Response regarding Existential Issues in Sexual Medicine. The relation between death anxiety and hypersexuality

The recent article published by Dr Watter, “Existential Issues in Sexual Medicine: The Relation Between Death Anxiety and Hypersexuality,” deals with an interesting issue: the unique relation between death and sexuality

A Discordant Monozygotic Twin Approach to Testing Environmental Influences on Sexual Dysfunction in Women

The present study explored the causal role played by putative environmental factors on variation in female sexual dysfunction (FSD) by investigating FSD discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins, which permits a control over genetic confounders. In a population-based sample of female twins aged 25-69years (M=55years), MZ twins discordant for recent and lifelong FSD were selected. Sample sizes varied depending on the specific sexual problem (N=33-90 pairs). The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) score was used to discriminate cases from controls. Once genetic factors were controlled for, relationship satisfaction emerged as the strongest independent predictor for recent and lifelong FSD, being associated with FSFI dimensions measuring desire, arousal, and lubrication problems. The association with orgasm problems was especially strong (OR 7.1, 95% CI: 1.9-25.3) as was the association with sexual dissatisfaction (OR 5.1, 95% CI: 2.1-12.1). Furthermore, obsessive-compulsive symptomatology was weakly associated with desire problems (OR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.4-1.8) and anxiety-sensitivity with orgasm problems (OR 1.1, 95% CI: 0.9-1.3). Negligible effects were found for personality factors and small effects for self-reported abusive experiences. These data indicate, for the first time, that in women at identical genetic risk, relationship factors play a key role in the development of sexual problems. These findings require replication in prospective designs which can provide additional powerful tests of the direction of causality between interpersonal factors and later sexual dysfunctio

The management of water resources between traditions and sustainability: the qanats of Shahrood Province (North-eastern Iran)

Qanats, Iran, multidisciplinary study, water supply

Childhood Trauma and PTSD symptoms increase the risk of cognitive impairment in a sample of former indetured child laborers in old Age.

A growing body of evidence suggests a link between early childhood trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and higher risk for dementia in old age. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between childhood trauma exposure, PTSD and neurocognitive function in a unique cohort of former indentured Swiss child laborers in their late adulthood. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study ever conducted on former indentured child laborers and the first to investigate the relationship between childhood versus adulthood trauma and cognitive function. According to PTSD symptoms and whether they experienced childhood trauma (CT) or adulthood trauma (AT), participants (n = 96) were categorized as belonging to one of four groups: CT/PTSD+, CT/PTSD-, AT/PTSD+, AT/PTSD-. Information on cognitive function was assessed using the Structured Interview for Diagnosis of Dementia of Alzheimer Type, Multi-infarct Dementia and Dementia of other Etiology according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and a vocabulary test. Depressive symptoms were investigated as a potential mediator for neurocognitive functioning. Individuals screening positively for PTSD symptoms performed worse on all cognitive tasks compared to healthy individuals, independent of whether they reported childhood or adulthood adversity. When controlling for depressive symptoms, the relationship between PTSD symptoms and poor cognitive function became stronger. Overall, results tentatively indicate that PTSD is accompanied by cognitive deficits which appear to be independent of earlier childhood adversity. Our findings suggest that cognitive deficits in old age may be partly a consequence of PTSD or at least be aggravated by it. However, several study limitations need to considered. Consideration of cognitive deficits when treating PTSD patients and victims of lifespan trauma (even without a diagnosis of a psychiatric condition) is crucial. Furthermore, early intervention may prevent long-term deficits in memory function and development of dementia in adulthood

Atrial Fibrillation Ablation: A Single Center Comparison Between Remote Magnetic Navigation, Cryoballoon and Conventional Manual Pulmonary Vein Isolation

Contains fulltext : 88398.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to compare in our center the effect of different ablation techniques on intermediate term freedom from atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial tachycardia (AT) in patients affected by refractory AF. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively selected 94 patients who underwent AF ablation in our electrophysiological laboratory from June 2007 to December 2009. 29 patients underwent manual circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (mCPVI), 35 underwent remote magnetic navigation assisted CPVI (rmtCPVI) and 30 cryoballoon CPVI (cCPVI). Antiarrhythmic drugs were systematically stopped 2 months after the procedure (end of the "blanking period"). At a mean follow-up of 12,64 +/- 6,41 months (range 2-31), the success rate for mCPVI group was 65.5% (19 patients), 66.7 % (20 patients) for the rmtCPVI group and 65.7 % (23 patients) for the cCPVI group (p = 0.625). Procedural and fluoroscopy times were significantly reduced in the cCPVI group (both p < 0.001). Univariate Cox regression showed that no clinical variables were independently associated with recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: In our center's experience cCPVI and rmtCPVI have been demonstrated to be as effective as mCPVI. cCPVI seemed to be associated with lower procedural and fluoroscopy times

Swiss National Registry on Catheter Ablation Procedures: Changing Trends over the Last 20 Years

The Swiss Ablation Registry provides a national database for electrophysiologic studies and catheter ablations. We analyzed the database to provide an in-depth look at changing trends over the last 20 years. During the study period a total of 78622 catheter ablations (age 61.0 ± 1.2 years; 63.7% male) were performed in 29 centers. The number of ablations increased by approximately ten-fold in 20 years. Ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) was the main driver behind this increase, with more than hundred-fold (39.7% of all ablations in 2019). Atrioventricular-nodal-reentrant-tachycardia (AVNRT) and accessory pathways, being the main indications for ablation in 2000 (44.1%/25.1%, respectively), made up of only a small proportion (15.2%/3.5%,) respectively in 2019. Fluoroscopy, ablation, and procedure durations were reduced for all ablations over time. The highest repeat ablations were performed for ventricular tachycardia and AF (24.4%/24.3%). The majority of ablations (63.0%) are currently performed in private hospitals and non-university public hospitals whereas university hospitals had dominated (82.4%) at the turn of the century. A pronounced increase in the number of catheter ablations in Switzerland was accompanied by a marked decrease in fluoroscopy, ablation, and procedure durations. We observed a shift toward more complex procedures in older patients with comorbidities

In-hospital safety in field conditions of Nifurtimox Eflornithine Combination Therapy (NECT) for T. B. Gambiense Sleeping Sickness

Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.) gambiense Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT; sleeping sickness) is a fatal disease. Until 2009, available treatments for 2(nd) stage HAT were complicated to use, expensive (eflornithine monotherapy), or toxic, and insufficiently effective in certain areas (melarsoprol). Recently, nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) demonstrated good safety and efficacy in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and was added to the World Health Organisation (WHO) essential medicines list (EML). Documentation of its safety profile in field conditions will support its wider use

Cryoballoon Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Septuagenarians: a Prospective Study

Contains fulltext : 87905.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)AIMS: To evaluate the effects of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in terms of feasibility, safety and success rate on a midterm follow-up period in septuagenarians undergoing ablation with the Arctic Front Cryoballoon for atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively enrolled 21 patients aged 70 years or older (14 male; age 73 +/- 2.5 years) elected to circumferential PVI with the 28mm cryoballoon for symptomatic drug resistant paroxysmal AF. A total number of 82 pulmonary veins (PV) were evidenced. Successful isolation could be obtained in all 82 (100%) PV ostia at the end of procedure. No major complication occurred during procedure. At a mean follow-up of 11.5 +/- 4.7 months following ablation, 62% of patients did not present recurrence of atrial arrhythmias. CONCLUSION: Cryoballoon ablation may be feasible and safe in older patients. Moreover a large proportion of the latter did not present AF recurrence during follow-up

Development of Advanced Thin Films by PECVD for Photovoltaic Applications

Compared to wafer based solar cells, thin film solar cells greatly reduce material cost and thermal budget due to low temperature process. Monolithically manufacturing allows large area fabrication and continuous processing. In this work, several photovoltaic thin films have been developed by rf-PECVD including a-Si:H and μc-Si, both intrinsic and doped on Corning 4 inch glass substrate at low temperature. The conductivity of n type and p type μc-Si at 180ºC was 17S/cm and 7.1E-2S/cm, respectively. B dopants either in a-Si:H or μc-Si films require higher plasma power to get active doping. The B2H6-to-SiH4 flow ratio for p type μc-Si lies from 0.01 to 0.025. Chamber conditions have critical effect on film quality. Repeatable and superior results require a well-established cleaning passivation procedure. Moreover, μc-Si films have been deposited from pure silane on glass substrate by modified rf-ICP-CVD. The deposition rate has been dramatically increased to 5Å/s due to little H2 dilution with crystalline fraction was around 69%, and 6.2Å/s with crystalline fraction 45%. Microstructure started to form at 150ºC with a thin incubation layer on the glass substrate, and became fully dense conical conglomerates around 300nm where conductivity and crystallinity saturated. Additionally, a-SiGe:H films have been developed by modified rf-ICP-CVD. The optical band gaps have been varied from 1.25 to 1.63eV by changing SiH4-to-GeH4 ratio. Also high temperature resulted in low bandgap. Cross-section TEM showed some microcrystllites appeared near interface region. Heterojunction solar cells on p type c-Si wafer have been fabricated using films developed in this thesis. Interference fringes in EQE disappeared on either textured substrate or cells with lift-off contacts. Maximum EQE was 87% around 700nm. I-V curves have also been studied where the interesting kink suggests a counter-diode has formed between emitter region and contacts