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Abstract Background Prostate cancer mortality rates are high in Nigeria. While prostate cancer is highly curable with early detection and effective multidisciplinary management, the quality of care is suboptimal in this setting. Sustainable delivery of high-quality care for patients with localized prostate cancer is needed to save more lives. To inform future interventions to improve care, this study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators that influence prostate cancer detection and management in Nigeria. Methods Six focus group discussions (FGDs), stratified by stakeholders were conducted with a purposive sample of prostate cancer patients (n = 19), caregivers (n = 15), and healthcare providers (n = 18), in two academic tertiary hospitals in northern and southern Nigeria. A discussion guide organized based on the socio-ecological model was used. FGDs were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using the framework technique. Results Barriers and facilitators were identified at the individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels. Barriers to detection included limited knowledge and misperceptions among patients, caregivers, and community-based non-specialist healthcare providers, and limitations of centralized opportunistic screening; while facilitators included the potential for religious institutions to encourage positive health-seeking behaviour. Barriers to management included non-uniformity in clinical guideline usage, treatment abandonment amidst concerns about treatment and survival, absence of patient interaction platforms and follow-up support systems, difficulty in navigating service areas, low health insurance coverage and limited financial resource of patients. Facilitators of management included the availability of resource stratified guidelines for prostate cancer management and the availability of patient peers, caregivers, nurses, and medical social workers to provide correct medical information and support patient-centred services. Participants also provided suggestions that could help improve prostate cancer detection and management in Nigeria. Conclusion This study identified multiple determinants affecting the detection and management of localized prostate cancer. These findings will inform the refinement of implementation strategies to improve the quality of prostate cancer care in Nigeria.

Abstract Background There is an urgent need to elucidate the epidemiology of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) and characterize its potential impact. Investing in characterising the SARS-CoV2 will help plan and improve the response to the pandemic. Furthermore, it will help identify the most efficient ways of managing the pandemic, avoiding public health policies and interventions that may be unduly restrictive of normal activity or unnecessarily costly. This paper describes the design and reports findings of a population based epidemiological study undertaken to characterise SARS-CoV2 in Qatar using limited resources in a timely manner. Methods Asymptomatic individuals ≥10 years registered with Qatar’s publicly funded primary health provider were eligible. A stratified random sampling technique was utilized to identify the study sample. Participants were invited to an appointment where they completed a questionnaire and provided samples for polymerase chain reaction and Immunoglobulin M and G immunoassay tests. Data collected were analyzed to calculate point and period prevalence by sociodemographic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics. Results Of 18,918 individuals invited for the study, 2084 participated (response rate 10.8%). The overall point prevalence and period prevalence were estimated to be 1.6% (95% CI 1.1–2.2) and 14.6% (95% CI 13.1–16.2) respectively. Period prevalence of SARS-CoV2 infection was not considerably different across age groups (9.7–19.8%). It was higher in males compared to females (16.2 and 12.7% respectively). A significant variation was observed by nationality (7.1 to 22.2%) and municipalities (6.9–35.3%). Conclusions The study provides an example of a methodologically robust approach that can be undertaken in a timely manner with limited resources. It reports much-needed epidemiological data about the spread of SARS-CoV2. Given the low prevalence rates, majority of the population in Qatar remains susceptible. Enhanced surveillance must continue to be in place, particularly due to the large number of asymptomatic cases observed. Robust contact tracing and social distancing measures are key to prevent future outbreaks.

Background Experiments measuring the contractile properties of human myocardium are important for translational research but complicated by the logistical difficulties of acquiring specimens. Accordingly, many groups perform contractile assays using samples that are acquired from patients at one institution and shipped to another institution for experiments. This necessitates freezing the samples and performing subsequent assays using chemically permeabilized preparations. It is unknown how prior freezing affects the contractile function of these preparations. Methods and Results To examine the effects of freezing we measured the contractile function of never‐frozen and previously frozen myocardial samples. Samples of left ventricular tissue were obtained from 7 patients who were having a ventricular assist device implanted. Half of each sample was chemically permeabilized and used immediately for contractile assays. The other half of the sample was snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and maintained at –180 °C for at least 6 months before being thawed and tested in a second series of experiments. Maximum isometric force measured in pCa 4.5 solution, passive force measured in pCa 9.0 solution, and Hill coefficients were not influenced by prior freezing (P=0.07, P=0.14, and P=0.27 respectively). pCa50 in never‐frozen samples (6.11±0.04) was statistically greater (P

Cell-derived vesicles facilitate the isolation of transmembrane proteins in their physiological membrane maintaining their structural and functional integrity. These vesicles can be generated from different cellular organelles producing, housing, or transporting the proteins. Combined with single-molecule imaging, isolated organelle specific vesicles can be employed to study the trafficking and assembly of the embedded proteins. Here we present a method for organelle specific single molecule imaging via isolation of ER and plasma membrane vesicles from HEK293T cells by employing OptiPrep gradients and nitrogen cavitation. The isolation was validated through Western blotting, and the isolated vesicles were used to perform single molecule studies of oligomeric receptor assembly.

In response to the escalating antibiotic resistance in multidrug-resistant pathogens, we propose an innovative phagemid-based capsid system to generate CRISPR-Cas13a-loaded antibacterial capsids (AB-capsids) for targeted therapy against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Our optimized phagemid system maximizes AB-capsid yield and purity, showing a positive correlation with phagemid copy number. Notably, an 8.65-fold increase in copy number results in a 2.54-fold rise in AB-capsid generation. Phagemids carrying terL-terS-rinA-rinB (prophage-encoded packaging site genes) consistently exhibit high packaging efficiency, and the generation of AB-capsids using lysogenized hosts with terL-terS deletion resulted in comparatively lower level of wild-type phage contamination, with minimal compromise on AB-capsid yield. These generated AB-capsids selectively eliminate S. aureus strains carrying the target gene while sparing non-target strains. In conclusion, our phagemid-based capsid system stands as a promising avenue for developing sequence-specific bactericidal agents, offering a streamlined approach to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens within the constraints of efficient production and targeted efficacy., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Structural plasticity of dendritic spines in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is crucial for learning from aversive experiences. Activation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) stimulates Ca 2+ -dependent signaling that leads to changes in the actin cytoskeleton, mediated by the Rho family of GTPases, resulting in postsynaptic remodeling essential for learning. We investigated how phosphorylation events downstream of NMDAR activation drive the changes in synaptic morphology that underlie aversive learning. Large-scale phosphoproteomic analyses of protein kinase targets in mouse striatal/accumbal slices revealed that NMDAR activation resulted in the phosphorylation of 194 proteins, including RhoA regulators such as ARHGEF2 and ARHGAP21. Phosphorylation of ARHGEF2 by the Ca 2+ -dependent protein kinase CaMKII enhanced its RhoGEF activity, thereby activating RhoA and its downstream effector Rho-associated kinase (ROCK/Rho-kinase). Further phosphoproteomic analysis identified 221 ROCK targets, including the postsynaptic scaffolding protein SHANK3, which is crucial for its interaction with NMDARs and other postsynaptic scaffolding proteins. ROCK-mediated phosphorylation of SHANK3 in the NAc was essential for spine growth and aversive learning. These findings demonstrate that NMDAR activation initiates a phosphorylation cascade crucial for learning and memory.

In response to the escalating global threat of antimicrobial resistance, our laboratory has established a phagemid packaging system for the generation of CRISPR-Cas13a-antimicrobial capsids targeting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, a significant challenge arose during the packaging process: the unintentional production of wild-type phages alongside the antimicrobial capsids. To address this issue, the phagemid packaging system was optimized by strategically incorporated silent mutations. This approach effectively minimized contamination risks without compromising packaging efficiency. The study identified the indispensable role of phage packaging genes, particularly terL-terS, in efficient phagemid packaging. Additionally, the elimination of homologous sequences between the phagemid and wild-type phage genome was crucial in preventing wild-type phage contamination. The optimized phagemid-LSAB(mosaic) demonstrated sequence-specific killing, efficiently eliminating MRSA strains carrying target antibiotic-resistant genes. While acknowledging the need for further exploration across bacterial species and in vivo validation, this refined phagemid packaging system offers a valuable advancement in the development of CRISPR-Cas13a-based antimicrobials, shedding light on potential solutions in the ongoing battle against bacterial infections., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bladder carcinoma (BLCA) is a widespread urological malignancy causing significant global mortality, often hindered by delayed diagnosis and limited treatments. BLCA frequently exhibits TP53 mutations, playing a pivotal role in its pathogenesis and underscoring the potential of targeting TP53 as a therapeutic approach for this prevalent urological malignancy. Tumor tissues from 50 bladder cancer patients were used for mutational analysis in TP53 's mutation-rich exons (5, 7, & 8). The gene expression of the TP53 gene, along with a TP53 -target gene B-cell translocation gene 2 ( BTG2 ) was also assessed in the cDNA samples from the same BLCA tissues and 15 urine controls of healthy people. The analysis revealed 22 % of patients with somatic hotspot mutations, 18 % with pathogenic missense mutations, and 12 % with intronic variants. Patients with somatic mutations exhibited the worst prognosis, supported by survival analysis from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) BLCA data. Interestingly, H296Y missense mutation correlated with higher TP53 expression and improved survival, while intronic SNPs were linked to worse outcomes. Additionally, upregulated BTG2 expression in mutated patients was observed which was correlated with poor prognosis, emphasizing the role of TP53 mutations in bladder cancer progression. The multivariate analysis highlighted the predictive power of TP53 mutations, with a high frequency of high-grade tumors (78.57 %) in mutated patients, underscoring their role in cancer progression. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the crucial role of TP53 mutations in bladder cancer patients from Bangladesh., 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.)

Background: Cardiovascular disorders (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as Bangladesh, are also affected by several types of CVDs, such as heart failure and stroke. The leading cause of death in Bangladesh has recently switched from severe infections and parasitic illnesses to CVDs., Materials and Methods: The study dataset comprised a random sample of 391 CVD patients' medical records collected between August 2022 and April 2023 using simple random sampling. Moreover, 260 data points were collected from individuals with no CVD problems for comparison purposes. Crosstabs and chi-square tests were used to determine the association between CVD and the explanatory variables. Logistic regression, Naïve Bayes classifier, Decision Tree, AdaBoost classifier, Random Forest, Bagging Tree, and Ensemble learning classifiers were used to predict CVD. The performance evaluations encompassed accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operator characteristic (AU-ROC) curve., Results: Random Forest had the highest precision among the five techniques considered. The precision rates for the mentioned classifiers are as follows: Logistic Regression (93.67%), Naïve Bayes (94.87%), Decision Tree (96.1%), AdaBoost (94.94%), Random Forest (96.15%), and Bagging Tree (94.87%). The Random Forest classifier maintains the highest balance between correct and incorrect predictions. With 98.04% accuracy, the Random Forest classifier achieved the best precision (96.15%), robust recall (100%), and high F1 score (97.7%). In contrast, the Logistic Regression model achieved the lowest accuracy of 95.42%. Remarkably, the Random Forest classifier achieved the highest AUC value (0.989)., Conclusion: This research mainly focused on identifying factors that are critical in impacting patients with CVD and predicting CVD risk. It is strongly advised that the Random Forest technique be implemented in a system for predicting cardiac diseases. This research may change clinical practice by providing doctors with a new instrument to determine a patient's CVD prognosis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The urea transporter UT-B1, encoded by the SLC14A1 gene, has been hypothesized to be a significant protein whose deficiency and dysfunction contribute to the pathogenesis of bladder cancer and many other diseases. Several studies reported the association of genetic alterations in the SLC14A1 (UT-B1) gene with bladder carcinogenesis, suggesting a need for thorough characterization of the UT-B1 protein's coding and non-coding variants. This study used various computational techniques to investigate the commonly occurring germ-line missense and non-coding SNPs (ncSNPs) of the SLC14A1 gene (UT-B1) for their structural, functional, and molecular implications for disease susceptibility and dysfunctionality. SLC14A1 missense variants, primarily identified from the ENSEMBL genome browser, were screened through twelve functionality prediction tools leading to two variants D280Y (predicted detrimental by maximum tools) and D280N (high global MAF) for rs1058396. Subsequently, the ConSurf and NetSurf tools revealed the D280 residue to be in a variable site and exposed on the protein surface. According to I-Mutant2.0 and MUpro, both variants are predicted to cause a significant effect on protein stability. Analysis of molecular docking anticipated these two variants to decrease the binding affinity of UT-B1 protein for the examined ligands to a significant extent. Molecular dynamics also disclosed the possible destabilization of the UT-B1 protein due to single nucleotide polymorphism compared to wild-type protein which may result in impaired protein function. Furthermore, several non-coding SNPs were estimated to affect transcription factor binding and regulation of SLC14A1 gene expression. Additionally, two ncSNPs were found to affect miRNA-based post-transcriptional regulation by creating new seed regions for miRNA binding. This comprehensive in-silico study of SLC14A1 gene variants may serve as a springboard for future large-scale investigations examining SLC14A1 polymorphisms., 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.)

Infectious diseases are a part of everyday life, and acute respiratory diseases are the most common. Many agents carrying out respiratory infections are transmitted as bioaerosols through the air, usually, particulate matter containing living organisms. The purpose of the study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the likelihood that people exposed to bioaerosols may experience severe respiratory diseases. Nine digital databases and bibliographies were assessed for papers conducted between January 1960 and April 2021. A total of 35 health and exposure studies were included from 825 studies for the systematic review, while only 17 contented the meta-inclusion analysis's criteria. This systematic review found higher bacterial bioaerosol concentrations in poultry farms, waste dumpsites, composting plants, and paper industries. The meta-analysis's Standard Mean Difference (SMD) measurement indicates a substantially positive association between bioaerosol exposure and respiratory disease outcomes in targeted populations. The value is 0.955 [95% CI, range 0.673-1.238; p < 0.001]. As per the Risk of Bias (ROB) findings, most of findings (30 out of 35 [85.71%]) were judged to have low ROB. From the random effect probit model, the total relative risk is 1.477 (95% CI, range 0.987-2.211), indicating a higher risk of respiratory diseases from bioaerosol exposure than the control groups. The total risk difference is 0.121 (95% CI, -0.0229 to 0.264), which means intervention groups may have a higher risk of respiratory diseases from continuous bioaerosol exposure than the control groups. The dose-response relationship revealed a strong positive linear coefficient correlation between bacterial & fungal bioaerosol exposure to respiratory health. Based on self-reported outcomes in those studies, The systematic review and meta-analysis stated that bioaerosol exposure had an effect on pulmonary health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Being a frequent malignant tumor of the genitourinary system, Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma (BLCA) has a poor prognosis. This study focused on identifying and validating prognostic biomarkers utilizing methylation, transcriptomics, and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma (TCGA BLCA) cohort. The impact of altered differentially methylated hallmark pathway genes was subjected to clustering analysis to observe changes in the transcriptional landscape on BLCA patients and identify two subtypes of patients from the TCGA BLCA population where Subtype 2 was associated with the worst prognosis with a p-value of 0.00032. Differential expression and enrichment analysis showed that subtype 2 was enriched in immune-responsive and cancer-progressive pathways, whereas subtype 1 was enriched in biosynthetic pathways. Following, regression and network analyses revealed Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), Fos-related antigen 1 (FOSL1), Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2 (NFE2), ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 4D (ARL4D), SH3 domain containing ring finger 2 (SH3RF2), and Cadherin 3 (CDH3) genes to be the most significant prognostic gene markers. These genes were used to construct a risk model that separated the BLCA patients into high and low-risk groups. The risk model was also validated in an external dataset by performing survival analysis between high and low-risk groups with a p-value < 0.001 and the result showed the high group was significantly associated with poor prognosis compared to the low group. Single-cell analyses revealed the elevated level of these genes in the tumor microenvironment and associated with immune response. High-grade patients also tend to have a high expression of these genes compared to low-grade patients. In conclusion, this research developed a six-gene signature that is pertinent to the prediction of overall survival (OS) and might contribute to the advancement of precision medicine in the management of bladder cancer., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified a coding single nucleotide polymorphism, MYNN rs10936599, at chromosome 3q. MYNN gene encodes myoneurin protein, which has been associated with several cancer pathogenesis and disease development processes. However, there needed to be a more detailed characterization of this polymorphism's (and other coding and non-coding polymorphisms) structural, functional, and molecular impact. The current study addressed this gap and analyzed different properties of rs10936599 and non-coding SNPs of MYNN via a thorough computational method. The variant, rs10936599, was predicted functionally deleterious by nine functionality prediction approaches, like SIFT, PolyPhen-2, and REVEL, etc. Following that, structural modifications were estimated through the HOPE server and Mutation3D. Moreover, the mutation was found in a conserved and active residue, according to ConSurf and CPORT. Further, the secondary structures were predicted, followed by tertiary structures, and there was a significant deviation between the native and variant models. Similarly, molecular simulation also showed considerable differences in the dynamic pattern of the wildtype and mutant structures. Molecular docking revealed that the variant binds with better docking scores with ligand NOTCH2. In addition to that, non-coding SNPs located at the MYNN locus were retrieved from the ENSEMBL database. These were found to disrupt the transcription factor binding regulatory regions; nonetheless, only two affect miRNA target sites. Again, eight non-coding variants were detected in the testes with normalized expression, whereas HaploReg v4.1 unveiled annotations for non-coding variants. In summary, in silico comprehensive characterization of coding and non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms of MYNN gene will assist researchers to work on MYNN gene and establish their association with certain types of cancers., Competing Interests: The authors confirm that they have no known conflict of interest that could be considered to have influenced the research presented in this study., (Copyright: © 2024 Mou 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.)

Aim: The study was aimed to find out the efficacy of a stool color card (SCC) in differentiating biliary atresia (BA) from non-BA in resource-limited countries., Background: stool color screening system was introduced in 2004 which lead to marked improvement in sensitivity of detecting BA., Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted from January, 2019 through July, 2022 on purposively sampled infants who developed jaundice before three months of age, had direct bilirubin of > 20 % of total with pale stool and dark urine., Results: 144 cases (male, 96) were included in the study and their mean age at admission was 87.3±37.2 days and mean age at onset of jaundice was 6.1±7.7 days. BA was confirmed in 106 (73.6%) cases and 38 (26.4%) children were in non-BA group. Frequency of persistent pale stool between BA and non- BA were 88 vs 8 (83.0 % Vs 21.0 %) which was highly significant (p=0.000). Mean difference of total and direct serum bilirubin, median alanine transferase and alkaline phosphatase were not statistically significant between two groups. Median of serum gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in BA was 570 U/L and in non-BA it was 138.0 U/L which was statistically significant (p=0.000). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of SCC were 83%, 78.9%, 91.7%, 62.5% and 81.9% respectively., Conclusion: SCC has good sensitivity to diagnose BA but failed to prove better specificity to rely simply on it. SCC may be used as early screening tool for prompt referral to appropriate medical care centers for final evaluation of BA., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper., (© 2024, Gastroenterology and Hepatology From Bed to Bench (GHFBB).)

The COVID-19 omicron variant is exceptionally complicated and uncertain due to its rapid transmission and volume of infections. This study examines the impact of climatic factors on daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 omicron variant in Bangladesh. The secondary data of daily confirmed cases from 1 January 2022, to 31 March 2022, of eight distinct geographic divisions have been used for the current study. The multivariate generalized linear negative binomial regression model was applied to determine the effects of climatic factors on omicron transmission. The model revealed that the maximum temperature (Odds: 0.67, p < 0.05), sky clearness (Odds: 0.05, p < 0.05), wind speed (Odds: 0.76, p < 0.05), relative humidity (Odds: 1.02, p < 0.05), and air pressure (Odds: 0.27, p < 0.05) significantly impacted COVID-19 omicron transmission in Bangladesh. The study's findings can assist the concerned authorities and decision-makers take necessary measures to control the spread of omicron cases in Bangladesh.

The human body is a complex ecosystem that thrives on symbiosis. It is estimated that around 10^14 commensal microorganisms inhabit the human body, with the gut microbiota being one of the most diverse and complex populations of bacteria. This community is thought to comprise over a thousand different species that play a crucial role in the development of critical human diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, mental depression, hypertension, and others. The gut microbiota has been identified as one of the most recent contributors to these metabolic disorders. With the emergence of inexpensive and high-performance sequence technology, our understanding of the function of the intestinal microbiome in host metabolism regulation and the development of (cardio) metabolic diseases has increased significantly. The symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host is essential for properly developing the human metabolic system. However, if this balance is disrupted by various factors such as infection, diet, exercise, sleep patterns, or exposure to antibiotics, it can lead to the development of various diseases in the body, including obesity and diabetes type 1 and 2. While many approaches and medications have been developed globally to treat these diseases, none have proven to be entirely effective, and many show side effects. Therefore, scientists believe that treating the gut microbiota using tried-and-true methods is the best option for combating obesity and diabetes. In this study, we aim to identify several feasible ways and prospects for gut microbiota therapy that can shape a new format for the treatment of obesity and diabetes., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

This study investigates the effectiveness of kaolin and bentonite catalysts in improving liquid hydrocarbon yields during the pyrolysis of waste tires. Raw clay, nitric acid-treated clay, and mono- or bimetal-impregnated clay were used as catalysts in the pyrolysis of waste tire. Acid-treated kaolin produced a higher yield of liquid hydrocarbons (43.24-47%) compared to acid-treated bentonite (35.34-41.85%). This improvement in the liquid yield can be attributed to the higher specific surface area and pore diameter of the acid-treated clay in comparison to raw kaolin (39.48%) and raw bentonite (31.62%). Moreover, the use of metal-impregnated catalysts, such as Fe/kaolin and Ni/Fe/kaolin, resulted in higher liquid yields (47%) compared to the 3 M HNO 3 -treated kaolin catalyst (43.24%). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis confirmed the presence of limonene, a crucial ingredient for commercial perfume production, in the liquid products. The calorific values of oil obtained through kaolin and bentonite catalysis were measured at 13,922 and 10,174 kcal/kg, respectively, further highlighting the potential of these catalysts in waste tire valorization., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Miscarriage is a significant public health concern worldwide, particularly in developing nations like Bangladesh. Moreover, people in coastal areas are more affected by miscarriage as compared to other areas. Increasing sea levels and salinity is the main reason for this discrepancy. This study aimed to investigate the association between different salinity levels (S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5) and miscarriage and unintended pregnancy. The outcome variables are pregnancy-related outcomes (miscarriage, unintended pregnancy), and the independent variables are different salinity levels. A frequency table and correlation analysis were done to find the descriptive scenarios of miscarriage, unintended pregnancy, and salinity levels. We found 621 miscarriage patients and 2271 unintended pregnant patients in our study. Furthermore, the Poisson regression model was used to observe the incidence of miscarriage and unintended pregnancy for different salinity levels. A higher amount of miscarriage and unintended pregnancy rate was found in Dhaka and Khulna, while these rates were lower in Barisal and Chittagong. However, the salinity levels were highest in Barisal and Khulna. Both miscarriage and unintended pregnancy are highly and negatively correlated with salinity levels. The Poisson regression model shows that the salinity levels s1-s5 are strongly associated with miscarriage. Lower and moderate levels of salinity are strongly associated with miscarriage than higher levels of salinity. Again, the average number of miscarriages decreases with the salinity levels. Likewise, unintended pregnancy was also negatively associated with salinity levels. However, it only reported a significant association with lower and moderate salinity levels, and higher salinity levels did not affect unintended pregnancy. Taking initiatives for raising awareness from government and non-government organizations, setting up deep tube water pumps extensively, and properly treating coastal areas women during pregnancy would be the ideal next step to reduce the miscarriage and unintended pregnancy rate in coastal zones in Bangladesh., 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 Authors.)

Background: Local humanitarian workers in low and middle-income countries must often contend with potentially morally injurious situations, often with limited resources. This creates barriers to providing sustainable mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to displaced individuals. Clinical supervision is an often neglected part of ensuring high-quality, sustainable care. The Caring for Carers (C4C) project aims to test the effectiveness and acceptability of online group-based supportive supervision on the well-being of MHPSS practitioners, as well as service-user-reported service satisfaction and quality when working with displaced communities in Türkiye, Syria, and Bangladesh. This protocol paper describes the aim, design, and methodology of the C4C project., Method: A quasi-experimental, mixed-method, community-based participatory research study will be conducted to test the effectiveness of online group-based supportive clinical supervision provided to 50 Syrian and 50 Bangladeshi MHPSS practitioners working with Syrian and Rohingya displaced communities. Monthly data will be collected from the practitioners and their beneficiaries during the active control (six months) and supervision period (16 months over two terms). Outcomes are psychological distress (Kessler-6), burnout (the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory), compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress (Professional Quality of Life Scale), perceived injustice, clinical self-efficacy (Counseling Activity Self-Efficacy Scale), service satisfaction, and quality (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire and an 18-item measure developed in this project). A realist evaluation framework will be used to elucidate the contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes of the supervision intervention., Discussion: There is a scarcity of evidence on the role of clinical supervision in improving the well-being of MHPSS practitioners and the quality of service they provide to displaced people. By combining qualitative and quantitative data collection, the C4C project will address the long-standing question of the effectiveness and acceptability of clinical supervision in humanitarian settings., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Mental illness stigma is universally prevalent and a significant barrier to achieving global mental health goals. Mental illness stigma in Bangladesh has gained little attention despite its widespread impact on seeking mental health care in rural and urban areas. This study aimed to investigate mental illness stigma and the associated factors in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh., Methods: The study areas were divided into several clusters from which 325 participants (≥18 years) were recruited with systematic random sampling. The Bangla version of the Days' Mental Illness Stigma Scale was used to collect data. Independent-samples t -test, ANOVA, and multiple regression were performed., Results: Results suggest that gender, age, geographical location, socioeconomic status, and occupation significantly differed across subscales of stigma. Age, gender, seeking treatment of mental illness, having knowledge on mental health, and socioeconomic status were predictive factors of mental illness stigma. The results also showed a high treatment gap in both rural and urban areas., Conclusion: This study supports that mental illness stigma is prevalent in Bangladesh, requiring coordinated efforts. Results can inform the development of contextually tailored mental health strategies to reduce stigma and contribute to the promotion of mental health of individuals and communities across Bangladesh., Competing Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

The COVID-19 pandemic caused enormous destruction to global health and the economy and has surged worldwide with colossal morbidity and mortality. The pattern of the COVID infection varies in diverse regions of the world based on the variations in the geographic environment. The multivariate generalized linear regression models: zero-inflated negative binomial regression, and the zero-inflated Poisson regression model, have been employed to determine the significant meteorological factors responsible for the spread of the pandemic in different continents. Asia experienced a high COVID-19 infection, and death was extreme in Europe. Relative humidity, air pressure, and wind speed are the salient factors significantly impacting the spread of COVID-19 in Africa. Death due to COVID-19 in Asia is influenced by air pressure, temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity. Air pressure and temperature substantially affect the spread of the pandemic in Europe.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the assorted uneven conditions of the human brain that lead to developmental disabilities. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the substantial risk factors of ASD among children in Bangladesh. The data were collected using convenience sampling through a questionnaire filled up by the trained interviewers. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were applied as bivariate analysis, and generalized beta regression was performed to determine the significant risk factors of autism spectrum disorder. The odds ratio (OR) along with 95% confidence interval (CI) were the measuring parameters of the risk factors of ASD. The result revealed that later birth order children have more risk of ASD (OR = 1.13, CI: 1.014-1.264, p = 0.027) compared to the children whose birth order is first. Premature birth of the child (OR: 0.87, CI: 0.76-1.00, p = 0.05) and father's age (OR: 0.86, CI: 0.76-0.97, p = 0.020) substantially affects ASD. The maternal history of specific illness (diabetes, thyroiditis, and hypertension) during pregnancy also significantly affect ASD (OR: 1.34, CI: 1.14-1.61, p = 0.002). The results of this study would assist policymakers in taking necessary steps to reduce the incidence of this disorder by targeting the potential risk factors., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Faruk 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: Mental illnesses stigma is a universal and transcultural phenomenon. While mental illnesses stigma is pervasive in Bangladesh, very little research exists on stigma toward mental illnesses among indigenous communities. This study aimed to investigate the prevailing stigma and the risk factors among different indigenous communities in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out and participants were recruited purposively from Rangamati, a South-Eastern district of Bangladesh in the CHT. Participants from various indigenous communities including Chakma, Marma, Rakhine, Tripura, and Pangkhua were recruited. The 28- item Bangla translated version of the Mental Illnesses Stigma Scale was used. Independent-samples t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression were performed., Results: The results indicate evidence of a gender difference with females reporting more stigma than their male counterparts. Age, gender, socioeconomic status, and monthly income are associated with stigma among indigenous people. Further analyses of the subscales indicated significant differences among sociodemographic variables., Conclusions: The results provide an insight into the prevailing stigma and associate risk factors among indigenous communities. The results may help inform anti-stigma interventions targeting indigenous communities in Bangladesh., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Delivery by cesarean section is a surgical procedure of delivery to a newborn baby, and the process is applied when vaginal delivery is unsafe. This study aims to identify the socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural factors that significantly impact the delivery by caesarean section. The 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey (2019 EMDHS) data were used to conduct this research, and this study considered 2872 ever-married women all over the country who delivered in the clinical setting. Firstly, a frequency distribution table has been constructed to understand the characteristics of the selected explanatory and study variables. Then Chi-square test identifies the association between various socioeconomic and demographic factors and delivery by the caesarian section. Finally, the Binary Logistic Regression was used to determine the factors that substantially impact the caesarian section among women in Ethiopia. The Chi-square test of association showed that mother's age, type of residence, highest education level, religion, socioeconomic status, total children ever born, use of contraception, age of mothers at first birth, and preceding birth interval were significantly associated with the caesarian section. The multivariate binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the mother's current age (Age Group: 31-40; Odds Ratio: 2.487, p<0.05) and religion (Muslim; Odds Ratio: 0.599, p<0.05) substantially influenced the study feature. Moreover, the highest educational level (Secondary and higher; Odds Ratio: 1.581, p<0.05), and the preceding birth interval (>40 months; Odds Ratio: 0.682, p<0.05) were also found to have considerable impacts on the caesarian section. Furthermore, the total number of children ever born (>5; Odds Ratio: 0.498, p<0.05) significantly impacts the delivery by caesarean section in Ethiopia. This study's results would be useful to policymakers to take necessary steps to reduce unnecessary delivery by caesarian section and ensure a safer newborn delivery process., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Faruk 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.)

Purpose: The enrichment of microbial growth in prepackaged, frozen food goods from the day of manufacturing to the day of expiration has been the subject of recurrent concerns. These fortified foods are widely consumed by individuals of all ages in poor nations due to their ability to satisfy even the smallest of appetites. People often disregard the expiration dates printed on food packaging despite the fact that manufacturers are required by law to do so. This research looked into whether or not it was safe to consume packaged foods that were getting close to their expiration date. Finding out if people are exposed to hazardous microorganisms and how much bacteria is created daily on them., Materials and Methods: We collected six prepackaged backed food products samples of three types separately, where three were collected around manufacturing days and three were nearly expired days from different companies. We have assayed and identified the foodborne microbial communities among the samples by morphological study and different types of biochemical tests. After that, we tested how well various popular antibiotics worked against those isolates., Results: It showed that there are more bacterial communities that grow gradually day by day on prepackaged backed food products and nearly expired products that contain a large number of food-borne disease-causing bacteria that show mostly resistance against commonly used antibiotics., Conclusion: Although nowadays the demand for prepackaged backed food products is increasing as ready-to-eat processed foods, mostly in developing countries, there's a serious health risk if we take the products that were produced a long time ago., 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 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Introduction: Copy number variations (CNVs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) among children. In this study, we aim to identify clinically relevant CNVs, genes and their phenotypic characteristics in an ethnically underrepresented homogenous population of Bangladesh. Methods: We have conducted chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) for 212 NDD patients with male to female ratio of 2.2:1.0 to identify rare CNVs. To identify candidate genes within the rare CNVs, gene constraint metrics [i.e., "Critical-Exon Genes (CEGs)"] were applied to the population data. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2) was followed in a subset of 95 NDD patients to assess the severity of autism and all statistical tests were performed using the R package. Results: Of all the samples assayed, 12.26% (26/212) and 57.08% (121/212) patients carried pathogenic and variant of uncertain significance (VOUS) CNVs, respectively. While 2.83% (6/212) patients' pathogenic CNVs were found to be located in the subtelomeric regions. Further burden test identified females are significant carriers of pathogenic CNVs compared to males (OR = 4.2; p = 0.0007). We have observed an increased number of Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) within cases with 23.85% (26/109) consanguineous parents. Our analyses on imprinting genes show, 36 LOH variants disrupting 69 unique imprinted genes and classified these variants as VOUS. ADOS-2 subset shows severe social communication deficit ( p = 0.014) and overall ASD symptoms severity ( p = 0.026) among the patients carrying duplication CNV compared to the CNV negative group. Candidate gene analysis identified 153 unique CEGs in pathogenic CNVs and 31 in VOUS. Of the unique genes, 18 genes were found to be in smaller (<1 MB) focal CNVs in our NDD cohort and we identified PSMC3 gene as a strong candidate gene for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Moreover, we hypothesized that KMT2B gene duplication might be associated with intellectual disability. Conclusion: Our results show the utility of CMA for precise genetic diagnosis and its integration into the diagnosis, therapy and management of NDD patients., Competing Interests: Authors AI and MU are employees of GenomeArc Inc. Authors HA, SLS, MB, MMI, MAR(1), MAR(2), TBE, NJD, ML, NJ, AI, AM, MOF, and KMFU are employees of NeuroGen Healthcare. The authors declare that this study received funding from NeuroGen Healthcare. The funder was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, and the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Akter, Rahman, Sarker, Basiruzzaman, Islam, Rahaman, Rahaman, Eshaque, Dity, Sarker, Amin, Hossain, Lopa, Jahan, Hossain, Islam, Mondol, Faruk, Saha, Kundu, Kanta, Kazal, Fatema, Rahman, Hasan, Hossain Mollah, Hosen, Karuvantevida, Begum, Zehra, Nassir, Nabi, Uddin and Uddin.)

Background: Breastfeeding requires additional diversified foods for the nutritional requirements of mothers and children, especially in preventing micronutrient deficiencies. The minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) is a proxy indicator of micronutrient adequacy for women., Objectives: This study aimed to identify the determinants associated with MDD in lactating women., Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among lactating mothers having at least one live birth in last three years from two districts of Bangladesh between 31 st May 2021 and 9 th June 2021. Dietary and socio-demographic information was obtained using a single 24-h recall and socio-economic status questionnaires. MDD was defined as at least four food groups consumed in the last 24 hours. In binary logistic regression, adjusted models were used to assess the relationship between MDD and socio-economic factors., Results: The mean Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) was 3.9 ± 1.2. The MDD was met by 29.7% of women. Respondent's ages 20-24 years [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.9], 25-34 years [AOR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.8], and 35-49 years [AOR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.2-0.9], husband's academic qualifications more than 12 years [AOR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.0-3.7], family income more than 15000 BDT per month [AOR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.2-4.3], and husband's profession as a day labor [AOR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.7] were significant factors to have MDD., Conclusions: DDS and MDD were very poor among the mothers, whereas women's age, husband's education, and the family's monthly income were independent determinants of MDD. Special interventions may be needed to improve MDD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated structural plasticity of dendritic spines plays an important role in synaptic transmission in the brain during learning and memory formation. The Rho family of small GTPase RhoA and its downstream effector Rho-kinase/ROCK are considered as one of the major regulators of synaptic plasticity and dendritic spine formation, including long-term potentiation (LTP). However, the mechanism by which Rho-kinase regulates synaptic plasticity is not yet fully understood. Here, we found that Rho-kinase directly phosphorylated discs large MAGUK scaffold protein 2 (DLG2/PSD-93), a major postsynaptic scaffold protein that connects postsynaptic proteins with NMDARs; an ionotropic glutamate receptor, which plays a critical role in synaptic plasticity. Stimulation of striatal slices with an NMDAR agonist induced Rho-kinase-mediated phosphorylation of PSD-93 at Thr612. We also identified PSD-93-interacting proteins, including DLG4 (PSD-95), NMDARs, synaptic Ras GTPase-activating protein 1 (SynGAP1), ADAM metallopeptidase domain 22 (ADAM22), and leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1 (LGI1), by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Among them, Rho-kinase increased the binding of PSD-93 to PSD-95 and NMDARs. Furthermore, we found that chemical-LTP induced by glycine, which activates NMDARs, increased PSD-93 phosphorylation at Thr612, spine size, and PSD-93 colocalization with PSD-95, while these events were blocked by pretreatment with a Rho-kinase inhibitor. These results indicate that Rho-kinase phosphorylates PSD-93 downstream of NMDARs, and suggest that Rho-kinase mediated phosphorylation of PSD-93 increases the association with PSD-95 and NMDARs to regulate structural synaptic plasticity.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and unique fallout worldwide and creates colossal disruption in human survival. During the pandemic, social networking sites (SNS) played a significant role in disseminating news related to the pandemic., Methods: This research is based on primary data collected from 400 successful respondents via online Google Form. Bivariate Pearson's Chi-square and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the impact of the explanatory variables on the study variables., Results: This study reveals that most respondents (n = 360, 90 %) use SNS to get up-to-date news, and 72.5 % (n = 290) read health-related information. The highest number of participants (n = 386, 96.5 %) were Facebook users. Multivariate binary logistic regression reveals that "reading news on SNS" and "sharing information related to COVID-19 on social media" significantly influence the spread of awareness of COVID-19. "Unauthentic news sources" and "stop using social media to stay away from panic" also have a substantial impact on the spread of panic during the COVID-19 pandemic., Conclusion: SNS has become an inevitable medium of information carrier nowadays. Social media users are found significantly aware of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study might assist the concerned persons in taking the necessary steps to propagate authentic news and regulate appropriate policies to prevent spreading misinformation., 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., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Dysfunctional dopamine signaling is implicated in various neuropsychological disorders. Previously, we reported that dopamine increases D1 receptor (D1R)-expressing medium spiny neuron (MSN) excitability and firing rates in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) via the PKA/Rap1/ERK pathway to promote reward behavior. Here, the results show that the D1R agonist, SKF81297, inhibits KCNQ-mediated currents and increases D1R-MSN firing rates in murine NAc slices, which is abolished by ERK inhibition. In vitro ERK phosphorylates KCNQ2 at Ser414 and Ser476; in vivo, KCNQ2 is phosphorylated downstream of dopamine signaling in NAc slices. Conditional deletion of Kcnq2 in D1R-MSNs reduces the inhibitory effect of SKF81297 on KCNQ channel activity, while enhancing neuronal excitability and cocaine-induced reward behavior. These effects are restored by wild-type, but not phospho-deficient KCNQ2. Hence, D1R-ERK signaling controls MSN excitability via KCNQ2 phosphorylation to regulate reward behavior, making KCNQ2 a potential therapeutical target for psychiatric diseases with a dysfunctional reward circuit., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Acetylcholine is a neuromodulator critical for learning and memory. The cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil increases brain acetylcholine levels and improves Alzheimer's disease (AD)-associated learning disabilities. Acetylcholine activates striatal/nucleus accumbens dopamine receptor D2-expressing medium spiny neurons (D2R-MSNs), which regulate aversive learning through muscarinic receptor M1 (M1R). However, how acetylcholine stimulates learning beyond M1Rs remains unresolved. Here, we found that acetylcholine stimulated protein kinase C (PKC) in mouse striatal/nucleus accumbens. Our original kinase-oriented phosphoproteomic analysis revealed 116 PKC substrate candidates, including Rac1 activator β-PIX. Acetylcholine induced β-PIX phosphorylation and activation, thereby stimulating Rac1 effector p21-activated kinase (PAK). Aversive stimulus activated the M1R-PKC-PAK pathway in mouse D2R-MSNs. D2R-MSN-specific expression of PAK mutants by the Cre-Flex system regulated dendritic spine structural plasticity and aversive learning. Donepezil induced PAK activation in both accumbal D2R-MSNs and in the CA1 region of the hippocampus and enhanced D2R-MSN-mediated aversive learning. These findings demonstrate that acetylcholine stimulates M1R-PKC-β-PIX-Rac1-PAK signaling in D2R-MSNs for aversive learning and imply the cascade's therapeutic potential for AD as aversive learning is used to preliminarily screen AD drugs., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Recently, nanostructured carbon-based soft bioelectronics and biosensors have received tremendous attention due to their outstanding physical and chemical properties. The ultrahigh specific surface area, high flexibility, lightweight, high electrical conductivity, and biocompatibility of 1D and 2D nanocarbons, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene, are advantageous for bioelectronics applications. These materials improve human life by delivering therapeutic advancements in gene, tumor, chemo, photothermal, immune, radio, and precision therapies. They are also utilized in biosensing platforms, including optical and electrochemical biosensors to detect cholesterol, glucose, pathogenic bacteria (e. g., coronavirus), and avian leucosis virus. This review summarizes the most recent advancements in bioelectronics and biosensors by exploiting the outstanding characteristics of nanocarbon materials. The synthesis and biocompatibility of nanocarbon materials are briefly discussed. In the following sections, applications of graphene and CNTs for different therapies and biosensing are elaborated. Finally, the key challenges and future perspectives of nanocarbon materials for biomedical applications are highlighted., (© 2022 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Adequate good quality of sleep is essential for physical fitness during pregnancy as well as being a depressive symptoms-free mind. However, there is little evidence of the relationship between depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality among pregnant women in Bangladesh. This study aimed to find the association between depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality among pregnant women in northern rural Bangladesh., Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from May 2021 to June 2021 among 481 pregnant women tested positive in the pregnancy test of Jaldhaka and Dimla Upazila of Nilphamari district, Rangpur Division. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire including socio-demographic conditions, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms, comprising the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Patient Health Questionnaire- 9 (PHQ-9)., Results: 8.94% of the women had depressive symptoms, whereas 38.88% of the participants were bad sleepers. However, women who had depressive symptoms [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.55; 95% CI 1.33-4.9] and educational qualifications above 10 years [AOR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.39-0.92] were associated with poor sleep quality., Conclusions: A higher percentage of pregnant women had poor sleep quality, whereas depressive symptoms and academic background of the participants were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. Ensuring adequate sleep time and better quality could be helpful to prevent depressive symptoms., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays critical roles in emotional behaviors, including aversive learning. Aversive stimuli such as an electric foot shock increase acetylcholine (ACh) in the NAc, and muscarinic signaling appears to increase neuronal excitability and aversive learning. Muscarinic signaling inhibits the voltage-dependent potassium KCNQ current which regulates neuronal excitability, but the regulatory mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Phosphorylation of KCNQ2 at threonine 217 (T217) and its inhibitory effect on channel activity were predicted. However, whether and how muscarinic signaling phosphorylates KCNQ2 in vivo remains unclear. Here, we found that PKC directly phosphorylated KCNQ2 at T217 in vitro. Carbachol and a muscarinic M1 receptor (M1R) agonist facilitated KCNQ2 phosphorylation at T217 in NAc/striatum slices in a PKC-dependent manner. Systemic administration of the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil, which is commonly used to treat dementia, and electric foot shock to mice induced the phosphorylation of KCNQ2 at T217 in the NAc, whereas phosphorylation was suppressed by an M1R antagonist. Conditional deletion of Kcnq2 in the NAc enhanced electric foot shock induced aversive learning. Our findings indicate that muscarinic signaling induces the phosphorylation of KCNQ2 at T217 via PKC activation for aversive learning., (© 2021 International Society for Neurochemistry.)

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the dengue virus of the Flaviviridae family and is responsible for colossal health and economic burden worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the effect of environmental, seasonal, and spatial variations on the spread of dengue fever in Sri Lanka. The study used secondary data of monthly dengue infection and the monthly average of environmental parameters of 26 Sri Lankan regions from January 2015 to December 2019. Besides the descriptive measurements, Kendall's tau&#95; b , Spearman's rho, and Kruskal-Wallis H test have been performed as bivariate analyses. The multivariate generalized linear negative binomial regression model was applied to determine the impacts of meteorological factors on dengue transmission. The aggregate negative binomial regression model disclosed that precipitation (odds ratio: 0.97, p  < 0.05), humidity (odds ratio: 1.05, p  < 0.01), and air pressure (odds ratio: 1.46, p  < 0.01) were significantly influenced the spread of dengue fever in Sri Lanka. The bioclimatic zone is the vital factor that substantially affects the dengue infection, and the wet zone (odds ratio: 6.41, p  < 0.05) was more at-risk than the dry zone. The climate season significantly influenced dengue fever transmission, and a higher infection rate was found (odds ratio: 1.46, p  < 0.01) in the northeast monsoon season. The findings of this study facilitate policymakers to improve the existing dengue control strategies focusing on the meteorological condition in the local as well as global perspectives., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe author declares that they do not have any conflict of interest., (© Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2022.)