Public attitudes towards mental health facilities in the community

Taking account of community attitudes towards mental health problems may be crucial to the success of community care. Exceeding the limits of the community's tolerance could lead to the policy ‘backfiring’ - jeopardizing the future of community care and increasing rather than decreasing the stigma attached to mental health problems (Hall et al. 1991, p. 302). There is evidence that local opposition to community facilities has escalated over the past 3 years and frequently threatens the siting of community mental health facilities. This paper reviews research into attitudes towards community facilities for people with mental health problems, and explores the nature of public protest in order to make recommendations for the consensual siting of mental health facilities in the community. Although a substantial body of research exists concerning attitudes towards people with mental health problems, far less work has focused on attitudes towards facilities for people with mental health problems. An understanding of this literature is sought in the nature of community opposition more generally: the siting of locally unwanted land uses (for example power stations and waste disposal sites) and the phenomenon of the ‘not in my back yard’ (NIMBY) attitude are discussed critically and rival theoretical explanations are explored. Taken as a whole, this literature gives rise to strategies that might reduce opposition and achieve positive working relationships. Nevertheless, in view of the scarce, inconclusive and somewhat contradictory research in this area, there is a need for specific investigation into the concerns of local communities, and an assessment of factors that exacerbate and ameliorate these concerns.     

The mechanisms of the formation of pneumoconiosis under high-altitude conditions]

Lipid peroxidation parameters, such as malonic dialdehyde and antioxidant defense (superoxide dismutase and catalase activities) were studied in healthy individuals, miners of different occupations, working at mines of different altitudes. The studies showed that increased lipid peroxidation and decreased antioxidant defense are connected with the altitude of work and exposure to the quartz-containing dust combined with hypobaric hypoxia. Malonic dialdehyde, the final toxic product of peroxidation, is accumulated as a result of it. Increased membranous lipid peroxidation results in death and lysis of cells. It becomes the principal pathogenetic component of pneumoconiosis formation and clarifies the mechanism of its early development, comparatively fast progressing, frequency of nodular forms in miners from the high and middle altitudes. That testifies the ability of hypobaric hypoxia to produce silicosis.     

新形势下医院经济管理的创新

1新形势下的医院经济管理1.1医保付费取代直接付费随着新医改的推进,传统的医院收费逐渐转变为医保付费,医保结算中心作为第三方代表医患付费,通过与定点医疗机构相互协商,可以规范医院收入。患者的付费方式由直接付费转变为医保付费,因此医院收入的多少取决     

Medical activities under adverse conditions. Memisa Medicus Mundi]

The largest medical missionary organization in the Netherlands is Memisa Medicus Mundi. It has been in operation since 1984 when the organization Memisa, founded in 1925 by 2 doctors from Rotterdam and a priest, merged with Medicus Mundi Nederland. 130 of its doctors work in 80 programs mostly in English-speaking Third World countries. The regional representative for East Africa, worst affected by AIDS, related that a number of doctors work in hospitals where more than 1/2 of patients suffer from AIDS. Many doctors do not want to go to Africa because of the AIDS stigma and the lack of professional challenge of caring mainly for victims of 1 disease. Yet increasingly more foreign doctors are needed, as native doctors are often infected themselves. 1992 World Health Organizations data indicate that 1 out of 40 adult Africans is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In major East African cities the proportion reaches 30% of the adult population. A 1991 visit to Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi revealed the spectacle of empty villages or inhabited only by children and old people. In Malawi there is 1 doctor for 40,000 people and 1 bed for 600 inhabitants whose average age is 49.3 years for men and 57.2 years for women. The doctors working there stressed prevention, and 1 of them got embroiled in a conflict with the Catholic archbishop because of handing out condoms. Nonetheless, sensitive topics such as sterilization, caesarean section, abortion, euthanasia, and contraception have been addressed to educate the people, since prevention takes precedence over treatment.     

Health institutions under new economic mechanism and the development of insurance medicine

A new economic mechanism provides for independence of health units, their financial independence and the possibility of developing specialized health care for the population of the territorial health complex. The necessity of preserving large health units within the newly developed regional public health infrastructure is stressed.