12 research outputs found
Postpartum Maternal Health at a Time of Rapid Societal Change in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Background. Abu Dhabi has undergone a rapid transition from a subsistence economy to a wealthy modern state over the last 50 years. This paper presents an insight into the health status of Emirati mothers during this transition through a prospective longitudinal study of mothers who gave birth in a government maternity hospital in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.Methods. 125 women were interviewed within the first week after birth, as part of a larger study encompassing a wide range of cultural, social, and behavioural aspects of health. They were then re-interviewed at three, six and 15 months postpartum. A food frequency questionnaire was also administered to the mothers at birth. Data were analysed using univariate statistics.Results. Over 70% of the mothers had BMI in the overweight and obese categories, and approximately half of the women were dissatisfied with their weight. Contributing factors were likely to be diets high in fats and sugar, low levels of exercise and womenâs limited involvement in household food purchasing and preparation. Iron deficiency anaemia, diabetes, asthma and fertility problems were found to be the most common concerns amongst the participants prior to conception. Anaemia rates were high during pregnancy, with 35% having haemoglobin < 11 g/dL, and were positively associated with parity. Belief in traditional and herbal medicines was strong, with 43% of women using a variety of remedies during pregnancy.Conclusions. Policies and support mechanisms to encourage women to make better dietary choices and to provide more opportunities for exercising are required to improve the health of mothers in the UAE. The development of good quality health care has resulted in the better maternal health outcomes, although traditional practices in relation to herbal medicines are still common.
X-rays and hard UV radiation From the First Galaxies: Ionization Bubbles and 21 cm Observations
The first stars and quasars are known sources of hard ionizing radiation in
the first billion years of the Universe. We examine the joint effects of X-rays
and hard UV radiation from such first-light sources on the hydrogen and helium
reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at early times, and the
associated heating. We study the growth and evolution of individual HII, HeII
and HeIII regions around early galaxies with first stars and/or QSO
populations. We find that in the presence of helium-ionizing radiation, X-rays
may not dominate the ionization and thermal history of the IGM at redshifts, z,
of 10-20, contributing relatively modest increases to IGM ionization, and
heating up to about 10^3--10^5 K in IGM temperatures. We also calculate the 21
cm signal expected from a number of scenarios with metal-free starbursts and
quasars at these redshifts. The peak values for the spin temperature reach
about 10^4 to 10^5 K in such cases. The maximum values for the 21 cm brightness
temperature are around 30-40 mK in emission, while the net values of the 21 cm
absorption signal range from about a few to 60 mK on scales of 0.01-1 Mpc. We
find that the 21 cm signature of X-ray versus UV ionization could be distinct,
with the emission signal expected from X-rays alone occurring at smaller scales
than that from UV radiation, resulting from the inherently different spatial
scales at which X-ray and UV ionization/heating manifest. This difference is
time-dependent, and becomes harder to distinguish with an increasing X-ray
contribution to the total ionizing photon production. Such differing
scale-dependent contributions from X-ray and UV photons may therefore "blur"
the 21 cm signature of the percolation of ionized bubbles around early halos
(depending on whether a cosmic X-ray or UV background built up first), and
affect the interpretation of 21 cm data constraints on reionization.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 15 pages, 14 figure
Neural mechanisms of social influence in adolescence
During the transformative period of adolescence, social influence plays a prominent role in shaping young peopleâs emerging social identities, and can impact their propensity to engage in prosocial or risky behaviors. In this study, we examine the neural correlates of social influence from both parents and peers, two important sources of influence. Nineteen adolescents (age 16â18 years) completed a social influence task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Social influence from both sources evoked activity in brain regions implicated in mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex, left temporoparietal junction, right temporoparietal junction), reward (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), and self-control (right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). These results suggest that mental state reasoning, social reward and self-control processes may help adolescents to evaluate othersâ perspectives and overcome the prepotent force of their own antecedent attitudes to shift their attitudes toward those of others. Findings suggest common neural networks involved in social influence from both parents and peers
CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
This paper describes the Hubble Space Telescope imaging data products and
data reduction procedures for the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic
Legacy Survey (CANDELS). This survey is designed to document the evolution of
galaxies and black holes at , and to study Type Ia SNe beyond
. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with
extensive multiwavelength observations. The primary CANDELS data consist of
imaging obtained in the Wide Field Camera 3 / infrared channel (WFC3/IR) and
UVIS channel, along with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The
CANDELS/Deep survey covers \sim125 square arcminutes within GOODS-N and
GOODS-S, while the remainder consists of the CANDELS/Wide survey, achieving a
total of \sim800 square arcminutes across GOODS and three additional fields
(EGS, COSMOS, and UDS). We summarize the observational aspects of the survey as
motivated by the scientific goals and present a detailed description of the
data reduction procedures and products from the survey. Our data reduction
methods utilize the most up to date calibration files and image combination
procedures. We have paid special attention to correcting a range of
instrumental effects, including CTE degradation for ACS, removal of electronic
bias-striping present in ACS data after SM4, and persistence effects and other
artifacts in WFC3/IR. For each field, we release mosaics for individual epochs
and eventual mosaics containing data from all epochs combined, to facilitate
photometric variability studies and the deepest possible photometry. A more
detailed overview of the science goals and observational design of the survey
are presented in a companion paper.Comment: 39 pages, 25 figure
The effect of social rank feedback on risk taking and associated reward processes in adolescent girls
The onset of adolescence is associated with an increased tendency to engage in risky behaviors and a developmental shift toward peers that contributes to increased prioritization for learning about and achieving social status. There is relatively little understanding about the specific links between these adolescent-typical phenomena, particularly regarding their neural underpinnings. Based on existing models that suggest the role of puberty in promoting adolescent status-seeking and risk-taking tendencies, we investigated the relation of pubertal hormones with behavioral and neural responses to status-relevant social information in the context of risk taking. We used a probabilistic decision task in which 11- to 13-year-old girls chose to take a risk, or not, while receiving either social rank or monetary performance feedback. While feedback type did not differentially influence risk-taking behavior, whole-brain imaging results showed that activation in the anterior insula was increased for risk taking in the social rank feedback condition compared to the monetary feedback condition. This heightened activation was more pronounced in girls with higher estradiol levels. These findings suggest that brain processes involved in adolescent risky decisions may be influenced by the desire for social-status enhancement and provide preliminary evidence for the role of pubertal hormones in enhancing this adolescent-typical social sensitivity
A Pathfinder for JWST Spectroscopy: Deep High Spectral Resolution Maps of Galaxies over 1
International audienceWe propose deep, spatially resolved NIRSpec MSA near-IR spectroscopy of ~40 galaxies at redshifts
A Pathfinder for JWST Spectroscopy: Deep High Spectral Resolution Maps of Galaxies over 1
International audienceWe propose deep, spatially resolved NIRSpec MSA near-IR spectroscopy of ~40 galaxies at redshifts
Postoperative continuous positive airway pressure to prevent pneumonia, re-intubation, and death after major abdominal surgery (PRISM): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial
Background: Respiratory complications are an important cause of postoperative morbidity. We aimed to investigate whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) administered immediately after major abdominal surgery could prevent postoperative morbidity.
Methods: PRISM was an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial done at 70 hospitals across six countries. Patients aged 50 years or older who were undergoing elective major open abdominal surgery were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive CPAP within 4 h of the end of surgery or usual postoperative care. Patients were randomly assigned using a computer-generated minimisation algorithm with inbuilt concealment. The primary outcome was a composite of pneumonia, endotracheal re-intubation, or death within 30 days after randomisation, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was assessed in all patients who received CPAP. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN56012545.
Findings: Between Feb 8, 2016, and Nov 11, 2019, 4806 patients were randomly assigned (2405 to the CPAP group and 2401 to the usual care group), of whom 4793 were included in the primary analysis (2396 in the CPAP group and 2397 in the usual care group). 195 (8\ub71%) of 2396 patients in the CPAP group and 197 (8\ub72%) of 2397 patients in the usual care group met the composite primary outcome (adjusted odds ratio 1\ub701 [95% CI 0\ub781-1\ub724]; p=0\ub795). 200 (8\ub79%) of 2241 patients in the CPAP group had adverse events. The most common adverse events were claustrophobia (78 [3\ub75%] of 2241 patients), oronasal dryness (43 [1\ub79%]), excessive air leak (36 [1\ub76%]), vomiting (26 [1\ub72%]), and pain (24 [1\ub71%]). There were two serious adverse events: one patient had significant hearing loss and one patient had obstruction of their venous catheter caused by a CPAP hood, which resulted in transient haemodynamic instability.
Interpretation: In this large clinical effectiveness trial, CPAP did not reduce the incidence of pneumonia, endotracheal re-intubation, or death after major abdominal surgery. Although CPAP has an important role in the treatment of respiratory failure after surgery, routine use of prophylactic post-operative CPAP is not recommended