Local Governance in Bangladesh: Policy and Strategy Framework

The author argued that the absence of a local governance policy is a priority governance problem in Bangladesh, which affects effective implementation of decentralisation policies and programmes sporadically undertaken from time to time. Democratic decentralisation in line with fiscal autonomy and local administrative reforms have been in limbo for over three decades. The absence of a clear policy affects institutional linkages of the local government bodies. In some cases overlapping of functions are evidenced in different local government institutions, while in other cases lack of coordination and inter-agency cooperation are also evident. More importantly, unless Bangladesh does develop an aggregated local governance policy, it will not have a vision and road map for development of local governance

Effect of food and micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy on subsequent development of infants in Bangladesh: a randomized trial

Background: The prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) is high in developing countries and is estimated to be 30% (UNICEF, 2001) in Bangladesh. Maternal under nutrition is an important cause of LBW is also highly prevalent in Bangladesh 50 % (March of Dimes, 2002). Public health programs of food-supplementation during pregnancy have been mounted to address the issue and it is important to determine the most effective way of providing the food. In addition it has been suggested that supplementation with multiple micronutrients may be more beneficial than supplementing with iron and folic acid alone, which is the present practise. Most studies of pregnancy supplementation have focused on the effect on birth outcomes whereas there is extremely little data on the effects on the offspring's' development. A large randomized-trial of the effect of 2 types of nutritional supplementation (food and micronutrients) in pregnant women on birth-outcomes was conducted in the Matlab field-site of ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research, Bangladesh. We took the opportunity to evaluate the effect of the supplements on children's development.;Aims: We aimed to determine the effect of giving pregnant women early (around 10 week of gestation) versus late (around 17 week of gestation) food-supplementation and multi-micronutrients or 30mg iron + 400 fig folate or 60mg iron + 400 fig folate on their infants' development.;Methods: A sub-sample of all singletons (n=2853) born between May 2002 and December 2003 in the main trial was selected to have developmental assessments at 7 months of age. The children were assessed using 2 problem-solving tests (cover and support), the Bayley motor-scale (PDI) and Wolke's behaviour ratings assessing approach, activity, emotionality, co-operation and vocalization during the test procedure. The children were also assessed for the age of attainment of motor milestones.;Intervention: 2 nutritional interventions were given: Food supplementation: Women were randomly assigned to begin the food supplementation program (a) immediately after diagnosis of pregnancy (early care) or (b) at the time of their choosing (usual care). Micronutrient supplementation: Within each food group, women were randomly assigned to receive a pill that contained (a) 30 mg iron and 400 Lig folate or (b) 60 mg iron and 400 Hg folate (usual care) or (c) 30 mg iron, 400 U-g folate and 13 additional micronutrients (UN1CEF/WHO/UNU, 1999 formulation of 15-micronutrients).;Results: There is no overall benefit of prenatal supplementation with early food or multiple-micronutrients compared with late food or iron and folate supplementation on any of the tests of children's development when assessed at 7 months of age. However infants of thin mothers (body mass index <18.5 kg/m ) showed a small but statistically significant benefit from both early food and multiple-micronutrients supplements whereas the children of better nourished mothers did not. Early food supplementation benefited children of malnourished mothers in the problem solving tests, support (BMI x early food p<0.03) and cover (BMI x early food p<0.05) and behaviour. The children were less fussy (BMI x early food p<0.04), more cooperative with the test situation (BMI x early food p<0.04) and vocalised more often (BMI x early food p<0.04) than children of similar mothers given late food supplementation. Small but significant benefits on motor development (BMI x micronutrients p=0.05) and activity (BMI x micronutrients p<0.05) were also observed among the infants of malnourished mothers who received multiple-micronutrient supplements. Mothers' BMI had an independent effect on children's development.;Conclusions: Early food and multiple micronutrient supplementation benefited development in children of undernourished mothers but not children of better nourished mothers. The findings support current practices in Bangladesh of targeting thin mothers and suggest that early food supplementation may be more beneficial than later supplementation. The findings also suggest that multiple micronutrients may be more beneficial to the child than iron and folate. However, the effect sizes were very small and their clinical and public health importance are not clear and can only be determined with longer follow-up. As there was no placebo group, the benefit of giving food supplementation throughout pregnancy could not be assessed. The relationship between mothers BMI and children's development emphasises the importance of maternal nutrition

The ward sabha in Bangladesh – lessons from Kerala and West Bengal

Under the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act 2009, the legal provisions for ward sabha (ward councils) remain non-functional since implementation of the Act in 2011. This policy note attempts to outline the limitations of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act 2009. The study also provides a few practical recommendations which may need further amendment of the relevant laws in Bangladesh. The amendment may also broaden the scope and activity of the ward sabha as a forum for promoting deliberative democracy. However, consideration should be given to reducing the role of the ward sabha as an executive agency as it is insufficiently resourced to perform the executive functions outlined in the 2009 Act; rather the immense potential of the ward sabha as a forum for wider deliberation across all the elected bodies should be exploited

Biomedical Sensing with Hydroxyapatite Ceramics in GHz Frequency Range

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a leading biocompatible material extensively used for bone implants as a porous ceramic graft and as a bioactive coating. Electrical characteristics of HA can be employed in implantable devices for real-time in vivo pressure sensor applications such as in knee or hip prosthesis. In particular, high piezo and pyroelectricity of HA, its polarisation by electron beam and selective adsorption of proteins on polarised domains indicate the potential for real-time biosensing applications of HA. For this purpose, a comprehensive understanding of the dielectric behaviour of different forms of HA over a frequency range relevant for biomedical sensing is critical. Such information for HA, especially its frequency dependent dielectric behaviour over the GHz range, is rare. To this end, we report on novel investigations of properties of HA in powder and film forms in the GHz frequency range

Hydroxyapatite thick films as pressure sensors

Electrical properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) in the form of screen printed thick films that can be used as a biocompatible coating for bone and dental implants are reported. In particular, piezo- and pyroelectric behaviour of these films suggest that they can be used to promote faster healing of bones and prevent rejection of implants. Moreover, the reversible pressure-induced changes in their electrical characteristics can be employed for real-time in vivo pressure sensors implantable simultaneously, for example, with knee or hip prosthesis. The additional advantage of HA in the form of screen-printed thick films is that, due to the technology’s versatility, it can be produced on flexible substrate in any shape and size to suit the needs of various patients

On the preparation and characterization of thin NiTi shape memory alloy wires for MEMS

Shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are employed as actuators in small devices for consumerelectronics, valves and automotive applications. Because of the continued miniaturization of all the industrialproducts, nowadays the tendency is to produce MEMS (micro electromechanical systems). Among the mostpromising functional MEMS materials, the thin SMA wires that are offering a rapid actuating response withhigh power/weigh ratio of the material, are attracting a world wide interest. This paper is aimed at showing theproduction process and the characterizations of thin NiTi shape memory wires. The activity was focused ondrawing procedure and on functional and TEM characterizations of the final products. In particular, it wasevaluated the performance of the SMA wires for actuators in terms of functional fatigue and thermo-mechanicalproperties by means of an experimental apparatus design ad hoc for these specific test

Unravelling the specific site preference in doping of calcium hydroxyapatite with strontium from ab initio investigations and Rietveld analyses

Strontium can be substituted into the calcium sublattice of hydroxyapatite without a solubility limit. However, recent ab initio simulations carried out at 0 K report endothermic nature of this process. There is also striking discrepancy between experimentally observed preference of Sr doping at Ca-II sites and the first principles calculations, which indicate that a Ca-I site is preferred energetically for the Sr substitution. In this paper we combine insights from Density Functional Theory simulations and regular configurational entropy calculations to determine the site preference of Sr doping in the range of 0-100 at% at finite temperatures. In addition, samples of Sr-HA are synthesized and refinement of the relevant structural information provides benchmark information on the experimental unit cell parameters of Sr-HA. We find that the contribution of the entropy of mixing can efficiently overcome the endothermic excess energy at a temperature typical of the calcining step in the synthesis route of hydroxyapatite (700-950 degrees C). We observe that the most preferential substitution pattern is mixed substitution of Sr regardless of the concentration. For a wet chemical method, carried out at a moderate temperature (90 degrees C), the mixed doping is still slightly favourable at higher Sr-concentrations, except the range at 20% Sr, where Site II substitution is not restricted energetically and equally possible as the mixed doping. We observe a close correspondence between our theoretical results and available experimental data. Hence it should be possible to apply this theory to other divalent dopants in HA, such as Zn2+, Mg2+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Ba2+, Cd2+ etc

Direct creation of micro-domains with positive and negative surface potential on hydroxyapatite coatings

A method for the direct patterning of electrostatic potential at the surface of hydroxyapatite is presented here. Micro-domains of surface potential have been created on hydroxyapatite coatings by a 20 keV focused electron beam with minimal alterations of surface chemistry. The success of such approach has been confirmed by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy measurements, which show that this method is capable of creating micron sized positive and negative local electrostatic potential. The shape and potential difference of these domains were found to depend on the dose of total injected charge from the electron beam as well as the speed with which such charge is injected.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Decomposition of anion exchange resins by alpha and game radiations

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