Children's growth, health, and development depend on proper nutrition in infancy and early childhood. Worldwide, nursing is advantageous for both mother and child since breast milk is the best source of baby nourishment. This study examined mothers' knowledge and attitude about exclusive breast feeding’s nutritional benefits. A cross-sectional survey of 384 mothers was conducted in rural Igabi LGA. The data was acquired using structured questionnaires. SPSS 21 was used to enter and evaluate data. Chi-square determined categorical data associations. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. By knowledge score, 13.80% of mothers had adequate knowledge, 51.04% intermediate, and 35.15% deficient. Attitude score: 63.80% of mothers were positive. Most mothers (52.5%) reported breast problems as major issues. A local language campaign to educate women about the nutritional benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and renewing the Baby-Friendly Hospital Policy can reduce child mortality, according to the study.

Background & Objective: Canonical WNT/Wingless pathway regulates expression of target genes by modulating intracellular β-catenin leading to cancer growth and survival. Here, we studied inhibition of β-catenin using zerumbone (ZER) or β-catenin-siRNA in Sprague-Dawley rat cancer model. Methodology: Rat mammary gland tumor model was induced with the wild-type LA7 breast cancer cell line or β-catenin-knockdown-LA7 cells. LA7-rats were treated with ZER or β-catenin-siRNA as a positive control and the levels of β-catenin expression and its target gene were assessed using real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assay. Results: We found good correlation between β-catenin inhibition and induction of apoptosis when using ZER or β-catenin-siRNA. In this aspect, ZER and β-catenin-siRNA inhibited cellular proliferation as reflected by reduced growth of breast cancer and apoptosis induction in rat mammary gland tumor. Further, our studies demonstrate that treatment with ZER and β-catenin-siRNA affected β-catenin-dependent gene expression. β-catenin downregulation by ZER or knockdown by β-catenin-siRNA improves the morphological and histological feature of the breast tissues as confirmed by subtle changes of the genes involved in cell-apoptotic pathways. Conclusion: This indicates that ZER targets similarly to β-catenin-siRNA and possibly be a useful anti-breast cancer by affecting expression of down-stream targets that are key components in cancer development. ZER can be a promising anticancer candidate for treatment of breast.