Researchers, clinicians, theorists, and policy makers have embraced a variety of etiological explanations in their attempts to understand sexually deviant behaviors. Here, the major etiological models of sex offending are described and analyzed. This discussion includes both single faceted theories - biological, cognitive, behavioral, social learning, personality, and evolutionary theories - as well as multi-faceted or integrated theories - Finkelhor's Precondition Model, Marshall and Barbaree's Integrated Theory, Hall and Hirschman's Quadripartite Model, Malamuth's Confluence Model, and Ward and Siegert's Pathways Model. In addition, a new integrative theory of sexual deviance is introduced. The Multi-Model Self-Regulation Theory includes components of developmental, behavioral, cognitive, and personality research. Relevant empirical findings are presented, and fictional case studies are also provided to demonstrate how this theory would be applied in the explanation of sexual deviance. This work concludes with a discussion of empirical support for the Multi-Modal Self-Regulation Theory as well as future directions for research, prevention, and treatment.In Appendix B, an empirical study of the core components of the Multi-Modal Self-Regulation Theory is included. In this study, dysregulation is examined as a key variable in the development of paraphilias, antisocial behaviors, and disordered substance use in a sample of 95 sex offending men. Results from a causal path analysis demonstrate that dysregulation, as defined by difficulties with emotional regulation, significantly and causally predict both paraphilic and antisocial behaviors. Implications for cognitive and personality variables are also discussed.

Worldwide, diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under 5 years old. Data on diarrhea of extended duration is limited. We described the characteristics associated with acute, prolonged acute and persistent diarrhea in Kenyan children less than 5 years of age participating in the Global Enterics Multicenter Study. Children presenting at a clinic were enrolled if they met the case definition for acute moderate-to-severe diarrhea defined as >3 loose stools in the last 24 hrs, within 7 days of illness onset, with >1 of the following: sunken eyes, skin tenting, dysentery, IV rehydration, or hospitalization. To determine diarrhea duration, the child’s caretaker was asked to recall the number of days the child had diarrhea in the 7 days pre-enrollment, and to record each day of diarrhea post-enrollment on a form for 14 days. Stool specimens were collected at enrollment, and the post-enrollment form was collected during a home visit. We defined acute diarrhea (AD) as <6 days>duration, prolonged acute diarrhea (ProD) as 7-13 days, and persistent diarrhea (PD) as >14 days. From January 31, 2008 to January 24, 2010, 557 children with acute moderate-to-severe diarrhea were enrolled. Using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Cox Proportional Hazards Model we examined the relationship between the duration of diarrhea by gender, age, and various etiologic agents. We found no association between gender and the duration of diarrhea. Age was associated with diarrhea of extended duration; children less than or equal to 11 months of age were 1.3 times more likely to experience diarrhea of longer duration than their counterparts. We found Cryptosporidium to be more associated with ProAD and PD. Children infected with Cryptosporidium were 1.5 to 1.7 times more likely to have diarrhea with a longer duration than their counterparts. Based on these results, interventions related to diarrhea and diarrhea of extended duration should focus more closely on young children, especially children less than 24 months of age.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections play a crucial role in human carcinogenesis. Greater than 96% of all cervical carcinomas are positive for high-risk HPV infections; especially types 16 and 18. High-risk HPV onco-proteins, E6 and E7, are consistently expressed in such cancers and function by inactivating p53 and pRb tumor suppressors, respectively. The presence of high-risk HPVs is also correlated with anogenital cancers. In this study, we examined the effect of high-risk HPV type 16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins in two normal human colorectal epithelial cell lines, NCE1 and NCE5. We report that the expression of E6/E7 proteins, alone, induced cellular transformation of both cell lines; consequently, NCE1-E6/E7 and NCE5-E6/E7 form colonies in soft agar with respect to their wild type cells. This is accompanied by cell cycle deregulation, as is demonstrated by the over-expression of cyclin dependant kinases (cdks) and their respective cyclins. Furthermore, we demonstrate that E6/E7 oncoprotein transduction induces migration of colorectal epithelial cells. More still, well analyzed Id gene expression, a family member of the helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors involved in the regulation of cell invasion and metastasis of human cancer cells. In parallel, using tissue microarray analysis we found that the four members of the Id protein family are correlated with the presence of HPV type 16 and 18 in human colon cancer tissues. Our data suggests that high-risk HPV infections are sufficient to induce cellular transformation of normal human colorectal cells, in vitro. Furthermore, the correlation with the Id family of proteins may present a novel set of markers associated with HPV induced colorectal carcinogenesis. Our results may suggest a new approach to detect and prevent colorectal cancer.

Background. Growth-arrest specific 6 (gas6) is a novel vitamin-K dependent protein whose role in venous thromboembolism was recently characterized in murine models. Gas6 is suggested to be a prothrombotic protein capable of mediating thrombus stability. However, the association between gas6 and venous thromboembolism has yet to be elucidated in humans. The present work aims to delineate the existence of such an association in humans and propose a mechanism by which gas6 expression is related to venous thromboembolic disease. / Methods. To analyze the association between gas6 and venous thromboembolism, a highly specific ELISA method was used to measure plasma gas6 levels in 306 patients with a history of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and 89 control volunteers. Medication history, comorbid conditions and DVT characteristics were documented for the purposes of statistical analyses. Median gas6 levels were compared between the subgroups, and prevalence rate ratios were calculated. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were used to measure the effect of gas6 treatment on the expression of various mediators of coagulation. Murine thrombosis models were developed to serve as in vivo models for thrombosis. / Results. The median levels of gas6 were 28.21 ng/ml in patients compared to 26.15 ng/ml in controls (p=0.01). After adjustment for age, sex, comorbidity and medications, DVT patients had a PRR of 2.5 (95% CI 1.36 to 4.61, p=0.003) compared with controls. Within the DVT subgroup, median gas6 levels were significantly higher in those with cancer-associated (vs. unprovoked or secondary) DVT (p&lt;0.001) and in those with more extensive DVT (p=0.037), while levels were significantly lower in those taking warfarin (vs. no warfarin) (p=0.03). Preliminary results with endothelial cell cultures are inconclusive with regards to the effect of gas6 on endothelium derived mediators of coagulation. / Conclusions. Elevated plasma gas6 is associated with venous thromboembolism. The etiology of the clot influences detected levels of gas6, with the highest levels seen in cancer-patients. Furthermore, increasing clot burden correlates with elevated levels of gas6. A mechanistic explanation for how gas6 modulates this association is in its preliminary stages, and is worth pursuing.

Eating disorder expectancy theory proposes a causal role for expectancies for reinforcement from thinness. The authors conducted an experimental test of that hypothesis. Undergraduate college women (N = 154) were randomized to either a psychoeducational control of proven effectiveness or an experimental manipulation of thinness and restricting expectancies. Participants in each condition attended three experimental sessions and one, follow-up session, each one week apart. For both groups, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, purging frequency, and binge eating frequency declined over the course of the study. In addition, the thinness expectancy manipulation produced greater declines in thinness expectancies, body dissatisfaction, and purging behavior than the psychoeducational manipulation. These results provide further support for the role of expectancies in the etiology of eating disordered behaviors.

No description available.

Third molar (M3) impaction is commonly observed in dental practice. While the causes of impaction are still not clearly understood, they appear to be multifactorial. Currently, an insufficient amount of space in the jaw distal to the second molar - the retromolar (RM) region - is considered to be the most significant of these putative risk factors. However, M3 eruption is not always guaranteed by space availability in the RM region, and other factors such as delayed M3 mineralization, tooth crown size, and dental arch size are suspected to increase impaction risk. Because studies have traditionally focused on mandibular M3s and been limited to two-dimensional (2D) radiographs, this study is the first to investigate the causes of M3 impaction in both jaws, using 3D imaging, with precision and accuracy not previously possible using standard 2D dental imaging modalities. This study tests the hypothesis that not only a reduced amount of space in the RM region is observed when M3 impaction is present but also delayed M3 mineralization, larger molar and premolar crowns, and shorter dental arches. Research ethics permission (BIO#11-202) was obtained to use existing retrospective cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of over 500 patients aged 8 to 24 years taken and curated at the College of Dentistry, University of Saskatchewan. Anatomical landmarks were defined and a proprietary software package, Xoran-CAT (Imaging Sciences International, Philadelphia, USA) was used to measure RM regions, molar and premolar crowns, and dental arch dimensions, as well as to score M3 mineralization status. Results were assessed using independent sample t-tests. When M3 impaction was present, both short RM regions and delayed M3 mineralization occurred in both jaws, indicating that both of these are risk factors for impaction. In the presence of M3 impaction, narrower dental arches were observed only in the maxilla, while larger premolar and molar crowns were seen only in the mandible. The observation of these last risk factors in distinct jaws when M3 impaction was present, suggests that these are secondary factors in the determination of the M3 impaction condition, and that standards of M3 impaction differ between upper and lower jaws.

Accumulating evidence suggests that schizophrenia is associated with altered cerebral laterality secondary to a deviation from normal brain development. A number of findings suggest that age of onset of psychosis and gender may have a significant bearing on the nature and extent of the deviation. In order to examine this, early onset patients (12-19 years of age) were compared to healthy controls and later onset patients in a series of studies using standard neuropsychological techniques, experimental divided visual field (DVF) measures and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Specific attention was directed to examining the influence of sex and age of onset on hemispheric specialisation. In the neuropsychological studies, early onset patients (n=35) demonstrated significant impairment of intellectual functioning relative to normal adolescents (n=35) but no significant VIQ-PIQ discrepancy. Earlier age of onset was significantly correlated with reduced VIQ and FSIQ. Early onset patients showed significant reduction in hand skill, increased incidence of non-right eye preference and crossed hand-eye dominance. In addition, patients demonstrated reduced right ear advantage (REA) in dichotic listening and inability to modulate ear advantage by directing attention. In the DVF experiments, early onset patients (n=20) demonstrated normal lateralisation in phonological word recognition but sexually dimorphic anomalies in lexico-semantic processing relative to normal controls (n=20). Males showed impairment in imageable word recognition whereas females were more impaired in emotional word recognition. In both cases, the observed anomalies implicated a disturbance in the semantic network subserved by left hemisphere ventromedial and superior temporal heteromodal cortex. In MRI investigations, early onset patients (n=33) had smaller cerebral hemispheres and larger lateral ventricles than controls (n=32). Male patients showed reduction of leftward asymmetry in temporal lobe volume and female patients showed reversal of rightward asymmetry. Significant correlations were found between left ventricular brain ratio and reaction time to phonological word processing. Together, the combined results indicate that early onset schizophrenia is associated with a significant but selective alteration of cerebral laterality, that age of onset is likely to be a determinant of this alteration and that, to some extent, these changes are mediated by gender. The results are discussed within the context of neurodevelopmental aetiology.

ClC-1 is the major skeletal muscle chloride channel and is essential for re-establishing the resting membrane potential of muscle cells after an action potential has occurred. Many mutations throughout the CLCN1 gene, which codes for the CIC-1 protein, have been demonstrated via characterisation in heterologous expression systems, to be causative mutations for either Dominant Myotonia Congenita or Recessive Generalised Myotonia. Recently, increasing numbers of myotonic mutations have been found in the carboxyl tail of CIC-1, which demonstrates its importance as a domain that is essential for the normal function of CIC-1 channels. Previous studies in our laboratory defined a region of 18 amino acids in the immediate post D13 segment of rat CIC-1, essential for the expression of functional channels. / thesis (PhDBiomedicalScience)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2001. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.