RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Both nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and Internet addiction (IA) are important health issues for adolescents, and social support has been extensively examined as a protective factor for both. This study aims to compare the effect of offline and online social support on IA, and that on NSSI as well. METHOD: A total of 1911 Chinese adolescents (53.27% females, Mage = 16.83 ± 0.37) completed self-report questionnaires assessing offline social support, online social support, IA, and NSSI. RESULTS: The structural equation modeling analysis showed that offline social support was negatively associated with IA and NSSI, while online social support was positively associated with IA and NSSI; IA was positively associated with NSSI. Furthermore, implications for preventions and interventions of IA and NSSI were discussed. The indirect model explained a relatively small variance of NSSI, indicating the possibility of additional factors in the development of NSSI that should be further investigated. CONCLUSION: This study indicated the differences between offline and online social support, and their different associations with IA and NSSI.
Assuntos
Transtorno de Adição à Internet , Comportamento Autodestrutivo , Adolescente , Feminino , Humanos , Transtorno de Adição à Internet/epidemiologia , Masculino , Autorrelato , Comportamento Autodestrutivo/epidemiologia , Apoio Social , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
The region encompassing the Pacific Northwest (PNW), Vancouver Island, Oregon, and Washington has been the location of an ongoing Cryptococcus gattii outbreak since the 1990s, and there is evidence that the outbreak is expanding along the West Coast into California. Here we report a clinical case of a 69-year-old, HIV-negative man from North Carolina who was diagnosed with a fungal brain mass by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and pathology. He had traveled to Seattle and Vancouver 3 years earlier and to Costa Rica 4 months prior to presentation. Phenotypic evidence showed that the fungal mass isolated from the patient's brain represented C. gattii In agreement with the phenotypic results, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) provided genotypic evidence that assigned the infecting organism within the C. gattii species complex and to the C. deuterogattii VGIIa clade. Whole-genome sequencing revealed >99.99% identity with the C. deuterogattii reference strain R265, indicating that the infecting strain is derived from the highly clonal outbreak strains in the PNW. We conclude that the patient acquired the C. gattii infection during his travel to the region 3 years prior and that the infection was dormant for an extended period of time before causing disease. The patient tested positive for anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibodies, supporting earlier reports that implicate these autoantibodies as a risk factor associated with C. gattii infection.IMPORTANCE Mortality rates associated with C. gattii infections are estimated to be between 13% and 33%, depending on an individual's predisposition, and C. gattii has caused at least 39 deaths in the PNW region. There have been four other international travel cases reported in patients from Europe and Asia with travel history to the PNW, but this report describes the first North American traveler who acquired C. deuterogattii infection presenting within the United States and the first case of a C. deuterogattii outbreak infection associated with anti-GM-CSF autoantibodies. Early and accurate diagnoses are important for disease prevention and treatment and for control of infectious diseases. Continual reporting of C. deuterogattii infections is necessary to raise awareness of the ongoing outbreak in the PNW and to alert travelers and physicians to the areas of endemicity with potential risks.
Assuntos
Autoanticorpos/sangue , Doenças Autoimunes/complicações , Cryptococcus/isolamento & purificação , Fator Estimulador de Colônias de Granulócitos e Macrófagos/antagonistas & inibidores , Meningite Criptocócica/diagnóstico , Meningite Criptocócica/patologia , Doença Relacionada a Viagens , Idoso , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/patologia , Costa Rica , Cryptococcus/classificação , Cryptococcus/genética , Genótipo , Humanos , Hospedeiro Imunocomprometido , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Técnicas Microbiológicas , Tipagem de Sequências Multilocus , North Carolina , Noroeste dos Estados Unidos , Sequenciamento Completo do GenomaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasma gondii infection has been described as the most widespread zoonotic infection of humans and other animals. Information concerning T. gondii infection among schoolchildren is unavailable in Lagos City, Nigeria. METHODS: This cross-sectional study investigated the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii infection among primary schoolchildren (PSC) from a community located in the center of Lagos, southern Nigeria, from November 2013 to March 2014. A total of 382 PSC were screened for the presence of sera anti-T. gondii antibodies using a latex agglutination test (TOXO Test-MT, Tokyo, Japan). A cutoff titer of ≥ 1:32 was considered positive, while titers ≥ 1:1,024 indicated high responders. Questionnaires were also used to obtain data on possible risk factors from parents/guardians. RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence was 24% (91/382), and 83.5% (76/91) of seropositive PSC were classified as high responders. Among the risk factors tested, including contact with cats and soil, consumption of raw meat and vegetables, and drinking unboiled water, none showed statistical significance after multivariate adjustment. No associations were observed among age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and parents' occupation/educational level. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this study show evidence of active infection, and hence, there is need for urgent preventive measures in this city. Further investigation is required to clarify the transmission routes. Policy makers also need to initiate prevention and control programs to protect pregnant women and immunocompromised patients in particular because they are more severely affected by T. gondii infection.
Assuntos
Toxoplasma/imunologia , Toxoplasmose/epidemiologia , Animais , Anticorpos Antiprotozoários/sangue , Gatos , Criança , Estudos Transversais , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Nigéria/epidemiologia , Fatores de Risco , Estudos Soroepidemiológicos , Toxoplasmose/diagnósticoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasma gondii infection has been described as the most widespread zoonotic infection of humans and other animals. Information concerning T. gondii infection among schoolchildren is unavailable in Lagos City, Nigeria. METHODS: This cross-sectional study investigated the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii infection among primary schoolchildren (PSC) from a community located in the center of Lagos, southern Nigeria, from November 2013 to March 2014. A total of 382 PSC were screened for the presence of sera anti-T. gondii antibodies using a latex agglutination test (TOXO Test-MT, Tokyo, Japan). A cutoff titer of ≥ 1:32 was considered positive, while titers ≥ 1:1,024 indicated high responders. Questionnaires were also used to obtain data on possible risk factors from parents/guardians. RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence was 24% (91/382), and 83.5% (76/91) of seropositive PSC were classified as high responders. Among the risk factors tested, including contact with cats and soil, consumption of raw meat and vegetables, and drinking unboiled water, none showed statistical significance after multivariate adjustment. No associations were observed among age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and parents' occupation/educational level. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this study show evidence of active infection, and hence, there is need for urgent preventive measures in this city. Further investigation is required to clarify the transmission routes. Policy makers also need to initiate prevention and control programs to protect pregnant women and immunocompromised patients in particular because they are more severely affected by T. gondii infection. .
Assuntos
Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto Jovem , HIV , Infecções por HIV/epidemiologia , Profissionais do Sexo/estatística & dados numéricos , Infecções Sexualmente Transmissíveis/epidemiologia , Estudos de Coortes , Demografia , HIV , Infecções por HIV/virologia , Soroprevalência de HIV , Modelos Logísticos , Prevalência , Fatores de Risco , Comportamento Sexual , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Infecções Sexualmente Transmissíveis/microbiologia , Uganda/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Entender el funcionamiento de la barrera hematoencefálica (BHE) tiene importantes implicaciones, no solo en la detección de enfermedades, sino también en el desarrollo de nuevos tratamientos. Los estudios de la permeabilidad mediante imágenes por resonancia magnética (IRM) se enfocan en medir el grado de disrupción de la BHE usando una técnica de análisis de imágenes dinámicas con contraste. En este artículo se revisan los conceptos básicos de esta técnica y se presentan seis pacientes con patología tumoral endocraneana, en quienes se realiza esta evaluación con el objetivo de ilustrar su utilidad clínica.
Understanding the brain blood barrier (BBB) has significant implications for disease detection and in the development of new treatments. Magnetic resonance imaging permeability studies measure the degree of BBB disruption, employing an analytical technique of dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging. In this article, we review the basic concepts of this technique, and six patients with endocranial tumor pathology are presented. These patients undergo this evaluation with the purpose of illustrating its clinical usefulness.
Assuntos
Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Neoplasias Encefálicas , Barreira HematoencefálicaRESUMO
The social context hypothesis states that people behave differently in different social groups because group norms and context-specific interpersonal relationships uniquely affect behavior. Consequently, a person who is a member of different, nonoverlapping social groups (i. e., the members of different groups are unacquainted) should be judged consensually on personality traits within each group; however, between groups there should be less agreement in judgments. This research focused on cultural moderation of the social context effect in two collective cultures (China and Mexico) with different norms for interpersonal relationships. Among Chinese, there was greater consensus in trait judgments within groups than between groups, whereas in Mexico, agreement within and between groups was equivalent. Culturally based relationship norms that affect cross-context consistency of behavior and, in turn, the consistency of trait judgments across groups were described.
Assuntos
Características Culturais , Amigos/etnologia , Processos Grupais , Personalidade , Valores Sociais , Adulto , China/etnologia , Feminino , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , Masculino , México/etnologiaRESUMO
California's Proposition 187, directed primarily toward Mexican immigrants, deprives illegal immigrants of many benefits associated with U.S. citizenship and facilitates their deportation. The authors hypothesized that the respondents' opinions on this proposition would be determined by in-group-out-group bias (i.e., the tendency to evaluate the ethnic out-group more negatively than the ethnic in-group). In accord with that hypothesis, variations in respondent ethnicity (Studies 1 and 2) and in immigrant ethnicity (Study 3) were systematically related to the respondents' opinion on that issue. Moreover, the effect of in-group-out-group bias was independent of perceived reasoned economic and legal considerations that underlay the respondents' opinion.