PCBs and OCPs in human milk and selected foods from Luqiao and Pingqiao in Zhejiang, China

This study was conducted to measure the levels of 23 PCB congeners and 6 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in human milk and three food types collected from Luqiao and Pingqiao in Zhejiang Province, China. An effort was also made to explore the potential health risk for the mothers and breast-fed infants living in these two localities. Luqiao was selected as the sampling site because it is the largest place for the disassembly of obsolete transformers and electrical waste in China. Pingqiao, located 100 kin NW of Luqiao, is not known to be a place for any electronic or electrical waste and hence was chosen as the control site. Both localities are important agricultural places in the province. The organochlorines were measured in the samples using the GC-PECD technique. Micro-EROD bioassay method was also used as a complement of the chemical analysis to estimate the TEQ levels of dioxin-like PCBs in human milk. The data showed that the human milk, rice, hen egg, and fish samples from Luqiao were more heavily contaminated with PCBs than those from Pingqiao, suggesting that the mothers and their breast-fed infants in Luqiao tended to receive greater exposure to PCBs than those living in Pingqiao. The OCP levels in the two localities were found comparable, suggesting that the major source of contamination with these pesticides was from their agricultural uses. Significant correlation (R-2 = 0.87, P < 0.001) of PCB TEQs was found between the bioassay and chemical analysis method, suggesting that micro-EROD is an effective method for comprehensive determination of TEQ levels in human milk. Comparison with literature data showed that the PCB levels in milk samples from Luqiao were significantly higher than those from localities in other Chinese provinces and comparable to those in developed or industrialized countries. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Biotransfer of persistent organic pollutants from a large site in China used for the disassembly of electronic and electrical waste

Samples of groundwater, river water, river sediment, paddy soil, rice seeds, hen eggs, fish, umbilical cord blood, and newborn meconium were collected from October 2002 to October 2003 near a large site in China used for the disassembly of obsolete transformers and other electronic or electrical waste. Six indicator PCB congeners, three non-ortho dioxin-like PCB congeners, and six organochlorine pesticides were determined in the samples by GC with electron capture detector. The results demonstrated that the local environment and edible foods had been seriously polluted by toxic PCBs and organochlorine pesticides. The actual daily intakes (ADIs) of these pollutants were estimated for local residents living in the area. The intake data showed that the contents of PCBs in these local residents were substantial, as the ADI estimates greatly exceed the reference doses set by the World Health Organization and the United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The presence of the indicator PCB congeners in the cord blood and the meconium samples, as well as significant correlations (r(2) > 0.80, p < 0.05) between these levels, suggests a potential biotransfer of these indicators from mothers to their newborns. This preliminary study showed that obsolete transformers and other electronic or electrical waste can be an important source for the emission of persistent organic pollutants into the local environment, such as through leakage, evaporation, runoff, and leaching. Contamination from this source appears to have reached the level considered to be a serious threat to environmental and human health around the disassembly site.

Mercury concentrations in Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) from Eastern Dongting Lake, China

Mercury concentrations in some key tissues (liver, kidney, small intestine, stomach, blubber and brain) of five Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis), accidentally died in the Eastern Dongting Lake of China between 1998 and 2004, were investigated using Atomic Fluorescent Spectrometry (AFS). Total mercury (T-Hg) concentrations ranged between 0.17 to 181 mu g g wet weight. and varied significantly in different tissues. Liver is the most preferable target organ for mercury accumulation. although the highest T-Hg concentrations were not found exclusively in liver, but also in kidney and small intestine in some individuals. Moreover, it was demonstrated that mercury concentrations increased positively with age of the animals. However, the highest T-Hg concentrations in liver and kidney were both found in a 2-month-old calf, which implied that the transfer efficiency of mercury from mothers to babies in Yangtze finless porpoise is remarkable. And what is more important, it seems that the Yangtze finless porpoise in Eastern Donating Lake had much higher T-Hg levels than those reported for other Phocoenidae species. To be noticed, the T-Hg was accumulated tremendously from aquatic environment to the Yangtze finless porpoise's liver, reaching a bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of 4.3x10(5) in the Eastern Donating Lake ecosystem.

Observations on behavior and ecology of the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) group at Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow of the Yangtze River

The authors made 39 surveys (a total of 161 days) in the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow of the Yangtze River, China, for observing 13 Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) captured from the main stream of the Yangtze River and 7 juveniles born in the oxbow from January 1997 to July 2000. The animals were usually divided into several "core" groups and moved around in shallow, muddy-bottom areas with the largest individual in the lead. Each core group was composed of 2-3 animals (either 2 adults, 1 adult and 1 juvenile, 2 adults and 1 juvenile, or 2 adults and 1 calf). Newly-released animals joined the other animals first, and then reorganized their own groups one or two days later. Average breath interval was 34.4 s (+/- s.d. 4.39) for individuals in the group. The animals mated from May through June and gave birth during the second and last ten days of April of the next year. The gestation period was estimated as 310 - 320 days. Calves over 5 months old began to eat small fish. The distance of calves swimming apart from their suspected mothers increased each month. These findings will help in the management of the reserve to protect this unique freshwater porpoise.

心理咨询师的心理需要及相关因素的研究

The aim of this research is to explore the tendency of needs and its influential factors in counselors at present time．Three studies were carried out: study 1 was to find out the tendency of needs and the structure of needs in counselors. Study 2 was to compare the needs between counselors and non-counselors, in which 64 subjects were students majored in psychology but they don’t want to counsel.Study 3 was to initially explore the relationships between the tendency of needs and its influential factors. Studies of the 1 and 3 selected 123 counselors. It was found that: 1. The results of EPPS in counselors: according to comparison between original marks, the number of subjects who range first from high to low was: introspection，change，dominance，nurse，order，succor，affinity=autonomy，achievement，endurance，heterosexuality，deference，aggression=exhibition=abasement ; according to means of original marks, the tendency of needs from high to low was: introspection，achievement，nurse，autonomy，change，succor，endurance，dominance，order，affinity，aggression，exhibition，deference，abasement，heterosexuality. The lower one of the counselors were needs of aggression, exhibition，deference，abasement and heterosexuality，the high one are introspection，nurse and change．The most difference was achievement need. 2. Dilemmas had no significantly different effect on the needs of counselors, but sexuality and age affect them in some factors. There were significant differences in the factors of deference, exhibition and nurse among different ages. Counselors married had higher tendency of obedience, autonomy, introspection, nurse and endurance than those unmarried. 3. The results of EPPS in non-counselors: according to comparison between original marks, the number of subjects who range first from high to low was: endurance，order，change=dominance，autonomy= introspection=nurse，affinity，succor，aggression，achievement，heterosexuality，exhibition=abasement，deference; according to original marks’means, the tendency of needs from high to low was: nurse，endurance，achievement，order，introspection，change，autonomy，dominance，affinity，succor，aggression，exhibition，abasement，deference，heterosexuality. The lower one of the counselors were needs of aggression, exhibition，deference，abasement and heterosexuality，the high one were introspection，nurse and change．The most difference was achievement need. 4. There were significant differences in the needs of abasement and introspection between counselors and non-counselors. Male counselors and non-counselors had significant differences in the factor of abasement. Female counselors had higher tendency of succor needs. 5. The differences of childhood traumas and positive life events were not significant. The positive and negative life events themselves had no significant differences, but negative life events had marginal significant difference between the two groups. 6. The marks of counselors were lower than non-counselors in the factors of neuroticism. 7. Counselors and trainees had no significant differences among other needs、childhood traumas、life events、personality and coping styles except in the deference need. 8. The result of multiple estimation of EPQ , CTQ and EPPS were related．Many specific life events were related with the tendency of many needs. As shown in the research, children’s traumas, characteristic and life events may affect needs chiefly. 9. There were close relation between characteristic and childhood traumas in counselors. Especially the subjects with more childhood traumas had higher tendency of psychoticism, neuroticism and introvision. There were few persons with much high scores on the Childhood traumas in the subjects．Their personality characteristics indicate high extrovision and low psychoticism．Their childhood traumas may affect the shape of sound personality． Conclusion: 1. The most important tendency of needs were introspection，nurse and change． 2. The differences of childhood traumas and life events were not significant between counselors and non-counselors. The marks of counselors were higher than non-counselors in the factors of introspection, but lower in the factor of neuroticism． 3. The main influential factors in counselors of needs were childhood traumas、characteristic and life events.

高中生家庭功能与情绪问题的关系及人格的中介作用

The aim of this research is to explore the characteristics of family functioning，personality and their relation to anxiety and depression in high school students. A total of 914 high school students were assessed with The Chinese Family Assessment Instrument and Five -factor Personality Questionnaire and Mental Health Test and Middle School Students Depression Questionnaire. The result indicates, 1. The family functioning and Personality were all significant difference to school, gender, mother’s education and father’s education. 2. There were school, gender, mother’s education and father’s education differences in anxiety of students. 3. There were school, mother’s education and father’s education differences in depression of students. 4. Family functioning were predictive factor directly to anxiety of students, personality serves in part as medium between family functioning and anxiety of students. 5. Family functioning were predictive factor directly to the high school students’ depression, personality serves in part as medium between family functioning and depression of students. 6. The different schools had special features in relation models between family functioning, personality and anxiety of students. 7. The different schools had special features in relation models between family functioning, personality and depression of students.

问题青少年的自尊及家庭因素研究

The present paper studies the explicit, implicit, and combined (explicit and implicit) self-esteem of troubled youths in comparison to normal youths. Influential family factors are also discussed. The main results of this paper can be summarized as follows： 1. The explicit self-esteem of troubled youths is significantly lower than that of normal youths. 2. In comparison to normal youths, troubled youths are more likely to come from divorced and remarried families, and have parents with lower levels of education; troubled youths also experience significantly greater amounts of physical and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect. 3. For troubled youths, the closer they are with their parents,the higher their explicit self-esteem; abuse experiences in childhood significantly predict low explicit self-esteem; and high explicit self-esteem can be predicted by communication, trust, intimacy and enjoyment with their parents. For normal youths, only low explicit self-esteem can be predicted by abuse experiences in childhood. 4. The implicit self-esteem of troubled youths is significantly higher than that of normal youths. 5. The implicit self-esteem of troubled youths is affected by their parents’marrital status; youths from divorced families have higher implicit self-esteem than those from intact families. Low implicit self-esteem in normal youths can be predicted by communication,trust, intimacy and enjoyment with their mothers. 6. Youths with low explicit self-esteem and high implicit self-esteem (LEHI) form the greatest proportion of the total number of troubled youths, and youths with high explicit self-esteem and low implicit self-esteem (HELI) form the greatest proportion of normal youths. Youths with LEHI have the most abuse experiences in childhood, the worst parent-child relationships and the most mental problems; In contrast, youth with HELI have the least abuse experiences, the best parent-child relationships and the least mental problems of the four categories of combined self-esteem. Furthermore, the combined self-esteem of youths can be predicted by abuse experiences in childhood.

我国城乡背景下教养风格对生育价值观代际传递调节作用的研究

Intergenerational cultural transmission is one process leading to cultural continuity and the transmission of value orientations may be seen as a core issue of cultural transmission. Previous research about value transmission revealed that the effectiveness of intergenerational value transmission was influenced by parenting, and parenting’s impact on culture transmission varies according to the cultural context. Value of children (VOC) refers to the functions children serve or the needs they fulfill for parents. VOC is contained in the value system and thus we would explore whether VOC could be transmitted from generation to generation like other values and how parenting impact intergenerational VOC transmission in China. Since there are dramatic differences between Chinese urban and rural context in many aspects, we would explore the effects of the transmission belt in these two social contexts respectively. A total of 200 samples were collected and each sample contained grandmother， mother and adolescent，and the results were as follows： 1. VOC could be transmitted from generation to generation, and the transmissions from grandmothers to adolescents were less effective than the transmissions from mothers to adolescents. 2. Parenting moderated the path of VOC transmission from mothers to adolescents. Authoritarian parenting could enhance the transmission of economical and social VOC factor between generations. And authoritative parenting could enhance the transmission of emotional VOC factor between generations. 3. Authoritarian parenting had significant positive predictive effect on rural adolescents’ VOC and had no predictive effect on urban adolescents’ VOC. And authoritative parenting had significant positive predictive effect on urban adolescents’ VOC.

教养方式、亲子关系对青少年给予母亲情感支持的影响

Emotional support, as an important form of social supports, has great impact on the life of both caregivers and receivers. Many studies on adult children and old parents indicate that emotional support is closely related to parents’ well-being, and the relation quality between old parents and adult children is one of the factors influencing adult children’s support offering. However, the study on adolescents’ emotional support to their parents is quite rare. What’s more, it has been found that emotional support skills children have learnt at home have life-time influence on children’s response to other’s emotional needs. It is assumed that to some extent the emotional support styles between parents and adolescents are relatively stable, and they are related to the care children give to their parents after they advance to old age. Hence, it is necessary to study the emotional support of adolescent in order to at last improve the well-being of old parents. Totally speaking, the aim of this study is to explore the relation between parenting styles and adolescents’ emotional support offering, as well as the effects of mother-child relationships. In addition, culture is a factor having impact on parenting styles, parent-child relationships and emotional support. So we have designed this cross-cultural study to explore cultural differences. The results are as follows: (1) As to Chinese and Indonesian mothers, their Acceptance of adolescents’ behaviors has significant positive predictive effect on children’s emotional support. Besides, the Intimacy and Approval dimensions of mother-child relationships partially mediate the path from parenting styles to emotional support offering, and those effects have no significant difference in China and Indonesia. (2) Chinese and Indonesian mother’s Rejection to adolescents has significant positive predictive effect on Conflict between mothers and adolescents, but has no direct effect on adolescents’ emotional support offering. (3) Adolescents’ support offering has no significant predictive effect on their willingness to help their parents. (4) Adolescents’ support offering has significant predictive effect on their motivation to provide emotional support to their parents. However, the relation between adolescents’ support offering and the willingness to help their parents is not clear. (5) Adolescents have scored high in Acceptance parenting style dimension and relatively low in Rejection dimension, which indicate that mothers in China and Indonesia adopt positive parenting styles. Both Chinese and Indonesian mother-child relationships are good. However, Indonesian adolescents have perceived more Intimacy and Approval from mothers, and there is no significant difference between Chinese and Indonesian adolescents and mothers in the dimension of Conflict.

Early determinants of overweight and obesity at 5 years old in preschoolers from inner of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Introduction: Brazil is experiencing a nutritional transition characterized by a reduction in the prevalence of nutritional deficits and an increase in overweight and obesity, not only in adults but also in children and adolescents.Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the factors associated with overweight and obesity in Brazilian 5-year-old preschoolers.Methods: A cross-sectional study of a cohort of 232 preschoolers born in Diamantina/Minas Gerais, Brazil, was undertaken. the data, including socioeconomic status, anthropometry, diet, previous history of the preschoolers and family history, were collected between July of 2009 and July of 2010. To identify the factors associated with overweight and obesity, a logistic regression and a hierarchical model were undertaken.Results: Overweight and obesity occurred in 17.2% of the preschoolers. After adjusting for mother's obesity, per capita income, protective food intake, weight gain at age 0-4 months and time spent playing, the factors associated with overweight and obesity that reached statistical significance were mother's obesity [OR = 3.12 (95% CI 1.41-6.91), P = 0.01], weight gain of more than 0.85 kg/month in the first four months of life [OR = 2.16 (95% CI 1.01-4.64), P = 0.041 and lower per capita income [OR = 0.32 (95 %CI 0.13-0.79), P = 0.01].Conclusion: the results show that more weight gain during the first four months of life and being born of mothers with obesity increased the odds of overweight/obesity in the preschoolers, while lower per capita income was a protective factor.

What influences the timing of the introduction of solid food to infants?

The aim of the present study was to assess the factors which may influence the timing of the introduction of solid food to infants. The design was a prospective cohort study by interview and postal questionnaire. Primiparous women (n 541) aged between 16 and 40 years were approached in the Forth Park Maternity Hospital, Fife, Scotland. Of these, 526 women agreed to participate and seventy-eight were used as subjects in the pilot study. At 12 weeks we interviewed 338 women of the study sample. The postal questionnaire was returned by 286 of 448 volunteers. At 12 weeks 133 of 338 mothers said that they had introduced solids. Those that said that they had introduced solids early (<12 weeks) were compared with those who had introduced solids late (>12 weeks) by bivariate and multiple regression analysis. Psychosocial factors influencing the decision were measured with the main outcome measure being the time of introduction of solid food. The early introduction of solids was found to be associated with: the opinions of the infant's maternal grandmother; living in a deprived area; personal disagreement with the advice to wait until the baby was 4 months; lack of encouragement from friends to wait until the baby was 4 months; being in receipt of free samples of manufactured food. Answers to open-ended questions indicated that the early introduction appeared to be influenced by the mothers’ perceptions of the baby's needs. Some of the factors influencing a woman's decision to introduce solids are amenable to change, and these could be targeted in educational interventions.

A experiência de vida e as expectativas futuras de famílias beneficiárias de RSI

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia, especialização em Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde.

Avaliação do Impacto de um Programa de Intervenção com Famílias Multiproblemáticas

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa, como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia Jurídica

Consumos de bebidas alcoólicas e falsos conceitos - questões de género numa população que recorre aos serviços da Unidade de Cuidados de Saúde Personalizados em Peso da Régua

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia, ramo de Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde

Rationing Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV/AIDS in Africa: Efficiency, Equity, and Reality

Background: Rationing of access to antiretroviral therapy already exists in sub-Saharan Africa and will intensify as national treatment programs develop. The number of people who are medically eligible for therapy will far exceed the human, infrastructural, and financial resources available, making rationing of public treatment services inevitable. Methods: We identified 15 criteria by which antiretroviral therapy could be rationed in African countries and analyzed the resulting rationing systems across 5 domains: clinical effectiveness, implementation feasibility, cost, economic efficiency, and social equity. Findings: Rationing can be explicit or implicit. Access to treatment can be explicitly targeted to priority subpopulations such as mothers of newborns, skilled workers, students, or poor people. Explicit conditions can also be set that cause differential access, such as residence in a designated geographic area, co-payment, access to testing, or a demonstrated commitment to adhere to therapy. Implicit rationing on the basis of first-come, first-served or queuing will arise when no explicit system is enforced; implicit systems almost always allow a high degree of queue-jumping by the elite. There is a direct tradeoff between economic efficiency and social equity. Interpretation: Rationing is inevitable in most countries for some period of time. Without deliberate social policy decisions, implicit rationing systems that are neither efficient nor equitable will prevail. Governments that make deliberate choices, and then explain and defend those choices to their constituencies, are more likely to achieve a socially desirable outcome from the large investments now being made than are those that allow queuing and queue-jumping to dominate.