BACKGROUND 'Hard-to-reach' is a term used to describe those sub-groups of the population that may be difficult to reach or involve in research or public health programmes. Application of a single term to call these sub-sections of populations implies a homogeneity within distinct groups, which does not necessarily exist. Different sampling techniques were introduced so far to recruit hard-to-re...

BACKGROUND Throughout history women have tried to control or enhance their fertility using herbal remedies, with various levels of societal support. Caribbean folk medicine has been influenced by European folk medicine, either through the early Spanish and French settlers or through the continuous immigration of Spanish-speaking peoples from Venezuela. Some folk uses are ancient and were docume...

Aeolian sandstones are found intimately associated with Late Neoproterozoic ‘snowball Earth’ glacial deposits. Studying the nature of these aeolian deposits offers the great potential to elicit new and important information regarding the wind conditions during these extreme glacial intervals. Wind direction is the dominant paleoclimatic indicator that can be derived from aeolian deposits and on...

Hybrids between species are often sterile or inviable. This form of reproductive isolation is thought to evolve via the accumulation of mutations that interact to reduce fitness when combined in hybrids. Mathematical formulations of this "Dobzhansky-Muller model" predict an accelerating buildup of hybrid incompatibilities with divergence time (the "snowball effect"). Although the Dobzhansky-Mul...

This paper reports a campus-wide survey of obesity experts that allowed us to understand organizational factors and collaboration patterns affiliated with health sciences research. By combining Google and PubMed searches and the snowball sampling method, we identified and then surveyed 113 obesity experts on their collaborators, research interests, and affiliations with academic departments and...

This research examined how contact with the legal, medical, and mental health systems affects rape survivors' psychological well-being. Although community services may be beneficial for some victims, there is increasing evidence that they can add trauma, rather than alleviate distress (termed secondary victimization). This study examined how secondary victimization affects rape survivors' postt...

BACKGROUND In order to develop, implement and evaluate policy for reducing maternal mortality, it is essential to study the risk factors associated with maternal deaths. AIMS The study aims to determine the epidemiological risk factors and its related causes associated with maternal deaths in Delhi slums. MATERIALS AND METHODS A community-based case-control study was designed, wherein snowb...

This paper explores the influence of ethnicity on attitudes towards sexual behavior of British-born Chinese teenagers. Using an ethnographic approach and snowball sampling, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 British-born Chinese teenagers and 20 Chinese-born parents. The parents highlighted the influence of Chinese culture and religion on their sexual values and wanted to c...