The links between self-perceptions of mate value and partner ideal standards in intimate relationships : carving the intimate relationship mind at its joints.

This research investigated the links between self-perceptions and partner ideals, taking into account the multiple domains in which people evaluate these two constructs. In Study 1, 200 participants (100 males and 100 females) rated their ideal partner and their self-perceived mate value on the Partner Ideals Scales developed by Fletcher et al. (1999). Confirmatory factor analyses (CF A) confirmed the superiority of a hierarchical, domain-specific model of self-perceptions and partner ideals over a global model of the cognitive representation of selfperceived mate value and partner ideals. Discriminant and convergent correlations between self-perceived mate value and partner ideals were calculated across the three ideal categories (Warmth/Loyalty, Vitality/Attractiveness, and Status/Resources). The findings provide evidence for the hypothesis that people desire a partner who resembles the self and provide validity for both variables. In Study 2, self-perceptions of 149 students (77 men and 72 women) were manipulated upwards or downwards on Vitality/ Attractiveness or Status/Resources. The manipulation succeeded in significantly altering self-perceptions of mate value. However, contrary to predictions, partner ideal ratings were relatively impervious to the manipulation. Implications for the causal links between self-perceptions and ideal standards, their cognitive representations, and the implications of the results with regard to evolutionary approaches, the Ideal Standards Model, and mate selection are discussed

Impact of hormonal therapy on the detection of promoter hypermethylation of the detoxifying glutathione-S-transferase P1 gene (GSTP1) in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: In spite of excellent cure rates for prostate cancer patients with favorable tumor characteristics, patients with unfavorable characteristics after radical prostatectomy are still at a significantly increased risk of tumor progression. Early adjuvant hormonal therapy (AHT) has been shown to be of prognostic benefit in these patients. Unfortunately initiation and duration of early AHT in the individual patient is based on statistic data. PSA, as the standard prostate marker is neither able to reliably indicate minimal residual tumor disease in the early postoperative phase, nor can it be used for therapy monitoring due to the suppressive effect of hormonal therapy on PSA production. Promoter hypermethylation of the detoxifying glutathione-S-transferase P1 gene (GSTP1-HM) has been shown to be the most common DNA alteration of primary prostatic carcinoma which, when used as a marker, is supposed to be able to overcome some of the disadvantages of PSA. However until now information on the impact of hormonal therapy on the detection of GSTP1-HM is lacking. The purpose of our study was to assess the impact of endocrine therapy on the detection of GSTP1-HM by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) in prostate cancer. METHODS: Paraffin embedded tumor samples from the radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens from 15 patients after hormonal therapy (HT) (mean 8 months) were assessed by MSP. In 8 of the patients the GSTP-1 status of the tumors before HT was assessed on the corresponding initial diagnostic biopsies. RESULTS: Following HT MSP showed GSTP1-HM in 13/15 of the RP specimens. In two patients analysis of the RP specimens failed to show GSTP1-HM. All initial tumor samples (8/8 biopsy specimens) showed GSTP1-HM, including both patients negative for GSTP1 HM in the corresponding RP specimen. CONCLUSION: In most cases hormonal therapy appears to not alter GSTP1 HM detection. However the change from a positive to a negative GSTP1 HM status in a subset of the patients may point to an, at least partial androgen dependency. Further studies on a larger cohort of patients are necessary to assess its frequency and the exact hormonal interactions

Search for residual prostate cancer on pT0 radical prostatectomy after positive biopsy

Reported incidence of no residual prostate cancer (i.e. pathological stage pT0) on radical prostatectomy ranges from 0.07 to 4.2%. The incidence is higher after neoadjuvant endocrine treatment. The aim of this study was to search for residual cancer on radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens when an initial sampling failed to find the cancer in patients with positive biopsy. Our database of 1,328 consecutive patients whose biopsies and RP specimen were both examined at the Polytechnic University-United Hospitals of the Marche Region between March 1995 and June 2006 was reviewed. The radical prostatectomies were grossly completely sampled and examined with the whole mount technique. We identified eight patients (i.e. 0.6%; three untreated and five hormonally treated preoperatively, i.e. 0.3 and 0.8%, respectively, of the total number of RPs included in the study) with positive biopsy and with no residual cancer in the initial routine histological examination of the RP. The RP of this group of eight was subjected to additional sectioning and evaluation of the paraffin blocks of the prostatectomy, also after block-flipping, immunostaining with an antibody against CAM 5.2, p63, PSA, and alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase, and DNA specimen identity analysis. There were no cases with a false positive biopsy diagnosis, and cancer was not overlooked or missed in the initial routine histological examination of any of the 8 pT0 RPs. A minute focus of cancer (the diameter was always below 2.0 mm) was found on the additional sections in five. In particular, cancer was found after block-flipping in one of them. In an additional case, cancer was eventually discovered after immunostaining tissue sections for cytokeratin CAM 5.2, for p63 and PSA. In the remaining two cases (one untreated and the other hormonally treated), cancer was not found (0.15% of the 1,328 RPs included in the study); the review of the description of the macroscopic appearance of the RP and of its slides revealed that part of the peripheral zone corresponding to the site of the positive biopsy was missing, i.e. not removed from the patient at the time of the operation at least in one of the two. DNA specimen analysis confirmed the identity of the biopsy and prostatectomy in both. An extensive search for residual cancer reduces the number of pT0 RPs after a positive biopsy from 0.6 to 0.15%. It is recommended to have the needle biopsy reviewed, carefully look again at the radical prostatectomy, do deeper sections and then flip certain paraffin blocks. In addition, atypical foci should be stained for basal cell markers and often AMACR, especially in hormone-treated cases. If a block is missing part of the peripheral zone (capsular incision), this should be commented on. DNA analysis for tissue identity should be performed when the other steps have been taken without finding cancer

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR of CD24 mRNA in the detection of prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Gene expression profiling has recently shown that the mRNA for CD24 is overexpressed in prostate carcinomas (Pca) compared to benign or normal prostate epithelial tissues. Immunohistochemical studies have reported the usefulness of anti-CD24 for detecting prostate cancer over the full range of prostate specimens encountered in surgical pathology, e.g. needle biopsies, transurethral resection of prostate chips, or prostatectomies. It is a small mucin-like cell surface protein and thus promises to become at least a standard adjunctive stain for atypical prostate biopsies. We tested the usefulness of real-time RT-PCR for specific and sensitive detection of CD24 transcripts as a supplementary measure for discriminating between malignant and benign lesions in prostatic tissues. METHODS: Total RNA was isolated from snap-frozen chips in 55 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and from frozen sections in 59 prostatectomy cases. The latter contain at least 50% malignant epithelia. Relative quantification of CD24 transcripts was performed on the LightCycler instrument using hybridization probes for detection and porphobilinogen deaminase transcripts (PBGD) for normalization. RESULTS: Normalized CD24 transcript levels showed an average 2.69-fold increase in 59 Pca-cases (mean 0.21) when compared to 55 cases of BPH (mean 0.08). This difference was highly significant (p < 0.0001). The method has a moderate specificity (47.3%) but a high sensitivity (86.4%) if the cutoff is set at 0.0498. CD24 expression levels among Pca cases were not statistically associated with the tumor and lymph-node stage, the grading (WHO), the surgical margins, or the Gleason score. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates the feasibility of quantitative CD24 RNA transcript detection in prostatic tissues even without previous laser microdissection

The relationship between problematic Facebook usage, empathy and prosocial behavior

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es die Beziehung zwischen problematischer Facebook Nutzung, Empathie und prosozialem Verhalten zu untersuchen. Bei problematischer Facebook Nutzung handelt es sich um maladaptive kognitive und behaviorale Einstellungen gegenüber Facebook, die negative Konsequenzen, wie interpersonelle Probleme im Alltag oder verringerte empathische Fähigkeiten, zur Folge haben können. Facebook ist die beliebteste soziale Netzwerkseite weltweit. Die bereits bestehende Literatur zeigte einen negativen Zusammenhang zwischen problematischer Facebook Nutzung und sozialem Kapital, zwischen Suchtverhalten und Empathie, und einen positiven Zusammenhang zwischen Empathie und prosozialem Verhalten. Basierend auf diesen Ergebnissen wurde die Hypothese generiert, dass Empathie die negative Beziehung zwischen problematischer Facebook Nutzung und prosozialem Verhalten beeinflusst. Neben der Beantwortung von Fragebögen nahmen die 91 Versuchspersonen an zwei Verhaltensexperimenten teil, welche tatsächliches prosoziales Verhalten erfassen. Die Ergebnisse des Mediationsmodells erwiesen sich als nicht signifikant, weshalb als Alternative partielle Korrelationen berechnet wurden. Problematische Facebook Nutzung korreliert positiv mit Alexithymia (r = .29; p = .01), aber keiner anderen Variable. Während ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen Empathie und prosozialem Verhalten bestätigt werden kann (r = .23; p = .05), erweist sich der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Verhaltensexperiment und dem Fragebogen zu prosozialem Verhalten als nicht signifikant. Die Forschung sollte als nächsten Schritt problematische Facebook Nutzung ausreichend operationalisieren und standardisieren. Zukünftige Studien sollten Facebook als Forschungsplattform nutzen, Verhaltensexperimente online kreieren und tatsächliches Nutzerverhalten untersuchen.The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between problematic Facebook usage, empathy and prosocial behavior. Problematic Facebook usage refers to a concept of maladaptive cognitive and behavioral attitudes towards the most popular social networking site, Facebook. Negative outcomes, like interpersonal problems in daily life or reduced empathic skills, are seen as the consequence. Problematic Facebook usage was shown to be negatively related to social capital, addiction is proven to be negatively related to empathy, and empathy plays an essential role in causing prosocial behaviors. On this basis the research question came up, if empathy mediates the negative relationship between problematic Facebook usage and prosocial behavior. Several questionnaires had to be completed by all 91 participants. Additionally two behavioral tasks were designed to assess actual prosocial behavior. The results concerning the mediation model were insignificant; the hypothesis could not be confirmed. As an alternative, partial correlations were computed. Problematic Facebook usage only correlated significantly with alexithymia (r = .29; p = .01) but no other variable. Whereas a positive relationship between emapthy and prosocial behavior has been confirmed (r = .23; p = .05), no significant correlation between the behavioral task and the questionnaire for prosocial behavior was found. The results concerning problematic Facebook usage remain unclear and further investigations are necessary. Most importantly the concept of problematic Facebook usage needs to be operationalized and standardized. Future implementations include using Facebook as a research platform; developing online tasks for prosocial behaviors, and investigating actual users ́ behavior