Treatment of Sexual Addiction Within the British National Health Service

At present, the prevalence of rates of sexual addiction in the UK is unknown. This study investigated what treatment services were available within British Mental Health Trusts (MHTs) that are currently provided for those who experience compulsive and/or addictive sexual behaviours within the National Health Service (NHS) system. In March and April 2013, a total of 58 letters were sent by email to all Mental Health Trusts in the UK requesting information about (i) sexual addiction services and (ii) past five-year treatment of sexual addiction. The request for information was sent to all MHTs under the Freedom of Information Act (2001). Results showed that 53 of the 58 MHTs (91%) did not provide any service (specialist or otherwise) for treating those with problematic sexual behaviours. Based on the responses provided, only five MHTs reported having had treated sexual addiction as a disorder that took primacy over the past five years. There was also some evidence to suggest that the NHS may potentially treat sexual addiction as a secondary disorder that is intrinsic and/or co-morbid to the initial referral made by the GP. As it stands, treatment for problematic sexual behaviours in Great Britain is often delivered within a private sector. While Foundation Trusts have more flexibility with their funding, implementing specialist treatment for sexual addiction at this point in time is very limited. In implications for treatment in a British context is discussed

The role of negative mood states and consequences of hypersexual behaviours in predicting hypersexuality among university students

Background and Aims: The issue of whether hypersexual behaviours exist among university students is controversial because many of these individuals engage in sexual exploration during their time at university. To date, little is known about the correlates of hypersexual behaviours among university students in the UK. Therefore, the aims of this exploratory study were two-fold. Firstly, to explore and establish the correlates of hypersexual behaviours, and secondly, to investigate whether hypersexuality among university students can be predicted by variables relating to negative mood states (i.e., emotional dysregulation, loneliness, shame, and life satisfaction) and consequences of hypersexual behaviour. Methods: Survey data from 165 British university students was analysed using regression analyses. Results: The full regression model significantly predicted hypersexual behaviours. However, only a small number of predictor variables (i.e., gender, consequences of hypersexual behaviours, life satisfaction and emotional dysregulation) accounted for the significant unique influence on hypersexual behaviours among the sample. Conclusions: The study empirically supported the concept of hypersexual disorder. The implications of these findings are also discussed

Does Resilience Play a Mediating Role in the Link Between the Earliest Memory and Personality Traits? Analysis of the Positive Cognition in a Chinese Sample

Relatively little research has been carried out into female sex addiction. There is even less regarding understandings of lived experiences of sex addiction among females. Consequently, the purpose of the present study was to examine the experiences of female sex addiction (from onset to recovery). This was done by investigating the experiences and conceptualisations of three women who self-reported as having had a historical problem with sex addiction. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology was applied in the current research process in which three female participants shared their journey through the onset, progression, and recovery of sex addiction. The IPA produced five superordinate themes that accounted for the varying degrees of sexual addiction among a British sample of females: (1) "Focus on self as a sex addict"; (2) "Uncontrollable desire"; (3) "Undesirable feelings"; (4) "Derision"; and (5) "Self help, treatment and recovery". The implications of these findings towards the understanding and the need for the implementation of treatment are discussed

Software Sustainability: The Modern Tower of Babel

The development of sustainable software has been identified as one of the key challenges in the field of computational science and engineering. However, there is currently no agreed definition of the concept. Current definitions range from a composite, non-functional requirement to simply an emergent property. This lack of clarity leads to confusion, and potentially to ineffective and inefficient efforts to develop sustainable software systems. The aim of this paper is to explore the emerging definitions of software sustainability from the field of software engineering in order to contribute to the question, what is software sustainability? The preliminary analysis suggests that the concept of software sustainability is complex and multifaceted with any consensus towards a shared definition within the field of software engineering yet to be achieved

Risk of major cardiovascular events in patients with psoriasis receiving biologic therapies: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular safety profile of biologic therapies used for psoriasis is unclear. OBJECTIVES: To compare the risk of major cardiovascular events (CVEs; acute coronary syndrome, unstable angina, myocardial infarction and stroke) in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis treated with adalimumab, etanercept or ustekinumab in a large prospective cohort. METHODS: Prospective cohort study examining the comparative risk of major CVEs was conducted using the British Association of Dermatologists Biologics and Immunomodulators Register. The main analysis compared adults with chronic plaque psoriasis receiving ustekinumab with tumour necrosis-α inhibitors (TNFi: etanercept and adalimumab), whilst the secondary analyses compared ustekinumab, etanercept or methotrexate against adalimumab. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using overlap weights by propensity score to balance baseline covariates among comparison groups. RESULTS: We included 5468 biologic-naïve patients subsequently exposed (951 ustekinumab; 1313 etanercept; and 3204 adalimumab) in the main analysis. The secondary analyses also included 2189 patients receiving methotrexate. The median (p25-p75) follow-up times for patients using ustekinumab, TNFi, adalimumab, etanercept and methotrexate were as follows: 2.01 (1.16-3.21), 1.93 (1.05-3.34), 1.94 (1.09-3.32), 1.92 (0.93-3.45) and 1.43 (0.84-2.53) years, respectively. Ustekinumab, TNFi, adalimumab, etanercept and methotrexate groups had 7, 29, 23, 6 and 9 patients experiencing major CVEs, respectively. No differences in the risk of major CVEs were observed between biologic therapies [adjusted HR for ustekinumab vs. TNFi: 0.96 (95% CI 0.41-2.22); ustekinumab vs. adalimumab: 0.81 (0.30-2.17); etanercept vs. adalimumab: 0.81 (0.28-2.30)] and methotrexate against adalimumab [1.05 (0.34-3.28)]. CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective cohort study, we found no significant differences in the risk of major CVEs between three different biologic therapies and methotrexate. Additional studies, with longer term follow-up, are needed to investigate the potential effects of biologic therapies on incidence of major CVEs

Combinatorial RNA Design: Designability and Structure-Approximating Algorithm

In this work, we consider the Combinatorial RNA Design problem, a minimal instance of the RNA design problem which aims at finding a sequence that admits a given target as its unique base pair maximizing structure. We provide complete characterizations for the structures that can be designed using restricted alphabets. Under a classic four-letter alphabet, we provide a complete characterization of designable structures without unpaired bases. When unpaired bases are allowed, we provide partial characterizations for classes of designable/undesignable structures, and show that the class of designable structures is closed under the stutter operation. Membership of a given structure to any of the classes can be tested in linear time and, for positive instances, a solution can be found in linear time. Finally, we consider a structure-approximating version of the problem that allows to extend bands (helices) and, assuming that the input structure avoids two motifs, we provide a linear-time algorithm that produces a designable structure with at most twice more base pairs than the input structure.Comment: CPM - 26th Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching, Jun 2015, Ischia Island, Italy. LNCS, 201

Light smoking at base-line predicts a higher mortality risk to women than to men; evidence from a cohort with long follow-up

BACKGROUND: There is conflicting evidence as to whether smoking is more harmful to women than to men. The UK Cotton Workers’ Cohort was recruited in the 1960s and contained a high proportion of men and women smokers who were well matched in terms of age, job and length of time in job. The cohort has been followed up for 42 years. METHODS: Mortality in the cohort was analysed using an individual relative survival method and Cox regression. Whether smoking, ascertained at baseline in the 1960s, was more hazardous to women than to men was examined by estimating the relative risk ratio women to men, smokers to never smoked, for light (1–14), medium (15–24), heavy (25+ cigarettes per day) and former smoking. RESULTS: For all-cause mortality relative risk ratios were 1.35 for light smoking at baseline (95% CI 1.07-1.70), 1.15 for medium smoking (95% CI 0.89-1.49) and 1.00 for heavy smoking (95% CI 0.63-1.61). Relative risk ratios for light smoking at baseline for circulatory system disease was 1.42 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.98) and for respiratory disease was 1.89 (95% CI 0.99 to 3.63). Heights of participants provided no explanation for the gender difference. CONCLUSIONS: Light smoking at baseline was shown to be significantly more hazardous to women than to men but the effect decreased as consumption increased indicating a dose response relationship. Heavy smoking was equally hazardous to both genders. This result may help explain the conflicting evidence seen elsewhere. However gender differences in smoking cessation may provide an alternative explanation

Appendix perforation in appendix duplication in a man: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Although appendix duplication is diagnosed as a rare congenital anomaly of the alimentary tract in childhood, a few adult cases have also been reported. Here we report a case of appendix duplication with perforated appendicitis co-existing with acute appendicitis in an adult patient.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 33-year-old Caucasian man was admitted to our Emergency Department with right-sided lower-quadrant pain that we explored for presumed complicated appendicitis. On exploration, a perforated inflamed appendix was found coexisting with a second inflamed appendix which was subserosal and retrocecal. Appendectomies were performed, and the pathological examination confirmed the signs of acute inflammation in both appendixes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Surgeons in emergency services should be aware of anatomical anomalies such as duplication and malposition of the appendix, even in patients with a history of previous appendectomy, because misdiagnosis of appendix duplication may lead to a poor clinical outcome and medicolegal issues.</p

Developing standards for reporting implementation studies of complex interventions (StaRI): a systematic review and e-Delphi

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited

Same old song and dance: An exploratory study of portrayal of physical activity in television programmes aimed at young adolescents

Abstract Objective Exposure to health-related behaviours on television has been shown to influence smoking and drinking in young people, but little research has been conducted on the portrayal physical activity. The aim of the current project was to explore the portrayal of physical activity in television programmes aimed specifically at adolescent females. Content analysis of 120 episodes of four popular adolescent television programmes was performed. Information on the type and context of physical activity, motivating factors and characters involved was recorded. Results Physical activity was portrayed 122 times, for a duration of 1 h and 31 min (3.2% of total viewing time). Physical activity was mainly portrayed as part of an informal activity as part of a group activity. Over half (53.2%) of scenes portrayed activity been carried out by teenagers. The types of activities portrayed were mostly of vigorous intensity (76.2%), for recreational purposes (78.7%) such as dancing (54.1%) and running (11.5%), and motivated by enjoyment. This study highlights that physical activity is portrayed infrequently, and often with a skewed representation of type of activity. There may be an opportunity to influence physical activity in young adolescents through the positioning of positive images of an active lifestyle in the media