Women's experiences of abortion in South Africa : an exploratory study

Bibliography: leaves 90-94.In South Africa the provision of legal abortion is currently restricted by law and many women procure illegal abortions. Abortion law is currently under appraisal, with a possible move towards liberalising abortion availability. Following a brief history of abortion legislation and a research review on abortion sequelae and the factors influencing risk for negative post-abortion sequelae, this study explores the wide range of variables which together form women's experiences of abortion in South Africa. These include both the social context of abortion and women's individual perspectives. Twelve women volunteers who had undergone abortion in South Africa were gathered through the University of Cape Town and interviewed on their experiences. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Interview questions were based on past research into factors affecting abortion experiences and post-abortion adjustment. Responses were analysed thematically according to the circumstances of the / pregnancy, the decision-making around the abortion, access to abortion, post-abortion responses and ideas for pre- and post-abortion counselling. Findings suggest that abortion is followed by a range of responses, influenced by the meaningfulness of the pregnancy to the woman involved, her belief system, her personal circumstances, the extent to which she feels in control of her circumstances, her coping style, and the social climate surrounding the abortion experience. The participants acknowledged the benefits of abortion counselling, particularly for women who suffer post-abortion distress, who are ambivalent about their abortions, or who are forced by external circumstances to choose abortion. Suggestions on issues necessary to address in abortion counselling are made. Recommendations for future abortion research are included

Conservatively treated knee injury is associated with knee cartilage matrix degeneration measured with MRI-based T2 relaxation times: data from the osteoarthritis initiative

ObjectiveTo investigate the association of cartilage degeneration with previous knee injuries not undergoing surgery, determined by morphologic and quantitative 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Materials and methodsWe performed a nested cross-sectional study of right knee MRIs from participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) aged 45-79 with baseline Kellgren-Lawrence score of 0-2. Cases were 142 right knees of patients with self-reported history of injury limiting the ability to walk for at least 2 days. Controls were 426 right knees without history of injury, frequency-matched to cases on age, BMI, gender, KL scores and race (1:3 ratio). Cases and controls were compared using covariate-adjusted linear regression analysis, with the outcomes of region-specific T2 mean, laminar analysis and heterogeneity measured by texture analysis to investigate early cartilage matrix abnormalities and the Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS) to investigate morphologic knee lesions.ResultsCompared to control subjects, we found significantly higher mean T2 values in the injury [lateral tibia (28.10 ms vs. 29.11 ms, p = 0.001), medial tibia (29.70 ms vs. 30.40 ms, p = 0.014) and global knee cartilage (32.73 ms vs. 33.29 ms, p = 0.005)]. Injury subjects also had more heterogeneous cartilage as measured by GLCM texture contrast, variance and entropy (p < 0.05 in 14 out of 18 texture parameters). WORMS gradings were not significantly different between the two groups (p > 0.05).ConclusionA history of knee injury not treated surgically is associated with higher and more heterogeneous T2 values, but not with morphologic knee abnormalities. Our findings suggest that significant, conservatively treated knee injuries are associated with permanent cartilage matrix abnormalities