60 resultados para Safe sex in AIDS prevention
Resumo:
The sexual health of people, particularly young people, in Northern Ireland is currently poor. Yet there has been little research conducted on sexual attitudes and lifestyles. This paper is based on data from the first ever major research project in this field in Northern Ireland. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, it targeted young people aged 14-25. A combination of a self-administered survey questionnaire, focus group discussions and one-to-one interviews was found to be most suitable for the collection of sensitive data on sexuality in a country where the social and moral climate had previously prevented studies of this nature. Information was collected on sexual attitudes and behaviour generally. This paper focuses on one crucial issue: the age of first sexual encounter. It explores the attitudes of young people to that experience and the use of contraception. Many of the findings match those of similar large-scale surveys in England and Wales, including the modal age of first sexual encounter and the influence of peer pressure on decision-making about first sex. There were significant gender differences in both behaviour and attitudes. It is hoped that the research results will influence future education and health policy, which has all too often been based on ignorance.
Resumo:
Cataract is the leading cause of visual impairment worldwide. In the UK, some 30% of the population over 65 years of age have visually impairing cataract. Importantly, 88% of those with treatable visual impairment from cataract are not in contact with any ocular healthcare service, representing a major potential healthcare need [1]. In the USA, it has been estimated that 17.2% of the population (approximately 20.5 million) over 40 years of age have cataract in either eye and by 2020, this number is expected to rise to 30.1 million. Currently, cataract is responsible for 60% of Medicare costs associated with vision [2]. Furthermore, as the populations of industrialized countries such as the UK and the USA continue to age, the costs associated with treatment of cataract can only be expected to increase. Consequently, the development of the intraocular lens to replace the cataractous lens and the advances in intraocular lens design and implantation represent a major development in cataract treatment. However, despite such advances, cataract surgery is not without complications, such as postoperative infectious endophthalmitis, a rare but potentially devastating condition, and posterior capsular opacification, a less serious but much more common problem. This review will examine the epidemiology of cataracts, the polymeric construction of intraocular lenses implanted during cataract surgery and the complications of postoperative infectious endophthalmitis and posterior capsular opacification with regard to therapeutic interventions and prophylactic strategies. Advances in biomaterial design and function will be discussed as novel approaches to prevent such postoperative complications.
Resumo:
Antibiotics have been the cornerstone of the clinical management of bacterial infections since their discovery in the early part of the last century. Eight decades later, their widespread, often indiscriminate use, has resulted in an overall reduction in their effectiveness, with reports of multidrug-resistant bacteria now commonplace. Increasing reliance on indwelling medical devices, which are inherently susceptible to biofilm-mediated infections, has contributed to unacceptably high rates of nosocomial infections, placing a strain on healthcare budgets. This study investigates the use of lytic bacteriophages in the treatment and prevention of biofilms of bacterial species commonly associated with infections of indwelling urological devices and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. The use of lytic bacteriophages against established biofilms of Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli is described, whereby biofilm populations have been reduced successfully by three to four log cycles (99.9-99.99% removal). The prevention of biofilm formation on Foley catheter biomaterials following impregnation of hydrogel-coated catheter sections with a lytic bacteriophage has also been investigated. This has revealed an approximate 90% reduction in both P. mirabilis and E. coli biofilm formation on bacteriophage-treated catheters when compared with untreated controls.
Resumo:
Little is known about the origin of basal-like breast cancers, an aggressive disease that is highly similar to BRCA1-mutant breast cancers. p63 family proteins that are structurally related to the p53 suppressor protein are known to function in stem cell regulation and stratified epithelia development in multiple tissues, and p63 expression may be a marker of basal-like breast cancers. Here we report that Delta Np63 isoforms of p63 are transcriptional targets for positive regulation by BRCA1. Our analyses of breast cancer tissue microarrays and BRCA1-modulated breast cancer cell lines do not support earlier reports that p63 is a marker of basal-like or BRCA1 mutant cancers. Nevertheless, we found that BRCA1 interacts with the specific p63 isoform Delta Np63 gamma along with transcription factor isoforms AP-2 alpha and AP-2 gamma. BRCA1 required Delta Np63 gamma and AP-2 gamma to localize to an intronic enhancer region within the p63 gene to upregulate transcription of the Delta Np63 isoforms. In mammary stem/progenitor cells, siRNA- mediated knockdown of Delta Np63 expression resulted in genomic instability, increased cell proliferation, loss of DNA damage checkpoint control, and impaired growth control. Together, our findings establish that transcriptional upregulation of Delta Np63 proteins is critical for BRCA1 suppressor function and that defects in BRCA1-Delta Np63 signaling are key events in the pathogenesis of basal-like breast cancer. Cancer Res; 71( 5); 1933-44. (c) 2011 AACR.
Resumo:
The treatment of ischaemic stroke with neuroprotective drugs has been unsuccessful, and whether these compounds can be used to reduce disability after recurrent stroke is unknown. The putative neuroprotective effects of antiplatelet compounds and the angiotensin II receptor antagonist telmisartan were investigated in the Prevention Regimen for Effectively Avoiding Second Strokes (PRoFESS) trial.
Resumo:
With the changing demography of populations and increasing prevalence of co-morbidity, frail patients and more complex cardiac conditions, the modern medicine is facing novel challenges leading to rapid innovation where evidence and experiences are lacking. This scenario is also evident in cardiovascular disease prevention, which continuously needs to accommodate its ever changing strategies, settings, and goals. The present paper summarises actual challenges of secondary prevention, and discusses how this intervention should not only be effective but also efficient. By this way the paper tries to bridge the gaps between research and real-world findings and thereby may find ways to improve standard care.
Resumo:
This report concerns the provisions and practices on betting-related match fixing in sports
within the 28 Member States. Carried out in late 2013/early 2014, respondents in each Member
State reported on that state’s gambling-related provisions in respect of football and tennis and
(in each country) a third sport determined on the basis of either its popularity (in terms of
participation or television viewing) or the existence of betting-related “scandals” in that sport
within that particular jurisdiction. Those reports helped the authors to compare the Member
States’ regulatory and self-regulatory frameworks relating to risk assessment and conflict of
interest management, with a view to indicating areas of best practice, identifying particularly
good legislative frameworks and highlighting areas where change was either desirable or
necessary. While some individual Member States have legislation which might provide
templates that others could adapt for their own use, the authors were not convinced that “more
law”, whether at the national or European level, was desirable. Rather, more effective
cooperation among the stakeholders was identified as being more likely to provide tangible
benefits than would new legal frameworks.