Ethnic differentials of the impact of Family Planning Program on contraceptive use in Nepal

There is wide variation of family planning services use among ethnic groups in Nepal. Despite three decades of implementation the need for family planning services is substantially unmet (25%), and there have been no systematic studies evaluating the impact of the family planning program. This study pooled data from nationally representative surveys conducted in 1996, 2001, and 2006. Multilevel logistic regression analysis of 23,381 married women of reproductive age nested within 764 clusters indicated that Muslims, Janjatis, and Dalits were significantly less likely to use contraceptives than Brahmins and Chhetries (OR=0.27, 0.88 and 0.82 respectively). The odds of using contraceptives by the Newar were higher than the odds for Brahmins and Chhetries, although it was not significant. Exposure of women to family planning messages through health facilities, family planning workers, radio, and television increased the odds of using modern contraceptives. However, the impact of family planning information on contraceptive use varied according to ethnicity. We also found that modern contraceptive use varied significantly across the clusters, and the cluster-level indicators, such as mean age at marriage, mean household asset score, percentage of women with secondary education, and percentage of women working away from home, were important in explaining this.ethnic differentials, family planning, family planning programs, Nepal

Effect of EMS on morpho-physiological characters of wheat in reference to stay green trait

To feed the ever growing world population, the demand of food supply must be increased by 70 % of major cereal crops like wheat, rice etc. It was predicted that the detrimental effect of abiotic stresses like drought, heat, salt etc. on yield would be decreased by genetic improvement in terms of photosynthetic response, long green leaf duration and delayed leaf senescence. ‘Stay green’ is a vital trait of all crops which is directly associated with the capacity of the plant to maintain CO2 assimilation, photosynthesis and chlorophyll content. The present study was conducted to develop the stay green mutants genotype by using 1.5 % Ethyl Methane Sulphonate (EMS). The variety K 7410 showed highest leaf area 37.34 cm2, seeds per spike 65.47, 1000 grain weight 62.03 g after treatment of EMS among morphological characters observed. Among physiological characters of wheat variety Sonalik showed lowest RWC (21.48 %), HD 2135 showed lowest chlorophyll content (33.53 µg/cm2) and C 306 showed lowest photosynthetic rate (15.05 µmol/m2sec) after treatment of EMS. But varieties K 7410, VL 401 and RAJ 3765 varieties showed higher value of physiological characters after the treatment. The results suggested that the stay green trait had been developed by mutation (EMS) in these three wheat varieties and they can exhibit better tolerance under abiotic stress conditions like drought, high temperature. Such results would prove useful for further research and crop management in stress affected areas or under unfavourable climatic conditions

Thyrotoxic Periodic Paralysis as a Presentation of Thyrotoxicosis: A Case Report

Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP) is a rare but potentially serious complication of hyperthyroidism characterized by muscular weakness and hypokalemia in a patient with thyrotoxicosis. It is predominantly seen in Asian males.The etiology of thyrotoxicosis in most of the cases of TPP is Graves’ disease. We present a case of a 19-year-old male who presented in emergency with paraparesis. Investigations revealed hypokalemia and thyrotoxicosis related to toxic nodular goitre. Diagnosis of thyrotoxic periodic paralysis was made and patient was treated with potassium replacement, propranolol and antithyroid treatment

Metabolic Profile of Young Onset Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients and Their First Degree Relatives

Objective: There is a paucity of data on the metabolic profile of the first degree relatives of young onset type 2 diabetes mellitus especially from India. Therefore, this study was done to evaluate the metabolic profile of young- onset type 2 diabetic patients and their first degree relatives. Material and method: Thirty young- onset type 2 diabetic patients of age < 30 yrs and 89 first degree relatives (28 parents and 61 siblings) were assessed for anthropometric parameters such as BMI, waist circumference, waist hip ratio and body mass index. Various biochemical tests were done which included fasting and 2 hours post 75 gm glucose load, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile and renal function test. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed as per National Cholesterol Education Program- Third Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP- ATP III) criteria and IDF criteria.Results: Mean age of the patients was 27.53 years whereas mean age of the first degree relatives was 36.53 years. Mean BMI of the patients and first degree relatives were 26.46 and 25.46 kg/m2 respectively. 60% of patients and their first degree relatives separately fulfilled the IDF criteria for central obesity. 51 (57.3%) first degree relatives fulfilled the WHO criteria for abdominal obesity. Family history of diabetes was seen in 60% of these young diabetics. Out of 89 first degree relatives, 32 relatives (35.9%) were found to have diabetes and additional 13(14.6%) relatives had either impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance test results. 18 (60%) patients and 48 (54%) first degree relatives fulfilled the IDF criteria for metabolic syndrome. According to NCEP ATP III criteria, 73.3% of these young onset diabetic patients and 50% of their first degree relatives fulfilled the criteria for metabolic syndrome.Conclusion: More than 50% of the first degree relatives of the young onset type 2 DM patients fulfill the criteria of metabolic syndrome and 50% of these FDRs have diabetes or prediabetes. Hence, our study clearly reinforces the importance of screening the first degree relatives for metabolic parameters, as it will detect metabolic syndrome or diabetes early in this high risk group so that appropriate treatment can be started in time to prevent the complications

Characterization of wheat (Triticum aestivum) for stay green trait

Stay green trait is one of the major character of the crops like wheat, rice etc. to sustain under abiotic stresses. In the present study, 10 wheat varieties were collected to develop the stay green genotype by treating them with 0.5% Ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) for 60 minutes. The various morphological and physiological characteristics such as: plant height, leaf area, numbers of productive tillers/plant, seeds per spike, 1000 grain weight, related water content (RWC), chlorophyll content etc. were recorded under controlled and treatment conditions. Exceptionally, K 7410 and RAJ 3765 varieties showed better value of all morpho-physiological characters among all the ten wheat varieties in control and treatment like 1000 grain weight 58.50 to 60.89g and 56.89 to 58.07g etc. Such mutants of these two varieties may be considered as stay green mutants and can perform better under abiotic stress conditions like drought, high temperature

Prevailing Weather Conditions During Summer Seasons Around Gangotri Glacier

Meteorological data collected near the snout of the Gangotri Glacier suggest that the study area receives less rainfall. The average seasonal rainfall is observed to be about 260 mm. The rainfall distribution does not show any monsoon impact. Amount of seasonal rainfall is highly variable (131.4-368.8 mm) from year to year, but, in general, August had the maximum rainfall. A verage daily maximum and minimum temperatures were 14.7 and 4.1°C respectively, whereas average mean temperature was 9.4°C. July was recorded as the warmest month. During daytime, wind speed was four times higher than that at night-time. The average daytime and night-time winds were 12.6 and 3.0 km/h respectively. Mean seasonal evaporation was 640.8 mm, which is high with respect to the high altitude. Average relative humidity and daily sunshine duration were also high throughout the melting season

Disseminated Histoplasmosis in an Immunocompetent Host presenting as Pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO)

Histoplasmosis is a progressive granulomatous disease caused by intracellular dimorphic  fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. The fungus present in the soil infects through inhalational route and can manifest as any of the three main types – Acute primary pulmonary type, chronic cavitatory or progressive  disseminated. In Disseminated histopasmosis (DH) the fungus is detected from more than one location in the body. This is the rarest form of all three types and is usually present in immunocompromised individuals. We report the case of a 27-year-old immunocompetent patient who presented with prolonged fever, weight loss, pain abdomen and skin lesions. She was found to have hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia. Biopsy from skin lesions and bone marrow stained positive for Histoplasma capsulatum sp. She was treated with amphotericin B for 28 days, followed by oral itraconazole for 6 months, leading to complete resolution of the disease. This case is interesting due to the presence of disseminated histoplasmosis in an immunocompetent host with prominent skin lesions

FORMULATION AND IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF FLOATING PULSATILE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM OF IVABRADINE

The aim of present investigation was to develop press coated tablets for Floating pulsatile drug delivery of Ivabradine used for is a medication used for the symptomatic management of stable heart-related chest pain and heart failure not fully managed by beta blockers. The drug delivery system was designed to deliver the drug such a time when it could be needful of patient conditions. The press coated tablets containing Ivabradine in the inner core were formulated by direct compression method with an outer coating of different amount of HPMCK200 M. The release profile of press coated tablet exhibited a lag time. The optimized batch F9 gave good drug release of 99.58 %. Key words: Ivabradine, Eudragit, EC, HPMCK200

Morpho-physiological characterization of Indian wheat genotypes and their evaluation under drought condition

To study the morpho-physiological and genetic diversity analysis of Indian wheat cultivars a total of 10 genotypes were collected namely: HD-2133, HUW-825, R-54, K-9533, V-110, V-70, HUW-213, V-23, VWTH-08-07 and HUW-37 to evaluate the genotypes under drought stress the seeds of 10 varieties were treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) for inducing stress condition. Among the morphological characteristics of wheat genotypes under controlled and treatment condition the characters as; leaf area, numbers of productive tillers/plants, days of maturity were recorded at pre harvest stage and seeds per spike, length of spike and grain yield per plant were recorded at post harvest stage. In the present study, significant reduction in yield components like seeds per spike, number of filled and unfilled seeds per spike and final grain yield was observed in all the test genotypes when drought was imposed at seed stage by treating with PEG. After PEG treatment, the wheat variety V-110, performed better under artificially imposed drought condition and can be considered as drought tolerant variety.Keywords: Wheat, morphological parameters, physiological growth attributes, prolineAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(20), 2022-202