Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Agricultural Production and Income in Bangladesh

The study assessed some factors that determine agricultural production and income in Bangladesh. The factors that were addressed in the study were land, labour, capital, ethnicity, gender etc. It aimed to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers in Bangladesh, to investigate the level of agricultural production activities and to identify the agricultural production problems in Bangladesh. The target population was the farmers of eight divisions in Bangladesh.  The data were obtained from structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and FGD. Multiple linear regression of model fourteen explanatory variables was used to analyze the characteristics of the factors mentioned above in context of farm production and income. The result of data analysis showed that the variables such as gender, age, years of schooling, service area, operational farm size, cow-shed, electricity, radio, mobile phone, television, computer, bicycle, motorcycle etc. affect farmers’ production and income. The research also found gender parity and small farm holding in farming. There should be provision of effective agricultural information dissemination services by using ICT tools in farming. Special emphasis should be given to eliminate gender disparity and resolve small farm holding problem to ensure farm production and income generation

ICT Based Agricultural Knowledge Transfer of Women Farmers: A Case of Gender Responsiveness from a Developing Country Perspective

Women are increasingly becoming an integral part of the rural economy. Feminization and empowerment in agriculture is taking place while outmigration of males in the rural Bangladesh is visible due to higher off farm income. The objective of this study is to determine the current state of the ICT-based agricultural knowledge transfer of female farmers in Bangladesh involved in agricultural operations. Data were collected through survey method using structured questionnaire from 140 female farmers involved in public ICT service centers of Bangladesh. The questionnaire was administrated face-to-face and collected data were analysed with SPSS version 23.0. The result from the data showed that the variables such as assets, inputs, land, education, extension and financial services, and technology affect farmers’ production and farm income. The gaps like gender parity and small farm holding were found in the study. The research suggests that effective agricultural information dissemination services through ICT tools in farming are essential. Special emphasis should be given to address gender disparity and resolve farm holding problems for ensuring women’s participation in agriculture

Mental stress in infertility: a tertiary care hospital-based study

Background: Most of the couples suffering from infertility report it to be the most stressful and depressing period of their life, more so if it is a primary infertility. Studies regarding the prevalence and role of infertility-specific stress especially in eastern part of India is very limited. The objective of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of infertility-specific stress and its role in marital adjustment in women diagnosed with infertility.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on 80 married couple diagnosed with infertility (both primary and secondary) over 1 year from July 2016 to June,2017. Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), "semi-structured questionnaire" compiled by the authors and "ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders (Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines)" were used for the evaluation. The analysis was done using SPSS (version 16) and Chi-square test.Results: Around 86% infertile women and 21% infertile men were found to suffer from mental stress. Infertility related stress were more in patients with primary infertility than in secondary one. Women mostly (56.5%) coped with stress by self-blaming whereas men (58.2%) by blaming the partner.Conclusions: Mental stress was significantly associated with infertility. In fact, maladjustment in marital relation caused by the stress adversely affected the conjugal life and thus also the fertility. Proper counselling of both partners might be helpful to solve this problem

Numerical Solution of First-Order Linear Differential Equations in Fuzzy Environment by Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg Method and Its Application

The numerical algorithm for solving “first-order linear differential equation in fuzzy environment” is discussed. A scheme, namely, “Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method,” is described in detail for solving the said differential equation. The numerical solutions are compared with (i)-gH and (ii)-gH differential (exact solutions concepts) system. The method is also followed by complete error analysis. The method is illustrated by solving an example and an application

Down regulation of membrane-bound Neu3 constitutes a new potential marker for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and induces apoptosis suppression of of neoplastic cells

Membrane-linked sialidase Neu3 is a key enzyme for the extralysosomal catabolism of gangliosides. In this respect, it regulates pivotal cell surface events, including trans-membrane signaling, and plays an essential role in carcinogenesis. In this report, we demonstrated that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), lymphoblasts (primary cells from patients and cell lines) are characterized by a marked down-regulation of Neu3 in terms of both gene expression (-30 to 40%) and enzymatic activity toward ganglioside GD1a (-25.6 to 30.6%), when compared with cells from healthy controls. Induced overexpression of Neu3 in the ALL-cell line, MOLT-4, led to a significant increase of ceramide (+66%) and to a parallel decrease of lactosylceramide (-55%). These events strongly guided lymphoblasts to apoptosis, as we assessed by the decrease in Bcl2/Bax ratio, the accumulation of Neu3 transfected cells in the sub G0-G1 phase of the cell cycle, the enhanced annexin-V positivity, the higher cleavage of procaspase-3. Therefore, the reduced expression of Neu3 in ALL could help lymphoblasts to survive, maintaining the cellular content of ceramide below a critical level. Interestingly, we found that Neu3 activity varied in relation to disease progression, increasing in clinical remission after chemotherapy, and decreasing again in patients that relapsed. In addition, a negative correlation was observed between Neu3 expression and the percentage of the ALL marker 9-OAcGD3 positive cells. Consequently, Neu3 could represent a new potent biomarker in childhood ALL, to assess the efficacy of therapeutic protocols and to rapidly identify an eventual relapse

Coping the arsenic toxicity in rice plant with magnesium addendum for alluvial soil of indo-gangetic Bengal, India

Arsenic (As3+) is a toxic metalloid found in the earth’s crust, its elevated concentration is a concern for human health because rice is the staple grain in eastern part of India and the waterlogged rice field environment provides opportunity for more As3+ uptake. Magnesium (Mg2+) is an important plant nutrient. Present work is a search for reducing As3+ toxicity in plants through Mg2+ application. The findings are quite impressive, the root to shoot biomass ratio showed more than 1.5 times increase compared to the control. Total protein content increased 2 folds. Carbohydrate and chlorophyll content increased two to three times compared to control. On the other hand, Malondialdehyde content showed a decline with the application of increased Mg2+ dose. The in-silico study shows a better interaction with As3+ in presence of Mg2+ but interestingly without stress symptoms. These findings from the research indicate that Mg2+ application can be effective in reducing As3+ induced stress in plants

Study on anti-diarrheal activities of Abelmoscous esculentus seeds

The main objective of this study is to analyze anti-diarrheal activities of Abelmoscous esculentus. Phytochemical screening shows that Abelmoscous esculentus contain alkaloid, carbohydrate, saponines, diterpene, phytosterol, proteins and gums. Ethanolic extract of Abelmoscous esculentus as well as n-hexane soluble fraction and chloroform soluble fraction show 81.82% anti-diarrheal activities that is much higher than standard Loperamide (63.64%). Â

Some Comparison of Solutions by Different Numerical Techniques on Mathematical Biology Problem

We try to compare the solutions by some numerical techniques when we apply the methods on some mathematical biology problems. The Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg (RKF) method is a promising method to give an approximate solution of nonlinear ordinary differential equation systems, such as a model for insect population, one-species Lotka-Volterra model. The technique is described and illustrated by numerical examples. We modify the population models by taking the Holling type III functional response and intraspecific competition term and hence we solve it by this numerical technique and show that RKF method gives good results. We try to compare this method with the Laplace Adomian Decomposition Method (LADM) and with the exact solutions

Loss of HSulf-1: The Missing Link between Autophagy and Lipid Droplets in Ovarian Cancer

Roy D, Mondal S, Khurana A, et al. Loss of HSulf-1: The Missing Link between Autophagy and Lipid Droplets in Ovarian Cancer. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 2017;7(1): 41977.Defective autophagy and deranged metabolic pathways are common in cancer; pharmacologic targeting of these two pathways could provide a viable therapeutic option. However, how these pathways are regulated by limited availability of growth factors is still unknown. Our study shows that HSulf-1 (endosulfatase), a known tumor suppressor which attenuates heparin sulfate binding growth factor signaling, also regulates interplay between autophagy and lipogenesis. Silencing of HSulf-1 in OV202 and TOV2223 cells (ovarian cancer cell lines) resulted in increased lipid droplets (LDs), reduced autophagic vacuoles (AVs) and less LC3B puncta. In contrast, HSulf-1 proficient cells exhibit more AVs and reduced LDs. Increased LDs in HSulf-1 depleted cells was associated with increased ERK mediated cPLA2S505 phosphorylation. Conversely, HSulf-1 expression in SKOV3 cells reduced the number of LDs and increased the number of AVs compared to vector controls. Furthermore, pharmacological (AACOCF3) and ShRNA mediated downregulation of cPLA2 resulted in reduced LDs, and increased autophagy. Finally, in vivo experiment using OV202 Sh1 derived xenograft show that AACOCF3 treatment effectively attenuated tumor growth and LD biogenesis. Collectively, these results show a reciprocal regulation of autophagy and lipid biogenesis by HSulf-1 in ovarian cancer

Rectangular ZnO porous nano-plate assembly with excellent acetone sensing performance and catalytic activity

The controlled synthesis of a hierarchically assembled porous rectangular ZnO plate (2.5-3.5 mm length, 1.5-2.5 mm width and 100-150 nm thickness) from bulk ZnO without using any organic substrates, such as solvents/surfactants/structure-directing agents, is presented. The synthesized ZnO plates are single crystalline with exposed (10 (1) over bar0) facets on the flat surface, porous and formed through the calcination of a hydrozincite Zn-5(CO3)(2)(OH)(6)] intermediate. A gas sensor based on the synthesized porous ZnO architecture exhibited high sensitivity towards acetone even in low concentration (S = 3.4 in 1 ppm acetone) with good selectivity. The ZnO nanostructured material as a heterogeneous catalyst also showed excellent catalytic activity for the synthesis of 5-substituted-1H-tetrazoles (yield = 94%). Both the activities are superior than those of other reported ZnO based acetone sensors and heterogeneous catalysts. We believe that the improved properties of the synthesized ZnO nanostructure is due to the exposed (10 (1) over bar0) facets, and its porous and assembled structure, which provides a reasonably large accessible surface area, and facilitates diffusion and mass transport of gas or substrate molecules