History of pregnancy termination as a risk factor for preterm birth, Virginia 2000-20007

Abstract Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine if an association exists between prior induced and prior spontaneous pregnancy termination (PIPT and PSPT) and preterm birth (PTB) of first live births in Virginia. Methods: Data was collected by linking maternal data from Virginia’s live birth and fetal death registries. All first live, singleton births occurring in Virginia from 2000-2007 were analyzed. Logistic regression models that controlled for various demographic, medical and obstetric history factors were used to determine associations among prior pregnancy termination types. Results: Compared with women who had no history of previous pregnancy terminations, women who had 1 (OR = 1.1, 95% CI 1.31, 1.53), 2 (OR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.12, 1.24) and 3 or more (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.07, 1.13) total prior pregnancy terminations had an increased odds of experiencing PTB. Increased odds of PTB were found for women who had 2 (OR = 1.1, 95% CI 1.05, 1.18) and 3 or more (OR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.39, 1.61) PIPTs. Women who reported 1, 2, 3 or more PSPT had PTB odds-ratios of 1.4 (95% CI 1.37, 1.50), 1.7 (95% CI 1.48, 1.98) and 3.0 (95% CI 2.09, 4.22) times, respectively. Conclusion: Two or more PIPT and one or more PSPT were found to be a significant risk factor for PTB of a first live birth in Virginia, and women having 3 or more PSPT had three times the odds of experiencing this outcome. Health practitioners should take this data into account to target research, education and action strategies to those high risk groups of women associated with obtaining induced terminations and to those women more susceptible to spontaneous termination of pregnancy

Capture cross sections of the acceptor level of iron-boron pairs in p-type silicon by injection-level dependent lifetime measurements

Injection-level dependent recombination lifetime measurements of iron-diffused, boron-doped silicon wafers of different resistivities are used to determine the electron and hole capture crosssections of the acceptor level of iron-boron pairs in silicon. The relative populations of iron-boron pairs and interstitial iron were varied by exposing the samples to different levels of illumination prior to lifetime measurements. The components of the effective lifetime due to interstitial iron and iron-boron pairs were then modeled with Shockley-Read-Hall statistics. By forcing the sum of the modeled iron-boron and interstitial iron concentrations to equal the implanted iron dose, in conjunction with the strong dependence of the shape of the lifetime curves on dopant density, the electron and hole capture cross-sections of the acceptor level of iron-boron pairs have been determined as (3±2)×10-14cm-2 and (2±1)×10-15cm-2

Interventions to increase condom use among middle-aged and older adults: asystematic review of theoretical bases, behaviour change techniques, modes of delivery, and treatment fidelity

This systematic review collates, examines and syntheses condom use interventions for middle-aged and older adults. Associations between effectiveness and theoretical basis, behaviour change techniques, mode of delivery and treatment fidelity were explored. Five interventions were included; one was effective. Compared to interventions with non-significant findings, the effective telephone-administered intervention used theory to a greater extent, had a higher number of behaviour change techniques and employed more treatment fidelity strategies. There is a need to develop theory-based interventions targeting condom use among this population and evaluate these in randomised controlled trials that are rigorously designed and reported. Health psychologists have a key role in this endeavour

Child-focused psychosocial interventions for anger and aggression in children under 12 years of age (Protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:To evaluate the effectiveness of child-focused psychosocial interventions for anger and aggression in children under 12 years of age

Housing as a Platform for Improving Outcomes for Older Renters

Explores how housing can help support the independence and well-being of low-income renters age 50 or older, barriers to aging in place, housing service options and challenges, and conditions for positive outcomes, such as affordability and accessibility

Interventions to improve healthcare workers’ hand hygiene compliance: a systematic review of systematic reviews

Objective: To synthesize the existing evidence base of systematic reviews of interventions to improve healthcare worker (HCW) hand hygiene compliance (HHC). Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed, and 10 information sources were searched in September 2017, with no limits to language or date of publication, and papers were screened against inclusion criteria for relevance. Data were extracted and risk of bias was assessed. Results: Overall, 19 systematic reviews (n=20 articles) were included. Only 1 article had a low risk of bias. Moreover, 15 systematic reviews showed positive effects of interventions on HCW HHC, whereas 3 reviews evaluating monitoring technology did not. Findings regarding whether multimodal rather than single interventions are preferable were inconclusive. Targeting social influence, attitude, self-efficacy, and intention were associated with greater effectiveness. No clear link emerged between how educational interventions were delivered and effectiveness. Conclusions: This is the first systematic review of systematic reviews of interventions to improve HCW HHC. The evidence is sufficient to recommend the implementation of interventions to improve HCW HHC (except for monitoring technology), but it is insufficient to make specific recommendations regarding the content or how the content should be delivered. Future research should rigorously apply behavior change theory, and recommendations should be clearly described with respect to intervention content and how it is delivered. Such recommendations should be tested for longer terms using stronger study designs with clearly defined outcomes

What are the ‘active ingredients’ of interventions targeting the public's engagement with antimicrobial resistance and how might they work?

Objectives. Changing public awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a global public health priority. A systematic review of interventions that targeted public AMR awareness and associated behaviour was previously conducted. Here, we focus on identifying the active content of these interventions and explore potential mechanisms of action. Methods. The project took a novel approach to intervention mapping utilizing the following steps: (1) an exploration of explicit and tacit theory and theoretical constructs within the interventions using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDFv2), (2) retrospective coding of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) using the BCT Taxonomy v1, and (3) an investigation of coherent links between the TDF domains and BCTs across the interventions. Results. Of 20 studies included, only four reported an explicit theoretical basis to their intervention. However, TDF analysis revealed that nine of the 14 TDF domains were utilized, most commonly ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Environmental context and resources’. The BCT analysis showed that all interventions contained at least one BCT, and 14 of 93 (15%) BCTs were coded, most commonly ‘Information about health consequences’, ‘Credible source’, and ‘Instruction on how to perform the behaviour’. Conclusions. We identified nine relevant TDF domains and 14 BCTs used in these interventions. Only 15% of BCTs have been applied in AMR interventions thus providing a clear opportunity for the development of novel interventions in this context. This methodological approach provides a useful way of retrospectively mapping theoretical constructs and BCTs when reviewing studies that provide limited information on theory and intervention content