The relationship between male factor infertility and Chlamydia infection, still an undecided issue

Background: Seropositivity of Chlamydia trachomatis in men is suggestive of chronic and recurrent infection with this sexually transmitted organism. Most males with urogenital Chlamydia infection have serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to C. trachomatis that persist for years. Serologic studies linking C. trachomatis to male infertility and sperm quality lead to highly variable results. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of Chlamydia infection, as determined by Chlamydia seropositivity on semen quality.Methods: One hundred men having semen analysis as part of infertility work up had anti-Chlamydia antibody test. They were grouped into those who are seropositive for Chlamydia antibody IgG and those who were not. The sperm parameters and prevalence of different semen abnormalities were compared between the two groups, Chlamydia positive and Chlamydia negative.Results: There are no significant difference in semen parameters and prevalence of different semen abnormalities between the two groups. The sonographical finding of epididymal cyst is 45.8% in Chlamydia positive compared to 12.2% in Chlamydia negative; the difference is significant.Conclusions: Seropositivity of Chlamydia infection in infertile male is not predictive of semen abnormalities. Serological screening of the male partner for Chlamydia trachomatis provides no more benefit than identifying the female partner at risk of tubal factor infertility and males at risk of epididymal obstruction

Comparison of vitamin D (25OHD) status between fertile and infertile men

Background: Vitamin D (25OHD) deficiency has become a modern-day epidemic, being the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Many infertile men are experiencing low total sperm count or different semen abnormalities. The aim of this study was to compare serum vitamin D (25OHD) status among fertile and infertile men.Methods: This was an observational (cross sectional comparative) study and was conducted in the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, BSMMU, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from April 2019 to March 2020. The sample size was 112 men where 56 participants were in fertile men group and 56 participants were infertile men group. Statistical analyses were carried out by using Windows based Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 23.0).Results: The predictability of vitamin D insufficiency was significant. Holding the effects of vitamin D deficiency constant, males with vitamin D insufficiency were 3.28 times more likely to be infertile than males with vitamin D sufficiency. Subgroup analysis of infertile men was done regarding semen parameters in different vitamin D status categories. There was statistically significant difference in semen volume and sperm concentration between infertile men of different vitamin D status but no significant difference in case of motility and morphology.Conclusions: There was no significant different of serum vitamin D (25OHD) between fertile and infertile men. Men with vitamin D insufficiency (≥20 ng/ml to <30 ng/ml) are more likely to be infertile than men with vitamin D sufficiency.

Perceptions about Telemedicine among Populations with Chronic Diseases amid COVID-19: Data from a Cross-Sectional Survey

Chronic diseases, including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), have arisen as a severe threat to health and socio-economic growth. Telemedicine can provide both the highest level of patient satisfaction and the lowest risk of infection during a pandemic. The factors associated with its usage and patient adherence are not visible in Bangladesh's resource-constrained settings. Therefore, this study aimed to identify perceptions about telemedicine among populations with chronic diseases amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A closed-ended self-reported questionnaire was created, and the questionnaire was written, reviewed, and finalized by a public health investigator, a psychiatrist, and an epidemiologist. The data for this study were collected from individuals using simple random sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Ethics approval was granted, and written/verbal consent was taken before interviews. Most of the participants showed a positive attitude towards telemedicine. People aged 35-54 years old and a higher level of education were less frequently associated with willingness to receive telemedicine services for current chronic disease (WRTCCD) than their counterparts. People living in urban areas and lower-income participants were more strongly associated with WRTCCD. Additionally, people who did not lose their earnings due to the pandemic were less strongly associated with WRTCCD. However, the main strength of this research is that it is a broad exploration of patient interest in several general forms of telehealth. In Bangladesh, there are many opportunities for telemedicine to be integrated into the existing healthcare system, if appropriate training and education are provided for healthcare professionals

Nexus between Economic Policy Uncertainty and Renewable Energy Consumption in BRIC Nations: The Mediating Role of Foreign Direct Investment and Financial Development

In recent literature, the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on macro aspects have been investigated, but the aspect of energy, precisely renewable energy still to explore. The motivation of the study is to produce fresh evidence regarding the nexus between EPU and renewable energy consumption (REC) with the mediating role of forcing direct investment (FDI) and financial development (FD) in BRIC nations for the period 1997q1–2018q4. The study applied unit root tests following Ng-Perron and Zivot and Andrews for detecting variable’s stationary properties. The long-run cointegration was evaluated by implementing Bayer, Hanck combined the cointegration test, Bound testing approach, and tBDM test. Both linear and non-linear ARDL were implemented to evaluate long-run and short-run shocks, and directional causality was assessed through a non-granger causality test. Furthermore, the study implemented robustness by implementing fully-modified OLS, dynamic OLS, and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR). Unit root test established the variables are stationary after the first difference; moreover, the Bayer and Hanck cointegration test confirmed the long-run association between EPU, FD, FD, and REC in BRIC nations. Accruing to ARDL estimation, adverse effects running from EPU to REC both in the long run and short run. Furthermore, the positive statistically significant linkage revealed for FDI and FD to REC implies that clean energy integration could be augmented with continual inflows of FDI and development of the financial sector. Model estimation with asymmetric assumption, the study documented asymmetric effects running from EPU, FDI, and FD to renewable energy consumption, especially in the long run. Finally, the directional causality revealed unidirectional causality between REC and EPU, whereas the feedback hypothesis was disclosed for FDI and REC] and FD and REC. Study findings postulated that the role of foreign direct investment and financial development is critically significant because technological advancement and capital investment augment clean energy integration through the application of renewable energy

A transformer-based generative adversarial learning to detect sarcasm from Bengali text with correct classification of confusing text

Sarcasm detection research in Bengali is still limited due to a lack of relevant resources. In this context, getting high-quality annotated data is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, in this paper, we present a transformer-based generative adversarial learning for sarcasm detection from Bengali text based on available limited labeled data. Here, we use the Bengali sarcasm dataset ‘Ben-Sarc’. Besides, we construct another dataset containing Bengali sarcastic and non-sarcastic comments from YouTube and newspapers to observe the model's performance on the new dataset. On top of that, we utilize another Bengali sarcasm dataset ‘BanglaSarc’ to further prove our models' robustness. Among all models, the Bangla BERT-based Generative Adversarial Model has achieved the highest accuracy with 77.1% for the ‘Ben-Sarc’ dataset. Besides, this model has achieved the highest accuracy of 68.2% for the dataset constructed from YouTube and newspaper, and 97.2% for the ‘BanglaSarc’ dataset

Risk Factors and Outcomes of Hospital Acquired Pneumonia in Young Bangladeshi Children

Hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is common and often associated with high mortality in children aged five or less. We sought to evaluate the risk factors and outcome of HAP in such children. We compared demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in children &lt;5 years using a case control design during the period of August 2013 and December 2017, where children with HAP were constituted as cases (n = 281) and twice as many randomly selected children without HAP were constituted as controls (n = 562). HAP was defined as a child developing a new episode of pneumonia both clinically and radiologically after at least 48 h of hospitalization. A total of 4101 children were treated during the study period. The mortality was significantly higher among the cases than the controls (8% vs. 4%, p = 0.014). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders, it was found that persistent diarrhea (95% CI = 1.32–5.79; p = 0.007), severe acute malnutrition (95% CI = 1.46–3.27; p &lt; 0.001), bacteremia (95% CI = 1.16–3.49; p = 0.013), and prolonged hospitalization of &gt;5 days (95% CI = 3.01–8.02; p &lt; 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for HAP. Early identification of these risk factors and their prompt management may help to reduce HAP-related fatal consequences, especially in resource limited settings

Perceptions about Telemedicine among Populations with Chronic Diseases amid COVID-19: Data from a Cross-Sectional Survey

Chronic diseases, including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), have arisen as a severe threat to health and socio-economic growth. Telemedicine can provide both the highest level of patient satisfaction and the lowest risk of infection during a pandemic. The factors associated with its usage and patient adherence are not visible in Bangladesh&rsquo;s resource-constrained settings. Therefore, this study aimed to identify perceptions about telemedicine among populations with chronic diseases amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A closed-ended self-reported questionnaire was created, and the questionnaire was written, reviewed, and finalized by a public health investigator, a psychiatrist, and an epidemiologist. The data for this study were collected from individuals using simple random sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Ethics approval was granted, and written/verbal consent was taken before interviews. Most of the participants showed a positive attitude towards telemedicine. People aged 35&ndash;54 years old and a higher level of education were less frequently associated with willingness to receive telemedicine services for current chronic disease (WRTCCD) than their counterparts. People living in urban areas and lower-income participants were more strongly associated with WRTCCD. Additionally, people who did not lose their earnings due to the pandemic were less strongly associated with WRTCCD. However, the main strength of this research is that it is a broad exploration of patient interest in several general forms of telehealth. In Bangladesh, there are many opportunities for telemedicine to be integrated into the existing healthcare system, if appropriate training and education are provided for healthcare professionals