Most people now have their meals outside their homes and are vulnerable to illness caused by food. Unsafe food preparation and supply by vendors have made food safety a concern for public health. Jashore is a densely populated city, this study was designed to evaluate food safety knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of food vendors in Jashore region, Bangladesh. A randomized descriptive cross-sectional study on food safety KAP was conducted among 200 food vendors. Where 96% were male food vendors, 72.5% were smokers, and 63% were found to be overweight or obese. While 72.5% vendors had good knowledge of food safety, only 33% and 0.5% had good food safety attitude and practice, respectively. Among the socio-demographic factors investigated, only the level of education showed significant influence (p = 0.005 and 0.015) on the food safety knowledge and practice of the vendors. While handling food, over 90% vendors did not use any personal protective equipment, 4.5% had diarrhoea, 8.5% did not wash their hands after going to the toilet and 28.5% reused previous leftover oils. The data suggest that the overall food safety knowledge of suppliers in the Jashore region is good but their attitudes and practices need to be improved.

The basic TAT peptide, responsible for translocation of the HIV-TAT protein, has been conjugated to a variety of artificial nanoscopic materials to transport them across the cellular membrane. However, attempts to translocate genes using the TAT-peptide had met with limited success. We hypothesized that the cationic nature of the peptide does not allow for displaying these peptides on the surface of the polyplex. To circumvent this potential issue, we have developed a new molecular design strategy where the TAT-peptide can be effectively displayed on the surface of the polyplex, thus enhancing gene expression.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and irreversible neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive deficiency and development of amyloid-b (Ab) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, comprising hyperphosphorylated tau. The number of patients with AD is alarmingly increasing worldwide; currently, at least 50 million people are thought to be living with AD. The mutations or alterations in amyloid-b precursor protein (APP), presenilin-1 (PSEN1), or presenilin-2 (PSEN2) genes are known to be associated with the pathophysiology of AD. Effective medication for AD is still elusive and many gene-targeted clinical trials have failed to meet the expected efficiency standards. The genome editing tool clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 has been emerging as a powerful technology to correct anomalous genetic functions and is now widely applied to the study of AD. This simple yet powerful tool for editing genes showed the huge potential to correct the unwanted mutations in AD-associated genes such as APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2. So, it has opened a new door for the development of empirical AD models, diagnostic approaches, and therapeutic lines in studying the complexity of the nervous system ranging from different cell types (in vitro) to animals (in vivo). This review was undertaken to study the related mechanisms and likely applications of CRISPR-Cas9 as an effective therapeutic tool in treating AD.

Despite the association of prevalent health conditions with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity, the disease-modifying biomolecules and their pathogenetic mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to understand the influences of COVID-19 on different comorbidities and vice versa through network-based gene expression analyses. Using the shared dysregulated genes, we identified key genetic determinants and signaling pathways that may involve in their shared pathogenesis. The COVID-19 showed significant upregulation of 93 genes and downregulation of 15 genes. Interestingly, it shares 28, 17, 6 and 7 genes with diabetes mellitus (DM), lung cancer (LC), myocardial infarction and hypertension, respectively. Importantly, COVID-19 shared three upregulated genes (i.e. MX2, IRF7 and ADAM8) with DM and LC. Conversely, downregulation of two genes (i.e. PPARGC1A and METTL7A) was found in COVID-19 and LC. Besides, most of the shared pathways were related to inflammatory responses. Furthermore, we identified six potential biomarkers and several important regulatory factors, e.g. transcription factors and microRNAs, while notable drug candidates included captopril, rilonacept and canakinumab. Moreover, prognostic analysis suggests concomitant COVID-19 may result in poor outcome of LC patients. This study provides the molecular basis and routes of the COVID-19 progression due to comorbidities. We believe these findings might be useful to further understand the intricate association of these diseases as well as for the therapeutic development.

Aims: To determine bacteriological load of rejected papers used as food packaging materials and assess their prevalence of use by food vendors. Methods and Results: Food vendors (n=116) were selected purposively from various street food, fast food, small and large dining stalls or hotels located at Jashore, Bangladesh. Paper samples randomly collected from these vendors were later categorized into 5 different types as food wrapping, plate covering, tray spreading paper and hand cleaning. Then, 7 paper samples from these each 5 types were randomly sampled for microbial analysis. Swabbing and defibering methods for bacterial analysis and SPSS for statistical analysis were employed. The number of bacteria by the defibering method was in the range of (1.9×108-7.5×108) Cfu/g. Sample papers tested by swabbing method contained between minimum 1.2×108 and maximum 9.2×108Cfu/cm2. Under swabbing method, the minimum average bacterial count was 2.8×108 Cfu/cm2 in food serving paper samples and maximum 4.7×108 Cfu/cm2 in wrapping paper samples. By defibering method, maximum average of bacterial load was found in tray spreading paper samples as 5.3×108Cfu/g and minimum average was in plate covering paper as 4.4x108Cfu/g. Types of paper samples were not significantly different when compared with each other against their mean bacterial concentration found by swabbing method (F=0.961, p=0.443) as well as defibering method (F=2.227, p=0.09).The mean quantity of paper use per vendor surveyed was as much as 1.26 kg a day. Anticipatedly, quantity extent of paper use (kg/day) based on the types of food shops showed a significant difference (F=3.9, p=0.01), as understandably, paper use among different shops was apparently highly variable. Conclusions: The paper samples used for food wrapping and packaging showed high bacterial contamination more than standard acceptance level. There is an urgent need to discourage the use of these papers as food packaging material by creating awareness among food vendors and consumers regarding its harmful effects.