Beauty salons: a promising health promotion setting for reaching and promoting health among African American women

African American women suffer disproportionately from a wide range of health disparities. This article clarifies how beauty salons can be mobilized at all levels of the social-ecological framework to address disparities in health among African American women. The North Carolina BEAUTY and Health Project is a randomized, controlled intervention trial that takes into account the unique and multilevel features of the beauty salon setting with interventions that address owners, customers, stylists; interactions between customers and stylists; and the salon environment. The authors make explicit the role of the political economy of health theoretical perspective for understanding important factors (social, political, historical, and economic) that should be considered if the goal is to create successful, beauty-salon-based interventions. Despite some important challenges, the authors contend that beauty salons represent a promising setting for maximizing reach, reinforcement, and the impact of public health interventions aimed at addressing health disparities among African American women. (AU)

The gender ratio imbalance and its relationship to risk of HIV/AIDS among African American women at historically black colleges and universities.

African American women are at increased risk of HIV transmission through heterosexual contact. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women between 25 to 34 years of age, and many of these women were likely infected while in college. Four focus groups were conducted with African American students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in order to learn about the college dating environment and how it influenced women's risk of HIV infection. We used constant comparison techniques and visual display matrixes to analyse the data. Students identified the gender ratio imbalance of more women to men on campus as a key element of the campus dating environment and described how it places women at an increased risk for HIV infection. Primary consequences of this gender ratio imbalance were men having multiple female sexual partners during the same time period and women complying with men's condom use preferences. HIV preventive intervention programmes at HBCUs must address the gender ratio imbalance and its consequences to reduce women's risk of contracting the infection.

Survival and Activity of lux-Marked Aeromonas salmonicida in Seawater.

The fish pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida was chromosomally marked with genes encoding bacterial luciferase, luxAB, isolated from Vibrio fischeri, resulting in constitutive luciferase production. During exponential growth in liquid batch culture, luminescence was directly proportional to biomass concentration, and luminometry provided a lower detection limit of approximately 10(sup3) cells ml(sup-1), 1 order of magnitude more sensitive than enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detection. In sterile seawater at 4(deg)C, lux-marked A. salmonicida entered a dormant, nonculturable state and population activity decreased rapidly. The activity per viable cell, however, increased by day 4, indicating that a proportion of the population remained active and culturable. Putative dormant cells were not resuscitated after the addition of a range of substrates.

Esophageal manometry and radionuclide emptying in chronic alcoholics.

Eighteen asymptomatic alcoholics, half with neuropathy, were studied within 3 days of drinking to evaluate the frequency, nature, and underlying causes of esophageal dysmotility. Ten were restudied after a month of sobriety. The mean lower esophageal sphincter pressure and esophageal contraction amplitude in alcoholics were significantly higher than controls. Radionuclide esophageal emptying was slower than controls. Abnormal motility studies included 9 patients with nutcracker esophagus and 5 patients with nonspecific motor disorder. After 1 mo of abstinence, 5 of 6 patients with nutcracker esophagus and one with nonspecific motor disorder became normal. Lower esophageal sphincter pressure and esophageal contraction amplitude also returned to normal. These abnormal findings were independent of neuropathy. One patient who had normal manometry and emptying had esophagitis. We demonstrated that esophageal dysfunction is common in alcoholics, even in the absence of esophagitis and neuropathy, suggesting that these do not play a major role in esophageal dysmotility. Nutcracker esophagus is a reversible and common manometric finding in asymptomatic alcoholics.