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Acupuncture has been used to improve the quality of life (QoL) of patients in clinical settings. However, the effect of acupuncture on QoL in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on the QoL of patients with IBS. PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, and Web of Science were screened from inception to September 2023. RCTs published in English comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture, usual care, pharmacological interventions, or other therapies were analyzed for QoL in patients with IBS. The primary outcome was QoL and secondary outcomes were the IBS-symptom severity scale (IBS-SSS) and abdominal pain. The Cochrane Collaboration recommendations were used to assess the risk of bias. Fourteen articles with 2,038 participants were included. The pooled result showed acupuncture can significantly improve the QoL of patients with IBS compared to the conventional treatment (MD = 6.62, 95% CI, 2.30 to 10.94, P<0.001, I2 = 72.45%). Additionally, acupuncture was superior to other interventions in relieving the symptoms' severity of IBS (MD = -46.58, 95% CI, -91.49 to -1.68, P<0.001, I2 = 90.76%). Nevertheless, acupuncture was not associated with abdominal pain reduction (MD = -0.35, 95% CI, -0.91 to 0.20, P = 0.21, I2 = 0.00%). Lower adverse events were observed in the acupuncture group. Thus, the quality of this study was relatively high. The meta-analysis showed that acupuncture improves QoL and symptom severity in patients with IBS and that the optimal parameters for acupuncture to improve QoL in patients with IBS are 30 minutes of acupuncture per session, less than or equal to five sessions per week, and a 4-week course of treatment. However, more high-quality clinical trials are needed to provide stronger evidence.

Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional disorder that significantly impacts patient health, causing physical discomfort and diminished quality of life. We aimed to compare various acupoint stimulation modalities for treating IBS using network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods We conducted a systematic search of five electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on acupoint stimulation interventions for IBS published from inception to November 8, 2024, without language restrictions. Two authors independently performed data extraction and assessed the risk of bias. Outcomes included symptom severity and quality of life. Bayesian NMA was conducted using STATA 14.0 and Open BUGS 3.2.3. Results We identified 12 RCTs that included three different acupoint stimulation interventions (1839 participants)—namely, acupuncture, moxibustion, and placebo. Our NMA results showed that the three acupoint stimulation intervention therapies were effective in reducing symptom severity and improving the quality of life for patients with IBS. The most effective acupoint stimulation intervention was moxibustion, which significantly reduced symptom severity (mean difference [MD] = 101.50; 95 % credible interval [CrI]: 80.36, 122.30) and improved quality of life (MD = −19.75; 95 % CrI: −28.86, −10.75) compared to conventional medication in patients with IBS. Moreover, the adverse events of all interventions were acceptable. Conclusions The NMA suggests that moxibustion was the most effective modality in alleviating symptom severity and improving quality of life in patients with IBS, followed by acupuncture.

The population growth and urbanization are rapidly increasing in both central and peripheral areas of the Kathmandu Valley (KV) watershed. Land use/cover (LULC) change and climate variability/change are exacerbating the hydrological cycle in the KV. This study aims to evaluate the extent of changes in hydrology due to changes in climate, LULC and integrated change considering both factors, with KV watershed in central Nepal as a case study. Historical LULC data were extracted from satellite image and future LULC are projected in decadal scale (2020 to 2050) using CLUE-S (the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional contest) model. Future climate is projected based on three regional climate models (RCMs) and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios, namely, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. A hydrological model in soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) was developed to simulate hydrology and analyze impacts in hydrology under various scenarios. The modeling results show that the river runoff for RCP4.5 scenarios is projected to increase by 37%, 21%, and 12%, respectively, for climate change only, LULC only, and integrated changes of both. LULC change resulted in an increase in average annual flow, however, a decrease in base-flow. Furthermore, the impacts of integrated changes in both LULC and climate is not a simple superposition of individual changes.

The source populations of tigers are mostly confined to protected areas, which are now becoming isolated. A landscape scale conservation strategy should strive to facilitate dispersal and survival of dispersing tigers by managing habitat corridors that enable tigers to traverse the matrix with minimal conflict. We present evidence for tiger dispersal along transboundary protected areas complexes in the Terai Arc Landscape, a priority tiger landscape in Nepal and India, by comparing camera trap data, and through population models applied to the long term camera trap data sets. The former showed that 11 individual tigers used the corridors that connected the transboundary protected areas. The estimated population growth rates using the minimum observed population size in two protected areas in Nepal, Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta National Park showed that the increases were higher than expected from growth rates due to in situ reproduction alone. These lines of evidence suggests that tigers are recolonizing Nepal's protected areas from India, after a period of population decline, and that the tiger populations in the transboundary protected areas complexes may be maintained as meta-population. Our results demonstrate the importance of adopting a landscape-scale approach to tiger conservation, especially to improve population recovery and long term population persistence.

Aim Climate change alters the water cycle, potentially affecting the distribution of species. Using an ensemble of species distribution models (SDMs), we predicted changes in distribution of the Asian elephant in South Asia due to increasing climatic variability under warming climate and human pressures. Location India and Nepal. Methods We compiled a comprehensive geodatabase of 115 predictor variables, which included climatic, topographic, human pressures and land use, at a resolution of 1 km2, and an extensive database on current distribution of elephants. For variable selection, we first developed 14 candidate models based on different hypotheses on elephant habitat selection. For each candidate model, a series of 240 individual models were evaluated using several metrics. Using three climatic and one land use change datasets for two greenhouse gas scenarios, ensemble SDMs were used to predict future projections. Results Nine predictor variables were selected for ensemble SDMs. Elephant distribution is driven predominantly by changes in climatic water balance (>60%), followed by changes in temperature and human‐induced disturbance. The results suggest that around 41.8% of the 256,518 km2 of habitat available at present will be lost by the end of this century due to combined effects of climate change and human pressure. Projected habitat loss will be higher in human‐dominated sites at lower elevations due to intensifying droughts, leading elephants to seek refuge at higher elevations along valleys with greater water availability in the Himalayan Mountains. Main conclusions Changes in climatic water balance could play a crucial role in driving species distributions in regions with monsoonal climates. In response, species would shift their range upwards along gradients of water availability and seasonal droughts. Conservation and management of elephant populations under global change should include design of movement corridors to enable dispersal of the elephant and other associated species to more conducive environments.

We assessed the abundance and distribution of the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in all its potential habitats in Nepal, using block counts. In April 2011 5,497 km were searched in 3,548 elephant-hours over 23 days. The validity of the block count was assessed by comparing it with counts obtained from long-term monitoring using photographic identification of individual rhinoceroses (ID-based), and estimates obtained by closed population sighting–mark–resighting in the 214 km2 of Chitwan National Park. A total of 534 rhinoceroses were found during the census, with 503 in Chitwan National Park (density 1 km−2), 24 in Bardia National Park (0.28 km−2) and seven in Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (0.1 km−2). In Chitwan 66% were adults, 12% subadults and 22% calves, with a female : male ratio of 1.24. The population estimate from sighting–mark–resighting was 72 (95% CI 71–78). The model with different detection probabilities for males and females had better support than the null model. In the Sauraha area of Chitwan estimates of the population obtained by block count (77) and ID-based monitoring (72) were within the 95% confidence interval of the estimate from sighting–mark–resighting. We recommend a country-wide block count for rhinoceroses every 3 years and annual ID-based monitoring in a sighting–mark–resighting framework within selected subpopulations. The sighting–mark–resighting technique provides the statistical rigour required for population estimates of the rhinoceros in Nepal and elsewhere.

Background The main objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of toothpaste formulations in giving total protection to the oral cavity. So, three important solution properties: surface tension, conductivity, and pH measurements, have been investigated for eight kinds of commercial herbal and non-herbal based toothpaste of Nepal. The study was extended to evaluate the antibacterial efficacy of toothpaste formulations against the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), and this was done by standard agar well diffusion technique. Amikacin (30 μg/disk) was used as a positive control to compare the antibacterial potency of the investigated toothpaste. Results The surface tension of all toothpaste formulations increased with the decrease in concentration. However, the conductivity of the formulations decreased with the decrease in concentration. The highest pH of 8.24 was recorded for Dabur Super Salt (DSS) and all values were found to be higher in tap water solutions. All toothpaste formulations showed significant growth inhibition against both S. aureus and E. coli . The overall antibacterial sensitivity of Dabur Red (DR) is higher for S. aureus . The solid material content was found to be highest for Dabur Herbal Gel (DHG) and lowest for Pepsodent (PD). Conclusion The findings of the present study showed all toothpaste formulations as effective in inhibiting the growth of tested bacterial species. Toothpaste formulations were found slightly alkaline, which favors bacterial growth inhibition. Increasing surface tension and decreasing conductivity value of toothpaste relative to a decrease in concentration favor its desirable cleansing action.