Assessing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices and their association with diarrhoea in under-five children in urban Chandernagore: Community-based evidence from a small municipal corporation in Hooghly District of West Bengal, India.

The study aims to understand the relationship of childhood diarrhoea (under-five children) with water, sanitation and hygiene factors in the light of other contextual factors in an urban setting in the district of Hooghly in West Bengal, India. This primary study was carried out by SIGMA Foundation, Kolkata from 4 to 24 January 2023 across 404 households having at least one under-five child. The findings suggested that the water score was 'good' in 85.1% of the households whereas the hand hygiene score was 'good' in 14.6% of households. More than 90% of the households had piped water supply. Less than half of them treated water before consumption among which 45.3% used cloths for straining water; 59.2% of the caregivers followed safe disposal of child's faeces; 66.8% of households had no handwashing arrangement, and 30.5% had taps and wash basins for handwashing; 20.3% of the under-five children had suffered from diarrhoea in the last month before the survey and its prevalence was higher in children aged 12-23 months. Multivariate results suggested diarrhoea prevalence was lower in households that were pucca and had good water and hand hygiene scores, lower in children that had received iron fortification and whose caregivers followed safe child's stool disposal.

Association of Serum Uric Acid Level with Impaired Fasting Glucose in Adults at a Tertiary Level Hospital of Bangladesh.

Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is a vital risk factor for overt diabetes. Increased serum uric acid (UA) may reflect systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Insulin secretion by pancreatic ß cells is impaired due to oxidative stress. Serum UA levels are elevated in patients with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between serum UA and impaired fasting glucose (IFG). This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 120 subjects aged 25-55 years in the department of Biochemistry of Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 2018 to February 2019. The study subjects were divided into two groups with either normal fasting glucose (NFG) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) according to WHO diagnostic criteria. Blood was collected to perform OGTT. Serum was separated to measure UA. Serum UA levels were significantly higher (p<0.01) in IFG group than NFG group (7.61±1.31 vs. 4.84±1.27). Odds Ratio (OR) for IFG were 2.05 and 17.69 with UA tertile 2 (5.7-7.5) mg/dl and tertile 3 (>7.5) mg/dl where T1 (<5.7) mg/dl was considered as reference category. Multiple regression analysis of the relation between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and serum UA by adjustment of other factors revealed that IFG was significantly (p<0.05) associated with serum UA.

Association of Serum Gamma Glutamyl Transferase and Uric Acid Levels with Impaired Fasting Glucose in Adults at a Tertiary Level Hospital of Bangladesh.

Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is an important risk factor for overt diabetes. Gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) is an oxidative stress maker that is synthesized in liver. Increased serum Uric Acid (UA) may reflect systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Insulin secretion by pancreatic ß cells is impaired due to oxidative stress. Serum GGT and UA levels are elevated in patients with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between serum GGT and UA with IFG. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 subjects aged 25-55 years. The study subjects were divided into two groups with either Normal fasting glucose (NFG) or IFG according to WHO diagnostic criteria. Blood was collected to perform OGTT. Serum was separated to measure GGT, UA and lipid profile. GGT and UA levels were significantly higher (p<0.01) in IFG group than NFG group (67.23±14.40 vs. 24.19±8.41) and (7.61±1.31 vs. 4.84±1.27). Odds Ratio (OR) for IFG were 4.1 and 20.25 with GGT tertile 2 (24.0-42.0) U/L and tertile 3 (>42.0) U/L where T1 (<24.0) U/L was considered as reference category. Odds Ratio (OR) for IFG were 2.05 and 17.69 with UA tertile 2 (5.7-7.5)mg/dl and tertile 3(>7.5) mg/dl where T1 (<5.7)mg/dl was considered as reference category. Multiple regression analysis of the relation between Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) with serum GGT and UA by adjustment of other factors revealed that IFG was significantly (p<0.01) associated with serum GGT and UA.

Heat shock produces periodic somitic disturbances in the zebrafish embryo.

Environmental influences are known to produce segmental defects in a variety of organisms. In this paper we report upon segmental aberrations produced by brief heat shocks delivered to developing zebrafish embryos. The initial defects in the segmental pattern of somitic boundaries and motoneuron axon outgrowth were usually observed five somites caudal to the somite which was forming at the time of heat shock application. Segmental defects in zebrafish embryos exposed to a single heat shock treatment can occur in a periodic pattern similar to the multiple disturbances observed to occur in chick embryos. These data are discussed with regard to models involving cell cycle synchrony or 'clock and wavefront' schemes in the process of somitogenesis.