Male hormonal contraception: hope and promise.

Family planning is a shared responsibility, but available male-directed contraceptive methods are either not easily reversible (vasectomy) or not sufficiently effective (condom). However, roughly 20% of couples using a contraceptive method worldwide, and up to 80% in some countries, still choose a male-directed method. Male hormonal contraception is highly effective, with perfect use failure rates of 0·6% (95% CI 0·3-1·1) if sperm concentrations of less than 1 million per mL are maintained.

The Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative: Rationale and Design.

Objective: To describe the design and rationale of the Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative (HCNI), a multi-component study to understand and document health risk and resources in a low-income and minority community.

Design: A community-partnered participatory research project.

Setting: A low-income, biethnic African American and Latino neighborhood in South Los Angeles.

Basic Science Evidence for the Link Between Erectile Dysfunction and Cardiometabolic Dysfunction.

Introduction: Although clinical evidence supports an association between cardiovascular/metabolic diseases (CVMD) and erectile dysfunction (ED), scientific evidence for this link is incompletely elucidated.

Aim: This study aims to provide scientific evidence for the link between CVMD and ED.

Methods: In this White Paper, the Basic Science Committee of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America assessed the current literature on basic scientific support for a mechanistic link between ED and CVMD, and deficiencies in this regard with a critical assessment of current preclinical models of disease.

Increased sexual desire with exogenous testosterone administration in men with obstructive sleep apnea: a randomized placebo-controlled study.

Testosterone (T) deficiency, sexual dysfunction, obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are common and often coexist. T prescriptions have increased worldwide during the last decade, including to those with undiagnosed or untreated OSA. The effect of T administration on sexual function, neurocognitive performance and quality of life in these men is poorly defined.

Phthalate exposure and semen quality in fertile US men.

Several experimental and observational studies have demonstrated the antiandrogenicity of several phthalates. However, there is limited evidence of an association between phthalate exposure in adult life and semen quality. The aim of this study was to examine phthalate exposure during adulthood in relation to semen quality in fertile US men.

WHITE MATTER INTEGRITY IN TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY: EFFECTS OF PERMISSIBLE FIBER TURNING ANGLE.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) methods have been shown to be especially sensitive to white matter abnormalities in TBI. We used our newly developed autoMATE algorithm (automated multi-atlas tract extraction) to map altered WM integrity in TBI.

Tensor-Based Morphometry Reveals Volumetric Deficits in Moderate=Severe Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause widespread and prolonged brain degeneration. TBI can affect cognitive function and brain integrity for many years after injury, often with lasting effects in children, whose brains are still immature. Although TBI varies in how it affects different individuals, image analysis methods such as tensor-based morphometry (TBM) can reveal common areas of brain atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), secondary effects of the initial injury, which will differ between subjects.

Callosal Function in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to Disrupted White Matter Integrity.

Unlabelled: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often results in traumatic axonal injury and white matter (WM) damage, particularly to the corpus callosum (CC). Damage to the CC can lead to impaired performance on neurocognitive tasks, but there is a high degree of heterogeneity in impairment following TBI. Here we examined the relation between CC microstructure and function in pediatric TBI.

Serum Testosterone (T) Level Variability in T Gel-Treated Older Hypogonadal Men: Treatment Monitoring Implications.

Context: The optimal frequency for on-treatment serum T measurement used for dose adjustment after transdermal T gel application is unknown, especially in older men with thinner skin and slower metabolic clearance.

Objectives: The objectives of the study was to determine the variability of postgel application serum T concentrations and assess whether single levels are reflective of average serum T concentrations over 24 hours (Cavg0-24).

Design: This was a double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial.

Strategies to Build Trust and Recruit African American and Latino Community Residents for Health Research: A Cohort Study.

Background: This study used Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) to address low participation of racial and ethnic minorities in medical research and the lack of trust between underrepresented communities and researchers.

Methods: Using a community and academic partnership in July 2012, residents of a South Los Angeles neighborhood were exposed to research recruitment strategies: referral by word-of-mouth, community agencies, direct marketing, and extant study participants.

Results: Among 258 community members exposed to recruitment strategies, 79.

Professionalism and Communication Education in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine: The Learner Perspective.

Objective: Communication and professionalism are often challenging to teach, and the impact of the use of a given approach is not known. We undertook this investigation to establish pediatric critical care medicine (PCCM) trainee perception of education in professionalism and communication and to compare their responses from those obtained from PCCM fellowship program directors.

Methods: The Education in Pediatric Intensive Care (E.

Humanin protects against chemotherapy-induced stage-specific male germ cell apoptosis in rats.

Humanin (HN) has cytoprotective action on male germ cells after testicular stress induced by heat and hormonal deprivation. To examine whether HN has protective effects on chemotherapy-induced male germ cell apoptosis, we treated four groups of adult rats with (i) vehicle (control), (ii) HN, (iii) cyclophosphamide (CP); or (iv) HN+CP. To investigate whether the protective effects of HN on germ cells require the presence of Leydig cells, another four groups of rats were pre-treated with ethane dimethanesulfonate (EDS), a Leydig cell toxicant, to eliminate Leydig cells.

White matter disruption in moderate/severe pediatric traumatic brain injury: advanced tract-based analyses.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children and can lead to a wide range of impairments. Brain imaging methods such as DTI (diffusion tensor imaging) are uniquely sensitive to the white matter (WM) damage that is common in TBI. However, higher-level analyses using tractography are complicated by the damage and decreased FA (fractional anisotropy) characteristic of TBI, which can result in premature tract endings.

HIV infection, cardiovascular disease risk factor profile, and risk for acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDRFs) increase the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among HIV-infected (HIV+) participants. We assessed the association between HIV and incident AMI within CVDRF strata.

Methods: Cohort-81,322 participants (33% HIV+) without prevalent CVD from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study Virtual Cohort (prospective study of HIV+ and matched HIV- veterans) participated in this study.

Limitations of semen analysis as a test of male fertility and anticipated needs from newer tests.

Semen analysis is the first step to identify male factor infertility. Standardized methods of semen analysis are available allowing accurate assessment of sperm quality and comparison among laboratories. Population-based reference ranges are available for standard semen and sperm parameters.

HIV infection and cardiovascular disease in women.

Background: HIV infection is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in men. Whether HIV is an independent risk factor for CVD in women has not yet been established.

Methods And Results: We analyzed data from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study on 2187 women (32% HIV infected [HIV(+)]) who were free of CVD at baseline.

Does obstructive sleep apnea cause endothelial dysfunction? A critical review of the literature.

Endothelial dysfunction is characterized by impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and is an independent predictor of adverse cardiovascular consequences. The ease with which endothelial function can be assessed has led to it becoming a useful marker of cardiovascular diseases in research studies. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been independently associated with endothelial dysfunction which may explain the increased risk for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in this population.

Development of learning objectives and a validated testing tool for management of pediatric mechanical ventilation*.

Objectives: Graduate medical education is shifting toward an outcome-based paradigm, where physicians are evaluated for competency using well-defined criteria. Our aim was to learning objectives and a testing tool to assess competency in the management of mechanical ventilation for infants, children, and adolescents and to verify that the test was reliable and valid.

Design: Prospective reliability and validity study.

Acceptability of a transdermal gel-based male hormonal contraceptive in a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Fifty percent of pregnancies in the United States are unintended despite numerous contraceptive methods available to women. The only male contraceptive methods, vasectomy and condoms, are used by 10% and 16% of couples, respectively. Prior studies have shown efficacy of male hormonal contraceptives in development, but few have evaluated patient acceptability and potential use if commercially available.

Continuous positive airway pressure increases pulsatile growth hormone secretion and circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 in a time-dependent manner in men with obstructive sleep apnea: a randomized sham-controlled study.

Study Objectives: To assess the time-dependent effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) and pulsatile growth hormone (GH) secretion.

Design: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel group study.

Participants: Sixty-five middle-aged men with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Specific inhibition of p97/VCP ATPase and kinetic analysis demonstrate interaction between D1 and D2 ATPase domains.

The p97 AAA (ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities), also called VCP (valosin-containing protein), is an important therapeutic target for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. p97 forms a hexamer composed of two AAA domains (D1 and D2) that form two stacked rings and an N-terminal domain that binds numerous cofactor proteins. The interplay between the three domains in p97 is complex, and a deeper biochemical understanding is needed in order to design selective p97 inhibitors as therapeutic agents.

To ED or not to ED--is erectile dysfunction in obstructive sleep apnea related to endothelial dysfunction?

Both obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and erectile dysfunction (ErectD) are highly prevalent and largely under diagnosed medical conditions. These disorders often co-exist, with about half of the male OSA population having ErectD and vice versa. OSA is strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality while ErectD has been proposed as a phenotypic marker of cardiovascular disease.