Case report of jelly fish stinging in Bay of Bengal: A report from Bangladesh

Introduction: Jelly fish or jellies are the members of the phylum Cnidaria (Coelenterata), consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. Sting contains toxic peptide, pbospholipase A and histamine-liberating factor. Jelly fish stinging in Bangladesh is rare. Yet, from a management point of view, this epizoonozis might gain importance given the ever-growing popularity of seaside fishering and tourism. We are presenting a case of jelly fish contact illness in Cox's Bazar Medical College. Case Report: A 30 year old male patient was stung by a jellyfish while tishering in the Bay of Bengal near Teknaf of Cox's Bazar District on 3rd June' 2013. A couple of minutes later urticaria were formed in the contact area accompanied by a bmniug and sore sensation. Within few minutes be developed severe abdominal pain, bodyache and parestbaesia. Immediate decontmninalion was done by patient himself with sea water though ideally it should be with 5% acetic acid. Routine laboratory investigations show no abnormality except non-significant ST elevation in ECG. The patient was managed conservatively with antihistamine, corticosteroids and antibiotics and recovered completely within four days

Mapping the integrated marketing communications research: A bibliometric analysis

Given the growing popularity of integrated marketing communications (IMC) among academicians and businessmen, this study examines the trends of theoretical development in IMC during 1991-2020 by using a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 303 academic research papers. In addition to examining the citation and publication structures in terms of authors, institutions, countries, and sources, this study explores the publications and citations trends and identifies conceptual and intellectual structure of IMC literature. The results demonstrate that IMC literature follows a steady but slow growth rate, although average citations per document are high. Kitchen, PJ. (author), Northwestern University (institution), USA (country), and Journal of Marketing Communications (source) contributed the most to IMC literature. With 216 multi-authored documents, IMC can be recognized as a field of high research collaboration. About 84% of the keywords appeared only once in IMC literature. In addition, the foundation of IMC rests on a small number of articles by a few researchers published in handful number of journals. Finally, the keyword co-occurrence network analysis identifies different clusters of IMC research, of which clusters marked with the keywords (1) brand equity, (2) measurement, (3) IMC and consumer empowerment represent the highest research potential

A global study on the correlates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and COVID-19 vaccine distribution

This study aimed to explore the association between the GDP of various countries and the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations; to explore how the global pattern holds in the continents, and investigate the spatial distribution pattern of COVID-19 vaccination progress for all countries. We have used consolidated data on COVID-19 vaccination and GDP from Our World in Data, an open-access data source. Data analysis and visualization were performed in R-Studio. There was a strong linear association between per capita income and the proportion of people vaccinated in countries with populations of one million or more. GDP per capita accounts for a 50% variation in the vaccination rate across the nations. Our assessments revealed that the global pattern holds in every continent. Rich European and North-American countries are most protected against COVID-19. Less developed African countries barely initiated a vaccination program. There is a significant disparity among Asian countries. The security of wealthier nations (vaccinated their citizens) cannot be guaranteed unless adequate vaccination covers the less affluent countries. Therefore, the global community should undertake initiatives to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination program in all countries of the world, irrespective of their wealth

Effects of stocking density on the growth, survival and production of endangered bata, Labeo bata (Hamilton, 1822) in primary nursing

Effect of stocking densities on the growth, survival and production of bata, Labeo bata fry and fingerlings were tested in a primary nursery rearing system. The experiment was conducted for a period of 4 weeks in six earthen nursery ponds having an area of 0.032 ha each. Four-day-old fry stocked at 1.0 million/ha was designated as treatment-1 (T1), 1.5 million/ha as treatment-2 (T2) and 2.0 million/ ha as treatment-3 (T3). At stocking, all fry were of same age with a mean length and weight of 1.03±0.03 cm and 0.12±0.01 g, respectively. Fry in all the treatments were fed with Mega commercial fish feed. Physico-chemical parameters such as water temperature, transparency, dissolve oxygen, pH and total alkalinity in all the treatments were suitable ranges for fry and fingerling rearing. Plankton population (both phytoplankton and zooplankton) were found to be at optimum level for fish culture. Highest weight gain was observed in T1 (3.46±0.08) and lowest in T3 (1.98±0.03). Final length, final weight and survival of fingerlings also followed the same trends as weight gain. Fingerlings in T1 produced significantly higher specific growth rate (12.15±0.08) than T2 (11.31±0.03) and T2 (10.22±0.05). Feed conversion ratio was significantly lower in T1 (0.26±0.01) than T2 (0.42±0.02) and T3 (0.65±0.01). Significantly higher number of fingerlings was produced in T3 (1177700±4700) than T2 (963300±9900) and T1 (717850±7350), respectively. Despite of this, consistently higher net benefits were found from T1 than T2 and T3. Overall, highest growth (3.60±0.16 g), survival (71.79 ± 1.04%) and net benefits (TK. 127,087.00) of fingerlings were obtained at a density of 1.0 million hatchlings/ha. Therefore, out of three stocking densities, 1.0 million fry/ha appears to be most suitable stocking density for nursing and rearing of L. bata fry and fingerlings in primary nursing

Prevalence and factors associated with mental health impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh : a survey-based cross-sectional study

Background: Feelings of isolation, insecurity, and instability triggered by COVID-19 could have a long-term impact on the mental health status of individuals. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression, and stress) in Bangladesh and the factors associated with these symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: From 1 to 30 April 2020, we used a validated self-administered questionnaire to conduct a cross-sectional study on 10,609 participants through an online survey platform. We assessed mental health status using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The total depression, anxiety, and stress subscale scores were divided into normal, mild, moderate, severe, and multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associated factors. Findings: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 15%, 34%, and 15% for mild, moderate, and severe depressive symptoms, respectively. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was 59% for severe anxiety symptoms, 14% for moderate anxiety symptoms, and 14% for mild anxiety symptoms, while the prevalence for stress levels were 16% for severe stress level, 22% for moderate stress level, and 13% for mild stress level. Multivariate analyses revealed that the most consistent factors associated with mild, moderate, and severe of the three mental health subscales (depression, anxiety, and stress) were respondents who lived in Dhaka and Rangpur division, females, those who self-quarantined in the previous seven days before the survey, and those respondents who experienced chills, breathing difficulty, dizziness, and sore throat. Conclusion: Our results showed that about 64%, 87%, and 61% of the respondents in Bangladesh reported high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. There is a need for mental health support targeting women and those who self-quarantined or lived in Dhaka and Rangpur during the pandemic

Improved mechanical strength, proton conductivity and power density in an ‘all-protonic’ ceramic fuel cell at intermediate temperature

The authors AA and NR would like to thank Universiti Brunei Darussalam for providing a UGS scholarship to perform this research. This work was supported by the UBD CRG project: UBD/OVACRI/CRGWG(006)/161201.Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) have become the most efficient, clean and cost-effective electrochemical energy conversion devices in recent years. While significant progress has been made in developing proton conducting electrolyte materials, mechanical strength and durability still need to be improved for efficient applications. We report that adding 5 mol% Zn to the Y-doped barium cerate-zirconate perovskite electrolyte material can significantly improve the sintering properties, mechanical strength, durability and performance. Using same proton conducting material in anodes, electrolytes and cathodes to make a strong structural backbone shows clear advantages in mechanical strength over other arrangements with different materials. Rietveld analysis of the X-ray and neutron diffraction data of BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.15Zn0.05O3−δ (BCZYZn05) revealed a pure orthorhombic structure belonging to the Pbnm space group. Structural and electrochemical analyses indicate highly dense and high proton conductivity at intermediate temperature (400–700 °C). The anode-supported single cell, NiO-BCZYZn05|BCZYZn05|BSCF-BCZYZn05, demonstrates a peak power density of 872 mW cm−2 at 700 °C which is one of the highest power density in an all-protonic solid oxide fuel cell. This observation represents an important step towards commercially viable SOFC technology.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Telomere length is associated with growth in children in rural Bangladesh

Background: Previously, we demonstrated that a water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional intervention improved linear growth and was unexpectedly associated with shortened childhood telomere length (TL) (Lin et al., 2017). Here, we assessed the association between TL and growth. Methods: We measured relative TL in whole blood from 713 children. We reported differences between the 10th percentile and 90th percentile of TL or change in TL distribution using generalized additive models, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: In cross-sectional analyses, long TL was associated with a higher length-for-age Z score at age 1 year (0.23 SD adjusted difference in length-for-age Z score (95% CI 0.05, 0.42; FDR-corrected p-value = 0.01)). TL was not associated with other outcomes. Conclusions: Consistent with the metabolic telomere attrition hypothesis, our previous trial findings support an adaptive role for telomere attrition, whereby active TL regulation is employed as a strategy to address ‘emergency states’ with increased energy requirements such as rapid growth during the first year of life. Although short periods of active telomere attrition may be essential to promote growth, this study suggests that a longer overall initial TL setting in the first two years of life could signal increased resilience against future telomere erosion events and healthy growth trajectories