Hypnosis for hot flashes among postmenopausal women study: A study protocol of an ongoing randomized clinical trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hot flashes are a highly prevalent problem associated with menopause and breast cancer treatments. The recent findings from the Women's Health Initiative have important implications for the significance of a non-hormonal, mind-body intervention for hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. Women who take hormone therapy long-term may have a 1.2 to 2.0 fold increased risk of developing breast cancer. In addition, it is now known that hormone therapy with estrogen and progestin is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Currently there are limited options to hormone replacement therapy as non-hormonal pharmacological agents are associated with only modest activity and many adverse side effects. Because of this there is a need for more alternative, non-hormonal therapies. Hypnosis is a mind-body intervention that has been shown to reduce self-reported hot flashes by up to 68% among breast cancer survivors, however, the use of hypnosis for hot flashes among post-menopausal women has not been adequately explored and the efficacy of hypnosis in reducing physiologically measured hot flashes has not yet been determined.</p> <p>Methods/design</p> <p>A sample of 180 post-menopausal women will be randomly assigned to either a 5-session Hypnosis Intervention or 5-session structured-attention control with 12 week follow-up. The present study will compare hypnosis to a structured-attention control in reducing hot flashes (perceived and physiologically monitored) in post-menopausal women in a randomized clinical trial. Outcomes will be hot flashes (self-report daily diaries; physiological monitoring; Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); anxiety visual analog scale (VAS rating); depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), sexual functioning (Sexual Activity Questionnaire), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and cortisol.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study will be the first full scale test of hypnosis for hot flashes; one of the first studies to examine both perceived impact and physiologically measured impact of a mind-body intervention for hot flashes using state-of-the-art 24 hour ambulatory physiological monitoring; the first study to examine the effect of hypnosis for hot flashes on cortisol; and the first investigation of the role of cognitive expectancies in treatment of hot flashes in comparison to a Structured-Attention Control.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>This clinical trial has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01293695">NCT01293695</a>.</p

A population synthesis study on the faint X-ray sources in the Galactic center region

Context. Recent Chandra observations of the Galactic center region (GCR) have uncovered a population of faint discrete X-ray sources. A few theoretical works have been made to investigate the nature of these sources. Aims. We examine the contributions and luminosity functions of various kinds of candidate objects which are proposed either by previous authors or by ourselves. Methods. We conduct a population synthesis calculation based on Hurley et al.'s rapid binary evolution code. Several candidate models, i.e. wind-accreting neutron stars, intermediate polars, low mass X-ray binaries, young pulsars and massive stars with strong winds, are incorporated into our calculation. We also take the geometric effect of the accretion disk into account for Roche lobe overflow X-ray binaries. Results. Our results show that neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries contribute significantly to the observed sources. We also point out that wind-accreting neutron stars contribute negligibly to these sources due to propeller effect, and the intermediate polars play a minor role in accounting for the faint X-ray sources in both Wang et al. and Muno et al. survey. It should be mentioned that the majority of the sources in the survey field of Wang et al. are still beyond our expectation