Obstetric Nurses’ Perceived Barriers to Immediate Skin to Skin Contact after Cesarean Birth

Despite the strong evidence supporting immediate skin to skin contact (SSC) after birth, research suggests that patients who undergo cesarean births do not have the same opportunities for SSC as patients who undergo vaginal births. There are limited studies regarding provider attitudes surrounding the practice of immediate SSC after cesarean birth. The aim of this research was to understand obstetric nurses’ perceived barriers to immediate SSC after cesarean section. An exploratory qualitative design was used for the project. The semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted via video conferencing. Conventional content analysis methods were used to analyze the data, which yielded the primary overarching theme of “performing safe and effective skin to skin contact after cesarean birth”. The participants identified both barriers and facilitators to SSC after cesarean. It was evident from the interviews that nurses strongly believe in the benefits of SSC after cesarean and try to implement it as often as possible, but various factors prevented SSC in the OR from occurring on a regular basis. This research can be used as a starting point for refining the practice of SSC after cesarean births

Binary Neutron Star Merger Rates. Predictions from Observations of Dwarf Galaxies and Observable Rates with Ground-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Binary Neutron Star (BNS) mergers are interesting events in the field of multi-messenger astronomy since they are sources of detectable gravitational wave signals and electromagnetic transients. Here I introduce a new method to calculate a conservative, lower-limit for the rate of BNS merger events that is proportional to the stellar mass and is based on evidence of an r-process event in the dwarf galaxy Reticulum II. Two estimates of the stellar mass in the nearby universe were made using a Schechter Mass Function and a modified version of the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog (2MASS XSC). The BNS merger event rates were calculated to be 285.88 and 266.77 Gpc-3yr-1 from the Schechter Mass Function and the galaxy catalog mass estimates, respectively. Predictions of observed rates with LIGO were made considering that ground-based gravitational-wave detectors have preferential sensitivity dependent on right ascension and declination. The predicted observed rate for a 200 Mpc volume was estimated at 6.30 yr-1. Additionally, this work explored other uses of the galaxy catalog created to estimate the rate BNS mergers, such as in the identification of the source galaxy during observation campaigns of these events, and in cosmological parameter estimation

SOCIALLY EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF GM AND NON-GM CROPS UNDER CONTAMINATION RISK

This paper develops a model of optimal allocation of GM and non-GM crops under contamination risk. The model is used to compare the producer optimal crop allocation at equilibrium to the social efficient crop allocation. From the socially optimum conditions, the paper identifies production environments under which GM crops are more likely to be overplanted.Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Central Bank Economic Research: Output, Demand, Productivity, and Relevance

The economic research of 30 central banks in OECD and Latin America countries from 2000 to 2007 is evaluated in this study. An international comparison based on four indexes that measure central bank research output, demand, productivity and relevance is included. From this view, the European Central Bank, the United States Federal Reserve Bank-Board of Governors- and the Bank of Canada showed the best results. The Central Bank of Colombia achieves an important position among the central banks selected for the study and holds that position in most of the indexes. Three aspects of research were examined in depth: i) focus of the research agenda, ii) the way research is organized, and iii) strategies for its development for six leading central banks in the sample, based on the results of the measure, including the Central Bank of Colombia. The study shows a tendency of central banks to develop studies with academic institutions. This practice allows them to broad the range of their analysis, by having an outside perspective, while getting expertise with recent techniques and theories for better economic analysis, which contributes to policy design.Central Banks, economic research. Classification JEL: E59, A11.

Surface temperature of a magnetized neutron star and interpretation of the ROSAT data. II

We complete our study of pulsars' non-uniform surface temperature and of its effects on their soft X-ray thermal emission. Our previous work had shown that, due to gravitational lensing, dipolar fields cannot reproduce the strong pulsations observed in Vela, Geminga, PSR 0656+14, and PSR 1055-52. Assuming a standard neutron star mass of 1.4 Msol, we show here that the inclusion of a quadrupolar component, if it is suitably oriented, is sufficient to increase substantially the pulsed fraction, Pf, up to, or above, the observed values if the stellar radius is 13 km or even 10 km. For models with a radius of 7 km the maximum pulsed fraction obtainable with (isotropic) blackbody emission is of the order of 15% for orthogonal rotators (Vela, Geminga and PSR 1055-52) and only 5% for an inclined rotator as PSR 0656+14. Given the observed values this indicates that the neutron stars in Geminga and PSR 0656+14 have radii significantly larger than 7 km and, given the very specific quadrupole components required to increase Pf, even radii of the order of 10 km may be unlikely in all four cases. We confirm our previous finding that the pulsed fraction always increases with photon energy, below about 1 keV, when blackbody emission is used and show that it is due to the hardenning of the blackbody spectrum with increasing temperature. The observed decrease of pulsed fraction may thus suggest that the emitted spectrum softens with increasing temperature. Finally, we apply our model to reassess the magnetic field effect on the outer boundary condition used in neutron star cooling models and show that, in contradistinction to several previous claims, it is very small and most probably results in a slight reduction of the heat flow through the envelope.Comment: 17 pages with 8 figures. Uses AASTeX v4.0 macro. Submitted to Ap.

Building Social Capital in the Polish-German border region: An Evaluation of the effectiveness of EU-funded Small Projects

Our research examines the development of 'social capital' in border regions. Specifically, we analyse whether participating in social or cultural events such as creative workshops or sporting competitions – so-called small projects – promotes neighbourly trust and the emergence of cross-border networks across one of the historically most difficult borders in Europe: in the Polish-German border region. Social psychologists have long argued that under certain conditions contact between the members of different nations leads to improved relations between these nations. The small projects fund (SPF) is an EU-funded financial instrument to encourage municipalities or NGOs to organise events that permit personal encounters between Poles and Germans who live in the Euroregions across the Polish-German border. The goal is to help potentially prejudiced border region residents realise that their fears are unfounded, to develop a sense of trust in people from the other side, and to gradually develop cross-border networks. However, there is so far no unambiguous empirical evidence that cross-border contact leads to greater trust in, or stronger networks with, the neighbours from the other side. Our research takes a qualitative, interview-based approach and examines this proposition, as well as the conditions under which social capital develops as a result of thorough personal contact. In the summer and autumn 2013, we observed 17 small projects with a variety of themes and conducted 90 interviews with 51 Polish and German participants. We interviewed most of these participants twice: once before they participated in the project and immediately afterwards, to trace how perceptions change as a result of personal contact. We also interviewed project organisers as well as a control group of 30 Poles and Germans to determine if the people who participate in small projects are in any way atypical. We found no major differences between our control group and the actual project participants, which indicates that small projects do not attract a completely atypical group of people. The border region is a site of lively and regular exchanges, though these are often quite cursory, for example to go shopping. This lively exchange goes hand in hand with a sense of familiarity and no major prejudices. When asked how they would react if a neighbour of the other nationality moved into their street, or if one of their family members wished to marry a person from the other side, most people reacted positively. We encountered hardly any dislike and distrust of people from the other side. On the contrary, there is much affinity and readiness to trust. Most of our respondents described people from the other side in very positive terms, such as likeable, sociable, open or hospitable, though some negative attributes were also mentioned, including chaotic, sly or stiff. Most participants became involved in the project through their membership in an organisation, such as a club or through voluntary organisations. For many youth projects, recruitment took place through schools or youth organisations. Quite a few people had heard of the Euroregions and could define their activities in the border region. However, most of our respondents had either not heard of the Euroregions or were unable to define them. In the context of small projects, communication between Poles and Germans is often hindered by the language barrier, though some basic communication is possible in English, through interpreters, or using body language. And indeed, we observed a range of contact situations in small projects. For example, several projects such as joint workshops offer many opportunities to interact, while certain solitary activities by nature make it harder for the Polish and German participants to mingle. In such circumstances, it is even more important to have a strong supporting programme on the side of the main activity of a project, such as concerts, parties or barbecues. In some projects there were many such surrounding activities, while in others there was no real programme to bring people together outside of the main project activity. We also witnessed some spontaneous and very cordial interactions, for example during unplanned evening activities or on the side of village fetes. To be sure, sometimes contact gives rise to conflicts or misunderstandings. We observed one such conflict in a youth camp. However, all in all, Polish-German exchanges during projects tend to be very positive experiences. For the vast majority of our interviewees, no opinion change occurred because their perceptions were already very good to begin with. We observed change in only five cases. In two of them, this was a change for the worse that directly resulted from the conflict during the abovementioned youth camp. In the three remaining cases, a noticeable improvement took place in young participants' opinions as a result of their positive experiences during the project. While a good deal of trust in the neighbours already exists in the Polish-German border region, there is still room for building new relations as well as deepening and developing the scope of existing cross-border networks. To this end, and based on the conclusions from this research, we recommend the following measures to perfect the small projects fund

The Multifarious Role of Microglia in Brain Metastasis

The immune landscape in brain metastasis is a very heterogeneous framework. Amongst a broad plethora of cells within the tumor microenvironment, the presence of activated microglia has been perfectly described. The innate role of microglial cells is to detect and eliminate any insults that may disturb the regular behavior of the brain. As part of its defensive role, it releases pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines that aim to modulate the inflammatory scenario at the metastatic foci. However, the long term effects that these cells may exert on the metastatic progression is not clear. One of the biggest challenges in the field is to distinguish between brain resident microglial cells and infiltrated bone-marrow derived macrophages. Part of this issue is the fact that both cell types share similar phenotypes. Current studies are based on the modulation of the immune response against cancer cells (immunotherapy). However, most of current clinical trials and newly developed drugs focus on the adaptive immune response (e.g., immune blockade check-points). Additionally, the unique structure of the central nervous system with the presence of the blood-brain barrier have hindered a significant advance in novel therapies against brain metastasis. In this manuscript, we describe current advances in characterization of tumor-associated microglia and macrophages, the importance of microglia during the anti-cancerous response, and the future direction for the development of new strategies against this complex disease

2016 China-Latin America economic bulletin

This repository item contains a report from the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative. The Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) is a research program of the Center for Finance, Law & Policy, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. It was founded in 2008 to advance policy-relevant knowledge about governance for financial stability, human development, and the environment