Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Outbreak 2024 in Cambodia: Worries Over the Possible Spread of the Virus to Other Asian Nations and the Strategic Outlook for its Control.

Asia has been alarmed by the resurgence of avian influenza A (H5N1) in Cambodia in 2024. H5N1 could be swiftly transmitted by wild birds to poultry populations along their migration route via infection. Circulation of endemic H5N1 in Asian poultry facilitates recurrent human transmission. Cambodia's role as a reservoir heightens the potential dangers of uncoordinated containment and surveillance across Southeast Asia. This correspondence addresses the risk factors, seasonal patterns, transmission dynamics, and potential pathways for the global dissemination of H5N1. This underscores the criticality of supervising regional initiatives aimed at eliminating the virus from poultry and humans, before its potential escalation into a deadly influenza pandemic across Asia.

An updated review on Guillain-Barré syndrome: Challenges in infection prevention and control in low- and middle-income countries.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare condition that can be potentially life-threatening. Guillain-Barré syndrome does not have a definitive etiological agent. It is a syndrome that can arise from multiple factors, including various infectious diseases and immunizations. The severity of Guillain-Barré syndrome is exacerbated by these variables, especially in low-income and middle-income countries where healthcare systems are already constrained and struggle to meet the demands of other diseases. The primary aim of our article is to comprehensively examine the life-threatening nature and intensity of Guillain-Barré syndrome by assessing its etiology, progression, and prevalence in low- and middle-income nations while also considering global trends. Furthermore, we proposed the implementation of standard and efficacious treatment and diagnostic resources that are readily accessible and successful in affluent nations and should also be readily accessible in impoverished nations without any unnecessary delay. Our study also emphasized the epidemiological data with molecular epidemiological analysis and the utilization of artificial technology in low- and middle-income nations. The goal was to decrease the incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome cases and facilitate early detection.

Dietary Salt Can Be Crucial for Food-Induced Vascular Inflammation.

Salt enhances the taste as well as the nutritional value of food. Besides, several reports are available on the incidence and epidemiology of various illnesses in relation to salt intake. Excessive salt consumption has been found to be linked with high blood pressure, renal disease, and other cardiovascular disorders due to the result of vascular inflammation. Nevertheless, studies aimed at elucidating the molecular processes that produce vascular inflammation have yet to reach their conclusions. This article emphasizes the significance of investigating the mechanisms underlying both acute and chronic vascular inflammation induced by salt. It also explores the logical inferences behind cellular oxidative stress and the role of endothelial dysfunction as the potential initiator of the inflammatory segments that remain poorly understood. It is therefore hypothesized that salt is one of the causes of chronic vascular inflammation such as atherosclerosis. The hypothesis's secrets, when revealed, can help assure cardiovascular health by proactive efforts and the development of appropriate preventative measures, in combination with medication, dietary and lifestyle adjustments.

ChatGPT and mental health: Friends or foes?

Background: ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) language model that has gained popularity as a virtual assistant because of its exceptional capacity to solve problems and make decisions. However, there are some ways in which technological misuse and incorrect interpretations can have potentially hazardous consequences for a user's mental health. Discussion: Because it lacks real-time fact-checking capabilities, ChatGPT may create misleading or erroneous information. Considering AI technology has the potential to influence a person's thinking, we anticipate ChatGPT's future repercussions on mental health by considering instances in which inappropriate usage may lead to mental disorders. While several studies have demonstrated how the AI model may transform mental health care and therapy, certain drawbacks, including bias and privacy violations, have also been identified. Conclusion: Educating people and organizing workshops on AI technology usage, strengthening privacy measures, and updating ethical standards are crucial initiatives to prevent misuse and resultant dire impacts on mental health. Longitudinal research on the potential of these platforms to impact a variety of mental health problems is recommended in the future.

Effective Preventative Measures are Essential to Lower Disease Burden From Dengue and COVID-19 Co-infection in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is widely recognized as one of the dengue prone nations, and empirical evidence has consistently demonstrated an upward trend in the severity of the disease over time. With the persistent occurrence of dengue in Bangladesh and the ongoing presence of COVID-19, which has not been fully eradicated and may persist for an uncertain period of time, there is a high probability of co-infection between these 2 illnesses. Given the circumstances, the concurrent occurrence of the COVID-19 and dengue epidemics, along with the potential co-infection, may pose an overwhelming burden on healthcare systems that are already grappling with challenges in meeting the existing demand. Due to a lack of awareness, an inadequate health infrastructure, and ineffective disease prevention initiatives, the country is now more susceptible to the threat posed by a co-infection that has been found to be associated with more severe outcomes, marked by significant morbidity and mortality. The objective of this opinion piece is to explore the gravity of co-infection in Bangladesh, as well as the potential challenges to overcome and the preventative measures that need to be implemented to address the severity. This opinion piece proposes a set of modern preventative strategies that, when integrated with conventional methods, have the potential to mitigate disease severity, avert the occurrence of co-infection between COVID-19 and dengue, and halt the co-epidemics of COVID-19 and dengue.

Poor Respiratory Health is a Consequence of Dhaka's Polluted Air: A Bangladeshi Perspective.

Dhaka, which is the capital and largest metropolis of Bangladesh, has seen an increase in the number of documented cases of respiratory disorders. Every day in Dhaka city, a remarkable number of patients are being diagnosed with poor respiratory conditions. The majority of these patients have no other severe disease history and mostly need to be exposed to outdoor air to meet their occupational requirements, indicating that the ailment may be associated with polluted air. As this is the most pressing issue that must be addressed in order to safeguard public health, we have made an effort to focus on the current situation surrounding the sources of air pollution in the city. Since this is a viewpoint article, we gathered data from various published articles, national dailies, and international reports generated by WHO, CDC, BBC, or other environmental news/report portals to highlight the public health issue related to respiratory health. Poor respiratory health is one of the main consequences of Dhaka's contaminated air, as determined by our analysis.

An observation: Could the spread of Adenovirus in South Asia pose a hazard to global public health?

Background: One of the most pressing issues in healthcare today is the prevention of Adenovirus (AdV) infections. Children and the elderly, both of whom have weaker immune systems than healthy adults, are more vulnerable to infection. Discussion: India has been the epicenter of a recent AdV epidemic in the South Asian area. Most of the nations, bordering India are still developing and have very low per capita incomes, yet their citizens often cross into India for trade, medical care, and vacation. Conclusion: We are concerned that an epidemic of the AdV might occur in the Indian subcontinent, spread to other nations, and eventually affect the whole world if effective preventative and diagnostic measures are not taken.

The urgent need for a policy on epidemiological data on cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh.

Background: Disease prevention and healthcare policy choices cannot be made without epidemiology data. Since it is a growing country with rapidly increasing illness rates, this information is in great demand in Bangladesh. This is because there is a shortage of reliable and sufficient data, leading to inadequate preventive and treatment methods. Discussion: Poor health concerns and economic conditions mean that not all families can afford to provide the nutrition their members need, leading to an increase in the prevalence of many diseases. The outcome is an ever-increasing threat of cardiovascular disease (CVD) issues, the leading cause of death in Bangladesh, even though the underlying causes remain unknown. There is a strong demand for accurate information on CVD patients in Bangladesh, however, there is no effective framework for managing epidemiological data. This prevents an in-depth analysis of the nation's socioeconomic status, dietary practices, and way of life, as well as the implementation of sound healthcare policy. Conclusion: In this article, we present arguments on this important issue using the healthcare systems of the developed world and Bangladesh as examples.

Development of Preventive Measures and Treatment Strategies Against Nipah Virus is a Timely Need: Bangladeshi Perspective.

Viral epidemics of variable frequency and severity have wreaked havoc and panic across the world. The Nipah virus (NiV), which has been linked to multiple outbreaks, mostly in South and Southeast Asia, is regarded as one of the deadliest in the world. In Bangladesh, seasonal outbreaks of encephalitis caused by the NiV have occurred annually since 2003. In particular, NiV has numerous characteristics that highlight its potential as a pandemic danger, such as its human-to-human transmission capability and its propensity to infect humans directly from natural reservoirs and/or from other animals. Numerous types of research investigate the pathophysiology and viral mechanisms of disease progression. The NiV and its disease have been studied thoroughly but attempts to implement preventive techniques have met cultural and social obstacles. This review highlights the NiV outbreaks, and its present status, the preventative and control measures implemented, the potential causes of the outbreaks in Bangladesh, and the precautions that must be taken by both government and nongovernment entities to contain the outbreaks and assure a future with fewer or no occurrences.

Coronavirus disease-2019: A review on the disease exacerbation via cytokine storm and concurrent management.

Setting up treatment strategies is the highest concern today to reduce the fatality of COVID-19. Due to a very new kind of virus attack, no specific treatment has been discovered to date. The most crucial way to dominate the disease severity is now the repurposing of drugs. In this review, we focused on the current treatment approaches targeting the crucial causative factors for the disease burden through cytokine storm or cytokine release syndrome. Several vaccines have been developed and have been applied already for prevention purposes, and several are on the way to be developed, although the effects and side effects are under observation. Presently, regulation of the immune response through intervention treatment methods has been adjusted on the basis of the COVID-19 severity stage and generally includes vaccines, immunotherapies including convalescent plasma and immunoglobulin treatment, monoclonal antibodies, cytokine therapy, complement inhibition, regenerative medicine, and repurposed anti-inflammatory and immune-regulatory drugs. Combination therapy is not acceptable in all respects because there is no concrete evidence in clinical trials or in vivo data. Target-specific drug therapies, such as inhibition of cytokine-producing signaling pathways, could be an excellent solution and thus reduce the severity of inflammation and disease severity. Therefore, gathering information about the mechanism of disease progression, possible goals, and drug efficacy of immune-based approaches to combat COVID-19 in the context of orderly review analysis is consequential.

Effect of antioxidant, malondialdehyde, macro-mineral, and trace element serum concentrations in Bangladeshi patients with schizophrenia: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is an incurable neuropsychiatric disorder generally described by impaired social behavior and altered recognition of reality. For the first time, this study explored serum levels of antioxidants (vitamin A, E, and C), malondialdehyde (MDA), macro-minerals (calcium, potassium, and sodium), and trace elements (zinc, iron, and selenium) in Bangladeshi patients with SCZ and thereby, discovering any pathophysiological correlation. METHODS: This case-controlled study evaluated 63 patients with SCZ as cases and 63 healthy individuals as controls. Vitamin A and E levels were defined by RP-HPLC. MDA and vitamin C levels were measured by using UV spectrophotometry, and macro and trace elements by atomic absorption spectroscopy. RESULTS: This study found significantly (P ≤ 0.05) elevated MDA levels and decreased levels of antioxidants-vitamin A, C, and E and significantly (P ≤ 0.05) diminished levels of macro and trace elements in cases in contrast to the controls. Serum levels of zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and sodium (Na) were determined to be 0.33 ± 0.008, 0.0252 ± 0.00060, 0.24 ± 0.01, 64.18 ± 2.72, 36.88 ± 2.56, and 2657.5 ± 53.32 mg/L, respectively, in cases, whereas 0.79 ± 0.03, 0.0650 ± 0.00355,0.78 ± 0.03, 168.01 ± 2.85, 86.43 ± 2.55, and 3200.8 ± 29.96 mg/L, respectively, were determined in controls. Pearson's correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between Zn and Na, Zn and K, Zn and Ca, Zn and Fe, Zn and Se, Fe and Na, and Fe and Se in patients. CONCLUSIONS: The findings connect that the pathogenesis of SCZ may have a correlation with altered levels of antioxidants, MDA, macro-minerals, and trace elements.

Complement C5a-triggered differentiated HL-60 stimulates migration of THP-1 monocytic leukocytes via secretion of CCL2.

Leukocytes play an important role in vascular inflammation prior to atherosclerosis. In particular, monocyte adhesion and migration to the endothelium contribute to the development of vascular inflammation. Previously, we showed the importance of neutrophils and complement C5a in the early phase of vascular inflammation in mice fed a high-fat diet. However, the relationship between monocytes and neutrophils is not well understood. In this study, we elucidated the involvement of neutrophils in the migration of monocytes. We observed that C5a induces CCL2 expression in neutrophil-like dHL-60 cells. To investigate the physiological significance of CCL2 secretion, we performed a chemotaxis assay. Interestingly, dHL-60 culture supernatant in the presence of C5a enhanced the migration of THP-1 in comparison with the absence of C5a. Furthermore, CCL2 expression and secretion significantly increased in C5a-stimulated dHL-60 through the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65. Actin polymerization on THP-1 was enhanced by the presence of C5a compared with the absence of C5a when stimulated by a dHL-60-cultured medium. These results suggest that crosstalk between neutrophils and monocytes via CCL2 may play an important role in vascular inflammation.

Cross-sectional study exploring barriers to adverse drug reactions reporting in community pharmacy settings in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVES: To assess community pharmacists'/pharmacy technicians' knowledge and perceptions about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and barriers towards the reporting of such reactions in Dhaka, Bangladesh. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was planned to approach potential respondents for the study. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to community pharmacists/pharmacy technicians (N=292) practising in Dhaka, Bangladesh. RESULTS: The overall response to the survey was 69.5% (n=203). The majority of the sample was comprised of pharmacy technicians (152, 74.9%) who possessed a diploma in pharmacy, followed by pharmacists (37, 18.2%) and others (12, 5.9%). Overall, 72 (35.5%) of the respondents disclosed that they had experienced an ADR at their pharmacy, yet more than half (105, 51.7%) were not familiar with the existence of an ADR reporting body in Bangladesh. Exploring the barriers to the reporting of ADRs, it was revealed that the top four barriers to ADR reporting were 'I do not know how to report (Relative Importance Index (RII)=0.998)', 'reporting forms are not available (0.996)', 'I am not motivated to report (0.997)' and 'Unavailability of professional environment to discuss about ADR (RII=0.939)'. In addition to these, a majority (141, 69.46%) were not confident about the classification of ADRs (RII=0.889) and were afraid of legal liabilities associated with reporting ADRs (RII=0.806). Moreover, a lack of knowledge about pharmacotherapy and the detection of ADRs was another major factor hindering their reporting (RII=0.731). CONCLUSIONS: The Directorate of Drug Administration in Bangladesh needs to consider the results of this study to help it improve and simplify ADR reporting in Bangladeshi community pharmacy settings.