Birth Weight Correlation with Conception Interval and Other Factors in Bangladesh New Born.

Aims: Low birth weight (LBW) is a major health problem and a significant contributor to neonatal death in both industrialised and developing countries. To examine the birthweight status of newborns and to identity the relationship between birth-weight and other anthropometric parameters of newborns. Study Design: Three districts of Khulna division from South-west region of Bangladesh were our primary study area. Pregnant women attending the selected hospitals and clinics for delivery purpose and their newborn babies during the study period were regarded as the study subjects. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting the ultimate sampling unit for the present study. Place and Duration of Study: This cross sectional study was carried out among the mothers and their newborn babies at the South-west region of Bangladesh, during the time period January 2008 to December 2008. Methodology: Data of socio-demographic factors, obstetric history, lemal morbidities, anthropometrics parameters of mother, hematological ors, and anthropometric parameters of the newborn baby subsections were collected in a questionnaire form. Anthropometric parameters of the newborns were recorded by the investigator within 18 hours of birth by standard techniques described byJelliffe and Jelliffe in 1989. All the newborns were weighed naked on a spring electronic balance with a maximum paucity of 15kg and a minimum of 125g and 5g subdivisions. The weighing machine was checked daily by known standard weight before weighing. Crown heel length (CHL) was measured to the nearest of 0.1cm on a manometer. Head circumference (HC) was measured between glabella anteriorly and along the most prominent point posteriorly within the 24 hours of delivery. Chest circumference (CC) was measured at the level of nipple at the end phase of expiration. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) was measured at the midpoint between the tip of acromion process and olecranon process of the left upper arm. Data were analyzed using standard statistical methods, which include correlationcoefficient, analysis of variance, simple and multiple regressions, and sensitivity and specificity analyses for different cut-offs of the newborns (CHL, HC, CC, MUAC). Results: The mean birth-weight was 2754.81±465.57g and 28.6% were low-birth-weight (<2,500 g) babies. All key anthropometric parameters of the newborns significantly correlated with infant birth-weight (P<0.05). Mid upper arm circumference and chest circumference were identified as the optimal surrogate indicators of LBW babies. Conclusion: In the community where weighing of newborns is difficult, these measurements can be used to identify the LBW babies.

Scientific Freedom & Limits - Clinical Research Perspective.

ABSTRACT: Being a scientist, especially a clinical research one, is a noble but tough job. Scientific job is different from other jobs in terms of working hour and pressure; they need more freedom in their job & research that also put lots of responsibility on them. Research is funded by public money and it is the responsibility of scientists to gain maximum output from it. Clinical research is very complex and involves the use of animal, microbial as well as human samples and volunteers which make it more prone to ethical scrutiny. Minority of researchers who commit fraudulent use of public money & unethical clinical practice threaten public support for science. Now a day, there is growing concern of public and politicians on the freedom of scientists and unethical scientific practice in clinical trials. The most efficient measures to prevent scientific misconduct are awareness—notably, self-awareness— education and transparency. Most of the developed countries have formulated their own guidelines to ensure proper utilization and ethical clinical research and trials. Bangladesh is still lagging behind in terms of regulation and monitoring of clinical research and trials. This review aims to make related peoples to be aware of the necessity of its own guidelines for clinical research and trials.

Ethics in clinical research.

ABSTRACT: History of unethical clinical research practice date back to a very long time, though the most remarkable unethical clinical research was those by the Nazis during second world war, which eventually shaken the scientific community and gives birth to the first guideline of ethics in clinical research, the Nuremberg Code. Following Nuremberg code, a number of ethical guidelines has been formulated most important of which are the declaration of Helsinski. To make any research involving human subjects or samples ethically acceptable, a number of key features have to be considered by the scientists. These guidelines are internationally accepted and without following these guidelines, no clinical research is acceptable in the world. Though, there are many countries in the world like Bangladesh, which don’t have any ethical guidelines of their own and thus scientists in those countries do not adhere the any ethical guideline while conducting their research. Each country should have their own ethical guidelines and each clinical research institutes should have own ethical review committee to ensure ethical clinical research.