The Pahans and the Telis are two of the smallest indigenous communities in Bangladesh. The Pahans, numbering about 14,000 people are widely scattered in several northern districts of the country, ...while the Telis are such a small community that nothing has been reported on their numbers and lifestyle. Both tribes are on the verge of disappearance. One each of the Pahan and the Teli community was located after much search in two adjoining villages of Natore district, Bangladesh. Since the tribes were found to still depend on their traditional medicinal practitioners for treatment of ailments, it was the objective of the present study to document their traditional usage of medicinal plants and to evaluate such plants against modern research-based pharmacological activity studies on these plants. Interviews were conducted of the practitioners of the Pahan and Teli community of Natore district with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and using the guided field-walk method. Plant specimens as pointed out by the practitioners were collected and pressed on the field and identification completed at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. The Pahan tribal practitioners used 13 plants distributed into 9 families for treatment of 14 different ailments. The Teli tribal practitioner used 15 plants divided into 14 families for treatment of 17 different ailments. Eight out of the thirteen plants used by the Pahan tribal practitioner (61.5%) had reported relevant pharmacological activities in the scientific literature, while six out of the fifteen plants used by the Teli tribal practitioners (40%) had such relevant pharmacological activities in accordance with their usage. The medicinal plants used by the Pahans and Telis warrant further scientific studies toward discovery of lead compounds and efficacious drugs and the documentation and protection of the traditional medical knowledge held by these tribes.
The aim of this paper is to review the current status of poultry production and its future prospects in Bangladesh, covering both rural and commercial poultry production. As an important sub-sector ...of livestock production, the poultry industry in Bangladesh plays a crucial role in economic growth and simultaneously creates numerous employment opportunities. The poultry industry, as a fundamental part of animal production, is committed to supplying the nation with a cheap source of good quality nutritious animal protein in terms of meat and eggs. Two main systems of poultry production are common in Bangladesh nowadays: commercial poultry production – where birds are kept in total confinement, and traditional scavenging or semi-scavenging poultry production. Approximately 20% of the protein consumed in Bangladesh originates from poultry. With the exception the dip in production due to the recent Avian Influenza outbreak, the growth of this industry in terms of standards of commercialization, is very rapid. A gap still exists between the requirement and supply of poultry meat and eggs within the recent frame-work of the informal marketing system that is currently used. Among poultry species, the chicken population is dominant over others, at almost 90%, followed by ducks (8%) and a small number of quail, pigeons and geese. Free range ‘backyard’ and scavenging poultry, that are traditionally reared by rural women and children, still play an important role in generating family income, in addition to improving the family's diet with eggs and meat. Productive and reproductive performance of indigenous birds is relatively very low (35-40 eggs and 1-1.5 kg meat per bird per year), but genetic improvements by selective breeding, along with adequate nutrition and proper management, looks promising and quite possible. Commercial poultry production in Bangladesh, is conducted on an industrial scale and is growing tremendously in spite of recent difficulties but is expected to make a significant contribution to the economic development of the country. A national poultry policy is expected to be approved by the government shortly, which, when implemented, will improve the organization of production and marketing, allowing increased stability and security of output throughout the year. In addition, efforts should be taken to ensure safety standards of poultry meat and eggs for human consumption. Experts from the government, research institutes, universities, NGOs and other relevant sectors need to work in a collaborative manner in order to allow sustainable production and fight challenges jointly when they appear from time to time. Corresponding attention to research and development will allow the poultry sector to flourish in Bangladesh. As government funding is limited, industrialists need to come forward either to establish their respective research facilities or to provide funds to universities and research institutes in order to undertake research works of national and international importance.
Bangladesh is a developing country. Many workers are involved in different industries which are polluted with dust e.g. saw mill, rice mill, jarda factory etc. The present study may give a ...preliminary idea about the lung function status of those workers. The study has been designed to analyze the lung function status of those workers by measuring TCO2 aiming to recommend necessary steps to improved the quality of life of workers of dust industry in our socioeconomic context. This study was to evaluate pulmonary functional status of those workers who are exposed to dust in industries like saw mill 26.00 mmol/l, rice mill 31.10 mmol/l and jarda factory 22.11 mmol/l. In all groups p values were >0.1 which was not significant except jarda factory worker in which p value was <0.001 and it was highly significant. This study was carried out to increase the awareness of the workers and to reduce the cost of employment.
Field experiments were carried out between 2004-2006 at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Farm in Grey Terrace Soils, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh to determine the effects of seeds ...collected from different branches on growth, yield and yield attributes of chickpeas. Chickpea seeds of three varieties (BARI Chola-5, BARI Chola-6 and BARI Chola-8) were collected from different sites i.e., B1: collection of pods from primary branches of chickpea plants, B2: collection of pods from secondary branches of chickpea plants, B3: collection of pods from tertiary branches of chickpea plants prior to harvesting. All the seeds were stored in earthen pots until conducting the laboratory and field studies. Significant variation was not observed between the three varieties of chickpea for most of the arameters studied. The maximum pods plant-1, seeds pod-1 and seed yield were observed in BARI Chola-5 and the lowest in BARI Chola-8, though 1000-seed weight was recorded from BARI Chola-8. Seeds were collected from primary branches of chickpea plants (B1) recorded the highest pods plant-1, seeds pod-1 , 1000-seed weight and seed yield. Overall maximum seed yield was recorded from BARI Chola-5 when seeds were collected from primary branches.
Diabetes mellitus has a high prevalence, morbidity and mortality globally. Management of
type 2 diabetes is difficult with synthetic drugs as they cause many side effects and have
some limitations. ...Thus, as an alternative and immense interest in medicinal plants with
indigenous, inexpensive fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is considered to be a
potent food-based treatment for managing type 2 diabetes. This study was undertaken to
evaluate the blood glucose levels and diabetes status with the consumption of fenugreek
seed powder in type 2 diabetic patients. In a clinical trial study, 49 type 2 diabetic patients
were pooled using randomization and divided into two groups (controlled and exposed
group). The exposed group was placed on 10 g/day of powdered fenugreek seeds soaked
in water for 60 days, while the control group was not placed on any test diet.
Demographic, clinical characteristics, fasting blood glucose (FBG) and postprandial blood
glucose (PBG) were measured before and after the study. No adverse reaction was found
after the treatment resumed and all participants finished the trial. Findings showed that
20.83% of the patients who took the supplementation had reached the non-diabetic state
where zero success rates were observed in the control group. Multivariable linear
regression demonstrated that patients’ blood glucose level was significantly associated
with fenugreek supplementation (p < 0.001) and the type of therapy (p < 0.05) while
adjusted with their demographic variables, physical and medical conditions. When
adjusted for covariates, fasting and postprandial blood glucose in the exposed group was
estimated to be 2.38 mmol/L (95% CI: -3.45, -1.32, p < 0.001) and 4.18 mmol/L (95% CI:
-5.41, -2.95, p < 0.001), which was significantly lower than the control group,
respectively. The lowering of blood glucose level in the exposed group was gradually
distributed over time while significant changes were observed starting from 30 days of
supplementation. It is therefore concluded that fenugreek seed supplementation could be
generalized to mitigate the complications of type 2 DM.
INTRODUCTION
We assessed the concordance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau measured on the fully automated Lumipulse platform with pre‐symptomatic Alzheimer's disease (AD) ...pathology on amyloid positron emission tomography (PET).
METHODS
In 72 individuals from the Insight 46 study, CSF Aβ40, Aβ42, total tau (t‐tau), and phosphorylated tau at site 181 (p‐tau181) were measured using Lumipulse, INNOTEST, and Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) assays and inter‐platform Pearson correlations derived. Lumipulse Aβ42 measures were adjusted to incorporate standardization to certified reference materials. Logistic regressions and receiver operating characteristics analysis generated CSF cut‐points optimizing concordance with 18F‐florbetapir amyloid PET status (n = 63).
RESULTS
Measurements of CSF Aβ, p‐tau181, and their ratios correlated well across platforms (r 0.84 to 0.94, P < .0001); those of t‐tau and t‐tau/Aβ42 correlated moderately (r 0.57 to 0.79, P < .0001). The best concordance with amyloid PET (100% sensitivity and 94% specificity) was afforded by cut‐points of 0.075 for Lumipulse Aβ42/Aβ40, 0.087 for MSD Aβ42/Aβ40 and 17.3 for Lumipulse Aβ42/p‐tau181.
DISCUSSION
The Lumipulse platform provides comparable sensitivity and specificity to established CSF immunoassays in identifying pre‐symptomatic AD pathology.
A cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine sex differences in mean body mass index (BMI) and nutritional status (based on BMI), as well as the effect of age on BMI and nutritional status of ...adult Savars, a tribal population of Orissa, India. A total of 600 adult (aged >18 years) Savars of four villages, namely, Bonianiposi, Morabali, Panchapolli and Sailong of Keonjhar District, Orissa, India, were studied. Height and weight were measured and BMI computed. Mean ages of both sexes were similar (men: mean = 38.9 years, sd = 15.3; women: mean = 38.0, sd = 13.9). Men had significantly greater mean height (p < 0.001), weight (p < 0.001) and BMI (p < 0.05). The prevalence (sex combined) of undernutrition (BMI < 18.5) was found to be very high (43.5%). Moreover, there was a significant (χ2 = 7.39, p = 0.025) difference in the prevalence of undernutrition between men (38%) and women (49%). Age was significantly (p < 0.001) negatively correlated with BMI in both sexes (men: r = -0.20; women: r = -0.16). In general, the frequency of undernutrition increased with increasing age. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the prevalence of adult undernutrition was very high among Savar women and high among Savar men. These rates increased with increasing age. Therefore, from the public health point of view, immediate nutritional intervention programmes are needed for implementation among Savars, especially among older individuals. Moreover, further research is needed not only among this ethnic group but also other tribal populations of India to fully understand the causes and consequences of adult undernutrition.
A laboratory experiment was carried out in the Seed Technology Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Joydebpur, Gazipur from August-September in 2004 and 2005 to study the effects ...of different botanicals on the seed quality of lentils during storage. After processing and drying, seeds were preserved with different botanicals and stored in earthen pots. The seeds were divided into four parts including a part considered as a control. For botanical treatments, three botanicals of whole leaf powders of neem, dholkalmi and bishkatali were used at the doses of 5% w/w i.e., 25 g/500 g of lentil grains. The lentil seeds were stored till the next planting time and the seed quality data on moisture (%), germination (%), dry weight of seedlings and vigor index were observed during the storage period. Germination percentage of the initial seed lot was on average 90%, and average moisture content of the seeds before storage was 9%. Significant influences of the botanicals were observed in germination percentage, dry weight and vigor of the lentils. The highest values for almost all of these characteristics were observed for the seeds preserved with neem leaf powder. Bishkatali showed the same performance as neem.Among the three botanicals, dholkalmi showed the least effect. Neem treated seeds were found to have the highest germination percentage (86.0% in 2004 and 87.2% in 2005), dry weight (0.72 g in 2004 and 0.78 g in 2005) and vigor (62.3 in 2004 and 68.0 in 2005), which were somewhat similar to bishkatali but significantly higher othan the control. No significant difference among the seeds with botanicals on moisture percentage was observed.
The replacement of egg yolk with alternative plant-derived soybean lecithin is gaining interest in both animal and human sperm cryopreservation owing to biosecurity issues with egg yolk based ...extenders.
To evaluate the comparative effect of egg yolk and soyabean lecithin based extenders on the quality of cryopreserved crossbred ram semen.
Pooled ejaculates (total ejaculates = 36) were divided into two aliquots and extended with Tris egg yolk extender (Tris extender) and soybean lecithin based commercial extender (Ovixcell) RESULTS: Among the two extenders, Ovixcell showed better sperm quality both at the pre-freeze (Sperm motility) and post-thaw stages. Lower malondialdehyde (MDA) level (nmol/mL) was observed in Ovixcell as compared to Tris extender. Both sperm quality and MDA level decreased significantly (P < 0.05) from pre-freeze to post-thaw in both the extenders.
The findings of the present study indicate that Ovixcell is a comparable alternative to Tris extender for the cryopreservation of crossbred ram semen.
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