Role of Microcredit on the Education: A Study on NGOs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a pioneer of the conceptualizing micro-credit program. It has undertaken some such programs to reduce poverty and bring about socio-economic changes in the rural community. Among them, microcredit plays vital role in promoting education. So micro-credit is considered as vital tools to promote the education and reduce drop out. Presently Microfinance popularly known as micro-credit. Now there are many types of microcredit organizations, we can see throughout the country. The common micro-credit institutions are GB, BRAC, ASA. This study explores the role of micro credits on the education, who had acquired micro credits from different microcredit organizations. Primary research was carried out with the help of a major NGO’s who give loan for education. Two hundred in-depth personal interviews were conducted by the author Roy, I. and Biswas, P. from February to August 2015. Most of the developing countries like Bangladesh; people are poor especially in the rural areas people who are unable to send their children to school. Though Bangladesh Government provides some reading and writing materials to all level of students throughout the Bangladeshi students. But it is not sufficient, and it can’t motivate parents to send their children school. Because of the high cost of education parents are discouraged to educate their children. In such a situation some major microcredit institutions provide money for their children education who is the member of these institutions. They sometimes provide money without any condition or sometimes conditionally. Such major micro-credit organizations are GB, BRAC, and ASA. &nbsp

Identification of Important Effector Proteins in the FOXJ1 Transcriptional Network Associated With Ciliogenesis and Ciliary Function

Developmental defects in motile cilia, arising from genetic abnormalities in one or more ciliary genes, can lead to a common ciliopathy known as primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). Functional studies in model organisms undertaken to understand PCD or cilia biogenesis have identified 100s of genes regulated by Foxj1, the master regulator of motile ciliogenesis. However, limited systems based studies have been performed to elucidate proteins or network/s crucial to the motile ciliary interactome, although this approach holds promise for identification of multiple cilia-associated genes, which, in turn, could be utilized for screening and early diagnosis of the disease. Here, based on the assumption that FOXJ1-mediated regulatory and signaling networks are representative of the motile cilia interactome, we have constructed and analyzed the gene regulatory and protein–protein interaction network (PPIN) mediated by FOXJ1. The predicted FOXJ1 regulatory network comprises of 424 directly and 148 indirectly regulated genes. Additionally, based on gene ontology analysis, we have associated 17 directly and 6 indirectly regulated genes with possible ciliary roles. Topological and perturbation analyses of the PPIN (6927 proteins, 40,608 interactions) identified 121 proteins expressed in ciliated cells, which interact with multiple proteins encoded by FoxJ1 induced genes (FIG) as important interacting proteins (IIP). However, it is plausible that IIP transcriptionally regulated by FOXJ1 and/or differentially expressed in PCD are likely to have crucial roles in motile cilia. We have found 20 de-regulated topologically important effector proteins in the FOXJ1 regulatory network, among which some (PLSCR1, SSX2IP, ACTN2, CDC42, HSP90AA1, PIAS4) have previously reported ciliary roles. Furthermore, based on pathway enrichment of these proteins and their primary interactors, we have rationalized their possible roles in the ciliary interactome. For instance, 5 among these novel proteins that are involved in cilia associated signaling pathways (like Notch, Wnt, Hedgehog, Toll-like receptor etc.) could be ‘topologically important signaling proteins.’ Therefore, based on this FOXJ1 network study we have predicted important effectors in the motile cilia interactome, which are possibly associated with ciliary biology and/or function and are likely to further our understanding of the pathophysiology in ciliopathies like PCD

Role of Microcredit on the Education: A Study on NGOs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a pioneer of the conceptualizing micro-credit program. It has undertaken some such programs to reduce poverty and bring about socio-economic changes in the rural community. Among them, microcredit plays vital role in promoting education. So micro-credit is considered as vital tools to promote the education and reduce drop out. Presently Microfinance popularly known as micro-credit. Now there are many types of microcredit organizations, we can see throughout the country. The common micro-credit institutions are GB, BRAC, ASA. This study explores the role of micro credits on the education, who had acquired micro credits from different microcredit organizations. Primary research was carried out with the help of a major NGO’s who give loan for education. Two hundred in-depth personal interviews were conducted by the author Roy, I. and Biswas, P. from February to August 2015. Most of the developing countries like Bangladesh; people are poor especially in the rural areas people who are unable to send their children to school. Though Bangladesh Government provides some reading and writing materials to all level of students throughout the Bangladeshi students. But it is not sufficient, and it can’t motivate parents to send their children school. Because of the high cost of education parents are discouraged to educate their children. In such a situation some major microcredit institutions provide money for their children education who is the member of these institutions. They sometimes provide money without any condition or sometimes conditionally. Such major micro-credit organizations are GB, BRAC, and ASA

Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity, and Phytotoxicity of Tannery Effluent Discharged into Palar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, India

Ambur, a town located on the banks of Palar River, is considered one of the most polluted areas in India and occupied by hundreds of tanneries and leather product units. The present study was designed to evaluate the toxic effect of discharged tannery effluent (TE) on model agricultural crops, ecofriendly microorganisms, and human blood cells. The phytotoxic effects of TE tested on Allium cepa and Lemna minor revealed inhibition of root growth and significant reduction in number of fronds, protein, and chlorophyll content. Moreover, TE induced chlorosis and tissue necrosis in Nostoc muscorum at low concentration (10%). TE has also negative impact on ecofriendly microorganisms, Bacillus thuringiensis, Rhizobium etli, and Aspergillus terreus which play an important role in the nutrition of plant growth. The genotoxicity of TE was investigated in human leukocytes which showed interference with normal mitotic division with subsequent cell lysis. It also intervened with the normal replication process and induced micronucleus formation in the healthy leukocyte. 5% concentration of TE has been revealed to be toxic to erythrocytes. From this study TE found in the Palar River of Ambur has adverse effects on all the three levels of organisms in ecosystem even at lower concentrations

Children living in the slums of Bangladesh face risks from unsafe food and water and stunted growth is common

Aim: This study investigated the microbial quality of food and water consumed by children in four slums in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, together with the associated risk factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study took place from December 2015 to May 2016 and focused on 360 children under the age of five. We recorded household food security, namely adequate food for a healthy life, socio-economic and nutritional status, hygiene and feeding practices. Food and water samples were analysed. Results: We found that 63% of the children were malnourished and 58% were stunted. Yeast and moulds were detected in 86% of the food samples and coliforms in 73%. All the water samples were contaminated with faecal coliforms, yeasts and moulds and Staphylococcus. Food insecurity affected 83% of households. Children were twice as likely to be malnourished if they were born with a perceived low birth weight or their mothers did not wash their hands with soap after cleaning the child’s bottom following defecation. Exclusively breast-fed children were less likely to develop malnutrition. Conclusion: Children from the Dhaka slums were frequently stunted and malnourished and contaminated food and water was common. Integrated efforts are essential to create public awareness about hygiene

Tell me why! Explanations support learning relational and causal structure

Inferring the abstract relational and causal structure of the world is a major challenge for reinforcement-learning (RL) agents. For humans, language--particularly in the form of explanations--plays a considerable role in overcoming this challenge. Here, we show that language can play a similar role for deep RL agents in complex environments. While agents typically struggle to acquire relational and causal knowledge, augmenting their experience by training them to predict language descriptions and explanations can overcome these limitations. We show that language can help agents learn challenging relational tasks, and examine which aspects of language contribute to its benefits. We then show that explanations can help agents to infer not only relational but also causal structure. Language can shape the way that agents to generalize out-of-distribution from ambiguous, causally-confounded training, and explanations even allow agents to learn to perform experimental interventions to identify causal relationships. Our results suggest that language description and explanation may be powerful tools for improving agent learning and generalization.Comment: ICML 2022; 23 page

Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Detailed, comprehensive, and timely reporting on population health by underlying causes of disability and premature death is crucial to understanding and responding to complex patterns of disease and injury burden over time and across age groups, sexes, and locations. The availability of disease burden estimates can promote evidence-based interventions that enable public health researchers, policy makers, and other professionals to implement strategies that can mitigate diseases. It can also facilitate more rigorous monitoring of progress towards national and international health targets, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. For three decades, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) has filled that need. A global network of collaborators contributed to the production of GBD 2021 by providing, reviewing, and analysing all available data. GBD estimates are updated routinely with additional data and refined analytical methods. GBD 2021 presents, for the first time, estimates of health loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The GBD 2021 disease and injury burden analysis estimated years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries using 100 983 data sources. Data were extracted from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, censuses, household surveys, disease-specific registries, health service contact data, and other sources. YLDs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific prevalence of sequelae by their respective disability weights, for each disease and injury. YLLs were calculated by multiplying cause-age-sex-location-year-specific deaths by the standard life expectancy at the age that death occurred. DALYs were calculated by summing YLDs and YLLs. HALE estimates were produced using YLDs per capita and age-specific mortality rates by location, age, sex, year, and cause. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for all final estimates as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles values of 500 draws. Uncertainty was propagated at each step of the estimation process. Counts and age-standardised rates were calculated globally, for seven super-regions, 21 regions, 204 countries and territories (including 21 countries with subnational locations), and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Here we report data for 2010 to 2021 to highlight trends in disease burden over the past decade and through the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Global DALYs increased from 2·63 billion (95% UI 2·44–2·85) in 2010 to 2·88 billion (2·64–3·15) in 2021 for all causes combined. Much of this increase in the number of DALYs was due to population growth and ageing, as indicated by a decrease in global age-standardised all-cause DALY rates of 14·2% (95% UI 10·7–17·3) between 2010 and 2019. Notably, however, this decrease in rates reversed during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with increases in global age-standardised all-cause DALY rates since 2019 of 4·1% (1·8–6·3) in 2020 and 7·2% (4·7–10·0) in 2021. In 2021, COVID-19 was the leading cause of DALYs globally (212·0 million [198·0–234·5] DALYs), followed by ischaemic heart disease (188·3 million [176·7–198·3]), neonatal disorders (186·3 million [162·3–214·9]), and stroke (160·4 million [148·0–171·7]). However, notable health gains were seen among other leading communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) diseases. Globally between 2010 and 2021, the age-standardised DALY rates for HIV/AIDS decreased by 47·8% (43·3–51·7) and for diarrhoeal diseases decreased by 47·0% (39·9–52·9). Non-communicable diseases contributed 1·73 billion (95% UI 1·54–1·94) DALYs in 2021, with a decrease in age-standardised DALY rates since 2010 of 6·4% (95% UI 3·5–9·5). Between 2010 and 2021, among the 25 leading Level 3 causes, age-standardised DALY rates increased most substantially for anxiety disorders (16·7% [14·0–19·8]), depressive disorders (16·4% [11·9–21·3]), and diabetes (14·0% [10·0–17·4]). Age-standardised DALY rates due to injuries decreased globally by 24·0% (20·7–27·2) between 2010 and 2021, although improvements were not uniform across locations, ages, and sexes. Globally, HALE at birth improved slightly, from 61·3 years (58·6–63·6) in 2010 to 62·2 years (59·4–64·7) in 2021. However, despite this overall increase, HALE decreased by 2·2% (1·6–2·9) between 2019 and 2021. Interpretation: Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of causes of health loss is crucial to understanding its impact and ensuring that health funding and policy address needs at both local and global levels through cost-effective and evidence-based interventions. A global epidemiological transition remains underway. Our findings suggest that prioritising non-communicable disease prevention and treatment policies, as well as strengthening health systems, continues to be crucially important. The progress on reducing the burden of CMNN diseases must not stall; although global trends are improving, the burden of CMNN diseases remains unacceptably high. Evidence-based interventions will help save the lives of young children and mothers and improve the overall health and economic conditions of societies across the world. Governments and multilateral organisations should prioritise pandemic preparedness planning alongside efforts to reduce the burden of diseases and injuries that will strain resources in the coming decades. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Development of improved recombinant NDV-vectored vaccines against highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) are highly contagious and economically devastating poultry pathogens with a documented transmission to humans causing severe human infections with high mortality. Circulation of these viruses is of public health concern as they have the pandemic potential to mutate to increase transmissibility among humans. The diversity of zoonotic influenza viruses causing human infections is alarming and effective vaccination is needed to control these viruses. Influenza viruses particularly with H7 and H5 subtypes of HA can naturally switch to a highly pathogenic phenotype through different mechanisms. Currently available vaccines are not satisfactory as they are mostly inactivated vaccines that require labor-intensive administration methods and provide suboptimal protection of vaccinated birds. Viral vectors offer crucial advantages over traditional vaccines, including induction of outstanding antibody and cytotoxic lymphocyte responses which is important for the control of viral infections. Newcastle Disease virus (NDV) is a promising vaccine vector for HPAIV since it is highly restricted for replication in the respiratory tract of poultry, it can be easily administered, and it induces both local and systemic immune responses. H7 influenza viruses are classified into two major genetic lineages, American and Eurasian. To develop a universal anti-H7 vaccine, we generated NDV vectors expressing chimeric HA sequences covering both North American and Asian isolates. In the first project, we designed NDV-vectored vaccines against HPAI H7N8 infection. The Hemagglutinin (HA) protein of influenza viruses is responsible for virus attachment to host cell and is the major target of the humoral immune response. Accordingly, we developed vaccines against HPAIV by generating recombinant NDV vectored H7 serotype-specific vaccines expressing HA protein. We also evaluated the protective efficacy of these recombinant vaccines against highly virulent H7 challenges in both broiler chickens and turkeys and the results were promising for broiler chickens, but for turkeys the vaccination design and scheme need to be further modified. In the second part of the study, we designed some recombinant NDV-vectored vaccines with an increased level of expression of H5HA antigen. The transcriptional unit of NDV contains a major open reading frame flanked by 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions (UTRs) followed by conserved transcriptional initiation and termination control sequences. Previous studies have shown that the addition of UTRs of P, M, and F genes positively modulated foreign gene expression. Hence, we hypothesized that cognate NDV mRNA UTRs would improve the expression of a protective antigen by an NDV-vectored vaccine. We generated recombinant NDVs where the HA of the HPAIV strain H5N1 is flanked by 5’ and 3’UTRs of NDV genes and determined the growth characteristics of these recombinant viruses, their stability, the level of HA expression and their transcription and translation modulation. Both studies aimed for the advancement of NDV-vectored vaccines emphasizing the fact of better expression of the protective antigen and improved immunogenicity for avian influenza virus considering two important strains of H5 and H7