Quantitative sensory testing of dentinal sensitivity in healthy humans

Objective The study was to provide information on quantitative sensory testing (QST) of normal teeth to establish a sensory profile and investigate the possible gender and regional differences. Materials and methods A modified QST protocol was applied on both left and right upper-jaw incisors and pre-molar sof 14 healthy men and 14 age-matched healthy women (18–25 years). Mechanical stimulus sensitivity (MSS), cold detection threshold (CDT), cold pain threshold (CPT), warm detection threshold (WDT), heat pain threshold (HPT), electrical detection threshold (EDT) and electrical pain threshold (EPT) were determined from the four teeth (labial side of incisor and buccal side of the first premolar). The QST parameters were analysed by ANOVA. Results The applied mechanical or thermal stimuli did not evoke any pain sensation. A normal tooth did not seem to be able to distinguish between the warm or cold stimuli applied. No significant differences were found between genders (p?>?0.099) or teeth (p?>?0.053) regarding mechanical and thermal stimuli. The EDT and EPT were significantly higher in the pre-molar compared with incisor (p?gender differences (p?>?0.573). Conclusion: The established methods and results provided important information on diagnosis and treatment evaluation of dentinal hypersensitivity.     

Occupational Epidemiology in Agriculture: A Case Study in the Southern African Context

Abstract

Some challenges facing occupational epidemiology in developing countries are outlined in this case study of agriculture drawing on Southern African research. These include the characterization of exposures in resource- and data-poor environments typical of developing countries, the assessment of outcomes where cross-cultural and socio-environmental confounders may be substantial obstacles, and the impact of environmental exposures on workplace health. Traditional assignment of low priority to the chronic effects of low-dose exposures relative to acute morbidity in developing countries must be critically examined, as must the gender bias of much occupational epidemiology in agriculture. Advocacy issues involving child labor and the ethics of research among vulnerable groups deserve rigorous attention. It is argued that, if occupational epidemiology is to have meaningful impact on the health of the most marginalized groups of workers in developing countries, it must redefine itself in terms of a public health approach. The boundaries of epidemiologic inquiry need to be broad, and amenable to interfacing with policy research, using qualitative methods and participatory approaches. More so than in other industrial settings, epidemiologists must move from research to practice, seeking to take action where interventions are needed, and to evaluate such actions.     

Diabetes and Female Sexuality

Although diabetes plays a significant role in causing impotence in the diabetic male, its effects on female sexuality have only recently been studied. Surprisingly, no demonstrable effect on the capacity for sexual arousal or orgasm has been found in the diabetic female. This paper compares male and female anatomy, physiology, and neurology, and speculates about reasons for this sex difference.     

The Predictive Validity of Risk Assessment Approaches for Young Australian Offenders

Validation literature on the predictive ability of North American youth violence risk assessment inventories is developing across international settings. Yet no information exists on the utility of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV),]and little research has been conducted on the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) across Australian young offender populations. The current study investigated the validity of the risk instruments on 213 young people in detention in Victoria, Australia. Findings indicated moderate to strong predictive accuracy for re-offence outcomes across the three inventories for the total sample and for males. The SAVRY was also able to identify the strength of protective factors for young female offenders. The inventories appear to be suitable prediction aides in the Australian youth justice context although further research is required to ascertain their applicability to Australian young female offenders.     

大学生性别角色与职业性别刻板印象的关系

目的探讨大学生性别角色与职业性别刻板印象的关系。方法采用贝姆性别角色量表与职业性别刻板印象问卷对某高校大学生进行了测量。结果在大学生4种性别角色类型中,双性化占33.1%、未分化占29.0%、女性化占20.4%、男性化占17.5%。大学生的男性职业性别刻板印象和女性职业性别刻板印象在性别上均存在显著差异(F=13.647,26.957;P<0.05),在不同性别角色类型上差异均不显著。结论大学生的职业性别刻板印象处于中等水平,应该弱化其职业性别刻板印象,以促使其更好地就业。     

Gender Differences in Nonprescribed Psychostimulant Use in Young Adults

Background: In order to better understand the recent rise in nonprescribed use of psychostimulants on college campuses, motives, outcomes, and acceptability of nonprescribed psychostimulants have been evaluated. Despite knowledge that students use nonprescribed medical stimulants for improved academic performance and recreational use, gender differences in these motives have not been examined, despite the fact that the social construction of gender may well affect motives for use. Objectives: The goal of the present study was to examine gender differences in motives, outcomes, and acceptability of nonprescribed psychostimulant use. Methods: 2716 undergraduates (1448 male) between the ages of 17 and 57 years (M = 19.43 years, SD = 1.7 years) completed an online survey examining subjective motives of nonprescribed psychostimulant use, as well as behaviors after use and moral views of nonprescribed use. Results: Consistent with hypotheses and known gender differences in social motivation, results suggested that while females are more likely to use nonprescribed psychostimulants for reasons related to schoolwork, males are typically more likely to use psychostimulants for reasons related to partying and socializing. Additional gender differences were that males are more likely to take part in other risky behaviors after use of psychostimulants, as well as view nonprescribed use as more moral and less physically dangerous than females. Conclusions/Importance: This work suggests that there are striking gender differences in motivation and outcomes of use of nonprescribed psychostimulants, which may have implications for personalized approaches for prevention of nonprescribed psychostimulant use on campuses based on gender.     

Voice gender discrimination provides a measure of more than pitch-related perception in cochlear implant users

Abstract

Objectives: (1) To investigate whether voice gender discrimination (VGD) could be a useful indicator of the spectral and temporal processing abilities of individual cochlear implant (CI) users; (2) To examine the relationship between VGD and speech recognition with CI when comparable acoustic cues are used for both perception processes. Design: VGD was measured using two talker sets with different inter-gender fundamental frequencies (F₀), as well as different acoustic CI simulations. Vowel and consonant recognition in quiet and noise were also measured and compared with VGD performance. Study sample: Eleven postlingually deaf CI users. Results: The results showed that (1) mean VGD performance differed for different stimulus sets, (2) VGD and speech recognition performance varied among individual CI users, and (3) individual VGD performance was significantly correlated with speech recognition performance under certain conditions. Conclusions: VGD measured with selected stimulus sets might be useful for assessing not only pitch-related perception, but also spectral and temporal processing by individual CI users. In addition to improvements in spectral resolution and modulation detection, the improvement in higher modulation frequency discrimination might be particularly important for CI users in noisy environments.

Sumario

Objetivos: (1) Investigar si la discriminación de voz por género (VGD) puede ser un indicador útil de las habilidades de procesamiento espectral y temporal de usuarios de implantes cocleares (IC); (2) Examinar la relación entre VGD y el reconocimiento del lenguaje con IC, cuando se usan claves acústicas comparables para ambos procesos de percepción. Diseño: Se midió el VGD usando dos series de hablantes con diferentes frecuencias fundamentales (Fo) inter-género así como diferentes simulaciones acústicas de IC. El reconocimiento de vocales y consonantes en silencio y con ruido también se midió y comparó con el rendimiento VGD. Muestra: Once usuarios sordos de IC post-lingüísticos. Resultados: Los resultados mostraron que 1) el rendimiento promedio VGD difirió para diferentes grupos de estímulos; 2) el rendimiento para el reconocimiento de VGD y de lenguaje varió entre usuarios de IC y 3) el rendimiento individual de VGD correlacionó significativamente con el reconocimiento del lenguaje bajo ciertas condiciones. Conclusiones: El VGD medido con grupos seleccionados de estímulos puede ser útil para evaluar no solamente la percepción relacionada con la frecuencia sino también el procesamiento espectral y temporal en usuarios de IC. Además de la mejoría en la resolución espectral y en la detección de la modulación, la mejoría en la discriminación en frecuencias de alta modulación puede ser particularmente importante para los usuarios de IC en ambientes de ruido.