this summer and is Kobayashi’s first to be translated into English, follows three generations of Japanese women, weaving past and present to explore the personal and collective effects of radiation on contemporary Japan against the backdrop of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In many ways, Kobayashi’s second novel, the science fiction thriller Trinity, Trinity, Trinity, is a darker, more elaborate exploration of those same themes. “I was so amazed that the vestiges of Madame Curie’s touch were still apparent,” she said, “registering readings like nothing had changed.” She marveled at how, if you held a Geiger counter up to the notebook’s cover, the meter still detected radioactive material. Kobayashi told an interviewer that when she was initially researching the book, she found an old notebook of Curie’s in a Tokyo library. The cat encounters Marie Curie and Thomas Edison, mapping her own family’s past alongside the double-edged histories of radiation and electricity. Her first book, Madame Curie to chōshoku o ( Breakfast With Madame Curie), published in 2014, follows a time-traveling cat that draws her powers from radiation - “a sparkling light” that is simultaneously killing her. Additional research is warranted into the influence of maternal attitudes and self-efficacy about breastfeeding on breastfeeding intentions and practice.The half-lives of history are, for Japanese novelist Erika Kobayashi, a kind of fixation.

Effective promotion of exclusive breastfeeding during prenatal period should also target factors influencing breastfeeding intentions. Intentions to EBF were further explained by maternal characteristics.

Prenatal exclusive breastfeeding intention was a strong predictor of exclusive breastfeeding. Higher maternal age (≥35 years), religion (Muslim) and having an unplanned pregnancy lowered the likelihood of having a strong intention to exclusively breastfeed an infant. Other risk factors for cessation of exclusive breastfeeding were pre-lacteal feed administration (HR 2.93 95 % CI 1.49–5.77) and mode of delivery (HR 0.17 95 % CI 0.04–0.67). The risk of exclusive breastfeeding cessation was significantly lower in women with strong exclusive breastfeeding intentions (HR 0.87, 95 % CI 0.8–0.95). Over 70.0 % of women had strong intention to exclusively breastfeed. Cox regression hazards model was used to determine the risk of EBF cessation at 3 months postpartum. Participants were recruited from antenatal clinics attached to four separate public secondary health facilities located in the suburban parts of Abuja. This longitudinal observational study involved the recruitment of 210 pregnant women who were prospectively followed until 3 months postpartum. To determine the association between prenatal exclusive breastfeeding intentions and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and explore other factors associated with EBF until 3 months postpartum among mothers residing in suburban parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria.

Elemental by Erika Kobayashi