Does the kin orientation of a British woman�s social network influence her entry into motherhood?

BACKGROUND The influence of family and friends on an individual's fertility has long been an important topic within demography. Researchers who focus on social network effects and evolutionary demography have shown a renewed interest in this issue in recent years. However, only a few studies have been conducted in contemporary low-fertility, resource-rich settings. OBJECTIVE This study investigates whether a British woman's entry into motherhood (i.e., her first birth) is influenced by the kin orientation of her close social network. Specifically, we test the prediction derived from evolutionary theory that individuals with a kin-oriented network will have higher fertility than those with fewer relatives in their close social networks. We consider two potential proximate mechanisms by which kin may influence fertility. First, relatives could provide practical resources, such as childcare, which reduce the costs of reproduction, thereby increasing fertility. Second, family members might communicate relatively pro-natal messages that could help to "persuade" childless women to become mothers. METHODS We use data from the British Household Panel Study (1992 to 2003), and base the degree of kin orientation on the number of relatives a woman includes when identifying her three closest non-household associates. We conduct a discrete-time event history analysis to measure the risk of firstbirth, controlling for household composition and socio-economic background.RESULTS We find that when a woman has more kin in her close social network, her risk of havinga first birth increases at all ages. This suggests that relatives may influence fertility behaviour in this contemporary resource-rich population. Both of our proposed proximate mechanismsmay be important in driving this effect. © 2013 Paul Mathews & Rebecca Sear

Do preceding questions influence the reporting of childbearing intentions in social surveys?

For demographers fertility intentions are a long standing source of both interest and scepticism. Scepticism has been expressed because fertility intentions regularly fail to precisely predict fertility and because they are liable to change across the life course. Here we demonstrate an additional consideration: simply changing the questions that precede fertility intentions questions can have a significant influence on responses. We illustrate this risk using a series of randomised experiments with different preceding questions; first, on mortality and risk in two convenience samples of UK undergraduate students. Secondly, we will present provisional results from a ground-breaking longitudinal experiment where the manipulated preceding questions are on close family and friends. As far as we are aware this later study is the first time that question ordering experiment looking at fertility intentions has been embedded in a representative survey, and the first longitudinal measurement of preceding-question effects using the same individuals

Healthy Ager Service Learning Project: Emergent Themes on Interprofessional Healthcare Team Experience

The Healthy Ager Program provides an interprofessional learning experience for health professions students at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Using the Seamless Care Model of Interprofessional Education, faculty paired student teams with community dwelling older adults in order to teach collaboration skills as they provided patient-centered care. Qualitative analysis of student reflection journals revealed that the program met the four core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice as reported by an Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel in 2011 and supports the 2003 Institute of Medicine recommendations for health professions education

Being More Realistic about the Public Health Impact of Genomic Medicine

Wayne Hall and colleagues discuss the limitations of genomic risk prediction for population-level preventive health care

What skills do primary health care professionals need to provide effective self-management support?: seeking consumer perspectives

Author version made available in accordance with the publisher's policyObjective This research aimed to identify the skills required by primary health care (PHC) professionals to provide effective chronic condition prevention and self -management (CCPSM) support, according to the perceptions of a sample of Australian consumers and carers. Methods Qualitative data was collected and integrated from a focus group, key informant interviews and National Stakeholder meetings and a National Workshop, supported by an extensive literature review. Results With the exception of health professionals specifically trained or currently working in this area, consumers and carers perceive there is a lack of understanding, competence and practice of CCPSM support among PHC professionals. Discussion The PHC workforce appears not to have the full set of skills needed to meet the growing burden of chronic conditions on the health system. Recommendations include education and training that focuses on improved communication skills, knowledge of community support resources, identification of consumers' strengths and current capacities, collaborative care with other health professionals, consumers and carers, and psychosocial skills to understand the impact of chronic conditions from the person’s perspective

Cardiac Biomarkers and Subsequent Risk of Hospitalization With Bleeding in the Community: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Background hs-cTnT (high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T), but not NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B natriuretic peptide), has been shown to predict bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation. Whether these biomarkers are independently associated with bleeding in the general population is unknown. Methods and Results We used Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association of hs‐cTnT and NT‐proBNP with incident bleeding (defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision [ICD‐9] codes) among 9550 middle‐aged men and women without a history of cardiovascular disease or bleeding. There were 847 hospitalizations with bleeding (92% from gastrointestinal bleeding) during a median follow‐up of 9.0 years. Serum levels of hs‐cTnT were associated with bleeding in a graded fashion, with a hazard ratio of 1.28 (95% CI, 1.06–1.59) for 6 to \u3c 9 ng/L, 1.52 (1.21–1.91) for 9 to \u3c 14, and 2.05 (1.56–2.69) for ≥14 versus \u3c 3 ng/L. For NT‐proBNP, the highest category (≥264 versus \u3c 42 pg/mL) showed a hazard ratio of 2.00 (1.59–2.61), and the remaining 3 categories had hazard ratios ranging from 1.2 to 1.3. Individuals in the highest category of both hs‐cTnT and NT‐proBNP had a hazard ratio of 3.03 (1.97–4.68) compared with those in the lowest categories. Conclusions In a community‐based population, elevated hs‐cTnT and NT‐proBNP were associated with bleeding‐related hospitalizations. These biomarkers may have a high utility in identifying people at high risk for bleeding. There is a need for research on the underlying mechanisms linking subclinical cardiac abnormalities and bleeding

Quantifying search dog effectiveness in a terrestrial search and rescue environment

This work represents a first attempt to quantify and understand levels of performance in lowland search dogs, and these results need to be understood within that context. A repeatable experimental framework has been demonstrated and provides a foundation for further work in this area

Law Libraries and Laboratories: The Legacies of Langdell and His Metaphor

Law Librarians and others have often referred to Harvard Law School Dean C.C. Langdell’s statements that the law library is the lawyer’s laboratory. Professor Danner examines the context of what Langdell through his other writings, the educational environment at Harvard in the late nineteenth century, and the changing perceptions of university libraries generally. He then considers how the “laboratory metaphor” has been applied by librarians and legal scholars during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The article closes with thoughts on Langdell’s legacy for law librarians and the usefulness of the laboratory metaphor

Potential role of BRCA1 protein expression as a prognostic tissue biomarker in breast carcinoma: An immunohistochemical and clinicopathologic study from South India

Introduction. BRCA1 dysfunction is a hallmark of both hereditary and sporadic breast cancer. BRCA1 protein expression can be lost by germline mutation, somatic mutation or promoter hypermethylation. This study aimed to explore BRCA1 dysfunction in breast cancer patients by immunohistochemistry and to study its association with prognostic factors. Material and methods. BRCA1 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks of 110 invasive breast carcinoma patients. Furthermore, the clinical findings and tumor features associated with BRCA1 dysfunction were characterized. Results. Reduced BRCA1 immunoreactivity was observed in 19% of breast cancer cases. Although these patients presented with aggressive tumor characteristics, statistical significance was observed only with presence of lymphovascular emboli (p < 0.05). These results suggest that loss of BRCA1 protein expression is associated with an aggressive phenotype of breast carcinoma. Conclusions. Immunohistochemistry for BRCA1 protein expression in tumor tissues may provide a less expensive screening tool to identify BRCA1 dysfunction due to genetic or epigenetic alterations