We prepared Pluronic-F127 coated silicon quantum dot micelles and examined their interaction with Human IgG. Furthermore, the micelles were used to image cells as well as medaka (Oryzias latipes) eggs and larvae without causing cytotoxicity.

Introduction: Despite considering family planning as a priority in population policy, our country is still long way to achieve a stable population, especially in rural area. This study was schemed to evaluate the awareness and the prevalence of contraceptive use in a rural area of Etawah. Material & Methods: A house to house survey was conducted in 5 villages in Saifai block of Etawah. A sample of 810 married woman of reproductive age group were interviewed to obtain information on sociodemographic profile and family planning. Results: The average age of study respondents was 29.19 ± 6.7 years. Majority (44.7%) of respondents belonged to 26-35years and 40% were illiterate. Only 76.6% of the respondents were aware of at least one method of family planning. Nearly 50% were aware of Female sterilization, Condoms and IUCD. Univariate analysis revealed age, education, caste and partner’s education were significant factor affecting awareness of family planning. Contraceptive usage was associated with age, family size and decision making ability. Multivariate awareness revealed that education significantly affected awareness and partner’s education was significantly associated with contraceptive usage. Conclusion: Study showed that there is a significant gap between awareness and use of contraception. Age, education, family size and partner’s education were significant factors affecting acceptance of family planning in this rural setup.

A study was conducted among 120 as respondents in Six villages of Madurai district with the objective of analysing the determinants for gender neutral spending in families and to predict their willingness to spend gender neutrally. Ex-post facto research design was employed and the respondents were selected using random sampling procedure. The data was collected using a well-structured interview schedule. The results revealed that among the determinants differential needs of sons/daughters, earning of husband and wife, urge for giving good education, perceived importance of the issue, availability of money for spending were found to be highly influencing the respondents to spend gender neutrally in families. Similarly, Influence on relatives on spending decisions, influence of neighbours on spending decision, social values, spending for health were the determinants which were moderately influencing the gender neutral spending in families. Binary Logistic Regression results revealed that the willingness of a parent improves 18 times if he/she is influenced by differential need of son and daughters. Further, it was found that, if a parent is influenced by urge for giving good education, the odds of his/her willingness to neutrally spend in families would increase by a factor of 17.58 units.