Genetic diversity analysis of some Bangladeshi aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) using simple sequence repeat markers (SSRM)

In order to germplasm management, conservation, parental identification and proper utilization of aromatic rice germplasm of Bangladesh genetic diversity assessment and molecular characterization is necessary. We used ten microsatellite markers across twenty aromatic rice landraces along with four improved varieties to discriminate and characterize among them. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 8, with an average of 4.30 alleles across 10 loci. A total of 43 polymorphic alleles were detected. The values of Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.217 to 0.835 (average 0.495) which indicate high genetic diversity among the studied aromatic rice genotypes. It was concluded by the PIC value of RM5339 that it might be the finest marker for diversity estimation and characterize of these aromatic rice genotypes, followed by RM334, RM414 and RM28502 markers. The UPGMA cluster dendrogram constructed in this study identified seven clusters with a correlation coefficient 0.874. Molecular characterization of aromatic rice landraces of Bangladesh exhibited large variations among the genotypes. Five rice genotypes namely BRRI dhan38, BRRI dhan50, Bashmoti safed, Malaysira, Khas-kani showed highest genetic dissimilarity among the studied rice genotypes. The findings of this study would be useful for background selection in backcross breeding programs for aromatic rice improvement as well as identification of genetically distant and genetically close accessions for maintenance and conservation

Evaluation of impact of measles rubella campaign on vaccination coverage and routine immunization services in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Like other countries in Asia, measles-rubella (MR) vaccine coverage in Bangladesh is suboptimal whereas 90-95 % coverage is needed for elimination of these diseases. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of the Government of Bangladesh implemented MR campaign in January-February 2014 to increase MR vaccination coverage. Strategically, the MOHFW used both routine immunization centres and educational institutions for providing vaccine to the children aged 9 months to <15 years. The evaluation was carried out to assess the impact of the campaign on MR vaccination and routine immunization services. METHODS: Both quantitative and qualitative evaluations were done before and after implementation of the campaign. Quantitative data were presented with mean (standard deviation, SD) for continuous variables and with proportion for categorical variables. The overall and age- and sex-specific coverage rates were calculated for each region and then combined. Categorical variables were compared by chi-square statistics. Multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) of coverage associated with covariates, with adjustment for other covariates. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: The evaluations found MR coverage was very low (<13 %) before the campaign and it rose to 90 % after the campaign. The pre-post campaign difference in MR coverage in each stratum was highly significant (p < 0.001). The campaign achieved high coverage despite relatively low level (23 %) of interpersonal communication with caregivers through registration process. Child registration was associated with higher MR coverage (OR 2.91, 95 % CI 1.91-4.44). Children who attended school were more likely to be vaccinated (OR 8.97, 95 % CI 6.17-13.04) compared to those who did not attend school. Children of caregivers with primary or secondary or higher education had higher coverage compared to children of caregivers with no formal education. Most caregivers mentioned contribution of the campaign in vaccination for the children not previously vaccinated. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the evaluation indicated that the campaign was successful in terms of improving MR coverage and routine immunization services. The evaluation provided an important guideline for future evaluation of similar efforts in Bangladesh and elsewhere

Acute Postpartum Pulmonary Edema in a 32-Year-Old Woman Five Days after Cesarean Delivery

Acute dyspnea after pregnancy is a rare presentation, and a number of important conditions may accompany it. Pulmonary embolism, amniotic fluid embolism, pneumonia, aspiration and pulmonary edema are some of the potential causes that must be considered. The percentage of pregnancies that are complicated by acute pulmonary edema has been estimated 0.08%. The most common contributing factors include the administration of tocolytic agents, underlying cardiac disease, iatrogenic fluid overload and preeclampsia. Here we report a case of 32- year-old woman of 5th postpartum day following lower uterine cesarean section with acute dyspnea from her first pregnancy who was admitted in coronary care unit with history of one episode of raised blood pressure 160/90 mm Hg and cough on 1st postoperative day. Clinical examination and relevant investigations explored that it was a case of bilateral pulmonary edema. Patient was kept in ventilator and was treated with nitroglycerine (GTN), frusemide and ACE inhibitor. After diuresis, considerable improvement was observed in her respiratory status. From the 4th day, the patient became hemodynamically stable and was weaned off the ventilator. After five days, all the biochemical parameters became normal and she had no dyspnea

Hypothesis Homology modeling and assigned functional annotation of an uncharacterized antitoxin protein from Streptomyces xinghaiensis

Abstract: Streptomyces xinghaiensis is a Gram-positive, aerobic and non-motile bacterium. The bacterial genome is known. Therefore, it is of interest to study the uncharacterized proteins in the genome. An uncharacterized protein (gi|518540893|86 residues) in the genome was selected for a comprehensive computational sequence-structure-function analysis using available data and tools. Subcellular localization of the targeted protein with conserved residues and assigned secondary structures is documented. Sequence homology search against the protein data bank (PDB) and non-redundant GenBank proteins using BLASTp showed different homologous proteins with known antitoxin function. A homology model of the target protein was developed using a known template (PDB ID: 3CTO:A) with 62% sequence similarity in HHpred after assessment using programs PROCHECK and QMEAN6. The predicted active site using CASTp is analyzed for assigned anti-toxin function. This information finds specific utility in annotating the said uncharacterized protein in the bacterial genome. Keywords: antitoxin, homology modeling, active-site residues, prediction, hypothetical protein, Streptomyces xinghaiensis Background: Streptomyces are soil-conquering gram-positive bacteria and a member of the order of Actinomycetales [1]. Streptomyces xinghaiensis, a novel species of Streptomyces, was isolated from a marine sediment sample collected from Xinghai Bay, Dalian, China [2]. The S. xinghaiensis draft genome contains 7,618,725 bp with a GC content of 72.5%, representing approximately 92.7% of the 8.2-Mb estimated size of the genome. Analysis of the genome revealed a number of genes related to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. At least 15 clusters involved in secondary metabolism were identified; these include one gene cluster that highly resembles the gene cluster of ribostamycin [3], an amino-glycoside antibiotic. Toxinantitoxin (TA) system was widely adopted in many genomes like bacteria and archaea and is usually recognized as a maintenance or stability mediator [4, 5]. Although, the exact role of this system in the genome is not clear but, acts as sentinels against DNA loss and various stress managemen

Physico-chemical modifications induced by 70 MeV carbon ions in alpha phased polyvinylidene fluoride (<img src='/image/spc_char/alpha.gif' border=0>-PVDF) polymer

131-136In the present paper, the physico-chemical changes induced by 70 MeV carbon ions (12C+5) have been investigated in PVDF using UV-Visible, FTIR, XRD and HFIA techniques. The induced changes have been studied with respect to their optical, chemical, structural and electrical response. The polymer samples have been irradiated in the ion fluence ranging from 11011 to 31012 ions cm-2. The UV-visible spectra show that the optical absorption increases with increasing ion fluence. Two new dips at 482 nm and 654 nm were appeared in the irradiated sample which may be due to the fluorinated defects created due to irradiation. In the FTIR spectra, it was found that transmittance intensity decreases with increasing ion fluence in the range 1500-4000 cm<span style="font-family:Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-hansi-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:symbol"="" lang="EN-GB">-1. The diffraction pattern of PVDF indicates that crystallinity decreases with increasing ion fluence but the crystallite size is found to increase due to carbon ion irradiation. The variation of dielectric constant and dielectric loss for virgin and irradiated films have been studied in the frequency range 10 mHz-10 MHz at ambient temperature. There is an exponential increase in ac conductivity with increasing frequency and the effect of irradiation is significant at higher fluence. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss changed significantly due to ion beam irradiation, meanwhile the frequency exponents decreased with increasing ion fluence. It was found that dielectric response in both virgin as well as irradiated samples obey the Jonscher’s power law. </span

Extraction of bioactive compound from Acacia seyal gum, in vitro evaluation of antitumor activity of its crude extract against leukemia

Today, many therapy drugs have been used to treat cancer patients. However, those drugs are not effective enough and usually have adverse side effects on human health. Different herbal medicine is rising in popularity because it is more compatible with the human body and has fewer side effects. Even while alternative herbal remedies effectively decrease symptoms in traditional medicine, many of them have yet to be scientifically proven. As a result, it's critical to keep looking for ways to recover its efficiency against cancer cells. Acacia seyal gum (ASG), known as Arabic gum, is a well-known traditional medicinal therapy with various restorative characteristics. In this study, the yield of ASG extract was optimized using experimental design followed by chemical characterization of a bioactive compound for the last yield, then the therapeutic potential of ASG crude extracts against leukemia cancer cells was investigated in vitro. The Raman Spectroscopy (RS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, and GC-TOFMS analyses were used to characterize ASG crude hydroethanolic extract bioactive components. The anti-leukemic activity of ASG crude extracts was investigated in vitro against tumoral Jurkat T-cell ALL, and K562 leukemia cancer cell lines, as well as nontumoral WIL2NS cells. The optimum extraction conditions resulted in a yield of 75.89% after 45 min of extraction at temperature 40 °C and solid/liquid ratio of 1:25 g/ml. The cytotoxicity assays of ASG and Taxol revealed that both treatments inhibited the growth of K562 and Jurkat T cancer cells and exhibited the lowest IC50 for K562 and Jurkat T cancer cell (IC50=10 g/ml and IC50=5.11 g/ml, respectively), and a negligible inhibition effect for WIL2NS cells (IC50=80 g/ml)

General service and child immunization-specific readiness assessment of healthcare facilities in two selected divisions in Bangladesh

Abstract Background Service readiness of health facilities is an integral part of providing comprehensive quality healthcare to the community. Comprehensive assessment of general and service-specific (i.e. child immunization) readiness will help to identify the bottlenecks in healthcare service delivery and gaps in equitable service provision. Assessing healthcare facilities readiness also helps in optimal policymaking and resource allocation. Methods A health facility survey was conducted between March 2015 and December 2015 in two purposively selected divisions in Bangladesh; i.e. Rajshahi division (high performing) and Sylhet division (low performing). A total of 123 health facilities were randomly selected from different levels of service, both public and private, with variation in sizes and patient loads from the list of facilities. Data on various aspects of healthcare facility were collected by interviewing key personnel. General service and child immunization specific service readiness were assessed using the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) manual developed by World Health Organization (WHO). The analyses were stratified by division and level of healthcare facilities. Results The general service readiness index for pharmacies, community clinics, primary care facilities and higher care facilities were 40.6%, 60.5%, 59.8% and 69.5%, respectively in Rajshahi division and 44.3%, 57.8%, 57.5% and 73.4%, respectively in Sylhet division. Facilities at all levels had the highest scores for basic equipment (ranged between 51.7% and 93.7%) and the lowest scores for diagnostic capacity (ranged between 0.0% and 53.7%). Though facilities with vaccine storage capacity had very high levels of service readiness for child immunization, facilities without vaccine storage capacity lacked availability of many tracer items. Regarding readiness for newly introduced pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), most of the surveyed facilities reported lack of sufficient funding and resources (antigen) for training programs. Conclusions Our study suggested that health facilities suffered from lack of readiness in various aspects, most notably in diagnostic capacity. Conversely, with very few challenges, nearly all the health facilities designated to provide immunization services were ready to deliver routine childhood immunization services as well as newly introduced PCV and IPV

Factors influencing patients’ satisfaction at different levels of health facilities in Bangladesh: Results from patient exit interviews

<div><p>There is a paucity in current literature about the level of patients’ satisfaction and factors influencing it in Bangladesh health system. We aimed to measure the level of patients’ satisfaction across different types and levels of healthcare facilities and to determine which factors influence this satisfaction level. A patient exit interview was carried out among 2207 patients attending selected health facilities in two administrative divisions of Bangladesh, namely Rajshahi and Sylhet. Information on healthcare experience and satisfaction with received care was collected through an electronic structured questionnaire. Information about <i>‘overall satisfaction with healthcare’</i> was collected on a 10-point scale and then dichotomized based on the median-split. Binomial logistic regressions, both simple and multivariable, were conducted to identify which factors contribute significantly to patients’ satisfaction. We found that 63.2% of the participants were satisfied with the healthcare service they received. Patients attending the private facilities had the highest level of satisfaction (i.e. 73%) and patients attending the primary care facilities had the lowest level of satisfaction (i.e. 52%). Factors like convenient opening hours, asking related questions to the providers, facility cleanliness and privacy settings were significantly associated with patients’ satisfaction. Being satisfied with facility cleanliness (multivariable OR 4.30; 95% CI: 3.29–5.62) and privacy settings (multivariable OR 1.68; 95% CI: 1.28–2.21) were the strongest predictors of patients’ satisfaction. In conclusion, a significant portion of the patients in Bangladesh are not satisfied with their received care. Patients’ satisfaction can be increased by focusing on improving facility cleanliness, privacy settings and providers’ interpersonal skills.</p></div