Test-retest reliability of audio-taped phallometric stimuli with adolescent sexual offenders

Twenty adolescent male sexual offenders were evaluated by penile plethysmography on two separate occasions. Stimuli consisted of 19, two-minute audiotaped cues. Test-retest reliability was demonstrated for 15 of the 19 audiotaped vignettes. The highest correlations were found for those sexual behaviors in which the adolescents had engaged.     

Responsiveness and calibration of the general well-being adjustment scale in patients with hypertension

We examined the discriminant ability and responsiveness of the General Well-Being Adjustment Scale in patients enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of antihypertensive therapy. We also tried to translate the effects of physical symptoms on general well-being. This secondary analysis used demographic, clinical, physical symptom, and general well-being data for 545 white, male hypertensive patients. General well-being was measured by the General Well-Being Adjustment Scale (GWB) collected on 2 occasions over 8 weeks of treatment. Patients with any one of 14 physical symptoms or problems, compared to those without symptoms, had lower GWB scores (p < 0.003 to p < 0.0001). Decreases of 2.83–8.76 points in GWB scores were observed in patients developing physical symptoms over the 8 week study period (p < 0.05 to p < 0.0001). These effects were demonstrated in patients developing cold sensitivity, sexual problems, chest pain, shortness of breath, loss of taste, nausea, hot or cold spells, numbness and tingling, dry mouth, blurred vision, and dizziness. We conclude that the GWB is responsive to clinically meaningful changes in symptoms and may provide a more complete evaluation of the effects of medical treatment. The GWB is a valid and responsive measure of health status outcomes in the evaluation of antihypertensive treatment.     

The use of computed tomography-guided stereotactic techniques in the treatment of brain stem abscesses

A case of a brain stem abscess that was successfully treated using CT guided stereotaxy together with antibiotic therapy is presented. The literature is reviewed and the role of stereotaxy in the treatment of brain stem abscess is discussed.     

Reference values for 75 g oral glucose tolerance test in pregnancy

A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test was performed in 212 pregnant women with no predisposing factors suggesting glucose intolerance to establish the normal pattern of glucose metabolism in pregnancy. Reference values for the test were established for the middle of pregnancy (14-20 weeks, n = 43) and late pregnancy (28-37 weeks, n = 168). One woman was excluded because she had diabetes that required treatment with insulin. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups for samples taken both one and two hours after the glucose load. Reference ranges for the interpretation of the glucose tolerance test in pregnancy should therefore take account of the period of gestation. Arbitrary upper limits of normal (represented by the 97.5 centile) two hours after a 75 g oral glucose load are proposed at 7.5 and 9.6 mmol/l for the second and third trimesters, respectively.     

Recommended relative potency factors for 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran: the impact of different dose metrics.

The recent National Toxicology Program (NTP) cancer bioassays for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (4-PeCDF) permit a reevaluation of the current TEF value of 4-PeCDF. The data also allow for the derivation of relative potency factors (RPFs) for cancer, which are based not only on administered dose but also on potentially more informative dose metrics, such as liver concentration, area under the liver concentration curve, and lifetime average body burden. Our analyses of these data indicate that chi-squared tests of observed versus predicted liver tumor incidence for 4-PeCDF reject the current TEF value of 0.5 value as too high. 4-PeCDF RPFs were derived using estimation methods that either did or did not assume parallelism of the 4-PeCDF and TCDD dose-response curves. The resulting parallelism-based RPFs for administered dose, liver concentration at terminal sacrifice, liver concentration AUC, and lifetime average body burden are 0.26, 0.014, 0.021, and 0.036, respectively. The administered dose RPF estimate is approximately one-half the current TEF value of 0.5. However, the use of administered dose fails to take into account pharmacokinetic differences between congeners and the generally acknowledged belief that body burden or some other measure of cumulative dose is more appropriate for estimating the health risk posed by persistent chemicals. The other three dose metrics do account for these important factors, and the corresponding RPFs are at least 10-fold lower than the current TEF for 4-PeCDF. In summary, our analyses support an administered dose TEF no greater than 0.25 and one in the 0.05-0.1 range for internal dose metrics such as lifetime average liver concentration or body burden.