Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are enemy of male fertility? A patho-radiological correlation study

Background: About 15% of the sexually active population is suffering from infertility in India, and in 50% of cases, male partner is involved, either as a primary cause or in combination a problem in the female partner. Modern life style changes like cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are emerging out to cause a detrimental effect on male fertility due to adverse effects on semen volume, sperm morphology, total count and motility. The aim of this study was to study the effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on the semen parameters (volume, sperm motility, sperm count and morphology of sperms) and to study the morphological changes in testes in chronic alcoholics and/or cigarette smokers by high resolution sonography (HRSG).Methods: 200 male partners of infertile couple were included in the study referred from infertility clinic of department of obstetrics and gynecology in people’s college of medical sciences and research Centre, Bhopal, MP, India in-between Jan 2015 to December 2015. All the patients were divided in two group; each have 100 patients. Group A include 100 cases with history of smoking or alcohol consumption or both at least since 5yr. Group B also include 100 patients without any history of smoking and alcohol consumption or any medication for chronic illness and they will serve as controls. Detailed history about cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption was taken and recorded in the proforma. Semen sample has been collected in lab of department of pathology and results were recorded. All these patients were then subjected to HRSG of scrotum and testis in department of Radiodiagnosis of same institute to see any smoking or alcohol induced testicular atrophy.Results: Cigarette smoking has been found to have detrimental effects on male fertility particularly in moderate and heavy smokers who showed decreased semen volume, sperm count as well as sperm motility. Alcohol consumption resulted in abnormal sperm morphology. All the patients underwent for HRSG of scrotum and testis and 18% cases were found associated with testicular atrophy in group A and only 3% in group B.Conclusions: Heavy smoking and chronic alcohol consumption have detrimental effects on both quality as well as quantity of sperms. Moderate to heavy smoking was associated with decreased semen volume, sperm count and motility whereas chronic alcoholism was related to increased number of morphologically abnormal sperms and testicular atrophy.

Dengue in pregnancy, maternal and fetal outcome: a case series managed at a Zonal Hospital

Background: Dengue is a vector borne disease with various grades of severity. Pregnancy is a high-risk group and is prone for complications of dengue haemorrhagic fever. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical profile of pregnant patients with dengue and to assess the maternal and fetal outcomes of dengue in pregnancy.Methods: All pregnant patients reporting to the hospital with fever and serologically confirmed dengue infection were included in the study. Clinical and laboratory data of patients were collected. The cases were followed up till their delivery to monitor the effect of dengue. An account of the mode of delivery in these patients was made. The neonates were evaluated and followed up till 6 weeks of life.Results: A total 100% patients reported with fever and serologically confirmed dengue infection. 15% had severe thrombocytopenia requiring platelet transfusion. 31% required ICU care and 15% needed mechanical respiratory support due to severe complications of dengue. NICU admission rate was 30% but there was no major neonatal complication or vertical transmission noted. A high index of suspicion should be maintained by the clinician with an aim to identify infection early, start supportive treatment and evaluate for complications. In-patient care should be provided for feto-maternal monitoring.Conclusions: The progression of dengue infection in pregnancy was rapid leading to major complications. Close materno-fetal monitoring and timely obstetric care are essential to ensure a favorable pregnancy outcom

Acardia anceps: the monster twin; twin reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) syndrome

Twin reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence is an extremely rare complication of monochorionic multi-foetal pregnancy, occurring once in 35,000 births. It is characterized by a malformed foetus without a heart being perfused by a structurally normal (pump) twin via an artery-to-artery anastomosis in a reverse direction. We report one such case where ultrasound imaging revealed monochorionic twin pregnancy with a viable, normal-appearing first twin and a structurally aberrant second twin with absent cardiac activity. The patient was monitored with two weekly ultrasonography and Doppler ultrasound examination to ascertain the well-being of the pump twin. She delivered successfully at term a normal live baby and an acardius anceps foetus. The perinatal mortality of the pump twin ranges from 35 to 55%; making it essential to diagnose the presence of a pump twin at an early gestational age through improved imaging techniques to plan effective intervention at appropriate time

Assessing Gender Inequality in South Africa: A Case Study of Women in Sports Management

The arrival of democracy in South Africa brought with it challenges that needed to be addressed to overcome the inequalities of the past. To a significant degree, the discrimination against not only race groups but also against women in general had to be tackled. Against this background, policies and legislation on achieving employment equity emerged. Despite this, a gender disparity still exists in the area of sports management. Regardless of efforts made by government and other sporting bodies to eliminate gender inequality, hurdles still remain at all levels.The aim of this study is to explore the reasons for this gender disparity, identifying the constraints on women’s advancement and the challenges that they face in advancing in sport as managers (in various capacities). It also identifies appropriate policy interventions. This serves as a case study for broader issues of equity within a South African context and probes the situation more generally with regards to the position of women in sport management in South Africa.The study presents the views of a selection of women in sport management and themes that were identified. These themes provides the basis for assessment and recommendations. The approach taken in order to complete the research was phenomenological as it has roots in epistemology. This approach provided rich information with the small sample size required and is ideal for the short time frame for the completion of this dissertation and exploration of the research problem. The research methods used in this research was qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women in sport management.The results of the study were captured in four broad areas which indicated the challenges that women currently face. In general, respondents felt that in order to address the current challenges women need to find a niche in sport management and pursue it; women already holding management positions must become mentors of the next generation of women managers; and a career in sport management required women to balance their roles with their personal life.The recommendations drawn provided opportunities to fast track the progress of gender equity in sports management: to educate a patriarchal society with changing roles for the girl child; to encourage women to equip themselves with knowledge and become vocal in their work environment; to overcome male domination and improve the communication gap between older and newer generations in sport management

DESTINATION BRANDING- A CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA APPROACH

Destinations are marketed in various ways, the best medium being Destination Branding. As it is today, a lot of cities and states have formed internationally renowned brand names through various innovative campaigns and the help of Brand Ambassadors, creative taglines, vibrant ads & billboard displays and an effective far-reaching social media campaign. The best example can be that of the 23 Mediterranean Countries that used Facebook for an effective Destination Branding. Social media is considered as one of the most important forms of communication in this modern era of technology, the use of Facebook and the micro-blogging website, Twitter has seen a staggering rise. This conceptual research focuses on the process of Destination Branding using two key pillars of Social Media, which is very new, quite effective in terms of reach and the best of all, free! The two media are Instagram and Snapchat. Using the Case Study approach, cities like Lyon, Amsterdam, and Philadelphia have been studied their campaigns have been immensely successful, as revealed by the numbers of people reached by the Instagram campaigns. The research also consists of suggestions and tactics that Destination Marketers and Branders can use as campaigns on Snapchat, to make effective use of opportunities in Real-Time Marketing. The objective being to bring out the fact that today, a Brand does not really need a famous person as an Ambassador and that Hashtags are the new-age way of search engines and how these strategies can be used by small cities in India. The research also focuses on giving suggestions about how Goa and Bangalore can use hashtags on Instagram and Snapchat effectively to promote the brands that they stand for

Prevalence and patterns of higher-order drug interactions in Escherichia coli.

Interactions and emergent processes are essential for research on complex systems involving many components. Most studies focus solely on pairwise interactions and ignore higher-order interactions among three or more components. To gain deeper insights into higher-order interactions and complex environments, we study antibiotic combinations applied to pathogenic Escherichia coli and obtain unprecedented amounts of detailed data (251 two-drug combinations, 1512 three-drug combinations, 5670 four-drug combinations, and 13608 five-drug combinations). Directly opposite to previous assumptions and reports, we find higher-order interactions increase in frequency with the number of drugs in the bacteria's environment. Specifically, as more drugs are added, we observe an elevated frequency of net synergy (effect greater than expected based on independent individual effects) and also increased instances of emergent antagonism (effect less than expected based on lower-order interaction effects). These findings have implications for the potential efficacy of drug combinations and are crucial for better navigating problems associated with the combinatorial complexity of multi-component systems