Duration of Lactation and Risk Factors for Maternal Cardiovascular Disease

To examine dose-response relationships between the cumulative number of months women lactated and postmenopausal risk factors for cardiovascular disease

Lactation and Maternal Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Population-based Study

Lactation has been associated with improvements in maternal glucose metabolism

Impact of Optimized Breastfeeding on the Costs of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants

To estimate risk of NEC for ELBW infants as a function of preterm formula and maternal milk (MM) intake and calculate the impact of suboptimal feeding on NEC incidence and costs

Harvesting of Bajra (Pearl millet) Cobs by Farm Women of Haryana - An Ergonomic Study

In rain fed areas of Haryana, farmers do harvesting of bajra (pearl millet) by cutting its ear heads first from standing crop, followed by cutting of remaining plant later being used as animal fodder for longer duration. These cobs are then collected in a bag hanging on their shoulders and back that causes undue stress on the worker. This activity is primarily performed by farm women which is one of the tedious activities where she adopts unnatural body postures. Field experiment was conducted for 30 minutes on a sample of 30 farm women respondents. On an average, 24 kg of bajra cobs were cut observing average working heart rate of 118 bpm over the resting heart rate (80 bpm) consuming 10 kJ/min of energy and assessing 58 bpm as physiological cost of work. There was 47.5% increase in physiological stress on the women making the bajra cobs cutting a moderately heavy activity. Women reported maximum discomfort at fingers, shoulder joints, upper back, mid back and upper arms. There is a need of intervention of appropriate technology viz. improved sickle and pick bag to the farm women, which would be helpful to carry out the bajra cobs harvesting with lesser drudgery and increased output

Ergonomic Evaluation of Improved Sickles in Wheat Harvesting

Wheat harvesting is one of the important farm activity predominantly performed by rural women in Haryana. During harvesting season, they spend nearly 8-9 h daily to perform the activity. The aim of present stu4y was to evaluate the performance of improved sickle over conventional sickle in terms of output and reduced drudgery. Experiment was conducted on 20 rural women aging 25-45 years of age with four sickles comprising one conventional sickle (SO) and three improved sickles viz., SI, S2 and S3. SO sickle Was the heaviest measuring 234 g followed by S2 (217 g) and S3 (198 g). SI sickle was the lightest in weight (186 g). 81ades of all the improved sickles were made up of high carbon steel except for conventional sickle that was made up of iron. In terms of physical fitness index, two-fifth of the respondents had high average PFI whereas 40% had good PH Output was found maximum for S2 sickle (64.9 kg). S2 sickle resulted 4.8% more out put over conventional sickle resulting 16.4% increase in area covered. Average working heart rate (107 bpm) and corresponding energy expenditure (8.37 KJ/min) was found minimum for S2 sickle. Total cardiac cost of work for all the sickles ranged from 1020 beats to 1283 beats. Reduction in TCCW of improved sickles over conventional (SO) sickle was maximum for S2 (20.5%) followed by SI (20.4%). S2 sickle resulted in minimum grip fatigue after the activity (3.8%). Regarding musculo-skeletal discomforts, maximum reduction in pain was reported in thighs (43.3%) followed by wrist joint (42.3%), shoulder joint (41.8%), feet (33.5%) and neck (30010)

Super universality of dimerised SU(N+M)SU(N+M) spin chains

We explore the physics of the quantum Hall effect using the Haldane mapping of dimerised $SU(N+M)$ spin chains, the large $N$ expansion and the density matrix renormalization group technique. We show that while the transition is first order for $N+M >2$, the system at zero temperature nevertheless displays a continuously diverging length scale $\xi$ (correlation length). The numerical results for $(M, N) = (1,3), ~ (2, 2),~(1, 5)$ and $(1, 7)$ indicate that $\xi$ is a directly observable physical quantity, namely the spatial width of the edge states. We relate the physical observables of the quantum spin chain to those of the quantum Hall system (and, hence, the $\vartheta$ vacuum concept in quantum field theory). Our numerical investigations provide strong evidence for the conjecture of super universality which says the dimerised spin chain quite generally displays all the basic features of the quantum Hall effect, independent of the specific values of $M$ and $N$. For the cases at hand we show that the singularity structure of the quantum Hall plateau transitions involves a universal function with two scale parameters that may in general depend on $M$ and $N$. This includes not only the Hall conductance but also the ground state energy as well as the correlation length $\xi$ with varying values of $\vartheta \sim \pi$.Comment: 9 page

Depression Screening in Early Pregnancy and Associations With Pregnancy Outcomes Among a Diverse Cohort [32J]

INTRODUCTION:: Depression is a common perinatal occurrence, yet research regarding how early depression can be identified and whether it differs by pregnancy outcome (delivery/abortion) is limited. METHODS:: English- or Spanish-speaking women, aged 15–44, <24 weeks gestation seeking pregnancy testing or abortion care were enrolled in a prospective cohort study from 2014 to 2015. The Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) assessed depression at enrollment and 3 months later. Participants with positive depression screen (EDS ≥13) received mental health referral. Pregnancy outcomes were assessed via phone interviews and medical chart review. Women with miscarriage were excluded from this analysis. RESULTS:: Among 100 participants with complete EDS data, women averaged 26.8 (±6.3) years and 9.3 (±4.6) weeks gestation. Seventy-nine percent presented for walk-in pregnancy testing; 21% for abortion. Participants were culturally diverse: 48.0% Hispanic, 30.6% Black, non-Hispanic, 14.3% White, non-Hispanic and 7.1% multiracial. Most (66%) continued pregnancy, 44% chose abortion. At enrollment, 21% screened positive for depression, and women choosing delivery (17%) were not statistically different from women choosing abortion (29%) (P=.138). At 3-month follow-up, 18% screened positive for depression; no difference was observed between women choosing delivery (14%) compared to abortion (27%) (P=.114). The overall proportion of women with a positive screen for depression remained stable from enrollment to 3-month follow-up (P=.549), and remained stable among women choosing delivery (P=.727) and abortion (P=>.999). CONCLUSION:: Antenatal depression is common amongst women early in pregnancy, whether choosing delivery or abortion. Early screening may provide opportunities for early interventions. Future research should test early interventions

Perceptions of intrauterine contraception among women seeking primary care

BackgroundIntrauterine contraception (IUC) is safe, highly effective and has few medical contraindications. Primary care providers see many women with chronic conditions who might benefit from IUC.Study designWe surveyed women aged 18-50 who visited one of four primary care clinics in Pennsylvania between October 2008 and April 2010 to investigate perceptions of IUC and to identify factors associated with accurate perceptions. Key independent variables included patient characteristics, including knowing other women who had used IUC, and having discussed IUC with a provider. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between independent variables and accurate perceptions.ResultsThe study population included 1626 eligible respondents. Only 19.5% of women knew that IUC is more effective than oral contraceptive pills, 57.4% knew that IUC does not increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections and 28.7% knew that IUC is more cost-effective than oral contraceptive pills. Among women who had never used IUC, accurate perceptions were associated with higher levels of education, knowing one or more women who had used IUC and having discussed IUC with a health care provider.ConclusionsMany women seeking primary care have inaccurate perceptions of IUC and may benefit from counseling about the advantages of this approach to preventing unintended pregnancy