15.37 (3.31 -71.37).Key words: Hypertension, school going children. children are exempted. Moreover, BP measurement in infants and children is difficult and time consuming. So, in pediatric practice BP is not measured routinely and is assumed to be normal. Contrary to this belief it is estimated that 1-3% children are hypertensive 1 .Diagnosis of hypertension in adult is made when BP exceeds a defined level i.e. systolic BP (SBP) 140 mmHg and diastolic BP (DBP) 90 mmHg 2 . Absence of such single cut off value in children makes diagnosis of hypertension more difficult, and the use of such age -sex-independent absolute value is inappropriate. In children, hypertension is diagnosed when resting BP consistently exceeds 95 th centile in relation to age and sex 3 . In infancy and early childhood, hypertension is mainly secondary to some diseased BANGLADESH J CHILD HEALTH 2005; VOL 29 (3) : 82-87

The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides and radiological hazard indices in eleven tea samples collected from local market in Bangladesh have been analyzed by using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in tea samples have been found to be 21.21±14.04, 32.43±7.48 and 93.47 ± 43.94 Bqkg-1 respectively. The calculated absorbed dose rates due to these radioactive nuclides in tea samples have been found to vary from 26.24 nGyh-1 to 37.95 nGyh-1 and average value was 33.28 nGyh-1. The estimated outdoor annual effective dose rates varied from 38.64  µSvy-1 to 55.89 µSvy-1 with the mean value of 49.02 µSvy-1 which is less than the world average value of 1000 µSvy-1. The values of radium equivalent activity in all samples are less than the permissible maximum value of the radium equivalent activity which is 370 Bqkg-1 according to UNSCEAR 2000 report. The values of external and internal hazard indices for different samples varied from 0.16 to 0.23 with the average value of 0.20 and from 0.21 to 0.29 with an average of 0.26. The value of this index must be less than unity in order to keep the radiation hazard insignificant. It was also found that there is no artificial radionuclide (for example 137Cs) in any of the samples. The data generated in this study will provide baseline radiometric values for natural and artificial radioactivity in tea samples in Bangladesh. Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 42, No. 2, 171-176, 2018

Sixteen samples in three categories vegetables, cereals (rice, wheat, maize, pulse) and powdered milk were collected from local markets (Dhaka city) in Bangladesh and analyzed by using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector for the assessment of natural and artificial radioactivity. In vegetables (potato, raw banana, giant taro, red amaranth), the average activity concentrations of 232 Th, 226 Ra, and 40 K were found to be 37.82±11.57, 54.93±9.98 and 617.43±65.69 Bqkg -1 respectively, for cereals (rice, wheat, maize, pulse) 24.01±3.67, 31.46±4.00 and 474.83±27.68 Bqkg -1 respectively and for milk samples 15.01±3.65, 26.73±6.77 and 494.21±38.71 Bqkg -1 respectively. The average values of outdoor annual effective dose were found to be 92.18, 61.19 and 52.37µSvy -1 in vegetables, cereals and milk samples respectively. No artificial radionuclide was found in any of these samples. The average value of radium equivalent activity in all samples was 113.89 Bqkg -1 which was less than maximum permissible value 370 Bqkg -1 . The values of external hazard indices for vegetables, cereals and milk samples varied from 0.31 to 0.66, 0.17 to 0.40 and 0.11 to 0.36 respectively which is less than unity in all samples that indicate the non-hazardous nature of the samples. The average values of annual effective ingestion dose rate from foods (for adult) were 274.33 µSvy -1 , 533.60µSvy -1 , and 132.73µSvy -1 for 232 Th, 226 Ra and 40 K respectively. These data would be useful to establish a baseline for natural radioactivity concentrations in food items consumed in Bangladesh.

This study was done to observe the short tens effect of fresh garlic on different lipid profiles, blood glucose, blood pressure (BP), body weight and haemoglobin (11b) concentration in healthy but overweight (average weight 88.89 kg) adult ( both male and female). Fresh garlic, one clove (average wt. 4 to 6 gm), was taken everyday with night meal by the volunteers for six weeks. The volunteers were mostly students and a few of them were office staff Total number of volunteers were 25. Administration of garlic significantly lowered cholesterol (p<61.001) and low density lipoprotein (p<0.05), but there was no effect on BP, body weight and IIb concentration. Garlic administration reduced the level of blood glucose and triglyceride (TG) to some extent but they were not statistically significant.