Abortion and women's roles in society: opinions from Tlaxcala, Mexico / El aborto y el rol de las mujeres en la sociedad: resultados de una encuesta de opinión en Tlaxcala, México

OBJECTIVE: We aim to assess the opinions of Mexicans in the state of Tlaxcala on abortion and other topics concerning women's reproductive health and status in society. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We summarize opinions on abortion and women's roles in society and perform logit regressions to assess characteristics correlated with support for abortion rights. RESULTS: A majority of respondents were against a woman's right to abortion when asked generally, but when asked about specific circumstances, a majority supported the right to abortion in five of the nine hypothetical circumstances proposed. In multivariate analysis, age, education, religion, religious service attendance, and views regarding women's roles in society had significant effects on support for the right to abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that residents of Tlaxcala view abortion as a personal decision and support a woman's right to abortion in more circumstances than currently allowed under state law.

OBJETIVO: Describir opiniones sobre salud sexual y reproductiva, aborto y rol social de las mujeres entre un grupo de residentes de Tlaxcala, México. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: El análisis de regresión logística analizó características asociadas con una postura de apoyo al derecho al aborto. RESULTADOS: La mayoría no favoreció el derecho de las mujeres a interrumpir un embarazo cuando se preguntó de manera general. Al momento de circunscribirlo a circunstancias específicas, la mayoría estuvo a favor en cinco de las nueve de situaciones hipotéticas planteadas. En análisis multivariado, edad, escolaridad, religión, asistencia a servicios religiosos y opiniones sobre el rol social femenino fueron variables significativas del apoyo que se brinda a una mujer para ejercer su derecho a interrumpir un embarazo. CONCLUSIONES: Los residentes de Tlaxcala perciben el tema del aborto como una decisión personal y apoyan el derecho de una mujer a interrumpirlo especialmente bajo causales contempladas en la ley de Tlaxcala.

Serum amino acids and genesis of protein energy malnutrition.

Twenty four patients of classical marasmus and kwashiorkor along with equal number of healthy controls were selected for the study. Their serum amino acid patterns analysis revealed a mean ratio of glutamate to alanine in fasting samples of normal individuals to be 0.33, while it as 9.3 in kwashiorkor and 1.6 in marasmus. This differences in controls, kwashiorkor and marasmus was statistically significant. This observation may explain evolution of marasmus and kwashiorkor in children with similar diets. On the basis of the present observation it is postulated that in kwashiorkor, the conversion of pyruvate to alanine in presence of glutamate, an aminogroup donor does not proceed normally, resulting in accumulation of glutamate and low alanine. Thus the development of marasmus and kwashiorkor may not be related to dietary inadequacy alone but also to the transaminase function. This could be genetic in origin.

Proteinuria in essential hypertension.

Porteinuria was quantitatively measured in twenty-five controls and eighty-one newly detected patients of essential hypertension without renal insufficiency. Hypertension was treated with enalapril, enalapril and nifedepine and nifedepine alone. Mean proteinuria was more in patients of hypertension as compared to controls (P < .001). Proteinuria decreased significantly (P < .001) after six weeks of control of hypertension. Patients treated with enalapril alone had maximum reduction in proteinuria than those with enalapril and nifedepine, and nifedepine alone.

Blood pressure trends and life style risk factors in rural India.

A door to door survey of a random sample of 448 subjects (> or = 15 years of age) of Kodamendhi village (near Nagpur) revealed a prevalence of hypertension of 4% rising to 19% in more than 60 years age group. One of the main goals of the study was to search for social, behavioural and life style risk factors and provide baseline information on blood pressure distribution in rural Indian population, information regarding which is scarce from Central India. The relationship between alcohol consumption, smoking, obesity, education, income and diet (assessed by a questionnaire administered by trained interviewers) to blood pressure were studied, in multivariate context. Separate multiple linear regression analysis, performed in males and females with mean blood pressure (MBP) as dependent variable showed that the MBP increased significantly with age (p = 0.000) and males had significantly higher MBP than females (p = 0.002). In males, BMI (p = 0.000) and alcohol intake (p = 0.008) were significantly related to MBP while smokers had significantly lower MBP than non smokers (p = 0.004). Per capita income was a significant predictor of MBP in females (p = 0.000). There was no relationship with education and diet.