The Relationships between Self-esteem, Binge Drinking and Sexual Risk Behaviors among Young Women

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a growing problem nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009), there are approximately 19 million new STIs each year, and almost half are among young people ages 15 to 24. Untreated STIs are estimated to cause at least 24,000 women to become infertile each year (CDC). Students with low self-esteem, consumed more alcohol, had more sexual partners, and had more HIV risk-taking behaviors than other students (Gullette & Lyons, 2006). What is not clear from the literature is how psychological variables affect risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between self-esteem, alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviors. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) database, which is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents. The Add Health cohort has been followed into young adulthood with four in-home interviews, most recently in 2008, when the samples were aged 24-32, just emerging into adulthood and more likely to have opportunities for drinking and sexual behaviors. Wave III data for females was used (N = 2629). Analysis: Pearson bi-variate and Spearman Rank correlations were conducted for variables of interest. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the sexual risk behaviors, alcohol use and self-esteem. A p-value less than .05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Education was not related to binge drinking or self-esteem. Higher levels of self-esteem were related to higher levels of binge drinking. Sexual risk behaviors were related to self-esteem. Unlike previous studies, binge drinking was not related to sexual risk behaviors. Implications: These results will aid in the development and implementation of gender-specific interventions aimed at impacting sexual risk behavior among women.No embarg

An assessment of high touch object cleaning thoroughness using a fluorescent marker in two Australian hospitals

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Indolinyl-Thiazole Based Inhibitors of Scavenger Receptor-BI (SR-BI)-Mediated Lipid Transport

A potent class of indolinyl-thiazole based inhibitors of cellular lipid uptake mediated by scavenger receptor, class B, type I (SR-BI) was identified via a high-throughput screen of the National Institutes of Health Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository (NIH MLSMR) in an assay measuring the uptake of the fluorescent lipid DiI from HDL particles. This class of compounds is represented by ML278 (17–11), a potent (average IC50 = 6 nM) and reversible inhibitor of lipid uptake via SR-BI. ML278 is a plasma-stable, noncytotoxic probe that exhibits moderate metabolic stability, thus displaying improved properties for in vitro and in vivo studies. Strikingly, ML278 and previously described inhibitors of lipid transport share the property of increasing the binding of HDL to SR-BI, rather than blocking it, suggesting there may be similarities in their mechanisms of action

Medical treatment of ascites in cirrhosis

Medical treatment of cirrhotic ascites is essentially supportive, dictated by the patient's discomfort, impaired cardiovascular or respiratory function and potential for infection. Treatment of ‘simple’ ascites (moderate fluid accumulation, serum albumin > 3.5 g/dl, serum creatinine < 1.5 mg/dl, no electrolyte disturbance) is implemented sequentially. Only 10% of patients respond to dietary sodium restriction and bed rest; most require pharmacotherapy consisting of spironolactone, which increases the proportion of responding patients to 65% and loop diuretics, which may produce clinical improvement in an additional 20% (85% in all); in the remaining 15% of refractory patients, use of novel adjunctive therapies may be attempted. Patients with tense ascites, impaired renal function and electrolyte disturbances merit special consideration before diuretics are introduced. Spironolactone has long been a standard for the treatment of cirrhotic ascites because it directly antagonizes aldosterone. The loop diuretic most frequently added to spironolactone has been furosemide. However, there is preliminary evidence that torasemide may be more effective in some patients. Other investigational agents that may play a role in treatment of patients resistant to conventional drugs include ornipressin (a vasopressin analogue) and atrial natriuretic factor

The importance of major mergers in the build up of stellar mass in brightest cluster galaxies at z=1

Recent independent results from numerical simulations and observations have shown that brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) have increased their stellar mass by a factor of almost two between z~0.9 and z~0.2. The numerical simulations further suggest that more than half this mass is accreted through major mergers. Using a sample of 18 distant galaxy clusters with over 600 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members between them, we search for observational evidence that major mergers do play a significant role. We find a major merger rate of 0.38 +/- 0.14 mergers per Gyr at z~1. While the uncertainties, which stem from the small size of our sample, are relatively large, our rate is consistent with the results that are derived from numerical simulations. If we assume that this rate continues to the present day and that half of the mass of the companion is accreted onto the BCG during these mergers, then we find that this rate can explain the growth in the stellar mass of the BCGs that is observed and predicted by simulations. Major mergers therefore appear to be playing an important role, perhaps even the dominant one, in the build up of stellar mass in these extraordinary galaxies.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Reduced data will be made available through the ESO archiv

Adapting to Hydrologic Nonstationarity in Engineering Design

The engineering design discipline of hydrology and hydraulics has, for the past several decades, been largely based on probabilistic design techniques involving recurrence interval storm and flood events. The engineering design storm and design flood have been enduring concepts; however, recently the concept of hydrologic nonstationarity has gained a foothold in engineering theory. An analysis of the annual maxima based method of predicting engineering design storms was conducted using multiple techniques to determine whether trends were detectable or prevalent. Analyses from over 300 rain gauge stations throughout the southeastern United States showed that over 40% had experienced some form of trending behavior over time. An analysis of tropical storm contributions to station annual maxima found that such events were not overly influential with regard to extreme event prediction. Furthermore, spatial trends were not detected. These findings showed that the engineering design storm is affected by hydrologic nonstationarity. This research also investigated several other sources of hydrologic nonstationarity – specifically, contributions from rapid urbanization, topographic subsidence, and engineering design decisions. Changes in engineering design flows from urbanization result in designs that are quickly obsolete and prone to inundation. The decisions of a design engineer can result in design flows vastly different from those predicted by hydrologic models, even when taking into account effects of suburban development. Additionally, the impacts of urban development, precipitation increase, and topographic subsidence were examined in concert in an attempt to quantify the individual impacts of each on potential flooded area. It was found that the three contributions of nonstationarity were individually quantifiable, and that the contributions from precipitation changes and topographic subsidence were the most significant sources. Land development was the least influential contributor, though still significant. Engineering design under changing hydrologic conditions will be one of the major challenges for the industry in the coming decades. This research examined several design techniques available in the literature and subjected them to quantitative and qualitative assessment measures to determine their performance under prevailing design assumptions. The assessment measures tentatively indicated that modular designs and designs based on the theory of ecosystem services may be most suitable under potential future hydrologic conditions

Scoping Potential Routes to UK Civil Unrest via the Food System: Results of a Structured Expert Elicitation

We report the results of a structured expert elicitation to identify the most likely types of potential food system disruption scenarios for the UK, focusing on routes to civil unrest. We take a backcasting approach by defining as an end-point a societal event in which 1 in 2000 people have been injured in the UK, which 40% of experts rated as “Possible (20–50%)”, “More likely than not (50–80%)” or “Very likely (>80%)” over the coming decade. Over a timeframe of 50 years, this increased to 80% of experts. The experts considered two food system scenarios and ranked their plausibility of contributing to the given societal scenario. For a timescale of 10 years, the majority identified a food distribution problem as the most likely. Over a timescale of 50 years, the experts were more evenly split between the two scenarios, but over half thought the most likely route to civil unrest would be a lack of total food in the UK. However, the experts stressed that the various causes of food system disruption are interconnected and can create cascading risks, highlighting the importance of a systems approach. We encourage food system stakeholders to use these results in their risk planning and recommend future work to support prevention, preparedness, response and recovery planning

Does Percutaneous Lumbosacral Pedicle Screw Instrumentation Prevent Long-Term Adjacent Segment Disease after Lumbar Fusion?

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Purpose To assess long-term clinical outcomes of adjacent segment disease (ASD) in patients who underwent lumbar interbody fusion with percutaneous pedicle screw (PS) instrumentation. Overview of Literature ASD is a well-known sequela of spinal fusion, and is reported to occur at a rate of 2%–3% per year. There is debate as to whether ASD is a result of the instrumentation and fusion method or is the natural history of the patient’s disease. Minimally invasive percutaneous PS augmentation of lumbar interbody fusion aims to prevent the disruption of posterior soft tissue stabilizers. Methods From 2004–2014, 419 consecutive patients underwent anterior, lateral, or minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with percutaneous PS placement at a single institution. The mean follow-up was 4.5 years. The primary outcome measure was reoperation due to ASD. Patients were divided into two cohorts: those who underwent revision surgery secondary to ASD and those who did not require further surgery. Radiographic parameters were performed using postoperative radiographs. Patients with a pelvic incidence–lumbar lordosis (PI–LL) mismatch >10° were noted. Results Revision proportion secondary to ASD was 4.77% (n=20). Mean time to revision surgery was 2.5 years. Revision rate secondary to ASD was 1.1% per year. Patients who developed ASD were younger than those who did not (50.5 vs. 56.9 years, p=0.015). There was no difference in number of levels fused between cohorts. Revision proportion secondary to ASD was similar between approaches (anterior, lateral, minimally invasive). There was no significant difference in PI–LL mismatch between those who underwent revision for ASD and those who did not (22.2% vs. 18.8%, p=0.758). Conclusions ASD rates in patients who underwent percutaneous PS placement were lower than those previously published after open PS placement, possibly related to greater preservation of the posterior stabilizing elements of the lumbar spine