Aim: To assess a condom use educational program developed using the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model to enable Japanese young people to use condoms. Methods: The program was implemented in two sessions of approximately 90 min each over a 2 day period. The participants underwent the program in small same-sex groups. The study participants were divided into the intervention group (n = 94) and the control group (n = 186). Knowledge relating to HIV/sexuallytransmitted diseases (STDs), attitudes towards contraception and sex, the risk perceptions of pregnancy and HIV/STD infection, anticipated reaction to proposed condom use, self-efficacy of condom use, and sexual behaviors were assessed. Data were obtained at baseline, immediately after the program, and 1 and 3 months after the program or baseline survey. Results: Intervention group participants with experience of sexual intercourse (n = 14) had significantly higher scores for knowledge relating to HIV/STDs, self-efficacy of condom use, and relief/confusion associated with condom use than the control group (n = 13) at the 1 and 3 month surveys. Intervention group participants with no experience of sexual intercourse (n = 14) had significantly higher scores for knowledge relating to HIV/STDs and self-efficacy of condom use, and significantly lower scores for condom avoidance, than the control group (n = 116). Condom use behavior was not changed in either group. Conclusion: The program used in this study did not promote condom use, but it increased knowledge relating to HIV/STDs and self-efficacy of condom use and reduced resistance to condom use.
Based on these results, wild rodents living in urban areas of Cambodia were found to be important reservoirs of highly virulent Leptospira. The flaB sequence results of our study provided information regarding the prevalence of Leptospira species, which was dependent on the rodent species. This study is the first study on leptospirosis in wild rodents in the urban areas of Cambodia, where there is limited information on leptospirosis.
We examined the prevalence of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) in 32 consecutive patients with premature ovarian failure with and without chromosomal abnormalities. Blood samples were taken for karyotype determination as well as detection of autoantibodies, X-terminal microdeletions and spontaneous follicular growth. The correlation between ANA positivity and the age at onset of amenorrhoea, as well as the presence of karyotype abnormalities, X-terminal microdeletions and follicular growth was determined. Ten of the 24 patients with normal karyotype and none of the 8 patients with karyotype abnormalities were ANA positive. ANA were found more frequently in patients with premature ovarian failure with normal karyotypes than in control amenorrhoeic patients (42 versus 6, P < 0.01). ANA were found in 77% (10/13) of premature ovarian failure patients with normal karyotypes who developed amenorrhoea at or under the age of 30 years, but not in the patients who developed amenorrhoea later in life. Follicular growth was evident in 50% (5/10) of karyotypically normal patients with ANA, 71% (10/14) of karyotypically normal patients without ANA and 38% (3/8) of patients with karyotype abnormalities. X-terminal microdeletions were not found in any of the patients studied. These results suggest that patients with premature ovarian failure and ANA are an aetiologically and clinically distinct group.
There was a significant improvement in self-assessed health in parallel with a significant downward secular trend in the prevalence of menopause awareness among community-dwelling Japanese women. Women who felt themselves affected by menopause tended to perceive their own health as poor.
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