The Implications of Sex Tourism on Mens Social, Psychological, and Physical Health

This article explores sex tourism and possible concerns for the male sex tourist through a content analysis of sex tourism web sites. This qualitative, exploratory study describes the manner in which sex tour web sites attract and maintain male customers. Findings related to men’s psychosocial health are placed within an international context. Recommendations are made that pertain to international social welfare

The Social Problem of Depression: A Multi-theoretical Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social problem of depression from a multi-theoretical perspective. It explores depression through the lens of two psychologically based theories of human behavior, existential theory and cognitive theory, as well as through the vehicle of two sociological theories, Marxist theory and the theory of oppression. By understanding how each of these theories explains depression, social workers may be helped to see the complexity of treating the problem. It is the belief of the authors that social work literature, which is often dominated by reductionist, quantitativelybased research studies, has increasingly ignored theoretical explorations of key social problems such as depression, to the determent of the profession and the disciplines which inform it

Hormones and receptors in endometrial cancer

The uterine endometrium is exquisitely sensitive to hormones, in particular estrogen and progesterone and to a lesser extent androgens and glucocorticoids. These hormones tightly regulate the complex functioning of the female reproductive tract and are intimately involved in controlling the growth, development, and remodeling of reproductive tissues as well as the cyclic changes that occur during the menstrual cycle. Steroids function by binding to nuclear receptor proteins that act as transcription factors to modulate the expression of genes, though many non-genomic effects for steroids have also been described. An imbalance of the hormones leads to cancer. In particular, endometrial carcinogenesis is related to overexposure to estrogen that is not balanced by the differentiating effects of progesterone and potentially other steroid hormones, including androgens and glucocorticoids. This review summarizes steroid hormone action in the endometrium, describes the relative localization of hormone receptors in the normal endometrium and in endometrial cancer, and highlights key clinical trials that have attempted to restore the balance of hormones and thus prevent recurrence of endometrial cance

Changes in Illegal Behavior During Emerging Adulthood

Emerging adulthood marks a critical developmental juncture during which some individuals disengage from the illegal behavior of their adolescence while others continue to use substances and commit crimes. While risk factors for delinquency during adolescence are well studied, factors that influence persisting or desisting from illegal activities during emerging adulthood have not been fully explored. This mixed methods study utilizes a sample of college students aged 18-25 (N=74) and examines factors differentiating those who abstained from illegal behaviors, desisted from illegal behaviors, and persisted in illegal behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression models indicated peers offending and hours spent studying predicted desisting and peers offending predicted persisting (compared to the abstaining group). Three qualitative themes: family and peer bonds, morals and values, and fear of consequences further explained factors influencing emerging adults’ persisting and desisting choices. Implications for social work practice are explored

How Peer Support Specialists Uniquely Initiate and Build Connection with Young People Experiencing Homelessness

Young people experiencing homelessness are often apprehensive to engage in conventional service systems due to prior mistreatment by providers and others in their lives, as well as stigma associated with accessing services. Even when relationships between service providers and young people are initiated, they often end prematurely. Mutual aid, or peer-to-peer support, has a long and promising history within the mental health field, yet has received little empirical attention in work with young people experiencing homelessness. The present study used participatory qualitative methods to understand how peers uniquely initiate and build connection with young people experiencing homelessness. Through interviews and journaling with peer support specialists and program staff, this study found that peers initiate relationships with young people by becoming familiar faces in youth spaces, identifying themselves as peers, then formalizing relationships with young people. Peers build connection by showing they are on the “same side of the glass” as young people, establishing autonomy and availability over a preset agenda, and creating containers acceptable for failure. Peers, their supervisors, and organizations building mutual aid programs may consider these findings when working to build programs which flexibly and authentically engage young people experiencing homelessness in meaningful relationships

Strong-Arm Bullying Prior to Incarceration Among a Sample of Young Offenders

Most studies of bullying behavior have been conducted with general populations during childhood and early adolescence. Although incarcerated youth are at increased risk for bullying others, incarcerated youth in the United States have rarely been studied regarding their bullying behavior prior to incarceration. Understanding the psychological and antisocial correlates of strong-arm bullying prior to incarceration may highlight risk factors that, if addressed, might reduce bullying and deter youth from further involvement in the juvenile justice system. This study examines self-reports of 723 youth incarcerated in the Missouri Division of Youth Services to determine the demographic, psychiatric, and substance-related factors associated with strong-arm bullying in the year prior to incarceration. Results indicate that younger youth from urban areas who have extensive histories of delinquent behavior are more likely than other incarcerated youth to strong-arm their peers. Youth exhibiting strong-arm bullying were also more likely than other youth to use cigarettes and alcohol. Further, strong-arm bullying is associated with severe offending, including gang membership and physical violence. These psychosocial correlates suggest behavioral targets for intervening to reduce bullying among delinquent youth.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78162/1/bullyingbehavior.pd

A pilot study evaluating concordance between blood-based and patient-matched tumor molecular testing within pancreatic cancer patients participating in the Know Your Tumor (KYT) initiative

Recent improvements in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology have enabled detection of biomarkers in cell-free DNA in blood and may ultimately replace invasive tissue biopsies. However, a better understanding of the performance of blood-based NGS assays is needed prior to routine clinical use. As part of an IRBapproved molecular profiling registry trial of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) patients, we facilitated blood-based NGS testing of 34 patients from multiple community-based and high-volume academic oncology practices. 23 of these patients also underwent traditional tumor tissue-based NGS testing. cfDNA was not detected in 9/34 (26%) patients. Overall concordance between blood and tumor tissue NGS assays was low, with only 25% sensitivity of blood-based NGS for tumor tissue NGS. Mutations in KRAS, the major PDA oncogene, were only detected in 10/34 (29%) blood samples, compared to 20/23 (87%) tumor tissue biopsies. The presence of mutations in circulating DNA was associated with reduced overall survival (54% in mutation-positive versus 90% in mutation-negative). Our results suggest that in the setting of previously treated, advanced PDA, liquid biopsies are not yet an adequate substitute for tissue biopsies. Further refinement in defining the optimal patient population and timing of blood sampling may improve the value of a blood-based test. © Pishvaian et al

The combination of Paclitaxel and Gefitinib inhibits endometrial cancer cells by inducing mitotic catastrophe: proof of principle for dual therapy in endometrial cancer

Serous uterine endometrial cancer is a lethal disease for which new therapeutic regimens are urgently needed. Combinations of chemotherapeutic agents and small molecule growth factor inhibitors have demonstrated activity in cancers from other sites. Our objective was to determine whether such a combination using Paclitaxel and Gefitinib could be active in serous endometrial cancer cells

Treatment Guidelines for Substance Use Disorders and Serious Mental Illnesses: Do They Address Co-Occurring Disorders?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78090/1/50.pd

Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Ensure Healthy Development for All Youth

This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs