Search

Current state of contamination and subsequent risk of contaminated sediment of a tidal river of Bangladesh was evaluated in the present study. Sediment samples were collected from five locations in the tributary of Bakkhali River estuary during summer (April) and winter (December) season, 2020. Collected samples were processed using standard protocol and the content of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn) and metalloid (As), were analyzed by the Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Sediment contamination was evaluated by pollution load index (PLI), contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination ( Cd ), potential ecological risk index (PERI), non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk (CR) due to the dermal contact of the sediment. Multivariate statistical analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were also applied to find out the possible sources of the contaminant in the sediment. Results showed the average concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Zn was 9.74 ± 3.57, 2.00 ± 0.85, 48.75 ± 8.92, 29.78 ± 8.39, 5.44 ± 2.03 and 56.94 ± 8.57 mg/kg, respectively. Concentration of Cu, Pb and Zn were within the recommended level whereas the concentration of As, Cd and Cr were suppressed the recommended level of WHO and FAO/WHO standards. PLI, CF and Cd revealed considerably low degree of contamination of the sediment. Geo-accumulation index indicated uncontaminated to moderately contaminated condition of the sediment. Although the values of enrichment factor revealed no potential enrichment for most of the metals, Cd showed a minor enrichment during the winter season. Based on the ecological risk assessment, the sediment from all of the sample locations was found to be of moderate to low risk. PCA and CA analysis revealed the origin of contaminants mainly from anthropogenic sources. Although different metals showed non-carcinogenic risk to the inhabitants, cancer risk values for dermal contact (CR derm ) were much lower than 10 -6 indicating no cancer risk for adult and child. However, the findings also revealed that children were more susceptible to CR derm compared to adults. The present study concluded that long term dermal contact of the sediment of Bakkhali River estuary will be contagious to the people. Therefore, regular monitoring of the estuarine environment is necessary so that contamination does not get worse., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The wide band gap γ-Bi 2 MoO 6 (BMO) has tremendous potential in emergent solar harvesting applications. Here we present a combined experimental-first-principles density functional theory (DFT) approach to probe physical properties relevant to the light sensitivity of BMO like dynamic and structural stability, Raman and infrared absorption modes, value and nature of band gap (i.e., direct or indirect), dielectric constant, and optical absorption, etc. We solvothermally synthesized wide band gap Pca 2 1 phase pure BMO (≳3 eV) for two different pH values of 7 and 9. The structural parameters were correlated with the stability of BMO derived from elastic tensor simulations. The desired dynamical stability at T = 0 K was established from the phonon vibrational band structure using a finite difference-based supercell approach. The DFT-based Raman modes and phonon density of states (DOS) reliably reproduced the experimental Raman and infrared absorption. The electronic DOS calculated from Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof HSE06 with van der Waals (vdW) and relativistic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) corrections produced a good agreement with the band gap obtained from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The optical absorption obtained from the complex dielectric constant for the HSE06+SOC+vdW potential closely resembled the DRS-derived absorption of BMO. The BMO shows ∼43% photocatalytic efficiency in degrading methylene blue dye under 75 min optical illumination. This combined DFT-experimental approach may provide a better understanding of the properties of BMO relevant to solar harvesting applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Tea ( Camellia sinensis ) is a widely consumed beverage known for its numerous health benefits, largely attributed to its rich content of quality determining secondary metabolites such as methylxanthine compounds and bioactive phenolic compounds. The goal of this study was to find out variations of the levels of methylxanthines, bioactive phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity in methanolic and hot water extracts of 129 tea samples grown in three different ecological regions of Bangladesh named Panchagar, Sylhet, and Chattogram. Methylxanthine and bioactive phenolic compounds were determined by using HPLC-DAD, and the antioxidant profile was analysed by UV-vis spectrophotometric methods for methanol and hot water extracts of tea leaves. The IC 50 values showed the trend as Panchagar > Sylhet > Chattogram and Sylhet > Chattogram > Panchagar for water and methanol extract, respectively. The results revealed significant ( p  < 0.05) variations in the levels of methylxanthines content: Panchagar > Chattogram > Sylhet. Caffeine was significantly higher (103.02 ± 5.55 mg/g of dry extract) in the methanolic extract of tea leaves of Panchagar district and lower (53.33 ± 4.30 mg/g of dry extract) in the hot water extract of Sylhet district. Panchagar and Chattogram possessed significantly ( p  < 0.05) higher catechin content for methanol (57.01 ± 5.50 mg/g dry extract) and hot water (55.23 ± 4.11 mg/g dry extract) extracts, respectively. The utilization of canonical discriminant functions yielded highly favorable outcomes in the classification of tea from three distinct cultivation origins in Bangladesh, relying on their inherent features. This study demonstrated the potential effects of geographical variations on the bioactive compounds and antioxidant properties of tea, emphasizing the importance of regional differences in tea cultivation for optimizing its health benefits as well as dispersing tea cultivation across the country., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of endocrine hypertension and is often underdiagnosed. This condition is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in comparison to age and blood pressure matched individuals with essential hypertension (EH). The diagnostic pathway for PA consists of three phases: screening, confirmatory testing, and subtyping. The lack of specificity in the screening step, which relies on the aldosterone to renin ratio, necessitates confirmatory testing. The Endocrine Society's clinical practice guideline suggests four confirmatory tests, including the fludrocortisone suppression test (FST), saline suppression test (SST), captopril challenge test (CCT), and oral sodium loading test (SLT). There is no universally accepted choice of confirmatory test, with practices varying among centers. The SST and FST are commonly used, but they can be resource-intensive, carry risks such as volume overload or hypokalemia, and are contraindicated in severe/uncontrolled HTN as well as in cardiac and renal impairment. In contrast, CCT is a safe and inexpensive alternative that can be performed in an outpatient setting and can be applied when other tests are contraindicated. Despite its simplicity and convenience, the variability in captopril dose, testing posture, and diagnostic threshold limit its widespread use. This narrative review evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of the CCT across different populations, addresses controversies in its usage, and proposes recommendations for its use in the diagnosis of PA. Furthermore, suggestions for future research aimed at promoting the wider utilization of the CCT as a simpler, safer, and more cost-effective diagnostic test are discussed.

Here we synthesized Bi 2 WO 6 (BWO) using both solid-state reaction (SBWO) and hydrothermal (HBWO-U and HBWO-S) methods. The orthorhombic Pca 2 1 phase purity in all samples is confirmed from Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The HBWO-U and HBWO-S morphology revealed rectangular, spherical, and rod-like features with an average particle size of 55 nm in field emission scanning electron micrographs. A high-resolution transmission electron micrograph showed spherical-shaped particles in the HBWO-U sample with an average diameter of ∼10 nm. The diffuse reflectance-derived indirect electronic band gaps lie within the 2.79-3.23 eV range. The BWO electronic structure is successfully modeled by Hubbard interaction U d and U p corrected Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation GGA-PBE+ U d + U p with van der Waals (vdW) force in effect. The optimized ( U d , U p ) values are further justified by tuning the Hartree-Fock (HF) exact-exchange mixing parameter α HF from 25% in Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE06) to 20% in the PBE-HF20% functional. Moreover, no inconsistencies were seen in the GGA-PBE+ U d + U p +vdW simulated crystallographic parameters, and the elastic tensor, phonon, and linear optical properties. Overall, the computationally cheap GGA-PBE+ U d + U p with vdW force may have successfully probed the physical properties of BWO., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a vector-borne parasitic disease which affects 70 million people worldwide and causes life-long disabilities. In Bangladesh, there are an estimated 44,000 people suffering from clinical conditions such as lymphoedema and hydrocoele, with the greatest burden in the northern Rangpur division. To better understand the factors associated with this distribution, this study examined socio-economic and environmental factors at division, district, and sub-district levels., Methodology: A retrospective ecological study was conducted using key socio-economic (nutrition, poverty, employment, education, house infrastructure) and environmental (temperature, precipitation, elevation, waterway) factors. Characteristics at division level were summarised. Bivariate analysis using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was conducted at district and sub-district levels, and negative binomial regression analyses were conducted across high endemic sub-districts (n = 132). Maps were produced of high endemic sub-districts to visually illustrate the socio-economic and environmental factors found to be significant., Results: The highest proportion of rural population (86.8%), poverty (42.0%), tube well water (85.4%), and primary employment in agriculture (67.7%) was found in Rangpur division. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient at district and sub-district level show that LF morbidity prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) positively correlated with households without electricity (district rs = 0.818; sub-district rs = 0.559), households with tube well water (sub-district rs = 0.291), households without toilet (district rs = 0.504; sub-district rs = 0.40), mean annual precipitation (district rs = 0.695; sub-district rs = 0.503), mean precipitation of wettest quarter (district rs = 0.707; sub-district rs = 0.528), and significantly negatively correlated with severely stunted children (district rs = -0.723; sub-district rs = -0.370), mean annual temperature (district rs = -0.633.; sub-district rs = 0.353) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) ((district rs = -0.598; sub-district rs = 0.316) Negative binomial regression analyses at sub-district level found severely stunted children (p = <0.001), rural population (p = 0.002), poverty headcount (p = 0.001), primary employment in agriculture (p = 0.018), households without toilet (p = <0.001), households without electricity (p = 0.002) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) (p = 0.045) to be significant., Conclusions: This study highlights the value of using available data to identify key drivers associated with high LF morbidity prevalence, which may help national LF programmes better identify populations at risk and implement timely and targeted public health messages and intervention strategies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Williams et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Piper chaba , a traditional South-east Asian medicinal herb and well-known curry spice, was studied to evaluate its suitability as a source of natural preservatives for beef products. Plant extracts that are high in phenolics and have high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities are likely to be useful as a natural preservative. Therefore, the phytochemical composition and the bioactivities of both ethanolic and methanolic extracts of P. chaba stem were examined first. The study revealed a significant antioxidant activities and potential antibacterial activity of P. chaba extracts. Next we investigated the preservation characteristics of P. chaba by using beef patties as a model system. Beef patties were produced and treated with 0.2 % ethanolic extract (mentioned as PEE) of P. chaba and 0.1 % commercial preservative (mentioned as PCP). They were then assessed for various storage quality parameters under refrigerated (4° C ± 1° C) conditions, including free fatty acid, antioxidant contents, and oxidative stability at 0, 6th, 16th, and 33rd days. No significant variations were observed across the products with regard to proximate composition study such as protein, ash and fat contents. In comparison to both PEE and PCP, the control product had higher free fatty acid values throughout the storage period. This indicates that the fat content of the PEE and PCP degraded at a slower rate than the control over the 33-day storage period. Our study also showed that both PCP and PEE had increased antioxidant capacity, implying that lipid oxidation is minimized. In contrast to the control, the oxidative stability of the P. chaba treated products was also higher. Altogether this study revealed that P. chaba could be utilized commercially, particularly in the food industry to preserve muscle foods., Practical Applications: Natural preservatives are becoming more popular as a result of the different carcinogenic and toxic side effects of conventional preservatives. P. chaba, an exquisite culinary herb in Bangladesh, has long been used as a traditional medicine, because of its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This study revealed that P. chaba can be utilized as a food preservative, which opens up new possibilities for its development and use in functional foods., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli are well-known vegetables from the Brassica family having functional effects on human health. This study was carried out to identify different antioxidant properties and to quantify phenolic compounds by HPLC-DAD in different extracts (methanol, ethanol and water: acetic acid: acetone) of these vegetables. The results showed that, the methanolic dry extract of cabbage possessed the highest antioxidant activity (549 ± 7.30 μg/g) and IC 50 was 90 ± 2.52 μg/mL than others. Whereas the ethanolic dry extract of cauliflower had 348 ± 5.20 μg/g of flavonoid, which was the highest among all. The maximum levels of total tannin (414 ± 5.20 μg/g) and total phenolic content (465 ± 3.25 μg/g) was found in broccoli dry extract. Several polyphenolic compounds were identified in different extracts of the vegetables and they were Cauliflower (8) > Cabbage (10) > Broccoli (9) in total. Therefore, the use of total vegetables rather than extracts in the food industry would be more appropriate to get greater health benefit., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Background: Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) rs7756992 A/G and rs7754840 G/C of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 1-like 1 (CDKAL1) gene with the susceptibility of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been studied in a group of Bangladeshi women., Methods: In this case-control study, 212 GDM patients and 256 control subjects were genotyped for rs7756992 and rs7754840 by PCR-RFLP and TaqMan™ allelic discrimination assay method respectively. Genotyping results were confirmed by DNA sequencing and replicated TaqMan™ assay. The odds ratios and their 95% confidence interval were calculated by logistic regression to determine the associations between genotypes and GDM., Results: The genotype frequencies of rs7756992-AA/AG/GG in the GDM group and the control group were 37%/48%, 53%/45%, 10%/7% and those of rs7754840-CC/CG/GG were 51%/55%, 40.1%/39.8%, 9%/5% respectively. Under dominant and log additive models rs7756992 was revealed significantly associated with GDM after being adjusted for family history of diabetes (FHD) and gravidity. Conversely, rs7754840 was significantly associated (P = 0.047) with GDM only under the recessive model after the same adjustment. The risk allele frequency of both SNPs was higher in the GDM group but significantly (P = 0.029) increased prevalence was observed in the rs7756992 G allele. When positive FHD and risk alleles of these SNPs were synergistically present in any pregnant woman, the chance of developing GDM was augmented by many folds. The codominant model revealed 2.5 and 2.1 folds increase in odds by AG (rs7756992) and GC (rs7754840) genotypes and 3.7 and 4.5 folds by GG (rs7756992) and CC (rs7754840) genotypes respectively. A significant 2.7 folds (P = 0.038) increase in odds of GDM resulted from the interaction of rs7756992 and family history of diabetes under the dominant model. The cumulative effect of multigravidity and risk alleles of these SNPs increased the odds of GDM more than 1.5 folds in different genotypes., Conclusion: This study not only revealed a significant association between rs7756992 and rs7754840 with GDM but also provided the possibility as potential markers for foretelling about GDM and type 2 diabetes mellitus in Bangladeshi women., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Poor weaning practice and malnutrition among under 5 (yrs) children are still major public health issues in Bangladesh. This study aimed to develop a cheap and nutritious weaning food for the children of Bangladesh. For this purpose, three weaning formulations of Q1, Q2, and Q3 with different ratios of germinated wheat, germinated mung-bean, and soya-bean, and a constant amount of sweet potato, sugar, salt, and milk flavor were processed and evaluated. The prepared formulations were investigated for proximate composition and sensory evaluation and compared with six commercial weaning food products. The proximate composition values indicated that the fat content of formulated foods ranged between 09.29% and 11.40%. The carbohydrate content was ranged between 52.80% and 61.20%, which was low compared with commercial ones. The protein content of the formulated foods was 20.33%-27.70%, and that was approximately two times more than available commercial foods. The energy content was also more than locally available commercial weaning foods, which were 411.40 ± 1.51 kcal to 419.30 ± 1.12 kcal. Sample Q2 had an 8.4 acceptance score in sensory analysis of a 9-point hedonic scale scorecard, which made it more acceptable than the other two samples. The values of mineral elements (Na, K, Fe) were similar to all analyzed varieties of commercial weaning foods. This nutrient-enriched weaning food will easily be affordable for the people of developing countries like Bangladesh. The results showed that the formulated weaning food had the desired characteristics of a weaning food; hence, it could decrease malnutrition in children., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Collectively, rare genetic diseases affect a significant number of individuals worldwide. In this study, we have conducted whole-exome sequencing (WES) and identified underlying pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in five children with rare genetic diseases. We present evidence for disease-causing autosomal recessive variants in a range of disease-associated genes such as DHH-associated 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis (GD) or 46,XY sex reversal 7, GNPTAB-associated mucolipidosis II alpha/beta (ML II), BBS1-associated Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS), SURF1-associated Leigh Syndrome (LS) and AP4B1-associated spastic paraplegia-47 (SPG47) in unrelated affected members from Bangladesh. Our analysis pipeline detected three homozygous mutations, including a novel c. 863 G > C (p.Pro288Arg) variant in DHH, and two compound heterozygous variants, including two novel variants: c.2972dupT (p.Met991Ilefs*) in GNPTAB and c.229 G > C (p.Gly77Arg) in SURF1. All mutations were validated by Sanger sequencing. Collectively, this study adds to the genetic heterogeneity of rare genetic diseases and is the first report elucidating the genetic profile of (consanguineous and nonconsanguineous) rare genetic diseases in the Bangladesh population.

Background: Gibberellin (GA) is one of the most essential phytohormones that modulate plant growth and development. Jute (Corchorus sp.) is the second most important source of bast fiber. Our result has shown that exogenous GA can positively regulate jute height and related characteristics which mean increasing endogenous GA production will help to get a jute variety with improved characteristics. However, genes involved in jute GA biosynthesis have not been analyzed precisely., Results: Genome-wide analysis identified twenty-two candidate genes involved in jute GA biosynthesis pathway. Among them, four genes- CoCPS, CoKS, CoKO and CoKAO work in early steps. Seven CoGA20oxs, three CoGA3oxs, and eight GA2oxs genes work in the later steps. These genes were characterized through phylogenetic, motif, gene structure, and promoter region analysis along with chromosomal localization. Spatial gene expression analysis revealed that 11 GA oxidases were actively related to jute GA production and four of them were marked as key regulators based on their expression level. All the biosynthesis genes both early and later steps showed tissue specificity. GA oxidase genes were under feedback regulation whereas early steps genes were not subject to such regulation., Conclusion: Enriched knowledge about jute GA biosynthesis pathway and genes will help to increase endogenous GA production in jute by changing the expression level of key regulator genes. CoGA20ox7, CoGA3ox2, CoGA2ox3, and CoGA2ox5 may be the most important genes for GA production.

Medicinal plants are the major sources of traditional treatment of disease in Indian subcontinent due to abundant presence of plants and vast side effects of synthetic drug. The present study was subjected to observe in vitro thrombolytic, antibacterial, and in vivo antidiarrheal activities of methanol soluble fraction of fruits of Annona muricata . In thrombolytic activity assay, various concentrations (2 ─ 10 mg/ml) of methanol soluble fraction was used and dose dependently less potent activity was found. The maximum clot lysis 18.33% ( p* < 0.05 ) was achieved at 10 mg/ml of methanolic fruit extract, whereas standard drug streptokinase showed 55.50% ( p*** < 0.001 ) clot lysis. In antibacterial assay, disc diffusion method was used comprising two gram positive ( S. aureus and Micrococcus luteus ) and two gram negative ( E. coli and P. aeruginosa ) bacteria. None of four (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 5 mg/disc) concentration of fruit extract showed antibacterial potentiality, whereas standard amikacin (3 mg/disc) revealed strong antibacterial activities (=~ 23 ─ 24 mm of MIC). To evaluate antidiarrheal activity, castor oil induced diarrhea was created in Swiss albino mice and different doses (100, 200, and 400 mg/kgbw) of fruit extract was introduced post orally. All of three different doses of fruit extract showed significant (p < 0.05 ─ 0.001) antidiarrheal activities. Notably, the percent inhibition of diarrhea by methanolic extract of fruits of Annona muricata was found to be 58.38% at a dose of 400 mg/kgbw. The effect of vehicle saline (10 ml/kgbw) was considered as control and loperamide (5 mg/kgbw) as standard that provided 67.01% inhibition of diarrhea. The results suggest that, the fruits of Annona muricata possess potent antidiarrheal properties, providing scientific basis of using the plant parts in the treatment of diarrheal disease., (© 2019 The Author(s).)

Summary: Silent corticotroph adenoma (SCA) is an unusual type of nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFA) that is silent both clinically and biochemically and can only be recognized by positive immunostaining for ACTH. Under rare circumstances, it can transform into hormonally active disease presenting with severe Cushing syndrome. It might often produce diagnostic dilemma with difficult management issue if not thoroughly investigated and subtyped accordingly following surgery. Here, we present a 21-year-old male who initially underwent pituitary adenomectomy for presumed NFA with compressive symptoms. However, he developed recurrent and invasive macroadenoma with severe clinical as well as biochemical hypercortisolism during post-surgical follow-up. Repeat pituitary surgery was carried out urgently as there was significant optic chiasmal compression. Immunohistochemical analysis of the tumor tissue obtained on repeat surgery proved it to be an aggressive corticotroph adenoma. Though not cured, he showed marked clinical and biochemical improvement in the immediate postoperative period. Anticipating recurrence from the residual tumor, we referred him for cyber knife radio surgery., Learning Points: Pituitary NFA commonly present with compressive symptoms such as headache and blurred vision. Post-surgical development of Cushing syndrome in such a case could be either drug induced or endogenous. In the presence of recurrent pituitary tumor, ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome indicates CD. Rarely a SCA presenting initially as NFA can transform into an active corticotroph adenoma. Immunohistochemical marker for ACTH in the resected tumor confirms the diagnosis.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been widely used in clinical examination, food safety, and environmental analyses. However, they still face a great challenge in designing a device for a point-of-care test (POCT) due to its bulk optical detector and complexity. Herein an electrophoresis titration (ET) model of a moving redox boundary (MRB) was proposed for constructing an ET-ELISA chip of a POCT just with sextuplet electrode pairs and laminated cells. The chip had an anodic well, middle well, and cathode well which were connected by microchannels. The ELISA process was conducted in the bottom of the middle well, where horseradish peroxidase (HRP) catalyzed 3,3',5,5'-tetra-methyl benzidine (TMB) as a blue TMB dimer with two positive charges. Under an electrical field of 29 V, the TMB dimer migrated into the titration channel and reacted with the ascorbic acid, creating an MRB. The MRB motion was a function of antigen content, indicating a visual distance-based assay. As a proof of concept, a C-reactive protein was chosen as a model antigen. The experiments systemically validated the ET-ELISA model and method. Particularly, the chip was smartphone-detected, traditional power supply free, and did not use sulfuric acid used in typical ELISA, making the ET-ELISA method extremely simple, portable, and safe. The ET-ELISA has great potential to visual and portable ELISA in clinical medicine, the environment, and food safety immunoassay.

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to the three-beta-hydroxysteroid-dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) enzyme deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder presenting with sexual precocity in a phenotypic male. Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is the most common sex chromosome aneuploidy presenting with hypergonadotropic hypogonadism in a male. However, only a handful of cases of mosaic KS have been described in the literature. The co-existence of mosaic KS with CAH due to 3β-HSD enzyme deficiency portrays a unique diagnostic paradox where features of gonadal androgen deficiency are masked by simultaneous adrenal androgen excess. Here, we report a 7-year-old phenotypic male boy who, at birth presented with ambiguous genitalia, probably a microphallus with penoscrotal hypospadias. Later on, he developed accelerated growth with advanced bone age, premature pubarche, phallic enlargement and hyperpigmentation. Biochemically, the patient was proven to have CAH due to 3β-HSD deficiency. However, the co-existence of bilateral cryptorchidism made us to consider the possibility of hypogonadism as well, and it was further explained by concurrent existence of mosaic KS (47,XXY/46,XX). He was started on glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement and underwent right-sided orchidopexy on a later date. He showed significant clinical and biochemical improvement on subsequent follow-up. However, the declining value of serum testosterone was accompanied by rising level of FSH thereby unmasking hypergonadotropic hypogonadism due to mosaic KS. In future, we are planning to place him on androgen replacement as well. Learning points: •• Ambiguous genitalia with subsequent development of sexual precocity in a phenotypic male points towards some unusual varieties of CAH. •• High level of serum testosterone, adrenal androgen, plasma ACTH and low basal cortisol are proof of CAH, whereas elevated level of 17-OH pregnenolone is biochemical marker of 3β-HSD enzyme deficiency. •• Final diagnosis can be obtained with sequencing of HSD3B2 gene showing various mutations. •• Presence of bilateral cryptorchidism in such a patient may be due to underlying hypogonadism. •• Karyotyping in such patient may rarely show mosaic KS (47,XXY/46,XX) and there might be unmasking of hypergonadotropic hypogonadism resulting from adrenal androgen suppression from glucocorticoid treatment., (© 2018 The authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.)

A ring-shaped electroeluter (RSE) was designed for protein recovery from polyacrylamide gel matrix. The RSE was designed in such a way that a ring-shaped well was used to place gel slices and an enrichment well was used to collect eluted protein samples. With HSA as model protein, the electroelution time was less than 30 min with 80% recovery rate, and the concentration of recovered protein was 50 times higher than that of conventional method. The RSE could be reused at least ten times. The developed device makes great advance towards economic electroelution of biomolecules (such as proteins) from gel matrix., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Jute (Corchorus sp.) is one of the most important sources of natural fibre, covering ∼80% of global bast fibre production 1 . Only Corchorus olitorius and Corchorus capsularis are commercially cultivated, though there are more than 100 Corchorus species 2 in the Malvaceae family. Here we describe high-quality draft genomes of these two species and their comparisons at the functional genomics level to support tailor-designed breeding. The assemblies cover 91.6% and 82.2% of the estimated genome sizes for C. olitorius and C. capsularis, respectively. In total, 37,031 C. olitorius and 30,096 C. capsularis genes are identified, and most of the genes are validated by cDNA and RNA-seq data. Analyses of clustered gene families and gene collinearity show that jute underwent shared whole-genome duplication ∼18.66 million years (Myr) ago prior to speciation. RNA expression analysis from isolated fibre cells reveals the key regulatory and structural genes involved in fibre formation. This work expands our understanding of the molecular basis of fibre formation laying the foundation for the genetic improvement of jute.

Presented herein is a novel headspace single drop microextraction (HS-SDME) based on temperature gradient (TG) for an on-site preconcentration technique of volatile and semivolatile samples. First, an inner vial cap was designed as a cooling device for acceptor droplet in HS-SDME unit to achieve fast and efficient microextraction. Second, for the first time, an in-vial TG was generated between the donor phase in a sample vial at 80 °C and the acceptor droplet under the inner vial cap containing cooling liquid at -20 °C for a TG-HS-SDME. Third, a simple mathematic model and numerical simulations were developed by using heat transfer in fluids, Navier-Stokes and mass balance equations for conditional optimization, and dynamic illumination of the proposed extraction based on COMSOL Multiphysics. Five chlorophenols (CPs) were selected as model analytes to authenticate the proposed method. The comparisons revealed that the simulative results were in good agreement with the quantitative experiments, verifying the design of TG-HS-SDME via the numerical simulation. Under the optimum conditions, the extraction enrichments were improved from 302- to 388-fold within 2 min only, providing 3.5 to 4 times higher enrichment factors as compared to a typical HS-SDME. The simulation indicated that these improvements in the extraction kinetics could be attributed due to the applied temperature gap between the sample matrix and acceptor droplet within the small volume of headspace. Additionally, the experiments demonstrated a good linearity (0.03-100 μg/L, R 2 > 0.9986), low limit of detection (7-10 ng/L), and fair repeatability (<5.9% RSD, n = 6). All of the simulative and experimental results indicated the robustness, precision, and usefulness of TG-HS-SDME for trace analyses of analytes in a wide variety of environmental, pharmaceutical, food safety, and forensic samples.

In this work, we developed the concept of enzyme catalysis-electrophoresis titration (EC-ET) under ideal conditions, the theory of EC-ET for multiplex enzymatic assay (MEA), and a related method based on a moving reaction boundary (MRB) chip with a collateral channel and cell phone imaging. As a proof of principle, the model enzymes horseradish peroxidase (HRP), laccase and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were chosen for the tests of the EC-ET model. The experiments revealed that the EC-ET model could be achieved via coupling EC with ET within a MRB chip; particularly the MEA analyses of catalysis rate, maximum rate, activity, Km and Kcat could be conducted via a single run of the EC-ET chip, systemically demonstrating the validity of the EC-ET theory. Moreover, the developed method had these merits: (i) two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than a fluorescence microplate reader, (ii) simplicity and low cost, and (iii) fairly rapid (30 min incubation, 20 s imaging) analysis, fair stability (<5.0% RSD) and accuracy, thus validating the EC-ET method. Finally, the developed EC-ET method was used for the clinical assay of MPO activity in blood samples; the values of MPO activity detected via the EC-ET chip were in agreement with those obtained by a traditional fluorescence microplate reader, indicating the applicability of the EC-ET method. The work opens a window for the development of enzymatic research, enzyme assay, immunoassay, and point-of-care testing as well as titration, one of the oldest methods of analysis, based on a simple chip.

Herein, a novel strategy was developed to separate and prepare target protein from complex sample by free-flow electrophoresis (FFE), which mainly based on the charge-to-mass ratio (C/M) analysis of proteins. The C/M values of three model proteins, namely Cytochrome C (Cyt C), myoglobin (Mb) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were analyzed under different pH and the separation of these proteins was predicted by CLC Protein Workbench software. Series of experiments were performed to validate the proposed method. The obtained data showed high accordance with our prediction. In addition, the chamber buffer (CB) of FFE system was optimized to improve the resolution of separation. Meanwhile, in order to evaluate the analytical performance of the proposed method, Cyt C was extracted from swine heart and further separated by FFE based on C/M analysis. Results showed that Cyt C was completely separated from the crude sample and a purity of 96.9% was achieved. The activity of prepared Cyt C was 98.3%, which indicate that the proposed method is promising in a wide variety of research areas where the native properties of proteins should be maintained for downstream analysis., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

A highly efficient three-phase single drop microextraction (SDME) method is presented by using an organic-aqueous compound droplet. A coupling microdevice is designed to produce compound droplets in different sizes conveniently. In this way, the volume ratio of organic phase to aqueous phase in a compound droplet can be significantly reduced. Good operability and droplet stability were observed during extraction under vigorous stirring conditions. Five statins were used as model compounds and spiked in river water and human serum samples to evaluate the analytical performance of the proposed method. By using a 1.2 μL toluene-aqueous compound droplet (volume ratio 0.2 : 1), a 350 to 1712 fold enrichment of statins was obtained within 4 minutes. The results indicate that the proposed method is a very rapid and efficient sample pretreatment method, and is promising for automated and high-throughput applications.

Herein, a simple assembly was designed via a capillary and a funnel-like cap to achieve liquid-gas compound pendant drop (CPD) microextraction with great convenience. Due to the increased contact area and adhesion force between the capillary tip and the drop, the proposed method provides considerable flexibility in producing CPDs with different air bubble sizes. Four pesticides were chosen as model analytes to evaluate the proposed method. By using a 1 μL chlorobenzene droplet containing a 1 μL air bubble at a stirring rate of 700 rpm, a 70 to 135-fold enrichment of pesticides was obtained within 3.4 minutes. As compared with a typical SDME, the proposed method showed a 2-fold increase of enrichment factors and a 4-fold decrease of extraction time. Improvement of the extraction efficiency could be ascribed to the increased surface area of the droplet, and the thin film phenomena further improved the extraction kinetics through effective agitation. The results indicate that CPD microextraction could serve as a promising sample pretreatment method for automated high-throughput analyses in a wide variety of research areas.

'Khoyer' is prepared by boiling the wood of Acacia catechu in water and then evaporating the resultant brew. The resultant hard material is powdered and chewed with betel leaves and lime with or without tobacco by a large number of the people of Bangladesh as an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation. There are folk medicinal claims that khoyer helps in the relief of pain and is also useful to diabetic patients to maintain normal sugar levels. Thus far no scientific studies have evaluated the antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive effects of khoyer. The present study was carried out to evaluate the possible glucose tolerance efficacy of methanolic extracts of khoyer using glucose-induced hyperglycemic mice, and antinociceptive effects with acetic acid-induced gastric pain models in mice. In antihyperglycemic activity tests, the extract at different doses was administered one hour prior to glucose administration and blood glucose level was measured after two hours of glucose administration (p.o.) using glucose oxidase method. The statistical data indicated the significant oral hypoglycemic activity on glucose-loaded mice at all doses of the extracts tested. Maximum anti-hyperglycemic activity was shown at 400 mg extract per kg body weight, which was less than that of a standard drug, glibenclamide (10 mg/kg body weight). In antinociceptive activity tests, the extract also demonstrated a dose-dependent significant reduction in the number of writhing induced in mice through intraperitoneal administration of acetic acid. Maximum antinociceptive activity was observed at a dose of 400 mg extract per kg body weight, which was greater than that of a standard antinociceptive drug, aspirin, when administered at a dose of 400 mg per kg body weight. The results validate the folk medicinal use of the plant for reduction of blood sugar in diabetic patients, as well as the folk medicinal use for alleviation of pain.

Naphthalene, a widely used industrial and household chemical, has rarely been an agent of poisoning worldwide. Severe haemolysis from naphthalene poisoning is rare and can be a challenge to clinicians. We report a 22-year-old female, who accidentally ingested naphthalene mixed coconut oil and got admitted with recurrent vomiting, headache and passage of dark urine. Severe intravascular haemolysis with hypotension and neutrophilic leukocytosis was detected. She was treated with red blood cell transfusions, intravenous saline infusion and ascorbic acid.

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrinological disorder arising from insulin deficiency or due to ineffectiveness of the insulin produced by the body. This results in high blood glucose and with time, to neurological, cardiovascular, retinal and renal complications. It is a debilitating disease and affects the population of every country of the world. Around 200 million people of the world suffer from this disease and this figure is projected to rise to 300 million in the coming years. The disease cannot be cured with allopathic medicine as the drugs used do not restore normal glucose homeostasis and moreover have side-effects. On the other hand, traditional medicinal practitioners of various countries claim to cure diabetes or at least alleviate the major symptoms and progression of this disease through administration of medicinal plants. The Garos are an indigenous community of Bangladesh, who still follow their traditional medicinal practices. Their traditional medicinal formulations contain a number of plants, which they claim to be active antidiabetic agents. Since observation of indigenous practices have led to discovery of many modern drugs, it was the objective of the present study to conduct a survey among the Marakh sect of the Garos residing in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh to find out the medicinal plants that they use for treatment of diabetes. It was found that the tribal practitioners of the Marakh sect of the Garos use twelve medicinal plants for treatment of diabetes. These plants were Lannea coromandelica, Alstonia scholaris, Catharanthus roseus, Enhydra fluctuans, Terminalia chebula, Coccinia grandis, Momordica charantia, Cuscuta reflexa, Phyllanthus emblica, Syzygium aqueum, Drynaria quercifolia, and Clerodendrum viscosum. A review of the scientific literature demonstrated that almost all the plants used by the Garo tribal practitioners have reported antidiabetic and/or antioxidant properties and have enormous potential for possible development of new and efficacious antidiabetic drugs.