CONTEXT: Stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with AIDS (PWAs) may reduce people's willingness to have themselves tested for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) - thereby increasing the risk of transmission. AIMS: To examine attitudes towards (HIV) testing and determinants of attitudes towards PWAs. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 600 first-year university students from South India, South African and America filled in a self-administered questionnaire. Main outcome measures included an Attitudes towards HIV-Antibody Testing Scale and Readiness to engage in personal forms of contact with People With AIDS. RESULTS indicate that the majority of American and South African students and only 10 percent of the Indian students had been sexually active in the past 12 months. Almost one fifth of the American and South African participants but only 10% of the Indian students admitted to having had an HIV test. American students had a much more positive attitudes toward HIV testing than South African and Indian students. Regression analysis for the Indian student sample identified blaming, irritation and negative attitudes toward homosexuals as independent predictors of readiness to engage in personal contact with PWAs, while the regression analyses for both South African and American students identified pity and irritation as independent predictors of contact readiness with PWAs. Positive HIV testing attitudes were positively associated with contact readiness with PWAs. CONCLUSION: The findings are important for the role of HIV testing and counselling in campus AIDS programmes. The findings reveal important factors related to HIV testing and suggest strategies for developing effective HIV/AIDS counselling programmes in universities.

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BACKGROUND: Cataract is responsible for about 10% blindness among children in India. Etiology of cataract is not well defined especially for childhood cataracts and epidemiological data for Indian population is not available in details. Aim: This study was performed to survey the causes of childhood cataracts and to identify the preventable factors in four western states of India. Settings and design: The present study is a hospital-based, prospective study on 172 consecutive pediatric cataract patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Type of cataract was determined using slit-lamp bio-microscopy or operation microscope after mild general anesthesia especially on very young babies. Other anomalies of eye were determined using appropriate ophthalmic instruments. Parents of the patients were interviewed in their native language using a standardized questionnaire. Biochemical and microbiological tests such as for rubella, reducing sugar and blood glucose were also performed. RESULTS: Out of 172 children, 88.4% had non-traumatic cataract and 11.6% had traumatic cataracts. Among non-traumatic cataracts, 7.2% were hereditary, 4.6% were due to congenital rubella syndrome, 15.1% were secondary and 73.0% were undetermined. In the group of undetermined cases, during pregnancy 67% of the mother had history of illness, and 22% had taken medications during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that nearly 12% of non-traumatic cataract is due to potentially preventable causes. Health education of women to childbearing age and school children can decrease incidence of pediatric cataracts.

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BACKGROUND: Many studies have recently noted a shift in the causative mechanism of facial injuries away from traffic accident to assaults. AIMS: Our study aimed to investigate patterns of facial injuries in trauma patients during 13 months study of trauma patients in six general hospitals in Tehran. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Trauma patients who were hospitalized for more than 24 hours and had sustained injuries within seven days from admission were included in the study. Of the 8000 trauma patients, four hundred (5%) sustained facial injuries. RESULTS: Male to female ratio was 4.5:1. Among them, 53.3% were aged 11-30 years. Traffic accidents were by the far the commonest cause of injury. Motorcyclists who wore a helmet sustained facial fractures less often during traffic accident than those patients who did not wear helmet. Soft tissue injury and facial bone fracture comprised 43.3% and 40.8% of facial injuries, respectively. The majority of Soft tissue injuries (79%) were located extra orally. The mandible and nasal bone were the most commonly fractured facial bones. Victims of assault sustained more severe injuries compared to those involved in falls and traffic accidents. CONCLUSIONS: Use of helmets by motorcyclists and the separation of pedestrians routes from motor vehicles could reduce the number of victims and consequently injuries due to road traffic accidents. For implementation of effective prevention programs for reduction of facial injuries due to assault, it seems to be necessary to conduct studies investigating causes and pattern of injuries resulting in assault.

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BACKGROUND: Melatonin, the major secretory product of pineal gland has been suggested to play a regulatory role in the circadian rhythm of body activities including the pain sensitivity. Three subtypes of melatonin receptors, i.e. ML1, ML2 and ML3 have been identified. AIM: To investigate the antinociceptive activity of melatonin and to unravel the underlying receptor mechanisms involved in this action. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Effect of melatonin (25-100 mg/kg, ip) and its interaction with putative melatonin receptor antagonists and opioidergic and serotoninergic agents have been studied in formalin test, a model of tonic continuous pain. Formalin (0.1 ml of 1% solution) was injected under the plantar surface of right hind paw of mice and the time an animal spent in licking the injected paw was measured. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were analysed by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Injection of formalin produced two phases of intense licking, an early phase (0-5 min) and a late phase (20-25 min). Melatonin dose-dependently decreased the licking response in both the phases, effect being more marked in the late phase. Luzindole, a ML1 receptor antagonist did not block but rather enhanced the antinociceptive activity of melatonin. However, prazosin, a ML2 receptor antagonist in the low dose (0.5 mg/kg) significantly attenuated but in higher dose (1 mg/kg) enhanced the analgesic effect of melatonin. Naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist did not reverse but morphine, an opioid agonist enhanced the antinociceptive activity of melatonin. Both mianserin and ondansetron the 5HT2 and 5HT3 receptor antagonists, respectively increased the analgesic effect of melatonin. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest the involvement of ML2 receptors in mediating the antinociceptive activity of melatonin in formalin-induced pain response. Further an interplay between melatonin, alpha-1 adrenergic and 5HT2 and 5HT3 serotoninergic receptors may also be participating in this action.

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[FULL TEXT]  [PDF] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

[FULL TEXT]  [PDF] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]