Racial identity and reflected appraisals as influences on Asian Americans' racial adjustment.

J. E. Helms's (1990) racial identity psychodiagnostic model was used to examine the contribution of racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals to the development of healthy racial adjustment of Asian American university students (N = 188). Racial adjustment was operationally defined as collective self-esteem and awareness of anti-Asian racism. Multiple regression analyses suggested that racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals were significantly predictive of Asian Americans' racial adjustment. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

Prospective multicenter study of pregnancy outcomes in women with heart disease.

BACKGROUND: The maternal and neonatal risks associated with pregnancy in women with heart disease receiving comprehensive prenatal care have not been well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively enrolled 562 consecutive pregnant women with heart disease and determined the outcomes of 599 pregnancies not ending in miscarriage. Pulmonary edema, arrhythmia, stroke, or cardiac death complicated 13% of pregnancies. Prior cardiac events or arrhythmia, poor functional class or cyanosis, left heart obstruction, and left ventricular systolic dysfunction independently predicted maternal cardiac complications; the cardiac event rate can be predicted using a risk index incorporating these predictors. Neonatal complications (20% of pregnancies) were associated with poor functional class or cyanosis, left heart obstruction, anticoagulation, smoking, and multiple gestations. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy in women with heart disease is associated with significant cardiac and neonatal complications, despite state-of-the-art obstetric and cardiac care. Maternal cardiac risk can be predicted with the use of a risk index.

[Infectious complications in cesarean section: previous classification and use of antibiotics]. / Complicaciones infecciosas en la operación cesárea: clasificación previa y uso de antibióticos.

A retrospective study of all the patients that underwent cesarean section at "Ramón Gonzalez Coro" Gynecoobstetric Hospital in 1997 and 1998 was made. The information about some variables, such as the diagnosis of cesarean sections, the frequency of infectious complications, the presence of complications according to the classification, the correct and incorrect use of antibiotics according to the classification of the surgical procedure and the occurrence of infectious complications due to the correct or incorrect use of antibiotics that were collected in the database of the Automated System to register cesarean sections was processed. The main indication was anterior cesarean section (34.1%), followed by cephalopelvic disproportion (13.5%). 17.1% had some infectious complications. Endometritis was the most frequent complicatrion (7.9%). Most of the infectious complications occurred in the clean cesarean sections (16.7%) and in the dirty cesarean sections (22.3%). The best use of antibiotics was observed in both groups (96.5 and 96.6%, respectively). Patients with an incorrect use of antibiotics had more infectious complications (37.8%). A statistical association was found between these 2 variables (p = 7.569 x 20).