How do office workers respond to media coverage of sitting?

BACKGROUND

Sitting time is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes, and premature mortality. Office workers sit for prolonged periods, so are at particular risk. Scientific advances in public health threats are predominantly communicated to the public through media reports.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine office workers' impromptu responses to media coverage of scientific evidence related to the health risks of sedentary behaviour.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were run with 26 office workers (mean age 35 years), recruited from four organizations in southern England. Within the interview, each participant provided a 'think-aloud' narrative as they read three real-world news reports relating to sedentary behaviour. Thematic analysis was conducted on verbatim transcripts.

RESULTS

Three themes were extracted from the data: gauging the personal relevance of the news reports; questioning their trustworthiness and challenging the feasibility of proposed sitting-reduction strategies. Participants voiced scepticism about the applicability of the reports to their personal circumstances, and the validity of the reports and the scientific evidence underpinning them.

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers, press officers and journalists should emphasise the ways in which participants in research studies represent the broader population of office workers, and offer greater transparency in reporting study methods, when reporting scientific advances in sedentary behaviour.

Informed consent to medication in long-term psychiatric in-patients

Aims and Methods

We wished to ascertain to what extent patients had given informed consent to their medications. Therefore, 68 long-term psychiatric in-patients were interviewed about their knowledge and attitudes towards their medications.

Results

Two-thirds of patients did not know the purpose of their medication; one-tenth knew about the side-effects. Longer length of stay, older age and voluntary status were associated with less knowledge. Despite poor knowledge, most patients accepted their treatment. However, few realised that they had any choice.

Clinical Implications

The prevalence of true informed consent is low among this group and raises issues about patients' rights.

Metabolite profiles and the risk of developing diabetes

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The effect of delivery mechanisms on the uptake of bed net re-impregnation in Kilifi District, Kenya

The results of recently completed trials in Africa of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITBN) offer new possibilities for malaria control. These experimental trials aimed for high ITBN coverage combined with high re-treatment rates. Whilst necessary to understand protective efficacy, the approaches used to deliver the intervention provide few indications of what coverage of net re-treatment would be under operational conditions. Varied delivery and financing strategies have been proposed for the sustainable delivery of ITBNs and re-treatment programmes. Following the completion of a randomized, controlled trial on the Kenyan coast, a series of suitable delivery strategies were used to continue net re-treatment in the area. The trial adopted a bi-annual, house-to-house re-treatment schedule free of charge using research project staff and resulted in over 95% coverage of nets issued to children. During the year following the trial, sentinel dipping stations were situated throughout the community and household members informed of their position and opening times. This free re-treatment service achieved between 61-67% coverage of nets used by children for three years. In 1997 a social marketing approach, that introduced cost-retrieval, was used to deliver the net re-treatment services. The immediate result of this transition was that significantly fewer of the mothers who had used the previous re-treatment services adopted this revised approach and coverage declined to 7%. The future of new delivery services and their financing are discussed in the context of their likely impact upon previously defined protective efficacy and cost-effectiveness estimates.

Making the female condom a "reality" for adolescents

Alarming rates of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and human immunodeficiency virus infection among adolescents point to the need for expanding contraceptive options for adolescents. The female condom-a female-controlled barrier method that protects both partners from sexually transmitted diseases-marks an important breakthrough in contraceptive technology. This report reviews current research on the efficacy and acceptability of the female condom and considers the feasibility of its use in the adolescent population. Specifically, the authors first consider the factors that affect teenage condom (and other contraceptive) use (efficacy, cost and availability, and acceptability) and then apply the mechanics of the female condom to these issues. Based on this analysis, recommendations for future steps to be taken by researchers, adolescent health practitioners, and the manufacturer of the female condom are presented.

Code team hazards

Hospitalised resuscitation code) team members face unique risks: physical, chemical, environmental, psychosocial/ psychosocial and/or infectious hazards. The everyday health and safety dangers code teams encounter are discussed.

Coal-black hyperpigmentation at birth in a child with congenital adrenal hypoplasia

Congenital adrenal hypoplasia has been estimated to occur in approximately 1 of 12,500 births. Hyperpigmentation associated with this condition typically appears gradually during a period of months to years. We describe a newborn infant with profound hyperpigmentation in whom adrenal crisis subsequently developed as a result of congenital adrenal hypoplasia.

Human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity in adolescents with syphilis

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among inner-city, minority group adolescents.

METHODS

From August 1989 through June 1990, serum from all positive serologic tests for syphilis, obtained from patients attending a comprehensive adolescent health center in an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome epicenter and its two school-based clinics, were frozen without patient identifiers and were subsequently screened for HIV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with confirmatory Western blot for positives. In addition, a retrospective chart review was performed for all patients with a positive serologic test for syphilis during the study period.

RESULTS

Of the 59 specimens with a positive syphilis serologic test, 9 (15.3%) were HIV seropositive. Of the patients with syphilis, 57.4% were black and 42.6% were Hispanic; 16.4% were male (mean age 18.1) and 83.6% were female (mean age 17.8). Only 1 subject (female) was an injection drug user; 4 of the male subjects self-identified as having had sex with other males. Of the subjects, 27.8% had primary, 19.7% had secondary, and 52.5% had latent syphilis at the time of diagnosis. A prior or concurrent sexually transmitted disease was present in 90% of the males and 80% of the females; gonorrhea was the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease in the males (89%) and chlamydia was most prevalent in the females (35%). A history of chancroid and/or herpes was present in 16.4% of the subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

It is concluded that the diagnosis of syphilis in an adolescent is a risk factor for HIV infection. All sexually active adolescents should be routinely screened for syphilis, regardless of sexual practices. Those with syphilis should be specifically counseled about their increased risk for HIV infection and the importance of consistent condom use, and they should be referred for formal HIV pretest counseling.

Intellectual development in 12-year-old children treated for phenylketonuria

Intelligence and achievement test scores were evaluated for 95 12-year-old children with phenylketonuria who had begun dietary therapy during the neonatal period. Dietary control of blood phenylalanine below 900 mumol/L was maintained beyond age 10 years in 23 children; 72 others had blood phenylalanine persistently above that level at ages ranging from 18 months to 10 years. Test scores at age 12 years were negatively correlated with the age at initiation of diet and with blood phenylalanine levels from ages 4 to 10 years, and positively correlated with parent IQ scores and the age at loss of dietary control. Children who maintained phenylalanine levels below 900 mumol/L beyond age 10 years showed no deficits in test scores, except for arithmetic, the scores of which declined between ages 6 and 12 years in 90% of the children in this study. These data strongly support a recommendation that dietary restriction of phenylalanine should be maintained through adolescence.

Characterization of f-Met-Leu-Phe-stimulated fluid pinocytosis in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes by flow cytometry

N-formylated chemotactic peptide stimulation of human neutrophils initiates a number of cellular processes, such as lysosomal enzyme release and superoxide anion production, that are indicative of the events of neutrophil activation during the acute inflammatory response in disease. This study characterizes a newly recognized neutrophil activation event, N-formylated chemotactic peptide-stimulated fluid pinocytosis in human neutrophils, using a novel flow cytometric assay for this activity. Fluid pinocytosis was found to be inhibited by acidic pH and low temperature but could be enhanced by cytochalasin B treatment or surface adherence by neutrophils. The activity measured by this new assay of fluid pinocytosis appears to be separate and distinct from lysosomal enzyme release and receptor-mediated adsorptive endocytosis in neutrophils. The physiologic significance of N-formylated chemotactic peptide-stimulated fluid pinocytosis is not known, but a possible relationship to neutrophil locomotion is discussed.

The prediction of tumor regression in human squamous carcinoma by means of the potential tumor doubling time

Thirty-three patients with locally advanced epidermoid cancer of the mouth were investigated by means of the potential tumor doubling time prior to each of four weekly infusions of methotrexate. The agent used to induce metaphase arrest was vincristine sulphate 2 mg intravenous push and the methotrexate was given in a dose of 100 mg/M2 body surface. In twenty-one patients the investigation was completed. It was found that in those patients where the P.T.D.T. was maintained at its original level there was a greater than 50% reduction in the size of the lesion, whereas when the P.T.D.T. became greatly prolonged there was no such reduction. It is suggested that the P.T.D.T. provides a simple same day method of evaluating one parameter in the cell kinetics of accessible tumors and that this information can be used to individualize chemotherapy schedules.

The dental practitioner's role in emergency health services

In a national disaster, the medical profession would lose physicians and auxiliary personnel and would need assistance. Canada's 22,000 physicians and 85,000 nurses are located for the most part in potential target areas. Survivors among Canada's 6396 dentists could supply 30% reinforcement. The dentist's training, his manual dexterity and experience acquired in the management of hemorrhage, shock, débridement, suturing, reduction and immobilization of fractures, and control of pain and infection would be valuable. Additional functions he could perform would be first-aid, including but not limited to artificial respiration, early management of chest wounds, preparation of casualties for movement, and assistance in general surgical procedures. Dentists with special training in anesthesia, oral surgery or public health could be of particular value in relieving anesthetists, surgeons, radiologists and public health officers of some of their duties. Joint training of physicians and dentists in mass casualty care could increase the efficiency of the team work in disaster and is being considered by many medical and dental faculties.