OBJECTIVE To assess the opportunities present in the home environment for motor development of infants. METHODS This was a cross-sectional population-based epidemiological study on 239 infants aged three to 18 months who were living in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Southeastern Brazil, in 2010. The participants were selected by means of stratified random sampling, in clustered multiple st...

OBJECTIVES During the past decade, the number and proportion of reported HIV cases in the United States acquired through heterosexual contact has increased markedly. CDC employs the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS) to monitor risk behaviors and HIV prevalence in high-risk populations. To identify a target population for conducting NHBS among heterosexuals at increased risk for...

Suicide among the elderly is a critical public health problem. Large socioeconomic inequalities are present in suicide mortality cases, but the association is complex and may be different for elderly men and women. Reducing these differences could significantly reduce the burden of excess mortality, at least in elderly men. The aim of the present paper is to review research concerning the socio...

We examined how smokers were depicted in 100 popular films spanning 5 decades. Smokers were depicted as more romantically and sexually active than nonsmokers and as marginally more intelligent than nonsmokers. Smokers and nonsmokers did not differ in terms of attractiveness, goodness, socioeconomic status, aggression, friendliness, or outcome at film's end. Thus, if anything, smokers are depict...

BACKGROUND It is estimated that approximately one-third of pregnancies in Canada are unintended, meaning they were either mistimed (the woman wanted to be pregnant at a different point in time) or undesired (the woman did not want to be pregnant). This study aimed to assess the impact of socioeconomic variables and method of contraception on the decision to either terminate or continue and unin...

BACKGROUND Few studies have examined how the longitudinal change in blood pressure associated with aging differs across social groups within industrialized countries. METHODS AND RESULTS Data from the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study were used to investigate differences in the incidence of hypertension and in aging-related changes in blood pressure by neighborhood and individual soci...

Despite well documented high levels of socioeconomic inequalities, health gradients by socioeconomic status (SES) in contemporary China have been reported to be limited. Using data from the 2010-2012 China Family Panel Studies, we reexamine associations between three sets of SES – human capital, material conditions, and political capital – and self-rated health among Chinese adults 18-70 years ...

Studies of the causes of fertility levels and their changes often seek to measure directly the impact of socioeconomic factors on fertility. Such procedures have a broad appeal to policymakers, offering as they do to pinpoint mechanisms susceptible to manipulation by official policy. Despite this appeal, such approaches are considerably more problematical in their application. Not infrequently,...

Worldwide the search is on for sustainable solutions to the competing needs for forest conservation and agricultural development. A strategy with contemporary salience arises in intensive, sedentarized agriculture that can protect forests and enhance livelihoods for forest dwellers. This paper investigates why intensive agriculture does not limit deforestation in southeastern Mexico’s Calakmul ...

The stillbirth rate in twins is a more sensitive indicator of environmental hazards than the stillbirth rate in singletons. Medical care or other socioeconomic factors may be more influential for perinatal survival in twin than in single deliveries. Studies have indicated that stillbirths among children in a set of multiple maternities are not independent. Models were considered assuming indepe...