IntroductionBody mass index is a valuable tool to assess the nutritional status of an individual. It can be conveniently used to identify those who are underweight, overweight or obese. In the past decade, occurrence of overweight and obesity are very high affecting both developed and developing countries like Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there is a nutritional transition from typical carbohydrate diet to fast food dietary habits, particularly young adults like medical students have been affected. Adverse effect of overweight and obesity is associated with a large number of debilitating and life threatening disorders like cardiovascular, metabolic and other non communicable diseases 1 . The increasing rates of overweight and obesity are a result of changing lifestyles and industrialization with the associated increasing rate of television viewing and playing with computer games, consumption of high calorie and high fat foods coupled with low levels of energy expenditure in the form of low physical activity 2 .

Disturbances of lipid profile in postmenopausal women may occur due to hormonal changes and physical inactivity which ultimately increases the risk of atherosclerosis, CHD and MI. Physical exercise may play a significant role in the management of dyslipidemia among postmenopausal women than HRT The study was carried out to compare and contrast between the effects of physical exercise and HRT in improving lipid profile status among postmenopausal women. This study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, from 1st January, 2009 to 31st December, 2009. A total number of 90 postmenopausal women having age ranged from 50-60 years were included in the study. Among 90 postmenopausal women, 30 were performing regular physical exercise, 30 were receiving HRT and 30 were sedentary postmenopausal women without receiving HRT. Lipid profile such as TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG and fasting blood sugar of all the participants were estimated in Physiology laboratory, SSMC Mitford, Dhaka. The statistical analysis was done by using appropriate test as applicable. Mean serum TC, LDL-C and TG were significantly (p<0.001) higher and mean HDL-C was significantly (p<0.001) lower in sedentary postmenopausal women than those of postmenopausal women with regular physical exercise and postmenopausal women receiving HRT. Again, TC, LDL-C and TG were comparative higher in postmenopausal women receiving HRT than those of postmenopausal women with regular physical exercise and HDL-C were almost similar among these two groups of women. Conclusion: Physical exercise could be more effective than HRT in improving lipid profile status in postmenopausal women. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpp.v27i1-2.20068 Bangladesh J Physiol Pharmacol 2011; 27(1&2):9-12

Background: Menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women is a health hazard all over the world. Physical exercise may play a significant role in the management of menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women.Objective: This study was undertaken to see the effects of physical exercise on menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women.Methodology: This study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, from 1st January, 2009 to 31st December, 2009. A total number of 60 postmenopausal women having age ranged from 50-60 years were included in the study. Among 60 postmenopausal women, 30 were performing regular physical exercise and 30 were sedentary postmenopausal women. History of menopausal symptoms from postmenopausal women were collected from known relatives and associates. The statistical analysis was done by using appropriate test as applicable.Results: Menopausal symptoms were significantly (p<0.001) higher in sedentary postmenopausal women than postmenopausal women with regular physical exercise.Conclusion: Physical exercise could be effective in improving menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women.KYAMC Journal Vol. 5, No.-2, Jan 2015, Page 514-518

Background: Microcytic hypochromic anaemia is common in young adults , specially in females. It is important to know the serum ferritin status of the medical students who will be involved, in future, with the health care delivery system and to prevent anaemia among them. Objective: To observe the serum ferritin status in microcytic hypochromic anaemic medical students. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka from July 2009 to June 2010. A total number of 516 apparently healthy young adults of both sexes, age ranged from 18 to 22 years , were selected for the study from two medical college in Dhaka city. Of them, 276 were nonanaemic (control group A) and 240 were anaemic (study group B). Again , anaemic (B) subjects are divided into anaemic female (B 1 ) and anaemic male (B 2 ) . Among the anaemic (B) subjects, 170 had normocytic normochromic , 68 had microcytic hypochromic and 2 had macrocytic hypochromic anaemia. Serum ferritin was estimated by Micro-particle Enzyme Immunoassay in subjects (68 in number) who were suffering from microcytic hypochromic anaemia. The statistical analysis was done by using unpaired 't' test , Pearson's correlation coefficient test as applicable. Result: The mean serum ferritin level was almost similar and showed no statistically significant difference between group B 1 and B 2 . Again, a significant positive correlation of serum ferritin level with haemoglobin was observed in both female and male in microcytic hypochromic anaemic group. Conclusion: This study reveals that serum ferritin level is one of the most sensitive and accurate indicator indicating iron status and thus microcytic hypochrmic anaemia.