Pharmacogenetics and the pharmacological management of depression.

Depression is a chronic disease seen in many healthcare settings. Current pharmacological treatment options are successful in two-thirds of patients. One CYP450 enzyme, CYP2D6, is responsible for the metabolism of 30% of all drugs including many antidepressants.

Investigating the effects of trauma-related research on well-being.

Using an experimental design, we investigated the impact of participation in trauma-related research on well-being in a sample of 219 higher education students. We created five conditions that exposed participants to questions about life events. A sixth condition represented a control condition.

Patient safety issues in advanced practice nursing students' care settings.

The purpose of this project was to identify and characterize patient safety issues across advanced practice nursing (APN) care settings including ambulatory care visits. A total of 162 registered nurses enrolled in an APN education program completed an online survey. Respondents reported patient safety issues related to diagnosis or management and treatment in almost half of 489 encounters.

Development and validation of the AzBio sentence lists.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to create and validate a new set of sentence lists that could be used to evaluate the speech perception abilities of hearing-impaired listeners and cochlear implant (CI) users. Our intention was to generate a large number of sentence lists with an equivalent level of difficulty for the evaluation of performance over time and across conditions.

Design: The AzBio sentence corpus includes 1000 sentences recorded from two female and two male talkers.

Socio-demographic predictors of dimensions of the AUDIT score in a population sample of working-age men in Izhevsk, Russia.

Aims: To investigate the relationship between socio-demographic factors and alcohol drinking patterns identified through a formal analysis of the factor structure of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score in a population sample of working-age men in Russia.

Methods: In 2008-2009, a sample of 1005 men aged 25-59 years living in Izhevsk, Russia were interviewed and information collected about socio-demographic circumstances. Responses to the AUDIT questions were obtained through a self-completed questionnaire.

Modeling change in memory performance and memory perceptions: findings from the ACTIVE study.

Within the context of the ACTIVE study, the current investigation explored the relationships between objective memory and two components of subjective memory (frequency of forgetting and use of external aids) over a five-year period. Relationships were assessed using parallel process latent growth curve models. Results indicated that changes in objective memory were associated with changes in perceived frequency of forgetting, but not with use of external aids (calendars, reminder notes) over time.

Can the impact of public involvement on research be evaluated? A mixed methods study.

Background:   Public involvement is central to health and social research policies, yet few systematic evaluations of its impact have been carried out, raising questions about the feasibility of evaluating the impact of public involvement.

Objective:   To investigate whether it is feasible to evaluate the impact of public involvement on health and social research.

Methods:   Mixed methods including a two-round Delphi study with pre-specified 80% consensus criterion, with follow-up interviews.

Emerging issues in the measurement of rape victimization.

We provide an overview of emerging directions in the measurement of rape, the most extreme form of sexual victimization. The context for our overview is how operational definitions of rape have evolved, where consensus has emerged, and where it eludes the field. We discuss two approaches to the detection of rape victimization in survey methods, namely behaviorally specific questions and a new, two-stage approach, and how each can be evaluated in terms of validity.

Febrile seizures, genetic (generalized) epilepsy with febrile seizures plus, and Dravet's syndrome.

Purpose: This article discusses febrile seizures, generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus, and Dravet's syndrome.

Conclusions: It can be difficult for patients and their families to comprehend what it means to have a seizure disorder with a genetic cause. Nurses caring for patients with seizure disorders require knowledge of the condition, its causes, treatment, and prognosis to better care for and inform their patients.

An in vitro assay system as a potential replacement for the histamine sensitisation test for acellular pertussis based combination vaccines.

The histamine sensitisation test (HIST) for pertussis toxin is currently an official batch release test for acellular pertussis containing combination vaccines in Europe and North America. However, HIST, being a lethal endpoint assay, often leads to repeated tests due to large variations in test performance. Although a more precise HIST test based on measurement of temperature reduction after the histamine challenge is used in Asian countries, this test still uses animals.

Comparing revictimization in two groups of marginalized women.

This study examines physical and sexual revictimization in a random sample of incarcerated and poor, urban, nonincarcerated women using multiple measures of physical and sexual child abuse. Researchers used hierarchical logistic regression to compare rates of revictimization and the strength of the association between child abuse and adult victimization using two measures of child physical abuse and four measures of child sexual abuse. Incarcerated women had higher rates of revictimization than did nonincarcerated women.

Exploring a taxonomy for aggression against women: can it aid conceptual clarity?

The assessment of aggression against women is demanding primarily because assessment strategies do not share a common language to describe reliably the wide range of forms of aggression women experience. The lack of a common language impairs efforts to describe these experiences, understand causes and consequences of aggression against women, and develop effective intervention and prevention efforts. This review accomplishes two goals.

HIV infection, stressful life events, and intimate relationship power: the moderating role of community resources for black South African women.

Background: Black women in South Africa are vulnerable with limited power in intimate relationships. This study explored whether stressful life events and/or HIV infection were associated with relationship power and whether the impact was moderated by community resources.

Method: One hundred four women living with HIV and 152 women not living with HIV participated in individual interviews.

The use of the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-M) in the detection of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Many screening tools for detecting cognitive decline require in-person assessment, which is often not cost-effective or feasible for those with physical limitations. The Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status has been used for screening dementia, but little is known about its usefulness in detecting amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Community-dwelling participants (mean age=74.

Occupational therapy for people with psychotic conditions in community settings: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of a long established intervention, occupational therapy for people with psychotic conditions, and to inform future research designs.

Design: A pilot randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Two community mental health teams in a UK city.

Status of the glass sponge reefs in the Georgia Basin.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the status and general faunal composition of sponge reefs in the Georgia Basin (GB), British Columbia, Canada. Fourteen distinct deep-water glass sponge (Hexactinellid) reefs have been mapped using multibeam bathymetry and sidescan sonar in the GB. Seven of these have been surveyed visually using video from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Disclosing sexual assault to parents: the influence of parental messages about sex.

Without frank discussion of what sex is, women may not learn what sex is not and what experiences constitute sexual assault. This qualitative study explores the relation between parental discussion and messages about sex and women's decisions of whether to disclose sexual assault to parents. Participants were 18 women from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Prox1 physically and functionally interacts with COUP-TFII to specify lymphatic endothelial cell fate.

Specification of endothelial cell (EC) fate during vascular development is controlled by distinct key regulators. While Notch plays an essential role in induction of arterial phenotypes, COUP-TFII is required to maintain the venous EC identity. Homeodomain transcription factor Prox1 functions to reprogram venous ECs to lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs).

Far from ideal: weight perception, weight control, and associated risky behaviour of adolescent girls in Nova Scotia.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of weight-related concerns, unhealthy weight-control behaviour, and associated risky behaviour among adolescent girls, and to ascertain whether these girls had discussed a healthy weight with their physicians.

Design: Anonymous, self-report, cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Four high schools in rural Nova Scotia.

Changes in everyday function in individuals with psychometrically defined mild cognitive impairment in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly Study.

Objectives: To examine trajectories of change in everyday function for individuals with cognitive deficits suggestive of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Design: Using data from the longitudinal, multisite Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly Study allowed for post hoc classification of MCI status at baseline using psychometric definitions for amnestic MCI, nonamnestic MCI, multidomain MCI, and no MCI.

Setting: Six U.

A non-randomized comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and healing arts programs for facilitating post-traumatic growth and spirituality in cancer outpatients.

Goals Of Work: The aim of this study was to compare a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program and a healing through the creative arts (HA) program on measures of post-traumatic growth (PTGI-R), spirituality (FACIT-Sp), stress (SOSI), and mood disturbance (POMS) in cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: A sample of cancer outpatients (MBSR, n = 60; HA, n = 44) with a variety of diagnoses chose to attend either an 8-week MBSR program or a 6-week HA program and were assessed pre- and post-intervention. The majority of participants were female, married, and had breast cancer.

Exposure to phytoestrogens in the perinatal period affects androgen secretion by testicular Leydig cells in the adult rat.

The use of soy-based products in the diet of infants has raised concerns regarding the reproductive toxicity of genistein and daidzein, the predominant isoflavones in soybeans with estrogenic activity. Time-bred Long-Evans dams were fed diets containing 0, 5, 50, 500, or 1000 ppm of soy isoflavones from gestational d 12 until weaning at d 21 postpartum. Male rats in all groups were fed soy-free diets from postnatal d 21 until 90 d of age.

Beyond frequency and severity: development and validation of the brief coercion and conflict scales.

Responding to calls for improved measurement in the field of domestic violence, this paper reports the development and initial validation of the Brief Coercion and Conflict Scales in a sample of incarcerated women. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the scales hypothesized structure and supported coercion and conflict as moderately and positively related but distinct constructs. Although women reported experiencing both conflict and coercion in their most recent relationship before incarceration, they reported that their experiences were more often marked by interpersonal conflict than by coercion.