Political Economy of Local Level Budgeting in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis

Accompanying the estimation of revenue and expenditure, the local level budget manifests a grassroots area's development plan for a defined period. In Bangladesh, the Union Parishad (UP), the lowest tier of local government, is obliged to prepare its annual budget by ensuring people's participation through various mechanisms and committees following the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009. With this background, the study explores the UPs' budgeting procedure to identify the influential actors and effectiveness of people's participation from political economy perspectives. Following the qualitative case study approach, this study was conducted on the four Union Parishads in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Cumilla and Narsingdi districts. It follows the in-depth interview and Focus Group Discussion techniques to collect primary data from the UP chairman, members, Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO), and other members of various UP committees. The finding shows that mechanisms like Ward Committee (WC), Ward Shava (WS), Standing Committee (SC), Planning Committee (PC) and Social Mapping for ensuring people's participation are not working accordingly. In most cases, these committees are confined to the papers. In practice, the budgeting procedure is dominated by the politically and economically empowered groups, e.g. UP chairman and his allies, ruling party members, local elites and bureaucrats, which is hindering the socio-economic development at the grass-root level in Bangladesh

テトラヒメナ・グループⅠリボザイムの構造不安定な変異体に対するポリアミンの添加効果の生化学的解析

富山大学・富生命博甲第111号・MST GULSHAN ARA・2019/03/26関連論文1. Mst Ara Gulshan, Md Motiar Rahman, Shigeyoshi Matsumura, Tsunehiko Higuchi, Naoki Umezawa, Yoshiya Ikawa, Biogenic triamine and tetraamine activate core catalytic ability of Tetrahymena group I ribozyme in the absence of its large activator module, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 496, Issue 2, 2018, Pages 594-600, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.01.0852. Mst. Ara Gulshan, Shigeyoshi Matsumura, Tsunehiko Higuchi, Naoki Umezawa & Yoshiya Ikawa (2018) Comparative study of polyethylene polyamines as activator molecules for a structurally unstable group I ribozyme, Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 82:8, 1404-1407. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry on Aug 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09168451.2018.14658113. Mst Ara Gulshan, Kasumi Tsuji, Shigeyoshi Matsumura, Tsunehiko Higuchi, Naoki Umezawa, Yoshiya Ikawa, Distinct modulation of group I ribozyme activity among stereoisomers of a synthetic pentamine with structural constraints, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 504, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 698-703, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.09.015富山大

Clinical Outcomes of Laparoscopic Versus Open Appendectomy

Results of this study suggest that laparoscopic appendectomy offers the benefit of a shortened hospital stay, decreased need for postoperative anesthesia, and early return to normal activities

Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, High Normal Fasting Plasma Glucose levels and the risk of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2

Background: To find out the relationship between obesity, sedentary lifestyle and fasting plasma glucose (FPG)levels in apparently healthy individuals belonging to the paramedical staff of the Liaqat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.Methods: 50 healthy individuals were included in the study. FPG levels were measured at baseline and after three years. Body mass index was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters, and the subjects were defined as obese if their BMI was 30 or greater. A specially designed questionnaire NICE guideline- PHI2 Physical activity: Implementation advice 2006 was filled at baseline & at the end of the study. Patients with known DM were excluded from the study. Results: At baseline the mean FPG level was 88 ± 5.62 mg/dl which increased to 98.4 ± 4.22 mg/dl in a three year period. 41% of subjects had FPG of ≥100 when followed up after 3 years. There were two incident cases of DM Type 2. The study revealed that in men with FPG of 100 mg/dL or higher there was a progressively greater risk for type 2 diabetes as the FPG values rose, compared with men who had an FPG of less than 86 mg/dL, p <0.001. A similar large risk was detected in men with a BMI of 30 or more, compared with a BMI less than 25 .It was also observed that most of the subjects were among the moderately inactive group. Conclusion: Persons with normal blood sugar at a given examination, who are over weight and living a sedentary life style; can develop diabetes in coming years as compared to people with less BMI and lower normal fasting plasma glucose levels

Can a Combined Agriculture and Nutrition Behaviour Change Intervention Improve Women’s Empowerment? A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study in Rural Bangladesh

Many agricultural and home gardening interventions aim to improve the nutritional status of women and children in low- and middle-income countries by focusing on women as the recipients of the intervention and make assumptions that women will be empowered as a result. This paper examines the potential impact of an intervention study that combined home garden training and support, and nutrition behaviour change communication, with a social safety net payment, on women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh. We assessed the implementation of this study in terms of feasibility, acceptability, and practical application. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with randomly selected women that took part in the study. Qualitative data was coded using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006) and the results presented using the following five indicators: control over use of income, input into productive decisions, respect among household members, self-efficacy, and input into nutrition and health care decisions. Our study showed that a combined nutrition-specific (nutrition counselling) and nutrition-sensitive (agricultural training and unconditional cash transfer) intervention, delivered on a mobile platform, to women from low-income families in rural Bangladesh was feasible and acceptable. The study further revealed evidence on behaviour change across five key indicators related to women’s empowerment. The study highlights the potential for such an intervention to impact women’s empowerment and provides insight for the aid in the design of larger-scale trials implemented in similar settings

Genistein suppresses doxorubicin associated genotoxicity in human lymphocytes

Doxorubicin is a well-known DNA intercalating chemotherapy drug that is widely used for treatment of different cancers. Its clinical utility is limited due to the observed genotoxic side effects on healthy cells suggesting that newer combination and genoprotective regimens are urgently needed for the management of doxorubicin chemotherapy. Some dietary phytochemicals are well known for their protective mechanism of action and genistein from soy is recognized as an anti-oxidant with similar properties. Therefore, the present study investigates the effect of genistein against the genotoxic doses of doxorubicin by assessing chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges, cell cycle kinetics, cell viability, apoptosis, and DNA damage markers in cultured human lymphocytes. Our results reveal that genistein treatment significantly suppresses genotoxic damage induced by doxorubicin. It is concluded that genistein has the potential to reduce the genotoxicity induced by anti-cancer drugs, thereby reducing the chances of developing secondary tumors during the therapy.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Effect of myricetin on cognitive impairments in the transgenic Drosophila model of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder involving the loss of dopaminergic neurons. Despite the availability of many drugs to ease the life of PD patients, there is no permanent cure until now. Now-a-days, there has been a considerable attention towards the use of herbal products to treat PD patients worldwide due to less side effects. In this context, here we investigated myricetin, a common plant derived flavonoid, on the cognitive impairments exhibited by the transgenic Drosophila expressing human -synuclein in the neurons. The PD flies were allowed to feed on the diet having 10, 20 and 40 μM of myricetin for 24 days and then assayed for cognitive impairments. The exposure of myricetin showed a dose dependent significant delay in the cognitive impairments. Molecular docking studies showed the positive interaction between myricetin and -synuclein. The results suggest a protective effect of myricetin against the cognitive impairments

Effect of myricetin on cognitive impairments in the transgenic Drosophila model of Parkinson’s Disease

27-33Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder involving the loss of dopaminergic neurons. Despite the availability of many drugs to ease the life of PD patients, there is no permanent cure until now. Now-a-days, there has been a considerable attention towards the use of herbal products to treat PD patients worldwide due to less side effects. In this context, here we investigated myricetin, a common plant derived flavonoid, on the cognitive impairments exhibited by the transgenic Drosophila expressing human -synuclein in the neurons. The PD flies were allowed to feed on the diet having 10, 20 and 40 μM of myricetin for 24 days and then assayed for cognitive impairments. The exposure of myricetin showed a dose dependent significant delay in the cognitive impairments. Molecular docking studies showed the positive interaction between myricetin and -synuclein. The results suggest a protective effect of myricetin against the cognitive impairments

Linkages of agroecosystems producing farmed seafood on food security, nutritional status and adolescent health in Bangladesh

Funding Information: We wish to acknowledge funding from Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) to write this review. The research of BdR and AAS is supported by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). NR is funded by the University of Copenhagen, AG and TA are funded by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh, AAM is funded by Noakhali Science and Technology University Bangladesh and FM and DL are funded by the University of Stirling.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Impact of Zinc Deficiency on Vibrio Cholerae Enterotoxin-stimulated Water and Electrolyte Transport in Animal Model

The effect of zinc deficiency on the function of the intestine to absorb water and electrolytes was studied in animal models, stimulated by Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin. Sprague-Dawley rats, used in the study, were divided into four groups: Zinc-deficient, ad libitum zinc-fed control, zinc weight-matched control, and zinc-deficient acutely-repleted. 14C-labelled polyethylene glycol solution was used for measuring the absorption capacity of the small intestine. Significantly lower absorption of water and sodium per cm of the intestine was observed in the zinc-deficient animals compared to the ad libitum zinc-fed control animals (p<0.01). An improved absorption capacity was equally observed in the zinc-deficient acutely-repleted animals and ad libitum zinc-fed control group. The zinc-deficient animals showed four times greater cholera toxin-induced net secretions of water and sodium compared to the ad libitum zinc-fed group (p<0.01), while a 40% reduction was observed in the zinc-deficient acutely-repleted group. The results suggest that zinc deficiency is associated with reduced absorption of water and electrolytes and increased secretion of the same stimulated by cholera toxin