The aim of the present study was to assess the pattern of antibiotic use in a community setting of an urban area of Italy and identify factors that affect adherence to their use. By using a questionnaire-based survey, we collected 1,269 interviews and performed analysis on those patients who had their last course of antibiotic within the past 12 months (956 subjects). Among the subjects reporti...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study is to investigate whether traffic policemen of a big city exposed to urban pollutants may be at risk of alterations on plasma vasopressin (VP) concentrations compared with a control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS Out of a population of 395 Municipal Police employees, the subjects with the principal confounding factors were excluded from the study. Traffic ...

This study explores the effects of centenarian gender on survival of biological and nonbiological relatives of 1,945 validated U.S. centenarians born in 1880-1895. Male gender of centenarian has significant positive effect on survival of adult male relatives (brothers and fathers) but not female relatives. Comparison of married siblings and siblings in law of centenarians found a strong positiv...

Most research on the stability of adult relationships has focused on coresidential (cohabiting or married) unions and estimates rates of dissolution for the period of coresidence. Studies examining how the stability of coresidential unions differs by sex composition have typically found that same-sex female couples have higher rates of dissolution than same-sex male couples and different-sex co...

The traditional management of the virilized female infant has centred on restoring ‘normality’. Once the diagnosis has been made and the infant assigned to a female sex of rearing, feminizing genital surgery almost inevitably follows. This management is now being criticised from ethical, social and clinical perspectives [1–3]. The current debate is emotive and distressing both for patients who ...

Background: The relationship between religious involvement and health has been subject to an increasing interest. However, studies investigating religious involvement are scarce outside United States and Europe. Objectives: This study describes religious involvement in the Brazilian population and its relationship with sociodemographic variables. Methods: In a Brazilian nationally probabilistic...

Same-sex couples are less likely to be homogamous than different-sex couples on a variety of characteristics including race/ethnicity, age, and education. This study confirms results from previous studies which used 1990 U.S. census data and extends previous analyses to examine changes from 1990 to 2000. We find that same-sex male cohabitors are generally the least likely to resemble one anothe...

Advances in biomedical interventions to prevent HIV offer great promise in reducing the number of new infections across sub- Saharan Africa, particularly among vulnerable populations such as female sex workers. Several recent trials testing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have demonstrated efficacy, although others have been stopped early for futility. Given the importance and complexities of s...

BACKGROUND Breast augmentation is an elective surgery used to increase the size of the breast in females. This study was undertaken to determine the breast augmentation in Pakistani females. METHODS From 2006 to 2011, 43 female patients who underwent breast augmentation via infra-mammary, periareolar, trans-umbilical and fat transfer were enrolled. For augmentation, saline-filled or gel-fill...