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Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formed through nonenzymatic glycation results in diseases including diabetic complications, Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis etc. The development of novel antiglycating agents has thus become an important area of research. In our present work, we have reported the inhibitory activity of morin loaded PLGA NPs (MPNPs) on the D-ribose induced glycation of human serum albumin (HSA) based on spectroscopic studies. MPNPs were characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. HSA was incubated with ribose at 37 °C for one month and the formation of AGEs was confirmed from fluorescence studies, the increase in absorbance and the measurement of free amino groups. Further HSA and ribose mixtures incubated with MPNPs showed significant reduction in the extent of advanced glycation end product formation that were confirmed by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI- ToF) techniques. The structural changes induced by MPNPs were further confirmed by circular dichroism studies. Our findings suggest that MPNPs have the potential to be used antiglycating agents.

This study employs a small-scale survey to investigate the lives of Bangladeshi disabled residents in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Survey instruments include individual interviews and focus group discussions with people with disabilities in the Bangladeshi community. The paper also investigates the health and social care activities of Tower Hamlets Council through the lens of the social model of disability. The findings show that there are numerous facilities available for people with disabilities, but there is still a lack of satisfaction with the services provided to the community.

This study employs qualitative research methods to explore the performance of school students in reading motivation, sincerity, and achievement and the perceived role of a school social worker in Tanguar Haor inhabitants of rural Sunamganj in Bangladesh. Findings of the study suggest that the stakeholders in rural education in haor areas are keen to see the students’ achievements in reading, motivation, and academic performance but unaware of how to improve. This paper argues that social workers have a significant role to play in rural areas, particularly in remote places like haor areas, to enhance students’ performances and academic achievements in the school as well as to improve the quality of education services in those areas.

Thin films prepared from protein sources are biodegradable, biocompatible and find application as biomaterials for slow-release drug carriers for skin treatment in burns, ulcers or infected wounds. Cataract eye lenses discarded after surgery have a significant protein content. Films have been prepared from the discarded cataract lens emulsions obtained after surgery. Sorbitol was used as a plasticizer to facilitate film formation that exhibited high water solubility. To enhance the mechanical properties and reduce the solubility of the films, cross-linking of the polypeptide chains was initiated using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) in presence of NHS (N-hydroxysuccinimide). As the effects of the cross-linker and plasticizer incorporate conflicting properties, an optimization was necessary. The plasticizer imparts flexibility to the film, while the cross-linker decreases solubility but increases hardness that imparts brittleness. A reduction in water solubility of the film for practical applicability was required in such a way that the flexibility was not compromised. The concentration of the cross-linker and the duration of cross-linking were varied to optimize the mechanical properties of the films. The films were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscopy. Physical properties like thickness and total soluble matter were measured. The mechanical properties of the films were evaluated by performing nano-indentation and nano-tribology (NINT) experiments.

Visceral adiposity mediates insulin resistance, but their association among adults with prediabetes is scarce in the literature. This study is aimed to determine the association of visceral adiposity index (VAI) with insulin resistance in adults with prediabetes. This cross-sectional study was done among 117 adults with newly detected prediabetes [m/f; 23/94; mean ± SD: Age 36.30 ± 9.99 years, BMI 28.89 ± 4.35 kg/m2] based on American Diabetes Association 2018 criteria and 141 matched healthy controls [m/f: 28/113; mean ± SD: 35.30 ± 6.88 years, BMI 25.03 ± 4.58]. Waist circumference, body mass index, fasting triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose and insulin were measured in each group to calculate VAI and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). People with prediabetes had significantly higher median value of VAI {3.08 (2.26) vs. 1.86 (2.31); p 1) (98.3% vs. 85.8%; p < 0.001) than the control population. HOMA-IR level was significantly higher in prediabetes with high VAI (cut-off of 2.64) than control with normal VAI [2.78 (2.22, 4.15) vs. 2.20 (1.53, 3.36); p = 0.002]. VAI was positively correlated with HOMA-IR in females with prediabetes (r = 0.299, p = 0.003). VAI had predictive association with prediabetes [OR (95% CI: 9.504 (2.173, 41.576); p = 0.03] and high insulin resistance (HOMA-IR ≥ 2.6) in females with prediabetes [OR (95% CI) = 3.50 (1.476, 8.297); p = 0.004] only. It could satisfactorily discriminate prediabetes in both sexes (male: AUC = 0.767, p = 0.001; female: AUC = 0.641, p < 0.001) and high insulin resistance in females with prediabetes (AUC = 0.641; p = 0.019) only. So, VAI was associated with prediabetes and insulin resistance only in females with prediabetes.

This article examines the position of Bangladesh in the field of international social work with women. It explores the country’s women’s development initiatives in the context of the global debate over indigenization, universalization and imperialism. To identify the strategic position, the article examines the literature on social work, the evolution of social work and the web contents of some development agencies in Bangladesh. The findings reveal that Bangladesh follows a process of reconciliation in the indigenization–internationalization dispute by employing both top-down (think globally, act locally) and bottom-up (act locally, proceed globally) approaches to international social work and women’s development.

Background and objectives: Visceral adiposity is linked to excess morbidity and mortality and positively correlates with the risk of insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and premature death. The study was conducted to find out the relationship between visceral adiposity index (VAI) and homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in diabetes mellitus (DM). Materials and methods: This cross sectional study was carried out on adult population with and without DM. Waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) were measured. BMI of 25-29.9 kg/m2 and ≥30 kg/m2 was defined as overweight and obese respectively. HOMA-IR method was used to calculate insulin resistance (IR). Standard formula using BMI, WC, triglyceride (TG) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) was used to calculate VAI. Blood was analyzed for fasting blood glucose (FBS), TG, HDL-c and insulin level. Results: A total of 439 individuals were included in the study of which 269 had DM and 170 were healthy volunteers and the mean age was 41.47±6.82 and 36.16±7.44 years respectively. Compared to healthy controls, a greater number of diabetics had high VAI (86.5% vs. 98.9%) and high IR (43.5% vs. 85.1%). We found the highest sensitivity and specificity at a cut-off of 2.23 of VAI while at 3.65 had the highest specificity. Insulin resistance was observed significantly higher in those with diabetes compared to control, both in case of normal and high VAI at all cut-offs of VAI. Among anthropometric parameters (WC, BMI and VAI), VAI had positive (r=0.21, p

Nanoencapsulation has emerged as a promising approach for the effective delivery of poorly aqueous soluble compounds. The current study focuses on the preparation of human serum albumin (HSA)-based nanoparticles (NPs) and poly lactic

Flavonoids like quercetin and myricetin serve as naturally occurring antioxidants but their bioactivity is limited due to low aqueous solubility and oxidation under physiological conditions. In this current study, the antioxidant activity of quercetin and myricetin loaded chitosan nanoparticles during the induced oxidation of Ribonuclease A (RNase A) has been compared with the corresponding free flavonoids. Oxidation of RNase A leads to intermolecular dityrosine (DT) bond formation which shows a characteristic fluorescence emission around 405 nm. Although both quercetin and myricetin loaded nanoparticles initially exhibit lower antioxidant property compared to the free flavonoids, however, with increase in oxidant concentration over time the DT fluorescence showed greater increase for free flavonoids in comparison to the nanoparticles. The polyphenol loaded nanoparticles are also found to be effective in preventing bacterial cell damage in oxidizing medium. The slow release of flavonoids from the nanoparticles is responsible for their prolonged antioxidant effect in the oxidizing medium unlike the free flavonoids which are exhausted almost completely in the initial phase.

The challenge of next-generation nanoparticles (NPs) includes limited cellular uptake and loss by phagocytosis. General surface modification of NPs potentially enhances evasion from phagocytosis. However, active targeting and enhanced cellular uptake of nanoparticles are possible by surface functionalisation with molecules that have selective affinity for cancer cells. ROR1 is a cell surface receptor that is over-expressed in cancer cells. Hence, its conjugate antibody could be a potential surface functionalisation molecule. In the current study, anti-ROR1 antibody has been covalently attached to nanoparticles’ surface, thereby imparting its active targeting potential. Physicochemical and in vitro characterisations of the antibody-conjugated nanoparticles were performed. Surface functionalisation of nanoparticles was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, isothermal calorimetry, and elemental analysis. Additionally, biomarkers of metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were studied. Anti-ROR1 mAb tagged nanoparticles further confirmed therapeutic efficacy against colon cancer cells, SW480, thus, opening scope for further in vivo studies.

This paper delves into the association between social capital and health outcomes of the aging in Bangladesh. Methodological triangulation was used to synthesize primary data in this study. The data were collected based on a sample survey from 310 aging people in the aged ≥ 60 years in 2016. Findings reveal that social networks, norms of reciprocity, trust, neighborhood social cohesion and civic participation, and economic hardship are associated with self rated health status. The aging who had low social networks, norms of reciprocity and neighborhood cohesion and economic hardship were 1.917, 2.354, 2.185, and 1.949 times more likely to say that they had poor self rated health status. The synergy index between low social network and economic hard ship, low norm of reciprocity and economic hardship and low neighborhood cohesion were1.592 and 1.939 and, 2.067 supported that effect of joint exposure (low social capital and presence of economic hardship) is greater than the effect predicted from the sum of effects of each factor acting separately. The study concludes that economic hardship reduction is more important to access health care. Keywords: Social capital, healthcare systems, economic hardship, self rated health, health outcomes, interaction effects

Introduction: The endometrium is the special epithelial lining of the uterine cavity which plays important roles in different phases of menstrual cycle as well as in implantation process. The natural killer (NK) cells are a type of lymphocytes circulating in peripheral blood, named because of their effector functions in killing target cells. Immune cells that share similar phenotypic characteristic but are poor killers which populate the uterine lining at implantation and during early pregnancy when the placenta is established and are identified by the surface marker CD56+. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the mean cell count of CD56+ uterine natural killer (uNK) cells in endometrial tissue specimens and determine the association of the histopathological findings with CD56+ mean cell count. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 50 endometrial tissue samples (biopsy and dilatation and curettage specimen) received in the department of Pathology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal during the period between September, 2016 and August, 2018 were selected and included in the study. Twenty-nine cases with history of primary and secondary infertility were included in the test group and 21 cases with no history of abortions and miscarriages constituted the control group. CD56+ cells were stained using mouse monoclonal CD56+ antibody and counted manually under ten high power fields (40X) and mean cell count was calculated and statistically analysed. Results: The age of the study group ranged from 18 to 45 years (Mean ± SE; 35.88 ± 1.13). The mean number of CD56+ NK cells was higher in control groups 56.62 ± 5.683 (Mean ± SEM; N=21) as compared to the mean number of CD 56+ NK cells in the test group 38.20 ±3.958 (Mean ± SEM; N=29). The difference was statistically significant (difference of 1.195 with 95% confidence interval of 0.536 to 3.294, p = 0.008). Conclusion: Mean number of CD 56+ uNK cells, show significant correlation with primary infertility and repeated miscarriages (p=0.022). CD56+ NK cells may have a role in the maintenance of normal pregnancy. It might be a useful marker for predicting risk of miscarriages and infertility. Keywords: CD 56+, Natural killer (NK) cells, Endometrial tissue, Primary and secondary infertility.

The major challenge of performing root canal treatment in an open apex pulp-less tooth is to obtain a good apical seal. An 11 year old boy was presented with pain in his upper anterior teeth. On clinical examination both the maxillary central incisors revealed slight discoloration and fracture of the crown. Radiographic evaluation revealed radiolucency and open apices of both central incisors. Apexification with MTA apical plug was carried out before obturation with gutta-percha and sealer and the treatment was completed within 3 consecutive appointments. In twelve months follow up both the teeth were clinically and radiographically asymptomatic and the healing of the apical area was continued. The positive clinical outcome may encourage the future use of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) as an apical plug material in case of non-vital open apex teeth.J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2017; 35(4): 196-199

BACKGROUND Thrombocytopenia defined as platelet counts less than 1,50,000/μL is commonly found in many haematological practices. The various disorders ranges from benign to malignant conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS All the bone marrow aspiration smears who presented with thrombocytopenia were retrospectively studied during the period May 2015 to April 2017. The study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. All the Leishman stained bone marrow aspirate smears were taken from the archives and studied again with special reference to the megakaryocyte number and the various morphology. The clinical details and the diagnosis were also noted. RESULTS A total of 258 bone marrow aspiration smears were included in the study. The most common cause of thrombocytopenia in the study was AML (53 cases), followed by nutritional anaemia (42 cases) and hypoplastic anaemia (38 cases). Various other causes like aplastic anaemia, infective cause and malignant infiltration of the bone marrow were also encountered. In cases of myelodysplasia, dysplastic forms, bare megakaryocytic nuclei, hypogranular forms and micromegakaryocytes were seen. CONCLUSION Giving an undue importance to the morphology and number of megakaryocytes, while reporting bone marrow aspiration smears can help in enabling the diagnostic accuracy of various haematological conditions.

Glycation of ocular lens proteins plays a vital role in the development of diabetic cataract. In order to investigate the role of glycation in cataractogenesis, the extent of glycation of human γB-crystallin was determined by an in vitro glycation study in a solution of high glucose content for upto 28days. The glycated protein has been purified and the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) has been monitored spectroscopically. Size exclusion chromatographic studies showed that the covalent intermolecular crosslinking in the dimer formed was not due to disulfide bond formation. MALDI-TOF spectroscopy was employed to determine the number of glucose moieties attached to the protein due to glycation.

Restoration of a fractured tooth is routinely performed in clinical practice. Many factors are considered in an effort to provide optimal mechanical properties, aesthetics, longevity as well as patient acceptance. In this type of challenging endeavour, main effort should be made to save as much of the coronal tooth structure to increase survival rate of endodontically-treated teeth. This case report presents a 35-year-old male with an oblique complicated crown fracture of maxillary left central incisor tooth. The procedure used to repair the fracture was gingivectomy followed by endodontic treatment. The root canal was filled with a root canal sealer and gutta-percha points. After root canal obturation, the tooth was restored with a glass fiber post and composite resin without additional crown coverage. The restoration made it possible to maintain the remaining tooth structure in a good occlusion and resulted in a high level of patient satisfaction.J Enam Med Col 2017; 7(1): 35-38

Films derived from natural sources such as proteins provide an advantage over synthetic films due to their noncytotoxicity, biodegradability, and vast functionality. A new protein source gained from the cataractous eye protein isolate (CEPI) obtained after surgery has been investigated for this purpose. Glycerol has been employed as the plasticizer and glutaraldehyde (GD) as a cross-linker. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was employed to characterize the films. Nanoindentation and thermogravimetric analyses reveal improved mechanical and thermal properties of the cross-linked films. The films with 20% (w/w) GD exhibited properties such as the highest modulus and low water solubility. It is possible to tune the properties based on the extent of cross-linking. All the films were completely degraded by the enzyme trypsin. The similarity of these films was checked by using the prepared films as a delivery vehicle for a model compound, ampicillin sodium. The encapsulation efficiency was found to be 74%, and in vitro release studies showed significant amounts of drug release at physiological pH. This study will help us understand how the properties of protein films can be tuned to obtain the desired physicochemical properties. These biodegradable protein films could find use in pharmaceutical industries as delivery carriers.

Films have been prepared from the natural antioxidant gallic acid and a proteinaceous source, the discarded emulsion obtained after cataract surgery referred to as the cataractous eye protein isolate (CEPI). Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) and SDS PAGE studies confirmed the crosslinking of gallic acid with CEPI. The cross-section and surface of films were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The decrease in crystallinity of the films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. The thermal property of the films is enhanced by the addition of gallic acid as evidenced from the Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies. Films having 2% (w/w) gallic acid exhibited the maximum tensile strength of 2.88 ± 0.32 MPa comparable to other cross-linked films such as soy, casein, canola based protein films. The light barrier property of the films improved with incorporation of gallic acid. The cross-linked films were degraded by the application of the enzyme trypsin. The films also showed good antioxidant properties as determined from the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The gallic acid incorporated nontoxic CEPI films are biodegradable and possess appreciable mechanical properties and could find use in diverse applications including pharmaceuticals.

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency and nature of pain between the vital inflamed (n=55) and non-vital (n=55) teeth that received single visit root canal treatment. The frequency and nature of pain were assessed as no pain, mild, moderate and severe pain on day 2 and day 7. The results showed that 76.4 and 85.5% participants felt no pain in vital inflamed teeth on day 2 and day 7, respectively. On the other hand, 63.6 and 74.5% participants felt no pain in non-vital teeth on day 2 and day 7, respectively. The remaining participants only felt mild to moderate pain. There were no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.435 on day 2 and p=0.371 on day 7). The results suggested that single visit root canal treatment is equally effective in both vital inflamed and non-vital teeth.