[Women with AIDS: disclosing risk stories]. / Mulheres com Aids: desvendando histórias de risco.

This study approaches the social and cultural profile concerning risk for HIV infection in women, describing some epidemiological variables and disclosing reports of risk situations, the meaning of living with AIDS, and support received. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview 25 women from the University Hospital of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, prior to the availability of multi-drug treatment. The majority reported limited schooling, were housewives or engaged in under-skilled occupations, and had family incomes lower than average for users of this public teaching hospital. The view of AIDS as "someone else's disease" was prevalent, and STDs were perceived as male infections, although several women reported episodes of STDs prior to HIV. They had received their diagnosis and initial medical care only after their partners' and/or children's illness or death. The study points to preventive strategies reinforcing these silent women's bargaining power, acting on men as potential active participants in reproductive health programs that incorporate STD/AIDS issues.

[Knowledge and practices regarding stroke at a university hospital: Part 1. Education of the nursing staff: priorities for the treatment of cerebral infarction]. / Práticas e nível de conhecimento sobre doença cerebrovascular em um hospital universitário. Parte 1. Educação do corpo de enfermagem: prioridade para o tratamento do infarto cerebral.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate professionals working at a university hospital as to their knowledge and attitudes towards stroke. METHODS: Individuals working in the hospital were divided in two groups, health care workers (HCW) and non-health care workers (NHCW), and further subdivided according to level of schooling, resulting in seven strata. A closed questionnaire addressing epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, typical symptoms, treatment, clinical course and personal attitudes towards smoking and blood pressure control, was applied to a random sample of each stratum (total n = 309). Kruskal-Wallis test for multiple comparisons of non-parametric data was used. RESULTS: Significant differences between the seven groups were found. Knowledge was strongly associated with being a HCW and with level of formal education (p < 0.001), even after excluding physicians from the analysis (p < 0.001). In NHCW groups, knowledge was not associated with level of education (p = 0.421). In these groups, personal fear of suffering a stroke was the only variable predictive of knowledge. Smoking and poor monitoring of blood pressure levels were also more common in strata with the lowest levels of education and among NHCW. CONCLUSION: Poor knowledge and wrong attitudes towards stroke are frequent among individuals working in a Brazilian university hospital. Although these results are not necessarily applicable to the general population, they will certainly be useful for the development of educational programs on stroke.

[Knowledge and practices regarding stroke at a university hospital: Part 2. Medical education in the new era of treatment of cerebral infarction]. / Práticas e nível de conhecimento sobre doença cerebrovascular em um hospital universitário. Parte 2. Educação médica na nova era de tratamento do infarto cerebral.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate professionals working at a University Hospital as to their knowledge and attitudes towards stroke. METHODS: Individuals working in the hospital were divided in two groups, Health care workers (HCW) and non-Health care workers (NHCW), and further subdivided according to level of schooling, resulting in seven strata. A closed questionnaire addressing epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, typical symptoms, treatment, clinical course and personal attitudes towards smoking and blood pressure control, was applied to a random sample of each stratum (total n = 309). The physicians group included 48 individuals. Kruskal-Wallis test for multiple comparisons of non-parametric data was used. Special attention was given to the wrong answers. RESULTS: Physicians correctly answered 92.6% of the questions. Their performance was superior to that of all other groups in all subgroups of questions. However, a large number of errors was found in questions addressing mortality and hospital mortality following stroke and the intimate relation between coronary and cerebral atherosclerosis. Treatment options in cerebral infarction are also poorly recognised. CONCLUSIONS: Although physicians general knowledge about stroke is good, they frequently do not perceive it as a critical disease requiring urgent hospital evaluation and care. The importance of a thorough cardiac evaluation following stroke and of the intimate relation between cardiac and cerebral ischemic disease is also unclear to this group. More hours of stroke teaching and practical training in stroke could possibly fill these gaps.

[Youth mortality: analysis of the period from 1930 to 1991 (the epidemiological transition to violence)]. / Mortalidade de jovens: análise do período de 1930 a 1991 (a transição epidemiológica para a violência).

Youth (15 to 24 years old) mortality in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and S. Paulo from 1930 to 1991 is studied. The objective is the recovery of historical data covering the period from the third decade of this century up to the present so as to evaluate mortality profile changes based on causes of death and to compare them with international indicators. Results show that S. Paulo experienced a rapid decline in the death rate for the group up to 1970, as also happened in Rio de Janeiro city up to 1980. This latter city has always shown higher mortality rates. However, during the past decade a higher proportion of deaths occurred in S. Paulo resulting in closer mortality curves. Young people's mortality rates are not no longer decreasing. The rising tendency is accounted on male mortality increase. Infectious diseases, primarily tuberculosis, were responsible for the highest rates during the first decades studied, up to the fifties. After 1960 a transition took place and violent deaths, such as accidents and homicide, became the leading causes. Besides them, depending on the period analysed, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infection and, later on, AIDS came to occupy a prominent position.