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A field experiment was conducted in the Agroforestry Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 to find out the response of Rain tree (Samanea saman), Ipil-Ipil (Leucaena leucephala), and Minjiri (Senna siamea), leaves biomass with different fertilizers dose applications to yield and yield contributing character of Chinese Hybrid Rice cv. SQR6. Ten treatments were used for the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results showed that green LB had a significant effect on crop characters viz., plant height, panicle length, no. of tillers hill-1, no. of leaves hill-1, no. of panicles hill-1, no. of effective tillers hill-1, no. of non-effective tillers hill-1, no. of spikelets panicle-1 and 1000-grain weight. The panicle length varied from 22.30 to 25.11 cm. The number of leaves on hill-1 varied from 62.00-26.00. The number of effective tillers on hill-1 varied from 12.23-10.24 whereas the number of non-effective tillers on hill-1 varied from 3.10-1.29. The maximum grain yield of 8.96 t ha-1 was obtained from Treatment T10 followed by T6 where Ipil-Ipil of LB with 45% RFD was applied with a grain yield of 8.63 t ha-1. Therefore, this study suggests that the green LB of Ipil-Ipil and Minjiri could be used the improvement of yield contributing characteristics of rice. Bangladesh J. Agri. 2022, 47(2): 133-142

A field experiment was conducted in the Agroforestry Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 to find out the effects of Sadakoroi (Albizia procera), Kalokoroi (Albizia lebbeck) and Akashmoni (Acacia auriculiformis), leaves biomass with different fertilizers dose applications on the yield and yield contributing characters of Chinese Hybrid Rice. There were 10 treatments : T1 = Sadakoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot ) + 15% RFD (Recommended fertilizer dose), T2= Sadakoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot )+ 30% RFD, T3 = Sadakoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot )+ 45% RFD, T4 = Kalokoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 15% RFD, T5 = Kalokoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 30% RFD, T6 = Kalokoroi (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 45% RFD, T7 = Akashmoni (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 15% RFD, T8 = Akashmoni (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 30% RFD, T9 = Akashmoni (leaf biomass 2 kg /plot) + 45% RFD and T10= Control ( 100% RFD). The boro hybrid rice var. SQR6 was used as a test crop. The experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The result showed that green leaf biomass had a significant effect on the yield contributing characters. The panicle length varied from 21.0 to 25.5 cm. The number of leaves on hill-1 varied from 40.2-25.9. The number of effective tillers on hill-1 varied from 12.27-10.63. The highest grain yield of 8.87 t ha-1was obtained from treatment T10 followed by 8.77 tha-1 noted with T3 where Sadakoroi leaf biomass was applied. Therefore, this study suggests that the green leaf biomass of Sadakoroi and Kalokoroi can be applied to the improvement of yield and yield contributing characters of rice. Bangladesh J. Agri. 2022, 47(2): 44-52

For reducing soil salinity and obtaining a sustainable yield, a low-cost and farmer-friendly method is required for pumpkin, a well-liked vegetable. Accordingly, a field experiment was carried out in Salinity Management and Research Center, Soil Resource Development Institute, Batiaghata, Khulna during Kharif-1 season of 2021 to investigate the effect of different types of mulches on soil salinity and yield of pumpkin. The experiment includes three treatments viz. no mulch (control), straw mulch and mulching paper. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Soil salinity was recorded at 30 days intervals. All mulching materials effectively reduced the salt accumulation in the root zone. After three months of seed sowing, the highest soil salinity (11.32 dS/m) and lowest soil salinity (6.24 dS/m) were found at no mulch (control) and mulching paper treatment respectively in the month of May. Mulching treatments markedly increased the growth and yield attributes of pumpkins. The highest value of three growth parameters i.e., fruit length (26.92 cm), fruit diameter (94.09 cm) and fruit size (2037 cm2) was found on mulching paper as compared to control. Again, the highest flesh thickness (3.94 cm), fruit weight (4.73 kg) and yield (31.18 t/ha) were recorded at mulching paper treatment whereas the lowest yield (16.68 t/ha) was found at no mulch (control). The results revealed that the use of mulching paper decreased salinity and also increased the yield of pumpkin in saline soil. These findings suggest that the application of mulching paper not only reduces soil salinity but also increases the yield of pumpkins.

The industrial tea waste reinforced jute polyester composites (ITW-JPC) were prepared by hand lay-up method for six different wt% (0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, and 15%) at 115˚C temperature. The effect of industrial tea waste filler on mechanical, physical, structural, and thermal properties in jute polyester composites were evaluated. It is found that tensile strength and flexural strength improved continuously with increasing filler loading up to 9wt% but decreased at 12wt% due to weak interfacial bonding and irregular distribution of filler and matrix. The maximum value of elongation at break (%) and Rockwell hardness were found in 0wt% and 15wt% composites respectively. The hardness increases when the resistance of the materials to the deformation increases. It is seen that water absorption and soil degradation are enhanced for all composites with the accumulation of filler content and time. The structural examination and functional group identification were investigated by using Fourier Transformation Infrared (FTIR) analysis. Thermal analysis of ITW-JPC showed that thermal degradation of composites started almost at the same time and the degradation of composites was occurring in three stages. Surface morphology and interfacial properties such as internal cracks, and fiber pull-out were examined through scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is an independent predictor of mortality. It is a recognized condition in patients with chronic kidney disease. Objective: To find out the frequency of pulmonary hypertension in CKD stage 5 patients and relation of PASP with biochemical parameters of CKD. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Nephrology at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka from July 2014 to June 2016 over a period of 2(two) years. One hundred twenty patients with CKD stage 5 on dialysis (HD and CAPD) and pre dialysis for more than 3 months were selected for this study. Result: Pulmonary hypertension was found in 56.6% maintenance HD patients, in 13.3% CAPD patients and in 20.6% pre dialysis patients. A significant correlation of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure with age, duration of dialysis, serum phosphate, and serum iPTH levels was found. Conclusion: Frequency of pulmonary hypertension was highest in hemodialysis group (56.6%). Routine screening and early detection is important in order to avoid the serious consequences of the disease.

Hematite(α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel process and further mixed with epoxy resin to obtain the nanocomposites. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis revealed that α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have an average diameter of about 30 nm, also illustrated the crystal structure and morphology of the nanomaterials. Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed the functional groups that were present in α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, neat epoxy andα-Fe2O3/epoxy nanocomposites. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) analysis exhibits the magnetic hysteresis curve and revealed that α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were superparamagnetic. Tensile testing was performed to obtain the tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, young modulus and required energy to deform the materials. Vickers micro-hardness test showed the surface hardness of the nanocomposites. Flexural strength also measured, which indicate the strength of nanocomposites against bending. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) measurement showed the thermal properties of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and its influence into the epoxy matrix. UV-Vis spectroscopy was performed to obtain the optical band gap energy of the nanocomposites. DC-resistivity measurements showed a significant influence of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the dc-electrical properties of the epoxy matrix.

The growing demand for rich content services and developments of industrial internet of things and vehicle-to-everything communications pose challenging requirements for the next-generation fog radio access networks (F-RANs). Though F-RANs are promising to support these enabling technologies by leveraging edge caching and edge computing, delay performance is still straightforward and should be optimized. A latency optimization problem for F-RANs is formulated, and to solve the problem, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based joint proactive cache placement and power allocation strategy is proposed in this paper. Furthermore, to enhance the content serving capability at the edge, we rigorously consider that a set of F-RAN nodes cooperatively serve the content request. The user's demand can be adaptively satisfied either through fog access point mode at the network edge or by centralized cloud computing mode at the cloud tier. The key idea of the proposal is to learn the user's demand and make an intelligent decision for caching appropriate content and allocating a significant amount of power resources. Simulation results show the effectiveness and performance gains of the proposal under maintaining throughput compared with other baselines.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) supports the internet of things (IoT) by leveraging computation offloading. It minimizes the delay and consequently reduces the energy consumption of the IoT devices. However, the consideration of static communication mode in most of the recent work, despite varying network dynamics and resource diversity, is the main limitation. An energy-efficient computation offloading method using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed. Both delay-tolerant and non-delay tolerant scenarios are considered using capillary machine type communication (MTC). Depending upon the type of service, an intelligent MTC edge server using DRL decides either process the incoming request at the MTC edge server or sends it to the cloud server. To control communication, we draft a markov decision problem (MDP). This minimizes the long-term power consumption of the system. The formulation of the optimization problem is considered under the constraint of computing power resources and delays. Simulation results delineate the significant performance gain of 12% in computation offloading through the proposed DRL approach. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model are compared with other baselines and are demonstrated numerically.

Agroforestry production systems are underappreciated for their role in meeting the SDGs on poverty, food security, and climate change. In Bangladesh, low-productive agroforestry practices also provide ecosystem services and supply food to more than 22 million poor families. Accordingly, Madhupur Garh’s agroforestry practices are very promising and act as a significant factor in providing several outputs and opportunities for over 50,000 farmers to improve farm productivity, livelihoods, and resource conservation. Therefore, a case study was undertaken to analyze the economical profitability of promising local agroforestry practices and their impacts on the livelihoods of the rural farmers living in Madhupur Garh. This study identified six of the most common potential agroforestry practices in the Madhupur Garh. Among six identified agroforestry practices, the highest gross return and net profit were obtained from the Acacia-Pineapple-Ginger-based agroforestry practice (BCR 2.83). Moreover, these agroforestry models have simultaneously improved participants' social, physical, human, and ecological capital. So, the study argues that these agroforestry models not only provide economic returns but also augment the livelihood capital of the local farmers, thus developing their community as a whole, and this research looks at some of the key aspects of that development. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Acacia-Pineapple-Ginger-based agroforestry program can be the most effective strategy for generating income for the rural people in the study area and have an impact on the local farmers' livelihoods in the Madhupur Garh of Bangladesh.

The development of externally controlled drug delivery systems that can rapidly trigger drug release is widely expected to change the landscape of future drug carriers. In this study, a drug delivery system was developed for on-demand therapeutic effects. The thermoresponsive paraffin film can be loaded on the basis of therapeutic need, including local anesthetic (lidocaine) or topical antibiotic (neomycin), controlled remotely by a portable mini-heater. The application of mild temperature (45 °C) to the drug-loaded paraffin film allowed a rapid stimulus response within a short time (5 min). This system exploits regular drug release and the rapid generation of mild heat to trigger a burst release of 80% within 6 h of any locally administered drug. The in vitro drug release studies and in vivo therapeutic activity were observed for local anesthesia and wound healing using a neomycin-loaded film. The studies demonstrated on-demand drug release with minimized inflammation and microbial infection. This temperature-responsive drug-loaded film can be triggered remotely to provide flexible control of dose magnitude and timing. Our preclinical studies on these remotely adjustable drug delivery systems can significantly improve patient compliance and medical practice.

Peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is native to South and South-East Asia. It is a polyphagous species and has a high reproductive potential (approx. 600 eggs in a lifetime), high biotic potential, i.e., several generations of progeny per year. The species has the rapid dispersal ability and can be active throughout the year. Its establishment may have a serious impact on the environment following the initiation of chemical and/or biological control programmes. B. zonata is of quarantine significance to EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) countries and it is classified on the A1 list of pests recommended for regulation as quarantine pests by Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI). The present study initiates an attempt to identify the larval (3rd instar) salivary gland polytene chromosome arms of B. zonata using Olympus phase contrast microscope CX 41. A photographic representation of the polytene chromosomes of this species associates with identifying tips as well as well defined characteristics of each polytene chromosome arms are described. Five long chromosomes with their identifying tips are recognized in each polytene nucleus. Polytene chromosomes are of special interest to construct a Genetic Sexing Strain (GSS) of a pest species and it can play an important role for the successful application of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in field application as part of the biological control programme under Integrated Pest Management (IPM) scheme.

Background: Acne scars (AS) results in permanent scarring causes facial disfigurement to the patients. The aim of the study was to assess the comparative effectiveness and outcomes of radiofrequency micro needling and fractional carbon dioxide laser methods in treating acne scars.Methods: This comparative observational study was conducted in the Ibn Sina diagnostic and consultancy center, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from January 2019 to December 2020. In total 30 patients with acne scar were selected as the study population. Among total participants, 15 patients who underwent radiofrequency micro needling treatment method were denoted as group-1 and the rest 15 patients who underwent carbon dioxide laser treatment method were denoted as group-2 patients. All data were processed, analyzed and disseminated by Microsoft (MS) office and statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 26.Results: In this study, in group A as per Goodman and Baron scale at the baseline 40% had grade-3 and 60% had grade-4 status. In the same group, after treatment 23.33, 30.00%, 20.00% and 13.33% patients improved up to grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4 status respectively. On the other hand, in group-2, after treatment 26.67%, 50.00%, 20.00% and 13.33% patients improved up to grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4 status respectively. Finally, according to the mean Goodman and Baron scale scores in both the groups, we found extremely significant correlations between both the baseline and after treatment status where Conclusions: Both radiofrequency micro needling and fractional CO2 laser treatment methods are effective for the treatment of acne scars.

The study was conducted in Khulna and Satkhira ranges of western Forest Division to determine the present nutrient status in soils and tree stand density of Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh during February to May 2016. Sampling was carried out at 46 sites from two locations viz. 23 sampling sites were from Khulna forest range and 23 sites from Satkhira range. The soil samples were collected at two depths viz. surface (0 to 15 cm) and sub-surface (15 to 30 cm) layers of soil. Tree-related data like name of the species, a number of trees/plots were recorded for all the natural trees having a diameter at breast height (dbh) ≥10 cm to calculate the stand density in the study area marked 10 m×10 m quadrate sample plots randomly. The collected soil samples were analyzed in a laboratory to determine the nutrient status. The result revealed that the soils of Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh were neutral to saline and the pH values (7.6) of surface soils were higher compared to sub-surface soils. The results also indicate that organic matter, total N, available P, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, B and Zn were observed comparatively higher (1.65%, 0.09%, 19.26 ppm, 9.11 meq/ml, 2.92 meq/ml, 169.59 ppm, 22.72 μg/ml, 0.66 μg/ml and 4.22 μg/ml, respectively) in surface soils except for exchangeable K which was higher (1.55 meq/100g) in sub-surface soils. However, the tree stands density in Sundarbans mangrove forest was recorded as 525 trees/ha and 569 trees/ha in Khulna and Satkhira forest ranges, respectively. Therefore, the information of this study would be helped to the researcher and policymaker for better understanding and management of Sundarbans.

Red spinach (Amaranthus tricolor) has been reported to possess many benefits and medicinal properties and used as a part of traditional medicine in Ayurveda and Siddha. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of Amaranthus tricolor on isoproterenol-induced oxidative stress, fibrosis, and myocardial damage in ovariectomized rats. Ovariectomy surgery was conducted to remove both ovaries from the rats. After recovery, rats were administered with ISO subcutaneously (50 mg/kg) twice a week and were treated with ethanolic extracts of A. tricolor. This investigation showed that the level of oxidative stress markers was significantly increased while the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased in ISO administered ovariectomized rats. A. tricolor extract and atenolol treatment prevented the rise of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide and advanced protein oxidation product. Moreover, elevated activities of AST, ALT, and CK-MB enzymes were also lowered by both atenolol and A. tricolor treatment. Increased uric acid and creatinine levels were also normalized by atenolol, and A. Tricolor treatment in ISO administered ovariectomized rats. ISO-induced ovariectomized rats also showed massive inflammatory cell infiltration, fibrosis and iron deposition in heart compared to sham rats. Atenolol and A. tricolor treatment prevented the inflammatory cells infiltration, fibrosis, and iron deposition. These results suggest that A. tricolor treatment may protect against ISO administered myocardial infarction in ovariectomized rats probably by preventing inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis. Further research is warranted to examine molecular mechanism of cardioprotective effect of A. tricolor.

Jute fiber (woven fabric, 1 × 1 plain weave) reinforced polypropylene matrix composites were prepared by compression molding with various fiber loading such as 30%, 40%, 46%, 50%, 55% by weight. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength (TS), bending strength (BS), tensile modulus (TM), bending modulus (BM) and impact strength (IS) of the composite were assessed and analyzed. The highest value of TS, BS, TM, BM and IS were 68.1 MPa, 94.1 MPa, 2936 MPa, 4831 MPa and 14.5 kJ/m2 respectively with 50% fiber loading by weight. It was found that the mechanical properties of the composites were increased with the increase in jute fiber content up to 50% by weight; however, further increase in fiber loading the value decreased. On the basis of fiber content, 50% fiber reinforced composites had the optimum set of mechanical properties. Initially the water absorption rate was higher and then it became slower and static with time. Chemical ageing test with various chemical media such as H2O2, NaOH, HCl and NaCl were performed up to 168 hours. After first 24 hours the composite samples showed gradual weight gain (%) and then the weight gain was become slow and steady in the chemical solution.

Brief introduction Myocardial infarction (MI) is a common manifestation of certain cardiac diseases where oxidative stress and fibrosis aggravate the condition markedly. Main objective of the study Investigation of L-carnitine’s cardioprotective roles and mechanism of action in a rat model of MI. Methods To develop a MI animal model, Isoproterenol (ISO) was administered in male Long Evans rats where animals were divided into five groups (six rats/group). The oxidative stress and antioxidant enzyme activities were determined by different biochemical tests. The real-time PCR was performed to determine the expression of TNF-α and Il-1β. Histopathological observations by hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome were made to observe the tissue damage and fibrosis in heart and kidney. Significant findings from the study The ISO-treated rats showed increased levels of troponin I and lipid peroxidation and lower antioxidant enzyme activity in heart and kidney tissues. The levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were also increased in ISO-rats. Co-administration of L-carnitine with ISO reversed all these parameters. The elevated levels of uric acid and creatinine kinase and ALP, AST and ALT activities in ISO-rats were also significantly reduced by L-carnitine administration. L-carnitine markedly decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells and improved the tissue architecture in heart and kidney. Control animals did not show any appreciable response upon L-carnitine administration. Relevant contribution to knowledge These results suggest that L-carnitine plays a defensive role against cardiac and renal damage in ISO-treated MI rat model via suppressing oxidative stress and increasing antioxidant enzyme functions through inhibition of TNF-α and IL-1β.

The development of combined anticancer therapeutic techniques has drawn increased attention for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. In this work, we synthesized Near Infrared (NIR) responsive ICG (I) functionalized hexagonal boron-nitride (hBN) as photothermal therapeutic agent (hBNI) and Doxorubicin (Dox)-conjugated Hyaluronic acid (HA) as tumor targeted chemotherapeutic agent (d-HA-Dox). Using adhesion properties of Dopamine (d), the hBNI has been integrated with d-HA-Dox to make a tumor targeted photothermal chemotherapeutic agent (hBNI/d-HA-Dox). The nanostructure of hBNI/d-HA-Dox has been studied using 1H NMR, FTIR, UV-vis-NIR and AFM images. Our in vitro results have provided evidence that hBNI/d-HA-Dox can efficiently damage targeted cancer cells while healthy cells are less affected suggesting that the targeted hBNI/d-HA-Dox nanoparticles work as a complementary antitumor agent with its synergistic co-therapeutic power.

The lower drug retention to the eye's anterior portion is a prime concern in the ocular drug delivery system. To improve the drug retention capacity, we aimed to develop drug–containing nanoparticles using Quality by Design (QbD) approach. The current study describes the development of resveratrol-loaded mucoadhesive lecithin/chitosan nanoparticles (RMLCNs) to be instilled on eyes. The initial risk assessments were carried out using a fishbone diagram followed by final risks assessment using the risk assessment matrix (RAM). A definitive screening design (DSD) study was performed for the CMAs/CPPs (critical material attributes/critical process parameters) on CQAs (critical quality attributes). The identified central composite design (CCD) with a design space showed an optimal desire formulation value of 0.913. The optimized formulation had a particle size of 163.3 nm, PDI (polydispersity index) of 0.254, zeta potential of 46.4 mV, entrapment efficiency of 97.03%, the release of 96.87, and R2 of the zero-order release kinetics of 0.9897, that were within the predictive range at an alpha level of ±0.05 with a bias percentage of ≤3.422. Finally, the AUC0-6 and MRT of the optimized formulation were found to be 6.44 and 2.458 times higher than those of resveratrol solution, respectively, demonstrating the adaptation efficiency of QbD to the development of RMLCNs.

In this paper, an unambiguous graphical interpretation of fully fuzzy linear equation in two variables where all the parameters are symmetric triangular fuzzy number (STFN) is presented. Several new terminologies such as disassembled fuzzy straight line and assembled fuzzy straight line are proposed and theorems concerning those are established. This interpretation is extended to $$2\times 2$$ fully fuzzy linear system (FFLS) with STFN which enables to comment on the existence of solution of the system. Then an application of FFLS is focused in a real-life circuit analysis problem where the solving procedure using available method in the literature leads to weak solution. Why this happens is explained using the proposed geometrical interpretation. Finally, a modification to the definition of TFN is proposed to manage the situation easily where weak solution arises.

Bio-based CaCO3 powder was synthesized via size reduction method from waste eggshells. The XRD analysis revealed that eggshell powder consists of CaCO3 in calcite form. The inclusion level of CaCO3 contents were varied of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt.% of prepared CaCO3-polyester film. Effects of different proportions of prepared chicken eggshell and commercial CaCO3 filler on the polyester resin composites films were compared by means of mechanical and physical test. It was found that the addition of CaCO3 filler to the polyester films leads to improve the mechanical properties. The findings revealed that the best and optimum CaCO3 filler content was 10 wt.% and among the prepared polyester films, eggshell CaCO3-polyester films showed the best performance. The mechanical properties of CaCO3-polyester films were measured in terms of tensile strength, elongation-at-break, tensile modulus, flexural strength and impact strength. For eggshell CaCO3- polyester films, the maximum values of the aforementioned mechanical properties were 52.70 MPa, 4.63 %, 1868.70 MPa, 101.20 MPa and 8.40 kJ/m2, respectively, whereas for commercial CaCO3-polyester films those values were 48.12 MPa, 4.50 %, 1790.30 MPa, 97.50 MPa and 8.21 kJ/m2, respectively. Further, water absorption of the composite films as a function of time had also been investigated at 10 wt.% filler content.

The experiment was carried out at the Field Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period of March, 2012 to July, 2012 to evaluate the effect of fertilizer and manure on the growth and yield of Tulsi and Pudina. There were six treatments consisting of control (No fertilizer and manures), cowdung, poultry manure, cowdung+ NPK fertilizer, poultry manure+ NPK fertilizer and Mixed fertilizer. All the treatment significantly influenced most of the growth and yield components of Tulsi and Pudina. The plant height, No. of branch/plant, No. of leaf/plant, Leaf length, 1000- fresh leaf weight and fresh yield were highest where cowdung was applied. All the above parameters were lowest where no manures were applied (control). From these results it was clear that cowdung was the best for soil quality and growth and yield of Tulsi and Pudina medicinal plant.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jesnr.v7i2.22197 J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 7(2): 13-16 2014

A study was conducted to make an overall assessment of aquifer, groundwater resources, and its optimum utilization as well as the potentiality of groundwater abstraction in Mymensingh sadar upazilla. The subsurface lithology was investigated from the collected data of twelve borelogs in the study area. The subsurface formation of the study area was stratified with clay, sandy clay and fine sand at the upper part while medium sand, coarse sand at the lower part of subsurface lithology. The thickness of clay and silty or sandy clay layers ranging from 6 m to 58 m having an average thickness of 33.8 m existed below the ground surface. The thickness of composite aquifer varied Original Research Article

Background The objective of the present study aimed to investigate the effect of CoQ10 treatment on isoprenaline (ISO)-induced cardiac remodeling in rats. Methods Rats were divided into three groups namely Control group, ISO treated group and CoQ10 + ISO treated group, each consisting of 6 rats. The cardiac specific CK-MB, AST, ALT activity and other oxidative stress parameters were estimated in heart and kidneys. Additionally histological examination was also performed to visualize the inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in both tissues. Results Administration of ISO resulted in an increase in the heart-to-body weight (HW/BW) ratio and an also increased the serum CK-MB, AST and ALT enzyme activity. Serum levels of lipid peroxidation products, and oxidative stress markers showed significant increase in ISO-treated rats. Histopathological examination of heart tissue revealed focal areas of endocardium degeneration, mononuclear cells infiltration, fibrous tissue deposition, and increased thickness of the myocardium of left ventricle. Similar degeneration was also found in kidneys. Treatment with CoQ10 (100 mg/kg) significantly improved the oxidative stresses in ISO treated rats. Moreover, CoQ10 treatment prevented inflammatory cells infiltration and reduced fibrosis in ISO administered rats. Conclusion In conclusion, our study provides evidence that CoQ10 may prevent the development of cardiac remodeling, and fibrosis in ISO administered rats.

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) such as stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability and the third most common reason of death in the world. In this work, an indication for the assessment of neuronal activity and the degree of severity of stroke patient has been studied using electroencephalogram (EEG). A parallel study has also been carried out on healthy volunteers of under fifteen years to find the comparison of neural activity between different age groups. In order to assess the brain pathophysiology in supratentorial brain lesion patients the quantitative EEG parameters such as delta/alpha ratio (DAR) and delta-plus-theta to alpha-plus-beta ratio (DTABR) have been used. It is observed that the DAR and DTABR values of the left cerebral hemisphere of the patient are much higher than the right cerebral hemisphere. It is also higher in both cerebral hemispheres than the control. A threshold value of ∼3.7 for DAR and ∼3.5 for DTABR has been obtained. It is found that delta and DAR indices of the old age are twice than the child, indicating the diminishing of neuronal activity of old age is half of the child. These results could be important for stroke diagnosis, prognosis, re-habitation strategies, and proper neurological treatment.

A biomonitoring method was developed for the determination of inorganic-, methyl-, and ethylmercury (Hg(2+), CH3Hg(+), and C2H5Hg(+), respectively) in whole blood by triple-spiking speciated isotope dilution mass spectrometry (SIDMS) using headspace (HS) solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with gas chromatographic (GC) separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) detection. After spiking the blood sample with isotopically enriched analogues of the analytes ((199)Hg(2+), CH3(200)Hg(+) and C2H5(201)Hg(+)), the endogenous Hg species were solubilized in 2.0 mol L(-1) HNO3 and equilibrated with the spikes using a microwave-enhanced protocol. The microwaved sample was treated with a 1% (w/v) aqueous solution of sodium tetrapropylborate (buffered to pH 5.2), and the propylated Hg species were sampled in the HS using a Carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane-coated SPME fiber. The extracted species were thermally desorbed from the fiber in the GC injection port and determined by GC-ICP-MS. The analytes were quantified, with simultaneous correction for their method-induced transformation, on the basis of the mathematical relationship in triple-spiking SIDMS. The method was validated using a bovine blood standard reference material (SRM 966, Level 2). Analysis of human blood samples demonstrated the accuracy and reproducibility of the method, which can detect the Hg species down to 30 pg g(-1) in blood. The validity of the analytical results found for the blood samples was demonstrated using mass balance by comparing the sum of the concentrations of the individual Hg species with the total Hg in the corresponding samples; the latter was determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) after decomposing the blood using EPA Method 3052 with single-spiking.

As. • Analysis of widely consumed pre- natal and children's dietary supple- ments. • Validation of analytical data using g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t a b s t r a c t A study was conducted to develop a microwave-enhanced extraction method for the determination of arsenic species in prenatal and children's dietary supplements prepared from plant materials. The method was optimized by evaluating the efficiency of various solutions previously used to extract arsenic from the types of plant materials used in the dietary supplement formulations. A multivitamin standard reference material (NIST SRM 3280) and a prenatal supplement sample were analyzed in the method optimization. The identified optimum conditions were 0.25 g of sample, 5 mL of 0.3 mol L −1 orthophos- phoric acid (H3PO4) and microwave heating at 90 ◦C for 30 min. The extracted arsenic was speciated by cation exchange ion chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS). The method detection limit (MDL) for the arsenic species was in the range 2-8 ng g−1. Ten widely con- sumed prenatal and children's dietary supplements were analyzed using the optimized protocol. The supplements were found to have total arsenic in the concentration range 59-531 ng g −1 . The extraction procedure recovered 61-92% of the arsenic from the supplements. All the supplementary products were found to contain arsenite (As 3+ ) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA). Arsenate (As 5+ ) was found in two of the supplements, and an unknown specie of arsenic was detected in one product. The results of the analysis were validated using mass balance by comparing the sum of the extracted and non-extracted arsenic with the total concentration of the element in the corresponding samples.

The bleached jute fabric (BJF) reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites with various contents of acrylic acid (AA)-treated BJF and un-AA-treated BJF were fabricated by compression moulding method at 190 °C. The AA-grafted BJF reinforced PP composites were then irradiated by γ-ray at various doses. The mechanical properties of neat PP (N-P), ungrafted-BJF and PP composites (UG-BJFPC), AA-grafted-BJF and PP composites (AA-BJFPC) and γ-ray cum AA-grafted-BJF and PP composites (γAA-BJFPC) show maximum tensile strength (TS) of 30, 46, 47 and 51 MPa, maximum flexural strength (FS) of 34, 49, 50 and 54 MPa and maximum Young’s modulus (E) of 280, 428, 436, and 680 MPa, respectively. The increase of TS, FS and E from UG-BJFPC are 2 %, 2 %, and 2 % for AA-BJFPC and 11 %, 10 % and 59 % for γAA-BJFPC. The TS, FS and E are found to increase with radiation dose up to 500Krad and then decrease. The water absorption (WA) for UG-BJFPC, AA-BJFPC and γAA-BJFPC is respectively about 14, 10 and 9 %, indicating a gradual development of hydrophobic character of the composites first by AA-treatment and then by γ-ray-treatment. AA treatment on jute fabric and gamma irradiation on composite result in significant change of morphology of the jute fabric composites surface and better mechanical bonding between fabric and polymer matrix, as a result improved mechanical properties are found.

A robust method has been developed for easy transfer between analytical laboratories to obtain highly accurate and reproducible quantification of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in micro-volumes of serum. This method is suited for analysts researching the impact of environmental exposure on human health. When performed by highly trained analysts, existing methods can produce high quality data; however, complex sample preparation steps often cannot be consistently replicated by laboratories, leading to variance in extraction recovery and quantitation. By combining stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) with direct isotope dilution (D-ID) mass spectrometry quantification, a new analytical method was developed. The D-ID quantification significantly improved accuracy, corrected sample-to-sample irreproducibility, and reduced sample preparation time. Independent production of statistically identical data then confirmed transfer of the validated operating protocol to an off-site laboratory with different instrument models. SBSE performance was compared with industry-accepted extraction techniques. D-ID quantification was compared with peer-reviewed relative isotopic response factor (RF) quantification methods. Holding other variables constant, D-ID improved accuracy by 250% and precision by 300% compared with RF; SBSE improved accuracy by 37% compared to industry-accepted extraction methods. Limits of quantification of the analytes ranged from 60 pg g(-1) to 1 μg g(-1). Protocol transfer exhibited7% mean between-laboratory error and2% mean within-laboratory RSD. These results indicate that a transferable method has been developed for academic, government, commercial, and clinical laboratories seeking to maximize throughput and improve quantitative validity. This validated method was applied in a recent clinical study to assess non-communicable disease in children in Pennsylvania, USA.

A combination of van der Waals and electrostatic interactions was used to integrate SWNT and a suitably functionalized polythiophene into nanostructured ITO electrodes. In the resulting electron donor/acceptor nanocomposites, polythiophene represents the light-harvesting chromophore that readily donates an excited-state electron to the ground-state electron-accepting SWNT. Upon illumination, monochromatic incident photoconversion efficiencies between 1.2 and 9.3% were determined for single and eight-sandwiched layers, respectively.

In order to determine the health impact of chromium in dietary supplements, the Cr(III) and Cr(VI) must be independently measured and verified with mass balance (sum of both species equaling independent measurements of total chromium), as both may be present in finished products. Because Cr(III) is stable in acidic conditions and Cr(VI) in alkaline conditions, interconversions between species may occur in complex matrices and during analytical extraction, increasing the difficulty of quantification. A study was conducted to determine Cr(VI) and Cr(III) in dietary supplements. EPA Method 3060A extraction protocol was performed to extract Cr(VI), and EPA Method 3052 was performed on the extracted residue to digest the remaining Cr(III). Speciated isotope dilution mass spectrometry (SIDMS), as described in the EPA Method 6800 (update V), was implemented with ion-exchange chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS). Method 6800 uniquely enables tracking and correcting for the bidirectional chromium interspecies conversions that occur during extraction and sample handling prior to instrumental analysis. Mass balance results indicated that the off-the-shelf dietary supplements analyzed during this study contained hexavalent chromium ranging fromDL (detection limit) to 122.4 ± 13.0 μg/g, which corresponds to concentrations from below detection levels to up to 16% of the total chromium content. This type of variation in the final products raises public health issues and points to a need to use a robust method that can accurately and reliably make species measurements including correcting for species conversions.

During storage, grain can experience significant degradation in quality due to a variety of physical, chemical, and biological interactions. Most commonly, these losses are associated with insects or fungi. Continuous monitoring and an ability to differentiate between sources of spoilage are critical for rapid and effective intervention to minimize deterioration or losses. Therefore, there is a keen interest in developing a straightforward, cost-effective, and efficient method for monitoring of stored grain. Sensor arrays are currently used for classifying liquors, perfumes, and the quality of food products by mimicking the mammalian olfactory system. The use of this technology for monitoring of stored grain and identification of the source of spoilage is a new application, which has the potential for broad impact. The main focus of the work described herein is on the fabrication and optimization of a carbon black (CB) polymer sensor array to monitor stored grain model volatiles associated with insect secretions (benzene derivatives) and fungi (aliphatic hydrocarbon derivatives). Various methods of statistical analysis (RSD, PCA, LDA, t test) were used to select polymers for the array that were optimum for distinguishing between important compound classes (quinones, alcohols) and to minimize the sensitivity for other parameters such as humidity. The performance of the developed sensor array was satisfactory to demonstrate identification and separation of stored grain model volatiles at ambient conditions.

Underwater shock wave loading has been implemented on various metals, foods and wood. The main goal of this study is to investigate the performance of unbleached jute fiber in terms of underwater shock wave loading and fiber surface parameters. The input short wave loading is varied by shock pressure. The underwater shock wave is generated by the explosion of a detonating fuse in the water tank. The process of bubble generation and expansion inside the water results in the formation of shock waves. After shock loading, jute fiber is taken for physico - mechanical and physico-chemical testing, such as those for breaking strength, elongation, moisture content, wicking, permeability, etc. The effects on jute fiber exposed by the underwater shock waves are also demonstrated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The maximum effect is observed at 100 MPa. Jute fiber treated by underwater shock waves shows improved moisture content and dye permeability than that of untreated jute fiber.

Fiber quality is very important for all the steps of the textile area. Underwater shock wave has been utilized for metal, wood, food processing and medical applications and renewed and increased application during the last decade. The main object of this study, is to demonostrate underwater shock wave as a surface treatment of natural fibers such as jute and cotton in form of yarn and to report characterized properties of the treated fibers. The underwater shock wave was generated by the explosion of the detonation fuse in the water tank. The process of bubble generation and expansion inside the water results in the formation of shock wave. Natural fibers were exposed to shock wave treatment depending on the different pressures and detonatinon fuse separation distance. After shock-loading, fibers were selected for physicomechanical and physicochemical tests such as Scaning Elecron Microscopy (SEM) analysis, breaking strength, moisture behavior, permeability and wicking test. The maximum effect with improved moisture content, permeabilty and wicking properties were observed from 100 MPa. The treated fiber showed high performance necessary for use in woven and non woven purpose.