BackgroundThroughout the world all health professionals face stress because of time-pressures, workload, multiple roles and emotional issues. Stress does not only exist among the health professionals but also in medical students. Bangladesh has currently 77 medical colleges 54 of which are private. This study was designed to collect baseline data of stress-level among Bangladeshi students, which we believe will form the basis for further in depth studies.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students from 2 public and 6 private medical-schools in Bangladesh. All medical schools have common curriculum formulated by the Government of Bangladesh. The study population was 1,363 medical students of Year-III and IV of academic session 2013/2014. Universal sampling technique was used. The period of study was February to June 2014. Data was collected using a validated instrument, compiled and analysed using SPSS version-20.ResultsA total of 990 (73%) out 1,363 medical students participated in the study, of which 36% were male and 64% were female. The overall prevalence of stress of the study population was 54%. 53% of male and 55% of female were reported suffering from stress. 54% of Year-III students and 55% of Year-IV were noted suffering from stress. There was statistically significant (p = 0.005) differences in the level of stress between public (2.84 ± 0.59) and private (2.73 ± 0.57) medical schools student.ConclusionsMore than half of Bangladeshi medical students are suffering from measureable academic stress. It would be pertinent if the relevant authorities could address the issue so as to provide a conducive medical learning environment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1295-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Abnormal vaginal discharge is a common symptom of genital infection in women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the various causes of vaginal discharge in sexually active females. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among women aged 15 to 45 years with abnormal vaginal discharge, with or without itching attended at Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka for a period of 6 months. After making the clinical diagnosis, appropriate tests for diagnosing candidiasis, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea and bacterial vaginosis were done. Among all patients, organisms responsible for abnormal vaginal discharges were found in 94.8% of the cases, of which vaginal candidiasis (53.6%) was the most common, followed by bacterial vaginosis (29.2%), trichomoniasis (10.8%), gonorrhea (1.2%) and non-specific other urogenital causes (5.2%). The most common age groups affected by vaginal candidiasis, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis were 26-35 years (64.9%), 26-35 years (27.6%) and 15-25 years (52%) respectively. Gonorrhea was recorded in the age group of 15-25 years (66.7%). Most of the organisms were isolated in the age group of 30-40 years. The causative agent of vaginal candidiasis was the leading cause of vaginal discharge in the age group of sexually active women and next to it was the bacterial vaginosis. A lower rate of Trichomonas vaginalis was found in our study in comparison to other studies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13211 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:35-39

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AimThe study aims at determining the possible effects of Carica papaya leaf juice and hydrocortisone in increasing the platelet count in thrombocytopenia similar to dengue fever. MethodologyThe study was carried out on 24 Long Evans Norwegian strain healthy rats to investigate the comparative platelet increasing effect of Carica papaya leaf juice and hydrocortisone in experimentally induced thrombocytopenic rats. Thrombocytopenia was induced by 3 doses of cyclophosphamide (100mg/kg body weight) given subcutaneously. The rats were divided into 4 groups comprising of six animals in each group. These groups included a normal control and a cyclophosphamide induced thrombocytopenic control and the remaining two cyclophosphamide induced thrombocytopenic groups were administered Carica papaya leaf juice and hydrocortisone respectively.The duration of study was 15 days. The clotting time was determined on the 15th day although blood samples were obtained from the rat tails at various time intervals to determine the platelet count.Collected data was tabulated and Statistical analysis was performed by using appropriate significant test. A probability value P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. ResultAverage platelet counts of the test and control groups were (6.89)×10 5 /µL and (6.75)×10 5 /µL respectively before the experiment. In the experiment there was no significant difference in the platelet counts during the first 3 days in either group. However, platelet counts within the test group started to fall after Day 3 and remarkable thrombocytopenia developed after 7days and the average value was (2.68)×10 5 /µL. From day 11 Carica papaya leaf juice and Hydrocortisone was given in two test groups following cyclophosphamide and platelet counts observed to reach a peak level at Day 14 (7.83)×10 5 /µL in case of following Carica papaya leaf juice, and (4.05)×10 5 /µL in case of following Hydrocortisone. The clotting time was determined on day 15 and it was found to be considerably lower (95.5 ± 2.762 sec) in case of Carica papaya leaf juice than (129±3.124 sec) in Hydrocortisone. ConclusionCarica papaya leaf juice has more platelet increasing effect than hydrocortisone and this study also reflects that Carica papaya leaf juice may be a potential candidate for further research leading to the development of a herbal therapeutic agent for thrombocytopenia manifested in diseases such as dengue.

Paracetamol is the widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of mild to moderate pain. It causes hepatotoxicity in therapeutic dose for prolonged time. It can induce centrilobular hepatic necrosis in large over doses. Nigella sativa (kalajira) is a medicinal plant has a protective role against hepatotoxicity. Therefore, the present study was designed to observe the protective role of Nigella sativa on paracetamol induced liver damage biochemically in Long Evans rats. The experiment was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Dhaka Medical college, in the period of July 2003 to June 2004. Sixty matured Long Evans rats of either sex, age of 10-12 weeks and weighing between 150-200 gm were used in this study. They were divided into four equal groups. Group A was vehicle (distilled water) control group, Group B was Nigella oil treated group, Group C was paracetamol treated group and Group D was Paracetamol & Nigella sativa oil treated group. Paracetamol in a single dose of 3gm/kg body weight orally causes hepatotoxicity which was assessed bio-chemically. Nigella sativa oil at a dose of 800mg/kg body weight was administered orally for 4 weeks. It was found that significant elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase, serum aspartate aminotransferase, serum alkaline phosphatase and serum bilirubin level in paracetamol treated group. It was observed that 4 weeks oral treatment of Nigella sativa oil in Group D, decrease the level of serum alanine aminotransferase, serum aspartate aminotransferase, serum alkaline phosphatase and serum bilirubin. The result revealed that Nigella sativa oil able to give protection against paracetamol induced liver damage. However, more sophisticated biochemical studies like glutathione content and malondialdehyde level should be studied further. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v40i3.18677 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2011 Vol.40(3):52-54