Abortion history and its association with current use of modern contraceptive methods in Luanda, Angola.

BackgroundWomen in sub-Saharan Africa often use abortion as a method of limiting their fertility and spacing births. However, it is not well understood whether having an abortion influences contraceptive behavior. The goal of this study was to examine associations between abortion history and use of a modern contraceptive method among women in Luanda, Angola.Materials and methodsWe analyzed data on 1,176 women aged 15-49 years from a 2012 cross-sectional study conducted in Luanda, Angola, which aimed to obtain general information on sexual and reproductive health indicators. The outcome and exposure were based on participant reports of past induced abortions and current use of a modern method. We used a modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors to estimate the relative risks of using a modern contraceptive method, given history of induced abortion.ResultsAmong all respondents, 736 (62.6%) reported using a modern contraceptive method. The clear majority of the respondents (73.21%), regardless of abortion history, were using either no method, a traditional method, or condoms. Long-acting reversible contraceptive use was very low across all respondents (2.73%). The most common family planning method reported by women with a history of abortion was condoms (32.76%). Regression analysis demonstrated that women who had a history of abortion were 1.23 times more likely to use a modern contraceptive method as compared to those who never had an abortion (relative risk: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.10-1.36), after adjusting for potential confounders. Postregression estimations of predicted probabilities demonstrated that women with a history of abortion had an 80% probability of using a modern method (95% CI: 0.76-0.84), while those who never had an abortion had a 60% probability of using a modern method (95% CI: 0.59-0.61).ConclusionHistory of induced abortion was associated with use of a modern contraceptive method in our study population. The most common contraceptive used by women with a history of induced abortion was condoms, indicating that despite adoption of a modern method, many women are still at risk for an unintended pregnancy. Further research is needed to understand the causal factors underlying women's postabortion contraceptive choices

Amphetamine users and crime in Western Australia, 1999–2009

This current study aims to examine the relationship between amphetamine use and crime among police detainees in Western Australia. Further, the study provides a brief profile of detainee amphetamine users and compares this with the profile of a non-user. Amphetamines have been increasingly available on Australian drug markets since the early 1990s (National Drug Research Institute 2007). Clandestine laboratory detections increased from 50 in 1996 to 250 in 2002 (Ministerial Council on Drugs Strategy 2004), although use decreased slightly in the general population between 2004 (3.2%) and 2007 (2.3%) (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008). There has also been an increase in the amount of high-grade amphetamine detected by Customs and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Amphetamine use has been associated with psychological, physical and social harm, criminal behaviour and violence (Dyer & Cruickshank 2005; Lynch, Kemp, Krenske, Conroy & Webster 2003; Wickes 1993). The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project has collected data since 1999. This current study aims to examine the relationship between amphetamine use and crime among police detainees in Western Australia. Further, the study provides a brief profile of detainee amphetamine users and compares this with the profile of a non-user

Drug use monitoring in Australia: An expansion into the Pilbara

The relationship between alcohol, illicit drugs and offending is complex and dynamic. Substance misuse both nationally and internationally has been found to be prevalent in detained populations (Bennett & Holloway 2007, Pernanen, Cousineau, Brochu & Sun 2002, Sweeney & Payne 2012). With the cost of crime in Australia estimated to be $36 billion per annum (AIC 2009), it is important to establish some of the links that, if addressed, may reduce the level of commissions of crime and increase the wellbeing of Australians

Over-The-Vacuum Update – Starlink’s Approach for Reliably Upgrading Software on Thousands of Satellites

Starlink operates the world\u27s largest constellation of over 4000 satellites, all of which receive regular software updates to deliver new capabilities, improve reliability and performance, and maintain security. Updating the software across the constellation requires solving two core challenges: safely updating an individual satellite in the harsh environment of space, and orchestrating thousands of updates without impacting users of the system. Variations on these problems have been addressed for large scale terrestrial compute systems by the broader software industry, and we have leveraged practices of that state of the art to develop a novel spacecraft software update system that delivers updates to the entire fleet of spacecraft on a rapid cadence. We developed a fault tolerant update system that is resilient to a breadth of failure classes, ensures consistency across a satellite composed of many independent computers, and is autonomous and self-correcting across a variety of traditionally challenging space operations scenarios. We leverage that system to adopt software industry standard practices like canary testing and progressive rollout. We have used this software update system to make over 200 updates to continuously deliver new functionality and improve performance of the fleet with no satellites lost due to failed software update

Understanding hospital admissions close to the end of life (ACE) study.

BACKGROUND: Palliative care is a policy priority internationally. In England, policymakers are seeking to develop high quality care for all by focusing on reducing the number of patients who die in acute hospitals. It is argued that reducing 'inappropriate' hospital admissions will lead to an improvement in the quality of care and provide cost savings.Yet what is meant by an 'inappropriate' admission is unclear and is unlikely to be shared by all stakeholders. The decision process that leads to hospital admission is often challenging, particularly when patients are frail and elderly. The ACE study reopens the idea of 'inappropriate' hospital admissions close to the end of life. We will explore how decisions that result in inpatient admissions close to death are made and valued from the perspective of the decision-maker, and will consider the implications of these findings for current policy and practice. DESIGN/METHODS: The study focuses on the admission of patients with advanced dementia, chest disease or cancer who die within 72 hours of admission to acute hospitals. The study uses mixed methods with three data collection phases. Phase one involves patient case studies of admissions with interviews with clinicians involved in the admission and next-of-kin. Phase two uses vignette-based focus groups with clinical professionals and patients living with the conditions of interest. Phase three uses questionnaires distributed to clinical stakeholders. Qualitative data will be explored using framework analysis whilst the questionnaire data will be examined using descriptive statistical analysis. Findings will be used to evaluate current policy and literature. DISCUSSION: Significant ethical and validity issues arise due to the retrospective nature of phase one of the study. We are not able to gain consent from patients who have died, and the views of the deceased patients cannot be included directly, which risks privileging professional views. This phase also relies on the memories of the participants which may be unreliable. Later phases of the study attempt to compensate for the "absent voices" of the deceased patients by including next-of-kin and patient focus groups.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Introducing IQoro: A Clinically Effective Oral Neuromuscular Treatment for Dysphagia

There is a clear need for new advances in treating dysphagia; healthcare professionals currently have a restricted range of options to treat swallowing problems and related conditions. Usual treatments for dysphagia are based on compensatory measures which allow patients to live within the limitations of their condition. These measures do not address the underlying cause of dysphagia: neurological and physiological dysfunction. A senior speech and language therapist working with young people with Cerebral Palsy bemoans the fact that official care pathway guidelines list only medication and surgical intervention as alternatives to treat drooling. Neither of which, she contends, is effective or desirable. Esophageal dysphagia causes reflux-based diseases, which are also poorly served by current treatment alternatives and are currently managed by medication, or remedied by surgical intervention. Medication reduces the symptoms of reflux but does nothing to address the underlying pathophysiology, muscular dysfunction, at the root of the problem. That now changes with IQoro: a simple, innovative treatment that is available to patients and healthcare professionals to address all of the above conditions. The chapter explains the physiological and neurological process of the functional swallow in detail, with illustrations and explanations. The efficacy of IQoro treatment is proven with evidence from internationally published scientific studies, case studies, an NHS service evaluation, and NICE briefings