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Collective behaviours such as swarm formations of autonomous agents offer the advantages of efficient movement, redundancy, and potential for human guidance of a single swarm organism. This paper proposes a developmental approach to evolving collective behaviours whereby the evolutionary process is guided by a novel value system. A self-organising map is used at the core of this value system and motion properties of the swarm entities are used as input. Unlike traditional approaches, this value system does not need in advance the precise characteristics of the intended behaviours. We examine the performance of this value system in a series of controlled experiments. Our results demonstrate that the value system can recognise multiple "interesting" structured collective behaviours and distinguish them from random movement patterns. Results show that our value system is most effective distinguishing structured behaviours from random behaviours when using motion properties of individual agents as input. Further variations and modifications to input data such as normalisation and aggregation were also investigated, and it was shown that certain configurations provide better results in distinguishing collective behaviours from random ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aimed to describe the association of hematological parameters and common clinico-epidemiological features with disease severity among COVID-19 patients. Methods: This is a hospital based observational study done in Dhalca Medical College Hospital from 01 July 2020 to 15 September 2020. Findings from hematological tests along with patient clinic-pathological features were recorded from a total of 309 COVID-19 patients. All the data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0 software. Results: Among the studied hematological parameters hemoglobin percentage, total WBC count, lymphocyte percentage, platelet count, CRP, serum ferritin, d-dimer, and ESR were significantly associated with disease severity (p<0.05). Association was found between disease severity and other biochemical markers, such as AST, ALT, LDH, and serum bilirubin. Conclusion: With limited resources these cheap, yet highly indicative biochemical markers could be used to assess, treat, and prognose COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context * Cupping is a complementary and alternative therapy that attracts much attention on social media. Objective * The study intended to examine the types of user-generated content found on YouTube on the practice of cupping therapy as a form of pain management. Design * The current research team searched YouTube for videos on cupping therapy on August 14, 2016. Setting * The Internet was accessed from Wayne, NJ, USA. Outcome Measures * The research team manually coded the 100 most widely viewed, cupping videos for content and sources. Logistic regression was applied to obtain the association of video source-consumer, news, or professional-to each of the 21 content categories. Results * In total, the 100 videos were viewed more than 36.80 million times. Among them, 52 were consumer videos; 16 were professional videos; and 32 were news videos. Compared to news videos, (1) the odds of consumer videos mentioning what cupping is were 85.90% lower-odds ratio (OR) = 0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.04 to 0.52), P < .01; (2) the odds of consumer videos and professional videos mentioning an increase in blood flow as a benefit were 93.50% lower-OR = 0.07, 95% CI (0.02 to 0.24), P < .01-and 82.80% lower-OR = 0.17, 95% CI (0.04 to 0.82), P = .03, respectively; and (3) the odds of consumer videos mentioning a decrease in inflammation as a benefit were 92.9% lower-OR = 0.07, 95% CI (0.02 to 0.21), P < .01. Conclusions * The current study found that, despite the large presence of consumer-based videos in YouTube regarding cupping therapy, news sources were more widely viewed. Health professionals could engage more with YouTube by providing clear and authentic information about a popular alternative therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Cupping is a complementary and alternative therapy that attracts much attention on social media.Objectivet: The study intended to examine the types of user-generated content found on YouTube on the practice of cupping therapy as a form of pain management.Designt: The current research team searched YouTube for videos on cupping therapy on August 14, 2016.Settingt: The Internet was accessed from Wayne, NJ, USA.Outcome Measurest: The research team manually coded the 100 most widely viewed, cupping videos for content and sources. Logistic regression was applied to obtain the association of video source-consumer, news, or professional-to each of the 21 content categories.Resultst: In total, the 100 videos were viewed more than 36.80 million times. Among them, 52 were consumer videos; 16 were professional videos; and 32 were news videos. Compared to news videos, (1) the odds of consumer videos mentioning what cupping is were 85.90% lower-odds ratio (OR) = 0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.04 to 0.52), P < .01; (2) the odds of consumer videos and professional videos mentioning an increase in blood flow as a benefit were 93.50% lower-OR = 0.07, 95% CI (0.02 to 0.24), P < .01-and 82.80% lower-OR = 0.17, 95% CI (0.04 to 0.82), P = .03, respectively; and (3) the odds of consumer videos mentioning a decrease in inflammation as a benefit were 92.9% lower-OR = 0.07, 95% CI (0.02 to 0.21), P < .01.Conclusionst: The current study found that, despite the large presence of consumer-based videos in YouTube regarding cupping therapy, news sources were more widely viewed. Health professionals could engage more with YouTube by providing clear and authentic information about a popular alternative therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to characterise the clinical and epidemiological profiles of dengue patients and their outcomes during an ongoing outbreak in a non-endemic region of Bangladesh., Methods: This prospective observational study analysed 805 confirmed dengue cases during August-December 2023. Data on demographic, clinical and laboratory profiles, as well as outcomes, were gathered using a structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 25., Results: The mean age of dengue patients was 31.5 (±12.2) y, with the majority being males (81.2%). All 805 patients experienced fever, 792 (98.4%) had headaches, 698 (86.7%) had myalgia, 601 (74.7%) had persistent vomiting and 598 (74.3%) had abdominal pain. Bleeding was observed in 191 (23.7%) patients and neurological symptoms were seen in 209 (25.9%) patients. Most patients (n=781, 97%) exhibited non-severe symptoms, while 3% (n=24) had severe symptoms. Among the 24 severe cases, four (16.7%) patients were reported to have encephalitis and one (4.2%) patient had meningoencephalitis. Moreover, 365 patients (45.3%) had travelled to an endemic region who were predominantly males (n=327, 89.6%). Most dengue patients recovered well with rapid fluid replacement therapy (n=754, 93.7%)., Conclusions: The 2023 dengue outbreak in a non-endemic area of Bangladesh primarily impacted males, young adults, with the majority presenting non-severe symptoms. Further studies are essential to validate and build upon these results., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

This study aims to investigate the simultaneous relationship between bank risk and capital, specifically examining how competition and ownership jointly influence this relationship. We employed the two-step system generalized method of moments to address concerns regarding endogeneity and unobserved heteroscedasticity. Based on data from 44 commercial banks in Bangladesh from 2010 to 2021, our findings reveal several key insights: (I) There is a significant non-linear bidirectional relationship between bank risk and capital: capital exhibits a U-shaped effect on risk, while risk has a non-linear negative impact on capital; (II) in highly contested markets, banks hold higher levels of capital, and heightened competition reduces the risk appetite of commercial banks; while less competition has the opposite effect; (III) private and Islamic commercial banks are more risk-averse than state-owned and conventional ones, and (IV) Private and Islamic banks with strong capital positions in a competitive market can better manage risks than state-owned and conventional banks. However, maintaining higher capital ratios in competitive environments is more challenging for state-owned and Islamic banks than private-owned and conventional commercial banks. These results align with the moral hazard hypothesis, competition fragility hypothesis, and the political view of state ownership. Significant insights from the study will fuel the regulators in shaping policies and regulations surrounding emerging countries like Bangladesh, particularly regarding risk, capital, competition, and ownership policies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zheng 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.)

Objective: This study investigated the potential anticancer properties of Myo-inositol on the DU-145 prostate cancer cell line., Methods: The DU-145 cells have been treated to different doses of Myo-inositol in order to ascertain the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) using the trypan blue exclusion assay. The impact of Myo-inositol on proteomic profiles was evaluated using 2D gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)., Results: Myo-inositol significantly reduced DU-145 cell viability with an IC50 of 0.06 mg/ml (p<0.05). Proteomic analysis highlighted marked differences in protein expression between treated and untreated cells, particularly in proteins related to cytoskeletal regulation, apoptosis, and stress response. LC-MS further identified significant alterations in protein profiles, with suppression of proteins like Annexin A2 and Cofilin-1-A in controls, and upregulation of proteins such as Rho GTPase-activating protein, Apoptotic protease-activating factor 1 (APAF1), and TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2) in treated samples (p<0.001), indicating modulation of key signaling pathways involved in tumor suppression and oncogenesis., Conclusion: Myo-inositol exhibits anticancer properties in prostate cancer cells by impacting cell viability and altering protein expression. While promising as an adjunctive treatment, further studies are needed to understand its mechanisms and potential in combination therapies for managing CRPC.

Objectives: Irrational and injudicious use of antibiotics in COVID-19 patients could be detrimental in a tropical country with a weak antibiotic stewardship policy such as Bangladesh. This study aimed to focus on the antibiotic usage patterns in COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh., Methods: This prospective observational study was performed from July 2020 to June 2021 in five tertiary hospitals in Bangladesh. Data on demographic profile, disease severity, and antibiotic usage were collected directly from the patients' hospital documents., Results: A total of 3486 (94.4%) patients were treated with at least one antibiotic; 3261 (93.6%) patients received a single antibiotic, and 225 (6.5%) received multiple antibiotics. The most used antibiotics were ceftriaxone (37.3%), co-amoxiclav (26.3%), azithromycin (10.6%), and meropenem (10.3%). According to the World Health Organization AWaRe categorization, most (2260; 69.6%) of the antibiotics prescribed in this study belonged to the "Watch" group. Culture and sensitivity reports were available in 111 cases from one center. Only 18.9% of the patients were found to be co-infected with multi-drug-resistant bacteria (52.4% yield from sputum, 28.6% from urine, and 14.3% from blood)., Conclusions: Strict antibiotic prescribing policy and antibiotic stewardship should be implemented immediately to limit the future threat of antimicrobial resistance in countries such as Bangladesh., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Vibrio cholerae poses a serious hazard to global health and causes cholera disease in humans. Here, we present the full-genome sequence of a pandrug-resistant V. cholerae strain KBR06 isolated from a cholera patient in Bangladesh that exhibited intermediate resistance to only two antibiotics out of 39 among 14 antibiotic categories., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The UK's National Joint Registry (NJR) and the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) of 2022 revealed that total hip replacement (THR) is the most common orthopaedic joint procedure. The NJR also noted that 10-20% of hip implants require revision within 1 to 10 years. Most of these revisions are a result of aseptic loosening, dislocation, implant wear, implant fracture, and joint incompatibility, which are all caused by implant geometry disparity. The primary purpose of this review article is to analyze and evaluate the mechanics and performance factors of advancement in hip implants with novel geometries. The existing hip implants can be categorized based on two parts: the hip stem and the joint of the implant. Insufficient stress distribution from implants to the femur can cause stress shielding, bone loss, excessive micromotion, and ultimately, implant aseptic loosening due to inflammation. Researchers are designing hip implants with a porous lattice and functionally graded material (FGM) stems, femur resurfacing, short-stem, and collared stems, all aimed at achieving uniform stress distribution and promoting adequate bone remodeling. Designing hip implants with a porous lattice FGM structure requires maintaining stiffness, strength, isotropy, and bone development potential. Mechanical stability is still an issue with hip implants, femur resurfacing, collared stems, and short stems. Hip implants are being developed with a variety of joint geometries to decrease wear, improve an angular range of motion, and strengthen mechanical stability at the joint interface. Dual mobility and reverse femoral head-liner hip implants reduce the hip joint's dislocation limits. In addition, researchers reveal that femoral headliner joints with unidirectional motion have a lower wear rate than traditional ball-and-socket joints. Based on research findings and gaps, a hypothesis is formulated by the authors proposing a hip implant with a collared stem and porous lattice FGM structure to address stress shielding and micromotion issues. A hypothesis is also formulated by the authors suggesting that the utilization of a spiral or gear-shaped thread with a matched contact point at the tapered joint of a hip implant could be a viable option for reducing wear and enhancing stability. The literature analysis underscores substantial research opportunities in developing a hip implant joint that addresses both dislocation and increased wear rates. Finally, this review explores potential solutions to existing obstacles in developing a better hip implant system.

Developing a meta-structure with near-unity absorbance in the visible and infrared spectra for solar energy harvesting, photodetection, thermal imaging, photo-trapping, and optical communications is a long-term research challenge. This research presents a four-layered (insulator-metal-insulator-metal) meta-structure unit cell that showed a peak absorbance of 99.99% at 288-300 nm and the average absorbance of 99.18% over the 250-2000 nm wavelength range in TE and TM modes, respectively. The symmetric pattern of the resonator layer shows polarization insensitivity with an average absorption of 99.18% in both TE and TM modes. Furthermore, the proposed design shows a wide incident angle stability up to ≤60 degrees in both TE and TM modes. The proposed structure also exhibits negative index properties at 288-300 nm and 1000-2000 nm, respectively. The negative index properties of the proposed design generate an anti-parallel surface current flow in the ground and resonator layers, which induces magnetic and electric field resonance and increases absorption. The performance of the proposed design is further validated by the interference theory model and a zero value for the polarization conversion ratio (PCR). The electric field E , magnetic field H , and current distribution are analyzed to explain the absorption mechanism of the proposed meta-structure unit cell. It also exhibits the highest photo-thermal conversion efficiency of 99.11%, demonstrating the viability of the proposed design as a solar absorber. The proposed design promises potentially valuable applications such as solar energy harvesting, photodetection, thermal imaging, photo-trapping, and optical communications because of its decent performance.

With an expectation of an increased number of revision surgeries and patients receiving orthopedic implants in the coming years, the focus of joint replacement research needs to be on improving the mechanical properties of implants. Head-stem trunnion fixation provides superior load support and implant stability. Fretting wear is formed at the trunnion because of the dynamic load activities of patients, and this eventually causes the total hip implant system to fail. To optimize the design, multiple experiments with various trunnion geometries have been performed by researchers to examine the wear rate and associated mechanical performance characteristics of the existing head-stem trunnion. The objective of this work is to quantify and evaluate the performance parameters of smooth and novel spiral head-stem trunnion types under dynamic loading situations. This study proposes a finite element method for estimating head-stem trunnion performance characteristics, namely contact pressure and sliding distance, for both trunnion types under walking and jogging dynamic loading conditions. The wear rate for both trunnion types was computed using the Archard wear model for a standard number of gait cycles. The experimental results indicated that the spiral trunnion with a uniform contact pressure distribution achieved more fixation than the smooth trunnion. However, the average contact pressure distribution was nearly the same for both trunnion types. The maximum and average sliding distances were both shorter for the spiral trunnion; hence, the summed sliding distance was approximately 10% shorter for spiral trunnions than that of the smooth trunnion over a complete gait cycle. Owing to a lower sliding ability, hip implants with spiral trunnions achieved more stability than those with smooth trunnions. The anticipated wear rate for spiral trunnions was 0.039 mm 3 , which was approximately 10% lower than the smooth trunnion wear rate of 0.048 mm 3 per million loading cycles. The spiral trunnion achieved superior fixation stability with a shorter sliding distance and a lower wear rate than the smooth trunnion; therefore, the spiral trunnion can be recommended for future hip implant systems.

In this paper, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor for hip implant geometry was proposed for the application of total hip replacement. A two-port SAW device was numerically investigated for implementation with an operating frequency of 872 MHz that can be used in more common radio frequency interrogator units. A finite element analysis of the device was developed for a lithium niobate (LiNBO3) substrate with a Rayleigh velocity of 3488 m/s on COMSOL Multiphysics. The Multiphysics loading and frequency results highlighted a good uniformity with numerical results. Afterwards, a hip implant geometry was developed. The SAW sensor was mounted at two locations on the implant corresponding to two regions along the shaft of the femur bone. Three discrete conditions were studied for the feasibility of the implant with upper- and lower-body loading. The loading simulations highlighted that the stresses experienced do not exceed the yield strengths. The voltage output results indicated that the SAW sensor can be implanted in the hip implant for hip implant-loosening detection applications.

Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) through the detection of its causative agents namely Leishmania donovani and L. infantum is traditionally based on immunochromatographic tests, microscopy of bone marrow, spleen aspirates, liver or lymph node and differential diagnosis. While the first process has low specificity, the later one carries the risk of fatal hemorrhage. Over the last decade, multiple Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based diagnosis has been developed using blood and urine sample with a varying degree of sensitivity and specificity, an issue worth improving for precision diagnosis. Earlier, we reported a PCR-based diagnosis of L. donovani in peripheral blood using a novel set of PCR primers with absolute specificity. Using the same set of primers and PCR conditions, here we describe diagnosis of L. donovani from urine, for a non-invasive, rapid and safe diagnosis. Diagnosis of VL was carried out using urine samples collected from clinically diagnosed VL patients (n = 23) of Bangladesh in Real Time PCR. Test results were validated by comparing blood samples from the same set of patients. Sensitivity and specificity of this diagnosis was analyzed using retrospective bone marrow samples, collected earlier from confirmed VL patients (n = 19). The method showed 100% sensitivity in detecting L. donovani in urine and corresponding blood and retrospective bone marrow samples, as well as 100% specificity in control groups. A Real Time PCR-based molecular detection system using urine sample is hereafter presented what could be a, non-invasive approach for VL detection with precision and perfection., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Rahim 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.)

Background: The purpose of the study was to measure the prevalence of hyponatremia and its association with clinical and laboratory characteristics of hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH)., Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in COVID-19 dedicated wards at DMCH from June to August 2020. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected from patient treatment sheets. Two groups of COVID-19 patients were retrospectively screened on the basis of plasma sodium level at admission: hyponatremic (sodium < 135 mM, n  = 84) or normonatremic (sodium ≥ 135 mM, n  = 48) patients. Severity was assessed using World Health Organization classification for COVID-19 disease severity. To compare the two groups, Pearson's χ 2 (qualitative variables) and Student's T tests (quantitative variables) were applied. The link between patients' clinical data and outcomes was investigated using logistic regression model., Results: A total of 132 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 51.41 (±14.13) years. Hyponatremia was found in 84 patients (63.6%) and the remaining 48 patients (36.4%) had normal plasma Na + values. Among them, 74 (56.06%) presented with severe disease and 53 (40.15%) with moderate disease. At presentation, patients with moderate COVID-19 disease had 2.15 (1.04-4.5) times higher odds of suffering from hyponatremia. Besides, hyponatremia was independently associated with on admission SpO 2 ( p  = 0.038), hemoglobin ( p  = 0.004), and C-reactive protein ( p  = 0.001)., Conclusions: The authors suggest that patients' serum electrolytes be measured during initial hospital admission and then monitored throughout the hospital stay to predict the probability for referral for invasive ventilation and for better management., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Health Science Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Most of the mortalities among Diabetic Nephropathy patients are cardiovascular, if we identify the risk factor, measures can be taken to prevent it. Hence an objective was set to evaluate the association between carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT) with eGFR in patients of CKD stage III, IV and V among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; also, correlation with age, BMI, lipid profile. This cross-sectional, observational study was performed in 70 patients in different stages of CKD in Diabetic Patients selected by Inclusion Criteria (Diabetic nephropathy patients with stages III, IV, V and exclusion Criteria (Acute kidney injury, History of carotid surgery, Patients of MI and stroke). This study was performed in Department of Nephrology, Dhaka Medical College in collaboration with the Department of Radiology and Imaging, laboratory of Department of Biochemistry and Department of Microbiology at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (By standard method in laboratory) from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2016. eGFR was measured by MDRD formula and the CIMT was measured using an ultrasonographic examination. The mean CIMT was 0.9±0.21mm, and 62.9% of the subjects showed IMT thickening (≥1mm). The carotid IMT elevated significantly with the stage progression of CKD (Overall eGFR mean 28.8±14.5mL/min/1.73m² in CIMT<1mm with range from 6 to 54 and 9.1±9.0mL/min/1.73m² in CIMT ≥1mm with range from 3 to 32 (p=0.001). The eGFR was significantly lower in the patients with CIMT thickening than those without CIMT thickening. eGFR was also significantly associated with CKD stages (p=0.001), serum creatinine (p=0.001), BMI (r = -0.330, p=0.005), and negatively associated with age group, duration of hypertension, smoking. However, the CIMT was not significantly different among the patients at different stages of diabetic nephropathy (r = -0.172, p=156) and age group. It has been concluded that the mean CIMT was markedly high in patients with CKD compared to normal expected value. This study showed a relationship between the CIMT and the renal parameters as eGFR and the stages of diabetic nephropathy with a confirm association between the CIMT and diabetic macroangiopathy.