Valuable insights into caring for women with heavy menstrual bleeding

by Daryl Ilbury

It’s estimated that as many as one in four premenopausal women suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). Also known as menorrhagia, it is a chronic condition characterised by abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding. While some cases have a physical cause, such as fibroids (benign uterine tumours) most do not. Common though the condition may be, that doesn’t make it necessarily bearable. HMB not only poses a significant health risk but also interferes with a woman’s physical, emotional, social, and material quality of life. Unfortunately, given cultural sensitivities around menstruation in general, little is done to make women aware of the condition and that treatments are available. A significant long-term study by the University of Nottingham in the UK is helping to change that.

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Multiple benefits of molasses nutrient blocks for cattle

by Daryl Ilbury

In Southeast Asia, with its burgeoning economies, smallholder livestock production is in a promising transition stage, yet overall remains inefficient. Dr Peter Windsor, Professor Emeritus at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, Australia, and a team of researchers in Laos, have adapted the humble feed block into an effective multi-intervention livestock development strategy that could also play a crucial role in climate change management.

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The critical role of local food systems and democratized science

by Daryl Ilbury

Feeding a rapidly growing global population is nearly impossible. Food production is increasingly controlled by powerful organizations, climate change is negatively impacting food production, inequality is growing globally, and menacing geopolitical shifts are likely to make matters worse. Dr William Lacy, a leading sociologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California Davis, USA, has looked back on 40 years of research in the journal Agriculture and Human Values. He uncovered clear guidelines as to how local food systems and democratized science can encourage the necessary changes.

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Steering STEM education development through play

by Daryl Ilbury

The growing importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for learning at school and beyond is placing increased emphasis on building the framework for their experiences in early childhood. However, designing the learning progressions children experience during this time undervalues a remarkable fact: children’s connection with STEM is intuitive. Chelsea Cutting of the University of South Australia’s Mount Gambier-based campus, and Professor Tom Lowrie of the University of Canberra’s STEM Education Research Centre, have shown how early childhood education can capitalise on this.

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Should pre-anaesthesia consultations be done telephonically?

by Daryl Ilbury

It’s tempting to think that a patient undergoing surgery has little to do to ensure the operation is a success – after all, they’re anaesthetised or sedated – but the reality is that a patient should be an active participant in the procedure. Whereas the focus may be on the surgeon during the operation, the most significant responsibility in ensuring the patient is best prepared for their role usually falls on the anaesthesiologist. One Austrian anaesthesiologist and critical care physician is drawing attention to an increasingly important part of patient preparation.

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FAME – the green revolution of conventional biodiesel

by Daryl Ilbury

The global shift away from petrochemical production towards bio-based solutions has given a boost to conventional biodiesel producers. However, they’re facing a challenger ‘from the inside’ – renewable biodiesel. Undaunted, a team of chemists and engineers from Airable Research Lab in the USA, led by Dr Dylan Karis, has revealed that conventional biodiesel – or fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) – has remarkable properties. In a leap forward for green chemistry, the researchers found that FAME makes an excellent substitute for petrochemicals in a raft of applications beyond fuel.

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Overturning oppression in the US child welfare system

by Daryl Ilbury

In the US, there’s a growing call from academics and advocates with significant experience in the country’s child welfare system for fundamental reform. Professors Lisa Merkel-Holguin and Ida Drury, colleagues from the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Colorado, and a national advocate, have catalogued multiple stages within the current system they see as oppressive and prejudiced against families who are part of racialised or ethnic-minoritised groups and/or who are poor. The researchers suggest that kin-first and community-based programmes, instead of agency-led policies and decision-making, will provide a more supportive and holistic system to serve vulnerable children and families.

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Taming the oil price

by Daryl Ilbury

For the foreseeable future, the world will need oil, but its price volatility makes buying and selling it a challenge for producers and the myriad manufacturers who need it. For brokers who sit in the middle of such transactions, finding the optimal price and the number of clients to spread their risk is one of their biggest challenges. Belleh Fontem, a senior researcher in operations and information systems at the University of Massachusetts, USA, has designed a mathematical programme that embraces oil price volatility. The results could have far-reaching consequences.

One of the main benefits of a highly networked global economy is the sheer scale of access to products and services. On the flip side, being so interwoven, that network is at the mercy of impactful events anywhere within it. Witness the effects when the Ever Given, one of the world’s biggest container ships, blocked the

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When children’s storytelling says so much more

by Daryl Ilbury

We take for granted that our children tell stories. But what if they can’t? Oral storytelling is a bridge to literacy, yet many children do not develop this skill naturally. Research has shown that narrative skill at school entry predicts writing and reading comprehension up to ten years later. Narrative intervention is a form of language therapy and a classroom instructional approach that leverages personally and culturally relevant oral storytelling to promote school success. Drs Trina Spencer and Douglas Petersen in the US have developed ten principles of narrative intervention that can help guide practice.

There are few things more fascinating for a parent of a young child than listening to that child regaling a story in all its wide-eyed wondrousness. However, we underestimate the intricate interplay of cognitive and linguistic capabilities necessary for a child to structure and express a simple story. As such,

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Understanding teaching excellence in STEM subjects

by Daryl Ilbury

STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, maths – are undeniably important if we are to meet the needs of our increasingly globalised world. So knowing what encourages uptake of these subjects to the highest level is of the utmost importance. Good teaching might be an obvious answer, however we don’t fully understand what constitutes ‘teaching excellence’ in STEM subjects. Dr Alfred Thumser, at the University of Surrey, UK, decided to ask bioscience students what they thought. The results were illuminating.

One of the more significant developments in senior secondary and tertiary education over the last thirty years has been the increased importance of teaching STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – to meet the growing impacts of technological developments in an increasingly globalised world. However, for various reasons, the pace of change in the education of these subjects has been such that pedagogic

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