.033). Total scores were not significantly different among other subgroups of respondents. Conclusions The knowledge of the participants was good. Deficiencies in knowledge were noted in certain areas and these should be addressed through an educational intervention. In countries where epidemic is on the rise, strategies to keep health science students updated with proper information related to COVID-19 is important. Similar studies can be undertaken in other medical colleges in the country and in nursing and pharmacy colleges also.