Background Food handlers can play a vital role into reducing foodborne diseases by adopting appropriate food handling and sanitation practices in working plants. This study aimed to assess the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices among meat handlers who work at butcher shops in Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 meat handlers from January to March, 2021. Data were collected through in-person interviews using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three parts; socio-demographic characteristics, assessments of food safety knowledge, and food safety practices. A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices. Results Only 20% [95% confidence interval, (CI) 15.7–24.7] and 16.3% (95% CI 12.3–20.7) of the respondents demonstrated good levels of food safety knowledge and practices, respectively. The factors associated with good levels of food safety knowledge were: having a higher secondary education [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.57, 95% CI 1.11–18.76], income above 25,000 BDT/month (AOR = 10.52, 95% CI 3.43–32.26), work experience of > 10 years (AOR = 9.31, 95% CI 1.92–45.09), ≥ 8 h per day of work (AOR = 6.14, 95% CI 2.69–13.10), employed on a daily basis (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI 1.16–14.14), and having food safety training (AOR = 8.98 95% CI 2.16–37.32). Good food safety knowledge (AOR = 5.68, 95% CI 2.33–13.87) and working ≥ 8 h per day (AOR = 8.44, 95% CI 3.11–22.91) were significantly associated with a good level of food safety practice. Conclusions Poor knowledge and practices regarding food safety were found among Bangladeshi meat handlers. Findings may help public health professionals and practitioners develop targeted strategies to improve food safety knowledge and practices among this population. Such strategies may include education and sensitization on good food safety practices.

Background The universities of Bangladesh are closed for more than seventeen months due to the covid-19 pandemic. This prolonged detachment has psychological consequences among the students. This study assessed the anxiety level and its determinants among the undergraduate students of Bangladesh, along with constraints faced by them during e-learning. Methods A web-based cross-sectional survey among 206 undergraduate students was conducted using a well-structured questionnaire. Their anxiety level was estimated using Zung's self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and determinates were identified by employing a Tobit model. The problem confrontation index (PCI) was used to rank the constraints. Results About 82.5% of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh are experiencing mild to extreme anxiety, while 14.08% are experiencing extreme anxiety. Students' gender, father's year of schooling, family size, residential area, academic year, current accommodation, and access to high-speed internet affect their level of anxiety. Learning alone at home, lacking access to learning resources and inaccessibility to other e-learning platforms are the top three constraints students face during e-learning. Limitations Self-reported data, socio-demographic variables and online survey. Conclusion Covid-19 has been causing anxiety among the students. This study recommends providing better internet services for facilitating e-learning along with access to different e-learning platforms.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presumptive factors might be responsible for repeat breeding syndrome of cows in Bangladesh. The study was conducted in different villages around the Faculty of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Outer campus, Barisal during the period from July to September 2017. A total of 100 repeat breeder cows were evaluated considering different presumptive influencing factors such as breed, age, parity, body condition score (BCS), fetal death, retention of placenta, post-partum endometritis, abortion, dystocia and managemental practices of cows. It was found that there was no significance (p>0.05) effect of parity and age of cows on the occurrence of repeat breeding syndrome in local and crossbred cows. Repeat breeding syndrome was significantly higher in BCS 2.0 to 2.5 in local breed and 3.0 to 3.5 in crossbred cows than that of other groups. In the study animals, dystocia was 4.0%, fetal death was 58.2%, retention of placenta was 57.1%, post-partum endometritis was 4.1% in crossbred cows. Cows in semi-intensive system raring had significantly (P<0.05) higher (53.1%) of repeat breeding than that of others systems. Animals that were not dewormed (73.5%) and vaccinated (92.9%) had 73.5 % and 92.9% repeat breeding syndrome affected cows, respectively. It may concluded that simultaneously multiple factors such as irregular deworming and vaccination, subclinical endometritis, hormonal imbalance, early embryonic death due to low progesterone level, failure of proper heat detection and so on, might be also responsible to the occurrence of repeat breeding syndrome in cows.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.5(1): 49-55, April 2018

Biofilm is a complex matrix made up of extracellular polysaccharides, DNA, and proteins that protect bacteria against physical, chemical, and biological stresses and allow them to survive in harsh environments. Safe and healthy foods are mandatory for saving lives. However, foods can be contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms at any stage from farm to fork. The contaminated foods allow pathogenic microorganisms to form biofilms and convert the foods into stigmatized poison for consumers. Biofilm formation by pathogenic microorganisms in agri-farm industries is still poorly understood and intricate to control. In biofilms, pathogenic bacteria are dwelling in a complex manner and share their genetic and physicochemical properties making them resistant to common antimicrobial agents. Therefore, finding the appropriate antibiofilm approaches is necessary to inhibit and eradicate the mature biofilms from foods and food processing surfaces. Advanced studies have already established several emerging antibiofilm approaches including plant- and microbe-derived biological agents, and they proved their efficacy against a broad-spectrum of foodborne pathogens. This review investigates the pathogenic biofilm-associated problems in agri-farm industries, potential remedies, and finding the solution to overcome the current challenges of antibiofilm approaches.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) is the most important pathogenic Mycoplasma spp. causing avian mycoplasmosis and brought about huge economic losses to poultry industry in Bangladesh. The present study was undertaken to know the seroprevalence of MG in layer birds in three different geographical areas of southern Barishal division, Bangladesh. Total 310 sera samples were collected from wing vein of 30 farms for this study. Sera samples were tested with Rapid Serum Agglutination (RSA) for MG using commercial Antigen Kit (manufactured by Lillidale Diagnostic) to detect the presence of antibodies against MG. The overall seroprevalence of MG by RSA was 36.13%. Seroprevalence of MG infection was dominant in winter season (45.54%) and significantly highest occurrence was recorded in age groups from 20-40 weeks of layer chickens (51.79%). Serological investigation in three different upazila of Barishal division showed the highest infection rate (45.26%) in medium scale flocks (1000-3000) in comparison to (21.43%) small (<1000) flocks. The seroprevalence of MG was highest in Swarupkathi (44.38%) than in Barishal Sadar (26%) and Banaripara upazila (28%). Biosecurity and managemental failure is the overall risk factor in all types of farm due to lack of proper knowledge among farmer. This study reveals the current scenario of mycoplasmosis in layer birds of three different areas of Barishal division. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. 2021, 7 (3), 292-297