A Q-methodology study of parental understandings of infant immunisation : implications for health-care advice.

This study used Q-methodology to explore systematically parental judgements about infant immunisation. A total of 45 parents completed a 31-statement Q-sort. Data were collected after vaccination in general practitioner practices or a private day nursery. Q factor analysis revealed four distinct viewpoints: a duty to immunise based on medical benefits, child-orientated protection based on parental belief, concern and distress and surprise at non-compliance. Additionally, there was a common view among parents that they did not regret immunising their children. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of health-care policy and future research

Risk Perception of Cigarette and E-cigarette use during Pregnancy: A Qualitative Postpartum Perspective

Aim: The aim of this exploratory qualitative analysis is to assess the perceptions of risks of cigarette and e-cigarette use during pregnancy. Background: An important public health aim is a reduction of smoking at time of delivery (SATOD) from 10.6% to less than 6% by 2022 in the United Kingdom (UK). In order to successfully meet this target, we need to have a better understanding of the perceived risks associated with cigarette smoking. Additionally, the use of e-cigarettes is increasing in the general population, with pregnant women being supported to use such products if it helps them remain smoke free. However, in contrast to cigarette smoking, there is little definitive research assessing the safety of e-cigarette use during pregnancy, with most information disregarding the health of the growing fetus. E-cigarettes are of special interest, given they are an unlicensed product for use during pregnancy, yet women are being supported to use them as a method of harm reduction. A better understanding of perceived risks is essential. Method: Fourteen interviews were conducted one month postpartum with women who smoked during pregnancy and continued to smoke after the birth. Thematic analysis was conducted. Suzanne Froggatt, Nadja Reissland, Judith Covey 2 Findings: Two themes emerged for cigarette smoking; health and justifications. Six themes were identified for e-cigarette use; the unknown, experience, comparison to cigarettes, the product, advice and healthier option. A range of subthemes are discussed. Conclusion: Women provided a range of justifications for continuing to smoke during pregnancy. Women felt e-cigarettes were a riskier option than continuing to smoke

A Q-methodology study of parental understandings of infant immunisation: Implications for health-care advice

This study used Q-methodology to explore systematically parental judgements about infant immunisation. A total of 45 parents completed a 31-statement Q-sort. Data were collected after vaccination in general practitioner practices or a private day nursery. Q factor analysis revealed four distinct viewpoints: a duty to immunise based on medical benefits, child-orientated protection based on parental belief, concern and distress and surprise at non-compliance. Additionally, there was a common view among parents that they did not regret immunising their children. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of health-care policy and future research

Effects of maternal mental health on prenatal movement profiles in twins and singletons

Aim: Prenatal experiences, including maternal stress, depression and anxiety, form crucial building blocks affecting the maturation of the fetal central nervous system. Previous research has examined fetal movements without considering effects of maternal mental health factors critical for healthy fetal development. The aim of this research is to assess the effects of maternal mental health factors on fetal twin compared with singleton movement profiles. Method: We coded fetal touch and head movements in 56 ultrasound scans, from a prospective opportunity sample of 30 mothers with a healthy pregnancy (mean gestational age 27.8 weeks for singleton and 27.2 for twins). At the ultrasound scan appointment, participants completed questionnaires assessing their stress, depression and anxiety. Results: Maternal depression increased fetal self-touch significantly. In fetal twins maternal stress significantly decreased and maternal depression significantly increased other twin touch. Maternal mental health factors affected the head movements of twins significantly more than singletons, with maternal depression decreasing head movement frequency for twins significantly. Conclusion: These results indicate that maternal mental health might have an impact on types of body schemata formed in utero, in twin compared with singleton pregnancies. Future research needs to examine whether these prenatal effects affect postnatal differences in body awareness

Ultrasound observations of subtle movements: a pilot study comparing fetuses of smoking and non-smoking mothers

Aim: One way to assess fetal health of smokers is to ask mothers to count perceived movements, an unreliable method hiding differences in prenatal development. The aim of this pilot study was to assess subtle fetal movements in ultrasound-scans and establish whether they differ in fetuses of mothers who smoked and non-smoking mothers. Methods: This longitudinal pilot-study recruited twenty mothers (16 non-smoking; 4 smoking) scanned four times from 24-36 weeks gestation (80 ultrasound scans). Two types of fine grained movements were coded offline and analysed using a Poisson log-linear mixed model. Results: Fetuses of smoking mothers showed a significantly higher rate of mouth-movements compared to fetuses of non-smoking mothers (p=0.02), after controlling for maternal stress and depression. As pregnancy progressed, these differences between the smoking and non-smoking groups widened. Differences between the two groups in the rate of fetal facial self-touch, remained constant as pregnancy progressed and was borderline significant (p=0.07). Conclusion: Rates of fetal mouth-movement and facial self-touch differ significantly between smokers and non-smokers. A larger study is needed to confirm these results and to investigate specific effects, including the interaction of maternal stress and smoking. Additionally, the feasibility of this technique for clinical practice should be assessed

The effects of nonlocality on the evolution of higher order fluxes in non-equilibrium thermodynamics

The role of gradient dependent constitutive spaces is investigated on the example of Extended Thermodynamics of rigid heat conductors. Different levels of nonlocality are developed and the different versions of extended thermodynamics are classified. The local form of the entropy density plays a crucial role in the investigations. The entropy inequality is solved under suitable constitutive assumptions. Balance form of evolution equations is obtained in special cases. Closure relations are derived on a phenomenological level.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

The development of anticipation in the fetus: a longitudinal account of human fetal mouth movements in reaction to and anticipation of touch

Background: Research suggests that fetuses open or close their mouth in relation to directed movements (e.g. Myowa-Yamakoshi & Takeshita, 2006) but it is unclear whether mouth opening anticipates the touch or is a reaction to touch, as there has been no analysis so far of 1) the facial area of touch and 2) the sequential ordering of touch and mouth movements. If there is prenatal development of touch we would expect the frequency of fetal mouth opening immediately preceding the arriving hand at the mouth area to increase with fetal age. Participants: Fifteen healthy fetuses, 8 girls and 7 boys, underwent four additional 4-D scans at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Results: Changes in the frequency of touch for different facial regions indicated a significant decline in touch upper and side part of the face and a significant increase in touching lower and perioral regions of the face with increasing gestational age. Results supporting the hypothesis showed a significant increase in the proportion of anticipatory mouth movements before touching increasing by around 8% with each week of gestational age. Additionally there was a decrease in the proportion of reactive mouth movements decreasing by around 3% for each week of gestational age

Instability of insulating states in optical lattices due to collective phonon excitations

The role of collective phonon excitations on the properties of cold atoms in optical lattices is investigated. These phonon excitations are collective excitations, whose appearance is caused by intersite atomic interactions correlating the atoms, and they do not arise without such interactions. These collective excitations should not be confused with lattice vibrations produced by an external force. No such a force is assumed. But the considered phonons are purely self-organized collective excitations, characterizing atomic oscillations around lattice sites, due to intersite atomic interactions. It is shown that these excitations can essentially influence the possibility of atoms to be localized. The states that would be insulating in the absence of phonon excitations can become delocalized when these excitations are taken into account. This concerns long-range as well as local atomic interactions. To characterize the region of stability, the Lindemann criterion is used.Comment: Latex file, 27 pages, 1 figur

Heat transport in silicon from first principles calculations

Using harmonic and anharmonic force constants extracted from density-functional calculations within a supercell, we have developed a relatively simple but general method to compute thermodynamic and thermal properties of any crystal. First, from the harmonic, cubic, and quartic force constants we construct a force field for molecular dynamics (MD). It is exact in the limit of small atomic displacements and thus does not suffer from inaccuracies inherent in semi-empirical potentials such as Stillinger-Weber's. By using the Green-Kubo (GK) formula and molecular dynamics simulations, we extract the bulk thermal conductivity. This method is accurate at high temperatures where three-phonon processes need to be included to higher orders, but may suffer from size scaling issues. Next, we use perturbation theory (Fermi Golden rule) to extract the phonon lifetimes and compute the thermal conductivity $\kappa$ from the relaxation time approximation. This method is valid at most temperatures, but will overestimate $\kappa$ at very high temperatures, where higher order processes neglected in our calculations, also contribute. As a test, these methods are applied to bulk crystalline silicon, and the results are compared and differences discussed in more detail. The presented methodology paves the way for a systematic approach to model heat transport in solids using multiscale modeling, in which the relaxation time due to anharmonic 3-phonon processes is calculated quantitatively, in addition to the usual harmonic properties such as phonon frequencies and group velocities. It also allows the construction of accurate bulk interatomic potentials database.Comment: appear in PRB (2011

Strong-coupling expansions for the anharmonic Holstein model and for the Holstein-Hubbard model

A strong-coupling expansion is applied to the anharmonic Holstein model and to the Holstein-Hubbard model through fourth order in the hopping matrix element. Mean-field theory is then employed to determine transition temperatures of the effective (pseudospin) Hamiltonian. We find that anharmonic effects are not easily mimicked by an on-site Coulomb repulsion, and that anharmonicity strongly favors superconductivity relative to charge-density-wave order. Surprisingly, the phase diagram is strongly modified by relatively small values of the anharmonicity.Comment: 34 pages, typeset in ReVTeX, 11 encapsulated postscript files include