Appraisal of heavy metal status in water for irrigation usage of the Bangshi River, Bangladesh

Arefin, M. Taufique,Rahman, M. Mokhlesur,Wahid-U-Zzaman, M.,Kim, Jang-Eok The Korean Society for Applied Biological Chemistr 2016 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.59 No.5

An attempt was made to assess the status of heavy metals in the Bangshi River water for irrigation usage. River water was sampled from 20 sampling points for chemical analysis of physicochemical parameters and metal ions. Our analyses revealed that water samples were slightly alkaline to alkaline. All samples had reasonable electrical conductivity, and these samples were from low to medium salinity classes as being fit for irrigation on soils having moderate level of permeability. Water samples were categorized freshwater as per total dissolved solids (TDS). All water samples were excellent indicating low alkalinity hazard, based on sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), but most of the samples were doubtful to unsuitable for soluble sodium percentage (SSP). All samples were free from residual sodium carbonate (RSC) suggesting suitability for irrigation purpose. For water hardness, samples were rated as moderately hard, hard, and very hard. The status of Fe, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Ni in water samples were within permissible levels but Cr, Cu, and Mn content in water samples were in excess of recommended limits and these ions would be considered toxic in long-term irrigation system. Significant relationships existed between EC versus TDS, SAR versus SSP, SSP versus RSC, and SAR versus RSC. There were significant correlations between metal ions: Fe-Cu, Fe-Pb, Cu-Pb, Fe-Mn, Cu-Mn, and Mn-Pb. This finding showed that Cr, Cu, and Mn ions were considered contaminants in river water used for irrigation because the present status of these metals may pose a harmful impact on human health.

Original Article: Soil/Pesticidal/Environmental Sciences : Heavy Metal Contamination in Surface Water Used for Irrigation: Functional Assessment of the Turag River in Bangladesh

( Taufique Arefin(m. ) ),( Mokhlesur Rahman(m. ) ),( Wahid-u-zzaman(m. ) ),( Jang Eok Kim ) 한국응용생명화학회 2016 Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry (J. Appl. Vol.59 No.1

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the degree of metal contamination of the Turag River water and its suitability for irrigation. Twenty water samples were analyzed for physic℃hemical parameters and metals viz., calcium, magnesium, potassium (K), sodium, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and nickel (Ni). All water samples were slightly alkaline to alkaline. Regarding electrical conductivity (EC), all samples were suitable for crop in soils with moderate permeability and leaching. Water samples were medium salinity and low alkalinity hazard classes. In terms of total dissolved solids (TDS), all samples were classified as freshwater. As per sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and soluble sodium percentage (SSP), all samples were classified as excellent. No residual sodium carbonate (RSC) was detected in any of the samples, indicating suitability for irrigation; and all samples were considered very hard. Cr and Mn contents in all samples were above FAO guideline values and, therefore, these metals were considered toxic. Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and Ni concentrations were below acceptable limit for irrigation and do not pose a threat to soil environment. Significant relationships were found between EC and TDS, SAR and SSP, SAR and RSC, and SSP and RSC. The combinations of ions such as K.Zn, K.Fe, K.Cu, K.Mn, K. Pb, Zn.Fe, Zn.Cu, Zn.Mn, Fe.Mn, Cu.Mn, Cu.Pb and Mn.Pb exhibited significant correlation. This study revealed that Turag River water samples are contaminated with Cr and Mn. This fact should not be ignored because water contamination by metals may pose a threat to human health through food chain.

Appraisal of heavy metal status in water for irrigation usage of the Bangshi River, Bangladesh

M. Taufique Arefin,M. Mokhlesur Rahman,M. Wahid-U-Zzaman,김장억 한국응용생명화학회 2016 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.59 No.5

An attempt was made to assess the status of heavy metals in the Bangshi River water for irrigation usage. River water was sampled from 20 sampling points for chemical analysis of physicochemical parameters and metal ions. Our analyses revealed that water samples were slightly alkaline to alkaline. All samples had reasonable electrical conductivity, and these samples were from low to medium salinity classes as being fit for irrigation on soils having moderate level of permeability. Water samples were categorized freshwater as per total dissolved solids (TDS). All water samples were excellent indicating low alkalinity hazard, based on sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), but most of the samples were doubtful to unsuitable for soluble sodium percentage (SSP). All samples were free from residual sodium carbonate (RSC) suggesting suitability for irrigation purpose. For water hardness, samples were rated as moderately hard, hard, and very hard. The status of Fe, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Ni in water samples were within permissible levels but Cr, Cu, and Mn content in water samples were in excess of recommended limits and these ions would be considered toxic in long-term irrigation system. Significant relationships existed between EC versus TDS, SAR versus SSP, SSP versus RSC, and SAR versus RSC. There were significant correlations between metal ions: Fe–Cu, Fe–Pb, Cu–Pb, Fe–Mn, Cu–Mn, and Mn–Pb. This finding showed that Cr, Cu, and Mn ions were considered contaminants in river water used for irrigation because the present status of these metals may pose a harmful impact on human health.

Effectiveness of Developmental Therapy in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Khondoker Ehsanul Arefin,Mizanur Rahman,Kanij Fatema 아시아지적장애인연맹 산하 아시아저널센터 2018 Asia-Pacific Journal of Intellectual Disabilities Vol.5 No.2

Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of motor syndromes resulting from disorders of early brain development. Physiotherapy is an important part of the management of children with CP. In Bangladesh a single approach therapy has been adopted in any medical institutes as developmental therapy where a developmental therapist assesses the child and provides physiotherapy, occupational therapy, cognitive stimulation, feeding therapy, speech and language therapy to the children according to the need by a holistic approach. There are limited published evidences on effectiveness of developmental therapy among Bangladeshi children with cerebral palsy. So this study was designed to measure the effectiveness of developmental therapy in children with cerebral palsy. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in the department of Pediatrics of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from February 2009 to May 2010 on 135 children with CP aged 6 months to 3 years. The motor, mental and behavioral functions of the selected children were initially measured by Bayley Scales of Infant Development II. They were reassessed after 3 months and 6 months following developmental therapy. Only 62 (45.9%) children have completed the 2 follow up sessions and hence were evaluated against their baseline motor, mental and behavior score. The study result showed that motor, mental and behavior functions were significantly improved after 6 months following developmental therapy. Nearly half (46.8%) of the children improved on motor skills, 40.3 on mental skills and about 69% on behavior skills. Epilepsy and duration of therapy at home interfered developmental outcome. This study has demonstrated a beneficial effect of single approach developmental therapy for children with cerebral palsy.

A Statistical Framework for Detecting Diabetes Types

Linkon Chowdhury,Mohammad Shamsul Arefin 한국산학기술학회 2015 SmartCR Vol.5 No.2

Diabetes is a condition defined by the level of hyperglycemia that increases the risk of micro vascular damage. A diabetic patient faces many difficulties such as a reduction in life expectancy, increase in the risk of macro vascular complications, and lower quality of life. The main purpose of this research is to develop a computational system to identify types of diabetes. A Multi Selection Criteria Evaluation technique is used to identify the level of diabetes. In this work, we consider ten common symptoms, which are the causes of metabolic disorder in diabetic patients. We also consider tests that are referred to by doctors for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Then, we perform necessary computations to identify the type of diabetes (Type-I or Type-II) by using a K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm, and suggest effective drugs for different types of diabetes. We perform several experiments to show the effectiveness of our framework.

NEW ERA SIGNALS AND CUSTOMER REVIEW PLATFORMS: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Jennifer J. Lee,Sirajul Arefin Shibly 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2020 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2020 No.11

The Factors Affecting Kyrgyzstan’s Bilateral Trade: A Gravity-model Approach

Piratdin Allayarov,Bahtiyar Mehmed,Sazzadul Arefin,Norbek Nurmatov 한국유통과학회 2018 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.5 No.4

The study investigates the factors that affect Kyrgyzstan’s bilateral trade flows with its main trading partners and attempts to predict trade potential for Kyrgyzstan. Using panel data, the gravity model is applied to estimate Kyrgyzstan’s trade from 2000 to 2016 for its 35 main trading partners. The coefficients derived from the gravity-model estimation are then used to predict trade potential for Kyrgyzstan. Results proved to be successful and explained 63% of the fluctuations in Kyrgyzstan’s trade. According to the results, Kyrgyzstan’s and its partners’ GDP have a positive effect on trade, while distance and partners’ population prove to have a negative effect. Predicted trade potential reveals that neighboring countries (China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan) and Russia still have a significant trade potential. Kyrgyzstan, being a less developed economy, even by Central Asia standards, can only achieve its goals of reducing poverty and becoming more developed by increasing its overall trade with the rest of the world. Therefore, it is essential to study the main determinants of Kyrgyzstan’s bilateral trade. In this way, we can help policy makers formulate policies to expand Kyrgyzstan’s trade. This study is the first attempt to apply to the gravity model to Kyrgyzstan in an attempt to predict trade potential.

Developing a Framework for Determining Student Excellence and Recommending a Field of Study

Md. Osman Goni,Mohammad Shamsul Arefin,Md. Monirul Islam 한국산학기술학회 2015 SmartCR Vol.5 No.6

A recommendation system is a software tool that helps in decision making. A recommendation system can save time and effort for users and can guide them in the proper direction to make the right decision. Most students in developing and underdeveloped countries choose their field of study blindly, without considering their skillfulness. The selection of their subjects is often influenced their parents, friends or different socio-economic factors. This creates a huge problem for the students during their academic studies, and in many cases, they cannot do well in their chosen field. Considering this fact, in this paper, we provide a framework for identifying student excellence and for recommending the most suitable field of study for them. We perform different experiments to show the effectiveness of our system. From the experimental results, we found that our system can guide students in efficiently selecting their field of study.

Person-Independent Facial Expression Recognition with Histograms of Prominent Edge Directions

( Farkhod Makhmudkhujaev ),( Md Tauhid Bin Iqbal ),( Md Rifat Arefin ),( Byungyong Ryu ),( Oksam Chae ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2018 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.12 No.12

This paper presents a new descriptor, named Histograms of Prominent Edge Directions (HPED), for the recognition of facial expressions in a person-independent environment. In this paper, we raise the issue of sampling error in generating the code-histogram from spatial regions of the face image, as observed in the existing descriptors. HPED describes facial appearance changes based on the statistical distribution of the top two prominent edge directions (i.e., primary and secondary direction) captured over small spatial regions of the face. Compared to existing descriptors, HPED uses a smaller number of code-bins to describe the spatial regions, which helps avoid sampling error despite having fewer samples while preserving the valuable spatial information. In contrast to the existing Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) that uses the histogram of the primary edge direction (i.e., gradient orientation) only, we additionally consider the histogram of the secondary edge direction, which provides more meaningful shape information related to the local texture. Experiments on popular facial expression datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed HPED against existing descriptors in a person-independent environment.

Experiences of performing ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation in Bangladesh

Nura Afza Salma Begum,Tasnuva Sarah Kashem,Farnaz Nobi,Shakib Uz-Zaman Arefin,Harun Ur Rashid 대한이식학회 2022 Korean Journal of Transplantation Vol.36 No.2

Background: The number of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients is increasing in Bangladesh. Currently, living kidney donation is the only viable option for transplan- tation in Bangladesh, and it is further restricted by ABO compatibility issues. We have performed ABO-incompatible kidney transplantations (ABOi KTs) in Bangladesh since 2018. This study examines our experiences with seven cases of ABOi KT. Methods: The desensitization protocol included low-dose rituximab (100 mg/body) fol- lowed by plasma exchange (PEX), which was followed by a 5-g dose of intravenous im- munoglobulin. Immunosuppression was undertaken using tacrolimus (0.1 mg/kg/day), mycophenolate mofetil (1,500 mg/day), and prednisolone (0.5 mg/kg/day). All patients received basiliximab for induction therapy. Results: The median baseline anti-ABO antibody titer was 1:64 (range, 1:32–1:128). Transplantation was performed at a titer of ≤1:8. Our patients attended three to five PEX sessions before transplantation. Graft survival was 100% in the seven cases over a mean period of 22 months. The mean creatinine level was 204.6±47.4 μmol/L. Two patients were suspected of having developed acute rejection and received intravenous methylprednisolone, resulting in improved kidney function. One patient required post- transplant hemodialysis due to delayed graft function and subsequently improved. In- fection was the most common complication experienced by ABOi KT patients. Two pa- tients developed severe cytomegalovirus pneumonia and died with functioning grafts. Conclusions: ABOi KT in Bangladesh will substantially expand the living kidney donor pool and bring hope to a large number of ESRD patients without ABO-compatible do- nors. However, the high cost and risk of acute rejection and infection remain major con- cerns.