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  1. Lyons N, Bhagwandeen B, Edwards J
    PMID: 36767515 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20032148
    An important preventive measure in the fight against the HIV epidemic is the adoption of HIV testing. The government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago conducted a registration exercise in 2019 for undocumented migrants and refugees from Venezuela residing in the country. These migrants were allowed access to the public health system. In this study, we observed the correlates of HIV testing in Venezuelan migrants residing in Trinidad. A convenience sample of n = 250 migrants was collected via telephone survey from September through December 2020. Variables of interest included social factors, health needs, and uptake of HIV testing. Pearson χ2 tests examined the associations between study variables, and multivariable logistic regression with backward elimination produced the odds of taking an HIV test. In our study, 40.8% of migrants reported having received an HIV test since arriving in Trinidad. Persons who migrated with family or friends had greater odds of getting an HIV test relative to persons who arrived alone (OR = 2.912, 95% CI: 1.002-8.466), and migrants who knew where to get an HIV test also greater odds of getting a test relative to person who did not know where to get a test (OR = 3.173, 95% CI: 1.683-5.982). Migrants with known physical health problems had greater odds of getting an HIV test relative to migrants without these health problems (OR = 1.856, 95% CI: 1.032-3.337). Persons who arrived with family or friends had greater odds of experiencing difficulties accessing public health care relative to persons who arrived alone (OR = 3.572, 95% CI: 1.352-9.442). Migrants earning between $1000 and $2999 TT per month had greater odds of experiencing trouble accessing public health services relative to persons who had monthly earnings of less than $1000 TT (OR = 2.567, 95% CI: 1.252-5.264). This was the first quantitative study on HIV testing among Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad. Migrants still experience difficulties accessing healthcare, which, in turn influences national HIV prevention and control efforts. The results gathered may help in developing HIV prevention plans that are led by a national health policy that takes migrant communities' needs into account.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela/epidemiology
  2. Lyons N, Bhagwandeen B
    Front Public Health, 2023;11:1212825.
    PMID: 37900018 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1212825
    INTRODUCTION: Beginning in 2016, Trinidad and Tobago experienced increasing flows of migrants and refugees from Venezuela. Through a Government Registration Exercise in 2019, followed by a Re-registration Exercise in 2020, migrants and refugees benefitted from access to publicly available primary care and emergency medical services. By applying Andersen's Behavioral Model for Health Service Use, our study examined the non-communicable disease care needs of migrants, and factors influencing their decision to seek public and private health services.

    METHOD: Between September and December 2020, a health questionnaire was administered via telephone to n = 250 migrants from Venezuela. Descriptive statistics summarized the constructs of Andersen's Behavioral Model. The model comprised of predisposing factors including migrants' social characteristics; enabling factors namely monthly earnings, education level and most trusted source of information on medical needs; need for care factors such as migrants self-reported health status, presence of non-communicable health conditions and having visited a doctor in the past 12 months; and the outcome variables which were migrants' decisions to seek public and private health services. Pearson χ2 tests, odds ratios and multivariable logistic regression with backward elimination examined the factors influencing a migrant's decision to seek health services.

    RESULTS: Overall, 66.8% of migrants reported they would seek public health services, while 22.4% indicated they would seek private health services. Predisposing factors namely length of time residing in Trinidad and Tobago (p = 0.031) and living with family/friends (p = 0.049); the enabling factor of receiving information from publicly available sources (p = 0.037); and the need for care factor of visiting a doctor for a physical health problem (p = 0.010) were significant correlates of their decision to seek care in the public sector. Predisposing factors namely living with family/friends (p = 0.020) and the enabling factor of having difficulty accessing healthcare services (p = 0.045) were significant correlates of their decision to seek care from private providers.

    DISCUSSION: Our findings demonstrated the positive association between social networks and a migrant's decision to use public and private health services, thus underscoring the importance of family and friends in facilitating health service use, promoting proper health practices and preventing diseases. Overall, the use of Andersen's Behavioral Model aided in identifying the factors associated with the use of health services by Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago. However, further studies are needed to better understand their need for ongoing care, to inform policy, and to plan targeted health interventions for addressing the gaps in health service access, barriers and use.

    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  3. Rooney-Latham S, Blomquist CL, Scheck HJ
    Plant Dis, 2011 Nov;95(11):1478.
    PMID: 30731749 DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-03-11-0261
    Passiflora edulis Sims f. edulis, known as purple passion fruit, is a woody, perennial vine that is grown for its attractive two-part flower and its purple, edible fruit (4). In November 2009, passion fruit vines were collected during a regulatory nursery inspection in Santa Barbara County and submitted to the California Department of Food and Agriculture Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory. Nearly 100% of the plants inspected, all of which were approximately 1.25 m tall, appeared stunted, defoliated, and severely wilted. Dark brown vascular discoloration was present in the roots and lower stems of the plants. A pinkish violet Fusarium oxysporum colony containing chlamydospores, multiseptate macroconidia, and microconidia formed on monophialidic conidiophores was consistently isolated from roots and stems onto half-strength acidified potato dextrose agar (aPDA). All further experiments were done with an isolate obtained from a single conidium. A portion of the translation elongation factor gene (TEF-1α) was amplified and sequenced with primers ef1 and ef2 from our isolate (GenBank No. JF332039) (3). BLAST analysis of the 615-bp amplicon with the FUSARIUM-ID database showed 99% similarity with a F. oxysporum passion fruit isolate from Australia (NRRL 38273) (3). To confirm pathogenicity, washed roots of four-leaf stage seedlings approximately 10 cm tall were submerged in a conidial spore suspension (106 spores/ml) for 15 min. The conidial suspension was prepared by flooding 10-day-old cultures grown on aPDA medium with sterile distilled water. Seven seedlings were inoculated and planted in 10-cm2 pots and kept in a 25°C growth chamber with a 12-h photoperiod. Seven seedlings were mock inoculated with sterile water. After 3 weeks, four of the seven inoculated plants had leaves with yellow veins and discolored roots and had partially defoliated. Two of the four symptomatic plants also had brown stem cankers. F. oxysporum grew from the isolated roots and stems of all the inoculated plants. F. oxysporum did not grow from root and stem pieces from the water-dipped plants and the plants remained asymptomatic. Inoculations were repeated on plants approximately 15 cm tall with F. oxysporum growing from roots and stem pieces of all inoculated plants. Symptoms of yellow veins and root necrosis were not observed until 4 weeks after inoculation. Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. passiflorae is a significant disease of P. edulis f. edulis in Australia. The disease has also been reported in South Africa, Malaysia, Brazil, Panama, and Venezuela; but it is unclear as to whether the symptoms were caused by Fusarium wilt or Haematonectria canker (1). Banana poka (P. mollissima), P. ligularis, and P. foetida are also susceptible hosts (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. passiflorae on passion fruit in North America. Passion fruit is not commercially produced for consumption in California so the economic importance of this disease appears to be limited to nursery production and ornamental landscapes. The grower of the California nursery stated that the infected passion fruit plants had been propagated on site from seed. The source of inoculum at this nursery remains unknown. References: (1) I. H. Fischer and J. A. M. Rezende. Pest Tech. 2:1, 2008 (2) D. E. Garder. Plant. Dis. 73:476, 1989. (3) D. M. Geiser et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 110:473, 2004. (4) F. W. Martin et al. Econ. Bot. 24:333, 1970.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  4. Martin TE, Oteyza JC, Mitchell AE, Potticary AL, Lloyd P
    Am Nat, 2015 Mar;185(3):380-9.
    PMID: 25674692 DOI: 10.1086/679612
    Growth and development rates may result from genetic programming of intrinsic processes that yield correlated rates between life stages. These intrinsic rates are thought to affect adult mortality probability and longevity. However, if proximate extrinsic factors (e.g., temperature, food) influence development rates differently between stages and yield low covariance between stages, then development rates may not explain adult mortality probability. We examined these issues based on study of 90 songbird species on four continents to capture the diverse life-history strategies observed across geographic space. The length of the embryonic period explained little variation (ca. 13%) in nestling periods and growth rates among species. This low covariance suggests that the relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic influences on growth and development rates differs between stages. Consequently, nestling period durations and nestling growth rates were not related to annual adult mortality probability among diverse songbird species within or among sites. The absence of a clear effect of faster growth on adult mortality when examined in an evolutionary framework across species may indicate that species that evolve faster growth also evolve physiological mechanisms for ameliorating costs on adult mortality. Instead, adult mortality rates of species in the wild may be determined more strongly by extrinsic environmental causes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  5. Martin TE
    Science, 2015 Aug 28;349(6251):966-70.
    PMID: 26315435 DOI: 10.1126/science.aad1173
    Life history theory attempts to explain why species differ in offspring number and quality, growth rate, and parental effort. I show that unappreciated interactions of these traits in response to age-related mortality risk challenge traditional perspectives and explain life history evolution in songbirds. Counter to a long-standing paradigm, tropical songbirds grow at similar overall rates to temperate species but grow wings relatively faster. These growth tactics are favored by predation risk, both in and after leaving the nest, and are facilitated by greater provisioning of individual offspring by parents. Increased provisioning of individual offspring depends on partitioning effort among fewer young because of constraints on effort from adult and nest mortality. These growth and provisioning responses to mortality risk finally explain the conundrum of small clutch sizes of tropical birds.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  6. Figà-Talamanca I, Sinnathuray TA, Yusof K, Fong CK, Palan VT, Adeeb N, et al.
    Int J Health Serv, 1986;16(3):375-89.
    PMID: 3733306
    This article describes a study designed to test a method for assessing the cost to the health services of illegally induced abortion and the feasibility of estimating the incidence of induced abortion by a field interviewing approach. The participating centers included three hospitals in Ankara, Turkey; three hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria; one hospital in Caracas and one in Valencia, Venezuela; and two hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hospitalized abortion cases were classified as induced or spontaneous or as "probably induced," "possibly induced," or "unknown" according to a classification scheme comprising certain medical criteria. The sociodemographic characteristics of induced and spontaneous abortion cases were subjected to discriminant function analysis and the discriminating variables best characterizing the induced versus the spontaneous abortion groups were identified for each center. On the basis of this analysis, the "probably" and "possibly" induced and "unknown" categories were further classified as induced or spontaneous abortion, with stated probabilities. Thus an overall estimate is made of the proportion of all hospitalized abortions that can be considered illegally induced outside the hospital. Selected results on costs of induced and spontaneous abortion are shown. The method further tested the feasibility of obtaining valid survey data on abortion from the communities studied by re-interviewing the women hospitalized for induced and spontaneous abortion six months later in their homes. This exercise showed a degree of under-reporting of abortion that varied widely among centers, even among women who had admitted illegal induction at the time of hospitalization. The feasibility of estimating the incidence of illegal abortion by field studies is discussed in the light of these findings.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  7. Martin TE, Ton R, Niklison A
    Ecol Lett, 2013 Jun;16(6):738-45.
    PMID: 23473270 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12103
    Intrinsic processes are assumed to underlie life history expression and trade-offs, but extrinsic inputs are theorised to shift trait expression and mask trade-offs within species. Here, we explore application of this theory across species. We do this based on parentally induced embryo temperature as an extrinsic input, and mass-specific embryo metabolism as an intrinsic process, underlying embryonic development rate. We found that embryonic metabolism followed intrinsic allometry rules among 49 songbird species from temperate and tropical sites. Extrinsic inputs via parentally induced temperatures explained the majority of variation in development rates and masked a relationship with metabolism; metabolism explained a minor proportion of the variation in development rates among species, and only after accounting for temperature effects. We discuss evidence that temperature further obscures the expected interspecific trade-off between development rate and offspring quality. These results demonstrate the importance of considering extrinsic inputs to trait expression and trade-offs across species.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  8. West KM, Kalbfleisch JM
    Diabetes, 1966 Jan;15(1):9-18.
    PMID: 5907153 DOI: 10.2337/diab.15.1.9
    In each of four countries (Uruguay, Venezuela, Malaya and East Pakistan) where diets and other environmental factors differ greatly, the prevalence of diabetes as determined by impaired glucose tolerance was crudely estimated. Since all subjects received glucose loads, rates of prevalence are much higher than those obtainable by certain less sensitive standard methods. In the tested subjects over thirty years of age the prevalence of "diabetes" (two-hour venous blood glucose levels greater than 149 mg. per 100 ml.) was 6.9 per cent in Uruguay (6.8 per cent for males and 6.9 per cent for females). The prevalence of impaired tolerance in this age group in Venezuela was 7.3 per cent (4.5 per cent in males and 9.4 per cent in females), while in Malaya the rate was only 3.5 per cent (4.5 per cent in
    males and 2.1 per cent in females). In East Pakistan impaired tolerance was present in only 1.5 per cent of this age group (1.2 per cent of males and 2.8 per cent of females). Comparable data are not available in the United States but with use of the technics employed abroad it was found that 17.2 per cent of volunteers in this age group in a Pennsylvania community had impaired tolerance. In East Pakistan, 83 per cent of calories were derived from carbohydrate. Comparable figures were 77 per cent for Malaya, 62 per cent for Venezuela and 53 per cent for Uruguay. In East Pakistan, only 7 per cent of the dietary calories were derived from fat; in Malaya, fat accounted for 21 per cent of dietary calories, in Venezuela, 24 per cent, and in Uruguay, 33 per cent. In East Pakistan only 29 per cent of dietary fat was animal fat. In Malaya, Venezuela, and Uruguay, comparable figures were 30, 35 and 62 per cent, respectively. In Uruguay, 34.4 per cent of the subjects were "obese" (30 per cent or more over "standard" weight), and in Venezuela 14.8 per cent were obese. In contrast none of the subjects from Malaya (566 persons), or East Pakistan (519 persons), was obese by these criteria. In Venezuela and Uruguay there was an association between the prevalence of diabetes and both parity and a history of large babies.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  9. Locke KD, Church AT, Mastor KA, Curtis GJ, Sadler P, McDonald K, et al.
    Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 2017 Jul;43(7):1033-1049.
    PMID: 28903706 DOI: 10.1177/0146167217704192
    We assessed self-consistency (expressing similar traits in different situations) by having undergraduates in the United States ( n = 230), Australia ( n = 220), Canada ( n = 240), Ecuador ( n = 101), Mexico ( n = 209), Venezuela ( n = 209), Japan ( n = 178), Malaysia ( n = 254), and the Philippines ( n = 241) report the traits they expressed in four different social situations. Self-consistency was positively associated with age, well-being, living in Latin America, and not living in Japan; however, each of these variables showed a unique pattern of associations with various psychologically distinct sources of raw self-consistency, including cross-situationally consistent social norms and injunctions. For example, low consistency between injunctive norms and trait expressions fully explained the low self-consistency in Japan. In accord with trait theory, after removing normative and injunctive sources of consistency, there remained robust distinctive noninjunctive self-consistency (reflecting individuating personality dispositions) in every country, including Japan. The results highlight how clarifying the determinants and implications of self-consistency requires differentiating its distinctive, injunctive, and noninjunctive components.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  10. West KM, Kalbfleisch JM
    Diabetes, 1971 May;20(5):289-96.
    PMID: 5581317 DOI: 10.2337/diab.20.5.289
    The sensitivity and specificity of each of five screening tests were estimated in each of three to ten countries by testing subjects drawn from the general populations of adults over thirty-four years of age. This permitted comparisons among countries and among the different tests (fasting, postprandial, and postglucose urine tests, and fasting and postprandial blood glucose values). Sensitivity and specificity of each test varied widely among populations. For example, the sensitivity of the two-hour urine glucose ranged from 17 per cent in Nicaragua to 100 per cent in East Pakistan. Apparently specificity and sensitivity of such tests are influenced by many factors including both the circumstances under which the tests are performed and the characteristics of the population tested. It is, therefore, not possible to predict prevalence rates reliably by extrapolating from the results of screening tests. However, we believe the data for specific populations on the sensitivity and specificity of various tests will provide a rough guide in predicting the cost-effectiveness of alternative approaches to case detection in those particular countries. For instance, these results suggest that roughly 56 per cent of the occult diabetics in Costa Rica in this age group would be detected by a two-hour urine glucose, but only about 41 per cent of those in whom this test was positive would prove to have diabetes. Even modest changes of criteria in defining either "diabetes" or "abnormality" of the screening results produced marked changes in rates of sensitivity and specificity. With few exceptions, tests which were more sensitive were, comparably, less specific, and the reverse was also true. Rates of "diabetes" were markedly influenced by modest changes in diagnostic criteria.
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
  11. Von Keep PA
    Adv Fertil Control, 1967;2:1-5.
    PMID: 12275322
    Matched MeSH terms: Venezuela
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