‘Asking the hard questions’: Improving midwifery students’ confidence with domestic violence screening in pregnancy

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Domestic violence is a global public health issue. Midwives are ideally placed to screen for, and respond to, disclosure of domestic violence. Qualified midwives and midwifery students report a lack of preparedness and low levels of confidence in working with women who disclose domestic violence. This paper reports the findings from an education intervention designed to increase midwifery students' confidence in working with pregnant women who disclose domestic violence. An authentic practice video and associated interactive workshop was developed to bring the ‘woman’ into the classroom and to provide role-modelling of exemplary midwifery practice in screening for and responding to disclosure of domestic violence. The findings demonstrated that students' confidence increased in a number of target areas, such as responding appropriately to disclosure and assisting women with access to support. Students' confidence increased in areas where responses needed to be individualised as opposed to being able to be scripted. Students appreciated visual demonstration (video of authentic practice) and having the opportunity to practise responding to disclosures through experiential learning. Given the general lack of confidence reported by both midwives and students of midwifery in this area of practice, this strategy may be useful in supporting midwives, students and other health professionals in increasing confidence in working with women who are experiencing domestic violence

Calcutta Botanic Garden and the colonial re-ordering of the Indian environment

This article examines three hand-painted colour maps that accompanied the annual report of the Calcutta Botanic Garden for 1846 to illustrate how the Garden’s layout, uses and functions had changed over the previous 30 years. The evolution of the Calcutta Botanic Garden in the first half of the nineteenth-century reflects a wider shift in attitudes regarding the relationship between science, empire and the natural world. On a more human level the maps result from, and illustrate, the development of a vicious personal feud between the two eminent colonial botanists charged with superintending the garden in the 1840s

Resisting government rendered surveillance in a local authority

The paper illustrates and discusses how the performance management systems in a UK local authority are transformed into a surveillance system. A case study analysis reveals that the surveillance is engendered by central government and enacted by senior managers who conform to policies demanding the introduction of strict performance management systems that dehumanize work processes because employees are deemed untrustworthy. The paper shows that employees resist this government rendered surveillance because they believe it undermines their interests as well as the interests of the public by damaging the quality of the services delivered

Chromatin Profiles of Chromosomally Integrated Human Herpesvirus-6A

Human herpesvirus-6A (HHV-6A) and 6B (HHV-6B) are two closely related betaherpesviruses that are associated with various diseases including seizures and encephalitis. The HHV-6A/B genomes have been shown to be present in an integrated state in the telomeres of latently infected cells. In addition, integration of HHV-6A/B in germ cells has resulted in individuals harboring this inherited chromosomally integrated HHV-6A/B (iciHHV-6) in every cell of their body. Until now, the viral transcriptome and the epigenetic modifications that contribute to the silencing of the integrated virus genome remain elusive. In the current study, we used a patient-derived iciHHV-6A cell line to assess the global viral gene expression profile by RNA-seq, and the chromatin profiles by MNase-seq and ChIP-seq analyses. In addition, we investigated an in vitro generated cell line (293-HHV-6A) that expresses GFP upon the addition of agents commonly used to induce herpesvirus reactivation such as TPA. No viral gene expression including miRNAs was detected from the HHV-6A genomes, indicating that the integrated virus is transcriptionally silent. Intriguingly, upon stimulation of the 293-HHV-6A cell line with TPA, only foreign promoters in the virus genome were activated, while all HHV-6A promoters remained completely silenced. The transcriptional silencing of latent HHV-6A was further supported by MNase-seq results, which demonstrate that the latent viral genome resides in a highly condensed nucleosome-associated state. We further explored the enrichment profiles of histone modifications via ChIP-seq analysis. Our results indicated that the HHV-6 genome is modestly enriched with the repressive histone marks H3K9me3/H3K27me3 and does not possess the active histone modifications H3K27ac/H3K4me3. Overall, these results indicate that HHV-6 genomes reside in a condensed chromatin state, providing insight into the epigenetic mechanisms associated with the silencing of the integrated HHV-6A genome

Parallel Writing on Zirconium Nitride Thin Films by Local Oxidation Nanolithography

Parallel pattern transfer of submicrometer-scale oxide features onto zirconium nitride thin films is reported. The oxidation reaction was verified by Auger microprobe analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Oxide features of similar to70 nm in height can be formed and selectively etched in a dilute aqueous hydrogen fluoride solution. This provides an interesting route to potential new applications for high-melting point, biocompatible surfaces that possess small feature sizes with controlled geometries. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics

Effect of head size and rotation on taper corrosion in a hip simulator

Aims This study investigates head-neck taper corrosion with varying head size in a novel hip simulator instrumented to measure corrosion related electrical activity under torsional loads. Methods In all, six 28 mm and six 36 mm titanium stem-cobalt chrome head pairs with polyethylene sockets were tested in a novel instrumented hip simulator. Samples were tested using simulated gait data with incremental increasing loads to determine corrosion onset load and electrochemical activity. Half of each head size group were then cycled with simulated gait and the other half with gait compression only. Damage was measured by area and maximum linear wear depth. Results Overall, 36 mm heads had lower corrosion onset load (p = 0.009) and change in open circuit potential (OCP) during simulated gait with (p = 0.006) and without joint movement (p = 0.004). Discontinuing gait’s joint movement decreased corrosion currents (p = 0.042); however, wear testing showed no significant effect of joint movement on taper damage. In addition, 36 mm heads had greater corrosion area (p = 0.050), but no significant difference was found for maximum linear wear depth (p = 0.155). Conclusion Larger heads are more susceptible to taper corrosion; however, not due to frictional torque as hypothesized. An alternative hypothesis of taper flexural rigidity differential is proposed. Further studies are necessary to investigate the clinical significance and underlying mechanism of this finding

Capacity development for health research in Africa: experiences managing the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship Program

Africa's progress depends on her capacity to generate, adapt, and use scientific knowledge to meet regional health and development needs. Yet, Africa's higher education institutions that are mandated to foster this capacity lack adequate resources to generate and apply knowledge, raising the need for innovative approaches to enhance research capacity. In this paper, we describe a newly-developed program to support PhD research in health and population sciences at African universities, the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship (ADDRF) Program. We also share our experiences implementing the program. As health research capacity-strengthening in Africa continues to attract attention and as the need for such programs to be African-led is emphasized, our experiences in developing and implementing the ADDRF offer invaluable lessons to other institutions undertaking similar initiatives