Knowledge and use of emergency postcoital contraception by female students at a high school in Nova Scotia.

PURPOSE: This study was performed in the context of a sexual health promotion project in a Nova Scotia community. Community members wanted information about adolescent females' knowledge and use of emergency contraception (EC). The study was done to meet this need. METHODS: Female high school students aged 14 to 19 were administered a self-completion survey asking about their knowledge of EC, the time frame for its use, its effectiveness, their personal use of EC, unsuccessful attempts to obtain EC, and sources of knowledge of EC. RESULTS: Eighty-five percent of 411 female students participated. Eighty percent knew about EC, though few (8%) knew the time frame for EC use. Most (42%) heard of EC at school. Eighteen percent used no contraception at last intercourse. Only 2% ever had used EC. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent women know about EC but use it infrequently, even though they frequently lack contraception. These findings raise questions about alternative methods for providing EC to young women.

Sexual health knowledge of students at a high school in Nova Scotia.

PURPOSE: In the context of a community development project related to adolescent sexual health, this study was carried out at Amherst Regional High School (ARHS) in Amherst, Nova Scotia, to assess students' sexual health knowledge, gender differences in knowledge, and associations between knowledge and sexual behaviours. METHODS: A 29-item scale assessed knowledge in five areas of sexual health. Gender differences in correct responses to questions were compared. Overall knowledge scores were compared by gender, grade, and sexual activity, and tested for association with sexual behaviours. RESULTS: Of 796 students, 80% participated. Sexual health knowledge scores were highest for sexually active females. Higher score was associated with oral contraceptive use and later sexual debut. Knowledge was highest for HIV/AIDS. Students were insufficiently aware of their right to patient confidentiality. CONCLUSIONS: ARHS students lack knowledge in some sexual health areas. School programs should consider these findings, and work to improve school-based sexual health education.

Development of a sociocultural measure of young women's experiences with body weight and shape.

The social and societal pressures to be thin that many women experience are widely believed to negatively affect their body image. The fact that this view is not reflected in traditional body image measures prompted the development of this multidimensional self-report instrument of body weight and shape concerns that is contextually grounded in young women's life experiences. Semistructured interviews with high school and university women (N = 16) were used to develop the questionnaire items. Students were asked about their experiences with controlling the size and shape of their bodies, and the expectations and evaluations of others (e.g., parents, friends, intimate partners) regarding their body shape. The initial 101-item pool was derived from a content analysis of the interview transcripts and was administered to 287 female university students. Exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation revealed five underlying dimensions, specifically, (a) Weight dissatisfaction, (b) Slimness as quality of life, (c) Interpersonal messages regarding slimness, (d) Societal value of thinness, and (e) Valuing exercise.

The effect on the heart of hypoxaemia in patients with severe coronary artery disease.

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of spontaneous nocturnal hypoxaemia on myocardial ischaemia in patients with severe coronary artery disease. This was a prospective study of continuously measured oxygen saturation and ECG overnight in patients prior to coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Fifteen patients with angiographically proved coronary artery disease were studied between October 1992 and September 1993. All patients had episodes of hypoxaemia with oxygen saturation < 94% and eight of the 15 patients had episodes where oxygen saturation < 85%. An episode was defined as a period of hypoxaemia not less than 2.5 min in duration, the longest total duration of hypoxaemia in one patient being 355 min. Twelve of the 15 patients showed a drop in ST segment of 1 mm or more lasting from 5-700 min. The hypoxaemic and ischaemic episodes apparently occurred at random. No causal relationship could be shown between hypoxaemia and ischaemia.

Comparison of the kinetic properties of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase in chloroplast extracts of spinach, sunflower and four other reductive pentose phosphate-pathway species.

Extracts from chloroplasts of spinach, sunflower and four other reductive pentose phosphate (C3)-pathway species were measured spectrophotometrically with or without a modified preactivation procedure. In all six species this modification yielded Km (CO2) values in the range of 7-15 micron and maximum velocities, at 20 degrees C, of 129-431 mumol of CO2 carboxylated/h per mg of chlorophyll. In general, both the carboxylation and electron-transport capacities of sunflower were somewhat greater than that of the other species, and this is discussed in relation to the superior rates of photosynthesis believed to be displayed by the parent tissue.