Immersion in water during labor and delivery as an alternative to traditional delivery is a practice that has increased in many countries. This technique is effective in reducing pain and duration of labor. The American Academy of Pediatrics and The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have published a clinical report which indicates the potential maternal benefits during the fir...

We present a high efficiency wireless MEMS electrochemical bellows actuator capable of rapid and repeatable delivery of boluses for fluid metering and drug delivery applications. Nafion®-coated Pt electrodes were combined with Parylene bellows filled with DI water to form the electrolysis-based actuator. The performance of actuators with several bellows configurations was compared for a range o...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of feeding during labour on obstetric and neonatal outcomes. DESIGN Prospective randomised controlled trial. SETTING Birth centre in London teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS 2426 nulliparous, non-diabetic women at term, with a singleton cephalic presenting fetus and in labour with a cervical dilatation of less than 6 cm. INTERVENTION Consumption of a li...

abstract accurate water measurement and delivery are basic issues in irrigation networks management and performance. in this regard, baffle modules have been considered as appropriate means for delivering almost constant discharge within a specific range of upstream water variation. the structure is meant for low discharge delivery and could be employed in farm irrigation. however, the design c...

Oral route is the easiest and most convenient route for drug administration. Oral drug delivery systems being the most cost-effective and leads the worldwide drug delivery market. The major problem in oral drug formulations is low and erratic bioavailability, which mainly results from poor aqueous solubility. This may lead to high interand intra subject variability, lack of dose proportionality...

background: the increasing number of cesarean section is a great concern in many countries. in iran cesarean section rate has been steadily rising from 35% in 2000 to 40% in 2005. preferences for cesarean are often associated with some factors. objective: to investigate factors associated with preference for cesarean delivery, with special emphasis on pregnant women’s preferences in first pregn...

BACKGROUND Interpretation of previous associations between water intake and adverse birth outcomes is challenging given that amount and type of water consumed can be non-specific markers of exposure or underlying behavioural characteristics. We examined the relationship between water intake measures and adverse birth outcomes in participants from three study sites in the United States. METHOD...

Total Channel ControlTM is a patented automation design for large scale open canal irrigation networks that manages water distribution within capacity constraints to achieve on-demand water delivery whilst maximizing water distribution. Here it is shown that this decentralized and distributed control implementation realizes near globally optimal performance. Furthermore, the performance enhance...