Workplace violence against Bangladeshi registered nurses: A survey following a year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIMS: To investigate the prevalence of workplace violence and its associated factors among Bangladeshi registered nurses. BACKGROUND: Workplace violence is prevalent among nurses, particularly in developing countries. However, the issue has never been examined in Bangladeshi nurses. METHODS: Between February 26 and July 10, 2021, this cross-sectional survey involving 1264 registered nurses was conducted. Workplace violence was determined by the Workplace Violence Scale (WVS). A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to find the factors associated with workplace violence. This study complies with the EQUATOR (STROBE) checklist. RESULTS: Of the 1264 nurses, 885 (70%) nurses reported being exposed to workplace violence in the previous year. Three hundred twenty-four (324; 25.6%) nurses reported physical violence, whereas 902 (71.4%) nurses reported nonphysical violence. According to the multivariable logistic regression model, male nurses, nurses in the Sylhet division, emergency department nurses, nurses working extended hours, and non trained nurses to tackle workplace violence were prone to physical violence. Furthermore, public hospital nurses and non trained nurses to tackle workplace violence were more likely to be exposed to nonphysical violence. Nurses who had not been exposed to workplace violence were satisfied with their current job, but those who had been exposed to workplace violence were dissatisfied and intended to leave their current job. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: High prevalence of workplace violence underscores nurses' current working conditions, which are particularly poor in public hospitals and emergency departments. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented pressure on the whole healthcare system and caused various difficulties for healthcare workers. To develop a zero-violence practice environment, health authorities should implement policy-level interventions. Healthcare staff should be guided to deal more successfully with patients and coworkers to create a positive working environment.

COVID-19: Modeling Out-of-Home and In-Home Activity Participation during the Pandemic.

Understanding the interaction between in-home and out-of-home activity participation decisions is important, particularly at a time when opportunities for out-of-home activities such as shopping, entertainment, and so forth are limited because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The travel restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic have had a massive impact on out-of-home activities and have changed in-home activities as well. This study investigates in-home and out-of-home activity participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data comes from the COVID-19 Survey for assessing Travel impact (COST), conducted from March to May in 2020. This study uses data for the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada to develop the following two models: a random parameter multinomial logit (RPMNL) model for out-of-home activity participation and a hazard-based random parameter duration (HRPD) model for in-home activity participation. The model results suggest that significant interactions exist between out-of-home and in-home activities. For example, a higher frequency of out-of-home work-related travel is more likely to result in a shorter duration of in-home work activities. Similarly, a longer duration of in-home leisure activities might yield a lower likelihood for recreational travel. Health care workers are more likely to engage in work-related travel and less likely to participate in personal and household maintenance activities at home. The model confirms heterogeneity among the individuals. For instance, a shorter duration of in-home online shopping yields a higher probability for participation in out-of-home shopping activity. This variable shows significant heterogeneity with a large standard deviation, which reveals that sizable variation exists for this variable.

Cosine Similarity Estimation Using FracMinHash: Theoretical Analysis, Safety Conditions, and Implementation.

Motivation: The increasing number and volume of genomic and metagenomic data necessitates scalable and robust computational models for precise analysis. Sketching techniques utilizing k -mers from a biological sample have proven to be useful for large-scale analyses. In recent years, FracMinHash has emerged as a popular sketching technique and has been used in several useful applications. Recent studies on FracMinHash proved unbiased estimators for the containment and Jaccard indices. However, theoretical investigations for other metrics, such as the cosine similarity, are still lacking. Theoretical contributions: In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for estimating cosine similarity from FracMinHash sketches. We establish conditions under which this estimation is sound, and recommend a minimum scale factor s for accurate results. Experimental evidence supports our theoretical findings. Practical contributions: We also present frac-kmc, a fast and efficient FracMinHash sketch generator program. frac-kmc is the fastest known FracMinHash sketch generator, delivering accurate and precise results for cosine similarity estimation on real data. We show that by computing FracMinHash sketches using frac-kmc, we can estimate pairwise cosine similarity speedily and accurately on real data. frac-kmc is freely available here: https://github.com/KoslickiLab/frac-kmc/.

Evaluation of the modulating effect of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor cetuximab in carbon-tetrachloride induce hepatic fibrosis in rats.

Liver fibrosis, developed in almost all chronic liver injuries. Epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) have been thought to contribute to cirrhosis and liver fibrosis. Therefore, using a rat model of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrogenesis, we investigated the preventive effects of cetuximab, an inhibitor of the EGF receptor (EGFR). Ameliorative effects of cetuximab were examined in rats, brought on by biweekly doses of 50 mg/kg of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). There were a total of 24 male Long Evans rats split up into four distinct groups such as control, CCl4, control+cetuximab and CCl4+cetuximab. After two weeks of treatment with cetuximab (100 µg/kg), samples of tissue and blood were taken after all the rats had been sacrificed. Plasma samples were examined for the biochemical indicators of inflammation and oxidative stress. Histological staining on liver sections was performed for morphologic pathologies, and related genes expressions analysis were done with RT-PCR in liver tissue. The findings showed that cetuximab could raise the levels of glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) and considerably lower the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO). Sirius red staining and hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) displayed that cetuximab therapy reduced the inflammatory cells infiltration and enhanced fibrotic lesions. In the meantime, cetuximab therapy also dramatically reduces the expression of genes linked to inflammation in the liver tissue, including NF-кB, iNOS, IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-ß. To sum up, the anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, and antioxidant properties of cetuximab confer curative efficacy against liver fibrosis.

How residential energy consumption has changed due to COVID-19 pandemic? An agent-based model.

Integrating occupant behavior with residential energy use for detailed energy quantification has attracted research attention. However, many of the available models fail to capture unseen behavior, especially in unprecedented situations such as COVID-19 lockdowns. In this study, we adopted a hybrid approach consisting of agent-based simulation, machine learning and energy simulation techniques to simulate the urban energy consumption considering the occupants' behavior. An agent-based model is developed to simulate the in-home and out-of-home activities of individuals. Separate models were developed to recognize physical characteristics of residential dwellings, including heating equipment, source of energy, and thermostat setpoints. The developed modeling framework was implemented as a case study for the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia, where alternative COVID-19 scenarios were tested. The results suggested that during the pandemic, the daily average in-home-activity duration (IHD) increased by approximately 80%, causing the energy consumption to increase by around 29%. After the pandemic, the average daily IHD is expected to be higher by approximately 32% compared with the pre-pandemic situation, which translates to an approximately 12% increase in energy consumption. The results of this study can help us understand the implications of the imposed COVID-19 lockdown with respect to energy usage in residential locations.

Workplace Bullying and Violence on Burnout Among Bangladeshi Registered Nurses: A Survey Following a Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: To investigate burnout among Bangladeshi nurses and the factors that influence it, particularly the association of workplace bullying (WPB) and workplace violence (WPV) with burnout. Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data from 1,264 Bangladeshi nurses. Mixed-effects Poisson regression models were fitted to find the adjusted association between WPB, WPV, and burnout. Results: Burnout was found to be prevalent in 54.19% of 1,264 nurses. 61.79% of nurses reported that they had been bullied, and 16.3% of nurses reported experience of "intermediate and high" levels of workplace violence in the previous year. Nurses who were exposed to "high risk bullying" (RR = 2.29, CI: 1.53-3.41) and "targeted bullying" (RR = 4.86, CI: 3.32-7.11) had a higher risk of burnout than those who were not. Similarly, WPV exposed groups at "intermediate and high" levels had a higher risk of burnout (RR = 3.65, CI: 2.40-5.56) than WPV non-exposed groups. Conclusion: Nurses' burnout could be decreased if issues like violence and bullying were addressed in the workplace. Hospital administrators, policymakers, and the government must all promote and implement an acceptable working environment.

Workplace violence, bullying, burnout, job satisfaction and their correlation with depression among Bangladeshi nurses: A cross-sectional survey during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Depression is one of the most serious yet understudied issues among Bangladeshi nurses, bringing health dangers to this workforce. This study aimed to investigate how workplace violence (WPV), bullying, burnout, and job satisfaction are correlated with depression and identify the factors associated with depression among Bangladeshi nurses. METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, data were collected between February 26, 2021, and July 10, 2021 from the Bangladeshi registered nurses. The Workplace Violence Scale (WPVS), the Short Negative Acts Questionnaire [S-NAQ], the Burnout Measure-Short version (BMS), the Short Index of Job Satisfaction (SIJS-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure WPV, bullying, burnout, job satisfaction, and depression, respectively. Inferential statistics include Pearson's correlation test, t-test, one-way ANOVA test, multiple linear regression, and multiple hierarchal regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: The study investigated 1,264 nurses (70.02% female) with an average age of 28.41 years (SD = 5.54). Depression was positively correlated with WPV, bullying, and burnout and negatively correlated with job satisfaction (p <0.001). According to the multiple linear regression model, depression was significantly lower among nurses with diploma degrees (ß = -1.323, 95% CI = -2.149 to -0.497) and bachelor's degrees (ß = -1.327, 95% CI = -2.131 to- 0.523) compared to the nurses with master's degree. The nurses who worked extended hours (>48 hours) had a significantly higher depression score (ß = 1.490, 95% CI = 0.511 to 2.470) than those who worked ≤ 36 hours. Depression was found to be significantly higher among those who did not receive a timely salary (ß = 2.136, 95% CI = 1.138 to 3.134), rewards for good works (ß = 1.862, 95% CI = 1.117 to 2.607), and who had no training on WPV (ß = 0.895, 95% CI = 0.092 to 1.698). CONCLUSIONS: Controlling burnout, bullying, and workplace violence, as well as improving the work environment for nurses and increasing job satisfaction, are the essential indicators of reducing depression. This can be accomplished with integrative support from hospital executives, policymakers, and government officials.

COVID-19: Are you satisfied with traveling during the pandemic?

The outbreak of COVID-19 and preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus has significantly impacted our daily activities. This study aims to investigate the effect of daily activity engagement including travel activity and sociodemographic characteristics on travel satisfaction during COVID-19. This study develops a latent segmentation-based ordered logit (LSOL) model using data from the 2020 COVID-19 Survey for Assessing Travel Impact (COST), for the Kelowna region of British Columbia, Canada. The LSOL model accommodates the ordinal nature of the satisfaction level and captures heterogeneity by allocating individuals into discrete latent segments. The model results suggest that the two-segment LSOL model fits the data best. Segment one is more likely to be younger and older high-income workers; whereas, segment two includes middle-aged lower-income, unemployed individuals. The model results suggest that daily activity engagement and sociodemographic attributes significantly affect travel satisfaction. For example, participation in travel for routine shopping, recreational activity, and household errands has a positive effect on travel satisfaction. The use of transportation modes like bike/walk depicted a higher probability to yield travel satisfaction. The model confirms the existence of significant heterogeneity. For instance, travel for work showed a negative relationship in segment one; whereas, a positive relationship is found in segment two. Access to higher household vehicle yield lower satisfaction in segment one; in contrast, a positive relationship is found in segment two. The findings of this study provide important insights towards maintaining the health and well-being of the population during this and any future pandemic crisis.

Traffic crashes in Dhaka, Bangladesh: analysing crashes involving unconventional modes, pedestrians and public transit.

Road safety is a global concern; particularly, in developing countries due to the significantly high collision occurrences and subsequent deaths. This study presents a spatial and temporal analysis of collision frequency and injury severity of crashes in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The focus is to understand the spatio-temporal trend of collisions involving pedestrians, public transit and unconventional modes, which are the key collision factors in Dhaka. This research utilizes the police-reported collision record for Dhaka for the years 2011-2015. In temporal analysis, temporal trends (monthly, daily and hourly) of injury severity of different vehicle occupants (pedestrians, public transit and unconventional modes) have been explored using descriptive analytics. Daily distribution suggests that a higher share of severe injuries involving pedestrians (16.6%) and unconventional modes (20.5%) occur on Fridays and Thursdays, respectively. The hourly distribution suggests that pedestrians are more vulnerable from 11:00am to 12:00pm on weekends. Unconventional mode users are vulnerable from 7:00am to 8:00am on weekdays. Spatial analysis is performed adopting a Kernel density estimation (KDE) technique. The results suggest that the major activity locations of Dhaka such as central business district (CBD), airport and ferry terminals are collision prone areas. Interestingly, the density of public transit collisions is skewed around the major transit hubs of the city.

COVID-19 and Travel: How Our Out-of-home Travel Activity, In-home Activity, and Long-Distance Travel Have Changed.

COVID-19 has made unprecedented impacts on our daily life. This paper investigates individuals' immediate response to COVID-19, exploring out-of-home activities, in-home activities, and long-distance travel. Data for the Kelowna region of Canada comes from a web-based COVID-19 Survey for assessing Travel impact (COST). In addition to analyzing the survey, this research models adjustments in travel decisions by developing ordered logit models for in-home and out-of-home activities, and a binomial logit model for long-distance travel. Data analysis suggests a reduction of about 50% out-of-home activities/day/person during COVID-19 compared to the pre-pandemic period, with the only exception being picking up online orders which significantly increased in frequency. Individuals were engaged in longer duration of in-home activities; the average duration of teleworking, online shopping for groceries and other goods at-home was around 5.5 h/day/person, 32 min/day/person, and 26 min/day/person respectively. The out-of-home activity model results suggest that higher income, younger and middle aged individuals, and full-time workers are more likely to decrease their out-of-home activity; whereas, males, lower income groups, health care professionals, and picking up online orders are more likely to increase. The in-home activity model suggests that older and younger adults, higher and lower income, full-time workers, and highly educated individuals are most likely to increase their in-home activity frequency; in contrast, health care professionals are likely to decrease. Long-distance travel model results reveal that seniors, students, and airline travelers are more likely to reschedule; whereas, trips to visit friends and family are more likely to be cancelled.

Modified clays alter diversity and respiration profile of microorganisms in long-term hydrocarbon and metal co-contaminated soil.

Clays and surfactant-modified clays (organoclays) are becoming popular as pollutant sorbents due to their high reactivity and low-cost availability. However, the lack of field testing and data on ecotoxicity limits their application. Considering such aspects, this study assessed the impact of clay amendments to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)/cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soil on microbial respiration profiles (active vs. inactive cells) using redox staining and the relative abundance and diversity of bacteria and archaea. These clay products are bentonite, cationic surfactant-modified bentonite and palmitic acid-grafted surfactant-modified bentonite). After 70 days, the addition of bentonite and its modified forms altered microbial community structure mainly among dominant groups (Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Chloroflexi) with effects varying depending on material loading to soil. Among amendments, fatty acid (palmitic acid) tailored cationic surfactant-modified bentonite proved to be microbial growth supportive and significantly increased the number of respiration-active microbial cells by 5% at a low dose of material (e.g. 1%). Even at high dose (5%), the similarity index using operational taxonomic units (OTUs) also indicates that this modified organoclay-mixed soil provided only slightly different environment than control soil, and therefore, it could offer more biocompatibility than its counterpart organoclay at similar dose (e.g. cationic surfactant-modified bentonite). This study promotes designing 'eco-safe' clay-based sorbents for environmental remediation.

Detecting Non-cognitive Features of Prodromal Neurodegenerative Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Prodromal Neurodegenerative Disease (ND) due to tauopathies such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Synucleinopathies (SN) such as Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) present subtly. Although ND are considered cognitive disorders, in fact ND present with behavioral and even medical symptomatology years to decades prior to the onset of cognitive changes. Recognizing prodromal ND syndromes is a public health priority because ND is common, disabling and expensive. Diagnosing prodromal ND in real world clinical settings is challenging because ND of the same pathology can present with different symptoms in different people. Individual variability in nature and variability in nurture across the life course influence how ND pathology manifests clinically. The objective of this study was to describe how non-cognitive symptoms from behavioral, medical, neurological and psychiatric domains cluster in prodromal and early stages of ND. METHODS: This was an observational study of patients receiving routine clinical care for memory disorders. All patients receiving a standardized evaluation including complete neurological history and examination and standardized brief neuropsychological testing. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) considering emotion, motor, sensory and sleep factors was performed on the entire sample of patients in order to identify co-occurring symptom clusters. All patients received a consensus diagnosis adjudicated by at least two dementia experts. Patients were grouped into Cognitively Normal, Detectable Cognitive Impairment, and Mild Cognitive Impairment categories due to AD and/or PD/LBD or NOS pathology. Symptom cluster scores were compared between clinical diagnostic groups. RESULTS: In this study 165 patients completed baseline neuropsychological testing and reported subjective measures of non-cognitive symptoms. Four syndrome specific symptom factors emerged and eight non-specific symptom factors. Symptoms of personality changes, paranoia, hallucinations, cravings, agitation, and changes in appetite grouped together into a cluster consistent with an "SN Non-motor Phenotype". Appetite, walking, balance, hearing, increased falls, and dandruff grouped together into a cluster consistent with an "SN Motor Phenotype". The Prodromal AD phenotype included symptoms of anxiety, irritability, apathy, sleep disturbance and social isolation. The fourth factor included symptoms of increased sweating, twitching, and tremor grouped into a cluster consistent with an Autonomic phenotype. CONCLUSION: Non-cognitive features can be reliably measured by self-report in busy clinical settings. Such measurement can be useful in distinguishing patients with different etiologies of ND. Better characterization of unique, prodromal, non-cognitive ND trajectories could improve public health efforts to modify the course of ND for all patients at risk.

An ethno-pharmacological study of plants used for traditional medication in Tangail district, Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: In Bangladesh, folk medicinal practitioners are called "Kaviraj" and are consulted for treatment of various ailments by a large part of the rural and urban population. There are some previous studies conducted in the Tangail district of Bangladesh about medicinal plants, but there is no relevant information about this aspect in some parts of this district. AIM: To conduct an ethno-pharmacological survey among the "Kaviraj" of two upazilas (regions) in Tangail district, namely Tangail Sadar Upazila and Nagarpur Upazila, to identify the trouble-free formulations of medicinal plants for various diseases used by the folk medicine practitioners on or after other forms of medical practices. METHODS: A guided field-walk survey was carried out employing a local guide and asking local people about practicing "Kaviraj"; four of the "Kaviraj" convened and after receiving permission from the "Kaviraj", interviews were conducted through focused group discussion. RESULTS: It was observed that the "Kaviraj" of the two upazilas used a total of 25 plants distributed into 20 families for healing of various diseases. In most of the cases, leaves were the key part of most of the plants used for treatment. Plants were mainly used for treating gastrointestinal tract disorders, fever, constipation, and diarrhea, and indigestion, loss of appetite, pain and skin disorders. "Kaviraj" also treat complicated diseases such as tuberculosis, hypertension, sexual disorders, infections, urinary problems, hepatic disorders, pneumonia, stomach stones, diabetes, swellings, debility, kidney problems, tumor, vitamin C deficiency and poisoning by using medicinal plants. CONCLUSION: For a country such as Bangladesh, and particularly the district studied, medicinal plants are essential assets and have a major role in people's health care structure. Also, appropriate research should be conducted for using these medicinal plants in possible new drug designs as well as many other pharmaceutical benefits.

Release of offensive odorants from the combustion of barbecue charcoals.

A number of offensive odorants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs), carbonyls, and ammonia were measured along with several reference pollutants (like benzene (B), CS(2), SO(2), CO, and total hydrocarbon (THC)) from combusted fumes of barbecue charcoals produced from five different countries (Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the US). Although the emission concentrations of most odorants were generally below the reference guideline set by the malodor prevention law in Korea, the mean concentration of some aldehydes (acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and isovaleraldehyde) and ammonia exceeded those guidelines. As such, aldehydes were the most dominant odorant released from charcoal combustion followed by VOC and ammonia. If odorant levels of charcoal products are compared, there are great distinctions between the products of different countries. If comparison is made using the concept of the sum of odor intensity (SOI), the magnitude of SOI for the charcoal products from the five different countries varied in the order of 4.30 (Korea), 3.10 (Indonesia), 2.97 (China), 2.76 (Malaysia), and 2.76 (the US).

Happy ending of life-threatening upper GI bleeding.

Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode in humans, and estimated about tens of millions of people are infected worldwide. This parasite is endemic in tropical or temperate and subtropical climates like Bangladesh. The authors report a 33-year-old man who presented with recurrent life-threatening upper gastrointestinal bleeding from gastric infection by S stercoralis.

Heavy metal impact on bacterial biomass based on DNA analyses and uptake by wild plants in the abandoned copper mine soils.

The metals contamination in surface soils and their accumulation in wild plants from the abandoned Burra and Kapunda copper mines located in South Australia were assessed, and the predominant bacterial diversity in the contaminated surface soils from these two abandoned copper mine sites were evaluated through polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis. The results showed the average concentration of Cu in soils was 3821.59 mg/kg while wild plants accumulated up to 173.44 mg/kg. The concentration of Cu in shoots of spear grass (Stipa uitida) and berry saltbush (Afriplex semibaccata) was higher than that of roots. The concentration of total and extractable As, Cd, Cu and Pb in soils slightly correlated with of these elements in the corresponding wild plants. The toxicity of Cu in heavily contaminated soils impacted on the quantities of specific microbial populations and no significant change in the microbial diversity of highly contaminated soils.

Nipah virus outbreaks in Bangladesh: a deadly infectious disease

During 2001-2011, multidisciplinary teams from the Institute of Epidemiology,Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research,Bangladesh(icddr,b) identified sporadic cases and 11 outbreaks of Nipah encephalitis. Threeoutbreaks were detected through sentinel surveillance; others were identified through event-basedsurveillance. A total of 196 cases of Nipah encephalitis, in outbreaks, clusters and as isolated caseswere detected from 20 districts of Bangladesh; out of them 150 (77%) cases died. Drinking rawdate palm sap and contact with a case were identified as the major risk factors for acquiring thedisease. Combination of surveillance systems and multidisciplinary outbreak investigations can bean effective strategy not only for detection of emerging infectious diseases but also for identificationof novel characteristics and risk factors for these diseases in resource- poor settings.