Child Abusers: Can we accurately predict them by personality?

Many studies label parents with certain demographic characteristics as being more prone to abuse children than others. Many predictors such as: gender, childhood abuse history, parental satisfaction, parent’s attribution style, child’s age, child disruptive behaviors, parental ethnicity, parental marital status, parental socioeconomic status, parental education, family size, household disorganization, coercive caregiver-child interaction patterns, and family social support are not accounting for alternative characteristics (Begle, Dumas, & Hanson, 2010). The Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), a measure of adult personality characteristics; might give us a more robust picture of what, if any, personality characteristics predict child abuse potential beyond the factors listed above. Archival evaluation records of at-risk parents have been collected, coded, and examined for abuse potential. Using a sample of 100 parental evaluations (63 abusers, 21 non-abusers) personality characteristics that predict abuse will be identified. If certain personality dimensions are identified as statistically significant predictors of abuse perpetration, above and beyond other predictors, this could aid in more accurately predicting child abuse and identifying at-risk individuals to better prevent abuse and keep families whole. Meanwhile, this research may help eliminate some of the stigma associated with belonging to an “at-risk demographic.

Message on a bottle: are alcohol warning labels about cancer appropriate?

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background Although most Australians are unaware of the risk, there is strong evidence for a direct link between alcohol consumption and many types of cancer. Warning labels on alcohol products have been proposed as a cost-effective strategy to inform the community of this health risk. We aimed to identify how Australians might respond to such an approach. Methods We conducted a national online survey canvassing responses to four separate cancer warning messages on labels. The graphically presented messages were informed by qualitative data from a series of focus groups among self-identified ‘light-to-moderate’ drinkers. For each label, participants were asked their level of agreement with impact statements about raising awareness, prompting conversation, influencing drinking behaviour and educating others about cancer risk. We analysed responses according to demographic and other factors, including self-reported drinking behaviour (using the 3-item Alcohol Use Disorder Test – AUDIT-C – scores). Results Approximately 1600 participants completed the survey, which was open to all Australian adults over a period of 1 month in 2014. Overall, the labels were well received, with the majority (>70 %) agreeing all labels could raise awareness and prompt conversations about the cancer risk associated with alcohol. Around 50 % or less agreed that the labels could influence drinking behaviour, but larger proportions agreed that the labels would prompt them to discuss the issue with family and friends. Although sex, AUDIT-C score and age were significantly associated with agreement on bivariate analysis, multivariate analyses demonstrated that being inclined to act upon warning label recommendations in general was the most important predictor of agreement with all of the impact statements. Having a low AUDIT-C score also predicted agreement that the labels might prompt behaviour change in friends. Conclusions The findings suggest that providing detailed warnings about cancer risk on alcohol products is a viable means of increasing public awareness of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Further research is needed to explore the ability of such warnings to influence behavioural intentions and actual drinking behaviour

Message on a bottle: are alcohol warning labels about cancer appropriate?

Background Although most Australians are unaware of the risk, there is strong evidence for a direct link between alcohol consumption and many types of cancer. Warning labels on alcohol products have been proposed as a cost-effective strategy to inform the community of this health risk. We aimed to identify how Australians might respond to such an approach. Methods We conducted a national online survey canvassing responses to four separate cancer warning messages on labels. The graphically presented messages were informed by qualitative data from a series of focus groups among self-identified ‘light-to-moderate’ drinkers. For each label, participants were asked their level of agreement with impact statements about raising awareness, prompting conversation, influencing drinking behaviour and educating others about cancer risk. We analysed responses according to demographic and other factors, including self-reported drinking behaviour (using the 3-item Alcohol Use Disorder Test – AUDIT-C – scores). Results Approximately 1600 participants completed the survey, which was open to all Australian adults over a period of 1 month in 2014. Overall, the labels were well received, with the majority (>70 %) agreeing all labels could raise awareness and prompt conversations about the cancer risk associated with alcohol. Around 50 % or less agreed that the labels could influence drinking behaviour, but larger proportions agreed that the labels would prompt them to discuss the issue with family and friends. Although sex, AUDIT-C score and age were significantly associated with agreement on bivariate analysis, multivariate analyses demonstrated that being inclined to act upon warning label recommendations in general was the most important predictor of agreement with all of the impact statements. Having a low AUDIT-C score also predicted agreement that the labels might prompt behaviour change in friends. Conclusions The findings suggest that providing detailed warnings about cancer risk on alcohol products is a viable means of increasing public awareness of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Further research is needed to explore the ability of such warnings to influence behavioural intentions and actual drinking behaviour

How Australian general practitioners engage in discussions about alcohol with their patients: a cross-sectional study

Objective: This study aimed to investigate factors that inhibit and facilitate discussion about alcohol between general practitioners (GPs) and patients. Design: Data analysis from a cross-sectional survey. Setting and participants: 894 GP delegates of a national health seminar series held in five capital cities of Australia in 2014. Main outcome measures: Likelihood of routine alcohol enquiry; self-assessed confidence in assessing and managing alcohol issues in primary healthcare. Results: Most GPs (87%) reported that they were likely to routinely ask patients about their alcohol consumption and had sufficient skills to manage alcohol issues (74%). Potential barriers to enquiring about alcohol included perceptions that patients are not always honest about alcohol intake (84%) and communication difficulties (44%). ‘I usually ask about alcohol’ was ranked by 36% as the number one presentation likely to prompt alcohol discussion. Altered liver function test results followed by suspected clinical depression were most frequently ranked in the top three presentations. Suspicious or frequent injuries, frequent requests for sickness certificates and long-term unemployment were ranked in the top three presentations by 20% or less. Confidence in managing alcohol issues independently predicted likelihood to ‘routinely ask’ about alcohol consumption. Lack of time emerged as the single most important barrier to routinely asking about alcohol. Lack of time was predicted by perceptions of competing health issues in patients, fear of eliciting negative responses and lower confidence in ability to manage alcohol-related issues. Conclusions: Improving GPs' confidence and ability to identify, assess and manage at-risk drinking through relevant education may facilitate greater uptake of alcohol-related enquiries in general practice settings. Routine establishment of brief alcohol assessments might improve confidence in managing alcohol issues, reduce the time burden in risk assessment, decrease potential stigma associated with raising alcohol issues and reduce the potential for negative responses from patients

‘Sussing that doctor out.’ Experiences and perspectives of people affected by hepatitis C regarding engagement with private general practitioners in South Australia: a qualitative study

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background Australians with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) can access affordable Direct Acting Antiviral (DAA) treatments with high cure rates (>90%), via General Practitioners (GPs). Benefits from this treatment will be maximised if people with HCV readily disclose and engage with private GPs regarding HCV-related issues. Investigating the perceptions and experiences of people affected by HCV with GPs can allow for this pathway to care for HCV to be improved. Methods In 2013–2014, 22 purposively sampled participants from South Australia (SA) were interviewed. They a) had contracted or were at risk of hepatitis C (n = 10), b) were key workers who had clients affected by HCV (n = 6), and c) met both a) and b) criteria (n = 6). The semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Results People affected by HCV viewed GPs as a source of general healthcare but, due to negative experiences and perceptions, many developed a strategy of “sussing” out doctors before engaging with and disclosing to a GP regarding HCV-related issues. Participants were doubtful about the benefits of engagement and disclosure, and did not assume that they would be provided best-practice care in a non-discriminatory, non-judgemental way. They perceived risks to confidentiality and risks of changes to the care they received from GPs upon disclosure. Conclusion GPs may need to act in ways that counteract the perceived risks and persuade people affected by HCV of the benefits of seeking HCV-related care

Revisiting Candidacy: What might it offer cancer prevention?

The notion of candidacy emerged three decades ago through Davison and colleagues’ exploration of people’s understanding of the causes of coronary heart disease. Candidacy was a mechanism to estimate one’s own or others risk of disease informed by their lay epidemiology. It could predict who would develop illness or explain why someone succumbed to it. Candidacy’s predictive ability, however, was fallible, and it was from this perspective that the public’s reticence to adhere to prevention messages could be explained, as ultimately anybody could be ‘at-risk’. This work continues to resonate in health research, with over 700 citations of Davison’s Candidacy paper. Less explored however, is the candidacy framework in its entirety in other illness spheres, where prevention efforts could potentially impact health outcomes. This paper revisits the candidacy framework to reconsider it use within prevention. In doing so, candidacy within coronary heart disease, suicide prevention, diabetes, and cancer will be examined, and key components of candidacy and how people negotiate their candidacy within differing disease contexts will be uncovered. The applicability of candidacy to address modifiable breast cancer risk factors or cancer prevention more broadly will be considered, as will the implications for public health policy

Th2/Th1 Cytokine Imbalance Is Associated With Higher COVID-19 Risk Mortality

A major component of COVID-19 severe respiratory syndrome is the patient’s immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the consequential multi-organ inflammatory response. Several studies suggested a potential role of CD4+ T cells in COVID-19 severe respiratory syndrome. We first hypothesized that there is a type 2 helper (Th2)/type 1 helper (Th1) imbalance in older age, male, asthma, smokers, and high ACE2 expression phenotype in the airway of non-infected patients. Next, we hypothesized that a Th2/Th1 imbalance may predict higher mortality in COVID-19 infected hospitalized patients with and without patient reported current asthma. We first analyzed publicly available gene expression from the sputum of 118 moderate-to-severe asthma patients and 21 healthy controls, and from nasal epithelium of 26 healthy current smokers and 21 healthy never smokers. Secondly, we profiled 288 new serum proteomics samples measured at admission from patients hospitalized within the Mount Sinai Health System with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection. We first computed Th1 and Th2 pathway enrichment scores by gene set variation analysis and then compared the differences in Th2 and Th1 pathway scores between patients that died compared to those that survived, by linear regression. The level of Th2/Th1 imbalance, as determined by the enrichment score, was associated with age, sex, and ACE2 expression in sputum, and with active smoking status in nasal epithelium (p \u3c 0.05). Th2/Th1 imbalance at hospital admission in sera of patients was not significantly associated with death from COVID-19 (p = 0.11), unless evaluated in the asthmatic strata (p = 0.01). Using a similar approach we also observed a higher Th17/Th1 cytokine imbalance in all deceased patients compared to those that survived (p \u3c 0.001), as well as in the asthmatic strata only (p \u3c 0.01). Th2/Th1 imbalance is higher in the sera of asthma patients at admission that do not survive COVID-19, suggesting that the Th2/Th1 interplay may affect patient outcomes in SARS-CoV2 infection. In addition, we report that Th17/Th1 imbalance is increased in all patients that die of COVID-19

Denying humanness to victims: How gang members justify violent behavior

The high prevalence of violent offending amongst gang-involved youth has been established in the literature. Yet the underlying psychological mechanisms that enable youth to engage in such acts of violence remain unclear. 189 young people were recruited from areas in London, UK, known for their gang activity. We found that gang members, in comparison to non-gang youth, described the groups they belong to as having recognized leaders, specific rules and codes, initiation rituals, and special clothing. Gang members were also more likely than non-gang youth to engage in violent behavior and endorse moral disengagement strategies (i.e., moral justification, euphemistic language, advantageous comparison, displacement of responsibility, attribution of blame, and dehumanization). Finally, we found that dehumanizing victims partially mediated the relationship between gang membership and violent behavior. These findings highlight the effects of groups at the individual level and an underlying psychological mechanism that explains, in part, how gang members engage in violence

Complications from Surgeries Related to Ovarian Cancer Screening

The aim of this study was to evaluate complications of surgical intervention for participants in the Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening Program and compare results to those of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial. A retrospective database review included 657 patients who underwent surgery for a positive screen in the Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening Program from 1988–2014. Data were abstracted from operative reports, discharge summaries, and office notes for 406 patients. Another 142 patients with incomplete records were interviewed by phone. Complete information was available for 548 patients. Complications were graded using the Clavien–Dindo (C–D) Classification of Surgical Complications and considered minor if assigned Grade I (any deviation from normal course, minor medications) or Grade II (other pharmacological treatment, blood transfusion). C–D Grade III complications (those requiring surgical, endoscopic, or radiologic intervention) and C–D Grade IV complications (those which are life threatening) were considered “major”. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 software. Complications were documented in 54/548 (10%) subjects. For women with malignancy, 17/90 (19%) had complications compared to 37/458 (8%) with benign pathology (p \u3c 0.003). For non-cancer surgery, obesity was associated with increased complications (p = 0.0028). Fifty patients had minor complications classified as C–D Grade II or less. Three of 4 patients with Grade IV complications had malignancy (p \u3c 0.0004). In the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial, 212 women had surgery for ovarian malignancy, and 95 had at least one complication (45%). Of the 1080 women with non-cancer surgery, 163 had at least one complication (15%). Compared to the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial, the Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening Program had significantly fewer complications from both cancer and non-cancer surgery (p \u3c 0.0001 and p = 0.002, respectively). Complications resulting from surgery performed as a result of the Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening Program were infrequent and significantly fewer than reported in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial. Complications were mostly minor (93%) and were more common in cancer versus non-cancer surgery

Targeting the LOX/hypoxia axis reverses many of the features that make pancreatic cancer deadly: inhibition of LOX abrogates metastasis and enhances drug efficacy

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of cancer‐related mortality. Despite significant advances made in the treatment of other cancers, current chemotherapies offer little survival benefit in this disease. Pancreaticoduodenectomy offers patients the possibility of a cure, but most will die of recurrent or metastatic disease. Hence, preventing metastatic disease in these patients would be of significant benefit. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we identified a LOX/hypoxia signature associated with poor patient survival in resectable patients. We found that LOX expression is upregulated in metastatic tumors from Pdx1‐Cre KrasG12D/+ Trp53R172H/+ (KPC) mice and that inhibition of LOX in these mice suppressed metastasis. Mechanistically, LOX inhibition suppressed both migration and invasion of KPC cells. LOX inhibition also synergized with gemcitabine to kill tumors and significantly prolonged tumor‐free survival in KPC mice with early‐stage tumors. This was associated with stromal alterations, including increased vasculature and decreased fibrillar collagen, and increased infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils into tumors. Therefore, LOX inhibition is able to reverse many of the features that make PDAC inherently refractory to conventional therapies and targeting LOX could improve outcome in surgically resectable disease