Urinary excretion of two orally-administered non-metabolizable sugars, lactulose and mannitol, is a valuable marker for evaluating intestinal permeability. Usually this test involves a time consuming ...procedure of about 5 hour's urine collection, which makes the test incompatible to some extent. As the results are expressed as the ratio of lactulose and mannitol recovered in urine within certain time, it may be possible to get similar result despite the reduced urine collection time of 2 hours. Moreover, different laboratories do the test by different methods, which make the results incomparable between laboratories. Here, we are also trying to find the correlation between results from most commonly used methods: HPAE-PAD and LC-MSMS. The lactulose: mannitol (LM) test was performed in a cohort of Bangladeshi infants considered at-risk for environmental enteropathy. 208 urine specimens from 104 (52 male and 52 female) infants were collected at 2 and 5 hours after LM solution administration and were tested for lactulose and mannitol by two different methods, one HPAE-PAD platform and another LC-MSMS platform. Median age of the children was 15.0 months (range 6.9 to 25.8 months) and their mean weight-for-age z-score was -0.92. A higher percentage of lactulose and mannitol recovery was found in 5 hours urine collection than in the corresponding 2 hours by both HPAE-PAD and LC-MSMS method, but when results were expressed as lactulose to mannitol ratio (LMR) there was no significant difference between 2 and 5 hours urine collection in both HPAE-PAD (P = 0.138) and LC-MSMS (P = 0.099) method. LMR based on 2 hours urine collection correlated well with LMR based on traditional 5 hours urine collection (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.578 and 0.604 respectively for HPAE-PAD and LC-MSMS). In future, LM test to assess intestinal permeability in children can be simplified by shortening the urine collection time from 5 hours to 2 hours.
Pathogenic microorganisms are a potential threat to the agriculture and food industries. Food contamination can be happened in the production levels at any point in the chain by pathogenic ...microorganisms. Conventional methods, such as those involving antibiotics, disinfectants, and physical methods, are commonly used as microbial control strategies. Owing to the limitations of these methods, such as emergence of resistance, low effectiveness, high cost, and detrimental effects on food, health, and the environment, many countries have adopted laws and regulations restricting their use. To overcome these problems, an environmentally friendly, cost-effective alternative approach is urgently needed. Probiotics are live microorganisms that offer health benefits to the host, when consumed in adequate amounts, by providing pathogen protective action and nutritional benefits. From a food microbiological point of view, to use probiotics in animals, there is a reduction of zoonotic pathogens in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) among animals which prevent the transmission of these pathogens through food. Therefore, probiotics have been proposed as an alternative antimicrobial means to protect against pathogenic microorganisms for better healthcare and food safety. In this review, we discuss probiotics, their selection criteria, mechanisms of action, and their prospects as alternative biocontrol agents, with special emphasis on the agriculture (livestock and aquaculture sectors), and food industries.
Display omitted
•Probiotics and their mode of action were discussed.•Alternative strategies to use chemical additives to control the foodborne pathogens in food processing industries.•Alternative to antibiotic feed additives to control the enteric pathogen load in animals.•Considered probiotics as biocontrol agents in food safety research.•Future research directions were suggested.
To examine the contributions of impaired gut microbial community development to childhood undernutrition, we combined metabolomic and proteomic analyses of plasma samples with metagenomic analyses of ...fecal samples to characterize the biological state of Bangladeshi children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) as they transitioned, after standard treatment, to moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) with persistent microbiota immaturity. Host and microbial effects of microbiota-directed complementary food (MDCF) prototypes targeting weaning-phase bacterial taxa underrepresented in SAM and MAM microbiota were characterized in gnotobiotic mice and gnotobiotic piglets colonized with age- and growth-discriminatory bacteria. A randomized, double-blind controlled feeding study identified a lead MDCF that changes the abundances of targeted bacteria and increases plasma biomarkers and mediators of growth, bone formation, neurodevelopment, and immune function in children with MAM.
Body-mass-index (BMI) is widely accepted as an indicator of nutritional status in adults. Mid-upper-arm-circumference (MUAC) is another anthropometric-measure used primarily among children. The ...present study attempted to evaluate the use of MUAC as a simpler alternative to BMI cut-off <18.5 to detect adult undernutrition, and thus to suggest a suitable cut-off value.
A cross-sectional study in 650 adult attendants of the patients of Dhaka-Hospital, of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) was conducted during 2012. Height, weight and MUAC of 260 male and 390 female aged 19-60 years were measured. Curve estimation was done to assess the linearity and correlation of BMI and MUAC. Sensitivity and specificity of MUAC against BMI<18.5 was determined. Separate Receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed for male and female. Area under ROC curve and Youden's index were generated to aid selection of the most suitable cut-off value of MUAC for undernutrition. A value with highest Youden's index was chosen for cut-off.
Our data shows strong significant positive correlation (linear) between MUAC and BMI, for males r = 0.81, (p<0.001) and for females r = 0.828, (p<0.001). MUAC cut-off <25.1 cm in males (AUC 0.930) and <23.9 cm in females (AUC 0.930) were chosen separately based on highest corresponding Youden's index. These values best correspond with BMI cut-off for under nutrition (BMI <18.5) in either gender.
MUAC correlates closely with BMI. For the simplicity and easy to remember MUAC <25 cm for male and <24 cm for female may be considered as a simpler alternative to BMI cut-off <18.5 to detect adult undernutrition.
Salmonella is a foodborne pathogen and an emerging zoonotic bacterial threat in the food industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biofilm formation by a cocktail culture of 3 wild isolates ...of Salmonella enterica serotype Kentucky on plastic (PLA), silicon rubber (SR), and chicken skin surfaces under various temperatures (4, 10, 25, 37, and 42°C) and pH values (4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0). Then, at the optimum temperature and pH, the effects of supplementation with glucose (0, 0.025, 0.05, and 0.4% w/v) on biofilm formation were assessed on each of the surfaces. The results indicated that higher temperatures (25 to 42°C) and pH values (7.0 and 8.0) led to more robust biofilm formation than lower temperatures (4 and 10°C) and lower pH levels (4.0 to 6.0). Moreover, biofilm formation was induced by 0.025% glucose during incubation at the optimum temperature (37°C) and pH (7.0) but inhibited by 0.4% glucose. Consistent with this finding, virulence related gene (rpoS, rpoH, hilA, and avrA) expression was increased at 0.025% glucose and significantly reduced at 0.4% glucose. This results also confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscope, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and autoinducer-2 determination. This study concluded that optimum environmental conditions (temperature 37°C, pH 7.0, and 0.25% glucose) exhibited strong biofilm formation on food and food contract surfaces as well as increased the virulence gene expression levels, indicating that these environmental conditions might be threating conditions for food safety.
Background. Most maternal deaths occur during childbirth and after childbirth. This study was aimed at determining the trends of health facilities during delivery in Bangladesh, as well as their ...influencing factors. Methods. This study used secondary data from three Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICSs) in 2006, 2012–13, and 2019. The study’s target sample was those women who gave birth in the last two years of the survey. A two-level logistic regression was applied to determine the effects on health facility delivery separately in these two survey points (MICSs 2012–13 and 2019). Results. The results show that the delivery of health facilities has increased by almost 37.4% in Bangladesh, from 16% in 2006 to 53.4% in 2019. The results of two-level logistic regression show that the total variation in health facility delivery across the community has decreased over recent years. After adding community variables, various individual-level factors such as women with secondary education (OR=0.55 in 2012-13 vs. OR =0.60 in 2019), women from middle wealth status (OR=0.49 in 2012-13 vs. OR=0.65 in 2019), religion, and child ever born showed a strong relationship with health facility delivery in both survey years. At the community level, residents showed significant association only in the 2012-13 survey and indicated a 43% (OR=1.43 for 2012-13) greater availability of health facilities in urban residences than in rural residences. Using media showed a highly significant connection with health facility delivery in both years as well as an increasing trend over the years in Bangladesh (OR=1.19 in 2012-13 vs. OR=1.38 in 2019). However, division, prenatal care, and skilled services all contribute greatly to increasing the delivery of health facilities in Bangladesh. Conclusions. The results of this study suggest that policymakers need to pay attention to individual and community-level factors, especially women’s education, poverty reduction, and adequate prenatal care provided by well-trained caregivers.
A carrier (stainless steel disc as a default carrier) testing method is very needed for use in the actual food-processing fields by following the standard guideline. Here, we aimed to compare the ...virucidal efficacy of four commercial liquid disinfectants, including sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), chlorine dioxide (ClO2), and peracetic acid (PAA) against hepatitis A virus (HAV) following the OECD guideline protocol based on the quantitative carrier testing method and compared carrier testing results with the suspension testing results. The OECD method specifies a test for establishing whether a chemical disinfectant or a microbicide has a virucidal activity on hard non-porous surfaces. The antiviral efficacy was evaluated by plaque assays, and disinfectants were considered effective if the virus reduction was greater than or equal to 3 log10 (99.9% decrease) for carrier or 4 log10 (99.99% decrease) for suspension tests. Results indicated that ClO2 above 500 ppm and 50% ethanol were effective in the carrier test method. In contrast, more than 200 ppm NaOCl and 50 ppm ClO2 for all exposure times and 70% ethanol with contact for more than 5 min were effective in suspension tests. Treatment with PAA (80–2500 ppm) were not effective in carrier or suspension tests. Therefore, we recommend the use of more than 500 ppm ClO2 or 50% ethanol with exposure for 10 min to disinfect surfaces that may be contaminated with HAV. Thus, these results could be effective in establishing official antiviral efficacy testing methods and basic data.
•We compared the virucidal efficacy of four disinfectants against HAV.•ClO2 above 500 ppm and 50% ethanol showed disinfection effects in carrier tests.•PAA (80–2500 ppm) showed no disinfection effects in carrier or suspension tests.•Disinfection of HAV was optimal with >500 ppm ClO2 or 50% ethanol for 10 min.
Objective: Computer-aided disease diagnosis and prognosis based on medical images is a rapidly emerging field. Many Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures have been developed by researchers ...for disease classification and localization from chest X-ray images. It is known that different thoracic disease lesions are more likely to occur in specific anatomical regions compared to others. This article aims to incorporate this disease and region-dependent prior probability distribution within a deep learning framework. Methods: We present the ThoraX-PriorNet, a novel attention-based CNN model for thoracic disease classification. We first estimate a disease-dependent spatial probability, i.e., an anatomical prior, that indicates the probability of occurrence of a disease in a specific region in a chest X-ray image. Next, we develop a novel attention-based classification model that combines information from the estimated anatomical prior and automatically extracted chest region of interest (ROI) masks to provide attention to the feature maps generated from a deep convolution network. Unlike previous works that utilize various self-attention mechanisms, the proposed method leverages the extracted chest ROI masks along with the probabilistic anatomical prior information, which selects the region of interest for different diseases to provide attention. Results: The proposed method shows superior performance in disease classification on the NIH ChestX-ray14 dataset compared to existing state-of-the-art methods while reaching an area under the ROC curve (%AUC) of 84.67. Regarding disease localization, the anatomy prior attention method shows competitive performance compared to state-of-the-art methods, achieving an accuracy of 0.80, 0.63, 0.49, 0.33, 0.28, 0.21, and 0.04 with an Intersection over Union (IoU) threshold of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7, respectively. Impact Statement: The proposed ThoraX-PriorNet can be generalized to different medical image classification and localization tasks where the probability of occurrence of the lesion is dependent on specific anatomical sites.
The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones has grown rapidly in both civilian and military operations over the last few decades. Multi-UAV systems are preferred to single-UAV systems, as ...they are more efficient and cost-effective when completing missions collaboratively. However, like other ad-hoc networks, UAV networks face the challenge of effective communication. Existing research in mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) and vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) does not fully address the unique characteristics of UAV networks, which can exhibit varying levels of dynamism, intermittent links, and fluid topology. Moreover, drones need to communicate with each other and ground stations in Flying Ad-hoc Networks. Therefore, routing protocols in such networks must select the most effective paths for communication while ensuring reliable and stable data transmission. This article examines several recently developed routing protocols in UAV communication, detailing their construction methods. As routing is quite challenging in UAVs, where communication performance depends on various factors, this research introduces performance metrics to analyze the efficiency of these protocols. Routing protocols in UAV networks must adapt to high mobility, dynamic topology, intermittent links, power constraints, and changing link quality. Since the lifespan of UAV nodes is limited, seamless handovers are crucial, and the energy efficiency of protocols at different layers should also be considered. Although the reviewed protocols address several aspects of designing routing protocols for UAV communication, some challenges remain. Thus, this article provides a comprehensive exploration of routing protocols in UAV communication, along with a discussion of some open research areas.
Healthcare data is highly sensitive and must be safeguarded. Personal and sensitive data, such as names and addresses, is stored in Encrypted Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This paper proposes a ...Blockchain-based distributed application platform for Bangladesh's public and private healthcare service providers. The proposed application framework enables users to create secure digital agreements for commerce or collaboration by leveraging data immutability and smart contracts. As a result, all stakeholders can collaborate securely over the same Blockchain network, taking advantage of their data's openness and read/write nature. The proposed application is made up of various application interfaces for various stakeholders. The proposed solution employs Hyperledger Fabric and Blockchain to ensure data integrity, privacy, permissions, and service availability. In the application portal, each user has a profile. The creation of a unique identity for each user, as well as the establishment of digital information centers across the country, has greatly aided the process. This application collects health data from each user in a systematic manner, which is useful for research institutes and healthcare-related organizations. For this application, a national data warehouse in Bangladesh is feasible, and various healthcare-related analyses can be performed using the collected data, assisting the strategy and planning department in making informed decisions regarding the healthcare sector in Bangladesh. Because Bangladesh has both public and private healthcare providers, a simple digital strategy is essential for all organizations to accomplish their services. This study proposes a solution to achieve this goal.
PDF
