Advances in Research

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice that consists of all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. This meta-synthesis aimed to identify and describe key factors, drivers, and gatekeepers of FGM practices in Ethiopia and was conducted using systematic searches in electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar) and grey literature published from 2012 to 2021. The main factors and drivers of FGM practices were cultural and traditional practices including marriageability and religious obligations. Other drivers were poor enforcement of laws against the practice including medicalization of FGM practice. The key gatekeepers included traditional birth attendants who were also mostly female circumcisers; mothers, grandmothers, and older women who were reported as major promoters, circumcisers, and key decision makers on the practice. Religious leaders and health workers also played pivotal role in the prevention of FGM as trusted source of information dissemination. It is therefore important that Programme and policy strategies to eliminate the practice are tailored to the local context, not only addressing these factors and drivers but involving the gatekeepers.

Technological advances are equipping robotic entities with artificial intelligence and endowed with emotional intelligence that gives them a capacity for reflection, analysis, that is closer every day to that of humans. The growing autonomy of robotic entities raises the question of legal responsibility for acts carried out by such entities at the same time as it raises the question of the status of such entities: should they be considered as persons or as things? The European Parliament adopted a resolution in 2017 that assumes that such entities could be granted the status of "electronic person". The question is how this can fit into the legal framework of the Member States of the European Community. This article proposes a first reflection on the thing-person transition of an autonomous robotic entity. The findings show that this transition is not immediate and requires both technological advances and an adjustment of the law.

While globalisation is a complicated term, evidence shows that increasing political and socio-economic connections, which is a hallmark of globalisation, dictate countries' health and economic decisions. These decisions significantly modify individuals' material circumstances and behavioural activities and lead to physical or psychological expression of disease.

In 2017, the WHO reported that over 4million people died from being overweight or obese. In the last four decades, the rates of obesity, especially in children and adolescents, have quadrupled from 4%-18% globally; in 2016, over 340 million children were either overweight or obese.

Non-traditional global health governance actors-whose influence in determining economic and global health decisions has risen in the last decades- have consistently furthered economic interests, which is, in part, fueling the obesity pandemic.

This paper argues that the increasing economic integration from globalisation, with the aid of the current global health governance landscape, drives the current obesity pandemic by worsening the social determinants of health, perpetuating inequality, and promoting unhealthy changes in the population's economic and socio-cultural environment.

The smoking of fish plays a very important role at the economic, social and nutritional levels. Despite its importance, smoking is still practiced through traditional techniques that have a considerable impact on the health of the processors.  The objective of this work is to evaluate the environmental and health impact of traditional and modern fish smoking. The environmental assessment of the Marcory Anoumabo site equipped with an improved oven called FAO-Thiaroye Processing Technique (FTT oven) consisted in measuring the quality of the smoke on the smoking sites. It is a cross-sectional etiological study conducted from July to December 2018 on a sample of 135 women consisting of 40 women who use traditional ovens, 32 women who use FTT ovens and 63 control cases. The results showed that 87.50% and 37.50% of women practicing on traditional ovens versus 43.75% and 15.62% of women using FTT ovens as well as 39.68% and 14.29% of the case controls had respiratory and ophthalmological signs respectively. The gas levels measured at the smoking sites are often higher than the standard (50 mg/m3). This study highlights the deleterious effects of fish smoking.

Aims: The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of the consumption of corn-based diets mixed with Brosimum alicastrum or pumpkin (Cucurbita sp) forage, on live weight, in the number of erythrocytes, leukocytes and serum urea nitrogen, in collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) in captivity.

Study Design: A four-treatment longitudinal comparative experiment with a repeated measures design was applied.

Place and Duration of Study: Xmatkuil Wildlife Conservation Management Unit, in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, for three months.

Methodology: Nine adult female collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) were subjected to voluntary consumption of the following diets: T1: Diet with 60% of corn and 40% dry B. alicastrum forage, T2: Diet with 40% corn and 60% dry B. alicastrum, T3: Diet with 60% corn and 40% fresh pumpkin on dry matter basis, T4: Diet with 40% corn and 60% fresh pumpkin, for 14 days for each treatment. The dry matter intake of each treatment, live weight, number of leukocytes, erythrocytes and serum urea nitrogen in each of the specimens were measured. Response variables in each treatment were compared with repeated measures ANOVA or Friedman's test if parametric analysis requirements were not met.

Results: There was no significant difference between live weights in each treatment (P=05) but there was a significant difference in dry matter intake between treatments. There was no significant difference in erythrocyte levels between treatments. There was no difference in leukocyte levels between treatments (P=0.05), but there was a difference in the means of urea nitrogen between treatments.

Conclusion: Pumpkin diets with corn show higher levels of dry matter intake, higher levels of urea Nitrogen and a greater number of erythrocytes than diets with corn and dry B: alicastrum, so it is suggested that diets with pumpkin and corn are more suitable than with corn and dry B. alicastrum.

The study aimed at determining whether premarital counselling actually influenced marital satisfaction.  A self-developed structured questionnaire (α = 0.89) was utilized on a sample of 322 premarital counselled and non- premarital counselled spouses in Ghana.  Linear multiple regression, independent sample t-test and Pearson product moment correlation were used to analyze the data. The nature of premarital counselling significantly influenced spouses’ experience of marital satisfaction (β = .401, t = 5.241, p = .000), together with topics adequately discussed during premarital counselling (β = -.181, t= -2.370, p= .019).  Additionally, premarital counselled spouses were more likely to experience marital satisfaction than non- premarital counselled spouses (M =3.39, SD = .359, t (193) = 2.571, p = .011; M = 3.26, SD = .489). Premarital counselling moderately correlated with and marital satisfaction (r = -.153, n = 322, p < 0.01).

Background: The quality of life (QOL) among women with breast cancer is hampered in areas of social, emotional, and sexual functioning and this could persist even years after treatment.  It is an important parameter for monitoring disease progression at the early stage. Hence, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with the overall quality of life among subjects living with breast cancer.

Methods: The study was a comparative cross-sectional design conducted among women with breast cancer attending the General Surgical Outpatient clinic of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital Ogbomoso and a comparison group of age-matched control. The instrument used include the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF and socio-demographic and clinical variable questionnaire in 240 interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. A P-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. The predictors of overall QOL were analyzed using a binary logistic regression.

Results: All QOL domain scores were significantly higher among controls than in subjects with breast cancer. ρ-value = 0.001.  Level of education and duration of diagnosis had a statistically significant association with the overall quality of life, P-value< 0.05. Respondents who attained a tertiary level of education were 0.040 times less likely to have a poor quality of life compared to respondents that were not educated (P-value= 0.038) and the odds of having a poor overall quality of life decreased with duration since diagnosis P-value= 0.049.

Conclusion: Our study shows that women with breast cancer experience a lower QOL, especially in the physical, psychological and social domains than women without the disease. Also, the level of education, employment and marital status, and duration since diagnosis were major factors influencing QOL. Assessment of QOL is an important metric that should be incorporated into the breast cancer treatment program.

The sustainable development goal#4 speaks of “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. In the course of the pandemic, a 2021 survey report (covering 1400 children in classes 2 -8 across 15 states) stated that that only 8 per cent of the children in rural areas and 24 per cent of children in urban areas seemed to studying online regularly in the country, so it is all the more pertinent that we examine what do we mean by equitable education in a pandemic ravaged world? This paper primarily examines the sustainable aspects of the National Education Policy 2020. In doing so, the paper argues that the provision of vocational education (the concept of “bagless days” in schools) can be located within the broader ambit of SDG4 in particular SDG 4.3 that speaks of vocational education. In formulating this, one can attempt to reconcile community centric learning practices and indigenous knowledge with modern day curriculum. In this regard, particular attention is paid to the fishing communities in the state of Kerala. By taking a case study approach, the paper argues that it is only by educating keeping the indigenous knowledge of the communities at the center of the broader educational system – particularly of those communities who have a peaceful co-existence with nature - that we can envisage a right to education that is premised on right to life with dignity. A mixed methods approach is used in the paper combining qualitative methods such as ethnography in the coastal village of Munambam in Kerala and quantitative metrics such as the basic statistical indicators that the UN has set out as metrics to measure progress with respect to SDG 4. Finally, the framework of “doubly engaged ethnography” by Pacheco-Vega and Parizeau [1] is examined, which this paper argues is relevant for social work practitioners and educators who work with vulnerable populations so that we move beyond deficit narratives.

In many cities around the globe, humans have shown disdain and neglect to physical planning laws. The consequence is the social and environmental challenges that residents experience therein. This study examines the factors that affect planning laws compliance in the capital cities in the south-south geopolitical region, of Nigeria. The cross-sectional research approach was used. Data for the study were sourced from primary and secondary sources. Copies of the questionnaire were administered to all the 522 practicing town planners in the study area who constituted the study population but only 414 of them responded. Descriptive statistics was deployed in analyzing the data. The study found that corruption ranks first with a mean score of 3.77 followed by customs and traditions which score 3.63. It is also revealed by the study that political interference, weak enforcement of planning laws, and awareness of existing planning laws with mean scores of 3.42, and 3.25 respectively are also constraints to compliance with planning laws. The study, therefore, recommends that agencies of government saddled with the responsibility of enforcing planning regulations and laws should strictly enforce the extant planning laws so that residents will be forced to comply with the planning laws. It is also recommended that urban planners should not allow native laws and customs to interfere with urban planning regulations.

People’s perceptions on cultural knowledge of on-farm tree plantation have become fundamental elements of sustainable forest resource management. The study examined the people’s knowledge on cultural practices of on-farm tree plantation and their socioeconomic determinants in rural communities of Gurez Himalaya. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 337 households from 18 sample villages for field survey. Data were collected through personal interviews administering structured interview schedule and non-participant observations. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Results indicated that majority of the people were belonged to low socioeconomic status class as reflected by their household characteristics. Among the ten selected major cultural practices about on-farm tree plantation the ‘spot weeding’ (WMS, 2.87; priority percentage, 12.83%) was ranked 1^st while ‘thinning’ (WMS= 1.31; priority percentage, 5.85%) was ranked 10^th. Majority of the respondents (54.88%) had medium knowledge on cultural practices for on-farm tree plantation followed by high (23.78%) and low (21.34%) classes. Adoption of tree plantation, problem faced in tree cultivation, experience in tree cultivation, training exposure on tree cultivation and level of education had significant contribution on people’s knowledge on cultural practices about on-farm tree plantation. The findings suggested that the trainings on cultural practices about on-farm tree plantation is the crucial intervention for livelihood diversification, socioeconomic development and forest conservation; hence, need-based trainings must be planned and imparted to the individuals for improving the tree resource production, harvesting and marketing.

The goal of Entrepreneurship education (EE) is to provide students the information, abilities, and drive they need to support entrepreneurial success in a variety of contexts. All levels of education, from elementary or secondary schools to graduate university programmes, provide various forms of entrepreneurial education. For healthcare professionals to gain resources, enhance their potential for creativity and inventive personalities, and provide multi-level learning channels for entrepreneurs by fusing various knowledge and value systems, entrepreneurship education is essential.

The aim of this review article is to evaluate the influence of entrepreneurial education on post-grad students, this study also seeks to clarify how well postgraduate students' expectations and incentives are met by entrepreneurship education.

A literature search was done using key words related to entrepreneurship education, its influence on post graduate students of healthcare management conducted by various case reports, cohort and observational studies through authentic search engines like; PubMed, Google Scholar, Research gate, RCT and meta-analysis.

Entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on individuals' entrepreneurial self-efficacy, attitude, and mentality. Moreover, entrepreneurial attitude is crucial in modulating the effects of self-efficacy and entrepreneurship education on students' entrepreneurial mindsets. People who get entrepreneurial education and training have the self-confidence, knowledge, and abilities to seize business opportunities.

Entrepreneurial education teaches students how to recognize opportunities, commercialize, ideas, manage resources, and start their own businesses. The students frequently adopt new abilities and begin to think strategically after taking the EE course.

The human body is a complex structure with the innate ability to protect, defend, repair, and heal after damage or disease. For decades, medicine has faced problems that need the evolution of standard treatments and finding a way to accelerate the regenerative capabilities of the body, which possibly would not just treat but also cure certain diseases that previously had no cure. The question researchers have pondered on is whether or not it was possible as humans to use the body's innate healing power to our advantage and clinically accelerate or modify it to upgrade the treatment of certain diseases. The answer they found was in Regenerative Medicine (RM).

Historically the term regenerative medicine was found for the first time in a paper published in 1992 by Leland Kaiser. He made a list of approaches that would impact the future of hospitals. However, it is widely believed to have been coined during a 1999 conference on Lake Como by William Haseltine in an attempt to describe a novel field of medicine that combined knowledge from subjects like cell transplant, biochemistry, nanotechnology, prosthetics biomechanics, tissue engineering, and stem cell biology.

Regenerative Medicine is a relatively new field of clinical applications and research that is focused on the development of therapies like tissue engineering and stem cell technologies to repair, regenerate or replace defective, aged, injured, diseased, or permanently damaged organs, tissues or cells in order to restore them to their normal function.

It is important to note that RM has rapidly become one of the top treatment options for acute and chronic injuries, congenital diseases, and a wide range of acute and chronic diseases. It is more than just a field of medicine involving basic replacement therapies or traditional transplantation; it applies approaches like gene therapy, reprogramming of cell types, stem cell transplantation, and the use of soluble molecules, tissue engineering, and lots more.

The review article focuses on the therapeutic effects of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), and regulatory T cells (Tregs), and the possible role they play in tissue regeneration. They are apparently useful in the treatment of myriads of diseases expectedly having no cure.

Antitumor research leads to the development of new molecules that act specifically in tumor cells by blocking or inhibiting their molecular targets. New therapeutic approaches for the screening of bioactive compounds present in medicinal plants have received increasing attention due to their chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properties. In ethnomedicine, plants of the genus Vernonia (Asteraceae) are widely used and some have shown several and interesting biological activities, including anticancer. This present study aimed to document experimental evidence supporting the claimed ethnomedical uses of Vernonia species for the treatment of various types of cancer and also to confirm the anticancer potential of these plants. The compounds isolated from aqueous and alcoholic extracts, as well as fractions from different parts of Vernonia plants have acted as potential anticancer agents that inhibited the proliferation of various types of human cancer cell lines, including cervical cancer cells, melanoma cells, promyelocytic leucemia cells, breast adenocarcinoma cells, ovarian cancer, liver cancer cell, and human lung cancer cells. Studies have correlated the antitumor activity of Vernonia plants by inducing apoptosis and modulating mitochondrial signaling pathways controlled by NF-κB, Bcl-2 and p53, as well as inducing DNA damage and arresting the cell cycle at the S-phase checkpoint by oxidative stress. In conclusion, Vernonia species act as a promising source for drug development. However, further studies are needed to explore the exact mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, chronic toxicological studies, safe dose consumption, and possible interactions with other herbs.