Third Cinema in the Third World

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Factors associated with uptake of postpartum family planning methods in rural Kenya

Background: In most developing countries, the level of postpartum family planning uptake has been low which is linked to poor health infrastructure and services; as well as unawareness of the family planning options. Pregnancies within the first 12 months after birth may lead to poor outcomes to the mother and child. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors associated with uptake of postpartum family planning methods.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 210 postpartum women aged between 15 and 50 years. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and focus group discussion. Analysis was done using descriptive and chi square test for comparison while; qualitative data was analyzed using Atlas.ti 6.2 software by a grounded theory approach.Results: The prevalence of postpartum family planning was 46.8% with the majority of the women aged between 25 and 29 years. The significant factors (p < 0.05) were age, education and employment. The most commonly known method of family planning was oral pills but the most used was the implants. Social networks were also a significant factor in the uptake of postpartum family planning.Conclusions: Most postpartum women were using postpartum contraceptive methods different from their preferred ones, which is a clear reflection of wide gaps in prenatal contraceptive counselling and availability of the methods of family plannin

Facilitating STEM integration through design

Global disruptions emanating from developments in the STEM fields are increasingly impacting our lives. Integrated STEM experiences can provide students with a valuable foundation for dealing with these changes. This chapter focuses on design as a significant component of both innovation and STEM integration. Design processes applied to an integrated STEM problem can assist students in not only developing new disciplinary knowledge and capabilities, but also in understanding connections among the disciplines. An example of design processes applied by grade 5 students in undertaking an aerospace activity is presented. Samples of students’ responses show how they applied design processes, including design sketching, together with mathematics and science knowledge. In the absence of specific instruction, students’ design sketches displayed some of the fundamental components of design sketching, including labelling, annotating, and incorporating multiple views. A number of twenty-first century thinking skills were also fostered, including systems thinking, as students recognised disciplinary links within the problem and how interactions among problem components can have unanticipated consequences

Cardiac autonomic changes in epilepsy

The term "Epilepsy" encompasses a broad spectrum of medical and social disorders that affect about 65 million people worldwide and is commonly defined as a tendency to suffer recurrent seizures. In patients with epilepsy, ictal discharges that occur in (or propagate to) the anterior cingulate, insular, posterior orbito-frontal, and the pre-frontal cortices, along with the amygdala and hypothalamus play a key role in influencing the autonomic nervous system (ANS) at the cortical level. In turn, this can result in cardiac effects which are widespread and range from subtle changes in heart rate variability (HRV) to ictal sinus arrest, and from QT-interval shortening to atrial fibrillation. In addition, cardiac events are the main hypothesized mechanisms underlying sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which occurs in absence of a known structural cause. Patients with epilepsy also experience long-lasting changes in the regulation of the ANS and target organs. Heart rate (HR) and HRV can be easily measured/estimated when compared to other biomarkers that are commonly associated with seizures (i.e., long-term EEG), and are therefore potentially valuable biomarkers when it comes to characterizing seizures. In this context, a number of linear and nonlinear analysis techniques have been applied in order to detect and characterize epilepsy-related ANS changes. While the physiological and clinical applicability of nonlinear analyses like fractal and complexity measures of HR dynamics are not yet completely understood, in view of recent experimental findings it is reasonable to assume that such indices highlight abnormal patterns of RR interval behaviour that are not easily detected by commonly used moment statistics of HR variation. These findings may provide new insight regarding physiological and seizure- induced states of the complex brain-heart network underlying epilepsy and related autonomic modifications. A better understanding of the autonomic manifestations of seizures would provide practical added value to clinical epileptologists dealing with differential diagnosis of epilepsy and related disorders, as well as aiding in designing more sensitive seizure detection and prediction algorithms