The Influence of Racial Background and Masculine Norm Endorsement on Men’s Response to Depressive Feelings: Understanding Help-Seeking Decisions

In the United States, men are less likely than women to seek help for depression (SAMHSA, 2018). Black and Hispanic men are even less likely than White men to seek treatment from a mental health provider (Sen, 2004; Vessey & Howard, 1993), and racial discrimination men of color may face is also associated with symptoms of depression (Chin et al., 2020). It has been suggested that male norms and masculinity promote men not to show vulnerability, and that labels such as “mental illness” both contradict male norms and make men feel vulnerable (Johnson et al., 2012; McDermott et al., 2018; Rice et al., 2018; Sierra Hernandez et al., 2014). Many researchers focusing on men’s mental health have started studying masculinity. Previous research has found that the masculine norm of self-reliance to be negatively associated with both formal and informal helpseeking (McDermott et al., 2018). The objective of the current study is to examine the relationship between conformity with masculine norms, race, and help-seeking preferences. Self-reliance was not found to be a significant predictor for help-seeking endorsement or attitudes in the current sample. Additionally, racial differences were not detected in norm endorsement for masculine norms that were associated with formal and informal help-seeking. The findings of this study will provide more insight on the ways in which masculine norms and demographic variables influence help-seeking behavior

Oral antiplatelet therapy in diabetes mellitus and the role of prasugrel: an overview

Diabetics have a prothrombotic state that includes increased platelet reactivity. This contributes to the less favorable clinical outcomes observed in diabetics experiencing acute coronary syndromes as well as stable coronary artery disease. Many diabetics are relatively resistant to or have insufficient response to several antithrombotic agents. In the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention, hyporesponsiveness to clopidogrel is particularly common among diabetics. Several strategies have been examined to further enhance the benefits of oral antiplatelet therapy in diabetics. These include increasing the dose of clopidogrel, triple antiplatelet therapy with cilostazol, and new agents such as prasugrel. The large TRITON TIMI 38 randomized trial compared clopidogrel to prasugrel in the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndromes. The diabetic subgroup (n = 3146) experienced considerable incremental benefit with a 4.8% reduction in cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal stroke at 15-month follow-up with prasugrel treatment. Among diabetics on insulin this combined endpoint was reduced by 7.9% at 15 months. Major bleeding was not increased in the diabetic subgroup. This confirms the general hypothesis that more potent oral antiplatelet therapy can partially overcome the prothrombotic milieu and safely improve important clinical outcomes in diabetics

Immunological Sex Differences in Socially Promiscuous African Ground Squirrels

Differences in how males and females respond to foreign antigens are common across taxa. Such sexual differences in the immune system are predicted to be greater in species with high promiscuity and sociality as these factors increase the likelihood of disease transmission. Intense sperm competition is thought to further this sexual dichotomy as increased investment in spermatogenesis likely incurs additional immunological costs. Xerus inauris, a ground squirrel found throughout southern Africa, is extremely social and promiscuous with one of the highest male reproductive investments among rodents. These life-history attributes suggest males and females should demonstrate a large dichotomy in immunity. Contrary to our prediction, we found no difference in spleen mass between the sexes. However, we did find significant biases in leukocyte types and red blood cell counts, possibly reflecting responses to parasite types. Among males, we predicted greater investments in spermatogenesis would result in reduced immunological investments. We found a negative association between testes and spleen size and a positive relationship between testes and number of lice suggesting trade-offs in reproductive investment possibly due to the costs associated with spermatogenesis and immunity. We suggest when measuring sexual differences in immunity it is important to consider the effects of reproductive pressures, parasite types, and life history costs

Skin sensitization in silico protocol

The assessment of skin sensitization has evolved over the past few years to include in vitro assessments of key events along the adverse outcome pathway and opportunistically capitalize on the strengths of in silico methods to support a weight of evidence assessment without conducting a test in animals. While in silico methods vary greatly in their purpose and format; there is a need to standardize the underlying principles on which such models are developed and to make transparent the implications for the uncertainty in the overall assessment. In this contribution, the relationship of skin sensitization relevant effects, mechanisms, and endpoints are built into a hazard assessment framework. Based on the relevance of the mechanisms and effects as well as the strengths and limitations of the experimental systems used to identify them, rules and principles are defined for deriving skin sensitization in silico assessments. Further, the assignments of reliability and confidence scores that reflect the overall strength of the assessment are discussed. This skin sensitization protocol supports the implementation and acceptance of in silico approaches for the prediction of skin sensitization

Excretion patterns of coccidian oocysts and nematode eggs during the reproductive season in Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita)

Individual reproductive success largely depends on the ability to optimize behaviour, immune function and the physiological stress response. We have investigated correlations between behaviour, faecal steroid metabolites, immune parameters, parasite excretion patterns and reproductive output in a critically endangered avian species, the Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita). In particular, we related haematocrit, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, excreted immune-reactive corticosterone metabolites and social behaviour with parasite excretion and two individual fitness parameters, namely, number of eggs laid and number of fledglings. We found that the frequency of excretion of parasites’ oocysts and eggs tended to increase with ambient temperature. Paired individuals excreted significantly more samples containing nematode eggs than unpaired ones. The excretion of nematode eggs was also significantly more frequent in females than in males. Individuals with a high proportion of droppings containing coccidian oocysts were more often preened by their partners than individuals with lower excretion rates. We observed that the more eggs an individual incubated and the fewer offspring fledged, the higher the rates of excreted samples containing coccidian oocysts. Our results confirm that social behaviour, physiology and parasite burden are linked in a complex and context-dependent manner. They also contribute background information supporting future conservation programmes dealing with this critically endangered species

The Role of Host Traits, Season and Group Size on Parasite Burdens in a Cooperative Mammal

The distribution of parasites among hosts is often characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity with a small number of hosts harbouring the majority of parasites. Such patterns of aggregation have been linked to variation in host exposure and susceptibility as well as parasite traits and environmental factors. Host exposure and susceptibility may differ with sexes, reproductive effort and group size. Furthermore, environmental factors may affect both the host and parasite directly and contribute to temporal heterogeneities in parasite loads. We investigated the contributions of host and parasite traits as well as season on parasite loads in highveld mole-rats (Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae). This cooperative breeder exhibits a reproductive division of labour and animals live in colonies of varying sizes that procreate seasonally. Mole-rats were parasitised by lice, mites, cestodes and nematodes with mites (Androlaelaps sp.) and cestodes (Mathevotaenia sp.) being the dominant ecto- and endoparasites, respectively. Sex and reproductive status contributed little to the observed parasite prevalence and abundances possibly as a result of the shared burrow system. Clear seasonal patterns of parasite prevalence and abundance emerged with peaks in summer for mites and in winter for cestodes. Group size correlated negatively with mite abundance while it had no effect on cestode burdens and group membership affected infestation with both parasites. We propose that the mode of transmission as well as social factors constrain parasite propagation generating parasite patterns deviating from those commonly predicted

In Vivo Quantitative Study of Sized-Dependent Transport and Toxicity of Single Silver Nanoparticles Using Zebrafish Embryos

Nanomaterials possess distinctive physicochemical properties (e.g., small sizes and high surface area-to-volume ratios) and promise a wide variety of applications, ranging from the design of high quality consumer products to effective disease diagnosis and therapy. These properties can lead to toxic effects, potentially hindering advances in nanotechnology. In this study, we have synthesized and characterized purified and stable (nonaggregation) silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs, 41.6 ± 9.1 nm in average diameter) and utilized early developing (cleavage-stage) zebrafish embryos (critical aquatic and eco- species) as in vivo model organisms to probe the diffusion and toxicity of Ag NPs. We found that single Ag NPs (30-72 nm diameters) passively diffused into the embryos through chorionic pores via random Brownian motion and stayed inside the embryos throughout their entire development (120 hours-post-fertilization, hpf). Dose-and size-dependent toxic effects of the NPs on embryonic development were observed, showing the possibility of tuning biocompatibility and toxicity of the NPs. At lower concentrations of the NPs (≤0.02 nM), 75-91% of embryos developed into normal zebrafish. At the higher concentrations of NPs (≥0.20 nM), 100% of embryos became dead. At the concentrations in between (0.02-0.2 nM), embryos developed into various deformed zebrafish. Number and sizes of individual Ag NPs embedded in tissues of normal and deformed zebrafish at 120 hpf were quantitatively analyzed, showing deformed zebrafish with higher number of larger NPs than normal zebrafish and size-dependent nanotoxicity. By comparing with our previous studies of smaller Ag NPs (11.6 ± 3.5 nm), we found striking size-dependent nanotoxicity that, at the same molar concentration, the larger Ag NPs (41.6 ± 9.1 nm) are more toxic than the smaller Ag NPs (11.6 ± 3.5 nm)

Study of Charge-Dependent Transport and Toxicity of Peptide-Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles Using Zebrafish Embryos and Single Nanoparticle Plasmonic Spectroscopy

Nanomaterials possess unusually high surface area-to-volume ratios and surface-determined physicochemical properties. It is essential to understand their surface-dependent toxicity in order to rationally design biocompatible nanomaterials for a wide variety of applications. In this study, we have functionalized the surfaces of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs, 11.7 ±+2.7 nm in diameter) with three biocompatible peptides (CALNNK, CALNNS, CALNNE) to prepare positively (Ag-CALNNK NPs+ζ), negatively (Ag-CALNNS NPs−2ζ), and more negatively charged NPs (Ag-CALNNE NPs−4ζ), respectively. Each peptide differs in a single amino acid at its C-terminus, which minimizes the effects of peptide sequences and serves as a model molecule to create positive, neutral, and negative charges on the surface of the NPs at pH 4-10. We have studied their charge-dependent transport into early developing (cleavage-stage) zebrafish embryos and their effects on embryonic development using dark-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy (DFOMS). We found that all three Ag-peptide NPs passively diffused into the embryos via their chorionic pore canals, and stayed inside the embryos throughout their entire development (120 h), showing charge-independent diffusion modes and charge-dependent diffusion coefficients. Notably, the NPs create chargedependent toxic effects on embryonic development, showing that the Ag-CALNNK NPs+ζ (positively charged) are the most biocompatible while the Ag-CALNNE NPs−4ζ (more negatively charged) are the most toxic. By comparing with our previous studies of the same sized citrated Ag and Au NPs, the Ag-peptide NPs are much more biocompatible than the citrated Ag NPs, and nearly as biocompatible as the Au NPs, showing the dependence of nanotoxicity upon the surface charges, surface functional groups, and chemical compositions of the NPs. This study also demonstrates powerful applications of single NP plasmonic spectroscopy for quantitative analysis of single NPs in vivo and in tissues, and reveals the possibility of rational design of biocompatible NPs

The antiinflammatory potential of phenolic compounds from Emblica officinalis L. in rat

Antiinflammatory effects of phenolic compounds from Emblica officinalis were evaluated in carrageenan and cotton pellet induced acute and chronic inflammatory animal model. Fractions of E. officinalis containing free (FPEO) and bounded (BPEO) phenolic compounds were assessed by HPLC technique. The free and bound phenolic compounds were studied for their acute and chronic antiinflammatory activity at dose level of 20 and 40 mg/kg. The carrageenan induced acute inflammation was assessed by measuring rat paw volume at different time of intervals. Further, cotton pellet induced chronic inflammation was assessed by granulomatous tissue mass estimation along with the estimation of tissue biomarker changes (i.e. lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione, myeloperoxidase and plasma extravasation). The results indicated that in both acute and chronic inflammation, FPEO and BPEO show reduction in the inflammation, but significant effects was observed only at high doses of both fractions which was comparable to diclofenac treated group. In conclusion, phenolic compounds of E. officinalis may serve as potential herbal candidate for amelioration of acute and chronic inflammation due to their modulatory action of free radicals