Wild Fodder Yielding Plants in the Protected Areas of Bangladesh

Wildlife habitat is degrading worldwide due to myriads of biotic and abiotic reasons. The governments across the world countries are trying to halt the degradation through declaring protected areas (PAs) with potential wildlife habitats and strengthening conservation initiatives. These measures are expected to uphold the richness and diversity of the fodder yielding plants. But there is a dire necessity of information on composition and overall status of the fodder yielding plants for continuous monitoring of these habitats. Moreover, the potentiality of the protected areas can also be judged based on the composition and richness of fodder yielding plants. Having all these in mind, we assessed the composition and conservation status of the fodder yielding plants of all habit forms from three recognized protected areas named Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhpukuria-Dhopachari Wildlife Sanctuary, and Madhupur National Park. The study indicated the presence of 306 fodder yielding plant species of all habit forms in the three studied protected areas. This chapter describes the composition, status, habit forms, and nature of occurrences of the wild fodder yielding plants which is expected to be highly helpful in wildlife habitat monitoring and undertaking specific measures for multiplication and conservation of fodder yielding plants

Authorship Classification in a Resource Constraint Language Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Authorship classification is a method of automatically determining the appropriate author of an unknown linguistic text. Although research on authorship classification has significantly progressed in high-resource languages, it is at a primitive stage in the realm of resource-constraint languages like Bengali. This paper presents an authorship classification approach made of Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) comprising four modules: embedding model generation, feature representation, classifier training and classifier testing. For this purpose, this work develops a new embedding corpus (named WEC) and a Bengali authorship classification corpus (called BACC-18), which are more robust in terms of authors’ classes and unique words. Using three text embedding techniques (Word2Vec, GloVe and FastText) and combinations of different hyperparameters, 90 embedding models are created in this study. All the embedding models are assessed by intrinsic evaluators and those selected are the 9 best performing models out of 90 for the authorship classification. In total 36 classification models, including four classification models (CNN, LSTM, SVM, SGD) and three embedding techniques with 100, 200 and 250 embedding dimensions, are trained with optimized hyperparameters and tested on three benchmark datasets (BACC-18, BAAD16 and LD). Among the models, the optimized CNN with GloVe model achieved the highest classification accuracies of 93.45%, 95.02%, and 98.67% for the datasets BACC-18, BAAD16, and LD, respectively

The Impact of Appendectomy in Clostridium difficile Infection and Length of Hospital Stay.

Introduction We aim to investigate Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) recurrence, severity, complications, and length of hospital stay in patients with and without prior history of appendectomy who were admitted to the hospital with CDI. Method We analyzed retrospective data for 862 patients, 18 years and older, with C. difficile inpatients diagnosed between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 and sorted into two groups, with or without prior appendicectomy, to look for outcomes such as recurrence, hospital stay, complications, and related death in each group and use statistical analysis for comparison. Result There were 862 patients admitted with CDI, of which 122 (14.2%) had a prior history of appendectomy and 740 (85.8%) did not. Patients with an appendectomy prior were older (median age of 75 vs. 69, p = 0.0033) and had a higher proportion of females (68.9% vs. 53.6%, p = 0.0017). C. difficile recurrence in prior appendicectomy group vs. no appendectomy group was 12.3% and 9.3%, respectively, but no statistical difference was noted (p = 0.28). Also, there was no statistical difference in complications like ileus, colectomy, and mortality related to CDI in both groups. However, patients with appendectomies had significantly shorter hospital stays during C. difficile admission compared to patients without appendectomies (median of six days vs. seven days, p = 0.0014). Conclusion Our study shows that there is no statistical difference in the recurrence, severity, and complications of CDI in the presence or absence of the appendix but remarkably noted that people with prior appendicectomy had a shorter hospital stay

The assessment of geriatric malnutrition, geriatric depression and associated co-morbidities among forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh

Abstract Objective: To assess the nutritional status and depression of the elderly forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (FDMN) in Bangladesh and determine the associated factors of geriatric depression (GD). Design: This was a community-based, cross-sectional study among elderly FDMN. The Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA@-SF) and Geriatric Depression Scale Short-Form (GDS-15 SF) were used to determine malnutrition and GD, respectively. Setting: The study was conducted between November 2021 and March 2022 in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Participants: The study participants were elderly FDMN aged ≥ 60 years (n 430). Results: The mean age and BMI were 71·7(±7·8) years and 21·94(±2·6) kg/m2, respectively. There was a high prevalence of self-reported diabetes mellitus (32·1 %), hypertension (26·7 %), hypotension (20 %), skin diseases (28·4 %) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (16·5 %). The prevalence of malnutrition was 25·3 %, and another 29·1 % were at risk. The prevalence of GD was 57·9 %, and co-occurrences of GD and malnutrition were seen in 17·5 % of participants. GD was significantly higher among elderly people with malnutrition (adjusted OR, AOR = 1·71, 95 % CI: 1·01, 2·89). FDMN aged ≥ 80 years were at higher risk of GD (AOR = 1·84, 95 % CI: 1·01, 3·37), and having fewer than five members in the household was an independent predictor of GD. Diabetes mellitus (AOR = 1·95, 95 % CI: 1·24, 3·08) and hypotension (AOR = 2·17, 95 % CI: 1·25, 2·78) were also significantly associated with an increased risk of GD. Conclusion: A high prevalence of GD and malnutrition was observed among elderly FDMN in Bangladesh. The agencies working in Cox’s Bazar should focus on geriatric malnutrition and GD for the improvement of the health situation of FDMN in Bangladesh

Thermal analysis of Si-IGBT based power electronic modules in 50kW traction inverter application

Estimation of accurate IGBT junction temperature is crucial for reliability assessment. The well-known RC lumped approach can help predict junction temperature. However, this method suffers from inaccuracy while characterizing the thermal behaviour of several IGBT modules mounted to the liquid-cooled heatsink. Specifically, the thermal challenge originates from the thermal cross-coupling and module-to-module heat spreading and the converter cooling condition. This article demonstrates a methodology to study the impact of heat spreading, thermal interface material, and massive size liquid cold-plate on the overall thermal behaviour. A case study of 50 kW traction inverter is chosen to demonstrate the benefit of early assessment of electro-thermal simulation before making costly prototype design. Power loss is initially estimated using an analytical loss model and later the estimated power loss is used in FEA (Finite Element Analysis) thermal model. This paper also compares the performance of single-phase and two-phase liquid cooling and various thermal interface materials (TIM) to determine which type of cooling system and TIM is most suitable for real applications. Simulation results suggest that combination of two-phase liquid cooling and TIM can improve the thermal performance and reduce junction temperature by 4.5%, 4.2%, 4.6% for the traction power load 30 kW, 40 kW, and 50 kW, respectively. The proposed methodology can be used as useful reference guidance for thermal design and modelling of IGBT based power converter applications

Vitamin D supplementation on prediabetic adults with vitamin D deficiency: a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial

Hypovitaminosis D (<20 ng/mL) is thought to increase insulin resistance and meta-inflammation contributing to the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (DM). Correcting vitamin D deficiency in people with prediabetes might halt its progression to DM. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on insulin resistance, glycemic status, and inflammation in prediabetic adults with vitamin D deficiency. This doubleblind randomized placebo-controlled trial was done among 27 newly detected prediabetic adults with hypovitaminosis D randomly assigned to 60,000 IU of vitamin D weekly for eight weeks followed by monthly for the next four months or placebo along with lifestyle modification in both groups [vitamin D (n= 14) vs. Placebo (n=13). They were comparable in terms of sex, age and borlymass index. Glycemic status, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and inflammatory marker high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured at baseline and after six months of intervention. Vitamin D levels (ng/mL) increased in both groups from baseline (vitamin D vs. placebo: 12.2±5.9 vs. 3.9±3.5, mean±SD). FPG (mmol/L) significantly decreased in the Vitamin D group (before vs. after: 5.9±0.6 vs. 5.5±0.7, P=0.016, mean±SD), whereas HbA1C (%) and hs- CRP (mg/L) significantly increased in the placebo group (before vs. after- HbA1C: 5.8±0.3 vs. 6.0±0.4, P<0.001; hs-CRP: 5.0±4.4 vs. 5.6±4.9, P=0.039, mean±SD). Percent changes in glycemic status, HOMA-IR, and hs-CRP were statistically similar between the groups. Our study failed to demonstrate the positive effects of vitamin D supplementation on reducing glucose, insulin resistance, or inflammatory marker in prediabetic adult patients with hypovitaminosis D. BSMMU J 2022; 15(3): 167-17

Therapeutic potential of marine macrolides: An overview from 1990 to 2022

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGThe sea is a vast ecosystem that has remained primarily unexploited and untapped, resulting in numerous organisms. Consequently, marine organisms have piqued the interest of scientists as an abundant source of natural resources with unique structural features and fascinating biological activities. Marine macrolide is a top-class natural product with a heavily oxygenated polyene backbone containing macrocyclic lactone. In the last few decades, significant efforts have been made to isolate and characterize macrolides’ chemical and biological properties. Numerous macrolides are extracted from different marine organisms such as marine microorganisms, sponges, zooplankton, molluscs, cnidarians, red algae, tunicates, and bryozoans. Notably, the prominent macrolide sources are fungi, dinoflagellates, and sponges. Marine macrolides have several bioactive characteristics such as antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, antimalarial, antiviral), anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cytotoxic, and neuroprotective activities. In brief, marine organisms are plentiful in naturally occurring macrolides, which can become the source of efficient and effective therapeutics for many diseases. This current review summarizes these exciting and promising novel marine macrolides in biological activities and possible therapeutic applications

Covid-19 Mõju Põllumajandustööle Euroopa Liidus

Magistritöö Põllumajanduse ja toiduainete tootmise ärijuhtimise õppekavalThis study examines the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on agricultural labor in terms of changes in agricultural total labor, salaried labor, and temporary seasonal labor; in accordance to share of horticultural produce, agricultural monthly salary, and agricultural average monthly salary compare to average salary, in European Union’s 27 member states during the pre-pandemic year 2019 and pandemic affected the year 2020. Based on the secondary dataset available from Eurostat, findings reveal that during the pandemic total, salaried and temporary agricultural labor declined by 2.6 percent, 1.4 percent, and 5.5 percent, respectively. Agricultural output and share of horticultural crops decreased by negative 1.3 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Belgium pays the highest agricultural salary 4624 euro and Romania pays the lowest 450 euro. During the pandemic monthly agricultural salary declined by 1.6 percent. During the pandemic, decrease in salaried and temporary seasonal labor in the European agriculture sector does not have any relationship with the share of horticulture possessing by the EU countries. The countries that have a low share of horticulture, pay high average agricultural monthly salaries and high agricultural salaries compare to average. Countries that have low average agricultural monthly salaries experienced a significant drop in total and temporary agriculture labor. The countries that pay low agricultural salaries compared to the national average experienced a higher drop in salaried and total agricultural workers. Contrarily, countries that pay high agricultural salaries compare to an average experienced a significant decrease in temporary labor.Käesoleva uurimustöö eesmärk on teada saada, millised mõjud oli Covid-19 pandeemial põllumajandussektori tööjõule, sh muutustele kogutööjõus, palgatöötajate ja ajutiste hooajatöötajate seas; kõrvutades seda vastavalt aiandussaaduste osakaalu, põllumajandussektori keskmise kuupalga ja põllumajandussektori keskmise palgaga Euroopa Liidu 27 liikmesriigis pandeemia-eelsel 2019. aastal ja pandeemia-aastal 2020. Eurostati teisese andmekogumi põhjal võib järeldada, et pandeemia ajal vähenes palgaline ja ajutine tööjõud põllumajanduses vastavalt 2,6 protsenti, 1,4 protsenti ja 5,5 protsenti. Põllumajandustoodang ja aiakultuuride osakaal vähenesid vastavalt 1,3 protsenti ja 1 protsenti negatiivselt. Belgia maksab kõrgeimat põllumajandussektori palka 4624 eurot ja Rumeenia madalaimat 450 eurot. Pandeemia ajal vähenes igakuine põllumajandussektori palk 1,6 protsenti. Pandeemia ajal ei ole palgalise ja ajutise hooajatöö vähenemisel Euroopa põllumajandussektoris mingit seost ELi riikide aiandussaaduste osakaaluga. Riigid, kus aiandussaadustel on väike osakaal, makstakse põllumajandustöötajatele kõrgemat keskmist kuupalka ja kõrgemaid palkasid võrreldes riigi keskmisega. Riikides, kus põllumajanduses on madalam keskmine kuupalk, langes põllumajanduse kogu- ja ajutise tööjõu osakaal ja palk märkimisväärselt. Riigid, kus makstakse põllumajandussektori töötajatele riigi keskmisega võrreldes madalat palka, kogesid palgatöötajate ja põllumajandustöötajate koguarvu suuremat langust. Seevastu riigid, kus makstakse põllumajandussektori töötajatele keskmisest kõrgemat palka, kogesid ajutise tööjõu olulist vähenemist