Contributing Factors to Under-Five Child Malnutrition in Rural Bangladesh

Background and objectives: Bangladesh has the highest malnutrition rates in the world. The main objective of this study is to identify and determine the main factors for child malnutrition among children under the age 5 years in rural Bangladesh. Material and methods: This research was conducted in rural areas at Meherpur district in Bangladesh. Convenience sampling method is used and 85 under 5 child information is collected through a structured questionnaire. The information’s of child’s are gathered from the mothers of the child. Malnourished children is measured by using APLS method and WHO Child Growth Standard Median Index. Binary logistic regression model is used to find out the key factors of malnutrition. Results: It is found that family income, maintain proper diet during pregnancy period, proper diet maintain for children have negative significant (p\u3c0.05) effect on child malnutrition. Conclusion: The magnitude of the child’s malnutrition still is of great concern in Bangladesh. Since, poverty, imbalanced diet during pregnancy period and imbalanced diet for under 5 children influences to malnutrition are significantly associated with high prevalence of malnutrition, so government and people should reduce these factor to reduce malnutrition in rural area of Bangladesh

Hybrid particle swarm optimization for robust digital image watermarking

This paper presents an image watermarking algorithm for the optimization between robustness and transparency which is recently considered as one of the most challenging issues. The novelty is to associate the Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization (HPSO), instead of a single optimization, as a model with singular value decomposition (SVD). To embed and extract the watermark, the singular values of the blocked host image are modified according to the watermark and scaling factors. A series of training patterns are constructed by employing between two images. Moreover, the work takes accomplishing maximum robustness and transparency into consideration. HPSO method is used to estimate the multiple parameters involved in the model. Simulation results demonstrated that the proposed scheme can effectively improve the quality of the watermarked image and resist common image manipulations such as adding noise, resizing compression, tempering, etc. and some geometric attacks

Characterization of transformer FRA signature under various winding faults

Frequency response analysis (FRA) is gaining global popularity in detecting power transformer winding and core deformations due to the development of FRA test equipment. However, because FRA relies on graphical analysis, interpretation of its signatures is still a very specialized area that calls for skillful personnel to detect the sort and likely place of the fault as so far, there is no reliable standard code for FRA signature classification and quantification. This paper aims to initiate the establishment of standard codes for FRA signature interpretation through comprehensive simulation analysis on a detailed transformer distributed parameters-based model. Various mechanical faults such as axial displacement, buckling stress, disk space variation and bushing fault are simulated on the model to study its impact on the FRA signature. The main contribution of this paper is the comprehensive table it presents for FRA signature sensitivity to winding and core deformations that can be used for classification and quantification of the transformer FRA signature

Impaired splenic function in systemic amyloidosis: diagnostic importance of peripheral blood film

We describe case of a 40 year old male, who went on to developed systemic amyloidosis 3 years after the diagnosis of chronic renal failure. The diagnosis of systemic amyloidosis was suspected upon a routine examination of periheral blood film showing features of hyposlenism. We would like to highlight the importance of examination of pheripheral blood film in patients with renal failure for the diagnosis of extensive systemic amyloidosis which occasionally leads to functional hyposplenism, recognized by the presence of abnormal red cell morphology and reduced splenic uptake on isotope scan1

Blood pressure and its associated factors: a comparative study among rural and urban adolescents in Bangladesh

Background: Hypertension in adolescents may lead to irreversible damages in vital organs, such as heart, brain, kidney and may cause death if treatments are not given despite early diagnosis. The aim of this study is to identify the status of blood pressure and its associated factors among adolescents.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. 810 adolescents of 8 schools and colleges in Chittagong district were collected by stratified cluster sampling technique. Ages of the respondents were 14 to 19. Status of Blood pressure and its associated factors in urban and rural area were the main outcome of interest.Results: The study found the significant difference in physical activities and overweight statistics between urban and rural adolescents (P<0.001). Obesity was found only in the urban area that was 1.2%. The mean systolic blood pressure (114.53 mmHg, 110.61 mmHg) and mean diastolic blood pressure (69.87 mmHg, 68.58 mmHg) of boys and girls in urban respondents were more than rural (109.79 mmHg, 68.97 mmHg and 105.02 mmHg, 67.941 mmHg respectively) and was statistically significant (P<0.001). The mean SBP and DBP were 126 mmHg and 79 mmHg respectively among obese. In the study prevalence of hypertension was 1.5% in urban adolescents and 0.2% in rural adolescents. Consumption of fast food, living area, physical activity, paternal hypertension and BMI were found significantly associated (p<0.05) with hypertension among urban adolescents.Conclusions: The results suggest that hypertension and pre-hypertension is an important public health problem among adolescents in urban than rural. The main associated factors are fast food consumption, living area, physical activity, paternal hypertension and BMI

Distribution of chromosomal abnormalities commonly observed in adult acute myeloid leukemia in Pakistan as predictors of prognosis

Objective: The heterogenous response to treatment in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can be attributed largely to the difference in cytogenetic features identified in between cases. Cytogenetic analysis in acute leukemia is now routinely used to assist patient management, particularly in terms of diagnosis, disease monitoring, prognosis and risk stratification. Knowing about cytogenetic profile at the time of diagnosis is important in order to take critical decisions in management of these patients. The study was conducted to determine the distribution of cytogenetic abnormalities in Pakistani adult patients with AML in order to have insights regarding behavior of the. method: A retrospective analysis of all the cases of AML (≥15years old) diagnosed at Aga Khan University from January 2011 to December 2016 was performed. Cytogenetic analysis was made for all cases using the trypsin-Giemsa banding technique. Karyotypes were interpreted using the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN) criteria. Result: A total of 321 patients were diagnosed with AML during the study period, of which 288 samples successfully yielded metaphase chromosomes. The male to female ratio was 1.7:1. A normal karyotype was present in 61% (n=176) of the cases whereas, 39% (n=112) had an abnormal karyotype. Of the abnormal cases, t (8;21) (q22;q22) and t (15;17) (q22;q12) were identified in 8.3% and 4.9% cases respectively. Adverse prognostic cytogenetic subgroups including complex karyotype, monosomy 7 and t(6;9)(p23;q34) were identified in 9%, 1% and 0.7% patients respectively. Conclusion: This largest cytogenetic data in adult AML from Pakistan showed comparable prevalence of favorable prognostic karyotype to international data. The prevalence of specific adverse prognostic karyotype was low

Cochlear implant in a patient with Mondini\u27s deformity of the cochlea: pilot patient in Pakistan

Abstract Autosomal-recessive genes account for about 80% of the patients of non-syndromic deafness, and a major portion of those lead to cochlear pathology. Given the strong cultural practice of consanguineous marriages and the lack of awareness regarding screening modalities, a high prevalence of hereditary pre-lingual deafness is seen in Pakistan. Considering the situation, cochlear implant surgery was introduced by Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi, Pakistan, in 2003. Recently we decided to expand the profile and services available and conducted the first ever cochlear implant on an anatomically-challenged cochlea. The case report relates to the experience of our pilot patient who was suffering from Mondini\u27s deformity

Delamination-and electromigration-related failures in solar panels—a review

The reliability of photovoltaic (PV) modules operating under various weather conditions attracts the manufacturer’s concern since several studies reveal a degradation rate higher than 0.8% per year for the silicon-based technology and reached up to 2.76% per year in a harsh climate. The lifetime of the PV modules is decreased because of numerous degradation modes. Electromigration and delamination are two failure modes that play a significant role in PV modules’ output power losses. The correlations of these two phenomena are not sufficiently explained and understood like other failures such as corrosion and potential-induced degradation. Therefore, in this review, we attempt to elaborate on the correlation and the influence of delamination and electromigration on PV module components such as metallization and organic materials to ensure the reliability of the PV modules. Moreover, the effects, causes, and the sites that tend to face these failures, particularly the silicon solar cells, are explained in detail. Elsewhere, the factors of aging vary as the temperature and humidity change from one country to another. Hence, accelerated tests and the standards used to perform the aging test for PV modules have been covered in this review

The relationship between modified Graeb score and intraventricular hematoma volume with Glasgow outcome scale and modified Rankin scale in intraventricular hemorrhage of brain: a comparative study

Background: Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is an acute neurosurgical condition. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between modified Graeb score (mGS) and intraventricular hematoma volume with Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) and modified Rankin scale (mRS).Methods: This is a Quasi-experimental study conducted in the department of neurosurgery, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong, Bangladesh during the period from 24 July 2018 to 23 July 2019. After a detailed history and clinical examination, 150 patients were selected for this study. The study participants were divided into two major groups- external ventricular drainage (EVD) and conservative; both groups consisted of 44 patients. Written informed consent were taken from the participants. Data were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software.Results: Overall mean age was around 60 years with an age range from 15-85 years. More than three fourth of the patients in both groups were from the age group of >50 years (73.83%). There were no differences between EVD and conservative groups regarding medical comorbidities. Most prevalent comorbidity among the patients of both groups’ hypertension, followed by diabetes and previous ischemic stroke. Overall the most frequent symptoms in the studied patients were vomiting, followed by loss of consciousness, headache and convulsion. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding presenting symptoms. The mean Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score level was significantly lower in the patients with EVD than their counterpart from 1st post-operative day to 8th post-operative day. However, within-group comparison shows that the GCS score was significantly increased from 1st day to 8th day in both groups of patients.Conclusions: These findings can be used to identify patients in whom an EVD may provide measurable outcomes benefit with respect to patient mortality and help guide neurosurgical decision-making in particular patient subgroups with acute IVH