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This paper discusses the relationship between the public and private sectors in the Unified National Health System (SUS), based on research whose objective was to identify governance strategies and mechanisms for public/private relations in the health sector, considering the search for equity in Greater Metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil. Governance was used as an analytical category, with health system regulation as the issue. Municipal and State health secretaries, members of health councils, and SUS staff were interviewed, and the empirical material was classified as: (a) regulatory mechanisms and instruments; (b) power loci; and (c) actors' positions concerning the SUS and its relationship to the private sector. Mechanisms and instruments have been created and used in the municipalities for regulation of their own services. Regulatory measures for the complementary and supplementary healthcare sector are practically nonexistent. There are numerous institutional power loci, seen more as places for submitting demands than as forums for negotiation. Despite some progress, governance appears to be more of a formal issue. Discussion is needed on the relationship between the public and private sectors and its regulation by municipalities in order to improve the health system.

The concept of risk entails a broad discussion, ranging from a more general approach, seeking to contextualize it in the dynamic of societal change, to a more specific approach in the field of health, particularly in epidemiological studies on associations. The term "risk" has appeared with increasing frequency in medical journals in the last three decades, but the phenomenon is not exclusive to health and is permeated by the diversity of a notion that hides a conceptual gap. Given this diversity, the current paper begins with a literature review to systematize the discussion of risk. The result is organized in three sections: 1) an overview of the discussion on risk within the debate on societal change in the transition from modernity to a new phase of social organization; 2) a summary of various uses of the risk notion in health knowledge; and 3) the establishment of the epidemiological concept of risk and its link to clinical medicine.

Objective: To assess the lag structure between air pollution exposure and elderly cardiovascular diseases hospital admissions, by gender., Methods: Health data of people aged 64 years or older was stratified by gender in São Paulo city, Southeastern Brazil, from 1996 to 2001. Daily levels of air pollutants (CO, PM10, O3, NO2, and SO2) , minimum temperature, and relative humidity were also analyzed. It were fitted generalized additive Poisson regressions and used constrained distributed lag models adjusted for long time trend, weekdays, weather and holidays to assess the lagged effects of air pollutants on hospital admissions up to 20 days after exposure., Results: Interquartile range increases in PM10 (26.21 microg/m(3)) and SO2 (10.73 microg/m(3)) were associated with 3.17% (95% CI: 2.09-4.25) increase in congestive heart failure and 0.89% (95% CI: 0.18-1.61) increase in total cardiovascular diseases at lag 0, respectively. Effects were higher among female group for most of the analyzed outcomes. Effects of air pollutants for different outcomes and gender groups were predominately acute and some "harvesting" were found., Conclusions: The results show that cardiovascular diseases in São Paulo are strongly affected by air pollution.

An overview of health and social issues is presented here regarding Native Hawaiian transgenders. Perhaps due to relatively greater tolerance of gender diversity among Polynesian cultures, approximately 70% of all male-to-female transgenders in Hawai'i are Native Hawaiian. However, the overall climate is one of discrimination and harassment such that transgenders--who tend to be under-educated, under-employed, and medically underserved--may be the most severely impacted of all Native Hawaiians. Lei Anuenue, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention program for Native Hawaiians, has provided a variety of services for transgenders, including outreach, educational workshops, support groups, HIV testing, and case management. All services are provided by peer leaders who are employed by the program. Data for this article are based on case management, including client self-disclosures and reports of peer staff who knew details of clients' lives having shared with them both generic experiences and specific activities. Information from 100 transgender clients and their case managers indicated that the transgender health profile is far more serious than that of mainstream Native Hawaiians. For example, 74% smoke, 31% use illegal drugs (excluding marijuana), more than 50% have been involved in street or domestic violence, and few individuals over age 50 have been found during three years of outreach. To some extent, employment options limit transgenders to prostitution, drug dealing, and minimum-wage jobs. In addition, a lifestyle of multiple sex partners and lack of opportunities for stable relationships place transgenders at much greater risk for HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and other infectious and non-infectious diseases as compared to the mainstream Native Hawaiian community. Clients in this study were from O'ahu, primarily from downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, and Wai'anae. Future studies should compare the results of this sample to transgenders from the neighbor islands (especially in rural Hawaiian areas), as well as utilize a structured prospective longitudinal approach.