COVID-19, which is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has quickly spread over the world, posing a global health concern. The ongoing epidemic has ...necessitated the development of novel drugs and potential therapies for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Advances in vaccination and medication development, no preventative vaccinations, or viable therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 infection have been developed to date. As a result, additional research is needed in order to find a long-term solution to this devastating condition. Clinical studies are being conducted to determine the efficacy of bioactive compounds retrieved or synthesized from marine species starting material. The present study focuses on the anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential of marine-derived phytochemicals, which has been investigated utilizing in in silico, in vitro, and in vivo models to determine their effectiveness. Marine-derived biologically active substances, such as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids, peptides, lectins, polysaccharides, and lipids, can affect SARS-CoV-2 during the viral particle’s penetration and entry into the cell, replication of the viral nucleic acid, and virion release from the cell; they can also act on the host’s cellular targets. COVID-19 has been proven to be resistant to several contaminants produced from marine resources. This paper gives an overview and summary of the various marine resources as marine drugs and their potential for treating SARS-CoV-2. We discussed at numerous natural compounds as marine drugs generated from natural sources for treating COVID-19 and controlling the current pandemic scenario.
Background: Hemodialysis is one of the treatment of end stage renal disease. Disturbance in calcium and phosphate metabolism are observed in these patients. One of the most common cutaneous ...manifestations in patients on hemodialysis is pruritus. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between pruritus with serum calcium and phosphate levels in these patients.
Methods: This analytic, descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed in 2014 over 191 patients of maintenance haemodialysis. Information related to the patients age, gender, residence, pruritus, duration and frequency of dialysis, was extracted from questionnaires. Serum levels of calcium, phosphate and albumin were measured & data were analyzed.
Results: 68% of the patients had pruritus, of whom 48.2% had serum calcium levels below the normal range. The Mean ± SD of serum calcium, phosphate, Ca-PO4 product, and duration of dialysis were 8.77±1.22 mg/dl, 3.82±1.18 mg/dl, 34.17±12.69, and 18.01±11.94 months respectively in patients with pruritus and 9.24±1.15 mg/dl, 3.40±1.36 mg/dl, 35.75±13.02, and 17.84±16.01 months respectively in patients without pruritus. Our study showed that most patients with pruritus had serum calcium levels in the below normal range.
Conclusion: Good control of serum calcium levels may have a role in reducing uraemic pruritus.
J Dhaka Medical College, Vol. 27, No.2, October, 2018, Page 127-133
Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci account for about 80% of infections associated with medical devices and are associated with increased virulence due to their ability to form ...biofilm. In this study, we aimed to construct a comprehensive reference map followed by significant pathway analysis in the proteome of S. aureus biofilm grown for 3 days compared with 24 h of planktonic culture using a high-resolution Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based MS. We identified proteins associated with secondary metabolites, ABC transporters, biosynthesis of amino acids, and response to stress, and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism were significantly upregulated in 3-day biofilm. In contrast, proteins associated with virulence factors, microbial metabolism in diverse environments, secondary metabolites, translation, and energy metabolism were significantly downregulated. GO functional annotation indicated that more proteins are involved in metabolic processes, catalytic activity, and binding in biofilm, respectively. Among the significantly dysregulated proteins, hyaluronidase (hysA) in conjunction with chitinase may play a significant role in the elimination and/or prevention of biofilm development. This study advances the understanding of the S. aureus subproteome, identifying potential pathways significant to biofilm biology. The insights gained may aid in developing new therapeutic strategies, including antibiofilm agents, for treating biofilm-related infections associated with implantable medical devices.
Potassium (K) is an essential plant nutrient affecting most of the biochemical and physiological processes. It is classified as a macronutrient due to large quantities being taken up by plants during ...their life cycle. With the aim of establishing a scientific basis of K fertilization on the growth, leaf production, minimum K requirement and critical leaf K concentration of stevia, a pot experiment was carried out in the net house of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University. Six levels of K viz. 0 (K0), 50 (K50), 100 (K100), 150 (K150), 200 (K200) and 250 (K250) kg ha-1 were used in acid and non-calcareous soils. Plants were harvested at 60 days after planting (DAP). Results showed that K application significantly influenced the growth attributes, leaf yield and other parameters. Highest values of all the parameters except K content were obtained when K was applied @ 200 kg ha-1 which was significantly different from other levels of K including control. Dry weight of stevia leaves at harvest was increased from 0.77-7.41g and 0.99-7.74g Pot-1 in acid and non-calcareous soils, respectively over control. Potassium content was directly proportional with the increased levels of K though uptake did not follow the same trend. Leaf critical K content was estimated to be ca 1.75 and 1.71% in the plants grown in acid and non-calcareous soils, respectively. The minimum K requirement for maximum leaf biomass production (80%) of stevia was estimated to be ca 220 and 199 kg ha-1 grown in acid and non-calcareous soils, respectively. This study would contribute to improve K fertilization of stevia in various types of soil. Fundam Appl Agric 2017; 2(3.000): 297-302
Background and objectives: Various new manifestations and risk factors for COVID-19 have been unveiled in the course of the current pandemic. Understanding the clinical spectrums as well as the risk ...factors associated with the adverse outcome of the disease is critical to combat this pandemic. This study was conducted to identify the clinical features, overall outcome and the factors associated with adverse outcome of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a semi-urban healthcare setting.
Methods: This study was conducted at Debidwar Upazila (sub-district) Health Complex under the Cumilla district from April 2020 to October 2020. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive COVID-19 patients, aged 18 years and above, admitted at the Health Complex were enrolled in the study. All patients were followed till their recovery, referral or death. The data were collected in a pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire that included demographic, epidemiological, clinical and laboratory parameters.
Result: Out of 50 RT-PCR positiveCOVID-19 adult participants, 30 (60%) were males and 20 (40%) were females. Twenty-four percent, 36%, and 40% of the patients had mild, moderate and severe disease respectively. The most common clinical symptom was fever (96%), followed by cough (86%) and shortness of breath (60%). Hypertension (54%), diabetes mellitus (40%), bronchial asthma (20%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, 14%) were the major co-morbid conditions. Of the total cases, 2 (4%) died and 8 (16%) required referral to tertiary care hospital while 40 (80%) recovered. COPD was associated with poor outcome (OR 19; 95% CI: 2.88, 125.31; p < 0.05). Smokers were 7 times more likely to exhibit the negative outcome than non-smokers (95% CI: 1.52, 32.33; p < 0.05).
Conclusion: In this study, COPD was associated with a negative outcome. Further study with larger sample should be carried out to determine the spectrum of risk factors.
Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2020; 14(2): 42-54
Background and objectives: Various new manifestations and risk factors for COVID-19 have been unveiled in the course of the current pandemic. Understanding the clinical spectrums as well as the risk ...factors associated with the adverse outcome of the disease is critical to combat this pandemic. This study was conducted to identify the clinical features, overall outcome and the factors associated with adverse outcome of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a semi-urban healthcare setting. Methods: This study was conducted at Debidwar Upazila (sub-district) Health Complex under the Cumilla district from April 2020 to October 2020. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive COVID-19 patients, aged 18 years and above, admitted at the Health Complex were enrolled in the study. All patients were followed till their recovery, referral or death. The data were collected in a pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire that included demographic, epidemiological, clinical and laboratory parameters. Result: Out of 50 RT-PCR positiveCOVID-19 adult participants, 30 (60%) were males and 20 (40%) were females. Twenty-four percent, 36%, and 40% of the patients had mild, moderate and severe disease respectively. The most common clinical symptom was fever (96%), followed by cough (86%) and shortness of breath (60%). Hypertension (54%), diabetes mellitus (40%), bronchial asthma (20%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, 14%) were the major co-morbid conditions. Of the total cases, 2 (4%) died and 8 (16%) required referral to tertiary care hospital while 40 (80%) recovered. COPD was associated with poor outcome (OR 19; 95% CI: 2.88, 125.31; p < 0.05). Smokers were 7 times more likely to exhibit the negative outcome than non-smokers (95% CI: 1.52, 32.33; p < 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, COPD was associated with a negative outcome. Further study with larger sample should be carried out to determine the spectrum of risk factors. IMC J Med Sci 2020; 14(2): 009. OPEN ACCESS ¶Co-first author - contributed equally. *Correspondence: Wasim Md Mohosin Ul Haque, Department of Nephrology, BIRDEM General Hospital, 122 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Email: wmmhaque@live.com
Heavy metal accumulation in environmental compartments is a potential risk to the living system because of their uptake by plants and subsequent introduction into the food chain. A study was carried ...out to investigate the heavy metal contents in industrially contaminated soils collected from six different locations of Dhaka and Mymensingh districts and their effects on two important vegetables namely tomato and cabbage. Pot experiment was conducted using contaminated soils at the net house of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Mymensingh following completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. The higher level of heavy metal contents was found in the soil samples of Hajaribag and Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ). The highest Ni, Cd, Cr, Cu and Fe contents were 59.45, 18.79, 67.57, 40.81 and 1619.61 µg g−1 which were much above the recommended level except Cu contents. The highest yield of vegetables was obtained grown in Maskanda soil of Mymensingh district and the lowest from DEPZ soil of Dhaka. The highest Ni, Cr and Fe contents were 8.91, 7.22, 419.65 µg g−1, respectively in tomato fruits grown in the soil of Hajaribag whereas the highest Cu content (3.38 µg g−1) was obtained from Seedstore soil, Mymensingh and highest Cd content (2.88 µg g−1) was from Mitford ghat soil, Dhaka. In cabbage, the highest Ni (17.52 µg g−1) and Fe (411.25 µg g−1) contents were found in the soils of DEPZ whereas the highest Cr (9.17 µg g−1), Cd (3.52 µg g−1) and Cu (8.51 µg g−1) were obtained in the plants grown in the soils of Hajaribag, Mitford ghat and Maskanda, respectively. Concentrations of all the tested heavy metals except Cu in both vegetables were above the maximum allowable limit prescribed by the World Health Organization. Among the metals, the accumulation of Ni was found as higher amount (0.39 and 0.71 for tomato and cabbage, respectively) based on plant concentration factor or transfer factor. The results showed a positive correlation between concentration of the metals present in soils and in vegetables and the highest correlation was found with Cr in tomato and Fe in cabbage. However, both the soils and grown vegetables were consistently observed to pose a risk to human health. So, it can be recommended that government should take necessary action so that heavy metals used in the industries cannot come into the nearby agricultural field to ensure food safety as well as food security.
J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(3): 288–294, 2019
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