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Background: Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is the preferred term for the condition that was previously referred to as premature menopause or premature ovarian failure. The condition differs from menopause in that there are varying and residual ovarian functions. This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of infertile women with premature ovarian insufficiency. Material & Methods: This prospective study was conducted at the OPD of Impulse Fertility Center, Impulse Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study was conducted for a period from January 2022 to December 2022. A total of 23 patients who received outdoor treatment during the study period were purposively selected as sample size. A purposive sampling technique was followed in this study. After approval by the Ethics committee of the Hospital, informed consent from the respondents was obtained after explaining the purpose of the study to them. To be included in the study, respondents should have met the classical definition of infertility defined by the WHO as the inability of a sexually active non-contraceptive using woman to have a live birth after 12 or more months of regular sexual intercourse without a malefactor. Women who had male-factor infertility were excluded. In this study live birth was used as a measure of proven fertility (Because couples desire children, not simply pregnancies, infertility affects couples regardless of whether the etiology lies in conception or the progression of the pregnancy). All the necessary laboratory investigations were done. A questionnaire was developed and data were collected by interviewing the patients and some data were collected from the laboratory results. Data were processed and analyzed by SPSS 19 version. Results: All patients had normal puberty, and menarche occurred at ages 11–15, followed by a regular menstrual cycle. Women who presented with oligomenorrhea were younger than patients with infertility. The mean period of oligomenorrhea before diagnosis was 0.9 years in the oligomenorrhea group and 1.8 years in the infertility group. The mean age when the infrequent periods started was 28 years in the group with oligomenorrhea and 29 years in the group with infertility, and their anthropometric characteristics were not different. In most patients, the FSH levels on day 3 of their menstrual cycle were less than 25 mU/ml. FSH levels >25 mU/ml were confirmed in two patients with oligomenorrhea and five patients in the infertility group. AMH levels were low than 1.0 ng/ml (considered to be in poor ovarian reserve ranges: from 0.13 to 1.0 ng/ml in patients with oligomenorrhea and from 0.13 to 0.9 ng/ml in the infertility group. Transvaginal ultrasound-determined AFC on menstrual cycle days 4–8 was accessed in all patients. We consider AFC

This prospective observational comparative study was conducted in department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OBGyn) of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital (ShSMCH), Dhaka. It was carried out from April 2019 to September 2019. The objectives was to compare the feto-maternal outcome of postdated pregnancy (40+1- 41+6 weeks) with pregnancy at term(37-40 weeks). Pregnant women admitted in ShSMCH with or without labour pain were considered as study population. Following ethical clearance from the local ethical committee and written informed consent, 59 cases of post-dated pregnancy (case) and 59 cases of term pregnancy (control) were included inthis study. Cases and control were selected by random sampling method according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria were: 1) Patients who have excellent EDD(dated by early ultrasonogram) , 2) Patients having regular menstrual cycle prior to present pregnancy and can remember exact LMP, 3) Postdated pregnancy as case and pregnancy at term as control. Exclusion criteria were: 1) Patients with eclampsia, systemic hypertension, heart disease, diabetes mellitus and renal disease, 2) Patients with multiple gestation and any congenital anomaly, 3) Pregnancy occurred during lactational amenorrhoea, 4) Pregnancy with veneral disease, 5) pregnancy with blood group incompatibility. Data were collected with a pre-designed structured questionnaire. A full assessment were done by history[age, occupation, menstrual and obstetric history, medical, surgical and family history, antenatal care(ANC)], physical examination (general, abdominal and vaginal) and ultrasonogram (USG) to assess gestational age and liquor volume. After proper counselling, induction of labour given to patients without labour pain and fetal distress. Mode of delivery, post-delivery maternal and fetal outcome and complication were recorded.This study showed that maximum number of patients in term pregnancy (control) belonged to age group (21-30 years) [control 71.2%, case 62.7%] and in post-dated pregnancy (case) belonged to >30 years [control 15.5%, case 23.7%]. In both groups, maximum number of women were housewives, control 48(81.4%), case 46(78%) and service-holder 11(18.6%) in control, 13 (22%) in case. In control group 36 (61%) were primi-gravida and 23 (39%) were multi-gravida. In case group 29(49.2%) were primi-gravida, 30(50.8%) multi-gravida. Family history of post-dated pregnancy were present in 14(23.7%) of control group and 13(22%) of case group. Most of the women of both control (93.2%) and case (89.8%) received regular ANC. Large fetus were seen in 6(10.2%) of control and 9(15.3%) of case group. Vertex was common presenting feature in both control (94.9%) and case (88.1%). Liquor volume was adequate in maximum number of women of both control (69.5%) and case (62.7%) group. Uterine irritability was present in 16(27.1%) of control and 17 (28.8%) of case group. Associated complication, such as CPD and elderly primi were present in 10 (16.9%) of control and 9 (15.3%) of case group. Induction of labour was required in 33(55.9%)of control and 41 (69.5%) of case group. Normal vaginal delivery was achieved in 41 (69.5%) of control and in 33 (55.9%) of case group women. LSCS required in 18 (30.5%) of control and 25 (42.4%) of case group women. Cause of LSCS is fetal distressin (54.5%) of control and (42.4%) of case group. Post-operative complication were more in case (16.9%), versus (3.4%) in control. Fetal complication were more in case group (22%), versus control (6.8%) regarding birth asphyxia, RDS, neonatal jaundice, neonatal septicemia, meconium aspiration syndrome, macrosomia and neonatal death. So this study showed that maternal and fetal perinatal morbidiy were quite high in post-dated pregnancy. There is scope for further improvement of clinical care practices of post-dated pregnant womenwith acceptable maternal and fetal outcome. J Shaheed Suhrawardy Med Coll 2021; 13(2): 130-136

Introduction A modernized and relevant medical curriculum is the backbone of an effective medical education. A healthy and efficient medical academic environment is crucial for effective implementation of any medical curriculum. This study was performed with the aims and objectives of determining medical students’ perception of ongoing medical curriculum, teaching and learning methodologies and academic resources. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive analytical study was conducted with a self-administered questionnaire to determine the perception of medical students about current medical curriculum, teaching-assessment methodology and learning academic environment. A total of n= 268 medical students from 4 different medical colleges participated in the study. The questionnaire consisted of 5 questions. The first two questions (Q1 and Q2) addressed students’ views ongoing medical curriculum and each were Likert type on a 1 to 5 scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree). There were 6 items under Q1 and 4 items under Q2. Views were recorded on Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 (No idea to strongly agreed). The third question was on preference for duration of lecture class. The last two questions (Q4 and Q5) were multiple- response-test-based questions for determining the preferred responses on factors affecting medical exam results/scores and medical curriculum contents. Results: The majority of the students for the Q1, poorly rated the first item labeled as,” your own college standard is at par with international standard” with a mean ±SD of 2.9±.97 and the third item as,” Current teaching practices is sufficient to prepare for international exams (USMLE, PLAB)” with a mean ±SD of 2.7±0.83. Most of the students under Q2 predominantly chose the statement “agree” or “disagree” and the item score mean ±SD is ≥ 4.5±0.5 for each of the four items. Regarding major preference of lecture duration, 126 (47.0%) opined for 45 minutes followed by 107 (39.9%) for 60 minutes and 35(13.1%) for 30 minutes lecture. For Q4, the multiple response test, the majority of the responses (31.4%) was for betterment of lectures and for more practical classes (30.3%). To the Q5 multiple response test, the majority of responses (18.3%) was for increased motivation, 16.3% for provision of well-equipped library and laboratories as well as 16.1% for increased hands-on-skill training. There was also statistically significant difference between the public and private medical colleges on opinion regarding the factors, “decreased student teacher ratio” (31.7% vs 18.7%) with a χ 2 = 10.08, d =1 and p=0.001& for factor, “research training in curriculum” (29.5% vs 19.8%) with χ 2 =4.40, df=1 and p=0.03. Conclusion: This study has elicited the perception of medical students on various issues related to curriculum, and academic environment and resources and methods reflecting the areas that needs to be addressed for improvement. It is imperative that every country focus on building and implementing curriculum and exam system that amplifies professional competence and social values, expands setting for efficacious and sustainable medical education programs, trains the medical teachers as educators and encourages life-long self-learning practices. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.13(2) July 2022: 13-25

Quality of public health care services is a necessary step in the process of improving health care services. It plays an important role for preventing the overuse, underuse and misuse of health care services and ensuring patient safety. Thus, the study aims to investigate the determinants of satisfactory public health care services in rural Bangladesh. Data are collected from 150 respondents of six upazilas in Khulna and Bagerhat districts who spend at least one day in the upazila health complex for receiving treatment. Quantitative analysis is performed through factor analysis and ordered logistic regression. This study demonstrates that almost three-fourth of the respondents visit hospitals at least 3-4 times in a year, also exerts that almost 70% of the respondents earn/month on an average between BDT 5,001-10,000, whereas nearly 40% of the respondents are compelled to spend almost about BDT 2,001-4,000 for availing medical facilities. Ordered logistic regression demonstrates that, educational status of the respondents, financial & physical access to care and health personnel conduct have positively associated with the respondent level of satisfaction on health care services rendered by public health complexes. Therefore, it is vital to improve the related facilities to increase the satisfaction level. Thus, authors suggest improving the overall structure of rural health complex, ensure availability of essential drugs, increase the financial support to government or initiate community-based health insurance to reduce the out of pocket health expenditure to increase the patient satisfaction level.

Abiotic stresses induce ill effects on crop growth and development. Soil salinity is the major abiotic stress in agriculture globally since it affects almost all plant functions. Silicon (Si) plays a great role in alleviating salinity stress. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted at the net house of Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh during Rabi (dry) season 2019 to evaluate the effect of Si in improving rice growth under salt stress condition. The experiment was laid out in two factor randomized complete block design replicated thrice. The first factor was salinity concentration having two levels: 0 and 6 dS/m salinity and the second factor were four levels of Si: 0, 2, 4 and 8 milimolar. The sources of salt and Si were NaCl and silicic acid, respectively. Salinity stress had significant impact on growth parameters of rice. Results revealed that salinity reduced the plant height, number of tillers, and fresh weight of shoot and root by about 17%, 28%, 39% and 54%, respectively. At both 0 and 6dS/m salinity condition; application of Si at 2, 4 and 8 mM progressively improved all the growth parameters over Si control. Application of Si at 8 mM silicon had the highest performance with respect to improvement in growth and development of rice. Therefore, application of Si should be recommended in rice cultivation both in non-saline as well as saline condition to alleviate the ill impact of salt stress. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2021; 19(4.000): 429-436]

Patch prioritization ranks candidate patches based on their likelihood of being correct. The fixing ingredients that are more likely to be the fix for a bug, share a high contextual similarity. A recent study shows that combining both syntactic and semantic similarity for capturing the contextual similarity, can do better in prioritizing patches. In this study, we evaluate the impact of combining the syntactic and semantic features on patch prioritization using the Insertion mutation operators. This study inspects the result of different combinations of syntactic and semantic features on patch prioritization. As a pilot study, the approach uses genealogical similarity to measure the semantic similarity and normalized longest common subsequence, normalized edit distance, cosine similarity, and Jaccard similarity index to capture the syntactic similarity. It also considers Anti-Pattern to filter out the incorrect plausible patches. The combination of both syntactic and semantic similarity can reduce the search space to a great extent. Also, the approach generates fixes for the bugs before the incorrect plausible one. We evaluate the techniques on the IntroClassJava benchmark using Insertion mutation operators and successfully generate fixes for 6 bugs before the incorrect plausible one. So, considering the previous study, the approach of combining syntactic and semantic similarity can able to solve a total number of 25 bugs from the benchmark, and to the best of our knowledge, it is the highest number of bugs solved than any other approach. The correctness of the generated fixes are further checked using the publicly available results of CapGen and thus for the generated fixes, the approach achieves a precision of 100%

Incubating innovative enterprises has become a key success factor for the progress of emerging economies. A systematic outlook of how incubators are established, funded and what determines their tenant firm’s success has become the need of the hour. This study examines the service portfolio of incubators and assesses the role of government policies in supporting the incubation of innovative enterprises. Employing a purposive sampling technique, 50 incubators and 50 start-up firms in South India are chosen, and smart PLS 3.2.9 is used to validate the proposed GIIE model (Government Incubating Innovative Enterprises). Parameters such as incubator’s criteria for selecting tenants, factors affecting a firm’s affiliation decision, government schemes for incubators and SERVQUAL of incubators are studies that corroborate the developments across emerging economies such as the National Innovation System in Taiwan, customized incubation arrangements in Brazil and so on. The study concludes that business incubators are enablers of enterprise building, trustees of policy grants and facilitators of incubation services. An Incubator Benchmark Assessment Toolkit is recommended through this study to grant funds only to those incubators that meet the benchmark criteria and provide not only capital and infrastructural support but also mentoring assistance, which was found to be lacking as reported by the study’s tenant firms. The study implies strategic coupling of policy support in incubating innovative enterprises for achieving self-reliance.

Almandine is an iron-aluminium garnet and the deep red transparent stones are often called precious garnet and are used as gemstones. The aim of the research is to study the trace element concentrations. ICP-MS is used to analyze the trace elements. The study found that Y, Zn, Sc, Cr, V, Zr and Co are present comparatively in higher concentrations.

Almandine Garnet is purplish red in colour. The mineral samples are collected from Vemireddipalle area, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. Dataset/points are examined using EPMA. It is found that P2O5 (29.34%) and Ce2O3 (22.47%) are abundant and the major oxides support the presence of Monazite inclusion. The high concentration of ZrO2 and SiO2 helped to confirm the other inclusion as Zircon.

Liking and Disliking towards a subject is a common feature among the high school students. Some students feel easy about some subjects and tough about some other. The response was taken from 2743 students, studying 8th to 10th classes (Rural: 869 and Urban: 1874) in Government High schools of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. The study found that High percent of rural students are Poor in almost all the subjects, except Natural Science compared to the urban students. In both cases, Telugu subject is easy for them. High percent of rural students disliking all the subjects compared to the urban.

Fears and phobias are common in the student community. The present study was observed some of the specific phobias- Exam phobia, Acrophobia, Hemophobia, Achluophobia, Hodophobia, Zoophobia and Oneirophobia in engineering students with reference to gender. A total of 460 students studying in four Engineering colleges, located in Guntur and Prakasam districts was selected, out of which 294 are male and 166 are female. The study found that all the examined phobias were high in female students, particularly, Exam (50.60%) and Zoophobia (39.16%) are very high in female and compared to male (42.52% and 13.27%).

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms are on the tremendous rise for being incorporated into the field of neurosurgery. AI and ML algorithms are different from other technological advances as giving the capability for the computer to learn, reason, and problem-solving skills that a human inherits. This review summarizes the current use of AI in neurosurgery, the challenges that need to be addressed, and what the future holds. Methods: A literature review was carried out with a focus on the use of AI in the field of neurosurgery and its future implication in neurosurgical research. Results: The online literature on the use of AI in the field of neurosurgery shows the diversity of topics in terms of its current and future implications. The main areas that are being studied are diagnostic, outcomes, and treatment models. Conclusion: Wonders of AI in the field of medicine and neurosurgery hold true, yet there are a lot of challenges that need to be addressed before its implications can be seen in the field of neurosurgery from patient privacy, to access to high-quality data and overreliance on surgeons on AI. The future of AI in neurosurgery is pointed toward a patient-centric approach, managing clinical tasks, and helping in diagnosing and preoperative assessment of the patients.

Health problems are common among male and female students. The present study was aimed to examine the seasonal, allergy, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and other health problems among the Arts and Science students of Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. The study found that a high percent of Science students have health problems compared to Arts students. 13.71 % of Science students have seasonal health problems, 5.65% have allergy, 6.05 % have IBS and 9.27% have other than these problems. In the case of Arts students the percentages are 3.75, 1.50, 1.22 and 1.50 respectively. It is also observed that seasonal problems are high among the university students compared to remaining problems. The study concluded that the health problems are high in female than male students.

Zoophobia is one type of specific phobia. It is a fear of animals. The present study was carried out to know the degree of Zoophobia among 8th to 10th Government high school students. The response was taken from 2743 students (Male: 1589 Female: 1154). The study found that 20.57% of male students expressed the phobia and it is 32.84% in the case of female. Comparatively, high percentage of female students have Zoophobia than male. Some of the useful treatment methods are Homeopathy, Exposure based therapy, Cognitive therapy and Relaxation techniques.

Phobias are common in human life. Exam phobia is the most common phobia among the school students. The present study was carried out to know the level of the exam phobia among 8th to 10th Government high school students in. The response was taken from 2981 students (Male: 1589. Female: 1392). The study found that out of the total male students, 38.45% students expressed the phobia. In the case of female it is 45.26. Researchers reported that phobia of examination affects the academic performance of the students in the examination and they could not perform according to their knowledge due to a phobia of examination as they forget the answers to some questions during examination due to nervousness and a phobia of examination. Homeopathy, Exposure based therapy, Cognitive therapy and Relaxation techniques are some of the useful treatment methods. The authors suggested to follow the exam preparation tips to reduce exam phobia.

Life without a goal is no life at all. At the school level goal set by the students may be based on assumptions but not on reality. Normally, students studying in Government schools have a poor financial background. Once set a goal without having matured and considering the facts it leads to depression in the future. So, the present study was chosen to observe the career goal preference of 9th class students studying in government schools. 10 Zilla Parishadh High schools from the Guntur Rural area and seven Guntur Municipal Corporation schools were selected for the study. A total of 1165, 9th class students from rural (594) and urban (571) schools was participated and given their response. Statistical analysis was carried out to compare the goal differences between rural and urban students. From the study significant difference is noticed between rural and urban school students in relation to doctor and police. High percent of students from rural schools preferred doctor profession compared to urban and more urban students chosen police compared to rural. The teachers and parents are to assess the appropriateness of the set goal by considering the students strengths and weaknesses and their family background. If necessary, they have to guide the students to change their goal.

Aquamarine gemstone is one of the Beryl mineral varieties with Beryllium aluminium silicate composition. Its bluish green color caused from Fe2+ions puts it as a special variety. It is used in jewellery and has some industrial applications. This beautiful gemstone is reported from few countries only, namely India, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States, Mexico and Vietnam. The present study collected its occurrences from various parts of the world and studied the variation of oxides analyzed from Aquamarine. It is observed that SiO2 ranges from 64.99% to 72.48%, Al2O3:11.63% to 19.91%; BeO: 12.9% to 13.79%; FeO: 0.11% to 5.03%; CaO:0.01 %to 0.83%;MgO:0.00% to 1.93%; Na2O:0.10% to 3.53%; K2O:nearly zero to 3.31% and MnO:0.00% to 0.06%.

During 1980s the strategic relevance of brand positioning was recognized and service organisations are now identifying their key market segments and determining how they wish consumers to perceive their company and its products/services. Positioning is of particular significance for services as it places an intangible service within a more tangible frame of reference. This chapter examines and compares the brand positioning practices in services sector with reference to banks. It proposes a model for positioning of brands in services sector. The findings are based on an exploratory study; empirical data is collected from customer respondents (1800) and marketing executives of the banks. Six banks are studied, two each from public, private sectors and foreign banks. The study would help banks to acquire, retain and satisfy their customers by positioning their brand as it suggests a model that concentrates on internal and external facilitators, sources of growth, designing the service offer and differentiating it from competitors and delivering the service successfully.

University campuses, just like small towns, and the activities in the campus have direct and indirect impacts on the campus environment. Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) is located between Guntur (13 km) and Vijayawada (21 km) cities. The campus is spread parallel to the National Highway 5 (NH-5) for a length of 1.7 km. The present study was aimed at environmental management of ANU campus by managing various types of waste, i.e., liquid, solid and e-waste. Area map was prepared using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The campus was divided into five sectors, i.e., S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 and the relevant issues were recorded. The study found that there is a major threat from the vehicular pollution to the campus community. Water scarcity prevailed in the campus. There is a dire need to manage the liquid, solid and e-waste generating from the various sections of the university. Hence, this study was suggested a suitable and practicable measures for the sustainable management of the campus.

Despite Bangladesh's notable progress toward the eradication of open defecation, the country still faces severe deficits in the availability of improved sanitation. This paper analyzes the impact of exposure to unimproved sanitation early in childhood on primary school enrollment status, using pseudo-panel data for children ages six to nine years in Bangladesh. The results indicate that unimproved sanitation has a negative and significant impact on primary school enrollment. A child's early exposure to unimproved sanitation decreases the likelihood of being enrolled in primary school by eight to ten percentage points on average compared with a child with access to improved sanitation. The effect is particularly strong -- a difference of 8 to 10 percentage points -- for children ages six to seven. It is also strong in rural areas. The results are statistically robust to errors due to potential omitted variable bias.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions are increasingly recognized as essential for improving nutritional outcomes in children. Emerging literature describes the negative effects of poor sanitation on child growth. However, limited evidence has shown a link between water quality and nutritional outcomes. Similar to poor sanitation, it is plausible that water contaminated with E. coli could affect the nutritional status of children through various possible biological pathways, such as repeated episodes of diarrhea, environmental enteropathy, parasites, or other mechanisms that inhibit nutrient uptake and absorption. This study explores the relationship between contaminated water and stunting prevalence among children younger than age five years, using unique cross-sectional data from the 2012–13 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, which was one of the first nationally representative surveys to include water quality testing for E. coli. E. coli contamination in drinking water is measured at household and source points. Stunting is measured using height-for-age z-scores for children under five, where a child is considered stunted when he or she is two or more standard deviations below the median of the World Health Organization reference population. The results of multiple probit regression models indicate a 6 percent increase in the prevalence of stunting in children who are exposed to highly contaminated drinking water at household point compared with those exposed to low-to-medium contamination. When contamination is measured at the source level, the association is greater, with a 9 percent increase in the likelihood of stunting when exposed to a high level of contamination.

Despite Bangladesh's notable progress toward the eradication of open defecation, the country still faces severe deficits in the availability of improved sanitation. This paper analyzes the impact of exposure to unimproved sanitation early in childhood on primary school enrollment status, using pseudo-panel data for children ages six to nine years in Bangladesh. The results indicate that unimproved sanitation has a negative and significant impact on primary school enrollment. A child's early exposure to unimproved sanitation decreases the likelihood of being enrolled in primary school by eight to ten percentage points on average compared with a child with access to improved sanitation. The effect is particularly strong -- a difference of 8 to 10 percentage points -- for children ages six to seven. It is also strong in rural areas. The results are statistically robust to errors due to potential omitted variable bias.

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the growth performance of carp polyculture system supplemented with different levels of supplementary feed. To undertake this investigation, two earthen ponds were stocked with 25% Labeo rohita, 25% Catla catla, 20% Labeo calbasu, 20% Ctenopharyngodon idella and 10% Hypopthalmichthys molitrix with a total stocking density of 10000/ha. The net fish production was found to be 2,166 and 3,874 kg/ha/yr in pond-01 and pond-02, respectively. The total cost of fish farming of pond-01 and pond-02 were 64,268 BDT and 88,568 BDT per ha. The total return of pond-01and pond-02 were BDT 1,04,280 BDT and 1,69,250 BDT per ha. Net benefit from pond-01 and pond-02 was 40,312 BDT and 80,682 BDT respectively. Net profit margin of pond-01 and pond-02 was 62.73% and 91.10%. And finally the benefit cost ratios (CBR) were found to be 0.62:1 and 0.91:1 in pond-01 and pond-02, respectively. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 42(2): 229-234, December 2016

A simple, reliable, precise and sensitive UV-spectrophotometric method was developed and validated for the estimation of azithromycin in pharmaceutical dosage form and compared with official USP 2010 method. The proposed method utilizes the oxidation of azithromycin with potassium permanganate to liberate formaldehyde. This formaldehyde reacts with acetone-ammonium reagent and produces yellow colored chromogen 3,5-diacetyl-2,6-dihydrolutidine. The colored solution exhibited a maximum absorption at 412 nm which can be detected with UVspectrophotometer. The method was found linear over the concentration range 80% to 120% of the working concentration (R2=0.999). The intra- and inter-day RSD (n = 6) was ? 2.0%. The developed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and values of accuracy, precision and other statistical analysis were found to be in good accordance with the prescribed values. The proposed method was successfully applied for determination of azithromycin and the results have been compared with HPLC and thus enabling the utility of this new method for routine analysis azithromycin in pharmaceutical dosage forms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/dujps.v12i2.21981 Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 12(2): 171-179, 2013 (December)

Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater aquifers remains a major barrier to providing access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh. Chronic exposure to arsenic has been shown to cause serious health impacts, including various cancers, skin lesions, neurological damage, heart disease, and hypertension. Numerous epidemiological studies have shown cognitive impacts on memory, linguistic-abstraction, attention, learning, and physical ability. The neurotoxic effects of arsenic could be particularly harmful for children during their critical growth periods and have impacts on early childhood development. This study uses cross-sectional data from the nationally representative 2012-13 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey to investigate the effects of arsenic contamination in drinking water on early childhood development outcomes in a sample of around 7,500 children ages 3-5 years. Early childhood development is measured in four skills domains: literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional, and learning using the Early Childhood Development Index. Arsenic contamination is measured in source drinking water at the cluster-level. After controlling for a range of demographic, social, and economic characteristics of households, the results show that arsenic contamination is significantly and negatively associated with the overall Early Childhood Development Index, on outcomes within the physical, social-emotional, and learning skills domains. Further, there is a clear dose-response relationship, where those children with exposure to higher concentrations of arsenic have worse developmental outcomes.