Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Persons With Spinal Cord Injury in Bangladesh: Database for the International Spinal Cord Injury Community Survey 2023

The study aims to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Bangladesh. A total of 3035 persons with SCI spanning from 2018 to 2022 were included in this cross-sectional study. Information about demographic and clinical variables was obtained from the medical records and verified through telephone calls to ensure accuracy and consistency. Approximately half (48.30%) of the study participants were located in Dhaka Division. The average age of persons with SCI was 38.3 years, with a standard deviation of 15.9 years, and the largest proportion (33.4%) fell within the age range of 18-30 years. Males outnumbered females by nearly 2.5 times. In the study, 59.6% had suffered traumatic injuries, whereas 40.4% had SCI attributable to disease-related causes; 58.1% were diagnosed with tetraplegia and 40.1% with paraplegia. Fall from height (42.1%) and road traffic trauma (27%) were the most common causes of traumatic injuries. Degenerative myelopathy (41.1%) was the most frequent cause of non-traumatic SCI, followed by tumors (27.7%) and tuberculosis (TB; 14.8%). Both traumatic (58.3%) and degenerative (56.7%) causes of SCI commonly affected the cervical spine, whereas TB (24.4%) and tumors (47.5%) had a higher incidence of affecting the dorsal spine. In the absence of a registry or national database for patients with SCI in Bangladesh, this study would serve as representative data for future studies.

The Chemistry of Pyrrolic Compounds. LXXI. Synthesis of the Ring C and the Ring D Demethyl Analogues of Deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (dpep)

The demethyl analogues (1d,e) of dpep have been prepared by utilizing in each case an oxidative cyclization of an intermediate biladiene -ac to assemble the porphyrin macrocycle.

The Chemistry of Pyrrolic Compounds. LXX. The Synthesis of Model Porphyrins as an Aid to the Recognition of Chlorobium-Derived Petroporphyrins in the Julia Creek Oil Shale Deposit

In order to obtain evidence for the presence of Chlorobium -derived petroporphyrins in the Julia Creek oil shales a range of simple porphyrins (10d-i) carrying the type of side chain characteristic of Chlorobium chlorophylls has been prepared for study by mass spectroscopic techniques. One approach to the preparation of a Chlorobium-type petroporphyrin by ring synthesis has met with very limited success.

The Chemistry of Pyrrolic Compounds. LXVIII. 13'- and 15'-Methyl Analogs of Deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (dpep)

A new synthesis of the 13′-methyl (1a) analogue of dpep is described commencing with the methylation of phylloerythroetioporphyrin (1d) with subsequent reduction of the derived tertiary alcohol. The availability of this synthetic material has allowed the presence of this petroporphyrin as its nickel complex to be confirmed in the Julia Creek oil shales. The presence of an isomer of this petroporphyrin has been noted in the same deposit, and the structure of this novel fossil porphyrin has been confirmed as the 15′-methyl analogue (1b) of dpep by a synthesis commencing from the 15′-oxoporphyrin (1e). In addition, the 15′- and 13′-methyl analogues of dpep have been synthesized by cylization of appropriately substituted propenyl- and isopropenyl-porphyrins respectively. The origin of these two petroporphyrins is discussed.

Stably inherited killer activity in industrial yeast strains obtained by electrotransformation

Killer-sensitive strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis were transformed by electroinjection using double-stranded RNA isolated from a superkiller strain. Various recipient strains were used: both thermo-resistant and thermo-sensitive as well as mutants of industrial strains. Conversion of respiratory competent (rho+) into respiratory deficient (rho-) strains (mutants) resulted in a significant increase of the yield of electrotransformants and/or of longterm killer stability. Electrotransformation of rho- mutants of distillery and brewery strains resulted in more than 100 clones, which exhibited weak or strong killer activity over some or all of the experimental period of 10 months.

The Chemistry of Pyrrolic Compounds. LXVII. A New Demethyl Analog of DPEP (Deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin)

A new demethyl analogue of DPEP, present as a nickel(II) complex in the Julia Creek oil shale deposit of North Queensland, has been shown by ring synthesis to lack a methyl group in ring A. This is now the third demethyl analogue of DPEP to be identified.

Transmission of killer activity into laboratory and industrial strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by electroinjection

The killer character was electrically introduced into protoplasts of three yeast strains. These were the killer-negative variant of the K1 killer strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae T 158 C (his-); the killer-sensitive laboratory strain S. cerevisiae AH 215 (leu-, his-); and the killer-sensitive industrial strain S. cerevisiae AS 4/H2 (rho-). The killer dsRNA used for electroinjection was isolated from the super-killer strain S. cerevisiae T 158 C. Optimum numbers of transformed cells were obtained after regeneration and selection in appropriate media if the protoplasts were exposed to three exponentially decaying field pulses of 18.2 kV/cm strength and 40 microseconds duration at 4 degrees C. In the case of the killer-negative variant of S. cerevisiae T 158 C the majority of the protoplasts were transformed, whereas in the case of the two other strains the yield of transformed clones was much less. This latter result is expected if the expression of the electroinjected dsRNA was diminished in these two strains. Gel electrophoresis of the dsRNA of the clones of the three strains supported the conclusion that the transformed clones exhibited killer activity. The transformed clones of all three species were stable.

Learning by experience. A student residential workshop in hospital

A four-day residential workshop was conducted for students beginning their clinical studies at the St George Hospital in 1974. The aim of the workshop was that the students should understand the functioning of the hospital and feel comfortable as students in the hospital, so that they would learn their clinical skills more effectively in their subsequent years at the hospital. Each student lived in a hospital bed with an "illness" for two days, and spent another two days helping care for these "student patients" and exploring the hospital. Evaluation at the end of the workshop suggested that the objectives had been achieved.