A Qualitative Study on Men’s Involvement in Reproductive Health of Women among Auto-rickshaw Drivers in Bangalore Rural

Background: Men’s reproductive health directly affects the partner’s reproductive health. Men also may serve as gatekeepers to women’s access to reproductive health services. “Male involvement” in reproductive health and family planning programmes is not just promoting the use of male methods of contraception, but men’s supportive roles in their families. Objectives: 1. To know the attitudes of men regarding the family planning and women’s health. 2. To know the involvement and participation of men in maternity, delivery, post-natal care and family planning. 3. To study the treatment seeking behaviour of men for the reproductive health. problems. Methods: The study was conducted on the auto-rickshaw drivers in the Hoskote town. Total 96 married men were interviewed using a well-designed and pretested questionnaire. The aspects covered are awareness and practices related to RTIs/STIs/HIV/AIDS, family planning, antenatal care and treatment seeking behaviour for the reproductive health problems. Results: Majority (62.50%) of the men did not help their wives seek antenatal care. Only few 7(7.29%) were aware of parameters of antenatal care. There were 44 (45.83%) men who reported the symptoms of reproductive tract infections (RTIs). Among the men suffering from RTIs, only 32(72.73%) took treatment. Only 6(6.25%) people were aware of the all family planning methods. There were 39 (40.63%) participants having extramarital sexual relations with prostitutes or other females, of which 25(64.10%) people do not use condoms while engaging in the high risk sexual encounters. There were 34 (35.42%) men not aware of HIV/AIDS. Conclusion: Antenatal care and family planning are considered the primary responsibility of the women. Also majority of the men in the study group have high risk sexual behaviour. The awareness regarding HIV/AIDS is low

Density-dependent effect on reproductive behaviour of Lysmata amboinensis and L. boggessi (Decapoda: Caridea: Hippolytidae)

We compared the reproductive behaviours of two protandric simultaneous hermaphroditic species (Lysmata amboinensis and L. boggessi) that belong to two groups of Lysmata shrimp with different morphology, geographical distribution, and density. Lysmata amboinensis occurs in tropical waters at low population densities, and L. boggessi is found in aggregation in sub-tropical and temperate areas. Reproductive behaviour of L. boggessi under two densities and L. amboinensis in different habitats were compared. Results show that L. amboinensis was much less active during mating than L. boggessi. Male shrimp of L. amboinensis did not display obvious pre-copulation behaviour. They also took significantly longer to transfer spermatophores and lay eggs after mating than L. boggessi shrimp did. For L. boggessi, moulting time of female shrimp, copulation time and the interval between moulting and mating were significantly shorter when three male shrimp were present than when only one male shrimp was present. Our study suggests that the reproductive behavioural differences in the two shrimp species are possibly the results of density-dependent effect

Coral spawning information

Information on reproduction in reef corals is presented. An understanding of its reproductive behaviour is an important factor in helping to preserve the coral reef ecosystems

Thermal signatures of human pheromones in sexual and reproductive behaviour

Chemically mediated sexual communication in humans has been largely neglected due to its non-conscious and relatively concealed nature. However, menstrual cycle synchronisation, puberty onset in young pre-pubertal girls exposed to their stepfather, and consanguinity avoidance suggest a function in the physiological regulation of sexual and reproductive behaviour in humans. These phenomena are related to activation of the limbic system by pheromones. On the basis of sexually dimorphic activation of brain hypothalamic areas and the control of body temperature via the hypothalamus, our hypothesis is that human sexual pheromones can induce thermal effects that can be revealed by high-resolution thermal infrared imaging. Here we show that in women, male sexual pheromones induce thermal effects that are linked to the ovarian cycle. These findings suggest a dramatic influence of pheromones on human sexual and reproductive behaviour through neuroendocrine brain control, established on the plesiomorphic nature of chemical communication across species

Coral spawning information

Information on reproduction in reef corals is presented. An understanding of its reproductive behaviour is an important factor in helping to preserve the coral reef ecosystems.Coral reefs, Spawning

Knowledge and Behaviour About Adolescent Reproductive Health in YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia

Lack of knowledge about reproductive health in adolescent, making teens easily influenced by misinformation and harmful to their reproductive health. Health education plays an important role in increasing their knowledge and behavior of young people in order to maintain good reproductive health. The purpose of the research was to see the impact of health education on the knowledge and behavior of adolescents in reproductive health. Paired t test analysis results indicate that counseling on reproductive health effect on both knowledge about reproductive health (mean difference: 10.216, 95% CI: 6.622 to 13.809) and attitudes about reproductive health in adolescents (mean difference: 65.417, 95% CI: 11,176 to 61.690). Knowledge of adolescents about reproductive health would be beneficial in preparing the young people in good reproductive health issues so expect teenagers do not conflict with the norms prevailing in the community

Husband-wife Roles as a Correlate of Contraceptive and Fertility Behaviour

In this paper, an investigation of reproductive behaviour within the socioeconomic and cultural frameworks is carried out to find the extent to which socioeconomic, cultural, and attitudinal variables (such as husband and wife’s education, family income, husband’s occupation, child mortality, exposure to the mass media, and husbandand- wife relationship in terms of egalitarian roles, role-segregation, husband’s authority, and domination in family and non-family decisions) influence the fertility decision-making process. The quantitative and qualitative techniques are used for exploring the respondents’ views regarding contraceptive and fertility behaviour. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to identify new meaningful underlying variables and to reduce the multi-dimensionality of variables. The chi-square test is employed to explore the relationships between the predictor variables and the dependent variables. Multiple linear regression is also used to establish the relative importance of each of the predictor variables. Bivariate, multiple linear regression and qualitative analysis demonstrate that preferences for smaller families and contraceptive use were found to be consistently associated with modern attitudes and behaviour towards the husband-and-wife relationship. Family income, husband’s occupation, child mortality, and age at marriage offered no explanation of the reproductive behaviour. It is concluded that cultural setting and tradition exert an important influence on reproductive behaviour independent of development in economic realities. It is suggested that for the attainment of demographicdevelopmental objectives, the issue of women’s status is not incidental; it is essential. The argument is not that improvements in women’s status need to be pursued only for population policy purposes, but rather that they comprise a crucial social developmental goal in their own right.

Implications of fisheries during the spawning season for the sustainable management and recovery of depleted fish stocks: a conceptual framework

Fishing during the spawning season may negatively affects the reproductive potential and reproductive dynamics of exploited fish stocks due to a variety of mechanisms such as the disturbance of the natural spawning behaviour, effects on the age, size and sex composition of the spawning population and effects on the population genetics. The effect may differ between species in relation to the spawning strategy and population dynamic characteristics. Based on first principles of reproductive biology, population biology and fishing methods, a theoretical framework is developed on the effects of fishing during the spawning period. This framework is used to structure a review of the available scientific evidence. Implications of the findings on the recovery of depleted fish stocks and the sustainability of exploitation will be discussed and illustrated for a selection of North Sea fish stocks (flatfish, roundfish and pelagic)