Post traumatic stress disorder and resilience in veterans who served in the South African border war

Objective: The psychological impact of the South African border war on veterans has received little or no attention. This study determined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and extent of resilience among a cohort of veterans.Method: Of 1527 former students who matriculated from a Johannesburg high school from 1975 to 1988, only 109 were reachable for convenience and snowballing recruitment into this study. An anonymous, internet-based questionnaire was used to obtain information on demography, combat exposure, drug and alcohol use, traumatic events in later life, and recourse to medication and counselling. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) assessed for PTSD and the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) measured resilience. Data were processed with STATA; version 11 statistical software package. Analysis included Chi square test and regression analysis.Results: The response rate was 49.5% (n=54). The prevalence of PTSD was 33% and significantly associated with combat exposure (p=.012). Despite high prevalence of PTSD in those exposed to combat, 94% showed normal to above-normal level of resilience. CD-RISC scores showed no association with the IES-R. Only current cannabis use was significantly linked with PTSD (p=.044).Conclusion: Although the prevalence of PTSD found in this sample was higher than in comparable international studies, this cohort of former SA national servicemen, showed high levels of resilience. The current use of cannabis within the context of prior exposure to military national service or combat should prompt clinicians to screen for the presence of PTSD-associated symptoms.Keywords: Combat Exposure; Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; National Service; Border War; South AfricaAfrican Journal of Psychiatry • November 2013, 16(6

'Dressage Is Full of Queens!' Masculinity, Sexuality and Equestrian Sport

Attitudes towards sexuality are changing and levels of cultural homophobia decreasing, yet there remain very few openly gay men within sport. As a proving ground for heteromasculinity, sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men. This article is based on an ethnographic study within a sporting subworld in which gay men do appear to be accepted: equestrian sport. Drawing on inclusive masculinity theory, equestrian sport is shown to offer an unusually tolerant environment for gay men in which heterosexual men of all ages demonstrate low levels of homophobia. Inclusive masculinity theory is a useful framework for exploring the changing nature of masculinities and this study demonstrates that gay men are becoming increasingly visible and accepted within once unreceptive locales, such as sport and rural communities. However, this more tolerant attitude is purchased at the expense of a subordinated feminine Other, perpetuating the dominance of men within competitive sport. © The Author(s) 2012

Rapid identification of mutations in GJC2 in primary lymphoedema using whole exome sequencing combined with linkage analysis with delineation of the phenotype.

Background: Primary lymphoedema describes a chronic, frequently progressive, failure of lymphatic drainage. This disorder is frequently genetic in origin, and a multigenerational family in which eight individuals developed postnatal lymphoedema of all four limbs was ascertained from the joint Lymphoedema/Genetic clinic at St George's Hospital. Methods: Linkage analysis was used to determine a locus, and exome sequencing was employed to look for causative variants. Results: Linkage analysis revealed cosegregation of a 16.1 Mb haplotype on chromosome 1q42 that contained 173 known or predicted genes. Whole exome sequencing in a single affected individual was undertaken, and the search for the causative variant was focused to within the linkage interval. This approach revealed two novel non-synonymous single nucleotide substitutions within the chromosome 1 locus, in NVL and GJC2. NVL and GJC2 were sequenced in an additional cohort of individuals with a similar phenotype and non-synonymous variants were found in GJC2 in four additional families. Conclusion: This report demonstrates the power of exome sequencing efficiently applied to a traditional positional cloning pipeline in disease gene discovery, and suggests that the phenotype produced by GJC2 mutations is predominantly one of 4 limb lymphoedema

Concealed concern: Fathers' experience of having a child with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Despite increased research into families of chronically ill children, more needs to be known about the father’s experience. We address this issue through asking: ‘What is it like to be the father of a child with juvenile idiopathic arthritis?’ (JIA). Four members of eight families with an adolescent diagnosed with JIA, including seven fathers, were interviewed and transcripts analyzed using grounded theory. This study suggests that fathers of children with JIA experience several severe losses which are exacerbated through comparisons they make between their own situation and that of fathers of healthy children. In addition, the fathers faced several constraints which reduced their opportunities to communicate with their ill child through shared activities. Fathers appeared to conceal their distress by adopting strategies of denial and distraction however their adjustment was facilitated, to some extent, by social support. They could also develop greater acceptance of their situation over time as the care of their ill child became assimilated into family life and constraints upon their life gradually reduced through the increased maturity of their son or daughter with JIA. These findings have implications for healthcare professionals and voluntary organizations

A novel 2.5D method for solving the mixed boundary value problem of a surface effect ship

When a surface effect ship (SES) sails in waves, the unsteady velocity potential of water can be decomposed into incident potential, sidehull radiation potential, sidehull diffraction potential and radiation potential due to fluctuating air pressure. The potentials related to sidehulls satisfy Neumann boundary conditions (BC) and have been successfully addressed using the 2.5D method. In contrast, the potential related to fluctuating air pressure satisfies mixed BC consisting of homogeneous Neumann BC on the wetted surface of sidehulls and nonhomogeneous Dirichlet BC on the interface between air and water, which has never been studied using the efficient 2.5D method. In this paper, the 2.5D method is firstly proposed to solve the mixed boundary value problem (BVP), which can deal with the coupling between the fluctuating air pressure and sidehulls. By using the 2.5D method, the radiation wave and other relative hydrodynamic parameters of a SES due to the fluctuating air pressure are evaluated. The numerical results on motion response and the fluctuated air pressure of the SES show acceptable agreement with the experimental ones

He Scores Through a Screen: Mediating Masculinities Through Hockey Video Games

Hockey video games highlight the ways in which the video game medium shapes and conditions the experience of producing and/or performing the sport “in real life.” Indeed, the accumulation of advanced statistics in and through the constant evaluation, measurement, and surveillance which are inherent to video games—and increasingly seen as foundational for sport—reveals important contradictions not only in the way the embodied sport is played and understood, but also in terms of the proofs of masculinity upon which the sport is built. It then becomes clear that the building of masculinity and the empowerment of the character become one and the same. The ludic function reinforces the cultural imperative and vice versa. Thus, our chapter prizes apart the conflation of masculinity with hockey while showing the ways that video game studies can contribute to existing disciplines

PAR4 (Protease-Activated Receptor 4) Antagonism with BMS-986120 Inhibits Human Ex Vivo Thrombus Formation

Objective-BMS-986120 is a novel first-in-class oral PAR4 (protease-Activated receptor 4) antagonist with potent and selective antiplatelet effects. We sought to determine for the first time, the effect of BMS-986120 on human ex vivo thrombus formation. Approach and Results-Forty healthy volunteers completed a phase 1 parallel-group PROBE trial (Prospective Randomized Open-Label Blinded End Point). Ex vivo platelet activation, platelet aggregation, and thrombus formation were measured at 0, 2, and 24 hours after (1) oral BMS-986120 (60 mg) or (2) oral aspirin (600 mg) followed at 18 hours with oral aspirin (600 mg) and oral clopidogrel (600 mg). BMS-986120 demonstrated highly selective and reversible inhibition of PAR4 agonist peptide (100 μM)-stimulated P-selectin expression, platelet-monocyte aggregates, and platelet aggregation (P<0.001 for all). Compared with pretreatment, total thrombus area (μm2/mm) at high shear was reduced by 29.2% (95% confidence interval, 18.3%-38.7%; P<0.001) at 2 hours and by 21.4% (9.3%-32.0%; P=0.002) at 24 hours. Reductions in thrombus formation were driven by a decrease in platelet-rich thrombus deposition: 34.8% (19.3%-47.3%; P<0.001) at 2 hours and 23.3% (5.1%-38.0%; P=0.016) at 24 hours. In contrast to aspirin alone, or in combination with clopidogrel, BMS-986120 had no effect on thrombus formation at low shear (P=nonsignificant). BMS-986120 administration was not associated with an increase in coagulation times or serious adverse events. Conclusions-BMS-986120 is a highly selective and reversible oral PAR4 antagonist that substantially reduces platelet-rich thrombus formation under conditions of high shear stress. Our results suggest PAR4 antagonism has major potential as a therapeutic antiplatelet strategy. Clinical Trial Registration-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02439190

Gendered performances in sport: an embodied approach

Despite significant advances in recent years, gender inequalities remain apparent within the context of sport participation and engagement. One of the problems, however, when addressing gender issues in sport is the continued assumption by many sport practitioners that the experiences of women and men will always be different because of perceived physiological characteristics. Adopting a focus based solely upon perceived gendered differences often overlooks the importance of recognising individual experience and the prevailing social influences that impact upon participation, such as age, class, race and ability. An embodied approach, as well as seeking to move beyond mind/body dualisms, incorporates the physiological with the social and psychological. Therefore, it is suggested that while considerations of gender remain important, they need to be interpreted alongside other interconnecting and influential (at varying times and occasions) social and physical factors. It is argued that taking the body as a starting point opens up more possibilities to manoeuvre through the mine field that is gender and sport participation. The appeal of an embodied approach to the study of gender and sport is in its accommodation of a wider multi-disciplinary lens. Particularly, by acknowledging the subjective, corporeal, lived experiences of sport engagement, an embodied approach offers a more flexible starting point to negotiate the theoretical and methodological challenges created by restrictive discourses of difference

Effect of intonation on Cantonese lexical tones

In tonal languages, there are potential conflicts between the F0-based changes due to the coexistence of intonation and lexical tones. In the present study, the interaction of tone and intonation in Cantonese was examined using acoustic and perceptual analyses. The acoustic patterns of tones at the initial, medial, and final positions of questions and statements were measured. Results showed that intonation affects both the F0 level and contour, while the duration of the six tones varied as a function of positions within intonation contexts. All six tones at the final position of questions showed rising F0 contour, regardless of their canonical form. Listeners were overall more accurate in the identification of tones presented within the original carrier than of the same tones in isolation. However, a large proportion of tones 33, 21, 23, and 22 at the final position of questions were misperceived as tone 25 both within the original carrier and as isolated words. These results suggest that although the intonation context provided cues for correct tone identification, the intonation-induced changes in F0 contour cannot always be perceptually compensated for, resulting in some erroneous perception of the identity of Cantonese tone. © 2006 Acoustical Society of America.published_or_final_versio

Novel mutations in PIEZO1 cause an autosomal recessive generalized lymphatic dysplasia with non-immune hydrops fetalis.

Generalized lymphatic dysplasia (GLD) is a rare form of primary lymphoedema characterized by a uniform, widespread lymphoedema affecting all segments of the body, with systemic involvement such as intestinal and/or pulmonary lymphangiectasia, pleural effusions, chylothoraces and/or pericardial effusions. This may present prenatally as non-immune hydrops. Here we report homozygous and compound heterozygous mutations in PIEZO1, resulting in an autosomal recessive form of GLD with a high incidence of non-immune hydrops fetalis and childhood onset of facial and four limb lymphoedema. Mutations in PIEZO1, which encodes a mechanically activated ion channel, have been reported with autosomal dominant dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis and non-immune hydrops of unknown aetiology. Besides its role in red blood cells, our findings indicate that PIEZO1 is also involved in the development of lymphatic structures