97 research outputs found
Identifying barriers to accessing information and treatment for obstetric fistula in Niamey, Niger
Objective: To identify barriers to accessing information and treatment regarding obstetric fistula (OF) unique to Niger encountered by women referred to the National Referral Fistula Center.
Method: A questionnaire was administered at the National Referral Fistula Center to 29 women with OF. Qualitative and quantitative statistics were computed.
Results: The average individual was 30.4 years old, illiterate and from a rural area. 76.0% had antenatal care, the average labor time was 3.04 days, and 88.0% had a physician-assisted delivery. Barriers to information included rural dwelling, lack of education, lack of understanding of cause despite contact with health care workers, lack of knowledgeable resources to seek advice from or lack of ability/interest, not given specific information about availability of treatment, and not utilizing available resources to disseminate information. Barriers to treatment included lack of information regarding condition and treatment, traditional healer utilization, inability to access adequate care for condition, delay for childbirth recovery, permission needed to seek treatment, cost, timely treatment unavailable, and lack of social support.
Conclusion: Improving efficiency of getting women to the hospital at time of delivery, prompt referrals for OF, and using cell phones for disseminating information or accessing transport may benefit women with OF in Niger
The rapid formation a large rotating disk galaxy three billion years after the Big Bang
[Abridged] Over the past two decades observations and theoretical simulations
have established a global frame-work of galaxy formation and evolution in the
young Universe. Galaxies formed as baryonic gas cooled at the centres of
collapsing dark matter halos. Mergers of halos led to the build up of galaxy
mass. A major step forward in understanding these issues requires well resolved
physical information on individual galaxies at high redshift. Here we report
adaptive optics, spectroscopic observations of a representative luminous star
forming galaxy when the Universe was only twenty percent of its age. The
superior angular resolution of these data reveals the physical and dynamical
properties of a high redshift galaxy in unprecedented detail. A large and
massive rotating proto-disk is channelling gas towards a growing central
stellar bulge hosting an accreting massive black hole.Comment: Narure, accepted (Released Aug 17th
Stellar populations of bulges at low redshift
This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the stellar population
properties of bulges and outlines important future research directions.Comment: Review article to appear in "Galactic Bulges", Editors: Laurikainen
E., Peletier R., Gadotti D., Springer Publishing. 34 pages, 12 figure
Gravitational stability and dynamical overheating of stellar disks of galaxies
We use the marginal stability condition for galactic disks and the stellar
velocity dispersion data published by different authors to place upper limits
on the disk local surface density at two radial scalelengths .
Extrapolating these estimates, we constrain the total mass of the disks and
compare these estimates to those based on the photometry and color of stellar
populations. The comparison reveals that the stellar disks of most of spiral
galaxies in our sample cannot be substantially overheated and are therefore
unlikely to have experienced a significant merging event in their history. The
same conclusion applies to some, but not all of the S0 galaxies we consider.
However, a substantial part of the early type galaxies do show the stellar
velocity dispersion well in excess of the gravitational stability threshold
suggesting a major merger event in the past. We find dynamically overheated
disks among both seemingly isolated galaxies and those forming pairs. The ratio
of the marginal stability disk mass estimate to the total galaxy mass within
four radial scalelengths remains within a range of 0.4---0.8. We see no
evidence for a noticeable running of this ratio with either the morphological
type or color index.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Astronomy Letter
Suzaku observation of the LINER NGC 4102
Low ionisation nuclear emission-line region (LINER) nuclei have been claimed
to be different than other active galactic nuclei (AGN) due to the presence of
complex absorbing structures along the line-of-sight and/or an inefficient mode
of accretion onto the supermassive black hole. However, this issue is still
open. We have investigated the broad band X-ray spectrum of NGC 4102, one of
the most luminous LINERs in the Swift/BAT survey. We studied a 80 ksec Suzaku
spectrum of NGC 4102, together with archival Chandra and Swift/BAT
observations. We also studied the optical (3.5m/TWIN at Calar Alto observatory)
and near-infrared (WHT/LIRIS at Observatorio Roque los Muchachos) spectra that
were taken contemporaneous to the Suzaku data. There is strong evidence that
NGC 4102 is a Compton-thick AGN, as suggested by the Swift/BAT detected
intrinsic continuum and the presence of a strong narrow, neutral FeKa emission
line. We have also detected ionised FeXXV emission lines in the Suzaku spectrum
of the source. NGC 4102 shows a variable soft excess found at a significantly
higher flux state by the time of Suzaku observations when compared to Chandra
observations. Finally, a complex structure of absorbers is seen with at least
two absorbers apart from the Compton-thick one, derived from the X-ray spectral
analysis and the optical extinction.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures and 3 tables. Accepted for publication in
Astronomy & Astrophysic
Evolution of Structure in Late-type Spiral Galaxies I: Ionized Gas Kinematics in NGC 628
We study two dimensional Fabry-Perot interferometric observations of the
nearby face-on late-type spiral galaxy, NGC 628, in order to analyse the
ionized gas component of the interstellar medium. Covering the galaxy out to a
radius larger than 12 kpc, and with a spatial sampling of 1.6 arcsec, we
investigate the large-scale dynamics as well as feedback from individual HII
regions into their surrounding medium. We study the role of gravitational
perturbations along with that of external triggers which can disturb the
kinematics and morphology of NGC 628. We verify the presence of an inner
rapidly rotating disc-like component in NGC 628, which we interpret as caused
by slow secular evolution of the large-scale spiral arms and oval structure. In
combination with auxiliary data, we find indication for that gas is falling in
from the outer parts towards the central regions, where a nuclear ring has
formed at the location of the inner Lindblad resonance radius of an m=2
perturbation which could help build a pseudo-bulge in NGC 628. Moreover, we
calculate radial profiles of the emission-line velocity dispersion which we use
to study the role of feedback from individual HII regions. The mean velocity
dispersion for the ionized gas (even when excluding pixels belonging to
individual HII regions) is almost constant out to 12 kpc, although it varies
from 14 to 20 km/s, with a steady decline in the outer parts. The current paper
demonstrates a number of tools that we have developed for building a solid
frame work for studying the evolution of structure in spiral galaxies using two
dimensional kinematic observations.Comment: Accepted for publications in A&A. 13 pages, 7 figures, and including
a calatogue of 376 HII regions with calibrated luminosities. Please find
high-resolution version on
http://www.astro.su.se/~kambiz/DOC/paper-N628.ps.g
Mind the (treatment) gap: a global perspective on current and future strategies for prevention of fragility fractures
This narrative review considers the key challenges facing healthcare professionals and policymakers responsible for providing care to populations in relation to bone health. These challenges broadly fall into four distinct themes: (1) case finding and management of individuals at high risk of fracture, (2) public awareness of osteoporosis and fragility fractures, (3) reimbursement and health system policy and (4) epidemiology of fracture in the developing world. Findings from cohort studies, randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, in addition to current clinical guidelines, position papers and national and international audits, are summarised, with the intention of providing a prioritised approach to delivery of optimal bone health for all. Systematic approaches to case-finding individuals who are at high risk of sustaining fragility fractures are described. These include strategies and models of care intended to improve case finding for individuals who have sustained fragility fractures, those undergoing treatment with medicines which have an adverse effect on bone health and people who have diseases, whereby bone loss and, consequently, fragility fractures are a common comorbidity. Approaches to deliver primary fracture prevention in a clinically effective and cost-effective manner are also explored. Public awareness of osteoporosis is low worldwide. If older people are to be more pro-active in the management of their bone health, that needs to change. Effective disease awareness campaigns have been implemented in some countries but need to be undertaken in many more. A major need exists to improve awareness of the risk that osteoporosis poses to individuals who have initiated treatment, with the intention of improving adherence in the long term. A multisector effort is also required to support patients and their clinicians to have meaningful discussions concerning the risk-benefit ratio of osteoporosis treatment. With regard to prioritisation of fragility fracture prevention in national policy, there is much to be done. In the developing world, robust epidemiological estimates of fracture incidence are required to inform policy development. As the aging of the baby boomer generation is upon us, this review provides a comprehensive analysis of how bone health can be improved worldwide for all
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