Enable and Manifest Scientific Temper in Tangible Development-oriented Outcomes: Go Beyond Rhetoric

198-206Three facets of scientific temper are highlighted with respect to the scale and nature of impacts that can be expected through their expression in real-life contexts. These are aligned with a call to prioritize efforts targeting correlates of sustainable development and quality of life to enable and enhance scientific temper with the centrality of common good. Importantly, these could be useful entry points for larger scale sensitization because the benefits of well-informed action will be evident and mutually reinforce transformations. Some simple citizen-centred participatory models are also suggested to help realize the goals of infusing scientific temper

Science Culture: Where Canada Stands

Science Culture: Where Canada Stands, Ottawa (ON), Expert Panel on the State of Canada’s Science Culture, p. 222, Council of Canadian Academies 2014 This publication is a valuable treatise on the subject of science culture and related aspects of citizen engagement with science. It contains several insights about the forms and functional dynamics of science culture and its impacts across individuals, democracy/public policy and economy firmly embedded in a well-defined logical framework. Inferences drawn are communicated in a simple straight forward manner. Although Canada and its citizens provide the setting, this creates a learning context for countries engaged in similar investigations to draw useful leads about related approaches, tools/techniques and indicators

Enable and Manifest Scientific Temper in Tangible Development-oriented Outcomes: Go Beyond Rhetoric

Three facets of scientific temper are highlighted with respect to the scale and nature of impacts that can be expected through their expression in real-life contexts. These are aligned with a call to prioritize efforts targeting correlates of sustainable development and quality of life to enable and enhance scientific temper with the centrality of common good. Importantly, these could be useful entry points for larger scale sensitization because the benefits of well-informed action will be evident and mutually reinforce transformations. Some simple citizen-centred participatory models are also suggested to help realize the goals of infusing scientific temper

Influence of chemical profiles of host plants on the infestation diversity of Retithrips syriacus

The onset of biotic stress in the host plants as a result of increased insect population size leads to enhanced levels of secondary metabolites and associated phenolic enzyme activity. Of the three host plants examined, viz.Ricinus communis (castor),Eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus) andManihot utilissima (tapioca), castor was the host most preferred byRetithrips syriacus. Despite the fact that tapioca had the highest levels of secondary compounds, thrips infestation persisted. However, fecundity and growth were reduced because of the relatively high levels of primary metabolites. Gallic acid was found to be the most toxic of the phenolic acids, followed by pyrogallol, resorcinol, phloroglucinol and vanillic acid. The less toxic phenolic acids and flavanoids were detected in leaves that harboured thrips, while the preponderance of gallic acid was found in uninfested hosts. Thus the interaction ofRetithrips syriacus with the hosts is governed essentially by the biochemical profiles of its hosts, which tend to be altered subsequent to infestation, thus manifesting induced resistance through enhanced production of phenolics

In vitro production of bovine embryos derived from individual donors in the Corral® dish

Background: Since the identity of the embryo is of outmost importance during commercial in vitro embryo production, bovine oocytes and embryos have to be cultured strictly per donor. Due to the rather low yield of oocytes collected after ovum pick-up (OPU) per individual cow, oocyte maturation and embryo culture take place in small groups, which is often associated with inferior embryo development. The objective of this study was to improve embryonic development in small donor groups by using the Corral (R) dish. This commercial dish is designed for human embryo production. It contains two central wells that are divided into quadrants by a semi-permeable wall. In human embryo culture, one embryo is placed per quadrant, allowing individual follow-up while embryos are exposed to a common medium. In our study, small groups of oocytes and subsequently embryos of different bovine donors were placed in the Corral (R) dish, each donor group in a separate quadrant. Results: In two experiments, the Corral (R) dish was evaluated during in vitro maturation (IVM) and/or in vitro culture (IVC) by grouping oocytes and embryos of individual bovine donors per quadrant. At day 7, a significantly higher blastocyst rate was noted in the Corral (R) dish used during IVM and IVC than when only used during IVM (12.9% +/- 2.10 versus 22.8% +/- 2.67) (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in blastocyst yield were observed anymore between treatment groups at day 8 post insemination. Conclusions: In the present study, the Corral (R) dish was used for in vitro embryo production (IVP) in cattle; allowing to allocate oocytes and/or embryos per donor. As fresh embryo transfers on day 7 have higher pregnancy outcomes, the Corral (R) dish offers an added value for commercial OPU/IVP, since a higher blastocyst development at day 7 is obtained when the Corral (R) dish is used during IVM and IVC

Factors governing the performance of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in India: a study in Pune district

Background: The Auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) cadre was created to focus on maternal and child health. ANMs are respected members of their communities and established providers of maternal and child health care within the community and at the facility level. Over time, additional roles and responsibilities have been added. Despite the importance of ANMs in the primary healthcare system in India, studies that consider factors governing the performance of ANMs in their workplaces are limited. We aimed to study factors governing performance of ANMs in Pune district, India. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 purposely selected key informants at facility, district, state, and national levels. Focus group discussions were conducted with 41 ANMs and 25 members of the community. Non-participatory observations with eight ANMs provided information to expand on and scrutinise findings that emerged from the other lines of inquiry. A realist lens was applied to identify ANMs’ performance as a result of “mechanisms” (training, supervision, accountability mechanisms) within the given “context” (regulatory system, infrastructure and resources, ANMs’ expanded scope of work, gender roles and norms). Results: Weak enforcement of regulatory system led to poor standardisation of training quality among training institutions. Challenges in internal accountability mechanisms governing ANMs within the health system hierarchy made it difficult to ensure individual accountability. Training and supervision received were inadequate to address current responsibilities. The supervisory approach focused on comparing information in periodic reports against expected outputs. Clinical support in workplaces was insufficient, with very little problem identification and solving. Conclusion: Focusing on the tasks of ANMs with technical inputs alone is insufficient to achieve the full potential of ANMs in a changing context. Systematic efforts tackling factors governing ANMs in their workplaces can produce a useful cadre, that can play an important role in achieving universal health coverage in India