Health education: the role and functions of the specialist and the generalist

Education for health is a process in which all public health and medical care personnel are involved. People learn both formally (planned learning experiences) and informally (unplanned learning experiences). Since the patient, the client, the consummer and the community expect public health and medical care personnel to assist them with health and disease issues and problems, the response of the professional "educates" the customer whether the professional intends to educate or not. Therefore, it is incumbent on all public health and medical care professionals to understand their educational functions and their role in health education. It is also important that the role of the specialist in education be clear. The specialist, as to all other specialists, has an in-depth knowledge of his area of expertise, i.e., the teaching/learning process; s/he may function as a consultant to others to enhance the educational potential of their role or s/he may work with a team or with communities or groups of patients. Specific competencies and knowledge are required of the health education specialist; and there is a body of learning and social change theory which provides a frame of reference for planning, implementing and evaluating educational programs. Working with others to enhance their potential to learn and to make informed decisions about health/disease issues is the hallmark of the health education specialist.

Blood lipid associations in 18 year-old men

The association of cigarette smoking, physical activity at work, and social class with total cholesterol and with high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were examined in a random sample of 238 males, of 18 years of age, of Rosario, Argerntina. The mean (mg/dl) total serum cholesterol of the whole sample was 174.7, the high density lipoprotein cholesterol 52.8, and the low density lipoprotein cholesterol 121.5. Black tobacco consumers, evenly distributed by social class, had higher levels of total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Total cholesterol was higher in the high social class, differently from what smokers' distribution by social class, would lead one to expect. While a highly negative association was found between social class and physical activity at work, there were no significant diferences in lipoprotein levels between manual and non-manual workers. It is possible that the nutritional differences by social class still prevail over the smoking habit in their influence on the lipoprotein levels in these subjects.

Impact of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal syndrome on social phobia and panic disorder in alcoholic inpatients

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal on the course of social phobia and panic disorder. METHOD: A group of 41 alcoholic inpatients undergoing detoxification therapy were interviewed using the SCID-I (DSM-IV) and questions to detect fluctuations in the course of social phobia and panic disorder as a function of the different phases in alcohol dependence (intoxication, withdrawal, and lucid interval). RESULTS: Only 1 (2.4%) patient presented panic disorder throughout life, and 9 (21.9%) had panic attacks during alcohol intoxication or during the withdrawal syndrome. Sixteen (39%) alcoholic patients showed social phobia with onset prior to drug use. However, drinking eventually became unable to alleviate social phobia symptoms or worsened such symptoms in 31.2% of social-phobic patients. While patients with social phobia reported a significant improvement in psychiatric symptoms during alcohol intoxication, patients experiencing panic attacks worsened significantly during intoxication. In the withdrawal phase, patients with social phobia tended to have more and more intense phobic symptoms. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the impact of alcohol intoxication is different for social phobia as compared to panic disorder, at first decreasing the social-phobic symptoms but later aggravating them. In panic disorder, the impact of intoxication by alcohol is more harmful, at least in the short term.

Diversity of social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) in Cerrado biome of the southern of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

An inventory of social wasps in Cerrado biome of the southern of the state of Minas Gerais was performed. A comparison between field and Riparian Forest areas was made in relation to species richness; correlations between diversity, sample methods and environmental factors were conducted. A total of 32 species was registered and Polybia fastidiosuscula de Saussure, 1854 was the most abundant species. The higher richness was in the Cerrado Field, as well as the highest diversity index. The temperature and rainfall had significant correlation with species richness and a significant variation in richness between dry and wet seasons was observed. Polybia fastidiosuscula was more abundant in the Riparian Forest during the dry season and in the Cerrado Field during wet season. The study area showed a great diversity of social wasps, with record both widely distributed species such as rare species, which indicates the quality and potential area for future studies.

A three-pronged approach to social business: a Brazilian multi-case analysis

Social businesses present a new paradigm to capitalism, in which private companies, non-profit organizations and civil society create a new type of business with the main objective of solving social problems with financial sustainability and efficiency through market mechanisms. As any new phenomenon, different authors conceptualize social businesses with distinct views. This article aims to present and characterize three different perspectives of social business definitions: the European, the American and that of the emerging countries. Each one of these views was illustrated by a different Brazilian case. We conclude with the idea that all the cases have similar characteristics, but also relevant differences that are more than merely geographical. The perspectives analyzed in this paper provide an analytical framework for understanding the field of social businesses. Moreover, the cases demonstrate that in the Brazilian context the field of social business is under construction and that as such it draws on different conceptual influences to deal with a complex and challenging reality.

In the context of a daycare center: nursing and their representations of child care as an educational act

This study aimed to analyze the social representations in the professionals of technical staff, who work with children at USP daycare centers. Eight professionals of the nursing field underwent a semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in their entirety and the content of the discourse was subjected to thematic-categorical analysis. The categories were transformed into variables and processed by the software Classification Hiérarchique Classificatoire et Cohésitive (CHIC®) and analyzed by the hierarchical similarity tree. The results indicate that actions to promote health are reported as educational and transformative, in which health care gains new meaning through contextualized conceptions in the field of child education. We conclude that professionals attribute new meanings to their practices in the health care environment of daycare centers as their representations shifts from the logic of the biomedical field to a logic of educational care. In this sense, they perceive themselves as being challenged to establish an interaction with the children in terms of their activities related to the promotion of health and in an educational act.

Open access and connectedness: stimulating unexpected innovation through the use of institutional open archives

The author reviews past work with Ibict and the global progress made by the Open Access Movement. He postulates a theory of open access being an example of a complex adaptive system created by Internet-based scholarly publishing. Open access could be the cause of a cascade of increasing complexity and opportunities that will reshape this system. He has chosen the pervasive and global "Connectedness" created by the internet and the content spaces it provides for open access collections as a "simple disruptive agent". He discusses how connectedness influences infinite variety, creativity, work, change, knowledge, and the information economy. Case studies from the University of New Mexico Libraries are used where appropriate.