Mexican-American Adolescent Sexuality and Sexual Knowledge: An Exploratory Study

This study examined the sexual knowledge, attitudes, and practices of 84 Mexican-American adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 years. Findings indicated that the level of sexual knowledge was low for all subjects regardless of gender, sexual experience, or age. The Pill, condoms, IUD, and spermacides were the most commonly known methods ofpregnancy prevention mentioned by the adolescents. Of the 18 subjects who were sexually active, few practiced any form of birth control. Slightly more than 75% of the adolescents also indicated that birth control makes sex seem preplanned. Finally, both male and female respondents appeared traditional in their attitudes toward sex, with virginity and the responsibility for birth control being more heavily weighted for females than males.

Adoptive transfer of acute lung injury

In this study, we describe a novel adoptive transfer protocol to study acute lung injury in the rat. We show that bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells isolated from rats 5 h after intratracheal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induce a lung injury when transferred to normal control recipient rats. This lung injury is characterized by increased alveolar-arterial oxygen difference and extravasation of Evans blue dye (EBD) into lungs of recipient rats. Recipient rats receiving similar numbers of donor cells isolated from healthy rats do not show adverse changes in the alveolar-arterial oxygen difference or in extravasation of EBD. The adoptive transfer-induced lung injury is associated with increased numbers of neutrophils in the BAL, the levels of which are similar to the numbers observed in BAL cells isolated from rats treated for 5 h with LPS. As an indicator of BAL cell activation, donor BAL cell inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression was compared with BAL cell iNOS expression 48 h after adoptive transfer. BAL cells isolated 5 h after LPS administration expressed iNOS immediately after isolation. In contrast, BAL cells isolated 48 h after adoptive transfer did not express iNOS immediately after isolation but expressed iNOS following a 24-h ex vivo culture. These findings indicate that the activation state of donor BAL cells differs from BAL cells isolated 48 h after adoptive transfer, suggesting that donor BAL cells may stimulate migration of new inflammatory cells into the recipient rats lungs.

Potential acceptability of ovulation detection kits and RU-486 at two college campuses

Two innovations in fertility research may expand birth control options in the United States. Ovulation detection kits, used alone or in conjunction with barrier methods of contraception, could be used to chart the fertile period. RU-486, when used in conjunction with a prostaglandin, induces early abortion, providing an alternative to conventional vacuum aspiration abortion. To measure the hypothetical acceptability of these methods, the authors surveyed 710 women at two college campuses in California regarding potential use of ovulation detection kits and RU-486. Seventy-one percent of the women in the final sample indicated an interest in using ovulation kits. Of these women, most (72%) were interested in using an ovulation detection kit as a supplement to barrier methods, and 22% indicated they would consider the kit as a sole method of birth control. More than 68% of the women in the sample indicated they would choose an abortion if faced with an unwanted pregnancy, and 60% would hypothetically choose RU-486 in preference to a conventional pregnancy termination. The most frequently cited reason for preferring RU-486 rather than conventional methods of abortion was to avoid the risks associated with the vacuum aspiration technique.

Mexican adolescent sexuality: attitudes, knowledge, and sources of information

This study examined the attitudes, knowledge, and sources of information of8J Mexican adolescents. Findings indicated that 85% of the adolescents had received some sex education in school, but only 8% believed that teachers should be responsible for sex education. The majority were satisfied with what they knew about sex. However, on a series of 9 knowledge questions, the greatest mean score was 5.5. Finally, information elicited regardingattitudes was generallyconservative, with most respondents indicating that people (especially females) should be married before they have sex and that sex without love is not okay. This article contributes to the limited literature on Mexican adolescent sexuality in an effort to increase the ability of health education providers to plan programs for this population, both in Mexico and in the United States.