Predictors of vaginal practices for sex and hygiene in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: findings of a household survey and qualitative inquiry

Vaginal practices in sub-Saharan Africa may increase HIV transmission and have important implications for development of microbicides and future HIV prevention technologies. It remains unclear which women undertake vaginal practices and what factors predict prevalence, practice type and choice of products. Using cross-sectional data from mixed research methods, we identify factors associated with vaginal practices among women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were gathered through focus group discussions, in-depth and key-informant interviews, followed by a province-wide, multi-stage cluster household survey, using structured questionnaires in face-to-face interviews with 867 women. This paper details six types of vaginal practices, which--despite their individual distinctiveness and diverse motivations--may be clustered into two broad groups: those undertaken for purposes of 'hygiene' (genital washing, douching and application) and those for 'sexual motivations' (application, insertion, ingestion and incisions). Multivariate analysis found significant associations between 'hygiene' practices and media access, religiosity and transactional sex. 'Sexual' practices were associated with partner concurrency, religiosity and use of injectable hormonal contraceptives. Future interventions relating to vaginal practices as well as microbicides need to reflect this characterisation of practices as sexual- and/or hygiene-related.

Impact of corneal cross-linking on drug penetration in an ex vivo porcine eye model

To analyze the influence of corneal cross-linking (CXL) using ultraviolet-A and riboflavin on corneal drug penetration of topically applied drugs.

Organ donation in Switzerland: a survey on marginal or extended criteria donors (ECD) from 1998 to 2009

The widening gap between the numbers of patients on the waiting list for organ transplantation and the insufficient numbers of organ donors results in the use of "critical" donors, so-called marginal donors or extended criteria donors. Data concerning the evaluation of extended criteria donors (ECD) in Switzerland are sparse.

Curriculum survey on tobacco education in European dental schools

Dental professionals need adequate education in tobacco use prevention and cessation skills. The aim of this study was to identify the level of integration of tobacco education in undergraduate curricula of European dental schools.

Survey on controversies in airway management among anesthesiologists in the UK, Austria and Switzerland

While surveys about anesthesia practice appear regularly in the anesthesia literature, they are usually bound to one country. We compared the approach to specific airway management issues among anesthesiologists from three different European countries.

A survey on intestinal parasites of livestock guardian dogs and herding dogs in Switzerland

The present study describes the occurrence of intestinal parasite infections in livestock guardian dogs and herding dogs. A total of 71 guardian dogs (more than half of the total number of guardian dogs in Switzerland) and 21 herding dogs were coprologically examined, using a combined sedimentation-flotation method. In 21 (23 %) of the dogs intestinal parasites were detected, and 8 (8.7 %) of these dogs shed either sporocysts of Sarcocystis sp. (n = 6) or taeniid eggs (n = 2). The evaluation of questionnaires providing data on age, origin and deworming schemes of the dogs completed the study.

Quality Management and Formalization in Social Service Organizations - A Survey on Home-Based Family Intervention Services

Although the effects of quality management on social work are still widely unexplored, critics suspect that it will lead to a negative standardization of working conditions, whereas supporters of quality management hope for a greater transparency and effectiveness of service delivery. This article reports on a survey of 30 managers, 261 professionals, and 435 families in 30 family intervention service organizations. It uses cluster analysis to explore the relationship between quality management and different forms of work formalization. Results showed that working conditions generally are enabling for professional practice, but differences exist between what is called here a managerialist machine bureaucracy, an atomistic professional organization, and a collegiate professional organization.

Survey on haptic rendering of data sets: Exploration of scalar and vector fields

Complementary to automatic extraction processes, Virtual Reality technologies provide an adequate framework to integrate human perception in the exploration of large data sets. In such multisensory system, thanks to intuitive interactions, a user can take advantage of all his perceptual abilities in the exploration task. In this context the haptic perception, coupled to visual rendering, has been investigated for the last two decades, with significant achievements. In this paper, we present a survey related to exploitation of the haptic feedback in exploration of large data sets. For each haptic technique introduced, we describe its principles and its effectiveness.

Psychometric properties of the Swiss version of the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture

The Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture (NHSPSC) was specifically developed for nursing homes to assess a facility’s safety climate and it consists of 12 dimensions. After its pilot testing, however, no fur- ther psychometric analyses were performed on the instrument. For this study of safety climate in Swiss nursing home units, the NHSPSC was linguistically adapted to the Swiss context and to address the unit as well as facility level, with the aim of testing aspects of the validity and reliability of the Swiss version before its use in Swiss nursing home units. Psychometric analyses were performed on data from 367 nurs- ing personnel from nine nursing homes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (response rate = 66%), and content validity (CVI) examined. The statistical influence of unit membership on respondents’ answers, and on their agreement concerning their units’ safety climate, was tested using intraclass corre- lation coefficients (ICCs) and the rWG(J) interrater agreement index. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis (MEFA) with oblimin rotation was applied to examine the questionnaire’s dimensionality. Cronbach’s alpha and Raykov’s rho were calculated to assess factor reliability. The relationship of safety climate dimensions with clinical outcomes was explored. Expert feedback confirmed the relevance of the instru- ment’s items (CVI = 0.93). Personnel showed strong agreement in their perceptions in three dimensions of the questionnaire. ICCs supported a multilevel analysis. MEFA produced nine factors at the within-level (in comparison to 12 in the original version) and two factors at the between-level with satisfactory fit statis- tics. Raykov’s Rho for the single level factors ranged between 0.67 and 0.86. Some safety climate dimen- sions show moderate, but non-significant correlations with the use of bedrails, physical restraint use, and fall-related injuries. The Swiss version of the NHSPSC needs further refinement and testing before its use can be recommended in Swiss nursing homes: its dimensionality needs further clarification, particularly to distinguish items addressing the unit-level safety climate from those at the facility level.