Migrant Adults Research Articles

A qualitative process evaluation of an oral health promotion program for older migrant adults

Qualitative process evaluation of a community-based health promotion program conducted to improve the use of oral health services, oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices of older Greek and Italian adults living in Melbourne, Australia. Fifteen focus groups were conducted with a sample of program participants (n=151) aged 55 and over, drawn from nine Italian and six Greek ethnic clubs. The focus groups sought participants' views about all aspects of the oral health promotion program and delivery, including the use of educational seminars; the preparation of simple language printed material known as the ORHIS (Oral Health Information Seminars/Sheets); and the distribution and demonstration of oral care products relevant to each individual seminar. Participants expressed positive views about the program and delivery approach. Findings indicated the importance of communicating dental information through a culturally relevant approach using easily understandable printed material in the participants' native languages; using the venue of their social clubs for health promotion efforts; and using an interactive and socially supportive approach that combined information giving, skills development and discussion in small groups over time. This process evaluation indicated that the ORHIS approach was perceived by participants as appropriate in assisting them to raise awareness of oral health issues and improving oral health knowledge and behaviours. This approach was highly acceptable to and valued by these communities. Findings suggest that when migrant populations are afforded greater consideration and time to learn about oral health concerns in an accessible and culturally relevant manner, the results may be quite positive.

Oral health promotion programme for older migrant adults

This study evaluated the impact of a community-based oral health promotion programme on the use of oral health services, oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices of older Greek and Italian adults attending community clubs and living in Melbourne, Australia. The oral health promotion intervention consisted of three components: a series of oral health seminars, held at the clubs in the participants' native languages, the provision of oral health care products, and the production of oral health information sheets. The intervention programme was known as the Oral Health Information Seminars/Sheets (ORHIS). The content of each session was determined following suggestions and findings from the data collected. A pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was chosen to evaluate the intervention. A total of 520 independent-living older adults, members of Greek or Italian social clubs participated in this evaluation. Participants who took part in the intervention responded with higher levels of achievement than those in the control groups. After controlling for baseline variables, experimental groups were significantly more likely than the control groups at post-test to have improved oral health attitudes, oral health knowledge, and self-assessed physical health status, as well as, self-reported oral hygiene practices and use of oral health services. The ORHIS approach was successful within the setting of social clubs, and highly acceptable to these communities. As such, it represents a helpful approach for the design of (oral) health interventions in older adults. Further research is required to test the long-tem impact including the economic evaluation of the ORHIS approach.

AGE-DEPENDENT IMPAIRMENT OF IgG RESPONSES TO GLYCOSYLPHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL WITH EQUAL EXPOSURE TO PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM AMONG JAVANESE MIGRANTS TO PAPUA, INDONESIA

Immune responses directed at glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors of Plasmodium falciparum may offer protection against symptomatic malaria. To independently explore the effect of age on generation of the anti-GPI IgG response, we measured serum anti-GPI IgGs in a longitudinal cohort of migrant Javanese children (6-12 years old) and adults (> or = 20 years old) with equivalent numbers of exposures to P. falciparum in Papua, Indonesia. While the peak response in adults was achieved after a single infection, comparable responses in children required > or = 3-4 infections. Significantly fewer children (16%) than adults (41%) showed a high (optical density > 0.44) anti-GPI IgG response (odds ratio [OR] = 3.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.3-6.3, P < 0.0001), and adults were more likely to show a persistently high response (OR = 5.5, 95% CI = 1.0-56.8, P = 0.03). However, the minority of children showing a strong response were significantly less likely to experience symptoms with subsequent parasitemia compared with those with a weak response (OR = 4.0, 95% CI = 1.1-13.8, P = 0.02). This effect was not seen among high- and low-responding adults (OR = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.5-2.8, P = 0.60). Host age, independent of cumulative exposure, apparently represents a key determinant of the quantitative and qualitative nature of the IgG response to P. falciparum GPI.

Juvenile hormone regulation of longevity in the migratory monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) of eastern North America are well known for their long-range migration to overwintering roosts in south-central Mexico. An essential feature of this migration involves the exceptional longevity of the migrant adults; individuals persist from August/September to March while their summer counterparts are likely to live less than two months as adults. Migrant adults persist during a state of reproductive diapause in which both male and female reproductive development is arrested as a consequence of suppressed synthesis of juvenile hormone. Here, we describe survival in monarch butterflies as a function of the migrant syndrome. We show that migrant adults are longer lived than summer adults when each are maintained under standard laboratory conditions, that the longevity of migrant adults is curtailed by treatment with juvenile hormone and that the longevity of summer adults is increased by 100% when juvenile hormone synthesis is prevented by surgical removal of its source, the corpora allatum. Thus, monarch butterfly persistence through a long winter season is ensured in part by reduced ageing that is under endocrine regulation, as well as by the unique environmental properties of their winter roost sites. Phenotypic plasticity for ageing is an integral component of the monarch butterflies' migration-diapause syndrome.

Proteins immunoreactive with antibody against a human leptin fragment are found in serum and tissues of the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus L

An affinity-purified, polyclonal antibody raised against a peptide corresponding to amino acids 137–156 at the carboxy terminus of human leptin (16 kD) was used to search for immunoreactive protein(s) in the lamprey, Petromyzon marinus. Immunoblots of serum from different phases of the life cycle showed the presence of a 65-kD immunoreactive protein in the larvae and all stages of metamorphosis but not in feeding juvenile and upstream migrant adults. Extracts of tissues known to store fat were also examined using the same antibody. Muscle and fat column from all phases tested (larvae, stage 2 and 4 metamorphosing animals, feeding juveniles and upstream migrants) showed 100- and 50-kD immunoreactive proteins. Extracts of nephric fold, the primary site of fat storage during metamorphosis, lacked the 100-kD protein but had the 50 kD; they also had a 16 kD immunoreactive protein not found in the other tissues. The immunoreactivity of the proteins of both serum and tissue extracts was blocked by pretreatment of the antibody with the leptin-derived antigen. The results indicate that P. marinus has proteins that share at least one epitope with mammalian leptin.

The age-specific prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum in migrants to Irian Jaya is not attributable to agglutinating antibody repertoire

Previous observations have shown that individuals migrating from a malaria free area to a malaria endemic region in North Eastern Irian Jaya quickly acquire anti-parasite immunity, in an age-dependent manner. Sera from migrants and long-term residents in this area were examined for their ability to agglutinate a range of Plasmodium falciparum isolates and to disrupt erythrocyte rosettes. Antibody responses to merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) and ring-infected erythrocyte surface antigen (RESA) were also determined. The range of isolates agglutinated by sera from the migrants approached that seen in long-term residents. No difference was found between migrant adults and children in the range of agglutinating antibody, size of agglutinates, nor disruption of rosettes. Anti-MSP2 and anti-RESA antibodies were the only factors examined which showed a correlation with age. We conclude that although antibody to parasite neoantigens expressed on the surface of infected erythrocytes may play a role in the acquisition of immunity, the humoral response to other P. falciparum antigens is more likely to account for the age-dependent prevalence of parasitaemia observed.

Voices from the fields: Community‐based migrant education

AbstractAn exploration of the complex interaction of factors that shapes migrant adults' participation in Adult Basic Education programs leads to recommendations for effectively meeting migrant farmworkers' educational needs.

Immunoreactivity to peptides belonging to the pancreatic polypeptide family (NPY, aPY, PP, PYY) and to glucagon-like peptide in the endocrine pancreas and anterior intestine of adult lampreys, Petromyzon marinus: An immunohistochemical study

Immunoreactivity of antisera directed against human neuropeptide Y (NPY), anglerfish polypeptide YG (aPY), bovine pancreatic polypeptide (bPP), salmon pancreatic polypeptide (sPP), porcine peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY), and salmon glucagon-like peptide (GLP) was investigated in the endocrine pancreas and anterior intestine of adult lampreys, Petromyzon marinus, by immunohistochemical analysis. There was no immunoreactivity to anti-sPP and anti-bPP in any tissue and anti-GLP immunostaining was only present in the anterior intestine. The immunoreactivity to antisera raised against NPY, aPY, and PYY was colocalized within the same small number of cells in the caudal and cranial pancreas of juveniles and the caudal pancreas of upstream migrant adults. These antibodies did not immunostain B- or D-cells and thus, NPY, aPY, and PYY were likely localized in a third cell type (3a) in the lamprey pancreas. Immunostaining of a few cells with only anti-aPY suggested the possibility of a fourth cell type (3b). Immunoreactivity was similar in the cranial and caudal pancreas of male upstream migrants; however, in the female cranial pancreas, a few cells demonstrated intense immunoreaction to anti-aPY, while weaker immunostaining with this antiserum was observed in B-cells. In the intestine of juvenile and upstream migrant lampreys, positive immunostaining to GLP, NPY, aPY, and PYY antibodies was colocalized within the same cell. We believe that this cell may contain PYY/glucagon family peptides. Other intestinal cells immunostained with either GLP or somatostatin-34 antiserum.

A Computer Model to Evaluate Chemical Control of Beet Armyworm in Chrysanthemum Ranges in Florida

The population of beet armyworms, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner), in a chrysanthemum range near Ft. Myers, Florida, was simulated by a model based on the insect life history, the maximum and minimum temperatures, and light trap records. The increase in population with no treatments was similar to that observed at Red Rock, Arizona, and at Gainesville, Florida. Then the effect of insecticides on the life stages was superimposed in the model. With treatments, the populations could not be sustained at the original level. However, when migrant adults were added, the original populations were approximated. Thus, eggs from migrant moths place an unceasing demand upon the control program to insure plant protection and to maintain production.

Nematospora gossypii . [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria

Abstract A description is provided for Nematospora gossypii . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: On Gossypium hirsutum . Also on Abutilon spp., Asclepias curassavica, Centrosema plumieri, Citrus aurantium, C. nobilis, Coffea arabica, C. robusta, Datura metel, Glycine max, Gossypium herbaceum var. africanum, Gossypium spp., Hibiscus cannabinus, H. esculentus, H. vitifolius, Lycopersicum esculentum, Persea gratissima, Phaseolus lunatus, P. mungo, P. vulgaris, Sida spp., Sterculia platanifolia, Thespesia garckeana and Vigna spp. (30: 124). DISEASES: Internal Boll Rot or staining of Cotton or Stigmatomycosis. The lint fibres become dirty yellowish-brown and the seed coat is stained with brown spots. With age the lint loosens from the seeds and becomes reduced to a papery membrane. The fungus forms a mat on the seed surface but does not penetrate this unless already mechanically injured. Infection results either in premature dropping of the bolls or in a drying out of those which remain on the plant. The discolouration of the lint is due to toxins produced by the fungus (Pearson &amp; Maxwell Darling, 1958). A number of factors affect the degree of infection of cotton bolls such as age, sugar content of the bolls and humidity. Young bolls with high sugar content are highly susceptible. Incidence of infection increases with increase in humidity (27: 361; 39: 230). In coffee it causes dry rot, the beans become black and shrunken. Leguminous seeds become dry, shrivelled and dark. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Africa (Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda), Asia (Burma, India); Central America and the Caribbean and U.S.A. (CMI Map 153, ed. 3, 1959; 30: 124; 39: 413). TRANSMISSION: The fungus is mechanically transmitted from plant to plant on the mouth parts of hemipterous insects (10: 519; 18: 309; Wickens, 1942; Pearson &amp; Maxwell Darling, 1958) including species of Dysdercus (cotton strainers), Nezara (green bug), Leptoglossus (leaf-footed tomato bug), Phthia (red tomato bug), Antestia (coffee bug) and Callidea . Of these, species of Dysdercus are the more common carriers. The fungus may enter through an open wound but generally infection accompanies insect punctures. The needle shaped ascospores are especially well adapted for this mode of infection (29: 211). The fungus is not a soil inhabitant but may persist in a viable condition from one season to the next on fallen diseased bolls in damp conditions as well as in insect exuviae. The fungus survives in the seeds of malvaceous plants in the off-season and from these it is carried to the cotton crop by migrant adults of Dysdercus (Pearson &amp; Maxwell Darling, 1958).