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Mohammad Rabiul Halim,1,&ast; Shuvajit Saha,2,&ast; Injamam Ull Haque,1 Sadia Jesmin,1 Rahatul Jannat Nishat,3 ASMD Ashraful Islam,2 Seema Roy,4 Miah Md Akiful Haque,5 Md Motiul Islam,1 Tarikul Hamid,1 Kazi Nuruddin Ahmed,1 Md Azharul Islam Talukder,1 Arif Ahmed,1 Emran Hasan,2 Nurjahan Ananna,1 Faroque Md Mohsin,6 Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader7 1Department of Critical Care Medicine, Central Police Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2Department of Maternal and Child Health, Projahnmo Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 3Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 4Department of Medicine, Popular Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 5Department of Epidemiology, Public Health Professional Development Initiative (PPDI), Dhaka, Bangladesh; 6Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 7Department of Public Health, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader Email mohammad.hawlader@northsouth.eduPurpose: The world is heavily suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year, with over 191 million confirmed cases and more than 4.1 million deaths to date. Previous studies have explored several risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but there is still a lack of association with ABO blood type. This study aimed to find out the relationship between the ABO blood group and COVID-19 outcomes in Bangladesh.Subjects and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary-level COVID-dedicated hospital in Dhaka city, Bangladesh, between April 2020 and November 2020. Records from 771 critically ill patients were extracted who were confirmed for COVID-19 by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, and blood grouping records were available in the health records.Results: The blood groups were 37.35%, 17.38%, 26.46%, and 18.81% for A, B, AB, and O type, respectively. Clinical symptoms were significantly more common in patients with blood type A (p < 0.05). Patients with blood type A had higher WBC counts and peak serum ferritin levels and both were statistically significant (p < 0.001). Patients with blood type A had a greater need for supplemental oxygen, and they were more likely to die in comparison to the patients with other blood types (p < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, our primary outcome death was significantly associated with blood type A (AOR: 3.49, 95% CI: 1.57– 7.73) while adjusting for age, male gender, and non-communicable diseases.Conclusion: Based on this study results, it can be concluded that the COVID-19 patients with blood type A have a higher chance of death and other complications. The authors recommend blood grouping before treating the COVID-19 patients, and healthcare workers should prioritize treating the patients based on that result.Keywords: COVID-19, ICU, ABO blood group, Bangladesh

Chemical dispersants is one of the globally accepted remediation technique used for marine oil spill. However, the toxicity related with these dispersants confined its application in marine environment. Therefore, to overcome this problem, the employment of environmentally benign dispersants is one of the effective conceivable approach. In this study, the formulation comprised of choline based ionic liquid, choline laurate ([Cho][Lau]) and a biosurfactant, lactonic sophorolipids (LS) were used as a crude oil emulsifier. The toxicity of the newly developed formulation was evaluated to confirm their safe employment in sea water. The developed formulation worked effectively as a crude oil emulsifier and formed a stable crude oil emulsion. The toxicity study against Gram-positive and -negative bacteria depicts the “practically harmless” nature of the developed formulation. Thus, the results presented in this study showed that the new formulation can potentially replace the conventional dispersant used for marine oil spill remediation.