Impact of home quarantine due to COVID-19 among Bangladeshi population

COVID-19 is an emergency public health issue and home quarantine can prevent the transmission. Quarantine restricts the people’s mobility and it has a silent impact on physical, psychological and economical aspect. The purpose was to explore the impact of home quarantine among the general population in Bangladesh. This was a descriptive type of cross sectional survey with 600 samples from different district of Bangladesh by convenient sampling with a structured and language validated questionnaire. The results indicate the huge impact of home quarantine. Among 600 participants, 71.7% (n=430) showed impact on their psychological health, 48.5% (n=291) physical health and 82.5% (n=495) on their economy. Study showed strong association between gender and psychological impact (p<0.01) and very strong association between living area and their psychological impact (p<0.00).There has also very strong association between their occupation and impact on their economy (p<0.00). Home quarantine has a progressive negative impact on the individual’s psychological health, physical health and their economy. Individual’s gender, living area and occupations are strongly associated with those negative impacts due to home quarantine. Supporting agency should take initiative to mitigate this all negative impacts of home quarantine and need to develop protocol for maintaining for health during quarantine time

Evaluation of a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Package of Community-Based Maternal and Newborn Interventions in Mirzapur, Bangladesh

To evaluate a delivery strategy for newborn interventions in rural Bangladesh.A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted in Mirzapur, Bangladesh. Twelve unions were randomized to intervention or comparison arm. All women of reproductive age were eligible to participate. In the intervention arm, community health workers identified pregnant women; made two antenatal home visits to promote birth and newborn care preparedness; made four postnatal home visits to negotiate preventive care practices and to assess newborns for illness; and referred sick neonates to a hospital and facilitated compliance. Primary outcome measures were antenatal and immediate newborn care behaviours, knowledge of danger signs, care seeking for neonatal complications, and neonatal mortality.A total of 4616 and 5241 live births were recorded from 9987 and 11153 participants in the intervention and comparison arm, respectively. High coverage of antenatal (91% visited twice) and postnatal (69% visited on days 0 or 1) home visitations was achieved. Indicators of care practices and knowledge of maternal and neonatal danger signs improved. Adjusted mortality hazard ratio in the intervention arm, compared to the comparison arm, was 1.02 (95% CI: 0.80-1.30) at baseline and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.68-1.12) at endline. Primary causes of death were birth asphyxia (49%) and prematurity (26%). No adverse events associated with interventions were reported.Lack of evidence for mortality impact despite high program coverage and quality assurance of implementation, and improvements in targeted newborn care practices suggests the intervention did not adequately address risk factors for mortality. The level and cause-structure of neonatal mortality in the local population must be considered in developing interventions. Programs must ensure skilled care during childbirth, including management of birth asphyxia and prematurity, and curative postnatal care during the first two days of life, in addition to essential newborn care and infection prevention and management.Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00198627

Highly dense and chemically stable proton conducting electrolyte sintered at 1200 °C

The authors S. Hossain and A. M. Abdalla are grateful to the graduate studies office of Universiti Brunei Darussalam for graduate research scholarship (GRS) for funding this research. The authors are thankful to Professor John T. S. Irvine for managing a visiting scholarship for SH and AMA at Center for Advanced Materials at School of Chemistry in University of St Andrews, UK for the research works done.The BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.2−xZnxO3−δ (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) has been synthesized by the conventional solid state reaction method for application in protonic solid oxide fuel cell. The phase purity and lattice parameters of the materials have been studied by the room temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been done for check the morphology and grain growth of the samples. The chemical and mechanical stabilities have been done using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in pure CO2 environment and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) in Argon atmosphere. The XRD of the materials show the orthorhombic crystal symmetry with Pbnm space group. The SEM images of the pellets show that the samples sintered at 1200 °C are highly dense. The XRD after TGA in CO2 and thermal expansion measurements confirm the stability. The particles of the samples are in micrometer ranges and increasing Zn content decreases the size. The conductivity measurements have been done in 5% H2 with Ar in dry and wet atmospheres. All the materials show high proton conductivity in the intermediate temperature range (400–700 °C). The maximum proton conductivity was found to be 1.0 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 700 °C in wet atmosphere for x = 0.10. From our study, 10 wt % of Zn seems to be optimum at the B-site of the perovskite structure. All the properties studied here suggest it can be a promising candidate of electrolyte for IT-SOFCs.PostprintPeer reviewe

Factors affecting recruitment and retention of community health workers in a newborn care intervention in Bangladesh

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Well-trained and highly motivated community health workers (CHWs) are critical for delivery of many community-based newborn care interventions. High rates of CHW attrition undermine programme effectiveness and potential for implementation at scale. We investigated reasons for high rates of CHW attrition in Sylhet District in north-eastern Bangladesh.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty-nine semi-structured questionnaires were administered to CHWs currently working with the project, as well as to those who had left. Process documentation was also carried out to identify project strengths and weaknesses, which included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, review of project records (i.e. recruitment and resignation), and informal discussion with key project personnel.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Motivation for becoming a CHW appeared to stem primarily from the desire for self-development, to improve community health, and for utilization of free time. The most common factors cited for continuing as a CHW were financial incentive, feeling needed by the community, and the value of the CHW position in securing future career advancement. Factors contributing to attrition included heavy workload, night visits, working outside of one's home area, familial opposition and dissatisfaction with pay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The framework presented illustrates the decision making process women go through when deciding to become, or continue as, a CHW. Factors such as job satisfaction, community valuation of CHW work, and fulfilment of pre-hire expectations all need to be addressed systematically by programs to reduce rates of CHW attrition.</p

Healthcare waste management in developing countries

This study presents a brief over view of the socioeconomic and health impacts of existing HCW management practices in developing countries in general with special emphasis on existing practices in Bangladesh. Information about existing HCW generation rates and their composition is also included. An attempt has been made to provide appropriate guidelines for potential practical solutions based upon the lessons learned from international case studies

Cross-Kerr nonlinearity in the surface plasmon polariton waves generated at the interface of graphene and gain medium

Surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves generated at the interface of graphene and a gain-assisted medium due to the effective Kerr nonlinear variation of the dielectric function are controlled and modified. The gain doublet in the SPP waves is measured at the interface with collective cross-Kerr nonlinear probe signals which generates Kerr nonlinearity in the SPPs. The alternate normal and anomalous dispersion of SPPs is controlled under Kerr nonlinearity and strength of the control fields, leading to slow and fast SPPs propagation. Further, the propagation length of SPPs is controlled under Kerr nonlinearity and strength of the control fields. The controlled SPPs show significant importance for optical tweezers, radiations guiding, nano-photonics, plasmonster technology, photovoltaic devices, data storage, solar cells and biosensor technology

A study on hospital waste management in Dhaka City

A study on hospital waste management in Dhaka Cit

Intellectual Property Theft Protection in IoT Based Precision Agriculture Using SDN

In this work, we examine the privacy and safety issues of Internet of Things (IoT)-based Precision Agriculture (PA), which could lead to the problem that industry is currently experiencing as a result of Intellectual Property Theft (IPT). Increasing IoT-based information flow in PA will make a system less secure if a proper security mechanism is not ensured. Shortly, IoT will transform everyday lives with its applications. Intellectual Property (IP) is another important concept of an intelligent farming system. If the IP of a wise farming system leaks, it damages all intellectual ideas like cultivation patterns, plant variety rights, and IoT generated information of IoT-based PA. Thus, we proposed an IoT enabled SDN gateway regulatory system that ensures control of a foreign device without having access to sensitive farm information. Most of the farm uses its devices without the use of its integrated management and memory unit. An SDN-based structure to solve IP theft in precision farming has been proposed. In our proposed concept, a control system integrates with the cloud server, which is called the control hub. This hub will carry out the overall PA monitoring system. By hiring the farm devices in the agricultural system, these devices must be tailored according to our systems. Therefore, our proposed PA is a management system for all controllable inputs. The overall goal is to increase the probability of profit and reduce the likelihood of IPT. It does not only give more information but also improves information securely by enhancing the overall performance of PA. Our proposed PA architecture has been measured based on the throughput, round trip time, jitter, packet error rate, and the cumulative distribution function. Our achieved results reduced around (1.66–6.46)% compared to the previous research. In the future, blockchain will be integrated with this proposed architecture for further implementation

Anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antidiarrhoeal activities of methanol and ethyl acetate extract of Hemigraphis alternata leaves in mice

Abstract Background The study was designed to investigate the qualitative phytochemical constituents and evaluate the anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive and anti-diarrhoeal activities of methanol (MHAL) and ethyl acetate (EAHAL) extract of Hemigraphis alternata leaves in Swiss albino mice. Methods Qualitative phytochemical constituents of MHAL and EAHAL were determined by different tests such as Molisch’s test, Fehling test, Mayer’s test, Frothing test, FeCl3 test, Alkali test, Salkowski’s test, Keller-killiani test and CuSO4 test. In addition, Xylene induced-ear edema test and Cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation test had been performed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity. Moreover, Formalin-induced paw licking test, Acetic acid-induced writhing tests and Castor oil induced antidiarrheal test had been performed to evaluate the anti-nociceptive and anti-diarrhoeal activities respectively. Results These crude extracts were figured the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, triterpenoids, fat and fixed oils. No mortality, behavioral changes or sign of any toxicity were observed up to the dose as high as 4000 mg/kg in mice. During anti-inflammatory test, MHAL 400 mg/kg and EAHAL 200 mg/kg & 400 mg/kg were significantly reduced ear weight differences and granuloma formation in mice. Highest percentage inhibition was offered by EAHAL 400 mg/kg dose (35.15 ± 11.78% and 34.76 ± 11.30%) in both anti-inflammatory tests respectively. In anti-nociceptive experiments, all extracts were significantly reduced paw licking and abdominal writhing of mice. Highest percentage inhibition was offered by EAHAL 400 mg/kg dose (88.21 ± 2.23% and 54.00 ± 2.38%) in both anti-nociceptive tests respectively. In addition, both extracts were showed significant inhibition of percentage of diarrhea in anti-diarrhoeal models except EAHAL 200 mg/kg dose and the apex percentage inhibition is offered by MHAL 400 mg/kg dose (67.73 ± 5.77%). Conclusion These results confirm that the leaves extract of Hemigraphis alternata are nontoxic and may provide a source of plant compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive and anti-diarrhoeal activities