RESUMEN
Most of the leprosy patients in Turkey live in the rural areas of Eastern and South-Eastern Anatolia. Those living in the suburbs of the big cities of the Western parts of the country have come there by immigration. Nearly all patients are very poor; they have no land, or only a small amount of soil for cultivation. The incidence of deformities in our patients is high, excluding them from regular employment and a source of income. In Turkey, it is obligatory to attend primary school, but after that education has to be paid for, and the poor families of leprosy patients find it difficult to continue the education of their children. As the 'Society for the Struggle Against Leprosy', based in the Istanbul Leprosy Hospital at Bakirköy, we have developed a project to enable patients to continue sending their children to school, whilst at the same time asking the mothers to seek advice and guidance on family planning. The outset objective of this project was to enable children and young people, who otherwise have almost no chance of continuing education, to pursue education at secondary, high school and university levels. It was envisaged that in the long term educated children would be able to find a job and provide effective care and support for parents and other members of the family. This paper describes the administrative and other measures adopted and the results of the project from 1995 to 1998, during which a total of 545 children have been supported at an overall cost of US$107,378. The scholarship project has so far been remarkably successful in Turkey and it is hoped that it may provide a model for similar approaches in other countries. An unexpected and extremely encouraging finding has been that females now exceed males in this project and are increasing at all levels, including university entrance.
Asunto(s)
Familia , Becas/organización & administración , Lepra , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Servicios de Planificación Familiar , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Pobreza , Salud Rural , TurquíaRESUMEN
The mechanisms that mediate the actions of bradykinin on ureteral motility are poorly defined and mediation via prostaglandins has not been examined. Therefore, the effects of bradykinin on contractility and the possible mediator role of prostaglandins have been investigated in sheep ureter. At the concentrations of 10(-8), 10(-7) and 10(-6) M, bradykinin elicited marked reductions in contractile force. When ureteral strips were treated separately with 10(-6) M indomethacin, 2 x 10(-6) M sodium salicylate and 10(-5) M aspirin, each drug produced a significant decrease in contractile force. In strips in which prostaglandin synthesis was inhibited by the above concentrations of indomethacin, sodium salicylate and aspirin, 10(-7) M bradykinin significantly decreased the contractility. From these data, we concluded that in ureter bradykinin decreases contractility via a mechanism not involving prostaglandin generation.
Asunto(s)
Bradiquinina/farmacología , Contracción Isométrica/efectos de los fármacos , Prostaglandinas/metabolismo , Uréter/efectos de los fármacos , Animales , Aspirina/farmacología , Técnicas In Vitro , Indometacina/farmacología , Prostaglandinas/biosíntesis , Ovinos , Salicilato de Sodio/farmacología , Uréter/fisiologíaRESUMEN
Women in Turkey have many social, cultural and economical problems. Women with leprosy have problems in common with other women as well as those related to physical and social consequences of leprosy. There are 2,414 patients with leprosy in Turkey, registered to Istanbul Leprosy Hospital and 829 of them are females. The mean age and duration of disease of our female leprosy patients are high. Most women with leprosy were born in eastern part of Turkey where prevalence of leprosy is higher and most have moved to western regions. The proportion of women who have some kind of social security is very low. Their economic status is also not good and 79% of patients had stigma about their disease. Three fourths of these cases have been hospitalized some time, for different reasons. Most of them (97.2%) have inactive disease at present. Disability degrees of patients are high. Patients with disability degrees over one constitute 54% of total for eyes, 55% for hands and 51% for feet. High percentage of multibacillary form and long duration of disease, delayed diagnosis, insufficient self-care of patients due to low socio-economic and cultural status and failure of health personnel to control patients periodically may be among the reasons for such high ratios of moderate and severe disabilities. In the light of the data obtained in our study, some measures to alleviate the problems of patients resulting from their socio-economic, cultural and social status have been suggested.