Simulating soil carbon sequestration from long term fertilizer and manure additions under continuous wheat using the DailyDayCent model

Bangabandhu Fellowship on Science and ICT project, Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Open Access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Findings from colposcopy and colposcopy directed biopsy in cervical precancerous lesions

Background: Pap smear test has been less successful in identifying those women with the highest risk for pre-malignant disease, so the patients with equivocal Pap smear would need further evaluation with colposcopy. Performing the colposcopy with more accuracy would result in better prognosis of pre-malignant lesions. However, performing a comparison with directed biopsy is required to obtain more definite results. The aim of this study was to determine colcoscopic findings in VIA positive cases.Methods: This observational study was conducted at the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong from September 2014 to February 2015. A total 72 women of VIA positive cases attended at colposcopy clinic of CMCH were included in this study. These patients were selected nonrandomly according to inclusion criteria. All patients were sign a written informed consent before recruitment into the study. According to colposcopy diagnosis was done by Reid colposcopic index. All patients were undergone directed biopsy followed by histopathology. Data were collected under guidance and advice of the supervisor through a structured questionnaire.Results: Almost two-thirds of the cases were 30-39 years age group. Among the 72 cases the presentations were mainly excessive vaginal discharge 61.1%, dyspareunia 16.7%, post-coital bleeding 9.7% and abnormal inter-menstrual bleeding 12.5%. Colposcopically 90.3% had CIN and invasive lesions, while 9.7% was normal. Colposcopically directed punch biopsy revealed in 84.7% cases positive lesions and 15.3% had not any CIN or invasive lesions.Conclusions: This study demonstrated high accuracy. Sensitivity is lower in our studies, probably because biopsies were performed in all case

'The clock keeps ticking' - the role of a community-based intervention in reducing delays in seeking emergency obstetric care in rural Bangladesh: a quasi-experimental study

Objective: To explore the role of a community-based intervention in reducing delays in accessing emergency obstetric care (EmOC) in rural Bangladesh, and the factors associated with delayed decision making, reaching the health facility and receiving treatment. Study design: Quasi-experimental study. Methods: Multistage random sampling was used to select 540 villages, from which 1200 women who reported obstetric complications in March–April 2010 were interviewed. Results: The median time taken to make the decisions to access health care was significantly lower in the intervention areas compared with the control areas (80 vs 90 min). In addition, the median time taken to reach the health facility was significantly lower in intervention areas compared with the control areas (110 vs 135 min). However, no difference was found in the median time taken to receive treatment. Multiple linear regressions demonstrated that community intervention significantly reduced decision making and time taken to reach the health facility when accessing EmOC in rural Bangladesh. However, for women experiencing haemorrhage, the delays were longer in the intervention areas. Protective factors against delayed decision making included access to television, previous medical exposure, knowledge, life-threatening complications during childbirth and use of primary health facility. Financial constraints and traditional perceptions were associated with delayed decision making. Complications during labour, use of a motorized vehicle and use of a primary health facility were associated with faster access to EmOC and poverty, distance, transportation difficulties and decision making by male guardian were associated with slower access to EmOC. Conclusions: The intervention appeared to reduce the time taken to make the decision to access health care and time taken to reach the health facility when accessing EmOC. This study provides support for a focus on emergency preparedness for timely referral from the community

The effect of the maternal vitamin D level on the risk of spontaneous pregnancy loss in the first trimester

Background: Pregnancy loss in the first trimester is one of the most disappointing matters for a mother. But spontaneous pregnancy loss in the first trimester is the most common negative outcome of pregnancy. It's estimated that about 10% of known pregnancies are lost in the first trimester whereas fewer than 4% of pregnancies miscarry in the second trimester. Aim of current study was to assess the effect of the maternal vitamin D level on the risk of spontaneous pregnancy loss in the first trimester.Methods: It was a case-control study conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Sir Salimullah medical college Mitford hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period of September 2018 to August 2019. A total of 100 patients were included in this study. Statistical analyses of the results were obtained by using window-based computer software devised with SPSS version 22.0.Results: In analyzing the association of serum vitamin D status with first-trimester pregnancy state it was observed that more than half (52.0%) patients had severe deficiency (<10 ng/ml) in the case group and 14 (28.0%) patients in the control group. In total 24 (48.0%) patients had deficiency (10-20 ng/ml) in case and 35 (70.0%) in control group. Only 1 (2.0%) patient had insufficiency (21-29 ng/ml) in control group. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05) between the two groups.Conclusions: Maternal serum vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with early spontaneous pregnancy loss in the first trimester

Modelling methane emissions and grain yields for a double-rice system in Southern China with DAYCENT and DNDC models

Acknowledgements This work contributed to the following projects: EU Horizon 2020 programme (SuperG) and The Scientific and Technological Innovation Special Fund Project of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality in Jiangsu Province (No. BE2022311). The first author (Yang Guo) gratefully acknowledges financial support from China Scholarship Council (CSC).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Association of serum pregnancy associated plasma protein: a with gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is defined as diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy that is not clearly overt diabetes. GDM has many adverse consequences on the health of mother and fetus. Methods: This cohort study was carried out involving 77 women of 11 to14-week pregnant attending in the Gynecology &amp; Obstetrics and Fetomaternal Medicine OPD, BSMMU from September 2020 to August 2021. Results: Respondents were divided into two groups. Low PAPP-A group (&lt;0.5MoM) and normal PAPP-A group (&gt;0.5MoM). In low PAPP-A group, out of 16 respondents, 8 (42.1%) developed GDM and remaining 8(13.8%) were euglycemic. Whereas, in normal PAPP-A group, out of 61 respondents, majority 50 (86.2%) were euglycemic and only 11 (57.9%) women developed GDM. A total 19 (24.68%) respondents developed GDM from both low and normal PAPP-A group. ROC analysis of PAPP-A level for detection of GDM, a AUC value of 0.889 (95% CI 0.818-0.960) found which was statistically significant. A cut off value of ≤16.80 showed the highest Youden index (0.652) with 89.4% sensitivity and 81% specificity, the accuracy was 83.35. Moreover, a cut off value ≤16.80 showed PPV and NPV of 62.1% and 95.9%, respectively. PAPP-A level of GDM detected (10.32±5.56) µg/ml was significantly lower from non GDM mothers (25.08 ±9.85) µg/ml, where p&lt;0. 001. Conclusions: Study finding revealed that maternal serum PAPP-A level was lower in 11-14 weeks of pregnancy who subsequently developed GDM. So, a low PAPP-A level (&lt;0.5 MoM) in 11-14 weeks of pregnancy is associated for development of GDM

Modelling greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potentials in fertilized paddy rice fields in Bangladesh

The work was supported by Bangabandhu Fellowship on Science and ICT project, Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of Bangladesh. We are grateful to the model developers at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America, for sending us the new methane version of the DayCent model.Peer reviewedPostprin

Antidiabetic and analgesic effects of Glycosmis pentaphylla (Retz.) in Swiss albino mice

Background and purposes: Glycosmis pentaphylla (Retz.) Correa, a medicinal plant is popularly used as herbal remedy for various ailments in Bangladesh. It was also reported that GP has both anti-hyperglycemic and analgesic effects and being widely used to reduce blood glucose and to alleviate pain for many years in this region though published literatures are scarce. The present study was designed to evaluate whether ethanolic extract of Glycosmis pentaphylla (GP) have anti-hyperglycemic and analgesic effects. A total of 60 Swiss Albino male mice of nine weeks (weight, 20-25g) were used for investigation. Of them, 40 were made diabetic by alloxan. They were investigated in two groups – a) 20 mice by oral glucose tolerance test (4 samples OGTT) – at 0, 30, 90 and 120 min; and b) 20 mice for a week-long antihyperglycemic activity on day 0, 1, 3 & 7. Both the groups were subdivided into four, each having 5 mice – i) the ‘control’ received only 0.5% methyl cellulose as vehicle; ii) ‘Standard’ received vehicle plus metformin; iii & iv) test ‘DGP250’ & ‘DGP500’ received vehicle plus GP extract with 250 & 500 mg /kg, respectively. For the analgesic activity, 20 mice were investigated in four subgroups, each having 5 mice and similar steps were adopted. Here, vehicle was used 1% Tween 80 and intra-peritoneal injection of Acetic acid for eliciting pain in all four subgroups. The ‘standard’ group got diclofenac sodium for comparison with the test groups ‘GP250’ and ‘GP500’. In OGTT, Ethanolic extract of GP250 and GP500 reduced blood glucose at 90 min. But the levels of reduction were more significant at 120 min, 50.7% by GP250 and 66% by GP500 (p<0.001). The reduction is almost comparable with that induced by metformin. Likewise, for a weeklong anti-hyperglycemic activity, the GP extracts were found as equally effective as metfomin, which was also dose dependent. In addition to antihyperglycemic effect, the ethanolic extract of GP showed significant analgesic effect that was also dose dependent. Our results indicate that GP extract has antihyperglycemic effect in both short and in weeklong duration, which is almost comparable to Metformin HCL, a known and widely used antihyperglycemic agent. The GP extract was also found to have an analgesic effect almost comparable to diclofenac sodium, a known analgesic drug. Further study is needed to confirm the anti-hyperglycemic and analgesic effect of GP including its side effects in long term use. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2012; 6(1): 21-2

Modeling Soil Carbon Under Diverse Cropping Systems and Farming Management in Contrasting Climatic Regions in Europe

17 Pags.- 7 Figs.- 3 Tabls. © 2022 Begum, Zornoza, Farina, Lemola, Álvaro-Fuentes and Cerasuolo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).Sustainable agriculture has been identified as key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to end poverty and hunger and address climate change while maintaining natural resources. Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is a key soil function for ecosystem services, and storing carbon (C) in soil by changing traditional management practices can represent an important step toward the development of more sustainable agricultural systems in Europe. Within the European project Diverfarming, the process-based ecosystem model ECOSSE was modified and evaluated in four long-term experiments (>8 years) to assess the impact of crop diversification and agricultural management in SOC dynamics. ECOSSE was able to simulate SOC under dry conditions in Mediterranean regions in Spain and Italy. In the site of Murcia, Spain, the addition of manure and cover crop in the diversified systems produced an increase of SOC in 9 years, when compared with the conventional management (16% measured increase, 32% simulated increase). The effect of tillage management on SOC stock in dry soil, in Foggia, Italy and Huesca, Spain, was also modeled, and a positive impact on SOC was predicted when no tillage was practiced. Finally, ECOSSE was used to understand the impact of diversifications in Boreal regions, Finland, where different proportions of legumes and grass were considered in a 4-year crop rotation compared with conventional cereal rotations. Experiments and modeling showed that the loss of SOC in conventional cereal was compensated when grass was introduced in the rotations. A good agreement (NRMSE <10%) and a nonsignificant bias were observed between model and experimental data for all sites. Mitigation scenarios considered in the modeling analysis for the test site Huesca showed that an integrated management of no tillage and manure is the best strategy to increase SOC, ∼51% over 20 years, compared with the baseline scenario (current farmers practice). This study demonstrated the ability of the modified version of ECOSSE to simulate SOC dynamics in diversified cropping systems, with various soil management practices and different climatic conditions.The work was funded by the Diverfarming project “Crop diversification and low-input farming across Europe: from practitioners’ engagement and ecosystems services to increased revenues and value chain organisation,” a European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation, under grant agreement no. 728003.Peer reviewe