Interventions for promoting the initiation of breastfeeding

BACKGROUND: Despite the widely documented health advantages of breastfeeding over formula feeding, initiation rates remain relatively low in many high-income countries, particularly among women in lower income groups. OBJECTIVE : To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions which aim to encourage women to breastfeed in terms of changes in the number of women who start to breastfeed. METHODS : Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (July 2007), handsearched the Journal of Human Lactation, Health Promotion International and Health Education Quarterly from inception to 15 August 2007, and scanned reference lists of all articles obtained. Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials, with or without blinding, of any breastfeeding promotion intervention in any population group except women and infants with a specific health problem. Data collection and analysis: One review author independently extracted data and assessed trial quality, checked by a second author. We contacted investigators to obtain missing information. MAIN RESULTS: Main results: Eleven trials were included. Statistical analyses were conducted on data from eight trials (1553 women). Five studies (582 women) on low incomes in the USA with typically low breastfeeding rates showed breastfeeding education had a significant effect on increasing initiation rates compared to standard care (risk ratio (RR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15 to 2.15, P = 0.005). Subgroup analyses showed that one-to-one, needs-based, informal repeat education sessions and generic, formal antenatal education sessions are effective in terms of an increase in breastfeeding rates among women on low incomes regardless of ethnicity and feeding intention. Needs-based, informal peer support in the antenatal and postnatal periods was also shown to be effective in one study conducted among Latina women who were considering breastfeeding in the USA (RR 4.02, 95% CI 2.63 to 6.14, P < 0.00001). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review showed that health education and peer support interventions can result in some improvements in the number of women beginning to breastfeed. Findings from these studies suggest that larger increases are likely to result from needs-based, informal repeat education sessions than more generic, formal antenatal sessions. These findings are based only on studies conducted in the USA, among women on low incomes with varied ethnicity and feeding intention, and this raises some questions regarding generalisability to other settings

Multigrid elliptic equation solver with adaptive mesh refinement

In this paper we describe in detail the computational algorithm used by our parallel multigrid elliptic equation solver with adaptive mesh refinement. Our code uses truncation error estimates to adaptively refine the grid as part of the solution process. The presentation includes a discussion of the orders of accuracy that we use for prolongation and restriction operators to ensure second order accurate results and to minimize computational work. Code tests are presented that confirm the overall second order accuracy and demonstrate the savings in computational resources provided by adaptive mesh refinement.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, Modified in response to reviewer suggestions, added figure, added references. Accepted for publication in J. Comp. Phy

Marking time in lockdown:Heroization and ritualization in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic

Realism has predominated in discussions about the coronavirus pandemic where politicians, authorities, and commentators debate over the substance and consequence of scientific facts. But while biology played a crucial role in triggering the pandemic, the resulting crisis developed through a social process. In this paper, I argue that the coronavirus pandemic in Britain was successfully framed as a crisis, but that the ritualization of solidarity normally generated by this meaning was compromised. Through an analysis of media coverage and official statements from the government, I trace the discursive construction of the crisis through the deployment of battle metaphors. Building on this discourse analysis, I show how the symbolic alignment of the pandemic and the Second World War revived symbols and tropes that informed the cultural construction of pandemic heroes. To explain why the intensity of the crisis framing was not matched in ritual performance, I consider how the government’s ambiguous policies and erratic social performance produced a state of indefinite liminality, subverting solidarity processes in lockdown. The paper offers insight into the experience of anomie during the pandemic and contributes to the strong program in cultural sociology by incorporating the crisis approach in disaster studies into the social drama framework

Introduction

This introduction explains how the collection marks a new stage in the development of a meaningful sociology of the arts which aims to move beyond production perspectives and their limiting focus on the social organization of artistic endeavors. I argue that the sociology of the arts has not kept pace with advances in cultural sociology, and I attribute this stagnation to two causes. First, the “critical stream” in the sociology of the arts has continued to avoid the reflexive self-criticism that Inglis (Sociologie de l’Art, 15, 113–135, 2010) believed was necessary for it to confront the tendency toward imperialism and dogmatism in its analytic dispositions. Second, the distinction between culture as an object of study and culture as an approach has become an ingrained habit. As a result, sociologists of the arts have continued to neglect questions of meaning and sociologists who adopt cultural approaches have tended to gravitate toward empirical domains other than the arts. I define the scope of the volume and outline its contents, showing how the contributions demonstrate the benefits and rewards of adopting a cultural approach in the sociological study of the arts

A Comparative Study of Radiological Threat Environments and Radiation Control

Radiation Control Programs (RCPs) differ from state to state as does their integration with public health agencies. The purpose of this study was threefold: to describe and compare across states the environmental radiological attributes of RCPs, to describe how these programs are organized structurally within state government, and to identify if RCPs differ structurally in environments of differing radiological attributes. Publicly available information from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state agency websites was used to determine both the environmental attributes and the different approaches states use to organize RCPs. States were grouped based on environmental attributes by employing a principle components analysis and then a hierarchical cluster analysis. Three predominant clusters were found which included 39 of the 50 states. RCP structure was described in terms of formalization (the amount of regulation and legislation in place to guide radiation control activities), standardization (the number of operational or subprograms that are carried out within a state), and centralization (the number of state and federal agencies that control one or more of the RCP operational areas or subprograms.) To test the differences between the organizational structures of the RCPs in differing radiological environments, a Pearson\u27s chi-square significance test was used. The forgoing test failed to reject the null hypothesis that RCPs do not differ structurally in environments of differing radiological attributes in all but one aspect of organizational structure, formalization. Formalization was found to be significantly different across the three predominate clusters

An attitudinal evaluation of collaboration in the community economic development process in southwestern Ontario

Many small communities in Southwestern Ontario suffer from economic decline. Several areas have faced devastating plant closures and layoffs. In response, communities have been encouraged to adopt a community economic development strategy by senior levels of government. This strategy focuses on community participation, entrepreneurship and the retraining of the workforce. This thesis examines the accomplishments of eight predominantly rural areas in Southwestern Ontario. Attitudes and perceptions of sixty-four local actors involved in the CED process were evaluated. These eight areas received similar levels of funding and all have mechanisms in place for community economic development. However, the extent of CED activities in each community was quite different. Why? In order to answer this question local participants were interviewed to determine to what extent they thought their community\u27s progress was related to four dimensions of collaboration: economic viability, local participation, organizational interaction and political efficacy. Local participation, and political efficacy were identified as prerequisites to progress