Exposing racial bias in midwifery education: a content analysis of images and text in Myles Textbook for Midwives

Objective To determine how people of different races and skin colours are represented within Myles Textbook for Midwives and whether the identified content is clinically relevant to people of all skin colours. Design Content analysis of text and images in Myles Textbook for Midwives 17th Edition, 2020 Findings The images overwhelmingly depict light skinned people of White European appearance. When people of colour are shown they are more likely to be positioned in prominent imagery without specific link to the chapter topic. Descriptions of skin colour in the context of clinical assessment and/or treatment often applied mostly or solely to people with light colour skin. This included text referring to serious conditions or situations associated with severe morbidity or mortality. Key conclusions Myles Textbook for Midwives presents a light skinned White European norm and often fails to include information that is clinically relevant to the assessment and treatment of people with darker skin colours. This may lead to disparity in midwifery education and contribute to poorer outcomes for women and babies. Implications for practice Concrete efforts are required to identify and root out racial bias at all levels of midwifery education. This needs to happen alongside addressing current lack of good quality evidence required to support practice.

Lack of tumour pigmentation in conjunctival melanoma is associated with light iris colour and worse prognosis

AimTo investigate whether differences in iris colour, skin colour and tumour pigmentation are related to clinical outcome in conjunctival melanoma.MethodsData of 70 patients with conjunctival melanoma from the Leiden University Medical Center (Leiden, The Netherlands) and 374 patients from the Wills Eye Hospital (Philadephia, USA) were reviewed. The relation between iris colour, skin colour and tumour pigmentation versus clinical parameters and outcome was investigated using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.Results A light iris colour (blue, grey, green) was present in 261 (59%) patients and a dark colour (hazel, brown) in 183 (41%). A low tumour pigmentation was detected in 130 (40%) and a high pigmentation in 197 (60%) patients. Low tumour pigmentation was associated with light iris colour (p=0.021) but not related to skin colour (p=0.92). In univariate analysis, neither iris nor skin colour was related to clinical outcome, while a low tumour pigmentation was related to metastasis formation (HR 2.37, p=0.004) and death (HR 2.42, p=0.020). In multivariate analysis, low tumour pigmentation was related to the development of recurrences (HR 1.63, p=0.043), metastasis formation (HR 2.48, p=0.004) and death (HR 2.60, p=0.014).Conclusion Lightly pigmented tumours occurred especially in individuals with lightly coloured irises. While iris colour or skin colour was not significantly related to clinical outcome, a low tumour pigmentation was related to a worse outcome in patients with conjunctival melanoma. The amount and type of melanin in conjunctival melanocytes may be involved in the pathogenesis and behaviour of selected conjunctival melanoma.

Annual variation in sensory characteristics of seventeen apple cultivars

Sensory characteristics of 17 apple cultivars commonly grown in Finland were compared over three harvest years (2009–2011). Descriptive analysis with a trained panel (n = 11–14) comprised 17 attributes rated from 0 (‘not at all’) to 10 (‘very’): four appearance (green, red, area of red colour, skin waxiness), three odour (intense, grassy, fruity), five texture (hard, crispy, mealy, juicy, tough peel), and five flavour (intense, sour, sweet, astringent, diverse) attributes. Ratedintensities differed between the harvest years but their magnitude and direction of change varied according to the cultivar. Odour and flavour ratings tended to be higher in 2009 than in 2010 and 2011. The summer 2009 was fairly normal, while summer 2010 was hot and dry, and summer 2011 hot and humid. These climate may explain some of the differences between the first and the two subsequent years. Late season cultivars tended to be relatively stable against annual effects.

Frequencies of Some Morphological Features in Indigenous Chickens of South- Western Nigeria

Morphological features of chicken genetic resources must be carefully identified and considered in developing breeding strategies. The study was carried out to determine the frequencies of morphological features in indigenous chickens of South-Western Nigeria, using Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo States as case study. Five major chicken markets (Mushin in Lagos State, Itoku and Ipokia in Ogun State, Olu-ode in Osun State and Molete in Oyo State) were used as study locations and three thousand, three hundred and thirteen chickens were observed in the five locations. Ipokia had the highest number (1,549) of chickens and Molete had the least (307) number of chickens. The traits observed included: feather structure, feather distribution, feather morphology, plumage colour, ear lobe colour, skin colour and shank colour. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics and inferential statistical analysis was also done for the results using chi-square test. It was observed that for those traits that recorded significant variation, there had been selection for these traits due to the high market value attached to them by attaching preference to some of its variants which were observed. Knowledge and well documentation of the potentials of indigenous chickens can help provide crucial information for a comprehensive breeding policy and full utilization of the animal.