The relationship of women's status and empowerment with skilled birth attendant use in Senegal and Tanzania.

BackgroundMaternal mortality remains unacceptably high in sub-Saharan Africa with 179,000 deaths occurring each year, accounting for 2-thirds of maternal deaths worldwide. Progress in reducing maternal deaths and increasing Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) use at childbirth has stagnated in Africa. Although several studies demonstrate the important influences of women's status and empowerment on SBA use, this evidence is limited, particularly in Africa. Furthermore, few studies empirically test the operationalization of women's empowerment and incorporate multidimensional measures to represent the potentially disparate influence of women's status and empowerment on SBA use across settings.MethodsThis study examined the relationship of women's status and empowerment with SBA use in two African countries--Senegal and Tanzania--using the 2010 Demographic and Health Surveys (weighted births n = 10,688 in SN; 6748 in TZ). Factor analysis was first conducted to identify the structure and multiple dimensions of empowerment. Then, a multivariate regression analysis was conducted to examine associations between these empowerment dimensions and SBA use.ResultsOverall, women's status and empowerment were positively related to SBA use. Some sociodemographic characteristics showed similar effects across countries (e.g., age, wealth, residence, marital relationship, parity); however, women's status and empowerment influence SBA use differently by setting. Namely, women's education directly and positively influenced SBA use in Tanzania, but not in Senegal. Further, each of the dimensions of empowerment influenced SBA use in disparate ways. In Tanzania women's higher household decision-making power and employment were related to SBA use, while in Senegal more progressive perceptions of gender norms and older age at first marriage were related to SBA use.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of the disparate influences of women's status and empowerment on SBA use across settings. Results indicate that efforts to increase SBA use and to reduce maternal mortality through the improvement of women's status and empowerment should focus both on improving girls' education and delaying marriage, as well as transforming gender norms and decision-making power. However, given the multi-dimensional and contextual nature of women's status and empowerment, it is critical to identify key drivers to increase SBA use in a given setting for contextually tailored policy and programming

Этиопатогенетические аспекты терапии хронических воспалительных заболеваний органов малого таза

Наведено сучасні принципи лікування запальних захворювань жіночих статевих органів з урахуванням етіопатогенезу запалення й особливостей продукції у цервікальному слизу запальних і протизапальних цитокинів. Показано, що включення до комплексу терапії інтерферонів сприяє відновленню порушеного імунологічного гомеостазу й зниженню ймовірності рецидивів захворювання.Modern principles of treatment of inflammatory diseases of female genitals taking into account an etiopathogenesis of an inflammation and features of production in сervical mucous inflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines are resulted. Including in a complex of therapy of interferons is shown, that, promotes restoration of the broken immunologic homeostasis and depression of probability of relapses of disease

Robust, Conducting, and Transparent Polymer Composites using Surface-Modified and Individualized Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: ADVANCED MATERIALS. 20(23):4509-4512 (2008), which has been published in final form at 10.1002/adma.200801659.ArticleADVANCED MATERIALS. 20(23):4509-4512 (2008)journal articl

Raman study on electrochemical lithium insertion into multiwalled carbon nanotubes

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY 39(9): 1183-1188, 2008, which has been published in final form http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118639317/abstract.ArticleJOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY. 39(9): 1183-1188 (2008)journal articl

Morphological hysteresis in the evolution of beach profiles under sequences of wave climates - Part 1; observations

Novel series of experiments are presented that demonstrate morphological hysteresis in the evolution to equilibrium of beach profiles under sequences of different wave climates. The experiments were conducted in a wave flume at medium scale using both monochromatic and random waves, representing 2D conditions. Beach profiles were obtained with high spatial resolution at frequent intervals with a laser profiler, from which shoreline location, bar position and sediment transport rates were derived. Experiments were conducted for sequences of wave climates, where a sequence comprised of 6-13 sequential tests, each commencing with the beach profile from the preceding test. Each test was run until equilibrium conditions were obtained and had a constant wave height, increased or decreased relative to the preceding test. Cyclical conditions were also included, with erosive and accretive wave conditions of short durations alternating through multiple cycles, so that equilibrium conditions were not reached during a test. With a sequence of increasing wave heights, the relationship between the shoreline position and the bulk cross-shore sediment transport, at equilibrium, was non-monotonic, indicating a maximum in the landward sediment transport rate. For test series comprised of a sequence of increasing wave heights followed by a sequence of decreasing wave heights, morphological hysteresis was observed in the equilibrium shoreline position and bulk cross-shore sediment transport, such that shoreline recession, or offshore transport, continued in some instances after reductions in wave height. This is inconsistent with classical equilibritim type shoreline evolution models. However, when equilibrium conditions were not reached, in the cyclic sequences, no such morphological hysteresis was observed and a dynamic equilibrium is reached. The morphological hysteresis occurs because of the decay, stranding, or increased relative depth, of the breaker bar following a reduction in wave height, often in conjunction with a new breaker bar generated by further offshore transport in the inner surf zone. Similar sequences of morphological response are evident in field data and larger scale tests in the literature. Finally, it is shown that the morphological hysteresis can be explained using the classical equilibrium beach state model of Wright et al. (1985) by introducing the concept of a subsequent alternate active beach state, which may occur following a change in wave conditions

Strong and stable photoluminescence from the semiconducting inner tubes within double walled carbon nanotubes

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 94(8):083106 (2009) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3085966 .ArticleAPPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 94(8):083106 (2009)journal articl

Pore structure and oxidation stability of double-walled carbon nanotube-derived bucky paper

ArticleChemical Physics Letters. 414(4-6):444-448 (2005)journal articl

Controlled growth of one-dimensional clusters of molybdenum atoms using double-walled carbon nanotube templating

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 94(11):113105 (2009) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3089576 .ArticleAPPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 94(11):113105 (2009)journal articl

Diameter-selective separation of double-walled carbon nanotubes

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 93(22):223107 (2008) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3039790 .ArticleAPPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 93(22):223107 (2008)journal articl

Wheeze is an unreliable endpoint for bronchial methacholine challenges in preschool children

Background: Onset of wheeze is the endpoint often used in the determination of a positive bronchial challenge test (BCT) in young children who cannot perform spirometry. We sought to assess several clinical endpoints at the time of a positive BCT in young children with recurrent wheeze compared to findings in school-aged children with asthma. Methods: Positive BCT was defined in: (1) preschool children (n = 22) as either persistent cough, wheeze, fall in oxygen saturation (SpO2 ) of ≥5%, or ≥50% increase in respiratory rate (RR) from baseline; and (2) school-aged children (n = 22) as the concentration of methacholine (MCh) required to elicit a 20% decline in FEV1 (PC20 ). Results: All preschool children (mean age 3.4 years) had a positive BCT (median provocative MCh concentration 1.25 mg/ml [IQR, 0.62, 1.25]). Twenty (91%) school-aged children (mean age 11.3 years) had a positive BCT (median PC20 1.25 mg/ml [IQR, 0.55, 2.5]). At the time of the positive BCT, the mean fall in SpO2 (6.9% vs. 3.8%; p = .001) and the mean % increase in RR (61% vs. 22%; p < .001) were greater among preschool-aged than among school-aged children. A minority of children developed wheeze at time of positive BCT (23% preschool- vs. 15% school-aged children; p = .5). Conclusions: The use of wheeze as an endpoint for BCT in preschool children is unreliable, as it rarely occurs. The use of clinical endpoints, such as ≥25% increase in RR or fall in SpO2 of ≥3%, captured all of our positive BCT in preschool children, while minimizing undue respiratory distress