Amenorrhea, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes in women following spinal cord injury: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of amenorrhea and pregnancy as well as pregnancy outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI) in women.

Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, women with SCI were interviewed regarding demographic data, details about the timing and type of SCI they sustained, whether the neurologic deficit was complete or incomplete, and reproductive history. The study was initiated in September 2001 and lasted 3 years.

Effect of Brief Behavioral Intervention Program in Managing Stress in Medical Students from Two Southern California Universities.

The study aims to assess 1) the prevalence of stress among a group of third and fourth year medical students (MS) from two Southern California universities and 2) the effect of a brief behavioral intervention program (BBIP) on stress management among the students instructed on stress intervention techniques. The stress level was determined by using the General Well Being Scale (GWBS), a self-report questionnaire designed by the National Center for Health Statistics.1 The stress testing was done prior to the psycho-educational lecture on stress.

Laser damage to retinal ganglion cells: the effect on circadian rhythms.

Laser therapy (LRx) may affect the retinal ganglion cells (RGC), which play a role in circadian rhythms. This study assesses the effect of LRx on the circadian variation of cortisol (F), measured in 20 Type 2 diabetic patients (DM), 10 following LRx for diabetic proliferative retinopathy (DPR), and 10 control (CTR) without laser Rx or retinopathy. The diurnal F variation in the CTR followed a normal pattern.

Hypnosis, differential expression of cytokines by T-cell subsets, and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.

This investigation tested the hypothesis that hypnosis can differentially modulate T-cell subsets, and that this effect is mediated by changes in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) mediators. Seven healthy, highly hypnotizable volunteers participated in three one-day sessions, a baseline and two intervention sessions. Hypnosis intervention entailed a standardized induction, suggestions for ego strengthening and optimally balanced functioning of the immune and neuroendocrine systems, and post-hypnotic suggestions for stress management and continued optimal balance of bodily systems.