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In recent years awareness of fertility status of soil and the nutrients requirement for crops according to cropping arrangement has increased. In this context, the study was carried out over 2 years (2018 and 2019) at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) research farm to assess the influence of fertilizer management and preceding crop combinations on yield and yield contributing attributes of subsequent T. Aman rice; to determine the amount of nutrient concentration and taken up by the subsequent T. Aman rice regarding the preceding crops combinations and fertilizer treatments in vegetable–vegetable–rice cropping sequence. Treatments consisted of three prior crop combinations, i.e., before planting T. Aman rice (Potato-Stem Amaranth, Garlic-Stem Amaranth and Cauliflower-Stem Amaranth) including for each, four replications of two fertilizer treatments: commercial organic fertilizer (N based organic compost) and inorganic fertilizer (Soil test based inorganic fertilizer without cow dung). The subsequent T. Aman rice (BRRI dhan75) yields and yield contributing characters were not significantly affected by the interaction effect of preceding crop combinations and fertilizer application. Furthermore, fertilizer treatments had no significant effect on yields and yield components of T. Aman rice (BRRI dhan75) excluding plant height. Preceding crop combination had significant effect on grain panicle-1 of T. Aman rice (BRRI dhan75). At the end of two years, results clearly indicated that yield contributing parameters of BRRI dhan75 performed better under both preceding crop combinations as P2 (Garlic-Stem Amaranth) and P3 (Cauliflower-Stem Amaranth) with F2 (soil test based inorganic fertilizer management). Whereas yield was found greater under both preceding crop combination, P1 (Potato - Stem Amaranth) with F1 (N based organic compost alone) and P2 (Garlic-Stem Amaranth) using F2 (soil test based inorganic fertilizer). The interaction of preceding crop combination and fertilizer application demonstrated significant effect on nutrient concentration (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) in grain and straw of T. Aman. The application of inorganic fertilizer using the soil test-based method significantly increased N uptake by grain under both preceding crop combination as P2 (Garlic-Stem Amaranth) and P3 (Cauliflower-Stem Amaranth) compared with a sole application of N based organic compost. Yet, it is too quick to create a decisive remark based on only these very few numbers of preceding crops combinations and fertilizer treatments in vegetable-vegetable-rice cropping sequence. Therefore, a detailed study with a huge number of organic and inorganic fertilizer treatments applied under large number of vegetable-vegetable-rice cropping sequence is obviously needed to reach a precise conclusion.

Structural yields and features in the meta-stable states of nuclei from the projectile like fragments of 8.36 MeV 76Ge in 198Pt target are reported. The dynamic features of deep inelastic collisions (DICs) are studied by dissipation energy versus transfer of nucleons. We have studied the yields as a function of excitation levels. The structural appears do not depend on the excitation energy of isomers persuaded in the DICs. This is in dissimilarity to the protuberant physical landscapes establishing in population yield of isotopes which disappear with Gaussian distribution.

Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by a progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass associated with significant functional impairment. Cachexia robs patients of their strength and capacity to perform daily tasks and live independently. Effective treatments are needed urgently. Here, we investigated the therapeutic potential of activating the “alternative” axis of the renin-angiotensin system, involving ACE2, angiotensin-(1-7), and the mitochondrial assembly receptor (MasR), for treating cancer cachexia. Plasmid overexpression of the MasR or pharmacologic angiotensin-(1-7)/MasR activation did not affect healthy muscle fiber size in vitro or in vivo but attenuated atrophy induced by coculture with cancer cells in vitro. In mice with cancer cachexia, the MasR agonist AVE 0991 slowed tumor development, reduced weight loss, improved locomotor activity, and attenuated muscle wasting, with the majority of these effects dependent on the orexigenic and not antitumor properties of AVE 0991. Proteomic profiling and IHC revealed that mechanisms underlying AVE 0991 effects on skeletal muscle involved miR-23a–regulated preservation of the fast, glycolytic fibers. MasR activation is a novel regulator of muscle phenotype, and AVE 0991 has orexigenic, anticachectic, and antitumorigenic effects, identifying it as a promising adjunct therapy for cancer and other serious muscle wasting conditions.Significance:These findings demonstrate that MasR activation has multiple benefits of being orexigenic, anticachectic, and antitumorigenic, revealing it as a potential adjunct therapy for cancer.See related commentary by Rupert et al., p. 699

This file contains: • Supplemental Methods • Supplemental Figure S1. Muscle-specific overexpression of the AT1 but not the MasR regulates skeletal muscle fiber size in healthy mice. • Supplemental Figure S2. Representative images of differentiated C2C12 myotubes incubated for 48 h in normal horse serum and treated with vehicle control or the ACE/Ang II/AT1 axis activators Ang II or A779 • Supplemental Figure S3. Genetic MasR overexpression was induced by transducing C2C12 myoblasts with a Tet-regulated MasR lentivirus or empty lentivirus and treating differentiated myotubes with doxycylin • Supplemental Figure S4. Low dose AVE 0991 induces small but significant improvements in food and water intake and weight loss in severely cachectic C-26 tumor-bearing mice • Supplemental Figure S5. Low dose AVE 0991 (1 mg/kg) causes an oxidative-to-glycolytic shift in fiber types in TA muscles from severely cachectic C-26 tumor-bearing mice • Supplemental Figure S6. High dose AVE 0991 treatment enhanced cumulative water intake and movement as assessed by the number of beam breaks in severely cachectic C-26 tumor-bearing mice fed ad libitum but not in those pair-fed to vehicle treated controls • Supplemental Figure S7. Pharmacological Ang-(1-7)/MasR activation protects against Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC) cancer cell induced muscle fiber atrophy in vitro • Supplemental Figure S8. Specificity of our custom anti-AT1 peptide compared to a commercially available anti-AT1 antibody • Supplemental Table S1. Primers used to amplify AT1 and MasR genes • Supplemental Table S2. Human cancer cachexia study group characteristics • Supplemental Table S3. List of upregulated proteins in AVE 0991 treated serum starved myotubes • Supplemental Table S4. List of down regulated proteins in AVE 0991 treated serum starved myotubes

This work demonstrates a simple and inexpensive electrochemical biosensing pathway for selective and sensitive recognition of 17β-estradiol (E2) in environmental and food samples. The biosensing system is based on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C

A thin and broadband frequency selective surface (FSS)-based magnetic absorber is presented for low-microwave frequency applications. The design consists of a double-layers of FSS with the combination of two different magnetic substrates, which provides a much broader bandwidth compared to existing single-layered designs. The magnetic materials are in-house made by mixing different ratios of carbonyl-iron powder with silicone elastomer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The simple single-square loop (SSL) structure is used for both FSSs which are printed on a standard FR4 material using lossy resistive sheet. This configuration allows the use of a closed-form equivalent-circuit model for a fast and efficient bandwidth optimization. A genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized to obtain the design parameters for broadband absorption with minimum overall thickness. The measured results confirm that the proposed absorber operates from 0.78 to 4.8 GHz with -10 dB reflectivity. The design achieves 144% fractional-bandwidth with a 10.12 bandwidth-to-thickness ratio.

Ligands like alkanethiol (e.g. dodecanethiol, hexadecanethiol, etc.) and polymers (e.g. poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), polyethylene glycol-thiol) capped to the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are widely used in biomedical field as drug carriers and as promising materials for probing and manipulating cellular processes. Ligand functionalised AuNPs are known to interact with the pulmonary surfactant (PS) monolayer once reaching the alveolar region. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the interaction between AuNPs and PS monolayers. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, the effect of ligand density, and ligand length have been studied for two classes of ligands on a PS model monolayer consisting of DPPC, POPG, cholesterol and SP-B (mini-peptide). The ligands considered in this study are alkanethiol and polyethylene glycol (PEG) thiol as examples of hydrophobic and hydrophilic ligands, respectively. It was observed that the interaction between AuNPs and PS changes the biophysical properties of PS monolayer in compressed and expanded states. The AuNPs with hydrophilic ligand, can penetrate through the monolayer more easily, while the AuNPs with hydrophobic ligand are embedded in the monolayer and participated in deforming the monolayer structure particularly the monolayer in the compressed state. The bare AuNPs hinder to lower the monolayer surface tension value at the interface, however introducing ligand to the bare AuNPs or increasing the ligand length and density have an impact of lowering of monolayer surface tension to a minor extent. The simulation results guide the design of ligand protected NPs as drug carriers and can identify the nanoparticles' potential side effects on lung surfactant.

Adsorption mechanism of corticosteroid drug hydrocortisone in the lung surfactant monolayer.

INTRODUCTION We aimed to assess the effect of Colonoscopy Skills Improvement (CSI) training on patient comfort and sedation-related complications during colonoscopy. METHODS This retrospective cohort study was performed on 19 endoscopists practicing in a Canadian tertiary care center who completed CSI training between October 2014 and May 2016. Data from 50 procedures immediately prior to, immediately after, and eight months following CSI training were included for each endoscopist. The primary outcome variable was intraprocedural comfort, and secondary outcomes included intraprocedural hypotension and hypoxia. Data were extracted from an electronic medical record and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Univariate analysis and stepwise multivariable logistic regression were performed to determine if there was an association between patient comfort and CSI training. Predictors of these outcomes including patient age, gender, sedation use and dosing, procedure completion, quality of bowel preparation, endoscopist experience, and specialty were included in the analysis. RESULTS 2533 colonoscopies were included in the study. The mean dose of sedatives was reduced immediately following CSI training and at 8 months for both Fentanyl (75.4 mcg v. 67.8 mcg v. 65.9 mcg, p

Using phenomenological fitting, Sood’s semi-empirical formula have been investigated the rotational structure of even-even rare-earth 170,172Hf nuclei. The calculated rotational energies were compared with their corresponding experimental data. It showed that in 172Hf and 170Hf isotopes, calculated energies fits the experimental values to a remarkable degree of accuracy with deviation less than 3 percent at Jπ = 18+ state and Sood’s semi-empirical formula predicted rotational energies.

Background: Glycogen syntheis kinase (GSK-3) inhibitors are novel therapeutic agents for treating various types of cancer, such as breast, lung, and gastric cancer. No pathological changes have been found by the morphological examination of GSK-3. Objectives: This review describes recent procedures using GSK-3 inhibitors, primarily in treating colon carcinoma. Furthermore, it also explains the mechanism of action of different GSK-3 inhibitors in treating various types of cancers and proposes some additional mechanisms may be useful for further research on GSK-3 inhibitors for cancers, including colon carcinoma. Results: The majority of the cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions are stimulated by the transformation of membrane-bound arachidonic acid (AA) to eicosanoids, a transformation that promotes for the viability, proliferation, and spread of cancer. GSK-3 inhibitors can reinstate hostility to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) responsiveness in gastric adenocarcinoma cells. GSK-3, the final enzyme in glycogen synthesis, is a serine/threonine kinase that phosphorylates varied sequences that are more than a hundred in number, within proteins in an array of heterogeneous pathways. It is an essential module of an exceptionally large number of cellular processes, playing a fundamental role in many metabolic processes and diseases. Many patients diagnosed with colon cancer achieve long-term remission with outstanding survival through the GSK-3 inhibitors. Conclusion: Prior to the extensive application of these proposed mechanisms of GSK-3 inhibitor, further evaluation and clinical studies are needed. Only after the completion of appropriate clinical studies and morphological examinations, would extensive application be apprpriate.

In this report, the radiological survey of radioactivity measurements in soil and onion and their mobility is carried out which is very important in the environment and several scientific fields. The measurements about the concentrations of activity in soil, leaves and bulbs for onion in the location of Johor and Perak, Malaysia have been carried out using neutron activation analysis (NAA) of TRIGA MARK II research reactor facilities at Nuclear Agency, Bangi, Malaysia. The transfer factors (TFs) of 238U, 232Th and 40K from 6 different natural background soils are studied from soil to onion under natural field conditions. The TFs for onion leaves and bulb are in the range of (6.01-79.2) x 10-3, (1.21-61.4) x 10-3, (1.012-4.265) x 10-1 and 0.028-0.334, 0.017-0.293 and (0.908 -3.685) x10-1for 238U, 232Th, and 40K respectively. There exists a linearity correlation between the dose rate as well as activity concentration of the soils. The observed transfer factor of onion bulbs was usually higher than in leaves.

Stroke is not only the third leading cause of death in Bangladesh but it also causes a high number of disability adjusted life years loss (485 per 10,000 people). Appropriate treatment of recurrent stroke has to be established. Here we present A 60 year's old male patient with history of recurrent stroke who came in our out patient department. He had progressing bilateral middle cerebral artery atherosclerotic stenosis (100.0% on right side and 52.0% on left side) which was less severs but symptomatic at dominant hemisphere (left). Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting was done to prevent further ischemia and to increase the blood supply of remaining brain parenchyma. On post stenting follow-up patient did not suffered from any new event of stroke for about 22 months. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting is an effective procedure to prevent recurrent stroke for intracranial atherosclerotic disease.

Strengthening the early warning system to forecast extreme weather and provide action-oriented advisories may increase rice yield as well as enhance the income of the farmers through minimizing risks and losses, if proper use of the generated advisory is ensured. This study assessed the importance and impact of weather forecast based advisory service (WFBAS) in Bangladesh. Literature review and field experimental data were used in a sensitivity analysis to show the impact of WFBAS on rice production. Available literatures suggested that the weather based advisory service would enhance rice yield by around 6.7-10%, but the experimental findings revealed that yield advantage could be 21.48%. Besides, the adoption of this technology would reduce the cost of cultivation by 12%, whereas the aggregate impact would increase the farmers’ profit by 25%. In the sensitivity study, we considered the production and price of Aman and Boro seasons (actual and government procured prices for 2018-19) and assumed only 6.70% yield increase with 5% farmers adopting of WFBAS. As such, additional 0.172 million tons will be added to the national rough rice production and thus the nation will be benefited by 3143 million Bangladeshi taka (BDT) at the actual farmgate price and it would be 4478 million BDT at the government procured price. The return on one BDT investment in this technology would be 51-73 BDT based on actual and procured prices. The projection showed enhenced production of the rough rice at 0.119 million tons and 0.214 million tons by 2025 and 2030, on which the additional return would be BDT 2441 and BDT 5223 million at the projected actual farmgate price and BDT 3522 and BDT 6979 million at the projected Government procured price, respectively. Hence, the successful implementation of the WFBAS will help to develop resilient rice farming communities, minimize livelihood risk, reduce the cost of production, utilize resources efficienty, and enable the farmers to take maximum benefit from favorable weather conditions through improved agricultural extension services. Finally, the enhanced yield and loss reduction will help to achieve the target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by 2030 through sustaining rice production in Bangladesh under changing climate. Bangladesh Rice J. 25 (1) : 51-74, 2021

The binary adsorption of CO2 and water on an amine-functionalized UiO-66 metal-organic framework (MOF) was studied experimentally and computationally. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate three additional UiO-66 MOFs with different functionalized linkers. Each MOF was studied in a defect-free form as well as two additional forms with precise linker defects. Binary adsorption isotherms are presented for CO2 at specific water loadings. While water loading in defect-free MOFs reduces the CO2 uptake, the defects slightly boost the CO2 uptake at low water loadings. It was found that water bridges form between the metal oxide cores, replacing the missing linkers. Effectively, this creates smaller pores that are more welcoming of CO2 adsorption. Experimental measurement of the binary isotherms for UiO-66-NH2 shows a behavior that is consistent with this enhancement.

Small-scale commercial rollouts of Cellular-IoT (C-IoT) networks have started globally since last year. However, among the plethora of low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies, the cost-effectiveness of C-IoT is not certain for IoT service providers, small and greenfield operators. Today, there is no known public framework for the feasibility analysis of IoT communication technologies. Hence, this paper first presents a generic framework to assess the cost structure of cellular and non-cellular LPWAN technologies. Then, we applied the framework in eight deployment scenarios to analyze the prospect of LPWAN technologies like Sigfox, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, LTE-M, and EC-GSM. We consider the inter-technology interference impact on LoRaWAN and Sigfox scalability. Our results validate that a large rollout with a single technology is not cost-efficient. Also, our analysis suggests the rollout possibility of an IoT communication Technology may not be linear to cost-efficiency.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global pandemic that initially started in Wuhan, China, and spread exponentially across the globe infecting human being irrespective of age, sex and ethnicity. Given the nature of this virus, there is much still to be learned. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms (e.g., common cold) to more severe diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multi-organ failure, and even death. Comorbidity is an important factor in COVID-19 pandemic outcome often leading to rapid and severe progression of the disease process, even death. Objective: This study was carried out to see the socio-demographic characteristics and presenting features of COVID-19 disease as well as to assess impact of comorbidities on its hospital outcome. Methods: This observational study was carried out in the COVID-19 dedicated hospital of Faridpur from April 2020 to September 2020 for a period of 06 month. All clinically suspected patients confirmed by RT PCR were included as cases. Data were collected by detailed history from patients then those were checked, verified for consistency and edited for result. After editing and coding, the coded data were analyzed by using the SPSS\PC software package. Results: A total of 627 patients were included in the study of which 552 were treated in COVID ward and 75 patients were treated in ICU. Among COVID ward admitted (552) patients 354 (64.13%) were male and 198 (35.86%) were female with a male to female ratio of 1:0.56; young adult patients (19 to 50 years) were more affected and admitted (62.86%) and people living in urban area were more affected (52.71%) than rural area (47.28%). Fever, cough and shortness of breath (63.04%, 45.47% and 42.39% respectively) were predominant symptoms. Regarding comorbidities, 44.20% patients have one or more comorbidities whereas 55.79% patients have no comorbidity. Hypertension (17.57%) was the predominant comorbid condition followed by Diabetes (15.94%), ischemic heart disease (05.61%), COAD (05.61%), CKD (2.3%), Stroke (1.44%), Heart failure (0.54%) and Cancer (0.36%). A total of 75 patients needed ICU support; most of them were elderly patients (64 out of 75). Regarding hospital outcome, 96.74% (534 out of 552) COVID ward patients and 45.34% (34 out of 75) of ICU admitted patients discharged uneventfully whereas 03.2% COVID ward patients and 54.66%of ICU admitted patients expired. Deaths were more in elderly patients (n=43; 72.88%). Common comorbidities found among the patients who expired were Hypertension, Diabetes and Ischemic heart diseases (42.37%, 37.28% and 16.94% respectively). Conclusion: The predominant number of patients presented with fever, cough and shortness of breath in our setting. The percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations resulting in death remains high among elderly patients and those with one or more comorbid conditions. Therefore, elderly patients and those with comorbidities should take all necessary precautions to avoid getting infected with SARS CoV-2.

The separation of xenon and krypton from their mixtures has been an enduring and complex venture due to their similar sizes and unreactive nature. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown the pot...

The present study was undertaken to evaluate how much water could be saved by using alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation. The experiments were carried out under the deficit irrigation conditions in a sandy loam with pH 6.57 during Rabi season. Potato of Rojagold variety was used. Randomized complete block in a split design was used in this experiment. M1: Alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation (AWDFI) and M2: Traditional furrow irrigation (TFI) were used. The plot size was 760 ft2 with 5ft×5ft per plot. Planting was done furrow to furrow center distance of 60cm. The depth of furrow was 10-15 cm, plant to plant spacing was 25cm. The effect of irrigation levels showed that the level I1 (100% field capacity) produced significantly higher crop growth rate compared to the lower level of irrigation I2 (80% FC) and I3 (60% FC). The yield results indicated that when less amount of irrigation water was applied, AWDFI (M1) had insignificantly reduced yield. AWDFI could maintain approximately similar grain yield compared to TFI with almost 50% reduction in irrigation water. However considering the overall performance alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation was found effective water saving technologies than traditional furrow irrigation.

The transient disruption of membranes for the passive permeation of ions or small molecules is a complex process relevant to understanding physiological processes and biotechnology applications. Phenolic compounds are widely studied for their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, and some of these activities are based on the interactions of the phenolic compound with membranes. Ions are ubiquitous in cells and are known to alter the structure of phospholipid bilayers. Yet, ion-lipid interactions are usually ignored when studying the membrane-altering properties of phenolic compounds. This study aims to assess the role of Ca2+ ions on the membrane-disrupting activity of two phenolic acids and to highlight the role of local changes in lipid packing in forming transient defects or pores. Results from tethered bilayer lipid membrane electrical impedance spectroscopy experiments showed that Ca2+ significantly reduces membrane disruption by caffeic acid methyl ester and caffeic acid. As phenolic acids are known metal chelators, we used UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy to exclude the possibility that Ca2+ interferes with membrane disruption by binding to the phenolic compound and subsequently preventing membrane binding. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that Ca2+ but not caffeic acid methyl ester or caffeic acid increases lipid packing in POPC bilayers. The combined data confirm that Ca2+ reduces the membrane-disrupting activity of the phenolic compounds, and that Ca2+-induced changes to lipid packing govern this effect. We discuss our data in the context of ion-induced pores and transient defects and how lipid packing affects membrane disruption by small molecules.

This cross sectional, descriptive study was conducted at Paediatrics department of BSMMU from July 2016 to June 2018 to find out histopathological pattern of Coeliac disease according to Modified Marsh criteria and to correlate it with tissue transglutaminase IgA level. A total of 62 children (age18 years) attending the Paediatrics department of BSMMU with clinical suspicion of celiac disease were enrolled for the study. Mean age of studied children was 7.87±4.67 years. Ratio of the male and female was 2.27:1. Maximum (66.1%) children came from middle income class family. Out of 62 children, 35.5% (22) were positive for IgA anti-tTG of who female were 11.3% and male 24.2%. Mean duration of symptoms was 44.07±21.77 months in serology positive patients and 34.49±30.52 months in serology negative patients. The age group, 10-14 year showed the highest (50.0%) prevalence of positive anti-tTG. In the tTG positive group mean Hb was 9.6±1.14gm/dl and which is lower than that in tTG negative group (11.7±1.47gm/dl). Among 22 sero-positive patients, histological changes compatible with CD were found in 19 (86.3%) cases and normal in 3 cases. Histological changes were of 3a category of Marsh was found in 12(63.2%) cases, 3b in 4(21.1%) cases and 3c in 3(15.8%) cases. Strong correlation was observed between the serological level of tTGA and histological types of CD by Modified Marsh criteria. In conclusion, screening for celiac disease may be included in diagnostic tests to investigate clinically suspected children and serum tTGA level can be used to predict histopathological severity of coeliac disease.

This study aims to understand the role of specific phenolic–lipid interactions in the membrane-altering properties of phenolic compounds. We combine tethered lipid bilayer (tBLM) electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the membrane interactions of six phenolic compounds: caffeic acid methyl ester, caffeic acid, 3,4 dihydroxybenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid and p-coumaric acid. tBLM/EIS experiments showed that caffeic acid methyl ester, caffeic acid and 3,4 dihydroxybenzoic acid significantly increase the permeability of phospholipid bilayers to Na+ ions. In contrast, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid and p-coumaric acid showed no effect. Experiments with lipids lacking the phosphate group show a significant decrease in the membrane-altering effects indicating that specific phenolic–lipid interactions are critical in altering ion permeability. MD simulations confirm that compounds that alter ion permeability form stable interactions with the phosphate oxygen. In contrast, inactive phenolic compounds are superficially bound to the membrane surface and primarily interact with interfacial water. Our combined results show that compounds with similar structures can have very different effects on ion permeability in membranes. These effects are governed by specific interactions at the water–lipid interface and show no correlation with lipophilicity. Furthermore, none of the compounds alter the overall structure of the phospholipid bilayer as determined by area per lipid and order parameters. Based on data from this study and previous findings, we propose that phenolic compounds can alter membrane ion permeability by causing local changes in lipid packing that subsequently reduce the energy barrier for ion-induced pores.

The experiment was conducted at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture research field, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during July-November 2015. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of manures (tobacco dust and sugarcane pressmud) and recommended doses of fertilizers on the soil health status and yield of summer rice. Rice cv. BINA Dhan-4 was grown under six combinations of fertilizers and manures such as i. Check, ii. Recommended Fertilizer Dose (RFD), iii. 75% RFD + one-ton pressmud (PM), iv. 75% RFD + two-tons PM, v. 75% RFD + one-ton tobacco dust (TD), and vi. 75% of RFD + two-tons TD. These treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results demonstrated that 75% RFD plus two-tons TD produced the highest yield and fetched the highest profit. The betterment of yield in this treatment might be attributed to the superior uptake of N, P, K, and S from the soil. Consequently, improved the status of organic matter, total N, available P and S, and exchangeable K status in the experimental soils. Hence, results confirmed that integrating two tons of tobacco dust with 75% of the recommended fertilizer rate is beneficial to obtain the maximum profit from rice cultivation, thereby improving soil health.

An accurate equivalent circuit (EC) design approach for wideband nonmagnetic absorbers operating at the low microwave frequency (1–10 GHz) is presented. Following the impedance matching approach, this communication introduces an EC model based on the simulated data and synthetic asymptotes for single- and double-layer frequency-selective surface (FSS)-based nonmagnetic absorbers. Two simple and commonly used resistive FSSs, i.e., square patch and single square loop, are considered in this communication. Compared to the full-wave simulations, the proposed EC model shows more than 95% accuracy. By employing the proposed model and genetic algorithm-based optimization, several designs of broadband absorbers are demonstrated. The presented single- and double-layer FSSs show 126% and 161% fractional bandwidth, respectively, with the total thickness close to the Rozanov limit. The results confirm that the proposed method is a simple and efficient way of designing thin wideband absorbers using single- or double-layer FSS configurations.

A technique to measure the complex permittivity and permeability using two different types of calibration is presented in this article. The technique is based on a classical transmission-line analysis, implemented on a strip-line structure. A new calibration technique, namely object-reflect-line (ORL), is proposed to meet the challenge of an extremely low reflection line for accurate measurement. In the proposed calibration, the thru standard of conventional thru-reflect-line (TRL) is replaced by a standard with a known object. Since the ORL calibration uses only a single device, it reduces the fabrication cost, the measurement complexity, and the potential error in the thru measurement needed in the TRL method, which uses an additional device. The analysis is extended with consideration of the impact on material loss in measurement accuracy. The simulated and measured results with a variety of nonmagnetic and magnetic materials demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method over broadband microwave frequencies.

In the present paper, we study a Newton-like method for solving the variational inclusion defined by the sums of a Frechet differentiable function, divided difference admissible function and a set-valued mapping with closed graph. Under some suitable assumptions on the Frechet derivative of the differentiable function and divided difference admissible function, we establish the existence of any sequence generated by the Newton-like method and prove that the sequence generated by this method converges linearly and superlinearly to a solution of the variational inclusion. Specifically, when the Frechet derivative of the differentiable function is continuous, Lipschitz continuous, divided difference admissible function admits first order divided di_erence and the setvalued mapping is pseudo-Lipschitz continuous, we show the linear and superlinear convergence of the method. GANIT J. Bangladesh Math. Soc.Vol. 40 (2020) 43-53

Genetic variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have been globally surging and devastating many countries around the world. There are at least eleven reported variants dedicated with inevitably catastrophic consequences. In 2021, the most dominant Delta and Omicron variants were estimated to lead to more severity and deaths than other variants. Furthermore, these variants have some contagious characteristics involving high transmissibility, more severe illness, and an increased mortality rate. All outbreaks caused by the Delta variant have been rapidly skyrocketing in infection cases in communities despite tough restrictions in 2021. Apart from it, the United States, the United Kingdom and other high-rate vaccination rollout countries are still wrestling with this trend because the Delta variant can result in a significant number of breakthrough infections. However, the pandemic has changed since the latest SARS-CoV-2 variant in late 2021 in South Africa, Omicron. The preliminary data suggest that the Omicron variant possesses 100-fold greater than the Delta variant in transmissibility. Therefore, this paper aims to review these characteristics based on the available meta-data and information from the first emergence to recent days. Australia and the five most affected countries, including the United States, India, Brazil, France, as well as the United Kingdom, are selected in order to review the transmissibility, severity and fatality due to Delta and Omicron variants. Finally, the vaccination programs for each country are also reviewed as the main factor in prevention.

The study was aimed to assess the psychological aspects and relevant factors of the health-care workers (HCWs) working in COVID 19 pandemic condition in Bangladesh. This online cross-sectional survey was conducted from different tertiary, secondary and primary hospitals in Bangladesh. Eligible 638 HCWs who were directly involved in the caring of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were recruited in this study. The mental health was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnare-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). High frequency of depression 536(84.0%), anxiety 386(60.5%) and insomnia 302(47.3%) was found among the HCWs, which were significantly higher in physicians (p0.001) than nurses. Moderate to severe depression was significantly higher in female, whereas minimal to mild depression was significant in male HCWs (p=0.014). Symptoms of depression (p0.001), anxiety (p0.001) and insomnia (p=0.004) were significantly higher among the HCWs of primary and secondary compared to the tertiary level. The HCWs developed psychological trauma due to family health (45.3%) and contagious disease property (66.6%). After adjusting confounders, multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that physicians and HCWs of secondary hospital had significant symptoms of severe depression (OR=2.95, 95% CI=0.50-17.24; p0.001), anxiety (OR=2.64, 95% CI=0.80-8.72; p0.001) and insomnia (OR=2.67, 95% CI=1.23-5.84; p=0.018); whereas female HCWs had more risk of developing symptoms of severe insomnia (OR= 1.84; 95% CI=1.23-2.75; p=0.003). High rate of depression, anxiety and insomnia was found among HCWs working in the COVID-19 pandemic condition in this survey.