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CCNs are a specific type of matricellular protein, which are essential signaling molecules, and play multiple roles in multicellular eukaryotes. This family of proteins consists of six separate members, which exist only in vertebrates. The architecture of CCN proteins is multi-modular comprising four distinct modules. CCN Proteins achieve their primary functional activities by binding with several integrin7 receptors. The CCN family has been linked to cell adhesion, chemotaxis and migration, mitogenesis, cell survival, angiogenesis, differentiation, tumorigenesis, chondrogenesis, and wound healing, among other biological interactions. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and CCN regulated breast cancer stands at the top. A favorable or unfavorable association between various CCNs has been reported in patients with breast carcinomas. The pro-tumorigenic CCN1, CCN2, CCN3, and CCN4 may lead to human breast cancer, although the anti-tumorigenic actions of CCN5 and CCN6 are also present. Several studies have been conducted on CCN proteins and cancer in recent years. CCN1 and CCN3 have been shown to exhibit a dual nature of tumor inhibition and tumor suppression to some extent in quiet recent time. Pharmacological advances in treating breast cancer by targeting CCN proteins are also reported. In our study, we intend to provide an overview of these research works while keeping breast cancer in focus. This information may facilitate early diagnosis, early prognosis and the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Bangladesh is situated at the confluence of GBM basins, with 90% of the basin area locating outside the country. Future climate change will lead to intense, prolonged, and frequent floods in Bangladesh. An integrated flood risk assessment that transforms flood risks from transboundary river basins to the local administrative level is necessary. A 1D/2D hydrodynamic model is developed for flood vulnerable Arial Khan River feed by basin-scale hydrologic model for low (RCP2.6) and high (RCP8.5) climate scenarios. An increasing trend in flood depth, duration, and area is observed from the early (2020s) to the end (2080s) of the century for both scenarios. The difference between both RCPs is minimal from the 2020s to 2050s but becomes very pronounced in the 2080s. The depth-duration-area with equal weightage provides better hazard results for the area. Flood risk is assessed using the IPCC AR5 framework incorporating vulnerability and exposure. Some medium-hazard zones fall into high-risk zones due to high exposure and vulnerability to flooding. The areas along the left reach are found more hazard-prone, while the areas on the right side are more risk-prone in the 2080s of RCP8.5. The hazard/risk maps will help policymakers identify priority areas for planning a sustainable flood management strategy. HIGHLIGHTS Flood risk is transferred from transboundary river basins to local administrative levels using a multi-model hydrological-hydrodynamic-statistical modelling system.; High-resolution bias-corrected GCM climate data is used.; IPCC AR5 climate scenarios and risk framework are considered.; Future flood hazard and risks are assessed for Arial Khan River Floodplain for the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s.; Medium hazard zones might have high flood risk in the future.

Introduction: Thalassaemia is now effectively treated with adequate blood transfusion and iron chelation. The disease process itself and iron overload from blood transfusions together produce multiple complications. Objective: Due to increased life expectancy of thalassaemia patients it is important to point out demographic profiles and clinical history related factors that may vary due to numerous causes. Therefore, objective of this study may lead to know the obstacles to access treatment and to find solutions to prevent complications in our socioeconomic background. Methodology: Three clinical types of thalassaemia were assessed in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Total 109 subjects with thalassaemia were included in the study according to the inclusion criteria. They were distributed as thalassaemia major (33 subjects), thalassaemia intermedia (34 subjects) and thalassaemia minor (42 subjects). The patients were asked questions regarding demographic status and some clinical histories through a questionnaire. After compilation of the data statistical analysis was done accordingly. Results: The mean age of the subjects in years were 22.7 in thalassaemia major, 22.09 in thalassaemia intermedia and 22.5 in thalassaemia minor with nearly equal gender distributions. Students constituted 27.27% among thalassaemia major, 32.35% among thalassaemia intermedia and 30.95% among thalassaemia minor. The participants were educated up to primary level by 51.52% in thalassaemia major, 47.06 % in thalassaemia intermedia and 57.14 % in thalassaemia minor. Most of the subjects were Muslims and over 75% of the subjects came from outside the Dhaka the city. The mean number of life time transfusions were 105.33 in the patients of thalassaemia major, 33.85 in the intermedia and 0.76 in the minor. Iron chelation were done in 48.48% of thalassaemia major and 17.64% of thalassaemia intermedia at some point of their treatment. Splenectomy was done in 5 (15.15%) of thalassaemia major and 2 (5.8%) in thalassaemia intermedia patients. Before enrolment in the study 9.09% thalassaemia major, 50% intermedia and 83% minor subjects never visited haematologists or haematology OPD. Conclusion: Most of the subjects were at their working age and students and had to take treatment from inter-district facilities. Majority of the patients with thalassaemia intermedia and minor never consulted haematologists. Transfusion frequency was high with inadequate iron chelation.

Understanding the transmission dynamics and the severity of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) informs public health interventions, surveillance, and planning. Two important parameters, the basic reproduction number (R0) and case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19, help in this understanding process. The objective of this study was to estimate the R0 and CFR of COVID-19 and assess whether the parameters vary in different regions of the world. We carried out a systematic review to retrieve the published estimates of the R0 and the CFR in articles from international databases between 1st January and 31st August 2020. Random-effect models and Forest plots were implemented to evaluate the mean effect size of the R0 and the CFR. Furthermore, the R0 and CFR of the studies were quantified based on geographic location, the tests/thousand population, and the median population age of the countries where studies were conducted. The I2 statistic and the Cochran’s Q test were applied to assess statistical heterogeneity among the selected studies. Forty-five studies involving R0 and thirty-four studies involving CFR were included. The pooled estimation of the R0 was 2.69 (95% CI: 2.40, 2.98), and that of the CFR was 2.67 (2.25, 3.13). The CFR in different regions of the world varied significantly, from 2.51 (2.12, 2.95) in Asia to 7.11 (6.38, 7.91) in Africa. We observed higher mean CFR values for the countries with lower tests (3.15 vs. 2.16) and greater median population age (3.13 vs. 2.27). However, the R0 did not vary significantly in different regions of the world. An R0 of 2.69 and CFR of 2.67 indicate the severity of the COVID-19. Although R0 and CFR may vary over time, space, and demographics, we recommend considering these figures in control and prevention measures.

The main endeavor of the present study was to know the relationship between SMS (Short Message Service) advertising and customer purchase intention of value-added services (VAS) of mobile operators. This study was descriptive in nature. The population of the study was the users of mobile phone from two wards of Rajshahi City Corporation were purposively selected. Respondents were selected using convenience sampling method for collecting primary data through a self-administrated questionnaire. 142 completely filled up questionnaires were authentic for the research study. Five factors of SMS advertisement were considered as independent variables to evaluate the respondents’ opinion. Study results show that the maximum number of respondents strongly agree that SMS advertising provides current information to them, the company provide actual information through SMS advertisement, SMS advertisement is funny, exciting, reliable, personalize, entertaining and trustful but too much advertising is irritating and disturbing. Result also shows that there is a positive significant correlation between the variables and the highest correlation exist annoyingness to SMS advertisement and customer purchase intention of value added services of mobile operators (r = .813**, p=.000

Bioactive plant derived compounds are important for a wide range of therapeutic applications, and some display promising anticancer properties. Further evidence suggests that phytochemicals modulate autophagy and apoptosis, the two crucial cellular pathways involved in the underlying pathobiology of cancer development and regulation. Pharmacological targeting of autophagy and apoptosis signaling using phytochemicals therefore offers a promising strategy that is complementary to conventional cancer chemotherapy. In this review, we sought to highlight the molecular basis of the autophagic-apoptotic pathway to understand its implication in the pathobiology of cancer, and explore this fundamental cellular process as a druggable anticancer target. We also aimed to present recent advances and address the limitations faced in the therapeutic development of phytochemical-based anticancer drugs.

Mounting evidence support the potential benefits of functional foods or nutraceuticals for human health and diseases. Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.), a highly valued nutraceutical herb with a wide array of health benefits, has attracted growing interest from health-conscious individuals, the scientific community, and pharmaceutical industries. The pleiotropic pharmacological effects of black cumin, and its main bioactive component thymoquinone (TQ), have been manifested by their ability to attenuate oxidative stress and inflammation, and to promote immunity, cell survival, and energy metabolism, which underlie diverse health benefits, including protection against metabolic, cardiovascular, digestive, hepatic, renal, respiratory, reproductive, and neurological disorders, cancer, and so on. Furthermore, black cumin acts as an antidote, mitigating various toxicities and drug-induced side effects. Despite significant advances in pharmacological benefits, this miracle herb and its active components are still far from their clinical application. This review begins with highlighting the research trends in black cumin and revisiting phytochemical profiles. Subsequently, pharmacological attributes and health benefits of black cumin and TQ are critically reviewed. We overview molecular pharmacology to gain insight into the underlying mechanism of health benefits. Issues related to pharmacokinetic herb–drug interactions, drug delivery, and safety are also addressed. Identifying knowledge gaps, our current effort will direct future research to advance potential applications of black cumin and TQ in health and diseases.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neuro-developmental disorder that affects social skills, language, speech and communication. Early detection of ASD individuals, especially children, could help to devise and strategize right therapeutic plan at right time. Human faces encode important markers that can be used to identify ASD by analyzing facial features, eye contact, and so on. In this work, an improved transfer-learning-based autism face recognition framework is proposed to identify kids with ASD in the early stages more precisely. Therefore, we have collected face images of children with ASD from the Kaggle data repository, and various machine learning and deep learning classifiers and other transfer-learning-based pre-trained models were applied. We observed that our improved MobileNet-V1 model demonstrates the best accuracy of 90.67% and the lowest 9.33% value of both fall-out and miss rate compared to the other classifiers and pre-trained models. Furthermore, this classifier is used to identify different ASD groups investigating only autism image data using k-means clustering technique. Thus, the improved MobileNet-V1 model showed the highest accuracy (92.10%) for k = 2 autism sub-types. We hope this model will be useful for physicians to detect autistic children more explicitly at the early stage.

ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of olfactory dysfunctions, mainly, anosmia and to identify its associated factors in patients with COVID-19 infection.Study designA hospital-based prospective observational cohort studySettingA COVID dedicated hospital, Square Hospitals Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh.MethodsWe collected patients’ information including laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 test results. We used Pearson Chi-square test and logistic regression model to assess the associations between demographic and clinical characteristics and olfactory outcomes.ResultsOut of 600 COVID-19 positive patients, 38.7% were diagnosed with olfactory dysfunction. Our analyses showed that patients’ age, smoking status, cough, dyspnea, sore throat, asthenia, and nausea or vomiting were significantly associated with the anosmia. We observed the risk of developing anosmia was greater in younger patients than in older patients, and this risk decreased as age increased [odds ratio (OR) range for different age groups: 1.26 to 1.08]. Smoking patients were 1.73 times more likely to experience anosmia than non-smoking patients [OR=1.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-2.98]. In addition, patients complained asthenia had a significantly double risk of developing the anosmia [OR = 1.96, CI = 1.23-3.06].ConclusionsOur study shows that about 39% of patients diagnosed with olfactory dysfunction. Patients’ age, smoking status, and asthenia are significantly positively associated with the anosmia. Since anosmia can be a significant marker for the diagnosis of COVID-19, we suggest regular screening of olfactory dysfunction in patients with early symptoms of COVID-19, particularly younger patients, smoker, and complained asthenia.

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex, lifelong developmental disability where the affected people show repetitive behavior and faces abnormal communication challenges. The goal of this work is to propose an enhanced machine learning model that detects autism more accurately. Hence, we collected ASD datasets of toddler, child, adolescent, and adult from kaggle and UCI machine learning repository. The correlation among individual features was scrutinized and eliminated highly co-linear features in these datasets. Then, feature transformation methods including standardization and normalization were applied in these datasets. Different classifiers like artificial neural network, recurrent neural network, decision tree, extreme learning machine, gradient boost, k nearest neighbor, logistic regression, multilayer perceptron, naive bayes, random forest, support vector machine, and xgboost were employed in these altered ASD datasets and determined their performances. Logistic regression shows the best result that outperforms other classifiers. This model is useful to extract significant traits and detect autism more precisely.

Global Health Security Index (GHSI) and Joint External Evaluation (JEE) are two well-known health security and related capability indices. We hypothesised that countries with higher GHSI or JEE scores would have detected their first COVID-19 case earlier, and would experience lower mortality outcome compared to countries with lower scores. We evaluated the effectiveness of GHSI and JEE in predicting countries' COVID-19 detection response times and mortality outcome (deaths/million). We used two different outcomes for the evaluation: (i) detection response time, the duration of time to the first confirmed case detection (from 31st December 2019 to 20th February 2020 when every country's first case was linked to travel from China) and (ii) mortality outcome (deaths/million) until 11th March and 1st July 2020, respectively. We interpreted the detection response time alongside previously published relative risk of the importation of COVID-19 cases from China. We performed multiple linear regression and negative binomial regression analysis to evaluate how these indices predicted the actual outcome. The two indices, GHSI and JEE were strongly correlated (r = 0.82), indicating a good agreement between them. However, both GHSI (r = 0.31) and JEE (r = 0.37) had a poor correlation with countries' COVID-19–related mortality outcome. Higher risk of importation of COVID-19 from China for a given country was negatively correlated with the time taken to detect the first case in that country (adjusted R2 = 0.63–0.66), while the GHSI and JEE had minimal predictive value. In the negative binomial regression model, countries' mortality outcome was strongly predicted by the percentage of the population aged 65 and above (incidence rate ratio (IRR): 1.10 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–1.21) while overall GHSI score (IRR: 1.01 (95% CI: 0.98–1.01)) and JEE (IRR: 0.99 (95% CI: 0.96–1.02)) were not significant predictors. GHSI and JEE had lower predictive value for detection response time and mortality outcome due to COVID-19. We suggest introduction of a population healthiness parameter, to address demographic and comorbidity vulnerabilities, and reappraisal of the ranking system and methods used to obtain the index based on experience gained from this pandemic.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 affected millions of people, and the patients present a constellation of symptoms and comorbidities. We aimed to chronicle the prevalence and correlations of symptoms and comorbidities, and associated covariates among the patients.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis [PROSPERO registration: CRD42020182677]. Databases [PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, WHO, Semantic Scholar, and COVID-19 Primer] were searched for clinical studies published in English from January 1 to April 20, 2020. The pooled prevalence of symptoms and comorbidities were identified using the random effect model, and sub-groups analysis of patients’ age and locations were investigated. A multivariable factor analysis was also performed to show the correlation among symptoms, comorbidities and age of the COVID-19 patients.FindingsTwenty-nine articles [China (24); Outside of China (5)], with 4,884 COVID-19 patients were included in this systematic review. The meta-analysis investigated 33 symptoms, where fever [84%], cough/dry cough [61%], and fatigue/weakness [42%] were found frequent. Out of 43 comorbidities investigated, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [61%] was a common condition, followed by hypertension [23%] and diabetes [12%]. According to the patients’ age, the prevalence of symptoms like fatigue/weakness, dyspnea/shortness of breath, and anorexia were highly prevalent in older adults [≥50 years] than younger adults [≤50 years]. Diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and COPD/lung disease were more prevalent comorbidities in older adults than younger adults. The patients from outside of China had significantly higher prevalence [p< 0.005] of diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, sore throat, and dyspnea, and the prevalent comorbidities in that region were diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and ARDS. The multivariable factor analysis showed positive association between a group of symptoms and comorbidities, and with the patients’ age.InterpretationEpitomizing the correlation of symptoms of COVID-19 with comorbidities and patients’ age would help clinicians effectively manage the patients.Summary boxWhat is already known?There is scarce evidence on the prevalence of all symptoms and comorbidities in COVID-19 infected older adults and patients from outside of China.Previously published review studies excluded a wide range of symptoms and comorbidities from their analysis due to limited time-frame.Study on the correlation of symptoms and comorbidity with age of the COVID-19 patients are not yet to be explored.What are the new findings?We investigated all the reported symptoms [33] and comorbidity [43] where fever [84%], cough/dry cough [61%], fatigue/weakness [42%] and dyspnea/shortness of breath [ symptoms, and ARDS [61%], followed by hypertension [23%] and frequent comorbidity.Key findings, the fatigue/weakness, dyspnea/shortness of breath and anorexia were comparatively higher in older adults than younger adults, and the patients from outside of China had a higher prevalence diarrhoea, fatigue, nausea, sore throat, dyspnea, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and ARDS.Key findings, the symptoms comprising fever, dyspnea/shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, anorexia and pharyngalgia; and the comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, COPD/lung disease and ARDS were positively correlated with the COVID-19 patient’s age.What do the new findings imply?These findings according to patient’s age and geographical variations may help the health care providers and policy makers.This pioneering efforts in estimating the prevalence and correlations of all frequent symptoms and comorbidities will help the clinicians and disease practitioners like WHO to implement patient-centered interventions.

The internet has become an essential part of our daily life. But excessive usage can have a negative impact on the physical health of its users. Over the last decade, the use of Social Media (Facebook) has been increasing rapidly and the younger generations getting addicted to it. But all possible health impacts of excessive use of internet are yet to be thoroughly evaluated, especially in such a developing country as Bangladesh. The present study aims to understand possible health deteriorations from excessive use of Facebook in a cohort of university students of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1186 students from two public universities and 1472 from several private universities of Bangladesh using a comprehensive questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test to understand the association between Facebook usage behaviors and physical health status. We found that ~70% of the students used the internet for at least 4–6 hours/day, and ~27% of them used Facebook for >3 hrs. Students frequently use social media (mostly Facebook) for news and social communication. About 50% of the students reported wasting time on Facebook and going to sleep late because of it. Importantly, 47.3% students reported that excessive use of Facebook results sleeping disturbance and has a negative impact on the concentration of daily works/studies (p < 0.001). In addition, they experienced several other health problems, including worsening eyesight (71.2%), headaches (15.4%), back and neck pain (28%). Although not statistically important, a fair number of students sought medical attention due to the daily excessive use of internet (p-value = 0.112). These findings demands better understanding of the all possible impacts of using excessive internet among the University students, which can help take the necessary initiatives to encourage good use of the internet. Further extension of this study is suggested at all education levels to reveal the full scenario of degree of excessive internet use and its impact on the healths of Bangladeshi students., Highlights • ~70% University students of Bangladesh use internet for at least 4–6 hrs/day, among them ~27% use Facebook for >3 hrs. • Around half of the students felt using Facebook wasted time and reported sleeping disturbances. • Excessive use of internet caused problems such as weakening vision, occasional and frequent headaches, and back and neck pain., Facebook, Student, Time, Health, Bangladesh.

Introduction: Offspring of parents with severe mental illness have an increased risk of developing mental illnesses themselves. Familial high risk cohorts give a unique opportunity for studying the development over time, both the illness that the individual is predisposed for and any other diagnoses. These studies can also increase our knowledge of etiology of severe mental illness and provide knowledge about the underlying mechanisms before illness develops. Interventions targeting this group are often proposed due to the potential possibility of prevention, but evidence about timing and content is lacking.Method: A large, representative cohort of 522 7-year old children born to parents with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or controls was established based on Danish registers. A comprehensive baseline assessment including neurocognition, motor functioning, psychopathology, home environment, sociodemographic data, and genetic information was conducted from January 1, 2013 to January 31, 2016. This study is the first follow-up of the cohort, carried out when the children turn 11 years of age. By assessing the cohort at this age, we will evaluate the children twice before puberty. All instruments have been selected with a longitudinal perspective and most of them are identical to those used at inclusion into the study at age 7. A diagnostic interview, motor tests, and a large cognitive battery are conducted along with home visits and information from teachers. This time we examine the children's brains by magnetic resonance scans and electroencephalograms. Measures of physical activity and sleep are captured by a chip placed on the body, while we obtain biological assays by collecting blood samples from the children.Discussion: Findings from the VIA 7 study revealed large variations across domains between children born to parents with schizophrenia, bipolar and controls, respectively. This study will further determine whether the children at familial risk reveal delayed developmental courses, but catch up at age 11, or whether the discrepancies between the groups have grown even larger. We will compare subgroups within each of the familial high risk groups in order to investigate aspects of resilience. Data on brain structure and physical parameters will add a neurobiological dimension to the study.

River water is very much important for domestic, agriculture and industrial use in Bangladesh which is in critical condition from long time based on research data. During last 40 years, extreme pollution events occurred in peripheral rivers surrounding Dhaka city and Karnaphuli River in Chittagong city. Present data showed that other urban rivers are also in critical condition especially Korotoa, Teesta, Rupsha, Pashur and Padma. The pollutants flowing with water made a severe pollution in downstream areas of rivers. Metals concentrations in river water was found to be higher in dry season. Dissolve oxygen (DO) was nearly zero in Buriganga River and several points in Turag, Balu, Sitalakhya and Karnaphuli River. NO3-, NO2- and PO43- pollution occurred in different rivers. Zn, Cu, Fe, Pb, Cd, Ni, Mn, As and Cr concentration was above drinking water standard in most of the river and some metals was even above irrigation standard in water from several rivers. Sediment data showed very much higher metal concentrations in most of the rivers especially peripheral rivers in Dhaka and Karnaphuli, Korotoa, Teesta, Rupsha and Meghna River. Metal concentrations in sediment was above US EPA threshold value in most of the rivers. Metal concentrations in fish and agricultural crops showed that bioaccumulations of metals had occurred. The concentration of metals showed the trend like: water, Industrialization, Economic Development, Rivers, Pollution, Heavy Metals, Effects.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis is usually done by microscopy for AFB and other tests. But each test has different limitation. This study was carried out to compare western blot technique with microscopy and culture for diagnosis of tuberculosis. Sputum and other samples were collected from 112 TB patients for bacteriological diagnosis by microscopy and culture for AFB. Serum samples were collected from 112 TB patients and 50 control subjects for detection of antibody response by western blot. For western blot analysis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis sonicate antigen extract was fractionated by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel. Western blot analysis revealed four polypeptides against which antibody response of study population were observed. The sensitivity of western blot was 73.21% which was higher than that of microscopy (63.39%) and culture (57.14%) for diagnosis of tuberculosis. The specificity of western blot was 92%.Bangladesh J Med Microbiol 2007; 01 (01):21-24

Women in Bangladesh share a greater risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infection compared to men. Levels of knowledge and awareness largely contribute to the prevalence of the HIV epidemic and its consequences. So, it is required to conduct studies based on most recent data to explore the determinants of HIV awareness. Therefore, we aimed to find the awareness level and factors influencing HIV related awareness among the married women in Bangladesh. We used data from 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). About two-third of total respondents who heard about the HIV/AIDS were selected and interviewed successfully (n = 12,593) about11 basic questions related to individual’s awareness. A score of the respondent’s knowledge and awareness was determined based on these questions. We used logistic regression models for analysing the data. We found about 62% of the respondents had an adequate knowledge and consciousness about the HIV/AIDS. Respondents’ education status, massmedia access, place of living, and working status played significant role on the awareness. As expected, respondents with higher education were more aware than those with no education (odds ratio (OR) = 3.56, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.99–4.23). Moreover, respondents who had access to the mass media were more likely to be aware compared to those who did not have the access (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04–1.26). Although a sizeable proportion of women had an adequate knowledge and awareness regarding the HIV/AIDS, we recommend implementing educational programmes related to HIV/AIDS in the curriculum to ensure a standard level of awareness throughout the nation. Since the respondents from rural areas scored significantly lower than the urban areas, awareness through mass media, particularly in rural areas, is of prime concern for raising awareness.Keywords: Risk; HIV/AIDS infection; knowledge score; mass media; education;demographic and health survey

Malaria continues to be one of the major public health problem of India. Almost all deaths are caused by Plasmodium falciparum infected malaria. 1 Under normal physiological conditions, liver ensures homeostasis of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. 2 Hepatocellular damage often associated with severe and acute P falciparum infections impairs these processes, leading to alteration in plasma lipid profile and lipoprotein patterns. An observation on the nature of dyslipidaemia in malaria patients with reference to correlation if any that exists between malaria and lipid profile in these patients was performed. Results revealed that the total cholesterol, HDL and LDL decreased while triglyceride and VLDL were found to increase in malaria patients. It can be concluded that alteration in lipid profile can be an index of malaria infection but specificity of malaria infection with lipid changes is questionable and need further studies. INTRODUCTION: Malaria is a protozoan disease transmitted by the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. The most important of the parasitic diseases of humans, it is transmitted in 108 countries containing 3 billion people and causes nearly 1 million deaths each year. Almost all deaths are caused by falciparum malaria.3 India is a vast country with multiethnic society of 1.2 billion living in diverse geo-ecological paradigms and ecotype of malaria. Malaria continues to be one of the major public health problem of India with around 1.5-2 million confirmed cases/year, of which approximately 1000 reported malarial death per year. 4 As per World Health Organization report 2011-2012, South-east Asia region bear the second largest burden of malaria (13%), only being next to African region (81%). Among South-east Asia region, India shares two thirds of the burden (66%) followed by Myanmar (18%) and Indonesia (10%).5 Contrary to the African scenario, where much of the malaria mortality burden is borne by the infants and children, in India, it is the middle productive ages in both genders that suffer the most. 6 Under normal physiological conditions, liver ensures homeostasis of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. 7 Hepatocellular damage often associated with severe and acute P falciparum infections impairs these processes, leading to alteration in plasma lipid and lipoprotein patterns.¶⁻· Parasites forage nutrients from their host as well as possess limited enzyme pathway for de novo synthesis of certain nutrients. So far, studies suggest that there may be some factors or enzymes, which allow the parasite to breakup and consume lipid/cholesterol from their host and utilize them for internalization of eukaryotic protozoa or for reproduction in case of helminthes.¸ Plasmodium is incapable of de novo synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol; but it can fabricate its glycerides and phosphoglycerides with host-supplied nutrients, and can produce the glyceryl moiety during glycolysis.¹

Absence of the user based recommendation system is a prevalent problem in a social network. In this paper, our work tends to model distance based group and probability based group in terms deciding recommendation dynamics. Here, we want to identify the best user who appears to be the innocent audience. In this regard, the effect of network density and preference homogeneity according to the user have been calculated. We have also used the probability function to evaluate the group of user that could be recommended.

Goat is an important source of nutrition and integral part of rural economy in Bangladesh. Goats are affected by several infectious diseases which can affect their growth. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of common infectious diseases of goat in Chittagong district of Bangladesh. The study was carried out in S.A Quaderi Teaching Veterinary Hospital, CVASU, Chittagong in between November 2011 to October 2012. The diseases were diagnosed on basis of clinical signs, owner's statement and laboratory diagnosis. The prevalence of Peste des Petis of Ruminant (PPR) was highest (11.33%) whereas babesiosis was less common (0.40%). The prevalence of infectious disease was highest in 13-18 month age group (68.00%) and lowest at 19-24 month age group (53.73%). The prevalence of infectious disease was highest at Black Bengal breed (64.23%) and lowest in Jamunapari cross (57.39%). Prevalence of PPR was found highest both for male and female goat. Highest percentage was observed in case of mixed infection (49%) and lowest in case of fungal infection (4%). Occurrence of various infectious diseases was higher in rainy season (36.43%) followed by winter season (34.94%) and summer season (28.62%). Female goat was found to be more susceptible (64.22%) than the male animal (35.77%). These results indicate the high incidence of various infectious diseases in the goats of Chittagong region. Thus, there is a need for an immediate action by the veterinary workers, development partners to come forward in order to prevent and minimize the loss caused by infectious diseases in goats.

Tourist identification with a lower effort can be highly demandable for the tourism department and related organizations of a country. Nowadays, most of the people including tourists use cell phones to keep communication resulting in corresponding data for every transaction (call, SMS, MMS, mobile data) named call detail record. This kind of data is usually collected and stored by telecom operators mainly for billing reasons. Call detail record (CDR) can be mined to get the approximate location of cellular mobile phones. This article describes a framework that identifies tourists among total population by analyzing cellular phone location data from call detail record. The framework also includes an efficient yet effective data scan method from huge CDR database of the total cell phone users.

Bangladesh is a country prone to disasters and its role in occupational therapy (OT) is not well recognized. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the OT role in disaster management in Bangladesh.A qualitative study involving interviews with six practicing OTs who had worked in disaster management was undertaken. The interviews were transcribed and data studied for emerging themes, using thematic analysis to code and analyse the data.According to research findings, pre-disaster roles for OT include: risk and resource mapping, improving accessibility for shelters and homes, providing training for sensitivity around disability issues, developing early evacuation plans, and establishing early warning signals for people with disabilities. Preparing the volunteers for rescuing people with disabilities was the main OT role during disaster. In the post disaster stage, roles include: remediation, psychological rehabilitation, vocational training and home modifications.Occupational therapy ...

Students academic performance is the reflection of both academic background and family support. This performance record is critical for the educational institution because they can learn from this to improve their quality. Educational data mining helps to analyze these data and extract information from it. We can determine the status of learners academic performance. For achieving this we can use techniques like decision tree, neural network, classification, data clustering, support vector machine and so on. In this paper, we will predict student's yearly performance in the form of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) using neural network and compare that with real CGPA. In this regard, a real dataset would be of great importance. We used real dataset from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University (BSMRSTU) to perform the prediction.

Background: Strongyloidiasis infection is partially an asymptomatic infection and the diagnosis of patent infection is difficult using conventional parasitological methods. The residents of tea garden community of Sylhet, Bangladesh were robustly tested. Method: The collected stool samples were tested by Harada mori culture for the presence of larval stage of Strongyloides stercoralis and to reaffirm the same samples were subjected for conventional PCR, using primer sets deigned to amplify partial ribosomal DNA of S. stercoralis genome. Finally data analysis was performed by Logistic Regression procedure using STATA 13 (College Station, Texas 77845 USA) and Pearson λ2 test, with consideration of P

The ever-growing demand for high capacity cathode materials is on the rise since the futuristic applications are knocking on the door. Conventional approach to developing such cathode relies on the lithium-excess materials to operate the cathode at high voltage and extract more lithium-ion. Yet, they fail to satiate the needs because of their unresolved issues upon cycling such as, for lithium manganese-rich layered oxides—their voltage fading, and for as nickel-based layered oxides—the structural transition. Here, in contrast, lithium-deficient ratio is demonstrated as a new approach to attain high capacity at high voltage for layered oxide cathodes. Rapid and cost effective lithiation of a porous hydroxide precursor with lithium deficient ratio is acted as a driving force to partially convert the layered material to spinel phase yielding in a multiphase structure (MPS) cathode material. Upon cycling, MPS reveals structural stability at high voltage and high temperature and results in fast lithium-ion diffusion by providing a distinctive solid electrolyte interface (SEI) chemistry—MPS displays minimum lithium loss in SEI and forms a thinner SEI. MPS thus offers high energy and high power applications and provides a new perspective compared to the conventional layered cathode materials denying the focus for lithium excess material.

TheChung Hun Wha Dam Tang(CHWDT) herbal combination was reported to cease dizziness and phlegm. However, the effect of CHWDT in obesity has not yet been known mechanically. Therefore, we investigated whether this CHWDT could protect the cells from lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and inflammation in both in vivo and in vitro. CHWDT significantly decreased body weight, epididymal and perirenal fat content without affecting feed intake in high-fat diet-induced obese mice model. Additionally, CHWDT inhibited obesity-induced SREBP1, FAS, PGC1α, G6Pase, PEPCK and increased CPT1, ACO, and LCAD genes expression in vivo and in vitro. Proinflammatory cytokines like TNF-αand iNOS expression were reduced by CHWDT in both Raw264.7 macrophages and HepG2 cells. In addition, NO production was also significantly decreased by CHWDT in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Furthermore, AMPKαactivation by CHWDT was involved in inhibition of obesity by reducing triglycerides production and increasing CPT1 expression. Based on all of the results, we suggest that CHWDT has inhibitory effects on obesity-induced lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and inflammation via AMPKαactivation.

Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, is commonly used for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disorders including atherosclerosis. However, the mechanisms responsible for the vasoprotective effects of Danshen remain largely unknown. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) represents one of the most bioactive compounds that can be extracted from the water-soluble fraction of Danshen. We investigated the effects of Danshen and Sal B on the inflammatory response in murine macrophages. Danshen and Sal B both induced the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Inhibition of HO activity using Sn-protoporphyrin-IX (SnPP) abolished the inhibitory effect of Sal B on NO production and iNOS expression. Sal B increased macrophage arginase activity in a dose-dependent manner and diminished LPS-inducible tumor necrosis factor-α production. These effects were also reversed by SnPP. These data suggest that HO-1 expression plays an intermediary role in the anti-inflammatory effects of Sal B. In contrast to the observations in macrophages, Sal B dose-dependently inhibited arginase activity in murine liver, kidney, and vascular tissue. Furthermore, Sal B increased NO production in isolated mouse aortas through the inhibition of arginase activity and reduction of reactive oxygen species production. We conclude that Sal B improves vascular function by inhibiting inflammatory responses and promoting endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Taken together, we suggest that Sal B may represent a potent candidate therapeutic for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases associated with endothelial dysfunction.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is cause of a global pandemic which is demolishing global health and economy SARS-CoV-2 infected patients are hospitalized with pneumonia where almost 20-30% of patients are led to kidney failure The entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the systemic circulation leads to acute kidney injury (AKI) which may develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) In addition, patients who are diagnosed with AKI or CKD are at major risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection Although a significant number of compounds have been proposed and the existing drugs have also been tested for repurposing, no specific therapy has been approved yet SARS-CoV-2 invades human cells binding to the receptor of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) via the receptor-binding domain Cells that express ACE2 are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the proportion of ACE2-positive cells in kidney proximal tubule is approximately 4%, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 might damage the kidney tubules leading to fatal kidney injury Therefore, a better understanding of the potential mechanisms involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection-mediated kidney disease may unveil a novel therapeutic strategy against kidney diseases during COVID-19 © 2020, Bangladesh Society for Microbiology, Immunology and Advanced Biotechnology All rights reserved

Background Hypertension is an increasing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly in Bangladesh. Although some epidemiological studies on hypertension have been conducted in Bangladesh, the factors associated with hypertension in this nation remain unclear. We aimed to determine the factors associated with hypertension among the adults in Bangladesh. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the nationally representative 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). A total of 7,839 (3,964 women and 3,875 men) adults aged 35 years and older who participated in the survey was included. Hypertension was defined by a systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or, diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg and/or, receipt of an anti-hypertensive medication at time of the survey. The degree of association between the risk factors and the outcome was assessed by the odd ratio (OR) obtained from the bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models. Results The overall prevalence of hypertension was 26.4 %, and the prevalence was higher in women (32.4 %) than men (20.3 %). Study participants with the age group of 60–69 years had higher odds of having hypertension (AOR: 3.77, 95 % CI: 3.01–4.72) than the age group 35–39 years. Moreover, individuals who had higher educational attainment (AOR: 1.63, 95 % C.I: 1.25–2.14) and higher wealth status (AOR = 1.91, 95 % CI: 1.54–2.38) had higher odds of having hypertension than the individuals with no education and lower social status, respectively. The analysis also showed that high BMI (AOR: 2.19, 95 % C.I: 1.87–2.57) and having diabetes (AOR: 1.54, 95 % C.I: 1.31–1.83) were associated with the increasing risk of hypertension. Conclusions Our study shows that the risk of hypertension was significantly associated with older age, sex, education, place of residence, working status, wealth index, BMI, and diabetes. Moreover, hypertension is largely untreated, especially in rural settings. The health system needs to develop appropriate strategies including early diagnosis, awareness via mass media, and health education programs for changing lifestyles should be initiated for older age, wealthy, and/or higher educated individuals in Bangladesh. Moreover, area-specific longitudinal research is necessary to find out the underlying causes of regional variations.