Diferencia de edad entre parejas sexuales como riesgo de infecciones de trasmisión sexual / Age difference in the choice of the sexual partner as a risk factor for sexually transmitted infections

Resumen Una diferencia de edad > 5 años en la elección de la pareja sexual puede constituir un factor de riesgo de infecciones de trasmisión sexual (ITS), incluida la infección por HIV. Se realizó una encuesta de salud sexual y reproductiva a personas que consultaron por ITS o serología para HIV en dos centros de salud del conurbano bonaerense, con el objetivo de brindar información para el diseño de medidas de prevención y conocer si en nuestra área existe asociación entre la máxima diferencia de edad (MDE) en la elección de la pareja sexual y la adquisición de HIV y/o ITS. Se incluyeron 120 consultantes. En 108 (90%) se investigó sero logía, resultando 15 (13.9%) positivos para HIV y 46 (42.6%) para sífilis. La MDE con la pareja fue ≤ 5 años en 65 (54.6%) y > 5 años en 54 (45.4%) de 119 que respondieron la encuesta. Los hombres que tenían sexo con hombres refirieron una MDE > 5 años con mayor frecuencia (p = 0.022, OR: 3.59). El riesgo de HIV aumentó 9% por cada año de diferencia de edad con la pareja sexual (OR: 1.093). El porcentaje de casos de uretritis fue significativamente menor en el grupo de edad ≥ 25 años. Ninguna de las personas con uretritis tenía infección HIV. En conclusión: en esta población los hombres que tenían sexo con hombres tendieron a elegir sus parejas sexuales con una MDE mayor, y una MDE mayor fue un factor de riesgo de infección HIV.

Abstract An age difference > 5 years in the choice of sexual partner may constitute a risk factor for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV infection. A sexual and reproductive health survey was carried out on people who consulted for STIs or HIV serology in two health centers in Buenos Aires suburbs, with the aim of providing information for the design of prevention measures and to know if in this area there is an association between the maximum age difference (MAD) in the choice of sexual partner and the acquisition of HIV and/or STIs. A total of 120 patients consulted, 90% (108) performed serology, resulting 15 of them (13.9%) infected with HIV and 46 (42.6%) with syphilis. The MAD with the partner was ≤ 5 years in 65 (54.6%) and > 5 years in 54 (45.4%) of 119 who answered the survey. Men who have sex with men reported a MAD > 5 years more frequently (p = 0.022 OR: 3.59). The risk for HIV increased 9% for each year of age difference with the sexual partner (OR: 1.093). The percentage of urethritis cases was significantly lower in the age group ≥ 25 years. None of the people with urethritis had HIV infection. In conclusion: Men who have sex with men tended to choose their sexual partners with a higher MAD, and a higher MAD was a risk factors for HIV infection.

Exploratory, cognitive, and depressive-like behaviors in adult and pediatric mice exposed to controlled cortical impact

OBJECTIVE: Sequelae of behavioral impairments associated with human traumatic brain injury (TBI) include neurobehavioral problems. We compared exploratory, cognitive, and depressive-like behaviors in pediatric and adult male mice exposed to controlled cortical impact (CCI).METHODS: Pediatric (21 to 25 days old) and adult (8 to 12 weeks old) male C57Bl/6 mice underwent CCI at a 2-mm depth of deflection. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed 3 to 7 days after recovery from CCI, and injury volume was analyzed using ImageJ. Neurobehavioral characterization after CCI was performed using the Barnes maze test (BMT), passive avoidance test, open-field test, light/dark test, tail suspension test, and rotarod test. Acutely and subacutely (3 and 7 days after CCI, respectively), CCI mice showed graded injury compared to sham mice for all analyzed deflection depths.RESULTS: Time-dependent differences in injury volume were noted between 3 and 7 days following 2-mm TBI in adult mice. In the BMT, 2-mm TBI adults showed spatial memory deficits compared to sham adults (P < 0.05). However, no difference in spatial learning and memory was found between sham and 2-mm CCI groups among pediatric mice. The open-field test, light/dark test, and tail suspension test did not reveal differences in anxiety-like behaviors in both age groups.CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed a graded injury response in both age groups. The BMT was an efficient cognitive test for assessing spatial/non-spatial learning following CCI in adult mice; however, spatial learning impairments in pediatric mice could not be assessed.

Effect of age on the pharmacokinetics of polymorphic nimodipine in rats after oral administration

The previous investigation has proved that their existed pharmacokinetic difference between the different crystal forms of the polymorphic drugs after oral administration. However, no systemic investigations have been made on the change of this pharmacokinetic difference, resulted either from the physiological or from the pathological factors. In this paper, we used polymorphic nimodipine (Nim) as a model drug and investigated the effect of age difference (2- and 9-month old) on the pharmacokinetics after oral delivery in rats. As the results shown, for L-form of Nim (L-Nim), the AUCin 2-month-old rats was 343.68±47.15 ng·h/mL, which is 23.36% higher than that in 9-month-old rats. For H-form of Nim (H-Nim), the AUCin 2-month-old rats was 140.91±19.47 ng·h/mL, which is 54.64% higher than that in 9-month-old rats. The AUCratio between H-Nim and L-Nim was 2.44 in 2-month-old rats and 3.06 in 9-month-old rats. Since age difference could result in unparallelled change of the absorption and bioavailability of the polymorphic drugs, the results in this experiment are of value for further investigation of crystal form selection in clinical trials and rational clinical application of the polymorphic drugs.

Analysis of the differences of gender and age in six suicide methods in 548 cases( / 中国法医学杂志

Objective This study aims to explore the characteristics of gender and age in six different suicide methods in urban area of China. Methods We collected 548 suicides from Shanghai, Jinhua, Wuhan, Loudi and Duyun, and then analyzed the age and gender characteristics in each suicide method. Results In the age characteristics, the mean age for jumping and hanging was oldest (about 55 years old), followed by drowning and hanging (about 49 years old), oral intake poisoning was much younger (about 49 years old), while carbon monoxide poisoning was youngest (about 37 years old). In the gender differences, male were more than females in suicides by sharp object (52:24), hanging (67:33) and jumping (55:45), while females were more than males in suicides by drowning (58:42). Conclusion The age and gender difference was eminent in different suicide methods. Carbon monoxide poisoning was the youngest age group in suicides and males involved more than females in suicides by mechanical methods.

Myocardial Rotation and Torsion in Child Growth

BACKGROUND: The speckle tracking echocardiography can benefit to assess the regional myocardial deformations. Although, previous reports suggested no significant change in left ventricular (LV) torsion with aging, there are certain differences in LV rotation at the base and apex. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the change and relationship of LV rotation for torsion with aging in children. METHODS: Forty healthy children were recruited and divided into two groups of twenty based on whether the children were preschool-age (2–6 years of age) or school-age (7–12 years of age). After obtaining conventional echocardiographic data, apical and basal short axis rotation were assessed with speckle tracking echocardiography. LV rotation in the basal and apical short axis planes was determined using six myocardial segments along the central axis. RESULTS: Apical and basal LV rotation did not show the statistical difference with increased age between preschool- and school-age children. Apical radial strain showed significant higher values in preschool-age children, especially at the anterior (52.8 ± 17.4% vs. 34.7 ± 23.2%, p < 0.02), lateral (55.8 ± 20.4% vs. 36.1 ± 22.7%, p < 0.02), and posterior segments (57.1 ± 17.6% vs. 38.5 ± 21.7%, p < 0.01). The torsion values did not demonstrate the statistical difference between two groups. CONCLUSION: This study revealed the tendency of higher rotation values in preschool-age children than in school-age children. The lesser values of rotation and torsion with increased age during childhood warrant further investigation.

Effect of age, body figure and risk information in making treatment decision for female patients with breast cancer / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To determine the effect of age,body figure and risk framing in making treatment decision for female patients with breast cancer.Methods Two groups of healthy female:one group of 60 female ages 18-24 from undergraduate student and the other group of 60 female ages 35-60 from the university community.Healthy women imagined that they had been diagnosed with breast cancer and received information regarding lumpectomy versus mastectomy and recurrence rates.Participants indicated whether they would choose lumpectomy or mastectomy and reasons.Results The different concern levels of body appearance between younger and older women influences treatment selection of lumpectomy versus mastectomy.Facing the risk information,older women were unlikely to select the breast conserving operation.Conclusions The factors of age and the attention to body figure would effect the choice of breast conserving operation or mastectomy.Risk information on the selection of treatment would not affected directly,but the effects of risk information on younger and older female is different.Nurses should provide the age-appropriate information who recently have been diagnosed with breast cancer regarding treatment alternatives to ensure their active participation in the decision-making process,female who have different levels of investment in body figure also may have different concerns about treatment,and should be alert on empathetic of such concerns.

Age-Differences in Depressive Symptoms and Screening in Late Life

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder, but accurate recognition of depression is somewhat difficult because of different symptom presentation by age. The consequence of not recognizing to depression is that clinically significant and potentially treatable depression might be overlooked, misdiagnosed, and mistreated in depressive patients. The overlap of somatic symptoms of depression and physical illness and minimal expression of sadness is common in old age. Because of that reasons, alternative approach to identifying depression should be provided by proper screening instruments.

Association between Psychosocial Work Environments and Problem Drinking: Age Differences in Korean Male Workers / 산업간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study firstly examined the pattern and prevalence of drinking. Secondly, we investigated the association between various psychosocial work environment and problem drinking among Korean male workers in different age groups. METHODS: The study sample was a weighted population of 3,289 (3,289 survey samples) men aged 20 to 64 years who responded to the 2006 Korean Working Condition Survey. Social support from colleague and supervisor, work autonomy, psychological wellbeing at work, and intellectual and emotional work demand were assessed. RESULTS: After considering sociodemographic factors, smoking, occupational characteristics and other psychosocial work environment factors, problem drinking was associated with "intellectual work demand" for the 20~34 year old group. Social support from colleague and supervisor was significantly associated with problem drinking in the 35~49 year old group. For the 50~64 year old group, problem drinking was associated with 'work autonomy'. CONCLUSION: The present study clarified that certain psychosocial work environmental factors relate to problem drinking, and the association varies among different age groups.

Preliminary Study of Children's Sleep Problems in an Elementary School in Daegu

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sleep problems in Korean elementary school children and the differences in sleep problems related to their school grade and gender. METHODS: One public elementary school in Dae-gu, Korea was randomly selected. And, parents who agreed to participate this study were asked to complete a modified version of Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea screening questionnaire (TuCASA). RESULTS: The most common sleep problem was 'falling asleep in a vehicle (44.2%)' and the prevalence rate of this problem differed by school grade. The prevalence rate of falling asleep while watching TV before 8 P.M. (8.0%), daytime fatigue (21.9%) and nocturnal enuresis during the past 6 months (5.3%) were significantly differed by school grade. The prevalence rate of falling asleep while doing home work, falling asleep during a lesson, snoring and bruxism were 12.6%, 1.0%, 26.7% and 13.2% respectively. Although these rates did not show any differences between grades, snoring was more in boys and daytime fatigue was more in girls.. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that many elementary school children may have various sleep problems. Lower grade elementary schoolers had sleep problems which related to neuro-developmental factors, whereas higher grade elementary schoolers had sleep problems related to sleep deprivation and stress. Finally, more female schooler showed signs of fatigue or sleepiness than male schoolers.

Influence of Multi-factors on Fatigue Evaluation of Typical upper Extremity Operation / 航天医学与医学工程

Objective To study the influences of 8 important factors on fatigue evaluation as performing typical upper extremity operation. Methods Thirty-two subjects were divided into young male (G1),mid-age male (G2) and female (G3) groups. They were required to perform right arm flex/extend operation under different situations for 16 runs. L16 (44?23) orthogonal array was used to combine different situations (factors). Brief fatigue inventry(BFI) were recorded and simultaneous manual works (energy) were calculated. Both of them were used to evaluate the operation strategies. Results Difference between G1 and G2 was not significant,whereas it was as large as 39%,between G1+G2 and G3 (P

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PHYSICAL FITNESS ELEMENTS OF HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS : GENDER AND AGE DIFFERENCES / 体力科学

The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between physical fitness elements in healthy older adults, considering the differences between gender and between age. Subjects were 1042 active and non-injured people aged from 60 years to under 90 years. The subjects were classified into two different age groups of under 75 years group and 75 years and over group. A total of 11 variables representing four physical fitness elements (muscular, joint, neural, and respiratory functions) were selected through examination of safety and validity. Two-way ANOVA was used to examine gender and age differences in each physical fitness element. Pearson's correlation coefficient and partial correlation coefficient excluding age factor were calculated for each gender and age group.<BR>As a result of examining the relationship among physical fitness elements, the correlation coefficients within variables consisting of the following each function, muscular function, joint function and agility of extremities, were significant in both age groups, and these tendencies were consistent in both gender groups. Similarly, significant correlation coefficients between standing-reach and muscular function variables, and between trunk twist and foot balance with eyes open and reaction time were found in the under 75 years group, but not in the over 75 years group. On the other hand, different tendencies between genders were found in the relationship between the muscular function variables and trunk twist and foot balance with eyes open, and between the reaction time and stepping and muscular function variables. As the relationships among physical fitness elements tended to decline in the over 75 years group, it is inferred that this tendency is influenced by the change with aging of physical fitness characteristics and environmental factors around the older adults.

Normal variation of subjective visual vertical and horizontal in human / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Otolithic system which senses the head position and linear movement according to gravity acceleration force, plays an important role in maintaining the position of eyeball by otolith-ocular reflex. Measurement of subjective visual vertical and horizontal in darkness with the head upright is one of the static function test of the otolithic system and is simple to perform in man. Several papers reported that perceptual visual vertical and horizontal stays within small range in normal person but numbers of test subjects were limited. Furthermore the effect of age and sex are unknown. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred forty normal subjects(male:70, female:70 ; age 5-70) were selected on the basis of medical history and neurologic examination. The subject was seated upright 100 cm from LED bar(1 mm width , 80 cm length)in the dark. The supporting frame of LED bar was motor driven with minimum rotating angle of 0.01 degree in both directions. After several practice, each subject set the LED bar from random position to subjective vertical or horizontal twice in one session with a motor control switch. Five sessions were repeated with a minimum interval of 5 minutes. RESULTS: The calibrated mean values were 1.06+/-0.45 degree in vertical and 1.00+/-0.52 degree in horizontal and did not demonstrate any difference in plane and direction of adjustment. Age under 10 and over 60 had a significant higher mean value compared with the mean of all subjects but the difference between over 10 and below 60 was not noted. Female had higher mean values than male. Five repeated tests showed high reproducibility. The direction of adjustment did not show any significant difference. CONCLUSION: These results would be a useful clinical data for evaluating the static otolith-ocular reflex.

Effects of DMTU on the Expression of Apoptosis in the Liver of Rats after Ischemia and Reperfusion

PURPOSE: Prolonged hepatic ischemia followed by reperfusion in surgery or transplantation results in severe cell death. Apoptosis is one type of cell death and occurs under various conditions. Apoptosis differs from necrosis not only morphologically but also in the mediators and mechanism of injury. It has been recently recognized that oxygen-free radicals are major mediators of apoptosis during ischemia/reperfusion. It was reported that pretreatment with a radical scavenger, such as catalase or superoxide dismutase (SOD) attenuated the apoptotic cell death and that old animals showed a higher catalase, SOD, glutatione peroxidase activity in their livers than young rats. This study was designed to characterize the types of cells within the liver and the extent to which those cells undergo apoptosis during ischemia/reperfusion in rats of different ages and to investigate the effect of dimethylthiourea (DMTU), a scanvenger of reactive hydroxyl radicals, on the induction of apoptosis in old rats. METHODS: Young male Sprague-Dawley rats at 5 weeks of age weighing about 200 gm and old rats at 15 weeks of age weighing about 450 gm were subjected to 30-minute ischemia. Liver ischemia was performed by inflow occlusion. Another group of old rats was injected with DMTU before the clamping. The rats were sacrificed immediately and at 1, 3, and 24 hour(s) after reperfusion. The specimens were prepared using in-situ staining for apoptotic cell and bodies by using terminal deoxytransferase-mediated dUTP- biotin nick-end labelling (TUNEL) methods. RESULTS: The number of apoptotic sinusoidal endothelial cells was larger than the number of hepatocytes during ischemia/reperfusion. The apoptosis of hepatocytes significantly increased at 1 hour and at 3 hours in the young group. Although the number of cells in the old group was lower than that in young rats, an increase of TUNEL positive hepatocytes cells was noted at 1 hour. There was significant increase in the DMTU-pretreated old rats until 24 hours afterreperfusion. The number of apoptotic sinusoidal endothelial cells was noticeably higher in DMTU- pretreated old rats than you only defined two groups previously: old and young in the other group. In young rats, but not old rats, an increase of positive sinusoidal endothelial cells was observed at 1 hours after reperfusion. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that old rats have more resistance to ischemia/reperfusion injury than young rats and that DMTU dose not attenuate apoptosis of sinusoidal endothelial cells after ischemia/reperfusion, but dose attenuate apoptosis of hepatocytes in the liver.

Changes in serum mineral levels in athletes before and after a triathlon competition. Comparison between young and middle-aged groups / 体力科学

Using atomic absorption spectrophotometry, we measured serum mineral (Fe, Cu, Z n, Mg, Ca, K, Na) concentrations in blood of male athletes participating in a triathlon competition held at Nakajima, Ehime in 1989. The athletes were divided into a young group (n=9, 24.2±3.6 yr) and a middle-aged group (n=9, 49.3±4.4 yr) . Blood samples were taken on the day before the competition, at the finish, on the following day and for eight days after.<BR>Immediately after the race, the concentrations of iron, calcium and potassium were increased significantly in sera taken from both groups, and those of copper and zinc were found to be increased only in the young group. In the middle-aged group, serum magnesium and sodium concentrations were decreased significantly. On the day after the race, most of the serum mineral concentrations had returned to values similar to those measured before the race, although the serum sodium concentration in the middle-aged group was still below the previous value, and this low level persisted for eight days after the race in both groups.<BR>Noticeable differences between the young and middle-aged groups were that recovery of increased iron concentration in serum tended to be prolonged in the middle-aged group, and the concentrations of serum copper and zinc were higher than those in the young group throughout the measurement period, with only small changes evident before and after the race. By contrast, serum potassium concentration in the middle-aged group was lower than in the young group throughout the measurement period.

Outcome form Diffuse Brain Injury Related to Patient's Age

The present study compares the outcome of adult and pediatric patients with severe diffuse brain injury, and analyzes factors affecting the prognosis related to age difference. Of 912 patients admitted with head injury during the past three years, 223(1.7%) patients were identified as severe diffuse brain injury. Among the 223 patients. 100 patients were 15 years of age or less as the pediatric group. The mortality rate for pediatric and adult group was 39.0% and 48.8%, respectively. The common factors affecting poor prognosis for both groups were Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS) of 5 or less, papillary abnormality, hypoxia(PaO2<60 mmHg), the presence of skull fracture(basilar skull fracture in children, and basilar or vault skull fracture in adult group), diffuse brain swelling, subarachnoid hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage, and thin subdural hematoma. The factors affecting prognostic difference between the adult and pediatric group with diffuse brain injury were the presence of vault skull fracture(p<0.01) and diffuse brain swelling(p<0.05). In patients associated with vault skull fracture or diffuse brain swelling, adult group had a significantly poorer outcome than child group.