Feminist approaches to promoting researcher well-being through collective and organizational care.

Researchers working in the field of violence against women and children are often tasked with listening to highly distressing personal accounts of violence and subsequent trauma. Without proper attention and mitigation strategies, this exposure can lead to vicarious trauma and related symptoms with significant impact on researchers' well-being. As women are often leading and carrying out violence research, they also experience a disproportionate burden of risk of vicarious trauma symptoms.

Interventions that prevent or respond to intimate partner violence against women and violence against children: a systematic review.

Efforts to prevent or respond to intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC) are still disparate worldwide, despite increasing evidence of intersections across these forms of violence. We conducted a systematic review to explore interventions that prevent or respond to IPV and VAC by parents or caregivers, aiming to identify common intervention components and mechanisms that lead to a reduction in IPV and VAC. 30 unique interventions from 16 countries were identified, with 20 targeting both IPV and VAC.

RCT evaluation of Skhokho: A holistic school intervention to prevent gender-based violence among South African Grade 8s.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02349321.

Impact of endoscopy system, high definition, and virtual chromoendoscopy in daily routine colonoscopy: a randomized trial.

Background: To improve detection of mucosal lesions during colonoscopy a number of imaging modalities have been suggested, including high definition and virtual chromoendoscopy. Given the theoretical advantage of these new imaging techniques, we aimed to investigate their use for the detection of polyps in patients referred for colonoscopy in a large tertiary hospital.

Methods: Demographic, endoscopic, and histological data from 1855 consecutive patients undergoing colonoscopy were collected prospectively.

Examining the impact of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction intervention on the health of urban South Africans.

Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been found to have significant health benefits in studies conducted in the global North.

Aim: This study examined the effects of MBSR on stress, mood states and medical symptoms among urban South Africans to inform future research and clinical directions of MBSR in local settings.

Setting: Participants completed an 8-week MBSR programme based in central Cape Town.

A rapid appraisal of the status of mental health support in post-rape care services in the Western Cape.

Background: Despite the well-known impact of rape on mental health and the widespread problem of rape in South Africa, mental health services for rape victims are scant and not a priority for acute-phase services. Survivors encounter multiple mental health struggles in this period including adherence to the post-exposure prophylaxis drugs to prevent HIV and finding support from important others. We have little information on what mental health is provided, by whom and how it is integrated into the post-rape package of care.

Pan-Colonic Pressurizations Associated With Relaxation of the Anal Sphincter in Health and Disease: A New Colonic Motor Pattern Identified Using High-Resolution Manometry.

Objectives: Only a few studies have applied high-resolution manometry (HRM) to the study of colonic motility in adults and none of them have concurrently evaluated colonic and anal motor activity. The aim of the study was to evaluate colonic and anal motor activity by means of HRM in healthy subjects. As the present study revealed the presence of a new colonic motor pattern (pan-colonic pressurizations) in healthy subjects, three additional studies were conducted: the first and the second to exclude that this motor event results from an artifact due to abdominal wall contraction and to confirm its modulation by cholinergic stimulation, and the third, as pilot study, to test the hypothesis that this colonic pattern is defective in patients with chronic constipation refractory to current pharmacological treatments.

Prevalence and risk factors for intimate partner violence among Grade 8 learners in urban South Africa: baseline analysis from the Skhokho Supporting Success cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem among adolescents. This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with Grade 8 girls' experience and boys' perpetration of IPV in South Africa.

Methods: Participants were interviewed using interviewer-administered questionnaires about IPV, childhood violence, bullying, gender attitudes, alcohol use and risky sexual behaviours.

The role of mental health in primary prevention of sexual and gender-based violence.

In this short communication, we assert that mental health has a crucial role in the primary prevention of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). However, we found that most research and practice to date has focused on the role of mental health post-violence, and SGBV primary prevention is relying on public health models that do not explicitly include mental health. Yet, key concepts, processes, and competencies in the mental health field appear essential to successful SGBV primary prevention.

Declaration on mental health in Africa: moving to implementation.

Urgent action is needed to address mental health issues globally. In Africa, where mental health disorders account for a huge burden of disease and disability, and where in general less than 1% of the already small health budgets are spent on these disorders, the need for action is acute and urgent. Members of the World Health Organization, including African countries, have adopted a Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan.

Illegal yet developmentally normative: a descriptive analysis of young, urban adolescents' dating and sexual behaviour in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: In South Africa, it is illegal for adolescents under age 16 years to engage in any sexual behaviour whether kissing, petting, or penetrative sex, regardless of consent. This cross-sectional study investigated the extent to which young adolescents engage in various sexual behaviours and the associations between dating status and sexual behaviours.

Method: Grade 8 adolescents (N = 474, ages 12-15 years, mean = 14.

What do young people think makes their relationships good? Factors associated with assessments of dating relationships in South Africa.

Little is known about the factors and outcomes associated with young people's subjective relationship assessments. Understanding what young people think makes their relationships 'good' or 'bad' would give us insight into what is important to them in their relationships as well as their decision-making and behaviour within them. Self-report data from 757 girls (mean age = 17.

Intimate partner violence among adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa.

This study aimed to describe potentially preventable factors in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization among South African 8th grade students. Data were collected during a pilot evaluation of a classroom 8th grade curriculum on gender-based violence prevention in nine public schools in Cape Town through self-completed interviews with 549 8th grade students, 238 boys and 311 girls. Structural equation models (SEM) predicting IPV were constructed with variables a priori hypothesized to be associated.

Influence of nitric oxide synthase inhibition on the motility and sensitivity of distal colon in man.

Background: Alterations of nitrergic innervation have been implicated in the pathophysiology of motor-sensory abnormalities of post infectious functional dyspepsia and could be involved in the pathophysiology of post infectious irritable bowel syndrome. The role of nitrergic neurons in the control of distal colonic sensorimotor function in man is not known. The aim of this study is to evaluate the motility and sensitivity of distal colon in healthy subjects before and after a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NMMA).

Measuring family management of transplant tasks: the transplant responsibility questionnaire.

Little is known about how parents and youth perceive their roles in post-transplant management and how this relates to post-transplant adherence. The goals of this study are to (1) describe a new measure, the TRQ, (2) to describe parent and child performance on the TRQ, and to (3) determine the relationship between the TRQ and adherence. We hypothesized that older youth would describe higher post-transplant self-care behaviors, parents would underestimate youth self-care, and greater parent involvement would be associated with better adherence.

'I think it's about experiencing, like, life': a qualitative exploration of contemporary adolescent intimate relationships in South Africa.

Intimate or dating relationships play an important role in young people's psychosocial development and well-being. Yet, we know relatively little about how teenagers conceptualise and experience them. Research knowledge about young people's intimate relationships is largely gleaned from studies whose primary focus has been on adolescent sexuality and violence.

Colonoscopy-assisted reposition of the incarcerated uterus in mid-pregnancy: a report of four cases and a literature review.

The treatment of mid-gestational uterine incarceration remains a challenge. The success rate of manual reduction decreases with gestational age, and an operative procedure may carry important fetal, next to possible maternal morbidities. We will present four cases of uterine incarceration between the 15th and 25th week of pregnancy of which three colonoscopy-assisted manual repositions proved successful.

Colitis cystica profunda.

A 39-year-old woman with inflammatory bowel disease was admitted to the hospital because of cramping abdominal pain and diarrhea. Ultrasound of the abdomen revealed thickening of the wall of the descending colon. At endoscopy mucosa-covered nodules with substenosis were seen.

A controlled crossover study of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram in irritable bowel syndrome.

Introduction: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently used in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) although evidence of their efficacy is scarce.

Aim: Twenty three non-depressed IBS patients were recruited from a tertiary care centre and included in a crossover trial comparing six weeks of treatment with the SSRI citalopram (20 mg for three weeks, 40 mg for three weeks) with placebo. IBS symptom severity was the primary outcome measure, and depression and anxiety scores were also measured.

The role of tension receptors in colonic mechanosensitivity in humans.

Background: Perception of colonic distension, which is enhanced in a subset of patients with irritable bowel syndrome, requires activation of mechanoreceptors. In animal studies, distension activates both in series ("tension") and in parallel ("elongation") mechanoreceptors. During active contractions against a fixed volume balloon, tension receptors are activated without elongation of receptor activation.

Development and validation of a new, simplified endoscopic activity score for Crohn's disease: the SES-CD.

Background: Healing of mucosal lesions appears to offer significant benefit and is an important end point in clinical trials of treatment for Crohn's disease. The only validated endoscopic activity score at present is the Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity, which is complicated and time consuming and, hence, is unsuitable for routine use. The aim of this study was to develop and to prospectively validate a simpler endoscopic score of disease activity, the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease.

Patient acceptance for CT colonography: what is the real issue?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the discomfort associated with CT colonography compared with colonoscopy and bowel purgation cleansing, and to evaluate patient preference between CT colonography and colonoscopy. In a total of 124 patients, scheduled for multidetector virtual CT colonography and diagnostic colonoscopy, patient acceptance and future preference were assessed during the different steps of the procedure (colon preparation, CT examination, and conventional colonoscopy). Patients who described contradictory findings between the degree of discomfort and their preference regarding follow-up examinations were retrospectively reinterviewed regarding the reason for this discrepancy.

A randomized trial comparing injection therapy with hemoclip and with injection combined with hemoclip for bleeding ulcers.

Background: A randomized comparative study was conducted of injection therapy with epinephrine-polidocanol (1%) versus hemoclip application, versus injection combined with hemoclip for bleeding peptic ulcers.

Methods: One hundred five patients were randomized and 101 could be evaluated (46 had active spurting or oozing of blood; 55 a visible vessel). Patients were randomized to 1 of the 3 treatment modalities during endoscopy performed within 12 hours of admission.