Sexual violence in post-conflict Liberia: survivors and their care.

Using routine data from three clinics offering care to survivors of sexual violence (SV) in Monrovia, Liberia, we describe the characteristics of SV survivors and the pattern of SV and discuss how the current approach could be better adapted to meet survivors' needs. There were 1500 survivors seeking SV care between January 2008 and December 2009. Most survivors were women (98%) and median age was 13 years (Interquartile range: 9-17 years). Sexual aggression occurred during day-to-day activities in 822 (55%) cases and in the survivor's home in 552 (37%) cases. The perpetrator was a known civilian in 1037 (69%) SV events. Only 619 (41%) survivors sought care within 72 h. The current approach could be improved by: effectively addressing the psychosocial needs of child survivors, reaching male survivors, targeting the perpetrators in awareness and advocacy campaigns and reducing delays in seeking care

In silico modeling of oxygen-enhanced MRI of specific ventilation.

Specific ventilation imaging (SVI) proposes that using oxygen-enhanced 1H MRI to capture signal change as subjects alternatively breathe room air and 100% O2 provides an estimate of specific ventilation distribution in the lung. How well this technique measures SV and the effect of currently adopted approaches of the technique on resulting SV measurement is open for further exploration. We investigated (1) How well does imaging a single sagittal lung slice represent whole lung SV? (2) What is the influence of pulmonary venous blood on the measured MRI signal and resultant SVI measure? and (3) How does inclusion of misaligned images affect SVI measurement? In this study, we utilized two patient-based in silico models of ventilation, perfusion, and gas exchange to address these questions for normal healthy lungs. Simulation results from the two healthy young subjects show that imaging a single slice is generally representative of whole lung SV distribution, with a calculated SV gradient within 90% of that calculated for whole lung distributions. Contribution of O2 from the venous circulation results in overestimation of SV at a regional level where major pulmonary veins cross the imaging plane, resulting in a 10% increase in SV gradient for the imaging slice. A worst-case scenario simulation of image misalignment increased the SV gradient by 11.4% for the imaged slice

Abundance of intrinsic disorder in SV-IV, a multifunctional androgen-dependent protein secreted from rat seminal vesicle

The potent immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and procoagulant properties of the
protein no. 4 secreted from the rat seminal vesicle epithelium (SV-IV) have been
previously found to be modulated by a supramolecular monomer-trimer equilibrium.
More structural details that integrate experimental data into a predictive framework
have recently been reported. Unfortunately, homology modelling and fold-recognition
strategies were not successful in creating a theoretical model of the structural
organization of SV-IV. It was inferred that the global structure of SV-IV is not similar
to any protein of known three-dimensional structure. Reversing the classical approach
to the sequence-structure-function paradigm, in this paper we report on novel
information obtained by comparing physicochemical parameters of SV-IV with two
datasets made of intrinsically unfolded and ideally globular proteins. In addition, we
have analysed the SV-IV sequence by several publicly available disorder-oriented
predictors. Overall, disorder predictions and a re-examination of existing experimental
data strongly suggest that SV-IV needs large plasticity to efficiently interact with the
different targets that characterize its multifaceted biological function and should be
therefore better classified as an intrinsically disordered protein

The normalization of sibling violence: Does gender and personal experience of violence influence perceptions of physical assault against siblings?

Despite its pervasive and detrimental nature, sibling violence (SV) remains marginalized as a harmless and inconsequential form of familial aggression. The present study investigates the extent to which perceptions of SV differ from those of other types of interpersonal violence. A total of 605 respondents (197 males, 408 females) read one of four hypothetical physical assault scenarios that varied according to perpetrator–victim relationship type (i.e., sibling vs. dating partner vs. peer vs. stranger) before completing a series of 24 attribution items. Respondents also reported on their own experiences of interpersonal violence during childhood. Exploratory factor analysis reduced 23 attribution items to three internally reliable factors reflecting perceived assault severity, victim culpability, and victim resistance ratings. A 4 × 2 MANCOVA—controlling for respondent age—revealed several significant effects. Overall, males deemed the assault less severe and the victim more culpable than did females. In addition, the sibling assault was deemed less severe compared to assault on either a dating partner or a stranger, with the victim of SV rated just as culpable as the victim of dating, peer, or stranger-perpetrated violence. Finally, respondents with more (frequent) experiences of childhood SV victimization perceived the hypothetical SV assault as being less severe, and victim more culpable, than respondents with no SV victimization. Results are discussed in the context of SV normalization. Methodological limitations and applications for current findings are also outlined

Simplified conservative testing method of touch and step voltages by multiple auxiliary electrodes at reduced distance

Grounding systems (GSs) must be tested periodically in order to maintain the touch voltage (TV) and step voltage (SV) below a safe value in all of the zones of the installation. Measurements of the ground resistance and of the TV and SV are typically done by the fall-of-potential (FoP) method, locating the auxiliary current electrode at remote distance to test the effective behavior of the GS. In urban areas, it could be very complicated or impossible to install the auxiliary current electrode as required, not having area around with sufficient accessibility. At this aim, this paper describes a methodology of using multiple current electrodes at short distances, modifying the classic FoP practice, so that the measurements of TV and SV are always conservative. The adequacy of a GS is verified if the values of the TV and SV, tested inside and in the vicinity of the GS, are below the permissible limits, regardless if they are true or conservatively increased. Thus, the measured TV and SV by the suggested method, always conservative, allow verifying the adequacy of GSs, in the cases where it is impossible to locate the remote auxiliary electrode

Extraocular muscle sampled volume in Graves' orbitopathy using 3-T fast spin-echo MRI with iterative decomposition of water and fat sequences

Abstract Background: Current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for measuring extraocular muscle (EOM) volume enlargement are not ideally suited for routine follow-up of Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) because the difficulty of segmenting the muscles at the tendon insertion complicates and lengthens the study protocol. Purpose: To measure the EOM sampled volume (SV) and assess its correlation with proptosis. Material and Methods: A total of 37 patients with newly diagnosed GO underwent 3-T MRI scanning with iterative decomposition of water and fat (IDEAL) sequences with and without contrast enhancement. In each patient, the three largest contiguous coronal cross-sectional areas (CSA) on the EOM slices were segmented using a polygon selection tool and then summed to compute the EOM-SV. Proptosis was evaluated with the Hertel index (HI). The relationships between the HI value and EOM-SV and between HI and EOM-CSA were compared and assessed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the univariate regression coefficient. Inter-observer and intra-observer variability were calculated. Results: HI showed a stronger correlation with EOM-SV (P<0.001; r¼0.712, r2¼0.507) than with EOM-CSA (P<0.001; r¼0.645 and r2¼0.329). The intraclass correlation coefficient indicated that the inter-observer agreement was high (0.998). The standard deviation between repeated measurements was 1.9–5.3%. Conclusion: IDEAL sequences allow for the measurement EOM-SV both on non-contrast and contrast-enhanced scans. EOM-SV predicts proptosis more accurately than does EOM-CSA. The measurement of EOM-SV is practical and reproducible. EOM-SV changes of 3.5–8.3% can be assumed to reflect true volume changes