Understanding the Needs and Experiences With Health Services of Gay and Bisexual Men (GBM) Who Engaged in Chemsex During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Quebec, Canada.

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) engaging in chemsex can face various health and well-being-related challenges, the extent of which remains unknown given the limited research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the pandemic impacts on the health needs of GBM who engaged in chemsex and their experiences with related services. We applied interpretive description to produce knowledge with direct implications for improving practices and policies.

Shared Protentions in Multi-Agent Active Inference.

In this paper, we unite concepts from Husserlian phenomenology, the active inference framework in theoretical biology, and category theory in mathematics to develop a comprehensive framework for understanding social action premised on shared goals. We begin with an overview of Husserlian phenomenology, focusing on aspects of inner time-consciousness, namely, retention, primal impression, and protention. We then review active inference as a formal approach to modeling agent behavior based on variational (approximate Bayesian) inference.

Variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) moderates the influence of maternal sensitivity on child attachment.

The endogenous opioid system is thought to play an important role in mother-infant attachment. In infant rhesus macaques, variation in the μ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) is related to differences in attachment behavior that emerges following repeated separation from the mother; specifically, infants carrying at least one copy of the minor G allele of the OPRM1 C77G polymorphism show heightened and more persistent separation distress, as well as a pattern of increased contact-seeking behavior directed towards the mother during reunions (at the expense of affiliation with other group members). Research in adult humans has also linked the minor G allele of the analogous OPRM1 A118G polymorphism with greater interpersonal sensitivity.

[Evaluation of the “Build your bike!” pilot project by and for disadvantaged youth: A school-based intervention to promote active mobility].

The densification of urban centers has driven individuals with low income toward more affordable suburban neighborhoods, thereby constraining transportation options due to car-centric planning and the difficulty for public transit systems to meet mobility needs. Recognizing that active cycling promotes travel autonomy, social participation, and physical and mental well-being, the promotion of such behavior through localized interventions stands as a critical objective to foster transport equity. In this context, in collaboration with the organization “Cyclo Nord-Sud,” this study aims to explore the outcomes and favorable components of the “Build Your Bike!” pilot project offered as an extracurricular activity to high school students in a disadvantaged neighborhood.

Evidence of Filamin A loss of solubility at the prodromal stage of neuropathologically-defined Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial disorder diagnosed through the assessment of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein depositions. Filamin A (FLNA) could be a key partner of both Aβ and tau pathological processes and may be an important contributor to AD progression. The main aim of this study was to describe the differences in FLNA levels across clinicopathologic groups.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Filamin A on Tau Pathology in Neuronal Cells.

In Alzheimer disease (AD), Tau, an axonal microtubule-associated protein, becomes hyperphosphorylated, detaches from microtubules, accumulates, and self-aggregates in the somatodendritic (SD) compartment. The accumulation of hyperphosphorylated and aggregated Tau is also seen in other neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-Tau). Previous studies reported a link between filamin A (FLNA), an actin-binding protein found in the SD compartment, and Tau pathology.

Early Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Household Finances in Quebec.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic surged in early March 2020, with unemployment reaching historic levels in April 2020. This study paints an early portrait of the pandemic's impact on the finances of households in Quebec, one of the hardest-hit provinces in terms of COVID-19 cases as well as unemployment levels. The article also provides an understanding of how government emergency benefit programs may have helped households get by during the early period of the pandemic.

Policy processes : interactions in transnational governance of global health.

National policy on global health (NPGH) arenas are multisectoral governing arrangements for cooperation between health, development, and foreign affairs sectors in government policy for global health governance. To explore the relationship between national and global processes for governing global health, this paper asks: in what forms of interaction between NPGH arenas and global health governance are learning and networking processes present? In a multiple case study of Norwegian and Swiss NPGH arenas, we collected data on intersectoral policy processes from semi-structured interviews with 33 informants in 2014-2015. Adapting Real-Dato's framework, we analyzed each case separately, producing monographs for comparing NPGH arenas.

Forced international migration for refugee food: a scoping review.

Recent crisis and conflicts in African countries, the Middle East and the Americas have led to forced population migration and rekindled concern about food security. This article aims to map in the scientific literature the implications of forced migration on food and nutrition of refugees. Scoping Review, and database search: databases: PubMed Central, LILACS, SciElo, Science Direct and MEDLINE.

Collective identity, social adversity and college student sympathy for violent radicalization.

Identity issues have been at the forefront in studies on determinants of youth violent radicalization. Identity uncertainty and identity fusion appear to be associated with quests for meaning, which may find some answers in extremist discourses and radical engagements. This process has been considered to be particularly important for second-generation migrants who have to negotiate multiple identities, sometimes in situations of social adversity.

Are national policies on global health in fact national policies on global health governance? A comparison of policy designs from Norway and Switzerland.

Background: Since the signing of the Oslo Ministerial Declaration in 2007, the idea that foreign policy formulation should include health considerations has gained traction on the United Nations agenda as evidenced by annual General Assembly resolutions on global health and foreign policy. The adoption of national policies on global health (NPGH) is one way that some member states integrate health and foreign policymaking. This paper explores what these policies intend to do and how countries plan to do it.

Adapting public policy theory for public health research: A framework to understand the development of national policies on global health.

National policies on global health appear as one way that actors from health, development and foreign affairs sectors in a country coordinate state action on global health. Next to a burgeoning literature in which international relations and global governance theories are employed to understand global health policy and global health diplomacy at the international level, little is known about policy processes for global health at the national scale. We propose a framework of the policy process to understand how such policies are developed, and we identify challenges for public health researchers integrating conceptual tools from political science.

Selectivity in social and asocial learning: investigating the prevalence, effect and development of young children's learning preferences.

Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is essential to understand how individuals choose between social and asocial learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 3- and 5-year-olds (176), and adults (52) were presented individually with two novel artificial fruits, and told of the apparatus' relative difficulty (easy versus hard). Participants were asked if they wanted to attempt the task themselves or watch an experimenter attempt it first; and then had their preference either met or violated.

[Sexual citizenship education for people with mental health problems].

This article addresses the sexuality of people with mental health problems. More specifically, the authors examine the issue of the sexual life of people with mental health problems in a perspective of sexual citizenship defined as a status that recognizes the sexual identity of individuals and their right to a sexual life of quality. They present an educational experience that allowed participants not only to gain confidence but also to create a social link that encourages them to become actors of their own sexuality and to exercise their rights as sexual citizens.

[Psychiatric medication as restraint: between autonomy and protection, is there place for a legal framework?].

The use of chemical restraint has been regulated for the past ten years in Quebec. However, clinical, ethical and legal issues, sometimes contradictory, have not really been considered during the legislative process leading to consolidation in its current form. The author supports that, because of the absence of consent and the effects of medication, a specific legal framework to the use of medication is necessary in a context of unplanned intervention to protect both patients and medical staff.

Post-traumatic stress disorder following myocardial infarction: prevalence and risk factors.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with negative impacts on physical health. Victims of a myocardial infarction (MI) who develop PTSD may be particularly affected by these impacts due to their cardiovascular vulnerability. Post-traumatic reactions in this population are not well known.

A general neuropsychological model of delusion.

Introduction: Neurocognitive accounts of delusion have traditionally highlighted perceptual misrepresentation, as the primary trigger in addition to other cognitive deficits that maintain the delusion. Here, a general neurocognitive model of delusional disorder (DSM-IV) is proposed, not so much based on perceptual or cognitive deficits after right hemisphere damage as on cognitive propensities, specifically excessive inferencing (especially jumping to conclusions) and excessive reference to the self, due to left hemisphere overactivity.

Method: The functional imaging, topographic EEG, and experimental imaging literatures on delusional disorder are reviewed, and 37 previously published cases of postunilateral lesion delusion (DSM-IV type, grandeur, persecution, jealousy, erotomania, or somatic), are reviewed and analysed multivariately.

[Risk factors in families of children with disorder attention deficit/hyperactivity: Quebec data].

Introduction: This paper focuses on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and links with other disorders in the child and his/her parents. Adversity factors are presented around the family life and their impact on ADHD. Families who have a child with ADHD are compared to families who do not.

[Sexual and physical abuse in women with severe mental disorder: a literature review].

In order to better understand women who suffer from severe psychiatric disorders, this literature review of 18 studies examines their experiences of sexual and physical abuse. It is apparent that people with severe mental disorder and more specifically women, are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Homeless women with severe mental disorders are particularly vulnerable.

Disability-free life expectancy by health region.

Objectives: This article presents a profile of variations in disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) by health region.

Data Sources: Mortality data for 1995 through 1997 are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Database. Estimates of disability (major activity limitations) and sociodemographic characteristics are based on data from the 1996 Census.

[Endocrine disruption agents: environment, health, public policies, and the precautionary principle].

The already substantial body of evidence and growing web of suspicions as to the scale and severity of the cascade effects of endocrine disrupters (related to persistent organic pollutants or POPs) on the health of ecosystems and humans have sparked such concern that in June 1998, representatives of 94 countries meeting in Montreal under the aegis of UNEP signed a draft international agreement to phase out the most harmful POPs. Related to particular persistent organic pollutants--toxic semi-volatile and persistent chemical compounds now found everywhere in the environment, such as BPCs, organochlorine pesticides, dioxins and furans, that build up in the bodies of organisms that consume other contaminated organisms along the food chain--endocrine disrupters are strongly suspected of affecting the health of animals and adversely impacting the health, fertility and even intellectual faculties of humans. For example, very low-level exposure to some POPs is associated with some hormone-dependent cancers, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, impaired immune system function, reproductive disorders and developmental disruptions in newborns and infants, who can be affected in utero or through breast-feeding.

Presence of CLA-1 and HDL binding sites on syncytiotrophoblast brush border and basal plasma membranes of human placenta.

It is now known that rapid placental and fetal development is associated with elevated levels of circulating high density lipoprotein (HDL) in pregnant women. The main structure implicated in the maternal-fetal exchange is the syncytiotrophoblast, composed of a brush border membrane (BBM), facing the mother, and a basal plasma membrane (BPM), facing the fetus. In order to understand the mechanisms controlling the placental and fetal supplies of cholesterol, we purified both BBM and BPM and verified the presence of HDL binding sites in these membranes.

[Diagnostic criteria of autism and Asperger's syndrome: similarities and differences].

The American Psychiatric Association's last version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; APA, 1994) identifies within pervasive developmental disorders five subgroups: (a) autistic disorder; (b) Rett's disorder; (c) childhood disintegrative disorder; (d) Asperger's disorder's and (e) pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. However, the diagnosis of the different sub-groups is difficult to establish, particularly between autistic disorder and Asperger's disorder. This article exposes the diagnostic criteria of autism and Asperger's syndrome in order to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two disorders.