Predictors of knowledge, attitudes and ever practice family planning among public secondary school teachers in Enugu East Senatorial District, Nigeria.

Background: Family planning deficiencies are responsible for high maternal, newborn, and child mortality in Nigeria, and more than half of all death among adult female is linked to maternal death. Aim: To ascertain the predictors of good knowledge, positive attitudes, and ever practice family planning among public secondary school teachers in Enugu East Senatorial District, Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional research was carried out among public secondary school teachers aged between 18 and 60 years in Enugu East Senatorial District, Nigeria, using probability proportional to size sampling and systematic random sampling from a selection of 1,000 participants. Factors considered included sources of information on family planning, partner involvement, history of family planning methods, and healthcare facilities. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to establish the relationship. An odds ratio of 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated to ascertain the level of significance. Result: A majority (65.9%) of respondents had a good knowledge of family planning, more than half had positive attitudes (52.7%), and most of them had ever practice family planning (55.0%). Television (AOR = 2.17; 95% CI 1.54-3.06) and social media (AOR = 1.89; 95% CI 1.29-2.78) were effective sources of information to establish significant predictors of good knowledge on family planning. Healthcare (AOR = 0.68; 95% CI 0.51-0.92) and partner discussion (AOR = 3.19; 95% CI 1.94-5.27) were also significant determinants of positive attitudes towards family planning. Cost of obtaining family planning methods (AOR = 0.003; 95% CI 0.001-0.013) and proximity of family planning facilities (AOR = 0.04; 95% CI 0.02-0.10) were notable predictors of ever practice family planning. Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitudes, and ever practiced family planning among teachers are moderate and a significant number of predictors were identified. Effective awareness is recommended and making use of television as a channel to increase levels of knowledge will hopefully encourage utilization of family planning among teachers.

Ameliorative efficacy of bioencapsulated Chironomous larvae with Shilajit on Zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to Ionizing radiation.

Using Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model organism, we evaluated the radioprotective and antioxidant effects of the Indian traditional medicine Shilajit exposed to X-Ray. The Zebrafish were divided into three experimental groups and control group, each group containing ten fish. The three experimental fish groups, group I, group II and group III were fed with 3, 5 and 7ppm shilajit encapsulated Chironomous larvae and group IV served as a control fed with non- encapsulated larvae. After 60 days of feeding trial, fish were irradiated with X-Ray at a single acute dose of 1Gy. 72h of post-irradiation, each experimental fish were observed for its morphological, behavioral, clinical symptoms, antioxidant levels and DNA damage were evaluated. Among the experimental groups 5ppm shilajit encapsulated Chironomous larvae fed fish group shows the most significant radioprotective effects compared with control and other experimental fish groups. The present study indicates that shilajit have significant radioprotective and antioxidant enhancing capability. The humus substance of shilajit may be the factor responsible to react with radiation-derived or radiation related reactive species on zebrafish.

Chromosomal Abnormalities in Infertile Men from Southern India.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Male infertility has been associated with aneuploidies and structural chromosomal abnormalities, Yq microdeletions and specific gene mutations and/or polymorphisms. Besides genetic factors, any block in sperm delivery, endocrine disorders, testicular tumours, infectious diseases, medications, lifestyle factors and environmental toxins can also play a causative role. This study aimed to determine the constitutional karyotype in infertile males having normal female partners in a south Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 180 men with a complaint of primary infertility ranging from 1 to 25 years were screened for chromosomal abnormalities through conventional analysis of GTG-banded metaphases from cultured lymphocytes. RESULTS: Four individuals were diagnosed to have Klinefelter syndrome. Two cases exhibited reciprocal translocations and one showed a maternally inherited insertion. Polymorphisms were seen in sixty-seven patients (37.2%). CONCLUSION: The occurrence of chromosomal abnormalities in 4.6% and variants involving the heterochromatic regions of Y, chromosome 9 and the acrocentric chromosomes in 38.2% of the infertile men with an abnormal seminogram strongly reiterates the inclusion of routine cytogenetic testing and counselling in the diagnostic work-up prior to the use of assisted reproduction technologies.

The semantic interference effect in the picture-word paradigm: an event-related fMRI study employing overt responses.

We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural responses associated with the semantic interference (SI) effect in the picture-word task. Independent stage models of word production assume that the locus of the SI effect is at the conceptual processing level (Levelt et al. [1999]: Behav Brain Sci 22:1-75), whereas interactive models postulate that it occurs at phonological retrieval (Starreveld and La Heij [1996]: J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 22:896-918). In both types of model resolution of the SI effect occurs as a result of competitive, spreading activation without the involvement of inhibitory links. These assumptions were tested by randomly presenting participants with trials from semantically-related and lexical control distractor conditions and acquiring image volumes coincident with the estimated peak hemodynamic response for each trial. Overt vocalization of picture names occurred in the absence of scanner noise, allowing reaction time (RT) data to be collected. Analysis of the RT data confirmed the SI effect. Regions showing differential hemodynamic responses during the SI effect included the left mid section of the middle temporal gyrus, left posterior superior temporal gyrus, left anterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral orbitomedial prefrontal cortex. Additional responses were observed in the frontal eye fields, left inferior parietal lobule, and right anterior temporal and occipital cortex. The results are interpreted as indirectly supporting interactive models that allow spreading activation between both conceptual processing and phonological retrieval levels of word production. In addition, the data confirm that selective attention/response suppression has a role in resolving the SI effect similar to the way in which Stroop interference is resolved. We conclude that neuroimaging studies can provide information about the neuroanatomical organization of the lexical system that may prove useful for constraining theoretical models of word production.

Brain activity during the encoding, retention, and retrieval of stimulus representations.

Studies of delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS) performance following lesions of the monkey cortex have revealed a critical circuit of brain regions involved in forming memories and retaining and retrieving stimulus representations. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity in 10 healthy human participants during performance of a trial-unique visual DNMS task using novel barcode stimuli. The event-related design enabled the identification of activity during the different phases of the task (encoding, retention, and retrieval). Several brain regions identified by monkey studies as being important for successful DNMS performance showed selective activity during the different phases, including the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (encoding), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (retention), and perirhinal cortex (retrieval). Regions showing sustained activity within trials included the ventromedial and dorsal prefrontal cortices and occipital cortex. The present study shows the utility of investigating performance on tasks derived from animal models to assist in the identification of brain regions involved in human recognition memory.