Childbirth experiences of immigrant women in Chile: Trading human rights and autonomy for dignity and good care.

Background: Childbirth is a transcendent life experience but may also be a moment of great vulnerability, especially when it occurs outside the mother's country of origin.

Objective: To explore the perceptions and experiences of Spanish-speaking immigrant women regarding the healthcare they received during labour and childbirth in Santiago, Chile.

Methods: This qualitative, transcendental phenomenological research was performed at two maternity hospitals using purposive criterion sampling.

[Echinoderms from Marino Ballena National Park, Pacific, Costa Rica].

A total of 25 species of echinoderms (four asteroids, six ophiuroids, five echinoids and ten holothurians) were recorded at Marino Ballena National Park, using 25 m2 quadrants, parallel to the coast, at seven sites. The ophiuroids were the most abundant group with 581 individuals and the asteroids the less abundant (48 individuals). Echinoderms densities were low, with the exception of the ophiuroids.

[Punta Cocles coral reef, Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica].

This paper describes the Punta Cocles reef (Limón, Costa Rica). Data were obtained by sampling nine transects along the coast and observations done by skin diving between September and November of 2002. This reef consist of 10.