Understanding driving stress in urban Bangladesh: An exploratory study, wearable development and experiment

Driving stress significantly impacts driving behavior primarily from roadside factors, where driving is more challenging in developing countries (i.e., Bangladesh) for unique cultural and infrastructural setups. We conduct an exploratory study (Qualitative n=26, and Subjective Feedback n= 80) and a correlational analysis involving professional and private car drivers in urban Bangladesh. The study reveals drivers' demography and driving stress factors on the road. These findings motivate us to identify driving stress from physiological factors by developing a low-cost wearable, Stress Wear. This can detect stress from varying Heart Rates, validated by expensive commercial wearables. Between subject experiments on drivers (total n=14 in two phases) with wearables, we also found that road factors are responsible for driving stress. Therefore, the developed system is helpful for these drivers to self-sensing their stress

iFreephony: Minimalistic interface developed for the visually impaired and the elderly community in Bangladesh

Touchscreen-based phones can be challenging for people with visual impairment.These phones require special features to cater to their needs when it comes to a developing country’s perspective like Bangladesh.The interface needs to remain simple as well as it must support the required functionalities.It is often observed that touchscreen phones are not desirable for the user community in Bangladesh as it offers a complex set of functions.We have considered visually impaired personnel in terms of physical limitations and the community who falls in the older age limit as our target community.Our user study has confirmed that the visually impaired user community here asks for a simple and functional interface.We have designed, developed, and deployed a simple system ifreePhony that captures the minimalistic features.We have considered both the elderly and the visually impaired community in our user studies.It shows around 36% reduction in search time and around 57% increase in text typing compared to a traditional phone

Social distancing challenges for marginal communities during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

This study presents the challenges of marginal communities in maintaining social distances during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focused on garment worker communities in Bangladesh. The current living conditions put the community at high risk due to the contagious nature of COVID-19. The study involved 55 garment workers (32 female) living in three different regions--Ashulia, Gazipur, and Mirpur of Bangladesh. Through a qualitative research method, three critical aspects were studied. First, the inability to maintain social distancing in the community living in close proximity. Second, there is a lack of concern about healthcare among the community and, finally, the absence of preparation for crisis management. The research work proposes policy level intervention for better healthcare in the light of the pandemic that can be helpful in the coming days

Role of T cells in cancer immunotherapy: Opportunities and challenges

Immunotherapies boosting the immune system\u27s ability to target cancer cells are promising for the treatment of various tumor types, yet clinical responses differ among patients and cancers. Recently, there has been increasing interest in novel cancer immunotherapy practices aimed at triggering T cell-mediated anti-tumor responses. Antigen-directed cytotoxicity mediated by T lymphocytes has become a central focal point in the battle against cancer utilizing the immune system. The molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the actions of T lymphocytes have directed new therapeutic approaches in cancer immunotherapy, including checkpoint blockade, adoptive and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, and cancer vaccinology. This review addresses all the strategies targeting tumor pathogenesis, including metabolic pathways, to evaluate the clinical significance of current and future immunotherapies for patients with cancer, which are further engaged in T cell activation, differentiation, and response against tumors

Open Science – for whom?

Who can participate in Open Science and whose interests are served? Open Science in principle holds the potential to reduce inequality, but this is not going to happen unless it operates within a consistent framework and environment that supports this goal. Unequal power and opportunities from institutional to global level constitutes a major obstacle to human development, while we need to appreciate diversity as a key asset. How can we build an equitable global research ecosystem in accordance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that recognises science as a global common good and an integral part of the shared cultural heritage of humankind?Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Multidrug Resistance in Cancer: Understanding Molecular Mechanisms, Immunoprevention and Therapeutic Approaches

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Several treatments are available for cancer treatment, but many treatment methods are ineffective against multidrug-resistant cancer. Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a major obstacle to effective therapeutic interventions against cancer. This review describes the known MDR mechanisms in cancer cells and discusses ongoing laboratory approaches and novel therapeutic strategies that aim to inhibit, circumvent, or reverse MDR development in various cancer types. In this review, we discuss both intrinsic and acquired drug resistance, in addition to highlighting hypoxia- and autophagy-mediated drug resistance mechanisms. Several factors, including individual genetic differences, such as mutations, altered epigenetics, enhanced drug efflux, cell death inhibition, and various other molecular and cellular mechanisms, are responsible for the development of resistance against anticancer agents. Drug resistance can also depend on cellular autophagic and hypoxic status. The expression of drug-resistant genes and the regulatory mechanisms that determine drug resistance are also discussed. Methods to circumvent MDR, including immunoprevention, the use of microparticles and nanomedicine might result in better strategies for fighting cancer

Kotha Bondhu

Sign languages are the only communication medium for mute and deaf people all over the world, but all the general people are not familiar with it. It is really tough for these people to make other people understand their voices. In the context of Bangladesh, we have studied these community people specifically from the Tablighi Jamaat community who use different sign language to communicate with people. By studying them we have gathered the local signs along with global standard sign languages in an application named Kotha Bondhu. It is a very simpler application that is understandable to any community people and is able to translate the sign languages into Bengali voic