An evaluation of clinical mock boards and their influence on the success rate on qualifying boards.
(49/705)
An important responsibility of each dental school to its graduating dental students is exposure to and evaluation on a mock board that simulates one or more of the examinations given by its respective regional testing agencies. An introduction to the procedures and environment that will be encountered on a qualifying examination will hopefully increase a student's chance for success on such a test. The purpose of this study was to test the relationship of the various attributes or variables of mock boards given by dental schools in the United States and Puerto Rico with results obtained on the regional or state qualifying board(s) related to timing, structure, method of evaluation, graduation, and remediation. A twenty-item questionnaire was mailed to key clinical or curricular deans at fifty-four accredited dental schools. Ninety-three percent of schools completed and returned the questionnaire. In the sample of respondents, the percentages of schools participating in the various qualifying exams were: CRDTS = 22 percent; NERB = 42 percent; SRTA = 20 percent; WREB = 28 percent; Independents = 24 percent, with a reported overall passing rate (greater than or equal to 70) of 58 percent. The median time between the mock board and the qualifying board was 7.5 weeks. Results indicated that no single aspect of a mock board had a statistically significant effect on the outcome of qualifying examinations, resulting in a failure to reject the null hypothesis. Such findings may indicate that schools should focus their efforts on reassessing the restrictions and requirements imposed upon their students related to their mock board. A future study could include surveying recent graduates for their opinions of the value of their mock board experiences. (+info)
A preliminary study of circulating vitamins in a Puerto Rican migrant farm population in New Jersey.
(50/705)
A preliminary survey of circulating vitamin B12 biotin, folate, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, pantothenate, nicotinate, and vitamin A & B-carotene of 53 Puerto Rican migrant farm workers was undertaken. Results indicate that hypovitaminemia existed particularly for vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and vitamin A. (+info)
Pregnancy in perinatally HIV-infected adolescents and young adults--Puerto Rico, 2002.
(51/705)
Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the United States in the mid-1990s, the life expectancy of U.S. children who were infected perinatally with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has increased substantially. As a result, the number of perinatally HIV-infected females in the United States who are becoming both sexually active and pregnant is increasing. During August 1998-May 2002, a total of 10 pregnancies were identified among eight perinatally HIV-infected adolescents and young adults in Puerto Rico; in April 2002, the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) asked CDC to assist in assessing such pregnancies. This report describes these pregnancies and discusses factors associated with sexual activity and pregnancy. The findings suggest that increasing numbers of pregnancies will occur among perinatally HIV-infected adolescents and young adults and that appropriately tailored reproductive health interventions should be developed. (+info)
Brief report: Cross-cultural replication of an anomalous psychometric pattern in children with type 1 diabetes.
(52/705)
OBJECTIVE: To replicate an anomalous psychometric profile previously documented in children with Type 1 diabetes living in the mainland United States with a cross-cultural sample selected from Puerto Rico. METHODS: Ninety-three Spanish-speaking children (M age = 12.8 years) with Type 1 diabetes living in Puerto Rico were administered the Puerto Rican version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The factor structure of the Puerto Rican sample's WISC-R was then compared to that of a United States sample (n = 95) in which an anomalous factor structure in children with diabetes was first documented. RESULTS: As in the United States sample, a four-factor IQ structure was obtained. Instead of the traditional three-factor structure of the WISC-R, the Perceptual Organization factor split into a Spatial Conceptual factor and an anomalous Visual Discrimination factor. CONCLUSIONS: Results support previous findings and suggest anomalies in the psychometric profiles of children with Type 1 diabetes. Cross-cultural replication of the anomalous IQ factor structure, and atypical visual discrimination, suggests that differences are illness-related, and consideration may therefore be warranted when administering some subtests of the Wechsler scales to children with Type 1 diabetes. (+info)
Migration and HIV risk behaviors: Puerto Rican drug injectors in New York City and Puerto Rico.
(53/705)
OBJECTIVES: We compared injection-related HIV risk behaviors of Puerto Rican current injection drug users (IDUs) living in New York City and in Puerto Rico who also had injected in the other location with those who had not. METHODS: We recruited Puerto Rican IDUs in New York City (n = 561) and in Puerto Rico (n = 312). Of the former, 39% were "newcomers," having previously injected in Puerto Rico; of the latter, 14% were "returnees," having previously injected in New York. We compared risk behaviors within each sample between those with and without experience injecting in the other location. RESULTS: Newcomers reported higher levels of risk behaviors than other New York IDUs. Newcomer status (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.62) and homelessness (adjusted OR = 2.52) were significant predictors of "shooting gallery" use; newcomer status also predicted paraphernalia sharing (adjusted OR = 1.67). Returnee status was not related to these variables. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention services are needed that target mobile populations who are coming from an environment of high-risk behavior to one of low-risk behavior. (+info)
Ethnicity modifies seasonal variations in birth weight and weight gain of infants.
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Early growth is considered critical for the development of obesity and adulthood cardiovascular diseases. Because season and environmental temperature at birth have also been associated with obesity, it is important to examine whether birth weight and postnatal weight gain vary by season. Data from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project were used to assess the influence of season on birth weight and weight gain during the first 4 mo of life. The sample included 11,091 whites, 11,477 blacks, 1536 Puerto Ricans and 221 subjects of other ethnic groups born at full-term gestation. Black infants born in the fall had a significantly lower birth weight (3.12 +/- 0.42 kg) than those born in the winter (3.16 +/- 0.43 kg, P = 0.002). This difference was not found in the other ethnic groups. Additionally, weight gain (g/mo) for black and Puerto Rican infants during the first 4 mo of life was significantly lower for those born during the fall (black: 816 +/- 186; Puerto Rican: 820 +/- 181) compared to those born in the spring (black: 844 +/- 194, P < 0.001) and summer (Puerto Rican: 861 +/- 185, P < 0.04). Birth weight and early infancy weight gain varied by season and were modified by ethnicity. The potential importance of seasonal variations in pre- and postnatal growth was evaluated in this study. (+info)
Alcohol concentration and risk of oral cancer in Puerto Rico.
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Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for cancers of the mouth and pharynx (oral cancer), but the differential risks by beverage type are unclear. In this 1992-1995 study, the authors examined oral cancer risk in Puerto Rico, comparing alcohol intake among 286 male cases aged 21-79 years and 417 population-based male controls, frequency matched by age. Heavy consumers of liquor (>/=43 drinks per week) had strongly increased risks of oral cancer (odds ratio = 6.4, 95% confidence interval: 2.4, 16.8); beer/wine showed only modest effects. Among liquor drinkers, risks were consistently greater for those who drank straight (undiluted) liquor than for those who usually drank mixed (diluted) liquor (odds ratio = 4.0, 95% confidence interval: 2.4, 6.7). Risks associated with combined exposure to tobacco were also more pronounced when subjects drank liquor straight. The elevated risks associated with drinking homemade rum were similar to those for other types of liquor. These results suggest that alcohol concentration is a risk factor for oral cancer independent of the total quantity of alcohol consumed. (+info)
Selection-driven evolution of emergent dengue virus.
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In the last four decades the incidence of dengue fever has increased 30-fold worldwide, and over half the world's population is now threatened with infection from one or more of four co-circulating viral serotypes (DEN-1 through DEN-4). To determine the role of viral molecular evolution in emergent disease dynamics, we sequenced 40% of the genome of 82 DEN-4 isolates collected from Puerto Rico over the 20 years since the onset of endemic dengue on the island. Isolates were derived from years with varying levels of DEN-4 prevalence. Over our sampling period there were marked evolutionary shifts in DEN-4 viral populations circulating in Puerto Rico; viral lineages were temporally clustered and the most common genotype at a particular sampling time often arose from a previously rare lineage. Expressed changes in structural genes did not appear to drive this lineage turnover, even though these regions include primary determinants of viral antigenic properties. Instead, recent dengue evolution can be attributed in part to positive selection on the nonstructural gene 2A (NS2A), whose functions may include replication efficiency and antigenicity. During the latest and most severe DEN-4 epidemic in Puerto Rico, in 1998, viruses were distinguished by three amino acid changes in NS2A that were fixed far faster than expected by drift alone. Our study therefore demonstrates viral genetic turnover within a focal population and the potential importance of adaptive evolution in viral epidemic expansion. (+info)