A Qualitative Assessment of Community Attitudes and Barriers to Family Planning Use in the Trifinio Region of Southwest Guatemala.

Introduction Our aim was to identify beliefs about and specific barriers to use of birth spacing methods that married and cohabitating women in the Trifinio Sur-Oeste region of Guatemala report in order to design future family planning educational programs. Methods We conducted key informant interviews with community health workers and focus groups with married or cohabitating women. We used inductive and deductive coding to identify common themes.

Estimating the Risk of Domestic Water Source Contamination Following Precipitation Events.

Climate change is expected to increase precipitation extremes, threatening water quality. In low resource settings, it is unclear which water sources are most vulnerable to contamination following rainfall events. We evaluated the relationship between rainfall and drinking water quality in southwest Guatemala where heavy rainfall is frequent and access to safe water is limited.

Perspectives on the ethical concerns and justifications of the 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV testing: HIV screening policy changes.

Background: The 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised recommendations for HIV testing in clinical settings contained seven specific changes to how health care facilities should provide HIV testing. These seven elements have been both supported and challenged in the lay and medical literature. Our first paper in BMC Medical Ethics presented an analysis of the three HIV testing procedural changes included in the recommendations.

Patient and clinician ethical perspectives on the 2006 Centers for Disease Control and prevention HIV testing methods.

Objectives: CDC 2006 recommendations for new HIV testing methods in U.S. health-care settings (opt-out approach, general medical consent, and optional prevention counseling) have been the subject of a public ethical debate.

Perspectives on the ethical concerns and justifications of the 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV testing recommendations.

Background: In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended three changes to HIV testing methods in US healthcare settings: (1) an opt-out approach, (2) removal of separate signed consent, and (3) optional HIV prevention counseling. These recommendations led to a public debate about their moral acceptability.

Methods: We interviewed 25 members from the fields of US HIV advocacy, care, policy, and research about the ethical merits and demerits of the three changes to HIV testing methods.

An ethical evaluation of the 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Recommendations for HIV testing in health care settings.

When in 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued revised recommendations for HIV testing in health care settings, vocal opponents charged that use of an "opt-out" approach to presenting HIV testing to patients; the implementation of nontargeted, widespread HIV screening; the elimination of a separate signed consent; and the decoupling of required HIV prevention counseling from HIV testing are unethical. Here we undertake the first systematic ethical examination of the arguments both for and against the recommendations. Our examination reveals that the ethical concerns raised by the critics predominantly pertain not to ethically suspect elements of the recommendations themselves, but to suspicions that they will be implemented improperly.

Septicaemia due to Corynebacterium striatum: molecular confirmation of entry via the skin.

Septicaemia due to Corynebacterium striatum occurs infrequently. A case of C. striatum septicaemia with a known skin focus is reported in a 69-year-old male with ischaemia, refractory anaemia and treated for thyroid cancer.

Synergistic effect between apolipoprotein E and angiotensinogen gene polymorphisms in the risk for early myocardial infarction.

Background: Several studies based on different populations worldwide have described an association between cardiovascular diseases and genetic variations in the apolipoprotein E (A:POE), angiotensinogen (A:GT), angiotensin receptor type 1 (A:T1R), and angiotensin-converting enzyme (A:CE) genes. In addition, there is growing evidence of an interaction between hypercholesterolemia and the renin-angiotensin system in the risk for hypertension and atherosclerosis.

Methods: To determine whether the DNA polymorphisms in A:POE (epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 alleles), A:GT (M235T), A:T1R (1166 A:/C:), and ACE (I:/D:) are associated with early onset of myocardial infarction (MI), we genotyped 220 patients and 200 controls <55 years of age.

The interrelationship among tobacco consumption, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and leukocyte counts.

Background: Tobacco consumption is a major cardiovascular risk factor that has been related to changes in lipoprotein levels and in the leukocyte count.

Objective: To investigate the interrelationship among leukocytes, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and tobacco consumption.

Methods: In total 1022 healthy male miners aged 40.

Object chaining and thought disorder in schizophrenic speech.

The phenomenon of object chaining was investigated to determine its relationship to thought disorder in schizophrenia. Samples from thought-disordered schizophrenics (N = 12) and controls (10 non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and 10 normals) were analysed. Using the object subject ratio (OSR) to measure object chaining, we found higher OSRs in the speech of thought-disordered subjects than in that of subjects free of thought disorder.

Abnormal involuntary movements and chronic schizophrenic disorders.

We hypothesized that chronic schizophrenic patients with abnormal involuntary movements would exhibit specific psychopathological, neurological, and cognitive disturbances at a more severe level than those free of such movements. Twenty-two chronic schizophrenic patients were assessed for abnormal movements, cognitive impairment, psychopathology, and medication history. Unequivocal evidence of movement abnormality on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale divided the subjects into groups with (n = 13) and without (n = 9) involuntary movement anomaly.