2%). Thus, these multifunctional micelles provide a feasible approach in nanomedicine for resistant-cancer treatment.The combination of carbon nanotubes with transition metal oxides can exhibit complementary charge storage properties for use as electrode materials for next generation energy storage devices. One of the biggest challenges so far is to synthesize homogeneous oxide coatings on carbon nanotube structures preserving their integrity. Here we present the formation of conformal coatings of Fe2O3 on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes obtained by atomic layer deposition. We investigate the effect of pristine, nitrogen plasma and water plasma treated carbon nanotube surfaces on the ALD-growth of Fe2O3 using ferrocene and ozone precursors. The surface morphology, coating thickness, microstructure and surface chemistry of iron oxide-carbon nanotube composites and their ultimate influence on the electrochemical behavior of the composites are evaluated. The most effective surface functionalization is that achieved by H2O plasma treatment, whereas untreated carbon nanotubes, despite the lack of active sites in the starting pristine surface, can be coated with an inhomogeneous Fe2O3 film.Herein we describe the development of a sensor array that utilizes the complex response of a dynamic combinatorial library (DCL) to discriminate all of the methylation states of Arg, previously unreported in a sensor array, as well as the methylation states of Lys. We find that the use of all species in the DCL, not just those that bind, allows for discrimination of analytes that are otherwise indistinguishable, demonstrating the value of utilizing a complex network of species for differential sensing.NMR spectroscopy is an essential analytical technique in metabolomics and fluxomics workflows, owing to its high structural elucidation capabilities combined with its intrinsic quantitative nature. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/abtl-0812.html However, routine NMR "omic" analytical methods suffer from several drawbacks that may have limited their use as a method of choice, in particular when compared to another widely used technique, mass spectrometry. This review describes, in a critical and perspective discussion, how some of the most recent developments emerging from the NMR community could act as real game changers for metabolomics and fluxomics in the near future. Advanced developments to make NMR metabolomics more resolutive, more sensitive and more accessible are described, as well as new approaches to improve the identification of biomarkers. We hope that this review will convince a broad end-user community of the increasing role of NMR in the "omic" world at the beginning of the 2020s.Manipulation of microparticles and bio-samples is a critical task in many research and clinical settings. Recently, acoustic based methods have garnered significant attention due to their relatively simple designs, and biocompatible and precise manipulation of small objects. Herein, we introduce a flexural wave based acoustofluidic manipulation platform that utilizes low-frequency (4-6 kHz) commercial buzzers to achieve dynamic particle concentration and translation in an open fluid well. The device has two primary modes of functionality, wherein particles can be concentrated in pressure nodes that are present on the bottom surface of the device, or particles can be trapped and manipulated in streaming vortices within the fluid domain; both of these functions result from flexural mode vibrations that travel from the transducers throughout the device. Throughout our research, we numerically and experimentally explored the wave patterns generated within the device, investigated the particle concentration phenomenon, and utilized a phase difference between the two transducers to achieve precision movement of fluid vortices and the entrapped particle clusters. With its simple, low-cost nature and open fluidic chamber design, this platform can be useful in many biological, biochemical, and biomedical applications, such as tumor spheroid generation and culture, as well as the manipulation of embryos.The consumption of probiotic based foods due to their health promoting effects has increased over the years. The consumption of probiotic based foods, due to their health promoting effects, has increased over the years. Due to this rising demands, the application platforms of the food industry have directed their efforts in the development of novel functional probiotic beverages. The presence of dietary phenolics and other beneficial components has made fruit-based matrices more popular for probiotic delivery. However, very few studies to date have evaluated the impact of carrier matrices on the in vivo functionality of probiotic strains with specific biomarkers and targeted towards specific disease conditions. In this study, we investigated the effect of a sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) based, malt supplemented, beverage matrix (SBT + M) on the physiological characteristics of the probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) (LR). No significant difference in the auto-aggregation and co-aggregation showed the best effects in alleviating the LPS induced intestinal damage compared to the other test groups (SBT + M and LR). These protective effects could be attributed to the phenolic compounds present in the SBT matrix. Our study indicates the contributory role of the carrier matrix and merits further investigation for its use as a potential therapeutic agent for gastrointestinal inflammation.Alzheimer's disease (AD) is mainly caused by the fibrillogenesis of amyloid-β protein (Aβ). Therefore, the development of effective inhibitors against Aβ fibrillogenesis offers great hope for the treatment of AD. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (Cy-3G) is a commonly found anthocyanin that is mainly present in fruits, with established neuroprotective effects in situ. However, it remains unknown if Cy-3G can prevent Aβ fibrillogenesis and alleviate the corresponding cytotoxicity. In this study, extensive biochemical, biophysical, biological and computational experiments were combined to address this issue. It was found that Cy-3G significantly inhibits Aβ40 fibrillogenesis and disintegrates mature Aβ fibrils, and its inhibitory capacity is dependent on the Cy-3G concentration. The circular dichroism results showed that Cy-3G and Aβ40 at a molar ratio of 3  1 slightly prevents the structural transformation of Aβ40 from its initial random coil to the β-sheet-rich structure. Co-incubation of Aβ40 with Cy-3G significantly reduced the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species induced by Aβ40 fibrillogenesis and thus reduced Aβ40-induced cytotoxicity.

Our results show the therapeutic potential of priprioca residue as a low-cost antiplasmodial agent.Honey is a natural product with a long use in traditional medicine and is well recognized to regulate different biological events. It is an important source of various biological or pharmacological molecules and, therefore, there is a strong interest to explore their properties. Evidence is growing that honey may have the potential to be an anticancer agent acting through several mechanisms. Here we observed for the first time in a cancer cell line a possible mechanism through which honey could induce an alteration in the intracellular reactive oxygen species and homeostatic balance of intracellular calcium concentration leading to cell death by apoptosis. This mechanism seems to be enhanced by manuka honey's ability to maintain high H2O2 permeability through aquaporin-3.Understanding the various mechanisms that govern the development, activation, differentiation, and functions of T cells is crucial as it could provide opportunities for therapeutic interventions to disrupt immune pathogenesis. Immunometabolism is one such area that has garnered significant interest in the recent past as it has become apparent that cellular metabolism is highly dynamic and has a tremendous impact on the ability of T cells to grow, activate, and differentiate. In each phase of the lifespan of a T-cell, cellular metabolism has to be tailored to match the specific functional requirements of that phase. Resting T cells rely on energy-efficient oxidative metabolism but rapidly shift to a highly glycolytic metabolism upon activation in order to meet the bioenergetically demanding process of growth and proliferation. However, upon antigen clearance, T cells return to a more quiescent oxidative metabolism to support T cell memory generation. In addition, each helper T cell subset engages distinct metabolic pathways to support their functional needs. In this review, we provide an overview of the metabolic changes that occur during the lifespan of a T cell and discuss several important studies that provide insights into the regulation of the metabolic landscape of T cells and how they impact T cell development and function.
Relocation is a very important event in people's lives in general, but really significant in old age. However, some predictors of relocation still need to be improved. The objective of this review was to synthesize qualitative evidence to understand the reasons of the participants to decide on the place of care of the older people.

Systematic review of qualitative studies was conducted in six databases Scopus, SciELO, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and CINAHL, from its beginning until 29 November 2017. Qualitative or mixed studies, written in English or Spanish and addressing the decision-making process (already experienced by participants) on the place of care of older persons (65 years or older), were included in the review. PROSPERO (registration number CRD42018084826).

A total of 46 articles were finally included in the analysis. Our main result is the distinction of multiple reasons for each population group involved in the decision-making process, ranking these reasons into three factors Retention, pull and push.

This differentiation allows for a more detailed and in-depth analysis of the motivations of the different groups involved in this process.
This differentiation allows for a more detailed and in-depth analysis of the motivations of the different groups involved in this process.The current rate at which new DNA and protein sequences are being generated is too fast to experimentally discover the functions of those sequences, emphasizing the need for accurate Automatic Function Prediction (AFP) methods. AFP has been an active and growing research field for decades and has made considerable progress in that time. However, it is certainly not solved. In this paper, we describe challenges that the AFP field still has to overcome in the future to increase its applicability. The challenges we consider are how to (1) include condition-specific functional annotation, (2) predict functions for non-model species, (3) include new informative data sources, (4) deal with the biases of Gene Ontology (GO) annotations, and (5) maximally exploit the GO to obtain performance gains. We also provide recommendations for addressing those challenges, by adapting (1) the way we represent proteins and genes, (2) the way we represent gene functions, and (3) the algorithms that perform the prediction from gene to function. Together, we show that AFP is still a vibrant research area that can benefit from continuing advances in machine learning with which AFP in the 2020s can again take a large step forward reinforcing the power of computational biology.The problem of performing remote biomedical measurements using just a video stream of a subject face is called remote photoplethysmography (rPPG). The aim of this work is to propose a novel method able to perform rPPG using single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) cameras. These are extremely accurate cameras able to detect even a single photon and are already used in many other applications. Moreover, a novel method that mixes deep learning and traditional signal analysis is proposed in order to extract and study the pulse signal. Experimental results show that this system achieves accurate results in the estimation of biomedical information such as heart rate, respiration rate, and tachogram. Lastly, thanks to the adoption of the deep learning segmentation method and dependability checks, this method could be adopted in non-ideal working conditions-for example, in the presence of partial facial occlusions.Machine learning techniques are widely used nowadays in the healthcare domain for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases. These techniques have applications in the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), which is a potentially curative therapy for hematological malignancies. Herein, a systematic review of the application of machine learning (ML) techniques in the HCT setting was conducted. We examined the type of data streams included, specific ML techniques used, and type of clinical outcomes measured. A systematic review of English articles using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore databases was performed. Search terms included "hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT)," "autologous HCT," "allogeneic HCT," "machine learning," and "artificial intelligence." Only full-text studies reported between January 2015 and July 2020 were included. Data were extracted by two authors using predefined data fields. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/bapta-am.html Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of 242 studies were identified, of which 27 studies met the inclusion criteria.

The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDRO) is increasing the frequency of poor clinical outcomes, prolonging hospitalizations, and raising healthcare costs. This study evaluated the eradication efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and identified microbial and functional biomarkers of MDRO decolonization.

Fecal solution obtained from healthy unrelated donors was infused in the participants' guts which had been colonized with carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriacea (CPE), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), or both CPE and VRE. Fecal samples from recipients were collected and microbiome changes before and after FMT were assessed.

Twenty-four (68.6%) out of 35 patients were decolonized within one year of receiving FMT. Multivariate analysis showed that FMT (FMT hazard ratio (HR) = 5.343, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.877-15.212, p = 0.002) and MDRO types (CPE HR = 11.146, 95% CI = 2.420-51.340, p = 0.002; CPE/VRE HR = 2.948, 95% CI = 1.200-7.246, p = 0.018; VRE served as the reference) were significant independent factors associated with time to decolonization. Microbiota analysis showed higher richness and biodiversity before FMT resulted in VRE decolonization. The species Clostridium ramosum and the genuses Anaerostipes and Eisenbergiella could serve as taxonomic biomarkers and K02017 could serve as a functional biomarker for VRE clearance.

FMT is an effective way to decolonize MDRO and its effectiveness may be predicted by microbiome analysis.
FMT is an effective way to decolonize MDRO and its effectiveness may be predicted by microbiome analysis.Here, we describe a novel workflow combining informatic and experimental approaches to enable evidence-based prioritising of targets from large sets in parallel. High-throughput protein production and biophysical fragment screening is used to identify those targets that are tractable and ligandable. As proof of concept we have applied this to a set of antibacterial targets comprising 146 essential genes. Of these targets, 51 were selected and 38 delivered results that allowed us to rank them by ligandability. The data obtained against these derisked targets have enabled rapid progression into structurally enabled drug discovery projects, demonstrating the practical value of the fragment-based target screening workflow.Drug discoveries can, when used appropriately, save lives. Since 1970, cancer death rates among people aged under 65 have halved in countries such as the USA and the UK. Despite pharmaceutical market imperfections and fears about the prices of new treatments, further progress should be possible during the 2020s. Anticancer medicine outlays account for 0.1-0.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of developed countries. Total cancer service spending typically stands at ∼0.8% of GDP. The affordability of these sums is a political calculation. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/bi-4020.html Improvements in the efficiency of drug development and global access to effective therapies are desirable. However, from a public interest perspective, these goals should not be pursued in ways that understate the value of better treatment outcomes and threaten the funding available for ongoing innovation.An assessment of inventors of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medicines reveals a growing role for academic entrepreneurship in general and National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported investigators in particular. For all small-molecule therapeutics approved between 2001 and 2019 (383 in total), 8.3% listed an academic inventor in the Orange Book. Remarkably, an additional 23.8% listed an inventor from a company founded by an NIH-funded academic inventor. Over time, the relative inventive contributions from academia has progressively increased, including nearly one-third of medicines approved since 2017. These findings suggest a surging role for academic inventors and founders, perhaps in combination with a faltering of traditional private sector dominance of drug discovery.
Galectins are proteins that bind β-galactosides such as N-acetylactosamine present in N-linked and O-linked glycoproteins and that seem to be implicated fibrotic mechanisms. Here we aimed to define the role of serum galectins in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) by comparison with other chronic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) and healthy subjects.

Forty-one fibrotic ILD patients (median age (IQR), 65 years (20); 50 % male) were enrolled in the study. Peripheral blood concentrations of galectins-1, 3 and 9 were determined with commercial ELISA kits.

Galectin-1 and 9 concentrations were higher in the ILD group than in healthy controls (p = 0.0318 and p < 0.0001, respectively). Galectin-3 was also higher in ILD patients (borderline significant p = 0.0617). In particular, significantly higher Gal-1 concentrations were found in sarcoidosis and NSIP patients (p = 0.0418 and p = 0.0015, respectively), while Gal-9 concentrations were significantly higher in all ILD subgroups. Specific cut-offs for all galectins were calculated by receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. Several correlations with lung function parameters were found.

Galectins 1, 3 and 9 concentrations were found altered in serum of ILD patients suggesting their potential utility as clinical, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Inhibition of galectins may be useful in the therapeutic management of pulmonary fibrosis. Further studies on larger case series would be worthwhile.
Galectins 1, 3 and 9 concentrations were found altered in serum of ILD patients suggesting their potential utility as clinical, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Inhibition of galectins may be useful in the therapeutic management of pulmonary fibrosis. Further studies on larger case series would be worthwhile.In the present study, chitosan-zinc oxide (CS-ZnO) nanocomposite with/without gentamicin was synthesized and characterized which used as an antibiofilm agent to inhibit the biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) PAO1 and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Synthesized CS-ZnO nanocomposite was characterized with the DLS (Dynamic Light Scattering), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared), XRD (X-ray Diffraction) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against P. aeruginosa PAO1 and S. aureus determined using broth microdilution methods. The influence of sub-MIC (1/4 MIC) and MIC concentration of CS-ZnO nanocomposite and gentamicin alone and in combination on biofilm formation was also determined. A four-fold MIC reduction in S. aureus and P. aeruginosa PAO1 treated by the gentamicin loaded CS-ZnO nanocomposite, and 84% reduction of biofilm formation for P. aeruginosa PAO1 and 77% reduction of biofilm formation for S. aureus, was observed compared to the gentamicin alone (P less then 0.

Similar to CD28 binding, the CTLA-4 binding affinity of nSH2 was lower than that of cSH2. The complex structure of nSH2 and CTLA-4 was modeled, and compared with the crystal structure of cSH2 mutant and CTLA-4. The difference in the binding affinity between CD28 and CTLA-4, along with the difference between nSH2 and cSH2, could be explained by the 3D structures, which would be closely correlated with the respective T-cell signaling.Genome-wide association studies have identified many genetic loci for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, causal factors underlying these loci were largely unknown. The aim of this study was to identify potential causal methylation-mRNA regulation chains for RA. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/tefinostat.html We identified differentially expressed mRNAs and methylations and conducted summary statistic data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) analysis to detect potential causal mRNAs and methylations for RA. Then causal inference test (CIT) was performed to determine if the methylation-mRNA pairs formed causal chains. We identified 11,170 mRNAs and 24,065 methylations that were nominally associated with RA. Among them, 197 mRNAs and 104 methylations passed the SMR test. According to physical positions, we defined 16 cis methylation-mRNA pairs and inferred 5 chains containing 4 methylations and 4 genes (BACH2, MBP, MX1 and SYNGR1) to be methylation→mRNA→RA causal chains. The effect of SYNGR1 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells on RA risk was found to be consistent in both the in-house and public data. The identified methylations located in CpG Islands that overlap promoters in the 5' region of the genes. The promoter regions showed long-range interactions with other enhancers and promoters, suggesting a regulatory potential of these methylations. Therefore, the present study provided a new integrative analysis strategy and highlighted potential causal methylation-mRNA chains for RA. Taking the evidences together, SYNGR1 promoter methylations most probably affect mRNA expressions and then affect RA risk.
Leaders from a university, Area Health Education Center, and primary care centers (PCCs) collaborated to integrate Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPCP) in PCCs.

Describe the facilitators and barriers of IPCP implementation in rural clinics and the impact on decision-making and safety culture.

The implementation team used engagement strategies to support the development of IPCP. PCC team participants completed surveys measuring collaboration and satisfaction with care decisions and safety culture. Qualitative data were analyzed to describe facilitators and barriers to IPCP.

Significant improvement (p < .035) in the Global Amount of Collaboration made over time. Barriers to IPCP included high turnover, hierarchical culture, lack of role clarity, competing time demands, limited readiness for change, and physical space limitations. Facilitators included structured huddles, alignment of IPCP with organizational goals, and academic-practice partnership.

Partnering with academic-practice partnerships may facilitate collaboration and team learning as PCCs incorporate IPCP into practice.
Partnering with academic-practice partnerships may facilitate collaboration and team learning as PCCs incorporate IPCP into practice.
Nurses often document patient symptoms in narrative notes.

This study used a technique called natural language processing (NLP) to (1) Automatically identify documentation of seven common symptoms (anxiety, cognitive disturbance, depressed mood, fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain, and well-being) in homecare narrative nursing notes, and (2) examine the association between symptoms and emergency department visits or hospital admissions from homecare.

NLP was applied on a large subset of narrative notes (2.5 million notes) documented for 89,825 patients admitted to one large homecare agency in the Northeast United States.

NLP accurately identified symptoms in narrative notes. Patients with more documented symptom categories had higher risk of emergency department visit or hospital admission.

Further research is needed to explore additional symptoms and implement NLP systems in the homecare setting to enable early identification of concerning patient trends leading to emergency department visit or hospital admission.
Further research is needed to explore additional symptoms and implement NLP systems in the homecare setting to enable early identification of concerning patient trends leading to emergency department visit or hospital admission.
The U.S. health care system faces increasing pressures for reform. The importance of nurses in addressing health care delivery challenges cannot be overstated.

To present a Nursing Health Services Research (NHSR) agenda for the 2020s.

A meeting of an interdisciplinary group of 38 health services researchers to discuss five key challenges facing health care delivery (behavioral health, primary care, maternal/neonatal outcomes, the aging population, health care spending) and identify the most pressing and feasible research questions for NHSR in the coming decade.

Guided by a list of inputs affecting health care delivery (health information technology, workforce, delivery systems, payment, social determinants of health), meeting participants identified 5 to 6 research questions for each challenge. Also, eight cross-cutting themes illuminating the opportunities and barriers facing NHSR emerged.

The Agenda can act as a foundation for new NHSR - which is more important than ever - in the 2020s.
The Agenda can act as a foundation for new NHSR - which is more important than ever - in the 2020s.
To analyze the variables associated with ICU refusal decisions as a life support treatment limitation measure.

Prospective, multicentrico SCOPE 62 ICU from Spain between February 2018 and March 2019.

Over 18 years of age who were denied entry into ICU as a life support treatment limitation measure.

None.

Patient comorities, functional situation as measured by the KNAUS and Karnosfky scale; predicted scales of Lee and Charlson; severity of the sick person measured by the APACHE II and SOFA scales, which justifies the decision-making, a person to whom the information is transmitted; date of discharge or in-hospital death, destination for hospital discharge.

A total of 2312 non-income decisions were recorded as an LTSV measure of which 2284 were analyzed. The main reason for consultation was respiratory failure (1080 [47.29%]). The poor estimated quality of life of the sick (1417 [62.04%]), the presence of a severe chronic disease (1367 [59.85%]) and the prior functional limitation of patients (1270 [55.

In this paper, a stochastic SIRV epidemic model with general nonlinear incidence and vaccination is investigated. The value of our study lies in two aspects. Mathematically, with the help of Lyapunov function method and stochastic analysis theory, we obtain a stochastic threshold of the model that completely determines the extinction and persistence of the epidemic. Epidemiologically, we find that random fluctuations can suppress disease outbreak, which can provide us some useful control strategies to regulate disease dynamics. In other words, neglecting random perturbations overestimates the ability of the disease to spread. The numerical simulations are given to illustrate the main theoretical results.End 2019, the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), named COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019, is the third adaptation of a contagious virus following the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2002, SARS-CoV, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus in 2012, MERS-CoV. COVID-19 is highly infectious and virulent compared to previous outbreaks. We review sources, contagious routes, preventive measures, pandemic, outbreak, epidemiology of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from 2002 to 2020 using a Medline search. We discuss the chronology of the three coronaviruses, the vulnerability of healthcare workers, coronaviruses on surface and in wastewater, diagnostics and cures, and measures to prevent spreading.Nanoformulations are novel therapeutic strategies as compared to traditional treatments. The development of biomimetic nanoparticles by combining the natural cellular material with synthetic nanoparticles has inspired innovative vaccine strategies for modifying the antibacterial immunity. A lot of work has been done in which synthetic nanoparticles are coated with biomimetic cellular membranes for enhancement of biological functions and treatments. Outer membrane protein of bacteria not only act as adjuvant but also contain a large number of immunogenic antigens that play an important role in motivating the native immunity and stimulating the immune responses of the body. Outer membrane protein coating onto the surfaces of synthetic nanoparticles has synergistic effects to produce antibacterial responses. This article reviews the recent improvements related to the bacterial membrane-coated nanoparticles for antibacterial immunization.The Covid-19 pandemic that entered our lives suddenly in 2020 compelled higher education systems throughout the world to transfer to online learning, including online evaluation. A severe problem of online evaluation is that it enables various technological possibilities that facilitate students' unethical behaviors. The research aimed to investigate these behaviors, as well as the reasons for their appearance, as practiced in exams held for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic, and to elicit students' and lecturers' perceptions of students' academic dishonesty (AD) during this period. The sample included 81 students and 50 lecturers from several Israeli colleges and universities. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Triciribine.html The findings expand extant knowledge on academic dishonesty, identifying significant differences between the perceptions of students and lecturers concerning attitudes towards online exams and the reasons for dishonest behaviors. The findings among the students also indicate that younger students and Arab students tended to cheat more in online exams. Moreover, the findings indicated a lack of mutual trust between students and lecturers with regard to academic dishonesty, a deep distrust that will probably continue even after the Covid-19 crisis. This last finding should be a cause of concern for higher education policy-makers, affecting future policies for improving lecturer-student relations, especially during crises. Recommendations are proposed for addressing academic dishonesty in exams in general and during the pandemic in particular.Research skills are vital to students' professional careers and must be cultivated in the social work curriculum. While students and faculty may hesitate to participate in a course-based research project, the authors believe that the Photovoice method is easily adapted to a variety of class and student needs. Photovoice is a field-oriented and qualitative research method that visually documents and communicates community assets and needs. The first purpose of this article is to offer Photovoice as a potential model for instructors to implement a course-based research project. The second purpose is to quantitatively assess changes in students' reported confidence in social work topics and research activities. Data revealed that the students reported increased confidence in the majority of the content and research evaluated; content examples include economic justice and determinants of social inequalities; research examples include analysing data for patterns and identifying the limitations of research methods. The data illustrate the pedagogical power of Photovoice.The long-term lockdown due to COVID-19 has beneficial impact on the natural environment. India has enforced a lockdown on 24th March 2020 and was subsequently extended in various phases. The lockdown due to the sudden spurt of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a significant decline in concentration of air pollutants across India. The present article dealt with scenarios of air quality concentration of air pollutants, and effect on climatic variability during the COVID-19 lockdown period in Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India. The result showed that the air pollutants are significantly reduced and the air quality index (AQI) was improved during the lockdown months. Aerosol concentrations decreased by - 54.94% from the period of pre-lockdown. The major air pollutants like particulate matters (PM2.5, PM10), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and Ozone (O3) were observed the maximum reduction ( - 40 to  - 60%) in the COVID-19 lockdown period. The AQI has been improved by 54.94% in the lockdown period. On the other hand, Sen's slope rank and the Mann-Kendal trend test showed the daily decreased of air pollutants rate is  - 0.051 to  - 1.586 μg /m3. The increasing trend of daily minimum, average, and maximum temperature from the month of March to May in this year (2020s) are 0.091, 0.118, and 0.106 °C which is lowest than the 2016s to 2019s trend. Therefore, this research has an enormous opportunity to explain the effects of the lockdown on air quality and climate variability, and it can also be helpful for policymakers and decision-makers to enact appropriate measures to control air pollution.