An assessment of the community based distribution programs in Ghana

This study was carried out to describe the major NGO community-based distribution (CBD) programs in Ghana, and to assess in some detail the functioning, quality of care, and performance of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) program. The study showed that national coverage by the NGO programs is extensive—virtually all the 110 districts in the 10 regions have at least one program. However, coverage within districts is sparse, as each program covers only a few communities. The results have been communicated to the NGOs whose programs were included in the study and PPAG has already identified a number of steps that it will take to address some of the issues raised, including: a revision of the training manual; introduction of a community diagnosis and mapping exercise for each agent; improved recordkeeping and reporting procedures; establishing stronger links with referral clinics; and enhancing the availability of educational materials for use when counseling clients. In addition, USAID will be using the results to guide future programming support of the PPAG program

Risk of Uterine Rupture and Placenta Accreta With Prior Uterine Surgery Outside of the Lower Segment

Objective—Women with a prior myomectomy or prior classical cesarean delivery are often delivered early by cesarean due to concern for uterine rupture. Although theoretically at increased risk for placenta accreta, this risk has not been well quantified. Our objective was to estimate and compare the risks of uterine rupture and placenta accreta in women with prior uterine surgery. Methods—Women with prior myomectomy or prior classical cesarean delivery were compared to women with a prior low transverse cesarean to estimate rates of both uterine rupture and placenta accreta. Results—One hundred seventy-six women with a prior myomectomy, 455 with a prior classical cesarean delivery, and 13,273 women with a prior low transverse cesarean were evaluated. Mean gestational age at delivery differed by group (p0.99) or in the prior classical cesarean delivery group (0.88%, p=0.13). Placenta accreta occurred in 0% (95% CI 0-1.98%) of prior myomectomy compared with 0.19% in the low transverse cesarean group (p>0.99) and 0.88% in the prior classical cesarean delivery group (p=0.01 relative to low transverse cesarean). The adjusted OR for the prior classical cesarean delivery group (relative to low transverse cesarean) was 3.23 (1.11-9.39) for uterine rupture and 2.09 (0.69-6.33) for accreta. The frequency of accreta for those with previa was 11.1% for the prior classical cesarean delivery and 13.6% for low transverse cesarean groups (p>0.99=1.0). Conclusion—A prior myomectomy is not associated with higher risks of either uterine rupture or placenta accreta. The absolute risks of uterine rupture and accreta after prior myomectomy are low

L'abordatge de l'assetjament escolar des de la mediació en la Justícia Juvenil de Catalunya

<div><p>The number of paralogs of proteins involved in translation initiation is larger in trypanosomes than in yeasts or many metazoan and includes two poly(A) binding proteins, PABP1 and PABP2, and four eIF4E variants. In many cases, the paralogs are individually essential and are thus unlikely to have redundant functions although, as yet, distinct functions of different isoforms have not been determined. Here, trypanosome PABP1 and PABP2 have been further characterised. PABP1 and PABP2 diverged subsequent to the differentiation of the Kinetoplastae lineage, supporting the existence of specific aspects of translation initiation regulation. PABP1 and PABP2 exhibit major differences in intracellular localization and distribution on polysome fractionation under various conditions that interfere with mRNA metabolism. Most striking are differences in localization to the four known types of inducible RNP granules. Moreover, only PABP2 but not PABP1 can accumulate in the nucleus. Taken together, these observations indicate that PABP1 and PABP2 likely associate with distinct populations of mRNAs. The differences in localization to inducible RNP granules also apply to paralogs of components of the eIF4F complex: eIF4E1 showed similar localization pattern to PABP2, whereas the localisation of eIF4E4 and eIF4G3 resembled that of PABP1. The grouping of translation initiation as either colocalizing with PABP1 or with PABP2 can be used to complement interaction studies to further define the translation initiation complexes in kinetoplastids.</p> </div

A multiple comparative study of test-with development product changes and their effects on some attributes of team speed and product quality

While studying Test-First Development (TFD), researchers have typically compared it to Test-Last Development (TLD), across groups or projects, and for relatively short durations. But, we have observed that teams testing fine-grained changes do not necessarily develop tests for those changes first. And, comparing across groups or projects is difficult, due to the "contextual variables" specific to each. Finally, many "real-life" projects have long durations. Because of TFD’s potential to increase team speed or product quality, and because of these previous limitations, we were motivated to design and execute our own related study. Our work on this study has resulted in three original contributions to knowledge: (1) our software change model; (2) our measurement method; and (3) our study results. First, as part of our software model, we defined Test-With Development (TWD) as more general than TFD, and as a step that can be practised to a degree. Then, we defined team speed measures for a developer's product change: initial net size, discards over time, and net size over time. As well, we adopted product quality measures for a developer's product change: change in the number of potential bugs and change in the average method complexity. Second, we defined a measurement method which allowed us to perform two studies, across six open-source projects and thousands of developer changes. With it, we performed an auxiliary study to calibrate our discards over time measure. Then, we used it to perform our main study to compare the effects of TWD product changes on some attributes of team speed and product quality. Finally, the results from our main study indicate that there were significant differences between the effects of TWD product changes. We interpret these results to indicate that teams that practice TWD can increase their efficiency, by reducing their product’s complexity faster

A multiple comparative study of test-with development product changes and their effects on some attributes of team speed and product quality

While studying Test-First Development (TFD), researchers have typically com- pared it to Test-Last Development (TLD), across groups or projects, and for relatively short durations. But, we have observed that teams testing fine-grained changes do not necessarily develop tests for those changes first. And, comparing across groups or projects is difficult, due to the "contextual variables" specific to each. Finally, many "real-life" projects have long durations. Because of TFD's potential to increase team speed or product quality, and because of these previous limitations, we were motivated to design and execute our own related study. Our work on this study has resulted in three original con- tributions to knowledge: (1) our software change model; (2) our measurement method; and (3) our study results. First, as part of our software model, we defined Test-With Development (TWD) as more general than TFD, and as a step that can be practised to a degree. Then, we defined team speed measures for a developer's product change: initial net size, discards over time, and net size over time. As well, we adopted product quality measures for a developer's product change: change in the number of potential bugs and change in the average method complexity. Second, we defined a measurement method which allowed us to perform two studies, across six open-source projects and thousands of developer changes. With it, we performed an auxiliary study to calibrate our discards over time measure. Then, we used it to perform our main study to compare the effects of TWD product changes on some attributes of team speed and product quality. 2 3 Finally, the results from our main study indicate that there were significant differences between the effects of TWD product changes. We interpret these results to indicate that teams that practice TWD can increase their efficiency, by reducing their product's complexity faster.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A multiple comparative study of test−with development product changes and their effects on team speed and product quality

Researchers have typically studied the effects of Test-First Development (TFD), compared to Test-Last Development (TLD), across groups or projects, and for relatively short durations. We defined Test-With Development (TWD) as more general than the fine-grained step of TFD, but also in contrast to the large-grained phase of TLD. With our definition, we performed a multiple comparative study to explore and describe TWD product changes, and the effects of those changes on two attributes related to team speed and two attributes related to product quality, within six long-term open-source projects. Our results indicate that when developers exercised some of their changes with automated tests, on average they made significantly larger changes over time while significantly reducing their product’s complexity. And, when they exercised all of their changes with tests, on average they made significantly smaller changes over time. We interpret these results to indicate that practicing TWD supports faster simplification of a product. Therefore, we conclude that teams that need to reduce their product’s complexity can benefit from practicing TWD