Search

Abstract Background Childhood stunting, wasting and underweight are significant public health challenges. There is a gap in knowledge of the coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under five years (under-5) in Bangladesh. This study aims to (i) describe the prevalence of the coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight and ii) examine the risk factors for the coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under-5 in Bangladesh. Methods This study included 6,610 and 7,357 under-5 children from Bangladesh Demographic Health Surveys (BDHS) 2014 and 2017/18, respectively. The associations between the coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight and independent variables were assessed using the Chi-square test of independence. The effects of associated independent variables were examined using negative binomial regression. Results The prevalence of coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight gradually declined from 5.2% in 2014 to 2.7% in 2017/18. Children born with low birth weight ((adjusted incidence rate ratios, aIRR) 2.31, 95% CI 1.64, 3.24)); children of age group 36–47 months (aIRR 2.26, 95% CI 1.67, 3.08); children from socio-economically poorest families (aIRR 2.02, 95% CI 1.36, 2.98); children of mothers with no formal education (aIRR 1.98, 95% CI 1.25, 3.15); and children of underweight mothers (aIRR 1.73, 95% CI 1.44, 2.08) were the most important risk factors. Further, lower incidence among children with the coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight was observed in the 2017–18 survey (aIRR 0.59, 95% CI 0.49, 0.70) compared to children in the 2014 survey. Conclusions One out of thirty-five under-5 children was identified to have coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight in Bangladesh. The burden of coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight was disproportionate among children born with low birth weight, socio-economically poorest, a mother with no formal education, and underweight mothers, indicating the need for individual, household, and societal-level interventions to reduce the consequences of coexistence of stunting, wasting, and underweight.

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious respiratory tract disease. The most common clinical manifestation of severe COVID-19 is acute respiratory failure. Respiratory rehabilitation can be a crucial part of treatment, but data lack for patients with COVID-19. This study investigates the effects of short-term respiratory rehabilitation (i.e., breathing exercises) on respiratory recovery among non-ICU hospitalised patients with COVID-19. Methods This was a quasi-experimental, pre-and post-test study. The study recruited 173 patients hospitalised with moderate to severe COVID-19. All the patients received standardised care for COVID-19, and 94 patients in the intervention group also received the intervention of breathing exercises, which included breathing control, followed by diaphragmatic breathing, deep breathing, or thoracic expansion exercise, and huffing (forced expiratory technique) and coughing. Data on the mean values of peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2), need for oxygen therapy (litre/min), respiratory rate (breaths/minute), and heart rate (beats/minute) and were collected at baseline, 4 days, and 7 days after the baseline assessment. Analysis of variance on repeated measures was applied to compare the mean value of outcome measures of all the time points. Results The mean (± SD) age of the intervention (69.6% men) and control group (62.1% men) were 50.1 (10.5) and 51.5 (10.4) years, respectively. At 4-day of follow-up, SpO2 (96.6% ± 1.9 vs. 90.7% ± 1.8, P

Abstract Introduction Severe undernutrition among under-5 children is usually assessed using single or conventional indicators (i.e., severe stunting, severe wasting, and/or severe underweight). But these conventional indicators partly overlap, thus not providing a comprehensive estimate of the proportion of malnourished children in the population. Incorporating all these conventional nutritional indicators, the Composite Index of Severe Anthropometric Failure (CSIAF) provides six different undernutrition measurements and estimates the overall burden of severe undernutrition with a more comprehensive view. This study applied the CISAF indicators to investigate the prevalence of severe under-5 child undernutrition in Bangladesh and its associated socioeconomic factors in the rural-urban context. Methods This study extracted the children dataset from the 2017–18 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS), and the data of 7661 children aged under-5 were used for further analyses. CISAF was used to define severe undernutrition by aggregating conventional nutritional indicators. Bivariate analysis was applied to examine the proportional differences of variables between non-severe undernutrition and severe undernutrition group. The potential associated socioeconomic factors for severe undernutrition were identified using the adjusted model of logistic regression analysis. Results The overall prevalence of severe undernutrition measured by CISAF among the children under-5 was 11.0% in Bangladesh (rural 11.5% vs urban 9.6%). The significant associated socioeconomic factors of severe undernutrition in rural areas were children born with small birth weight (AOR: 2.84), children from poorest households (AOR: 2.44), and children aged

Objective Former sports participants do not necessarily maintain high levels of physical activity (PA) across their lifespan. Considering physical inactivity in former athletes is associated with an increased susceptibility to inactivity-related chronic diseases, research into PA behaviours in cricketers of all playing-standards is needed. The objective was to (1) describe PA and sedentary behaviour in current and former cricketers, and (2) determine the odds of current, former, recreational and elite cricketers meeting PA guidelines and health-enhancing PA (HEPA) compared with the general population.Study design Cross-sectional survey.Setting Questionnaire response, UK.Participants 2267 current and former cricketers (age: 52±15 years, male: 97%, current: 59%, recreational: 45%) participated. Cricketers were recruited through the Cricket Health and Wellbeing Study and met eligibility requirements (aged ≥18 years; played ≥1 year of cricket).Primary and secondary outcomes Age-matched and sex-matched data from Health Survey for England 2015 (n=3201) was used as the general population-based sample. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short-Form assessed PA. Logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking, education and ethnicity were used to meet the second aim.Results 90% of current and 82% of former cricketers met UK PA guidelines. Current (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.49)) and elite (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.78) cricketers had greater odds of meeting UK PA guidelines, and elite cricketers had greater odds of HEPA (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.42), compared with the general population. Former cricketers had reduced odds (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.99) of meeting the UK PA guidelines compared with the general population.Conclusions Elite cricketers had a greater odds of meeting the PA guidelines and HEPA, compared with the general population. Former cricketers demonstrated reduced odds of meeting the PA guidelines compared with the general population. Strategies are needed to transition cricketers to an active lifestyle after retirement, since former cricketers demonstrated reduced odds of meeting the PA guidelines compared with the general population.

A non-contact-based system for estimating the respiration rate of individuals using a mobile phone camera is presented in this paper. Respiration rate is an important vital sign that indicates the number of breaths a person takes per minute and is commonly used in medical assessments. The method involves recording videos of the pit of the neck region using the mobile phone camera and analyzing the changes in light intensity within the video frames. By processing the obtained signals from the video frames, the system accurately estimates the respiration rate. The effectiveness of the proposed method and the estimated respiration rates are compared with rates obtained using two other methods: a spirometer, which is a device used to measure lung function and manual counting. The evaluation is conducted on a group of 34 participants who are instructed to breathe rapidly to simulate varying respiration rates. The results indicate that the presented method achieves an accuracy of over 80% compared with existing state-of-the-art methods. The standard deviation of ±3% suggests a relatively consistent performance across participants. The calculated error between the estimated respiration rates and the reference rates obtained from the spirometer and manual counting validates the reliability of the proposed approach. Additionally, the paper highlights the advantages of this system, including its cost-effectiveness and suitability for remote monitoring and mass screening. The non-contact nature of the method reduces the need for physical contact with patients, which could be especially beneficial in situations where hygiene and infection control are crucial. The paper also outlines plans for future work, which involve validating the method with larger sample sizes and exploring its potential applications in various clinical scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude of heterosis for economic flower quality and yield traits in china aster (Callistephus chinensis (L.) Nees) was estimated from twenty seven F1 hybrids, which were developed by involving nine lines and three testers in line x tester mating design during the year 2021-23 at Floriculture unit, Department of Horticulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru. The twenty seven F1 hybrids along with parents and standard check (Arka Kamini) were evaluated in RCBD design with two replications for different flower quality and yield traits. The results revealed that among twenty seven F1 hybrids, majority of them exhibited significant average heterosis and heterobeltiosis for flower quality and yield traits. For flower diameter, hybrid, Miraj Local × AAC-1 (32.14 %) recorded maximum positive significant heterosis over standard check which was followed by Phule Ganesh White × AAC-1 (31.46 %). Similarly, the hybrid, Arka Poornima × Phule Ganesh Purple (33.23%) recorded maximum positive standard heterosis for flower stalk length while, Local White × Arka Kamini (-24.13) has least performed for this trait. The hybrid, Miraj Local × AAC-1 exhibited significant positive standard heterosis for vase life (39.41%) and shelf life (30.41%) which was followed by Phule Ganesh Pink × Phule Ganesh Purple. The maximum significant positive standard heterosis for flower yield per plant was recorded in Phule Ganesh Pink × AAC-1 (80.90%). From this experiment Miraj Local × AAC-1, Arka Poornima × Phule Ganesh Purple, Phule Ganesh Pink × AAC-1 and Arka Poornima × AAC-1 were identified as elite hybrids for flower quality and yield traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru during 2022-23 to analyse the effect of pruning and growth regulators on 'off season' flower production in Jasminum sambac (L.) Aiton. Three pruning treatments were imposed, viz., during the second fortnight of August (P1), October (P2) and December (control). Growth regulator treatment included GA3 at 100 (G1), 150 (G2), and 200 ppm (G3); Cycocel at 500 (G4), 750 (G5), and 1000 ppm (G6) along with double distilled water (Control, G7); there were sprayed at 15 days after pruning. The 21 treatments comprising of pruning schedule and growth regulators was laid out in Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (FRCBD) with three replications. Among different vegetative characteristics, P3G3 (December pruning + GA3 at 200 ppm) had recorded maximum plant height and plant spread in E-W and N-S directions at 30, 60 and 90 days after pruning, respectively. Number of primary branches per plant showed no significant difference among the treatments. Higher number of secondary branches per plant was recorded in P3G6 (December pruning + Cycocel at 1000 ppm). Flower characteristics viz., days taken for bud initiation (35.00 days), first flowering (47.00 days) and 50 per cent flowering (71.00 days) were minimum in December pruning along with foliar application of Cycocel at 1000 ppm (P3G6) and significantly different from others. Total duration of flowering (250 days) was maximum in plants pruned during October month with application of Cycocel at 1000 ppm (P2G6) with significantly increased in off season flower yield (December to February) per plant (0.141 kg) and per ha (0.628 t). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]