University Students' Perspective of Sexual Harassment: a Case Study of the University of Zambia

Objectives: To determine if sexual harassment was a problem at the University of Zambia (UNZA); to explore UNZA student's perception on the nature of sexual harassment; and determine student's knowledge and understanding about sexual harassment. Design: A cross-sectional study across UNZA. Main outcomes: Occurrence of sexual harassment at UNZA; knowledge; perception and understanding of sexual harassment. Measure: A self-administered questionnaire was developed for the purpose of the study and piloted. The questionnaire included items on perceptions and understanding of sexual harassment; the nature of the environment at UNZA; frequency of the occurrence of sexual harassment; direct experiences and observations of sexual harassment; and formal and informal reporting of sexual harassment. Results: This study found that sexual harassment was a problem at the University of Zambia (UNZA) and female students were more likely to be affected. There was no gender difference on the knowledge about sexual harassment (p=0.27) but there was a significant gender difference in the perception of sexual harassment occurring at UNZA (?2 = 86.51; df= 1; p0.001); there were significantly more female students who perceived a lot of sexual harassment to be occurring at UNZA. More female students also perceived that students were likely to harass other students (p0.01) and students were likely to harass lecturers (p0.001). Conclusion: The problem of sexual harassment at UNZA should not be underestimated; among our recommendation is to formulate a policy on sexual harassment at UNZA

Wegener's granulomatosis in India: clinical features, treatment and outcome of twenty-five patients.

OBJECTIVE: To report our clinical experience on Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). METHODS: A retrospective review of case records of all patients with WG in our Rheumatology Clinic during the period July 1988 to June 2000 was carried out and the details of demography, clinical and laboratory data, treatment and outcome were obtained and analysed. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients (16 females and 9 males) were found eligible for inclusion in the study. The mean age and duration of symptoms at presentation were 33.5 years and 5.5 months, respectively. Two patients had limited WG. Twenty-two patients with generalized WG were treated with standard regimen comprising oral prednisolone (1 mg/kg/day) and oral cyclophosphamide (2 mg/kg/day). Cyclophosphamide was continued for at least one year after the patient attained remission. One patient was treated with intravenous cyclophosphamide regimen. The two patients with limited WG were treated with oral prednisolone and methotrexate (10-12.5 mg as a single dose per week). Remission was achieved in 24 patients after a median time of six months. The median follow-up of patients was five years (range 4 months-11 years). Five patients were lost to follow-up. Eight patients suffered a relapse. The mean time for relapse was 34 months after the initial remission. Seven out of eight patients remitted again after reinstitution of the initial induction regimen. One patient died of diffuse pulmonary haemorrhage despite early institution of therapy. CONCLUSION: WG is being increasingly diagnosed in India now because of greater awareness and diagnostic aids. Although remissions are easy to achieve, relapses continue to pose a challenge to the treating physician.

Prevalence of dental caries and co-relation with fluorosis in low and high fluoride areas.

The aim of the study was to determine the degree of caries prevalence in the permanent dentition and the accompanying fluorosis in children between 6-16 years of age in both low (0.5 ppm) and relatively high (1.2 ppm) fluoride areas. In 3605 children in a low fluoride area (Dharwad), the mean DMFT was 0.65; 77% of the children were caries free. Grade I fluorosis (using Dean's fluorosis inded) was observed in only 0.66% of the children. Among 3618 children of similar age groups, living in high fluoride areas (Gadag), 84% were caries free and the mean DMFT value was 0.39. Varying degrees of fluorosis were present in 57.07% of the children. The results of the study suggest a definite relationship between the amounts of fluoride ingested through water and caries experience observed in the population.

Histopathological evaluation of inflammatory & hereditary demyelinating polyneuropathies.

In view of therapeutic implications and problems in clinical diagnosis, this study sought to evaluate and identify histopathological features of acquired inflammatory demyelinating neuropathies and hereditary demyelinating neuropathies. Sural nerve biopsies from 41 patients of demyelinating neuropathies, diagnosed on the basis of accepted clinical criteria, were studied using routine histological staining and special stains for myelin and axons. Chronic inflammatory neuropathies differed from the acute ones in having more endoneurial connective tissue, less of subperineurial oedema and presence of axonal sprouting and occasional onion bulb formation. Acquired neuropathies differed from hereditary neuropathies in having a more localized involvement, endoneurial oedema and variable inflammatory cell infiltration, while in hereditary neuropathies Schwann cell proliferation was diffuse and relatively uniform. The frequency and degree of nerve thickening was more in hereditary neuropathy. Evidence of inflammation was not universal, both in the acute and the chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathies. Histopathological examination is essential as the clinical and electrophysiological features alone may not offer definitive diagnosis.

Disseminated Burkitt's lymphoma presenting as multiple cranial nerve palsies.

A case of disseminated Burkitt's lymphoma with nervous system involvement in a HIV negative 35 year old lady is described. She primarily presented with multiple cranial nerve palsies. At autopsy, diffuse involvement of parenchymatous organs and lymphomatous meningitis with conspicuous sparing of gastrointestinal system was observed. In addition, there was an unusual feature of paraneoplastic demyelinating peripheral neuropathy. Incidentally, a large hydatid cyst was also seen in the left lobe in addition to the lymphomatous involvement of the liver.

Topology of GPI biosynthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors are constructed in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through the action of at least seven unique enzymes. Using cell-free systems, mainly derived from African trypanosomes, it has been experimentally possible to re-create many aspects of the GPI biosynthetic pathway in vitro and to obtain a series of glycosylated phosphatidylinositol structures that correspond to biosynthetic intermediates. This approach led to the identification of the biosynthetic donors of individual components of the GPI glycan, and the discovery of unusual fatty acid re-modelling reactions in the GPI pathway in trypanosomes. Despite this progress, questions remain concerning the enzymology of the pathway, particularly the topological distribution of the different assembly steps in the ER membrane. In the work described here we have attempted to define the transbilayer orientation of different GPI biosynthetic intermediates in the ER membrane bilayer. The experiments were performed with a microsomal fraction derived from bloodstream-form Trypanosoma brucei, and standard radiolabeling procedures. The orientation of GPIs was probed with bacterial phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) and the jackbean lectin Concanavalin A. Contrary to expectations based on other ER glycosylation reactions, most notably the reactions involved in the dolichol pathway of N-glycosylation, our results suggest that non-inositol-acylated (PI-PLC-sensitive) GPIs are synthesized in the cytoplasmic leaflet of the ER membrane bilayer and that the final reaction product, a phosphoethanolamine-containing GPI, flips into the luminal leaflet for transfer to protein

Experiencias clinicas com pentoxifilina no tratamento das doencas vestibulares perifericas - resultados de um estudo cooperativo. / Clinical experiences with pentoxifylline in the treatment of peripheral vestibular diseases - results of a cooperative study

Num estudo clinico cooperativo, do qual participaram 11 otorrinolaringologistas, foram tratados com pentoxifilina 27 pacientes ambulatoriais portadores de doencas vestibulares perifericas. O preparado foi administrado na dose de 1 dragea a 400 mg 3 vezes ao dia e o periodo de observacao foi de 30 dias. Registrou-se uma regressao bastante evidente dos sintomas predominantes, zumbidos, hipoacusia, tonturas e vertigens. Especialmente notavel foi a melhora das tonturas e vertigens. Do ponto de vista estatistico, a regressao dos escores totais de sintomas foi altamente significativa, com p < 0,000l. A tolerancia foi boa e nao houve ocorrencia de efeitos colaterais importantes. Na avaliacao clinica global, o resultado terapeutico foi bastante satisfatorio (otimo e bom) em 81,4% dos casos. Se bem que os resultados aqui apresentados foram obtidos com apenas 4 semanas de tratamento, na pratica recomenda-se prolongar o tratamento por 3 a 6 meses, visto que sobretudo os sintomas hipoacusia e zumbidos, via de regra, reagem mais lentamente a farmacoterapia