Communities’ perceptions towards cervical cancer and its screening in Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia: A qualitative study

Background Cervical cancer is a malignant neoplasm from cells originating in the cervix uteri. Any woman who is sexually active is at risk of getting HPV. Women in sub-Saharan Africa region have higher chance of developing the disease. There are nearly 26 million Ethiopian women who are over the age of 15 and believed to be at risk of getting HPV. Regrettably, Ethiopian women typically present for cervical cancer care at a late stage in the disease, where treatment is most ineffective. Objectives To explore communities’ perceptions of cervical cancer and screening among women in Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia. Methods A qualitative research using focused group discussions and in-depth interviews was used to explore communities’ perceptions of cervical cancer and screening among women in Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia from March 2018-November 2019. The study participants were men, women and communities who were residents of the study settings and were not health professionals. All focused group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews were transcribed and entered into Microsoft Word and thematic content analysis was done. Results A total of fifty-nine participants participated in both FGD (three with men and six with women) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). Most participants have not heard about cervical cancer but know cancer in general. Participants mentioned that the disease usually relates to many births and unprotected sexual intercourse but none mentioned HPV infection. Most of the participants perceive that cervical cancer is incurable and assume that it could be prevented but they think they are not vulnerable to the disease and screening is not necessary. Conclusion This study indicates that rural communities in the zone had limited knowledge about cervical cancer and even less about risk factors, screening, treatment and prevention. There is a great need for cancer education and prevention in Ethiopia.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Emergency Contraceptives use Among Negelle Health Sciience College Female Students, South Eastern, Ethiopia: a Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study, 2021

Background: Emergency contraceptives is the only method women cause to prevent pregnancy after they have had unprotected sexual intercourse. About 7.2% of women will be sexually assaulted by a stranger and depending on the region; 23-36% of women will experience unwanted sex from an intimate partner. Objective: To ascertain knowledge, attitude and practice towards emergency contraceptive use among female students in Negelle college of health sciences. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study design was carried out July 29 /2021 to September 31/2021.Data was collected through employing semi-structured self-administered questioner, and then the collected data was cleared, coded and analyzed by statistical packages for social sciences 26.0 version statistical software. Descriptive statistics were used for variables using statistical parameters of frequencies, and percentages, and were presented in table format. Factors with a bivariate test value ≤ 0.05 were included. Results: The study was conducted on total sample of 152 participants, among the respondents, majority 131(86.2%) of them age was >20 years old. Above half 92(60.5%) of the study subjects was heard the cornerstones merit of contraceptives was to prevent pregnancy.82(53.9) respondents were agree about when having unintended sexual intercourse, they take ECPs.60 (39.5%) of the study subjects were agree about fear of side effects hinder them from not using ECPs.85(56.0%) were used EC pills after unprotected sexual intercourse. Age greater than twenty years and unmarred female students was predictors to have good knowledge about EC pills. Conclusion and recommendations: A majority of this study subjects were came from urban area, and majority of the study subjects were bought EC from pharmacy from pharmacy and shop. Knowledge, attitude and practice towards EC among female students were high. Health care workers should have to escalate awareness of the usage of emergency contraceptive methods among female students.

How to Interpret Semen Analysis Results: What every Gynecologist and General Practitioners Should Know

Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after at least one year of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse [1] and affects one out of eight couples of reproductive age in the United States. Estimates suggest that a significant percentage of such cases result from defective semen quality in the male [2].

RISK FACTORS AND CAUSES OF INFERTILITY

Infertility is the inability of a couple to achieve pregnancy over an average period of one year (in a woman under 35 years of age) or 6 months (in a woman above 35 years of age) despite adequate, regular (3-4 times per week), unprotected sexual intercourse. There are some risk factors that may give chances for infertility like Age, diabetes, eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and bulimia, excessive use of alcohol, exposure to environmental toxins, such as lead and pesticides, over exercising etc. Infertility may be caused by a number of different factors, either in the male or female reproductive systems. So therefore it is most important to identify the cause and treat the infertility for becoming fertile to a woman.

Infertility: A case study

Infertility is a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. It affects millions of people of reproductive age worldwide. Fertility care encompasses the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infertility. It is vital part of the nurse to offer psychological support to the couple and provide nursing Management based on the priority.

Dietary Supplements for Female Infertility: A Critical Review of Their Composition

Infertility is the condition of about 15% of couples that cannot get a conception after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse. In females, the reduced reproductive capacity underlies the most varied causes. Dietary supplements (DS) might be used to improve the pregnancy rate and a wide range of DS are proposed today to support female fertility. Although many authors demonstrated the positive effect of some of these products, the real efficacy of this approach is still debated. In order to evaluate the potential efficacy of DS for female infertility, we analysed the products marketed in Italy, using an original approach. A review of literature was performed to evaluate the effect of nutraceuticals on various female reproductive outcomes and to detect the minimal effective daily dose (mED) able to improve at least one of these. Thereafter, we conceived a formula to classify the expected efficacy of each DS. Each DS was scored and included into three classes of expected efficacy: higher, lower, and none. Ten out of 24 supplements (41.7%) resulted in the higher and 8 (34.3%) in the lower efficacy group, the remaining 6 DS (25.0%) were expected to have no efficacy. DS marketed in Italy are usually blends of many substances that are frequently employed at a negligible dose or without any evidence of efficacy. These findings raise serious doubt about the potential effectiveness of most commercial DS for female infertility.

Individualised Homeopathic Medicine in the Treatment of Infertility: A Case Series

Background Infertility is the inability of a person to conceive despite having carefully timed, unprotected sexual intercourse for 2 years. There are 80 to 168 million people worldwide who are suffering from infertility, resulting in feelings of failure, embarrassment or personal disappointments, which in turn lead to strained relationships with the spouse, family, and social circle. This study aimed to highlight the significance of using individualised homeopathic medicine in the treatment of infertility. In this study, seven couples suffering from infertility, who conceived after undergoing treatment at the National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health, Kottayam, were included. Methods Significant improvement within a short period of treatment and the combined co-operative response from both partners were the key considerations for our selection of these seven cases from 12 successfully treated cases out of 20 couples in total. Detailed case studies were achieved for all seven couples. The individualised homeopathic medicines were prescribed after repertorisation based on confirmation with the authorised textbooks of Materia Medica. All couples were followed up on a monthly basis, and outcome measures of positive pregnancy (i.e., urine pregnancy test and ultrasonography of the pelvis) were evaluated. Results All seven couples successfully conceived. Two of the couples showed a significant improvement of underlying symptoms within 2 months, whereas three responded within the third month of treatment. One of the couples conceived in the fourth month and the seventh couple took 8 months to have a successful pregnancy. Conclusions Overall, the results of the case series indicate that individualised homeopathic medicines are useful in the management of infertility.

Multistage Optimization Using a Modified Gaussian Mixture Model in Sperm Motility Tracking

Infertility is a condition whereby pregnancy does not occur despite having unprotected sexual intercourse for at least one year. The main reason could originate from either the male or the female, and sometimes, both contribute to the fertility disorder. For the male, sperm disorder was found to be the most common reason for infertility. In this paper, we proposed male infertility analysis based on automated sperm motility tracking. The proposed method worked in multistages, where the first stage focused on the sperm detection process using an improved Gaussian Mixture Model. A new optimization protocol was proposed to accurately detect the motile sperms prior to the sperm tracking process. Since the optimization protocol was imposed in the proposed system, the sperm tracking and velocity estimation processes are improved. The proposed method attained the highest average accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 92.3%, 96.3%, and 72.4%, respectively, when tested on 10 different samples. Our proposed method depicted better sperm detection quality when qualitatively observed as compared to other state-of-the-art techniques.

Knowledge and Patterns of Use of Emergency Oral Contraception among Portuguese Female Users of Healthcare Services

Introduction: The lack of knowledge about the existence, effectiveness, and supply of emergency contraception as well as access to it, its effective duration and the lack of recognition of the need for its use can prevent women from using it. The aim of this study was to ascertain the attitudes, experience, level of knowledge and information sources about emergency contraception of Portuguese female users of healthcare services.Material and Methods: We conducted a multicentre, cross-sectional, observational study among 280 Portuguese women users of health care services through an original and anonymous questionnaire composed of 30 questions.Results: The mean age of the women who replied to the questionnaire was 33.83 ± 8.76 years. Of the observed sample, 27.7% used EC, 50% of whom with no counselling. Despite 92.1% of women claiming knowledge about emergency contraception, only 31.2% of these answered 8 - 10 questions correctly (14 in total). The media were the most frequent source of information (63.4%). Most participants (67.5%) considered that emergency contraception is associated with severe adverse reactions. Furthermore, 76% did not know the time range of effectiveness after unprotected sexual intercourse. Youngest age (p = 0.038), higher education level (p < 0.001), increasing parity (p = 0.051) and previous use of emergency contraception (p = 0.011) were identified as the determinant sociodemographic factors for a higher level of knowledge about emergency contraception.Discussion: The use of emergency contraception after counselling by healthcare professionals was lower than reported in the literature.Conclusion: This study showed that female users of healthcare services were aware of the existence of emergency contraception, but they demonstrated a low level of knowledge about it, especially regarding the correct period of use, place of acquisition and safety issues.

The perils of penile enhancement: case report of a fulminant penile infection

Background Penile enhancement with injectable agents is a rising trend and yet has received little scientific attention despite the potential for serious complications. These include cosmetic, functional and systemic complications that may require complex penile reconstructive surgery. We report a case of delayed severe infection following penile filler insertion leading to multi-organ failure and intensive care support. Case presentation A 31-year-old man presented with fevers and progressive pain and swelling of the penile shaft, 3 days after unprotected sexual intercourse. The patient received subcutaneous hyaluronic filler injections at a cosmetic clinic for penile enlargement two months prior to presentation. Relevant social history include polysubstance abuse and multiple sexual partners. Physical examination revealed gross penile oedema and erythema, with a ventral curvature of the penile shaft and a superficial abrasion on the distal ventral penile shaft. Within 24 h the patient developed septic shock with anuria, hypotension and fevers to 40 °C, requiring transfer to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for vasopressor and inotropic support. Intraoperative penile exploration revealed multiple pus stained fillers which were drained and grew Streptococcus Pyogenes on cultures. There was no abscess or evidence of necrotising fasciitis intraoperatively. The patient improved with intravenous antibiotics and was stepped down from the ICU after four days and discharged on day eight. One month post admission there was significant superficial skin loss to both ventral and lateral aspect of the penis, with healthy granulation tissue at the base. The patient opted for conservative management with regular dressings. He reported normal sexual and urinary function three months post admission. Conclusion This is the first published case of sepsis from a penile infection in the context of hyaluronic acid penile fillers. In an era of escalating demand for penile cosmetic procedures, there is an increasing need for early recognition and appropriate management of penile filler infections. We report an unusual case of a localised penile infection rapidly progressing to sepsis with multi-organ failure requiring intensive care support. The case demonstrates early surgical intervention with targeted antimicrobials can result in successful eradication of infection, with satisfactory cosmetic and functional outcomes for patients.