Women’s education and political participation

The paper empirically examined the relationship between education level and political participation of women. The indices of political participation include the following: membership of political party, voting in elections, occupation of political post, means of occupation of political post and level of occupation of political post. The results revealed that women of the South West region of Cameroon are fairly well exposed to formal education as only 4.1% of the sampled population had no formal education. The study revealed that the higher the level of women's formal education, the more their tendency to participate in politics in areas of voting in elections and occupation of political post either through elections or appointments at all levels of government. The study was guided by the following objectives; the first was to assess women’s political participation and decision making. Secondly, what the opportunities of women political participation the third objectives was to determine the level of opportunities women’s political participation and decision making. The researcher recommends that the government, civil society and women activists need to work towards sensitization and awareness creation among the community to realize the need of the Women to participate in politics and governance. The men need to realize the women’s need for political power and change the way they look at the women and the government should embark on activities which support women’s political x Initiatives. The researcher recommends these areas to be further studied including: a study that could analyzes the contribution of civil society organizations in promotion of women political participation and human rights, a study that could assess the policy gaps concerning gender equity in governance and politics for women empowerment and other study could be conducted in the field concerning implication of culture on women’s political participation and decision making.

To study the outcome of congenital talipes equinovarus by ponseti method

Background: Congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV) is a common but still not fully understood disorder of the lower limb. It is usually defined as a fixation of the foot in abduction, supination and varus. Different treatment options exist including the Ponseti method. Aim: The aim of the study is to find the effectiveness of Ponseti’s technique of plaster cast application in correction of idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus and to assess the results using Pirani scoring system. Patients and Methods: Thirty six patients (55 clubfeet) were enrolled at the clubfoot clubfoot clinic in the department of Orthopaedics, Maharaja Agrasen Medical College, Agroha, Hisar from August 2015 to 31st October 2017 Results: In this study 26 patients (72.2%) were male, the anomaly was bilateral in 19(52.8%) cases, unilateral left side in 7(19.4%) and the right side in 10(27.8%). Mean age of presentation was 4.055 months. Clinical evaluation was performed using the Pirani’s scoring system. Mean follow up was 9.16 months: range 6-18 months. An average of 6.69 casts were applied to achieve correction. Only 2 patients (3 feet) required tenotomy which was not corrected by casting. Early starting of casting and longer period of casting helped us decreasing rate of tenotomy. Percentage of cases with relapse at follow up was 9.09% (5 feet) which were treated with recasting again by Ponseti method. In this study mean Pirani’s score at the time of presentation was 5.072 and mean Pirani’s score after 6 month’s follow-up was 0.263. Excellent results were found in 44 feet (80%) i. e. Pirani score of 0. Conclusions: The present study has justified that Ponseti method of manipulation and casting is an effective method to manage congenital talipes equinovarus upto 2 years of age. Ponseti method is capable of achieving painless, plantigrade, normal looking foot. However a longer duration of follow-up and larger sample size is needed to further evaluate the recurrences and to completely justify the effectiveness of Ponseti method.

A comparative study between swashbuckler approach (Modified Anterior Approach) and lateral approach for the distal femur fractures

Background: Distal femur fractures with intra-articular extension and comminution are challenging injuries, fraught with complications such as mal-union and stiffness. We prospectively evaluated and compared a consecutive series of patients with AO type B and C distal femur fractures to determine the clinico-radiological outcome after fixation with distal femur locking compression plate using Swashbuckler approach and standard lateral approach. Materials and Methods: 60 patients with AO Muller's type B and C distal femur fractures (mostly type C2 and C3) were treated with distal femur locking compression plate (DF-LCP), 30 patients using swashbuckler approach and 30 patients using standard lateral approach. The regular follow-up up to 1 year was done and results were determined using the Neer’s Score. Results: All fractures united at a mean of 14.64 weeks (range 12-20 weeks). In our study mean duration of surgery for lateral approach group was greater (99.6min) than swashbuckler group (85 min). Mean ROM in swashbuckler group was 100.83 degree compared to 83.83 in lateral group. Mean Neer’s score was 76.96 in lateral approach group compared to 81.83 in swashbuckler approach group. Complication rate was similar in both the group. Conclusion: The results of distal femur fractures using a swashbuckler approach are encouraging and comparable to standard lateral approach with a majority of patients achieving good to excellent outcome at 1 year especially in complex AO type C3 fractures.

Effect of age, sex, co morbidities, delay in surgery and complications on outcome in elderly with proximal femur fractures

Intertrochanteric and femoral neck fractures account for nearly 90% of proximal femur fractures. It is customary to use 65 years of age to define the elderly. One year mortality in these elderly patients ranges from 12%-36%. The main objective of this prospective study is to study the effect of age, sex, co morbidities, delay in surgery and complications on outcome in elderly with proximal femur fractures and to identify optimal measures that can be taken to improve outcome in these patients. It was presumed that early surgery within 48 hours after stabilization of co morbid conditions improves outcome in these elderly patients with proximal femur fractures. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study elderly patients with proximal femur fractures were selected, after careful selection with inclusion and exclusion criteria. They underwent surgery after preoperative assessment and followed for up to one year at a tertiary referral centre. Results: Increasing age and male sex are not significant factors affecting outcome. Increasing number of co morbidities (2, 3 or more) is associated with significant increase in mean length of hospital stay (p values .006, and .001), increased incidence in number of complications (p value .008) and mortality (p value .028). Presence of complications is significantly associated with increase in mean length of hospital stay (p values .000, .001), decline in recovery of pre injury mobility status (p value 0.018), increased incidence in number of deaths (p value .01). Delay in surgery more than 48 hours is associated with significant increase in mean length of hospital stay (p value .001) and increased incidence in number of complications (p value .028). Conclusion: Early surgery within 48 hours after stabilization of co morbid conditions is associated with improvement of outcome in elderly patients with proximal femur fractures is proved correct in terms of decreasing mean length of hospital stay and decreasing incidence of number of complications.

Correlation of age at menopause with bone mineral density in post-menopausal women: A prospective study

Background: Osteoporosis is a major public health problem as it is associated with substantial morbidity and socioeconomic burden. Aims and Objective: To correlate the age at menopause with bone mineral density in post menopausal woman. Materials and Methods: Two hundred postmenopausal women were studied at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King Georges Medical University, Lucknow, between September 2015 to August 2016. A detailed questionnaire was filled which included details of demographic factors of the patient, detailed reproductive history including parity, number of living children, age at menarche, age at menopause, years since menopause, whether menopause was natural or surgical. BMD was measured in each woman at lumbar spine (L1-L4) by lunar Prodigy dual energy X Ray absorptiometry. Results: A total of 72 (36%) women had osteopenia and remaining 123 (61.5%) had osteoporosis. Only 5 (2.5%) women had normal BMD status. Maximum (n=121) were in the 51-60 years age group. There was no significant relation between age and BMD. Proportion of women with osteoporosis was significantly higher in rural (70.3%) as compared to urban (41.9%) areas (p=0.001). Osteoporosis was seen in 82.6%women with > 4 parity (p=0.049). Mean age of menopause in women with normal BMD, osteopenia and osteoporosis was 44.60, 45.51and 43.85 years respectively. No significant association between period since menopause and BMD status could be seen. No significant association was observed either for total or for any of the BMD strata (p>0.05).With increasing duration since menopause a significant decline in T scores was observed (p=0.023) on overall assessment. However, this association was not significant statistically for different BMD strata (p>0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of osteoporosis was higher as compared to the world prevalence. The correlation between the age at menopause and BMD was significant in accordance with the various worldwide studies.

Blazar origin of some Icecube events

Grain Boundary Engineering of Medium Mn TWIP Steels: A Novel Method to Enhance the Mechanical Properties

The interest in studying Mn based steels, twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels and transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels has increased in the past few decades because of the good combination of strength, ductility and formability that they offer, which is much suited to automobile applications.1–6) Even though these steels have a good mix of mechanical properties, they are not used extensively due to drawbacks such as delayed cracking, issues pertaining to melting and homogenization with manganese addition and hydrogen embrittlement. These shortcomings can be overcome by reducing the amount of Mn and adding other suitable elements. However, a decrease in Mn content affects ductility and other mechanical properties. Grain boundary Engineering (GBE) is a possible way to compensate for the trade off in properties due to Mn addition. It is well known that GBE is an effective approach to suitably tailor properties such as ductility, stress corrosion and intergranular cracking, creep and other functional properties of polycrystalline materials.7–13) In this approach, the above mentioned properties can be improved by changing the grain boundary character distribution (GBCD), specially by increasing the fraction of Coincident site lattice (CSL) boundaries in the overall grain boundary character distribution. Watanabe and co-workers14–16) introduced the concept of GBE in polycrystalline materials by thermo-mechanical processing. Time, temperature and accumulated strain during processing are the main parameters that control the grain size, shape and boundary microstructures. Although there Grain Boundary Engineering of Medium Mn TWIP Steels: A Novel Method to Enhance the Mechanical Properties

Strain Rate Sensitivity Behaviour of a Chrome-Nickel Austentic-Ferritic Stainless Steel and its Constitutive Modelling

The alloys based on Fe–Cr–Ni system have a microstructure consisting of austenite (FCC) and ferrite (BCC) and are characterized by good mechanical properties, stress corrosion cracking resistance and weldability.1,2) The proportion of austenite and ferrite in the duplex microstructure is dependent on the alloying additions and thermo-mechanical processing conditions.1,3–5) The alloys based on the Fe–Cr– Ni system (UNS S32205, UNS S32750, UNS S32760, UNS S32304 and UNS S32101) undergo a series of processing operations like casting, hot rolling cold rolling, solution annealing, hot compression, hot extrusion, hot forging before being put into the final application.4,6) Due to their very high strength at room temperature, these alloys are processed at high temperatures (above approximately 0.6Tm, Tm is the melting point).7) The hot working is a critical step as it should not lead to defects (like cracks, uneven surface finish) which can deteriorate the mechanical properties and also should develop a microstructure for satisfactory product performance (in terms of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance).8) The mechanical properties of these steels are dependent on the austenite-ferrite phase proportion, crystallographic texture and presence or absence of intermeStrain Rate Sensitivity Behaviour of a Chrome-Nickel Austentic-

Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis in African Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

The present investigation entitled was conducted at the Horticultural Research cum Instructional Farm, Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture , Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.) during the year 2015 to study the performance of seventeen African marigold genotypes in Randomized Block Design replicated three times. Considerable variability for most of the characters was indicated by analysis of variance. Association among different characters was estimated at genotypic (G) and phenotypic (P) levels among 13 characters. Number of flowers plant-1 exerted highly significant positive correlation with fresh flower weight plant-1 (yield plant-1), dry flower weight plant-1, flower yield hectare-1 and xanthophyll content at genotypic and phenotypic level and significantly positive association with flower diameter at genotypic level only. The path-coefficient analysis revealed that, at genotypic level, fresh flower weight plant-1 expressed highest positive direct effect on number of flowers plant-1 followed by xanthophyll content, plant height, plant spread and secondary branches. Although yield hectare-1 shows highly significant positive correlation with number of flowers plant-1. At phenotypic level, fresh flower weight plant-1 showed high positive direct effect on number of flowers plant-1 followed by plant spread, number of secondary branches plant-1 and days to 50% flowering.

Toxicological Effects of Silver Nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) on Different Physiological Parameters of Tadpoles, Polypedates maculatus

The effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) on the growth, metamorphosis, innate immune parameters and enzyme profiles of tadpole, Polypedates maculatus were studied. Chronic exposure to Ag-NPs for 60 days at 1 mg l-1 and 5 mg l-1 concentrations caused 10% and 50% mortalities respectively alongwith slow growth and delayed metamorphosis as compared to 0.1 mg l-1 treatment and control (0 mg l-1). The non-specific immune parameters and certain enzyme activities like alkaline phosphatase (ALP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) varied significantly in a dose dependent manner. The accumulation of silver in the tadpole tissues of treated groups ranged from 0.0966±0.0025 μg g-1 to 0.4718±0.0126 μg g-1 as compared to tissues in control group (0.0758±0.0019 μg g-1). Hence Ag-NPs had significant detrimental effects on growth and other associated physiological parameters of tadpole, Polypedates maculatus when administered at higher concentrations (>1 mg l-1) for longer durations. Thus the toxicity studies of Ag-NPs have to be conducted on wider ranges of target and non-target species to assess their environmental impacts. Furthermore, these results suggest that silver nanoparticles induce a dose-dependent toxicity in physiological parameters of tadpoles, which hinders normal development.This study was aimed to enhance our insight on the health and environmental impact of silver nanoparticles. This study pointed out the adverse effects of Ag-NPs in tadpole species and all applications involving silver nanoparticles should be given special attention and promoted only after detailed studies.