Feeling Good About Your Partners’ Relationships: Compersion in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships

Archives of Sexual Behavior - Compersion is a well-known term in polyamorous communities that connotes the positive emotion an individual may experience in relation to their partner’s...     

Endogenous estrogen status, but not genistein supplementation, modulates 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced mutation in the liver cII gene of transgenic big blue rats

A growing number of studies suggest that isoflavones found in soybeans have estrogenic activity and may safely alleviate the symptoms of menopause. One of these isoflavones, genistein, is commonly used by postmenopausal women as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Although sex hormones have been implicated as an important risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, there are limited data on the potential effects of the estrogens, including phytoestrogens, on chemical mutagenesis in liver. Because of the association between mutation induction and the carcinogenesis process, we investigated whether endogenous estrogen and supplemental genistein affect 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mutagenesis in rat liver. Intact and ovariectomized female Big Blue rats were treated with 80 mg DMBA/kg body weight. Some of the rats also received a supplement of 1,000 ppm genistein. Sixteen weeks after the carcinogen treatment, the rats were sacrificed, their livers were removed, and mutant frequencies (MFs) and types of mutations were determined in the liver cII gene. DMBA significantly increased the MFs in liver for both the intact and ovariectomized rats. While there was no significant difference in MF between the ovariectomized and intact control animals, the mutation induction by DMBA in the ovariectomized groups was significantly higher than that in the intact groups. Dietary genistein did not alter these responses. Molecular analysis of the mutants showed that DMBA induced chemical-specific types of mutations in the liver cII gene. These results suggest that endogenous ovarian hormones have an inhibitory effect on liver mutagenesis by DMBA, whereas dietary genistein does not modulate spontaneous or DMBA-induced mutagenesis in either intact or ovariectomized rats.     

Preclinical pharmacology of the antitumor agentO-6-methylguanine in CDF1 mice

O-6-methylguanine (O6-mG), a guanine analog recently shown to be a potent inhibitor of alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase, has been found to potentiate the antitumor activity of nitrosoureas, in particular, carmustine (BCNU), in resistant cell lines (HT-29 mer+) and is targeted for development as a modulating agent with chloroethyl nitrosoureas. A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay of O6-mG in plasma has been developed using a C18 reverse-phase column. O6-mG and the internal standard deoxyguanosine (dGuo) were eluted with a linear gradient of from 15% to 35% methanol in 0.5M ammonium acetate (pH 6.5) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. The assay was linear over a 4-log concentration range with a detection limit of 0.1 g/ml. The within-run and between-run coefficients of variation (CV) were found to be 8.1% and 9.3%, respectively. The pharmacokinetics (PK) of O6-mG were investigated in healthy CDF1 mice following separate i.v. and i.p. administrations. At 20 mg/kg i.v., plasma O6-mG gave a biexponential profile with a terminal half-life (t_1/2) of 24 min and a total clearance (CLT) of 23.7 ml min^–1 kg^–1. Higher doses (40–80 mg/kg) revealed a fluctuating third phase, probably due to enterohepatic cycling. Dose-dependent kinetics as measured by CLT and area under the plasma-concentration curve (AUC) values were also seen. Following i.p. dosing, O6-mG was completely absorbed and available to the circulation. No acute toxicity was observed in the animals, except for mild sedation, a possible side effect of the 10% ethanol used in the formulation. Studies on the cellular metabolism of highly purified [³H]-O6-mG have shown that the compound is not anabolized by a human lymphoblastoid cell line (CEM). Biochemistry studies have shown that the parent molecule is inactivating the alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT), thus exerting its pharmacological effect.Abbreviations O6-mG O-6-methylguanine - HPLC high-performance liquid chromatography - PK pharmacokinetics - CLT total clearance - AUC area under the plasma concentration curve - AGT alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase - dGuo deoxyguanosine This work was supported in part by contract NO1-CM-97620 from the National Cancer Institute (NIH) and by the Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratories by the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, Leukemia, and AIDS Research     

Marijuana use among minority youths living in public housing developments

Youths residing in public housing developments appear to be at markedly heightened risk for drug use because of their constant exposure to violence, poverty, and drug-related activity. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model of marijuana etiology with adolescents (N=624) residing in public housing. African-American and Hispanic seventh graders completed questionnaires about their marijuana use, social influences to smoke maijuana, and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. Results indicated that social influences, such as friends' marijuana use and perceived ease of availability of marijuana, significantly predicted both occasional and future use of marijuana. Individual characteristics such as antimarijuana attitudes and drug refsul skills also predicted marijuana use. The findings imply that effective prevention approaches that target urban youths residing in public housing developments should provide them with an awareness of social influences to use marijuana, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of marijuana smoking, and train adolescents in relevant psychosocial skills.     

Interventional Radiology for Treating Soft Tissue Sarcomas

The role of interventional radiology for soft tissue sarcomas is only occasionally addressed in the literature. However, different techniques such as embolization, selective chemotherapy, chemoembolization, and acrylic cement osteoplasty can be helpful with the primary tumor, recurrences, and metastases. This article discusses these techniques and their complications in treatment of soft tissue sarcomas.     

The Massachusetts Behavioral Health Program Year 5: Transition to a New Managed Care Organization

Year 5 of the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Program was a transition to management by a new private managed care organization. Fifty-eight providers interviewed for an ongoing panel survey reported slightly lower levels of quality, access, utilization, and length of stay than a year earlier. Relationships with providers and advocates improved after an initial difficult period, while consumer and family involvement at all levels remained low. The greatest changes in managed care appeared to take place during the initial transition from fee-for-service care, but intractable problems continue, and full participation of stakeholders seems difficult to achieve.     

Functional Impairment and Cognition in Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a common, chronic and severe mental disorder, affecting approximately 2% of the adult population. Bipolar disorder causes substantial psychosocial morbidity that frequently affects the patient's marriage, children, occupation, and other aspects of the patient's life. Few studies have examined the functional impairment in patients with affective illness. Earlier outcome studies of mania reported favorable long-term outcomes. However, modern outcome studies have found that a majority of bipolar patients evidence high rates of functional impairment. These low reports of functional recovery rates are particularly surprising. The basis for such limited functional recovery is not entirely clear. Factors associated with functional dysfunction include presence of inter-episode symptoms, neuroleptic treatment, lower social economic class, and lower premorbid function. Cognitive dysfunction, a symptom domain of schizophrenia, has been identified as an important measure of outcome in the treatment of schizophrenia. Recently, there has been some suggestion that there may be impaired neuropsychological performance in euthymic patients with recurring mood disorders. Whether impaired neuropsychological performance in associated with the functional impairment in bipolar patients who have achieved syndromal recovery is an intriguing question. The literature on functional impairment and cognition in bipolar disorder is reviewed.     

Functional impact of breast cancer by age at diagnosis.

PURPOSE: To explore changes in physical and psychosocial function before and after breast cancer by age at diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 122,969 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and NHS 2, ages 29 to 71 years, who responded to pre- and postfunctional status assessments were included; 1,082 women were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1992 and 1997. Functional status was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36). Mean change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores was computed across categories representing the combination of incident breast cancer (yes or no) and age at diagnosis (< or = 40, 41 to 64, or 65+ years). RESULTS: Compared with women < or = 40 years without breast cancer, women with breast cancer experienced significant functional declines. Young (age < or = 40) women who developed breast cancer experienced the largest relative declines in HRQoL (as compared with middle-aged and elderly women) in multiple domains including physical roles (-18.8 v -11.5 and -7.5 points, respectively), bodily pain (-9.0 v -2.7 and -2.7 points), social functioning (-11.3 v -4.3 and -4.4 points) and mental health (-3.1 v 0.0 and +0.4 points). Much of the decline in HRQoL among elderly (age > or = 65) women with breast cancer was age related. CONCLUSION: Young women may fare worse than middle-aged or elderly women in both physical and psychosocial dimensions after breast cancer diagnosis. The needs of women facing breast cancer may be better understood within a life stage framework.     

Reliability of the Dominic-R: A Young Child Mental Health Questionnaire Combining Visual and Auditory Stimuli

Reliability of the Dominic-R, a. questionnaire combining visual and auditory stimuli, was tested in 340 community children aged 6 to 11 years. Test-retest reliability of symptoms of, and of symptom scores of, DSM-III-R disorders including simple phobias, separation anxiety disorder, overanxious disorder, depression/dysthymia, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder was assessed. Most symptoms yielded kappas greater than .40, and ICCs ranged from .74 to .81. In conclusion, reliability of the Dominic-R compares favourably with that of other child assessment questionnaires.