Cultural consensus modelling to understand the reproductive health needs of South African adolescent girls

Background. Cultural consensus modelling (CCM) is an approach whereby individuals define the boundaries regarding a set of knowledge or behaviours shared by a group within a culture using an ethnographic approach. Objectives. To provide an overview of CCM methods and the application of CCM to examine South African adolescent girls' contraceptive and HIV prevention practices. Methods. In phase 1 of a CCM approach, individuals respond to questions about their culture rather than their individual behaviours, allowing individuals to draw upon a shared cultural knowledge. Utilising these identified group beliefs, phase 2 asks individuals to rate the extent to which factors identified in phase 1 are valued. Phase 3 utilises qualitative interviews with key informants from phase 2 to gather in-depth information regarding the identified determinants of the health behaviour. Lastly, phase 4 of this approach conducts a quantitative survey to determine the extent to which cultural consensus model types are associated with differences in actual behaviours. Results. CCM data analytic approaches are described. Frequencies and descriptive statistics for the free listing are conducted. For phase 2, cultural consensus analysis is conducted to examine whether one or several consensus models exist and competence scores are calculated. Standard qualitative analysis approaches are utilised for phase 3. Phase 4 employs regression to examine the association between cultural models and an outcome of interest. Conclusion. CCM provides a novel, culturally sensitive understanding of reproductive health practices among South African adolescent girls; CCM also has broad applicability to other adolescent health research domains

Estradiol and progesterone fecal metabolites analysis in crab-eating-fox (Cerdocyoun thous) / Análise de metabólitos fecais de estradiol e progesterona em cachorro-do-mato (Cerdocyoun thous)

In this study, four crab-eating fox females (Cerdocyon thous) maintained at the Federal University of Mato Grosso Zoo, Cuiabá, Brazil, were investigated for 12 months, using feces measurement of estradiol and progesterone concentrations. Fecal collections were performed three times a week for hormone extraction. Two methods of analysis, Elisa (EIA) and Radioimmunoassay (RIA), were used in the measurement of progesterone (P4) and estradiol (E2) metabolites. The aim of this study was to compare and validate two different methods of hormone measurement for C. thous. There were no differences regarding the method used. The Radioimmunoassay technique proved to be more sensitive, however, both showed similar results.(AU)

Neste estudo, quatro fêmeas de cachorros-do-mato (Cerdocyon thous) mantidas no Zoológico da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brasil, foram investigadas pelo período de 12 meses, mediante a mensuração de concentrações de estradiol e progesterona em fezes. Coletas de fezes foram realizadas três vezes por semana para posterior extração hormonal. Dois métodos de análise de metabólitos fecais, elisaimunoensaio (EIA) e radioimunoensaio (RIA), foram utilizados na mensuração dos metabólitos de progesterona (P4) e estradiol (E2). O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar e validar dois diferentes métodos de mensuração hormonal para C. thous. Não houve diferença significativa com relação ao método empregado. A técnica de radioimunoensaio demonstrou ser mais sensível, no entanto ambas apresentaram resultados semelhantes.(AU)