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Background: Sepsis is a complex, life-threatening, heterogeneous infectious disease associated with increased rates of morbidity and mortality. Early assessment of the prognosis of sepsis is key to achieving a favorable outcome for the disease. This study aimed to identify the prognostic value of PCT for sepsis patients. Materials and Methods: We conducted a prospective analytical study involving 100 adult patients with sepsis who were admitted to the Medicine dept and intensive care unit from 2019 to 2020. At least one blood test for PCT level was performed for all patients within the first 24 hours of suspecting an infection. Results: Our study found that a maximum number of patients (43.0%) were between 51-60 years age group, mean age of the patient was 49.35 ± 11.7 years. Out of 100 cases, 65% were male and 35% were female. The male and female ratio was 1.85:1. In this study serum, procalcitonin levels 0.5-2.0 ng/were detected in 15.0% of patients with mean±SD 1.3±0.8. Serum procalcitonin levels 2.1-10.0 ng/mL were detected in 29.0% of patients with mean±SD 5.9±2.5 and >10.0 ng/mL was detected in 56 patients. Based on the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves, procalcitonin had the area under curve 0.923, with 89.4% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity. In our study, procalcitonin showed the best predictive value for the short-term outcome of sepsis with a cut-off value of 14.8 ng/mL (AUC 0.923). Study shows that 76.0% of the patients recovered completely, but 24.0% of patients expired during the hospital stay. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant correlation in serum procalcitonin with the outcome of sepsis (p < 0.001). So the effectiveness of serum procalcitonin has proven significant in the prediction of mortality in sepsis patients. J MEDICINE 2023; 24: 18-22

Methotrexate is commonly used in the treatment of inflammatory disorders and malignancies. Although it is an effective therapeutic agent, it may have serious adverse effects in both therapeutic dose and overdose. Here, we report a case of a 54-year-old lady with polyarthritis, who was prescribed 2 tablets of methotrexate (10 mg) orally once a week. However, mistakenly the patient started taking the drug daily. After 12 days of starting methotrexate, she presented with widespread skin lesions, sore mouth and dysphagia. A diagnosis of methotrexate induced erythema multiforme was made. Laboratory investigations revealed pancytopenia. She was managed conservatively. Although rare, methotrexate overdose should be considered along with other possibilities in a patient with erythema multiforme. This case report also focuses on the rational use of drugs as well as the importance of good communication between health care professionals and patients. BIRDEM Med J 2023; 13(1): 52-55

The present study aims at investigating the vegetation in different sites of Chattogram metropolitan area following appropriate techniques. In order to enumerate the distribution of species, several diversity indices including Shannon-Winer Index, Pielou’s Evenness and Simpson’s Index were employed. A total of 645 species belonging to 414 genera under 120 families were documented from the studied area for the first time. Of these, 37 species (5.73%) are pteridophytes, 607 species (94.11%) are angiosperms and single representation of gymnosperm (0.16%). Among the recorded species, 384 are medicinal species belonging to 277 genera under 93 families. Bacopa monnieri is a dominant species in the forest area with some co-dominant species like Eichhornia crassipes, Centella asiatica, etc. Moreover, this study provides potential sources to the environmental planners, herbalists, ecologists, taxonomists, ethnobotanists, pharmacists, phytochemists and local administration that would help to plan for future green infrastructure and maintain ecosystem function providing long-term benefits for the city dwellers. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 29(2): 313-344, 2022 (December)

A total of 209 species were documented where 181 species were used against 379 diseases/ailments from a village common forest of Rangamati, Bangladesh. Leaves were reported as most utilized plant part while herbs were dominant. Diversity indices revealed that the study area was rich in diverse medicinal plants. Collected voucher specimens were deposited in the Chittagong University Herbarium with an accession number. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 29(1): 109-128, 2022 (June)

Background: Diabetic myonecrosis is an under-reported complication of long-standing, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. It is usually a self-limiting condition and responds well to conservative management. Patients with diabetic myonecrosis frequently have other microvascular complications. Although the short-term prognosis is good, the long-term prognosis is poor. Less than 200 cases have been reported in the literature since it was first described 46 years ago. There is no clear ‘standard of care’ for managing these patients. Due to a lack of awareness, the diagnosis is often missed, resulting in unnecessary and deleterious interventions such as antibiotics, muscle biopsies and surgery which can complicate the recovery. We report six cases of diabetic myonecrosis admitted in a tertiary care hospital; all of them recovered well by conservative measures like analgesics and bed rest. Our report aims to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis of diabetic myonecrosis and to find out the pattern of clinical, biochemical and radiological profiles among the myonecrosis cases. Methods: Patient’s socio-demographic, clinical, laboratory data were recorded systemically in case-record forms after obtaining informed written consent from patients or attendants over four years from 2018 to 2021. Result: We report six cases of diabetic myonecrosis managed in a tertiary care hospital over four years. Five of the cases were female and all had type 2 diabetes mellitus, with a mean duration of diabetes was 14.5 years.The presentation was acute in four patients and sub-acute in another two patients. All these patients had poorly controlled diabetes mellitus; the average HbA1c was 10.8%. Microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus were found in all the cases. Conclusion: Diabetic myonecrosis is an underdiagnosed complication of diabetes mellitus. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis for diabetic patients who present with painful swollen muscles. A high index of suspicion requires for the diagnosis, which avoids unnecessary intervention. BIRDEM Med J 2022; 12(2): 147-151

A company's most valuable asset is its workforce, so understanding them is crucial to success. With the aid of training and development programs, organizations can create a skilled and competent workforce that will maintain a high level of competency and thrive in a dynamic business environment. This research sought to understand the effectiveness of training and development at Fisar Limited in Hyderabad. The study made use of descriptive analysis and analytical research. To collect the primary data, questionnaires were distributed to 50 employees. This included demographic profile and effectiveness of training. According to the findings, Overall training and development have a significant impact on employee performance. It benefits the organization by reducing employee turnover, increasing employee productivity, and contributing to higher financial returns. Factors such as gender, age, work experience, and training schedule have a significant impact on training efficacy. An important element in an organization's success is offering a formal training program for both new and existing employees and analysing the results since it oversees their learning and corrects it promptly. The mode of training and educational credentials must be combined to meet the needs. Organisation needs to identify room for improvement in the areas where training and development are necessary.

This study describes the genome sequence of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain detected in the nasopharyngeal swab sample of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient from the southeastern Khagrachari District of Bangladesh.

Three different fungal diseases were found prevalent namely leaf spot, leaf rot, and foot and root rot of betel vine at five different upazillas of five districts in Bangladesh. Phytophthora parasitica causing leaf rot, Colletotrichum piperis causing leaf spot, and Sclerotium rolfsii causing foot and root rot have been found. The highest incidence (41.60 per cent) and severity (21.86 per cent) of leaf rot disease were recorded at Mohanpur upazilla during the period of August. Minimum incidence (4.24 per cent) of leaf rot was recorded at Kaligong upazilla while minimum severity (2.83 per cent) was recorded at Gouronadi upazilla. The highest incidence of disease (57.44 per cent) and severity of disease (28.32 per cent) of betel vine leaf spot were recorded at same locations and same period of time as per leaf rot disease. Minimum incidence (8.32 per cent) and severity (2.72 per cent) of disease were recorded at Sitakundo upazilla during the period of May. In August at Gouranadi upazilla, highest incidence of disease (27.80 per cent) was filed in case of betel vine foot and root rot while the lowest incidence (6.00 per cent) of disease was reported at Sitakundo upazilla. Lesion sizes were varied in ranging 1.4-2.3 cm in diameter while isolates collected from Mohanpur showed highest pathogenicity caused by Phytophthora parasitica produced lesion 2.3 cm and lowest pathogenicity was recorded by Sclerotium rolfsii produced lesion 1.4 cm isolates collected from Mirpur and Mohanpur. In respects of locations and survey period, it was revealed that betel vine leaf rot and leaf spot were prevalent in Mohanpur upazilla during the month of August under Rajshahi district, and betel vine foot and root rot in Gouronadi upazilla under Barisal district.

Background Daqu, the saccharification, fermentation, and aroma-producing agents for Baijiu brewing, is prepared using a complex process. Aging is important for improving the quality of Daqu, but its impact has rarely been studied. This study investigated changes in the physicochemical properties, flavor compounds, and microbial communities during aging of Daqu with a roasted sesame-like flavor. Results The physicochemical properties changed continuously during aging to provide a high esterifying activity. Aging removed unpleasant flavor compounds and helped to stabilize the flavor compounds in mature Daqu. A high-throughput sequencing approach was used to analyze the changing composition of the microbial communities during aging. Aging helped to modify the microbial population to produce better Baijiu by eliminating low-abundance microbial communities and optimizing the proportion of predominant microbial communities. Nine genera of prokaryotic microbes formed the core microbiota in Daqu after aging. Regarding eukaryotic microbes, Zygomycota, the predominant community, increased in the first 2 months, then decreased in the third month of aging, while Ascomycota, the subdominant community, showed the opposite behavior. Absidia, Trichocomaceae_norank and Rhizopus were the predominant genera in the mature Daqu. Conclusions Significant correlations between microbiota and physicochemical properties or flavor compounds were observed, indicating that optimizing microbial communities is essential for aging Daqu. This study provides detailed information on aging during Daqu preparation.

Background: In Bangladesh prevalence of malignancy in diabetic patients seems to be increasing as case detection of both diseases are far more than before. No statistical data of diabetic patients with malignancy is currently available in Bangladesh. Treatment of both diabetes and malignancy in the same patient is challenging for the physician and requires multidisciplinary support. For such cases BIRDEM General Hospital offers supportive facilities including intensive care, chemotherapy, surgical intervention and oncology day care.Methods : This is a cross-sectional observational study carried out from January 2011 to June 2016 which included adult diabetic patients with malignancy admitted in Internal Medicine Department of BIRDEM General Hospital. With prior informed consent of the patients, data were collected and statistical analysis was done using professional SPSS version 17.0 windows based program.Results : Total number of type 2 diabetic patients with malignancy was 80. Among them 49 (61.3%) were male and 31 (37.7%) were female patients. Almost two-third of the patients was between 41-60 years (63.8%). More than half of the patients belonged to urban settings (42, 52.5%) followed by sub-urban area (27, 33.7%). Smoking was the commonest (23.8%) among the risk factors. Family history for malignancy and exposure to occupational hazards were present in 11.3% and 7.5% cases respectively. Among co-morbid conditions, hypertension and ischemic heart disease were predominant. Twenty categories of malignancies were confirmed by histopathological evidence, radiology reports and cancer markers. The commonest malignancy in male and female was lymphoma and carcinoma breast respectively. Most patients were treated with chemotherapy (48.8%) and combined approach was required in 36.3% cases. Good response to treatment was observed in 46.3% cases, 15% patients deteriorated and death occurred in 6.3% cases.Conclusion : Type 2 diabetes and malignancy individually have their own consequences. When co-existing, patients require a holistic approach. Complications can arise from either spectrum of the diseases. If managed promptly and adequately, outcome of such cases is encouraging. Management outcome of these cases so far in Internal Medicine Department, BIRDEM General Hospital shows a promising future.Bangladesh J Medicine Jul 2017; 28(2) : 70-74

Background: Human Nipah virus (NiV) infection is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the NiV resulting in severe illness in humans. The physicians can represent a lead role in disease prevention if they have the right knowledge regarding disease. This study aimed to state the assessment of knowledge regarding NiV infection among physicians in a selected tertiary hospital, Rangpur, Bangladesh.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 211 physicians in Rangpur Medical College and Hospital by pretested structured questionnaire, from January 2020 to December 2020, using a convenient sampling method. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews.Results: The majority of the respondents (69%) were within the 21 to 25 years of age group, mean age was 25±2.9 years where 54% of respondents were female. A questionnaire was comprised of 87 questions regarding knowledge on NiV infection. The findings revealed that 19% had good knowledge, 50% had fair and about 31% had poor level of knowledge regarding NiV infection. Among the respondents, 83% mentioned lack of awareness as a barrier regarding the prevention of NiV infection. Inferential statistics were done at a 95% confidence interval and 5% level of significance. Those who were aged between 21 to 25 years had significantly good knowledge than those who were more than 26 years of age (p=0.002).Conclusions: This study concludes that knowledge of the physicians on NiV infection was at a fair or average level. There is a dire need for the routine integration of the awareness and safety precaution practice among the physicians.

Background: Cancer prevalence in diabetic patients in Bangladesh seems to be increasing as case detection of both diseases are far more than before. Till date no statistical data of diabetic patients with malignancy is available in Bangladesh. Treating both diabetes and malignancy in the same patient is challenging and sometimes requires multidisciplinary support. For such cases BIRDEM General Hospital offers supportive facilities including intensive care, chemotherapy, surgical intervention and oncology day care.Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study was carried out from January 2012 to June 2016 which included cancer patients irrespective of their diabetic status admitted in Internal Medicine Department of BIRDEM General Hospital. With prior informed consent of the patients, data were collected and statistical analysis was done using professional SPSS version 17.0 windows based program.Results: Total number of cancer patients was 114, whose diagnoses were confirmed by histopathological evidence (biopsy/FNAC), radiology reports and cancer markers, as appropriate. Among them 64 (56.1%) were male and 50 (43.9%) were female patients. Age of most of the patients was between 41-60 years (65, 57%). Mean age was 55.16 years in diabetic group and 44.47 years in non-diabetic group. Glycemic status revealed that most of the patients were diabetic (80, 70.2%). Among other co-morbid conditions, hypertension and ischemic heart disease were predominant (17 and 9 cases respectively). Prevalence of more than one comorbidites were marked in the diabetic group (33 cases, p value >0.001). Twenty one categories of malignancies were diagnosed during this study period. Majority of cases were lymphoma (21,18.4%), carcinoma breast (17,14.9%), carcinoma uterus and/or cervix (13,11.4%) and leukaemia (10,8.8%). Common clinical features included palpable lump (21,18.4%), lymphadenopathy (16,14%), anaemia (9,7.9%) and pain (8,7%). The number of patients presenting with multiple signs/symptoms were also significant (32,28.1%). Most patients were treated with chemotherapy (54,47.4%). Many cases warranted a combined approach (46,40.4%). Treatment response showed good response in 57(50%) cases. In 16 patients (14%) condition deteriorated and death occurred in 8 cases (7%). Even after repeated and empathic counseling we lost follow up of 15 cases (13.2%).Conclusion: The scenario becomes complicated when a diabetic patient develops malignancy and vice versa. Complications can arise from either spectrum of the diseases. Managing such cases are often challenging and require multi-disciplinary support. Management outcome of these cases so far in Internal Medicine Department, BIRDEM General Hospital shows a promising future.Birdem Med J 2016; 6(2): 107-111

Additional file 2: Figure S1. The clustering analysis was performed using UPGMA, which is a type of hierarchical clustering method based on unweighted UniFrac distance metrics, and showed the relationship of the prokaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S2. PCoA analysis of the prokaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S3. The clustering analysis was performed using UPGMA, which is a type of hierarchical clustering method based on unweighted UniFrac distance metrics, and showed the relationship of the eukaryotic communities in the four samples. Figure S4. PCoA analysis of the eukaryotic communities in the four samples.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Volatile compounds identified in RSF Daqu samples.

Background Clinical studies often track dose-response curves of subjects over time. One can easily model the dose-response curve at each time point with Hill equation, but such a model fails to capture the temporal evolution of the curves. On the other hand, one can use Gompertz equation to model the temporal behaviors at each dose without capturing the evolution of time curves across dosage. Results In this article, we propose a parametric model for dose-time responses that follows Gompertz law in time and Hill equation across dose approximately. We derive a recursion relation for dose-response curves over time capturing the temporal evolution and then specify a regression model connecting the parameters controlling the dose-time responses with individual level proteomic data. The resultant joint model allows us to predict the dose-response curves over time for new individuals. Conclusion We have compared the efficacy of our proposed Recursive Hybrid model with individual dose-response predictive models at desired time points. We note that our proposed model exhibits a superior performance compared to the individual ones for both synthetic data and actual pharmacological data. For the desired dose-time varying genetic characterization and drug response values, we have used the HMS-LINCS database and demonstrated the effectiveness of our model for all available anticancer compounds. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12859-019-2831-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Herpes associated erythema multiforme (HAEM) is an acute exudative dermatic and mucosal disease caused by the Herpes simplex virus (HSV). It is the result of cell mediated immune reaction due to HSV antigen and has a presentation quite similar to Steven Johnsons Syndrome (SJS). Unlike SJS, use of steroids is not recommended in HAEM as it can aggravate the condition. Here we report a case of HAEM in a 35-year- old gentleman, who presented with fever, rash and sore throat. The clinical findings were in favour of HAEM and patient showed optimum response to symptomatic treatment.Birdem Med J 2017; 7(1): 72-75

Background : Dealing oncologic emergencies are challenging tasks for any concerned physician. The task becomes even more challenging if the scenario is complicated with diabetes and vice-versa. The burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes is also increasing throughout the world resulting in increasing morbidity and mortality. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Bangladesh emphasizing on patients presenting with oncologic emergencies where relation to their glycemic status has also been analyzed.Methods : This cross sectional, observational study was carried out from January 2011 to June 2016. Adult patients of either sex admitted in Internal Medicine Department of BIRDEM (Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders) General Hospital diagnosed with malignancy irrespective of their diabetic status were purposively and consecutively included in this study. Out of 114 such cases 23 patients had oncologic emergencies. Different variables of these 23 cases of oncologic emergencies were analyzed with co-relation to diabetic status, such as age, gender, demography, co-morbid conditions, clinical features, type of malignancy and treatment outcome.Results : Eight different kinds of oncologic emergencies were observed among 11 different categories of malignancies. Only 23 oncologic emergency cases were identified among 114 cancer patients. The common emergencies were marrow failure (26.1%), Neutropenic sepsis (21.74%) and hypercalcemia (17.39%). The common malignancies were leukaemia (17.39%), carcinoma lung (13.04%), pancreatic carcinoma (13.04%) and multiple metastasis (13.04%). Two-third of the patients were male (69.57%) and nearly half of the patients aged above 60 years (43.5%). More than half of the patients came from urban background (52.2%). Two-third of the patients were diabetic (73.91%). It was observed that there were 10 cases (43.48%) with ‘more than one’ co-morbid conditions and all of them belonged to the diabetic group. Those who had no co-morbidities (26.09%) were all non-diabetic (p

Background and Aims: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common illness. The spectrum of bacteria causing UTI and their antibiotic sensitivity is not uniform. This study was designed to describe the bacteriological spectrum causing UTI and their antibiotic sensitivity.Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Internal Medicine, BIRDEM General Hospital from January to June, 2013.Results: Total number of patients was 103 with females predominance (F:M ratio 2:1). Mean age was 57.5 years. Most (91.3%) of the study population were diabetic with poor glycaemic control (mean HbA1c 9.9%). Common symptoms were fever, dysuria, increased urinary frequency, suprapubic pain, vomiting and loin pain. Neutrophilic leukocytosis was common (94.2%). E. coli (79.6%) was the commonest aetiological agent followed by Klebsiella (9.7%), Citrobacter (3.9%), Acinetobacter (1.9%), Enterobacter (1.9%), Enterococcus (1.9%) and Pseudomonas (0.9%). Imipenem (100%), aminoglycosides e.g. amikacin and gentamycin and nitrofurantoin were among the most sensitive antibiotics.Conclusion: E. coli is the commonest organism causing UTI and imipenem, amikacin and nitrofurantoin are the most sensitive antibiotics.Birdem Med J 2015; 5(1): 20-23

Background: Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is not an uncommon problem in general medical practice. Sometimes extensive investigations fail to reach an aetiological diagnosis; on the other hand, in few cases, fever resolves spontaneously. This study was aimed to evaluate the aetiology of FUO in a tertiary care setting.Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Internal Medicine of BIRDEM General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2012 to June 2013.Results: Among the 33 patients studied (1.23% of total admissions), 22 (66.7%) were male. Mean age of the study population was 40.2±7.9 years. Most patients (84.8%) were diabetic. Infection (20, 60.6%) was the commonest cause, followed by malignancy (9, 27.3%). Among the infective causes (20), extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (5, 25%) was the commonest, followed by liver abscess (4, 20%). Other less common causes were Kala-azar (1), malaria (2), histoplasmosis (2), melioidosis (1), cholecystitis (1), renal abscess (1), rickettsial fever (1), apical dental abscess (1) and infective endocarditis (1). Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (6), renal cell carcinoma (2) and hepatocellular carcinoma (1) constituted the malignant causes of FUO in this series. Systemic lupus erythematosus was the aetiology of FUO in 1 case. One case remained undiagnosed and 2 patients left hospital before a definite diagnosis could be made.Conclusion: Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were the two most common causes of FUO in this study. Repeated history taking, clinical examinations and careful stepwise investigations can diagnose the aetiolgy in most cases of FUO.Birdem Med J 2016; 6(1): 7-11

Background: Elevated level of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is not uncommon in routine laboratory test. This study was aimed to find out the aetiology of asymptomatic raised ALT in hospitalized type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in BIRDEM over a period of six month. T2DM patients having asymptomatic raised serum ALT were evaluated clinically and by laboratory tests.Results: Total number of patients was 53. Among them male were 39 and female were 14. Male and female ratio was 2.8:1. Mean age was 49.2±7.9 years. Mean body mass index (BMI) was 25.5±5 kg/m2. Among the study subjects, 25 (47.2%) were overweight and 16 (30.2%) were obese. Hypertension, hepatomegaly and dyslipidaemia were present in 29 (54.7%), 11 (20.8%) and 36 (67.96%) cases respectively. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NFALD) was the commonest (37, 69.8%) aetiology for raised ALT in this study. Seropositivity for hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody against hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) were present in 7 and 5 cases respectively. In 4 cases cause could not be identified. Most of the cases with >5 times raised ALT had hepatitis B or C infection.Conclusion: Elevation of serum ALT is common in T2DM patients. NAFLD is the commonest cause followed by hepatitis B and C virus infection.Birdem Med J 2016; 6(1): 32-35

Background and Objective: Biochemical evidence of hepatic enzyme rise is very common in dengue fever. This study was designed to see the levels of elevated hepatic enzymes and their correlation with severity of dengue fever (DF).\Materials and Methods: It was an observational study conducted in the Department of Internal Medicine of BIRDEM Hospital, Dhaka, over a period of six months (July to December, 2010). Fifty serologically confirmed (IgM/IgM and IgG) dengue fever patients were included in the study.Results: Of the 50 patients, 32 (64%) were male and 18 (36%) were female. The mean age was 44.2 (21-54) years. Out of 50 cases, 23 (46%) cases had classical dengue fever, 20 (40%) had dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) Grade I, 6 (12%) had DHF Grade II and 1 (2%) had DHF Grade III. Hepatic enzymes were raised in 47 (94%) cases. Mean aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was 98.77 U/L, mean alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was 88.09 U/L. In 46 (92%) cases AST was more than ALT. Enzyme rise was more in DHF (Grade III- mean AST 298 U/L, mean ALT 232 U/L, Grade II- mean AST 212.6 U/L, mean ALT 198.7 U/L, Grade I- mean AST 97.3 U/ L, mean ALT 86.2 U/L) than classical dengue fever (mean AST 61.7 U/L, mean ALT 54.9 U/L). Mean bilirubin was 1.82 mg/dl. No difference was observed between classical dengue fever and DHF regarding serum bilirubin level.Conclusion: The above results suggest that hepatic involvement in dengue fever is common and the amplitude of transaminase rise indicates the severity of the disease.Birdem Med J 2015; 5(2): 74-77

Drug sensitivity prediction for individual tumors is a significant challenge in personalized medicine. Current modeling approaches consider prediction of a single metric of the drug response curve such as AUC or IC50. However, the single summary metric of a dose-response curve fails to provide the entire drug sensitivity profile which can be used to design the optimal dose for a patient. In this article, we assess the problem of predicting the complete dose-response curve based on genetic characterizations. We propose an enhancement to the popular ensemble-based Random Forests approach that can directly predict the entire functional profile of a dose-response curve rather than a single summary metric. We design functional regression trees with node costs modified based on dose/response region dependence methodologies and response distribution based approaches. Our results relative to large pharmacological databases such as CCLE and GDSC show a higher accuracy in predicting dose-response curves of the proposed functional framework in contrast to univariate or multivariate Random Forest predicting sensitivities at different dose levels. Furthermore, we also considered the problem of predicting functional responses from functional predictors i.e., estimating the dose-response curves with a model built on dose-dependent expression data. The superior performance of Functional Random Forest using functional data as compared to existing approaches have been shown using the HMS-LINCS dataset. In summary, Functional Random Forest presents an enhanced predictive modeling framework to predict the entire functional response profile considering both static and functional predictors instead of predicting the summary metrics of the response curves.

Shopping carts are one of the most important tools for shopping in supermarkets. Shopping carts are used by hundreds of people each day and may be used 7 days per week and sometimes 24 hours per day. This study examined the amount of bacteria present on shopping cart handles before and after using antimicrobial wipes. 40 cart handles from 2 grocery stores in Uniazah city were swabbed. Cart handles were swabbed and then wiped with antimicrobial wipes and swabbed again and samples were transported to the laboratory. After incubation period of 24 hours at 37 C levels of bacteria were measured using a spectrophotometer with absorbency light at 686nm. 24 hours of incubation revealed that absorbency of swabs after antimicrobial wipes, on average was reduced to, about half, compared to, Swabs taken before, antimicrobial wipes. Also, the bacterial counts were less on the cart handles that wipe with antimicrobial wipes. It was concluded that the bacterial load, varied on the carts handles; and that the cart handles that were wiped with antimicrobial wipes had far less bacterial growth than the cart handles that were not wiped with antimicrobial wipes. Using antimicrobial wipes may be a way to reduce our exposure to harmful bacteria.

Accurately predicting sensitivity of tumor cells to anti-cancer drugs based on genetic characterizations is a significant challenge for personalized cancer therapy. This chapter provides a computational procedure to design predictive models from individual genomic characterizations and combine them to arrive at an integrated predictive model. Integrated modeling employs the complementary information from heterogeneous genetic characterizations to improve the prediction error as well as lowering the error confidence interval.

Accurately predicting sensitivity of tumor cells to anti-cancer drugs based on genetic characterizations is a significant challenge for personalized cancer therapy. This chapter provides a computational procedure to design predictive models from individual genomic characterizations and combine them to arrive at an integrated predictive model. Integrated modeling employs the complementary information from heterogeneous genetic characterizations to improve the prediction error as well as lowering the error confidence interval.