changed in response to the fear of AIDS, focusing on the contraceptive behavior of single men and women. We also analyze recent trends in condom use that may have been influenced by increasing fear of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), as well as by contraceptive needs. We distinguish the percentages of men and women who currently use condoms (at the time of the survey), who have ever used c...

In the present study, a total of 1,235 porcine serum samples were collected from 9 counties in Jilin Province (40°52'~46°18'N,121°38'~131°19'E), northeastern China from August to October 2013, and the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection was tested by indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA). The results showed that antibodies to T. gondii were found in 19.1% (95% confidence interval [CI...

Health literacy continues to experience the normal growing pains of an emerging field of inquiry and practice. The evolving concept of health literacy requires the development of new measurement tools in order to adequately study interventions and identify best practices. This article describes a multi-stage process of engaging the largest known international group of health literacy profession...

Zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se) exert regulatory activities on immune functions, while cadmium (Cd) is an immunotoxic agent. The object of this study was to detect effects of 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 M Cd sulphate, Zn sulphate, and sodium selenite, and their combinations on human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation and IFN-γ and TNF-α production. Only 10-5 M Zn sulphate significantly...

BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis (OA) knee pain is common in older patients and contributes to decreased quality of life. Older patients are generally at higher risk of adverse drug reactions due to age-related changes in physiology that affect drug disposition, metabolism, and response. These analyses examined efficacy and safety outcomes of older (≥65 years) versus younger patients from clinical tri...

In a prospective study, the prognostic value of clinical characteristics in 157 consecutive patients with spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage were examined by means of multivariate analysis. Two days after the event 37 (24%) patients had died. Factors independently contributing to the prediction of two day mortality were pineal gland displacement on CT of 3 mm or more (p less t...

A retrospective study of patients who were prescribed controlled-release oxycodone (CRO) in a period of 3 years (2006-2008) was performed. A total of 212 patients were prescribed at discharge CRO for background analgesia; 129, 43, and 40 patients were prescribed doses of oxycodone of less than 120 mg/day (group L), 120 to 240 mg/day (group M), and more than 240 mg/day (group L), respectively. N...

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of India, launched in October, 1975 a total of 33 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Projects (19 rural, 10 tribal and 4 urban) with the specific objectives of improving the nutritional and health status of children in the age group of 0-5+ years, reducing the incidence of mortality, morbidity, mal-nutrition and school drop-out and enhancing ...

Sacral neuromodulation (SNM) therapy has revolutionized the management of many forms of anal incontinence, with an expanded use and a medium-term efficacy of 75% overall. This review discusses the technique of SNM therapy, along with its complications and troubleshooting and a discussion of the early data pertaining to peripheral posterior tibial nerve stimulation in incontinent patients. Futur...

Tissue function depends on hierarchical structures extending from single cells (B10 lm) to functional subunits (100 lm– 1 mm) that coordinate organ functions. Conventional cell culture disperses tissues into single cells while neglecting higher-order processes. The application of semiconductordriven microtechnology in the biomedical arena now allows fabrication of microscale tissue subunits tha...