Services just for men? Insights from a national study of the well men services pilots.

Men continue to have a lower life expectancy in most countries compared to women. Explanations of this gendered health inequality tend to focus on male risk taking, unhealthy lifestyle choices and resistance to seeking help from health services. In the period 2005-2008 the Scottish Government funded a nationwide community health promotion programme aimed at improving men's health, called Well Men Service Pilots (henceforth WMS)

Exploring men's and women's experiences of depression and engagement with health professionals: more similarities than differences? A qualitative interview study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is argued that the ways in which women express emotional distress mean that they are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, while men's relative lack of articulacy means their depression is hidden. This may have consequences for communicating with health professionals. The purpose of this analysis was to explore how men and women with depression articulate their emotional distress, and examine whether there are gender differences or similarities in the strategies that respondents found useful when engaging with health professionals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In-depth qualitative interviews with 22 women and 16 men in the UK who identified themselves as having had depression, recruited through general practitioners, psychiatrists and support groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found gender similarities and gender differences in our sample. Both men and women found it difficult to recognise and articulate mental health problems and this had consequences for their ability to communicate with health professionals. Key gender differences noted were that men tended to value skills which helped them to talk while women valued listening skills in health professionals, and that men emphasised the importance of getting practical results from talking therapies in their narratives, as opposed to other forms of therapy which they conceptualised as 'just talking'. We also found diversity among women and among men; some respondents valued a close personal relationship with health professionals, while others felt that this personal relationship was a barrier to communication and preferred 'talking to a stranger'.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that there is not a straightforward relationship between gender and engagement with health professionals for people with depression. Health professionals need to be sensitive to patients who have difficulties in expressing emotional distress and critical of gender stereotypes which suggest that women invariably find it easy to express emotional distress and men invariably find it difficult. In addition it is important to recognise that, for a minority of patients, a personal relationship with health professionals can act as a barrier to the disclosure of emotional distress.</p

Games People Play: The Collapse of “Masculinities” and the Rise of Masculinity as Spectacle

Perspective is important. When Andy Warhol produced an art piece of 13 police mugshots of “Thirteen Most Wanted Men” for the New York World’s Fair in 1964, the work was hurriedly painted over by concerned authorities before the public could view it. It was only years later that the Warhol’s subversive (homoerotic) gaze on the FBI list was more widely appreciated (Crimp in Social Text 59: 49–66, 1999; Siegel in Art Journal 62(1): 7–13, 2003). I begin with this story because it points to key issues I want to take up in this chapter, in particular, the importance of “audience” and different readings when it comes to masculinity. While current theory tends to locate masculinity in the actors, what if it is better located in the audience? What if masculinity was better understood as a kind of public spectacle? In addition, there are the naturally subversive elements of gender (e.g. think of drag performances); the game-like nature of masculinity (men might feel compelled to play along with expectations of masculinity—think of brutal playground expectations on boys—but it doesn’t mean they are not aware of its inauthenticity); and the inevitable—but less discussed link—with sexuality (see below)

Development of a lung slice preparation for recording ion channel activity in alveolar epithelial type I cells

BACKGROUND: Lung fluid balance in the healthy lung is dependent upon finely regulated vectorial transport of ions across the alveolar epithelium. Classically, the cellular locus of the major ion transport processes has been widely accepted to be the alveolar type II cell. Although evidence is now emerging to suggest that the alveolar type I cell might significantly contribute to the overall ion and fluid homeostasis of the lung, direct assessment of functional ion channels in type I cells has remained elusive. METHODS: Here we describe a development of a lung slice preparation that has allowed positive identification of alveolar type I cells within an intact and viable alveolar epithelium using living cell immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: This technique has allowed, for the first time, single ion channels of identified alveolar type I cells to be recorded using the cell-attached configuration of the patch-clamp technique. CONCLUSION: This exciting new development should facilitate the ascription of function to alveolar type I cells and allow us to integrate this cell type into the general model of alveolar ion and fluid balance in health and disease

Independent impacts of aging on mitochondrial DNA quantity and quality in humans

Background The accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, and the reduction of mtDNA copy number, both disrupt mitochondrial energetics, and may contribute to aging and age-associated phenotypes. However, there are few genetic and epidemiological studies on the spectra of blood mtDNA heteroplasmies, and the distribution of mtDNA copy numbers in different age groups and their impact on age-related phenotypes. In this work, we used whole-genome sequencing data of isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from the UK10K project to investigate in parallel mtDNA heteroplasmy and copy number in 1511 women, between 17 and 85 years old, recruited in the TwinsUK cohorts. Results We report a high prevalence of pathogenic mtDNA heteroplasmies in this population. We also find an increase in mtDNA heteroplasmies with age (β = 0.011, P = 5.77e-6), and showed that, on average, individuals aged 70-years or older had 58.5% more mtDNA heteroplasmies than those under 40-years old. Conversely, mtDNA copy number decreased by an average of 0.4 copies per year (β = −0.395, P = 0.0097). Multiple regression analyses also showed that age had independent effects on mtDNA copy number decrease and heteroplasmy accumulation. Finally, mtDNA copy number was positively associated with serum bicarbonate level (P = 4.46e-5), and inversely correlated with white blood cell count (P = 0.0006). Moreover, the aggregated heteroplasmy load was associated with blood apolipoprotein B level (P = 1.33e-5), linking the accumulation of mtDNA mutations to age-related physiological markers. Conclusions Our population-based study indicates that both mtDNA quality and quantity are influenced by age. An open question for the future is whether interventions that would contribute to maintain optimal mtDNA copy number and prevent the expansion of heteroplasmy could promote healthy aging

Hepatic arterial chemotherapy for primary and metastatic liver cancers

Hepatic arterial chemotherapy represents a means of selectively exposing hepatic tumor to cytotoxic agents. Although 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine has been shown to generate a higher response rate in the treatment of colorectal liver metastases than that achieved by intravenous infusion, responses are largely incomplete and rarely of long duration. This review describes the rationale for the use of the thymidine analogs 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine and 5-iodo-2′-deoxyuridine in hepatic arterial infusions and indicates how combination therapy adding radiotherapy, specifically with hepatic arterially administered yttrium-90 microspheres, might generate a new, more efficient and effective therapeutic approach.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46919/1/280_2004_Article_BF00647244.pd

Housing: An Under-Explored Influence on Children’s Well-Being and Becoming

Research on housing has tended to focus on adult outcomes, establishing relationships between housing and a number of aspects of health and well-being. Research exploring the influence of housing on children has been more limited, and has tended to focus on adult concerns around risk behaviours, behavioural problems and educational attainment. While these outcomes are important, they neglect the impact of housing on children’s lives beyond these concerns. There are a number of reasons to believe that housing would play an important role in children’s well-being more broadly. Family stress and strain models highlight how housing difficulties experienced by adults may have knock on effects for children, while Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach to human development emphasises the importance of children’s experiences of their environments, of which the home is among the most important. This paper summaries the existing evidence around housing and child outcomes, predominantly educational and behavioural outcomes, and argues for the extension of this work to consider the impact of housing on children’s lives more broadly, especially their subjective well-being