Translation and Validation of Enhanced Asian Rome III Questionnaires in Bengali Language for Diagnosis of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), diagnosed by symptom-based criteria due to lack of biomarkers, need translated-validated questionnaires in different languages. As Bengali, the mother tongue of Bangladesh and eastern India, is the seventh most spoken language in the world, we translated and validated the Enhanced Asian Rome III questionnaire (EAR3Q) in this language. METHODS: The EAR3Q was translated in Bengali as per guideline from the Rome Foundation. The translated questionnaire was validated prospectively on Bengali-speaking healthy subjects (HS, n = 30), and patients with functional dyspepsia (FD, n = 35), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, n = 40) and functional constipation (FC, n = 12) diagnosed by clinicians using the Rome III criteria. The subjects were asked to fill-in the questionnaire again after 2 weeks, to check for its reproducibility. RESULTS: During translation, the original and the backward translated English versions of the questionnaire demonstrated high concordance. Sensitivity of the Bengali questionnaire to diagnose patients with FD, IBS, FC, and HS was 100%, 100%, 75%, and 100%, respectively, considering diagnosis by the clinicians as the gold standard. On test-retest reliability analysis, Kappa values for FD, IBS, FC, and HS were 1.0, 1.0, 0.83, and 1.0, respectively. The Bengali questionnaire detected considerable overlap of FD symptoms among patients with IBS, IBS among patients with FD, and FD among patients with FC, which were not detected by the clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully translated and validated the EAR3Q in Bengali. We believe that this translated questionnaire will be useful for clinical evaluation and research on FGIDs in the Bengali-speaking population.

Uptake of cadmium and lead by rice grown in four contaminated soils of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Rice was grown on soils collected from four different contaminated areas of Chittagong including city sewage, tannery, fertilizer factory and cement factory. Cadmium concentrations in grain of rice were 0.98, 0.10, 0.22 and 0.36 mg/kg-1 dry weight for city sewage, tannery, and fertilizer factory and cement factory soil, respectively. Cadmium concentration ranged from 2.73 to 6.91 mg/kg-1 in straw and 3.50 to 27.91 mg kg-1 in root. Lead concentration in grain, straw and root was significantly differed among the soils with the highest values [0.75, 4.13 and 39.37 mg kg-1, respectively] in city sewage soil and the lowest values [0.34, 2.16 and 29.53 mg kg-1, respectively] in tannery soil. Among different plant parts [root, straw and grain], the lowest values of Cd and Pb were observed in the grains. Almost all of the Cd and Pb absorbed by rice grain were likely to accumulate in the edible parts and Cd and Pb have not been detected in the grain chaffs. These results have implied that higher concentrations of Cd and Pb exceeding the maximum safe-intake levels [0.1 mg kg-1] in grains proposed by the FAO/WHO could result in human health problem

Effects of lead on growth of some vegetable crops

Pot experiments were carried out to study the effects of lead [Pb] on growth of Amaranth, Chinese Amaranth and Spinach. Six levels of Pb [0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg kg [-1]] were used in the pot experiments. Lead application in soil significantly decreased the number of leaves plant [-1] of Amaranth, Chinese Amaranth and Spinach. Shoot height and root length of the tested vegetables crops were also significantly decreased by Pb application except for root of spinach. The present decline in shoot height at 100 mg Pb kg[-1] soil treatment as compared to the control was about 57, 75 and 47% for Amaranth, Chinese Amaranth and Spinach, respectively. The reduction of root length of Amaranth and Chinese Amaranth was 34 and 59%, respectively at the highest rate of Pb application from that of the control. In general, a gradual decrease in shoot and root biomass of all the crops with increasing rates of Pb application was observed. Shoot and root biomass of amaranth were reduced by 49 and 45% respectively with 100 mg Pb kg[-1] soil treatment over control. The corresponding reductions for Chinese Amaranth were 27 and 48% and for Spinach were 39 and 45%, respectively

Growth and accumulation of lead in amaranthus [amaranthus tricolor L.] as influenced by various levels of lead in soil

A pot experiment with six levels of lead [0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mg Pb kg[-1] soil] was conducted to study the effects of lead on the growth of Amaranthus [Amaranthus tricolor L.] and Pb accumulation in it. Plants were harvested at 30 and 45 days after sowing [DAS]. Plant height at 45 DAS was significantly different among the treatments. Lead application at 40 mg kg[-1] of soil and above significantly decreased the shoot weight at 30 DAS and root weight at 45 DAS. There was no uptake of Pb by shoot and root of Amaranthus up to 30 and 20 mg kg[-1] of Pb application, respectively both at 30 and 45 DAS At both 30 and 45 DAS, Pb concentration in shoot and root increased gradually with increasing Pb application above 30 and 20 mg kg[-1] of soil, respectively. The concentration of Pb was higher in root than shoot of Amaranthus and the Pb partitioning [shoot: root Pb concentration and amount] decreased with increasing contamination level [above 20 mg Pb kg[-1] soil]. Bioaccumulation coefficient of Pb was lower in shoot than root of Amaranthus indicating lower translocation of Pb from root to shoot

Stability study of ambroxol hydrochloride sustained release pellets coated with acrylic polymer

The aim of the present study is to perform stability study of Ambroxol Hydrochloride sustained release pellets stored in different storage conditions. The drug loaded beads were prepared by Extrusion-Spheronization technology then coated with ammonio methacrylate copolymer Type A [Eudragit RL 30 D] and ammonio methacrylate copolymer Type B [Eudragit RS 30 D] at a ratio of 2:3 [8% polymer by weight on dry basis] in Fluid Bed Coater [Wurster column]. Stability study of pellets was performed as capsule dosage form in Aluminium-PVDC packaging mode at room temperature, 40°C, 40°C/75%RH and 30°C/70%RH for three months. After one month the shape and size of the pellets was changed in all conditions. The color of the pellets remains unchanged up to the 2nd month in all conditions except at 40°C/75%RH and in this case some pellets become brown. But after 3[rd] month, pellets become brownish in all conditions except at room temperature. At RT the color of pellets remains unchanged during the stability study. The mean drug content decreased gradually in all conditions. In acid media the initial drug release was 23% but after 1[st] month it was decreased to 13-15% in all conditions. In the buffer media [pH 6.8] the drug release was increased a little bit in all conditions except at 30°C/70%RH with the passes of storage time. Stability studies at 30°C/70%RH revealed consistent drug release [f2 > 50] throughout the stability period. The physical properties of pellets as well as the in vitro release profile of the drug was found to be a function of the different storage conditions as well as the physico-chemical nature of the polymers

Growth and accumulation of cadmium in Amaranthus [Amaranthus tricolor L.] as influenced by various levels of cadmium in soil

A pot experiment with six levels of cadmium [0, 1, 3, 5. 7 and 9 mg kg[-1] soil] conducted to investigate the effects of cadmium on the growth of Amaranthus [Amaranthus tricolor L.] a popular leafy vegetable crop in Bangladesh, and Cd accumulation in it. Plants were harvested at 30 and 45 days after sowing [DAS]. Plant height and biomass production of shoot and root were significantly affected by Cd treatments and there was a depression of yield due to increased Cd application. Cadmium accumulation in Amaranthus and the shoot: root ratio of Cd increased with increasing Cd concentrations in soil. The increase of soil contamination level led to a decrease of bioaccumulation coefficient in shoot and root at both the stages. The capacity for Cd accumulation in edible parts of Amaranthus with the absence of any visual symptoms indicates a potential danger for human consumption

effect of the ratio of two acrylic polymers on the in vitro release kinetics of ketoprofen from pellets prepared by extrusion and spheronisation Technique

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of physico-chemical properties of the polymers on the release profile of ketoprofen from the pellets dosage form. Ammonio Methacrylate Copolymer Type A [Eudragit RL 30 D] and Ammonio Methacrylate Copolymer Type B [Eudragit RS 30 D] were used as release rate retarding polymers. The drug containing core pellets were prepared by extrusion spheronisation technique and subsequently coated with 15% [w/w] polymer load of the combination of Eudragit RL 30 D and Eudragit RS 30 D having ratio 1:0, 4:1, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3, 1:4, 0:1 respectively. Significant differences were found among the drug release profile from different formulations. It was revealed that Eudragit RL 30 D has the effect to increase the initial drug release more significantly where as Eudragit RS 30 D has the effect to minimize the initial drug release but increase the terminal drug release more significantly. In acid media about 50% drug was released from pellets coated only with Eudragit RL 30 D where was only 5% drug was released in case of Eudragit RS 30 D but maximum 10% drug was released from pellets when coated with the combination of Eudragit RL 30 D and Eudragit RS 30 D. In buffer media, evidence of burst release was observed for the pellets coated with Eudragit RL 30 D and Eudragit RS 30 D having ratio of 1:0, 4:1, 3:2 respectively. It was also observed that drug release increases sharply as well as the release best fit to the zero order release kinetics when pellets coated with 1:1 ratio of Eudragit RL 30 D and Eudragit RS and follows Higuchi's release kinetics when ratio was 1:0 and 3:2. The results generated in this study showed that proper selection of polymeric materials based on their physico-chemical properties is important in designing sustained release pellets dosage form with suitable dissolution profile

Gonadal hormones and gonadotrophins in healthy males beyond forty years

To determine and compare the sex hormones, gonadotrophins and sex hormone binding globulin [SHBG] in healthy males of different age groups. One hundred eighty five consecutive healthy nonobese males of age 40-90 years were studied. Serum samples were assayed for total testosterone, estradiol, LH, FSH and SHBG estimation by radioimmunometric method. The subjects were divided into five age groups and the mean serum concentrations of each parameter were compared among the groups. No significant difference in the mean serum concentrations of total testosterone, SHBG, LH and FSH was found among the different age groups[p> 0.05 by Anova]. Significant age related decrease was found in the serum estradiol concentration [p< 0.05] by both Anova and Pearson's Correlation test. There is no significant age related change in serum total testosterone, gonadotrophin and SHBG concentrations in healthy males beyond forty years. Significant age related decrease in serum estradiol needs further studies

Otitis in Children

This study had conducted in the ENT out patient department of Rajshahi medical college Hospital and Microbiology department of Rashahi Medical College during the period April 2001 to July 2001. Out of 48 cases, the prevalence of only bacteria, only fungus and both bacteria and fungus cases were 45.83%, 16.66% and 37.50%respectively. Maximum [25%] numbers of cases were from age group 2.5 to 3.5 years. Only bacteria cases were common in the younger age group [0.5 to 3.5year] and only fungal cases were common with increase of age [3.5 to 6.5 years]. There was no specific relationship of age with both bacteria and fungal cases. Among the fungal causes candida albicans was predominant followed by Aspergillus spp. and occasionally Rhizopus spp. The isolated bacteria were Esh.coli, Staph. aureus, strept. Pyogens, proteus and pseudomonas. Male was 28 [58.33%] and female was 20 [41.67%] and female was 20 [41.67%] and majority cases were from urban area