Maternal experiences of ethnic discrimination and subsequent birth outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand

Background Interpersonal discrimination experience has been associated with adverse birth outcomes. Limited research has evaluated this relationship within multicultural contexts outside the United States where the nature and salience of discrimination experiences may differ. Such research is important in order to help identify protective and risk factors that may mediate the relationship between discrimination experience and adverse birth outcomes. Methods Evaluated the relationship between perceived discrimination, as measured in pregnancy, with birth weight and gestation length among Māori, Pacific, and Asian women from Aotearoa New Zealand (N = 1653). Results Thirty percent of the sample reported some type of unfair treatment that they attributed to their ethnicity. For Māori women specifically, unfair treatment at work (β = − 243 g) and in acquiring housing (β = − 146 g) were associated with lower birth weight when compared to Māori women not experiencing these types of discrimination, while an ethnically motivated physical attack (β = − 1.06 week), and unfair treatment in the workplace (β = − 0.95 week), in the criminal justice system (β = − 0.55 week), or in banking (β = − 0.73 week) were associated with significantly shorter gestation. Conclusions Despite a high prevalence of discrimination experience among women from all ethnic groups, discrimination experience was a strong predictor of lower birth weight and shorter gestation length among indigenous Māori women only. Additional research is needed to better understand the risk and protective factors that may moderate the relationship between discrimination experience and adverse birth outcomes among women from different ethnic groups

Stereotyping of medical disability claimants' communication behaviour by physicians: towards more focused education for social insurance physicians

Background: Physicians who hold medical disability assessment interviews (social insurance physicians) are probably influenced by stereotypes of claimants, especially because they have limited time available and they have to make complicated decisions. Because little is known about the influences of stereotyping on assessment interviews, the objectives of this paper were to qualitatively investigate: (1) the content of stereotypes used to classify claimants with regard to the way in which they communicate; (2) the origins of such stereotypes; (3) the advantages and disadvantages of stereotyping in assessment interviews; and (4) how social insurance physicians minimise the undesirable influences of negative stereotyping. Methods: Data were collected during three focus group meetings with social insurance physicians who hold medical disability assessment interviews with sick-listed employees (i.e. claimants). The participants also completed a questionnaire about demographic characteristics. The data were qualitatively analysed in Atlas.ti in four steps, according to the grounded theory and the principle of constant comparison. Results: A total of 22 social insurance physicians participated. Based on their responses, a claimant's communication was classified with regard to the degree of respect and acceptance in the physician-claimant relationship, and the degree of dominance. Most of the social insurance physicians reported that they classify claimants in general groups, and use these classifications to adapt their own communication behaviour. Moreover, the social insurance physicians revealed that their stereotypes originate from information in the claimants' files and first impressions. The main advantages of stereotyping were that this provides a framework for the assessment interview, it can save time, and it is interesting to check whether the stereotype is correct. Disadvantages of stereotyping were that the stereotypes often prove incorrect, they do not give the complete picture, and the claimant's behaviour changes constantly. Social insurance physicians try to minimise the undesirable influences of stereotypes by being aware of counter transference, making formal assessments, staying neutral to the best of their ability, and being compassionate. Conclusions: We concluded that social insurance physicians adapt their communication style to the degree of respect and dominance of claimants in the physician-claimant relationship, but they try to minimise the undesirable influences of stereotypes in assessment interviews. It is recommended that this issue should be addressed in communication skills trainin

Macro-level Modeling of the Response of C. elegans Reproduction to Chronic Heat Stress

A major goal of systems biology is to understand how organism-level behavior arises from a myriad of molecular interactions. Often this involves complex sets of rules describing interactions among a large number of components. As an alternative, we have developed a simple, macro-level model to describe how chronic temperature stress affects reproduction in C. elegans. Our approach uses fundamental engineering principles, together with a limited set of experimentally derived facts, and provides quantitatively accurate predictions of performance under a range of physiologically relevant conditions. We generated detailed time-resolved experimental data to evaluate the ability of our model to describe the dynamics of C. elegans reproduction. We find considerable heterogeneity in responses of individual animals to heat stress, which can be understood as modulation of a few processes and may represent a strategy for coping with the ever-changing environment. Our experimental results and model provide quantitative insight into the breakdown of a robust biological system under stress and suggest, surprisingly, that the behavior of complex biological systems may be determined by a small number of key components

The psychology of mountaineering: A systematic review

Research on the psychology of mountaineering has received widespread attention over many decades. Therefore, to clarify scientific findings in the area, provide future research directions, and enable the development of applied recommendations to enhance performance and safety, the purpose of this systematic mixed studies review was to identify, appraise, and synthesise research on the psychology of mountaineering. After systematically searching 10 electronic databases and undertaking manual searches up to April 2020, 69 studies published over 54 years (1966-2020) were included in the review. Thematic synthesis was undertaken and generated 11 descriptive themes, which were captured by two analytical themes, (i) personality characteristics of mountaineers, and (ii) psychological experiences in mountaineering. The synthesis generated novel insights into connections between different research topics in the psychology-specific literature in mountaineering, thus providing a more advanced understanding of current knowledge in this area. The review highlights that considerable progress has been made in this field, but further high-quality studies are required across all facets of this literature. Future avenues for research include: group dynamics; cognitive mechanisms underlying decision-making; and coping with setbacks and traumatic events

Conventional and traditional medicine in Canyon Colca region, Peru

Stan lecznictwa w regionie wynika z powszechnego w Ameryce Łacińskiej procesu nakładania się profesjonalnej medycyny europejskiej na wielowiekowe doświadczenia miejscowych uzdrawiaczy. Autor określił stan zdrowia mieszkańców, zachorowalność, stan służby zdrowia oraz związki tradycyjnego leczenia z religią i magią zapisane w obiektach archeologicznych, zmumifikowanych zwłokach ludzi i łatwe do zauważenia w kontynuowanych nadal rytuałach. Opisał leki dostępne na targach, rośliny hodowane w celach leczniczych oraz wywiady z przedstawicielem samorządu i miejscowymi uzdrawiaczami na temat funkcjonowania medycyny tradycyjnej i jej relacji z medycyną instytucjonalną. Rozwój turystyki stwarza pilną konieczność rozwoju oficjalnej służby zdrowia i poszerzenia jej świadczeń, tym bardziej, że zagraniczni turyści nie są na ogół przystosowani do przebywania w strefie wysokogórskiej, 3200-4800 m n.p.m., powszechnej w tym regionie.Health care in the region under study as well as in whole Latin America comes out from overlapping of professional European medicine on long lasting experience of local faith healers. Present author determined state of health and incidence of disease among inhabitants, as well as condition of local health service, and relations between traditional medicine and religion and sorcery which are entrenched in archeological objects, mummified bodies and are observable in continued rituals. Medicines available in the local markets and herbs planted for medical purpose are described. Local authority representative and healers were interviewed on the functioning of traditional medicine and its relation to institutional medicine. Present growth of tourism requires development of official medical staff and services as a matter of great urgency. The need follows, among other, from weak adaptation of foreign tourists to high altitude zone, 3200-4800 m a.s.l. which is common in this region

Building on Weber to understand governance: exploring the links between identity, democracy and 'inner distance'

The paper builds up a conceptual picture of two types of governance - network and organic. In this process it highlights the legitimacies of co-ordination (interior authority and democracy) that lie outside Weber's typology of domination and are relatively neglected in governance literature. The exploration of interior authority, through discussion of identity and substantive liberty, reflects a perspective on human agency that acknowledges the interconnection of the social and non-social and links sociological understanding of agency with political philosophy. It is suggested that this theoretical work gives some necessary content to Weber's concept of inner distance. In turn, this also has implications for our understanding of what is involved in democratizing governance