54 research outputs found
Mothers' accounts of their stillbirth experiences and of their subsequent relationships with their living infant:an interpretative phenomenological analysis
BACKGROUND: Due to contradictory findings regarding the effects of seeing and holding stillborn infants on women's worsening mental health symptoms, there is a lack of clear of guidance in stillbirth bereavement care. Although some current research examines this phenomenon we are still not certain of the meaning of such experiences to women and what effects there may be on her subsequent parenting. Thus the present study focuses on the meaning of the stillbirth experience to women and its influence on the subsequent pregnancy and subsequent parenting from the mothers' own experiences. METHODS: A purposive sample of six women who experienced a stillbirth during their first pregnancy and who then went on to give birth to a living child after a further pregnancy, took part in email interviews, providing rich and detailed experiential narratives about both the stillbirth itself, and their relationship with their living child. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was carried out in order to focus on mothers making sense of such experiences. RESULTS: Analysis of written accounts led to the development of three overarching themes. In 'Broken Canopy', 'How This Happened' and 'Continuing Bonds', their accounts revealed an ongoing process where women accepted a new 'unsafe' view of the world, re-evaluated their view of self and others, and established relationships with both the deceased and the living infant. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided an insight into the stillbirth experience of mothers and its meaning to them with an existential focus. Typically the mother struggled with the contradictory process of accepting the existence of her deceased baby (this baby once lived) while being aware of the nonexistence (this baby). Meeting the dead baby was a crucial point at which the mother started processing her grief. The importance of individual differences in dealing with stressful situations was highlighted in terms of attachment strategies. Subsequent parenting experiences of mothers were very much influenced by their own previous experiences. Although some mothers managed to integrate this trauma into their life some remained very concerned and anxious about future and this anxiety then translated into their parenting experiences
An integrated systems biology approach to the study of preterm birth using "-omic" technology - a guideline for research
Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and perinatal morbidity. The etiology of preterm is multi-factorial and still unclear. As evidence increases for a genetic contribution to PTB, so does the need to explore genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics in its study. This review suggests research guidelines for the conduct of high throughput systems biology investigations into preterm birth with the expectation that this will facilitate the sharing of samples and data internationally through consortia, generating the power needed to study preterm birth using integrated "-omics" technologies. The issues to be addressed include: (1) integrated "-omics" approaches, (2) phenotyping, (3) sample collection, (4) data management-integrative databases, (5) international consortia and (6) translational feasibility. This manuscript is the product of discussions initiated by the "-Omics" Working Group at the Preterm Birth International Collaborative Meeting held at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland in April 2009
Searching for continuous Gravitational Waves in the second data release of the International Pulsar Timing Array
The International Pulsar Timing Array 2nd data release is the combination of
datasets from worldwide collaborations. In this study, we search for continuous
waves: gravitational wave signals produced by individual supermassive black
hole binaries in the local universe. We consider binaries on circular orbits
and neglect the evolution of orbital frequency over the observational span. We
find no evidence for such signals and set sky averaged 95% upper limits on
their amplitude h 95 . The most sensitive frequency is 10nHz with h 95 = 9.1
10-15 . We achieved the best upper limit to date at low and high frequencies of
the PTA band thanks to improved effective cadence of observations. In our
analysis, we have taken into account the recently discovered common red noise
process, which has an impact at low frequencies. We also find that the peculiar
noise features present in some pulsars data must be taken into account to
reduce the false alarm. We show that using custom noise models is essential in
searching for continuous gravitational wave signals and setting the upper
limit
Comparing Recent Pulsar Timing Array Results on the Nanohertz Stochastic Gravitational-wave Background
The Australian, Chinese, European, Indian, and North American pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations recently reported, at varying levels, evidence for the presence of a nanohertz gravitational-wave background (GWB). Given that each PTA made different choices in modeling their data, we perform a comparison of the GWB and individual pulsar noise parameters across the results reported from the PTAs that constitute the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA). We show that despite making different modeling choices, there is no significant difference in the GWB parameters that are measured by the different PTAs, agreeing within 1σ. The pulsar noise parameters are also consistent between different PTAs for the majority of the pulsars included in these analyses. We bridge the differences in modeling choices by adopting a standardized noise model for all pulsars and PTAs, finding that under this model there is a reduction in the tension in the pulsar noise parameters. As part of this reanalysis, we "extended" each PTA's data set by adding extra pulsars that were not timed by that PTA. Under these extensions, we find better constraints on the GWB amplitude and a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the Hellings–Downs correlations. These extensions serve as a prelude to the benefits offered by a full combination of data across all pulsars in the IPTA, i.e., the IPTA's Data Release 3, which will involve not just adding in additional pulsars but also including data from all three PTAs where any given pulsar is timed by more than a single PTA
Comparing recent PTA results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background
The Australian, Chinese, European, Indian, and North American pulsar timing
array (PTA) collaborations recently reported, at varying levels, evidence for
the presence of a nanohertz gravitational wave background (GWB). Given that
each PTA made different choices in modeling their data, we perform a comparison
of the GWB and individual pulsar noise parameters across the results reported
from the PTAs that constitute the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA). We
show that despite making different modeling choices, there is no significant
difference in the GWB parameters that are measured by the different PTAs,
agreeing within . The pulsar noise parameters are also consistent
between different PTAs for the majority of the pulsars included in these
analyses. We bridge the differences in modeling choices by adopting a
standardized noise model for all pulsars and PTAs, finding that under this
model there is a reduction in the tension in the pulsar noise parameters. As
part of this reanalysis, we "extended" each PTA's data set by adding extra
pulsars that were not timed by that PTA. Under these extensions, we find better
constraints on the GWB amplitude and a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the
Hellings and Downs correlations. These extensions serve as a prelude to the
benefits offered by a full combination of data across all pulsars in the IPTA,
i.e., the IPTA's Data Release 3, which will involve not just adding in
additional pulsars, but also including data from all three PTAs where any given
pulsar is timed by more than as single PTA.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap
Revising working models across time: Relationship situations that enhance attachment security
We propose the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) to suggest how romantic relationships can promote chronic attachment security. One part of the ASEM examines partner responses that protect relationships from the erosive effects of immediate insecurity, but such responses may not necessarily address underlying insecurities in a person’s mental models. Therefore, a second part of the ASEM examines relationship situations that foster more secure mental models. Both parts may work in tandem. We posit that attachment anxiety should decline most in situations that foster greater personal confidence and more secure mental models of the self. In contrast, attachment avoidance should decline most in situations that involve positive dependence and foster more secure models of close others. The ASEM integrates research and theory, suggests novel directions for future research, and has practical implications, all of which center on the idea that adult attachment orientations are an emergent property of close relationships
Consumer responses to flattery during sales transactions : empirical evidence of the sinister attribution error
The aim of the current research was to examine consumer reactions to flattery using an attributional framework. The first study, using scenario methodology, illustrated that consumers made rational and irrational attributions for flattery. Consumers who were flattered prior to purchase accurately adjusted for the presence of ulterior motives and responded negatively to flattery whereas consumers who were flattered after purchase over accounted for the possibility of ulterior motives and responded more negatively than was warranted by the situation. The second study, a field experiment, demonstrated that consumers in a real shopping situation were even less likely to distinguish between when flattery occurred and responded simply to its presence or absence. This negativity in consumers flattered after purchase is evidence of the sinister attribution error; as consumers were overly suspicious of the motives and intentions of others. The third study, also a field experiment, demonstrated that even flattery preceded by a negative evaluation only resulted in a slightly more positive response from consumers. The contributions of the current research are discussed within their relevant literatures.Business, Sauder School ofMarketing, Division ofGraduat
Stigma by Association in Coupon Redemption: Looking Cheap because of Others
The present research establishes that the innocuous behavior of coupon redemption is capable of eliciting stigma by association. The general finding across four studies shows that the coupon redemption behavior of one consumer results in a second non-coupon-redeeming shopper being stigmatized by association as cheap when a low as compared to a high value coupon is redeemed. More important, the research identifies a number of factors that protect a non-coupon-redeeming shopper from the undesirable experience of stigma by association, even during another shopper's redemption of a low value coupon. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
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