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The mid-eighteenth century is seen as a turning point after which English legal and lay attitudes to cruelty expanded from life-threatening violence to include a wider range of behaviours. This article reconsiders this chronology of changing ideas about marital cruelty. It follows the lead of recent scholarship that challenges the thesis of a 'civilising' process in attitudes towards state-violence and inter-personal violence and draws on new conclusions about marital relationships, spouses' gendered roles, and early modern manhood, which complicate simplistic views of patriarchal unions. Focusing upon the full array of acts -- not just life-threatening ones -- discussed in cruelty cases from c. 1580 onwards, this article questions the convention that social toleration for husbands' use of violence against their wives declined from the 1750s as part of an overall civilising process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about several papers discussed at the Local Population Studies Society (LPSS) Autumn Conference 2012, which was held November 3, 2012 at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England. Topics include demography, the relationship between medicine and welfare, and the history of local communities.

Non‐fatal strangulation associated with sexual assault is a public health problem affecting female survivors, especially those assaulted by current/former partners or strangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report the characterization of 'Hi-Spot' cultures formed by the re-aggregation of dissociated postnatal CNS tissue grown at an air-liquid interface. This produces a self-organised, dense, organotypic cellular network. Western blot, immunohistochemical, viral transfection and electron microscopy analyses reveal neuronal and glial populations, and the development of a synaptic network. Multi-electrode array recordings show synaptically driven network activity that develops through time from single unit spiking activity to global network bursting events. This activity is blocked by tetanus toxin and modified by antagonists of glutamatergic and GABAergic receptors suggesting tonic activity of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic signaling. The tissue-like properties of these cultures has been further demonstrated by their relative insensitivity to glutamate toxicity. Exposure to millimolar concentrations of glutamate for hours is necessary to produce significant excitotoxic neuronal death, as in vivo. We conclude that 'Hi-Spots' are biological analogues of CNS tissue at a level of complexity that allows for detailed functional analyses of emergent neuronal network properties., (© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Neurochemistry © 2011 International Society for Neurochemistry.)

Childbirth education is considered a key component to prenatal care, although many women do not receive any formalized preparation. There are multiple models of childbirth education for both within health care settings, including Centering Pregnancy, and external programs, such as Lamaze and Bradley. As a component of childbirth preparation, a birth plan can be a medium to improve patient-provider communication regarding a desired labor and birth experience and improve satisfaction with care.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality globally. Safe Motherhood policies have been directed towards the reduction of PPH by recommending active management of third-stage labor as the standard of care. One component of active management involves routine use of a uterotonic agent within 1 minute of the delivery of the baby. A case study at Clínica Materno-Infantil, a free-standing public birth center in Honduras, is presented, focusing on methods to reduce PPH. The nursing staff was trained to estimate blood loss and in methods to manage PPH, including elements of active management of the third stage of labor. Medical records were reviewed and an analysis of PPH management compared to estimated blood loss (EBL) was conducted. There was no significant correlation between PPH management techniques and EBL (r = .060; P = .368). There was a statistically significant (P < .001) correlation between oxytocin administration and lower EBL (r = -.232), indicating that there was less blood loss when oxytocin was administered. At Clínica Materno-Infantil, routine use of a uterotonic agent appears beneficial and further implementation of active management of the third stage of labor appears warranted.

Objective: to explore the relationship between community-based parteras, the staff at the Centro Materno Infantil (Mother-Child Centre), and other public health facilities within the district of Morazán in northern rural Honduras during the transition to new models of maternity care., Design: focus-group discussions with two groups composed of a convenience sample of community parteras. After verbatim translation of the interviews, the transcripts were analysed for content., Setting: the Centro de Salud of Morazán, Yoro Honduras., Participants: 28 community-based parteras and one partero (male community midwife)., Findings: five themes emerged from the focus group data: the shared view that attending birth is connected to a religious calling; the desire for additional training; the desire for support from, and connection to, existing public-health services and infrastructure; the role of parteras in providing services to women who otherwise would not receive care; and the lack of new parteras to carry on this work in the future., Key Conclusions: traditional birth attendants are still relied upon to serve more than half of the childbearing women in Honduras. The findings from the focus groups provide a foundation upon which to strengthen the relationship between community-based parteras and the government-funded systems of health care during this time of transition to new models of maternity care.

This review contrasts the planned and actual recruitment and retention efforts for a cervical cancer prevention study within a predominantly underserved population. Recruitment was a primary obstacle to trial progression and multiple strategies to improve recruitment were implemented to meet objectives. The actual recruitment strategies were expansion to five geographically distinct clinical sites, use of nurse practitioners focused primarily on patient issues, extremely flexible study hours and location, honorariums, support for transportation and child care, and creativity in maintaining contact with study participants. With these strategies, 90% of eligible patients consented to participate in the study.

Background: Our objective was to assess adults' knowledge, risk behaviors, and preference for information about human papillomavirus (HPV)., Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire given in 3 locations (a university health service and 2 community family practice offices); 289 people completed the questionnaire. The primary outcome measure was a knowledge score calculated from the responses on specific items in the questionnaire. This knowledge score was developed by other investigators and has acceptable psychometric properties., Results: Knowledge about HPV was low, with an average knowledge score of 5.50 (possible scores ranged from 0 to 14) and a mode of 0. Knowledge scores were significantly higher in women (P =.001) and married adults (P =.001). Knowledge scores were inversely related to age (P =.004) and positively correlated with years of education (P =.001) and self-assessment of knowledge (P <.001). Knowledge scores were positively correlated with condom use (P =.05) but not significantly associated with other risk behaviors. The most frequently desired time to receive information about HPV was before becoming sexually active., Conclusions: Adults seen in a typical family physician's office have limited knowledge of HPV. One tool family physicians can use to identify those with the least amount of knowledge is to ask patients how informed they are about HPV. The preferred time to receive information about HPV was before a patient became sexually active. However, it remains unclear whether educational intervention or knowledge changes risky behaviors.