Intimate partner violence during pregnancy - Prevalence and associations with women's health: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women occurs in all settings. Exposure to intimate partner violence, especially during pregnancy, is associated with serious adverse health outcomes and is recognized as a global health issue. AIM: To describe the prevalence of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Sweden during current pregnancy, and to investigate potential associations between exposure and sociodemographic characteristics and health. METHODS: Between October and December 2020, a cross-sectional survey study was conducted at 35 midwifery clinics in Stockholm, Sweden. RESULTS: The questionnaire was answered by 3399 pregnant women. The results showed that 2.1% of the women reported exposure to intimate partner violence during pregnancy, with exposure to psychological violence being most common (1.8%), followed by exposure to physical violence (0.6%) and sexual violence (0.1%). Exposure to intimate partner violence was significantly associated with living situation and depressive symptoms, as well as education, country of birth, and employment status. CONCLUSION: Exposure to intimate partner violence occurs even during pregnancy and it is crucial to identify pregnant women exposed to intimate partner violence in order to inform clinical practice and to provide adequate support. More research is needed to develop screening instruments to detect violence against pregnant women.

Detection of ABCB5 tumour antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in melanoma patients and implications for immunotherapy.

ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 5 (ABCB5) has been identified as a tumour-initiating cell marker and is expressed in various malignancies, including melanoma. Moreover, treatment with anti-ABCB5 monoclonal antibodies has been shown to inhibit tumour growth in xenotransplantation models. Therefore, ABCB5 represents a potential target for cancer immunotherapy. However, cellular immune responses against ABCB5 in humans have not been described so far. Here, we investigated whether ABCB5-reactive T cells are present in human melanoma patients and tested the applicability of ABCB5-derived peptides for experimental induction of human T cell responses. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) isolated from blood samples of melanoma patients (n = 40) were stimulated with ABCB5 peptides, followed by intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) for interferon (IFN)-γ and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α. To evaluate immunogenicity of ABCB5 peptides in naive healthy donors, CD8 T cells were co-cultured with ABCB5 antigen-loaded autologous dendritic cells (DC). ABCB5 reactivity in expanded T cells was assessed similarly by ICS. ABCB5-reactive CD8+ T cells were detected ex vivo in 19 of 29 patients, melanoma antigen recognised by T cells (MART-1)-reactive CD8+ T cells in six of 21 patients. In this small, heterogeneous cohort, reactivity against ABCB5 was significantly higher than against MART-1. It occurred significantly more often and independently of clinical characteristics. Reactivity against ABCB5 could be induced in 14 of 16 healthy donors in vitro by repeated stimulation with peptide-loaded autologous DC. As ABCB5-reactive CD8 T cells can be found in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients and an ABCB5-specific response can be induced in vitro in naive donors, ABCB5 could be a new target for immunotherapies in melanoma.

[Yellow laccase from the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus D1: purification and characterization].

Yellow laccase was isolated from a solid-phase culture of the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus D1 and characterized. It is a copper-containing enzyme with molecular weight 64 kDa. Its absorption spectrum lacks the maximum at 610 nm, characteristic of fungal laccases and corresponding to type I copper atom. The optimum pH values for the enzyme were determined. They proved to be: 7.0 for syringaldazine, 8.0 for pyrocatechol, and 4.0 for 2,2'-azine-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate and 2,6-dimethoxyphenol. Kinetic parameters (Km and Vmax) for oxidation of these substrates were determined. The effect of inhibitors (SDS, 2-mercaptoethanol, and EDTA) on the activity of the enzyme was studied. It was shown that yellow laccase from Pleurotus ostreatus D1 oxidized anthracene to anthraquinone by 95% without any mediator.

The meaning of guilt: a phenomenological description of employed mothers' experiences of guilt.

This article discusses the structure and content of the phenomenon of guilt based on the experience of 13 working mothers. Using a phenomenological approach, the researcher has analyzed the women's descriptions of guilt situations and presents the constituent component of the guilt phenomenon. The most salient feature of these women's descriptions of guilt is their strong, repetitive, everyday character. The phenomenon of guilt contains a general feeling of responsibility especially towards the children. Feelings of guilt arise when the women interprets a situation in terms of failure in responsibility. The sense of failure in responsibility arise in situations when she lacks real control over the demands made on her from different spheres of life or in situations where she exhibits an assertive behavior where she puts the responsibility for herself and her own needs foremost. The phenomenon of guilt contains certain elements of shame, aggression and vagueness in communication.