Maternal serologic screening for toxoplasmosis.

Congenital toxoplasmosis is a rare, but potentially serious, problem during pregnancy. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a protozoal parasite that can be found in warm-blooded animals (including humans); dried cat feces, contaminated soil, or contaminated water; and raw or undercooked meat containing infective tissue cysts. Although cats play a role in the epidemiology of the disease, there is no statistical correlation between toxoplasmosis infection and cat ownership. Toxoplasmosis can be transmitted to the fetus in utero through transplacental transmission. Both the incidence of placental transmission and severity of congenital disease depend on gestational age at which maternal seroconversion occurs. Although transmission rates from mother to fetus tend to be low early in pregnancy, fetal disease severity is highest when the fetus is infected early in gestation. Serological tests to determine maternal seroconversion are available, but their use can pose ethical and practical dilemmas. Universal maternal screening is not currently warranted in the United States because disease prevalence is low.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding breast cancer screening in educated Appalachian women.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To determine how and what women learn about breast cancer and screening practices and which factors influence women's breast cancer screening practices. DESIGN: Descriptive analysis of questionnaire data collected at the time of enrollment in a clinical trial. SETTING: Breast care center of a mid-Atlantic academic health sciences center. SAMPLE: 185 women in a predominantly Appalachian, entirely rural state. METHODS: Participants completed the Modified Toronto Breast Self-Examination Inventory and questions related to personal mammography practices at the time of enrollment before randomization in a longitudinal clinical intervention study. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Women's demographics, knowledge of breast cancer screening practices, adherence to breast cancer screening guidelines, and motivation, knowledge, and practice proficiency surrounding breast cancer screening. FINDINGS: These educated women had knowledge deficits about breast cancer, breast cancer risk factors, and screening guidelines, particularly the timing and practice behaviors of breast self-examination. Women who had received healthcare and cancer-screening instruction by healthcare providers, including advanced practice nurses, had greater knowledge of breast cancer and detection practices. CONCLUSIONS: Women still have knowledge deficits about breast cancer, breast cancer detection, and personal risk factors. In addition, some educated women in this study failed to practice breast cancer screening according to current guidelines. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Practitioners must continue to remind and update women about breast disease, and women's cancer-screening practices must be reinforced. All levels of providers should improve their rates of performing clinical breast examinations with physical examinations. Nurses, who greatly influence women's health care, must remain current in their knowledge of breast disease, screening, and treatment.