Frequent mental distress among adults in the United States and its association with socio-demographic characteristics, unhealthy lifestyle, and chronic physical health status

Frequent mental distress (FMD) is a measure of poor mental health days for at least 14 days out of 30 days. It is one of the important dimensions of the health-related quality of life. The underlying causes of FMD are diverse. However, the issue has not been explored extensively due to the lack of reliable data on mental health. The aim of this study was to examine the level and trends of FMD among the adults of the United States (US) and identify the socio-demographic, lifestyles, and chronic health outcomes related correlates of FMD. The data for the study was obtained from the publicly available 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in the US, covering a large sample of 418,268 adult respondents from all the 50 states and participating territories. Respondents from each state and territory were identified by selecting the telephone number from the telephone directory following a systematic sampling design. To examine the trends in the prevalence of FMD, data from the 2010-2018 BRFSS were also utilized. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including multiple logistic regression models were employed to analyze the data. Results indicated that about 12% of the adults in the US experienced FMD, and the prevalence of FMD is increasing overtime. Females, students, adults aged below 35 years, multiracial, less educated, single, low income, and underweight individuals were found to have a higher risk of FMD. FMD was found to be significantly associated with unhealthy lifestyles and chronic health conditions. This study findings highlight the importance of interventions for mental health promotion and mental illness prevention, substance use prevention, screening and treatment services of FMD, and increased provision of resources to address social and economic determinants of FMD

Haemoglobin E/Beta Thalassaemia- A Study in BSMMU

Background: Thalassaemias and haemoglobinopathies have been found sporadically in every ethnic group and geographic region, they occur with particularly high frequency from the shores of the Mediterranean and Africa through the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Burma and Southeast Asia. Objective: The study was designed to find out the incidence of HbE/beta thalassaemia in BSMMU. Method: A total of 700 patients suspected to have been suffering from haemolytic anaemia were included in the study. Patients having evidence of haemolysis in peripheral blood film were selected for reticulocyte count and haemoglobin electrophoresis in cellulose acetate membrane at pH 8.6. Result: The study group of 700 patients underwent Hb-electrophoresis of which only 52 (7.4%) cases were diagnosed as HbE/beta thalassaemia. Out of 52 cases, 34 (65.4%) patients were found symptomatic and the remaining 18 (34.6%) patients were asymptomatic. Out of 34 symptomatic cases of HbE/beta thalassaemia, only 14 cases needed blood transfusion. Among the 14 patients, only 8 patients needed more than 10 units of transfusion and 6 patients needed frequent transfusion that is two units of blood in every month. Conclusion: It is clearly evident from the present and other studied so far carried out in this Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia that hereditary haemolytic anaemia due to globin chain defects are quite common in this region, especially in Bangladesh and are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. Key words: Thalassaemia; Haemoglobinopathies; HbE/beta thalassemia. DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i2.4762 BSMMU J 2009; 2(2): 78-8

A Novel Jamming Attacks Detection Approach Based on Machine Learning for Wireless Communication

Jamming attacks target a wireless network creating an unwanted denial of service. 5G is vulnerable to these attacks despite its resilience prompted by the use of millimeter wave bands. Over the last decade, several types of jamming detection techniques have been proposed, including fuzzy logic, game theory, channel surfing, and time series. Most of these techniques are inefficient in detecting smart jammers. Thus, there is a great need for efficient and fast jamming detection techniques with high accuracy. In this paper, we compare the efficiency of several machine learning models in detecting jamming signals. We investigated the types of signal features that identify jamming signals, and generated a large dataset using these parameters. Using this dataset, the machine learning algorithms were trained, evaluated, and tested. These algorithms are random forest, support vector machine, and neural network. The performance of these algorithms was evaluated and compared using the probability of detection, probability of false alarm, probability of miss detection, and accuracy. The simulation results show that jamming detection based random forest algorithm can detect jammers with a high accuracy, high detection probability and low probability of false alarm

Eco-friendly Entrepreneurship to Promote Plastic Alternatives

Plastic production has become a global concern, including in Bangladesh. Among all types of plastic products, single-use plastic is considered treacherous and the most responsible for damaging the natural environment. To replace plastics on a daily usage basis, the entrepreneurs of Bangladesh have reiterated some initiatives to manufacture and promote plastic alternatives. This study aims to assess the market potential, existing challenges, and users’/customers’ perceptions of the plastic alternative industry in Bangladesh. Key informant interviews (KIIs) with structured questionnaires were conducted among 15 plastic alternative entrepreneurs and 30 customers through online platforms. The framework analysis method was used to analyse and interpret the collected data. Despite highlighting some challenges, plastic alternative entrepreneurs contribute significantly to replacing plastic products, and the market potential is quite promising for this industry. Moreover, this study portrays an efficacious inclination of consumer behaviours towards using plastic alternatives. By following the concept of the green economy, the entrepreneurs of the plastic alternative industry in Bangladesh are gradually able to replace plastic products and contribute toward building a sustainable city

Diagnosed hematological malignancies in Bangladesh - a retrospective analysis of over 5000 cases from 10 specialized hospitals

Background The global burden from cancer is rising, especially as low-income countries like Bangladesh observe rapid aging. So far, there are no comprehensive descriptions reporting diagnosed cancer group that include hematological malignancies in Bangladesh. Methods This was a multi-center hospital-based retrospective descriptive study of over 5000 confirmed hematological cancer cases in between January 2008 to December 2012. Morphological typing was carried out using the “French American British” classification system. Results A total of 5013 patients aged between 2 to 90 years had been diagnosed with malignant hematological disorders. A 69.2% were males (n = 3468) and 30.8% females (n = 1545), with a male to female ratio of 2.2:1. The overall median age at diagnosis was 42 years. Acute myeloid leukemia was most frequent (28.3%) with a median age of 35 years, followed by chronic myeloid leukemia with 18.2% (median age 40 years), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (16.9%; median age 48 years), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (14.1%; median age 27 years), multiple myeloma (10.5%; median age 55 years), myelodysplastic syndromes (4.5%; median age 57 years) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (3.9%; median age 36 years). The least common was chronic lymphocytic leukemia (3.7%; median age 60 years). Below the age of 20 years, acute lymphoblastic leukemia was predominant (37.3%), followed by acute myeloid leukemia (34%). Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma had mostly occurred among older patients, aged 50-over. Conclusions For the first time, our study presents the pattern and distribution of diagnosed hematological cancers in Bangladesh. It shows differences in population distributions as compared to other settings with possibly a lower presence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There might be under-reporting of affected women. Further studies are necessary on the epidemiology, genetics and potential environmental risk factors within this rapidly aging country

Enhanced human activity recognition through deep multi-layer perceptron on the UCI-HAR dataset

Using the UCI-HAR dataset, this paper examines human activity recognition (HAR) from the perspectives of data science and artificial intelligence. The primary objective is to present and evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) model, concentrating on six different activity categories. We train and assess the MLP model using the UCI-HAR dataset, contrasting its results with those of convolutional neural networks (CNN). The MLP model shows competitive results, attaining an amazing 97% validation and testing accuracy, highlighting its efficiency for smaller datasets. An extensive study is carried out to assess the model's adaptation to a larger Motion Sense dataset using confusion matrices and cross-entropy, the model shows robustness with an accuracy of 89%. The MLP model performs admirably, demonstrating its capacity to pick up complex patterns. Results from comparative analysis with CNN are competitive, especially when dealing with smaller datasets. The suggested MLP model shows up as a practical and efficient way to advance HAR techniques. Its remarkable performance and versatility not only show its usefulness in real-world scenarios but also point to interesting directions for further study in the area of HAR

Fry production, induced breeding practices and cost-profit analysis of the hatcheries of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh

This study was conducted on the 13 hatcheries of Rajshahi district from March to December 2013 to know about the fry production status, induced breeding practices and cost-profit status. Average fry production of Labeo rohita, 93.38±83.32 kg, Catla catla, 62.00±60.84 kg, Cirrhinus cirrhosus, 77.46±58.61 kg, L. calbasu, 14.20±14.60 kg, L. bata, 53.73±50.56 kg, L. gonia, 10.00±0 kg, Heteropneustes fossilis, 5.00±0 kg, Clarias batrachus, 20.00±0 kg, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, 149.77±138.45 kg, Aristichthys nobilis, 104.54±148.11 kg, Ctenopharyngodon idella, 19.20±15.35 kg, Cyprinus carpio 108.08±77.39 kg and Barbonymus gonionotus, 23.10±14.04 kg were recorded in the surveyed hatcheries. Two types of hormone injections PG (pituitary gland) and HCG (Human chorionic gonadotropin) were used for induced breeding. The rate of 1st dose of injection of PG varied from 1 to 2 mg/kg and HCG from 100-150 IU/kg and the rate of 2nd dose of injection of PG varied between 5 and 8 mg/kg. The incubation period and hatching rate in different fish species varied from 10 to 72 hours and 55% to 80%, respectively. The average total cost, gross return and net profit of the hatcheries were 0.667±0.798, 1.152±1.636 and 0.485±0.846 million BDT respectively.</jats:p

Fry production, induced breeding practices and cost-profit analysis of the hatcheries of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh

This study was conducted on the 13 hatcheries of Rajshahi district from March to December 2013 to know about the fry production status, induced breeding practices and cost-profit status. Average fry production of Labeo rohita, 93.38±83.32 kg, Catla catla, 62.00±60.84 kg, Cirrhinus cirrhosus, 77.46±58.61 kg, L. calbasu, 14.20±14.60 kg, L. bata, 53.73±50.56 kg, L. gonia, 10.00±0 kg, Heteropneustes fossilis, 5.00±0 kg, Clarias batrachus, 20.00±0 kg, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, 149.77±138.45 kg, Aristichthys nobilis, 104.54±148.11 kg, Ctenopharyngodon idella, 19.20±15.35 kg, Cyprinus carpio 108.08±77.39 kg and Barbonymus gonionotus, 23.10±14.04 kg were recorded in the surveyed hatcheries. Two types of hormone injections PG (pituitary gland) and HCG (Human chorionic gonadotropin) were used for induced breeding. The rate of 1st dose of injection of PG varied from 1 to 2 mg/kg and HCG from 100-150 IU/kg and the rate of 2nd dose of injection of PG varied between 5 and 8 mg/kg. The incubation period and hatching rate in different fish species varied from 10 to 72 hours and 55% to 80%, respectively. The average total cost, gross return and net profit of the hatcheries were 0.667±0.798, 1.152±1.636 and 0.485±0.846 million BDT respectively

Nutrients load in ponds both water and soil due to application of different levels of carbon and nitrogen with feeding

Application of different types of feeds, fertilisers or food based nutrients in ponds results in the accumulation of high levels nitrogen, phosphorous and organic carbon in water and bottom soil. Farmers can use pond water as an irrigation source while soil as a fertility source of agriculture. This study was conducted at Sahas village on Dumuria upazila at Khulna district in Bangladesh for 46 days (from April to May, 2017) with nursery reared tilapia fingerlings in aforementioned earthen ponds using two different composition of commercial fish feed (diet-1 & diet-2) varying crude protein content 24% and 35% with different C and N content respectably as main plot treatment and three different amount 0 kg, 3 kg, 6 kg of each diets as sub plot treatment with six replications in split plot experimental design. In this study of aquaculture farming from initial about 6-8% organic carbon, 23-35% total nitrogen, 22-45% total phosphorous stored in pond sediments while 10-20% of available potassium and 2-3% of C/N ratio depleted from it. About 16-20% available nitrogen, 7-10% available phosphorous stored in pond water while about 8-9% dissolved organic carbon, 3-18% available potassium and 2-5% C/N ratio were depleted from it. Nutrient enrichment of pond water and soil during aquaculture production is insufficient to meet crop nutrient demand but fertiliser recommendations for crops should be altered when pond water is used as an irrigation source and pond bottom sediments used as fertility soil for in situ cultivation or excavate it to other field for growing crops and cost may reduce