Alveolar soft-part sarcoma with unusual mitochondrial findings: a case report

In 1996 a randomized sample of 4,020 Swedish adolescents from three birth cohorts were sent a questionnaire consisting of 50 items concerning habitual sun-related behaviours and attitudes, knowledge about melanoma, risk perception and self-image. A total of 2,615 questionnaires were returned. Girls sunbathed and used sunbeds more than boys at all ages. Sunbathing and sunbed use increased with age. Boys who were most satisfied and girls least satisfied with themselves sunbathed most. Those who were least satisfied with themselves used sunbeds most frequently. Girls reported a higher perceived susceptibility to melanoma than did boys. The perception of susceptibility increased with age. Those who were least satisfied with themselves reported feeling most susceptible. The overall main reason for sunbathing was appearance, both for own sunbathing, and to an even higher degree, as a supposed reason for other adolescents' behaviour, and was reported most frequently by girls and the older age groups. The second most 'important' reason for sunbathing was 'feeling warm and comfortable'. Preventive programmes aimed at a change of sun related behaviours among Swedish adolescents have to be tailored to the climate and cultural conditions and must take into account that having a tan, and the warmth of the sun, are highly valued by most adolescents.     

Sunbeds in current use in Scotland: a survey of their output and patterns of use

Spectral irradiances of 100 commercially available sunbeds in current use have been measured. Ultraviolet (UV) A and UVB doses from sunbed use have been calculated and compared with doses likely to be received from solar radiation. The majority of sunbeds use UVA fluorescent tubes for irradiating the body and filtered metal halide lamps, which have a higher proportion of UVA1, for the face. The average minimum erythemal dose per session is 0.80, but irradiances for particular models varied by a factor of two to three primarily because of decline in lamp output with age. The UVA dose from a session on a sunbed is similar to that which might be received from 20 to 30 min sunbathing at a Mediterranean resort or 1 h on a sunny day in Glasgow, while UVB doses are 20-25% of this level. Responses from 200 current users of the sunbeds indicate that 38% had skin types 1 and 2, that 17% had more than 100 annual sunbed sessions and that 35% rarely or never used the goggles provided.     

A psychosocial model of sun protection and sunbathing in young women: The impact of health beliefs, attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy for sun protection.

A psychosocial model of sun protection and sunbathing as distinct behaviors was developed on 202 young Caucasian women and replicated in an independent sample (n?=?207). Proximal outcomes were intention to sun protect and intention to sunbathe; distal outcomes included sun protection and sunbathing behavior measured 5 months later. Objective risk for skin cancer plus 4 classes of psychosocial variables (sun-protective health beliefs, self-efficacy for sun protection, attitudes toward sunbathing, and norms for sunbathing and sun protection) served as predictors. Sun-protective norms and self-efficacy for sun protection predicted only intention to sun protect; sunbathing norms predicted only intention to sunbathe. Susceptibility and advantages of tanning predicted both intention constructs, which, in turn, predicted behavior. These findings distinguish sun protection from sunbathing and provide a basis for intervention design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examination of cognitive variables relevant to sunbathing

This study examined cognitions relevant to sunbathing decision-making in college-aged subjects. Using Jaccard's (1981) theory of alternative behavior as a guiding model, 263 subjects were recruited from psychology classes and administered questionnaires assessing their sunbathing behavioural tendencies, attitudes toward sunbathing, attitudes toward reasonable behavioral alternatives to sunbathing, and cognitive variables underlying these attitudinal variables. The fits of models predicting sunbathing attitudes and sunbathing behavioural tendencies (evaluated using covariate structural equations modeling techniques; LIS-REL VIII) were good for all models tested. In contrast to previous work, the results of this study support the notion that young people will make their decisions regarding sunbathing based on the behavioral alternatives available to them (i.e., generally the one that they prefer most). Furthermore, the multivariate approach used clearly delineates the specific cognitive beliefs and orientations that might be targeted to change these attitudes. The relevance of these findings to skin cancer prevention interventions is discussed.     

Psychosocial factors in sunbathing and sunscreen use.

Interviewed 120 sunbathing and nonsunbathing beachgoers about their health practices, knowledge about skin cancer, moods, and social rewards obtained through sunbathing. Ss also completed personality questionnaires. Data were considered using a theoretical perspective combining aspects of health belief, social influence, social learning, and risk-taking models. Results indicate that sunbathing was related to having a positive attitude toward risk taking, having little knowledge about skin cancer, reporting a relaxed mood, having friends who sunbathe, and engaging in activities related to maintaining a positive physical appearance. Sunscreen use was related to sex, having knowledge about skin cancer, knowing people who have had cancer, and reporting high levels of anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of Norwegian adolescents' sunbathing and use of sunscreen.

A nationwide random sample of 15,169 Norwegian high school students completed a questionnaire about tanning habits, physical self-concept, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Although 90% of the adolescents did use sunscreen, less than 25% used an adequate sun-protection factor, and only 50% applied the sunscreen an adequate number of times when sunbathing. Multiple regression analyses identified these predictors of sunbathing: opportunity to sunbathe, tender skin, heavy smoking, playing down the risk for skin cancer, valuing physical appearance, friends' use of sunscreen (girls only), a positive attitude toward having a tan, favorable physical self-concept, friends' use of sunbeds, and friends' sunbathing. Sunscreen use was also predicted by opportunity to sunbathe and skin type. Furthermore, the effects of perceived risk for skin cancer and peers' use of sunscreen were particularly strong. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Molecular identification and analysis of a novel human corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptor: the CRF2gamma receptor

Previous work has established that women with good marriages are less at risk of depression of clinical severity following a crisis than women in poor quality relationships. Evidence for such protectiveness is less clear for men. The paper examines the relationship between marital quality, onset of depression, and gender following a severely threatening life event. The results show that good quality of marriage related to lower rates of depression for both men and women, although the overall rate for women was higher. For women with a good marital relationship, but for whom support from partner was not forthcoming at the time of the crisis (i.e. the person was "let down"), risk was increased, confirming a result from a study in Islington. The current study shows that the same set of findings holds for men. Gender differences did emerge when the subjective need for support within the marital relationship is taken into account, with women expressing greater need. However, such a desire for support was not necessarily translated into support-seeking behaviour as in a poor relationship turning to a partner was frequently inopportune. Women were also more likely to seek support outside the marriage; as in the earlier Islington research this was related to a lower risk of depression for those in a poor relationship. An unexpected finding was that men who received support outside marriage had an increased risk of depression.     

Home birth or short-stay hospital birth in a low risk population in The Netherlands

In The Netherlands women with low risk pregnancies can choose whether they want to give birth at home or in hospital, under the care of their own primary caregiver. The majority of these women prefer to give birth at home, but over the last few decades an increasing number of low risk women have chosen a hospital birth, leaving hospital with their baby shortly after delivery. As both this trend and its effects have not been extensively investigated, a study was designed to examine the determinants of the choice for home or hospital birth. It was hypothesized that the choice would be determined by a combination of personal and social factors. Structural equation modelling indicated that social factors, especially the confidence of significant others in home birth and the expectations of hospital care during childbirth, were by far the strongest predictors of choice. Personal factors, measured as perceived health status before and during pregnancy, the existence of minor symptoms and fear of pain or complications during birth, were found to play an indirect role. Demographic variables such as age, education and urbanization showed no effect. These findings indicate that emphasizing the good results and excellent quality of Dutch maternity care at home is likely to support and strengthen the general acceptance of home birth.     

Changes in oxygen saturation and transcutaneous carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in patients undergoing fibreoptic bronchoscopy

Though women have a lower absolute risk of disease than men at all ages, almost all the risk factors for cardiovascular disease carry the same or higher relative risk for women as for men. Moreover, the attributable risk is higher in older women than in men. Epidemiologic studies show that recent decreases in coronary heart disease mortality are in some cases greater among women than men. Interventional studies show that women appear to have as good or better a response than men to cholesterol-lowering in secondary prevention. Antihypertensive drug therapy is effective in preventing clinical endpoints in elderly women. These observations imply that an overall estimation of cardiovascular risk in women needs careful consideration. Because established therapies appear to be effective in high risk women, postmenopausal and probably also elderly women are important target groups for preventive efforts. The value of prevention for premenopausal women should not be underestimated, but should on the whole be approached through population-based strategies.     

Women with little or no prenatal care during pregnancy. Results of a study of twenty departments

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the frequency of women who have little or no health care during pregnancy, to assess associated perinatal risk, and to identify the corresponding risk factors. METHODS: Women who consulted less than 4 times or who began consultation during the third trimester were identified in public and private maternity units in 20 French departments. These women were compared with a sample of women from the same institutions who consulted regularly. RESULTS: The percentage of pregnant women with little or no care was 1.1%. Risk of premature birth was increased 4-fold compared with women who consulted regularly. Women who consulted little were very young, multiparous or living alone with no health care insurance. These women stated that the reason for not consulting was that their pregnancy was not accepted, financial difficulties and administrative problems. CONCLUSION: The lack of regular medical care results from social obstacles, especially in foreign born women but is also related to personal problems which are difficult to identify and manage.     

Progressive subretinal fibrosis and blindness in patients with multifocal granulomatous chorioretinitis

Since women with a first-degree relative with breast cancer are at increased risk for breast cancer, it is of special importance that they adhere to early detection programs. In this study, women with (389) and without (3295) a family history of breast cancer were compared with respect to risk perception, breast cancer anxiety, and early detection behavior. Special attention was paid to the role of knowing that family history is a breast cancer risk factor. It was found that 46% of "family history positives" did not know that their risk was increased by their family history. Still, family history positives had increased risk perception; our results suggest that this was partly caused by their knowing they belonged to a risk group and partly by their having experienced the disease at close range. Although family history positives had higher risk perceptions, no differences in early detection behavior were found. This could not be attributed to high anxiety levels. Implications for health education are discussed.     

Perceptions of risk for AIDS among women in drug treatment.

Factors associated with the self-perceived risk for AIDS were examined using data obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 155 current and former drug-using women in methadone maintenance. Results suggest that drug-involved women are realistic in their self-perceptions of AIDS risk with respect to iv drug-use behavior but underestimate their risk from sexual activity. Perceived risk was associated with current iv drug use, duration of sexual relationship, and partner's nonsupportiveness. Partner's serostatus or history of iv drug use was unrelated to risk perception, as were multiple partners, anal sex, prostitution, and the nonuse of condoms. Implications of these findings for designing interventions for drug-involved women are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of an institutional AIDS prevention intervention: moderation by gender

AIDS risk reduction programs are being conducted in many institutional settings, but rigorous evaluations of their effectiveness are lacking. This is particularly unfortunate in that these programs are expensive, and tend to be of lower intensity than those that have been shown to be effective. Further, risk reduction is generally regarded as entailing greater difficulty for women, who do not use condoms themselves but must negotiate their use with male partners. We used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate an institutional AIDS prevention program on a New Jersey college campus. Sexual behavior was assessed via linked, anonymous mailed surveys at the beginning and end of an academic year among 1st-year students on the campus and others on a nearby control campus. Responses from the spring survey indicated that intervention campus students had been exposed significantly more than control students to intervention components. While MANCOVA analyses indicated no main effect of treatment group on outcome variable, we obtained a significant group by gender interaction, indicating a significant effect on number of risky encounters for men but not for women. In fact, relative to women on the control campus, women on the intervention campus displayed reduced self-efficacy to perform safe sex at the end of the year. These results may indicate that although men can be effectively reached by low-intensity risk reduction programs, women may not be. In fact, interventions without adequate intensity to provide substantial and individualized negotiation skill training may cause women to experience failure in these efforts.     

Safer sex knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of inner-city women.

Sexual behavior, knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, perceived risk of AIDS, and safer sex behavior were studied in a sample of 289 single, pregnant, inner-city women. African-American and European-American women were equally represented. Women had poor AIDS knowledge. Sexual behavior placed women at risk for HIV infection due to the lack of condom or spermicide use. Women did not perceive themselves at risk for the AIDS virus, although they did recognize that heterosexuals were at risk. Their lack of risk perception was partly based on their having a single sexual partner. They did not regard their partner's current or past behavior as placing them at risk. Recommendations for intervention and cultural differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems on the diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome

We evaluated height as a potential risk factor for breast cancer in a case-control study of 747 young women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer before age 46 years and 961 control subjects recruited by random digit dialing. We found that total height attained did not affect a woman's risk of the disease. The age when a women reached her maximum height, however, was a risk factor for breast cancer. There was a trend of decreasing risk of breast cancer in relation to increasing age of height attainment, culminating in a 30% reduction in the risk of breast cancer for women who reached their maximum height when they were 18 years or older compared with women who reached their maximum height when they were 13 years old or less (odds ratio = 0.7; 95% confidence interval = 0.5-1.0). Although the age at menarche was correlated with the age at maximum height, the effect of age at maximum height persisted after adjustment for age at menarche. Previous studies have reported that age at menarche is an important determinant of risk, but this study indicates that age when maximum height is reached may be another, and possibly more important, landmark of puberty that is related to breast cancer risk. The physiologic basis for this claim may lie in the influence on breast development of exposure to growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor during puberty, and on a decreased time between the end of puberty and a woman's first livebirth, both of which are believed to affect a woman's risk of breast cancer.     

Relation between the incidence of invasive cervical cancer and the screening interval: is a five year interval too long?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence of invasive cervical cancer per 100,000 women years at risk and relative risk according to screening history among eligible women aged 25-69 in Southampton and South West Hampshire during the three years after completion of the first round of comprehensive screening. RESULTS: There was a significantly higher incidence of invasive cervical cancer in women who had not been screened during the preceding 0.5-5.5 years than in those who had been screened (relative risk (RR) 2.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6 to 4.3). Among the latter group of women (with interval cancers) there was a significantly higher incidence in those with a long interval of 3.5-5.5 years since their most recent smear than in those with a short interval of 0.5-3.5 years (RR 2.2; 95% CI 1.3 to 3.8). Among women with non-interval cancers, there was a significantly higher incidence among those who had no cytology record than among those who had been screened but were overdue for a smear (RR 3.0; 95% CI 1.2 to 7.3). When screen detected cancers were excluded from the figures the relative risks for all the comparative groups described above were greater, though the 95% confidence limits were wider because the numbers were smaller. The most pronounced difference in incidence was between symptomatic cancers in women with a short screening interval (5.8 per 100,000 women years at risk) and in women with no cytology record (71.3 per 100,000 years at risk). Most cancers were interval cancers (76%) because of the high screening coverage: 89.2% of eligible women aged 25-69 had been screened during the preceding 0.5-5.5 years. The overall incidence per 100000 women years at risk approached that of interval cancers, and was nearer to that observed in the short than the long interval because 74.7% of women had been screened within 3.5 years. CONCLUSION: The results confirm the effectiveness of screening but suggest that a five year screening interval may be too long, at least during the early rounds of screening.     

Attitudes of women of childbearing age towards prenatal diagnosis in southeastern France

The objective of this study was to explore women's attitudes towards prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21 and to examine some of the factors possibly responsible for these attitudes before implementing in real practice serological screening of pregnant women at risk for trisomy 21. We carried out a telephone survey on a representative sample of women who had recently had a normal livebirth delivery in the Marseille district in 1990. The participation rate was 80 per cent and the average age of the mothers was 28.9 years. Among the 514 women interviewed, 78 per cent stated that they would ask for an amniocentesis for a 1 per cent risk of trisomy 21 at their next pregnancy. When adjusting for confounding factors, the decision to have or not to have an amniocentesis was found to depend not only on the women's attitude towards induced abortion, but also on their understanding of the risk involved and on the social context (knowing a handicapped child, discussion with the father). It also depended on the women's age and on what they knew about amniocentesis from the medical point of view. The risk of miscarriage can influence a woman's choice but this objection was not found to affect the women's decisions significantly in our survey. The data showed the existence of a high potential demand for fetal karyotyping.     

Toxicology of the lung

This qualitative study explores how risk is determined by black women during pregnancy. A total of 17 women were assessed for risk; 7 were at risk for preterm birth, and 10 were not at risk. These women were interviewed by using an open-ended interview guide. The transcribed interviews were analyzed by using grounded theory. Risk was defined by the provider's assessment of a mathematical probability of the occurrence of preterm labor according to the risk screening tool developed by Creasy. Risk was also defined by black women on the basis of their experience of problematic change, on the counsel of other black women, and on the assessment of the provider. All of the women perceived their pregnancy as a normal process. For some, that perception never changed; for others, it did change. The change was precipitated by the occurrence of an unexpected event, indicated in this study as a critical moment. The critical moment is a dynamic interplay among biophysical changes, patterns of social interaction, and intersubjective reflection. These findings emphasize the black woman's reliance on herself in problematic situations and the significant role of sharing between black women in perpetuating their culture's normative expectations concerning pregnancy.     

Neuromyelitis optica

Compared with white women, Asian women have about a 40%-50% and blacks a 50%-60% lower risk of hip fracture, but the reason for this racial difference is not known. Women with a shorter hip axis have a lower risk of hip fracture. To test the hypothesis that a shorter hip axis length could account for the lower risk of hip fracture among Asian and black women, we measured hip axis length in 135 Caucasian, 74 Asian and 50 black women. The mean hip axis lengths of Asian and black women were significantly shorter (1.2 and 0.7 standard deviations, respectively) than that of the whites (p < 0.0001). We estimate that, compared with white women, Asians would have a 47% lower risk (95% confidence interval: 32%-63%) and blacks would have a 32% (15%-45%) lower risk of hip fracture because of their shorter hip axis. We conclude that a shorter hip axis length might be a major factor accounting for Asian women's lower risk of hip fracture and might contribute to the lower risk in black women.     

The effects of health beliefs on weight loss in individuals at high risk for NIDDM

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether perceived risk and other health beliefs held by individuals at high risk for developing NIDDM predict weight loss and behavior change during a behavioral weight loss program to reduce the risk of NIDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Health beliefs and objective risk factors for diabetes were examined in 154 overweight men and women with a family history of NIDDM. The effects of these factors on adherence, dietary intake, weight loss, and changes in glucose levels were examined in a subset of 79 of these subjects who participated in a 2-year behavioral weight control program. RESULTS: Those subjects who perceived themselves at highest risk of developing diabetes had a stronger family history of the disease and were more likely to be women than subjects considering themselves at more moderate risk. These participants also rated diabetes as a more serious disease, but were less likely to believe that weight loss would lower their risk. None of these health beliefs were related to attendance at meetings, dietary intake, weight loss, or fasting glucose, but higher perceived seriousness predicted larger reductions in BMI at 1 year. Of the objective risk factors for NIDDM, higher baseline BMI predicted larger weight losses throughout the program, and a stronger family history of diabetes was related to greater weight regain after an initial weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived risk of developing diabetes and other health beliefs did not predict performance in a behavioral weight loss program. These data suggest that efforts to modify health beliefs by educating high-risk individuals about their risk and benefits of weight loss may not be effective in improving long-term weight loss results.