Association Between Cultural Factors and Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) is present in 17.22% of the world population. The negative physical and psychological impacts of PPD impact not only the mother, but also those around her. This raises the importance of identifying factors contributing to its onset. Studies have shown that PPD prevalence rates vary between non-Western and Western regions of the world. Cultural postpartum practices differed significantly region to region. Search terms including postpartum depression and cultures were used to find peer-reviewed articles, primary surveys, and patient interviews between 2013-2023. Qualitative analyses were performed on the results. Ethnokinship cultures, commonly present in non-Western countries, prioritized social support and traditional beliefs while technocentric cultures, present in Western countries, trusted healthcare systems as their primary postnatal care. The practices of ethnokinship cultures consisted of isolation and restrictions of specific behaviors and diet. Technocentric cultures focused on medically healing the mothers and allowing them to return to daily responsibilities soon. Countries categorized as having mainly ethnokinship cultural practices were found to have higher rates of PPD compared to those having technocentric practices. Results showed that the practices of each culture had their own benefits and harms, with several harms reportedly contributing to PPD symptomatology. This indicates a correlation between cultural factors and the onset of postpartum depression. However, there is room for future studies to elaborate on the severity of the impact on PPD prevalence. The purpose of this literature review is to assess whether cultural factors play a role in the development and prevalence of postpartum depression

Standardizing STI Screening in Child Sexual Abuse Cases at the CARES Institute

Children who are sexually abused have a higher risk of contracting STIs and/or becoming pregnant. CDC STI testing guidelines should be adhered to in order to provide the safest outcomes for patients. Physician compliance with testing guidelines plays a significant role in ensuring patient safety, which highlights the importance of ensuring high physician compliance. Identifying ways physicians can improve compliance can enhance patient care. In order to determine compliance rates of the CARES Institute physicians, data was extracted from 275 patient charts from 2017 and 100 patients charts from 2021, before and after a continuing medical education (CME) training was provided to CARES physicians. Statistical analyses were performed on these sets of data to determine compliance rates. A second CME training including conclusions from these analyses was provided to CARES physicians in 2023. Data collection and analysis from new 2023 patient statuses is currently in progress. Results from analysis of the 2017 and 2021 data showed an increase in compliance rates from 2017 to 2021. This highlights the potential benefit of physician education to increasing physician adherence to STI testing protocol. Further physician education is still necessary to reach higher rates of compliance. Future studies can focus on identifying commonly non-documented risk factors for STIs and determining ways to improve documentation

Alteration Pattern of Taste Perception After Bariatric Surgery: a Systematic Review of Four Taste Domains

Background: Efforts continue to understand the underlying mechanism of weight loss after bariatric surgery. Taste perception has shown to be a contributing factor. However, the alteration pattern in different taste domains and among bariatric procedures has not been sufficiently investigated. Objectives: To study the alteration pattern in the perception of four taste domains after different bariatric procedures. Settings: Private Research Institute, USA. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to pool available data in the literature on post-operative changes in the perception of sensitivity to four taste domains after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), and adjustable gastric banding (AGB). Results: Our study showed that bariatric surgery is associated with significant change in sensitivity to all four taste domains especially salt taste, sweetness, and sourness. LSG patients showed an increased sensitivity to all four taste domains. However, RYGB patients had a variable alteration pattern of taste perception but more commonly a decreased sensitivity to sweetness and an increased sensitivity to salt taste and sourness. Additionally, AGB patients had a decreased sensitivity to sweetness, salt taste, and sourness. Conclusion: Bariatric surgery is associated with taste change in a way which results in less preference for high-calorie food and possibly reduced calorie intake. This may explain one of the mechanisms by which bariatric surgery produces weight loss. However, data are heterogeneous, the potential effect dilutes over time, and the alteration varies significantly between different procedures. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Shot-noise spectroscopy of energy-resolved ballistic currents

We investigate the shot noise of nonequilibrium carriers injected into a ballistic conductor and interacting via long-range Coulomb forces. Coulomb interactions are shown to act as an energy analyzer of the profile of injected electrons by means of the fluctuations of the potential barrier at the emitter contact. We show that the details in the energy profile can be extracted from shot-noise measurements in the Coulomb interaction regime, but cannot be obtained from time-averaged quantities or shot-noise measurements in the absence of interactions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Quantum suppression of shot noise in field emitters

We have analyzed the shot noise of electron emission under strong applied electric fields within the Landauer-Buttiker scheme. In contrast to the previous studies of vacuum-tube emitters, we show that in new generation electron emitters, scaled down to the nanometer dimensions, shot noise much smaller than the Schottky noise is observable. Carbon nanotube field emitters are among possible candidates to observe the effect of shot-noise suppression caused by quantum partitioning.Comment: 5 pages, 1 fig, minor changes, published versio