Family planning methods and fertility preferences according to HIV status among women in Cameroon

We investigated whether HIV-positive women differ from HIV-negative women in their fertility, fertility intentions, and use of family planning (FP) among 16,202 women who received services through the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services’ Women’s Health Program from 2015 to 2017. The 13% of women who were HIV-positive had similar rates of modern FP usage and unmet need compared to HIV-negative women (26% versus 29% for modern FP usage, and 20% versus 21% for unmet need). However, HIV-positive women were more likely to be satisfied with their FP method (aOR = 1.70, p < .001). There were no significant differences in usage by HIV status for most FP methods, but HIV-positive women were more likely to use condoms (aOR = 1.85, p < .01) and less likely to use IUDs (aOR = 0.77, p < .05). HIV-positive women had fewer living children and also desired fewer children (both associations significant at p < .001 in multivariate linear regression). These findings highlight low FP usage and high unmet need among all women, and the need for integrated HIV and FP services for HIV-positive women, particularly aimed at increasing use of more reliable FP methods in addition to condoms. (Afr J Reprod Health 2021; 25[5]: 25-36)

First-Principles Based Matrix-Green's Function Approach to Molecular Electronic Devices: General Formalism

Transport in molecular electronic devices is different from that in semiconductor mesoscopic devices in two important aspects: (1) the effect of the electronic structure and (2) the effect of the interface to the external contact. A rigorous treatment of molecular electronic devices will require the inclusion of these effects in the context of an open system exchanging particle and energy with the external environment. This calls for combining the theory of quantum transport with the theory of electronic structure starting from the first-principles. We present a rigorous yet tractable matrix Green's function approach for studying transport in molecular electronic devices, based on the Non-Equilibrium Green's Function Formalism of quantum transport and the density-functional theory of electronic structure using local orbital basis sets. By separating the device rigorously into the molecular region and the contact region, we can take full advantage of the natural spatial locality associated with the metallic screening in the electrodes and focus on the physical processes in the finite molecular region. This not only opens up the possibility of using the existing well-established technique of molecular electronic structure theory in transport calculations with little change, but also allows us to use the language of qualitative molecular orbital theory to interpret and rationalize the results of the computation. For the device at equilibrium, our method provides an alternative approach for solving the molecular chemisorption problem. For the device out of equilibrium, we show that the calculation of elastic current transport through molecules, both conceptually and computationally, is no more difficult than solving the chemisorption problem.Comment: To appear in Chemical Physic

Surface Core Level Shifts of Clean and Oxygen Covered Ru(0001)

We have performed high resolution XPS experiments of the Ru(0001) surface, both clean and covered with well-defined amounts of oxygen up to 1 ML coverage. For the clean surface we detected two distinct components in the Ru 3d_{5/2} core level spectra, for which a definite assignment was made using the high resolution Angle-Scan Photoelectron Diffraction approach. For the p(2x2), p(2x1), (2x2)-3O and (1x1)-O oxygen structures we found Ru 3d_{5/2} core level peaks which are shifted up to 1 eV to higher binding energies. Very good agreement with density functional theory calculations of these Surface Core Level Shifts (SCLS) is reported. The overriding parameter for the resulting Ru SCLSs turns out to be the number of directly coordinated O atoms. Since the calculations permit the separation of initial and final state effects, our results give valuable information for the understanding of bonding and screening at the surface, otherwise not accessible in the measurement of the core level energies alone.Comment: 16 pages including 10 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Comment: silent burden no more: a global call to action to prioritize perinatal mental health

Common perinatal mental disorders are the most frequent complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, and the prevalence among women in low- and middle-income countries is the highest at nearly 20%. Women are the cornerstone of a healthy and prosperous society and until their mental health is taken as seriously as their physical wellbeing, we will not improve maternal mortality, morbidity and the ability of women to thrive. On the heels of several international efforts to put perinatal mental health on the global agenda, we propose seven urgent actions that the international community, governments, health systems, academia, civil society, and individuals should take to ensure that women everywhere have access to high-quality, respectful care for both their physical and mental wellbeing. Addressing perinatal mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and treatment of common perinatal mental disorders must be a global priority

Modified f(R) gravity from scalar-tensor theory and inhomogeneous EoS dark energy

The reconstruction of f(R)-gravity is showed by using an auxiliary scalar field in the context of cosmological evolution, this development provide a way of reconstruct the form of the function f (R) for a given evolution of the Hubble parameter. In analogy, f(R)-gravity may be expressed by a perfect fluid with an inhomogeneous equation of state that depends on the Hubble parameter and its derivatives. This mathematical equivalence that may confuse about the origin of the mechanism that produces the current acceleration, and possibly the whole evolution of the Hubble parameter, is shown here.Comment: 8 page

Evolutionary rates and patterns of artiodactyl limb reduction

Mammalian morphological response to Cenozoic environmental change has long been studied. Traditionally, the appearance of hypsodonty in equids is considered an adaptation to the introduction of abrasive material to the diet (e.g. grass), and has been used as a means of signifying the opening of environments. However, the timing of the radiation of hypsodont equids conflicts with the paleobotanical appearance of grasses and, in fact, hyspodont dentition may not necessarily indicate the addition of grasses to the diet. Despite the conflict arising between dentition and timing of environmental opening, other skeletal characters can be examined for morphological adaptation to environmental opening (e.g. cursoriality). In an attempt to further explore ungulate adaptation to environment, I am evaluating the Order Artiodactyla for rate of cursorial evolution. Artiodactyla was selected because of the availability of a large number of extant and extinct specimens and the fact that these ungulates emerged and radiated during the time of environmental opening. This study represents novel research by exploring fusions and reductions in the number of distal limb elements across the entire order. Reductions and fusions are important to cursoriality because they reduce the limb’s distal weight and render the distal limb elements more stable, allowing for faster and more efficient locomotion across open terrain. The spread of open environments (e.g., savannas), as a result of Cenozoic environmental change, might have provided an impetus for these types of cursorial adaptations. Cenozoic environmental opening is believed to have occurred gradually, beginning as small patches of low-biomass vegetation in the Eocene, leading to short grasslands in the Oligocene, followed by the tall, modern grasslands of the Late Miocene. With this in mind, my working hypothesis that the opening of environment drives cursorial adaptation, and therefore, rates of cursoriality should be highest from the Eocene to Late Miocene. To test this, 306 artiodactyls were analyzed for 47 discrete characters in limb morphology that were indicative of cursorial adaptations and recorded in Mesquite 2.72 (build 514). I calculated the rate of limb evolution across the entire order and found that there was a very high peak throughout the Eocene, which has also been found in ungulates by a study examining metatarsal/femur ratios- a method used to determine cursoriality. In addition, the earliest artiodactyls (about 55Mya) were already showing signs of cursoriality. The evidence suggested by my results, metatarsal/femoral ratios and the morphology of the earliest artiodactyls indicate that artiodactyls were evolving cursorial adaptations early on in their evolutionary history. In addition to the high rate of the Eocene, I found a slight increase of rate during the Late Oligocene. This increase in rate coincides with a dramatic increase in open habitat phytolith assemblages from the Great Plains of North America. This may indicate that artiodactyl cursoriality rate was increasing simultaneous to North American environmental opening. My hypothesis that the opening of environments drives cursorial adaptation is supported by the second, smaller peak of the Late Oligocene, but more research is needed to explore this drastically high rate of cursorial adaptation during the Eocene, which was considered to be a time of closed, widespread forests with few pockets of low-biomass vegetation