Carbohydrate metabolism in children receiving growth hormone for 5 years

Carbohydrate metabolism was evaluated by fasting and postprandial glucose, insulin, and hemoglobin (Hb)A_1c levels in children with chronic renal insufficiency and various other growth disorders treated with growth hormone. Mean fasting and postprandial glucose remained unchanged throughout the 5-year study period in all four study groups. Median fasting insulin levels rose from lownormal levels into the normal range after 5 years of growth hormone. Average fasting insulin level after 5 years was 10 mU/l. Median postprandial insulin values also rose, yet remained within the normal range at the 5-year mark. Mean Hb A_1c levels remained within low to middle end of the normal range in the patients with growth hormone deficiency, Turner syndrome, and idiopathic short stature. Mean Hb A_1c levels at the 5 years were slightly elevated to 6.3% for the patients with chronic renal insufficiency.     

The influence of stigma on the sexual risk behavior of rural men who have sex with men.

Research investigating predictors of risky sexual behavior of rural MSM is sparse, even though the prevalence of HIV in rural areas has increased. This study explored two sets of predictors of 93 rural MSM's levels of risky sexual behavior: mental health variables and stigma emanating from men's family members, health care professionals, and people in the rural communities in which they live. Over 47% of the men were found to be at modified high to high risk. Logistic regression using a continuation logit model was used to test the relationship of the predictor variables and the four levels of risk. Findings indicate that self-esteem was predictive of the highest sexual risk behavior but not lower levels of risk. Stigma was predictive of modified high sexual risk when compared to low and no risk categories. No variables differentiated men at low risk from men at no risk.     

Le miroir social des souffrances adolescentes : entre maladie du symbolique et aveu généralisé

The psychological suffering of adolescents is a subject that has drawn an increasing amount of attention on the part of the public authorities, local and associative bodies, and of course psychotherapists themselves. While the psychiatric treatment of adolescent disorders is based upon wide ranging nosographic categories that are specific to this age group, new and clinical forms are appearing on the scene, as if they were, an expression of new suffering. This sudden visibility on the social front regarding problematical adolescent behavior has brought with it a concomitant increase in explanations attempting to put into perspective the diversity of so-called “deviant” behavioral patterns in adolescents in relation to the development of a new malaise in contemporary civilization. The author of this study has examined this phenomenon from an anthropological point of view, and has critically examined the possible link between the modifications in the present-day social environment, and the various types of behaviour that are considered to be indicative of underlying psychic suffering. By puting the social explanations of adolescent suffering into perspective vis a vis the proposed solution, such as this multiplied counselling services, the author shows the emergence of a widespread system involving and promoting a generalized “confession” and disclosure of the intimate, in wich listening to what is been said becomes less important than the underlying constraints on expression that it imposes.