The civil and military medical response to natural disasters.

This article explores the topic of military involvement in disaster response. This was debated during a conference held at the Royal Society of Medicine, through presentations on experiences and procedures within both the military and civilian roles. The conference was run jointly by the Haywood Club Tri-Service Medical Society and the Catastrophes & Conflict Forum of the Royal Society of Medicine on 20th April 2007. Issues of collaboration and accountability are seen as key themes of disaster response, within which the military can have a role, but which needs to be carefully administered in order to avoid an inappropriate response with an associated political fallout.

The effect of husbands' fertility preferences on couples' reproductive behaviour in rural Bangladesh.

Bangladesh society is profoundly gender stratified, and yet male roles in reproductive health processes have not been rigorously investigated. This study examines the association between men's reproductive health knowledge, attitude and behaviour and their wives' subsequent reproductive behaviour using longitudinal data from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). A total of 4969 matched husband-and-wife data from a 1998 survey and women's contraceptive use history data following this survey are used. Results show a significant association between husbands' fertility preferences and current use of any family planning method. When wives' background characteristics, and husbands' background and socioeconomic characteristics are controlled for, the predicted probability of using a method of contraception among non-educated wives whose husbands want more children is 0.49 compared with 0.64 for those whose husbands do not want more children. However, the net effect of husbands' preference for additional children diminishes as wives' level of education increases. Among wives who had completed high school, the predicted probability of using a method of contraception is 0.70 for those whose husbands want more children compared with 0.69 for those whose husbands do not want more children.

Training for overseas operational deployments and the DMCC.

Through the DMCC and similar comprehensive training, Military and NGO personnel can prepare for deployment with a greater understanding of the issues that will confront them whilst there. Progression through the modules will provide them with a greater skill set to meet the challenges that await them and allow them to be an effective and valuable member of the team.

Women's status and domestic violence in rural Bangladesh: individual- and community-level effects.

We explore the determinants of domestic violence in two rural areas of Bangladesh. We found increased education, higher socioeconomic status, non-Muslim religion, and extended family residence to be associated with lower risks of violence. The effects of women's status on violence was found to be highly context-specific. In the more culturally conservative area, higher individual-level women's autonomy and short-term membership in savings and credit groups were both associated with significantly elevated risks of violence, and community-level variables were unrelated to violence. In the less culturally conservative area, in contrast, individual-level women's status indicators were unrelated to the risk of violence, and community-level measures of women's status were associated with significantly lower risks of violence, presumably by reinforcing nascent normative changes in gender relations.

The effect of birth interval on malnutrition in Bangladeshi infants and young children.

This study was undertaken to investigate the independent effect of the length of birth interval on malnutrition in infants, and children aged 6-39 months. Data for this study were drawn from a post-flood survey conducted during October-December 1988 at Sirajganj of the Sirajgani district and at Gopalpur of the Tangail district in Bangladesh. The survey recorded the individual weights of 1887 children. Cross-tabulations and logistic regression procedures were applied to analyse the data. The proportion of children whose weight-for-age was below 70% (moderate-to-severely malnourished) and 60% (severely malnourished) of the NCHS median was tabulated against various durations of previous and subsequent birth intervals. The odds of being moderately or severely malnourished were computed for various birth intervals, controlling for: the number of older surviving siblings; maternal education and age; housing area (a proxy for wealth); age and sex of the index child; and the prevalence of diarrhoea in the previous 2 weeks for the index child. About one-third of infants and young children were moderately malnourished and 15% were severely malnourished. The proportion of children who were under 60% weight-for-age decreased with the increase in the length of the subsequent birth interval, maternal education and housing area. The proportion of malnourished children increased with the number of older surviving children. Children were at higher risk of malnutrition if they were female, their mothers were less educated, they had several siblings, and either previous or subsequent siblings were born within 24 months. This study indicates the potential importance of longer birth intervals in reducing malnutrition in children.

Concerning plasmon excitation in liquid water.

The existence of plasmon excitation produced by the interaction of fast charged particles in liquid water is examined critically from the theoretical point of view. By the analysis of the Fano index at different excitation energies and by comparing the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function for both the liquid and the gas at unit density, we find no convincing evidence for plasmon excitation in the condensed phase of water. A density and a condensation effect on the dielectric function are observed. Implications of this finding for diffusion kinetics are discussed briefly. A procedure for the determination of the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function from the dipole oscillator strength distribution is presented.

Differential and integral W-values for ionization in gaseous water under electron and proton irradiation: consistency of inelastic collision cross sections.

Differential and integral W-values for ionization in gaseous water for electron and proton irradiation have been analyzed from the theoretical point of view for consistency between ionization and total inelastic collision cross sections. For low-energy electrons, which are ubiquitous for all primary radiations, the experimental or compiled cross sections from different sources are sometimes not consistent with one another. A practical, self-consistent procedure is outlined in such cases. The high-energy asymptotic W-values for differential and integral ionization are calculated to be 33.7 and 34.7 eV, respectively, for electron irradiation and 34.6 and 32.5 eV, respectively, for proton irradiation. The computed variations of the W-values with energy are generally in good agreement with experiment. Integral primary W-values due only to the interactions between the incident particle and the water vapor are calculated to be 43.5 and 45.0 eV for electrons and protons, respectively, in the high-energy asymptotic limit.

Early production of radicals from charged particle tracks in water.

An overview is presented of the early production of water radicals due to the passage of fast charged particles. It starts with energy deposition in tracks followed by the time scale of events of importance to radiation chemistry and radiobiology. Primary radical yields and reaction schemes, considered independent of particle LET but functions of the phase of the medium, are discussed within the framework of diffusion kinetics. Taking these primary G values (i.e., 100-eV yield) of OH, e-aq, and H as 5.70, 4.78, and 0.62, respectively, in liquid water, simple examples are provided for the evolution of the radical species. Finally, attention is drawn to some special physical features of fast, heavy charged particle tracks.