Negative attitudes toward masturbation in sex therapy

The incidence of masturbation in males and females as reported by Kinsey was cited as basic data to support Gagnon and Simon's theoretical conceptions of differences in the psychosexual development of males and females. The use of masturbation as treatment in sex therapy was reviewed. An inventory to measure negative attitudes toward masturbation was described, and four research studies supporting its construct validity was summarized. The affective-cognitive structure of masturbation-guilt was posited to inhibit masturbatory behavior and to elicit negative affects such as guilt and disgust as a consequence of masturbation. The use of the inventory measuring negative attitudes toward masturbation was illustrated using the P-LI-SS-IT model. Intensive therapy from a gestalt sex therapy perspective was illustrated as integrating the negative masturbatory schema into self-regulating awareness-expression cycles. A caution to sex therapists alerted them to the importance of awareness of emotions, fantasy, and sociosexual meanings in sex therapy rather than using masturbation as a packaged technique.     

The ex vivo effect of preadsorbed vitronectin on platelet activation.

The activation of ex vivo canine platelets by preadsorbed vitronectin (VN) was sensitive not only to the polymer substrate utilized but also to the adsorption conditions employed. Lower levels of maximal platelet deposition were obtained for VN-coated silicone rubber (SR) than for other VN-coated substrates with comparable levels of adsorbed VN, but this effect was diminished with increased residence time of VN on the SR surface. Submonolayer and monolayer surface concentrations of VN elicited similar maximal levels of platelet deposition at both short (less than 3 h) and long (greater than 12 h) residence times, but thrombi were larger and more dense for the submonolayer surface concentrations. VN was also more effective in forming thrombi when adsorbed sequentially before albumin instead of after albumin. To further examine these differences in the nature of adsorbed VN between substrates and adsorption conditions, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) elutability measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance optics (FTIR-ATR) evaluations of the adsorbed protein were performed. An SDS solution was able to remove a greater percentage of the VN which was adsorbed to a submonolayer than a monolayer surface concentration when SDS displacement was initiated immediately after adsorption was terminated. However, if the adsorbed protein was allowed to reside on the surface for a length of time before the introduction of the SDS displacing media, a greater percentage of the monolayer surface concentration was removed. The submonolayer surface concentration may be better able to increase its strength of contact with the surface during the added residence time than the monolayer surface concentration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

First family planning visits by young women

Data from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth indicate that among sexually active women aged 15-24, friends and parents are the main sources of referral for first family planning visits. Friends are the leading referral source for women who attend clinics, and parents are the leading referral source for those who go to private doctors. Despite the importance of confidentiality to many teenagers, women who make their first family planning visit before the age of 17 are more likely to be referred by their parents than are those whose first visit occurs when they are 17 or older. Race, age at first visit and income influence women's choice of a provider (clinic or private doctor). Black women, low-income women and younger women are considerably more likely than their counterparts to use a clinic at first family planning visit. At their first visit, sixty-seven percent of women receive birth control counseling, and only 50 percent begin using a contraceptive method. Among clinic users, white women are more likely than black women to begin a birth control method (50 percent vs. 40 percent). Women whose first visit takes place before their first conception (including those who have never been pregnant) are much more likely than women whose first visit occurs after their first pregnancy ends to begin a method. Women who make their first visit during their first pregnancy are more likely than those who are not pregnant to receive a pregnancy test or counseling on matters other than birth control.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Social and clinical correlates of postpartum sterilization in the United States, 1972 and 1980

This analysis is based on the 1972 and 1980 National Natality Surveys, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. About 10.6 percent (381,000) of women in the United States who delivered live infants in 1980 were sterilized postpartum. About 93 percent of these postpartum sterilizations were tubal operations; only 1.4 percent were hysterectomies. Because the literature on the health correlates of sterilization is sparse, this analysis was exploratory. In both 1972 and 1980, married mothers were more likely to be sterilized postpartum if they had previous fetal losses, underlying medical conditions, complications of pregnancy, or a cesarean delivery. Inspection of more detailed tabulations reveals that repeat cesarean delivery, multiparity, diabetes and at the higher birth orders, excess weight gain, and toxemia preeclampsia were associated with postpartum sterilization. An apparent association with varicosity may be due to misreporting. The degree to which each of these associations is causal or spurious awaits further research, but preliminary analysis suggests that some maternal health factors may influence some sterilization decisions. Beyond these specific maternal health conditions and complications, the evidence for a connection between poor maternal health and sterilization is equivocal.     

Calcium binding by a myeloma protein.

We describe a patient with immunoglobulin G (IgG)-kappa myeloma and severe, long-standing, asymptomatic hypercalcemia. Serum nonprotein-bound calcium concentration was 5.2 mg/dl (normal 4.2 to 5.0 mg/dl) at a time when total serum calcium concentration was 17.8 mg/dl. The patient's myeloma protein, IgGCAB, and Fab fragments of IgGCAB migrated more anodally when agarose gel electrophoresis was performed in the absence of calcium ion than when electrophoresis was performed in the presence of calcium ion; 60 other myeloma proteins did not demonstrate such behavior. Purified IgGCAB bound 1.5 calcium ions with a single dissociation constant of 1.2 X 10(-4) M. We speculate that the rare syndrome of myeloma and high protein-bound calcium is due to binding of calcium to variable regions of the myeloma antibody molecules.