Understanding of Authorship by the Post Graduate Medical Students at a Center in Bangladesh

Education on authorship was delivered and evaluated by pre test and post test questionnairen on 30 post graduate medical students at the Department of Anestheology, Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh between January and June 2019 to understand the knowledge, skill and attitude of post graduate medical students on authorship. Result: Before intervention, majority (60%) of the students felt that who perform the research work should be the author of the article. But 40% students were divided and felt that who advised the design of the research (20%), who provided the grants (10%) and Chief/Head of the division (10%) should be the author of the article respectively. Maximum (70%) respondents did not know the order of authorship. Of 40% respondent felt that the PI should be always the first author and 40% don’t know the answer. Half of the students (50%) felt that keeping honorary author increased the opportunity of acceptance of publication. Of 36.7% and 13.3% of students felt that keeping honorary author increased the article’s value and made good relation to them to get some extra facility from them respectively. Of 20% participants were pressurized by lab head/head of department for inclusion of their name as an author. Half of the (56.7 %) respondents felt that the author’s contribution should be stated in the article. Only few 4 (13.3%) respondents said that their institute had guideline for authorship. However, after education 100% of students felt that who perform the research work should be only the author of the article. All (100%) respondents understood the order of authorship. Most of the students (86%) felt that PI should be always the first author. Of 100% respondent felt supervisor of the research should be the last author. All students (100%) felt author’s contribution should be mentioned in the article. All (100%) students did not want to include as author those who help in research design and secured grant; and they did not like to keep honorary author in their article. All (100%) students expressed that their institute had no guideline for authorship. After intervention, three groups of students were asked to write one page of article on Anesthesiology. Interestingly, they did not include any name in the author by line who were not participate or had any contribution in the writing. Conclusion: The comparative data between pre- and post-text have highlighted a general lack of understanding of the basic concept of authorship ethics which significantly improved after the intervention. The results also indicate that the education on authorship improved the awareness of postgraduate medical students in a particular centre.

Levels and Determinants of Complementary Feeding Pattern Exclusive of Minimum Meal Frequency and Dietary Diversity among Children of 6 to 23 Months in Bangladesh

Objective: To estimate the level of complementary feeding pattern (CFP) among children aged between 6 to 23 months and to identify the determinants in individual, household and community level in Bangladesh. Methods: From secondary data of Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 was used in this study. A total of 2,373 children aged between 6 to 23 months were selected. To estimate the level of CFP dimension index and the “score of the index” was used as dependent variables. Statistical analyses and tests were guided by the nature of the variables. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the significant determinants of CFP. Results: The overall level of CFP among children aged between 6 to 23 months was low. More than 95% of the children experienced inadequate (92.7%) CFP level. The mean levels of CFP as well as percentages of no or inadequate (94.1%) CFP were significantly lower among children of the youngest age group (06 months), uneducated parents, unemployed/laborer fathers, socio-economically poor families, food insecure families and rural areas. However, only few variables remained significant for adequate CFP in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Adequate CFP was significantly lower among the children aged between 6 to 23 months (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.10-0.47), children of illiterate fathers (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11-0.95) and socio-economically middle-class families (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.09-0.86) as compared to their reference categories. Conclusion: Inappropriate and inadequate CFP may cause serious health hazards among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh. It is ethical to take effective interventions and strategies by the government and other concerned stakeholders to improve the overall situation of CFP in Bangladesh.

Food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices among consumers in developing countries: An international survey

An international survey among consumers in developing countries from Asia and Africa on food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) was carried out using structured questionnaires. Data were collected from 453 consumers comprising 265 from Africa and 188 from Asia. Significant difference (p < 0.05) on food safety knowledge attitude and practice between consumers from Africa and Asia was observed. In Africa, consumers in Cameroon had the least food safety knowledge (73.15 ± 16.43) compared to Ghana (78.19 ± 15.84) and Nigeria (88.16 ± 8.88). Similarly, consumers in Iran had the least food safety knowledge (73.33 ± 19.84) in Asia compared to Malaysia (88.36 ± 11.64) and Pakistan (89.42 ± 9.89). Among the respondents, 89% were aware of food poisoning while 304 (67.1%) consume food kept for long at room temperature. There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of consumers between Africa and Asia. Overall, respondents from Asia have better food safety knowledge than respondents from Africa.

A Study on Service Availability and Readiness Assessment of Non-Communicable Diseases Using the WHO Tool for Gazipur District in Bangladesh

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) disproportionately affect low and middle-income countries where nearly three quarters of NCD deaths occur. Bangladesh is also in NCD burden. This cross-sectional study was done on 50 health facilities centres at Gazipur district in Bangladesh from July 2015 to December 2015 to introduce SARA for better monitoring and evaluation of non-communicable diseases health service delivery. The General Service readiness index score was 61.52% refers to the fact that about 62% of all the facilities were ready to provide general services like basic amenities, basic equipment, standard precautions for infection prevention, and diagnostic capacity and essential medicines to the patients. But in case of non-communicable diseases, among all the health facilities 40% had chronic respiratory disease and cardiovascular diseases diagnosis/ management and only 32% had availability of diabetes diagnosis/management. Overall readiness score was 52% in chronic respiratory disease, 73% in cardiovascular disease and 70% in diabetes. Therefore, service availability and readiness of the health facilities to provide NCD related health services were not up to the mark for facing future targets.  A full-scale census survey of all the facilities of the study area would give a better understanding of the availability and service readiness.

Ethical consequences of the positive views of enhancement in Asia

There are positive views towards use of science and technology in all Asian countries, and positive views towards use of enhancement in China, India and Thailand. After considering of the widespread use of cosmetic surgery and other body enhancements in Asian countries, and the generally positive views towards letting individuals make choices about improvement of themselves, the paper concludes that we can expect other enhancements to also be adopted rapidly in Asia. There will be future ethical dilemmas emerging from this with concepts of preservation of nature, flow with nature, and definitions of human-ness, along with concepts of harmony and social justice. Japan is less willing to engage in genetic enhancement compared to China, India and Thailand, despite widespread cosmetic surgery across Asia.

Challenges to public engagement in science and technology in Japan: experiences in the HapMap Project

Public engagement in science and technology has grown in importance as developments in science and technology make increasingly significant impacts on people's lives. Now, efforts to engage publics in social decision-making or consensus-building regarding science and technology involve participation, learning or deliberation opportunities, as well as interactive or coproductive efforts among various sectors in society based on the recognition of scientific activities as a part of social operations - even those performed by scientific communities. We have conducted a community engagement program in the HapMap project, the international human genome program, in Japan since 2002. Consequent upon our various approaches to engage Japanese publics, a range of observations were made, such as that: public engagement is not yet recognized or institutionalized in Japan; there is a wide gap between science and society; and the implications of public engagement in a Japanese context have not been examined enthusiastically, especially from the perspectives of political decision making, social consensus-building or self-determination. In this paper, we provide an overview of public engagement in Japan, and discuss issues and challenges raised by the HapMap community engagement project. We also discuss the implications of public engagement for social decision-making and self-determination, and explore the prospects for public engagement in science and technology in Japan.

Community engagement and informed consent in the International HapMap project

The International HapMap Consortium has developed the HapMap, a resource that describes the common patterns of human genetic variation (haplotypes). Processes of community/public consultation and individual informed consent were implemented in each locality where samples were collected to understand and attempt to address both individual and group concerns. Perceptions about the research varied, but we detected no critical opposition to the research. Incorporating community input and responding to concerns raised was challenging. However, the experience suggests that approaching genetic variation research in a spirit of openness can help investigators better appreciate the views of the communities whose samples they seek to study and help communities become more engaged in the science.

Comparisons of life images and end-of-life attitudes between the elderly in Taiwan and New Zealand

Rapid advances in medical technology may in the near future make "natural" aging and old age diseases the main causes of human death in affluent societies (apart from accidents). When dealing with end of life issues, medical sociology will need to focus more on life and death in seniors. Understanding the attitudes of older persons toward life and death is important for both performing end-of-life medical care and in developing end-of-life policies. Descriptive bioethical analysis of attitudes in different cultures can aid a fuller understanding of the views inside each culture and the trajectories of conflict situations within each culture. In-depth interviews were conducted with 112 senior citizens in Taiwan and with 25 senior citizens in New Zealand. All interviews were transcribed verbatim; qualitative data analysis was used to examine people's views on life and death. Their images of life and end of life attitudes were compared. Analysis of the key concepts they mentioned revealed distinctive views in life attitudes between these two groups. However, in spite of differences in culture and traditions, most life and end-of-life attitudes among elderly people in the two groups were rather similar. According to these similarities, an interpretation of these values was made within a Confucian and Taoist framework that might be applicable to non-Eastern cultures as well.

Ethical, legal and social issues of genetically modifying insect vectors for public health

The use of genetically modified (GM) insects for control of human disease can be consistent with common ethical norms of international society to reduce human suffering. This paper considers a range of ethical issues including animal rights, informed consent, community consensus and environmental viewpoints. Each community needs to decide its own priorities for methodology of disease policy guidance for ethical genetic engineering, and to negotiate with neighbouring countries. The approach to genetically modify insects raises few intrinsic ethical issues; however, important environmental and human health concerns need to be assessed before release of any GM insects. The policy that each community adopts should be the product of open dialogue involving all sectors of society. It can be expected that this process will take years and not all communities will endorse genetic control approaches to insect vectors.

Bioethics of teaching about reproductive technology and prenatal diagnosis choices in Japan

The results of teaching trials among students in Japan are reported, examining their attitudes towards prenatal diagnosis and ART over a course of lectures. The students tended to be more negative than the general public over the use of prenatal diagnosis. The results of attitude changes, and example comments to explain the categorization process are given. The students had a diversity of comments and could reason about the examples of technology used, but were characterized by a higher percentage of uncertainty than in the general public even after lectures on bioethics.

How Japanese students reason about agricultural biotechnology

Many have claimed that education of the ethical issues raised by biotechnology is essential in universities, but there is little knowledge of its effectiveness. The focus of this paper is to investigate how university students assess the information given in class to make their own value judgments and decisions relating to issues of agricultural biotechnology, especially over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Analysis of homework reports related with agricultural biotechnology after identification of key concepts and ideas in each student report is presented. The ideas were sorted into different categories. The ideas were compared with those in the reading materials using the same categories. These categories included: concern about affects on humans, affects on the environment, developing countries and starvation, trust in industry, responsibility of scientists, risk perception, media influence, need for (international) organizations or third parties, and information dissemination. What was consistent through the different years was that more than half of the students took a "neutral" position. A report was scored as "neutral" when the report included both the positive and negative side of an issue, or when the student could not make a definite decision about the use of GMOs and GM food. While it may be more difficult to defend a strong ''for" or "against" position, some students used logical arguments successfully in doing so. Sample comments are presented to depict how Japanese students see agricultural technology, and how they value its application, with comparisons to the general social attitudes towards biotechnology.

Attitudes of the public and scientists to biotechnology in Japan at the start of 2000

This survey on biotechnology and bioethics was carried out on national random samples of the public and scientists in November 2000-January 2000 [sic]throughout Japan, and attendees at the Novartis Life Science Forum held on 29 September 1999 in Tokyo. The sample size was 297, 370, and 74 respectively. While there is a better awareness of GMOs in 2000 compared to 1991; the trend shows an increase in the perceived risks of GMOs followed by growing resistance in Japan. While a majority of persons believed genetic engineering would make life better over the next twenty years (57%), the proportion of respondents who thought genetic engineering would make life worse over the next twenty years doubled from 1997 to 2000 (from 12% to 25%). Respondents were asked whether they had heard about applications in several areas and the order of familiarity (high-low) was: pest-resistant crops, human genes in bacteria, mouse to develop cancer, food and drinks, pigs with human hearts and pre-implantation diagnosis. A divide of opinion can be seen when the results on benefit, risk and moral acceptability of applications of biotechnology by the public are compared to the forum and scientist samples. A significant change in the acceptance of the public occurred in 2000 where only 22% agreed on the moral acceptability of GM food compared to 41% in 1997. In 2000 fewer people said they are willing (20%) to buy genetically modified fruits that taste better compared to 1997 (36%). The results show less public support for use of gene therapy than 1993 and twice as many scientists rejected gene therapy than they did in 1991. When asked who is best placed to regulate modern biotechnology, the respondents were overwhelmingly in favor of international regulatory bodies, such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization (72%), rather than national bodies. The comparison between scientists and public is interesting, however the more enthusiastic sample were participants from the Novaritis Life Science Forum with its mixed occupations.

The 'far east' of biological ethics

The ethics of biological research, and its general impact, are hotly debated in the West. Japanese silence on the issues is counterproductive. Will the Human Genome Project provide the catalyst for change?

Whose genome project?

The human genome project is a multinational project aimed at obtaining a detailed map and a complete DNA sequence of the human genome. It will have many scientific, medical, economic, ethical, legal, and social implications. A fundamental question to ask is "Whose genome project is it?" We can answer this question from different perspectives, and this aids our thinking about the issues that arise from the project. We can think of who proposed the idea, who should fund the research, who should perform the research, whose genome is mapped and sequenced, who should own the data, who should benefit from the results, and who should make these decisions. We can also compare the answers to these ethical questions with what is occurring in practice.

Endoplasmic reticulum contains a common, abundant calcium-binding glycoprotein, endoplasmin

The most abundant protein in microsomal membrane preparations from mammalian cells has been identified as a 100 X 10(3) Mr concanavalin A-binding glycoprotein. The glycosyl moiety of the glycoprotein is completely sensitive to endoglycosidase H, suggesting a predominantly endoplasmic reticulum localization in the cell. Using a monospecific antibody it was shown by binding and immunofluorescence studies that the glycoprotein is intracellular. Immunoelectron microscopy showed that the glycoprotein was at least 100 times more concentrated in the endoplasmic reticulum than in any other cellular organelle. It was found to be substantially overexpressed in cells and tissues rich in endoplasmic reticulum. Since it is the major common protein component associated with the endoplasmic reticulum we refer to it as endoplasmin. Calcium-binding studies show that endoplasmin is a major calcium-binding protein in cells, suggesting that at least one of its roles might be in the calcium-storage function of the endoplasmic reticulum. The amino-terminal sequence of endoplasmin is identical to that of a 100 X 10(3) Mr stress-related protein.

Ethics of Energy Technologies

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v1i1.9526 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010; 1(1):5

The Goals of Bioethics Education

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v1i1.9523 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010; 1(1):3

UNESCO Core Curriculum and Teaching Resources

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v2i1.9802 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2011; 2(1): 5-6