Adolescent reproductive health: roles for school personnel in prevention and early intervention.

The practical roles school staff can play in addressing adolescent reproductive health issues such as teen-age pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS are reviewed. Particular attention is given to identification and assessment of adolescents most at risk for pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS, and the regulations that address protection of students' privacy in this area.

PIP: Since schools have uniquely high access to youth, they are extremely well-suited places in which to prevent and intervene early in the course of adolescent reproductive health problems. This paper review practical roles which school staff may play in addressing issues such as teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS. It also discusses identifying and assessing adolescents most at risk for these problems and existing regulations to protect students' privacy. School-based and school-linked programs should be tailored to meet the needs of populations served and include effective, theory-based classroom education; confidential health services; and health counseling. Programs must be supported by administrators and other school staff. With health educators, school nurses, counselors, and other school personnel having multiple roles in counseling, educating, and providing care, staff must be knowledgeable about adolescent reproductive health and comfortable discussing it. Further, staff also need to be well-informed about and respect students' rights to privacy.

[Digital bone densitometry. A routine method for evaluating and monitoring bone mineralization]. / Densitométrie osseuse digitalisée. Une méthode de routine pour évaluer et surveiller la minéralisation osseuse.

Digitalized bone densitometry is a simple technique for studying bone mineralization which can be performed during the radiological examination. Digitalized bone densitometry was used to estimate the bone mineral content of the third lumbar vertebra in 30 women and 16 men, the neck of the femur in 27 women and 20 men and the second metacarpal in 27 women and 17 men. The results were compared to the data provided by conventional methods. The appearance of the curves, the index of accuracy and reproducibility of the method suggest that it can be used to detect and monitor bone mineralization of patients for a moderate cost.

The Pediatric Early Elementary Examination: sensitivity and specificity.

Evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the Pediatric Early Elementary Examination (PEEX), a test designed to identify children at risk for learning problems. Using a sample of 299 seven- to nine-year-old "disadvantaged" children, the number of "areas of concern" identified by the PEEX and a school record indicating whether a child was receiving special educational services were used to compute test sensitivity and specificity. For two areas of concern, the sensitivity was 76.9% and specificity was 59.9%. The findings indicate that the PEEX correctly identified only 64.3% of children receiving special educational services. The test has a high rate of false positives while still failing to identify 6-7.5% of the children receiving special education services. Other issues relating to the utility of the PEEX are discussed.