How subchronic and chronic health effects can be neglected for GMOs, pesticides or chemicals.

Chronic health effects are increasing in the world such as cancers, hormonal, reproductive, nervous, or immune diseases, even in young people. During regulatory toxicological subchronic tests to prevent these on mammalian health, prior commercialization of chemicals, including pesticides and drugs, or GMOs, some statistically significant findings may be revealed. This discussion is about the need to investigate the relevant criteria to consider those as biologically significant.

Quantitative estimate of the risks and benefits of possible alternative blood donor deferral strategies for men who have had sex with men.

Background: Implementation of sensitive screening methods for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis viruses prompts the question of what quantitative risks may result from altered deferral strategies for donation of blood by men who have had sex with men (MSM).

Study Design And Methods: Quantitative probabilistic models were developed to assess changes in the residual risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated with blood testing and quarantine release errors (QREs) in the initial year of two hypothetical policy scenarios that would allow donations from donors who have abstained from MSM behavior for at least 5 years (MSM5) or at least 1 year (MSM1).

Results: The MSM5 and MSM1 models, respectively, predicted annual increases in units of HIV-infected blood of 0.

A school and community outbreak of tuberculosis in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Aim: To describe a secondary school outbreak of tuberculosis in Palmerston North, New Zealand in 2006.

Methods: Case and contact management was conducted by MidCentral District Health Board according to national guidelines.

Results: The index (and source) case was a school student.

Building social capital in first-time parents through a group-parenting program: a questionnaire survey.

Background: Parents who are connected into strong family and community networks are said to have high social capital enabling them to provide a positive context where their children's social, emotional and educational needs are met.

Objectives: To identify parent satisfaction with, strengths and weaknesses of, opportunities to build social capital, and the impact of a two-course pilot health and relationship focused Parenting Education Program-PEPE, designed for first-time parents, on the core work of the well-child nurse/health visitor.

Design: Retrospective descriptive survey using postal questionnaires.

Occupational respiratory health of New Zealand horse trainers.

Objectives: To confirm that working with horses is an occupational respiratory hazard and observed associations are not attributable to confounding.

Methods: A postal survey of the respiratory health of 659 horse trainers and a comparison group of 506 vegetable growers was conducted. Data were analysed using logistic regression.

Access to rural health services: research as community action and policy critique.

Although access to rural health services has been an enduring focus for a variety of scholars, little has been recorded about the intersection between health service policy, provision and access experiences. This paper identifies how community action can highlight the gaps between policy rhetoric and access experiences. Taking the case of rural New Zealand, we document how a community organisation Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) completed a national survey as a form of community action.

"It's your whole way of life really": negotiating work, health and gender.

Recent discussions in contemporary geographies of health have highlighted the need to understand the social contexts in which people experience health and illness. Qualitative and mixed method studies have been shown to be invaluable to such research, especially where investigations seek to understand the circumstances and responses surrounding particular conditions. In this paper, we move beyond biomedical approaches to combine methods in health research and gain insights into the complex contexts and relations affecting men's and women's respiratory health.