Journal of biosocial science
-
This study identified the influences of maternal socio-demographic and antenatal factors on stillbirths and neonatal deaths in New South Wales, Australia. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore the association of selected antenatal and maternal characteristics with stillbirths and neonatal deaths. The findings of this study showed that stillbirths and neonatal deaths significantly varied by infant sex, maternal age, Aboriginality, maternal country of birth, socioeconomic status, parity, maternal smoking behaviour during pregnancy, maternal diabetes mellitus, maternal hypertension, antenatal care, plurality of birth, low birth weight, place of birth, delivery type, maternal deaths and small gestational age. ⋯ The findings indicate that very low birth weight (less than 2,000 g) contributed 75.6% of the population-attributable risks to stillbirths and 59.4% to neonatal deaths. Low gestational age (less than 32 weeks) accounted for 77.7% of stillbirths and 87.9% of neonatal deaths. The findings of this study suggest that in order to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths, it is essential to include strategies to predict and prevent prematurity and low birth weight, and that there is a need to focus on anti-smoking campaigns during pregnancy, optimizing antenatal care and other healthcare programmes targeted at the socially disadvantaged populations identified in this study.
-
Some propositions on male and female sexual orientation will be considered. Some of these are established; others are more speculative. The aim is to offer some notes towards a coherent, comprehensive theory of sexual orientation. 1. ⋯ The active males contain a substantial proportion of self-identified bisexuals; and the active females a substantial proportion of self-identified butches. 8. These two active categories (butch lesbians and male bisexuals) share a number of endocrinological, psychological, morphological and behavioural features vis-a-vis their exclusively homosexual and heterosexual peers. Methods of testing some of these ideas are presented.
-
The paper looks at the limitations and strengths of using the A-cope questionnaire for measuring strategies for coping with prolonged conflict by Palestinian young people in Gaza. The scale was administered to young people between the ages of 8 and 17. ⋯ However, some items on the subscales are not relevant for Muslim societies or societies in situations of prolonged conflict. The authors suggest that combining an anthropological contextual perspective and qualitative data with psychological instruments is an effective way of addressing the limitations of using a single quantitative method of assessment in non-Western complex social and cultural settings.
-
Human breast milk is primarily colostrum immediately following birth. Colostrum gradually changes to mature milk over the next several days. The role of colostrum in fighting infections and promoting growth and development of the newborn is widely acknowledged. ⋯ Time to initial breast-feeding was delayed slightly, but significantly, for older mothers, for male infants, and by mothers who did not report delivery complications. The percentage of mothers who fed their child colostrum was higher, and times to initial breast-feeding were shorter, than almost all previous reports from South Asia. These findings might be explained, in part, by methodological differences among studies, but it is suggested that recent changes towards earlier initiation of breast-feeding have taken place in rural Bangladesh.
-
This study explores the factors associated with neonatal mortality and maternal health care in Nepal. The subjects were 4375 births reported in the 1996 Nepal Family Health Survey. ⋯ Four aspects of maternal care were found to be highly associated with region, household ownership of assets, mother's education and father's education. This indicates that accessibility, affordability and availability of maternal health care are important factors to consider in future research on neonatal mortality.