Experiences and perception towards reproductive health education among secondary school teachers in South India.

BACKGROUND: Reproductive health education (RHE) is an important component of school curricula. It helps students in the decision-making process regarding several issues concerning reproductive health. However delivering RHE at schools is a difficult task for the teachers. METHODS: This study was conducted to assess the experiences and perceptions towards reproductive health education (RHE) among 236 secondary school teachers in January 2019. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Only 21 (8.9%) were trained in RHE. Majority [179 (75.8%)] identified cultural barriers as the major challenge involved in its implementation. 95 (40.3%) teachers felt that the provision of sexual education as a part of RHE will promote pre-marital sexual activity among the students. Of the total, 185 (78.4%) had average while 51 (21.6%) participants had a good perception towards RHE. It was taught in only 3 (16.7%) out of the 18 schools surveyed. Only 11 (4.7%) participants felt that the availability of teaching aids to conduct RHE classes at their schools was adequate. Hardly 14 (5.9%) teachers had taken RHE classes for students. Among the rest, 135 (60.8%) expressed their willingness to take RHE classes with appropriate training. In multi variable analysis, participants aged ≤ 40 years (p = 0.031), those belonging to nuclear families (p = 0.013), and those who had taken classes in RHE (p = 0.037) had significantly good perception level towards RHE. CONCLUSIONS: Teachers therefore need to be trained and given more opportunities to take RHE sessions which will help improve their perception towards RHE. Schools need to be better equipped with resources and various perceived barriers need to be overcome before RHE can be successfully implemented.

This study was conducted to assess the experiences and perceptions towards reproductive health education (RHE) secondary school teachers. The participants provided the required information by filling a questionnaire. Hardly one in ten of them had prior training in RHE and one in twenty had taken RHE classes at schools. More than three-fourth of them felt that cultural barriers could pose problems in its implementation at schools. One in four teachers had good perception towards RHE. Two in three among teachers, who had not taken RHE classes before, expressed their willingness to take RHE classes with appropriate training. Favourable perception towards RHE were expressed by teachers who were young, from small families and those who had taken RHE classes before.

Starch based biodegradable graft copolymer for the preparation of silver nanoparticles.

The synthesis and characterization of a novel biodegradable graft copolymer based on partially hydrolyzed polymethylacrylate (PMA) grafted amylopectin (AP) was reported which was developed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles from silver nitrate solution by facile green technique. The prepared graft copolymer was biodegradable which was shown by fungal growth. Characterization of silver nanoparticles was carried out by UV-VIS spectroscopy (417nm), HR-TEM, SAED and FESEM analysis. The TEM findings revealed that the silver nanoparticles are crystalline and globular shaped with average particle size ranging from 11 to 15nm. The synthesized silver nanoparticles exhibit excellent antibacterial sensitivity towards both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria namely Vibrio parahaemolyticus (ATCC-17802) and Bacillus cereus (ATCC-14579) respectively and were also shown a good catalytic activity towards 4-nitrophenol reduction.

Synthesis and Characterisation of Copper(II) Complexes with Tridentate NNO Functionalized Ligand: Density Function Theory Study, DNA Binding Mechanism, Optical Properties, and Biological Application.

The photo physical properties of two mononuclear pentacoordinated copper(II) complexes formulated as [Cu(L)(Cl)(H2O)] (1) and [Cu(L)(Br)(H2O)] (2) HL = (1-[(3-methyl-pyridine-2-ylimino)-methyl]-naphthalen-2-ol) were synthesized and characterized by elemental, physicochemical, and spectroscopic methods. The density function theory calculations are used to investigate the electronic structures and the electronic properties of ligand and complex. The interactions of copper(II) complexes towards calf thymus DNA were examined with the help of absorption, viscosity, and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques at pH 7.40. All spectroscopy's result indicates that complexes show good binding activity to calf thymus DNA through groove binding. The optical absorption and fluorescence emission properties of microwires were characterized by fluorescence microscope. From a spectroscopic viewpoint, all compounds strongly emit green light in the solid state. The microscopy investigation suggested that microwires exhibited optical waveguide behaviour which are applicable as fluorescent nanomaterials and can be used as building blocks for miniaturized photonic devices. Antibacterial study reveals that complexes are better antimicrobial agents than free Schiff base due to bacterial cell penetration by chelation. Moreover, the antioxidant study of the ligand and complexes is evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical assays, which demonstrate that the complexes are of higher antioxidant activity than free ligand.

Muscodor albus MOW12 an Endophyte of Piper nigrum L. (Piperaceae) Collected from North East India Produces Volatile Antimicrobials.

Muscodor albus MOW12, an endophytic fungus isolated from Piper nigrum in Mawlong, Meghalaya, India, resembles some cultural and hyphal characteristics of previous isolates of Muscodor sp. In addition, it possesses about 99 % similarity in its ITS rDNA with other M. albus isolates and thus is nicely centered within the genetic tree to other Muscodor spp. This xylariaceae fungus effectively inhibits and kills certain plant pathogenic fungi by virtue of a mixture of volatile compounds that it produces. The majority of these compounds were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as small molecular weight esters, alcohols, and acids. The main ester components of this isolate of M. albus in its volatile mixture are acetic acid, ethyl ester; propanoic acid, 2-methyl-, methyl ester and acetic acid, 2-methylpropyl ester. This appears to be the first report of any M. albus strain from India.