Periodontal diseases and carotid intima-media thickness in Bangladesh.

AIM: To evaluate the relationship between periodontal diseases and subclinical atherosclerosis in a younger and lean South Asian population. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 917 subjects (mean age 46 years and mean body mass index 21.1 kg/m2 ) from the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study in Bangladesh. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess the associations between multiple clinical measures of periodontal diseases and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). RESULTS: Mean attachment loss (AL) and percentage of sites with AL ≥ 4 mm (% AL ≥ 4) were associated with increased IMT. The IMT was 20.0-µm (95% CI: 2.2, 37.8) and 26.5-µm (95% CI: 8.9, 44.1) higher in subjects in the top quartile of mean AL (>3.72 mm) and % AL ≥ 4 (>58.4%), respectively, compared to those in the bottom quartile. In a subset of 366 subjects, mean AL was positively associated with plasma levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (p < 0.05) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Attachment loss was associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in this young and lean Bangladeshi population. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm this association.

Microplastic pollution in Bangladesh: Research and management needs.

Microplastics are omnipresent in the terrestrial and aquatic environment, and are considered as a potentially serious threat to the biodiversity and ecosystem. Pollution of plastic debris and microplastics in the inland and marine environment has raised concerns in Bangladesh, which is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. This review summarizes the research progress on separation and characterization of microplastics, as well as their occurrence and sources in Bangladesh. Despite of the first total ban on plastic bags in the world introduced back in 2002, microplastics have been ubiquitously detected in the country's inland and marine environment, with the majority of them coming from secondary sources. The microplastics observed in Bangladesh were dominated by fibers, which were derived mainly from textile sources. Polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinylchloride (PVC) were the most abundant polymers found for microplastics in the marine and freshwater environment of Bangladesh. Along with the identified research priorities to improve the understanding on the ecotoxicological effect and fate of microplastics, extensive and in-depth studies are required to bridge the knowledge gaps to enable comprehensive risk assessment of microplastic pollution on local ecosystems and human health, while effective management of plastic wastes and their recycling are necessary to alleviate this problem in the country.

Comparison of Oral Collection Methods for Studies of Microbiota.

BACKGROUND: A number of cohort studies have collected Scope mouthwash samples by mail, which are being used for microbiota measurements. We evaluated the stability of Scope mouthwash samples at ambient temperature and determined the comparability of Scope mouthwash with saliva collection using the OMNIgene ORAL Kit. METHODS: Fifty-three healthy volunteers from Mayo Clinic and 50 cohort members from Bangladesh provided oral samples. One aliquot of the OMNIgene ORAL and Scope mouthwash were frozen immediately and one aliquot of the Scope mouthwash remained at ambient temperature for 4 days and was then frozen. DNA was extracted and the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was PCR amplified and sequenced using the HiSeq. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated. RESULTS: The overall stability of the Scope mouthwash samples was relatively high for alpha and beta diversity. For example, the meta-analyzed ICC for the Shannon index was 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.76-0.96). Similarly, the ICCs for the relative abundance of the top 25 genera were generally high. The comparability of the two sample types was relatively low when measured using ICCs, but were increased by using a Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC) to compare the rank order of individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the Scope mouthwash samples appear to be stable at ambient temperature, which suggests that oral rinse samples received by the mail can be used for microbial analyses. However, Scope mouthwash samples were distinct compared with OMNIgene ORAL samples. IMPACT: Studies should try to compare oral microbial metrics within one sample collection type.