Reciprocal Peer Support for Post-partum Patients with Diabetes: A Needs Assessment for the Diabetes Buddy Program

While peer support has been investigated in multiple clinical contexts, its application to the postpartum setting is unknown. The aim was to assess acceptability of a postpartum peer support program for women with diabetes. Observational survey-based needs assessment of forty low-income women with diabetes, receiving care at a major medical institution. Mean age and gravidity were 30.7 years and 3.15 ± 1.67 respectively. 45 % expressed interest in a “buddy.” There was no significant difference between groups desiring and not desiring this program. A majority of respondents desired telephone, text messaging, and in-person contacts (79.2, 72.1, 83.8 %), with 72.5 % of patients desiring diabetes-related activities during clinic waiting time. Many women desire a postpartum diabetes reciprocal peer program for support outside of clinician visits. Patients are receptive to educational services during their wait and outside of clinic time, a potentially valuable opportunity to share important health information.     

Bisphenol S and F: A Systematic Review and Comparison of the Hormonal Activity of Bisphenol A Substitutes

Background

Increasing concern over bisphenol A (BPA) as an endocrine-disrupting chemical and its possible effects on human health have prompted the removal of BPA from consumer products, often labeled “BPA-free.” Some of the chemical replacements, however, are also bisphenols and may have similar physiological effects in organisms. Bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF) are two such BPA substitutes.

Objectives

This review was carried out to evaluate the physiological effects and endocrine activities of the BPA substitutes BPS and BPF. Further, we compared the hormonal potency of BPS and BPF to that of BPA.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review based on the Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) protocol.

Results

We identified the body of literature to date, consisting of 32 studies (25 in vitro only, and 7 in vivo). The majority of these studies examined the hormonal activities of BPS and BPF and found their potency to be in the same order of magnitude and of similar action as BPA (estrogenic, antiestrogenic, androgenic, and antiandrogenic) in vitro and in vivo. BPS also has potencies similar to that of estradiol in membrane-mediated pathways, which are important for cellular actions such as proliferation, differentiation, and death. BPS and BPF also showed other effects in vitro and in vivo, such as altered organ weights, reproductive end points, and enzyme expression.

Conclusions

Based on the current literature, BPS and BPF are as hormonally active as BPA, and they have endocrine-disrupting effects.

Citation

Rochester JR, Bolden AL. 2015. Bisphenol S and F: a systematic review and comparison of the hormonal activity of bisphenol A substitutes. Environ Health Perspect 123:643–650; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408989     

HIV Prevalence and Associated Factors Among Men Who have Sex with Men (MSM) in New Jersey,U.S., 2017

AIDS and Behavior - This study assessed the HIV prevalence among MSM in the greater Newark New Jersey area including Essex, Hudson, Morris and Union Counties and examined correlates of HIV...     

RSA fluctuation in major depressive disorder

Cardiac vagal control, as measured by indices of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), has been investigated as a marker of impaired self-regulation in mental disorders, including depression. Past work in depressed samples has focused on deficits in resting RSA levels, with mixed results. This study tested the hypothesis that depression involves abnormal RSA fluctuation. RSA was measured in depressed and healthy control participants during rest and during two reactivity tasks, each followed by a recovery period. Relative to controls, depressed persons exhibited lower resting RSA levels as well as less RSA fluctuation, primarily evidenced by a lack of task-related vagal suppression. Group differences in RSA fluctuation were not accounted for by differences in physical health or respiration, whereas group differences in resting RSA level did not survive covariate analyses. Depression may involve multiple deficits in cardiac vagal control.     

Combination therapy of established cancer using a histone deacetylase inhibitor and a TRAIL receptor agonist

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) and agents such as recombinant tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and agonistic anti-TRAIL receptor (TRAIL-R) antibodies are anticancer agents that have shown promise in preclinical settings and in early phase clinical trials as monotherapies. Although HDACi and activators of the TRAIL pathway have different molecular targets and mechanisms of action, they share the ability to induce tumor cell-selective apoptosis. The ability of HDACi to induce expression of TRAIL-R death receptors 4 and 5 (DR4/DR5), and induce tumor cell death via the intrinsic apoptotic pathway provides a molecular rationale to combine these agents with activators of the TRAIL pathway that activate the alternative (death receptor) apoptotic pathway. Herein, we demonstrate that the HDACi vorinostat synergizes with the mouse DR5-specific monoclonal antibody MD5-1 to induce rapid and robust tumor cell apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, using a preclinical mouse breast cancer model, we show that the combination of vorinostat and MD5-1 is safe and induces regression of established tumors, whereas single agent treatment had little or no effect. Functional analyses revealed that rather than mediating enhanced tumor cell apoptosis via the simultaneous activation of the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways, vorinostat augmented MD5-1-induced apoptosis concomitant with down-regulation of the intracellular apoptosis inhibitor cellular-FLIP (c-FLIP). These data demonstrate that combination therapies involving HDACi and activators of the TRAIL pathway can be efficacious for the treatment of cancer in experimental mouse models.     

Apathy is associated with white matter abnormalities in anterior,medial brain regions in persons with HIV infection

Apathy is a relatively common psychiatric syndrome in HIV infection, but little is known about its neural correlates. In the present study, we examined the associations between apathy and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices in key frontal white matter regions in the thalamocorticostriatal circuit, which has been implicated in the expression of apathy. Nineteen participants with HIV infection and 19 demographically comparable seronegative comparison subjects completed the Apathy subscale of the Frontal Systems Behavioral Scale as a part of a comprehensive neuropsychiatric research evaluation. When compared to the seronegative participants, the HIV+ group had significantly more frontal white matter abnormalities. Within HIV+ persons, and as predicted, higher ratings of apathy were associated with greater white matter alterations in the anterior corona radiata, genu, and orbital medial prefrontal cortex. The associations between white matter alterations and apathy were independent of depression and were stronger among participants with lower current cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) counts. All told, these findings indicate that apathy is independently associated with white matter abnormalities in anterior, medial brain regions in persons infected with HIV, particularly in the setting of lower current immune functioning, which may have implications for antiretroviral therapy.     

Training Hungarian primary health care teachers: the relevance of a UK postgraduate course for health educators

OBJECTIVES: This study constituted a formative evaluation of the relevance of the MSc course to the needs of Hungarian primary health care educators. DESIGN: A qualitative, naturalistic approach using in-depth interviews was used to construct the meaning of the experience of the MSc for the Hungarian participants. Interviews were triangulated using observation and documentary analysis. SETTING: The University of Exeter's Institute of General Practice. SUBJECTS: Eight Hungarian primary health care professionals. RESULTS: The evaluation data revealed that the attitude of the Hungarian students to their role as medical educators had been substantially changed by exposure to western models of adult education. There were a number of 'clashes of expectation' between the Hungarian students and the course staff in relation to the course requirements. Reconciliation of these differing expectations required a sequence of ongoing adjustments to the course content and delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Existing postgraduate courses for health educators can accommodate the needs of medical teachers from countries who are developing their primary health care education systems. Successful accommodation is facilitated by ensuring an adequate preparation in relation to language fluency, academic requirements of the course, familiarization with modern approaches to adult education as well as with the local health care delivery system.