Tidal River Siltation and its Impact in the Coastal Parts of Bangladesh

The study area is located in the south-western coastal part of Bangladesh and belongs to the lower deltaic plain of the Ganges delta system, which lies in the Rampal upazila of Bagherhat district. The area is more or less flat with elevation ranges from 1.0 to 2.0 m above mean sea level (MSL) and is blanketed with fluvio-tidal deposits of sandy silt, clayey silt and clay. Right now, water logging is one of the major problems in the area. The present paper is an attempt to expose the causes of water logging as well as its consequences. The satellite images of the last few decades, existing statistical records and simultaneous field checking were employed in this study, which reveals that natural as well as anthropogenic factors are responsible for water logging problem. The rivers and their link channels in the areas are influenced by tidal water regularly. The Water Development Board (WDB) was built embankments along the river courses as well as constructed sluice gates on the head of the tidal creeks to protect the area from regular tidal flooding and sea water intrusion. During monsoon, when rivers carry huge amount of water and sediments due to torrential rain, and these rising waters overtop the natural levees which were artificially modified and raised by coastal embankments. Consequently, the sediments drop down inside the channel and near channel bank rather in the nearby tidal plain. As a result, channels are gradually congested due to siltation, whereas tidal plain areas gradually lower due to subsidence and lack of sedimentation. Moreover, many sluice gates were constructed on the river courses in the coastal areas which also aggravate the situation. Daudkhali river is one of the main rivers in the study area. Image interpretation depicts that in 1977 the width of this river was nearly about 200 m all through its course and the river maintained this width up to 1990. But due to embankments the river starts to squeeze and the width of the river reached about 100 m in 2000. But in 2014, the river was nearly abandoned. A sluice gate was constructed on the course of the river about 30 years ago near Foila Bazar. The sediments carried by the river started to deposit in the mouth of the sluice gate which gradually choked the opening of the gate and now the gate is nearly blocked. During the rainy season,the river cannot carry excess water resulting flooding and water logging for long time. The presence of thick finer sediments in the subsurface as well as climate change further prolongates the situations. Finally, for sustainable development of the area,it is necessary to carry out different development activities with consideration of delta building processes

Pain Level Detection From Facial Image Captured by Smartphone

Accurate symptom of cancer patient in regular basis is highly concern to the medical service provider for clinical decision making such as adjustment of medication. Since patients have limitations to provide self-reported symptoms, we have investigated how mobile phone application can play the vital role to help the patients in this case. We have used facial images captured by smart phone to detect pain level accurately. In this pain detection process, existing algorithms and infrastructure are used for cancer patients to make cost low and user-friendly. The pain management solution is the first mobile-based study as far as we found today. The proposed algorithm has been used to classify faces, which is represented as a weighted combination of Eigenfaces. Here, angular distance, and support vector machines (SVMs) are used for the classification system. In this study, longitudinal data was collected for six months in Bangladesh. Again, cross-sectional pain images were collected from three different countries: Bangladesh, Nepal and the United States. In this study, we found that personalized model for pain assessment performs better for automatic pain assessment. We also got that the training set should contain varying levels of pain in each group: low, medium and high

Species diversity, seasonal abundance and morphometric analysis of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Caelifera) in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh

A study from July 2016 to June 2017 was carried out to assess the species diversity, seasonal abundance and morphometric characteristics of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Caelifera) at Rajshahi city of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh. A total number of 286 individuals of grasshopper were examined during the study. Eight species of grasshopper were identified under seven genera of 2 families. The numbers of identified species were seven and one, and their percentages were calculated as 90.9% and 9.1% in families Acrididae and Tetrigidae respectively. Based on monthly occurrence, four species of grasshopper were found throughout 12 months, three were 9-11 months and one was 6-8 months. The highest species abundance of grasshoppers was recorded in the month of July to August and lowest in November to January. Among the collected species the status of Camnula pellucida was very common (VC) and rest seven species were considered as not rare (NR). The Simpson’s diversity index (1-D) for grasshopper species was 0.80. For the study of inter-specific variations, morphometric analysis of nine parameters viz. length of body, antenna, foreleg, midleg, hindleg, forewing and hindwing; width of forewing and hindwing was evaluated. The lengths or widths of these parameters were measured by ImageJ software (1.48v) and data were analyzed by GraphPad InStat 3 and MS Excel 2007. Relationship among parameters and different species were determined using repeated measures ANOVA with Tukey post-test. The variation between these species and parameters was considered highly significant (p< 0.001) and showed the dynamic speciation. Morphometric analysis of these eight species was done for the first time from this region

Treatment of Scoliosis by Hartshill Rectangle and Sublaminar Wiring

Background: Scoliosis is a complex three dimensional deformity characterized by coronal, sagittal and horizontal plane deviation. Treatment of scoliosis has made significant development in techniques and modalities of internal fixation. Objective: To see the efficacy of Hartshill rectangle and sublaminar wiring for correction of scoliotic deformity, clinical outcome and patients satisfaction. Methods: During the period of July 2008 to June 2011, 14 patients of scoliotic spinal deformities of various etiologies (Congenital-02, idiopathic-12) were operated. Age ranged from 11 to 23 years with mean 16.71 ± 03.22 years. Female 09 and male 05 patients were included where Hartshill rectangles with sublaminar wiring were used for every case. Results: At least 12 months (range 12-36 months) follow up regarding clinico-radiological evaluation and patients satisfaction were accounted as per the SRS-24 questionnaire. The mean scoliosis in the coronal plane (Cobbs angle) measured 53.50o ± 03.98o preoperatively reducing significantly to 21.14o ± 02.77o (p&lt;0.05) and the mean preoperative sagittal plane angle 60.14o ± 07.30o reducing significantly to average 42.14o ± 05.28o (p&lt;0.05) at 1 year as determined by paired t-test. No neurological complication was seen except transient hyperesthesia in 02 patients, superficial wound infection in 01 patient and 01 wire breakage. All the patients were happy to live with their present back status. Conclusion: Overall outcome in segmental spinal fixation with sublaminar wire and Hartshill rectangle is satisfactory and effective.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bsmmuj.v5i1.10981 BSMMU J 2012; 5(1):6-1

A Novel Real-Time Non-invasive Hemoglobin Level Detection Using Video Images from Smartphone Camera

Hemoglobin level detection is necessary for evaluating health condition in the human. In the laboratory setting, it is detected by shining light through a small volume of blood and using a colorimetric electronic particle counting algorithm. This invasive process requires time, blood specimens, laboratory equipment, and facilities. There are also many studies on non-invasive hemoglobin level detection. Existing solutions are expensive and require buying additional devices. In this paper, we present a smartphone-based non-invasive hemoglobin detection method. It uses the video images collected from the fingertip of a person. We hypothesized that there is a significant relation between the fingertip mini-video images and the hemoglobin level by laboratory gold standard. We also discussed other non-invasive methods and compared with our model. Finally, we described our findings and discussed future works

Pott’s Paraplegia

Spinal tuberculosis (TB) is a worldwide public health issue which is one of the main causes of disability. In regions with high TB incidence, Pott’s disease, also known as spinal tuberculosis, is also highly prevalent. Osteoarticular tuberculosis, which affects 1–2% of people with tuberculosis, is always a secondary infection that individuals with primary TB elsewhere in the body have. The most serious kind of bone TB is Pott’s paraplegia. The spinal cord is compressed, there is a gradual neurologic loss, and there may be deformity as the infection often starts from the vertebral body with noticeable damage and creation of a cold abscess. The management and treatment of spinal TB is challenging and intricate. Despite the availability of cutting-edge surgical techniques, imaging modalities, and anti-tubercular chemotherapy, managing Pott’s paraplegia can be challenging, particularly for those strains having multidrug resistant capacity. In order to achieve the desired neurological outcome, therapy should be tailored to each patient’s unique needs. Early diagnosis and prompt therapy are the main initial challenges in the management. The pathophysiology, imaging differential diagnosis, neuroimaging characteristics, surgical choice, and neurological prognosis of Pott’s paraplegia patients from previous literatures have been highlighted in this chapter

Aggressive discectomy for single level lumbar disk herniation

Aggressive open lumbar discectomy is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for patients with persistent low back and leg pain. In this retrospective study,  1,380 patients were evaluated for long-term results of aggressive discectomy for the single level lumbar disk herniation. Demographic data, surgical data, complications and reherniation rate were collected and clinical outcomes were assessed using visual analogue score (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified Mcnab criteria. The mean follow-up period was 28.8 months. According to the modified Mcnab criteria, the long-term results were excellent in 640 cases, good in 445 cases, fair in 255 cases, and poor in 40 cases. The mean VAS scores for back and radicular pains and ODI at the end of 2 years were 1.1 ± 1.0, 1.5 ± 0.5 and 6.6 ± 3.1% respectively. The complications were foot drop (n=7), dural tear (n=14), superficial wound infection (n=17), discitis (n=37) and reherniation (n=64). The dural tear and superficial wound infections resolved after treatment but 28 discitis patients were treated by conservatively and the remaining 9 underwent surgery. Among reherniation patients, 58 underwent revision discectomy and 4 underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and stabilization. Aggressive discectomy is an effective treatment of lumbar disk herniation and maintains a lower incidence of reherniation but leads to a collapse of disc height and in long run gives rise to intervertebral instability and accelerates spondylosis

Posterior fixation including the fractured vertebra in short segment fixation of unstable thoracolumbar junction burst fractures

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of inclusion of the fractured vertebra in short segment fixation in terms of clinical and the radiological outcomes in unstable thoracolumbar junction burst fractures at a minimum of 1 year follow-up. Records of 52 patients (age: 21-50 years) with thoracolumbar burst fracture (T10L2) in Magerl Type A fractures underwent posterior pedicle screw fixation including the fractured vertebra. Clinical parameters were back pain using Visual Analogue Score (VAS) and disability using Oswestry disability index (ODI), neurological deficit (using ASIA grade) and radiologic parameters (Cobb angle, the kyphotic deformation and vertebral height) were measured before surgery and at 3, 6 and 12 months  post-operatively. The presence of screw breakage, screw pullout, peri-implant loosening, and rod breakage were considered as criteria for implant failure. The majority of fractures resulted due to falls (31 cases), and the remaining cases resulted from car accidents (21 cases). The fractured vertebral body level was L1, T12, L2, T11, and T10 in 23, 17, 6, 4 and 2 cases and achieved satisfactory clinical outcomes according to the modified Mcnab criteria 18, 25, 6 and 3 cases were considered to have excellent, good, fair, and poor outcome. The mean kyphotic angle at pre-, post-operative and final follow-up was 13.5 ± 6.3, 13.4 ± 4.3, 8.5 ± 6.  The average loss of kyphosis correction was 6.4 ± 5.2° at the final follow-up. The mean pre- and post-operative kyphotic deformation of vertebral body was 5.1 ± 3.2, 4.8 ± 2.3 and at final follow-up was 4.5 ± 4.0 (p&gt;0.05). The mean anterior and posterior vertebral height also showed significant improvements post-operatively, which were maintained at the final follow-up. The mean ODI and VAS scores at the end of 1 year were 17.4%, 1.7 respectively. There was no case of major complication after surgery and during the follow-up period. In conclusion, reduction of unstable thoracolumbar junction burst fracture can be achieved and maintained with the use of short-segment pedicle screw fixation including the fractured vertebra, avoiding the need for anterior reconstruction.

Graphics process unit accelerated lattice Boltzmann simulation of indoor air flow: Effects of sub-grid scale model in large-eddy simulation

In this present study, three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann method is implemented with the popular turbulence modeling method large-eddy simulation incorporating three different non-dynamic sub-grid scale models Smagorinsky, Vreman, and wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity for finding the inhomogeneous turbulent airflow patterns inside a model room with a partition. The large eddy simulation-lattice Boltzmann method code is validated with the experimental results of Posner’s model, where the model room having one partition at the bottom, one inlet, an outlet placed at top wall considered for the comparisons. The lattice Boltzmann method code is also validated without any sub-grid scale model with the results of lid-driven flow in a cubic cavity. The present numerical simulations are performed by the graphics process unit accelerated parallel programs using compute unified device architecture C platform. Double precession capable a Tesla k40 with 2880 compute unified device architecture cores NVIDIA graphics process unit card has been used for these simulations. Graphics processor units have gained popularity in recent years as a propitious platform for numerical simulation of fluid dynamics. In fact, faster computational task performance in graphics process units is one of the key factors for researchers to choose graphics process unit over conventional central processing units for the implementation of data-intensive numerical methods like lattice Boltzmann method. The effects of the sub-grid scale model have been evaluated in terms of the mean velocity profiles, streamlines as well as turbulence characteristics and found that there are significant differences in the results due to the different sub-grid scale models