Current management of glioma in Pakistan

To date, information on the management of specific neurosurgical tumors, such as glioma, in Pakistan remains scattered and scarce. Our review synthesizes the predicaments of glioma management routinely presented to the neurosurgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, and radiology departments in Pakistan. Expert opinions were integrated from each of the relevant fields in the form of personal citations. The data presented in our review were collected from various PubMed and non-PubMed indexed articles, coupled with various health reports from the Government of Pakistan along with the World Health Organization. Through these data, it was postulated that the utilization of innovative and instrumental technologies is a constant struggle for neurosurgeons in Pakistan, considering the cost-effectiveness. Hence, this results in significant limitations for surgeons to provide the best outcome for their patients. As most Pakistanis (74%) pay out of pocket, measuring cost‑effectiveness is extremely crucial. It was found that significant differences in intra‑operative and postoperative care existed among various centers. Public sector institutions fared much worse. The role of diagnostics in glioma surgery is severely limited across centers in Pakistan and as such, research and training need to be addressed promptly. In order to achieve success in glioma management, the data in our article demonstrate various facets of health care that need to be addressed simultaneously and swiftly. Surgical access needs to be improved; only then, optimal management of glioma can be accomplished in Pakistan

Distance-Based and Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) comprises small sensor nodes with limited energy capabilities. The power constraints of WSNs necessitate efficient energy utilization to extend the overall network lifetime of these networks. We propose a distance-based and low-energy adaptive clustering (DISCPLN) protocol to streamline the green issue of efficient energy utilization in WSNs. We also enhance our proposed protocol into the multi-hop-DISCPLN protocol to increase the lifetime of the network in terms of high throughput with minimum delay time and packet loss. We also propose the mobile-DISCPLN protocol to maintain the stability of the network. The modelling and comparison of these protocols with their corresponding benchmarks exhibit promising results

Dietary Habits of Students in Bangladesh Agricultural University and their Association with Overweight and Obesity

Purpose: The dietary habits of young adults have been affected; thus, overweight and obesity are increasingly being observed among the young. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity on a sample of students from the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) and to examine their eating habits. Background: In the past year BAU has been experiencing a nutritional transition in food decisions from the everyday diet to the alimentation pattern. As a consequence, the dietary habits of young adults have been affected with progressive overweight and obesity .The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence on a sample of MS stidents from BAU and to look at their uptake habits. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 146 students were chosen randomly from the BAU throughout the JJ/2018 semester. With a 7 Days twenty four Hour Food frequency questionnaire where their Height, weight, dietary habits, Body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed exploitation the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer code (version 22.0) to determine overweight and obesity among students and to categorize uptake habits of food. Results: This study showed that the majority of the students (80.4%) were of normal weight (80.8% male students compared to 80% female students). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 9.1% and 2.3% respectively .In contrast, 15.0% female students were underweight as compared to 3.8% males. Eating habits of the students showed that the majority (61.4%) reported taking meals regularly. There was a colored vegetable and fruits were intake scarcity among students. A total of 30.5% reported daily intake of colored vegetables with gender differences (P=.003) (31.5% females vs. 29.2% males). These prevalence rates were greater in girls than boys. There were no clear associations observed between dietary habits and measures of overweight and obesity. Conclusion: The overall low prevalence of overweight and obesity in the studied sample, indicate that university students would possibly benefit from nutrition and health promotion program to improve student’s eating habits.  There is a Significant differences observed among food type and frequency of consumption

Quality of life of COVID-19 recovered patients: a 1-year follow-up study from Bangladesh

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic posed a danger to global public health because of the unprecedented physical, mental, social, and environmental impact affecting quality of life (QoL). The study aimed to find the changes in QoL among COVID-19 recovered individuals and explore the determinants of change more than 1 year after recovery in low-resource settings. Methods COVID-19 patients from all eight divisions of Bangladesh who were confirmed positive by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from June 2020 to November 2020 and who subsequently recovered were followed up twice, once immediately after recovery and again 1 year after the first follow-up. The follow-up study was conducted from November 2021 to January 2022 among 2438 individuals using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). After excluding 48 deaths, 95 were rejected to participate, 618 were inaccessible, and there were 45 cases of incomplete data. Descriptive statistics, paired-sample analyses, generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to test the mean difference in participants’ QoL scores between the two interviews. Results Most participants (n = 1710, 70.1%) were male, and one-fourth (24.4%) were older than 46. The average physical domain score decreased significantly from baseline to follow-up, and the average scores in psychological, social, and environmental domains increased significantly at follow-up (P < 0.05). By the GEE equation approach, after adjusting for other factors, we found that older age groups (P < 0.001), being female (P < 0.001), having hospital admission during COVID-19 illness (P < 0.001), and having three or more chronic diseases (P < 0.001), were significantly associated with lower physical and psychological QoL scores. Higher age and female sex [adjusted odd ratio (aOR) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–1.6] were associated with reduced social domain scores on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Urban or semi-urban people were 49% less likely (aOR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.4–0.7) and 32% less likely (aOR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.5–0.9) to have a reduced QoL score in the psychological domain and the social domain respectively, than rural people. Higher-income people were more likely to experience a decrease in QoL scores in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. Married people were 1.8 times more likely (aOR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.4) to have a decreased social QoL score. In the second interview, people admitted to hospitals during their COVID-19 infection showed a 1.3 times higher chance (aOR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.6) of a decreased environmental QoL score. Almost 13% of participants developed one or more chronic diseases between the first and second interviews. Moreover, 7.9% suffered from reinfection by COVID-19 during this 1-year time. Conclusions The present study found that the QoL of COVID-19 recovered people improved 1 year after recovery, particularly in psychological, social, and environmental domains. However, age, sex, the severity of COVID-19, smoking habits, and comorbidities were significantly negatively associated with QoL. Events of reinfection and the emergence of chronic disease were independent determinants of the decline in QoL scores in psychological, social, and physical domains, respectively. Strong policies to prevent and minimize smoking must be implemented in Bangladesh, and we must monitor and manage chronic diseases in people who have recovered from COVID-19. Graphical Abstrac