Plos One
-
Comparative Study
Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in Sweden and Spain: A psychometric study of the 'Nordic paradox'.
The high prevalence of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in countries with high levels of gender equality has been defined as the "Nordic paradox". In this study we compared physical and sexual IPVAW prevalence data in two countries exemplifying the Nordic paradox: Sweden (N = 1483) and Spain (N = 1447). Data was drawn from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Survey on violence against women. ⋯ The effect sizes of these differences were large: 89.1% of the Swedish sample had higher values in the physical IPVAW factor than the Spanish average, and this percentage was 99.4% for the sexual IPVAW factor as compared to the Spanish average. In terms of probability of superiority, there was an 80.7% and 96.1% probability that a Swedish woman would score higher than a Spanish woman in the physical and the sexual IPVAW factors, respectively. Our results showed that the higher prevalence of physical and sexual IPVAW in Sweden than in Spain reflects actual differences and are not the result of measurement bias, supporting the idea of the Nordic paradox.
-
During emergence from general anesthesia, coughing caused by the endotracheal tube frequently occurs and is associated with various adverse complications. In patients undergoing endovascular neurointervention, achieving smooth emergence from general anesthesia without coughing is emphasized since coughing is associated with intracranial hypertension. Therefore, the up-and-down method was introduced to determine the effective effect-site concentration (Ce) of remifentanil to prevent coughing in 50% and 95% (EC50 and EC95) of patients during emergence from sevoflurane anesthesia for endovascular neurointervention. ⋯ There was comparable emergence and recovery data between the cough suppression group (n = 22) and the cough group (n = 16). However, the Ce of remifentanil and total dose of remifentanil were significantly higher in the cough suppression group (P = 0.002 and P = 0.004, respectively). Target-controlled infusion of remifentanil at 1.70 ng/mL could effectively prevent extubation-related coughing in 95% of neurointervention patients, which could ensure smooth emergence.
-
Comparative Study
The effectiveness of intensity-modulated radiation therapy versus 2D-RT for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
At present, the management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is mainly based on radiotherapy, but there are many radiation delivery techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and 2-dimensional radiotherapy (2D-RT). ⋯ The meta-analysis demonstrates that IMRT provides improved long-term tumor overall survival and local control including LRFS and PFS. Additionally, IMRT yields a lower incidence of late toxicities induced by irradiation in NPC patients. Compared to 2D-RT, IMRT may be an effective treatment for patients with NPC. Further intensive studies should be pursued to examine the association.
-
Exposure to air pollution particulate matter (PM) and tuberculosis (TB) are two of the leading global public health challenges affecting low and middle income countries. An estimated 4.26 million premature deaths are attributable to household air pollution and an additional 4.1 million to outdoor air pollution annually. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infects a large proportion of the world's population with the risk for TB development increasing during immunosuppressing conditions. ⋯ This observation coincides with the reduced expression of M.tb-induced T-bet, a transcription factor regulating IFN-γ expression in T cells. Pre-exposure to PM10 compared to PM2.5 led to greater loss of M.tb growth control. Exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 collected in different seasons differentially impairs M.tb-induced human host immunity, suggesting biological mechanisms underlying altered M.tb infection and TB treatment outcomes during air pollution exposures.
-
Measuring whole-brain functional connectivity patterns based on task-free ('resting-state') spontaneous fluctuations in the functional MRI (fMRI) signal is a standard approach to probing habitual brain states, independent of task-specific context. This view is supported by spatial correspondence between task- and rest-derived connectivity networks. Yet, it remains unclear whether intrinsic connectivity observed in a resting-state acquisition is persistent during task. ⋯ Changes in functional connectivity were detected locally, within the active networks. But to identify these local changes, the contributions of different FC networks to the global intrinsic connectivity pattern had to be isolated. Together, we show that intrinsic connectivity underlying the canonical resting-state networks is relatively stable even when participants are engaged in different tasks and is not limited to the resting-state.