Psychological treatment of sexual problems. A review of literature published between 2001 and 2010. Presentation of method and preliminary results

While the quality of treatment traditionally has been a reflection of educational diplomas and professional licences, clinicians are now challenged to document treatment methods based on updated research. The American Psychological Association published a report on evidence-based practice in psychology in 2006, where best available research evidence is based on multiple types of research evidence. The report focuses on clinical expertise and patient characteristics, culture and preferences as factors in evidence-based practice in psychology. There has been a call for more randomized and controlled research as basis for evidence for the effect of treatment. The complexity of psychological treatment of sexual problems calls for more varied evidence. A literature search of publications between 2001 and 2010 was done in order to explore what kind of evidence is referred to in the literature. The first results of this search will be presented in this article. One question to be discussed is difficulties related to collecting literature through databases. Additional search methods like snow-balling and manual searches give important additional results, but limit the stringency of the search. Further results will be presented in future publications.     

No association between rs6897932 in the gene encoding interleukin‐7 receptor α and low‐grade inflammation or self‐reported health – results from the Danish Blood Donor Study

The T‐allele in the single nucleotide polymorphism rs6897932 in the gene encoding the IL‐7 receptor α (IL7RA) is associated with reduced risk of autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis and also affects the course of HIV infection. Low‐grade inflammation (LGI) and self‐reported, health‐related quality of life (HRQL) are often associated with chronic diseases and widely used in assessing and monitoring health status. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the T‐allele in rs6897932 is associated with reduced risk of LGI (hsCRP 3–10 mg/L), history of infectious mononucleosis (IM), and HRQL in healthy individuals. A total of 17, 293 healthy Danish individuals from the Danish Blood Donor Study were included in the analyses. We tested rs6897932 as a predictor of LGI, self‐reported IM, and HRQL in univariable and multivariable models stratified by sex. No associations between rs6897932 and LGI, self‐reported IM or HRQL were found in men or women. This suggests that rs6897932 is not associated with general inflammation, and the reported associations between the T‐allele in rs6897932 with several autoimmune diseases may be mediated through effects on a restricted part of the immune system.     

Subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia have lower aortic valve area and higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers

BackgroundReduction of the aortic valve area (AVA) may lead to aortic valve stenosis with considerable impact on morbidity and mortality if not identified and treated. Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] and also inflammatory biomarkers, including platelet derived biomarkers, have been considered risk factor for aortic stenosis; however, the association between Lp(a), inflammatory biomarkers and AVA among patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is not clear.ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the relation between concentration of Lp(a), measurements of the aortic valve including velocities and valve area and circulating inflammatory biomarkers in adult FH subjects and controls.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study aortic valve measures were examined by cardiac ultrasound and inflammatory markers were analyzed in non-fasting blood samples. The study participants were 64 FH subjects with high (n = 29) or low (n = 35) Lp(a), and 14 healthy controls.ResultsAortic valve peak velocity was higher (p = 0.02), and AVA was lower (p = 0.04) in the FH patients compared to controls; however, when performing multivariable linear regression, there were no significant differences. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the high and low FH Lp(a) groups regarding the aortic valve. FH subjects had higher levels of platelet-derived markers CD40L, PF4, NAP2 and RANTES compared to controls (0.003 ≤ P ≤ 0.03). This result persisted after multiple linear regression.ConclusionsMiddle-aged, intensively treated FH subjects have higher aortic valve velocity, lower AVA, and higher levels of the platelet-derived markers CD40L, PF4, NAP2 and RANTES compared to healthy control subjects. The aortic valve findings were not significant after multiple linear regression, whereas the higher levels of platelet-derived markers were maintained.     

Perceiving haptic feedback in virtual reality simulators

Background

To improve patient safety, training of psychomotor laparoscopic skills is often done on virtual reality (VR) simulators outside the operating room. Haptic sensations have been found to influence psychomotor performance in laparoscopy. The emulation of haptic feedback is thus an important aspect of VR simulation. Some VR simulators try to simulate these sensations with handles equipped with haptic feedback. We conducted a survey on how laparoscopic surgeons perceive handles with and without haptic feedback.

Methods

Surgeons with different levels of experience in laparoscopy were asked to test two handles: Xitact IHP with haptic feedback and Xitact ITP without haptic feedback (Mentice AB, Gothenburg, Sweden), connected to the LapSim (Surgical Science AB, Sweden) VR simulator. They performed two tasks on the simulator before answering 12 questions regarding the two handles. The surgeons were not informed about the differences in the handles.

Results

A total of 85 % of the 20 surgeons who participated in the survey claimed that it is important that handles with haptic feedback feel realistic. Ninety percent of the surgeons preferred the handles without haptic feedback. The friction in the handles with haptic feedback was perceived to be as in reality (5 %) or too high (95 %). Regarding the handles without haptic feedback, the friction was perceived as in reality (45 %), too low (50 %), or too high (5 %). A total of 85 % of the surgeons thought that the handle with haptic feedback attempts to simulate the resistance offered by tissue to deformation. Ten percent thought that the handle succeeds in doing so.

Conclusions

The surveyed surgeons believe that haptic feedback is an important feature on VR simulators; however, they preferred the handles without haptic feedback because they perceived the handles with haptic feedback to add additional friction, making them unrealistic and not mechanically transparent.     

Development and description of New Nordic Diet scores across infancy and childhood in the Norwegian Mother,Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

In recent years, examining dietary patterns has become a more common way of investigating potential associations between diet and adverse health outcomes. The New Nordic Diet (NND) is a potentially healthy and sustainable dietary pattern characterized by foods that are locally available and traditionally consumed in the Nordic countries. The diet has been typically examined in adult populations, and less is known about compliance to the NND from infancy throughout childhood. In the current study, we therefore aimed to develop and describe child age‐specific NND scores. This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and uses data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN). We have previously developed a NND score for the maternal diet during pregnancy, and the development of the child diet scores was based on the rationale of this score. Food frequency data from n = 89 715 at child age 6 months, n = 76 432 at 18 months, n = 58 884 at 3 years, and n = 35 978 at 7 years were used to construct subscales in accordance with the maternal diet score. Subscales were composed of responses to a selection of food and drink items or other questions and were dichotomized by the median, yielding four age‐specific diet scores where the possible scoring ranged from 0 to 6 at 6 months and 3 years and from 0 to 9 at 18 months and 7 years. The developed scores will be used to examine associations with childhood overweight and cognitive and mental development in future studies.