Environmental Monitoring at and around the Matuail Landfill Site of Dhaka City using Remote Sensing

Rapid urban population growth and flourishing incomes have increased waste production in Dhaka city. A part of daily produced Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is disposed of at Matuail sanitary landfill located within Jatrabari Thana, Dhaka. This study has analyzed the environmental impacts at and around this landfill using remote sensing techniques. The objective of this research is to develop a means of environmental monitoring at the landfill site and its surroundings through the implementation of various time-series remote sensing indices e.g., Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI). LST is used to observe the Spatio-temporal pattern of temperature distribution. NDVI, SAVI, and MSAVI are the Bio-indicators and they are helpful to analyze the vegetation health condition at and around the landfill area. From the result of LST, it is observed that the average temperature of the Jatrabarithana has increased from 23.12℃ in 1993 to an optimum temperature of 35.20℃ in 2013, then it went down to 29.09℃ in 2018. The NDVI result for the study period shows that the percentages of ‘Bare Soil’ and ‘Structural Object’ have increased drastically from 10% to 41.20% and 13.30% to 31.52% respectively for these 25 years in Jatrabarithana. On the other hand, the percentages of ‘Shrub and Grassland’ and ‘Moderate Vegetation’ have decreased from 54.20% to 25.15% and 12.55% to 0% respectively. SAVI and MSAVI also show evidence of increasing the amount of bare soil and structural object and decreasing the amount of vegetation. Due to the waste stabilization process, and inappropriate management system at the Matuail landfill, along with urbanization, industrial activity, and deforestation, a harmful effect has been done to the surrounding environment. As an outcome, the temperature has risen rapidly and the amount of vegetation has declined to a significant extent. Journal of Engineering Science 12(3), 2021, 127-138

Awareness and use of PPE among radiographic workers working in some selected Government and Private Hospital in Dhaka City

Aim: This was a descriptive cross sectional study with an aim to find out the occurrences of awareness and use of PPE among the radiographic workers. Methods: The study was conducted among 80 radiographic workers working in 30 different X-ray installations in Dhaka city. Data were collected by direct interviewing of the respondents by using structured questionnaires. Result: Out of all respondents, 93.8%were male and 6.2% were female. Fifty two percent were within the age group 31-40 years. Forty-five percent of all the respondents had higher academic qualification on radiography and eighty-six percent of them were trained in radiography. Ninetynine percent of the workers were aware about using personal protective equipments and Ninetyseven percent were aware about using monitoring devices. However PPE was used by ninety-two percent and radiation monitoring devices by only thirty-six percent. Conclusion: Appropriate protective devices and monitoring devices were not available in most the installations. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 21(1) 2022 Page : 114-119

Exploring the Perception and Observation of Youth on Leadership towards Sustainable Development - A Case Study of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

It is urgent to invest heavily on them for their quality education and effective leadership for economic, environmental and social gains. Based on understanding the importance of the youth, this study explores the perception of youth in Dhaka city about leadership, their needs for developing their leadership capacity and focus on their key priorities that they want to work on. Researcher hopes that the findings of this study would have important implications for youth related policies and programmes. It would also assist the planner, policy makers, implementer and stakeholders towards adopting more effective strategy for the leadership development of youths in Bangladesh.

Microbiological surveillance of air and contact surface of pubic transports with its correlation to human infection risks

Over past few years, people are giving more attention to air pollution and its effects on human health. Due to the high population density in Bangladesh, air pollution is a major issue in metropolitan areas, especially in Dhaka city. Present study aims to isolate air-borne microbes from the inside environment of public transport and different types of microbes that are frequently encountered by commuters when they touch the interior surfaces of vehicles used for public transport in Dhaka City. Atmospheric load of microorganisms was measured with petri dish which was kept open for 30 minutes in the sampling locations and swabs were taken from interior surfaces of vehicles. Air samples collected from both bus and railway stations showed a high atmospheric microbial count (total viable bacteria and total fungal count were 140 to 776 CFU/plate/30 min and 27 to 168 CFU/plate/30 min, respectively). A similar outcome was found after analysis of swab samples of the contact surfaces of the vehicles as well. A total of four bacterial pathogens were identified from the interior surfaces of the vehicle including Escherichia coli, Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Vibrio spp. which are known to be associated with gastrointestinal tract infection. To manage and control the environmental health risks caused by air pathogens, an authorized governmental agency should do continuous monitoring of air quality to reduce the negative effects and impacts of air pathogens on human and animal health. This research has shown a great concern to health practitioners in developing countries because these are pathogens that are mostly resistant to the commonly available antibiotics used in the treatment of infection associated with these pathogens. Most importantly, we need to raise awareness among the public in order to reduce the load and spread of pathogenic bacteria in the environment. Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.11 (1) 2021: 7-10

Para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) in commercially available Henna preparations in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh Henna is one of the most popular cosmetic products. The leaves of Henna are dried to make powder on which oil or water is mixed to get a paste to stain the body or hair. Although the occurance of contact allergic dermatitis in natural Henna is not so common, but this risk is increased by adding para-Phenylenediamine (PPD), which is used to make the Henna color dark to deep black. According to Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP), para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) is treated as an allergen and is considered as a very strong potential skin sensitizer. The presence of PPD in the commercially used tube Henna increases the risk of allergic contact dermatitis and several cases have already been reported worldwide. For this study, about 10 Henna samples were randomly collected from 10 selected areas of Dhaka city. The presence of PPD in Henna samples was determined by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The result showed the presence of PPD in all of the Henna samples at substantial concentrations, ranging between 79.12-204.77 mg/kg where the average range is 142.36 mg/kg, which is much higher than the permissible levels (<2% or 0.1 mg/m3). The finding suggests that there should be a regulation and monitoring condition for the production and distribution of these adulterated Henna products in Bangladesh. Bioresearch Commu. 8(1): 1088-1092, 2022 (January)