Women's knowledge, expectations and experience of induction of labour and the association with maternal anxiety

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health.Induction of Labour (IOL) is one of the fastest growing procedures in childbirth in the developed world with one in four women now being induced. The primary purpose of this study was to further develop the understanding of women's knowledge, expectations and experiences of IOL in order to identify whether women's views may be contributing factors to the increasing rate of IOL. A descriptive and correlational study design, using pre and post IOL surveys, captured the views of a convenience sample of pregnant women booked for any type of IOL at Blacktown Hospital in 2009 and 2010. Consenting women were given self-administered, pre and post-IOL questionnaires and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. One hundred and nine women experienced IOL and completed both pre and post IOL surveys; of these, 98 linked surveys were eligible to be analysed using SPSS v 18. Both simple descriptive and multivariate analyses were undertaken. The majority of participants (85.7%) acknowledged they agreed to have an IOL because they were worried about problems with their baby if the pregnancy continued. Most (59.1%) acknowledged a midwife as their most important care provider as well as the most common source of information (61.2%). Although 96.9% of women expressed the importance of information concerning IOL, only 75% were satisfied with the information they received prior to the process. While the majority of participants (97.9%) were satisfied with the care they received from midwives, overall, 13.4% did not have a satisfying IOL experience. More than 21% of women expected to give birth within six hours and only 15% of participants expressed the length of their labour was around what they expected. While 7.1% came with no expectation regarding labour pain, 67.8% rated their pain as 'much more/ more painful' than they expected. These results revealed that many women did not have realistic expectations of IOL. Satisfaction with childbirth was higher for women who had a birth experience that was better than expected. In addition, there was a significant relationship between women's realistic expectations and their satisfaction with IOL. However a positive relationship between women's knowledge and their satisfaction with IOL was not found in this study. There was a significant relationship between women's level of knowledge and their State anxiety level before undergoing IOL. Furthermore women who had more realistic expectations were less anxious after experiencing IOL. Being well informed by the midwife was the strongest predictor for satisfaction in this study (p<O.OO 1 ). In addition those participants who had more realistic expectations were less anxious after their IOL. The results of this study add to our understanding of women's wishes and views towards induction of labour within an Australian context. The importance of being well informed by the midwife suggests a professional responsibility to ensure that women are provided with accurate and timely information regarding IOL in order to set realistic expectations to achieve a positive childbirth experience

Exposure to GSM 900-MHz mobile radiation impaired inhibitory avoidance memory consolidation in rat: Involvements of opioidergic and nitrergic systems

Abstract The use of mobile phones is increasing, and the main health concern is the possible deleterious effects of radiation on brain functioning. The present study aimed to examine the effects of exposure to a global system for mobile communication (GSM) with mobile phones on inhibitory avoidance (IA) memory performance as well as the involvement of endogenous opioids and nitric oxide (NO) in this task. Male Wistar rats, 10–12 weeks old, were used. The results showed that four weeks of mobile phone exposure impaired IA memory performance in rats. The results also revealed that post-training, but not pre-training, as well as pre-test intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections of naloxone (0.4, 4 and 40 ng/rat), dose-dependently recovered the impairment of IA memory performance induced by GSM radiation. Additionally, the impairment of IA memory performance was completely recovered in the exposed animals with post-training treatment of naloxone (40 ng/rat) plus pre-test i.c.v. injections of L-arginine (100 and 200 nmol/rat). However, pre-test i.c.v. injections of L-NAME (10 and 20 nmol/rat), impaired IA memory performance in the animals receiving post-training naloxone (40 ng/rat). In the animals receiving post-training naloxone treatment, the impairment of IA memory performance due to pre-test i.c.v. injections of L-NAME was recovered by the pre-test co-administration of L-arginine. It was concluded that the recovery from impairment of IA memory in GSM-exposed animals with post-training naloxone treatment was the result of blockade of the opioidergic system in early memory consolidation as well as activation of the nitrergic system in the retrieval phase of memory. Keywords: GSM 900-MHz Endogenous opioids Memory performance Consolidation Nitric oxid

Folate-conjugated nanoparticles as a potent therapeutic approach in targeted cancer therapy

The selective and efficient drug delivery to tumor cells can remarkably improve different cancer therapeutic approaches. There are several nanoparticles (NPs) which can act as a potent drug carrier for cancer therapy. However, the specific drug delivery to cancer cells is an important issue which should be considered before designing new NPs for in vivo application. It has been shown that cancer cells over-express folate receptor (FR) in order to improve their growth. As normal cells express a significantly lower levels of FR compared to tumor cells, it seems that folate molecules can be used as potent targeting moieties in different nanocarrier-based therapeutic approaches. Moreover, there is evidence which implies folate-conjugated NPs can selectively deliver anti-tumor drugs into cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will discuss about the efficiency of different folate-conjugated NPs in cancer therapy. © 2015, International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM)

An Experimental Study on Concrete’s Durability and Mechanical Characteristics Subjected to Different Curing Regimes

 Considering a constant demand in construction of concrete structures to develop novel approaches for predicting the concert’s properties, a host of investigations were performed on concrete’s mechanical properties and durability under various curing regimes. However, few studies were concerned with evaluating the concrete’s durability using non-destructive concrete surface resistivity tests by applying various curing conditions. The present study compares the influence of different curing regimes on durability and compressive strength of concrete to recommend the most effective curing conditions on concrete’s characteristics.  Five curing conditions including ambient, laboratory, dry oven, wet oven and 7-days were analyzed. Accordingly, a non-destructive concrete surface resistivity test was performed on the concrete specimens using hand-held Wenner Resipod probe meter as a reliable and rapid approach. To analyze specimen’s durability, results of the surface sensitivity tests were correlated to chloride ion penetration rate based on the cylinder specimen dimensions and the degree of chloride ion penetration. The compressive strength tests were conducted on the specimens after 7, 28 and 56 days to determine the effect of curing conditions at different ages. Based on the reported outcomes, applying the wet oven curing regime results in higher compressive strength and durability compared to the other curing conditions. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091681 Full Text: PD

Classification-driven search for effective sm partitioning in multitasking GPUs

Graphics processing units (GPUs) feature an increasing number of streaming multiprocessors (SMs) with each successive generation. At the same time, GPUs are increasingly widely adopted in cloud services and data centers to accelerate general-purpose workloads. Running multiple applications on a GPU in such environments requires effective multitasking support. Spatial multitasking in which independent applications co-execute on different sets of SMs is a promising solution to share GPU resources. Unfortunately, how to effectively partition SMs is an open problem. In this paper, we observe that compared to widely-used even partitioning, dynamic SM partitioning based on the characteristics of the co-executing applications can significantly improve performance and power efficiency. Unfortunately, finding an effective SM partition is challenging because the number of possible combinations increases exponentially with the number of SMs and co-executing applications. Through offline analysis, we find that first classifying workloads, and then searching an effective SM partition based on the workload characteristics can significantly reduce the search space, making dynamic SM partitioning tractable. Based on these insights, we propose Classification-Driven search (CD-search) for low-overhead dynamic SM partitioning in multitasking GPUs. CD-search first classifies workloads using a novel off-SM bandwidth model, after which it enters the performance mode or power mode depending on the workload's characteristics. Both modes follow a specific search strategy to quickly determine the optimum SM partition. Our evaluation shows that CD-search improves system throughput by 10.4% on average (and up to 62.9%) over even partitioning for workloads that are classified for the performance mode. For workloads classified for the power mode, CD-search reduces power consumption by 25% on average (and up to 41.2%). CD-search incurs limited runtime overhead

LASEK for the correction of hyperopia with mitomycin C using SCHWIND AMARIS excimer laser: one-year follow-up

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and predictability of laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratectomy (LASEK) for the correction of hyperopia using the SCHWIND AMARIS platform. METHODS: This retrospective single-surgeon study includes 66 eyes of 33 patients with hyperopia who underwent LASEK with mitomycin C (MMC). The median age of patients was 35.42±1.12y (ranging 18 to 56y). In each patient LASEK was performed using SCHWIND AMARIS excimer laser. Postoperatively clinical outcomes were evaluated in terms of predictability, safety, efficacy, subjective and objective refractions, uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) and adverse events. RESULTS: The mean baseline refraction was 3.2±1.6 diopters (D) (ranging 0 to 7 D). The mean pre-operative and postoperative spherical equivalent (SE) were 2.34±1.76 (ranging -1.25 to 7 D) and 0.30±0.84 (ranging -0.2 to 0.8 D) respectively (P=0.001). The mean hyperopia was 0.63±0.84 D (ranging -1.75 to 2.76 D) 6 to 12mo postoperatively. Likewise, the mean astigmatism was 0.68±0.43 D (range 0 to 2 D) with 51 (77.3) and 15 (22.7) eyes within ±1 and ±0.50 D respectively. The safety index and efficacy index were 1.08 and 1.6 respectively. CONCLUSION: LASEK using SCHWIND AMARIS with MMC yields good visual and refractive results for hyperopia. Moreover, there were no serious complications. Copyright 2015 by the IJO Press

MyoRing implantation in keratoconic patients: 3 years follow-up data

Purpose: To evaluate long-term follow-up data on implantation of a full-ring intra-corneal implant (MyoRing) for management of keratoconus. Methods: A total of 40 keratoconic eyes of 37 consecutive patients who had undergone MyoRing implantation using the Pocket Maker microkeratome (Dioptex, GmbH, Linz, Austria) and completed 3 years of follow-up appointments were included in this retrospective study. Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), refraction and keratometry (K) readings were measured and evaluated preoperatively, and 3 years, postoperatively. Results: No intraoperative complications were observed in this case series. Three years postoperatively, there was a significant improvement in UDVA, CDVA, K readings, spherical equivalent (SE), and manifest sphere and cylinder (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). UDVA was significantly improved from 1.14 ± 0.27 to 0.30 ± 0.21 LogMAR (P = 0.001), CDVA was also improved from 0.52 ± 0.23 to 0.18 ± 0.12 LogMAR (P = 0.001), SE was decreased by 4.35 diopters (D) and average keratometric values were reduced by 2.34 D (P = 0.001). Overall, 81 of subjects were moderately to highly satisfied 3 years after surgery and 64.90 agreed to have the fellow eye implanted with MyoRing. Conclusion: MyoRing implantation using the Pocket Maker microkeratome was found to be a minimally invasive procedure for improving visual acuity and refraction in the majority of the patients with keratoconus. © 2016 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research