Publications by authors named "Megan Lawley"

We present a case of suspected hepatotoxicity secondary to an etonogestrel contraceptive implant in which the patient presented with vomiting, jaundice, pruritis, elevated transaminases, and hyperbilirubinemia. An extensive work-up, including liver biopsy, was unremarkable. The implant was removed and the patient's symptoms and transaminitis resolved, suggestive of drug-induced liver injury.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate how immediate postpartum use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) affects the timing of lactogenesis stage II (LS-II), which is when milk production starts to increase significantly in new mothers.
  • Initially, participants were randomly assigned to receive DMPA, a placebo, or no injection, but due to low enrollment, the design shifted to a nonrandomized approach that still aimed for comparable groups using matching and propensity scoring.
  • Results showed that the average time to LS-II was slightly shorter for the DMPA group (57.8 hours) compared to the control group (64.1 hours), but the findings indicated no significant negative impact
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Rates of the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) have risen in women by 13% and 40%, respectively, since 2015. Women with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) are at disproportionate risk for STIs. A retrospective chart review was performed at a safety-net healthcare system in the Southeastern United States (US) from 2014 to 2017.

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Objective: We sought to determine the prevalence of postpartum contraceptive use among women with postpartum depressive symptoms (PDS) and examine the association between PDS and contraceptive method.

Study Design: We evaluated data from 16,357 postpartum women participating in the 2009-2011 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. PDS was defined as an additive score of ≥10 for three questions on depression, hopelessness, and feeling physically slowed.

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Background: The startle reflex is potentiated by aversive states. It has been proposed that phasic startle potentiation to a threat cue and sustained startle potentiation to contextual stimuli reflect distinct processes mediated by different brain structures. The present study tested the hypothesis that alprazolam would reduce the sustained startle potentiation to contextual threats but not the startle potentiation to a threat cue.

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Trace eyeblink conditioning is a hippocampal-dependent associative learning task that could help evaluate hippocampal function in Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since preclinical research has demonstrated that trace eyeblink conditioning can be pharmacologically manipulated by glucocorticoids, this task may shed light on glucocorticoid sensitivity in PTSD. This study assessed baseline and hydrocortisone-mediated changes in trace eyeblink conditioning in patients with PTSD and in healthy controls.

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Rationale: Fear conditioning reliably increases the startle reflex and stress hormones, yet very little is known about the effect of stress hormones on fear-potentiated startle. Cortisol and the sulfate ester of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA-S) are involved in stress and anxiety. Evidence suggests that low cortisol/DHEA-S ratio has a buffering effect on stress and anxiety in preclinical and clinical studies, suggesting that there may be a relationship between fear-potentiated startle and cortisol and DHEA-S activity.

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