Knowledge and perceptions regarding sexual and reproductive health among high school students in Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: Nepal recently began teaching sexual education in the school system and has established youth friendly services in order to meet the need of increased sexual and reproductive knowledge among the youth. Objective: To examine the sexual and reproductive knowledge and perceptions among young people attending schools in Kathmandu. Method: A written questionnaire was distributed to 160 students, in a classroom environment, in four schools in Kathmandu. Results: Two thirds of the females and nearly 60% of the males knew that it was possible to get sexually transmitted infection (STI) during one sexual encounter and more than half of the students knew when in the menstrual cycle conception was more likely to occur . One third of the participants did not know that it was possible to become pregnant after having intercourse once. The males demonstrated less knowledge than the females regarding every aspect of sex and reproduction, with the exception of pregnancy prevention. Conclusion and clinical implications: For the youths in this study, it was more important to prevent unwanted pregnancies than to protect oneself from STIs. Establishment of a hotline on the internet, where personalized and confidential counselling can be offered may complement the comprehensive sexual education in schools.

The effectiveness of community-based interventions to improve maternal and infant health in the Northeast of Brazil

EMOND, Alan et al. The effectiveness of community-based interventions to improve maternal and infant health in the Northeast of Brazil. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/ Pan American Journal of Public Health , v.12, n.2, p.101-110, 2002

Ambiente pesqueiro e saúde: representações sociais sobre saúde e doença de pescadores e marisqueiras nos distritos de Diogo Lopes, Barreiras e Sertãozinho Macau RN

According to Brazil s Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture, artisanal fishermen are responsible for a significant fish production at national level, highlighting the importance of this activity. In Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, fishing has become an important part of economic and social processes. In this context, there are many inland fishing communities such as Barreiras, Diogo Lopes and Sertãozinho, which are part of Ponta do Tubarão State Reserve of Sustainable Development (RDSEPT), located in Macau and Guamaré, Rio Grande do Norte coastline cities. Fishermen and women, the last ones known as marisqueiras who work alongside the menfolk at sea, especially in the shellfish harvest, have been developing narrow relationships with nature, mainly with the sea, from where they extract their families subsistence. However, those communities have been facing several issues related to living conditions, health and diseases. Social representations have been analyzed in the speeches of fishermen/women who were registered active members in a fishermen association named Associação Colônia de Pescadores Z-41, regarding the period from 2008 to 2011. The analysis involved socio-economic profiles verification, identification and analysis of the group s main representative diseases and representations related to health and illness. This study searched for elements in order to provide the comprehension of the relationships among people s social representations and the fishing environment in which they live.. This qualiquantitative study was performed using recordings and transcriptions of structured and open-question interviews. The Collective Subject Speech tecnique proposed by Lefevre & Lefevre (2002) was applied to perform the interviews analysis using QualiQuantiSoft® software. The results showed that health and illness phenomena as well as social representations related to them in the fishing environment are not only abstract states but also physical ones, which interfere in all life extensions, establishing a set of relevant information that indicates that those people realize their own socio-cultural, economic, environmental and political context

Effect of Diets on Biology of Abaris basistriata and Selenophorus seriatoporus (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

TERRITORIAL DISPUTES, LABOUR RELATIONS and ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN AGROHIDRONEGOCIO sugarcane IN THE PONTAL PARANAPANEMA (SP)

This research aims to analyze the conflict over land in Postal do Paranapanema (state of São Paulo, Brazil), considering the competition for water resources and the degradation of environmental health in the area called the agrohidronegocio sugarcane. The survey results indicate that the expansion of sugarcane cultivation in this region is causing the worsening health of workers. Moreover, the research also seeks to identify alternative models to the hegemonic project of regional development based on matrix agrohidroenergetica. For this, the research has as interlocutors various types of social movements such as the Landless Workers Movement and the Movement of Dam Affected, and union leaders.

A new short and simple health-related quality of life measurement for paediatric rheumatic diseases: initial validation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Objective. To develop and validate a new short and simple measure of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).Methods. The Paediatric Rheumatology Quality of Life Scale (PRQL) is a 10-item questionnaire that explores HRQL in two domains: physical health (PhH) and psychosocial health (PsH). Validation of the parent proxy report and child self-report versions of the instrument was accomplished by evaluating 472 JIA patients and similar to 800 healthy children. Validation analyses included assessment of feasibility, face and content validity; construct and discriminative ability; internal structure and consistency; test-retest reliability; responsiveness to clinical change; and minimal clinically important difference.Results. The PRQL was found to be feasible and to possess both face and content validity. The PRQL score correlated in the predicted range with most of the other JIA outcome measures, thereby demonstrating good construct validity, and discriminated well between different levels of disease severity. Assessment of internal structure (factor analysis) revealed that the PhH and PsH subscales identify two unambiguously separated domains. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.86. The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.91. The PRQL revealed fair responsiveness, with a standardized response mean of 0.67 in improved patients. Overall, the PRQL appeared to be more able to capture physical HRQL than psychosocial HRQL.Conclusion. The PRQL was found to possess good measurement properties and is, therefore, a valid instrument for the assessment of HRQL in children with JIA. This tool is primarily proposed for use in standard clinical care.

Health surveys and use of maternal and child health care services in three municipalities within the São Paulo metropolitan area

Objectives. To describe the changes in the use of maternal and child health care services by residents of three municipalities-Embu, Itapecerica da Serra, and Taboao da Serra-in the São Paulo metropolitan area, 12 years after the implementation of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil, and to analyze the potential of population-based health care surveys as sources of data to evaluate these changes.Methods. Two population-based, cross-sectional surveys were carried out in 1990 and 2002 in municipalities located within the São Paulo metropolitan area. For children under 1 year of age, the two periods were compared in terms of outpatient services utilization and hospital admission; for the mothers, the periods were compared in terms of prenatal care and deliveries. In both surveys, stratified and multiple-stage conglomerate sampling was employed, with standardization of interview questions.Results. The most important changes observed were regarding the location of services used for prenatal care, deliveries, and hospitalization of children less than 1 year of age. There was a significant increase in the use of services in the surrounding region or hometown, and decrease in the utilization of services in the city of São Paulo (in 1990, 80% of deliveries and almost all admissions for children less than 1 year versus 32% and 46%, respectively, in 2002). The use of primary care units and 24-hour walk-in clinics also increased. All these changes reflect care provided by public resources. In the private sector, there was a decrease in direct payments and payments through company-paid health insurance and an increase in payments through self-paid health insurance.Conclusions. The major changes observed in the second survey occurred simultaneous to the changes that resulted from the implementation of the SUS. Population-based health surveys are adequate for analyzing and comparing the utilization of health care services at different times.

Reproductive biology of Abolboda pulchella and A. poarchon (Xyridaceae: Poales)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Fisheries and fishing effort at the Indigenous Reserves Ashaninka/Kaxinawá, river Breu, Brazil/Peru

Este artigo tem o objetivo de descrever a pesca de subsistência das populações tradicionais de uma aldeia Ashaninka e duas Kaxinawá vivendo à beira do rio Breu. Inicialmente, foram treinados monitores para preencher fichas de coleta de dados das pescarias nas aldeias durante um ciclo anual (agosto/1995 agosto/1996). A partir desses dados realizaram-se os inventários das espécies de peixes capturadas e dos ambientes pesqueiros. A análise dos dados foi efetuada por meio de estatística descritiva e exploratória. Os resultados obtidos foram os seguintes: i) os ambientes mais procurados pelos índios foram os poços; ii) as espécies mais capturadas os mandis (35%, Pimelodidae), os bodes ou cascudos (Loricariidae), com destaque para o bode praiano (25%, Hypostomus sp.), o curimatã (9%, Prochilodus sp.) e os saburus (8%, Curimatidae), entre outros; iii) constatou-se que os arreios ou apetrechos de pesca que mais capturam peixes são o tingui (veneno), a tarrafa e o arco/flecha, respectivamente; iv) durante o verão a atividade de pesca é mais intensa; v) as medidas de esforço de pesca e os fatores associados que foram estatisticamente significativos nas predições das capturas na Reserva Indígena foram: f1 = o (número de pescadores), f2 = o (número de pescadores*tempo total das pescarias) e f3 = o [(número de pescadores*tempo total das pescarias)-(o tempo de deslocamento)] e os fatores aldeias e arreios; vi) apesar da maioria das pescarias serem realizadas a pé até os pesqueiros, as capturas são maiores quando a locomoção se dá através de canoa a remo; e vii) os pescadores mais ativos nas pescarias na Reserva Indígena foram os Kaxinawá.

Diets rich in saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids: Metabolic shifting and cardiac health

OBJECTIVE: the aim of this study was to determine the effects of diets rich in saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids on metabolic pathways and the relation of metabolic shifting to oxidative stress in cardiac tissue.METHODS: Male Wistar rats (age, 60 d; n = 10) were fed with a control low-fat diet, a diet rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs), or a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). After 5 wk of treatment, sera were used for protein and lipid determinations. Protein, glycogen, triacylglycerol, lactate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, beta-hydroxyacyl coenzyme-A dehydrogenase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, lipoperoxide, and lipid hydroperoxide were measured in cardiac tissue.RESULTS: the SFA group had higher triacylglycerol, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and atherogenic index (ratio of cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein) than did the PUFA and control groups. The PUFA group had low serum cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol as compared with the SFA group. SFA increased myocardial lipid hydroperoxide and diminished glutathione peroxidase. Despite the beneficial effects on serum lipids, the PUFA diet led to the highest levels of myocardial lipoperoxide and lipid hydroperoxide and diminished superoxide dismutase and catalase activities. The PUFA effects were related to increased feed efficiency, increased susceptibility to lipoperoxidation, and metabolic shifting in cardiac tissue. PUFA elevated triacylglycerol levels and decreased myocardial glycogen concentrations. The ratios of lactate dehydrogenase to citrate synthase and beta-hydroxyacyl coenzyme-A dehydrogenase to citrate synthase were increased, indicating myocardial reduction of tricarboxylic acid cycle.CONCLUSIONS: PUFAs have been recommended as a therapeutic measure in preventive medicine to lower serum cholesterol, but PUFAs increased oxidative stress in the heart by providing cardiac susceptibility to lipoperoxidation and shifting the metabolic pathway for energy production. The control diet, which was much lower in calories and fat, produced better overall clinical outcomes, better fat profiles, and less oxidative stress than did the diets rich in fatty acids.