Alcohol Outlet Density, Heavy Episodic Drinking, and Sexual Violence Perpetration: A Multilevel Mediation Model

Current campus sexual violence prevention strategies have focused almost exclusively on person-level change by targeting individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. However, few of these programs have demonstrated effectiveness and few studies have investigated alternative prevention strategies that could be implemented across multiple levels of analysis. One potential promising community-level prevention strategy is alcohol availability. Alcohol is a significant predictor of sexual violence perpetration and alcohol outlet density is a significant positive predictor of violence and crime in campus and community samples. However, no study to date has assessed the effect of alcohol availability on campus sexual violence. The current study examined the extent to which alcohol availability, defined as alcohol outlet density within a specified radius, was a community-level risk factor for sexual violence perpetration on college campuses. Using publicly-available alcohol license data and self-report data from a recently-completed longitudinal cohort study of college men, a three-level mediation model was estimated to investigate the effect of institution-level alcohol availability on college men’s alcohol use and sexual violence perpetration. Institution-level alcohol availability within a three-mile radius did not predict college men’s heavy episodic drinking or sexual violence perpetration and heavy episodic drinking did not mediate the relationship between alcohol availability and person-level sexual violence perpetration. Although these findings are surprising, alcohol availability is more complex than alcohol outlet density and there are several other factors that may be important to understand alcohol availability, especially near college campuses (e.g., alcohol control policies, enforcement of legal drinking age laws, culture of alcohol outlets). Findings from the post-hoc exploratory model suggest that changing norms related to drinking may be a way to both reduce heavy episodic drinking and prevent sexual violence perpetration. Perceptions of drinking behavior, aggregated at the institution-level, significantly predicted heavy episodic drinking, which mediated the relationship between perceptions of drinking behavior and sexual violence perpetration. Combining these findings with evidence of successful social norms campaigns related to drinking provides some hope for identifying potential community-level risk factors for sexual violence perpetration

Sexual Aggression on Campus: Alcohol Use, Peer Support, and Fraternity Membership

Sexual violence is a serious problem on college campuses. Nearly twenty-five percent of men report perpetrating some form of sexual violence during their first four years of college. This study examined how dynamics related to membership in all male groups (e.g., fraternities) interacted with alcohol use to predict sexual violence, specifically whether membership in a fraternity affected the relationships between frequency of drinking, peer attitudes, and sexual violence in a sample of college men across time. Data were collected, as part of a larger study, from undergraduate males at a large Southeastern university. In the final model, frequency of drinking and peer support did significantly predict sexual violence perpetration across time for non-fraternity men but not for fraternity men. These findings demonstrate that differences exist between fraternity men and non-fraternity men and illustrate the need for further in-depth research of fraternities

Homozygous mutation in the prokineticin-receptor2 gene (Val274Asp) presenting as reversible Kallmann syndrome and persistent oligozoospermia: case report.

Prokineticin 2 (Prok2) or prokineticin-receptor2 (Prok-R2) gene mutations are associated with Kallmann syndrome (KS). We describe a new homozygous mutation of Prok-R2 gene in a man displaying KS with an apparent reversal of hypogonadism. The proband, offspring of consanguineous parents, presented at age 19 years with absent puberty, no sense of smell, low testosterone and gonadotrophin levels. Magnetic resonance imaging showed olfactory bulb absence. The patient achieved virilization and spermatogenesis with gonadotrophin administration. Two years after discontinuing hormonal therapy, he maintained moderate oligozoospermia and normal testosterone levels. Prok2 and Prok- R2 gene sequence analyses were performed. The proband had a homozygous mutation in Prok-R2 exon 2 that harbours the c.T820>A base substitution, causing the introduction of an aspartic acid in place of valine at position 274 (Val274Asp). His mother had the same mutation in heterozygous state. This report describes a novel homozygous mutation of Prok-R2 gene in a man with variant KS, underlying the role of Prok-R2 gene in the olfactory and reproductive system development in humans. Present findings indicate that markedly delayed activation of gonadotrophin secretion may occur in some KS cases with definite gene defects, and that oligozoospermia might result from a variant form of reversible hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism

Contribution à l'étude du symbolisme animal dans la mythologie nordique

La mythologie nordique, ou germano-scandinave, est très méconnue dans notre civilisation actuelle. Et pourtant elle perdura environ 2500 ans, de la Mer Noire jusqu'en Islande, et recèle d'extraordinaires richesses. Dans une première partie, l'auteur expose l'histoire de ce qui fut la religion des anciens hommes du Nord, ainsi que la présentation du peuple scandinave au temps des vikings, puisque les sources dont nous disposons aujoud'hui proviennent principalement de cette époque, et ne sont donc pas représentatives des peuples anciens germaniques dans leur globalité. La seconde partie est consacrée aux récits des mythes nordiques, et expose pour chacun d'entre eux la représentation d'une figure animale au symbolisme souvent puissant. L'étude se porte alors sur l'impact qu'avaient ces puissances animales sur les hommes qui avaient de profondes convictions en ces croyances. Animaux créateurs, destructeurs, exposant la personnalité de la divinité à qui ils appartiennent, ou organisateurs de l'univers, tous les traits symboliques qu'ont les animaux dans les différentes cultures se retrouvent ici. Le but de cette étude est alors d'exposer comment cette trame a induit un système de pensée propre aux anciens nordiques

Preface: Multiscale and multiphysics modeling of “complex” materials and engineering applications

none3noN.A.mixedTrovalusci P.; Fantuzzi N.; De Bellis M.L.Trovalusci P.; Fantuzzi N.; De Bellis M.L

Is your EPL attractive? Classification of publications through download statistics

Here we consider the download statistics of EPL publications. We find that papers in the journal are characterised by fast accumulations of downloads during the first couple of months after publication, followed by slower rates thereafter, behaviour which can be represented by a model with predictive power. We also find that individual papers can be classified in various ways, allowing us to compare categories for open-access and non-open-access papers. For example, for the latter publications, which comprise the bulk of EPL papers, a small proportion (2%) display intense bursts of download activity, possibly following an extended period of less remarkable behaviour. About 18% have an especially high degree of attractiveness over and above what is typical for the journal. One can also classify the ageing of attractiveness by examining download half-lives. Approximately 18% have strong interest initially, waning in time. A further 20% exhibit "delayed recognition" with relatively late spurs in download activity. Although open-access papers enjoy more downloads on average, the proportions falling into each category are similar.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in EP

Party package travel: alcohol use and related problems in a holiday resort: a mixed methods study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>People travelling abroad tend to increase their use of alcohol and other drugs. In the present study we describe organized party activities in connection with young tourists' drinking, and the differences between young people travelling with and without organized party activities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted ethnographic observations and a cross-sectional survey in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The behaviour of the guides from two travel agencies strongly promoted heavy drinking, but discouraged illicit drug use. Even after controlling for several potential confounders, young people who travelled with such "party package travel agencies" were more likely to drink 12 or more units when going out. In univariate analyses, they were also more likely to get into fights, but were not more likely to seek medical assistance or medical assistance for an accident or an alcohol-related problem. After controlling for confounders, the association between type of travel agency and getting into fights was no longer significant. Short-term consequences of drinking in the holiday resort did not differ between party package travellers and ordinary package travellers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There may be a small impact of party package travels on young people's drinking. Strategies could be developed used to minimise the harm associated with both party package travel and other kinds of travel where heavy substance use is likely to occur.</p

A numerical model of the human cornea accounting for the fiber-distributed collagen microstructure

We present a fiber-distributed model of the reinforcing collagen of the human cornea. The model describes the basic connections between the components of the tissue by defining an elementary block (cell) and upscaling it to the physical size of the cornea. The cell is defined by two sets of collagen fibrils running in approximately orthogonal directions, characterized by a random distribution of the spatial orientation and connected by chemical bonds of two kinds. The bonds of the first kind describe the lamellar crosslinks, forming the ribbon-like lamellae; while the bonds of the second kind describe the stacking crosslinks, piling up the lamellae to form the structure of the stroma. The spatial replication of the cell produces a truss structure with a considerable number of degrees of freedom. The statistical characterization of the collagen fibrils leads to a mechanical model that reacts to the action of the deterministic intraocular pressure with a stochastic distribution of the displacements, here characterized by their mean value and variance. The strategy to address the solution of the heavy resulting numerical problem is to use the so-called stochastic finite element improved perturbation method combined with a fully explicit solver. Results demonstrate that the variability of the mechanical properties affects in a non-negligible manner the expected response of the structure to the physiological action