Determinants of inter-pregnancy interval in Ogbomoso: an unmet need for contraceptive usage

Background: Worldwide maternal mortality has witnessed a significant reduction in the last 2 decades and this has partly been due to the increase contraceptive use and with consequent reduction in inter-pregnancy interval. The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing inter-pregnancy intervals among pregnant women attending antenatal care and their contraception needsMethods: A cross-sectional study on pregnant women with at least one previous delivery attending antenatal clinic of a Teaching Hospital using a structured questionnaireResults: The mean±SD age of the respondents was 27.4±0.6 (20-44) years. The majority (76%) were multiparous. Vaginal delivery (91%) and live birth (86.9%) were reported in the last pregnancy. Most respondent 64.4% had their last confinement more than 2years. Marital status (p<0.05), educational status (p=0.003), average income per month (p=0.003), parity (p=0.02), outcome of previous pregnancy (p=0.01), mode of delivery (p=0.001) and duration of breastfeeding (p=0.001) were factors which showed significant association with inter-pregnancy interval. Awareness of modern contraceptive methods was reported by 65.4%, with 60% and 32.6% wanting to resume contraceptive use immediately and within 6-12months of delivery respectively.Conclusions: The study showed inter-pregnancy interval of twenty-four months. Obstetric and socio-demographic factors were significantly associated with inter-pregnancy interval. Effective health information and reproductive education would encourage effective contraception uptake and better maternal and baby outcome

Premature Thelarche - Environmental Connections

Bibliography on premature thelarche and environmental connectionsBibliography on premature thelarche (breast development) and environmental influences. Includes references on clinical descriptions of premature thelarche, studies from Puerto Rico and Haiti, long-term follow-up studies, sexual development in American girls, and exposure to phthalate esters.New York State Department of Health and Department of Environmental Conservatio

Dieldrin and Breast Cancer Risk Bibliography

Bibliography on the breast cancer risk of the insecticide dieldrinBibliography on the breast cancer risk of the insecticide dieldrin. Includes review articles and references on the breast cancer risk of dieldrin, evidence of estrogenicity, levels in food and breast milk, exposure in the environment and home, and levels in humans.New York State Department of Health, and the United States Department of Agriculture CSREES Cornell University Agriculture Experiment Station formula funds Project No. NYC-3294

Using Psychological Characteristics of Situations for Social Situation Comprehension in Support Agents

Support agents that help users in their daily lives need to take into account not only the user's characteristics, but also the social situation of the user. Existing work on including social context uses some type of situation cue as an input to information processing techniques in order to assess the expected behavior of the user. However, research shows that it is important to also determine the meaning of a situation, a step which we refer to as social situation comprehension. We propose using psychological characteristics of situations, which have been proposed in social science for ascribing meaning to situations, as the basis for social situation comprehension. Using data from user studies, we evaluate this proposal from two perspectives. First, from a technical perspective, we show that psychological characteristics of situations can be used as input to predict the priority of social situations, and that psychological characteristics of situations can be predicted from the features of a social situation. Second, we investigate the role of the comprehension step in human-machine meaning making. We show that psychological characteristics can be successfully used as a basis for explanations given to users about the decisions of an agenda management personal assistant agent.Comment: 21 page

Determinants of resumption of vaginal intercourse in puerperium period in Ogbomoso: consideration for early use of contraceptives

Background: Early postpartum period for mothers is characterized with high demand for neonatal care, adjusting to sudden withdrawal of hormones of pregnancy and dealing with sexual desires of the husband. The study aimed at determines the timing, factors influencing postpartum resumption of vaginal intercourse and the contraceptive usage.Methods: Women in puerperium were interviewed with structured questionnaire on their socio-demographic status, obstetric history, sexual activities, contraception usage and reason for sexual abstinence.Results: About 40% (143) of participants had resumed vaginal intercourse within puerperium with mean resumption period of 3.2 ± 1.8 weeks. Only 12% (48) of them used modern contraceptive. Educational status (P <0.001); occupation (P <0.001); educational status of the husband (P <0.001); occupation of the husband (P <0.001); parity (P <0.05); husband’s income (P <0.05) and use of modern contraception (P <0.001) showed significant statistical difference between the women who had resumed vaginal sexual intercourse and those who have not. Logistic regression showed that educational status of the participants (OR = 0.48, CI = 0.246-0.938; P = 0.032) and parity (OR = 0.34, CI = 0.196-0.591; P = 0.001) were the most significant factors associated with early resumption of vaginal intercourse. One hundred and eighty-five (72%) of women who were yet to resume coitus, did so because of fear of pregnancy.Conclusions: Significant number of women resumed vaginal intercourse during the puerperium despite low contraception usage. There is need to initiate a contraception method before discharge home following delivery.  

Imperative Role of Dental Pulp Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies: A Systematic Review

Stem cells are primitive cells that can differentiate and regenerate organs in different parts of the body such as heart, bones, muscles and nervous system. This has been a field of great clinical interest with immense possibilities of using the stem cells in regeneration of human organ those are damaged due to disease, developmental defects and accident. The knowledge of stem cell technology is increasing quickly in all medical specialties and in dental field too. Stem cells of dental origin appears to hold the key to various cell‑based therapies in regenerative medicine, but most avenues are in experimental stages and many procedures are undergoing standardization and validation. Long‑term preservation of SHED cells or DPSC is becoming a popular consideration, similar to the banking of umbilical cord blood. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are the adult multipotent cells that reside in the cell rich zone of the dental pulp. The multipotent nature of these DPSCs may be utilized in both dental and medical applications. A systematic review of the literature was performed using various internet based search engines (PubMed, Medline Plus, Cochrane, Medknow, Ebsco, Science Direct, Hinari, WebMD, IndMed, Embase) using keywords like “dental pulp stem cells”, “regeneration”, “medical applications”, “tissue engineering”. DPSCs appears to be a promising innovation for the re‑growth of tissues however, long term clinical studies need to be carried out that could establish some authentic guidelines in this perspective.Keywords: Dental pulp stem cells, myocardial infarction, regenerative therapy, tissue engineerin

Novel optimal temperature profile for acidification process of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus in yoghurt fermentation using artificial neural network and genetic algorithm

The acidification behavior of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus for yoghurt production was investigated along temperature profiles within the optimal window of 38-44 degrees C. For the optimal acidification temperature profile search, an optimization engine module built on a modular artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) was used. Fourteen batches of yoghurt fermentations were evaluated using different temperature profiles in order to train and validate the ANN sub-module. The ANN captured the nonlinear relationship between temperature profiles and acidification patterns on training data after 150 epochs. This served as an evaluation function for the GA. The acidification slope of the temperature profile was the performance index. The GA sub-module iteratively evolved better temperature profiles across generations using GA operations. The stopping criterion was met after 11 generations. The optimal profile showed an acidification slope of 0.06117 compared to an initial value of 0.0127 and at a set point sequence of 43, 38, 44, 43, and 39 degrees C. Laboratory evaluation of three replicates of the GA suggested optimum profile of 43, 38, 44, 43, and 39 degrees C gave an average slope of 0.04132. The optimization engine used (to be published elsewhere) could effectively search for optimal profiles of different physico-chemical parameters of fermentation processes

Prohibition of pollution of marine environments: challenges and prospects

This article examines how marine pollution can be effectively contained and curtailed using existing regulatory instruments. The harmful effect of marine pollution on marine ecosystems and species is a problem that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. It is against the backdrop of this concern that national and international legal frameworks have been put in place to regulate, reduce or stop marine pollution. Despite this, the problem of marine pollution is still rampant and impacting negatively on marine socio-economic goods and services. It is pertinent to point out that marine pollution only receives attention when it has catastrophic impacts. This article scrutinizes frameworks that have been put in place to curb marine pollution by assessing their functions. It submits that measures should be taken to ensure compliance of these regulations and that prevention of marine pollution should be prioritized in order to guard against the manifestation of destructive adverse effects of harmful substances

An Analysis of the Roles of the Practitioners in the Implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment in South Africa

Various national, domestic, and international legal instruments provide for the significance of ensuring that, prior, during, and after any proposed or completed project, a thorough EIA must be carried out, to establish the extent of the impact and the effect of such a developmental project would have on the environment. To accomplish this, the role of Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAP) became more imperative. This paper looks at the various roles of these practitioners, their professional advice based on their assessments, whether a project should get the go-ahead to continue or not, stating and indicating the imminent risks to the environment, how to mitigate them, and if need be how to abate the project

Geophysical and Hydrochemical Investigation of a Municipal Dumpsite in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria

Geophysical and hydrochemical investigations have been undertaken within a reclaimed site of municipal dumpsite in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria with a view of assessing the impact of effluent from the ancient dumpsite on the soil and groundwater sytem. The study area is underlain by precambrian Basement Complex rocks mainly granite gneiss. The geophysical investigation involved electrical resistivity methods using dipole-dipole profiling and Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES), while the hydrochemical investigation involved physical, chemical and microbial analyses of water samples within the reclaimed land and active dumpsite. A total of 175 sampling points were occupied using dipole-dipole profiling, while 29 Schlumberger electrical soundings were carried out. In addition, water samples from available nine wells in the area whose static water levels range between 1.2 m and 7.4 m were analysed. The results from electrical surveys show that the study area is underlain by a maximum of four subsurface layers namely the topsoil, the weathered layer, the partly weathered/fractured basement and the fresh basement whose resistivities values range from 41-495 ohm-m, 13-643 ohm-m, 86-720 ohm-m and 2800 ohm-m and above. Their thickness of the overburden units varies from 0.7- 49.5 m. The partly weathered/fractured basement constitute the main aquifer. The resistivity distribution of the topsoil and weathered layer indicates that parts of these layers have been infiltrated by plumes from the reclaimed land and active dumpsite, especially in areas characterised by low resistivity (&lt;30 Ohm-m). In most cases, the suspected leachates are held within the clayey overburden and are prevented from infiltrating the aquifer by local barriers. There are indications that the leachate migration is topographically controlled. The hydrochemical analysis of samples from the wells show that the concentration of the analysed anions (Cl-, S042- and N03-) and cations (Na+,  Ca2+, Mg2+ and Fe+) are within the World Health Organisation (2004) and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (2007) permissible limits. This indicates that the aquifer system in the area might be free from contamination. However, there is possiblity of future impacts on wells in the area from downwards  migration of the effluents from active dumpsite and other anthropogenic activities relating to human impacts on existing geo-environmental systems. Keywords: effluent, contaminantion, hydrochemical analysis, leachate, aquifer