Tibial shaft fractures in football players

© 2007 Chang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Juvenile Greylag Geese (Anser anser) Discriminate between Individual Siblings

Social species that maintain individualised relationships with certain others despite continuous changes in age, reproductive status and dominance rank between group members ought to be capable of individual recognition. Tests of “true” individual recognition, where an individual recognises unique features of another, are rare, however. Often kinship and/or familiarity suffice to explain dyadic interactions. The complex relationships within a greylag goose flock suggest that they should be able to recognise individuals irrespective of familiarity or kinship. We tested whether six-week-old hand-raised greylags can discriminate between two of their siblings. We developed a new experimental protocol, in which geese were trained to associate social siblings with geometrical symbols. Subsequently, focals were presented with two geometrical symbols in the presence of a sibling associated with one of the symbols. Significant choice of the geometrical symbol associated with the target present indicated that focals were able to distinguish between individual targets. Greylag goslings successfully learned this association-discrimination task, regardless of genetic relatedness or sex of the sibling targets. Social relationships within a goose flock thus may indeed be based on recognition of unique features of individual conspecifics

Health risk behaviours among adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean: a review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this paper was to review and summarize research on prevalence of health risk behaviours, their outcomes as well as risk and protective factors among adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Searching of online databases and the World Wide Web as well as hand searching of the <it>West Indian Medical Journal </it>were conducted. Papers on research done on adolescents aged 10 – 19 years old and published during the period 1980 – 2005 were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ninety-five relevant papers were located. Five papers were published in the 1980s, 47 in the 1990s, and from 2000–2005, 43 papers. Health risk behaviours and outcomes were divided into seven themes. Prevalence data obtained for these, included lifetime prevalence of <b>substance use</b>: cigarettes-24% and marijuana-17%; <b>high risk sexual behaviour</b>: initiation of sexual activity ≤ 10 years old-19% and those having more than six partners-19%; <b>teenage pregnancy</b>: teens account for 15–20% of all pregnancies and one-fifth of these teens were in their second pregnancy; <b>Sexually-Transmitted Infections (STIs)</b>: population prevalence of gonorrhoea and/or chlamydia in 18–21 year-olds was 26%; <b>mental health</b>: severe depression in the adolescent age group was 9%, and attempted suicide-12%; <b>violence and juvenile delinquency</b>: carrying a weapon to school in the last 30 days-10% and almost always wanting to kill or injure someone-5%; <b>eating disorders and obesity</b>: overweight-11%, and obesity-7%. Many of the risk behaviours in adolescents were shown to be related to the adolescent's family of origin, home environment and parent-child relationships. Also, the protective effects of family and school connectedness as well as increased religiosity noted in studies from the United States were also applicable in the Caribbean.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a substantial body of literature on Caribbean adolescents documenting prevalence and correlates of health risk behaviours. Future research should emphasize the designing and testing of interventions to alleviate this burden.</p

Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad

BACKGROUND: Ethnomedicines are used by hunters for themselves and their hunting dogs in Trinidad. Plants are used for snakebites, scorpion stings, for injuries and mange of dogs and to facilitate hunting success. RESULTS: Plants used include Piper hispidum, Pithecelobium unguis-cati, Bauhinia excisa, Bauhinia cumanensis, Cecropia peltata, Aframomum melegueta, Aristolochia rugosa, Aristolochia trilobata, Jatropha curcas, Jatropha gossypifolia, Nicotiana tabacum, Vernonia scorpioides, Petiveria alliacea, Renealmia alpinia, Justicia secunda, Phyllanthus urinaria,Phyllanthus niruri,Momordica charantia, Xiphidium caeruleum, Ottonia ovata, Lepianthes peltata, Capsicum frutescens, Costus scaber, Dendropanax arboreus, Siparuma guianensis, Syngonium podophyllum, Monstera dubia, Solanum species, Eclipta prostrata, Spiranthes acaulis, Croton gossypifolius, Barleria lupulina, Cola nitida, Acrocomia ierensis (tentative ID). CONCLUSION: Plant use is based on odour, and plant morphological characteristics and is embedded in a complex cultural context based on indigenous Amerindian beliefs. It is suggested that the medicinal plants exerted a physiological action on the hunter or his dog. Some of the plants mentioned contain chemicals that may explain the ethnomedicinal and ethnoveterinary use. For instance some of the plants influence the immune system or are effective against internal and external parasites. Plant baths may contribute to the health and well being of the hunting dogs

The importance of the altricial – precocial spectrum for social complexity in mammals and birds:A review

Various types of long-term stable relationships that individuals uphold, including cooperation and competition between group members, define social complexity in vertebrates. Numerous life history, physiological and cognitive traits have been shown to affect, or to be affected by, such social relationships. As such, differences in developmental modes, i.e. the ‘altricial-precocial’ spectrum, may play an important role in understanding the interspecific variation in occurrence of social interactions, but to what extent this is the case is unclear because the role of the developmental mode has not been studied directly in across-species studies of sociality. In other words, although there are studies on the effects of developmental mode on brain size, on the effects of brain size on cognition, and on the effects of cognition on social complexity, there are no studies directly investigating the link between developmental mode and social complexity. This is surprising because developmental differences play a significant role in the evolution of, for example, brain size, which is in turn considered an essential building block with respect to social complexity. Here, we compiled an overview of studies on various aspects of the complexity of social systems in altricial and precocial mammals and birds. Although systematic studies are scarce and do not allow for a quantitative comparison, we show that several forms of social relationships and cognitive abilities occur in species along the entire developmental spectrum. Based on the existing evidence it seems that differences in developmental modes play a minor role in whether or not individuals or species are able to meet the cognitive capabilities and requirements for maintaining complex social relationships. Given the scarcity of comparative studies and potential subtle differences, however, we suggest that future studies should consider developmental differences to determine whether our finding is general or whether some of the vast variation in social complexity across species can be explained by developmental mode. This would allow a more detailed assessment of the relative importance of developmental mode in the evolution of vertebrate social systems

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Pathogens Isolated from Patients with Juvenile Periodontitis in Jamaica: A Prospective Multi-centre Study of 15 Cases over a 15-year Period

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of most frequent pathogens isolated from patients treated with juvenile periodontitis at three separate dental centres in Jamaica from 1989 to 2003 were studied. Swabs were taken from these patients periodontal pathologic pocket or root of most of their teeth with active disease processes. These swabs were processed at the microbiology department of the University Hospital of the West Indies Kingston, Jamaica and the Microbiology laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. The identification of the micro-organisms from positive cultures and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile were performed using standard microbiological procedures and dick diffusion (Kirby-Bauer) methods. Over 80% of the patients were females. The most frequent micro-organisms isolated were Enterobacter (40.5%), followed by Klebsiella species (19%) and Acinetobacter species (10.8%). Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a widely known key pathogen in juvenile periodontal diseases was encountered only in 5.4% (2/37) of the cases in this study. The most frequent organism isolated were still highly susceptibility to the commonly used and available antimicrobials such as amoxycillin/clavulanate,trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole, chloramphenicol and aminoglycosides. The most frequent pathogens encountered in this study were totally different from what obtains in other places. There is the need to be aware of microbes in other countries during the microbiology investigations of juvenile periodontitis and that the antimicrobial chemotherapy should always be based on susceptibility test results. Surgical treatment for mechanical debridement of the site and bone grafting with guided tissue regeneration should be mandatory in conjunction with specific antimicrobial chemotherapy. Keywords: Juvenile, pathogens, periodontitis "Prevalencia y patrón de susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de patógenos aislados de pacientes con periodontitis juvenil en Jamaica: estudio prospectivo multicentro de 15 casos por un período de más de 15 años" RESUMEN Se estudió la prevalencia y el patrón de susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de los patógenos más frecuentemente aislados de los pacientes tratados por periodontitis juvenil en tres diferentes centros odontológicos en Jamaica de 1989 a 2003. Se tomaron muestras de las bolsas patológicas periodon-tales de estos pacientes, o de la raíz de la mayor parte de sus dientes, en medio del proceso activo de la enfermedad. Las muestras fueron procesadas en el departamento de Microbiología del Hospital de la Universidad de West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, y en el laboratorio de Microbiología, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias médicas, Universidad de West Indies, San Agustín, Trinidad y Tobago. La identificación de los microorganismos a partir de cultivos positivos y su perfil de susceptibilidad antimicrobiana, se realizaron mediante procedimientos microbiológicos estándares y métodos de difusión por disco (Kirby-Bauer). Más del 80% de los pacientes eran mujeres. Los microorganismos más frecuentemente aislados fueron Enterobacter (40,5%), seguido por especies de Klebsiella (19%) y Acinetobacter (10,8%). Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans – un patógeno clave ampliamente conocido en enfermedades periodontales juveniles – se encontró sólo en 5,4% (2/37) de los casos en este estudio. Los organismos más frecuentemente aislados mostraban todavía una alta susceptibilidad frente a los antimicrobianos comúnmente usados y disponibles, tales como amoxicilina/clavulanato, trimetoprima/sulfametoxazol, cloranfenicol y los aminoglicósidos. Los pató-genos más frecuentemente encontrados en este estudio fueron totalmente diferentes de lo que se obtiene en otros lugares. Es necesario tomar conciencia de los microbios en otros países durante las investigaciones de microbiológicas de la periodontitis juvenil, y no perder vista que la quimioterapia antimicrobiana debe basarse siempre en las pruebas de susceptibilidad. El tratamiento quirúrgico para el desbridamiento mecánico del sitio, así como el injerto óseo con regeneración tisular guiada debería, deben ser obligatorios en conjunción con la quimioterapia antimicrobiana específica. Palabras claves: Juvenil, patógenos, periodontiti