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Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the use of internet resources for accessing medical care, resulting in the development and advancement of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This technology utilizes a range of medical equipment and testing software to broadcast patient results over the internet, hence enabling the provision of remote healthcare services. Nevertheless, the preservation of privacy and security in the realm of online communication continues to provide a significant and pressing obstacle. Blockchain technology has shown the potential to mitigate security apprehensions across several sectors, such as the healthcare industry. Recent advancements in research have included intelligent agents in patient monitoring systems by integrating blockchain technology. However, the conventional network configuration of the agent and blockchain introduces a level of complexity. In order to address this disparity, we present a proposed architectural framework that combines software defined networking (SDN) with Blockchain technology. This framework is specially tailored for the purpose of facilitating remote patient monitoring systems within the context of a 5G environment. The architectural design contains a patient-centric agent (PCA) inside the SDN control plane for the purpose of managing user data on behalf of the patients. The appropriate handling of patient data is ensured by the PCA via the provision of essential instructions to the forwarding devices. The suggested model is assessed using hyperledger fabric on docker-engine, and its performance is compared to that of current models in fifth generation (5G) networks. The performance of our suggested model surpasses current methodologies, as shown by our extensive study including factors such as throughput, dependability, communication overhead, and packet error rate.

Abstract Due to their high content of micronutrients, small indigenous species (SISs) of fish play a vital role in the diets of people. Dhela (Osteobrama cotio) is one of the most important micronutrient‐rich SISs and was once abundant but is currently disappearing from inland waters. This study investigated the culture suitability of dhela with carp species in polycultures in a pond aquaculture system. The stocking density of the carp species was the same in all the treatments, with Labeo catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus cirrhosus at 10,800/ha. Dhela were cultivated at a density of 10,000/ha in treatment 2 (Dhela‐10K) and 15,000/ha in treatment 3 (Dhela‐15K), and no dhela were cultivated in treatment 1 (Dhela‐0). After 7 months of culture, there were no significant differences in total production among the treatments, with yields of 3393.27 ± 120.70, 3534.52 ± 57.03 and 3687.34 ± 244.41 kg/ha in Dhela‐0, Dhela‐10K and Dhela‐15K, respectively. Notably, a significantly greater (p

Climate change has increasingly impacted developing and underdeveloped nations, with Bangladesh’s coastal areas experiencing significant effects such as storm surges, salinity, cyclones, and droughts. These regions, heavily reliant on agriculture, face economic challenges exacerbated by climatic events, making adaptation to climate change a critical concern for coastal inhabitants. This study aims to understand the obstacles and adaptive mechanisms employed by the Munda indigenous people in southeastern coastal Bangladesh to protect their livelihoods. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including focus group discussions (FGDs) and thematic analyses, we assessed the community’s challenges and adaptation strategies. FGDs revealed that public life is frequently disrupted, salinity poses a major threat to agriculture and drinking water, and the cropping pattern, fish production, livestock, infrastructure, industry, biodiversity, health, and human settlement are adversely affected. Notably, there is a significant lack of adequate healthcare. Quantitative analysis using the χ2 test showed that 33.2% of participants believe climate change affects their happiness, 85.1% stored 72 h of water and food, and 59.3% had hygiene and sanitation supplies. This research underscores the necessity of adaptive measures such as rainwater harvesting, organic fertilizer usage, community disaster preparedness education, effective communication systems, and social security implementation to mitigate climate change’s adverse effects. The findings offer valuable insights for the government, nongovermental organizations (NGOs), policymakers, civil society, and stakeholders in developing suitable climate adaptation strategies to ensure sustainable livelihoods in coastal Bangladesh.

Curcuma longa L. (turmeric), Beta vulgaris L. (beetroot), and Daucus carota L. (carrot) grown in Bangladesh were analyzed for nutritional and phytochemical contents to reveal their comparative nutritional compositions and antiradical properties. Ash, protein, and carbohydrate content were significantly preeminent in beetroot as compared to others. Whereas fat content was found to be high in turmeric, carrots contained a great percentage of crude fiber. Beetroot was shown to have much greater potassium, calcium, and iron levels than others. Regarding amino acids, glutamic acid was found to be greater in beetroot and carrot whereas turmeric had significantly high aspartic acid content. Leucine had the highest concentration among essential amino acids in these three samples. Total antioxidant activity, total flavonoids, and phenolic contents in the methanolic extract of turmeric were found to be substantially higher than in beetroot and carrot. Furthermore, the extract of turmeric (IC50 value: 13.46 μg/mL) scavenged 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) free radicals considerably to a greater extent than beetroot (IC50 value: 380.61 μg/mL) and carrot (IC50 value: 1252.85 μg/mL). A positive correlation was found between the phytochemical contents and antiradical activity. The information from this study will help to find the potential ingredients from these plants for functional food.

Abstract Background Bovine genital campylobacteriosis (BGC) is a venereal disease caused by Campylobacter fetus that has a negative impact on animal reproduction. The bull is considered to be a symptomless carrier that spreads the disease agent to breeding cows, causing infertility and sporadic abortion. Aim The study aims to estimate the prevalence, identify risk factors of Campylobacter fetus (C. fetus) infection and antimicrobial resistance pattern of the C. fetus isolates. Method A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. Bull smegma samples (single sample from each bull) were collected from 300 bulls from four farms and tested via culture, biochemical identification and finally 16S rRNA and cdtA gene‐based molecular assays (PCR) for herd and animal‐level prevalence estimation. Herd‐ and animal‐level data on risk factors were collected from the farmers using a pretested questionnaire and analysed by univariable and multivariable logistic regression models with a p value of

For this study, the researchers conducted a systematic literature review to answer complex questions about the field of blockchain technology. We used an unbiased systematic review process to find works on blockchain-based applications and developed a Python code that searched various online databases. This paper provides an overview of the characteristics, mode of operation, and applications of blockchains in various domains such as transportation, commerce and industry, privacy and security, the financial sector, government, education, healthcare, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The aim was to identify the key research themes addressed in existing articles within each application domain and suggest future research directions for these domains. We analyzed a set of 750 articles published between 2015 and 2021 that dealt with blockchain applications. We found that financial management and security issues have been the main research focus since 2015. However, the use of blockchain in education has become a central research theme in 2021. Healthcare, IoT, and government applications have also grown in popularity. We furthermore analyzed some of the implementations of privacy mechanisms, as well as the challenges and future directions that need to be addressed for effective blockchain deployment. This study contributes to existing research by providing a comprehensive overview of blockchain application themes and their emerging areas for stakeholders in diverse sectors.

Amaranthus tricolor (red amaranth) is an important member of the Amaranthus species ubiquitously cultivated worldwide for its valuable constituents. In this study, the determination of important nutrients, minerals, amino acids, phytochemicals, carotenes, antiradical activity, and antibacterial activity of the entire part of the red amaranth plant was performed. The analysis of the nutritional composition of the whole part of red amaranth shows that there was an appreciable quantity of protein (26.60 ± 0.42%), fat (4.49 ± 0.30%), fiber (6.67 ± 0.33%), and carbohydrate (39.80 ± 0.15%). Potassium (1080.02 ± 32.51 mg/100g dry weight) was found as a major trace element among others (Na, Ca, and Iron). Overall seventeen amino acids were identified and the most abundant amino acid in red amaranth was glutamic acid (23.61 ± 0.16 mg/g). However, lysine (14.32 ± 0.20 mg/g) was found to be higher than each of the essential amino acids in red amaranth. The value of total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and total antioxidant activity in the methanolic extract of red amaranth was 30.27 ± 1.98 mg gallic acid equivalent/g, 16.75 ± 0.82 mg quercetin equivalent/g and 62.91 ± 3.35 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g extract respectively. The IC50 value for DPPH radical scavenging activity was 730.93 μg/mL. The selected vegetable also contained an appreciable amount of carotenes (15.37 ± 0.27 mg/100g). Plant extract had a modest extent of bacterial growth inhibition activity. Thus, red amaranth is a wonderful source of nutrients, a natural antiradical, and has other bioactive compounds that should be in a regular dietary item and useful for nutraceuticals.

Vertical profile of dissolved oxygen (DO) and associated water variables were measured in the head of the Pasur-Rupsha estuary of Bangladesh. Water samples were collected from two stations at 0.60 m depth intervals during high and low tides from July, 2016 to January, 2017. DO concentration was ranged from 6.0 to 8.6 mg/l with maximum two units of variation in the profiles of the stations and demonstrated an inconsistent stratification pattern. The observed stratification pattern was remarkably triggered by a relatively high concentration of DO in the bottom layer than that of the surface layer during both the high and low tides in most of the study periods. High rate of freshwater flow at the surface; existence of estuarine gravitational circulation with 5–15 m depth profile; and lack of consumers in the bottom due to the high deposition of sediment particles were found responsible for the relatively high concentration of DO at bottom and low in surface layer of the estuary. Water temperature, salinity, pH, phytoplankton density and transparency were ranged from 22 to 32 °C, 0–6 ppt, 7.0 to 8.5, 1000–23000 ind/l and 13–17 cm respectively considering the depth profiles in the study periods. Temperature and plankton density were found significantly (P < 0.000) correlated with DO while the pH and salinity did not show any significant (P > 0.3) correlation. The ecosystem process associated with the vertical profile of DO explained in this study will provide considerable advances in understanding the ecosystem dynamics of the Pasur-Rupsha Estuary of Bangladesh.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Blockchain are leading technologies used worldwide to establish safe network communication as well as build secure network infrastructures. They provide a robust and reliable platform to address threats and face challenges such as security, privacy, flexibility, scalability, and confidentiality. Driven by these assumptions, this paper presents an optimized energy-efficient and secure Blockchain-based software-defined IoT framework for smart networks. Indeed, SDN and Blockchain technologies have proven to be able to suitably manage resource utilization and to develop secure network communication across the IoT ecosystem. However, there is a lack of research works that present a comprehensive definition of such a framework that can meet the requirements of the IoT ecosystem (i.e. efficient energy utilization and reduced end-to-end delay). Therefore, in this research, we present a layered hierarchical architecture for the deployment of a distributed yet efficient Blockchain-enabled SDN-IoT framework that ensures efficient cluster-head selection and secure network communication via the identification and isolation of rouge switches. Besides, the Blockchain-enabled flow-rules record keeps track of the rules enforced in the switches and maintains the consistency within the controller cluster. Finally, we assess the performance of the proposed framework in a simulation environment and show that it can achieve optimized energy-utilization, end-to-end delay, and throughput compared to considered baselines, thus being able to achieve efficiency and security in the smart network.

Condominium network refers to intra-organization networks, where smart buildings or apartments are connected and share resources over the network. Secured communication platform or channel has been highlighted as a key requirement for a reliable condominium which can be ensured by the utilization of the advanced techniques and platforms like Software-Defined Network (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Blockchain (BC). These technologies provide a robust, and secured platform to meet all kinds of challenges, such as safety, confidentiality, flexibility, efficiency, and availability. This work suggests a distributed, scalable IoT-SDN with Blockchain-based NFV framework for a smart condominium (DistB-Condo) that can act as an efficient secured platform for a small community. Moreover, the Blockchain-based IoT-SDN with NFV framework provides the combined benefits of leading technologies. It also presents an optimized Cluster Head Selection (CHS) algorithm for selecting a Cluster Head (CH) among the clusters that efficiently saves energy. Besides, a decentralized and secured Blockchain approach has been introduced that allows more prominent security and privacy to the desired condominium network. Our proposed approach has also the ability to detect attacks in an IoT environment. Eventually, this article evaluates the performance of the proposed architecture using different parameters (e.g., throughput, packet arrival rate, and response time). The proposed approach outperforms the existing OF-Based SDN. DistB-Condo has better throughput on average, and the bandwidth (Mbps) much higher than the OF-Based SDN approach in the presence of attacks. Also, the proposed model has an average response time of 5% less than the core model.

Production of plastic has risen significantly in the last 60 years worldwide, and around 10% of this plastic is turned into solid waste. This plastic becomes an environmental hazard in the absence of appropriate recovery methods. Incorporating waste plastic in concrete is an alternate way to recycle this waste plastic. Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are two of the most widely used plastic scarcely recovered and recycled. Therefore, in the present study, both PP and PET are used as a partial replacement (10%, 20%, and 30% by volume) of coarse aggregate. These concretes are compared for three different water-cement ratios (0.42, 0.48, and 0.57). Properties such as workability, density, compressive, and tensile strengths are compared. Concrete with PP aggregate has shown as much as 39% higher compressive strength and 9% lower density than brick aggregate concrete. On the other hand, concrete with PET aggregate has displayed as much as 53% reduction in compressive strength compared to the reference concrete. Furthermore, it demonstrates higher workability and lower density. Equations are proposed to describe relationships between compressive and splitting tensile strengths of concrete, including the effect of plastic aggregate percentages. Cost analysis of the concrete reveals that incorporating waste plastic in concrete is more expensive than the regular brick aggregate concrete. Still, up to 10%, PP can be used in concrete, considering the gain in compressive strength.

Folate deficiency is a significant global health issue that affects millions of people and causes severe adverse effects. Major staple crops, which provide significant amounts of calories, often contain inadequate folate levels. Synthetic fortification has contributed to a reduction in low-folate populations, but a more sustainable solution is needed. Biofortification, or the breeding of crops to naturally increase their nutrient content, is a promising alternative. Soybean is a highly nutritious crop and a good candidate for folate biofortification. However, studies on folate have been limited due to the challenges in folate analysis. The development of sensitive and selective tools, reference materials, and studies on the stability of folate vitamers in crops has facilitated the development of improved folate determination methods. Additionally, the soybean folate biofortification program can be improved by leveraging previous studies in major cereals, common bean and pea, as well as combining conventional breeding with new genomics approaches. In this review, we discuss the folate content, composition, and analytical challenges in soybean and suggest possible frameworks and strategies for folate biofortification in soybean. We also conducted an in silico analysis of key folate biosynthesis enzymes in soybean.

The application of waste materials in concrete is getting more popular in the concrete industries as it can reduce the associated costs and environmental impacts. The present study investigates the performances of concrete while incorporating polypropylene (PP) plastic, derived from waste plastic products, as a partial replacement of natural stone aggregate (SA) and burnt clay brick aggregate (BA). The main variables include the percentage of PP aggregate (PPA) (0%, 10 %, 20 %, and 30 %), water-cement ratio (0.45 and 0.55), and types of aggregate (SA and BA). Results are presented in terms of workability, hardened density, compressive, tensile strengths, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity (MoE), ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and cost analysis. Furthermore, empirical equations are proposed for predicting different properties of concrete; especially, predicting compressive strengths from the UPV values. Results indicated that the slump value increased with increasing the percentage of PPA. Concrete with 10 % PPA exhibited higher compressive strength, modulus of rupture, and splitting tensile strengths, even, higher than that of the control stone aggregate concrete (SAC) and control brick aggregate concrete (BAC). The UPV values varied with aggregate types and PPA content. Both the compressive strength and the UPV values decreased with the increasing percentages of PPA from 10 to 30. Furthermore, SAC exhibited higher compressive strength and UPV values compared to BAC. A good correlation was found between the compressive strength and the UPV values for concrete with PPA. From the cost sensitivity analysis, it was observed that concrete containing 10 % PP content had the highest strength over cost ratio compared to the control and other PPA concrete. Therefore, it is recommended to use up to 10 % PPA either with stone aggregate or brick aggregate for structural concrete. Finally, this study will open new opportunities for producing green concrete by using non-biodegradable waste plastic materials.

Breast cancer is a significant health concern among women. Prompt diagnosis can diminish the mortality rate and direct patients to take steps for cancer treatment. Recently, deep learning has been employed to diagnose breast cancer in the context of digital pathology. To help in this area, a transfer learning-based model called ‘HE-HER2Net’ has been proposed to diagnose multiple stages of HER2 breast cancer (HER2-0, HER2-1+, HER2-2+, HER2-3+) on H&E (hematoxylin & eosin) images from the BCI dataset. HE-HER2Net is the modified version of the Xception model, which is additionally comprised of global average pooling, several batch normalization layers, dropout layers, and dense layers with a swish activation function. This proposed model exceeds all existing models in terms of accuracy (0.87), precision (0.88), recall (0.86), and AUC score (0.98) immensely. In addition, our proposed model has been explained through a class-discriminative localization technique using Grad-CAM to build trust and to make the model more transparent. Finally, nuclei segmentation has been performed through the StarDist method.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for humans. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play a crucial role in increasing plant micronutrient acquisition. Soybean (Glycine max (Linn.) Merr.) is a staple food for most people around the world and a source of Se. Therefore, it is necessary to study the mechanism of Se intake in soybean under the influence of AMF. In this study, the effects of fertilization with selenite and inoculation with different AMF strains (Claroideoglomus etunicatum (Ce), Funneliformis mosseae (Fm)) on the accumulation and speciation of Se in common soybean plants were discussed. We carried out a pot experiment at the soil for 90 days to investigate the impact of fertilization with selenite and inoculation with Ce and Fm on the Se fractions in soil, soybean biomass, accumulation and speciation of Se in common soybean plants. The daily dietary intake of the Se (DDI) formula was used to estimate the risk threshold of human intake of Se from soybean seeds. The results showed that combined use of both AMF and Se fertilizer could boost total Se and organic Se amounts in soyabean seeds than that of single Se application and that it could increase the proportion of available Se in soil. Soybean inoculated with Fm and grown in soil fertilized with selenite had the highest organic Se. The results suggest that AMF inoculation could promote root growth, more soil water-soluble Se and higher Se uptake. The maximum Se intake of soybean for adults was 93.15 μg/d when treated with Se fertilizer and Fm, which satisfies the needs of Se intake recommended by the WHO. Combined use of AMF inoculation and Se fertilizer increases the bioavailable Se in soil and promotes the total Se concentration and organic Se accumulation in soybean. In conclusion, AMF inoculation combined with Se fertilization can be a promising strategy for Se biofortification in soybean.

The present study investigated the effects of foliar application of zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se) on bioavailability of Zn and Se and toxicity of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) to different water spinach ecotypes (LA and HA) grown in slightly (XZ) or moderately (LJY) contaminated fields via in vitro digestion combined with Caco-2/HL-7702 cell model. The obtained results revealed that foliar application of Zn and Se promoted yield, increased total, bioaccessible and bioavailable fractions of Zn and Se in plants, indicating that foliar application is a feasible way of biofortification. Although there was no significant effect on liver cell proliferation (MTT), membrane stability (LDH) and hepatocyte enzyme (ALT and AST) activities, the obvious ecotype and soil dependent fluctuations of lipid peroxidation (MDA) and antioxidant enzyme (SOD, POD and CAT) activities in serum highly suggest that the low accumulator and clean field should be used in agricultural production rather than the high accumulator and contaminated farmland. Moreover, foliar application of Zn and Se improved nutritional quality of all water spinach genotypes in both fields, including increased Fe, vitamin C, cellulose and chlorophyll, maintained concentrations of potassium (K), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), protein, and nitrate. These results demonstrate that this agricultural management practice may prove to be an effective approach for minimizing health risk and alleviating “hidden hunger” in the developing countries.

Tetracycline (TC) contamination has become hot research topic, but little attention has been paid to its ecotoxicological monitoring. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impact of TC on human normal liver cells (HL-7702) and find indicators for monitoring their ecotoxicity. The cytotoxicity of TC, at concentrations ranging from 0 to 1000 μg L−1, was assessed on HL-7702 cells. The results showed that TC significantly inhibited the cell viability at a high concentration (1000 μg L−1). The TC at exposure levels ≥ 50–100 μg L−1 significantly increased the levels of extracellular catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), alanine transaminase (ALT), and aspartate transaminase (AST), and a significantly positive correlation between the TC concentrations and the values of the above parameters was observed. Swelling of the mitochondrial cristae (MC) and rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and the loss of ribosomes in HL-7702 cells, were observed at high TC levels. There was a positive correlation between soil TC concentration and ALT activities. The above results suggest that TC is cytotoxic to HL-7702 cells and that extracellular ALT activities can be used as a sensitive bioindicator for monitoring soil TC contamination. We, therefore, propose that the HL-7702 cell line can be a novel tool for early antibiotics toxicity monitoring.

Synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles by the recently developed green approach is extremely promising because of its non-toxicity and environmentally friendly behavior. In this study, nano scaled iron oxide particles (α-Fe2O3) were synthesized from hexahydrate ferric chloride (FeCl3.6H2O) with the addition of papaya (Carica papaya) leaf extract under atmospheric conditions. The synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles was confirmed by systematic characterization using FTIR, XRD, FESEM, EDX and TGA studies. The removal efficiency of remazol yellow RR dye with the synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles as a photocatalyst was determined along with emphasizing on the parameters of catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and pH. Increasing the dose of iron oxide nanoparticles enhanced the decolorization of the dyes and a maximum 76.6% dye degradation was occurred at pH 2 after 6 h at a catalyst dose of 0.8 g/L. Unit removal capacity of the photocatalyst was found to be 340 mg/g at dye concentration of 70 ppm and at a catalyst dose of 0.4 g/L. The synthesized nanoparticles showed moderate antibacterial activity against Klebsiella spp., E.Coli, Pseudomonas spp., S.aureus bacterial strains. Although the cytotoxic effect of nanoparticles against Hela, BHK-21 and Vero cell line was found to be toxic at maximum doses but it can be considered for tumor cell damage because it showed excellent activity against the Hela and BHK-21 cell lines.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has seen a surge in mobile devices with the market and technical expansion. IoT networks provide end-to-end connectivity while keeping minimal latency. To reduce delays, efficient data delivery schemes are required for dispersed fog-IoT network orchestrations. We use a Spark-based big data processing scheme (BDPS) to accelerate the distributed database (RDD) delay efficient technique in the fogs for a decentralized heterogeneous network architecture to reinforce suitable data allocations via IoTs. We propose BDPS based on Spark-RDD in fog-IoT overlay architecture to address the performance issues across the network orchestration. We evaluate data processing delays from fog-IoT integrated parts using a depth-first-search-based shortest path node finding configuration, which outperforms the existing shortest path algorithms in terms of algorithmic (i.e., depth-first search) efficiency, including the Bellman–Ford (BF) algorithm, Floyd–Warshall (FW) algorithm, Dijkstra algorithm (DA), and Apache Hadoop (AH) algorithm. The BDPS exhibits low latency in packet deliveries as well as low network overhead uplink activity through a map-reduced resilient data distribution mechanism, better than in BF, DA, FW, and AH. The overall BDPS scheme supports efficient data delivery across the fog-IoT orchestration, outperforming faster node execution while proving effective results, compared to DA, BF, FW and AH, respectively.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant public health crisis all over the world. The rapid spreading nature and high mortality rate of COVID-19 places a huge pressure on scientists to develop effective diagnostics and therapeutics to control the pandemic. Some scientists working on plant biotechnology together with commercial enterprises for the emergency manufacturing of diagnostics and therapeutics have aimed to fulfill the rapid demand for SARS-CoV-2 protein antigen and antibody through a rapid, scalable technology known as transient/stable expression in plants. Plant biotechnology using transient/stable expression offers a rapid solution to address this crisis through the production of low-cost diagnostics, antiviral drugs, immunotherapy, and vaccines. Transient/stable expression technology for manufacturing plant-based biopharmaceuticals is already established at commercial scale. Here, current opinions regarding how plant biotechnology can help fight against COVID-19 through the production of low-cost diagnostics and therapeutics are discussed.