Barriers to family planning use amongst the urban poor in Pakistan

This paper examines the determinants of family planning service use and the barriers in accessing family planning services among urban poor women in Pakistan. Data were collected from a household survey of 5338 married women of reproductive age (15-45) from slum areas of six cities.The use of family planning services by women in urban slums is strongly linked to individual and household socioeconomic factors. In particular, women were ten times more likely to have used a family planning service if her husband approved. This research has highlighted two key issues regarding the provision of family planning services to the urban poor. First, the urban poor cannot be treated as a homogenous group; there exist important socio-demographic variations within the urban poor population in relation to their use of family planning services and the barriers faced in service utilization. Second, although the urban poor are both economically and physicallydisadvantaged in access to services, women identified socio-cultural factors as the greatest barrier to family planning service use. This finding is consistent with studies focusing on the general population of Pakistan

An in vitro study of the adhesion of blood platelets onto vascular catheters. Part I

The adhesion of human blood platelets onto vascular catheters was studied using a specially designed perfusion chamber. Polyurethane catheters were exposed to citrated human blood for different periods (up to 20 min) and at different wall shear rates (190, 260, 330 sec-1). The rate of platelet adhesion was determined using 111In-labeled platelets, while the morphology of adhering platelets was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. A linear increase in platelet adhesion was found within the first 10 min of perfusion, after which a plateau value was reached. The number of adhering platelets did not vary significantly with the shear rates applied, which may indicate that within the range of shear rates studied, the adhesion of platelets onto the catheter surface is mainly determined by the rate of the reaction between the platelets and the material surface. Catheters coated with a conjugate of heparin and albumin showed a four- to five-fold reduction in platelet adhesion as compared to uncoated catheters. This reduction in platelet adhesion was not only due to the presence of albumin moieties at the surface but also to the presence of heparin residues in the adsorbed albumin-heparin conjugate

Inhibition of surface induced coagulation by preadsorption of albumin-heparin conjugates

Surface coatings of the albumin-heparin conjugates were developed to improve the blood compatibility of polymeric materials. Glass, PVC, Biomer and cellulose acetate were coated with albumin-heparin conjugate and its adsorption and desorption behavior on glass in particular was studied using 3H and 51Cr radiolabeled conjugates. Precoated materials showed a significant prolongation of the Lee-White clotting time as compared with noncoated ones. It was demonstrated that the prolonged clotting time for pretreated glass was due to surface bound conjugate. Prolonged recalcification times of plasma exposed to glass, Biomer, and PVC were obtained using albumin-heparin conjugate precoated surfaces. Albumin-heparin conjugates with high affinity for antithrombin III gave more prolonged clotting times as low affinity conjugates when used as coatings for glass. This indicates that the behaviour of heparin in preadsorbed conjugates resembles that of heparin in solution