OPTIMIZING ENERGY EFFICIENCY: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF BUILDING DESIGN PARAMETERS

This study explores the critical role of financial incentives, energy performance certifications, government policies, and advanced technologies in driving the adoption of energy-efficient building practices. Financial incentives, such as tax credits, rebates, and grants, are shown to significantly reduce the upfront costs associated with energy-efficient technologies, making these innovations more accessible to developers and building owners. The research highlights the effectiveness of energy performance certifications, like LEED and Energy Star, in enhancing the market value and energy performance of buildings by providing a structured framework for evaluating sustainability. Government policies and building codes, including the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and ASHRAE standards, are identified as key drivers of energy efficiency, compelling developers to meet stringent performance standards. Additionally, the integration of renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and geothermal heat pumps, alongside smart building automation systems, plays a vital role in reducing energy consumption and improving operational efficiency. However, regional disparities in the availability of financial incentives and enforcement of policies present challenges to widespread adoption. The study concludes that expanding financial support, strengthening policy enforcement, and increasing public and industry awareness of the long-term financial and environmental benefits of energy-efficient buildings are essential for accelerating the transition to sustainable building practices. By addressing these challenges, the construction industry can make significant strides toward reducing energy consumption, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and achieving global sustainability goals. &nbsp

Adaptation and validation of Bangla version of Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool

Premature Ejaculation is one of the most common causes of male sexual dysfunction with prevalence rate of 20 % to 30% in different studies across the world. Premature ejaculation causes severe anxiety, embarrassment, and depression and relational conflicts. Diagnosing Premature Ejaculation can be problematic due to multidimensional nature of the disease. Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT) is a psychometrically valid tool for this purpose. This was a cross-sectional, analytical study and was conducted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka. The English version of the PEDT was forward and back translated. An expert committee reviewed the translations and shared their feedbacks and opinions regarding the proposed Bangla questionnaire. Bangla version of Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool was applied to 51 patients after obtaining informed consent. The test was undertaken again after seven days. Validity (Content validity, Face validity, Factor analysis) and reliability (Internal consistency, and test–retest reliability) were assessed. The expert committee expressed their satisfaction regarding Face and Content valid- ity of the questionnaire. Factor Analysis by Principal Component Analysis revealed that the questionnaire had high level of commonalities among the items and yielded a single compo- nent model like the original version. Cronbach\u27s Alpha () value of 0.827 indicated good level of internal consistency. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient and Spearman\u27s rho (0.94 and 0.87 respectively) indicated significant correlation between test and retest scores. Results were congruent with findings of similar studies. The Bangla version of PEDT is a valid and reliable scale. It will help to identify patient suffering from premature ejaculation and improve quality of life of the patient and his partner. BSMMU J 2021; 14(4): 132-13

An effective hotel recommendation system through processing heterogeneous data

Recommendation systems have recently gained a lot of popularity in various industries such as entertainment and tourism. They can act as filters of information by providing relevant suggestions to the users through processing heterogeneous data from different networks. Many travelers and tourists routinely rely on textual reviews, numerical ratings, and points of interest to select hotels in cities worldwide. To attract more customers, online hotel booking systems typically rank their hotels based on the recommendations from their customers. In this paper, we present a framework that can rank hotels by analyzing hotels’ customer reviews and nearby amenities. In addition, a framework is presented that combines the scores generated from user reviews and surrounding facilities. We perform experiments using datasets from online hotel booking platforms such as TripAdvisor and Booking to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed framework. We first store the keywords extracted from reviews and assign weights to each considered unigram and bigram keywords and, then, we give a numerical score to each considered keyword. Finally, our proposed system aggregates the scores generated from the reviews and surrounding environments from different categories of the facilities. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed recommendation framework

Perception About the Use of Over-the-Counter Antibiotics Among Patients Attending Outpatient Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital of Bangladesh

Background &amp; objective: Antibiotics are considered among the most commonly sold drug classes in the developing countries. The irrational and overuse of antibiotics result not only in the emergence of resistant bacterial strains but also adverse reactions and economic burden on national health system. This study was carried out with the focus to assess the awareness, attitude and practice of patients visiting Outpatient Department (OPD) of Bangladesh Institute of Research &amp; Development in Endocrine &amp; Metabolism (BIRDEM) General Hospital. towards antibiotic usage and development of its resistance&#x0D; Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in the OPD of BIRDEM General Hospital from June 2017 to July 2017. Patients presented at OPD were selected by convenient sampling. The total number of respondents was 100. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.&#x0D; Results: Of all the participants who took part in the study, 46% had no knowledge and 36% were unaware of ill-effects of antibiotic resistance. Over half (54%) of the patients showed confusion between antibiotic and antiviral drugs. Investigating patients’ practice about antibiotics revealed that 50% patients used to take incomplete antibiotic course and 30% patients shared their antibiotics with other sick family members. During emergencies, 16% patients used the previously left-over antibiotics without seeing the expiry date. Nearly half (46%) of the patients had a practice of taking previously prescribed antibiotic again for the similar nature of illness without consulting a doctor, 6% patients sought antibiotics prescription whenever they consult a doctor.&#x0D; Conclusion: Although the results of this study cannot be generalized to all adult Bangladeshi, indiscriminate use of antibiotic and unawareness of antibiotic resistance and poor attitude towards the antibiotic usage can be a concern for antibiotic resistance in Bangladesh. It highlights the need of educational interventions to increase awareness of people about the consequences of antibiotic misuse and also to develop healthy attitude to practice antibiotic usage.&#x0D; Ibrahim Card Med J 2019; 9 (1&amp;2): 42-48</jats:p

Adaptation and validation of Bangla version of Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool

Premature Ejaculation is one of the most common causes of male sexual dysfunction with prevalence rate of 20 % to 30% in different studies across the world. Premature ejaculation causes severe anxiety, embarrassment, and depression and relational conflicts. Diagnosing Premature Ejaculation can be problematic due to multidimensional nature of the disease. Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT) is a psychometrically valid tool for this purpose. This was a cross-sectional, analytical study and was conducted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka. The English version of the PEDT was forward and back translated. An expert committee reviewed the translations and shared their feedbacks and opinions regarding the proposed Bangla questionnaire. Bangla version of Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool was applied to 51 patients after obtaining informed consent. The test was undertaken again after seven days. Validity (Content validity, Face validity, Factor analysis) and reliability (Internal consistency, and test–retest reliability) were assessed. The expert committee expressed their satisfaction regarding Face and Content valid- ity of the questionnaire. Factor Analysis by Principal Component Analysis revealed that the questionnaire had high level of commonalities among the items and yielded a single compo- nent model like the original version. Cronbach's Alpha () value of 0.827 indicated good level of internal consistency. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient and Spearman's rho (0.94 and 0.87 respectively) indicated significant correlation between test and retest scores. Results were congruent with findings of similar studies. The Bangla version of PEDT is a valid and reliable scale. It will help to identify patient suffering from premature ejaculation and improve quality of life of the patient and his partner. BSMMU J 2021; 14(4): 132-137</jats:p

Prevalence, Pattern and Impact of Self Medication of Anti-infective Agents During COVID-19 Outbreak in Dhaka City

Abstract Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 is putting a massive strain on vulnerable healthcare system in low and middle-income countries like Bangladesh. Inequitable access to healthcare is further widened by the socio-economic gap and sense of insecurity during this pandemic. Self-medication is a common practice in Bangladesh as it provides a low-cost alternative for people, which involves inappropriate and injudicious use of medicines to treat self-recognized symptoms by the people. During the outbreak of COVID-19 in Dhaka city, the tendency of taking medicines by own decision was thought to be increased alarmingly due to unusual distress, caused by high self-awareness of their health and buying capacity of medication. Objectives: To observe the prevalence, pattern, sources and impact of self-medication practice among the respondents with high socio-economic standings and education. Setting: Citizens living in Dhaka city, Bangladesh during COVID-19 outbreak from April 2020 to May 2020. Method: Cross sectional online survey conducted on 626 citizens without having background of medical knowledge or related to any healthcare services (doctors, nurses, pharmacist, medical students) by structured questionnaires during COVID-19 outbreak. Outcome measures: Frequency of self-medication, commonly used antimicrobial agents, symptoms causing self-medication, sources of inspiration, relation with COVID-19 test results, economic burden involved in self-medication during outbreak. Results: The prevalence of self-medication amid the outbreak of COVID-19 was 88.33% and only 179 (28.59%) took medication with doctors’ advice and remaining 447 (71.40%) respondents took the drugs as “self-medication” by other sources. The most frequently used anti-infective drugs during the outbreak were ivermectine (77.15%), azithromycin (54.15%), doxycycline (40.25%). The common symptoms were fever, throat pain, dry-cough and total 105 (16.77%) respondents took medications without having any symptoms. Almost 355 (85.33%) had taken medication without doing any test for COVID-19. The causes of self-medication as news of spread, effects and remedies in media channels, internet; mental stress of lockdown and isolation, insecurity and panic about scarcity of drug and healthcare support. Conclusion: High risks of developing antibiotic resistance, adverse drug reactions and financial loss was predictable with absence of strict regulatory enforcement to protect people and proper utilization resources during COVID-19 outbreak in Dhaka city.</jats:p

Sociodemographic Determinants of Personality Disorder In Patients of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Background &amp; objective: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the 4th most prevalent psychiatric disorder in Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) Survey and most individuals with OCD have co-morbid personality disorders (PD). The present study was undertaken to find the prevalence of PD among patients with OCD and the sociodemographic determinants that influence the development PD in patients with OCD.&#x0D; Methods:The cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in OCD clinic of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from January 2015 to September 2016. Respondents were recruited from the OCD patients diagnosed on the basis of DSM-IV criteria and face to face interview was conducted with the help of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders (SCID-II questionnaire). The main outcome variable was PD in patients of OCD and the exposure variables (determinants) were selected sociodemographic characteristics.&#x0D; Result: The mean age of the OCD patients was (28 ± 8.7) years. Almost half (49%) of OCD patients belonged to the age group 20-30 years. Female respondents were 53.6%. Among the respondents, 62% had co-morbid PD. The mean age of the OCD patients with PD was observed to be significantly higher (29.1 ± 9.1 years) than those without PD (26.2 ± 7.8 years) (p = 0.047). Male OCD patients were 2.4 (95% CI of OR: 1.2 – 4.7) times more likely to have PD than their female counterparts (p = 0.012). Ethnic groups other than Muslims tend to be associated with PD more often and carry more than 8-fold (95% CI of OR: 8.4 – 37.2) higher risk of having the condition (p = 0.001). Likewise, other occupants were nearly 2(95% CI of OR: 0.98 – 3.74) times more prone to have PD than the students (p = 0.056).&#x0D; Conclusion: Personality Disorders are highly prevalent among people with OCD which remains underdiagnosed &amp; under-addressed. Male OCD patients, non-Muslims and occupants other than students are more prone to have PD. Persons with Personality Disorders are far more likely to refuse psychiatric help and deny their problems.&#x0D; Ibrahim Card Med J 2017; 7 (1&amp;2): 44-50 </jats:p

Precipitating Factors, Clinical Features and Outcome of Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Children in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Bangladesh

Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a major complication of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Infections, non-compliance and co-morbid states are most important precipitating causes. Proper identification of the precipitating factor is very important in management of DKA. Clinical feature and management of DKA are well known and have been described in many text books and reviews in literature. However, there are a very few published large studies from Bangladesh. For this reason, this study had evaluated fifty children with Diabetic ketoacidosis and to identify their clinical features, precipitating factors and outcome.&#x0D; Methods: This observational study was done among admitted children with DKA in the deptartment of Paediatrics of Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation for Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) General Hospital during study period between September 2016 to February 2017.&#x0D; Results: Fifty children were admitted with Diabetic ketoacidosis. Seventy percent were new diabetes cases and the remaining (30%) were known diabetic patient. Majority (62%) were female. Mean age was 9.31 years with 4.40 standard deviation. Infection was the commonest (62%) precipitating factor followed by insulin omission (10%). Major clinical features were dehydration (100%), polyuria (98%), Kussmaul’s breathing (60%) and abdominal pain (38%). Eighty four percent patients improved after treatment and 16% patient developed complications like acute kidney injury and septicaemia. There was no mortality.&#x0D; Conclusion: Infection was the commonest precipitating factor of DKA. Kussmaul’s breathing and dehydration were the commonest clinical features. Most of the patients improved after treatment&#x0D; Birdem Med J 2019; 9(2): 121-126</jats:p

Extent of Pharmacotherapy in Covid-19: An Observational Study in a Dedicated Hospital in Bangladesh

Objective: With the rapid increase in the rate of infection, repurposing use of many drugs like antivirals, antibiotics, LMWH, steroid, oxygen therapy were considered as an option to find promising anti-COVID therapeutics. In this study, we aim to observe the extent and variety of drugs used in different clinical categories of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital in Bangladesh. To observe the requirement of oxygen therapy according to severity was also a prime objective to reveal the overall trend, frequency, and pattern of pharmacotherapy in a COVID-dedicated hospital.&#x0D; Materials and method: A total of 1348 patients were admitted, of whom 473 were included in this single-center retrospective study. The critical group consists of 99 ICU patients, the severe group has 38, moderate was 82 and mild group 254 cases, admitted in the general ward. Hospital records of each patient were screened and information about drug and supportive therapy were collected manually by the researchers in the data collection sheet. Data express in MS excel spreadsheet and result expressed in percentage.&#x0D; Results: Critical group received remdesivir (85.86%), favipiravir (27.28%), meropenem (92.93%), moxifloxacin (87.88%) dexamethasone (41.48%), Low Molecular Weight Heparin (98.99%). They also received supportive O2 therapy like High Flow Nasal Cannula (67.68%), Non-Invasive Ventilation (26.67%), and mechanical ventilator (6.06%). A severe group of patients receives the same group of drugs 97.27%, 5.26%, 60.53%, 47.37%, methylprednisolone (55.26%), and 100% LMWH. A moderate group of the patient received favipiravir (97.56%), cephalosporin (64.67%), LMWH (89.02%) and low flow O2 (97.36%) in a higher percentage. All patients of the mild group received doxycycline, ivermectin. Total 33 patients transfuse convalescent plasma.&#x0D; Conclusion: Antiviral, broad-spectrum antibiotics, anti-protozoal, LMWH, corticosteroid, and oxygen therapy are the available treatment option against different clinical categories of admitted COVID-19 patients.&#x0D; Keywords: COVID-19, antiviral, antibiotic, steroid, O2 therapy</jats:p