119 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Gregory Nazianzus’ Poemata Arcana: A Poetic, Musical Catechism?
One of the more unexpected titles and styles employed to state the Christian faith appears in Gregory Nazianzus' Poemata Arcana. The title coined by the editor Billius sets apart these eight poems as a unit within the Poemata Dogmatica. The Greek term 'aporreta' probably meant to designate the character of these eight poems; it may appear at first glance to be more ambiguous than we might prefer, but for Billius it signifies that the central truths of the Christian faith cannot be captured fully in speech, not even in poetry. In Gregory’s words the journey is on a "flimsy raft" or "frail wings." Whenever the truth is framed in human thoughts and words, it suffers constriction and incompleteness. Using the discipline of poetry for discovering words and phrases that might hint at shapes Christian faith can assume is surely a type of enlightenment. Yet even the best poets show that their fullest achievements do not explain the perfect nature of God. It cannot be known on earth at any particular time simply because of any specific persons’ lack of ability. The exact center is always "ineffable" to everyone
Factors affecting actualization of the WHO breastfeeding recommendations in urban poor settings in Kenya
Poor breastfeeding practices are widely documented in Kenya, where only a third of children are exclusively
breastfed for 6 months and only 2% in urban poor settings.This study aimed to better understand the factors that
contribute to poor breastfeeding practices in two urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya. In-depth interviews (IDIs),
focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with women of childbear-
ing age, community health workers, village elders and community leaders and other knowledgeable people in the
community. A total of 19 IDIs, 10 FGDs and 11 KIIs were conducted, and were recorded and transcribed
verbatim. Data were coded in NVIVO and analysed thematically. We found that there was general awareness
regarding optimal breastfeeding practices, but the knowledge was not translated into practice, leading to
suboptimal breastfeeding practices. A number of social and structural barriers to optimal breastfeeding were
identified: (1) poverty, livelihood and living arrangements; (2) early and single motherhood; (3) poor social and
professional support; (4) poor knowledge, myths and misconceptions; (5) HIV; and (6) unintended pregnancies.
The most salient of the factors emerged as livelihoods, whereby women have to resume work shortly after
delivery and work for long hours, leaving them unable to breastfeed optimally. Women in urban poor settings
face an extremely complex situation with regard to breastfeeding due to multiple challenges and risk behaviours
often dictated to them by their circumstances. Macro-level policies and interventions that consider the ecological
setting are needed
Effectiveness of home-based nutritional counselling and support on exclusive breastfeeding in urban poor settings in Nairobi: a cluster randomized controlled trial
Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) improves infant health and survival. We tested the effectiveness of a homebased
intervention using Community Health Workers (CHWs) on EBF for six months in urban poor settings in Kenya.
Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Korogocho and Viwandani slums in Nairobi.
We recruited pregnant women and followed them until the infant’s first birthday. Fourteen community clusters
were randomized to intervention or control arm. The intervention arm received home-based nutritional
counselling during scheduled visits by CHWs trained to provide specific maternal infant and young child
nutrition (MIYCN) messages and standard care. The control arm was visited by CHWs who were not trained in
MIYCN and they provided standard care (which included aspects of ante-natal and post-natal care, family
planning, water, sanitation and hygiene, delivery with skilled attendance, immunization and community
nutrition). CHWs in both groups distributed similar information materials on MIYCN. Differences in EBF by
intervention status were tested using chi square and logistic regression, employing intention-to-treat analysis.
Results: A total of 1110 mother-child pairs were involved, about half in each arm. At baseline, demographic
and socioeconomic factors were similar between the two arms. The rates of EBF for 6 months increased from
2% pre-intervention to 55.2% (95% CI 50.4–59.9) in the intervention group and 54.6% (95% CI 50.0–59.1) in the
control group. The adjusted odds of EBF (after adjusting for baseline characteristics) were slightly higher in the
intervention arm compared to the control arm but not significantly different: for 0–2 months (OR 1.27, 95% CI
0.55 to 2.96; p = 0.550); 0–4 months (OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.54 to 2.42; p = 0.696), and 0–6 months (OR 1.11, 95% CI
0.61 to 2.02; p = 0.718).
Conclusions: EBF for six months significantly increased in both arms indicating potential effectiveness of using
CHWs to provide home-based counselling to mothers. The lack of any difference in EBF rates in the two groups
suggests potential contamination of the control arm by information reserved for the intervention arm.
Nevertheless, this study indicates a great potential for use of CHWs when they are incentivized and monitored
as an effective model of promotion of EBF, particularly in urban poor settings. Given the equivalence of the
results in both arms, the study suggests that the basic nutritional training given to CHWs in the basic primary
health care training, and/or provision of information materials may be adequate in improving EBF rates in
communities. However, further investigations on this may be needed. One contribution of these findings to
implementation science is the difficulty in finding an appropriate counterfactual for community-based
educational interventions.
Trial registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN83692672. Registered 11 November 2012. Retrospectively registered
Energetic electron precipitation driven by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves from ELFIN's low altitude perspective
We review comprehensive observations of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC)
wave-driven energetic electron precipitation using data from the energetic
electron detector on the Electron Losses and Fields InvestigatioN (ELFIN)
mission, two polar-orbiting low-altitude spinning CubeSats, measuring 50-5000
keV electrons with good pitch-angle and energy resolution. EMIC wave-driven
precipitation exhibits a distinct signature in energy-spectrograms of the
precipitating-to-trapped flux ratio: peaks at 0.5 MeV which are abrupt (bursty)
with significant substructure (occasionally down to sub-second timescale).
Multiple ELFIN passes over the same MLT sector allow us to study the spatial
and temporal evolution of the EMIC wave - electron interaction region. Using
two years of ELFIN data, we assemble a statistical database of 50 events of
strong EMIC wave-driven precipitation. Most reside at L=5-7 at dusk, while a
smaller subset exists at L=8-12 at post-midnight. The energies of the
peak-precipitation ratio and of the half-peak precipitation ratio (our proxy
for the minimum resonance energy) exhibit an L-shell dependence in good
agreement with theoretical estimates based on prior statistical observations of
EMIC wave power spectra. The precipitation ratio's spectral shape for the most
intense events has an exponential falloff away from the peak (i.e., on either
side of 1.45 MeV). It too agrees well with quasi-linear diffusion theory based
on prior statistics of wave spectra. Sub-MeV electron precipitation observed
concurrently with strong EMIC wave-driven 1MeV precipitation has a spectral
shape that is consistent with efficient pitch-angle scattering down to 200-300
keV by much less intense higher frequency EMIC waves. These results confirm the
critical role of EMIC waves in driving relativistic electron losses. Nonlinear
effects may abound and require further investigation
- …