Fertility and digital technology: narratives of using smartphone app ‘Natural Cycles’ while trying to conceive

Fertility awareness apps, which help to identify the ‘fertile window’ when conception is most likely, have been hailed as ‘revolutionising’ women’s reproductive health. Despite rapidly growing popularity, little research has explored how people use these apps when trying to conceive and what these apps mean to them. We draw on in‐depth, qualitative interviews, adopting a critical digital health studies lens (a sub‐field of science and technology studies), to explore the experiences of cisgender women and partners with one such app, Natural Cycles, in the context of their daily lives. We found that many women valued the technology as a ‘natural’, inobtrusive alternative to biomedical intervention, and a means of controlling and knowing their bodies, amid a dearth of fertility‐related education and care. Yet this technology also intervened materially and affectively into the spaces of their lives and relationships and privileged disembodied metrics (temperature) over embodied knowledge. Meanwhile, app language, advertising and cost have contributed to characterising ‘typical’ users as white, heterosexual, affluent, cisgender women without disabilities. In the context of neoliberal shifts towards bodily self‐tracking, technologies appealing as novel, liberating and ‘natural’ to individuals who can access them may nevertheless reproduce highly gendered reproductive responsibilities, anxieties and broader health and social inequalities.     

Estimating pneumococcal vaccine coverage among Australian Indigenous children and children with medically at-risk conditions using record linkage

BackgroundRisk-based recommendations are common for pneumococcal vaccines but little is known about their uptake. In Australia, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) was funded only for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children and those with underlying medical conditions in 2001, and then there were different booster dose recommendations depending on risk after the introduction of universal PCV vaccination in 2005.MethodsWe measured coverage of PCV dose 3 and additional PCV and 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) doses by risk group among children born in July 2001–December 2012 in two Australian states using linked immunisation and hospitalisation data (available until December 2013). We ascertained medical risk conditions using hospitalisation diagnosis codes and Indigenous status using an established algorithm, comparing coverage for children born pre (2001–2004) and post (2005–2012) universal PCV funding.ResultsAmong 1.3 million children, 63,897 (4.9%) were Indigenous and 32,934 (2.5%) had at least one medically at-risk condition identified by age 6 months. For births in 2001–2004, coverage for PCV dose 3 by 1 year of age was 37% for Indigenous, 15% for medically at-risk and 11% in other children, increasing to 83%, 91% and 92%, respectively for births in 2005–2012. In children with medically at-risk conditions, PCV dose 4 coverage by 2 years was 1% for 2001–2004 births, increasing to 9% for 2005–2012 births, with PPV23 coverage by 6 years 3% in both cohorts. Among eligible Indigenous children, PPV23 coverage by 3 years was 45% for 2001–2004 births and 51% for 2005–2012 births.ConclusionsCoverage with additional recommended booster doses was very low among children with medical conditions, and only modest among Indigenous children. If additional PCV doses are recommended for some risk groups, especially in the context of routine schedules with reduced doses (e.g. 2 + 1 and 1 + 1), measures to improve implementation will be required.     

Assessing attitudes towards online psychoeducational interventions: Psychometric properties of a Brief Attitudes Scale

Participant attitudes are an explanatory factor for attrition in online health-related interventions. However, its assessment prior to interventions start is uncommon, partly because proper measures are missing. This study presents the psychometric properties of a new scale measuring attitudes towards online psychoeducational interventions (OPIs). Structural validity, reliability and screening performance of the Online Psychoeducational Intervention – Brief Attitudes Scale (OPI-BAS) were studied in a sample of 157 dementia caregivers. Scale cut-off scores were derived to categorise the participants into ‘OPIs sympathisers’ or ‘non-sympathisers’. Groups were compared across sociodemographic and internet use variables. A parsimonious five-item version of OPI-BAS demonstrated good structural validity, with one factor explaining 63.3% of variance. Internal consistency of the scale was high (α = 0.85). OPI-BAS showed good screening performance in identifying individuals with either a preference to use conventional face-to-face or online psychoeducational interventions (area under the curve = 0.84). An optimal cut-off score of 20 was suggested by the receiver operating characteristic graph, providing good sensitivity (74%) and specificity (84%). No significant differences were found between groups on sociodemographic and internet use variables. Attitudes towards OPIs were overall positive, but face-to-face interventions were preferred. This study offers preliminary support to the psychometric quality of OPI-BAS. This short scale has practical applications for research and intervention.     

负压创面治疗技术治疗慢性创面患者的效果

目的探讨在慢性创面患者中应用负压创面治疗技术的效果。方法选取2019年1月至2020年1月天津武清中医院收治的56例慢性创面患者,按照随机数字表法分为对照组和试验组,每组28例。对照组给予普通清创换药治疗,试验组给予负压创面治疗,比较两组植皮时间、愈合时间、住院总费用、疼痛程度。结果试验组植皮时间、愈合时间均短于对照组,住院总费用少于对照组,视觉模拟评分法(VAS)评分低于对照组,差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论负压创面治疗技术应用于慢性创面患者中的效果显著,能够缩短植皮时间、愈合时间,减少住院费用,减轻疼痛感。     

数字信号处理技术在医学物理实验中的应用

信息社会的发展,在很大程度上取决于信息与信号处理技术的先进性.数字信号处理技术的出现改变了信息与信号处理技术的整个面貌,测量仪器技术与计算机技术深层次的结合正引起测试仪器领域里一场新的革命,一种全新的仪器结构概念导致了新一代仪器--虚拟仪器的出现,它是现代计算机技术、通信技术里测量技术相结合的产物,是传统仪器观念的一次巨大变革.它的出现使得人类的测试技术进入了一个新的发展纪元.本文介绍了用"弱电与非电信号处理系统"这一虚拟仪器进行生物非电信号的采集和分析的应用过程.     

知识模式转换在医学科技创新中的作用

医学科技创新是医院赖以生存与发展的动力,医学科技创新的过程也是医学知识模式不断转换的过程,本文从知识模式转换的视角,探讨知识管理对医学科技创新的意义与作用     

粗糙集在构建骨肿瘤辅助诊断知识库的应用研究

在骨肿瘤辅助诊断专家系统研究中，知识库的建立是一直困扰系统建立的瓶颈问题，知识库的好坏不仅影响到后续推理过程，而且还对诊断的精度有着很大的影响。本文使用基于粗糙集理论的数据挖掘技术，对已确诊病例资料数据库进行数据分析，建立骨肿瘤与患者临床表现之间的推理关系，并结合医生的临床实践，最终形成一个比较完备的辅助诊断知识数据库，为后续的推理、解释程序打下良好的基础。     

基于统计参数图的脑功能磁共振成像数据处理方法

介绍了基于统计参数图的脑功能磁共振成像数据处理方法。脑功能磁共振成像由于其高的时间、空间分辨率、无创性等特点而得到广泛的应用。使用统计参数图进行脑功能成像的数据处理过程主要分为:原始数据的读取、图像预处理、统计分析和统计推论。图像预处理包括运动伪影的消除、图像标准化、图像空间平滑;统计分析包括广义线性模型的建立;统计推论包括T检验等。重点介绍了各个过程所使用的传统的处理方法和最新的处理方法。     

基于人工视网膜神经节细胞感受野的图像边缘检测

用光电池组装一个工感受野，在一维上模拟视网膜神经节细胞的零交叉滤波特性，进一步用该工工感受野构建一个图像边缘检测系统，并成功地用系统检测到图像边缘。一与般的基于视觉原理的图像系统相比，这种以人工感受野灵基础的系统，在图像输入的同时即可并行地提取图像边缘信息，而更接近于动物视觉系统原型，此结果将为人工视觉和图像技术的发展提供新的探索。     

离子交换树脂法与活性炭吸附法提取左旋多巴结果比较

以水和盐酸为溶剂从猫豆中提取左旋多巴,并对提取液分别用离子交换树脂法和活性炭吸附法富集左旋多巴,再分别用氨水和醇洗脱,经浓缩、精制得左旋多巴。实验结果表明,前法提取周期较长,平均提取率为2．50％,后法提取周期较短,平均提取率为2．66％,提示后法优于前法。