Intimate partner violence and prescription of potentially addictive drugs: prospective cohort study of women in the Oslo Health Study

Objectives:To investigate the prescription of potentially addictive drugs, including analgesics and central nervous system depressants, to women who had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Design: Prospective population-based cohort study. Setting: Information about IPV from the Oslo Health Study 2000/2001 was linked with prescription data from the Norwegian Prescription Database from 1 January 2004 through 31 December 2009. Participants: The study included 6081 women aged 30–60 years. Main outcome measures: Prescription rate ratios (RRs) for potentially addictive drugs derived from negative binomial models, adjusted for age, education, paid employment, marital status, chronic musculoskeletal pain, mental distress and sleep problems. Results: Altogether 819 (13.5%) of 6081 women reported ever experiencing IPV: 454 (7.5%) comprised physical and/or sexual IPV and 365 (6.0%) psychological IPV alone. Prescription rates for potentially addictive drugs were clearly higher among women who had experienced IPV: crude RRs were 3.57 (95% CI 2.89 to 4.40) for physical/sexual IPV and 2.13 (95% CI 1.69 to 2.69) for psychological IPV alone. After full adjustment RRs were 1.83 (1.50 to 2.22) for physical/sexual IPV, and 1.97 (1.59 to 2.45) for psychological IPV alone. Prescription rates were increased both for potentially addictive analgesics and central nervous system depressants. Furthermore, women who reported IPV were more likely to receive potentially addictive drugs from multiple physicians. Conclusions: Women who had experienced IPV, including psychological violence alone, more often received prescriptions for potentially addictive drugs. Researchers and clinicians should address the possible adverse health and psychosocial impact of such prescription and focus on developing evidence-based healthcare for women who have experienced IPV

OCT2, SSX and SAGE1 reveal the phenotypic heterogeneity of spermatocytic seminoma reflecting distinct subpopulations of spermatogonia

Spermatocytic seminoma (SS) is a rare testicular neoplasm that occurs predominantly in older men. In this study, we aimed to shed light on the histogenesis of SS by investigating the developmental expression of protein markers that identify distinct subpopulations of human spermatogonia in the normal adult testis. We analysed the expression pattern of OCT2, SSX2-4, and SAGE1 in 36 SS cases and four intratubular SS (ISS) as well as a series of normal testis samples throughout development. We describe for the first time two different types of SS characterized by OCT2 or SSX2-4 immunoexpression. These findings are consistent with the mutually exclusive antigenic profile of these markers during different stages of testicular development and in the normal adult testis. OCT2 was expressed predominantly in Adark spermatogonia, SSX2-4 was present in Apale and B spermatogonia and leptotene spermatocytes, whilst SAGE1 was exclusively present in a subset of post-pubertal germ cells, most likely B spermatogonia. The presence of OCT2 and SSX2-4 in distinct subsets of germ cells implies that these markers represent germ cells at different maturation stages. Analysis of SAGE1 and SSX2-4 in ISS showed spatial differences suggesting ongoing maturation of germ cells during progression of SS tumourigenesis. We conclude that the expression pattern of OCT2, SSX2-4, and SAGE1 supports the origin of SS from spermatogonia and provides new evidence for heterogeneity of this tumour, potentially linked either to the cellular origin of SS or to partial differentiation during tumour progression, including a hitherto unknown OCT2-positive variant of the tumour likely derived from Adark spermatogonia. Copyright © 2011 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Intrauterine exposure to mild analgesics is a risk factor for development of male reproductive disorders in human and rat

International audienceBACKGROUND: More than half of pregnant women in the Western world report intake of mild analgesics, and some of these drugs have been associated with anti-androgenic effects in animal experiments. Intrauterine exposure to anti-androgens is suspected to contribute to the recent increase in male reproductive problems, and many of the anti-androgenic compounds are like the mild analgesics potent inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis. Therefore, it appears imperative to further investigate the potential endocrine disrupting properties of mild analgesics. METHODS: In a prospective birth cohort study, 2297 Danish and Finnish pregnant women completed a questionnaire and 491 of the Danish mothers participated in a telephone interview, reporting on their use of mild analgesics during pregnancy. The testicular position of newborns was assessed by trained paediatricians. In rats, the impact of mild analgesics on anogenital distance (AGD) after intrauterine exposure was examined together with the effect on ex vivo gestational day 14.5 testes. RESULTS: In the Danish birth cohort, the use of mild analgesics was dose-dependently associated with congenital cryptorchidism. In particular, use during the second trimester increased the risk. This risk was further increased after the simultaneous use of different analgesics. The association was not found in the Finnish birth cohort. Intrauterine exposure of rats to paracetamol led to a reduction in the AGD and mild analgesics accordingly reduced testosterone production in ex vivo fetal rat testes. CONCLUSION: There was an association between the timing and the duration of mild analgesic use during pregnancy and the risk of cryptorchidism. These findings were supported by anti-androgenic effects in rat models leading to impaired masculinization. Our results suggest that intrauterine exposure to mild analgesics is a risk factor for development of male reproductive disorders

«Ein må vere der ein er og i det ein er» En undersøkelse av den sansende, groteske og situerte kroppen i Jan Roar Leikvolls roman Fiolinane (2010)

Sammendrag I denne oppgaven undersøker jeg kroppen i Jan Roar Leikvolls roman Fiolinane (2010). Utgangspunktet er en sterk personlig leseropplevelse som sammenfaller med resepsjonen av romanen. Jeg mener kroppen er sentral for å drive den narratologiske handlingen fremover, og at representasjoner av kroppen kan virke på leseren ved å appellere til leserens kroppsliggjorte eksistens. Problemstillingen for dette prosjektet er derfor tredelt: Hvordan er kroppen fremstilt, hvordan påvirker kroppen den narratologiske utviklingen, og hvordan og i hvilken grad kan teksten virke på leseren? For å svare på problemstillingen, gjør jeg tre ulike analytiske tilnærminger. Til grunn for tilnærmingene ligger den fenomenologiske grunntanken om at kroppen er utgangspunkt for all erfaring. En slik tenkning bryter med den kartesianske oppfatningen av kropp og sjel. Jeg benytter meg særlig av sosiokulturelle teorier for å belyse hvordan kropp og kroppen som bærer av mening gir informasjon om forholdet mellom individ og samfunn. Den sansende kroppen undersøker jeg med utgangspunkt i kroppsnarratologi, basert på arbeidet til Genie Babb. I tillegg til å basere seg begrepene Körper og Leib fra Edmund Husserl, og Maurice Merleau-Pontys teorier om persepsjonen som avgjørende for menneskets bevissthet, henter hun inspirasjon fra Pierre Bourdieus begrep om habitus. Den groteske kroppen undersøker jeg med utgangspunkt i Mikhail Bakhtins teori og det groteske, og særlig det materielt-kroppslige prinsipp. Jeg ser også på emosjonelle responser på det groteske i teksten. I denne delen belyser jeg forholdet mellom tekst og leser med en tverrfaglig tilnærming, der jeg henter begreper fra andregenerasjon kognitiv vitenskap. Jeg henter begrepet kropssliggjort kognisjon fra Marco Caracciolo. Begrepene fri kroppsliggjort simulering og Feeling of Body henter jeg fra Vittorie Gallese og Hannah Wojciehowski. I den siste analysen retter jeg fokus mot den situerte kroppen. Med utgangspunkt i Martha Nussbaums teori om emosjoner som sosiokulturelle konstruksjoner, undersøker jeg samspillet mellom kropp og omgivelser med begreper fra affektiv narratologi. Jeg mener teksten spiller på en usikker kombinasjon av det Rita Felski kaller sjokk og gjenkjenning, og bruker i denne analysen disse begrepene for å belyse hvordan det fortalte kan virke på leseren