Gender preferences among antenatal women: a cross-sectional study from coastal South India

Background: A balanced sex ratio is essential for a stable society.Objective: The main objective of the present research was to study the perceptions of women attending the antenatal care (ANC) facility regarding their gender preferences and family composition.Method: In this cross-sectional study 132 antenatal women were interviewed in their preferred language using a predesigned semi-structured questionnaire. The collected information was analyzed using SPSS version 11.5.Results: The mean age of the study participants was 27.2 ± 4.1 years. The majority of the antenatal women (60.6%, n=80) did not have any gender preferences. Among those who had a gender preference (39.4%, n=52), male and female preference was reported by 55.7% (n=29) and 44.3% (n=23) of the participants respectively. The overall son preference index was observed to be 1.3. No consistent relationship could be established between the socio-demographic factors and the preference for gender. The mean preferred family size in our study was 1.85±0.531 and more than half of the participants had a balanced gender preference. The majority of the participants were aware that the adverse sex ratio can lead to fall in the number of brides and that it would bring about a social imbalance.Conclusion: As a developed society we need to ensure that both the genders get equal respect and are free from any sort of preferences and prejudices. To achieve this, more and more people need to be made aware of the consequences of gender imbalance and adverse sex ratio in a society.Keywords: Gender preferences; family composition; antenatal women; coastal South Indi

A brief note on portunid crab, Charybdis (Goniohellenus) omanensis septentrionalis from southwest coast of India

Crustacean Fisheries Division of ICAR-CMFRI, has recently taken up a two year programme on experimental trawling using fishing vessel F.V. Silver Pompano. Samples were collected from different bathymetric stations off Kochi and Alappuzha during fortnightly intervals. Samples in the last fortnight of August 2016, collected at a depth of 65m off Alappuzha, included a good number of Charybdis (Goniohellenus) smithii along with fishes and other crustaceans. While segregating the samples of swarming crab C. (G.) smithii, approximately 5 kg of small sized Charybdis sp. was also collected. This species was not included in the earlier samplings of the programme as well as in the commercial fishery landings. Hence detailed studies were carried out and found the species is C.(G.) omanensis septentrionalis, a new record in the Indian seas

Premature Centromere Division and Spontaneous Abortion

Premature Centromere Division (PCD) was observed in the chromosomes of metaphase spreads in a patient with the history of recurrent abortions. Short term leukocyte cultures were set up with blood sample from the woman with a history of recurrent abortions for the past four consequent years. 25 % of the metaphase spreads screened displayed premature centromere division of the chromosomes in each of the cells. This abnormal behavior of the centromeres may predispose the individual to cell division errors due to chromosome instability and the consequences of which may be a spontaneous abortion

New distributional record of the insular shelf beauty Symphysanodon typus Bleeker, 1878 (Family: Symphysanodontidae) from Indian waters

The family Symphysanodontidae comprises of small to medium sized bony fishes commonly known as banquelovelies, slopefishes and insular shelf beauties. They are caught in trawls operating in depths from 50 to 500 m, mainly on the continental shelf and slopes

Azolyl Pyrimidines-synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity

Amide unit is a privileged structural motif and is a constituent of proteins, natural products and pharmaceuticals. Amongst different heterocyclic scaffolds, azoles and pyrimidines are the prominent entities in pharmaceutical arena. The biopotency of these heterocycles have triggered to synthesize a variety of heteroaromatics - azoles linked with pyridines by amino acetamide group. The target molecules-azolylaminoacetamidopyrimidines were prepared by the reaction of methyl azolylglycinate with pyrimidinyl-2-amine in the presence of DMAP and triethylamine in dichloromethane under ultrasonication. The lead molecules were evaluated for antimicrobial activity. Nitro substituted 2-((4-(4-chlorofuran-2-yl)thiazole-2-yl)amino)-N-(4,6-diphenylpyrimidin-2-yl)acetamide (9c) displayed excellent antibacterial activity against B. subtilis greater than the standard drug Chloramphenicol. However, 9c and nitro substituted 2-((4-(4-chlorofuran-2-yl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl)amino)-N-(4,6-diphenylpyrimidin-2-yl)acetamide (10c) showed antifungal activity on A. niger greater than the standard drug Ketoconazole. © 2022 Author(s).The authors are grateful to CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), New Delhi for financial assistance under major research project

AZOLYL PYRIMIDINES-SYNTHESIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

Amide unit is a privileged structural motif and is a constituent of proteins, natural products and pharmaceuticals. Amongst different heterocyclic scaffolds, azoles and pyrimidines are the prominent entities in pharmaceutical arena. The biopotency of these heterocycles have triggered to synthesize a variety of heteroaromatics–azoles linked with pyridines by amino acetamide group. The target molecules-azolylaminoacetamidopyrimidines were prepared by the reaction of methyl azolylglycinate with pyrimidinyl-2-amine in the presence of DMAP and triethylamine in dichloromethane under ultrasonication. The lead molecules were evaluated for antimicrobial activity. The results on these aspects will be discussed

Status of marine fisheries of Kerala

Kerala with a coastline of 590 km is a significant contributor to the total marine fish landings of the country. A picture of the marine fisheries sector in Kerala during the years 2005 and 2010 is presented below (Table 1). With a continental shelf of about 40,000 km2 marine fisheries plays a vital role in the livelihood of the people

Note on the shoal of Priacanthus hamrur caught during experimental trawling

During the experimental fishing conducted by F V Silver pompano on 10th November 2016, a shoal of bullseye Priacanthus hamrur, weighing 1.5 t, was caught at 65-70 m depth off Alappuzha coast (90 25' 51'’ N, 750 58' 49'’ E). The shrimp trawl net with cod end mesh size of 20 mm was operated for an hour and the total catch comprised of P. hamrur (99%) and Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvaucelii (1%)

Saga of deep sea prawn fishery of Kerala

Deep-sea prawn records from Indian waters date back to early 20th century from the surveys of the RIMS Investigator, University Research Vessel Conch, M. V. Kalava and Varuna followed by the Indo-Norwegian Project, FORV Sagar Sampada off the Southwest Coast of India. The distribution of deep-sea prawns was recorded upto Ratnagiri (lat.16° N) with maximum concentration in the Quilon Bank (lat. 8°- 9°N). The enterprising small and medium prawn trawler operators of Kerala ventured into deep sea fishing for the first time in November 1999 with an annual average estimated landings of deep-sea prawns of 11315 t during 1999-2020 while 9137 t during 2007-2020 from the MDTN at a depth of 200-500 m. The species composition showed the dominance of M. andamanensis (27.6%) followed by A. alcocki (20%), P. quasigrandis (19.9%). H. chani (17.6%), H. woodmasoni (9.4%). Mitochondrial sequences (COI, 16S, and Cytb) of deep-sea prawn records were deposited in NCBI GenBank for accession numbers