Cerebral perfusion in sepsis

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Yearbook of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2010 (Springer Verlag) and co-published as a series in Critical Care. Other articles in the series can be found online at http://ccforum.com/series/yearbook. Further information about the Yearbook of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/2855

BioScore: A tool to assess the impacts of European Community policies on Europe's biodiversity

BioScore offers a European biodiversity impact assessment tool. The tool contains indicator values on the ecological preferences of more than 1000 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, butterflies, dragonflies, aquatic macro-invertebrates and vascular plants. These values are linked to policy-related pressures and environmental variables

Predicting Condom Use in South Africa: A Test of Two Integrative Models

This study tested two integrative socio-cognitive models, namely the information-motivation-behavioral skills model (IMB) and the I-Change model (ICM), to assess their hypothesized motivational pathways for the prediction of condom use during last sexual intercourse. Students (N = 1066) from Cape Town, South Africa, filled out questionnaires at three different time points. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that self-efficacy did not predict behavior directly but indirectly via intention. Knowledge of how to use a condom and how STIs are transmitted directly predicted behavior when modeled as hypothesized by the IMB model, but indirectly when the factors attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy were included as mediators, as hypothesized by the ICM. It is concluded that the ICM and IMB are similar in terms of model fit and explained variance, but that the ICM had a higher proportion of significant pathways

Predicting safe sex: Assessment of autoregressive and cross-lagged effects within the Theory of Planned Behavior

Despite its popularity, few studies have assessed the temporal stability and cross-lagged effects of the Theory of Planned Behavior factors: Attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy. For this study, 298 adolescent learners from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, filled out a Theory of Planned Behavior questionnaire on teenage pregnancy at baseline and after 6 months. Structural equation modeling showed that there were considerable cross-lagged effects between attitude and subjective norms. Temporal stability was moderate with test-retest correlations ranging from 0.37 to 0.51 and the model was able to predict intentions to have safe sex (R-2 = 0.69) Implications for practice and future research are discussed

Smoking uptake among Saudi adolescents: tobacco epidemic indicators and preventive actions needed

The aim of this cross-sectional school-based study was to assess smoking prevalence, indicators for the smoking epidemic and determinants of smoking among Saudi adolescents. The study included 695 male adolescents from 11 to 16 years of age who filled out self-report questionnaires based on the European Smoking Framework Approach questionnaire, which uses the I-Change model to assess attitude, social influence and the self-efficacy of the participants. Smokers were 275 (39.6%) adolescents. Smokers tended to receive more daily pocket money, live in more affluent families and show lower academic performance. Non-smokers were inclined to believe that smoking may help people to feel relaxed and confident, encountered less social influences to smoke than smokers, but reported low self-efficacy not to smoke when with smoker friends and when offered a cigarette. Smokers reported the lowest self-efficacy not to smoke in all situations assessed. The results suggest the smoking epidemic among male Saudi adolescents may still be in the early stages, providing ample opportunity for preventive actions aimed at halting the further progress of this epidemic. Secondly, smoking prevention programs in Saudi Arabia need to reinforce non-smoking attitudes, address how to resist pressure to smoke, and how to develop high self-efficacy towards non-smoking in various situations

Effects of a Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Researchers aimed to determine the effects of a teenage pregnancy (TP) prevention program for 816 high school students attending 16 KwaZulu-Natal, South African schools through a randomized control trial. Data were collected at baseline and at the 8-month follow-up in 2009. Results were calculated using multivariate analyses of program effects employing Mplus 6, and indicated significantly healthier attitudes, including intentions to abstain from sex whilst at school, plans to communicate with partners about teenage pregnancy, and increased reports of condom use. Researchers thus provide some support for the effectiveness of a TP prevention program that should be further strengthened in a comprehensive approach that includes schools and families

Adolescents' Beliefs About Forced Sex in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Gender-based violence has serious consequences for the psychological, physical, and sexual well-being of both men and women. Various gender roles, attitudes, and practices in South Africa create an environment that fosters submission and silence in females and hegemony and coercion in males. One of the expressions of this power inequity is a high prevalence of forced sex, which in its turn is associated with higher risk of HIV infection. This study therefore assessed potential gender differences in beliefs about forced sex and in prevalence of reported forced sex among high school students (N = 764) in KwaZulu-Natal. Results showed that significantly more boys were sexually active (26 %) than girls (12 %) and that boys experienced earlier sexual debut by over a year. Boys also held a more positive view about forced sex than girls since they associated it more often with signs of love, as an appropriate way to satisfy sexual urges, and as acceptable if the girl was financially dependent on the boy. The perception that peers and friends considered forced sex to be an effective way to punish a female partner was also more common among boys. On the other hand, boys were less knowledgeable about the health and legal consequences of forced sex, but no significant differences were found for other sociocognitive items, such as self-efficacy and behavioral intention items. Consequently, health education programs are needed to inform both boys and girls about the risks of forced sex, to convince boys and their friends about its inappropriateness and girls to empower themselves to avoid forced sex

Sociocognitive Predictors of Condom Use and Intentions Among Adolescents in Three Sub-Saharan Sites

Many HIV intervention programs in sub-Saharan Africa have applied social cognitive theories such as the theory of planned behavior. However, a recent sub-Saharan African review was unable to show increased effectiveness for theory-based interventions. This study assessed whether the predictive value of attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and intention was similar to studies in Europe and the U.S., and whether there were differences between three sub-Saharan sites. Longitudinal multigroup structural equation modeling was used to assess whether attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy predicted condom use intentions and condom use (after 6 months) among adolescents in three sites, namely Cape Town (South Africa; N = 625), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania; N = 271), and Mankweng (South Africa; N = 404). Condom use intentions were predicted by subjective norms and self-efficacy in all three sites. Attitudes were not related to intentions in Dar es Salaam and were moderately related to intentions in Cape Town and Mankweng. The proportions of explained variance in intentions and behavior were decent (37-52 and 9-19 %, respectively). Although significant differences in predictive value were found between sites and in comparison to European and U.S. studies, intentions could adequately be explained by attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy. However, the limited proportions of variance in behavior explained by intentions could signify the importance of contextual and environmental factors. Future studies are recommended to use an integrative approach that takes into account both individual and contextual factors, as well as social and environmental differences