ABSTRACT
Background: Smoking is a global public health concern. It causes huge premature death, health issues and possess economic burden in the developing countries. Despite of mass anti-smoking camping prevalence of smoking is increasing in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and factors associated with smoking among a rural population of Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed to collect data from rural community of Bangladesh in February to April 2011. Sample was determined purposively and size was 500. Results: The study’s current smoking prevalence was 39.4%. Respondents mean age was 34.63 years and current smokers mean age was 35.7SD ± 9.23 years. The prevalence of current smoking amongst male (89.3%) was significantly higher in comparison with the female (10.7%). Current smoking habit had been gradually decreased with the level of education. The prevalence of current smoking was significantly (P = 0.000) highest among the day labour (30.5%) and two-third smokers was initiated to smoking within the age of 10 to 20 years. About 36.4% of the current smokers smoked 5 to 15 sticks per day. Both ever (42%) and current (45.2%) smoking prevalence was highest amongst the population those monthly family income below 5000 Taka (60 USD). Conclusions: Overall rural smoking prevalence was 39.4%. Ever and current smoking prevalence was significantly higher among males. Smoking prevalence was highest among the illiterate and reduced with the increase of level of education and socio-economic status. To reduce the smoking prevalence amongst the risk group, policy-maker should be implementing massive anti-smoking program.
ABSTRACT
Mechanisms of the long known anti-diabetic effects exerted by the fruits of Terminalia chebula are not yet clearly understood. Here, we sought to get a biochemical view of the mechanisms. First, a single injection of streptozotocin (STZ) was given (50 mg/Kg of body weight, bw) to 48 hours old pups of Long-Evans (L-E) rats intraperitoneally (ip) to induce type 2 diabetes (T2DM). At the age of 3 months, a total of twenty male L-E rats, having T2DM were included in this study and divided into 4 groups (n = 5, for each group). T2DM was confirmed by a standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Next, T2DM rats were orally administered with a single dose of 80% ethanolic extracts of either the fresh or dried fruits for consecutive 28 days. Water and glibenclamide were used as negative and positive control, respectively. Administration of dried (p = 0.001) and fresh (p = 0.02) fruit extracts significantly reduced the fasting serum glucose level as compared to that of water control. Fasting serum lipid profile show that administration of both fresh and dried fruit extracts caused a significant reduction of triglycerides (p = 0.016), total cholesterol (p = 0.001) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p = 0.001). Examinations of antioxidant potential profile demonstrate that dried fruit extracts only decreased the levels of plasma MDA in T2DM rats to a notable extent (62%). Although the fruit extracts could not improve the levels of serum insulin, but increased the liver glycogen content to a remarkable extent (240%). This study indicates that sub-chronic administration of the ethanolic extracts of dried Terminaria chebula mature fruits improve glycemic, lipidemic and anti-oxidative status in T2DM male L-E rats and that the hypoglycemic action may be mediated by an extra-pancreatic mechanism. Abbreviations: STZ= Streptozotocin, T2DM=Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, OGTT=Oral glucose tolerance test, TG =Triglyceride, HDL-C=High density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C=Low density lipoprotein cholesterol, FSG = Fasting serum glucose, Gliben=Glibenclamide, WC = Water control, TCFF=Ethanolic extract of T. chebula fresh fruit type 2 group, TCDF=Ethanolic extract of T. chebula dry fruit type 2 group, SPSS= Statistical Package for Social Science, ANOVA= Analysis of variance.
ABSTRACT
One hundred and fifty-one patients, clinically suspected for pulmonary tuberculosis (age: 31 +/- 13 years, male/female: 112/39), were investigated to evaluate the diagnostic potential of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based detection of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in sputum. The diagnostic efficacy of PCR was compared with culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on egg-based Lowenstein-Jensen modified medium. PCR detected 71.5% (108/151), whereas culture detected 66.2% (100/151) of the clinically suspected patients. There was a significant association between the results of PCR and culture (chi2 = 59.524, p < 0.001). However, 23.2% (35/151) samples were found negative in both culture and PCR. Considering culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity of the PCR was 92%. and its specificity 70%. This lower apparent specificity may be due to the higher sensitivity of PCR.