Comparison of drug use and psychiatric morbidity between prostitute and non-prostitute female drug users in Glasgow, Scotland

Aims: To compare psychiatric morbidity between 176 female drug users with lifetime involvement in prostitution (prostitutes) and 89 female drug users with no involvement (non-prostitutes) in Glasgow, Scotland. Method: The Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) measured current neurotic symptoms. Results: Prostitutes were more likely to report adult physical (OR 1.8) or sexual abuse (OR 2.4), to have attempted suicide (OR 1.7) and to meet criteria for current depressive ideas (OR 1.8) than non-prostitutes. Seventy-two percent of prostitutes and sixty-seven percent of non-prostitutes met criteria for a level of current neurotic symptoms likely to need treatment (CIS-R ≥18). Being in foster care (OR 8.9), being prescribed medication for emotional problems in the last 30 days (OR 7.7), adult sexual abuse (OR 4.5), poly drug use in the last 30 days (OR 3.6) and adult physical abuse (OR 2.6) were significantly associated with a CIS-R score of ≥18 for prostitutes using multiple logistic regression. Conclusions: Higher rates of adulthood abuse among prostitutes may explain the greater proportion of prostitutes than non-prostitutes meeting criteria for current depressive ideas and lifetime suicide attempts

Disability Among Women Workers and the Role of Social Support Systems

The study examined factors affecting return to work following a short-term disability and measured the relationship between social support and the subject's well-being status, emphasizing the role of the social support system. Subjects are 185 female city workers, members of District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and recently either physically or mentally disabled. They are entitled to a maximum of six-months short-term disability benefits. Data, collected through a structured telephone interview, included the Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule (ASSIS), modified to the type of event (short-term disability), population (female), to measure perceived social support, and the General Well-Being Schedule to measure subjects' well-being. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques were utilized. Six variables predicted length of unemployment: (1) severity of illness; (2) general well-being; (3) type of disability (physical or mental); (4) quality of support from immediate family; (5) job tenure; and (6) perceived financial stress. None of the work social support variables were statistically significant in predicting length of unemployment. A relationship between social support and well-being was found. Four variables predicted the subject's well-being status: (1) perceived financial stress; (2) job satisfaction; (3) quality of support from family; and (4) quality of support from friends. Mentally disabled subjects remained longer on short-term disability than the physically disabled and a higher percentage were unemployed at the end of the six-month short-term disability, implying that they are at a greater risk of leaving the labor force. Findings are consistent with existing research on the role of social support in promoting well-being and return to work, as well as identification of critical risk factors for leaving the labor force. These have critical implications for social work practice and policy, in general, and in union settings

Small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has proven to be chemo-resistant, with gemcitabine being the only cytotoxic agent approved for advanced pancreatic cancer since 1996. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors represent a newer generation of chemotherapeutic agents targeting specific tumor pathways associated with carcinogenesis including cell cycle control, signal transduction, apoptosis and angiogenesis. These agents present a more selective way of treating pancreatic cancer. Erlotinib is the prototype of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors with proven efficacy in advanced pancreatic cancer and has been recently approved in that setting. Multiple other tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting the VEGFR, PDGFR, and Src kinases are in various phases of clinical trials testing. The preliminary results of these trials have been disappointing. Current challenges in pancreatic cancer clinical trials testing include improving patient selection, identifying effective combinations, improving the predictive value of current preclinical models and better study designs. This review summarizes the present clinical development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in pancreatic cancer and strategies for future drug development

Population Descent: A Natural-Selection Based Hyper-Parameter Tuning Framework

First-order gradient descent has been the base of the most successful optimization algorithms ever implemented. On supervised learning problems with very high dimensionality, such as neural network optimization, it is almost always the algorithm of choice, mainly due to its memory and computational efficiency. However, it is a classical result in optimization that gradient descent converges to local minima on non-convex functions. Even more importantly, in certain high-dimensional cases, escaping the plateaus of large saddle points becomes intractable. On the other hand, black-box optimization methods are not sensitive to the local structure of a loss function's landscape but suffer the curse of dimensionality. Instead, memetic algorithms aim to combine the benefits of both. Inspired by this, we present Population Descent, a memetic algorithm focused on hyperparameter optimization. We show that an adaptive m-elitist selection approach combined with a normalized-fitness-based randomization scheme outperforms more complex state-of-the-art algorithms by up to 13% on common benchmark tasks

Rejection Sensitivity, Perceived Power, and HIV Risk in the Relationships of Low-Income Urban Women

The psychological processes associated with HIV infection in long-term relationships differ from those operative in casual sexual encounters, and relatively little research has considered the aspects of personality applicable in the ongoing heterosexual relationships in which women are at greatest risk. Sensitivity to rejection has been linked with efforts to prevent rejection at a cost to the self and, therefore, may be relevant to the health risks that many women incur in relationships. We examined the association of rejection sensitivity with women\u27s sexual risk behavior in a sample of women at heightened risk for HIV exposure. Women in long-term heterosexual relationships (N = 159) were recruited for study participation in the hospital emergency room serving a low-income neighborhood in New York City, in 2001-2003. Rejection sensitivity and known HIV risk factors were assessed using verbally administered questionnaires. Rejection sensitivity was associated with lower perceived relationship power and, in turn, more frequent unprotected sex with a partner perceived to be at risk for HIV. These results held when controlling for other HIV risk factors including partner violence, economic dependence, and substance use. Understanding the association of rejection concerns with lower perceived personal power in relationships may be important for HIV prevention

Considering HIV Risk and Intimate Partner Violence Among Older Women of Color: A Descriptive Analysis

This study describes the types of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual HIV-risk factors reported by a sample of 139 African American and Latina women ages 50 and older receiving care in outpatient clinics of an urban medical center. Additionally, we obtained estimates of the associations between experiencing IPV in a primary heterosexual relationship and the following HIV-risk behaviors among our sample of older minority women: (a) having multiple sexual partners, (b) STD history, (c) partner-related risk (i.e., having a partner who has multiple sexual partners, is HIV-infected, injecting drugs, and/or has an STD), and (d) self-perception of risk for HIV infection. Results indicate that many of these women are engaged in sexual risk behaviors, and such behaviors are associated with increased likelihood of IPV for this cohort. Implications for health care professionals are discussed

Psychological Distress and Intimate Physical and Sexual Abuse among Women in Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs

Guided by the cognitive theory of stress and coping and the comprehensive health“seeking and coping paradigm, this study examines associations among intimate partner abuse and psychological distress, posttraumatic stress disorder, childhood sexual abuse, and current drug use among a cohort of 416 women randomly recruited from New York City methadone treatment programs. Findings expand on past evidence of the high prevalence of psychological distress among adult victimized women and among those with a history of childhood sexual abuse. Women currently abused by their partners have more posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and psychological distress than women not abused by their partners

Conception et réalisation d'un réseau d'antenne 8x16 éléments et de composants tridimensionnels à ondes millimétriques à base d'interconnexions verticales sur guides intégrés au substrat

RÉSUMÉ Les systèmes d'imagerie passives à ondes millimétriques nécessitent des antennes de taille compacte et à faible coût, présentant un gain élevé, de faibles pertes et une grande efficacité. Afin de réaliser une antenne satisfaisant ces exigences, une structure d'alimentation tridimensionnelle compacte, associée à 8x16 antennes éléments à rayonnement longitudinal à fort gain, est présentée dans ce mémoire. L’ensemble de contributions réalisées dans le cadre de ce travail sera décrit comme suit. Premièrement, pour être capable de construire ce réseau diviseur/combineur de puissance non planaire exclusivement avec la technologie du guide d’ondes intégré au substrat (GIS) sans l'utilisation de transitions en microruban, en fentes ou en guide d'ondes métallique pour passer du plan-H au plan-E, un coin plan-E uniquement basé sur la technologie (GIS) est étudié, analysé et démontré pour la première fois. Cette interconnexion GIS verticale, qui peut être fabriquée avec des circuits imprimés ou d'autres procédés similaires, amène des avantages attractifs en termes de coûts, de flexibilité et d’intégrabilité. Deux circuits prototypes avec des bras verticaux tournés respectivement de 0 et 45 degrés sont fabriqués. La version standard montre des pertes d'insertion de 0,5 dB dans la bande de 30 à 40 GHz, tandis que celle pivotée présente 0,7 dB de pertes sur la même plage de fréquences. Avec ce coude, une jonction–T plan-E est étudiée et conçue. Les résultats mesurés montrent 10 dB de pertes par réflexion sur 19% de largeur bande autour de 35 GHz avec moins de ± 4 degrés de déséquilibre de phase. Un diviseur T-magique large bande optimisé est démontré et fabriqué. Les résultats simulés et mesurés montrent une puissance répartie uniformément et un très bon isolement avec de faibles pertes par réflexion. En associant deux antennes avec deux coudes aux bras verticaux pivotés de 45 degrés et dupliqués en miroir, un système de double polarisation est obtenu, montrant une isolation de plus 20 dB de 32 à 40 GHz. Deuxièmement, une antenne à fente corrugée Fermi à rayonnement longitudinal alimentée en GIS avec un faisceau étroit et une large bande est fabriquée. Le gain réalisé en mesures est d'environ 18,4 dBi. Une fente évasée en air créée au centre de l’antenne, lorsque cette dernière est utilisée dans un réseau, vise à réduire le couplage entre deux éléments adjacents.---------- ABSTRACT Passive millimeter-wave imaging systems require compact-size, low-cost, high gain, low-loss and high-efficiency antennas. In order to realize an antenna satisfying those requirements, a compact three dimensional feeding structure in connection with 8x16 high-gain, high-efficiency endfire radiating elements are presented in this thesis. A number of contributions are made in this work, which will be described as follows. First, to be able to construct this non-planar power dividing/combining network exclusively with substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology without the use of any microstrip, slot-line or metallic waveguide for H-to-E-plane transition, a right angle E-plane corner solely based on (SIW) technology is studied, analyzed and demonstrated for the first time. This SIW vertical interconnect, which can be made with PCB or other similar processes, presents attractive advantages in terms of cost, flexibility and integration. Two circuit prototypes with both 0 and 45 degree vertical rotated arms are fabricated. The standard version has 0.5 dB of insertion loss from 30 to 40 GHz while the rotated one gives 0.7 dB over the same frequency range. With this bend, an E-plane T-junction is studied and designed. Measured results show 10 dB return loss over 19 % of bandwidth at 35 GHz with less than ±4 degree phase imbalance. An optimized wideband magic-T splitter is fabricated and demonstrated. Both simulated and measured results show evenly distributed power with very good isolation and return loss. By associating two antennas with two mirror duplicated 45 degree vertical rotated arm bends, a dual polarization system is obtained, showing a 20 dB isolation over 32-40 GHz. Second, an optimized wideband end-fire corrugated SIW fed Fermi tapered slot antenna with narrow beamwidth is fabricated. The realized gain in our measurement is about 18.4 dBi. To enhance its performance when used in an array, a taper shaped air gap is created in the center of the antenna to reduce the coupling between two adjacent elements. Third, an SIW 16 way power divider is designed with Villeneuve modified distribution in order to obtain low side lobe level (SLL). A 16 element array using the Fermi antenna is fabricated