Bangladesh and Regional Connectivity : Best Practices from Global Experiences

South Asia, economic integration, Bangladesh, transport costs

The role of noncoding mutations in blood cancers

The search for oncogenic mutations in haematological malignancies has largely focused on coding sequence variants. These variants have been critical in understanding these complex cancers in greater detail, ultimately leading to better disease monitoring, subtyping and prognostication. In contrast, the search for oncogenic variants in the noncoding genome has proven to be challenging given the vastness of the search space, the intrinsic difficulty in assessing the impact of variants that do not code for functional proteins, and our still primitive understanding of the function harboured by large parts of the noncoding genome. Recent studies have broken ground on this quest, identifying somatically acquired and recurrent mutations in the noncoding genome that activate the expression of proto-oncogenes. In this Review, we explore some of the best-characterised examples of noncoding mutations in haematological malignancies, and highlight how a significant majority of these variants impinge on gene regulation through the formation of aberrant enhancers and promoters. We delve into the challenges faced by those that embark on a search for noncoding driver mutations, and provide a framework distilled from studies that have successfully identified such variants to overcome some of the most salient hurdles. Finally, we discuss the current therapeutic strategies being explored to target the oncogenic mechanism supported by recurrent noncoding variants. We postulate that the continued discovery and functional characterisation of somatic variants in the noncoding genome will not only advance our understanding of haematological malignancies, but offer novel therapeutic avenues and provide important insights into transcriptional regulation on a broader scale

In vitro response from cotyledon and hypocotyls explants in tomato by inducing 6-benzylaminopurine

Differential response of tomato was evaluated by hypocotyls and cotyledon explants on 6- benzylaminopurine (BAP) containing MS media. Among the four levels (0, 1, 2 and 4 mg/l) of BAP employed in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media, 2.0 mg/l BAP was found superior in growth traits (number of shoots/explants and shoot length) and cultivars. No significant difference was noticed between cotyledon and hypocotyls explants on media having 2.0 mg/l BAP. In the same treatment, shoot length was significantly different between cotyledon and hypocotyls derived explants. No adventitious shoots was noted in the control and higher concentration of BAP containing media but theexplants turned into callus on media having 4.0 mg/l BAP

Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (Mwcnts) Onto Carbon Fiber (CF) Fabric

The Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite (FRPC) has been widely employed in structural applications. However, adding nanoparticles such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can be used to improve the composites' mechanical properties substantially. The purpose of this study is to investigate the stability of MWCNTs in distilled water (DW) and dimethylformamide (DMF). Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was chosen as the method for depositing MWCNTs onto carbon fiber (CF) fabric because of the advantages of simple equipment and inexpensive cost. Thus, the effect of voltage and deposition time were examined to attain the ideal condition for the EPD of MWCNTs onto CF fabric. The stability of dispersed MWCNTs in various dispersing mediums was explored as the importance of the MWCNTs to remain stable in the medium is essential to achieve homogeneous deposition. The UV-Vis and colloidal stability test revealed that MWCNTs dispersed in DMF have greater stability than DW. Scanning Electrode Microscopy (SEM) images exhibited that 10 minutes and a 20 V voltage were the optimal conditions for the deposition of MWCNTs onto CF fabric.   &nbsp

Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (Mwcnts) Onto Carbon Fiber (CF) Fabric

The Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite (FRPC) has been widely employed in structural applications. However, adding nanoparticles such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can be used to improve the composites' mechanical properties substantially. The purpose of this study is to investigate the stability of MWCNTs in distilled water (DW) and dimethylformamide (DMF). Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was chosen as the method for depositing MWCNTs onto carbon fiber (CF) fabric because of the advantages of simple equipment and inexpensive cost. Thus, the effect of voltage and deposition time were examined to attain the ideal condition for the EPD of MWCNTs onto CF fabric. The stability of dispersed MWCNTs in various dispersing mediums was explored as the importance of the MWCNTs to remain stable in the medium is essential to achieve homogeneous deposition. The UV-Vis and colloidal stability test revealed that MWCNTs dispersed in DMF have greater stability than DW. Scanning Electrode Microscopy (SEM) images exhibited that 10 minutes and a 20 V voltage were the optimal conditions for the deposition of MWCNTs onto CF fabric.   &nbsp

Isolation and screening of actinomycetes from Sundarbans soil for antibacterial activity

A total of 55 actinomycetes isolates from soil sample of Karanjal region in Sundarbans were characterized for morphological identification and antimicrobial activity. Four general such as Actinomyces, Nocardia, Streptomyces and Micromonospora with total numbers of isolates were 27, 14, 11 and 3, respectively, were identified from the sample. Twenty actinomycetes isolates produced antibiotic against one or more gram-negative pathogenic bacteria such as Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri-AN-31153, Shigella sonnei, Pseudomonas, Shigella dysenterriae type-1, Vibrio cholerae-0139, Salmonella typhi-Ao-12014, Plesiomonas, Hafnia spp., Vibrio cholerae-OGET, and Escherichia coli-186LT. The study indicated that Sundarbans’ soil had diverse group of actinomycetes and three of the tested isolates had a broader spectrum antibacterial activity which showed potential as a source of antibiotics for pharmaceutical interest

Ever-increasing Caesarean section and its economic burden in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Cesarean Section (CS) delivery has been increasing rapidly worldwide and Bangladesh is no exception. In Bangladesh, the CS rate has increased from about 3% in 2000 to about 24% in 2014. This study examines trend in CS in Bangladesh over the last fifteen years and implications of this increasing CS rates on health care expenditures. METHODS: Birth data from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) for the years 2000–2014 have been used for the trend analysis and 2010 Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Survey (BMMS) data were used for estimating health care expenditure associated with CS. RESULTS: Although the share of institutional deliveries increased four times over the years 2000 to 2014, the CS deliveries increased eightfold. In 2000, only 33% of institutional deliveries were conducted through CS and the rate increased to 63% in 2014. Average medical care expenditure for a CS delivery in Bangladesh was about BDT 22,085 (USD 276) in 2010 while the cost of a normal delivery was BDT 3,565 (USD 45). Health care expenditure due to CS deliveries accounted for about 66.5% of total expenditure on all deliveries in Bangladesh in 2010. About 10.3% of Total Health Expenditure (THE) in 2010 was due to delivery costs, while CS costs contribute to 6.9% of THE and rapid increase in CS deliveries will mean that delivering babies will represent even a higher proportion of THE in the future despite declining crude birth rate. CONCLUSION: High CS delivery rate and the negative health outcomes associated with the procedure on mothers and child births incur huge economic burden on the families. This is creating inappropriate allocation of scarce resources in the poor economy like Bangladesh. Therefore it is important to control this unnecessary CS practices by the health providers by introducing litigation and special guidelines in the health policy

Association of sickle cell disease with anthropometric indices among under-five children: evidence from 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition continues to affect under-five children in Africa to an overwhelming proportion. The situation is further compounded by the burden of sickle cell disease (SCD). However, association of SCD with stunting, wasting, and underweight in a nationally representative sample of under-five children remains unexplored. We aimed to describe prevalence of undernutrition by sickle cell status, to evaluate its association with growth faltering ascertained by anthropometric indices, and to explore mediating role of hemoglobin. METHODS: We availed data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the sample comprised 11,233 children aged 6-59 months who were successfully genotyped for SCD. The DHS employed a two-stage, stratified sampling strategy. SickleSCAN rapid diagnostic test was used for SCD genotyping. Z-scores of length/height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-height (WHZ), and weight-for-age (WAZ) were computed against the 2006 World Health Organization Child Growth Standards. We fitted logistic regression models to evaluate association of SCD with stunting, wasting, and underweight. Mediation analysis was performed to capture the indirect effect of and proportion of total effect mediated through hemoglobin level in SCD-anthropometric indices association. RESULTS: Prevalences of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children with SCD were 55.4% (54.5-56.4), 9.1% (8.6-9.7), and 38.9% (38.0-39.8), respectively. The odds of stunting were 2.39 times higher (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.39, 95% CI: 1.26-4.54) among sickle children than those with normal hemoglobin. SCD was also significantly associated with underweight (aOR 2.64, 95% CI: 1.25-5.98), but not with wasting (aOR: 1.60, 95% CI 0.85-3.02). Association of SCD with all three anthropometric indices was significantly mediated through hemoglobin level: for SCD-HAZ, the adjusted indirect effect (aIE) was - 0.328 (95% CI: - 0.387, - 0.270); for SCD-WHZ, the aIE was - 0.080 (95% CI: - 0.114, - 0.050); and for SCD-WAZ, the aIE was - 0.245 (95% CI: - 0.291, - 0.200). CONCLUSION: We presented compelling evidence of the negative impact of SCD on anthropometric indices of nutritional status of under-five children. Integration of a nutrition-oriented approach into a definitive SCD care package and its nationwide implementation could bring promising results by mitigating the nutritional vulnerability of children with SCD

Aged leaves effect on essential components in green and oolong tea

Tea leaf encompasses essential components like caffeine, polyphenol, lipid etc. The study was conducted to find out the essential constituents in green and oolong tea from aged tea leaves during the year of 2012. Tea leaves with different plucked aged were collected from Lackatoorah Tea Estate at sylhet district in Bangladesh. Collected leaves were processesed to make desirable samples for biochemical analysis in the laboratory of Department of Food Enginnering and Tea Technology, SUST. Results revealed that the essential constituents like moisture, caffeine, polyphenol, lipid, protein, ash, ascorbic acid, acidity and pH value in green tea made from different aged leaves were found slightly higher than oolong tea, ranged from 6.38±1.06 to 3.49±0.59%; 4.91±0.82 to 1.49±0.24%; 30.88±5.15 to 18.23±3.04%; 7.50±1.25 to 9.58±1.59%; 13.15±2.19 to 17.33±2.88%; 3.87±1.65 to 7.86±1.31%; 48.4±8.05 to 21.3±3.55(mg); 2.13±0.68 to 1.18±0.19% and 5.52±0.11 to 5.97±0.18%, respectively. Similarly, the moisture, caffeine, polyphenol, lipid, protein, ash, ascorbic acid, acidity and pH value from different aged leaves were found in oolong tea from 6.19±1.04 to 2.98±0.49%; 4.68±0.78 to 1.11±0.19%; 20.89±3.48 to 8.23±1.37%; 6.40±1.07 to 9.13±1.52%; 13.03±2.17 to 17.19±2.86%; 3.44±0.58 to 7.57±1.27% 6.44±1.08 to 0.98±0.17 (mg); 2.02±0.34to 1.02±0.17% and 5.53±0.11 to 5.97±0.20%, respectively. Therefore, young tea leaves (i.e. 5 to 8 days tea leaves) should be plucked for considering useful constituents in processed green tea and oolong tea. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i2.17845 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (2): 54-58, December, 201