Perception of risk of HIV and sexual risk behaviours among students in the United States; Turkey and South Africa

The aim of this study was to examine HIV sexual risk behaviours and perception of HIV risk among 1 095 students from the United States of America (US); Turkey and South Africa. Randomly selected students who were enrolled in general education courses completed a structured questionnaire. Results revealed statistically significant differences in specific HIV-related sexual behaviours among students from the three countries and among male and female students in each country. A higher percentage of US and South African students engage in HIV risky sexual behaviours compared with their Turkish counterparts; and a higher percentage of female students in the US and South Africa engage in HIV sexual risk behaviours compared with their male colleagues. A higher proportion of Turkish male students engaged in sexual risk behaviours compared with their female counterparts. The perception of HIV risk was low among US and Turkish students; and high among South African students. There was no agreement between engaging in risky sexual behaviour and self-perception of HIV risk among South African female students; while agreement was poor for US male and female students; Turkish male and female students; and South African male students. The observed optimistic bias needs to be considered in the design and implementation of HIV prevention programmes for these populations

Physiotherapy in dentistry : the experience in U.C.H. Ibadan

Physiotherapy has been involved in the management of various clinical conditions in the University College Hospital; Ibadan. However a low frequency of referrals from the department of Dentistry was observed. A two-year review of case notes in the Department of Dentistry showed 226 cases who could have benefited from physiotherapy; but only seven of the cases were referred. Case report of three patients were presented to highlight the value of early physiotherapy intervention in some temporomandibular disorders

Respiratory function in insulin-dependent diabetic patients

The study was designed to evaluate the difference in some respiratory functions between insulin-dependent diabetic patients(n=19) and non-diabetic individuals (n = 19). The measured values of FVC; FEV1 and PEFR of the diabetic patients were compared with those of the non-diabetics; as well as the predicted volumes for Nigerians. The diabetic patients showed significantly lower values when compared with the non-diabetics and the predicted volumes. The reduced volumes observed were related to the widespread abnormality of connective tissue known to occur in diabetes. The need for studies on larger population of insulin-dependent patients was highlighted