The Association Between Advanced Maternal Age and Short Interpregnancy Intervals on Preterm Labor

Background: Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality and has become a major health concern due to the increasing rates of infant deaths in the United States (WHO, 2017). Studying maternal risk factors for preterm labor provides insight to this obscure condition and can assist in the identification of high risk women, as well as facilitate appropriate pregnancy planning. Purpose: Although research can be found on interpregnancy intervals and maternal age as independent risk factors for premature labor, gaps exist within the relation of these variables. This study was done to investigate whether there is a significant risk association between advanced maternal age (35 years and older) and short interpregnancy intervals on premature labor, that deems transferring out of a low risk birthing center to a more advanced hospitalized setting. Methodology: De-identified data regarding obstetric history, medical history, and pregnancy morbidity was abstracted from women who delivered at Baby + Co., a birthing center in Nashville, Tennessee, between the years of 2015 and 2018. The population set included 1001 women, 5 of which delivered preterm. Means and standard deviations for the two groups were calculated, and two sided t-tests and corresponding p-values were calculated. Result: There was no statistical significance regarding maternal age and preterm transfers (p-value of 0.762). However, there was a positive correlation between short interpregnancy intervals and preterm birth (p-value .007). Discussion: Due to the low risk population included in this study, there is a need for additional research conducted within a higher risk population set to determine the significance and interaction between advanced maternal age and short interpregnancy intervals on preterm labor

A study of the usefulness of Skylab EREP data for earth resources studies in Australia

The author has identified the following significant results. Preliminary results show that the high resolution imagery has, potentially, an operational role in geological surveying and the design of major engineering works, and is much more promising in this regard than the low resolution Skylab and ERTS-1 imagery

The Association Between Advanced Maternal Age and Short Interpregnancy Intervals on Preterm Labor

Abstract Background: Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality and has become a major health concern due to the increasing rates of infant deaths in the United States (WHO, 2017). Studying maternal risk factors for preterm labor provides insight to this obscure condition and can assist in the identification of high risk women, as well as facilitate appropriate pregnancy planning. Purpose: Although research can be found on interpregnancy intervals and maternal age as independent risk factors for premature labor, gaps exist within the relation of these variables. This study was done to investigate whether there is a significant risk association between advanced maternal age (35 years and older) and short interpregnancy intervals on premature labor, that deems transferring out of a low risk birthing center to a more advanced hospitalized setting. Methodology: De-identified data regarding obstetric history, medical history, and pregnancy morbidity was abstracted from women who delivered at Baby + Co., a birthing center in Nashville, Tennessee, between the years of 2015 and 2018. The population set included 1001 women, 5 of which delivered preterm. Means and standard deviations for the two groups were calculated, and two sided t-tests and corresponding p-values were calculated. Result: There was no statistical significance regarding maternal age and preterm transfers (p-value of 0.762). However, there was a positive correlation between short interpregnancy intervals and preterm birth (p-value .007). Discussion: Due to the low risk population included in this study, there is a need for additional research conducted within a higher risk population set to determine the significance and interaction between advanced maternal age and short interpregnancy intervals on preterm labor

Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana

Abstract Background Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in low and middle-income countries have the potential for occupational injuries due to the nature of their work at informal e-waste sites. However, limited research exists on stress, noise, occupational injuries, and health risks associated with this work environment. This study evaluated injury experience, noise exposures, and stress risk factors among e-waste workers at the large recycling site in the Agbogbloshie market, Accra, Ghana. Methods Participants completed a survey addressing their work, health status, stress, exposures to several occupational hazards (including noise), use of personal protective equipment at work, and injury experience. A subset of participants also completed personal noise dosimetry measurements. Poisson regression was used to evaluate the association between the number of injuries experienced by participants and various factors evaluated in the survey. Results Forty-six male e-waste workers completed the survey, and 26 completed a noise dosimetry measurement. Participants experienced an average of 9.9 ± 9.6 injuries per person in the previous 6 months (range: 1–40). The majority of injuries were lacerations (65.2%), and the most common injury location was the hand (45.7%). Use of personal protective equipment was rare. The mean time-weighted average noise level was 78.8 ± 5.9 dBA. Higher perceived stress, greater age, poorer health status, not using gloves, and involvement in dismantling activities were associated with an increased number of injuries. After controlling for each of these risk factors, perceived stress level and perceived noise exposure were associated with a significantly greater number of injuries. Conclusions Our study identified a large number of injuries among informal e-waste recyclers, and we found that higher levels of perceived stress and perceived noise were associated with an increased number of occupational injuries, even after controlling for other injury risk factors.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146778/1/12995_2018_Article_222.pd

Drivers and barriers of international migration of doctors to and from the United Kingdom: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Many high-income countries are heavily dependent on internationally trained doctors to staff their healthcare workforce. Over one-third of doctors practising in the UK received their primary medical qualification abroad. Simultaneously, an average of around 2.1% of doctors leave the UK medical workforce annually to go overseas. The aim of this study was to identify the drivers and barriers of international migration of doctors to and from the UK. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted. We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC and BEI in January 2020 (updated October 2021). Grey literature and citation searching were also carried out. Empirical studies reporting on the drivers and barriers to the international migration of doctors to and from the UK published in the English language from 2009 to present were included. The drivers and barriers were coded in NVivo 12 building on an existing framework. RESULTS: 40 studies were included. 62% were quantitative, 18% were qualitative, 15% were mixed-methods and 5% were literature reviews. Migration into and out of the UK is determined by a variety of macro- (global and national factors), meso- (profession led factors) and micro-level (personal factors). Interestingly, many of the key drivers of migration to the UK were also factors driving migration from the UK, including: poor working conditions, employment opportunities, better training and development opportunities, better quality of life, desire for a life change and financial reasons. The barriers included stricter immigration policies, the registration process and short-term job contracts. CONCLUSIONS: Our research contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive up-to-date review of the drivers and barriers of migration to and from the UK. The decision for a doctor to migrate is multi-layered and is a complex balance between push/pull at macro-/meso-/micro-levels. To sustain the UK's supply of overseas doctors, it is vital that migration policies take account of the drivers of migration particularly working conditions and active recruitment while addressing any potential barriers. Immigration policies to address the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic on the migration of doctors to and from the UK will be particularly important in the immediate future. Trial registration PROSPERO CRD42020165748

The Characteristics of Vascular Growth in VX2 Tumor Measured by MRI and Micro-CT

Blood supply is crucial for rapid growth of a malignant tumor; medical imaging can play an important role in evaluating the vascular characterstics of tumors. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and micro-computed tomography (CT) are able to detect tumors and measure blood volumes of microcirculation in tissue. In this study, we used MR imaging and micro-CT to assess the microcirculation in a VX2 tumor model in rabbits. MRI characterization was performed using the intravascular contrast agent Clariscan (NC100150-Injection); micro-CT with Microfil was used to directly depict blood vessels with diameters as low as 17 um in tissue. Relative blood volume fraction (rBVF) in the tumor rim and blood vessel density (rBVD) over the whole tumor was calculated using the two imaging methods. Our study indicates that rBVF is negatively related to the volume of the tumor measured by ultrasound (R = 0.90). rBVF in the tissue of a VX2 tumor measured by MRI in vivo was qualitatively consistent with the rBVD demonstrated by micro-CT in vitro (R = 0.97). The good correlation between the two methods indicates that MRI studies are potentially valuable for assessing characteristics or tumor vascularity and for assessing response to therapy noninvasively

Spectroscopic Observations of Convective Patterns in the Atmospheres of Metal-Poor Stars

Convective line asymmetries in the optical spectrum of two metal-poor stars, Gmb1830 and HD140283, are compared to those observed for solar metallicity stars. The line bisectors of the most metal-poor star, the subgiant HD140283, show a significantly larger velocity span that the expectations for a solar-metallicity star of the same spectral type and luminosity class. The enhanced line asymmetries are interpreted as the signature of the lower metal content, and therefore opacity, in the convective photospheric patterns. These findings point out the importance of three-dimensional convective velocity fields in the interpretation of the observed line asymmetries in metal-poor stars, and in particular, urge for caution when deriving isotopic ratios from observed line shapes and shifts using one-dimensional model atmospheres. The mean line bisector of the photospheric atomic lines is compared with those measured for the strong Mg I b1 and b2 features. The upper part of the bisectors are similar, and assuming they overlap, the bottom end of the stronger lines, which are formed higher in the atmosphere, goes much further to the red. This is in agreement with the expected decreasing of the convective blue-shifts in upper atmospheric layers, and compatible with the high velocity redshifts observed in the chromosphere, transition region, and corona of late-type stars.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX; 10 Figures (14 PostScript files); to be published in The Astrophysical Journa

Non-ancient solution of the Ricci flow

For any complete noncompact K$\ddot{a}$hler manifold with nonnegative and bounded holomorphic bisectional curvature,we provide the necessary and sufficient condition for non-ancient solution to the Ricci flow in this paper.Comment: seven pages, latex fil