Articles: disease.
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Schriftenr Ver Wasser Boden Lufthyg · Jan 1993
ReviewReview: extraaural health effects of aircraft noise.
The number of aircraft movements in our society is increasing at a rapid rate. As a consequence the airspace is becoming more crowded, in particular in the vicinity of airports. As a consequence pollution (both air pollution and noise) near the airports increases. ⋯ Reading ability is hampered by noise. For the vegetative aspects, no clear and stable exposure-response relations are known at this moment. Hopefully this conference will fill in the gap.
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Surveillance is the foundation of public health practice. This review examines the experience of surveillance in the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Surveillance systems include routine reporting, sentinel surveillance, and community-based reporting. ⋯ The surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases has evolved as programmes mature, to monitor progress towards disease control targets. The establishment of goals to reduce measles cases by 90%, eliminate neonatal tetanus, and eradicate poliomyelitis has put increased emphasis on the need for effective disease surveillance. This opportunity should be taken to promote strengthening of national routine systems for disease surveillance, to make them effective instruments for prevention and control of diseases of public health importance.
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Two hundred and fourteen young women received acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention interventions at an inner-city family health center serving minority patients predominantly. The community in which the health center is located has a high incidence of intravenous (IV) drug abuse. Either a peer or a health care provider delivered the intervention. ⋯ In addition, subjects in both groups who were sexually active stated immediately after the intervention that asking a sexual partner about past sexual experience would now be less difficult, and at one-month follow-up they reported a significant decrease in the frequency of vaginal sex. Our findings suggest that counseling by physicians can achieve more changes in knowledge of sexual risks, whereas peer education can achieve greater changes in knowledge about IV drug use. Results show that both approaches to AIDS prevention used in this study can significantly affect knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behavior.
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The heterosexual spread of HIV-1 is occurring at different rates in different parts of the world. The transmission probability of HIV-1 per sexual contact is low, but may be greatly enhanced by several cofactors. Sexually transmitted diseases (STD), especially genital ulcers, may be such factors. So far, epidemiological evidence that other STD facilitate HIV-1 transmission is weak. The objective of this study was to determine whether treatable STD enhanced sexual transmission of HIV-1 in a cohort of female prostitutes in Kinshasa, Zaire. ⋯ Non-ulcerative STD were risk factors for sexual transmission of HIV-1 in women, after controlling for sexual exposure. Because of their high prevalence in some populations, non-ulcerative STD may represent a considerable population-attributable risk in the transmission of HIV-1 worldwide. The identification of treatable STD as risk factors for HIV-1 transmission offers an important additional strategy for the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
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The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of unclassified hypertension during pregnancy and its consequences on infant's health in an African urban setting: Pikine, a suburb of Dakar, Senegal. A cross-sectional study of a random sample of pregnant women and a prospective study, from the inclusion to seven days after delivery, were performed. 886 women attending the prenatal centers were included in the cross-sectional study. 471 pregnant women were included in the follow-up study. The prevalence of DBP > or = 120 mmHg was 0.7%; 5.7% of the women had DBP > or = 95 mmHg. ⋯ Using 95 mmHg as a cutpoint, the relative risk of adverse outcome associated with a DBP > or = 95 mmHg was 2.5 (CI 95%: 1.4-4.3). This risk was significantly increased among women who reported difficult living conditions. Eight percent of the adverse outcomes of pregnancy, 10% of the low birth weights and 8% of the perinatal mortality were found to be associated with DBP > or 95 mmHg.