This ethnographic study was conducted to determine Hmong perspectives and beliefs that influence the Hmong experience in Western medical situations. Hmong perspectives regarding the body as well as descriptions of Hmong experiences within the American medical system were explored using participant observation and interviews over a 2-year time frame. Two focus groups were conducted to confirm findings. Data indicates that the Hmong language lacks terms that translate biomedical body physiology and anatomy. Medical terms and diagnoses lack direct translation and require extensive nondirect terms to approximate meaning. Differences between Hmong traditional beliefs and Western biomedical beliefs create a lack of understanding. Negative health care experiences result in Hmong community members' mistrust and fear of Western medicine.

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Abstract-The bioavailability and desorption characteristics of nonextractable soil-aged atrazine were investigated to examine the significance of this potentially large contaminant fraction in agricultural soils. Radiolabeled atrazine-applied soil was aged for 3 months and then extracted by one of three methods-methanol-water (4:1) at 75ЊC, acetone, and artificial soil water-representing a range of extraction efficiencies. Viable microcosms were constructed with the dried, extracted soil to compare rates and extents of microbially facilitated release and mineralization with desorption rates in sterile microcosms. The most rigorously extracted soil exhibited slow desorption over a 90-d period, but the other soil treatments showed continued slow sorption after reaching an initial maximum desorption concentration within 1 to 5 d. No microbially facilitated release of the nonextractable atrazine was detected for any of the treatments. Rates of ring-and chain-labeled atrazine mineralization declined with decreasing extractability of the soilassociated atrazine fraction. However, the extent of biodegradation (less than 2% of the total atrazine for all extracted soil treatments) was less than the extent of abiotic desorption. Mass-balance calculations suggest that all biodegradation occurred in the dissolved phase.

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