Pregnant women\u27s knowledge about smoking, breastfeeding and breast cancer

Session presented on Friday, July 24, 2015: Purpose: Breastfeeding has been shown to be a protective factor against breast cancer. Lebanon has some of the lowest rates in the Middle East. While 96% of women initiate breastfeeding at birth, by 1 year only 27% are still being breastfed. Also, it has been shown that there is a relationship between breastfeeding and breast cancer especially for women who begin smoking before their first child. 31% of Lebanese women smoke and of those 25% smoke during pregnancy. Therefore this ongoing research aims to answer two questions: Do pregnant women who receive care at AUBMC know about the relationship between breastfeeding and breast cancer? Do those same women know about the relationship between smoking and breast cancer? Methods: A 10 question survey was developed which aims to ascertain pregnant women\u27s knowledge about breastfeeding protective factors and risks to a woman\u27s health from smoking cigarettes. Participants are being solicited from the outpatient obstetrical clinics at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. 100 respondents of the 196 total have thus far participated. Results: Demographics: 83% are between the ages of 25 to 35; 48% have a bachelor\u27s degree; 26% have a masters degree; 51% are in their first pregnancy; 30% are in their third pregnancy Breastfeeding 43% previously breastfed for 1-6 months; 22% for 6-12 months; 15% for 12-18 months; 57% have receive NO breastfeeding education; 89% say that breastfeeding helps the mother to bond with her baby; 68% say that breastfeeding protects against breast cancer; 24% say that breastfeeding delays a woman\u27s menses; 77% say that breastfeeding does not help with child spacing Smoking: 12% are smokers; 88% do not smoke; 26% are trying to quit; 41% plan to stop smoking; 90% say; smoking is a risk for heart disease; 19% say smoking is a risk for bone fracture; 50% say smoking is a risk for breast cancer while 50% say it is not; 51% say smoking is a risk for infertility Conclusion: Of those surveyed it is apparent that most are well educated. Although more than half have received NO education about breastfeeding, still these women are knowledgeable about some benefits of breastfeeding. Most who have had a pregnancy have breastfed, 37% breastfeeding longer than 6 months. Most know that breastfeeding protects against breast cancer. Most do not smoke. Most know smoking is a risk for heart disease and infertility. However, the majority do not know that smoking increases risk for bone fracture. Half of the women know that smoking increases the risk for breast cancer

Drop Traffic in Microfluidic Ladder Networks with Fore-Aft Structural Asymmetry

We investigate the dynamics of pairs of drops in microfluidic ladder networks with slanted bypasses, which break the fore-aft structural symmetry. Our analytical results indicate that unlike symmetric ladder networks, structural asymmetry introduced by a single slanted bypass can be used to modulate the relative drop spacing, enabling them to contract, synchronize, expand, or even flip at the ladder exit. Our experiments confirm all these behaviors predicted by theory. Numerical analysis further shows that while ladder networks containing several identical bypasses are limited to nearly linear transformation of input delay between drops, mixed combination of bypasses can cause significant non-linear transformation enabling coding and decoding of input delays.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Enlisting student nurses in a Lebanese national campaign to immunize children against polio

There is great value in having nursing students engage in public health projects. One such endeavor was a polio immunization campaign in Lebanon. Reports of polio in neighboring Syria necessitated immunization of Lebanese children under the age of five. Junior and senior nursing students who participated learned many valuable lessons

Cross cultural experiences: Facilitating nursing students\u27 use of postpartum scenarios in Lebanon and Texas

Preparing nursing students to perform postpartum assessments can be challenging. Students may be anxious in attempting to overcome cultural taboos against examining breasts and female genitalia. This poster compares and contrasts two different experiences of nursing students: The first in a Lebanese setting and the second in a Texan context

Engaging nursing students for genetic/genomic learning

An undergraduate hybrid genetic course has been unpopular. Students complained about self- learning content and that class was boring. Thus, the course was reimagined. A variety of methods used included individual and group quizzes, group assignments, interactive activities, videos and discussion. Most popular were guest presenters about their genetic conditions

Undressing the elephant...

Racism exists in health care and education, impacting outcomes for individuals and populations. Many nursing programs do not comprehensively address racism, leaving students and faculty unprepared for how to recognize and/or confront it. Here, we present our efforts to address racism through ongoing dialogue in our school

Interdroplet bilayer arrays in millifluidic droplet traps from 3D-printed moulds

In droplet microfluidics, aqueous droplets are typically separated by an oil phase to ensure containment of molecules in individual droplets of nano-to-picoliter volume. An interesting variation of this method involves bringing two phospholipid-coated droplets into contact to form a lipid bilayer in-between the droplets. These interdroplet bilayers, created by manual pipetting of microliter droplets, have proved advantageous for the study of membrane transport phenomena, including ion channel electrophysiology. In this study, we adapted the droplet microfluidics methodology to achieve automated formation of interdroplet lipid bilayer arrays. We developed a ‘millifluidic’ chip for microliter droplet generation and droplet packing, which is cast from a 3D-printed mould. Droplets of 0.7–6.0 μL volume were packed as homogeneous or heterogeneous linear arrays of 2–9 droplets that were stable for at least six hours. The interdroplet bilayers had an area of up to 0.56 mm2, or an equivalent diameter of up to 850 μm, as determined from capacitance measurements. We observed osmotic water transfer over the bilayers as well as sequential bilayer lysis by the pore-forming toxin melittin. These millifluidic interdroplet bilayer arrays combine the ease of electrical and optical access of manually pipetted microdroplets with the automation and reproducibility of microfluidic technologies. Moreover, the 3D-printing based fabrication strategy enables the rapid implementation of alternative channel geometries, e.g. branched arrays, with a design-to-device time of just 24–48 hours

Recent advances in optical fiber devices for microfluidics integration

This paper examines the recent emergence of miniaturized optical fiber based sensing and actuating devices that have been successfully integrated into fluidic microchannels that are part of microfluidic and lab-on-chip systems. Fluidic microsystems possess the advantages of reduced sample volumes, faster and more sensitive biological assays, multi-sample and parallel analysis, and are seen as the de facto bioanalytical platform of the future. This paper considers the cases where the optical fiber is not merely used as a simple light guide delivering light across a microchannel, but where the fiber itself is engineered to create a new sensor or tool for use within the environment of the fluidic microchannel

Episiotomy practice in the Middle East: A Lebanese teaching tertiary care centre experience

There is lack of data on the rate of episiotomy in Lebanon and the study's hospital.BACKGROUNDOnly a few studies have addressed episiotomy practice in Lebanon and the Middle East and they show varying rates.AIMTo identify the rate, and change in rate, of episiotomy practice over the years at a teaching hospital in Lebanon and to assess whether maternal age, parity, fetal weight, woman's hospital admission class, and physician's gender were associated with episiotomy. We also tested the association between episiotomy and postpartum hemorrhage and/or high degree perineal tears.METHODSA retrospective observational study was conducted on 1756 records for women having a normal vaginal birth at a single centre from January 2009 to January 2014.FINDINGSThe rate of episiotomy at the hospital was very high, with 97.4% of women receiving an episiotomy in 2009. A major decrease in the rate was identified with a decline from 97.4% in 2009 to 73.3% in January 2014. Episiotomy was found to be associated with parity, maternal age, and with high degree perineal tears.DISCUSSIONThe episiotomy rate at this centre remains higher than the 10% rate recommended by the World Health Organization, although there has been a significant reduction after a call for restrictive rather than liberal use.CONCLUSIONRaising awareness among providers appeared to play a significant role in reducing this rate, although more efforts remain warranted. Other strategies - such as raising awareness of women about potential risks of episiotomy - are also worth exploring

Family Medicine needs assessment: Studying the clinical work of general practitioners in Ethiopia

Background and Objective: Some universities in sub-Saharan Africa have initiated Family Medicine (FM) residency programs. This study was conducted by FM colleagues at Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia and the University of Toronto, Canada to inform the FM residency curriculum at AAU. It was designed to determine the clinical problems that family physicians in Ethiopia may encounter.Methods: We used a mixed methods approach: Modified time-motion study and brief interviews. We observed 46 general practitioners (GPs) across ten sites in Ethiopia. Trained observers recorded time-motion data while GPs conducted their daily work. This data was supplemented by brief interviews with the GPs.Findings: Clinical encounters occupied 82% of GP work. The common symptoms were digestive-abdominal pain (21% visits), respiratory-cough (16%), and general-fever and chills (16%). The common diagnoses were infectious (22% visits), genitourinary (12%), circulatory (10%), and endocrine (10%). Challenges identified were lack of clinical resources (57% of GPs), difficulties in communication (48%) and excessive workload (33%). Most common requests were for information technology (78%) and HIV (46%) training.Conclusion: The profile of common symptoms and diagnoses indicated the competencies family physicians in the regions should have. This information will be used to develop an appropriate FM curriculum at AAU