The role of peer networks in adolescent pornography use and sexting in Croatia

ABSTRACT

Although communication about sexuality is a significant pathway through which peers influence adolescent sexual development, little research has examined the role of peer networks in the use of sexualized media. We applied a social network approach to assess the role of close peers in adolescent pornography use and sexting in a sample of Croatian high school students. Sexual conversation networks’ characteristics did not correlate with pornography use. In contrast, sexting was associated with the proportion of same gender peers, the proportion of older peers and the proportion of sexually experienced peers in the network – pointing to the role of peer influence. Participants’ gender did not moderate these associations. Specific mechanisms underlying the observed associations and the role of peer selection remain important tasks for future research.     

Predicting Renal Function Outcomes After Partial and Radical Nephrectomy

Background

Partial nephrectomy (PN) is generally favored for cT1 tumors over radical nephrectomy (RN) when technically feasible. However, it can be unclear whether the additional risks of PN are worth the magnitude of renal function benefit.

Organisational justice and employee perceptions on hospital management.

PURPOSE: The purpose to clarify what kind of managerial challenges employees experience regarding organisational justice in hospitals. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This exploratory study of 8,971 employees working in 14 hospitals and examines the concept of organisational justice in management with qualitative and quantitative methods. FINDINGS: An inductive content analysis of the comments revealed five integrative frames describing challenges in hospital management at respondents' workplaces. These frames should be regarded as major managerial challenges in hospitals. These findings illustrate important antecedents of organisational justice and suggest that work units tend to share the same perceptions of justice. They also reveal that individually produced comments reflect collective experiences in organisational justice. Further, the results indicate that problems in management and policies are often experienced in a complex way, and people making justice judgements do not separate procedural and interactional factors. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Although the commentators producing qualitative data represented many organisational hierarchy levels, the results should not be generalised to apply to horizontal, informal social relationships. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper gives useful information regarding challenges in human resources management in hospitals. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper suggests that people making fairness judgements do not make a distinction between procedural and interpersonal factors. Instead, they use any information available to judge the righteousness of the management events. This paper serves to guide hospital managers towards a better understanding of the importance of organisational justice and its collective nature.     

Chronic treatment with scopolamine and physostigmine changes nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor density and NGF content in rat brain

Nerve growth factor (NGF) and NGF receptors were measured in cortex and hippocampus of rats treated with drugs affecting cholinergic neurotransmission. High (K_d= 0.045nM) and low (K_d= 21nM) affinity¹²⁵I-NGF binding sites were present in both cortical and hippocampal membranes with hippocampus containing higher numbers of both sites than cortex. Chronic treatment of rats with the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine (5 mg/kg, twice daily) decreased the density of high- and low-affinity sites by 50–90% in cortical and hippocampal membranes. These changes were seen after 7 days, but not 3 days, of scopolamine treatment. Chronic infusion of physostigmine (1 mg/kg/day) using minipumps increased the number of high- and low-affinity sites in cortex 3- and 6-fold, respectively. The changes in receptor-binding parameters induced by physostigmine were transient as they were evident after 3 days of treatment, but returned to control levels after 7 days. NGF content in cortex and hippocampus was reduced by about 50% following 7, but not 3, days of chronic physostigmine infusion. In contrast, scopolamine treatment failed to change NGF levels in the cholinergic neuronal target regions but it decreased NGF content in the septal area. The content of NGF mRNA in the cortex measured by Northern blot analysis failed to change following either scopolamine or physostigmine treatment. The results suggest that levels of NGF and NGF receptors in the target regions of cholinergic neurons are regulated by the extent of cholinergic neurotransmitter activity.     

Apramycin and gentamicin resistance in Escherichia coli and salmonellas isolated from farm animals

Since the aminoglycoside antibiotic apramycin was licensed for veterinary use in 1980, all isolates of Escherichia coli and salmonellas received at the Central Veterinary Laboratory have been monitored for resistance to apramycin and the related antibiotic gentamicin. During the period 1982-4, the incidence of resistance in E. coli to apramycin increased from 0.6% in 1982 to 2.6% in 1984. In salmonellas the incidence of resistance to apramycin increased from 0.1% in 1982 to 1.4% in 1984. Resistance to both apramycin and gentamicin was detected in six different salmonella serotypes, although an isolate of Salmonella thompson from poultry was resistant to gentamicin but not apramycin. Most of the cultures were isolated from pigs, although the incidence of apramycin resistance in S. typhimurium (DT 204C) from calves has shown a recent dramatic increase. All the isolates with one exception produced the enzyme aminoglycoside 3-N-acetyltransferase IV (ACC(3)IV). The resistance was transferable by conjugation in most of the strains examined, and the plasmids specifying the resistance have been found to belong to a number of different incompatibility groups. Plasmids from three E. coli strains were compatible with all the reference plasmids and belonged to a previously undescribed group which was investigated further. It is suggested that bacteria from humans should be examined for resistance to apramycin and gentamicin to determine the possibility of the antibiotic-resistance bacteria, and their genes, spreading from animals to humans.     

Alemtuzumab (CAMPATH 1H) Induction Therapy in Cadaveric Kidney Transplantation—Efficacy and Safety at Five Years

Alemtuzumab is a powerful lymphocyte depleting antibody currently being evaluated in solid organ transplantation. This paper describes 5-year results of a single center study of alemtuzumab as induction in renal transplantation. Thirty-three renal transplant recipients received 20 mg alemtuzumab on day 0 and 1, followed by half-dose cyclosporin monotherapy (trough concentration 75-125 ng/mL) from day 3. They were compared in a retrospective contemporaneous-controlled manner with 66 kidney transplant recipients transplanted in the same period and center who received conventional immunosuppression with cyclosporin, azathioprine and prednisolone. In the alemtuzumab group 12% of recipients died compared to 17% in the control group (p = 0.48); likewise graft loss was similar in both groups (21% vs. 26%, respectively, p = 0.58). Incidence of acute rejection was also comparable at 5 years (31.5% vs. 33.6%), although the pattern of rejection was different with 14% patients in the alemtuzumab group experiencing rejection over 1 year post-transplant compared to none in the control group. There was no significant difference between groups in terms of infection or serious adverse events. While acknowledging the limitations of a relatively small single-center study, results suggest that alemtuzumab induction allowed satisfactory long-term patient and graft survival equivalent to that seen with standard triple immunosuppression, while avoiding steroid therapy.