Understanding the Discourses of Traumatic Birth and the Transition to Motherhood Using Relational Dialectics Theory

The majority of existing research regarding birth and the transition to motherhood focuses on the physical health outcomes of mother and baby, often ignoring the social and emotional impact of the birth process (Leggett, 2014). The lack of focus on social and emotional outcomes for new mothers may be especially harmful for those who experience traumatic birth, as it is subjective in nature and is often overlooked as a routine birth by health professionals (Alder, Stadlmayr, Tschudin, & Bitzer, 2006; Beck, 2004a). Traumatic childbirth is defined as an event occurring during the labor and delivery process that involves actual or threatened serious injury or death to the mother or her infant (Beck, 2004a). Framed by relational dialectics theory (Baxter, 2011), the current investigation sought to understand women’s meaning making processes in publicly shared stories about birth trauma and transition to motherhood. Contrapuntal analysis (Baxter, 2011) was used to identify culturally dominant systems of meaning embedded in women’s talk about traumatic birth and their transition to motherhood. Forty-one women’s stories recounting traumatic births were analyzed within a variety of contexts (e.g., natural birth, cesarean, preemie). The dominant discourse of intensive motherhood informed much of women\u27s talk about pregnancy, traumatic birth, and transition to motherhood. Discursive interplay was also identified during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood communication through the struggle between the discourse of intensive motherhood and the discourse of individualism through negating, countering, and entertaining. Mothers only distanced themselves from the discourse of intensive motherhood when they spoke about their traumatic birth on an individual level, outside their role as mother, as women were largely supported intensive motherhood

Meeting their potential: the role of education and technology in overcoming disadvantage and disaffection in young people

This report is a review of literature, policy and reported practice, exploring the potential of technology to mitigate disaffection and disadvantage in education and raise attainment of those young people who are under-achieving in school or other educational settings

The democratic engagement of Britain's ethnic minorities

Democratic engagement is a multi-faceted phenomenon that embraces citizens' involvement with electoral politics, their participation in ‘conventional’ extra-parliamentary political activity, their satisfaction with democracy and trust in state institutions, and their rejection of the use of violence for political ends. Evidence from the 2010 BES and EMBES shows that there are important variations in patterns of democratic engagement across Britain's different ethnic-minority groups and across generations. Overall, ethnic-minority engagement is at a similar level to and moved by the same general factors that influence the political dispositions of whites. However, minority democratic engagement is also strongly affected by a set of distinctive ethnic-minority perceptions and experiences, associated particularly with discrimination and patterns of minority and majority cultural engagement. Second-generation minorities who grew up in Britain are less, rather than more, likely to be engaged

Assessing Differences between Early and Later Adopters of Accountable Care Organizations Using Taxonomic Analysis

Objective. To compare early and later adopters of the accountable care organization (ACO) model, using the taxonomy of larger, integrated system; smaller, physician-led; and hybrid ACOs. Data sources. The National Survey of ACOs, Waves 1 and 2. Studydesign. Clusteranalysisusingthetwo-stepclusteringapproach,validatedusing discriminant analysis. Wave 2 data analyzed separately to assess differences from Wave 1 and then data pooled across waves. Findings. Compared to early ACOs, later adopter ACOs included a greater breadth of provider group types and a greater proportion self-reported as integrated delivery systems. When data from the two time periods were combined, a three-cluster solution similar to the original cluster solution emerged. Of the 251 ACOs, 31.1 percent were larger, integrated system ACOs; 45.0 percent were smaller physician-led ACOs; and 23.9 percent were hybrid ACOs—compared to 40.1 percent, 34.0 percent, and 25.9 percent from Wave 1 clusters, respectively. Conclusions. While there are some differences between ACOs formed prior to August 2012 and those formed in the following year, the three-cluster taxonomy appears to best describe the types of ACOs in existence as of July 2013. The updated taxonomy can be used by researchers, policy makers, and health care organizations to support evaluation and continued development of ACOs

The human nasal mucosa after deprivation of airflow: A study of laryngectomy patients

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Embryonic Lethality in Mice Homozygous for a Targeted Disruption of the N-myc Gene

The N-myc gene encodes a putative transcription factor that is thought to function in the regulation of gene expression during cell differentiation and/or growth. To examine the role of N-myc during development, we have used targeted mutagenesis in embryonic stem cells to produce a mouse line that carries an N-myc null allele. Mice homozygous for the mutation died between 10.5 and 12.5 days of gestation. Histological analysis of mutant embryos revealed that organs and tissues expected at these stages of development were present. However, multiple defects were observed, primarily in tissues and organs that normally express N-myc. In particular, mutant hearts were underdeveloped, often retaining the S-shape more typical of 9-day-old embryos. In addition, cranial and spinal ganglia were reduced in size and/or cellularity. Most of the noted defects were more consistent with a role of N-myc in proliferation of precursor populations than with a block in differentiation per se, at least at these early stages. These results demonstrate that N-myc plays an essential role during development and clearly confirm that N-myc has a physiological function that is distinct from that of the other myc-family genes

Embryonic stem cell-derived hemangioblasts remain epigenetically plastic and require PRC1 to prevent neural gene expression.

Many lineage-specific developmental regulator genes are transcriptionally primed in embryonic stem (ES) cells; RNA Pol(II) is bound at their promoters but is prevented from productive elongation by the activity of polycomb repressive complexes (PRC) 1 and 2. This epigenetically poised state is thought to enable ES cells to rapidly execute multiple differentiation programs and is recognized by a simultaneous enrichment for trimethylation of lysine 4 and trimethylation of lysine 27 of histone H3 (bivalent chromatin) across promoter regions. Here we show that the chromatin profile of this important cohort of genes is progressively modified as ES cells differentiate toward blood-forming precursors. Surprisingly however, neural specifying genes, such as Nkx2-2, Nkx2-9, and Sox1, remain bivalent and primed even in committed hemangioblasts, as conditional deletion of PRC1 results in overt and inappropriate expression of neural genes in hemangioblasts. These data reinforce the importance of PRC1 for normal hematopoietic differentiation and reveal an unexpected epigenetic plasticity of mesoderm-committed hemangioblasts

A Multinational Longitudinal Study Incorporating Intensive Methods to Examine Caregiver Experiences in the Context of Chronic Health Conditions: Protocol of the ENTWINE-iCohort

Informal caregivers are those who provide unpaid care to a relative or friend with a chronic illness, disability or other long-lasting health or care need. Providing informal care in the context of chronic health conditions presents a significant global challenge. Examination of the determinants of informal caregivers’ behaviour, especially in terms of motivations and willingness to provide/receive care, is crucial to understanding the nature of caregiver and care recipient experiences. A large group of international researchers have co-operated to execute the ENTWINE iCohort-a multinational, transdisciplinary, longitudinal study incorporating intensive methods to examine caregiver experiences in the context of chronic health conditions. The aim of ENTWINE-iCohort is to investigate the broad spectrum of factors, i.e., cultural, personal, geographical, relational, psychological, and economic that may affect motivations, willingness to provide or receive care, among diverse groups of informal caregivers and their care recipients, in different countries that have different care systems. Study questionnaires will be disseminated on-line in nine countries: Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the UK. Cross-sectional and longitudinal multivariate analysis, including intensive longitudinal and dyadic data analysis will be applied to examine the relative contribution of the above factors to caregiver or care recipient wellbeing