Nitrogen removal by floating constructed wetland: Decontamination of the Buriganga River

Background: Buriganga is considered as one of the most important river in the country. But, its water quality has changed dramatically, which is responsible for creating unfavorable conditions for aquatic life. The main aim of this study was to investigate the removal capacity of pollutants mainly nitrogen present in the Buriganga river as the most polluted rivers in Bangladesh, by floating constructed wetland. Methods: This study was conducted under constant and variable shock loadings in two phases, namely ‘Phase I’ and ‘Phase II’ during 11 and 10 weeks, respectively, in which about 180 L of raw water was dosed into the tank containing a floating mat, and pollutant concentrations in the river water influent from the system were tested over a period of 21 weeks. Results: Floating treatment wetland (FTW) could sustain and remove about 31.25% and 19.23% of ammonia in the 9th and 10th weeks of Phase I, respectively, and 40.63% and 56.12% in the 17th and 18th weeks of Phase II, respectively. At first, ammonia was converted to ammonium, then, to nitrite, and finally, to nitrate. As the rhizosphere was denser and the biofilm was thicker in this study, so nitrogen removal efficiency during the application of shock loading in the 17th and 18th weeks of Phase II was considerable. The removal percentage of nitrite was 76.12 and 80%, respectively. In regular dosing of raw water in the 11th and 19th weeks in Phase I and Phase II, respectively, the total nitrate removal efficiencies from influent were 31.91 and 43.33%, respectively. Conclusion: As water resources are limited, so improvement of water quality of the polluted Buriganga river would act as an important source of reusable water. Keywords: Nitrogen, Nitrites, Nitrates, Ammonium compounds, Water quality, Wetlands, Banglades

Suspension of GSP: Image Crisis for Bangladesh

The most troubled sector of recent times is Ready-made Garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh which is the backbone of our economy. This labor intensive industry has accommodated 4.5 million workers 80% of whom are women in the last fiscal year. So there are about 5,000 garments factories scattered across the country. 78% of our foreign earnings come from this sector. This sector keeps our economy moving, but the industry has been facing numerous problems. Poor working conditions, bad industrial relations, low wage, the arrogant and ruthless attitude of the owners or management and lack of solid and positive initiative on behalf of successive governments has made this sector questionable in the world market. It has lost GSP (Generalized System of Preference) advantage in the U.S market which has created an image crisis for the industry. This is fear of loosing GSP advantage in the EU market as well. To save the employment generation and one of the largest foreign currency earning sectors, BGMEA, BKMEA and Government should adopt an integrated approach on the one hand and boost up the image of this industry on the other.  Key words: Ready Made Garment, GSP, Suspension of GSP

Electronic-Banking Services: A Study on Selected Commercial Banks in Bangladesh

E-Banking as the wave of the future, provides enormous benefits to consumers in terms of cost of transactions, either through internet, telephone or other electronic delivery channels. E-Banking is now widely practiced in Bangladesh. There are various types of e-banking services like SMS banking, Tele Banking, Push and Pull services, ATM, Fast Track etc. that have been introduced by the commercial banks in Bangladesh. This study attempts to explore various forms and characteristics of e-banking and finds out the merits and demerits of e-banking in selected commercial banks of our country. The major findings of the study show that all the commercial banks selected for the study have been practicing e-banking successfully and Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. is providing electronic banking services more effectively than other commercial banks selected in this study. Besides, there is a positive impact of e-banking on the socio-economic development in Bangladesh. There should be diversification of such activities in rural areas of Bangladesh

Effects of salinity on physiological, biochemical and gene expression parameters of Black Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus monodon): potential for farming in low-salinity environments

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting growth, metabolism, immunity and survival of aquatic species in farming environments. As a euryhaline species, the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) can tolerate a wide range of salinity levels and is farmed between brackish to marine water conditions. The current study tested the effects of six different salinity levels (0‰, 2.5‰, 5‰, 10‰, 20‰ and 30‰) on the selected physiological, biochemical and genetic markers (individual changes in the expression pattern of selected candidate genes) in the black tiger shrimp. Experimental salinity levels significantly affected growth and survival performance (p < 0.05); the highest levels of growth and survival performance were observed at the control (20‰) salinity. Salinity reductions significantly increased free fatty acid (FFA), but reduced free amino acid (FAA) levels. Lower salinity treatments (0–10‰) significantly reduced hemolymph osmolality levels while 30‰ significantly increased osmolality levels. The five different salinity treatments increased the expression of osmoregulatory and hemolymph regulatory genes by 1.2–8-fold. In contrast, 1.2–1.6-fold lower expression levels were observed at the five salinity treatments for growth (alpha amylase) and immunity (toll-like receptor) genes. O2 consumption, glucose and serotonin levels, and expression of osmoregulatory genes showed rapid increase initially with salinity change, followed by reducing trend and stable patterns from the 5th day to the end. Hemocyte counts, expression of growth and immunity related genes showed initial decreasing trends, followed by an increasing trend and finally stability from 20th day to the end. Results indicate the farming potential of P. monodon at low salinity environments (possibly at freshwater) by proper acclimation prior to stocking with minimal effects on production performance

Anthropometric Indices of Giardia-Infected Under-Five Children Presenting with Moderate-to-Severe Diarrhea and Their Healthy Community Controls: Data from the Global Enteric Multicenter Study

Among all intestinal parasitosis, giardiasis has been reported to be associated with delayed growth in malnourished children under 5 living in low- and middle-income countries. Relevant data on the nutritional status of children aged 0-59 months presenting with moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) and giardia infection were collected from sentinel health facilities of the Global Enteric Multicenter Study's (GEMS) seven field settings, placed in diverse countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia between, December 2007 and February 2011. Then, this study analyzed a robust dataset of study participants (n = 22,569). Children having giardiasis with MSD constituted as cases (n = 1786), and those without MSD constituted as controls (n = 3470). Among the seven field sites, symptomatic giardiasis was 15% and 22% in Asian and African sites, respectively, whereas asymptomatic giardia infection (healthy without MSD) in Asian and African sites was 21.7% and 30.7%, respectively. Wasting and underweight were more frequently associated and stunting less often associated with symptomatic giardiasis (for all, p < 0.001). Symptomatic giardiasis had a significant association with worsening of nutritional status in under-five children. Improved socio-economic profile along with proper sanitation and hygienic practices are imperative to enhance child nutritional status, particularly in resource limited settings

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education of medical, dental and non-medical healthcare professionals in Bangladesh : findings and connotation

Lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic had an appreciable impact on the education of all medical, dental, and non-medical healthcare professional (HCP) students. These included the closure of universities necessitating a rapid move to e-learning and new approaches to practical’s. However initially, there was a lack of knowledge and expertise regarding e-learning approaches and the affordability of internet bundles and equipment. We initially con-ducted two pilot studies to assess such current challenges, replaced by a two-stage approach including a full investigation involving 32 private and public universities during the early stages of the pandemic followed by a later study assessing the current environment brought about by the forced changes. Top challenges at the start of the pandemic included a lack of familiarity with e-learning approaches, cost of the internet, lack of IT equipment and the quality of the classes. Universities offered support to staff and students to a varying degree to address identified challenges. Since then, e-learning approaches have widened the possibilities for teaching and learning at convenient times. However, challenges remain. In conclusion, there were considerable challenges at the start of them pandemic. Several key issues have been addressed with hybrid learning here to stay. Remaining challenges include a lack of ICT equipment. However, new innovations will continue

ENCAPSULATION OF ZIDOVUDINE IN DIFFERENT CELLULOSIC ACRYLIC AND METHACRYLIC POLYMERS LOADED MICROSPHERES: IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION AND COMPATIBILITY STUDIES

Objective: The attempt of the present study was to improve bioavailability and dissolution rate along with reduction in dosing frequency of Zidovudine from microspheres.Methods: In this study an effort was taken to devise and evaluate Zidovudine sustained release microspheres using different polymers such as Ethyl cellulose (EC), Eudragit RS100, Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (Methocel K4M and Methocel K15M) by emulsion solvent evaporation method. UV-Spectrophotometric method was applied to calculate the drug content and in vitro dissolution studied according to USP paddle method were carried out in Phosphate Buffer (pH 7.4) for 8 hours. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) technique was performed to obtain the particle size and morphological changes due to different polymers. Drug polymer compatibility studies were performed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray Powder Difftactometry (XRD).Results: The maximum and minimum releases of microspheres were observed 93.12% and 75.07% respectively after 8 hours. Drug entrapment efficiency for formulations varied from 56.21% to 94.14%. The release kinetics were studied in different mathematical release models following the zero order, first order, Higuchi, Hixson-Crowel and korsemeyer to find out the linear relationship and release rate of drug. In this experiment, it is difficult to explain the exact mechanism of drug release. The drug might be released by both diffusion and erosion as the correlation coefficient (R2) best fitted with Korsemeyer model. No interaction between drug and polymers were observed from FTIR, DSC and XRD studies.Conclusion: In vitro study and different compatibility evaluation of Zidovudine from microspheres was showed that optimum release profiles may be obtained compared to pure drug

Trends and determinants of vaccination among children aged 06–59 months in Bangladesh: country representative survey from 1993 to 2014

Background Vaccination has important consequences for childhood development, mortality, and inequalities in health and well-being. This research explores the trend of vaccinations coverage from 1993 to 2014 and determines the significant factors for vaccinations coverage in Bangladesh, considering geospatial, socioeconomic, and demographic characteristics. Methods This study uses a secondary dataset extracted from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) from 1992 to 93 to 2014. The association between selected independent variables and vaccination coverage of children was examined through the Chi-square test. In addition, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression approaches were applied to determine the effects of covariates on vaccination status by using the BDHS-2014 dataset. Results The results reveal that the trend of the vaccination coverage rate has gradually been increased over the study period. The coverage rate of BCG is observed maximum while the lowest for Measles vaccination among all types of vaccinations. The findings revealed that the significantly lower coverage of all vaccination had been observed in the Sylhet region. Children of higher educated mothers (OR 10.21; CI: 4.10–25.37) and father (OR 8.71; CI: 4.03–18.80), born at health facilities (OR 4.53; CI: 2.4–8.55) and whose mother has media exposure (OR 3.20; CI: 2.22–4.60) have more chance of receiving BCG vaccine. For DPT vaccination coverage, there is a significant difference from children whose mothers have primary (OR 1.7; CI: 1.35–2.15), secondary (OR 3.5; CI: 2.75–4.45), and higher (OR 9.6; CI: 5.28–17.42) educational qualification compared to children of illiterate mothers. Findings demonstrated that children born in wealthier households have a higher likelihood of being immunized against DPT, Polio, and Measles vaccination than children born in the poorest households. Conclusions The findings reveal that to enhance and make sustainable the overall country’s vaccination coverage, we should pay more attention to the mother’s education, socioeconomic condition, children’s age, birth order number, having media exposure, place of residence, and religion. The authors think that this finding would be helpful to accelerate the achievement target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for children’s health in Bangladesh.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCMedicine, Department ofReviewedFacult

Virtual screenings of the bioactive constituents of tea, prickly chaff, catechu, lemon, black pepper, and synthetic compounds with the main protease (Mpro) and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2) of SARS-CoV-2

Abstract Background COVID-19 has mutation capability, and there are no specific drug therapies that are available to fight or inhibit the proteins of this virus. The present study aims to investigate the binding affinity of the bioactive and synthetic compounds with the main protease (Mpro) enzymes and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2) by computational approach. PASS prediction, pharmacokinetics, and toxicological properties prediction studies were performed through the Google PASS prediction and Swiss ADME/T website. Besides, molecular docking studies were accomplished by BIOVIA Discovery Studio 2020, UCSF Chimera, and PyRx autodock vina. Results The docking scores were inferred and the selected compounds showed results varying from −3.2 to −9.8 (kcal/mol). Theaflavin scored the highest docking score to the 5REB, 6VW1, and 1R42 enzymes and showed the binding affinity as −6.3 kcal/mol, −9.8 kcal/mol, and −8.6 kcal/mol, respectively. Again, kaempferol showed the best binding affinity to the 7BQY (−7.1 kcal/mol) and 6Y2FB (−6.6 kcal/mol) enzymes. All the chemical constituents showed better probability in action in pass prediction analysis. Besides, no ligands (except theaflavin) have any conflict with Lipinski’s rules of five, which authorized the drug probability of these ligands. Conclusion Therefore, the selected compounds could be considered a potential herbal treatment source against SARS-CoV-2