Comparison Between Reduced Susceptibility to Disinfectants and Multidrug Resistance Among Hospital Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in Bangladesh

Disinfectants have been used largely in hospitals, health care centers and different pharmaceuticals for the removal of microorganisms. It is evident that microorganisms are showing reduced sensitivity against many disinfectants or their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is increasing day by day due to improper use. The aim of this study was to compare the reduced susceptibility to disinfectants and antibiotics of 25 hospital isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 40 hospital isolates of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from 5 different hospitals at Noakhali region of Bangladesh. Susceptibility of the selected isolates to two disinfectants (savlon and herpic) and ten separate antimicrobial agents for both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were investigated and compared. Multidrug resistant pattern of all the hospital isolates were determined by agar diffusion method and MIC of the disinfectants were determined by the serial dilution method. All the hospital isolates of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were multidrug resistant. No severe evident resistance to disinfectants was seen among the 25 isolates of P. aeruginosa and 40 isolates of S. aureus. Interestingly, satisfactory MIC of savlon for 25 isolates of P. aeruginosa and 40 isolates of S. aureus reached at 0.5% to 0.7% (v/v) solution whereas satisfactory MIC of herpic reached at 2% to 2.5% (v/v) solution for all hospital isolates but four isolates of S. aureus showed MIC against herpic at 1.75% (v/v) solution. No sign of co-resistant of disinfectant and antibiotics were found. So, it can be concluded that disinfectants (savlon and herpic) can’t be responsible for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus to become multidrug resistant, when the semi inhibitory dilution of these disinfectants are used

An Intelligent Flood Risk Assessment System using Belief Rule Base

Natural disasters disrupt our daily life and cause many sufferings. Among the various natural disasters, flood is one of the most catastrophic. Assessing flood risk helps to take necessary precautions and can save human lives. The assessment of risk involves various factors which can not be measured with hundred percent certainty. Therefore, the present methods of flood risk assessment can not assess the risk of flooding accurately.  This research rigorously investigates various types of uncertainties associated with the flood risk factors. In addition, a comprehensive study of the present flood risk assessment approaches has been conducted. Belief Rule Base expert systems are widely used to handle various of types of uncertainties. Therefore, this research considers BRBES’s approach to develop an expert system to assess the risk of flooding. In addition, to facilitate the learning procedures of BRBES, an optimal learning algorithm has been proposed. The developed BRBES has been applied taking real world case study area, located at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The training data has been collected from the case study area to obtain the trained BRB and to develop the optimal learning model. The BRBES can generate different "What-If" scenarios which enables the analysis of flood risk of an area from various perspectives which makes the system robust and sustainable. This system is said to be intelligent as it has knowledge base, inference engine as well as the learning capability

Atypical co-composting technique of managing tannery limed fleshing

In a tannery at beamhouse, limed fleshing (LF) is generated during fleshing operation. It is the most generated solid waste of the entire tannery. In this study, atypical co-composting of tannery LF is presented to reduce the generated solid waste in the tannery. The collected LF was chopped and mixed with the chicken excreta (CE), sawdust (SD), and cow pats (CP). The mixed composting materials were placed in the soil with the top of the composting materials under 5 cm of soil. The physicochemical parameters of the compost met the requirements of the standard. The nutrient-nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S) content of compost were within the standard limits. The metal content-chromium (21.3 mg/kg), copper (11.7 mg/kg), zinc (125 mg/kg), and nickel (9.6 mg/kg) were below the standard limits. Lead and cadmium were below the detection levels. The photograph of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis demonstrated the degradation of composting materials. The composting process suggests a pathway to reduce solid waste by producing a valuable product. The study recommends the LF transformation into nutrient-rich compost is a simple and progressive method without any additional pretreatment

Significance of Glass Transition Temperature of Food Material in Selecting Drying Condition: An In-Depth Analysis

Drying is a complicated phenomenon involving a combination of transport, deformation, and chemical kinetics. It is an energy intensive lengthy process and results in deterioration of food quality. The glass transition temperature (GTT) significantly affects the internal mass transfer mechanism and hence significantly affects the drying kinetics. Moreover, the rheological and transport characteristics of food materials are remarkably impacted by GTT, which has an influence on the energy consumption and quality of food products during drying. Similarly, molecular weight and drying conditions also affect the GTT. This comprehensive review uncovers the fundamental understanding of GTT and demonstrates its crucial relationship with physio-structural and transport properties of food items. It has been demonstrated that a clear understanding of the glass transition temperature may help in determining appropriate drying conditions while ensuring great food quality.</p

Highly secured and effective management of app-based online voting system using RSA encryption and decryption

This study pioneers an innovative approach to fortifying online voting systems, leveraging RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) encryption and decryption techniques for robust data protection. Through a comprehensive amalgamation of advanced security layers, including MobileFaceNet-driven face verification, device fingerprint matching, and multi-factor authentication, this system engenders a resilient shield against cyber vulnerabilities. By harnessing a Firebase database, user information is securely stored and authenticated, affirming their pivotal role in the democratic process. The symphony of RSA encryption and decryption orchestrates a formidable fortress around data transmission and storage, ensuring impregnable security against digital threats. This paradigm shift in voting technology strives to not only elevate security but also enhance accessibility and convenience, ultimately contributing to the evolution of online voting systems and fostering greater participation rates and reducing associated costs in the digital era

Synthesis, Characterization and Sorption Properties of Biochar, Chitosan and ZnO-Based Binary Composites towards a Cationic Dye

Industrial effluents contaminated with different types of organic dyes have become a major concern to environmentalists due to the carcinogenic nature of the dyes, which are harmful to human and aquatic life. In recent years, the treatment of contaminated effluents by natural resources has been proposed as the most sustainable solution for this problem. In this work, Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) seed-derived biochar composites, e.g., Biochar-Chitosan (BC), Biochar-ZnO (BZ), and Chitosan-ZnO (CZ) were produced and characterized. The synthesized materials were then utilized to adsorb a cationic dye, methylene blue. Spectroscopic analysis of the biochar-based composites revealed that the modification of biochar by chitosan and ZnO introduced different functional and active groups in the biochar surface. Pore development in the structure of biochar nanocomposites was visible in surface morphological images. The derived biochar was fully amorphous and increased crystallinity by the ZnO modification. The obtained surface area varied from 0.90 ± 0.00 to 14.48 ± 1.13 m2 g−1 for prepared sorbents, where BZ corresponds to the highest and BC corresponds to the lowest surface area, respectively. The basic pH (9) was the most favorable condition for sorption. The sorption reached equilibrium at 90 min. Isotherm revealed the favorability of the Langmuir model over the Freundlich and Temkin models. The highest sorption capacity (~170 mg/g) was found for BC. The BC and BZ showed a 75% increase and 16% decrease in removal due to the chitosan and ZnO modification, respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) optimization for BC showed similar results to the analytical experiments. The characterization and experimental results prefigure the chemical functionalities as the critical parameter over the surface area for the adsorption process

In silico based analysis to explore genetic linkage between atherosclerosis and its potential risk factors

Atherosclerosis (ATH) is a chronic cardiovascular disease characterized by plaque formation in arteries, and it is a major cause of illness and death. Although therapeutic advances have significantly improved the prognosis of ATH, missing therapeutic targets pose a significant residual threat. This research used a systems biology approach to identify the molecular biomarkers involved in the onset and progression of ATH, analysing microarray gene expression datasets from ATH and tissues impacted by risk factors such as high cholesterol, adipose tissue, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, stress, alcohol consumption, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, high fat, diabetes to find the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Bioinformatic analyses of Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI), Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were conducted on differentially expressed genes, revealing metabolic and signaling pathways (the chemokine signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, the cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors signaling pathway, and the nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway), ten hubs proteins (CCL5, CCR1, TLR1, CCR2, FCGR2A, IL1B, CD163, AIF1, CXCL-1 and TNF), five transcription factors (YY1, FOXL1, FOXC1, SRF, and GATA2), and five miRNAs (mir-27a-3p, mir-124–3p, mir-16–5p, mir-129-2-3p, mir-1-3p). These findings identify potential biomarkers that may increase knowledge of the mechanisms underlying ATH and their connection to risk factors, aiding in the development of new therapies

Correction: Climate change in Bangladesh: Temperature and rainfall climatology of Bangladesh for 1949-2013 and its implication on rice yield.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292668.]