The Impact of Co-management on the Sundarbans Fisheries: Evidence from Sharankhola, Bagerhat, Bangladesh

The study was conducted in the Sarankhola, Bagerhat during the period from August to October, 2012 to determine the impact of co-management on the Sundarbans fisheries. At present only one co-management organization is working in the study area. The co-management organization is performing various activities to make fisheries resources of the Sarankhola, Sundarbans sustainable. Co-management initiatives included: awareness raising, alternate income generation, eco-tourism and efforts towards social mobilization. The key regulatory measures and steps of co-management included: Limited Boat License Certificate (BLC), protection of parents hilsa and protection of jatka. Integrated Resources Management Plans (IRMP) was formulated by the Forest Department for sustainable fisheries management of the Sundarbans. IRMP made two major guidelines: One was fisheries resource conservation measures and the other was fisheries improvement measures. Fisheries improvement measures in the study area were weak. The production data revealed that fish production in the Sundarbans is declining in the recent years. It is an important breeding and nursery ground of a wide range of estuarine, offshore and marine fishes and shrimps. Fisheries resource is being degraded due to lack of proper co-management of the resource. So, effective co-management activity is essential for sustainable fisheries resources conservation-management in the Sundarbans. Keywords: Co-management, Integrated Resources Management Plans (IRMP) DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-2-07 Publication date: January 31st 202

Nature and Extent of Crime Victimization: A Study on Urban Area in Bangladesh

This study has mainly explored the current nature and extent of crime victimization in urban areas in Bangladesh. It was exploratory in nature. The samples were selected randomly using a clustered sampling technique from 14 particular areas and respondents who were selected as victimized person or their household heads in this study. A structured and standardized survey questionnaire were used for data collection techniques and using SPSS statistical tools for analyzing data. The findings of the study are that the total number of the respondents was 3,957, among them most of them are female about 53% within 31% of victimized people. Their age ranging from 20 to 40 years, they have completed the primary and secondary level of education, their income below 20,000 and most of them are married and housewife by their occupation among them 8.5% got repeatedly victimized. As per the study findings, theft constitutes the highest number for victimization, where 79% and other types offences including snatching, sexual harassment, domestic violence and also other property related crime, snatching of things or properties, cheating, forgery, or any kind of fraudulent activity, threatening, and damage to property, rape etc were also be found in urban area. Most importantly, Dhaka north city has a higher victimization rate than the other cities in Bangladesh. In this study, it has found that about 95% of the respondents became victimized while living within their current address and most of the victims shared that the incident took place at the town mostly and the places of occurrence were mostly closed to the residence of the victims. The average distance of the place of occurrences and residences was about 4.6 km, and the nearest police station from the place of occurrence was 3.3 km on an average. The study also showed that most of the crimes have occurred within the mid hour of day time to the first hour of the night time, which starts from noon and ends 9 at night, and it constitutes 50 % of the total crime. Finally, it is also revealed that from January to April and November to December of 2018 were more crime-prone than the other months

Evolution of rubisco complex small subunit transit peptides from algae to plants

Chloroplasts evolved from a free-living cyanobacterium acquired by the ancestor of all photosynthetic eukaryotes, including algae and plants, through a single endosymbiotic event. During endosymbiotic conversion, the majority of genes in the endosymbiont were transferred to the host nucleus and many of the proteins encoded by these genes must therefore be transported into the chloroplast after translation in the cytosol. Chloroplast-targeted proteins contain a targeting signal, named the transit peptide (TP), at the N-terminus. However, the evolution of TPs is not well understood. In this study, TPs from RbcS (rubisco small subunit) were compared between lower and higher eukaryotes. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii RbcS (CrRbcS) TP was non-functional in Arabidopsis. However, inclusion of a critical sequence motif, FP-RK, from Arabidopsis thaliana RbcS (AtRbcS) TP allowed CrRbcS TP to deliver proteins into plant chloroplasts. The position of the FP-RK motif in CrRbcS TP was critical for function. The QMMVW sequence motif in CrRbcS TP was crucial for its transport activity in plants. CrRbcS TPs containing additional plant motifs remained functional in C. reinhardtii. These results suggest that TPs evolved by acquiring additional sequence motifs to support protein targeting to chloroplasts during evolution of land plants from algae.113Ysciescopu

Present status of fish diversity in the Beel Kumari in relation to fish sanctuary and fishing gears

The study was conducted on Beel Kumari beel (wetland) in Rajshahi, Bangladesh from October 2013 to September 2014. A total of 52 species of fish were recorded and the dominant species was Mystus tengara (Tanagra (9.75%). Exotic species like bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) were also commonly found. Of the indigenous species, Ompok bimaculatus, Puntius sarana, Pseudeutropius atherinoides, Botia dario, Mystus aor and Chitala chitala were abundant, though these species were rare before the establishment of the fish sanctuary. Four groups of fishing gears i.e. net, trap, spear and harpoons and line fishing were found to use, among them 8 types of net, 7 types of trap, 4 types of spear and harpoon and 4 types of line fishing were recorded. Among these gill net contributed to the highest catch (32%) and push net was the lowest (6%). Most of the respondents (80%) were found to believe that their fish catch had increased considerably due to impact of fish sanctuary establishment and effective community based fisheries management approach employed in this beel

A Suitable method to detect potential fraud of bringing Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) meat into the food chain

Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) has been a wildlife-protected vulnerable turtle species in Malaysia since 2005. However, because of its purported usage in traditional medicine, tonic foods and feeds, clandestine black market trade is rampant. Several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the taxonomic detection and classification of turtle species have been proposed. These assays are based on long-length target amplicons which are assumed to break down under compromised states and, hence, might not be suitable for the forensic tracing and tracking of turtle trafficking. For the first time this paper develops a very short-amplicon-length PCR assay (120 bp) for the detection of Malayan box turtle meat in raw, processed and mixed matrices, and experimental evidence is produced that such an assay is not only more stable and reliable but also more sensitive than those previously published. We checked the assay specificity against 20 different species and no cross-species detection was observed. The possibility of any false-negative detection was eliminated by a universal endogenous control for eukaryotes. The assay detection limit was 0.0001 ng of box turtle DNA from pure meat and 0.01% turtle meat in binary and ternary admixtures and commercial meatballs. Superior target stability and sensitivity under extreme treatments of boiling, autoclaving and microwave cooking suggested that this newly developed assay would be suitable for any forensic and/or archaeological identification of Malayan box turtle species, even in severely degraded specimens. Further, in silico studies indicated that the assay has the potential to be used as a universal probe for the detection of nine Cuora species, all of which are critically endangered

Production of active Exendin-4 in Nicotiana benthamiana and its application in treatment of type-2 diabetics

GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) is a peptide that stimulates insulin secretion from the β-cell for glycemic control of the plasma blood glucose level. Its mimetic exenatide (synthetic Exendin-4) with a longer half-life of approximately 3.3–4 h is widely used in clinical application to treat diabetes. Currently, exenatide is chemically synthesized. In this study, we report that the GLP-1 analogue recombinant Exendin-4 (Exdn-4) can be produced at a high level in Nicotiana benthamiana, with an estimated yield of 50.0 µg/g fresh biomass. For high-level expression, we generated a recombinant gene, B:GB1:ddCBD1m:8xHis : Exendin-4 (BGC : Exdn-4), for the production of Exendin-4 using various domains such as the BiP signal peptide, the GB1 domain (B1 domain of streptococcal G protein), a double cellulose binding domain 1 (CBD1), and 8 His residues (8xHis) to the N-terminus of Exendin-4. GB1 was used to increase the expression, whereas double CBD1 and 8xHis were included as affinity tags for easy purification using MCC beads and Ni(2+)-NTA resin, respectively. BGC : Exdn-4 was purified by single-step purification to near homogeneity using both Ni(2+)-NTA resin and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) beads. Moreover, Exdn-4 without any extra residues was produced from BGC : Exdn-4 bound onto MCC beads by treating with enterokinase. Plant-produced Exdn-4 (Exendin-4) was as effective as chemically synthesized Exendin-4 in glucose-induced insulin secretion (GIIS) from mouse MIN6m9 cells a pancreatic beta cell line

A secure and intelligent framework for vehicle health monitoring exploiting big-data analytics

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by IEEE in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems on 04/01/2022. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2021.3138255 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.The dependency on vehicles is increasing tremendously due to its excellent transport capacity, fast, efficient, flexible, pleasant journey, minimal physical effort, and substantial economic impact. As a result, the demand for smart and intelligent feature enhancement is growing and becoming a prime concern for maximum productivity based on the current perspective. In this case, the Internet of Everything (IoE) is an emerging concept that can play an essential role in the automotive industry by integrating the stakeholders, process, data, and things via networked connections. But the unavailability of intelligent features leads to negligence about proper maintenance of vehicle vulnerable parts, reckless driving and severe accident, lack of instructive driving, and improper decision, which incurred extra expenses for maintenance besides hindering national economic growth. For this, we proposed a conceptual framework for a central VHMS exploiting IoE-driven Multi-Layer Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) and a machine learning technique to oversee individual vehicle health conditions, notify the respective owner driver real-timely and store the information for further necessary action. This article transparently portrayed an overview of central VHMS and proposed the taxonomy to achieve such an objective. Subsequently, we unveiled the framework for central VHMS, IoE-driven Multi-tire HetNet, with a secure and trustworthy data collection and analytics system. Finally, anticipating this proposition’s outcome is immense in the automotive sector. It may motivate the researcher to develop a central intelligent and secure vehicular condition diagnostic system to move this sector towards Industry 4.0.The authors would like to thank University Malaysia Pahang for providing the laboratory facilities and financial support under the University FLAGSHIP Research Grants (Project number RDU192203), International Matching Grant (No. RDU192704), and Postgraduate Research Scheme Grant (No. PGRS200325)

Evaluation of graft uptake in underlay myringoplasty using dry and wet temporalis fascia graft

Chronic otitis media (COM) is a vital cause of deafness worldwide. Myringoplasty is one of the best treatment options for COM (inactive mucosal variety). Temporalis Fascia is the most favored grafting material among various autografts, which can be used as dry or wet depending upon the Surgeon's choice. The main focus of this study is to compare the graft uptake rate by using dry and wet temporalis fascia by underlay technique. This cross-sectional comparative study was directed from January 2018 to June 2019 at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery of BSMMU, Dhaka. All consecutive cases of COM (inactive mucosal) who underwent surgery were randomly assigned either into the dry (Group-A) or wet temporalis fascia group (Group-B). At 12 weeks follow-up, the density of graft failure (4.4% vs. 8.8%) and retraction pocket (0% vs. 2.2%) were higher in the wet procedure. However anterior blunting (2.2% vs. 2.2%) were the same in both procedures, and medialization (2.2% vs. 0%) were more in the dry procedure. Air Bone Gap (ABG) improved significantly in both groups following operation but reduced in Group-A more significantly than Group-B. On the other hand, there was no remarkable difference in successful graft uptake between the groups (Dry group-91.12% vs. wet group-84.44%, p>0.05). No graft material is superior to others in terms of graft uptake. BSMMU J 2022; 15(2): 84-8

Maternal Depression and Its Associated Factors among the Mothers at Narayanganj in Bangladesh

Maternal depression is becoming a serious public health concern in the world day by day. The purpose of the current study was to assess the maternal depression and its associated factors among the mothers of Narayanganj city in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted in six different areas at Narayanganj in Dhaka among 377 mothers having children of five to ten years between the periods of May, 2019 to September, 2019. The respondents were selected by simple random sampling method. All data analysis was done by using IBM SPSS version 20.0. The mean age of the pregnant women was 26±4 years. It was found that about 77% of mothers had high depressive symptoms whereas 10.7%, 6.63% and 6.36% of mothers had moderate, mild and no depressive symptoms, respectively.  It was observed that family income, family size, age of children and age at marriage were significantly (p<0.05) associated with maternal depression status. Further investigations might be carried out to assess the effect size of the associated factors mentioned above. Keywords: Maternal depression, mothers, children, associated factors. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/102-06 Publication date:September 30th 2022