Characteristics of Infertile Clientele Attending a Public in Vitro Fertilization Clinic: Appraising Priorities in a Low-Income Country

Introduction: Infertilityaffects one in six couples, and it is an important public health issue largely due to thepervasive effects on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of affected couples. In many developing nations emphasis is placed on childbirth and inability to fulfill this role can be very distressing. There is an unmet need for assisted reproductive technology (ART) in many developing countries and where facilities exist, they are mostly privately owned, expensive and concentrated in urban areas. To bridge this gap, public fertility clinics have been established to provide subsidized care. Evaluating the characteristics and peculiarities of clientele presenting at these public facilities will aid planning and prioritization of care. Methodology: A descriptive retrospective study of 116 infertile patients presenting to the fertility clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria from inception on the 14th of February 2019 and 31st of December 2022.Data was analyzed using the Statical Package for Social Sciences (IBM, SPSS, New York) version 23. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the results which were presented with the aid of bar charts and frequency tables. Result: The mean age of the patients was 40.70 ± 6.62 years. Post-menopausal patients accounted for about one-fifth of the study population while 80.2% (93 women) were older than 35 years. The mean duration of infertility was 9.39 ± 6.11years and nine patients (7.8%) had a duration greater than 2 decades. Secondary infertility occurred in 67.2% of the women. Twenty-nine women (25%) had undergone myomectomy prior to presentation. Hypertension (11.2%) was the most prevalent comorbidity. Nineteen patients (16.4%) had used contraceptives in the past with the male condom (36.8%)being the most preponderant. Sixty-seven patients had experienced pregnancy losses before 28 weeks of gestation while just 16 patients (13.8%) had undergone ART, and none was successful. Conclusion: Secondary infertility was the prevalent type of infertility and may not be unconnected with the low contraceptive usage and high risk of sexually transmitted infection. Late presentation coupled with a large proportion of post-menopausal clientele suggests delayed health-seeking behavior most probably due to the prohibitive cost of ART. The need to streamline services offered in public fertility clinics is paramount in low-income countries grappling with scarce resources. A pragmatic approach will involve the provision of low-cost ART, while enhancing gamete donation programs through the implementation of gamete sharing policies. This will invariably bridge the unmet need and skewed access to ART in developing countries.

Shape Analysis of Agricultural Parcels for Land Consolidation Priorities in Tekirdag Province,Turkey

Shape irregularity,a sub-factor of parcel fragmentation is a problem that hinders sustainable agriculture and is solved using land consolidation projects.Determination of the parcel shape degree contributes significantly to spatial prioritization where there is also a high probability of achieving positive effects of consolidation projects.This study aims to determine the shape degree of the agricultural parcels both at singular and rural county scales in Tekirdag Province,Turkey in 2020 by combining the parcel shape index(PSI) with the minimum bounding geometry index(MBG) to improve parcel scores.Hot-spot zones of the highly irregular and near optimum parcels were also determined using Getis-Ord G_(i)^(*) statistic.The parcel degrees were classified into four categories,namely highly irregular,irregular,regular and near optimum.The obtained unweighted scores of the parameters exhibit deviations from the expected values.After weighting by pairwise comparison,the values approached ideal scores.Among 346 740 parcels,53% were highly irregular and irregular and 47% were regular and near optimum shapes after weighting whereas these were 70% and 30%,respectively before weighting.The average parcel degree of 63 rural counties was regular while the average parcel degree of the remaining 264 rural counties was irregular.The combined use of PSI and MBG index improved the correctness of the parcel shape score.It could be suggested to use as a tool in land consolidation prioritization.

On Application of Nida’s Priorities in Translation

This paper analyzes Nida’s theory of translation, also his system of priorities. The paper uses examples to illustrate the application of Nida’s four priorities in the practice of English Chinese and Chinese English translation and concludes that we can apply the system to help the receptors of second language and source language to have the closest response.

Setting Agricultural Research Priorities： The Case for the Agricultural Sector in Swaziland

The study determined the research priorities in Swaziland agricultural sector. Data collection used existing documents on agricultural research prioritizing, Nominal Group Technique and modified Delphi technique, with analysis of data using content categorization and, group and individual ranking of submissions. Findings showed the agricultural priorities from national policies are tied-up with mitigating the effects of HIV and AIDS on food security, reduction of poverty and, sustainable development. The findings also revealed forty-three field crops areas needing research. Seven horticulture areas and eleven livestock sector areas were of high priority. A considerable number of research areas in field crops, horticulture and livestock indicated that the current research system has not adequately addressed research needs, despite efforts made by the private sector, University of Swaziland and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, for Swaziland to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Recommendation was that the identified research priorities should be used as basis for directing the limited resources in conducting agricultural research. The participation of all stakeholders would facilitate efficient use of resources and facilitate collaboration amongst research institutions. The University of Swaziland should develop research priorities aligned with national policies and objectives, to facilitate funding for research by both government and donor agencies.

Building a healthy China by enhancing physical activity:Priorities,challenges,and strategies

Dear editor,In 2016,several landmark government initiatives were launched in an effort to build a more healthy China.In March,the National People’s Congress of China adopted the 13th FiveYear Plan,which sets out new objectives,principles,and targets for 2016–2020,1including action plans for enhancing environmental protection and green growth,promoting individual

Identifying nursing research priorities in Vietnam: a modified Delphi study

Objective: There is no single study that has examined nursing research priorities in Vietnam. This study aimed to gain consensus from experts on the nursing research priorities in Vietnam.Methods: A three-round modified Delphi study was used in this study. A focus group discussion among experts was conducted in round I to identify the nursing research priorities(n=23). Data in round I were analyzed using content analysis. In round Ⅱ, participants were invited to rate the importance of each nursing priority topic in a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, which had a 74%(n=17) response rate. In round Ⅲ, the questionnaire was returned to the experts(n=17) until consensus was reached. Data from round Ⅱ and round Ⅲ were analyzed to produce mean score and final rank.Results: The top 12 research priority lists were identified, which included subthemes and areas of possible investigations. All priorities were classified into three groups in the rank order, namely:(i) nursing management and leadership, which included(1) nursing care quality,(2) management and leadership of nurse managers,(3) nursing image,(4) professional nurse competency, and(5) human resource management;(ii) nursing education, which included(1) knowledge-specific domain,(2) the linkage between education and practice, and(3) nurse teacher workforce;and(iii) nursing service, which included(1) adult nursing concern,(2) patient safety,(3) public health nursing concern, and(4) quality of life of patients and nurses.Conclusions: Consensus among experts was achiever, and the findings are considered as the basis of resources to the most essential research needs in Vietnam.

Research Priorities and the Future of Alfalfa in Latin America

Agro-food and agro-industrial systems in Latin America must anticipate future trends and ensure permanent adjustment ofresearch priorities to the evolving global needs. Innovations should follow the logic of productive chains, which are highly dependentupon knowledge and technology. Agribusiness sector needs to reinvent itself for efficiently providing new products based on stricterquality controls, traceability, and greater diversification. In the region, alfalfa has an enormous potential to be cultivated for multiplepurposes other than just animal products, going from pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry to human consumption. No singleorganization or isolated group of scientists hold alone the capacity to deal with increasingly complex and dynamic productionsystems in order to efficiently compete in a globalized market. These challenges require an interdisciplinary approach, not only to adomestic level but also to an international one. The present paper proposed the constitution of a virtual alfalfa network platform forarticulating and guiding alfalfa research efforts in Latin America. The network will focus on identifying the most important needs forLatin America, promoting an active interaction among educational and scientific institutions through collaborative research projects.The platform comprises four main research axes: (1) efficient production (agronomy);(2) animal production (diversified feeds);(3)quality and innocuousness applied (human feeding);(4) novel products (pharmaceutical and cosmetics). During the initial phase, theBrazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA, Brazil) and National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA,Argentina) will jointly coordinate the network.

On Application of Nida's Translation Priorities

This paper analyzes Nida's theory of translation,also his system of priorities.The paper uses examples to illustrate the application of Nida's four priorities in the practice of English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation and concludes that we can apply the system to help the receptors of second language and source language to have the closest response.

Optimized routing strategy for complex network with multiple priorities

Different loads in the network require distinct Qo S standard, while present routing strategies for complex networks ignored this fact. To solve this problem, we designed a routing strategy RS-MP with multiple priorities by which packets are classified into privileged-packets and common-packets. In RS-MP, privileged-packets route by the Shortest Path Algorithm, and do not need to queue up. Common-packets＇ routes are determined by a new factor BJmax of the network. The BJmax stands for the largest betweenness centrality. By minimizing BJmax, the throughout capacity of the network can be maximized. The simulation results show that RS-MP can guarantee privileged-packets with the shortest path length and smallest delay, and maximized throughout capacity for common packets in the no-congestion state.

Hierarchical satisfying optimal algorithm with different importance and priorities

A hierarchical satisfying optimal algorithm incorporating different importance and preemptive priorities is formulated. With the priority structure given by the decision-maker in the constrained multi-objective multi-degree-of-freedom optimization (CMMO) problem, the commonly used quadratic programming model is converted into a two-level optimization problem solved by the tolerant lexicographic method and the varying-domain optimization method. In contrast to previous works, the proposed approach allows the decision-maker to determine a desirable achievement degree for each goal to reflect explicitly the relative importance of these goals. The resulting solutions satisfy both the preemptive priority structure and have the maximum achievement degrees in sum. The power of the proposed approach is demonstrated with an example.

A MULTIPLE-RECEPTION ACCESS PROTOCOL WITH INTERRUPTIONS WITH MIXED PRIORITIES IN CDMA NETWORKS

A novel access protocol called Multiple-Reception Access Protocol (WRAP) and its modification MRAP/WI are proposed. In this protocol, all colliding users with a common code can be identified by the base station due to the offset of arrival time. Thus they can retransmit access requests under the base station's control. Furthermore new arrivals with higher priority level can interrupt the lower retransmission in order to reduce its access delay although it, increases the lower priority's delay. Simulation results of MRAP and MRAP/WI are given in order to highlight the superior performance of the proposed approach.

Economic priorities set for next year

China will make efforts to forestall and resolve major risks, as well as push targeted poverty alleviation and pollution control next year, China＇s top leadership agreed at a major meeting recently.

The WHO African Region: Research Priorities on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Background: Many policy makers deliberating on comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights services need reliable evidence to make choices that benefit women, adolescents, children and the wider society. While universal health coverage discourse provides an opportunity to expand access through evidence based interventions, many gaps exist. Research prioritization has proved to be very helpful in identifying relevant areas especially in constrained resource settings. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the World Health Organization Africa Region research prioritization for sexual and reproductive health and rights. These priorities hope to guide the region for the next three years. Methods: We used the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative approach to identify priority questions among many potential areas for research prioritization on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The implementation process was organized in three phases. The first phase involved sending out an online survey to various experts with experience in sexual and reproductive health rights. These questions were received by a technical team from World Health Organization headquarters for review. 634 questions were identified for potential research and grouped into 12 themes. The second phase involved experts who reviewed the questions. The team merged questions with duplications, removed the questions that were out of scope and finally refined the wordings. In the final phase, experts worked in groups to score and rank top ten priority questions for each of the 12 thematic areas. Results: A list of 120 priority questions for sexual and reproductive health and rights were prioritized by 67 participants drawn from 16 organizations. Most of the priority research questions (45%) focused on the theme of gender-based violence, 35% prioritized services in sexual and reproductive health and rights in humanitarian settings while 15% prioritized preventing unsafe abortion. 5% of the participants prioritized cervical cancer prevalence, prevention and treatment as a thematic area out of the questions in the top 20 research priority questions. Conclusions: Key priority research questions in sexual and reproductive health and rights were identified around five themes. The priority list will be of significance to World Health Organization regional Office for Africa and her stakeholders for the next three years.

Deleveraging： Definition, Priorities and Policy Options

Dividing aggregate liabilities by GDP is not an appropriate method for calculating the leverage ratio, and may mislead deleveraging operations. In terms of an intrinsic mechanism, an appropriate measure of leverage ratio should be the liability/asset ratio. In their business operations, it is inevitable for real-economy enterprises to incur liabilities arising from business and financial transactions. Therefore, the significance of deleveraging operations is to reduce the leverage ratio below a certain threshold to effectively prevent risks arising from an excessive leverage ratio, rather than to reduce the liability ratio of real-economy enterprises to zero. For real-economy enterprises, a key question is how to adjust their debt structure by reducing current liabilities and increasing mid-and long-term liabilities. The debt structure of real-economy enterprises is primarily determined by their financial structure. Hence, it is essential to adjust the financial structure in order to improve the debt structure of real-economy enterprises and increase the share of direct finance. Various risks exist in the combination of shares and bonds within the banking system, investment-lending linkage and market-based debt-to-equity operations, which are options in reducing the leverage ratio for real-economy enterprises. From the standpoint of giving play to capital market functions, it is advisable to increase the issuance of midand long-term corporate bonds and preferred stock, restrict non-financial listed companies from engaging in financial operations and the shareholders of listed companies from selling shares, encourage equity investment institutions to enhance equity investment in realeconomy enterprises, and further develop the financing function of the stock market.

MAKING CLEAR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES, STRENGTHENING POLICY ORIENTATION AND PROMOTING INSTITUTIONAL ADJUSTMENT

Ⅰ. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE TASKS The period from the "Ninth Five-Year Plan"(1990-2000) to the year 2010 is the key stage for realizing the three-step strategy for economic construction in China. The socialist market economy system will gradually develop to perfection,the market will play a fundamental role in allocating resources,and the State’s centralizing guidance and macro-control over the social and economic development will be more scientific,reasonable and effective.In recent years,despite of

WORKING PRIORITIES FOR THE CAS IN 1999

1. Through further studies of the strategic objectives of science and technology (S&T) innovation at the CAS headquarters and its institutes, identify the strategic orientations and research priorities that are really in accordance with national strategic objectives and the S&T development tendencies in the world and that can fully bring into play

CAS Priorities in 2000

At its annual work conference, the ChinseAcademy of Sciences (CAS) announced work pri-orities for the year 2000. 1. Studying and im;lementing the importantdirectives made by President Jiang Zemin about theacademy on three occasions as well as

IVPP Set out Its Future Priorities

The Institute of VertebratePaleontology andPaleoanthropology (IVPP) ofthe Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), founded as early as in 1929,stun the world in the 1930s with itsdiscoveries of fossilized Peking Manskulls. After its more than seven-decade development, the institute isnow become a well-known researchcenter for vertebrate paleontology,paleoanthropology, and stratigraphyin the world. During the

New approach to determine the priorities from interval fuzzy preference relations

An approach is proposed to solve the problem how to obtain the priorities from interval fuzzy preference relations. Firstly, another expression of interval numbers is given. Then, some basic definitions on consistency and weak transitivity of real and interval fuzzy preference relations are described. Based on these definitions, a two-phase process for determining the priorities from interval fuzzy preference relations is presented. Finally, two exam- ples are used to illustrate the use of the proposed approach.