Electrochemistry provides possibilities to realize smart microdevices of the next generation with high functionalities.

Background: Services are being provided by health functionaries to the community with the objective of fulfilling their satisfaction but sometimes this is not working for the target population.Objectives: The study was conducted to assess the satisfaction of clients′ receiving maternal and child health services and to elicit clients′ suggestion for improving the services.Materials and Methods: Anexit interview was employed to collect data using a predesigned and pretested schedule.Results:Most of the populations were adult clients. In respect of satisfaction, responses of the clients were either satisfactory (54.31%) or good (23.56%) on maternal and child health services; ‘poor or very poor around 20% and it was significantly worse in respect of satisfaction’. Most of the clients (63.06 to 73.94%) expressed their responses as satisfactory and good regarding the assessment of doctors and it was significant. Most of them (73.31%) expressed satisfactory “response” on the quality of services given by nursing staffs. Suggestions of clients for improving the level of satisfactionwere sought and in this respect, response was little.Conclusions:Mostly satisfactory observations on maternal and child health services were found in respect of clients' satisfaction and there was scope to improve the quality and quantity of services, and accordingly actions may be taken in the working field.

The objectives of the research were to isolate phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) from the rhizoplane of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cv. BRRIdhan 29 cultivated in acidic soils of Tangail in Bangladesh and evaluate their performances in phosphate solubilization in both in vitro and in vivo conditions. A total of 10 bacterial strains were isolated and purified by repeated streak culture on nutrient agar medium. Upon screening, five isolates (OS01, OS03, OS07, OS08 and OS10) showed varying levels of phosphate solubilizing activity in agar plate and broth assays. Among them, the strain OS07 (B1) and two previously isolated PSB strains B2 and B3 were selected for evaluation for their performances in rice alone or in combination of TSP (triple super phosphate: P1) and rock phosphate (P2). Plant height and the number of tillers per plant were significantly increased by all PSB isolates when used in combination with TSP but PSB alone did not influence much on plant height and the number of tillers except B1. The levels of mineral nutrients content in rice plant tissues were generally increased by the application of the PSB in combination with TSP, while the performances of B1 isolate was superior in all aspects to B2 and B3 isolates.

Fast and accurate point-of-care testing (POCT) of infectious diseases is crucial for diminishing the pandemic miseries. To fight the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), numerous interesting electrochemical point-of-care (POC) tests have been evolved to rapidly identify the causal organism SARS-CoV-2 virus, its nucleic acid and antigens, and antibodies of the patients. Many of those electrochemical biosensors are impressive in terms of miniaturization, mass production, ease of use, and speed of test, and they could be recommended for future applications in pandemic-like circumstances. On the other hand, self-diagnosis, sensitivity, specificity, surface chemistry, electrochemical components, device configuration, portability, small analyzers, and other features of the tests can yet be improved. Therefore, this report reviews the developmental trend of electrochemical POC tests (i.e., test platforms and features) reported for the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 and correlates any significant advancements with relevant references. POCTs incorporating microfluidic/plastic chips, paper devices, nanomaterial-aided platforms, smartphone integration, self-diagnosis, and epidemiological reporting attributes are also surfed to help with future pandemic preparedness. This review especially screens the low-cost and easily affordable setups so that management of pandemic disease becomes faster and easier. Overall, the review is a wide-ranging package for finding appropriate strategies of electrochemical POCT targeting pandemic infectious disease detection.

No abstract available.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjz.v39i2.10594 Bangladesh J. Zool. 39(2): 235-244, 2011