A national case-control study of risk factors for listeriosis in Australia.

Listeriosis is a foodborne disease associated with significant mortality. This study attempts to identify risk factors for sporadic listeriosis in Australia. Information on underlying illnesses was obtained from cases' treating doctors and other risk factors were elicited from the patient or a surrogate. We attempted to recruit two controls per case matched on age and primary underlying immune condition. Between November 2001 and December 2004 we recruited 136 cases and 97 controls. Of perinatal cases, living in a household where a language other than English was spoken was the main risk factor associated with listeriosis (OR 11·3, 95% CI 1·5-undefined). Of non-perinatal cases we identified the following risk factors for listeriosis: prior hospitalization (OR 4·3, 95% CI 1·0-18·3), use of gastric acid inhibitors (OR 9·4, 95% CI 2·4-37·4), and consumption of camembert (OR 4·7, 95% CI 1·1-20·6). Forty percent of cases with prior hospitalization were exposed to high-risk foods during hospitalization.

Frequency of infectious gastrointestinal illness in Australia, 2002: regional, seasonal and demographic variation.

To estimate the frequency of infectious gastroenteritis across Australia, and to identify risk factors, we conducted a national telephone survey of 6087 randomly selected respondents in 2001-2002. The case definition was three or more loose stools and/or two or more vomits in a 24-hour period in the last 4 weeks, with adjustment to exclude non-infectious causes and symptoms secondary to a respiratory infection. Frequency data were weighted to the Australian population. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess potential risk factors including season, region, demographic and socioeconomic status. Among contacted individuals, 67% responded. The case definition applied to 7% of respondents (450/6087) which extrapolates to 17.2 million (95% CI 14.5-19.9 million) cases of gastroenteritis in Australia in one year, or 0.92 (95% CI 0.77-1.06) cases/person per year. In the multivariate model, the odds of having gastroenteritis were increased in summer and in the warmest state, in young children, females, those with higher socioeconomic status and those without health insurance.

Street children: a comparative perspective.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the findings from recent studies of street children in Ethiopia. METHODS: Following a discussion of the term "street children," comparisons are drawn between Latin American and Ethiopian street children in terms of gender, age, reasons for going to the streets, family relations and structure, delinquency, drug use, groups and the outcomes of street life. In particular, the victimization of street children in Ethiopia is examined. RESULTS: Widespread abuse of street children was reported. More than half of the street boys questioned reported being "regularly" physically attacked. Street life is also highly victimogenic for street girls. Sexual offences, in particular, were widespread. Forty four percent had been raped and a further 26% had been sexually attacked. CONCLUSIONS: Similarities between Latin American street children and their Ethiopian counterparts regarding gender, background and street life experiences are noted. Comparisons concerning the victimization of street children were not possible, as this is an issue that is relatively unexamined in the Latin American context. Also, issues such as the developmental outcomes of street life and the process of leaving street life remain to be examined.

The effects of self-reinforcement and peer-reinforcement on the practice of breast self-examination.

Four months after learning breast self-examination (BSE), 169 sorority women assigned to one of three conditions (No Reinforcement, Self-Reinforcement or Peer-Reinforcement) were compared on BSE frequency subsequent to the training. Participants in both of the reinforcement conditions had agreed to a specified reward after each month's BSE, which was either self-delivered (Self-Reinforcement condition) or delivered by a partner (Peer-Reinforcement condition). Analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference among conditions and a Newman-Keuls test demonstrated that participants in both reinforcement conditions reported more months of BSE than those in the No Reinforcement condition. Furthermore, anxiety during BSE training was negatively correlated with BSE during the follow-up period. These results suggest that BSE, like other behaviors, is influenced by perceived support or rewards and by anxiety, and that BSE intervention programs should be designed with these findings in mind.

The effect of type of relationship on perceived psychological distress in women with breast cancer.

Participants (N = 207) read one of three descriptions of mastectomy patients and then completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) as they thought the patient would. The three descriptions were identical except for the type of relationship that the participant was asked to imagine having with the patient. A series of one-way ANOVAs indicated that people responded differently to 5 of the 6 POMS factors and the overall Index of Mood Disturbance depending upon the relationship they were asked to imagine that they had with the patient. These differences were significant. Newman-Keuls tests demonstrated the same pattern of results for each factor--those who imagined that the patient was their mother rated her as experiencing less mood disturbance than did those who imagined that she was a woman they worked with or a well-known public figure. These results suggest that people are able to recognize psychological symptoms associated with breast cancer and mastectomy but may have difficulty perceiving these symptoms in their own mothers.

The effects of message framing and feelings of susceptibility to breast cancer on reported frequency of breast self-examination.

One of two types of pamphlets on breast self-examination (BSE) attitudes and behavior was administered to subjects who were classified as high or low in feelings of susceptibility to breast cancer. Half of the subjects received pamphlets stressing the positive consequences of doing BSE and the other half received pamphlets stressing the negative consequences of not doing BSE. A previous study found negatively framed pamphlets to be superior in BSE promotion and these results were explained in terms of Tversky and Kahneman's framing postulate. The original framing postulate includes characteristics of the decision-maker as well as the type of frame presented, thus, we hypothesized an interaction between pamphlet type and level of susceptibility with the largest effect on the group with low perceived susceptibility who received negatively framed pamphlets. The hypothesized interaction did not occur, nor was there a significant effect for pamphlet type. However, there were significant differences between the BSE performance at follow-up of women who were high or low in perceived susceptibility prior to the intervention. These results are discussed in terms of implications for BSE training in the future, more specifically-the need to consider perceived level of susceptibility as an important subject characteristic that could have a large impact on the effectiveness of training programs.