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Abstract Objectives Hypertension is one of the major modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity throughout the world. Increased life expectancy leads to increase prevalence of non‐communicable diseases among the elderly people including Bangladesh. However, different studies reported high prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension ranging from 52.6% to 67.9% among the elderly people in different countries. With this view, we aimed to assess the frequency of uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) among the elderly hypertensive people and its associated risk factors and treatment pattern in Bangladesh. Methodology This cross‐sectional type of observational study recruited 246 eligible hypertensive elderly patients attending in 250 Bedded General Hospital, Jashore, Bangladesh dated from 1st July to 31st December 2022. A structured questionnaire was developed and data on associated risk factors, treatment pattern and current blood pressure (BP) measurement were collected by face‐to‐face interview for the purposive sampling technique. Results The mean age of our study patients was 72 ± 7 years with a male and female ratio nearly 1:1. Of the total hypertensive patients aged over 65 years or more, 56.5% remained with uncontrolled hypertension even on their prescribed antihypertensive medications. The mean systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were significantly high (P

Objective This study aims to explore the rural–urban differentials in the influences of individual and geospatial preparedness on institutional childbirth in Bangladesh. A related aim of this paper is to derive estimates to measure geospatial preparedness for institutional births, through statistical modelling, when no data are available for measuring this areal indicator.Design, settings and participants The paper used data from a large-scale nationally representative Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019. The analytical sample included 9203 currently married women of reproductive age who had a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey.Methods Mixed effect logistic regression models were employed to explore the rural–urban differentials in influences of individual and geospatial preparedness on institutional childbirth. The district-level random effect estimation was done to measure geospatial preparedness. The conditional autoregressive model was used to examine the association of geospatial preparedness with areal variation in institutional births.Results In rural settings, women who gave birth to a female newborn were 18% less likely to have facility births compared with women who gave birth to a male newborn. Also, women from households in the highest wealth quintile were twice as likely to have facility births compared with those from households in the poorest wealth quintile. In contrast, in urban areas, facility births did not vary by sex of the fetus or by households’ socioeconomic status. The geospatial preparedness explained 8% and 9% of the variability in institutional births in rural and urban areas, respectively. Geospatial mapping revealed low preparedness in the hill tracts. Findings identified geospatial preparedness as a potential source of areal variation in facility births.Conclusion Findings suggest improving district-level preparedness and developing differential programme strategies for urban and rural areas to increase the national prevalence and more equitable use of institutional childbirth in Bangladesh.

The edible herb Sterculia foetida L. has potential nutraceutical and medicinal effects. The present study is performed to assess the possible antidiabetic, neuropharmacological, and antidiarrheal activity of the methanolic extract of S . foetida seeds (MESF) through in vitro , in vivo , and in silico approaches. When compared to standard acarbose, the results of the antidiabetic study provided strong proof that the glucose level in the MESF was gradually decreased by inhibiting the function of α -amylase enzymes. The sedative potential of MESF (200 and 400 mg/kg) was determined by employing open field, hole cross, and thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time tests, which revealed significant reductions in locomotor performance and increased sleep duration following MESF treatment. In addition, mice treated with MESF exhibited superior exploration during elevated plus maze and hole board tests. MESF also showed good antidiarrheal activity in castor oil-induced diarrhea and intestinal motility tests. Previously isolated compounds (captan, 1-azuleneethanol, acetate, and tetraconazole) exhibited good binding affinity in docking studies and drug-likeliness properties in absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion/toxicity (ADME/T), and toxicological studies. Collectively, these results indicate the bioactivity of S . foetida , which represents a potential candidate in the food and pharmaceutical industries., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Najmul Alam et al.)

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare form of aggressive skin cancer mainly caused by Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). Most MCC tumors express MCPyV large T (LT) antigens and play an important role in the growth-promoting activities of oncoproteins. Truncated LT promotes tumorigenicity as well as host cell proliferation by activating the viral replication machinery, and inhibition of this protein in humans drastically lowers cellular growth linked to the corresponding cancer. Our study was designed with the aim of identifying small molecular-like natural antiviral candidates that are able to inhibit the proliferation of malignant tumors, especially those that are aggressive, by blocking the activity of viral LT protein. To identify potential compounds against the target protein, a computational drug design including molecular docking, ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), toxicity, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) approaches were applied in this study. Initially, a total of 2190 phytochemicals isolated from 104 medicinal plants were screened using the molecular docking simulation method, resulting in the identification of the top five compounds having the highest binding energy, ranging between -6.5 and -7.6 kcal/mol. The effectiveness and safety of the selected compounds were evaluated based on ADME and toxicity features. A 250 ns MD simulation confirmed the stability of the selected compounds bind to the active site (AS) of the target protein. Additionally, MM-GBSA analysis was used to determine the high values of binding free energy (ΔG bind) of the compounds binding to the target protein. The five compounds identified by computational approaches, Paulownin (CID: 3084131), Actaealactone (CID: 11537736), Epigallocatechin 3-O-cinnamate (CID: 21629801), Cirsilineol (CID: 162464), and Lycoricidine (CID: 73065), can be used in therapy as lead compounds to combat MCPyV-related cancer. However, further wet laboratory investigations are required to evaluate the activity of the drugs against the virus.