Mathematical analysis of a measles transmission dynamics model in Bangladesh with double dose vaccination

Although the availability of the measles vaccine, it is still epidemic in many countries globally, including Bangladesh. Eradication of measles needs to keep the basic reproduction number less than one (i.e.R01) epidemic occurs. While using the Routh-Hurwitz criteria, the equilibria are found to be locally asymptotically stable under the former condition on R0. The partial rank correlation coefficients (PRCCs), a global sensitivity analysis method is used to compute R0 and measles prevalence (I∗) with respect to the estimated and fitted model parameters. We found that the transmission rate (β) had the most significant influence on measles prevalence. Numerical simulations were carried out to commissions our analytical outcomes. These findings show that how progression rate, transmission rate and double dose vaccination rate affect the dynamics of measles prevalence. The information that we generate from this study may help government and public health professionals in making strategies to deal with the omissions of a measles outbreak and thus control and prevent an epidemic in Bangladesh

Evaluation of analgesic, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of ethanol extract of Clerodendrum viscosum Vent

Clerodendrum viscosum Vent. is a very common plant in Bangladesh which is locally familiar as “Bhat” or “Ghetu”. Here, the ethanol extract of whole plant part of C. viscosum and its various solvent (petroleum-ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate) fractions were subjected for the appraisal of analgesic, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. Analgesic activity was tested by acetic acid-induced writhing model in Swiss albino mice. All the plant samples at the oral doses of 100- and 200 mg/kg body weight were found to exhibit significant (p<0.05) pain reducing activity in test animals. Highest inhibition of writhing was 62.38% by the ethyl acetate soluble fraction at dose of 200 mg/kg body weight while the standard drug diclofenac sodium (50 mg/kg) produces 76.14% reduction of abdominal writhing. DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical quenching assay was employed to determine the antioxidant potential of the plant samples while cytotoxic activity was checked by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. In DPPH radical scavenging assay, the plant samples showed prominent antioxidant activity. Among all, the ethyl acetate fraction showed maximum antioxidant potential with IC50 value of 28.02±0.53 μg/ml. In cytotoxic assay, the petroleum-ether fraction demonstrated strong cytotoxicity with LC50 value of 1.42±1.12 μg/ml. In summary, C. viscosum extracts possess significant analgesic, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities which rationalize its traditional use in folk medicine

Study on clinical features and factors associated with thickness of chronic subdural hematoma in adult

Patients with chronic subdural hematoma encounter certain difficulties in diagnosis, especially in elderly, due to the characteristically non-specific symptoms and signs. Early diagnosis and proper operative treatment, on the other hand, results in complete recovery in most of the cases. In this study, the clinical features and factors of 31 patients with chronic subdural hematoma, associated with the thickness of chronic subdural hematoma were analyzed. The mean age was 62 ± 13.9 years. The maximum hematoma thickness in the axial CT scan was 25 mm. The thickness of hematoma obtained from axial plain CT had a positive relationship with the patient’s age where r=0.895 and p<0.001 signifies that the thickness of hematoma increased with the increasing age. But the hematoma thickness was not related to co-morbidity such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and ischemic heart disease. The presentation of the patient with higher hematoma thickness with hemiparesis was statistically significant and with lower thickness with headache and vomiting

Community participatory learning and action cycle groups to reduce type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh (D:Clare trial): study protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: An estimated 463 million people globally have diabetes, with the prevalence growing in low-and middle-income settings, such as Bangladesh. Given the need for context-appropriate interventions to prevent type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the 'Diabetes: Community-led Awareness, Response and Evaluation' (D:Clare) trial will rigorously evaluate the replication and scale-up of a participatory learning and action (PLA) cycle intervention in Bangladesh, to inform policy on population-level T2DM prevention and control. METHODS: This is a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial, with integrated process and economic evaluations, conducted from March 2020 to September 2022. The trial will evaluate a community-based four-phase PLA cycle intervention focused on prevention and control of T2DM implemented over 18 months, against a control of usual care. Twelve clusters will be randomly allocated (1:1) to implement the intervention at project month 1 or 12. The intervention will be evaluated through three cross-sectional surveys at months 1, 12 and 24. The trial will be conducted in Alfadanga Upazila, Faridpur district, with an estimated population of 120,000. Clusters are defined as administrative geographical areas, with approximately equal populations. Each of the six unions in Alfadanga will be divided into two clusters, forming 12 clusters in total. Given the risk of inter-cluster contamination, evaluation surveys will exclude villages in border areas. Participants will be randomly sampled, independently for each survey, from a population census conducted in January 2020. The primary outcome is the combined prevalence of intermediate hyperglycaemia and T2DM, measured through fasting and 2-h post-glucose load blood tests. A total of 4680 participants provide 84% power to detect a 30% reduction in the primary outcome, assuming a baseline of 30% and an ICC of 0.07. The analysis will be by intention-to-treat, comparing intervention and control periods across all clusters, adjusting for geographical clustering. DISCUSSION: This study will provide further evidence of effectiveness for community-based PLA to prevent T2DM at scale in a rural Bangladesh setting. However, we encountered several challenges in applying the stepped-wedge design to our research context, with particular consideration given to balancing seasonality, timing and number of steps and estimation of partial versus full effect. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN: ISRCTN42219712 . Registered on 31 October 2019

Reaching the poor with health interventions: programme-incidence analysis of seven randomised trials of women's groups to reduce newborn mortality in Asia and Africa

Efforts to end preventable newborn deaths will fail if the poor are not reached with effective interventions. To understand what works to reach vulnerable groups, we describe and explain the uptake of a highly effective community-based newborn health intervention across social strata in Asia and Africa

The effect of participatory women's groups on infant feeding and child health knowledge, behaviour and outcomes in rural Bangladesh: a controlled before-and-after study.

Despite efforts to reduce under-5 mortality rates worldwide, an estimated 6.6 million under-5 children die every year. Community mobilisation through participatory women's groups has been shown to improve maternal and newborn health in rural settings, but little is known about the potential of this approach to improve care and health in children after the newborn period

Women's groups practising participatory learning and action to improve maternal and newborn health in low-resource settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Maternal and neonatal mortality rates remain high in many low-income and middle-income countries. Different approaches for the improvement of birth outcomes have been used in community-based interventions, with heterogeneous effects on survival. We assessed the effects of women's groups practising participatory learning and action, compared with usual care, on birth outcomes in low-resource settings