An Investigation of Success and Failure Factors of Street Food Sector Entrepreneurs in Sylhet

Street food sector is rapidly growing large informal sector in Sylhet, the holy land of Bangladesh. This study attempts to investigate the success and failure factors of entrepreneurs in the street food sector of Sylhet. The study was descriptive in nature and both qualitative and quantitative data were used. In this study, a total of 50 entrepreneurs of street food business were interviewed on the basis of convenience sampling (non-probability sampling technique) from Sylhet district. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the entrepreneurs with a face to face half an hour interview. Mean, mode, percentile, standard deviation were used in the data analysis. The findings of the study divulge that most of the entrepreneurs of street food sectors are young and male. The study also depicts that lack of experience of the entrepreneurs is the main failure factor of this sector. Along with this insufficient capital, a large amount of bribe, intense competition, undefined location are the key failure factors of this sector. On the other hand, the key success factors include easy formation, lower startup cost, less paperwork, fewer employees. The study also interprets that the government has less regulation in this sector, which is also a crucial success factor in this sector. For the development of this sector, the local government authority should provide some specific location for this sector. A large amount of bribe in this sector also needs to be controlled. The banks and other financial institution should provide SME loan to the entrepreneurs. The study will helps local government authority, policymakers, academician and interested persons to get a better insight into this sector. Keywords: Street food sector, entrepreneurs, success and failures factors, Sylhet. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-9-01 Publication date:March 31st 201

Ponatinib-Induced Adverse Effects: Thrombocytopenia, Pancreatitis and Hepatoxicity-- A Case Report

Abstract: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disease that generates from malignant transformation of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells. First line treatment for CML is the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), imatinib. For patients resistant or intolerant to imatinib, other TKIs, dasatinib, nilotinib, and ponatinib, are approved treatments. Patients who are resistant or intolerant to other agents are started on ponatinib as a last line option. Common adverse events of ponatinib are hypertension, dry skin, rash, abdominal pain, constipation, and nausea. More serious adverse effects include cardiovascular effects, fluid retention, pancreatitis, severe myelosuppression, and hepatotoxicity. Treatment for these adverse effects can include interrupting ponatinib therapy and providing symptomatic and supportive care. Reintroduction of agent can be considered when the serious event has resolved or the potential benefit of resuming therapy is judged to outweigh the risk. The patient is a 65 year old Caucasian male with a history of imatinib-resistant CML. The patient was started on ponatinib 45mg approximately 3 months prior to presentation after failure of previous regimens. He requires platelet transfusions for ponatinib associated thrombocytopenia. He presents with 4 days of new right flank pain with radiation to his right groin. Evidence of pancreatitis was found on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). LFTs were elevated on admission. The patient had no history of alcohol or steroid use. Ponatinib was discontinued on admission and within three days the patient’s symptoms of thrombocytopenia, pancreatitis and hepatotoxicity began to resolve. After complete resolution of the pancreatitis, the patient was restarted on ponatanib 15mg as an outpatient. Patients started on ponatinib should have their serum lipase, amylase, liver enzymes, and platelets checked every 2 weeks for the first 2 months and then monthly. By checking levels regularly it may allow the physicians to decrease the dose before complications arise that may require hospitalization. Signs and symptoms of pancreatitis should also be monitored and started on a low dose to avoid complications

ANTIDIABETIC AND HYPOLIPIDEMIC EFFECTS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACT ON EXPERIMENTALLY-INDUCED DIABETES IN WISTAR RATS

This study investigated the effect of Moringa oleifera in diabetic Wistar rats. The effect of methanol extract of M. oleifera at doses of 200, 400 and 800mg/kg body weight was compared to non-diabetic rats, diabetic control rats and diabetic rats treated with rosiglitazone (2mg/kg b.w.). Glucose levels were monitored within 24 hours and on day 15 of treatment. Blood samples were collected on day 16 of treatment to determine serum lipid profile, proteins and its fractions, non-protein metabolites and liver enzymes. On day 15 of treatment, glucose levels of diabetic control rats decreased by 13.33%, rats treated with the doses of the extract decreased by 52.37%, 53.62% and 53.93%, and rats treated with rosiglitazone, 58.8%. Weight gain was consistent in all groups of rats except in diabetic control with significant weight loss (-37.12g). The lipid profile showed rats treated with the extract had higher triglyceride levels, but significantly (p<0.05) lower total cholesterols with lower levels of LDL-C and VLDL-C, and higher HDL-C. Total proteins were increased with significant (p<0.05) increases in the albumin fraction. Liver enzymes, urea and creatinine levels were also reduced in the extract treated rats. In conclusion, the extract of the leaves of Moringa oleifera reduced blood glucose levels, corrected dyslipidemias of the diabetic rats, and protected the liver from alloxan-induced injury.     &nbsp

Integrated Method of Ozonation and Anaerobic Process for Treatment of Atrazine bearing Wastewater

The paper presents the treatment of atrazine-contaminated wastewater by ozonation followed by an anaerobic process using Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor. The experiment was performed with 100 ppb synthetic solutions of atrazine prepared in ultra-pure water. The corresponding initial Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is 226 mg.L-1. The initial pH was adjusted to 9.5. The atrazine-bearing synthetic wastewater was ozonated with an ozone dose of 9.4mg/l for 40 minutes of optimum ozonation time, resulting in a 35% reduction in the initial concentration of atrazine. Along with atrazine reduction, there was a COD removal of 54.42%. Further, it was degraded with an anaerobic process, resulting in the final reduction in atrazine concentration of 81% and the corresponding removal in COD of 86.7%. The process of ozonation led to the mineralization of atrazine and enhancement in the biodegradability of the wastewater. Using ion chromatography, the ozonated wastewater sample was analyzed for ionic by-products before and after ozonation. The ion chromatography results showed the breaking of the atrazine compound and the formation of Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, and F- as intermediate products. Further, the BOD5/COD ratio increased, reflecting the increased biodegradability. This ozonated wastewater was treated in a UASB reactor where the pesticide was degraded to 19 ppb, and COs degraded to 30 mg.L-1. The overall removal of atrazine pesticide and COD were 81% and 86.7%, respectively, in the integrated system of ozonation followed by anaerobic degradation

Impact of GnRH Agonists and GnRH Antagonists on Embryo Quality, Endometrial Thickness and Pregnancy Rate in In-vitro Fertilization

Objective: To compare the effects of GnRH agonists (long protocol) and GnRH antagonists (short protocol) on embryo quality, endometrial thickness (ET) and pregnancy rate in human in vitro fertilization (IVF). Subjects & Methods: In this quasi experimental study 237 patients underwent short protocol and 175 long protocol of IVF. hCG was administrated when 2 or more follicles reached the size of 18mm. After 34-36 hours’ oocytes were retrieved transvaginally. ET was carried out after 3-5 days under ultrasound guidance. Rising β-hCG concentration confirmed the diagnosis of pregnancy. Results: There was no significant difference in proportion of primary and secondary sub fertility between the two groups. Regarding female age, embryo quality and endometrial thickness no significant difference was found between two groups. Number of attempts, no of oocytes, fertilization & cleavage rate, maturation of oocytes and embryos transferred were significantly associated with both long and short protocols. Conclusion: Ongoing research in assisted reproductive technology has identified some issues which are important from the patient point of view such as ovarian hyper stimulation and safe successful pregnancy. This study shows that pregnancy rate is better with long protocol but that is not statistically significant. More studies should be designed with increase power for suitable comparison of long GnRH agonist protocols with short GnRH antagonist protocols.&nbsp

A New Leaf Venation Detection Technique for Plant Species Classification

This paper presents a novel approach to classify the leaf shape and to identify plant species using venation detection. The proposed approach consists of five main steps to extract the leaf venation including canny edge detection, remove leaf boundary, extract curve, and produce hue normalization image and image fusion. Moreover, to localize the edge direction efficiently, the lines that extracted from pre-processing, are further divided into smaller segments. Thirty-two leaf images of Malaysian plants are analysed and evaluated with two different datasets, Flavia and Acer. The best accuracy is obtained by 99.3% and 91.06% for Flavia and Acer datasets respectively. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach for shape recognition with high accuracy. Keywords: Leaf Venation; plant species; features extraction; features selection; classification

Sustainable conversion of carbon dioxide into diverse hydrocarbon fuels via molten salt electrolysis

In recent decades, the unlimited use of fossil fuels mostly for power generation has emitted a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which in return has led to global warming. Here we use green technology, the molten salt electrochemical system comprising of titanium and mild steel as a cathode with graphite anode whereas molten carbonate (Li2CO3-Na2CO3-K2CO3; 43.5:31.5:25 mol%), hydroxide (LiOH-NaOH; 27; 73 and KOH-NaOH; 50:50 mol %) and chlorides (KCl-LiCl; 41-59 mol%) salts as electrolytes This study investigates the effect of temperature, feed gas ratio CO2/H2Oand use of different cathode materials on hydrocarbon product along with current efficiencies. Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy have been applied to analyze the gas products. According to GC results, more specific results in terms of high molecular weight and long chain hydrocarbons were obtained by using titanium cathodic material rather than mild steel. The results revealed that among all the electrolytes, molten carbonates at 1.5V and 425˚C produced higher hydrocarbons as C7H16 while all other produced CH4. The optimum conditions for hydrocarbon formation and higher current efficiencies in case of molten carbonates were found to be 500oC under a molar ratio of CO2/H2O of 15.6. However, the current efficiencies do not change on increasing the temperature from 425 to 500oCand is maintained at 99% under a molar ratio of CO2/H2O of 15.6. The total current efficiency of the entire cathodic product reduced clearly from 95 to 79% by increasing the temperature under a CO2/H2O ratio of 9.2 due to the reduction of hydrocarbon generation in this case, despite the formation of C7H16. Therefore, due to its fast electrolytic conversion rate and low cost (no use of catalyst) the practice of molten salts could be an encouraging and promising technology for future investigation for hydrocarbon fuel formation

Antitumor Activity of 2,9-Di-\u3cem\u3eSec\u3c/em\u3e-Butyl-1,10-Phenanthroline

The anti-tumor effect of a chelating phen-based ligand 2,9-di-sec-butyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dsBPT) and its combination with cisplatin were examined in both lung and head and neck cancer cell lines and xenograft animal models in this study. The effects of this agent on cell cycle and apoptosis were investigated. Protein markers relevant to these mechanisms were also assessed. We found that the inhibitory effect of dsBPT on lung and head and neck cancer cell growth (IC50 ranged between 0.1–0.2 μM) was 10 times greater than that on normal epithelial cells. dsBPT alone induced autophagy, G1 cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. Our in vivo studies indicated that dsBPT inhibited tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner in a head and neck cancer xenograft mouse model. The combination of dsBPT with cisplatin synergistically inhibited cancer cell growth with a combination index of 0.3. Moreover, the combination significantly reduced tumor volume as compared with the untreated control (p = 0.0017) in a head and neck cancer xenograft model. No organ related toxicities were observed in treated animals. Our data suggest that dsBPT is a novel and potent antitumor drug that warrants further preclinical and clinical development either as a single agent or in combination with known chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin

Classification of acute lymphoblastic leukemia using deep learning

Acute Leukemia is a life-threatening disease common both in children and adults that can lead to death if left untreated. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) spreads out in children’s bodies rapidly and takes the life within a few weeks. To diagnose ALL, the hematologists perform blood and bone marrow examination. Manual blood testing techniques that have been used since long time are often slow and come out with the less accurate diagnosis. This work improves the diag- nosis of ALL with a computer-aided system, which yields accurate result by using image proces- sing and deep learning techniques. This research proposed a method for the classification of ALL into its subtypes and reactive bone marrow (normal) in stained bone marrow images. A robust segmentation and deep learning techniques with the convolutional neural network are used to train the model on the bone marrow images to achieve accurate classification results. Experimental results thus obtained and compared with the results of other classifiers Naïve Bayesian, KNN, and SVM. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method achieved 97.78% accuracy. The obtained results exhibit that the proposed approach could be used as a tool to diagnose Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and its sub-types that will definitely assist pathologists

Spontaneous Enhancement of the Stable Power Conversion Efficiency in Perovskite Solar Cells

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of lead-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is reported to increase over a period of days after their fabrication while they are stored in dark. Thus far, effects underlying this spontaneous enhancement are not understood. This work investigates the phenomenon for a variety of multi-cation-halide PSCs with different perovskite compositions and architectures. The observations reveal that spontaneous enhancement is not restricted to specific charge- transport layers or perovskite compositions. The highest PCE observed in this study is the enhanced stable PCE of 19% (increased by 4% absolute). An increased open-circuit voltage is the primary contributor to the improved efficiency. Using time-resolved photoluminescence measurements, initially-present low-energy states are identified that disappear over a storage period of a few days. Furthermore, trap states probed by thermally stimulated current technique exist in pristine PSCs and strikingly decrease for stored devices. In addition, ideality factor approaches unity and X-ray diffraction analyses show a lattice strain relaxation over the same period of time. These observations indicate that spontaneous enhancement of the PSCs is based on a reduction in trap-assisted non-radiative recombination possibly due to strain relaxation. Considering the demonstrated generality of spontaneous enhancement for different compositions of multi-cation-halide PSCs, our results highlight the importance of determining absolute PCE increase initiated by spontaneous enhancement for developing high-efficiency PSCs