General practitioner provision of preventive child health care: analysis of routine consultation data

<b>Background</b> GPs contribute to preventive child health care in various ways, including provision of child health surveillance (CHS) reviews, opportunistic preventive care, and more intensive support to vulnerable children. The number of CHS reviews offered in Scotland was reduced from 2005. This study aimed to quantify GPs’ provision of different types of preventive care to pre-school children before and after the changes to the CHS system.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> GP consultation rates with children aged 0–4 years were examined for the 2½ years before and after the changes to the CHS system using routinely available data from 30 practices in Scotland. Consultations for CHS reviews; other aspects of preventive care; and all reasons were considered.<p></p> <b>Results:</b> Prior to the changes to the CHS system, GPs often contributed to CHS reviews at 6–8 weeks and 8–9 and 39–42 months. Following the changes, GP provision of the 6–8 week review continued but other reviews essentially ceased. Few additional consultations with pre-school children are recorded as involving other aspects of preventive care, and the changes to CHS have had no impact on this. In the 2½ years before and after the changes, consultations recorded as involving any form of preventive care accounted for 11% and 7.5% respectively of all consultations with children aged 0–4 years, with the decline due to reductions in CHS reviews.<p></p> <b>Conclusions:</b> Effective preventive care through the early years can help children secure good health and developmental outcomes. GPs are well placed to contribute to the provision of such care. Consultations focused on preventive care form a small minority of GPs’ contacts with pre-school children, however, particularly since the reduction in the number of CHS reviews

Impact of Entity Graphs on Extracting Semantic Relations

International audienceRelation extraction (RE) between a pair of entity mentions from text is an important and challenging task specially for open domain relations. Generally, relations are extracted based on the lexical and syntactical information at the sentence level. However, global information about known entities has not been explored yet for RE task. In this paper, we propose to extract a graph of entities from the overall corpus and to compute features on this graph that are able to capture some evidences of holding relationships between a pair of entities. The proposed features boost the RE performance significantly when these are combined with some linguistic features

Sexual dysfunction in epilepsy - Identifying the psychological variables

In order to evaluate the psychological variables that affect sexual dysfunction (SD) in epilepsy, where compared 60 epileptics (Group 1) with 60 healthy individuals (Group 2), through the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1970), Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1974) and Sexual Behavior Interview (Souza, 1995). Sexual dysfunction (SD), anxiety and depression were found more frequently in Group 1 than in Group 2 and were not related to sex. Variables such as the onset duration and frequency of seizures as well as the use to medication were not associated with SD. Temporal lobe epilepsy was related to SD (p = 0.035) but net to anxiety or depression. Anxiety and depression were related to SD in both groups. Perception in controlling the seizures was closely related to anxiety (p = 0) and depression (p = 0.009). We conclude that psychological factors play an important role in the alteration of sexual behavior in epileptics and that suitable attention must be given to the control of these variables.582A21422

Análises fitoquímicas em extrato das folhas de Anthurium affine Schott (milho de urubu)

Apesar da ampla disposição de medicamentos no mercado, muitas dificuldades ainda existem quanto ao tratamento de determinados tipos de doenças, como é o caso das dermatites nos animais domésticos, mais especificamente nos cães. Apoiando-se na hipótese de que plantas da família das Araceae podem oferecer insumos importantes no tratamento deste tipo de doença, idealizou-se este trabalho tendo-se como principal objetivo estudar mais precisamente a composição fitoquímica do Anthurium affine Schott (A. affine), conhecido popularmente como “milho de urubu”. A partir de amostras da planta colhidas na Região Metropolitana do Grande Recife, foi confeccionado o extrato hidroalcóolico (etanol a 70%), das folhas da planta, sendo colocado para maceração por sete dias. A partir desta etapa o material foi submetido a procedimentos de filtragem e caracterização do extrato final obtido. Posteriormente, alíquotas deste material foram colhidas e trabalhadas para a realização dos ensaios de identificação fitoquímica, conforme protocolo padrão disponível na literatura. Como resultados, obteve-se um extrato hidroalcóolico da planta na concentração de 85 mg/mL; as análises fitoquímicas apresentaram resposta positiva para taninos, flavonóides, alcalóides e saponinas. Verificou-se que o A. affine apresentou um potencial fitoterápico mais rico do que normalmente se apresenta, embora estudos mais precisos sejam necessários para se avaliar os reais riscos de toxicidade no uso terapêutico da planta, como também para melhor definir os mecanismos de ação por traz dos efeitos farmacológicos atribuídos aos seus extratos

Language and social/emotional problems identified at a universal developmental assessment at 30 months

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Threat-sensitive anti-predator defence in precocial wader, the northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus

Birds exhibit various forms of anti-predator behaviours to avoid reproductive failure, with mobbing—observation, approach and usually harassment of a predator—being one of the most commonly observed. Here, we investigate patterns of temporal variation in the mobbing response exhibited by a precocial species, the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). We test whether brood age and self-reliance, or the perceived risk posed by various predators, affect mobbing response of lapwings. We quantified aggressive interactions between lapwings and their natural avian predators and used generalized additive models to test how timing and predator species identity are related to the mobbing response of lapwings. Lapwings diversified mobbing response within the breeding season and depending on predator species. Raven Corvus corax, hooded crow Corvus cornix and harriers evoked the strongest response, while common buzzard Buteo buteo, white stork Ciconia ciconia, black-headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus and rook Corvus frugilegus were less frequently attacked. Lapwings increased their mobbing response against raven, common buzzard, white stork and rook throughout the breeding season, while defence against hooded crow, harriers and black-headed gull did not exhibit clear temporal patterns. Mobbing behaviour of lapwings apparently constitutes a flexible anti-predator strategy. The anti-predator response depends on predator species, which may suggest that lapwings distinguish between predator types and match mobbing response to the perceived hazard at different stages of the breeding cycle. We conclude that a single species may exhibit various patterns of temporal variation in anti-predator defence, which may correspond with various hypotheses derived from parental investment theory

Uso de pomada à base de Tinhorão (Caladium bicolor)

 Objetivou-se avaliar o percentual de regressão de feridas cutâneas experimentais em camundongos (Mus musculus), albinos suíços, tratados com pomada à base de extrato bruto hidroalcoólico de Caladium bicolor, durante oito dias. Parâmetros como taxas de variação temporal de regressão das lesões foram considerados nos diferentes grupos. Foram formados três grupos de animais, com oito animais cada, que após procedimento cirúrgico para produção de feridas cutâneas, passaram a receber tratamento diário com pomada à base de Caladium bicolor (Grupo GCB), Alantol® (Grupo GAL) ou solução salina a 0,9% (Grupo GC - controle). Bioensaios também foram realizados na intenção de se avaliar os impactos do extrato de Caladium bicolor sobre a resposta pró-inflamatória em modelo de implante de cróton subcutâneo embebidos em frações do extrato. Verificou-se que o Grupo GCB, apresentou um maior percentual de regressão das lesões cutâneas em relação ao grupo controle, embora as taxas de evolução do processo cicatricial tenham sido similares aos do Grupo GAL. Verificou-se também que o extrato desse tipo de tubérculo afetou a resposta pró-inflamatória em modelo de implante de algodão subcutâneo, afetando o processo de encapsulamento de corpo estranho. Desta forma, a pomada de Caladium bicolor tem potencial para ser utilizada como uma alternativa no tratamento de feridas

Households' perception of climate change and human health risks: A community perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bangladesh has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world concerning the adverse effects of climate change (CC). However, little is known about the perception of CC from the community, which is important for developing adaptation strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was a cross-sectional survey of respondents from two villages--one from the northern part and the other from the southern part of Bangladesh. A total of 450 households were selected randomly through multistage sampling completed a semi-structure questionnaire. This was supplemented with 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 15 key informant interviews (KIIs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over 95 percent of the respondents reported that the heat during the summers had increased and 80.2 percent reported that rainfall had decreased, compared to their previous experiences. Approximately 65 percent reported that winters were warmer than in previous years but they still experienced very erratic and severe cold during the winter for about 5-7 days, which restricted their activities with very destructive effect on agricultural production, everyday life and the health of people. FGDs and KIIs also reported that overall winters were warmer. Eighty point two percent, 72.5 percent and 54.7 percent survey respondents perceived that the frequency of water, heat and cold related diseases/health problems, respectively, had increased compared to five to ten years ago. FGDs and KIIs respondents were also reported the same.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Respondents had clear perceptions about changes in heat, cold and rainfall that had occurred over the last five to ten years. Local perceptions of climate variability (CV) included increased heat, overall warmer winters, reduced rainfall and fewer floods. The effects of CV were mostly negative in terms of means of living, human health, agriculture and overall livelihoods. Most local perceptions on CV are consistent with the evidence regarding the vulnerability of Bangladesh to CC. Such findings can be used to formulate appropriate sector programs and interventions. The systematic collection of such information will allow scientists, researchers and policy makers to design and implement appropriate adaptation strategies for CC in countries that are especially vulnerable.</p