An evaluation of the knowledge, attitude and practices of South African university students regarding the use of emergency contraception and of art as an advocacy tool

Background: This study assessed the knowledge and use of emergency contraception (EC) against the background of current sexual practicesamong a multi-racial student population at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In addition, the use of art as an advocacy tool in promoting awareness of EC and related sexual issues was also evaluated. Methods: A random sample of 162 students with equal representation of race and gender was interviewed. The questionnaire used addressed knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding contraception, with emphasis on EC and current sexual practices. It was administered by trained interviewers at three different sites at the DUT, where the Kara Walker image was also displayed on banners by Art for Humanity (AFH). Results: Over 77% of participants indicated that EC was some sort of birth control or contraceptive method. Only 51% of the respondents felt that ECwas a good form of contraception and 27% of all students indicated that it should not be used at all. However, given a choice, 66% of African students would use it, compared to 46% Indian, 31% coloured and 52% white students. The various levels of undergraduate study (i.e. first to third year) did not impact on the level of knowledge of or attitude towards the use of EC among students. Students had health and social concerns, including that if more men were informed about EC, they may use it to pressure women into having unprotected sex. Over 90% of students knew that EC did not provide protection from HIV, AIDS and STDs. Of the 162 students questioned, only 21% had seen the Kara Walker poster and their responses to the banner were varied. While a few students thought that it was an inappropriate portrayal of women, most students who saw the banner thought it was effective in drawing attention to the consequences of unsafe sexual practices.Conclusion: It is imperative that concise information and pre- and post-counselling be provided by health care professionals to empower individuals at tertiary institutions to make informed choices with respect to reproductive health. Proper dissemination of information will create awareness and enhance wider acceptance and the use of the arts as an advocacy tool may further promote health education

Life within chronic care: is this a service or sentence?

Background: Understanding the meaning of one’s lived experiences improves one’s understanding of what it means to be human, in association with the social, cultural and historical context in which being a human occurs. The authors in this study describe the lived experiences of residents within a chronic care facility including the practitioner and family perspectives.Methods: A qualitative approach was employed with a single-site, descriptive, instrumental case study design. Purposive sampling was utilised to select the chronic facility. Multiple sources of evidence included narratives, semi-structured interviews with staff, residents and family members, and activity profiles of the residents augmented by an ergonomic evaluation of the facility. Content analysis using within-case analysis was implemented.Results: The greatest impact on the quality of the resident’s lived experiences emanates from the physical, organisational and social environments in which they reside. Limited resources, poor staff attitudes and routines that are enforced both on the staff of the facility and the residents appear to reduce optimal functioning within the facility. Furthermore the residents’ intrinsic motivation, presence of enforced idleness, learned helplessness and institutionalisation is often intensified and becomes characteristic of the residents lived experiences.Discussion: The lived experiences of the residents are described according to quality of life indicators that were identified during the study and supported by literature. These include the influence of the physical, social and organizational environments on the residents’ functional status, which comprises physical well-being and emotional well-being and engagement in meaningful occupations including social interaction and relationships with other individuals.Conclusions: Findings of this study may be valuable in understanding and facilitating a positive change in service delivery within chronic care centres.Keywords: chronic care, institutionalisation, lived experiences, residents, occupational deprivatio

The neural correlates of intimate partner violence in women

Objective: To examine hippocampal volume and white matter tracts in women with and without intimate partner violence (IPV). Method: Nineteen women with IPV exposure in the last year, and 21 women without IPV exposure in the last year underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequences. Additional data on alcohol use and presence of psychiatric disorder was collected. Differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) between the two groups were examined, using a statistical model that included demographic measures, alcohol use and psychiatric disorder. Results: IPV subjects did not demonstrate significantly different hippocampal volumes compared to subjects without recent IPV. FA was, however, significantly reduced in the body of the corpus callosum of IPV subjects. Adjusting for age, alcohol use, smoking and psychiatric diagnosis did not change the significance of the result. Conclusion: Data on hippocampal volume in IPV are inconsistent, perhaps reflecting the fact that multiple factors influence this measure. Reduced FA in the body of the corpus callosum in IPV suggests altered integrity of this white matter tract; additional work is needed to address the underlying mechanisms and clinical correlates of this finding

Risk factors for atherosclerosis - can they be used to identify the patient with multisystem atherosclerosis?

Risk factors are often used in preventive care programmes to identify the patient at particular risk for developing atherosclerosis. Risk factors for atherosclerosis have also been shown to be linked to the presence of the disease at a given time, a fact that may be helpful when screening for additional atherosclerotic disease in the known arteriopath. Risk factors .were recorded in 471 patients admi"ed to hospital with symptoms of atherosclerosis. In patients admi"ed primarily with peripheral vascular disease, risk factors linked to the presence of additional coronary artery disease were a family history of ischaemic heart disease (odds ratio = 2,6), the presence of carotid artery disease (odds ratio = 1,9) and high fasting serum triglyceride levels (P < 0,04). Grouping these factors together usin.g logistic regression, ischaemic heart disease could be predicted with a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 43%. Patients admitted with carotid artery disease were more likely to have ischaemic heart disease in the presence of peripheral vascular disease (odds ratio = 1,9) and a raised serum cholesterol level (P < 0,02), while female gender (odds ratio = 2,9) and an increase in age (P< 0,001) were linked to an increased prevalence of concomitant atherosclerosis in patients admmed with acute myocardial infarction or for elective coronary artery bypass surgery. Using an age cut-off point, additional atherosclerosis could be predicted with a sensitivity of 32% and a specificity of 88% in these patients

A Novel Framework to Predict Relative Habitat Selection in Aquatic Systems: Applying Machine Learning and Resource Selection Functions to Acoustic Telemetry Data From Multiple Shark Species

Resource selection functions (RSFs) have been widely applied to animal tracking data to examine relative habitat selection and to help guide management and conservation strategies. While readily used in terrestrial ecology, RSFs have yet to be extensively used within marine systems. As acoustic telemetry continues to be a pervasive approach within marine environments, incorporation of RSFs can provide new insights to help prioritize habitat protection and restoration to meet conservation goals. To overcome statistical hurdles and achieve high prediction accuracy, machine learning algorithms could be paired with RSFs to predict relative habitat selection for a species within and even outside the monitoring range of acoustic receiver arrays, making this a valuable tool for marine ecologists and resource managers. Here, we apply RSFs using machine learning to an acoustic telemetry dataset of four shark species to explore and predict species-specific habitat selection within a marine protected area. In addition, we also apply this RSF-machine learning approach to investigate predator-prey relationships by comparing and averaging tiger shark relative selection values with the relative selection values derived for eight potential prey-species. We provide methodological considerations along with a framework and flexible approach to apply RSFs with machine learning algorithms to acoustic telemetry data and suggest marine ecologists and resource managers consider adopting such tools to help guide both conservation an

Galenia africana L. poisoning in sheep and goats : hepatic and cardiac changes

Lesions in 4 field cases (3 sheep and 1 goat) of 'waterpens' or water belly, caused by the plant Galenia africana, are described. The clinical pathological and pathological findings in 7 sheep which were drenched with toxic plant material are also reported. Inappetence, ruminal stasis and apathy as well as tachycardia were noticed in some of the sheep towards the end of the dosing period. The most prominent clinical pathological change in the experimental animals was an increase in the activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase which in some animals occurred within days after commencement of dosing. This indicates liver involvement in the early stages of the intoxication, and at this stage no heart abnormalities were detected clinically, clinical pathologically or with cardiac function tests. Decrease in cardiac function were recorded in 2 sheep towards the end of the dosing period. Liver and heart lesions were present in all the animals. In some cases hepatic changes were mild and characterized by dilation of central veins and sinusoids and, less commonly, centrilobular fibrosis. More advanced lesions included centrilobular fibrosis and bridging between neighbouring lobules with adjacent areas of coagulative necrosis, lysis and ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes. Myocardial changes occurred in the free ventricular walls and interventricular septum and comprised hypertrophy of myocytes with consequent degeneration and necrosis and fibrosis. In cases of longer duration myocytes were diffusely atrophic with scattered groups of remaining hypertrophic fibres. The clinical pathological and pathological features suggest that G. africana is primarily hepatotoxic with myocardial involvement occurring only in the terminal stages of the intoxication.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Biblical Theology of Life in the New Testament

This publication deals with A Biblical Theology of Life based on the New Testament. It forms the second of a two volume publication on A Biblical Theology of Life. These two volumes trace the concept of life throughout Protestant canon, working with the final form of the biblical books in Hebrew (vol. 5) and Greek (vol. 6) Scripture. This is done by providing the reader with a book-by-book overview of this concept. This book concludes with a final chapter synthesising the findings of the respective investigations of the Old and New Testament corpora in order to provide a summative theological perspective of the development of the concept through Scripture. It is clear that life forms a central and continuous theme throughout the Biblical text. The theme begins with the living God that creates life, but is shortly followed by death that threatens life. Despite this threat, God sustains life and awakens life from death. The text concludes with the consummation depicting eternal life in the new heaven and earth. The biblical theological approach that has been taken entails a thematic approach as it investigates the concept of life, with contextual foci on what individual books of Scripture teach about life, joined diachronically with an investigation of the progressive use of the concept of life in Scripture, while providing a theology of Scripture as a whole investigating the concept of life in all sixty-six books of the Protestant canon