Women with co-occurring disorders (COD): treatment settings and service needs.

Over the past two decades, substance abuse and mental health treatment systems have continued to define and refine interventions for co-occurring disorders (COD) for women. However, there is still a need for improvement of treatment and referral services for women with co-occurring disorders. This article presents data from studies of four types of interventions across a continuum of substance abuse treatment settings for women with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues.

Is a sense of inequity an ancestral primate trait? Testing social inequity in cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).

To address a controversy in the literature concerning whether monkeys show an aversion to inequity, individuals of a New World monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) were tested in an offering task and in a bartering task. At issue was whether the monkeys rejected rewards because of a violation of expectancy of the preferred reward, or whether they rejected rewards because of a sensitivity to socially mediated inequity. The data from both tasks indicated that the subjects were more likely to reject when preferred rewards were presented, either because of another animal eating the reward (the social condition) or because of rewards being presented but inaccessible.

Adolescent date fighting victimization and perpetration from a multi-community sample: associations with substance use and other violent victimization and perpetration.

Unlabelled: Dating violence perpetration and victimization among adolescents in the U.S. is an important public health problem.

Variable angle of strabismus related to timing of opiate ingestion.

Heroin (diamorphine) is a highly addictive opiate with potential for misuse. A small number of reports have linked the commencement of heroin misuse to acute exotropia with diplopia and subsequent withdrawal to esotropia in individuals without previous symptoms.(1-5) We describe a young adult who sought strabismus surgery to correct a large-angle exotropia.

Postpartum pneumoperitoneum and peritonitis after water birth.

Pneumoperitoneum (the presence of free gas in the peritoneal cavity) usually indicates gastrointestinal perforation with associated peritoneal contamination. We describe the unusual case of a 28-year-old female, who was 7 days postpartum and presented with features of peritonitis that were initially missed despite supporting radiological evidence. The causes of pneumoperitoneum are discussed.

Intravenous intralipid-induced blood pressure elevation and endothelial dysfunction in obese African-Americans with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Increased free fatty acids (FFAs) are leading candidates in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and hypertension in obese subjects. We evaluated the effect of sustained elevations of FFA on blood pressure, endothelial function, insulin secretion, inflammatory markers, and renin-angiotensin system.

Research Design And Methods: Twenty-four obese, African-American, normotensive diabetic subjects received a sequential 48-h infusion of Intralipid (20%, 40 ml/h) plus heparin (250 units/h) or normal saline (40 ml/h) plus heparin (250 units/h).

Asenapine restores cognitive flexibility in rats with medial prefrontal cortex lesions.

Rationale: Cognitive inflexibility in schizophrenia is treatment-resistant and predictive of poor outcome. This study examined the effect of asenapine, a novel psychopharmacologic agent being developed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, on cognitive dysfunction in the rat.

Objectives: The objective of this paper was to establish whether asenapine has a beneficial effect on the performance of rats with ibotenic acid-induced lesion of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in an intradimensional/extradimensional (ID/ED) test of cognitive flexibility.

Novel molecular and cellular therapeutic targets in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoproliferative disease.

While the outcome for pediatric patients with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) or lymphoid malignancies, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), has improved dramatically, patients often suffer from therapeutic sequelae. Additionally, despite intensified treatment, the prognosis remains dismal for patients with refractory or relapsed disease. Thus, novel biologically targeted treatment approaches are needed.

mTOR inhibitors are synergistic with methotrexate: an effective combination to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

We have previously demonstrated that mTOR inhibitors (MTIs) are active in preclinical models of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). MTIs may increase degradation of cyclin D1, a protein involved in dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) synthesis. Because resistance to methotrexate may correlate with high DHFR expression, we hypothesized MTIs may increase sensitivity of ALL to methotrexate through decreasing DHFR by increasing turn-over of cyclin D1.

Urinary tract infection and inflammation at onset of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome.

Objectives: Interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) is a chronic disease primarily in women that is of low incidence and unknown etiology and manifests as bladder pain and urinary symptoms. Acute urinary tract infection (UTI) is of high incidence in women, presents as dysuria and urinary symptoms, and is caused by uropathogenic bacteria. We hypothesized that UTI is present at the onset of IC/PBS in some women.

Research in complex humanitarian emergencies: the Médecins Sans Frontières/Epicentre experience.

Vincent Brown and colleagues review Epicentre's 20 years of experience conducting research during complex humanitarian emergencies.

Treatment of severe malnutrition with 2-day intramuscular ceftriaxone vs 5-day amoxicillin.

Background: Systemic antibiotics are routinely prescribed for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). However, there is no consensus regarding the most suitable regimen. In a therapeutic feeding centre in Khartoum, Sudan, a randomised, unblinded, superiority-controlled trial was conducted, comparing once daily intramuscular injection with ceftriaxone for 2 days with oral amoxicillin twice daily for 5 days in children aged 6-59 months with SAM.

Multiple aggressive squamous skin cancers in association with nonbullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma.

Nonbullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma (NBCIE) is one of the autosomal recessive inherited non-syndromic ichthyoses and is currently diagnosed on clinical grounds alone. Skin cancer is not a recognized complication of NBCIE. We report here two NBCIE patients who have developed multiple aggressive nonmelanoma skin cancers, predominantly cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

The activation-selection model of meaning: explaining why the son comes out after the sun.

The activation-selection model (ASM) of determining the meaning of an ambiguous word is unique in that it is able to account for the long-term effects of meaning selection without an explicit mechanism for suppressing the representation of the nonselected meaning. The model assumes that a meaning is selected when a threshold number of attributes associated with that particular meaning are activated. When a meaning is selected, the ASM assumes that the weights of the attributes that are associated with the chosen meaning are increased.

Multitrophic effects of nutrient addition in upland grassland.

Although the effects of nutrient enhancement on aquatic systems are well documented, the consequences of nutritional supplements on soil food webs are poorly understood, and results of past research examining bottom-up effects are often conflicting. In addition, many studies have failed to separate the effects of nutrient enrichment and the physical effects of adding organic matter. In this field study, we hypothesised that the addition of nitrogen to soil would result in a trophic cascade, through detritivores (Collembola) to predators (spiders), increasing invertebrate numbers and diversity.

Can default rates in colposcopy really be reduced?

A prospective postal questionnaire study aimed to identify variables that predict a woman's intention to attend and her subsequent attendance/default at colposcopy clinics. One thousand two hundred and fifty-eight women attending colposcopy clinics of a university hospital were sent a postal questionnaire 3 weeks before their second appointment at colposcopy. An intention to attend the colposcopy clinic was the most significant predictor for colposcopy attendance during the next 15 months.

Implementing an evidence-based practice: Seeking Safety Group.

This article presents findings from a multisite study on adopting and implementing an evidence-based practice, Seeking Safety, for women with co-occurring disorders and experiences of physical and sexual abuse. It focuses on what implementation decisions different sites made to optimize the compatibility of Seeking Safety with the site's needs and experiences and on issues posed by Rogers (1995) as relevant to successful diffusion of an innovative practice. A total of 157 clients and 32 clinicians reported on satisfaction with various aspects of the model.

Comparison of hospitalwide surveillance and targeted intensive care unit surveillance of healthcare-associated infections.

Objectives: To assess the surveillance coverage obtained with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which is focused on intensive care units (ICUs) and emphasizes device-related infections (ie, those associated with central venous catheters, ventilators, and/or urinary catheters), compared with the surveillance coverage achieved by comprehensive hospitalwide surveillance. In addition, we assessed whether the infection rates in step-down units more resemble those in wards or ICUs.

Methods: Review of prospectively obtained, comprehensive hospitalwide surveillance data from 2004 through 2005 for an acute care tertiary care hospital with approximately 700 beds.

Outbreak of beriberi in a prison in Côte d'Ivoire.

Background: A beriberi outbreak occurred in the Maison d'Arrêt et de Correction d'Abidjan (MACA), a detention center in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, between October 2002 and April 2003.

Objective: A retrospective investigation was conducted to document the outbreak in April 2003.

Methods: A descriptive analysis and a case-control study were performed.

Contrasting success in the restoration of plant and phytophagous beetle assemblages of species-rich mesotrophic grasslands.

Over the last 60 years changes to the management of species-rich mesotrophic grasslands have resulted in the large-scale loss and degradation of this habitat across Europe. Restoration of such grasslands on agriculturally improved pastures provides a potentially valuable approach to the conservation of these threatened areas. Over a four-year period a replicated block design was used to test the effects of seed addition (green hay spreading and brush harvest collection) and soil disturbance on the restoration of phytophagous beetle and plant communities.

Thymic stromal-derived lymphopoietin induces proliferation of pre-B leukemia and antagonizes mTOR inhibitors, suggesting a role for interleukin-7Ralpha signaling.

Understanding the pathogenesis of leukemia in the context of lymphopoiesis may reveal novel therapeutic targets. Previously, we have shown that mTOR inhibitors (MTI) show activity in vitro and in preclinical models of both human and murine precursor B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL), inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. These MTI-mediated effects can be reversed by interleukin-7 (IL-7), an important regulator of early B-cell development.

Voiding urges perceived by patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome.

Aims: Interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) is a symptom-based diagnosis. We studied the IC/PBS symptom commonly referred to as "urgency" and its relationship to IC/PBS pain in a group of women with recent onset of the disease.

Methods: As part of a case control study to identify risk factors for IC, cases completed a questionnaire including two statements regarding the perceived cause of their urge to void.