Knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of HIV prevention and HIV infection risks among Congolese refugees in Tanzania

Little is known about HIV infection risks and risk behaviours of refugees living in resource-scarce post-emergency phase camps in Africa. Our study at Nyarugusu Camp in Tanzania, covering systematically selected refugees (n=1140) and refugees living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) (n=182), revealed that the level of HIV risk of systematically selected refugees increased after displacement, particularly regarding the number having transactional sex for money or gifts, while radio broadcast messages are perceived to promote a base of risk awareness within the refugee community. While condoms are yet to be widely used in the camp, some refugees having transactional sex tended to undertake their own health initiatives such as using a condom, under the influence of peer refugee health workers, particularly health information team (HIT) members. Nevertheless, PLWHA were less faithful to one partner and had more non-regular sexual partners than the HIV-negative group. Our study revealed that community-based outreach by refugee health workers is conducive to risk behaviour prevention in the post-emergency camp setting. It is recommended to increase the optimal use of “radio broadcast messages” and “HIT,” which can act as agents to reach out to wider populations, and to strengthen the focus on safer sex education for PLWHA; the aim being to achieve dual risk reduction for both refugees living with and without HIV/AIDS

Evidence for the Involvement of a Src-Related Tyrosine Kinase inXenopusEgg Activation

AbstractRecently, we have purified a Src-related tyrosine kinase, namedXenopustyrosine kinase (Xyk), from oocytes ofXenopus laevisand found that the enzyme is activated within 1 min following fertilization [Satoet al.(1996)J. Biol. Chem.271, 13250–13257]. A concomitant translocation of a part of the activated enzyme from the membrane fraction to the cytosolic fraction was also observed. In the present study, we show that parthenogenetic egg activation by a synthetic RGDS peptide [Y. Iwao and T. Fujimura, T. (1996)Dev. Biol.177, 558–567], an integrin-interacting peptide, but not by electrical shock or the calcium ionophore A23187 causes the kinase activation, tyrosine phosphorylation, and translocation of Xyk. A synthetic tyrosine kinase-specific inhibitor peptide was employed to analyze the importance of the Xyk activity in egg activation. We found that the peptide inhibits the kinase activity of purified Xyk at IC50of 8 μM. Further, egg activation induced by sperm or RGDS peptide but not by A23187 was inhibited by microinjection of the peptide. In the peptide-microinjected eggs, penetration of the sperm nucleus into the egg cytoplasm and meiotic resumption in the egg were blocked. Indirect immunofluorescence study demonstrates that Xyk is exclusively localized to the cortex ofXenopuseggs, indicating that Xyk can function in close proximity to the sperm–egg or RGDS peptide–egg interaction site. Taken together, these data suggest that the tyrosine kinase Xyk plays an important role in the early events ofXenopusegg activation in a manner independent or upstream of calcium signaling

Ruthenium Picolinate Complex as a Redox Photosensitizer With Wide-Band Absorption

Ruthenium(II) picolinate complex, [Ru(dmb)2(pic)]+ (Ru(pic); dmb = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine; Hpic = picolinic acid) was newly synthesized as a potential redox photosensitizer with a wider wavelength range of visible-light absorption compared with [Ru(N∧N)3]2+ (N∧N = diimine ligand), which is the most widely used redox photosensitizer. Based on our investigation of its photophysical and electrochemical properties, Ru(pic) was found to display certain advantageous characteristics of wide-band absorption of visible light (λabs < 670 nm) and stronger reduction ability in a one-electron reduced state (E1/2red = −1.86 V vs. Ag/AgNO3), which should function favorably in photon-absorption and electron transfer to the catalyst, respectively. Performing photocatalysis using Ru(pic) as a redox photosensitizer combined with a Re(I) catalyst reduced CO2 to CO under red-light irradiation (λex > 600 nm). TONCO reached 235 and ΦCO was 8.0%. Under these conditions, [Ru(dmb)3]2+ (Ru(dmb)) is not capable of working as a redox photosensitizer because it does not absorb light at λ > 560 nm. Even in irradiation conditions where both Ru(pic) and Ru(dmb) absorb light (λex > 500 nm), using Ru(pic) demonstrated faster CO formation (TOFCO = 6.7 min−1) and larger TONCO (2347) than Ru(dmb) (TOFCO = 3.6 min−1; TONCO = 2100). These results indicate that Ru(pic) is a superior redox photosensitizer over a wider wavelength range of visible-light absorption

Volunteers in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake : The characteristics of volunteers who had been working in some shelters

1995年1月17日，兵庫県南部で発生した壊滅的大地震は，関西地区に住む多くの人たちに甚大な被害をもたらした。被災地および避難者を支援するために，地震直後から各避難所においてボランティアは活発に活動していた。我々は，阪神・淡路大震災において活躍したボランティア像を明らかにするために，神戸市東灘区の8カ所と芦屋市の1カ所の避難所で，地震からほぼ1カ月後，2カ月後の2回，そこで活動するボランティアを対象にインタビュー調査を実施した。被験者の数は，第1調査で106，第2調査で83であった。調査の結果，ボランティアの大半が，今までにボランティア活動を経験したことが無く，彼らの主要な参加動機は「被援助者（被災者）が援助を必要としている」といった他者志向的な動機であった。多くのボランティアは活動を行う上で種々の問題を抱えていたが，自己の活動に満足し，その上，現在の活動終了後も何らかのボランティア活動に参加したいと思っていた。The disastrous earthquarke that occurred on January 17th 1995 in South Hyogo has caused serious disruption of the lives of residents in the Kansai district. A great number of volunteers worked hard immediately after the earthquake in many shelters, in order to support refugees in the disaster area. For examination of the characteristics of these volunteers, twice at an interval of one month we interviewed those who had been working in 8 shelters at Higashina da-ku in Kobe city and one shelter at Ashiya city. The number of subjects was 106 in the first survey, 83 in the second survey. Our survey showed that most of volunteers had no experience of volunteer works, and one of their main motives was \u27other-oriented\u27, such as "victims seem to need help." Even though most of the volunteers encountered various problems, they were satisfied with their volunteer work and wanted to participate in future volunteer works

Helping Behavior Toward the Visually Impaired : The Quality of Helping Behavior and the Difference in Helping Evaluation Between Helper and Recipient.

本研究の目的は，どのような援助が視覚障害者の望む質の高い援助なのか，また，視覚障害者と晴眼者とでその質認知がいかに異なるかを検討することである。第1調査においては，面接によって，10人の視覚障害者から質の高い援助行動と質の低い援助行動を収集した。第2調査においては，246名の大学生（晴眼者）を対象に，質問紙によって，視覚障害者に対する援助行動の望ましさ認知，障害者との接触頻度，共感性，援助行動傾向を調査した。その結果，質の高い援助として，潜在的，あるいは，顕在的困窮状態での情報提供行動，気遣い･配慮行動が，質の低い援助行動として，望まれない援助行動と消極的援助行動が明らかになった。また，援助の質認知の不一致の大きさは，障害者との接触頻度，そして共感性の特性により規定されることが明らかになった。The purpose of this study is to examine the quality of helping behaviors toward people with visual impairments, and the difference in helping evaluation between the helper and the recipient. First, interviews of 10 people with visual impairments were used to develop a pool of high and poor quality helping behaviors. 246 college students (none with visual impairments) then rated the helping behaviors in terms of their desirability from the point of view of people with visual impairments. Measures of contact with disabled persons, empathy and tendency to help were also obtained. According to the interviews, high quality helping behaviors included showing concern and consideration, and notification or warning to the visually impaired person of a potential occurance of difficulty. Low quality helping behaviors included unwanted help, and passive, halfhearted assistance. The degree to which the college students\u27 evaluations differed from those of the visually impaired concerning the desirability of helping behaviors was predicted by the amount of previous contact with disabled persons, and empathy

Volunteers in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake : Their works in the disaster and the effects upon the attitude toward the volunteering

本研究は，阪神・淡路大震災において組織的に活動に参加したボランティアに焦点を当てた。彼らは2つのタイプに分けられ，1つは，ボランティア団体が呼びかけた「救援プロジェクト」に登録した“救援ボランティア”，もう1つは，災害前から所属して活動していた“会員ボランティア”である。これらの災害ボランティア自身や彼らによる活動の特徴，そしてその活動経験がボランティアに対する態度や活動意欲に及ぼす影響を明らかにするために質問紙調査を郵送法によって行った。調査の主な結果は以下の通りである。救援ボランティアの多くはボランティア経験がほとんどなく，他者志向的動機から活動に参加した。会員ボランティアのほとんどは，自己の活動に満足していたが，救援ボランティアの多くは，満足していなかった。しかし，両方のボランティアの多くは，災害ボランティアの有意義性を認め，将来ボランティア活動に参加したいと思っていた。このように，活動経験は，ボランティアに対する彼らの態度と活動意欲に対してポジティブな影響を与えていた。This study focused upon the volunteers who worked through volunteer organizations in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. They are sorted into the following two types, "rescuer volunteer" and "member volunteer" of the organization. In order to clarify their characteristics, the volunteers\u27 works and the effeets of their experiences on their attitude toward volunteering, we have carried out a mailing survey. The main results are as follows. Many of the "rescuer volunteers" had had no experience of volunteer works and participated in the works through the other-oriented motive. Although most of the "member volunteers" were satisfied with their works, many of the "rescuer volunteers" were not. Many of both types of volunteers came to recognize that volunteer works were worthwhile and had strong desire to participate in other volunteer works in future. This is evidence that the experience of volunteer work in the disaster changed attitudes toward volunteering in a favorableway

The effects of volunteer work upon the attitude toward volunteering : A comparison of volunteering attitudes after 6 and 60 months.

高木・玉木（1996）は、阪神・淡路大地震から約半年が経過した時点でボランティア団体を通じて活動したボランティアに焦点をあて、その経験がボランティア全般への態度や意欲にどのような影響を及ぼしているかを明らかにした。本研究では、ボランティア活動から5年が経った時点で、その影響過程がどのように変遷しているかを明らかにすることを目的とした。調査対象者は、高木・玉木(1996)で調査対象者となった救援ボランティア181名と会員ボランティア123名の合計304名である。調査の結果、ボランティア活動についての満足感等の感情に基づく直接的評価がボランティア全般への態度や意欲に及ぼす影響は、半年後のそれより弱まっていた。逆に、活動を通して得られる報酬、活動にかかるコスト、周囲からの期待などの参加に伴う利得・出費の分析という合理的認知判断が5年後の態度や意欲に影響していることが明らかになった。In 1996, Takagi and Tamaki focused on the performed volunteer work through volunteering organization, five months after the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, and disclosed the effect in which how the volunteering experience affected the attitudes toward over all volunteering and volunteering motivation. In this study, the purpose was to clarify how the affective process changed five years after the initial volunteer work at the earthquake. Subjects were 181 rescue volunteers and 123 affiliated volunteers, a total of 304, who were also the subjects for the study in 1996 (Takagi and Tamaki). As a result, the effect in which direct evaluation based on emotions such as contentment regarding volunteer work influences attitudes toward over all volunteering and volunteering motivation was found to be weaker than the data taken five months after the earthquake. On the contrary, it was unveiled that rational appraisal on the benefits and investment for involving the activity (e.g., reward through the activity, involved costs, expectation from the surroundings) influenced the attitudes and motivation of five years after the earthquake.この研究は、文部省科学研究費・基盤研究(C) 地震危機管理システムの日米中比較分析（代表者、山川雄巳）の一環として行われた

Coronary angioplasty ameliorates hypoperfusion-induced endothelial dysfunction in patients with stable angina pectoris

Objectives.This study sought to investigate the effect of coronary angioplasty on chronic hypoperfusion-induced endothelial dysfunction in patients with coronary heart disease.Background.The endothelium is an important component for organ flow regulation. Ischemia with or without reperfusion is known to cause endothelial dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that chronic hypoperfusion impairs endothelial function in the angiographically normal coronary artery segment distal to stenosis and that the impairment by chronic hypoperfusion is reduced by coronary angioplasty.Methods.In 13 patients with stable angina pectoris, substance P (10, 30 and 100 pmol) and nitroglycerin (200 μg) were sequentially infused into the coronary artery in a cumulative manner on the day after coronary angioplasty. In 10 of these patients, vascular responses to these agents were again investigated 3 months after angioplasty. Changes in vascular diameter were evaluated in vessels located proximal and distal to the target lesion, both of which were angiographically normal, by performing computer-assisted quantitative coronary angiography. In five patients, the transstenotic pressure gradient was also measured with a pressure sensor-mounted guide wire before angioplasty.Results.On the day after angioplasty, the magnitude of dilation by substance P in distal segments was significantly less than that in proximal segments and inversely correlated with the transstenotic pressure gradient (p < 0.05) and lesion stenosis (p < 0.05). There was no difference in nitroglycerin-induced vasodilation between the two vessel segment groups. Three months later, the impaired response to substance P in the distal segment was restored to normal.Conclusions.We conclude that chronic hypoperfusion impairs endothelium-dependent dilation of coronary artery distal to critical stenosis in patients with ischemic heart disease and that coronary angioplasty ameliorates the endothelial dysfunction within 3 months