Petrol attendants are exposed to petrol volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which may have genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) is a method highly sensitive to DNA damage induced by environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of exposure of petrol attendants to petrol VOCs and also to determine their effect on DNA damage and repair in lymphocytes of African petrol attendants. The exposed group consisted of 20 subjects, randomly selected from three petrol stations. A control group of 20 unexposed subjects was also chosen and matched for age and smoking habits with the exposed group. Sorbent tubes were used to assess personal exposure of petrol attendants. The comet assay was used to investigate the basal DNA damage and repair capacity in isolated lymphocytes of petrol attendants and control subjects. Blood samples were taken from the petrol attendants at the end of their 8 hour working shift and also from the control subjects. The petrol attendants were found to be exposed to levels of petrol VOCs lower than the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for constituent chemicals. A significant relationship was found between the volume of petrol sold during the shift and the average concentrations of benzene, toluene and the total VOCs measured. However, relative humidity had a negative correlation with the average concentrations of benzene, toluene, xylene and the total VOCs. Significantly higher basal DNA damage was observed with the exposed group compared to the control group. The period of exposure influenced the level of DNA damage and the calculated repair capacity. Smoking and age had a significant influence on the level of DNA damage. DNA repair capacity was delayed in smokers of both exposed and non-exposed group. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Occupational Hygiene))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Petrol attendants are exposed to petrol volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which may have genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) is a method highly sensitive to DNA damage induced by environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of exposure of petrol attendants to petrol VOCs and also to determine their effect on DNA damage and repair in lymphocytes of African petrol attendants. The exposed group consisted of 20 subjects, randomly selected from three petrol stations. A control group of 20 unexposed subjects was also chosen and matched for age and smoking habits with the exposed group. Sorbent tubes were used to assess personal exposure of petrol attendants. The comet assay was used to investigate the basal DNA damage and repair capacity in isolated lymphocytes of petrol attendants and control subjects. Blood samples were taken from the petrol attendants at the end of their 8 hour working shift and also from the control subjects. The petrol attendants were found to be exposed to levels of petrol VOCs lower than the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for constituent chemicals. A significant relationship was found between the volume of petrol sold during the shift and the average concentrations of benzene, toluene and the total VOCs measured. However, relative humidity had a negative correlation with the average concentrations of benzene, toluene, xylene and the total VOCs. Significantly higher basal DNA damage was observed with the exposed group compared to the control group. The period of exposure influenced the level of DNA damage and the calculated repair capacity. Smoking and age had a significant influence on the level of DNA damage. DNA repair capacity was delayed in smokers of both exposed and non-exposed group. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Occupational Hygiene))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), irlandais d’expression française et anglaise, peut être considéré comme un des écrivains modernistes du XXe siècle les plus influents. Son nom est surtout associé au théâtre de l’absurde, un style de théâtre des années 50 inspiré des surréalistes et des dadaïstes, dont l’origine était le traumatisme de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Parmi les pièces absurdes les plus importantes se trouve En attendant Godot de Beckett, une pièce connue et jouée dans le monde entier. Ce que Samuel Beckett nous montre dans En attendant Godot est évidemment l’absurdité de la vie, et l’absurdité de ce qui n’est pas encore venu ou déterminé. Le point central dans cette pièce est – malgré l’absence d’histoire, de sens et de but – sa représentation de la condition humaine : les relations, la communication, l’inquiétude et, bien sûr, l’attente. Le but de se mémoire sera d’examiner de quelle manière Beckett révèle son image de la condition humaine à travers d’une pièce rompant avec toute convention théâtrale classique.

Petrol attendants are exposed to petrol volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which may have genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) is a method highly sensitive to DNA damage induced by environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of exposure of petrol attendants to petrol VOCs and also to determine their effect on DNA damage and repair in lymphocytes of African petrol attendants. The exposed group consisted of 20 subjects, randomly selected from three petrol stations. A control group of 20 unexposed subjects was also chosen and matched for age and smoking habits with the exposed group. Sorbent tubes were used to assess personal exposure of petrol attendants. The comet assay was used to investigate the basal DNA damage and repair capacity in isolated lymphocytes of petrol attendants and control subjects. Blood samples were taken from the petrol attendants at the end of their 8 hour working shift and also from the control subjects. The petrol attendants were found to be exposed to levels of petrol VOCs lower than the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for constituent chemicals. A significant relationship was found between the volume of petrol sold during the shift and the average concentrations of benzene, toluene and the total VOCs measured. However, relative humidity had a negative correlation with the average concentrations of benzene, toluene, xylene and the total VOCs. Significantly higher basal DNA damage was observed with the exposed group compared to the control group. The period of exposure influenced the level of DNA damage and the calculated repair capacity. Smoking and age had a significant influence on the level of DNA damage. DNA repair capacity was delayed in smokers of both exposed and non-exposed group. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Occupational Hygiene))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

In this thesis, I describe how women who are forced to migrate from Burma into Thailand manage their fertility, unwanted pregnancy and pregnancy loss. The study was initiated by Dr Cynthia Maung, a Burmese medical doctor, herself a stateless person who coordinates a refugee-led primary health service five kilometres inside Thailand. Unsafe abortion is a common problem and much time and resources are taken with the care of women suffering haemorrhage, infection and pain after self-induced abortion in both Thai and Burmese-led health facilities. The thesis examines the characteristics of Burmese women admitted to health facilities with post-abortion complications and their chosen methods of self-induced abortion. Local meanings of abortion and post-abortion care are explored. Lay midwives play a central role in fertility management and some are abortionists. Men’s role in the management of fertility is also presented. The women are generally married with children. Considered illegal migrants, they are employed and work in Thailand without work permits. Many women have a history of escaping human rights abuses and entrenched poverty in Burma. At least a third of women admitted into care with post-abortion complications had induced their abortion with oral herbal preparations, pummelling manipulations or stick abortions. Most of the abortion services were provided by Burmese lay midwives. Reasons for terminating the pregnancy include: poverty, gender-based violence and the local illness of ‘weakness’. In addition, low sexual health knowledge, and difficult access to reproductive health services play a part in mistimed pregnancy. / There is no commonly agreed definition of abortion between formal, informal health workers or women. Most people considered it against cultural lore and in some cases judicial law but still felt it was necessary. Women’s perceptions of the viability of their pregnancy and its outcome prevailed. Men played a limited role in fertility management. I argue that a lack of rights to work and earn a fair wage; to move without fear, a lack of sexual health information, and the ability to safely control fertility increases women’s risk of unsafe abortion. Furthermore, violence perpetrated at the individual and state level contributes to unsafe abortion. Burmese women’s mortality and morbidity associated with unsafe abortion is largely unrecorded by Thai processes and unknown to the Burmese military government. Unwanted and mistimed pregnancy can be avoided through reproductive technologies, education programmes, and access to modern contraceptives. To safely terminate unwanted pregnancies and to treat the complications of pregnancy loss is not only possible but a woman’s right as delineated in the international treaty CEDAW, to which Burma and Thailand are signatories. Yet Burmese women continue to suffer: become sterile, socially vilified, unemployed or repatriated against their will due to their reproductive status. Their sickness and deaths are secondary to the economic imperatives of Burma and Thailand and their human rights continue to be violated.....

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1992. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

This thesis deals with VideoIVR issue. Its main purpose is to provide a holistic view on the service through the description of components and relevant case studies. Content in this work is divided into four chapters. First and third chapter are informal and explain what IVR and VideoIVR is. Second chapter is focused on one of service's administration tools. Fourth chapter breaks down project plan of VideoIVR implementation and benefits that arise from employment of an automated system.

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) are the primary health care providers for women at the time of childbirth in many parts of the world. In India, particularly in remote areas such as Garhwal, these women play a key role in maternal health. Training programmes for TBAs can lead to dramatic reductions in neonatal mortality as well as in maternal morbidity and mortality, due to improved hygienic practices at the time of delivery. Yet training programmes for TBAs often lack sociocultural relevance, and fail to incorporate an understanding of the TBAs' perceptions of the process of pregnancy and delivery. Understanding more about the role of the TBA as a diagnostician and a decision-maker within a given sociocultural context can make such training programmes more culturally congruent. This research report describes the way in which TBAs (dais) in Garhwal interpret obstetrical complications, and how they make decisions regarding the need for cosmopolitan medical care. TBAs in Garhwal interpret obstetrical complications using a variety of explanatory models, arising from an understanding of health and illness which shows influences of Vedic, Ayurvedic, folk and cosmopolitan medical models. These explanatory models often led to a perception of "danger” and the "dangerous case" which is widely divergent from the cosmopolitan medical model. Specific areas are identified where the dais' interpretation of "danger" was particularly divergent from the cosmopolitan medical model. These areas of conceptual conflict result in diagnoses and treatment procedures which can lead to significant delays in the woman receiving needed cosmopolitan medical care. The third stage of action-research process is the development of a participatory training programme, in which the TBA is an active participant. The aim of the training programme is to move towards a shared perception of risk regarding major obstetrical complications. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.

Infant mortality (IM) incidence in health facility systems during or after infant delivery is substantially high in Nigeria. In this quantitative, cross-sectional study, the effects of skill birth attendants (SBAs), prenatal care, and providers of prenatal care on IM in health facility delivery centers were examined. The Mosley and Chen theoretical framework informed this study and was used to explain the relationship between SBAs, prenatal care, and providers of prenatal care and IM. One hundred and sixty infant deaths were examined among mothers who used an SBA versus those who did not, mothers who had prenatal care versus those without, and mothers who received prenatal care from a health facility versus traditional providers. The 2014 verbal and social autopsy secondary data set was analyzed using binary logistic regression technique. There was no significant difference in risk of IM between mothers who had SBA during infant delivery in health facility compared to those without SBA during delivery. Mothers who received prenatal care had a significant higher risk of infant death in a health facility compared to those that did not receive prenatal care. Mothers who received prenatal care from traditional providers did not have a statistically significant risk of IM compared to mothers who received prenatal care from a health facility. The findings could have positive social change implications by encouraging multilevel public health stakeholders to support and promote the use of health surveillance in understanding the barriers and challenges of health facility delivery practices, prenatal care, and use of SBA as it relates to IM to facilitate policy change in maternal and infant care practices in Nigeria.