The first case of Brucella canis in Sweden: background, case report and recommendations from a northern European perspective

Infection with Brucella canis has been diagnosed in Sweden for the first time. It was diagnosed in a three-year-old breeding bitch with reproductive disturbances. Fifteen in-contact dogs were tested repeatedly and all of them were negative for B. canis. The source of infection could not be defined. The present article describes the case and the measures undertaken and gives a short review over B. canis. Recommendations on how to avoid the infection in non-endemic countries are given

Yes, I Am Ready Now: Differential Effects of Paced versus Unpaced Mating on Anxiety and Central Oxytocin Release in Female Rats

Sexual activity and partner intimacy results in several positive consequences in the context of stress-coping, both in males and females, such as reduced state anxiety in male rats after successful mating. However, in female rats, mating is a rewarding experience only when the estrous female is able to control sexual interactions, i.e., under paced-mating conditions. Here, we demonstrate that sex-steroid priming required for female mating is anxiolytic; subsequent sexual activity under paced mating conditions did not disrupt this anxiolytic priming effect, whereas mating under unpaced conditions increased anxiety-related behavior. In primed females, the release of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus was found to be elevated and to further increase during paced, but not unpaced mating. Central administration of an OT receptor antagonist partly prevented priming/mating-induced anxiolysis indicating the involvement of brain OT in the anxiolysis triggered by priming and/or sexual activity

Risk factors for hypospadias.

Contains fulltext : 51670.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Despite being one of the most common congenital defects in boys, the etiology of hypospadias remains largely unknown. In this case-referent study, we evaluated a wide spectrum of potential risk factors for hypospadias. Cases were identified from the hospital information system, and referents were recruited through the parents of the cases. Both parents of cases and referents completed written questionnaires that they received through the mail. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the independent contribution of different factors to the risk of hypospadias. The final database included 583 cases and 251 referents. Hypospadias more often occurred in children whose father had hypospadias (OR=9.7; 95%CI: 1.3-74.0) and in children with a low birth weight (OR=2.3; 95%CI: 1.2-4.2). Indications for elevated risks were found when mothers were DES-daughters (OR=3.5; 95%CI: 0.8-15.6), fathers were subfertile (OR=1.8; 95%CI: 0.7-4.5), the parents had undergone fertility treatment (OR=2.3; 95%CI: 0.9-5.8), and in twin or triplet pregnancies (OR=2.0; 95%CI: 0.8-5.1). Maternal use of iron supplements (OR=2.2; 95%CI: 0.8-6.0), maternal smoking (OR=1.5; 95%CI: 1.0-2.4), paternal prescriptive drug use (OR=2.6; 95%CI: 1.1-6.6), and paternal exposure to pesticides (OR=2.1; 95%CI: 0.6-7.1) during the 3 months immediately prior to conception or in the first trimester of pregnancy also appeared to increase the risk of hypospadias. The associations found in this study support the hypothesis that genetic predisposition, placental insufficiency, and substances that interfere with natural hormones play a role in the etiology of hypospadias

Structural Health and the Politics of African American Masculinity

This commentary describes ways in which notions of African American men’s “health” attained by individual choice—embedded in the notion that African American men should visit doctors or engage in fewer risky behaviors—are at times in tension with larger cultural, economic, and political notions of “health.” It argues that efforts to improve the health of Black men must take structural factors into account, and failure to do so circumvents even well-intentioned efforts to improve health outcomes. Using historical examples, the article shows how attempts to identify and intervene into what are now called social determinants of health are strengthened by addressing on-the-ground diagnostic disparities and also the structural violence and racism embedded within definitions of illness and health. And, that, as such, we need to monitor structural barriers to health that exist in institutions ostensibly set up to incarcerate or contain Black men and in institutions ostensibly set up to help them