Aceptabilidad del castigo físico en la crianza de los niños en personas que fueron víctimas de violencia física en la niñez en Perú

En: Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 669-675Objetivos. El estudio evaluó la asociación entre haber sido víctima de violencia física en la niñez y la aceptabilidad, en etapas posteriores de vida, hacia el uso del castigo físico en la crianza de los niños. Materiales y métodos. Se realizó un análisis secundario de un estudio sobre violencia en 6399 personas mayores de 14 años residentes de las ciudades de Lima, Callao, Maynas, Arequipa, Cusco, Trujillo y Huamanga. Se usó modelos de regresión logística univariados y multivariados para estimar asociaciones estadísticas. Resultados. La aceptabilidad del uso del castigo físico en la crianza de niños es mayor en personas con el antecedente de ser víctimas de violencia física durante la niñez en comparación con las no victimizadas (OR=1,8; IC 95%: 1,5-2,1; p<0,001) ajustando por potenciales variables de confusión. Conclusiones. Las personas expuestas a violencia física durante la niñez tienen más riesgo de aceptar o justificar la misma durante la adultez, lo que podría contribuir a mantener esta práctica de crianza de una generación a la siguiente. Iniciativas dirigidas a prevenir el uso del castigo físico en la crianza de niños se deben implementar para reducir la tendencia a reproducir el ejercicio de violencia en personas victimizadas

Epidemiological and transmissibility analysis of influenza A(H1N1)v in a southern hemisphere setting: Peru

We present a preliminary analysis of 1,771 confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1)v reported in Peru by 17 July including the frequency of the clinical characteristics, the spatial and age distribution of the cases and the estimate of the transmission potential. Age-specific frequency of cases was highest among school age children and young adults, with the lowest frequency of cases among seniors, a pattern that is consistent with reports from other countries. Estimates of the reproduction number lie in the range of 1.2 to 1.7, which is broadly consistent with previous estimates for this pandemic in other regions. Validation of these estimates will be possible as additional data become available

Improving mental and neurological health research in Latin America: a qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research evidence is essential to inform policies, interventions and programs, and yet research activities in mental and neurological (MN) health have been largely neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Many challenges have been identified in the production and utilization of research evidence in Latin American countries, and more work is needed to overcome this disadvantageous situation. This study aims to address the situation by identifying initiatives that could improve MN health research activities and implementation of their results in the Latin American region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-four MN health actors from 13 Latin American countries were interviewed as part of an initiative by the Global Forum for Health Research and the World Health Organization to explore the status of MN health research in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A variety of recommendations to increase MN health research activities and implementation of their results emerged in the interviews. These included increasing skilled human resources in MN health interventions and research, fostering greater participation of stakeholders in the generation of research topics and projects, and engendering the interest of national and international institutions in important MN health issues and research methodologies. In the view of most participants, government agencies should strive to have research results inform the decision-making process in which they are involved. Thus these agencies would play a key role in facilitating and funding research. Participants also pointed to the importance of academic recognition and financial rewards in attracting professionals to primary and translational research in MN health. In addition, they suggested that institutions should create intramural resources to provide researchers with technical support in designing, carrying out and disseminating research, including resources to improve scientific writing skills.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Fulfillment of these recommendations would increase research production in MN health in Latin American countries. This, in turn, will raise the profile of these health problems, and consequently will underscore the need of continued high-quality and relevant research, thus fostering a virtuous cycle in the decision-making process to improve MN health care.</p

Anaerobic Treatment of Swine Wastewater in Semicontinuous Clayey Support Reactors

Three micronized clayey supports in laboratory-scale tank reactors under mesophilic conditions were studied. From the results obtained in a previous work, the temperature of θ = 25 °C was chosen. The start up and performance of these bioreactors, operating on swine wastewater feed, were also studied. The anaerobic treatment in a semicontinuous regime was carried out. Four stirred tank reactors were used, one of them containing suspended biomass for reference, while the rest contained various suspended micronized clay supports. The supports chosen were zeolite, esmectite, and saponite. The higher removal efficiency (about η COD 70% to 3.6 d HRT) was obtained when HRT increased in saponite and esmectite support reactors. Esmectite support showed the best anaerobic activity of microorganisms (μmax equal to 0.576 d–1). The reactor with zeolite support and the reference (non-support reactor) showed the worst yield in methane. The methane production model proposed by Chen and Hashimoto to achieve an optimum purifying performance was carried out. It accurately predicted the performance of the process and may be used in the design of treatment units

Creative and Stylistic Devices Employed by Children During a Storybook Narrative Task: A Cross-Cultural Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of culture on the creative and stylistic features children employ when producing narratives based on wordless picture books. Method: Participants included 60 first- and second-grade African American, Latino American, and Caucasian children. A subset of narratives based on wordless picture books collected as part of a larger study was coded and analyzed for the following creative and stylistic conventions: organizational style (topic centered, linear, cyclical), dialogue (direct, indirect), reference to character relationships (nature, naming, conduct), embellishment (fantasy, suspense, conflict), and paralinguistic devices (expressive sounds, exclamatory utterances). Results: Many similarities and differences between ethnic groups were found. No significant differences were found between ethnic groups in organizational style or use of paralinguistic devices. African American children included more fantasy in their stories, Latino children named their characters more often, and Caucasian children made more references to the nature of character relationships. Conclusion: Even within the context of a highly structured narrative task based on wordless picture books, culture influences children’s production of narratives. Enhanced understanding of narrative structure, creativity, and style is necessary to provide ecologically valid narrative assessment and intervention for children from diverse cultural backgrounds

Intermediate and extreme mass-ratio inspirals — astrophysics, science applications and detection using LISA

Black hole binaries with extreme (gtrsim104:1) or intermediate (~102–104:1) mass ratios are among the most interesting gravitational wave sources that are expected to be detected by the proposed laser interferometer space antenna (LISA). These sources have the potential to tell us much about astrophysics, but are also of unique importance for testing aspects of the general theory of relativity in the strong field regime. Here we discuss these sources from the perspectives of astrophysics, data analysis and applications to testing general relativity, providing both a description of the current state of knowledge and an outline of some of the outstanding questions that still need to be addressed. This review grew out of discussions at a workshop in September 2006 hosted by the Albert Einstein Institute in Golm, Germany

Responsible Governance for Mental Health Research in Low Resource Countries

Blurb: Taghi Yasamy and colleagues identify challenges facing good research governance in low- and middle-income countries and provide suggestions for a way forward

Responsible Governance for Mental Health Research in Low Resource Countries

Blurb: Taghi Yasamy and colleagues identify challenges facing good research governance in low- and middle-income countries and provide suggestions for a way forward