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PubMed2026

From pan-life phase insights to PhaseHub: Analyzing protein condensate complexity.

Intracellular biomolecular condensation forms multicomponent signaling hubs that regulate development, stress responses, and environmental adaptation. While the molecular grammar encoded within scaffold proteins defines the basal associative features driving condensation, heterotypic condensates are intrinsically dynamic, multicomponent, and far-from-equilibrium systems. Consequently, how condensates organize component composition, stoichiometry, and functional specificity in space and time under physiological conditions remains poorly understood. Addressing this challenge requires integrative frameworks that combine predictive biophysical features with experimental information on protein abundance, interaction networks, subcellular localization, and evolutionary conservation. In this study, we first analyzed phase separation (PS) proteins across the tree of life in 1106 species, revealing a stark contrast in computationally predicted PS propensity between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, with genome size as a key determinant. Through a broad analysis of amino acid homorepeat-containing proteins (HRPs) across all species, we uncovered how PS evolves via a balance between functional condensation and avoidance of harmful, aggregation-prone sequences. We further identified potential signaling hubs and components across kingdoms by integrating PS-positive proteins with experimentally derived abundance and interactome data from four model eukaryotic species. Using Arabidopsis as a model, we dissected the relationships among PS propensity, condensation hub prediction, HRPs, subcellular localization, and structural conservation. Finally, we developed PhaseHub, a user-friendly interface for exploring scaffold-client dynamics, PS components, sequence signatures within each PS protein, and hubs. Collectively, our work provides an evolutionary framework for understanding multicomponent PS hubs by integrating molecular grammar with physiological context, thereby facilitating hypothesis generation and rational design.

Phase Separation↗
PubMed1997

[The influence of chemical and physical factors in the work environment on the amount of risk for abnormal pregnancy outcome].

The authors present a review of the literature on adverse effects of chemical and physical factors in the work environment on the course and outcome of pregnancy together with the results of their own study. The objective of the study was to identify the magnitude and frequency of exposures to chemical and physical factors at workposts where pregnant women were employed and to asses to what extent the existing exposure increased the risk for complications in pregnancy outcome The study involved the collection of information on factors with potential adverse effect on the course and outcome of pregnancy in employed women who were hospitalised in the Polish Mother Memorial Hospital in Lódź during the years 1992-94. The study was carried out in the group of 526 women with abnormal pregnancy outcome (N), including preterm birth (PB)--256; low birth weight < 2500 g (LBW)--232; small for gestational age (SGA)--196; asphyxia (APG)--116; and congenital malformations (M)--71. The control group (C) was composed of 683 women. As the reports on the work environment indicated working conditions in the group of women with abnormal pregnancy outcome were worse than in the control group; the presence of potentially harmful factors in the work environment were reported 57% of women in group N and 51.2% of women in group C. The increase in the risk of abnormal pregnancy outcome was relatively law (OR = 1.26). Taken into account the duration of exposure to these factors (period of employment under conditions of exposure to physical and/or chemical factors) it was revealed that pregnancy is at risk if women continue to work under such work conditions by the end of the second trimester. In this group of women odd ratio for abnormal pregnancy outcome accounted for 1.80 and it was statistically significant. The employment in the period preceding pregnancy and during the first trimester enhanced the risk insignificantly. A similar situation was observed if the risk of abnormal pregnancy outcome was assessed separately for exposure to chemical factors and to physical factors. A conclusion of great practical importance can be then drawn: expecting mothers should be prevented from working under harmful work conditions after the first trimester of gestation. Therefore, doctors attending occupationally working pregnant women should be obliged to make very careful inquiries about their working conditions. Logistic regression analysis helped to reveal and adverse effect of physical factors only in regard to newborns' body weight, but if failed to show negative effect of chemical factors on pregnancy outcome. On the other hand, the analysis highlighted a significant influence on certain social situations, lifestyles and mothers' health status on pregnancy outcome; a positive effect of higher education in the case of preterm birth and asphyxia; and a negative effect of mother's single status, smoking during pregnancy and the poor health condition during pregnancy on the incidence of congenital malformations.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗
PubMed2006

Chance, choice and control: lay debate on prenatal social sex selection.

Assisted reproductive technologies are typically positioned as increasing the range of choices open to the healthcare consumer, thereby enhancing 'reproductive freedom'. In this paper, we question the equivalence of reproductive choice and personal freedom in ethical theory, using results from a project investigating how lay people make ethical evaluations about the new genetic and reproductive technologies. We took the topic of social sex selection by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and used group discussions and interviews in the north-east of England to trace how lay people develop and express their ethical evaluations, and to identify the implicit or explicit normative framework that gave rise to their opinions on prenatal sex selection. There was a striking level of ambivalence towards choice in general and reproductive choice in particular. Participants offered few positive statements and numerous reasons why reproductive choice might be problematic. Our participants' argumentation shares with mainstream bioethical analysis the weighing of the possible harms of prenatal sex selection for social reasons against the harm of restricting reproductive freedom. However, unlike most secular-liberal bioethicists, many of our participants concluded that prenatal sex selection is undesirable because it is an expression of parental preference instead of a response to the future child's need. Our interpretation of their reasoning is that they work from an ideal of "good parents", one of the features of which is the relinquishing of control over their children, except to protect them from harm. This voluntary self-limitation does not indicate reduced autonomy, because parental autonomy can only operate within the limits set by this relational framework. We suggest that a model of relational autonomy captures our lay participants' framing of the problem better than a more traditional understanding of autonomy. Our study also shows that in appropriately structured discussion of bioethical issues, lay people can articulate reasons for their opinions that are grounded in sophisticated and morally relevant concepts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Perspectives and experiences of homeless young people.

AIM: This paper reports a study describing the experiences and perspectives of homeless young people as research participants. BACKGROUND: Worldwide, homeless young people are an especially vulnerable group due to their age, socio-economic disadvantage, and stigmatized status, and can suffer from human rights abuses. Researchers and advocates have noted that we know relatively little about the effects of research participation on adolescents in general, and much less about marginalized adolescents such as homeless young people; nor do we know about their perceptions and experiences as research participants. There is a lack of studies reported to help guide the ethical conduct of research with homeless young people. METHODS: Individual interviews with 30 street and clinic-based homeless young people aged 15-23 years and two focus groups with a total of 13 additional homeless young people were conducted in a large West-coast city in the United States of America. The study took place between January and June 2003. Interviews and focus groups were tape-recorded, transcribed, preliminarily coded, with final coding crosschecked and verified with a second researcher. FINDINGS: The majority of young people reported positive experiences as research participants in the past. None reported coercive research experiences; however, many stated that they would have liked more information about how the data they provided would be used by the researchers. All participants reported that it was important to be provided with research incentives, and thought that small monetary or pre-paid phone cards were appropriate incentives. They did express concerns that larger research incentives could be coercive and harmful for some homeless young people. CONCLUSION: Researchers working with homeless young people should seek greater input from them on the overall design of the study, especially concerning the appropriate use of research incentives.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Effect of exercise on pharmacokinetics.

The increasing popularity of sporting events, even for people on drug treatment, has raised the question of the interaction of exercise and pharmacokinetics. Exercise reduces splanchnic blood flow, but possible changes in the absorption of orally given drugs seem to be of minor clinical significance. Absorption from intramuscular, subcutaneou and transdermal application sites may be accelerated by exercise, possibly causing harmful consequences, e.g. in diabetics treated with insulin. Exercise or physical work increases the rate and depth of respiration thus increasing alveolar exchange of gases and vapours. Physical activity increases muscular blood flow and the binding of digoxin to muscular structures, with a simultaneous fall in the concentration of serum digoxin. Reduction in blood flow to adipose and other inactive tissues may delay the distribution of some drugs that are stored or removed by these tissues. The change from supine to upright position can affect the distribution of a drug. Exercise reduces the blood flow in the liver and deactivation of drugs with flow-limited (high clearance) hepatic metabolism such as nitrates and lidocaine. Metabolism of capacity-limited (low clearance) drugs, e.g. antipyrine, diazepam and amobarbital, is not influenced by exercise. Renal plasma flow, urine excretion rate and urine pH are also reduced by exercise. This is an important reason why the serum levels of drugs eliminated through the kidneys increase during physical stress. The changes in parenteral absorption and distribution volume of some drugs caused by exercise, as well as the short half-life of drugs, are properties resulting in altered therapeutic/toxic response in those drugs with a narrow therapeutic range.

Exercise↗
PubMed2000

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among injecting drug users in Glasgow 1990-1996: are current harm reduction strategies working?

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of HCV antibodies among injecting drug users and to gauge the effectiveness of needle/syringe exchange in preventing the transmission of HCV infection. METHODS: Between 1990-1994 and in 1996, annual cross-sectional surveys of injecting drug users in Glasgow were conducted. In order to ensure as representative a sample as possible, the 1949 respondents were recruited from both 'in-treatment' and 'out-of treatment' settings. Injectors were interviewed about their risk behaviours for blood-borne viruses and provided a saliva sample which was initially tested, anonymously, for HIV antibodies, and subsequently tested for hepatitis C infection. RESULTS: Among 1949 injectors, the prevalence of salivary antibodies, indicative of hepatitis C viraemia, was 61%(95%, confidence interval (CI) 59%-63%): the estimated prevalence of serum antibody positivity was 72%. Length of injecting, year of commencing drug injecting and the number of times in prison were predictive of antibody positivity. Thirty-one per cent of injectors who commenced their injecting after 1992, following the full establishment of needle/syringe exchange in the city, were salivary antibody positive, and the majority of their infections were acquired outside the prison setting. Respondents who began injecting after the introduction of needle/syringe exchange in the city were significantly less likely to test HCV antibody positive than those who commenced injecting prior to the advent of needle/syringe exchange, after adjusting for length of injecting career. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HCV among injectors in Glasgow has decreased during the era of needle/syringe exchange. However, there is evidence to suggest that the incidence of infection remains high. Since the prevalence of hepatitis C viraemia among the city's injecting population is extremely high, ongoing transmission is inevitable unless more effective interventions are identified and implemented urgently.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Screening women at high risk for breast cancer with mammography and magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: The authors compared the performance of screening mammography versus magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women at genetically high risk for breast cancer. METHODS: The authors conducted an international prospective study of screening mammography and MRI in asymptomatic, genetically high-risk women age >/= 25 years. Women with a history of breast cancer were eligible for a contralateral screening if they had been diagnosed within 5 years or a bilateral screening if they had been diagnosed > 5 years previously. All examinations (MRI, mammography, and clinical breast examination [CBE]) were performed within 90 days of each other. RESULTS: In total, 390 eligible women were enrolled by 13 sites, and 367 women completed all study examinations. Imaging evaluations recommended 38 biopsies, and 27 biopsies were performed, resulting in 4 cancers diagnosed for an overall 1.1% cancer yield (95% confidence interval [95%CI], 0.3-2.8%). MRI detected all four cancers, whereas mammography detected one cancer. The diagnostic yield of mammography was 0.3% (95%CI, 0.01-1.5%). The yield of cancer by MRI alone was 0.8% (95%CI, - 0.3-2.0%). The biopsy recommendation rates for MRI and mammography were 8.5% (95%CI, 5.8-11.8%) and 2.2% (95%CI, 0.1-4.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Screening MRI in high-risk women was capable of detecting mammographically and clinically occult breast cancer. Screening MRI resulted in 22 of 367 of women (6%) who had negative mammogram and negative CBE examinations undergoing biopsy, resulting in 3 additional cancers detected. MRI also resulted in 19 (5%) false-positive outcomes, which resulted in benign biopsies.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The early termination of clinical trials: causes, consequences, and control. With special reference to trials in the field of arrhythmias and sudden death. Task Force of the Working Group on Arrhythmias of the European Society of Cardiology.

The early termination of clinical trials, for either benefit or harm, often generates undue enthusiasm or alarm. The enhanced publicity attending early termination of a trial promotes inappropriate interpretations that are favored by the inherent difficulty of prompt and comprehensive data review. Furthermore, the process of monitoring the accumulating outcome data for early evidence of treatment benefit or harm is fraught with many statistical and methodological difficulties. This report from a task force convened by the Working Group on Arrhythmias of the European Society of Cardiology incorporates first, a series of trials terminated appropriately or inappropriately for benefit or harm and used as examples to illustrate the importance of suitable trial design and of proper stopping rules; second, a description of the committee structure of a clinical trial; third, an analysis of the general design issues; fourth, a review of the main issues in interim analysis with special reference to main strategies for reducing the rate of false-positive claims that could result from early trial termination; and finally, a series of specific recommendations concerning the design, structure, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of a clinical trial.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed1994

The early termination of clinical trials: causes, consequences, and control. With special reference to trials in the field of arrhythmias and sudden death. Task Force of the Working Group on Arrhythmias of the European Society of Cardiology.

The early termination of clinical trials, for either benefit or harm, often generates undue enthusiasm or alarm. The enhanced publicity attending early termination of a trial promotes inappropriate interpretations because of the inherent difficulty of a prompt and comprehensive data review. Furthermore, the process of monitoring the accumulating outcome data for early evidence of treatment benefit or harm is fraught with many statistical and methodological difficulties. This report from a Task Force convened by the Working Group on Arrhythmias of the European Society of Cardiology incorporates first, a series of trials terminated appropriately or inappropriately for benefit or harm and used as examples to illustrate the importance of suitable trial design and of proper stopping rules; second, a description of the committee structure of a clinical trial; third, an analysis of the general design issues; fourth, a review of the main issues in interim analysis with special reference to main strategies for reducing the rate of false-positive claims that could result from early trial termination; and finally, a series of specific recommendations concerning the design, structure, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of a clinical trial.

Anti-Arrhythmia Agents↗
PubMed2003

Counseling in the clinical setting to prevent unintended pregnancy: an evidence-based research agenda.

Unintended pregnancies account for about half of all pregnancies in the United States and, in 1995, numbered nearly 3 million pregnancies. They pose appreciable medical, emotional, social and financial costs on women, their families and society. The US is not attaining national goals to decrease unintended pregnancies, and little is known about effective means for reducing unintended pregnancy rates in adults or adolescents.To examine the evidence about the effectiveness, benefits and harms of counseling in a clinical setting to prevent unintended pregnancy in adults and adolescents and to use the evidence to propose a research agenda.We identified English-language articles from comprehensive searches of the MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychLit and other databases from 1985 through May 2000; the main clinical search terms included pregnancy (mistimed, unintended, unplanned, unwanted), family planning, contraceptive behavior, counseling, sex counseling, and knowledge, attitudes and behavior. We also used published systematic reviews, hand searching of relevant articles, the second Guide to Clinical Preventive Services and extensive peer review to identify important articles not otherwise found and to assure completeness. Of 673 abstracts examined, we retained 354 for full article review; of these, we used 74 for the systematic evidence review and abstracted data from 13 articles for evidence tables. Four studies addressed the effectiveness of counseling in a clinical setting in changing knowledge, skills and attitudes about contraception and pregnancy; all had poor internal validity and generalizability and collectively did not provide definitive guidance about effective counseling strategies. Nine studies (three in teenage populations) addressed the relationship of knowledge on contraceptive use and adherence. Knowledge of correct contraceptive methods may be positively associated with appropriate use, but reservations about the method itself, partner support of the method, and women's beliefs about their own fertility are important determinants of method adherence that may attenuate the knowledge effect. Many factors influence contraceptive use and adherence; among them are age, marital status, ambivalence about becoming pregnant, attitudes of partner, side effects, satisfaction with provider and costs; however, the impact of such factors may not be consistent across populations defined by cultural, age or other factors. The studies themselves differed materially in outcome variables, populations and methodologies and did not yield a body of work that can reliably identify specific influences on contraceptive use and adherence. No literature reports on harms of counseling or on the costs or cost-effectiveness of different approaches to counseling about unintended conceptions in the primary care setting. Virtually no experimental or observational literature reliably answers questions about the effectiveness of counseling in the clinical setting to reduce rates of unintended (unwanted, mistimed) pregnancies in this country. Existing studies suffer from appreciable threats to internal validity and loss to follow-up and are extremely heterogeneous in terms of populations studied and outcomes measured. The quality of the existing research does not provide strong guidance for recommendations about clinical practice but does suggest directions for future investigations. Numerous issues warrant rigorous investigation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Public support for the prevention of alcohol-related problems.

Support for a number of strategies and policies for the prevention of alcohol related harm was ascertained as part of a larger survey of public attitudes and behaviours in a representative sample of the Perth metropolitan area. Support for these policies varied, but was generally positive, with young male drinkers the least supportive. The greatest degree of support was found for a variety of training strategies for licensees and barstaff, while a number of restrictive practices, such as reduced trading hours and the banning of the sale of beer in jugs, were less popular. Those who had recently worked in the alcohol trade were less likely than the general population to be supportive of these policies. This effect could not be completely explained by their generally being younger and drinkers. It is concluded that governments generally have a mandate to introduce certain policies and practices into the licensed drinking environment, but that the resistance of the alcohol trade to such measures may need to be overcome if they are to be successfully introduced.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Impact of a newly opened prison on an accident and emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of a newly opened prison on an accident and emergency (A&E) department. METHOD: A new category B prison opened in April 1999, the first privately run prison in Scotland and the third largest in population. All prisoners referred to the A&E department for treatment were identified prospectively during the first year after the opening of the prison. RESULTS: 99 prisoners and four members of staff attended during the one year period. Ages ranged from 18-64 years with a mean age of 29.8 years. Presentations were as a result of deliberate self harm (22%), injury after violence (18%), sports injury (15%), surgical condition (15%), medical illness (13%), accidental injury (9%), ENT problem (2%), and miscellaneous (6%). Thirty seven prisoners (35.6%) were admitted to the hospital. Further review at outpatient clinics was arranged for 15 prisoners. One prisoner died, the result of suicide by hanging. The remaining prisoners were returned to the prison for further management by the prison medical and nursing team. Twelve prisoners re-attended a total of 37 times, ranging from twice to a maximum of eight visits. Some 42.3% of attendances were during "working hours" (09.00-17.00) and 57.7% attended "out of hours" (17.00-09.00). Twenty four referrals (23.1%) were deemed inappropriate by the prison medical team on retrospective review. Sixteen of these occurred "out of hours". Forty one prisoners (39.4%) were known to have a history of injecting drug misuse. Including re-attenders, 59 presentations (56.7%) to the A&E department had a history of injecting drug misuse. Of these 41 prisoners, 11 (26.8%) were hepatitis C positive, with eight of these having a positive polymerase chain reaction test. No prisoners had HIV and only one prisoner was hepatitis B positive. CONCLUSION: The opening of the prison resulted in only a slight increase in the workload of the A&E department. A significant proportion of prisoners were admitted to the hospital highlighting the practical and logistical problems of managing people restrained and in custody. Most cases can be safely referred back to the prison. Increased input is required from the prison medical team when dealing with deliberate self harm, frequent attenders, and "out of hours" referrals. All A&E staff must be aware of the increased risk of hepatitis C infection when dealing with a confined prison population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Violent self-harm in schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia have a substantial lifetime suicide risk, especially by violent means. Little published work exists on self-harm (SH) in this population. The goal of this study was to examine whether patients with schizophrenia were also more likely to self-harm in a violent manner. A retrospective analysis performed on method, motive, and suicidal intent in patients with schizophrenia (n = 50) and adjustment reaction (n = 138) who presented with SH over a 3-year period found that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of violence of method or suicidal intent. Presence of positive symptoms of schizophrenia was not significantly associated with use of a violent method. This study suggests that the expected pattern of violent SH in schizophrenia is inaccurate and for the majority the acts are of a similar nature to those seen in adjustment reactions.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Perspectives on the role of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in promoting global tobacco research and reducing tobacco harm.

The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) has a critical role to play in advancing tobacco research globally. To date SRNT has sponsored a number of successful initiatives including meetings held by the society's European affiliate, establishment of the Global Network Committee in 1999, and the 2003 and 2005 global tobacco pre-conferences. The most recent SRNT conference was held for the first time outside of North America and attracted over 900 participants from 50 countries. SRNT also has sponsored workshops, provided member scholarships to researchers from low- and middle-income countries, and partnered with the World Health Organization to host www.treatobacco.net. Although these initiatives are impressive, SRNT can further support global tobacco research by (a) working with other organizations to support global tobacco science and policy (this is especially timely given the recent coming into force of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), (b) providing more resources including increased funding and access to online journals for those in low- and middle-income countries, (c) increasing the representation of science at world and national tobacco conferences, and (d) expanding the role of the Training Committee to place increased emphasis on mentoring tobacco scientists from low- and middle-income countries. Science will be crucial in addressing the global tobacco pandemic, and SRNT is uniquely positioned to further tobacco science and research capacity on a global basis.

Global Health↗
PubMed2006

The impact of antistigma education on the attitudes of general practitioners regarding schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to examine the views and attitudes of general practitioners (GP) with respect to schizophrenia, and the changes in their attitudes after antistigma education. A total of 106 GPs working in 71 health institutions were included in the study. A questionnaire of 16 items, focussing on doctors' views and attitudes towards schizophrenia, was applied. Questions were about the views and attitudes of doctors towards general myths related to schizophrenia. Doctors were asked to select one of two responses: 'I agree' or 'I disagree', for statements such as 'schizophrenic patients cannot work' and 'schizophrenic patients are aggressive and dangerous'. After completing the questionnaire, all the GPs were given a single session of antistigma education. The questionnaire was repeated 3 months after training meetings in a subsample of 54 GPs which represented the whole sample in terms of gender, age, and years in medical practice. The authors found statistically significant, positive changes on five items out of the 16 items in the post-test survey when compared to attitudes before training, including items about the treatability of schizophrenia, harmfulness and untrustworthiness of schizophrenic patients. The authors' findings suggest that one antistigma education session, supported by the distribution of related documents, can improve GPs attitudes towards schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

High-dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem-cell rescue for high-risk breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The use of high-dose adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk primary breast cancer is controversial. We studied its efficacy in patients with 4 to 9 or 10 or more tumor-positive axillary lymph nodes. METHODS: Patients younger than 56 years of age who had undergone surgery for breast cancer and who had no distant metastases were eligible if they had at least four tumor-positive axillary lymph nodes. Patients in the conventional-dose group received fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) every three weeks for five courses, followed by radiotherapy and tamoxifen. The high-dose treatment was identical, except that high-dose chemotherapy (6 g of cyclophosphamide per square meter of body-surface area, 480 mg of thiotepa per square meter, and 1600 mg of carboplatin per square meter) with autologous peripheral-blood hematopoietic progenitor-cell transplantation replaced the fifth course of FEC. RESULTS: Of the 885 patients, 442 were assigned to the high-dose group and 443 to the conventional-dose group. After a median follow-up of 57 months, the actuarial 5-year relapse-free survival rates were 59 percent in the conventional-dose group and 65 percent in the high-dose group (hazard ratio for relapse in the high-dose group, 0.83; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.66 to 1.03; P=0.09). In the group with 10 or more positive nodes, the relapse-free survival rates were 51 percent in the conventional-dose group and 61 percent in the high-dose group (P=0.05 by the log-rank test; hazard ratio for relapse, 0.71; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.50 to 1.00). CONCLUSIONS: High-dose alkylating therapy improves relapse-free survival among patients with stage II or III breast cancer and 10 or more positive axillary lymph nodes. This benefit may be confined to patients with HER-2/neu-negative tumors.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Global transformations and intimate relations in the 21st century: social science research on sexuality and the emergence of sexual health and sexual rights frameworks.

This article tracks the conjunction between the social, cultural, political, and economic changes taking place on a global level and the shift in sexuality research from primarily biomedical and behavioral concerns to those of rights and social justice. Particular attention is paid to how transnational public health and human rights discourses, and social movements concerned with gender inequality and the oppression of sexual minorities, have influenced the field of sexuality research. This influence is especially clear in the emergence of the concepts of sexual health and sexual rights, which have enabled researchers to draw clear connections between highly localized phenomena and transnational systems. The importance of rights-based approaches, in particular, has supported an explicit politicization of research and the engagement of researchers in social justice causes. To illustrate the interests and approach of contemporary sexuality research, the article includes a review of recent literature on sex trafficking and same-sex marriage. These cases are used to outline the negative and positive use of rights-the former a means to control harm and the latter a means to advance freedoms. Addressing the tension between these two strategies is a core challenge for the field of sexuality research.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed2006

Use of pharmacotherapies for the management of addictive behaviours in Australian clinical practice.

AIMS: To collect data on the behaviours associated with the prescription of pharmacotherapies (bupropion, acamprosate and naltrexone) for nicotine and alcohol dependence in Australian clinical practice. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Australian clinical practice. PARTICIPANTS: Three specialties, psychiatrists, gastroenterologists and general practitioners (GPs) were defined by the Health Insurance Commission's derived major specialty classification codes and stratified by state (and territory) as well as rural and remote metropolitan area classification. A total of 2680 surveys were sent (670 psychiatrists, 82 gastroenterologists and 1928 GPs) with 1291 surveys used in the final analysis (329 psychiatrists, 37 gastroenterologists and 925 GPs). INTERVENTIONS: A 10-page, 46-item survey was distributed by the HIC. The initial survey was sent in March 2003 and sent a subsequent two times to non-responding physicians. MEASUREMENTS: Characteristics of physicians and their therapeutic preferences in managing patients with nicotine or alcohol dependence. FINDINGS: The majority of physicians identified and provided advice to patients who smoked and consumed alcohol at levels harmful to health. Fourteen percent used a formal alcohol-screening instrument, 4% were familiar with the 5 As' of a smoking cessation strategy and less than a third had undertaken any formal training in providing brief advice. The majority of physicians perceived pharmacotherapies to be an effective treatment strategy and indicated adjuncts improved likelihood of behaviour modification. Predictors of pharmacotherapy prescribing included working in a large clinical practice, having an additional mental health qualification and training in provision of brief advice. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians are in a strong position, and are encouraged to, manage additive disorders. Scope exists to improve prescribing of pharmacotherapies for nicotine and alcohol dependence by enhancing appropriate counselling skills and making explicit the nature of a comprehensive treatment regime as an adjunct to medicines.

Acamprosate↗