Where Trying to Conceive Becomes a Community Effort: A Digital Ethnography of Online Infertility Forums

Online forums for women using in vitro fertilization (IVF), or similar assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), provide a useful setting to further evaluate and understand women’s expectations of motherhood, the relationship infertile women have with physicians and biomedicine, and their interactions on the forums. Some critics of ARTs consider them a tool of oppression in a pronatalist state. The pressure and desire to become a biological mother leads the women with access to these technologies to use them regardless. Through digital ethnographic research on four online ART forums, this research examines the intersection of altruism and self-interest in the ways forum-users give and seek support, as well as how the structure of the forums allows for these interactions to occur. The forums still reflect society’s pronatalist preference of biological motherhood, but they function as a space women can participate in to gain and provide knowledge and encouragement during this time in their lives

Comprehensive Physical Therapy Management Of Peroneal Tendonitis With Associated Painful Os Peroneum Syndrome: A Case Report

Treatment for peroneal tendonitis is well documented. Treatment of Painful Os Peroneum Sydrome (POPS) is not. Currently, there is no research that has investigated the best treatment for a combined diagnosis of POPS and peroneal tendonitis. The purpose of this case report was to investigate a comprehensive plan of care (POC) for a 65-year-old woman with a combined diagnosis of peroneal tendonitis and POPShttps://dune.une.edu/pt_studcrposter/1140/thumbnail.jp

SB33-10/11: UM Recycling Fee

SB33-10/11: UM Recycling Fee. This resolution passed with unanimous consent during the March 30, 2011 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

Cyberbullying: Reciprocal links with Social Anxiety, Self-Esteem and Resilience in U.K. school children.

During childhood and adolescence, many challenges are faced, each with the potential for adverse psychological, social and educational outcomes. However, one of the greatest concerns for school aged children continues to be bullying, which is constantly changing due to the development of modern technology, and the subsequent growth of cyberbullying. As cyberbullying is a relatively novel construct within psychological literature, there is a considerable lack of explorative research, particularly surrounding the potential impacts of cyberbullying. Thus, the present study intended to address several gaps in the existing literature, by working towards a more functional explanation of the relationship between cyberbullying and social anxiety, specifically in U.K. adolescents. Additionally, the role of self-esteem and resilience have been explored in terms of their protective benefits. Based upon a sample of 653 school children, aged 10-16 years, simple and hierarchical multiple regression revealed a potentially reciprocal relationship between cyberbullying and social anxiety. Results also revealed cyberbullying, self-esteem and resilience to uniquely predict social anxiety, and social anxiety and self-esteem to uniquely predict cyberbullying. Gender differences in cyberbullying, self-esteem and resilience were also reported. Taken together, the findings provide information that may be crucial in understanding, preventing and intervening in cyberbullying to limit adverse outcomes

Developing and evaluating an online learning tool to improve midwives’ accuracy of visual estimation of blood loss during waterbirth: an experimental study

Objective: The principal objective was to test the effectiveness of an online learning tool to improve midwives’ accuracy of blood loss estimations in a birthing pool environment. The secondary objective was to assess the acceptability of the online learning tool to the midwives using it. Design: A one group pre-test, post-test experiment with immediate and six weeks follow-up to test ability together with an online questionnaire to assess perceived usefulness of an online learning tool. Setting: A large NHS maternity hospital comprising an acute care obstetric unit, a small district unit labour ward, one alongside midwifery-led unit and three freestanding midwifery-led units. Participants: Volunteer NHS employed midwives who had experience in caring for women labouring and giving birth in water (n = 24). Intervention: An online learning tool comprising six randomly ordered short video simulations of blood loss in a birthing pool in real time, and a tutorial giving verbal and pictorial guidance on making accurate blood loss estimations in water was developed then piloted. Midwives’ accuracy scores for estimating blood loss in each of the videos were calculated at three timepoints; pre and immediately post the learning component, and six weeks later. The estimated blood loss volume was subtracted from the actual blood loss volume, to give the difference between estimated and real blood loss in millilitres (ml) which was then converted to percentage difference to standardise comparison across the six volumes. The differences between pre- and post-learning for each of the six blood volumes was analysed using a repeated measures ANOVA. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. An online questionnaire incorporated questions using Likert scales to gauge confidence and competence and free text. Free text responses were analysed using a modified form of inductive content analysis. Findings: Twenty-two midwives completed the online learning and immediate post-test, 14 completed a post-test after six weeks, and 15 responded to the online questionnaire. Pre-test results showed under-estimation of all blood loss volumes and particularly for the two largest volumes (1000 and 1100 ml). Across all volumes, accuracy of estimation was significantly improved at post-test 1. Accuracy diminished slightly, but overall improvement remained, at post-test 2. Participants rated the online tool positively and made suggestions for refining it. Key conclusions and implications for practice: This is the first study measuring the accuracy of midwives’ blood loss estimations in a birthing pool using real-time simulations and testing the effectiveness of an online learning tool to improve this important skill. Our findings indicate a need to develop interventions to improve midwives’ accuracy at visually estimating blood loss in water, and the potential of an online approach. Most women who labour and/or give birth in water do so in midwifery-led settings without immediate access to medical support. Accuracy in blood loss estimations is an essential core skil

Competitive assembly of South Pacific invasive ant communities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The relative importance of chance and determinism in structuring ecological communities has been debated for nearly a century. Evidence for determinism or assembly rules is often evaluated with null models that randomize the occurrence of species in particular locales. However, analyses of the presence or absence of species ignores the potential influence of species abundances, which have long been considered of major importance on community structure. Here, we test for community assembly rules in ant communities on small islands of the Tokelau archipelago using both presence-absence and abundance data. We conducted three sets of analyses on two spatial scales using three years of sampling data from 39 plots on 11 islands.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>First, traditional null model tests showed support for negative species co-occurrence patterns among plots within islands, but not among islands. A plausible explanation for this result is that analyses at larger spatial scales merge heterogeneous habitats that have considerable effects on species occurrences. Second, analyses of ant abundances showed that samples with high ant abundances had fewer species than expected by chance, both within and among islands. One ant species, the invasive yellow crazy ant <it>Anoplolepis gracilipes</it>, appeared to have a particularly strong effect on community structure correlated with its abundance. Third, abundances of most ant species were inversely correlated with the abundances of all other ants at both spatial scales. This result is consistent with competition theory, which predicts species distributions are affected by diffuse competition with suites of co-occurring species.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results support a pluralistic explanation for ant species abundances and assembly. Both stochastic and deterministic processes interact to determine ant community assembly, though abundance patterns clearly drive the deterministic patterns in this community. These deterministic patterns were observed at two spatial scales. Results indicate that abundance-based null models may be more sensitive in detecting non-random patterns in community assembly than species co-occurrences analyses.</p

The DDO IVC Distance Project: Survey Description and the Distance to G139.6+47.6

We present a detailed analysis of the distance determination for one intermediate Velocity Cloud (IVC G139.6+47.6) from the ongoing DDO IVC Distance Project. Stars along the line of sight to G139.6+47.6 are examined for the presence of sodium absorption attributable to the cloud, and the distance bracket is established by astrometric and spectroscopic parallax measurements of demonstrated foreground and background stars. We detail our strategy regarding target selection, observational setup, and analysis of the data, including a discussion of wavelength calibration and sky subtraction uncertainties. We find a distance estimate of 129 (+/- 10) pc for the lower limit and 257 (+211-33) pc for the upper limit. Given the high number of stars showing absorption due to this IVC, we also discuss the small-scale covering factor of the cloud and the likely significance of non-detections for subsequent observations of this and other similar IVC's. Distance measurements of the remaining targets in the DDO IVC project will be detailed in a companion paper.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, LaTe

Blastomyces Antigen Detection for Monitoring Progression of Blastomycosis in a Pregnant Adolescent

Although disseminated blastomycosis is a rare complication in pregnancy, delay in diagnosis and treatment can be fatal. We investigate the use of the Blastomyces urine antigen in diagnosis following disease progression in the intrapartum, postpartum, and neonatal periods. We describe a case of disseminated blastomycosis in a pregnant adolescent and review the pertinent literature regarding treatment and monitoring blastomycosis in pregnancy and the neonatal periods. This is the first reported case in which the Blastomyces urine antigen is utilized as a method of following disease activity during pregnancy confirming absence of clinically evident disease in a neonate. Urine antigen detection for blastomycosis can be useful for following progression of disease in patients with disseminated blastomycosis in both the intrapartum and postpartum periods