Experience of Exchange Transfusion in a Newly Established SCANU at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh.

Hyperbilirubinemia is common in neonates. The value of exchange transfusion (ET) is recognized. The procedure has some risks and complications. This descriptive observational cross sectional study was done in the Neonatology department during the period of January 2013 to December 2013. Total 62 patients were studied. ET was done in 47 patients. Among 47 patients, 29(61.7%) were male and 18(38.3%) were female. The most common cause of ET was Rh incompatibility (46.8%). In order of frequency, major findings were ABO incompatibility (25.5%), unidentified (14.9%), Sepsis (6.4%), minor blood group incompatibility (4.3%) and others (2.1%) respectively. Mean Serum bilirubin level was 22±5.1mg/dl. Most common complications following ET were anemia (12.7%), Sepsis (10.6%), and omphalitis (6.4%). The overall mortality observed was 6.4%. The majority of the adverse events associated with ET were treatable.

Development of a hematite nanotube and tyramine-based drug carrier against drug-resistant bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae.

In this study, hematite nanotube (HNT) and tyramine-based advanced nano-drug carriers were developed for inhibiting the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae). The HNT was synthesized by following the Teflon line autoclaved assisted hydrothermal process and tyramine was incorporated on the surface of the HNT to fabricate the formulated nano-drug. The nano-drug was prepared by conjugating meropenem (MP) on the surface of Tyramine-HNT and characterized using different techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), etc. Furthermore, the drug-loading efficiency and loading capacity were measured using a UV-vis spectrometer. The pH, amount of Tyr, and HNT required for drug loading were optimized. A controlled and gradual manner of pH-sensitive release profiles was found after investigating the release profile of MP from the carrier drug. The antibacterial activity of MP@Tyramine-HNT and MP was compared through the agar disc diffusion method which indicates that antibacterial properties of antibiotics are enhanced after conjugating. Surprisingly, the MP@Tyramine-HNT exhibits a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of K. pneumoniae lower than MP itself. These results indicate the nanocarrier can reduce the amount of MP dosed to eradicate K. pneumoniae.

Intrathoracic kidney in adult with an abnormal presentation.

Intra thoracic kidney is a rare congenital anomaly. Pathologically thoracic renal ectopia is due to eventration of the diaphragm. Usually symptoms appear in infancy and rarely in adult with respiratory problems and with organ involved. This only patient presented with left sided chest pain and abdominal discomfort at the age of 52 years having repeated previous similar attack in the department of Cardiology. Chest X ray and ultrasonography of whole abdomen was done along with other routine investigations, which reveals an ectopic and elevated left kidney. Five percent of the renal ectopia is intrathoracic kidney. It usually is symptomatic in infantile age but adult presentation is also found.

Critical flicker frequency of mentally retarded and normal persons.

Critical flicker frequency (CFF) of 40 men, 20 mentally retarded whose mean age was 22.0 yr. and 20 normal whose mean age was 21.5 yr., was measured under binocular viewing using the Lafayette Visual Perception Control with a display unit. Subjects had been previously tested for visual acuity and color blindness. Analysis showed a significant difference in CFF between mentally retarded persons and normal individuals, the former having lower CFF than the latter. This finding suggests lower perceptual sensitivity of the mentally retarded persons. Further research with provision for EEG recordings is suggested.

Studies on the development of infant foods from plant protein sources. Part II. Effect of processing conditions on the chemical and nutritive properties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum).

In order to improve the taste, flavor and nutritional quality of chickpea (Cicer arietinum), various processing conditions were studied. The decorticated samples were processed under various conditions, either by presoaking or non-soaking in water or sodium carbonate solution. The proteins were also isolated from water or carbonate-presoaked chickpea and subjected to various processing. Carbonate-presoaked samples gave slightly lower protein and ash values. No major changes in other constituents were observed. Subjective analysis of the intensity of characteristic chickpea flavor in processed samples was carried out, indicating some improvement in the carbonate-presoaked samples. Carbonate-treated samples exhibited a lighter color. The carbonate presoaking procedure had no adverse effect on the availability of lysine and nitrogen solubility index (NSI), as compared to the water-presoaking procedure. The time required to inactivate trypsin inhibitors in carbonate-presoaked chickpea at boiling temperature, was half that required in the case of water-presoaked ones. Under the conditions used in treating chickpea with sodium carbonate, no beneficial effect was observed in reducing the tannin content. No significant differences were observed in net protein ratio (NPR) among the various processed chickpea samples, even though in some cases isolated protein gave significantly lower NPR values. Digestibility values were higher for isolated protein than for whole chickpea samples.

Studies on the development of infant foods from plant protein sources. Part I. Effect of germination of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) on the nutritive value and digestibility of proteins.

For the purpose of developing an infant food of improved dispersibility characteristics and high nutritive quality, different treatments and technologies were applied to chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Samples were germinated for two and four days at room temperature (25 - 27 degrees C). One portion of each germinated chickpea sample was boiled for 40 min and the other portion was autoclaved at 15 psi for 15 min. These processed samples were then compared with the corresponding value of raw germinated and ungerminated samples as well as with the ungerminated processed ones for the following characteristics: chemical composition, contents of antiphysiological factors, solubility of proteins, lysine availability, net protein ratio (NPR), and digestibility of proteins. Germination caused an increase in the protein content of the seeds. No appreciable changes were observed in the trypsin inhibitor and tannin contents during germination. Availability of lysine was found slightly lower in the germinated seeds. The solubility of the nitrogenous constituents was markedly increased during germination. Along with processing, germination had no beneficial effect in improving protein quality, although digestibility of the proteins was increased. Boiling was more advantageous in the case of germinated seeds than autoclaving, whereas the reverse was true in the case of ungerminated seeds.

Studies on the development of infant foods from plant protein sources. Part III. Preparation, processing and properties of various products developed.

Studies have been carried out on the development of a low-cost, high-quality infant food of low paste viscosity from rice, chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and cow's milk. In order to improve the overall quality of the product, chickpea was processed by different methods prior to its incorporation. A number of formulations was prepared by mixing 52% rice, 30% each, the processed chickpea sample, and 18% whole milk powder. These mixtures were processed by extrusion cooking or drum drying. In the case of the extrusion cooking method, from the nutritional and technological points of view, it was found advantageous to incorporate milk powder after cooking a mixture of rice and chickpea. The values of net protein ratio (NPR) of the products developed, whether processed by extrusion cooking or drum-drying methods, were statistically equal, and not significantly different from those of casein. Supplementing the product with methionine and threonine showed no effect in improving the NPR value, suggesting that these amino acids were not limiting. There were slight differences in the digestibilities of proteins in the products developed and all were lower than that of casein. Depending on the processing method, differences were observed in paste viscosities of the products. After partial hydrolysis of the products with pounds amylase, both the cold and hot paste viscosities were greatly reduced and were comparable with those of whole milk powder. From the results herein reported, it can be concluded that the drum-dried product prepared using rice:chickpea (carbonate presoaked):milk (52:30:18) is the best of all the products developed. Its amino acid composition compares favorably with that of the milk proteins.

Effects of diurnal and seasonal sleep deficiency on work effort and fatigue of shift workers.

This study was designed to assess and compare the quantity and quality of sleep of morning, afternoon, and night shift workers during the winter and summer seasons, and to evaluate the effects of sleep deficiency on the work effort and fatigue of the workers. The subjects studied consisted of a sample of 150 textile workers, working on a monthly rotating 3-shift system: morning shift (06.00-11.00 and 14.00-17.00) afternoon shift (11.00-14.00 and 17.00-22.00), and night shift (22.00-06.00). Information concerning quantity and quality of sleep were registered daily over a week for every subject. The Ratings of Perceived Effort scale and the Feeling and Symptoms of Fatigue scale were used to collect information about feeling of effort and fatigue of the subjects. The results showed that the duration of sleep length is longest in the afternoon and shortest in the night shift both during summer and winter. The amount of sleep is shorter during summer during all three shifts. The workers spent more effort and felt more fatigued during summer than winter. The shift workers, particularly of the tropical region, like Bangladesh, seem to be worst affected in terms of quantity and quality of sleep, health and well-being due to extremely high temperature (30-45 degrees Celsius) during summer than winter (5-25 degrees Celsius). The workers think that the problems of shift work could be minimized by improving the quality of working and living conditions, reducing cycle of rotation, shortening working day and closing night shift during peak summer.

Performance and strain in short-cycled repetitive work.

The present study is an attempt to assess and compare the job related perceived effort and some forms of strain of 20 high and 20 low performance female subjects doing short cycled repetitive work. Their task consists of feeding machines with tobacco leaves for wrapping and finishing cigars. The results, quite unexpectedly, show that the high performance subjects spend more effort and experience a greater degree of strain as compared to the low performance subjects. It seems that the high performers are subjecting themselves to more stress and strain to earn a higher rate of bonus because they are less satisfied with their pay. One possible step to solve this problem might be the readjustment of the bonus system. Another step might be the adaptation of the cycle time of the machine to the differences in speed skill of the workers.

Industrial pollution and quality of life of workers in Bangladesh.

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of industrial pollution on the quality of life of workers in Bangladesh. A total of 110 workers comprising 60 from a polluted industry and 50 from a non-polluted industry were randomly selected for this study. The measuring instruments used were: The Inventory of Subjective Health (Dirken, 1967), The General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972), The Occupational Stress Index (Srivastava and Singh, 1981), The Life Descriptive Scale (Wright, 1988), and the Interview Schedule on Personal and Health Related Questionnaire (Khaleque, 1988). The results showed that the workers of the polluted industry suffered more from health problems and were less satisfied with their quality of life than those of the non-polluted industry. The results also revealed that the workers' health, well-being and quality of life were also affected by unhygienic home environment, malnutrition, transport problems, and lack of health care facilities. The result supported the view that the workplace pollution and the health and well-being of the workers were negatively related to each other.

Human aspects of shift work in the developing countries--I: A case study in Bangladesh.

There currently is little information available that allows objective prediction of psychosocial risks and benefits associated with the shift work in the developing countries. To provide such information, this study assessed possible differential effects of fatigue associated with the shift workers' attitude, job satisfaction, psychosocial problems, and other difficulties. Data were collected from the subjective responses on various scales using questionnaire among sixty adult male subjects working on a weekly rotating three-shift system in a shoe factory in Bangladesh. The results indicated that shift work is associated with negative aspects of disturbing their family, conjugal and social lives, curtailed leisure activities, created difficulties in meeting their friends, caused irregularity of their mealtime, affected sleep and caused health problems. However, the effect is significant only for such feelings of social and family aspects, as well as sleepy and lively hood but no significant main effects of shift schedule are observed for any of the behavioural and organizational context.