Ethyl methanesulphonate induced changes in the differentiation, structure and functions of spermatozoa of the house rat, Rattus rattus L.

Intraperitoneal administration of 500 mg/kg and 625 mg/kg doses of the germ cell mutagen, ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) in 5 consecutive days to the house rat, Rattus rattus caused a dose-dependent reduction in its body weight, cauda epididymides weight, concentration, motility and percentage of live spermatozoa with simultaneous increase in the percentage of their abnormal forms. Compared to 0·65% spermatozoa with abnormal heads in the cauda epididymidis of untreated control rats, 24·86% and 65·72% such spermatozoa were observed in rats on day 14 post treatment with 500 mg/kg and 625 mg/kg doses of EMS respectively. On day 28 post treatment corresponding values for abnormal spermatozoa were 16·21% and 14·32%. Similarly, spermatozoa with abnormal flagella increased from 0·78% in control rats to 9·25% and 5·75% on day 14 post treatment of 500 and 625 mg/kg doses of EMS respectively and declined to 2·91% and 2·40% on day 28 post treatment. Abnormality in the sperm head was mainly due to acrosomelessness and in the flagellum due to bending at proximal region. However, the main effect of EMS was the development of spermatozoa without or deformed acrosomes which may impair the fertility of rats. Analysis of various stages of differentiation of spermatozoa inthe testis revealed that population of preleptotene and pachytene spermatocytes and of round spermatids showed a gradual decline which became significantly less than controls on day 28 of EMS treatment. Occurrence of abnormal heads of testicular spermatids indicated that the sperm head abnormalities originated in the testis during late spermiogenesis.

Stressful family life events and nonspecific somatic complaints in school children.

The relationship between stressful family life events and somatic complaints in 477 school children was studied. There was a significant association between life events and somatic complaints, with a general trend for somatic complaints to increase in almost direct proportion to the number of family life events. Overall occurrence of these nonspecific symptoms was more in girls. The somatic complaints were significantly more in children from nuclear families and of illiterate or poorly educated mothers. No significant association was observed between somatic complaints and number of children in the family or socio-economic status. Assessment of psychodevelopmental tasks and family environment during routine check up of children by the school health teams and their appropriate training in this field should be stressed upon.

Enuresis: analysis of 100 cases.

One hundred children with enuresis were studied to find out various factors responsible for this condition. Enuresis was more frequent in first born, service class and bottle fed children. There was a significant role of stress factors in causation of enuresis. We found a higher frequency of behavioral symptoms among children with enuresis. There was no significant correlation between enuresis and sex, education of parents, social class, sleep patterns, age of mother at marriage and intellectual grades of the children. Worm infestations, giardiasis, amebiasis and urinary infection were seen in 70% of cases. General body weakness, cold and nervousness were the common causes of enuresis in the parents' opinion. The main reason for not seeking the treatment at an early stage in view of parents' was that they thought enuresis a normal variant.