Infection Control Measures Concerning Knowledge and Behavior among Bangladeshi Dental Professionals

Background and aim: Maintenance of universal infection protocol in all dental care processes in the dental office before, during, and immediately after dental care is of utmost importance. Very few studies were found to identify the bio-security standards for dental care. This study aimed to determine the knowledge and behavior of Bangladeshi dental professionals on the infection control system during clinical case management.Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 dental professionals in the Khulna district, Bangladesh. Semi-structured data were collected in this study through the face-to-face interview method.  Univariate multivariate techniques followed by regression modeling have been used for analysis.Results: About 67% of dental surgeons knew about infection prevention measures well, whereas only 33% had poor knowledge. However, instead of having good knowledge of infection control measures, 33% of dental surgeons were found to have poor behavior in their dental setting, and the rest, 34%, followed all the preventive measures to control infection. Binary regression analysis of this study revealed significant predictors associated with poor knowledge and behavior on infection control measures.Conclusions: This study revealed a depressive scenario regarding knowledge and behavior on infection control measures among dental professionals. A large-scale study is required to generalize the information and to improve the situation. Moreover, this study will provide a concrete base for further study and will significantly assist the policymakers of the pertinent arena

Effect of levothyroxine on cardiac function in children with subclinical hypothyroidism: A quasi-experimental study

Background: Because of the importance of thyroid function and its effect on different organs, such as the heart, this study was aimed to evaluate the effect of levothyroxine on cardiac function in children with subclinical hypothyroidism. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on children aged 4-12 years old with diagnosis of subclinical hypothyroidism in Amirkola Children's Hospital during 2018-2019. Cardiac functional parameters, including ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS), ratio of early filling velocity to early diastolic mitral annulus velocity (E/E'), myocardial performance index (MPI), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), and left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), were measured by echocardiography at baseline and 6 months after levothyroxine treatment. Results: Out of the 30 subjects, 19 (63.3) were boys and 11 (36.7) were girls. The mean age was 6.60±2.13 years old. The mean EF index was 63.13±3.01 percent before treatment, which increased to 69.07±4.50 percent after treatment (p<0.001). Also, the mean FS was 31.83±1.62 percent before treatment, which improved to 35.10±1.13 percent after treatment (p<0.001). The mean MPI was 0.28±0.02 before treatment, which increased to 0.33±0.03 after treatment (p<0.001). On the other hand, no significant difference was found in the mean E/E' before and after treatment. The mean LVEDD decreased from 3.47±0.46 cm before treatment to 3.05±0.40 cm after treatment (p<0.001), whereas LVESD non-significantly decreased after treatment versus before treatment. Conclusion: The results showed that treatment with levothyroxine may improve cardiac functional parameters in children with subclinical hypothyroidism

Imaging de Haas-van Alphen quantum oscillations and milli-Tesla pseudomagnetic fields

A unique attribute of atomically thin quantum materials is the in-situ tunability of their electronic band structure by externally controllable parameters like electrostatic doping, electric field, strain, electron interactions, and displacement or twisting of atomic layers. This unparalleled control of the electronic bands has led to the discovery of a plethora of exotic emergent phenomena. But despite its key role, there is currently no versatile method for mapping the local band structure in advanced 2D materials devices in which the active layer is commonly embedded in various insulating layers and metallic gates. Utilizing a scanning superconducting quantum interference device, we image the de Haas-van Alphen quantum oscillations in a model system, the Bernal-stacked trilayer graphene with dual gates, which displays multiple highly-tunable bands. By resolving thermodynamic quantum oscillations spanning over 100 Landau levels in low magnetic fields, we reconstruct the band structure and its controllable evolution with the displacement field with unprecedented precision and spatial resolution of 150 nm. Moreover, by developing Landau level interferometry, we reveal shear-strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields and map their spatial dependence. In contrast to artificially-induced large strain, which leads to pseudomagnetic fields of hundreds of Tesla, we detect naturally occurring pseudomagnetic fields as low as 1 mT corresponding to graphene twisting by just 1 millidegree over one {\mu}m distance, two orders of magnitude lower than the typical angle disorder in high-quality twisted bilayer graphene devices. This ability to resolve the local band structure and strain on the nanoscale opens the door to the characterization and utilization of tunable band engineering in practical van der Waals devices.Comment: Nature (2023

Efficacy of thankuni and grapes in arsenicosis-affected rat

This study was undertaken to observe the effects of Thankuni and grapes on hematological and biochemical parameters against arsenicosis in Long Evans rats. Sixty male rats were selected to perform the study. The experimental rats were randomly divided into five different groups, with n = 12 in each group. Animals in group T0 were given normal feed and water and kept as control. Rats of group T1 were given arsenic trioxide @ 100 mg/L of drinking water orally. Rats of group T2 were given arsenic trioxide @ 100 mg/L drinking water and Thankuni @ 1gm/kg feed. Group T3 was given arsenic trioxide @ 100 mg/L drinking water with grapes @ 10 mg /kg body weight thrown DW. Group T4 was given arsenic trioxide, Thankuni, and grapes with the same dose for up to 45 days, respectively. Four randomly selected rats from each group (T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4) were sacrificed at 15-day intervals to determine body weight, hematological and biochemical parameters. At the end of the experiment, the result showed that the minimum weight gain group was T1 whereas the maximum weight gain was found in the T3 and T4 groups. The weight gain of the T2 group is better than T1. Reduction of TEC and Hb values were significant (P < 0.01) in the T1 group. Whereas in the rest of the groups, the reduction of TEC and Hb was less than in arsenic-treated groups. In conclusion, Thankuni and grapes have a significant effect on body weight and hematological and biochemical parameters

Spectrophotometric and spectroscopic studies on charge transfer complexes of the antifungal drug clotrimazole

Clotrimazole (CLZ) is an imidazole derivative that is therapeutically used as an antifungal drug. The routine control analysis of CLZ requires rapid, reliable, accurate and precise methods for the quantification of the drug in its pharmaceutical formulations. Spectrophotometric methods are presented for the determination of the antifungal agent that are based on the charge transfer complexation reaction of CLZ with the π-acceptors tetracyanoethylene (TCE) and 7,7′,8,8′-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). The formation of coloured complexes was quantitated at 396 nm and 842 nm for CLZ-TCE and CLZ-TCNQ, respectively, which enabled the development of simple and accurate spectrophotometric methods for the analysis of CLZ in pure drug substances and its pharmaceutical products. Under the optimum reaction conditions, linear relationships with appreciable correlation coefficients (0.9985–0.9994) were found between the absorbance at the relevant maxima and the concentrations of CLZ in the range of 5.00–35.00 μg mL−1 for CLZ-TCE and 1.00–25.00 μg mL−1 for CLZ-TCNQ. The molar absorptivities and Sandell's sensitivity values were also statistically evaluated. The proposed methods were successfully applied to analyze CLZ in topical creams and sterile solutions with mean recovery percentages in the range of 99.60–100.20%, which indicated no interference from the inactive ingredients. Furthermore, the charge transfer complexes of CLZ were also characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy

Occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in pond water associated with integrated poultry-fish farming in Bangladesh

The use of antibiotics in poultry feed can cause antibiotic resistance in integrated poultry-fish farming pond environment. Therefore, the goal of this study was to monitor the prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria in pond water associated with poultry-fish farming in Bangladesh. The results showed that the prevalence rate of tetracycline (TC) and ampicillin (AMP) resistant bacteria were 0.24 to 2.59% and 0.16 to 1.0%, respectively. The higher prevalence rate of TC and AMP-resistant bacteria was found in site 3 followed by site 4 and 2 compared with control site 1. Site 2, 3 and 4 were adjacent to the integrated poultry farm. On the other hand, higher TC and AMP-resistant bacteria were found in the rainy season than in the winter. The minimum inhibitory concentration result showed quite high level of TC and AMP-resistant bacterial distribution in the pond water. Seven genera of resistant bacteri¡a were identified in pond water samples by 16S rRNA gene analysis. Among them Acinetobacter sp. was predominant followed by Enterococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus, Staphylococcus sp., Enterobacter sp. and Brevibacillus sp