Managing urinary incontinence across the lifespan

In the 1996 baseline surveys of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH), 36.1% of mid-age women (45-50) and 35% of older women (70-75) reported leaking urine. This study aimed to investigate (a) the range of self-management strategies used to deal with urinary incontinence (UI); (b) the reasons why many women who report leaking urine do not seek help for UI; and (c) the types of health professionals consulted and treatment provided, and perceptions of satisfaction with these, among a sample of women in each age group who reported leaking urine often' at baseline. Five hundred participants were randomly selected from women in each of the mid-age and older cohorts of the ALSWH who had reported leaking urine often in a previous survey. Details about UI (frequency, severity, and situations), self-management behaviors and help-seeking for UI, types of health professional consulted, recommended treatment for the problem, and satisfaction with the service provided by health care professionals and the outcomes of recommended treatments were sought through a self-report mailed follow-up survey. Most respondents had leaked urine in the last month (94% and 91% of mid-age and older women, respectively), and 72.2% and 73. 1% of mid-aged and older women, respectively, had sought help or advice about their UI. In both age groups, the likelihood of having sought help significantly increased with severity of incontinence. The most common reasons for not seeking help were that the women felt they could manage the problem themselves or they did not consider it to be a problem.. Many women in both cohorts had employed avoidance techniques in an attempt to prevent leaking urine, including reducing their liquid consumption, going to the toilet just in case, and rushing to the toilet the minute they felt the need to. Strategies are needed to inform women who experience UI of more effective management techniques and the possible health risks associated with commonly used avoidance behaviors. There may be a need to better publicize existing incontinence services and improve access to these services for women of all ages.

Urinary incontinence across the lifespan

Aims: The objectives of the current study were (1) to measure type and severity of urinary leakage and (2) to investigate the association between these factors and age-related life events and conditions in three groups of Australian women with a history of urinary leakage. Methods: Five hundred participants were randomly selected from women in the young (aged 18-22 in 1996), mid-age (4550),and older (70-75) cohorts of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH) who had reported leaking urine in the 1996 baseline survey. Details about leaking urine (frequency, severity, situations) and associated factors (pregnancy, childbirth, body mass index [BMI]) were sought through self-report mailed follow-up surveys in 1999. Results & Conclusions: Response rates were 50, 83, and 80% in the young, mid-age, and older women, respectively. Most women confirmed that they had, leaked urine in the past month, and the majority of these were cases of mixed incontinence. Incontinence severity tended to increase with BMI for women of all ages, and increased severity scores were associated with having urine that burns or stings. Additional independent risk factors for increasing incontinence severity were heavy smoking in young women, past or present use of hormone replacement therapy in older women, and BMI and history of hysterectomy in mid-age women. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Sitting time and work patterns as indicators of overweight and obesity in Australian adults

BACKGROUND: Increasing levels of physical inactivity and sedentariness are contributing to the current overweight and obesity epidemic. In this paper, the findings of two recent studies are used to explore the relationships between sitting time ( in transport, work and leisure), physical activity and body mass index (BMI) in two contrasting samples of adult Australians. METHODS: Data on sitting time, physical activity, BMI and a number of demographic characteristics were compared for participants in two studies-529 women who were participants in a preschool health promotion project ('mothers'), and 185 men and women who were involved in a workplace pedometer study ('workers'). Relationships between age, number of children, physical activity, sitting time, BMI, gender and work patterns were explored. Logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of being overweight or obese, among participants with different physical activity, sitting time and work patterns. RESULTS: The total reported time spent sitting per day ( across all domains) was almost 6 h less among the mothers than the workers (P

Gender differences in CF phenotype associated with low bone mineral density

Adolescents and adults with CF have lower bone mineral density (BMD) than normal, but its relationship with phenotype is not well understood. Point FEV1% predicted (FEV) and rate of change of FEV are biased estimates of disease severity, because progressively older subjects represent a selected survivor population, with females at greater risk of death than males. To investigate the relationship between BMD and phenotype we used an index (predicted age at death) derived from Bayesian estimates of slope and intercept of FEV, age at last measurement and survival status. Predictive equations for the index were derived from 97 subjects (78 survivors) from the RCH CF clinic, and applied to a group of 102 comparable subjects who had BMD measured, classified as having‘mild’ ()75th), ‘moderate’ (25– 75th), or ‘severe’ (-25th centile) phenotype. Total body (TB) and lumbar spine (LS) BMD z-scores (Z) were compared, adjustingfor gender effects, using 2-way ANOVA. Annual mean change in FEV segregated, as expected, according to phenotype, ‘severe’ (ns25), ‘moderate’ (ns51) and ‘mild’ (ns25) y3.01(y3.73 to y2.30)%, y0.85(y1.36 to y0.35)%, 2.70(1.92 to 3.46)%, respectively, with no gender difference. LS and TB BMDZ were different in each phenotype (P-s 0.002), LS BMDZ for ‘severe’, ‘moderate’ and ‘mild’ y1.63(CI: y2.07 to y 1.19), y0.86(CI: y1.17 to y0.55), y0.06(CI: y0.54 to 0.41). Males had lower LS BMDZ than females overall (y1.22 (CI: y1.54 to y0.91) vs. y0.48(CI: y 0.84 to y0.12) Ps0.002). In the ‘severe’ group, males had lower TB BMDZ and LS BMDZ (PF0.002). Low BMD is associated with ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’ phenotypes, with relative preservation in females in the ‘severe’ group. Female biology (reproductive fitness) might promote resistance to bone resorption at a critical level of BMD loss.

A metalinguistic approach to deconstructing the concepts of 'face' and 'politeness' in Chinese, English and Japanese

In this paper we investigate the concepts of 'face' and 'politeness'. We introduce a metalanguage which we believe is a framework for simplifying the analysis of 'face' and 'politeness'. This metalanguage is based on the observation that both 'face' and 'politeness' involve external evaluations of people. This common element is represented in the metalanguage as B what A shows A thinks of B and what B thinks A thinks of B. The implications of the metalanguage for the analysis of Chinese mian and lion ('face') and English face are then discussed. This is followed by an analysis of examples of politeness in English and teineisa ('politeness') in Japanese. We conclude that the metalanguage may be further developed for use in comparisons of 'face' and 'politeness' across cultures. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gene flow in great bustard populations across the Strait of Gibraltar as elucidated from excremental PCR and mtDNA sequencing

Recent advances in molecular biology have made it possible to use the trace amounts of DNA in faeces to non-invasively sample endangered species for genetic studies. Here we use faeces as a source of DNA and mtDNA sequence data to elucidate the relationship among Spanish and Moroccan populations of great bustards. 834 bp of combined control region and cytochrome-b mtDNA fragments revealed four variable sites that defined seven closely related haplotypes in 54 individuals. Morocco was fixed for a single mtDNA haplotype that occurs at moderate frequency (28%) in Spain. We could not differentiate among the sampled Spanish populations of Caceres and Andalucia but these combined populations were differentiated from the Moroccan population. Estimates of gene flow (Nm = 0.82) are consistent with extensive observations on the southern Iberian peninsular indicating that few individuals fly across the Strait of Gibraltar. We demonstrate that both this sea barrier and mountain barriers in Spain limit dispersal among adjacent great bustard populations to a similar extent. The Moroccan population is of high ornithological significance as it holds the only population of great bustards in Africa. This population is critically small and genetic and observational data indicate that it is unlikely to be recolonised via immigration from Spain should it be extirpated. In light of the evidence presented here it deserves the maximum level of protection.

A recepção da obra de Paulo Coelho pela crítica literária e pelo leitor

Propõe-se um estudo acerca da recepção da obra de Paulo Coelho pela crítica literária e pelo leitor, envolvendo a indústria cultural, sob a perspectiva da Sociologia da Literatura. A pesquisa justifica-se pela grande proporção de leitores que a obra atinge: traduzida para 81 idiomas e lida em 168 países, tendo boa aceitação por diferentes perfis de leitores e por muitos críticos literários de outros países. No Brasil, a produção do escritor é recebida com uma certa reserva pela crítica literária. As intervenções da indústria cultural são discutidas por meio de um diálogo estabelecido entre Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Pierre Bourdieu, Umberto Eco, Luiz Costa Lima e Muniz Sodré. Em seguida, estabelece-se uma discussão sobre valor estético em relação à literatura contemporânea. Posteriormente, são mostradosos elementos temáticos recorrentes e a proximidade da narrativa coelhana com a oralidade, a partir da influência das canções compostas em parceria com Raul Seixas e da operação dos gêneros parábola e fábula.A recepção da crítica é analisada, baseando-se em estudos de Mário Maestri, Eloésio Paulo, teses e dissertações, artigos, entre outros. A recepção do leitor tem como aporte teórico Antonio Candido e Roger Chartier, dentre outros, apoiando-se na Estética da Recepção, especificamente nos estudos de Hans Robert Jauss e Regina Zilberman. É analisada a recepção da obra de Paulo Coelho pelos leitores da rede social Skoob, a fim de verificar o gênero, a idade,o nível de escolaridade, a condição socioeconômica e cultural e as impressões de leitura destes. Compreendendo esses sujeitos-leitores, historicamente, e valendo-se de outros aspectos (em vez dos estéticos) apontados pela Sociologia da Literatura, é possível estabelecer diálogos entre as preferências desses leitores com obras já legitimadas pela teoria e crítica literárias, ampliando o repertório destes e contribuindo para a mediação e a promoção da leitura, no Brasil.

A negação no português falado em Vitória/ES

Todas as línguas possuem algum recurso para expressar a negação verbal, porém cada uma apresenta estratégias próprias para sua realização. No português brasileiro (PB), há três estratégias de negação: 1) pré-verbal (Não+SV); 2) dupla negação (Não+SV+Não) e 3) pós-verbal (SV+Não). À luz da Sociolinguística Variacionista e com base na amostra PortVix (Português Falado na Cidade de Vitória), que tem por parâmetros sociais o gênero/sexo do falante, sua faixa etária e seu nível de escolaridade, o presente trabalho analisa a variação no uso das estruturas de negação no português falado na cidade de Vitória/ES, a fim de situar, a partir desse fenômeno, a variedade capixaba no cenário do PB. Também toma por base a proposta de Schwenter (2005) de que as três variantes se alternam apenas quando o conteúdo negado é ativado no discurso. Sendo assim, se a proposição negada apresentar um estatuto de uma informação nova, apenas a negação pré-verbal pode ser empregada. Desse modo, em nossa pesquisa, buscamos entender quais fatores influenciam a alternância das formas de negação e verificar os contextos linguístico-discursivos que comportam essa variação. Ao confrontarmos nossos resultados com os de outras pesquisas, observamos que a dupla negação é bastante produtiva na fala capixaba, representando 21,1% de um total de 2263 dados. Ao realizarmos rodadas em que foram amalgamadas duas variantes e contrapostas a uma outra, foram selecionados pelo programa Goldvarb X (SANKOFF; TAGLIAMONTE; SMITH, 2005) e, portanto, considerados estatisticamente relevantes para a dupla negação, os seguintes fatores: as sequências dialogais, a ausência de reforço negativo, a ausência de marcadores conversacionais e as orações absolutas. Para a negação pós-verbal, foram selecionadas as seguintes variáveis: as proposições negadas diretamente ativadas e as sequências dialogais. Para a negação pré-verbal, os fatores estatisticamente relevantes foram: as sequências narrativas e as argumentativas, a presença de reforço negativo, a presença de marcadores conversacionais, as orações principais e o gênero masculino. Os resultados revelaram que a variação no uso das estruturas negativas é um fenômeno marcadamente discursivo, mas também com atuação de alguns fatores sintáticos.

Gender wage and productivity differentials in the Portuguese tourism industry

The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of gender wage inequality in the Portuguese tourism industry. Relying on firm level wage equations and production functions, gender wage and productivity differentials are estimated and then compared in order to infer whether observed gender disparities are justifiable on the grounds that women are relatively less productive than men, or instead disparities are due to gender wage discrimination. This approach is applied to tourism industry data gathered in the matched employer-employee data set Quadros de Pessoal (Employee Records). The main findings indicate that female employees in the tourism industry in Portugal are less productive than their male colleagues and that gender differences in wages are fully explained by gender differences in productivity.

Tourist motivation of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho: a gender analysis

Women are increasingly active in the participation and consumption of tourism, representing a strong and unique market segment. Knowledge of the needs and preferences of female tourists represents a key success factor in the tourism industry. This preliminary study seeks to capture the underlying reasons for the travel decisions of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho, investigating their tourist motivations from a gendered perspective. Insight on tourism motivation may be an important policy tool for tourism planners and managers in the development of products and marketing strategies. The empirical analysis is undertaken based on questionnaires administered in 2012 to residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho. Preliminary results do not reveal significant gender differences in the importance that the local residents place on various tourism motivation factors.

Gender, wages, and productivity: an analysis of the tourism industry in northern Portugal

Tourism represents a major economic activity in Portugal, with an enormous wealth and employment growth potential. A significant proportion of jobs in the industry tourism are occupied by women, given that this industry is characterized by a relatively higher percentage of female employees. Despite the evidence of female progress with regard to their role in the Portuguese labor market, women continue to earn less than their male counterparts. This is clearly the case of the tourism industry, where statistics reveal a persistent gender wage gap. The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of gender wage inequality in the tourism industry in northern Portugal. Relying on firm-level wage equations and production functions, gender wage and productivity differentials are estimated and then compared. The comparison of these differentials allows inferring whether observed wage disparities are attributable to relatively lower female productivity, or instead disparities are due to gender wage discrimination. This approach is applied to tourism industry data gathered in the matched employer-employee data set Quadros de Pessoal (Employee Records). The main findings indicate that female employees in the tourism industry in northern Portugal are less productive than their male colleagues and that gender differences in wages are fully explained by gender differences in productivity.

Does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?

The city of Guimarães in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimarães as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city’s World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimarães. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.

How does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?: the case study of Guimarães

To date few studies have been undertaken in Portugal dealing with the attitudes, motivations, and profile of tourists who visit World Heritage Sites. Also, few studies have dealt with destination image (e.g., Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2010; Lopes, 2011). As far as it is known, none have approached the issue of gender differences in the choice of a Portuguese heritage destination. Since cultural tourism destinations need to differentiate themselves from each other, appropriate market segmentation must be based on a deep understanding of the customers’ motivations and preferences. Keeping in mind results from empirical literature (e.g., Silberberg, 1995; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Richards, 2004; Pérez, 2009; Sheng, Shen, & Chen, 2008), gender seems to be a possible approach to market segmentation, whether for Guimarães or for other cultural tourism destinations around the world. Located in the north-western region of Portugal, Guimarães is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical centre as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study analyses the possible relation between gender and attitudes and motivations towards a World Heritage Site, such as Guimarães. Additionally, the empirical approach used in the study tries to capture differences in the perceived attributes of the city. Commonalities and distinctions within and between groups of tourists, by focusing on the specific characteristic of gender, were analysed. The study addressed two main questions: first, whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination; and, second, whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences.