Poor waste management in the Kathmandu valley has deteriorated the water quality of surface and groundwater sources. The objective of this study was to assess the status of water quality (WQ) in drinking water sources of groundwater and municipal supply (tap water) from the Bagmati river basin in Kathmandu valley. A total of 52 water samples from deep tube-well, tube-well, dug-well, and tap water were collected and analyzed for physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters using standard methods. The results revealed that chloride, total hardness (TH), copper, nitrate, sulfate, and turbidity were within the recommendations of the National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS). Total coliform (TC) bacteria in 84.6% of the samples exceeded drinking water guidelines. Similarly, the isolates of different enteric bacteria, namely Escherichia coli (21.5%), Citrobacter spp. (20.9%), Klebsiella spp. (19.8%), Proteus spp. (13.9%), Enterobacter spp. (8.72%), Salmonella spp. (5.8%), Shigella spp. (5.2%), and Pseudomonas (4.1%) were identified in the samples collected from the respective sources. Out of the 52 water samples, 7.7% of samples had fecal contamination of somatic coliphage. The groundwater and municipal water supply in the study area are not safe for drinking purposes. Treatment of water is required before its use for household applications.

Introduction: COVID-19 infection is caused by a new strain of SARS CoV-2 virus, which transmits directly from person-to-person and has become a pandemic. To counteract this, actions related to mass quarantines or stay-at-home orders have been used termed as lockdown. This study aims to study lifestyle, behaviour, perception and practice of people regarding during the lockdown. Methods: An online survey was conducted with structured questionnaire in Google forms after ethical approval from Nepal Health Research Council (Ref-2631). The attributes of knowledge, attitude and practices were explored using multiple-choice questions and results were statistically analysed using Microsoft excel. Results: Five hundred fifty-five respondents completed the survey with 280 (50.5%) males and 275 (49.5%) female. The knowledge regarding viral pandemic was increased in 496 (89.3%) respondents. 424 (76.4%) people developed stress due to pandemic. Three hundred fifty three (63.6%) were adversely affected by professional works or suffered economic loss in business. More than 42% participants are using their time for study in personal development, online classes etc. Conclusions: The knowledge of viral pandemic as well as personal hygiene habits have improved in majority of people but many also developed stress. They were convinced that lockdown lowered transmission of infection which in turn affected lifestyle behaviour and practices. Practicing social distancing becomes too difficult for the poor in the absence of proper social security system and government support. E-Learning has become more acceptable due to lockdown. Further studies with in-person interviews are warranted.

This research was investigated to evaluate the quality assurance of water from different sources. All together 250 water samples (135 well water, 48 boring water, 50 treated water, and 17 tap water) were received from different parts of Nepal from December 2019 to April 2020. The physicochemical parameters of water samples were performed according to the standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. The membrane filtration technique was applied for the determination of Total Coliform bacteria. The measurements of water quality parameters were compared with the upper and lower limits of the National Drinking Water Quality Standards (NDWQS), 2005. Out of 135 well water samples, pH (1.48%), conductivity (2.22%), turbidity (42.96%), total hardness (4.44%), iron (54.07%), ammonia (48.88%), and nitrate (2.22%) elevated values compared to National Drinking Water Quality Standards, 2005. Likewise, 2.08%, 6.25%, 64.58%, 4.1%, 47.91%, and 58.33% of boring water samples showed higher values than the National Drinking Water Quality Standards for pH, conductivity, turbidity, total hardness, iron, ammonia, respectively. Conductivity, total hardness, chloride, and iron were found below the standards for both treated and tap water samples. Arsenic concentration was found within the standard for all water samples while 0.74% of well water samples showed a higher concentration of chloride compared to the standard. Results revealed that the minimum and maximum concentrations of some parameters were found to vary among the water sources. Among the total water samples, 94.8% well water, 76.4% tap water, 56.0% treated water, and 14.6% boring water samples showed the presence of coliform bacteria. This concludes that most of the water sources were polluted with fecal contamination and without proper purification may lead to the risk of waterborne diseases. Therefore, systematic and regular monitoring of water sources should be implemented to maintain water quality.

Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lentivirus that causes human immunodeficiency virus infection and over time, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Cluster of Differentiation 4+ T cell count of people living with this infection play a vital role to determine infection progression and necessary treatment changes. This study was conducted to find out the prevalence of low Cluster of Differentiation 4+ T Cell Count in the People Living with human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between June to August 2018 in the Human Immunodeficiency virus and Hepatitis Reference Unit of National Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health and Population Teku. Ethical approval was taken (Reference Number 2912) and a total of 550 seropositive cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 undergoing antiretroviral therapy were studied. Convenient sampling technique was used. Data was analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: Seventeen (3.1%) of patients had Cluster of Differentiation 4+ T cell counts below 100 cells/mm3 of blood. The mean Cluster of Differentiation 4+ T cell count was 509.3 cells/mm3 of blood. Of the total samples, 280 (50.9%) were males, 268 (48.7%) were females, and the rest 2 (0.4%) were of other gender. Conclusions: Majority of people living with human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome were found immune-competent.

Background: RAB25 is a protein that belongs to the RAB11 subfamily located in the lq22 locus of chromosome and is ubiquitously expressed in cells of the gastrointestinal mucosa, ileum, and kidney. Its role in tumorigenesis is variable but is unclear in the case of melanoma progression. Our previous studies showed that loss of RAB25 has a special role in mediating the tumorigenic transformation of human mammary epithelial cells. Its loss particularly cooperated with mutant Ras isoforms to promote transformation in vitro. We are now examining the role of RAB25 in melanomas as melanomas exhibit a high rate of N-Ras mutations. We hypothesize that the presence of NRAS types of mutation and expression of RAB25 are mutually exclusive as RAB25 functions are a tumor suppressor to inhibit this mutation. Methods: Different NRAS mutant melanoma cell lines (SKMEL-2, SKMEL-28, WM1366 and WM266-4) were examined forRab25 expression through qRT-PCR and Western Blotting. The positive control was MCF cell lines and MDA-MB-231 was considered as negative control. Immunohistochemistry was done with biopsy proven melanoma tissue samples and normal adjacent tissue to observe the trend of Rab25 expression. Keratinocytes and fibroblasts in the tissue samples were considered as internal controls.Results: We found a significant decrease in Rab25 expression in NRAS mutant melanoma cell lines compared to Raf mutants and primary melanocytes. The reduction was prominent at both the RNA and protein level. RAB25 expression was also reduced in melanoma tumors as compared to surrounding tissue. Conclusion: RAB25 loss may indeed cooperate with NRAS mutation to promote transformation in melanomas. Further studies including overexpression experiment in the cell line model followed by migration assay, invasion assay, and in vivo nude mouse experiments will provide further confirmation of our hypothesis. Citation Format: Samikshya Kandel, Krishna Rao. Role of Rab25 in Melanoma and its potential targeting [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 2591.