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A comparative study was conducted to evaluate quality of Spirulinaplatensis products like powder and tablets that were manufactured by different companies in Bangladesh. The powder form was collected from Bangladesh Spirulina Company Ltd. and was named as SP-1. On the other hand, the tablets were collected from Eureka International, Life Line International and Evergreen Enterprise’s and were as named as SP-2, SP-3 and SP-4, respectively. The parameters investigated in this study were moisture content, ash content, acid insoluble and acid soluble ash content, crude fat content, nitrogen and protein content. Additionally, the amount of different solvent extracts, phytochemical screening, determination of total phenolic and flavonoids contents and antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging activity), reducing power assay and total antioxidant activity and elemental analysis were also investigated. DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power assay and total antioxidant activity of all samples extract of four varieties showed significant/good/moderate activity, especially methanol and water extracts showed significant activity. All the four varieties of Spirulinaplatensis possessed good reducing power. Results of elemental analysis of four verities of Spirulinaplatensis showed significant difference. Analysis of mineral composition revealed the presence of sufficient amount of minerals such as sodium, potassium, iron and zinc. High levels of potassium were observed in all the samples. Heavy metals were also analyzed like lead, copper, chromium etc. Some of the samples were found to have contained lead in significant amounts. The reducing powers of the methanol and water extracts of four different samples (Spirulinaplatensis) were found to be significant in comparison with the standard ascorbic acid. The total antioxidant capacities of the methanol and water extracts of four different samples (Spirulinaplatensis) were found to be moderately significant in comparison with the standard ascorbic acid. From the result of this study, it is observed that different samples of Spirulinaplatensis contained different amount of physicochemical, chemical and antioxidant properties. However, among of the four products, SP-3 was found to have the best quality.

Breastfeeding practices of mother are effective way for reducing infant morbidity and mortality. Improper breastfeeding along with inadequate complementary feeding are the main reasons for malnutrition among the children in Bangladesh. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess and find the breast feeding practice in selected areas of Dhaka city with respect to socio-economic and demographic condition. Here, 250 mothers and their 250 infants were considered to asses using a formative questionnaire. Within this sample size 129 (51.6%) were male infants and 121 (49.4%) were female infants respectively. This study found that the privilege of breast feeding practice progressively increases with the mother’s education that has been started from less than high school level (below 10 classes) to bachelor’s level or more than higher. In addition, this study found that about 84.8% lactating mothers have knowledge on what are colostrums. But surprisingly only 58% mothers gave colostrums to their infants. Furthermore, we found that the rate of exclusive breast feeding among three months and six months age infants were 51.2% and 27.2% respectively. Therefore, according to findings of this study it could be concluded that mothers in the Dhaka city should give more attention on breast feeding to her infants and subsequently prevent infant mortality and get a healthy child.

This study has been conducted to assess the present scenario of spraying insecticides/fungicides during the whole cultivation period of mango in Shibgonj upazilla of Chapainawabgonj district. A total number of 250 mango growers were randomly selected and interviewed by structured questionnaires from December, 2014 to June, 2015. The data were collected with respect to their educational level, cultivating land, times and types of insecticides/fungicides spray, and farmer’s consciousness about the excessive use of insecticides/fungicides. Out of the 250 mango growers, 184 were illiterate which accounts almost 74% followed by under HSC, 51 (20%) and higher educated, 15 (6%). Around 1-3 acre of land was used by 145 (58%) mango growers for cultivation followed by 3-7 acre by 85 (34%) and more than 7 acres by 20 (8%). Eight insecticides and seven fungicides under different trade names were most commonly sprayed at 2, 3, 4, and even more than 7 times in the stage of mango flowering, green mango, and finally, in mature stages. Most importantly, 151 (60%) growers do not have any, while 99 (40%) have very little knowledge about the negative effects of using excessive amounts of insecticides/fungicides. The mango growers are randomly using same pesticides under different brand name. Additionally, they frequently use fungicides instead of insecticides that cause no death of mango pest. As a result, they could not protect early dropping of mangoes. Furthermore, 103 (41%) and 147 (59%) growers have little and no knowledge regarding the side effects of spraying of formalin and calcium carbide that are used for preservation and early ripening of mango, respectively. Therefore, necessary actions should be taken immediately keeping in mind not only to reduce the early fall out of mangoes but also to produce safe mangoes for consumption.

Objectives: Children under-five years are more vulnerable and susceptible to malnutrition especially in the coastal region. Therefore, this study sought to find out the contributing factors of malnutrition among under-five children in coastal region of Bangladesh.Study Design: It is descriptive type cross-sectional study.Methods: Anthropometric methods and structured questionnaires were used to collect required data. Nutritional status was measured using Z score according to WHO classification.175 children (6-59 months) and their householdin Barguna district was considered for study subjects. Results and discussion:Only 5.7% children were introduced with colostrum and 25.71% followed exclusive breast feeding. The rate of literacy was found to be higher in father (85.1%) as compared to mother (39.4%). 68.6% children are suffering from underweight whereas the percentage of wasting and stunting children were found to 40.6% and 60% respectively. Breastfeeding practice and monthly family income were significantly associated with wasting, stunting and underweight. Children who were not exclusively breast fed had higher rate of moderate wasting (59.5%), stunting (70.5%) and underweight (74.6%). Children with illiterate father were found to have more odd value of having wasting, stunting and underweight compared to literate father. Furthermore, early age (6-24 month) of children are more susceptible for malnutrition as compared to the age (25-59 months) of children. Conclusions: Children are underweight and stunting due to the insufficient breast feeding practice, father’s education, monthly income of families and sanitary practices. Therefore, community nutrition and public health education are early demands for the people in the coastal area.

This study deals with the nutritional profile of adolescent girls on the basis of data collected from sample survey of 300 respondents from Khagrachhari district in Chittagong hill tracts region of Bangladesh by cross sectional method. This study found that about 66.00% of adolescent girls lived in rural and only 34.00% lived in urban area of Khagrachhari district. About 93.00% of adolescent girls were tribes and only 7.00% were Bengali. According to the BMI level 41.33% of adolescent girls were underweight, 35.00% normal, 8.33% overweight and 6.67% obese. Their nutritional status were very poor because 65% adolescent girls intake low food, 15.67% undergo married during adolescent period. Among the adolescent girls the percentage of non school going was 11.60 and above class eight were only 21.67. The light spark of this study is 28.34% of the adolescent girl's intake diet more than the normal (1900 kcal. per day), 63.40% maintains hygienity. Study also shows that nutritional awareness developed 43.33% through mass media such as Television, Radio and Newspaper. Friends and family members also play a vital role to improve their nutritional awareness.