Allelochemical root-growth inhibitors in low-molecular-weight cress-seed exudate

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Cress seeds release allelochemicals that over-stimulate the elongation of hypocotyls of neighbouring (potentially competing) seedlings and inhibit their root growth. The hypocotyl promoter is potassium, but the root inhibitor was unidentified; its nature is investigated here.

METHODS

Low-molecular-weight cress-seed exudate (LCSE) from imbibed Lepidium sativum seeds was fractionated by phase partitioning, paper chromatography, high-voltage electrophoresis and gel-permeation chromatography (on Bio-Gel P-2). Fractions, compared with pure potassium salts, were bioassayed for effects on Amaranthus caudatus seedling growth in the dark for 4 days.

KEY RESULTS

The LCSE robustly promoted amaranth hypocotyl elongation and inhibited root growth. The hypocotyl inhibitor was non-volatile, hot acid stable, hydrophilic and resistant to incineration, as expected for K+. The root inhibitor(s) had similar properties but were organic (activity lost on incineration). The root inhibitor(s) remained in the aqueous phase (at pH 2.0, 6.5 and 9.0) when partitioned against butan-1-ol or toluene, and were thus hydrophilic. Activity was diminished after electrophoresis, but the remaining root inhibitors were neutral. They became undetectable after paper chromatography; therefore, they probably comprised multiple compounds, which separated from each other, in part, during fractionation. On gel-permeation chromatography, the root inhibitor co-eluted with hexoses.

CONCLUSIONS

Cress-seed allelochemicals inhibiting root growth are different from the agent (K+) that over-stimulates hypocotyl elongation and the former probably comprise a mixture of small, non-volatile, hydrophilic, organic substances. Abundant components identified chromatographically and by electrophoresis in cress-seed exudate fitting this description include glucose, fructose, sucrose and galacturonic acid. However, none of these sugars co-chromatographed and co-electrophoresed with the root-inhibitory principle of LCSE, and none of them (in pure form at naturally occurring concentrations) inhibited root growth. We conclude that the root-inhibiting allelochemicals of cress-seed exudate remain unidentified.

Assessment of Kidney Function among the Employees of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital

The kidney carries out a variety of physiological processes, including the excretion of nitrogenous waste products, maintenance of fluid, electrolyte, acid-base, and mineral homeostasis, regulation of blood pressure, as well as the synthesis and release of erythropoietin and other endocrine substances. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) can lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. CKD has a long period of asymptomatic stage. The symptoms of CKD usually present at the advanced stage of the disease. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a potentially fatal that impacts various physiological systems. This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Physiology in collaboration with the Department of Nephrology, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital (SMAGOMC&H), from July 2022 to June 2023 to observe the status of kidney function among the employees of SMAGOMC&H, Bangladesh. The study population consisted of all willingly participating volunteers working at SMAGOMC&H between the ages of 18 and 59 years. Participants with acute illness, malignancy, pregnancy, diagnosed case of CKD, and history of kidney transplant were excluded from the study. A thorough history was taken, and a physical examination was done. Serum creatinine, and spot urine albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) of each participant were measured. eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) was estimated by using NKF (National Kidney Foundation) eGFR calculator app. A Semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Most of the participants were between 50-59 years (46.0%). The mean age of these study subjects was 45.25±10.08 years. The mean serum creatinine level was 0.85±0.18 mg/dl, the mean eGFR was 102.92±16.21 ml/min/1.73m² and the mean urinary ACR was 27.44±12.48 mg/gm found in this study. Out of the total participants, 16.5% were at stage 1 CKD, 6.5% were at stage 2 CKD and 2.5% were at stage 3 CKD, according to eGFR by CKD-EPI (Chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration) equation. Seventy five percent (75.0%) of the participants had normal to mildly increased ACR and 25.0% had moderately increased ACR. Pearson's correlation test revealed a significant negative correlation of eGFR with age, serum creatinine, and urinary ACR (p<0.001). This study revealed that 16.5%, 6.5% and 2.5% of the study participants were at CKD stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3, respectively. Assessment of renal function can help early identification of CKD in apparently healthy asymptomatic subjects.

Mental Health among the Infertile Women Attending Tertiary Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Infertility is a global public health issue and is a low control stressor often leading to increased level of depression, anxiety and stress. It is a severely distressing experience for many couples and it may significantly affect the physical and mental life of infertile individuals. The study was to assess the level of mental health state (depression, anxiety and stress) among the infertile women in tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted at two tertiary level hospitals in Bangladesh named BSMMU and CARe Medical College. Three hundred and fifty-two (352) infertile women were taken as a sample and a semi-structured questionnaire which contains question with related variables and DASS 21 was used. The study results revealed that, the mean age of the respondents was 29.32 years. Almost three-fourth 260(73.86%) of the respondents were Muslim and 349(99.14%) respondents were educated. Two-third 223(63.35%) of the respondents were from rural area and 177(50%) were housewife. About 229(65.05%) were live in a joint family and 205(58.23%) had an abortion history. Majority 312(88.63%) of the respondents had monthly income BDT <30000 Taka. According to DASS 21, 175(49.71%) had depression, 212(60.22%) had anxiety and 157(44.60%) suffered from stress. There was a significant association (p<0.05) found between mental health state with age, religion, residence and occupation. This finding reinforces the need of attention counseling and others advance psychological interventions for positive impact on outcome during treatment of this group of women.

Making and breaking of boron bridges in the pectic domain rhamnogalacturonan-II at apoplastic pH in vivo and in vitro

Cross-linking of the cell-wall pectin domain rhamnogalacturonan-II (RG-II) via boron bridges between apiose residues is essential for normal plant growth and development, but little is known about its mechanism or reversibility. We characterized the making and breaking of boron bridges in vivo and in vitro at 'apoplastic' pH. RG-II (13-26 μm) was incubated in living Rosa cell cultures and cell-free media with and without 1.2 mm H3 BO3 and cationic chaperones (Ca2+ , Pb2+ , polyhistidine, or arabinogalactan-protein oligopeptides). The cross-linking status of RG-II was monitored electrophoretically. Dimeric RG-II was stable at pH 2.0-7.0 in vivo and in vitro. In-vitro dimerization required a 'catalytic' cation at all pHs tested (1.75-7.0); thus, merely neutralizing the negative charge of RG-II (at pH 1.75) does not enable boron bridging. Pb2+ (20-2500 μm) was highly effective at pH 1.75-4.0, but not 4.75-7.0. Cationic peptides were effective at approximately 1-30 μm; higher concentrations caused less dimerization, probably because two RG-IIs then rarely bonded to the same peptide molecule. Peptides were ineffective at pH 1.75, their pH optimum being 2.5-4.75. d-Apiose (>40 mm) blocked RG-II dimerization in vitro, but did not cleave existing boron bridges. Rosa cells did not take up d-[U-14 C]apiose; therefore, exogenous apiose would block only apoplastic RG-II dimerization in vivo. In conclusion, apoplastic pH neither broke boron bridges nor prevented their formation. Thus boron-starved cells cannot salvage boron from RG-II, and 'acid growth' is not achieved by pH-dependent monomerization of RG-II. Divalent metals and cationic peptides catalyse RG-II dimerization via co-ordinate and ionic bonding respectively (possible and impossible, respectively, at pH 1.75). Exogenous apiose may be useful to distinguish intra- and extra-protoplasmic dimerization.

Effects of multiple halotolerant rhizobacteria on the tolerance, growth, and yield of rice plants under salt stress

Halotolerant bacteria get adapted to a saline environment through modified physiological/structural characteristics and may provide stress tolerance along with enhanced growth to the host plants by different direct and indirect mechanisms. This study reports on multiple halotolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria isolated from the coastal soils in Bangladesh, in fields where the halophytic wild rice Oryza coarctata is endemic. The aim was to find halotolerant bacteria for potential use as biofertilizer under normal/salt-stressed conditions. In this study, eight different strains were selected from a total of 20 rhizobacterial isolates from the saline-prone regions of Debhata and Satkhira based on their higher salt tolerance. 16S rRNA gene sequencing results of the rhizobacterial strains revealed that they belonged to Halobacillus, Bacillus, Acinetobactor, and Enterobactor genera. A total of ten halotolerant rhizobacteria (the other 2 bacteria were previously isolated and already reported as beneficial for rice growth) were used as both single inoculants and in combinations and applied to rice growing in pots. To investigate their capability to improve rice growth, physiological parameters such as shoot and root length and weight, chlorophyll content at the seedling stage as well as survival and yield at the reproductive stage were measured in the absence or presence (in concentration 40 or 80 mmol/L) of NaCl and in the absence or presence of the rhizobacteria. At the reproductive stage, only 50% of the uninoculated plants survived without setting any grains in 80 mmol/L NaCl in contrast to 100% survival of the rice plants inoculated with a combination of the rhizobacteria. The combined halotolerant rhizobacterial inoculations showed significantly higher chlorophyll retention as well as yield under the maximum NaCl concentration applied compared to application of single species. Thus, the use of a combination of halotolerant rhizobacteria as bioinoculants for rice plants under moderate salinity can synergistically alleviate the effects of stress and promote rice growth and yield.

Boron bridging of rhamnogalacturonan-II in Rosa and arabidopsis cell cultures occurs mainly in the endo-membrane system and continues at a reduced rate after secretion

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Rhamnogalacturonan-II (RG-II) is a domain of primary cell-wall pectin. Pairs of RG-II domains are covalently cross-linked via borate diester bridges, necessary for normal cell growth. Interpreting the precise mechanism and roles of boron bridging is difficult because there are conflicting hypotheses as to whether bridging occurs mainly within the Golgi system, concurrently with secretion or within the cell wall. We therefore explored the kinetics of RG-II bridging.

METHODS

Cell-suspension cultures of Rosa and arabidopsis were pulse-radiolabelled with [14C]glucose, then the boron bridging status of newly synthesized [14C]RG-II domains was tracked by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of endo-polygalacturonase digests.

KEY RESULTS

Optimal culture ages for 14C-labelling were ~5 and ~1 d in Rosa and arabidopsis respectively. De-novo [14C]polysaccharide production occurred for the first ~90 min; thereafter the radiolabelled molecules were tracked as they 'aged' in the wall. Monomeric and (boron-bridged) dimeric [14C]RG-II domains appeared simultaneously, both being detectable within 4 min of [14C]glucose feeding, i.e. well before the secretion of newly synthesized [14C]polysaccharides into the apoplast at ~15-20 min. The [14C]dimer : [14C]monomer ratio of RG-II remained approximately constant from 4 to 120 min, indicating that boron bridging was occurring within the Golgi system during polysaccharide biosynthesis. However, [14C]dimers increased slightly over the following 15 h, indicating that limited boron bridging was continuing after secretion.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show where in the cell (and thus when in the 'career' of an RG-II domain) boron bridging occurs, helping to define the possible biological roles of RG-II dimerization and the probable localization of boron-donating glycoproteins or glycolipids.

Capacitated vehicle-routing problem model for scheduled solid waste collection and route optimization using PSO algorithm

Waste collection widely depends on the route optimization problem that involves a large amount of expenditure in terms of capital, labor, and variable operational costs. Thus, the more waste collection route is optimized, the more reduction in different costs and environmental effect will be. This study proposes a modified particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm in a capacitated vehicle-routing problem (CVRP) model to determine the best waste collection and route optimization solutions. In this study, threshold waste level (TWL) and scheduling concepts are applied in the PSO-based CVRP model under different datasets. The obtained results from different datasets show that the proposed algorithmic CVRP model provides the best waste collection and route optimization in terms of travel distance, total waste, waste collection efficiency, and tightness at 70-75% of TWL. The obtained results for 1 week scheduling show that 70% of TWL performs better than all node consideration in terms of collected waste, distance, tightness, efficiency, fuel consumption, and cost. The proposed optimized model can serve as a valuable tool for waste collection and route optimization toward reducing socioeconomic and environmental impacts.

Backtracking search algorithm in CVRP models for efficient solid waste collection and route optimization

Waste collection is an important part of waste management that involves different issues, including environmental, economic, and social, among others. Waste collection optimization can reduce the waste collection budget and environmental emissions by reducing the collection route distance. This paper presents a modified Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA) in capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) models with the smart bin concept to find the best optimized waste collection route solutions. The objective function minimizes the sum of the waste collection route distances. The study introduces the concept of the threshold waste level (TWL) of waste bins to reduce the number of bins to be emptied by finding an optimal range, thus minimizing the distance. A scheduling model is also introduced to compare the feasibility of the proposed model with that of the conventional collection system in terms of travel distance, collected waste, fuel consumption, fuel cost, efficiency and CO₂ emission. The optimal TWL was found to be between 70% and 75% of the fill level of waste collection nodes and had the maximum tightness value for different problem cases. The obtained results for four days show a 36.80% distance reduction for 91.40% of the total waste collection, which eventually increases the average waste collection efficiency by 36.78% and reduces the fuel consumption, fuel cost and CO₂ emission by 50%, 47.77% and 44.68%, respectively. Thus, the proposed optimization model can be considered a viable tool for optimizing waste collection routes to reduce economic costs and environmental impacts.

Content-based image retrieval system for solid waste bin level detection and performance evaluation

This paper presents a CBIR system to investigate the use of image retrieval with an extracted texture from the image of a bin to detect the bin level. Various similarity distances like Euclidean, Bhattacharyya, Chi-squared, Cosine, and EMD are used with the CBIR system for calculating and comparing the distance between a query image and the images in a database to obtain the highest performance. In this study, the performance metrics is based on two quantitative evaluation criteria. The first one is the average retrieval rate based on the precision-recall graph and the second is the use of F1 measure which is the weighted harmonic mean of precision and recall. In case of feature extraction, texture is used as an image feature for bin level detection system. Various experiments are conducted with different features extraction techniques like Gabor wavelet filter, gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), and gray level aura matrix (GLAM) to identify the level of the bin and its surrounding area. Intensive tests are conducted among 250 bin images to assess the accuracy of the proposed feature extraction techniques. The average retrieval rate is used to evaluate the performance of the retrieval system. The result shows that, the EMD distance achieved high accuracy and provides better performance than the other distances.

Application of TOPSIS and VIKOR improved versions in a multi criteria decision analysis to develop an optimized municipal solid waste management model

Selecting a suitable Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is a crucial stage to establish a Solid Waste Management (SWM) system. Main objective of the current study is to demonstrate and evaluate a proposed method using Multiple Criteria Decision Making methods (MCDM). An improved version of Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) applied to obtain the best municipal solid waste management method by comparing and ranking the scenarios. Applying this method in order to rank treatment methods is introduced as one contribution of the study. Besides, Viekriterijumsko Kompromisno Rangiranje (VIKOR) compromise solution method applied for sensitivity analyses. The proposed method can assist urban decision makers in prioritizing and selecting an optimized Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment system. Besides, a logical and systematic scientific method was proposed to guide an appropriate decision-making. A modified TOPSIS methodology as a superior to existing methods for first time was applied for MSW problems. Applying this method in order to rank treatment methods is introduced as one contribution of the study. Next, 11 scenarios of MSW treatment methods are defined and compared environmentally and economically based on the waste management conditions. Results show that integrating a sanitary landfill (18.1%), RDF (3.1%), composting (2%), anaerobic digestion (40.4%), and recycling (36.4%) was an optimized model of integrated waste management. An applied decision-making structure provides the opportunity for optimum decision-making. Therefore, the mix of recycling and anaerobic digestion and a sanitary landfill with Electricity Production (EP) are the preferred options for MSW management.

Outcome of Induction of Labour in Prolonged Pregnancy

This was a hospital based prospective clinical study conducted among women having prolonged pregnancy to assess the outcome of induction of labour in prolonged pregnancy cases. One hundred and thirty nine women having uncomplicated prolonged pregnancy were studied. The study was carried out in Sir Salimullah Medical College & Mitford Hospital, Dhaka from 01 July 2010 to 30 March 2011. In this study 66% of the respondents had vaginal delivery on routine induction of labour and in 34% cases induction failed. Ninety three percent (93%) of the multigravida had vaginal delivery and in primigravida their vaginal delivery rate was 47.5%. Regarding cervical condition for delivery, 75% of the respondents having favourable cervix had vaginal delivery and in case of unfavourable cervix respondents, they had 55% cases of vaginal delivery. About the foetal outcome it was evidenced from this study that the perinatal adverse outcome increases with the increasing age of gestation beyond 40 completed weeks of gestation. This study showed that the use of prostaglandins for cervical ripening and by confirming the diagnosis of prolonged pregnancy, the delivery outcome in prolonged pregnancy can be improved. The study also showed that induction of labour is not associated with any major complications and the routine induction of labour in prolonged pregnancy is beneficial for both mother and the baby.

A review on technologies and their usage in solid waste monitoring and management systems: Issues and challenges

In the backdrop of prompt advancement, information and communication technology (ICT) has become an inevitable part to plan and design of modern solid waste management (SWM) systems. This study presents a critical review of the existing ICTs and their usage in SWM systems to unfold the issues and challenges towards using integrated technologies based system. To plan, monitor, collect and manage solid waste, the ICTs are divided into four categories such as spatial technologies, identification technologies, data acquisition technologies and data communication technologies. The ICT based SWM systems classified in this paper are based on the first three technologies while the forth one is employed by almost every systems. This review may guide the reader about the basics of available ICTs and their application in SWM to facilitate the search for planning and design of a sustainable new system.

Feature extraction using Hough transform for solid waste bin level detection and classification

This paper deals with the solid waste image detection and classification to detect and classify the solid waste bin level. To do so, Hough transform techniques is used for feature extraction to identify the line detection based on image's gradient field. The feedforward neural network (FFNN) model is used to classify the level content of solid waste based on learning concept. Numbers of training have been performed using FFNN to learn and match the targets of the testing images to compute the sum squared error with the performance goal met. The images for each class are used as input samples for classification. Result from the neural network and the rules decision are used to build the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) graph. Decision graph shows the performance of the system waste system based on area under curve (AUC), WS-class reached 0.9875 for excellent result and WS-grade reached 0.8293 for good result. The system has been successfully designated with the motivation of solid waste bin monitoring system that can applied to a wide variety of local municipal authorities system.

MPDB 1.0: a medicinal plant database of Bangladesh

The term of medicinal plants include a various types of plants used in herbalism with medicinal activities. These plants are considered as rich resources of ingredients which can be used as complementary and alternative medicines and, also in drug developments and synthesis. In addition, some plants regarded as valuable origin of nutrition. Thus, all these plants are recommended as therapeutic agents. Information related to medicinal plants and herbal drugs accumulated over the ages are scattered and unstructured which make it prudent to develop a curated database for medicinal plants. MPDB 1.0 database is dedicated to provide the first window to find the plants around Bangladesh claimed to have medicinal and/or nutritive values by accumulating data from the published literatures. This database contains 406 medicinal plants with their corresponding scientific, family and local names as well as utilized parts for treatment from different districts of Bangladesh. Information regarding ailments is available for 353 plants. In addition, we have found active compounds for 78 plants with their corresponding PubMed ID.

An automated solid waste bin level detection system using a gray level aura matrix

An advanced image processing approach integrated with communication technologies and a camera for waste bin level detection has been presented. The proposed system is developed to address environmental concerns associated with waste bins and the variety of waste being disposed in them. A gray level aura matrix (GLAM) approach is proposed to extract the bin image texture. GLAM parameters, such as neighboring systems, are investigated to determine their optimal values. To evaluate the performance of the system, the extracted image is trained and tested using multi-layer perceptions (MLPs) and K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifiers. The results have shown that the accuracy of bin level classification reach acceptable performance levels for class and grade classification with rates of 98.98% and 90.19% using the MLP classifier and 96.91% and 89.14% using the KNN classifier, respectively. The results demonstrated that the system performance is robust and can be applied to a variety of waste and waste bin level detection under various conditions.

Effect of topical Beta blocker (Timolol maleate 0.5%) in primary open angle glaucoma

The study was undertaken to measure the effects of Beta blocker (Timolol maleate 0.5%) in moderate and advanced stage of primary open angle glaucoma by controlling intra-ocular pressure (IOP) and assessing the visual acuity (VA) and mean sensitivity (MS) of visual field. Study was done in the department of Ophthalmology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Shahbagh, Dhaka from January 2002 to December 2005. It was a Prospective and interventional study. Thirty patients of bilateral primary open angle glaucoma were treated medically by B-blocker (Timolol maleate 0.5%) two times daily. Follow up were done after 7 days, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. Before treatment Intra ocular pressure (IOP) range was 22-30 mm of Hg (mean 23.40 ± 2.04). After beta-blockers IOP reduced to the range of 10-20mm of Hg (mean 13.12 ± 2.01) which was statistically significant (p>0.02) in moderate stage & 8-18 mm Hg (mean 13.50 ± 2.0) in advance stage which was also statistically significant (p<0.02). VA and MS also improved in 15 eyes (50%), remained unchanged in 9 eyes (30%) and deteriorated in 6 eyes (20%) in moderate stage and also improved in 15 eyes (50%), remained unchanged in 6 eyes (20%) and deteriorated in 9 eyes (30%) in advanced stage. Success rate was 80% in moderate (p>0.02) & 70% in advanced stage (p<0.02) and which was statistically significant.

Solid waste bin level detection using gray level co-occurrence matrix feature extraction approach

This paper presents solid waste bin level detection and classification using gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) feature extraction methods. GLCM parameters, such as displacement, d, quantization, G, and the number of textural features, are investigated to determine the best parameter values of the bin images. The parameter values and number of texture features are used to form the GLCM database. The most appropriate features collected from the GLCM are then used as inputs to the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifiers for bin image classification and grading. The classification and grading performance for DB1, DB2 and DB3 features were selected with both MLP and KNN classifiers. The results demonstrated that the KNN classifier, at KNN = 3, d = 1 and maximum G values, performs better than using the MLP classifier with the same database. Based on the results, this method has the potential to be used in solid waste bin level classification and grading to provide a robust solution for solid waste bin level detection, monitoring and management.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and communication technologies for solid waste bin and truck monitoring system

This paper deals with a system of integration of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and communication technologies for solid waste bin and truck monitoring system. RFID, GPS, GPRS and GIS along with camera technologies have been integrated and developed the bin and truck intelligent monitoring system. A new kind of integrated theoretical framework, hardware architecture and interface algorithm has been introduced between the technologies for the successful implementation of the proposed system. In this system, bin and truck database have been developed such a way that the information of bin and truck ID, date and time of waste collection, bin status, amount of waste and bin and truck GPS coordinates etc. are complied and stored for monitoring and management activities. The results showed that the real-time image processing, histogram analysis, waste estimation and other bin information have been displayed in the GUI of the monitoring system. The real-time test and experimental results showed that the performance of the developed system was stable and satisfied the monitoring system with high practicability and validity.

Integrated technologies for solid waste bin monitoring system

The integration of communication technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning system (GPS), general packet radio system (GPRS), and geographic information system (GIS) with a camera are constructed for solid waste monitoring system. The aim is to improve the way of responding to customer's inquiry and emergency cases and estimate the solid waste amount without any involvement of the truck driver. The proposed system consists of RFID tag mounted on the bin, RFID reader as in truck, GPRS/GSM as web server, and GIS as map server, database server, and control server. The tracking devices mounted in the trucks collect location information in real time via the GPS. This information is transferred continuously through GPRS to a central database. The users are able to view the current location of each truck in the collection stage via a web-based application and thereby manage the fleet. The trucks positions and trash bin information are displayed on a digital map, which is made available by a map server. Thus, the solid waste of the bin and the truck are being monitored using the developed system.

Recent updates of management of endometrial carcinoma

Endometrial carcinoma is a low grade curable malignancy and most patients present with early disease with excellent survival. Of all female pelvic malignancies, it seems to have more advocates for different treatment plans than any other. Total extrafascial hysterectomy and bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy is the primary operative procedure. Pelvic lymhadenectomy is performed in most centres on therapeutic and prognostic grounds and to individualize adjuvant treatment. Postoperative irradiation are used to reduce pelvic and vaginal recurrences in high risk cases. Treatment planning are conservative in order to reduce patients morbidity and overtreatment while maintaining acceptable recurrence and survival rates.

Nutritional status and age at menarche in a rural area of Bangladesh

The age at menarche and its association with nutritional status in a rural area of Bangladesh was determined. A cross-sectional study was conducted in four villages of Rupganj Thana of Narayanganj district. Data was collected through October to December 1996 using a pre-tested structured questionnaire interview schedule, and nutritional status was measured by weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and physical examination. Data were obtained on 436 adolescent girls aged 10-17 years. Among them, 165 (37.8%) girls had commenced menarche. The mean age at menarche as determined by retrospective recall was 13 years SD 0.89 (n = 165). The median age at menarche determined by the status quo method was 13.0. Among the adolescents 60.1% were thin (BMI < 5th centile WHO recommended reference) and 48.2% were stunted (< 3rd centile NCHS/WHO). The mean weight and BMI were significantly higher among the menstruating girls of 13, 14 and 15 years (p < 0.01) than non-menstruating girls. The mean height was found to be significantly higher at 11-14 years among the menstruating girls (p < 0.05). A lower prevalence of angular stomatitis was found among the menstruating adolescent girls compared with the non-menstruating girls, 36.4% versus 46.5%, although this was statistically non-significant (odds ratio = 0.66, 95% CI 0.43-1.00). For glossitis, no significant difference was found. Among the menstruating girls 12.1% were suffering from menorrhagia and 31.5% from dysmenorrhoea. We conclude that the age of menarche among this rural Bangladeshi community is not as delayed as expected. Not surprisingly, menarche is associated with better nutritional status. The surveyed population had extremely high rates of undernutrition which suggests that adolescents in this and similar situations require specific intervention programmes to improve their nutritional status.

Geographical distribution & seasonal pattern of diarrhoeal diseases in Bangladesh

The district wise distribution and seasonal pattern of diarrhoeal diseases from 1987 to 1989 of Bangladesh are compiled and reported. The districts of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rajbari and Banderban showed higher incidences of diarrhoeal diseases to mean range of 8 and above. Among the remaining districts, 18 districts were in the medium ranges of incidences between 4 to less than 8% and 41 districts with lower range of incidences i.e. less than 4%. Two peaks of diarrhoeal diseases were found, once during the months of September-October in the post monsoon period and other during April-May.

Disease profile in respect of health services of Upazila health complex

This study was carried out to identify the disease profile in relation to medical services at upazila health complex. Thirty different types of diseases were identified. Diarrhoeal diseases were found to be highest (53%), the second highest was intestinal worms (44%). About ninety seven percent patient attended the OPD and only 2% were attended in the emergency Department. On average 172 patients were admitted per month and the highest of admission was found in the months of September and October. The average length of stay in the hospital was 11.6 days. Among the patients admitted 55% were male, and 45 were female. 5% pregnant mothers attended in U.H.C. for antenatal checkup and 2% mother were admitted into the hospital after delivery. Metronidazole was the drug of highest consumption followed by B-Complex and Penicillin.

Effects Of Textile Industrial Waste Water And Uptake Of Nutrients On The Yield Of Rice

An experiment was conducted at Mouchack textile industrial area of Gazipur for two consecutive years (1999-2000) to study the effects of use of industrial waste water on the yield, nutrient content, and uptake of Boro rice. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The six treatments in this study were: T1: uncontaminated field + fresh water, T2: uncontaminated field + mixed water, T3: uncontaminated field + contaminated water for non-contaminated field, and T4: effluent contaminated field + fresh water, T5: effluent contaminated field + mixed water, T6: effluent contaminated field + contaminated water for contaminated field. Among the six treatments, uncontaminated field + fresh water (T1) showed the best positive effect on rice. The N, P. K, and S contents and uptake were higher in T1, but Zn, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Pb were higher in T6 treatment. The treatment T1, gave the highest grain yield (5.23 t/ha in 1999 and 5.40 t/ha in 2000), followed by mixed water (4.19 t/ha in 1999 and 4.24 t/ha in 2000) in both the growing seasons. Keywords: Industrial waste water; heavy metal; textile waste water; yield; nutrient content; uptake; rice. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v36i2.9260 BJAR 2011; 36(2): 319-331