Background: The study attempted to understand rural Bangladesh's health information, awareness level, and preventive measures in the Coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey by face-to-face interview was conducted with rural people from 14 June 2020 to 13 August 2020. An ordered logistic regression model was employed for data analysis. A total of 3,007 people (Female = 55.97%; Male = 44.03%) participated in the survey who met the inclusion criteria. Results: The demography of respondents revealed that a significant portion of villagers were within the ages 21-30 (26.80%), had primary education (23.88%), unemployed (31.73%), and middle class (56.17%). The most common and influential used media to know about the Coronavirus disease were electronic media and relative/family/friend/neighbors. Change of demography created a spectacular difference in public awareness level and hygiene practice. Female, illiterate, poor, and age above 60 were comparatively less aware of seven essential facts about the disease. There was no mentionable difference in personal hygienic practices due to sex. But particpants who were aged 51-60 years, graduates or postgraduates, unmarried, government or non-government employees and middle class exhibitedthe best hygiene practice over other features. Invariably, the education level of rural people had a positive effect on awareness and preventive measures. Conclusions: Overall, the government and policymakers must identify vulnerable groups whose awareness and hygienic practices are not at the optimum level. Afterward, the government and related organizations should take necessary measures immediately to protect these groups from COVID-19 threats until the complete immunization.

Purpose This paper aims at assessing faculty members' information searching patterns and the process of determining their information sources' quality and credibility. Design/methodology/approach This study administered an online survey through email invitation to secure data from 987 (55%) faculty members of both public and private universities of Bangladesh. The data were analysed using various descriptive statistics, and parametric and non-parametric tests such as Mann–Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis, and one-way ANOVA tests, to see the significant differences according to demographic characteristics at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings This study's outcomes affirm that most participants use Google Scholar and ResearchGate when searching/seeking information. Furthermore, for authenticating the credibility and quality of information, most faculty members tried to identify the information source and applied personal knowledge regarding information authentication. The statistical test results also found significant differences among faculty members' demographic characteristics (gender, age, experience and area of specialization) using the various source types. No significant differences were observed for determining information credibility in terms of faculty members’ demographic characteristics. Research limitations/implications As a limitation, this study only includes public and private universities in Bangladesh. This research could be more comprehensive if faculty members from other countries had participated in the survey. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to approach this significant but less addressed area to understand faculty member's behaviour in terms of determining the quality and credibility of information resources in Bangladesh.

Background: Piper chaba Hunter, a flowering vine of the Piperaceae family, has long been used in South Asian countries for culinary purposes and traditionally in fat-rich meat preparation. The curative potential of this herb is of great interest to be studied. Objectives: The antioxidant and anticoagulation potential, as well as total phenolic and flavonoid content, were evaluated using cold and boiled water extract separately from the dried and ground stem. Methods: Antioxidant potential was evaluated by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The anticoagulation activity was evaluated by serine protease inhibition assay and prothrombin time (PT) assay. Folin–Ciocalteu (FC) reagent and aluminum complex (AlCl3 ) were used to assess total phenolic content and total flavonoid content, respectively. Results: DPPH scavenging assay revealed the IC50 value of 125.52 µg.mL-1 and 157.94 µg.mL-1 for boiled and cold water extract, respectively. Potent ferric reducing potential (FRAP) was observed as 142.87 µM and 135.37 µM of ferrous equivalent per 100 µg for boiled and cold water extract, respectively. The IC50 value of serine protease inhibitory activity was found as 182 µg.mL-1 and 161.12 µg.mL-1 for cold and boiled water extract, respectively. The PT time was 27.00 min for boiled water extract and 24.68 min for cold water extract. Significant phenolic and flavonoid content was also found in the test sample. Conclusion: P. chaba stem extract possesses potent antioxidant and anticoagulation activity, which can neutralize oxidative free radicals and have a vasodilation effect in oxidative and inflammatory diseases.