Europe and hospitals--strengths and requirements

Hospitals all over Europe must get ready to face the important challenge of 1993 at all levels: micro-economic, macro-economic, local, regional and European. Despite the liberalization trends which will inevitably appear with the increased freedom of exchange and movement, hospitals must strive to remain havens of peace to patients.     

Self-Esteem and Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Women and Men

Influences on food choices are multifactorial, and limited research has been reported on the role of social-psychological variables. Earlier studies have linked self-esteem with a variety of health behaviors. The purpose of this study was to extend the research to examine the relationship of self-esteem to dietary behaviors, specifically the intake of fruits and vegetables and their key nutrients. Subjects were 155 married couples in a stratified random sample of households in one mid-western state. Husbands and wives were interviewed separately in their own homes. Independent variables were age, education, income, body mass index, and self-esteem.The dependent variables were number of servings and variety of vegetables and fruits per week and energy-adjusted intakes of fiber, folate, and vitamins A and C. Self-esteem was measured by the Rosenberg questionnaire, while dietary intake was assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Women reported significantly more servings of fruits per week, greater variety in both fruit and vegetable choices, and higher energy-adjusted nutrient intakes than did their husbands. Women met Food Guide Pyramid (FGP) recommendations for fruit intake and approached the recommendation for vegetable servings. Men fell short of FGP recommendations for both fruit and vegetables. After adjustment for age, education, income, and body mass index, self-esteem was a significant predictor of vitamin C and folate intake among women and folate intake among men. No other dietary variables were associated with self-esteem, although for men there was a trend for increased weekly servings of vegetables and increased variety in vegetable choices with higher self-esteem. One implication for practice is that age and education appear to be far stronger factors contributing to fruit and vegetable intake than is self-esteem. Additional research is needed to clarify the strength of self-esteem as a factor in specific food choices, especially among subpopulations.     

企业职工高尿酸血症与血压、血脂、血糖的相关性研究

目的探讨企业职工高尿酸血症（HUA）与血压、血脂、血糖的相关性,为企业进行健康管理提供依据。方法以中国石油长庆油田公司各下属企业为抽样单位,整群随机抽取2个单位,每个单位中所有的HUA者作为HUA组,共720人;同时在尿酸水平正常者中随机选取620人为正常组。通过Logistic回归分析HUA与年龄、性别、血压、血脂、血糖的关系。结果HUA合并高血压、高血脂、空腹m糖受损任意一项、两项、三项的比例均远高于正常组（OR值分别为：4．036,2．562,4．174）。多因素Logistic回归发现：男性、收缩压、总胆固醇、三酰甘油、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇是HUA的危险因素（OR值分别为7．736,2．309,1．721,2．761,1．411）;高密度脂蛋白胆固醇为HUA的保护因素（OR值为0．211）。结论HUA存在性别差异,且与血压、血脂密切相关。企业对职工的健康管理应充分考虑多危险因素的综合作用,全面的进行健康教育及干预。     

护士职业礼仪与整体护理研究

整体护理强调的是以病人为中心，以护理程序为核心，有系统的对病人进行身心整体护理。整体护理是否见效，在很大程度上取决于护士的职业素质。从我院开展的整体护理模式病房工作成效分析，在学习新模式，转变传统护理观念的同时，同样要重视护士职业礼仪的教育，这样既提高整体护理的理论知识，     

Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents and preventative measures

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children is increasing rapidly. This is alarming because obesity is associated with severe chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. Obesity at young age is related to obesity at adult age. Consequently, the prevention of overweight from childhood onwards is an important issue. Apart from diabetes mellitus type 2 there is an increased risk of orthopaedic complications, respiratory problems, fertility problems, cardiovascular diseases and psychosocial consequences in the form of a negative self-image, emotional and behavioural problems and depression. Environmental and behavioural factors are regarded as the most important causes of the rapid increase in the prevalence of overweight and as the most important starting points for prevention. Most prevention programmes are still in the initial stages. Prevention programmes aimed at stimulating breast feeding and daily physical activity (playing outside) and the restriction of sweetened drinks and watching TV are very promising. With such preventive measures the involvement of both the school and the parents is important.     

Environmental and occupational medicine and injury prevention: education and impact,classroom and community

The core value guiding the work of physicians and health workers, including those in Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology and Medicine and Injury Prevention, is to protect the health of the public, especially its most vulnerable individuals. In these fields, we emphasize teaching the use of epidemiology, the core discipline of public health, as a tool for early detection and prevention of disease and injury, as well as an instrument for hypothesis testing. The classic core topics are toxic and physical exposures and their effects, and strategies for their prevention; emerging issues are child labor, mass violence, and democide. In environmental health, students need to be prepared for the reality that the most important and severe problems are often the most difficult to investigate, solve, and evaluate. The following are some recommendations for producing graduates who are effective in protecting communities from environmental hazards and risks: (1) Teach the precautionary principle and its application; (2) Evaluate programs for teaching environmental and occupational health, medicine and epidemiology in schools of public health by their impact on the WHO health indicators and their impact on measures of ecosystem sustainability; (3) Develop problem-oriented projects and give academic credit for projects with definable public health impact and redefine the role of the health officer as the chief resident for Schools of Public Health and Community Medicine; (4) Teach the abuses of child labor and working conditions of women in the workplace and how to prevent the hazards and risks from the more common types of child work; (5) Upgrade teaching of injury prevention and prevention of deaths from external causes; (6) Teach students to recognize the insensitivity of epidemiology as a tool for early detection of true risk; (7) Teach the importance of context in the use of tests of statistical significance; (8) Teach the epidemiologic importance of short latency periods from high exposures as sentinel events for later group risk for cancer and stating the case for action; (9) Protect students and colleagues who are whistleblowers in environmental health from harassment and punishment; (10) Develop curricula and workshops that promote the use of epidemiologic tools for preventing genocide, democide, and their precursors. Schools of Public Health and Community Medicine are at the interface between the resources of academic power and the major problems of community health. Implementing the above recommendations will strengthen academic investigation and impact.     

Enabling positive change: Progress and setbacks in HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights

At a point in history when the future of sexual and reproductive health including HIV looks particularly uncertain, it is helpful to recognise that many of the challenges currently faced are neither new nor insurmountable. Reflecting on past achievements and lessons learned helps us to have confidence that positive change is feasible. This paper reflects on some of the changes observed in countries like India and Mozambique and identifies a range of factors which need to coalesce to enable these developments, along with specific contextual factors. It is the combination of these influences rather than any one of them alone that brought about the change in the three instances described – fostering a positive political response to HIV in its early years in India; bringing about policy reform on abortion in Mozambique; and increasing contraceptive prevalence and age at marriage in some districts in Bihar, India. Change is always fragile and susceptible to setbacks, but change-seekers can learn in the process and gain renewed hope that progress can and often does take place if they persevere.     

Main and interactive effects of arsenic and selenium on mallard reproduction and duckling growth and survival

Arsenic (As) and selenium (Se) occur together in high concentrations in the environment and can accumulate in aquatic plants and invertebrates consumed by waterfowl. Ninety-nine pairs of breeding mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were fed diets supplemented with As (sodium arsenate) at 0, 25, 100, or 400 g/g, in combination with Se (seleno-DL-methionine) at 0 or 10 g/g, in a replicated factorial experiment. Ducklings produced were placed on the same treatment combination as their parents. Arsenic accumulated in adult liver and egg, reduced adult weight gain and liver weight, delayed the onset of egg laying, decreased whole egg weight, and caused eggshell thinning. Arsenic did not affect hatching success and was not teratogenic. In ducklings, As accumulated in the liver and reduced body weight, growth, and liver weight. Arsenic did not increase duckling mortality, but it did decrease overall duckling production. Selenium accumulated in adult liver and egg, was teratogenic, and decreased hatching success. Selenium did not affect adult weight, liver weight, survival, onset of egg laying, egg fertility, egg weight, or eggshell thickness. In ducklings, Se accumulated in the liver and reduced body weight and growth, and increased liver weight. Selenium increased duckling mortality and decreased overall duckling production. Antagonistic interactions between As and Se occurred whereby As reduced Se accumulation in liver and egg, and alleviated the effects of Se on hatching success and embryo deformities. It was demonstrated that As and Se, in the chemical forms and at the dietary levels administered in this study, can adversely affect mallard reproduction and duckling growth and survival, and that As can alleviate toxic effects of Se.     

Continuity and change in neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent depression and anxiety

We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study which includes a sample of adolescents of age 15 at the most recent wave (between 2014 and 2017) from mainly low-income urban families in the United States, to examine the association between neighborhood poverty entries and exits and adolescent depression and anxiety. In addition, we examined whether these associations differed by gender. Adolescents who consistently lived in disadvantaged neighborhoods had the highest level of depression and anxiety. Those who entered poor neighborhoods were more depressed than those who never lived in poor neighborhoods. Those who exited poor neighborhoods showed no significant difference in depression and anxiety compared to those never lived in poor neighborhoods. Furthermore, these associations applied to adolescent girls only and were not statistically significant for boys. The results suggest that neighborhood poverty has cumulative negative impacts on adolescent mental health and disproportionally affects adolescent girls. Reducing neighborhood poverty would substantially improve the health of adolescents, especially girls, which would reduce health disparities.     

Age-related olfactory and taste changes and interrelationships between taste and nutrition

This article critically reviews the literature on age-related olfactory and taste changes and the interrelationships between nutrition and taste. Age-related taste alterations are controversial, but there is consensus on an olfactory decline with age. Much of the age-related chemoreceptive research has used inappropriate methodology, thus leaving many findings inconclusive. Changes in the taste system with age may be related to nutrient intake, which in turn can be influenced by taste. Literature on such interrelationships is limited. Vitamins A, thiamin, B-6, B-12, folacin, zinc, and copper are thought to influence taste function. Moreover, those nutrients are of concern in the aged. The use of appropriate methodology is critical not only for the sensory but also for the nutritional aspects, particularly for qualitative and quantitative assessments of nutrient intakes. This review considers the experimental deficiencies (small sample size, inappropriate age range, inadequate psychophysical and stimuli presentation procedures, and poor dietary intake assessment) of studies reported in the literature and suggests major needs for research.