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Summary Background Acute diarrhoeal disease management often requires rehydration alone without antibiotics. However, non-indicated antibiotics are frequently ordered and this is an important driver of antimicrobial resistance. The mHealth Diarrhoea Management (mHDM) trial aimed to establish whether electronic decision support improves rehydration and antibiotic guideline adherence in resource-limited settings. Methods A cluster randomised controlled trial was done at ten district hospitals in Bangladesh. Inclusion criteria were patients aged 2 months or older with uncomplicated acute diarrhoea. Admission orders were observed without intervention in the pre-intervention period, followed by randomisation to electronic (rehydration calculator) or paper formatted WHO guidelines for the intervention period. The primary outcome was rate of intravenous fluid ordered as a binary variable. Generalised linear mixed-effect models, accounting for hospital clustering, served as the analytical framework; the analysis was intention to treat. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT03154229 ) and is completed. Findings From March 11 to Sept 10, 2018, 4975 patients (75·6%) of 6577 screened patients were enrolled. The intervention effect for the primary outcome showed no significant differences in rates of intravenous fluids ordered as a function of decision-support type. Intravenous fluid orders decreased by 0·9 percentage points for paper electronic decision support and 4·2 percentage points for electronic decision support, with a 4·2-point difference between decision-support types in the intervention period (paper 98·7% [95% CI 91·8–99·8] vs electronic 94·5% [72·2–99·1]; pinteraction=0·31). Adverse events such as complications and mortality events were uncommon and could not be statistically estimated. Interpretation Although intravenous fluid orders did not change, electronic decision support was associated with increases in the volume of intravenous fluid ordered and decreases in antibiotics ordered, which are consistent with WHO guidelines. Funding US National Institutes of Health.

BACKGROUND: The partograph has been endorsed by World Health Organization (WHO) since 1994 which presents an algorithm for assessing maternal and foetal conditions and labor progression. Monitoring labour with a partograph can reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes such as prolonged labor, emergency C-sections, birth asphyxia and stillbirths. However, partograph use is still very low, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In Bangladesh the reported partograph user rate varies from 1.4% to 33.0%. Recently, an electronic version of the partograph, with the provision of online data entry and user aid for emergency clinical support, has been tested successfully in different settings. With this proven evidence, we conducted and operations research to test the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing an e-partograph, for the first time, in 2 public hospitals in Bangladesh.METHODS: We followed a prospective crossover design. Two secondary level referral hospitals, Jessore and Kushtia District Hospital (DH) were the study sites. All pregnant women who delivered in the study hospitals were the study participants. All nurse-midwives working in the labor ward of study hospitals were trained on appropriate use of both types of partograph along with standard labour management guidelines. Collected quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 23 statistical software. Discrete variables were expressed as percentages and presented as frequency distribution and cross tabulations. Chi square tests were employed to test the association between exposure and outcome variables. Potential confounding factors were adjusted using multivariate binary logistic regression methods. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).FINDINGS: In total 2918 deliveries were conducted at Jessore DH and 2312 at Kushtia DH during one-year study period. Of them, 1012 (506 in each facility) deliveries were monitored using partograph (paper or electronic). The trends of facility based C-section rates was downwards in both the hospitals; 43% to 37% in Jessore and from 36% to 25% in Kushtia Hospital. There was a significant reduction of prolonged labour with e-partograph use. In Kushtia DH, the prolonged labour rate was 42% during phase 1 with the paper version which came down to 29% during phase-2 with the e-partograph use. The similar result was observed in Jessore DH where the prolonged labour rate reduced to 7% with paper partograph from the reported 30% prolonged labour with e-partograph. The e-partograph user rate was higher than the paper partograph during both phases (phase 1: 3.31, CI: 2.04-5.38, p < .001 and in phase 2: 15.20 CI: 6.36-36.33, p < .001) after adjusting for maternal age, parity, gestational age, religion, mother's education, husband's education, and fetal sex.CONCLUSION: The partograph user rate has significantly improved with the e- partograph and was associated with an overall reduction in cesarean births. Use of the e-partograph was also associated with reduced rates of prolonged labour. This study has added to the growing body of evidence on the positive impact of e-partograph use. We recommend implementing e-partograph intervention at scale in both public and private hospitals in Bangladesh.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03509103.

Background Gestational age (GA) is a key determinant of newborn survival and long-term impairment. Accurate estimation of GA facilitates timely provision of essential interventions to improve maternal and newborn outcomes. Menstrual based dating, ultrasound based dating, and neonatal estimates are the primarily used methods for assessing GA; all of which have some strength and weaknesses that require critical consideration. Last menstrual period (LMP) is simple, low-cost self-reported information, recommended by the World Health Organization for estimating GA but has issues of recall mainly among poorer, less educated women and women with irregular menstruation, undiagnosed abortion, and spotting during early pregnancy. Several studies have noted that about 20–50% of women cannot accurately recall the date of LMP. The goal of this study is therefore to improve recall and reporting of LMP and by doing so increase the accuracy of LMP based GA assessment in a rural population of Bangladesh where antenatal care-seeking, availability and utilization of USG is low. Method We propose to conduct a 4- parallel arm, superiority, community based cluster randomized controlled trial comparing three interventions to improve recall of GA with a no intervention arm. The interventions include (i) counselling and a paper based calendar (ii) counselling and a cell phone based SMS alert system (iii) counselling and smart-phone application. The trial is being conducted among 3360 adolescent girls and recently married women in Mirzapur sub-district of Bangladesh. Discussion Enrolment of study participants continued from January 24, 2017 to March 29, 2017. Data collection and intervention implementation is ongoing and will end by February, 2019. Data analysis will measure efficacy of interventions in improving the recall of LMP date among enrolled participants. Results will be reported following CONSORT guideline. The innovative conventional & e-platform based interventions, if successful, can provide substantial evidence to scale-up in a low resource setting where m-Health initiatives are proliferating with active support from all sectors in policy and implementation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02944747. The trial has been registered before starting enrolment on 24 October 2016. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-6258-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Current methods to identify the etiology of diarrhea require laboratory facilities for storage of pathogens, which is often challenging in low-resource settings. This study evaluated the efficacy of a low-cost method for preserving stool specimens for the detection of parasitic enteropathogens using Whatman 903 protein saver cards (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). Stool samples known to be positive by multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction for Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium spp., and Entamoeba histolytica parasites were preserved on 232 Whatman cards. DNA was then extracted from cards using Chelex and Qiagen extraction protocols, and tested for these parasites using multiplex real-time PCR. We included stool samples known to have a higher parasite load (cycle threshold [ct]-value < 30) and those with a lower parasite load (ct values 30-35). Sensitivities and specificities were determined using DNA extracted directly from whole stool samples using Qiagen kits (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). For whole stool samples with ct values < 30, preserved directly on Whatman 903 protein saver cards for Giardia analysis, the sensitivity was 100% for both Qiagen and Chelex DNA extraction. For E. histolytica, this was 100% for sensitivity for Qiagen and 80% for Chelex DNA extractions, and for Cryptosporidium, this was 80% for Qiagen and 50% for Chelex DNA extraction. The specificity was 100% for all parasites for all extraction procedures. Given the high sensitivity for stool samples with higher parasite loads, we recommend the use of the Whatman 903 protein saver card for preserving fecal specimens for the analysis of Giardia and E. histolytica using Qiagen DNA extractions in low-resource settings.

Solar energy has a great potential to give cheap and abundant energy to rural areas of the world, but is the technology ready to be implemented today? This stydy looked at the possibilities to introduce more renewable energy into the local hand-made paper production in Bangladesh. Specifically the potential of solar heated vacuum tubes filled with water as a heat carrier. This type of solar thermal collectors are cheap to produce, relatively efficient at converting both direct and diffuse solar energy into usable energy, and have a very simple construction that do not require a lot of training to handle. The study showed that the collector could convert about 70 % of the energy from the sun into usable energy in the form of hot water circulated in the system. On average in Bangladesh the 5 m2 collector used is expected to have an output of about 25.6 MJ per day (yearly average) and about 4.8 MJ was needed to evaporate 1 kg of water from the drying papers (including the system losses). This can be compared with the old system that used about 8 MJ per kg water evaporated. Finally the study includes a step by step guide into how to build a system like this by locally available material. The only parts that were imported were some measurement equipment and parts of the collector that was not yet available through local distributors. The pump was also not produced in Bangladesh, but a similar pump could be bought by local companies that import this type of equipment.

The chemical compositions and fiber morphology of stem and branch samples from Trema orientalis at three different sites planted in Bangladesh were determined and their pulping, bleaching and the resulting pulp properties were investigated. A large difference between the stem and branch samples was observed. The stem samples have consistently higher alpha-cellulose and lower lignin content, and longer fibers than the branch samples in all sites. T. orientalis from the Dhaka and Rajbari region had higher alpha-cellulose content and longer fiber length, resulting in higher pulp yield and better papermaking properties. The T. orientalis pulp from Rajbari region also showed the best bleachability.