Spin waves at itinerant electron magnets

Imperial Users onl

Determinants of Infant Mortality in Bangladesh: A Nationally Surveyed Data Analysis

Background: It is well established that improving human health has direct obvious payoff on enhancing life expectancy along with economic growth. Infant mortality deliberately used to understand a countries overall public health status particularly child bearing mothers. But the prevalence of child mortality continues to be a prime public health concerns in Bangladesh. This study aims to investigate the impact of some geospatial, socioeconomic, demographic and health factors on infant mortality in Bangladesh. Methods: The study modeled infant mortality (aged 0-11 months) as the categorical dependent variable using 11 selected covariates from the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS-2014) dataset. The Pearson-Chi square test and Binary Logistic Regression methods were utilized for the bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results: All the selected covariates were significantly associated with infant mortality in bivariate analysis. The results of the logistic regression revealed that illiterate father, household without toilet facility or having hanging toilet, multiple birth and small size at birth appeared at the significant risk factors for infant mortality. In contrast, receiving vitamin A dose and visiting in antenatal care revealed as protective factor for infant deaths. Conclusion: This study is uniquely addressed some several determinants which are the immediate cause of infant deaths. This evidence based empirical study suggests that more attention needs regarding to eliminate all kinds of child mortality in Bangladesh along with infant mortality

Effects of Pesticides on Soil Microbiological Processes

The thesis can be divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to a comparison of the two methods, the steam distillation and Technicon automated methods, used for the determination of inorganic nitrogen. To test the precision and accuracy of the two methods, a 5 ppm standard of both ammonium and nitrate nitrogen was used for the steam distillation method and a 1 ppm standard of both ammonium and nitrate nitrogen was used for the Technicon method. By the steam distillation method the % recovery for the NH4-N standard was 95.2% and for NO3-N 94%. The major factor affecting the recovery of nitrogen was the loss of ammonia at the joint between the spray trap and the distillation flask. The joint on the apparatus was modified and tests achieved the recoveries for NH4-N of 99.6% and NO3-N of 99.6%. The inorganic-N was then determined by the Technicon AutoAnalyzer II. 1 ppm standards of both ammonium and nitrate-N prepared in water and 2M KCl were analysed. Standard deviations were 0.0275 and 0.0025 in water and KCl respectively for NH4-N and 0.0056 and 0.0051 in water and KCl for NO3-N. The standard deviation of NH4-N in water was very high. One source of variability was identified in that particular flasks consistently gave low results. A possible reason for the variability is due. to the adsorption of NH4+ ion by negative sites on the glass walls of the volumetric flasks. NO3- ion would not be affected by such negative adsorption sites and in KCl, K+ would be adsorbed in preference to NH4+ as K+ would be present at a much higher concentration. Both steam distillation and Technicon methods are found suitable in their own places. Though distillation procedures are time consuming they are simple, accurate and less expensive and not affected by the various organic and inorganic substances present in soil extracts. Using the Technicon AutoAnalyzer II a concentration as low as 0.001 mug/ml can be detected and large numbers of samples can be analysed quickly with a high degree of reproducibility. But these automated methods are very sophisticated and it is very difficult to run such complex systems which require a skilled operator and well furnished laboratories. So for developing countries steam distillation methods are more preferable. The second part of the thesis is devoted to testing the effects of three pesticides, captafol, carbaryl and malathion on three selected microbial processes, the phosphatase, dehydrogenase activities and nitrification in two soils of different properties. The two soils used were Darvel Series, a sandy clay loam of pH 6.4 and 8.82% organic matter content and Dreghorn Series, a sandy soil of pH 6.8 and 5.64% of organic matter content. Phosphatase activity involved the colorimetric estimation of p-nitrophenol released from p-nitrophenyl phosphate after incubation at 3

Performance Analysis of Small Investors in the Capital Market of Bangladesh (A Case Study of Chittagong Stock Exchange [CSE])

The main study of this research is to find out the performance of Small Investors in the capital market and also highlight the activity of Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). The theoretical background of the study includes brief introduction of Bangladesh stock market with its structure and different regulatory and intermediary organizations. This paper assesses the Intensifying of Stock Market in Bangladesh based on Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). Information collected from primary and secondary data along with identifying the major dominants factors and some problems or lacks of stock market which is greatly obstacle to intensifying the stock market in Bangladesh. We have collected information from 150 respondents, which are considered as our sample and each respondent are sampling unit. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that maximum information may be obtained within short time. we used the technique of purposive sampling. The data was collected by interviewed method. The main sources of secondary data are the portfolio published by CSE and official website and magazines published by CSE. The information was arranged and analyzed in different tables. After processing data we perform statistical test such as chi square test and also run logistic regression model for the data. The study warrants the continuity of research for a conclusive analysis and synthesis concerning the level of efficiency of the less developed market. Keywords: Stock market, Small investors, performance analysis, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE)

The impact of internet and social media on the habit of reading books: A case study in the southern region of Bangladesh

This study tries to find out the influence of Internet and social media on students’ habit of reading printed books. The entire study is conducted among a sample of 96 students of two different institutions of Khulna, a southern district of Bangladesh. Primary data are collected through a questionnaire survey where the number of variables is 16. The study tries to explore that students are less interested in reading books and are prone to gather information through passive sources like movies, television, the Internet, etc. The result shows that students spend more hours on electronic media than on reading books. They take more pleasure in technology or social media than reading books. So, this study tries to bring the present vulnerable condition of reading habit into light

Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus Secondary to Obstructive Uropathy – An Unusual Presentation- A Case Report

Diabetes insipidus is a clinical condition, characterized by polyuria and polydipsia, that results from either insufficient production or end organ resistance to antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Diabetes insipidus is of two types: central diabetes insipidus (CDI) and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI).Children with diabetes insipidus may present with polyuria, polydipsia, frequent dehydration, constipation, and failure to thrive. Acquired NDI may results from various drugs and conditions but NDI due to obstructive uropathy is very rare. There are very few case reports of NDI due to obstructive uropathy. We report a 2-year-old child who presented with diabetes insipidus as a consequence of obstructive uropathy.Keywords: Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; Obstructive Uropathy; Child.

Mathematical analysis of a measles transmission dynamics model in Bangladesh with double dose vaccination

Although the availability of the measles vaccine, it is still epidemic in many countries globally, including Bangladesh. Eradication of measles needs to keep the basic reproduction number less than one (i.e.R01) epidemic occurs. While using the Routh-Hurwitz criteria, the equilibria are found to be locally asymptotically stable under the former condition on R0. The partial rank correlation coefficients (PRCCs), a global sensitivity analysis method is used to compute R0 and measles prevalence (I∗) with respect to the estimated and fitted model parameters. We found that the transmission rate (β) had the most significant influence on measles prevalence. Numerical simulations were carried out to commissions our analytical outcomes. These findings show that how progression rate, transmission rate and double dose vaccination rate affect the dynamics of measles prevalence. The information that we generate from this study may help government and public health professionals in making strategies to deal with the omissions of a measles outbreak and thus control and prevent an epidemic in Bangladesh

Efficacy of Cyclophosphamide versus Cyclosporine in Frequent Relapse Nephrotic Syndrome – A Hospital Based Study

Introduction: The clinical outcome of patients with Frequent Relapse Nephrotic Syndrome (FRNS) or Steroid Dependent Nephrotic Syndrome (SDNS) treated with cyclophosphamide or cyclosporine (CsA) is yet to be established. This study was carried out to compare the efficacy of CsA with cyclophosphamide in patients with FRNS or SDNS.Materials and Methods: A total of 54 FRNS or SDNS children were randomly enrolled in this prospective study from August 2013 to July 2014. All the study subjects were treated with prednisolone 60 mg/m2 /day until the patients were in remission for three consecutive days. The patients were then randomly divided into two groups (Group-A & Group-B). Group-A was treated with cyclophosphamide at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg/day for 60 days, along with tapering dose prednisolone for 8 weeks. The Group-B study population was treated with cyclosporine at a dose of 3 mg/kg/day for 6 months or longer along with tapering dose of alternate day prednisolone for the initial 8 weeks. Four patients in Group-B and one patient in Group-A did not continue the treatment. So, we followed-up 49 children during this period.Results: The efficacy of both drugs was good after 6 months of treatment. Remission was observed in 80% of the cases in Group-A and 79% of the cases in Group-B. Even after 6 months of treatment 6.7% and 10.5% of the patients with SDNS in Group-A and Group-B needed to continue corticosteroid therapy, respectively. The side effects of immunosuppressive therapy were more frequently observed in Group-B patients. On the other hand, the mean serum creatinine level after 6 months therapy was 0.55±0.21mg/dl in Group-A and 0.84±0.43 mg/dl in Group-B. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusions: This study showed that both drugs were effective in FRNS and SDNS.Keywords: Child; Nephrotic syndrome; Cyclophosphamide; Cyclosporine

Identifying factors in estimation of Body Mass Index : cohesion between environmental factors and physical activity

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a good indicator of nutritional status in a population. It can be considered as an indicator of overall health condition. Beside Genetic aspects the BMI level is affected by different factors, such as socio economic, environmental and physical activity level. This study investigated about the effects of different physical and environmental factors on the BMI level of a sample of 75 adults and fit a suitable ANN based model. The mean BMI was 23.8671±2.89217 kg/m2. The Pearson correlation, independent sample T-test, one-way ANOVA, ANN, regression analysis was used to extract the variables which significantly influenced the BMI. The statistical analysis showed that, despite the apparent association of BMI with physical activity level, it is influenced by several factors such as age, distance to bus stop, dieting, daily exercise, marital status, educational level and recreational facilities. It shows that daily exercise, recreational facility, education level has significant impact in estimation of Body Mass Index (BMI)

Anti-cancer activity and apoptosis inducing effect of methanolic extract of <i>Cordia dichotoma</i> against human cancer cell line

MTT assay and DAPI staining test were performed to evaluate anticancer potential and to assess apoptosis inducing effect of methanolic extract of Cordia dichotoma leaves (MECD) against human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). Changes in MMP and intracellular ROS level were also assessed by JC-1 and DCFH-DA staining. Total phenolic contents were determined by colorimetric principle. Levels of statistical significance were determined by one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnetts posttest. Results showed that MECD with obtained IC50 of 202 µg/mL inhibited in vitro proliferation of human cervical cancer cells and induced apoptosis indicating its promising anticancer activity as compared to the standard tamoxifen with obtained IC50 of 48 µg/mL. Total phenolic contents was found to be 176.5 mg GAE/g dried extract. It was concluded that MECD possess promising anticancer activity and induce apoptosis