Psychiatric Aspects of the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Facial Acne

The improvement of acne appears to be associated with decreased depression and anxiety and greater satisfaction with aspects of body image that are generally unrelated to the appearance of the skin, ie, body shape and weight. The latter emphasizes the profound effect of the appearance of the skin upon the patient's overall body image. Our preliminary findings underline the need for larger controlled studies of psychosomatic factors among patients with mild to moderate acne.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65635/1/j.1365-4362.1990.tb03777.x.pd

Premenstrual enhancement of snake detection in visual search in healthy women

It is well known that adult humans detect images of snakes as targets more quickly than images of flowers as targets whether the images are in color or gray-scale. When such visual searches were performed by a total of 60 adult premenopausal healthy women in the present study to examine whether their performance would fluctuate across the phases of the menstrual cycle, snake detection was found to become temporarily enhanced during the luteal phase as compared to early or late follicular phases. This is the first demonstration of the existence of within-individual variation of the activity of the fear module, as a predictable change in cognitive strength, which appears likely to be due to the hormonal changes that occur in the menstrual cycle of healthy women

Inflammation Triggers Emergency Granulopoiesis through a Density-Dependent Feedback Mechanism

Normally, neutrophil pools are maintained by homeostatic mechanisms that require the transcription factor C/EBPα. Inflammation, however, induces neutrophilia through a distinct pathway of “emergency” granulopoiesis that is dependent on C/EBPβ. Here, we show in mice that alum triggers emergency granulopoiesis through the IL-1RI-dependent induction of G-CSF. G-CSF/G-CSF-R neutralization impairs proliferative responses of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) to alum, but also abrogates the acute mobilization of BM neutrophils, raising the possibility that HSPC responses to inflammation are an indirect result of the exhaustion of BM neutrophil stores. The induction of neutropenia, via depletion with Gr-1 mAb or myeloid-specific ablation of Mcl-1, elicits G-CSF via an IL-1RI-independent pathway, stimulating granulopoietic responses indistinguishable from those induced by adjuvant. Notably, C/EBPβ, thought to be necessary for enhanced generative capacity of BM, is dispensable for increased proliferation of HSPC to alum or neutropenia, but plays a role in terminal neutrophil differentiation during granulopoietic recovery. We conclude that alum elicits a transient increase in G-CSF production via IL-1RI for the mobilization of BM neutrophils, but density-dependent feedback sustains G-CSF for accelerated granulopoiesis

Medroxyprogesterone improves nocturnal breathing in postmenopausal women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND: Progestins as respiratory stimulants in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have been investigated in males and during wakefulness. However, sleep and gender may influence therapeutic responses. We investigated the effects of a 2-week medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) therapy on sleep and nocturnal breathing in postmenopausal women. METHODS: A single-blind placebo-controlled trial was performed in 15 postmenopausal women with moderate to severe COPD. A 12-week trial included 2-week treatment periods with placebo and MPA (60 mg/d/14 days). All patients underwent a polysomnography with monitoring of SaO(2 )and transcutaneous PCO(2 )(tcCO(2)) at baseline, with placebo, with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA 60 mg/d/14 days), and three and six weeks after cessation of MPA. RESULTS: Thirteen patients completed the trial. At baseline, the average ± SD of SaO(2 )mean was 90.6 ± 3.2 % and the median of SaO(2 )nadir 84.8 % (interquartile range, IQR 6.1). MPA improved them by 1.7 ± 1.6 %-units (95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.56, 2.8) and by 3.9 %-units (IQR 4.9; 95% CI 0.24, 10.2), respectively. The average of tcCO(2 )median was 6.0 ± 0.9 kPa and decreased with MPA by 0.9 ± 0.5 kPa (95% CI -1.3, -0.54). MPA improved SaO(2 )nadir and tcCO(2 )median also during REM sleep. Three weeks after cessation of MPA, the SaO(2 )mean remained 1.4 ± 1.8 %-units higher than at baseline, the difference being not significant (95% CI -0.03, 2.8). SaO(2 )nadir was 2.7 %-units (IQR 4.9; 95% CI 0.06, 18.7) higher than at baseline. Increases in SaO(2 )mean and SaO(2 )nadir during sleep with MPA were inversely associated with baseline SaO(2 )mean (r = -0.70, p = 0.032) and baseline SaO(2 )nadir (r = -0.77, p = 0.008), respectively. Treatment response in SaO(2 )mean, SaO(2 )nadir and tcCO(2 )levels did not associate with pack-years smoked, age, BMI, spirometric results or sleep variables. CONCLUSION: MPA-induced respiratory improvement in postmenopausal women seems to be consistent and prolonged. The improvement was greater in patients with lower baseline SaO(2 )values. Long-term studies in females are warranted

Facial masculinity:How the choice of measurement method enables to detect its influence on behaviour

Recent research has explored the relationship between facial masculinity, human male behaviour and males' perceived features (i.e. attractiveness). The methods of measurement of facial masculinity employed in the literature are quite diverse. In the present paper, we use several methods of measuring facial masculinity to study the effect of this feature on risk attitudes and trustworthiness. We employ two strategic interactions to measure these two traits, a first-price auction and a trust game. We find that facial width-to-height ratio is the best predictor of trustworthiness, and that measures of masculinity which use Geometric Morphometrics are the best suited to link masculinity and bidding behaviour. However, we observe that the link between masculinity and bidding in the first-price auction might be driven by competitiveness and not by risk aversion only. Finally, we test the relationship between facial measures of masculinity and perceived masculinity. As a conclusion, we suggest that researchers in the field should measure masculinity using one of these methods in order to obtain comparable results. We also encourage researchers to revise the existing literature on this topic following these measurement methods