Religious and Geographic Correlates of Breast Feeding

This study focused mainly upon regional and religious variables influencing a mother\u27s decision for a particular infant feeding practice. The problem of this study was to investigate the breast feeding and maternal attitudes of Mormon and non-Mormon mothers who were raised within the Mountain States region and compare them to the attitudes of Mormon and non-Mormon women who are not residents of this region. No significant differences were found between the resident and non- resident women in their practice of bottle or breast feeding, nor was any significant difference found between the number of Mormon and non-Mormon women who breast fed their children. What was discovered however, was an amazingly large percentage of women that had selected to breast feed their babies. Mothers who breast fed were more inclined to mention a closeness between mother and baby as their main reason for the method that they selected . They also believed that it was more convenient, economical , and better for the baby. Physical problems that make breast feeding difficult, if not impossible, were most often mentioned by mothers who selected to bottle feed their children. Bottle feeding was also listed as more convenient and allowed more mobility. Scores obtained from the Infant Feeding Scale, which was developed to measure a mother 1s religious and traditional attitudes in regards to infant feeding, indicated that the Mormon group scored significantly higher on both the religious and traditional parts. The nonresidents in general also scored higher indicating a more conservative traditional response by this group, but it was the Mormon-non-resident group that presented the greater contribution to the over all significance that was found on this scale. Other social and personal variables such as social class, age, family size and educational status were also considered in this study , but no significant difference was found, perhaps because the population in this study was an accumulation of mothers who possessed those variables that tend to positively influence breast feeding

Maids, Wives and Widows: Female Architectural Patronage in Eighteenth-Century Britain

This thesis explores the extent to which elite women of the eighteenth century commissioned architectural works and the extent to which the type and scale of their projects was dictated by their marital status. Traditionally, architectural historians have advocated that eighteenth-century architecture was purely the pursuit of men. Women, of course, were not absent during this period, but their involvement with architecture has been largely obscured and largely overlooked. This doctoral research has redressed this oversight through the scrutinising of known sources and the unearthing of new archival material. This thesis begins with an exploration of the legal and financial statuses of elite women, as encapsulated by the eighteenth-century marriage settlement. This encompasses brides’ portions or dowries, wives’ annuities or ‘pin-money’, widows’ dower or jointure, and provisions made for daughters and younger children. Following this, the thesis is divided into three main sections which each look at the ways in which women, depending upon their marital status, could engage in architecture. The first of these sections discusses unmarried women, where the patronage of the following patroness is examined: Anne Robinson; Lady Isabella Finch; Lady Elizabeth Hastings; Sophia Baddeley; George Anne Bellamy and Teresa Cornelys. The second section explores the patronage of married women, namely Jemima Yorke, Marchioness Grey; Amabel Hume-Campbell, Lady Polwarth; Mary Robinson, Baroness Grantham; Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; Frances Boscawen; Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery; Henrietta Knight, Baroness Luxborough and Lady Sarah Bunbury. The third and final section discusses the architectural patronage of widowed women, including Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton; Georgianna Spencer, Countess Spencer; Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort; Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home; Elizabeth Montagu; Mary Hervey, Lady Hervey; Henrietta Fermor, Countess of Pomfret; the Hon. Charlotte Digby; the Hon. Charlotte Boyle Walsingham; the Hon. Agneta Yorke and Albinia Brodrick, Viscountess Midleton. Collectively, all three sections advocate that elite women were at the heart of the architectural patronage system and exerted more influence and agency over architecture than has previously been recognised by architectural historians.I received a Full Doctoral Award from the School of Arts and Humanities, for which I am hugely indebted. I am also thankful for the various grants that were awarded to fund research trips across the country, particularly the Alan Baxter Foundation Research Grant, the Stephen Copley Postgraduate Research Award(s), the Corpus Christi College Research and Travel Grant(s) and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Travel Grant

From box to pavilion : variable enclosure as a strategy for making dwellings in Florida

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1981.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-68).This thesis explores the design of dwellings which respond to the warm, humid climate of central Florida. The central hypothesis is that a house should change with the seasons; through the use of variable enclosure the house can close up into a mechanically conditioned "box" during uncomfortable weather and open up as a "pavilion" during pleasant conditions. The thesis begins with a brief explanation of some characteristics of Florida's climate. This is followed by a discussion of some dwellings which have also used the "box and pavilion" strategy. The major portion of this work presents a collection of reference patterns for creating dwellings for warm, humid climates; there are examples to show how these patterns were incorporated into my design exploration. Finally, the thesis closes with a brief review of the references and a comparison with the product of my design exploration.by Steven John Boyington.M.Arch

Perceptions of Individual and Community Environmental Influences on Fruit and Vegetable Intake, North Carolina, 2004

Introduction: Increases in obesity and other chronic conditions continue to fuel efforts for lifestyle behavior changes. However, many strategies do not address the impact of environment on lifestyle behaviors, particularly healthy dietary intake. This study explored the perceptions of environment on intake of fruits and vegetables in a cohort of 2,479 people recruited from 22 family practices in North Carolina. Methods: Participants were administered a health and social demographic survey. Formative assessment was conducted on a subsample of 32 people by using focus groups, semistructured individual interviews, community mapping, and photographs. Interviews and discussions were transcribed and content was analyzed using ATLAS.ti version 5. Survey data were evaluated for means, frequencies, and group differences. Results: The 2,479 participants had a mean age of 52.8 years, mean body mass index (BMI) of 29.4, and were predominantly female, white, married, and high school graduates. The 32 subsample participants were older, heavier, and less educated. Some prevalent perceptions about contextual factors related to dietary intake included taste-bud fatigue (boredom with commonly eaten foods), life stresses, lack of forethought in meal planning, current health status, economic status, the ability to garden, lifetime dietary exposure, concerns about food safety, contradictory nutrition messages from the media, and variable work schedules. Conclusion: Perceptions about intake of fruits and vegetables intake are influenced by individual (intrinsic) and community (extrinsic) environmental factors. We suggest approaches for influencing behavior and changing perceptions using available resources

Prevention of urinary incontinence in adults: population-based strategies

BACKGROUND: Urinary incontinence (UI) affects large numbers of adults, especially older adults, with an estimated 200 million adults worldwide having this life-altering condition. OBJECTIVES: To identify key populations at risk for urinary incontinence and propose population-based strategies to promote continence with a substantive focus on UI prevention. METHODS: Critical review of extant literature and iterative synthesis were undertaken to generate an action plan to guide future UI prevention research. RESULTS: Key populations identified to be at risk for UI are women in selected occupations, childbearing women, older adults with lifestyle risk factors, older adults with comorbid conditions, and nursing home residents. Population-based research activities are proposed. Growing evidence supports the benefit of pelvic floor muscle training to prevent childbirth and prostatectomy-related UI. Bladder training has demonstrated preventive capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Because of its high prevalence and chronic but preventable nature, UI is most appropriately considered a public health problem. Nursing research is needed to test prevention programs for UI using a population-based public health focus

Use of Hemagglutinin Stem Probes Demonstrate Prevalence of Broadly Reactive Group 1 Influenza Antibodies in Human Sera.

A better understanding of the seroprevalence and specificity of influenza HA stem-directed broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) in the human population could significantly inform influenza vaccine design efforts. Here, we utilized probes comprising headless, HA stabilized stem (SS) to determine the prevalence, binding and neutralization breadth of antibodies directed to HA stem-epitope in a cross-sectional analysis of the general population. Five group-1 HA SS probes, representing five subtypes, were chosen for this analyses. Eighty-four percent of samples analyzed had specific reactivity to at least one probe, with approximately 60% of the samples reactive to H1 probes, and up to 45% reactive to each of the non-circulating subtypes. Thirty percent of analyzed sera had cross-reactivity to at least four of five probes and this reactivity could be blocked by competing with F10 bNAb. Binding cross-reactivity in sera samples significantly correlated with frequency of H1H5 cross-reactive B cells. Interestingly, only 33% of the cross-reactive sera neutralized both H1N1 and H5N1 pseudoviruses. Cross-reactive and neutralizing antibodies were more prevalent in individuals >50 years of age. Our data demonstrate the need to use multiple HA-stem probes to assess for broadly reactive antibodies. Further, a universal vaccine could be designed to boost pre-existing B-cells expressing stem-directed bNAbs

Learning effective amino acid interactions through iterative stochastic techniques

The prediction of the three-dimensional structures of the native state of proteins from the sequences of their amino acids is one of the most important challenges in molecular biology. An essential ingredient to solve this problem within coarse-grained models is the task of deducing effective interaction potentials between the amino acids. Over the years several techniques have been developed to extract potentials that are able to discriminate satisfactorily between the native and non-native folds of a pre-assigned protein sequence. In general, when these potentials are used in actual dynamical folding simulations, they lead to a drift of the native structure outside the quasi-native basin. In this study, we present and validate an approach to overcome this difficulty. By exploiting several numerical and analytical tools we set up a rigorous iterative scheme to extract potentials satisfying a pre-requisite of any viable potential: the stabilization of proteins within their native basin (less than 3-4 \AA$$ cRMS). The scheme is flexible and is demonstrated to be applicable to a variety of parametrizations of the energy function and provides, in each case, the optimal potentials.Comment: Revtex 17 pages, 10 eps figures. Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics (in press