Men´s violence against women in intimate partner relationships : A content analysis of a number of autobiographical narratives

Men's violence against women in close relationships is an increasing societal problem that causes both psychological and physical harm to women. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of women's experiences of men's violence in close relationships by analyzing four autobiographies. A qualitative content analysis was used as the method in the study. The research material was analyzed using two different theoretical perspectives: stigma and the process of normalization. Additionally, the analysis was based on previous research where four articles were used. The results showed that the women described similar experiences within the different themes of the research question, which were punishment, the process of normalization, the need for control and jealousy, guilt, and shame. The men used methods of punishment such as harming, controlling, and manipulating the women. The behavior was normalized over time, making it difficult for the women to leave the violent relationship. The women could become isolated and monitored, while the man's jealousy became evident. The men blamed the women for their behavior, creating feelings of guilt and shame. The results also showed that the lack of support from the surroundings made it difficult for the women to leave destructive and violent relationships

Men´s violence against women in intimate partner relationships : A content analysis of a number of autobiographical narratives

Men's violence against women in close relationships is an increasing societal problem that causes both psychological and physical harm to women. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of women's experiences of men's violence in close relationships by analyzing four autobiographies. A qualitative content analysis was used as the method in the study. The research material was analyzed using two different theoretical perspectives: stigma and the process of normalization. Additionally, the analysis was based on previous research where four articles were used. The results showed that the women described similar experiences within the different themes of the research question, which were punishment, the process of normalization, the need for control and jealousy, guilt, and shame. The men used methods of punishment such as harming, controlling, and manipulating the women. The behavior was normalized over time, making it difficult for the women to leave the violent relationship. The women could become isolated and monitored, while the man's jealousy became evident. The men blamed the women for their behavior, creating feelings of guilt and shame. The results also showed that the lack of support from the surroundings made it difficult for the women to leave destructive and violent relationships

Effects of female gonadal hormones and LPS on depressive-like behavior in rats

Considerable evidence shows an association of depression with the immune system and emphasizes the importance of gender in the etiology of the disease and the response to inflammatory stimuli. We examined the influence of immune-challenged systems on depressive-like behavior in female rats in the context of gonadal hormones. We used a neuroinflammatory model of depression elicited by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration on naive and ovariectomized (OVX) female rats, and examined the effects of estradiol (E2) and/or progesterone (P4) replacement therapy on animal behavior, as assessed by the forced swimming test (FST). We found that LPS and OVX increase immobility in the FST, while LPS also decreased body weight in naive female rats. Further, even though P4 application alone showed beneficial effects on the behavioral profile (it reduced immobility and increased climbing), supplementation of both hormones (E2 and P4) together to OVX rats failed to do so. When OVX rats were exposed to LPS-induced immune challenge, neither hormone individually nor their combination had any effect on immobility, however, their joint supplementation increased climbing behavior. In conclusion, our study confirmed that both LPS and OVX induced depressive-like behavior in female rats. Furthermore, our results potentiate P4 supplementation in relieving the depressive-like symptomatology in OVX rats, most likely through fine-tuning of different neurotransmitter systems. In the context of an activated immune system, the application of E2 and/or P4 does not provide any advantageous effects on depressive-like behavior

ULTRASOUND EXAMINATION OF THE RENAL CORTEX IN THE HEALTHY NEW-BORN

The examination of the kidney parenchyma by the ultrasound assumes the identification of the cortex, of the medulla and of the arciform blood vessels. The kidney cortey is normally less echogenic than the parenchyma of the spleen and the liver; in the normal new-borns and babies it can also be isoechogenic with the liver parenchyma while in the prematures and in the new-borns with a small delivery mass it can be even more echogenic than the liver parenchyma. In the parenchymic diseases of the children kidneys the cortex becomes more echogenic than the liverparenchyma or it can be isoechogenic with it. The aim of the paper is to examine the kidney cortex isogenic nature in healthy new-borns of different age and body mass. The examination comprised 49 healthy new-borns with the normal urine findings as well as the normal nitrogen products in the serum of the age from 1 to 27 days with the body mass from 1900 to 4950 g. The real time ultrasound technique was used as adopted to the new-born age. It was found out that the kidney cortex of the majority of the healthy new-borns - born on time with a small delivery mass - as well as that of the prematures was isoechogenic with the liver parenchyma or more echogenic than it. In the new-born with a delivery mass of over 3000 g and especially of over 4000 g the kidney cortexwas most often more hypo-echogenic than the liver parenchym

An integrated approach for comparative proteomic analysis of human bile reveals overexpressed cancer-associated proteins in malignant biliary stenosis

Proteomics is a key tool in the identification of new bile biomarkers for differentiating malignant and nonmalignant biliary stenoses. Unfortunately, the complexity of bile and the presence of molecules interfering with protein analysis represent an obstacle for quantitative proteomic studies in bile samples. The simultaneous need to introduce purification steps and minimize the use of pre-fractionation methods inevitably leads to protein loss and limited quantifications. This dramatically reduces the chance of identifying new potential biomarkers. In the present study, we included differential centrifugation as a preliminary step in a quantitative proteomic workflow involving iTRAQ labeling, peptide fractionation by OFFGEL electrophoresis and LC-MS/MS, to compare protein expression in bile samples collected from patients with malignant or nonmalignant biliary stenoses. A total of 1267 proteins were identified, including a set of 322 newly described bile proteins, mainly belonging to high-density cellular fractions. The subsequent comparative analysis led to a 5-fold increase in the number of quantified proteins over previously published studies and highlighted 104 proteins overexpressed in malignant samples. Finally, immunoblot verifications performed on a cohort of 8 malignant (pancreatic adenocarcinoma, n=4; cholangiocarcinoma, n=4) and 5 nonmalignant samples (chronic pancreatitis, n=3; biliary stones, n=2) confirmed the results of proteomic analysis for three proteins: olfactomedin-4, syntenin-2 and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biomarkers: A Proteomic Challenge