Impact of Education Program about Family Planning among Yemeni Women on their “Knowledge and Attitude” in Sana’a city

A rapid population growth is a burden on the resources of many developing countries. Unregulated fertility, which contributes to such situations, compromises the economic development and political stability of these countries. Contraceptive use is the lowest in Yemen where about 1 out of 5 married women of reproductive age use contraception and only about 1 out of 10 married women use a modern method. The study conducted to evaluate the impact of implementing an educational program of family planning upon Yemeni women at Sana'a City. The study was Quasi-experimental research design. It was conducted in Al-Sabeen Hospital and Al-Olofi Center for Childhood and Motherhood which included a sample of one hundred and forty women, divided equally into two groups: study group and control group (seventy for each group). It included three tools; tool one a social demographic data and women’ knowledge about family planning. Tool two women’ attitude toward birth control. Tool three educational program about family planning. More than half of the control group (57.1%) whose age was between 30 years and less than 40 years and (40%) of studied group and (45.7 %) of the control group had preparatory education. The number of pregnancies was more than two fifth (41.4%) of the study group had three or more times while (58.6%) about two third for the control group. Unwanted pregnancy represented (64.3% and 57.1% respectively) of both study and control group. Women' knowledge had a poor score on pretest, improved  to good score on immediate post test, and  remaining good score with slight decrease on follow up test. Their attitudes score were slight positive attitudes on pretest, but increased on immediate post test, and on follow up test. There was highly statistically significant difference between the women’ knowledge about FP in pre, immediate post test and follow-up. Also, there was a highly statistically significant difference between women’ attitude in pre and immediate post test and follow-up test. Family planning program should involve men as well as women, design and implement a strategy to ensure all primary health care clinics provide counseling on FP. Keywords: Family planning, Control birth, Spacing, Contraception.

Molecular characterization of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International audienceABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods for the detection of known mutations has facilitated detecting specific red blood cell (RBC) enzyme deficiencies. We carried out a study on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient subjects in Jeddah to evaluate the molecular characteristics of this enzyme deficiency and the frequency of nucleotide1311 and IVS-XI-93 polymorphisms in the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene. RESULTS: A total of 1584 unrelated Saudis (984 neonates and 600 adults) were screened for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. The prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was 6.9% (n=110). G6PD Mediterranean mutation was observed in 98 (89.1%) cases, G6PD Aures in 11 (10.0%) cases, and G6PD Chatham in 1 (0.9%) case. None of the samples showed G6PD A mutation. Samples from 29 deficient subjects (25 males and 4 females) were examined for polymorphism. The association of two polymorphisms of exon/intron 11 (c.1311T/IVS XI 93C) was observed in 14 (42.4%) of 33 chromosomes studied. This association was found in 9 (31.0%) carriers of G6PD Mediterranean and in 4 (13.8%) carriers of G6PD Aures. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of mutations were G6PD Mediterranean, followed by G6PD Aures and <1% G6PD Chatham. We conclude that 1311T is a frequent polymorphism in subjects with G6PD Mediterranean and Aures variants in Jeddah

Antioxidant and antidiabetic flavonoids from the leaves of Dypsis pembana (H.E.Moore) Beentje & J.Dransf., Arecaceae: in vitro and molecular docking studies

Abstract Background Oxidative stress and diabetes are medical conditions that have a growing prevalence worldwide, significantly impacting our bodies. Thus, it is essential to develop new natural antioxidant and antidiabetic agents. Dypsis pembana (H.E.Moore) Beentje & J.Dransf (DP) is an ornamental palm of the family Arecaceae. This study aimed to broaden the understanding of this plant’s biological properties by evaluating its in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. Methods The in vitro antioxidant activities of the crude extract, fractions, and selected isolates were evaluated by DPPH method. While the in vitro antidiabetic activities of these samples were evaluated by assessing the degree of inhibition of α-glucosidase. Additionally, molecular docking analysis was performed to investigate the interactions of tested compounds with two potential targets, the cytochrome c peroxidase and alpha glucosidase. Results The crude extract displayed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 of 11.56 µg/ml), whereas among the fractions, the EtOAc fraction was the most potent (IC50 of 14.20 µg/ml). Among tested compounds, isoquercetrin (10) demonstrated the highest potency, with an IC50 value of 3.30 µg/ml, followed by rutin (8) (IC50 of 3.61 µg/ml). Regarding antidiabetic activity, the EtOAc (IC50 of 60.4 µg/ml) and CH2Cl2 fractions (IC50 of 214.9 µg/ml) showed activity, while the other fractions did not demonstrate significant antidiabetic effects. Among tested compounds, kaempferol-3-O-neohesperidoside (9) showed the highest antidiabetic activity, with an IC50 value of 18.38 µg/ml, followed by kaempferol (4) (IC50 of 37.19 µg/ml). These experimental findings were further supported by molecular docking analysis, which revealed that isoquercetrin and kaempferol-3-O-neohesperidoside exhibited strong enzyme-binding affinities to the studied enzyme targets. This analysis provided insights into the structure-activity relationships among the investigated flavonol-O-glycosides. Conclusion The biological and computational findings revealed that isoquercetrin and kaempferol-3-O-neohesperidoside have potential as lead compounds for inhibiting cytochrome c peroxidase and alpha glucosidase enzymes, respectively

Noncyanogenic Cyanoglucoside Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors from <i>Simmondsia chinensis</i>

Two new noncyanogenic cyanoglucoside dimers, simmonosides A and B (<b>1</b> and <b>2</b>), were identified from the aqueous extract of jojoba (<i>Simmondsia chinensis</i>) leaves. Compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> are the first examples of noncyanogenic cyanoglucoside dimers containing a unique four-membered ring, representing novel dimerization patterns at α,β-unsaturated carbons of a nitrile group in <b>1</b> and γ,δ-unsaturated carbons in <b>2</b>. Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic evidence and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> exhibit promising COX-2 inhibition activity, with IC₅₀ values of 13.5 and 11.4 μM, respectively