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Emilia Berin,1,* Micaela Sundell,1,* Chanda Karki,2 Jan Brynhildsen,1 Mats Hammar1 1Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: To map the knowledge about and attitudes toward birth control methods among women in Kathmandu, Nepal, and to compare the results between women seeking an induced abortion and a control group. Method: This was a cross-sectional cohort study with matched controls. Women aged 15–49 years seeking medical care at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Kathmandu Medical College were included and interviewed. A case was defined as a woman who sought an elective medical or surgical abortion. A control was defined as a woman who sought medical care at the outpatient department or had already been admitted to the ward for reasons other than elective abortion. A questionnaire developed for the study – dealing with different demographic characteristics as well as knowledge about and attitudes toward contraceptives – was filled out based on the interview. Results: A total of 153 women were included: 64 women seeking an abortion and 89 controls. Women seeking an abortion had been pregnant more times than the control group and were more likely to have been informed about contraceptives. Women with higher education were less likely to seek an abortion than women with lower education. There was no significant difference in knowledge about and attitudes toward contraceptives between cases and controls. The women considered highest possible effectiveness to be the most important feature when deciding on a birth control method. Conclusion: Women seeking abortion in Kathmandu had shorter education and a history of more pregnancies and deliveries than women in the control group. Education and counseling on sex and reproduction as well as on contraceptive methods probably need to be improved in Nepal to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Attitudes about contraceptives need to be further investigated to develop better and more effective methods to educate women about family planning in order to increase reproductive health. Keywords: abortion, contraceptive knowledge, family planning, Nepal

At Linkoping University, medical education focused on problem-based learning was introduced, with an unchanged budget, but a new method of resource management. The point system for teaching and administrative tasks gives better control of resources and increases departments' motivation to participate. (SK)

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Most women experience vasomotor symptoms (VMS) around menopause that may affect quality of life negatively. Effective pharmacological treatment exists but is not recommended for all women, and there is a demand for alternatives to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a resistance training intervention on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in postmenopausal women with VMS. This open randomized controlled trial included 65 postmenopausal women >45 years old with daily VMS. The participants were randomized to 15 weeks of resistance training three times per week or an untreated control group. The Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used to assess HRQoL at baseline and after 15 weeks. The resistance training group improved compared to the control group in the WHQ domains of VMS (p = 0.002), sleep problems (p = 0.003) and menstrual symptoms (p = 0.01) from baseline to post intervention. No significant between-group differences were found in SF-36 summary scores, or in any of the domains. In postmenopausal women with moderate to severe VMS, resistance training three times per week for 15 weeks improved menopause-specific HRQoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N- and p-doped AIAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors were grown using metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy to determine doping-induced losses.

The design and characterization of low resistive wafer-fused heterojunctions between p-InP and p-GaAs were investigated. Doping profiles across the interface and interface contamination with carbon or oxygen were characterized using secondary ion mass spectroscopy. Results showed that the wafer-fused heterojunctions had high crystalline quality. Moreover, the large lattice mismatch between InP and GaAs was accommodated by edge dislocations.

A gene from Helicobacter pylori was cloned and sequenced. The gene (termed pfr) encodes a cystolic protein that has significant homology with the ferritin produced by Escherichia coli and the eucaryotic ferritins and bacterioferritins. It was demonstrated that the Pfr protein forms paracrystalline inclusions and functionally bind inorganic iron. Since the E. coli and H. pylori proteins show similar identity to eucaryotic ferritins, it was proposed that the H. pylori Pfr forms a second class of bacterial ferritins designed to store nonheme iron.

We have examined the crystallographic structure of GaAs/InP interfaces obtained by wafer fusion following different procedures. Plan-view and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveal that the interface is not only composed of a regular array of two sets of edge dislocations and is more complex than generally supposed. If a twist is created due to misalignment of the two substrates, the dislocations are not edge dislocations but also have a screw component. Dislocations for which the Burgers vectors have a component normal to the interface are also present. Those dislocations probably result from steps and some of them accommodate the tilt between the two substrates. Inclusions and voids as well as a low number of volume dislocations are present in all the samples. The observed volume dislocation density near the interface lies in the 10[sup 5]–10[sup 7] cm[sup -2] range and these volume dislocations may be associated with thermal mismatch. The origin of all these defects is discussed. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platelets are needed to prevent or arrest bleeding and aggregate at the site of injury upon vascular damage. Platelets express receptors for estrogens which might affect the function of the platelets and their hemostatic ability. The aim was to identify possible differences in platelet function related to age, gender, and phases of the menstrual cycle by use of impedance aggregometry with Multiplate. In the first part of the study, platelet function was assessed in 60 healthy individuals (30 men and 30 women) in each of three age groups (20–25, 40–45, and 60–65 years). In the second part of the study, the platelet function was analyzed on four occasions during the menstrual cycle in women without oral contraceptives (OCs) (n = 17) and compared to 19 women on OCs and 18 men of similar age (20–40 years). For the women on OCs, aggregation was analyzed once during the tablet-free week and once late during the period with OCs. The men were sampled once. Women of younger age (<45 years) had significantly higher agonist-induced aggregation response than both men and post-menopausal women (60–65 years). The agonist-induced aggregation response did not differ between phases of the menstrual cycle or OC use. The results suggest that estradiol and/or progesterone affect spontaneous aggregation since it was found to be lowest in the mid-luteal phase. Spontaneous aggregation was significantly lower in women on OCs than in both men and women without OCs. Our findings indicate that fertile age is associated with higher aggregation response capacity of the platelets, possibly to prevent excessive bleeding during menstruation, but this response capacity is not altered during the menstrual cycle or by use of OCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]