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Current Psychiatry Reports Sep 2023With the Internet allowing consumers easy access to fantasy and fictional sexual materials (FSM), it is becoming increasingly important to understand the context of... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
With the Internet allowing consumers easy access to fantasy and fictional sexual materials (FSM), it is becoming increasingly important to understand the context of their use among specific populations. Of particular, social, clinical, and legal interest is FSM use by people who are attracted to children and whether this may have a risk-enhancing or protective impact on their likelihood of committing a contact or non-contact sexual offence.
RECENT FINDINGS
There is a lack of data currently available in relation to the use of FSM by those with sexual attractions to children. Evidence from allied areas appears to show no meaningful associations between FSM use and sexual aggression. We propose a novel research program and some initial research questions that provide a theoretical framework for more evidence-based inquiry on FSM use by people who experience attractions to children.
Topics: Humans; Child; Fantasy; Sexual Behavior; Sex Offenses; Child Abuse, Sexual; Pedophilia
PubMed: 37523114
DOI: 10.1007/s11920-023-01435-7 -
Archives of Sexual Behavior Oct 2023
Topics: Humans; Gender Identity
PubMed: 37697095
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02694-4 -
Archives of Sexual Behavior Oct 2023
Topics: Humans; Gender Identity
PubMed: 37277576
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02628-0 -
LGBT Health Sep 2023Sexual and relationship violence has devasting effects on the health and well-being of college students. This study assessed the prevalence of dating abuse...
Sexual and relationship violence has devasting effects on the health and well-being of college students. This study assessed the prevalence of dating abuse victimization and harassment among sexual and gender minority (SGM) college students within the first 3 months of college enrollment and identified potential demographic differences in exposure. Data are from the 2020 to 2021 digital sexual assault prevention program ( = 250,359). Descriptive statistics were used to determine 3-month prevalence of dating abuse victimization and harassment among gender identity and sexual orientation subgroups and to examine within-group differences based on race and ethnicity. Dating abuse victimization during college was reported by 6.5% of transgender women, 5.0% of transgender men, 5.0% of genderqueer/nonconforming students, 2.0% of "women," and 1.0% of "men." Harassment during college was reported by 13.7% of genderqueer/nonconforming students, 11.2% of transgender women, 8.9% of transgender men, 8.7% of "women," and 1.6% of "men." Students who identified with more than one sexual orientation identity reported the highest rates of dating abuse (3.9%) and harassment (14.9%) during college. SGM students with particular racial/ethnic identities (i.e., Indigenous, multiracial) reported disproportionately higher rates, particularly American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students who identified as transgender men (42.9%), transgender women (41.7%), genderqueer/nonconforming students (26.1%), queer/pansexual/questioning students (20%), and students with multiple sexual orientation identities (36.4%). Targeted intervention strategies and resources are needed on college campuses to support the needs and experiences of SGM students, including students who identify as Indigenous, multiracial, and other persons of color.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Gender Identity; Sexual Behavior; Sexual and Gender Minorities; Transgender Persons; Students
PubMed: 37754923
DOI: 10.1089/lgbt.2023.0109 -
MBio Nov 2023Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is globally prevalent, with latent infections observed in up to 80% of the population. The virus is known for subverting host defense...
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is globally prevalent, with latent infections observed in up to 80% of the population. The virus is known for subverting host defense mechanisms and infiltrating the nervous system to establish latency in peripheral ganglia. Multiple stressors can reactivate the virus, and recurrent herpes has been linked to vision loss and neurodegeneration. Identifying critical host factors that limit the spread of HSV-1 and the subsequent establishment of latent infection holds the potential to drive new intervention strategies for eradicating the virus. Numerous pieces of evidence underscore the significance of Tank-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) in restricting HSV-1. Reports have also suggested that phosphorylation of optineurin (OPTN) by TBK1 is required for triggering OPTN-mediated autophagy for HSV degradation. This report adds new insights into the roles of OPTN and TBK1 in HSV-1 infection and provides proof of a TBK1-independent HSV-1 restriction through OPTN. It confirms that TBK1 activation can be substituted by PLK1 to provide protection against HSV-1. In contrast, the activation of OPTN is likely an indispensable host defense mechanism for optimal defense against HSV-1.
PubMed: 38019030
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02715-23 -
Archives of Sexual Behavior Jul 2024From the mid-seventeenth century, resorption of a testicular "ferment" and resorption of some part of the semen constituted reputable accounts of secondary sexual...
From the mid-seventeenth century, resorption of a testicular "ferment" and resorption of some part of the semen constituted reputable accounts of secondary sexual characteristics. Only in the early twentieth century was the latter, "recrementitious secretion" theory, explicitly considered superseded by one of internal secretion, an advance ushering in the hormone era. A reconstruction of these proto-endocrinological concepts is offered onward from the first, 1490 print edition of Galen's On Semen. Early modern physicians picking up from Galen deliberated widely on the medium and pathway of male and female testicular influences on "the entire body," including the mind, causing "femininity" and "masculinity" in physical, mental-temperamental, and behavioral terms. A switch is discernible from "heat and strength" (Galen) to blood-borne "virility" or testicular vapor (such as proposed in 1564 by Tomás Rodrigues da Veiga), to iatrochemical postulations of a "seminal ferment" (suggested in the late 1650s, perhaps independently, by Thomas Willis at Oxford and Lambert van Velthuysen in Utrecht), finally to a "seminal recrement" or "reabsorbed semen" concept soon after (emergent in the posthumous work of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, among others). During the late eighteenth century, mounting controversy surrounded both the very idea of that concept and the involved anatomical pathways, informed by multiple experiments.
Topics: Humans; Masculinity; Male; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Femininity; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; Female; History, 16th Century; History, 15th Century; Semen
PubMed: 38831233
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-024-02888-4 -
Psychoneuroendocrinology Sep 2023Sex-specific differences in brain connectivity were found in various neuroimaging studies, though little is known about sex steroid effects on insular functioning. Based...
BACKGROUND
Sex-specific differences in brain connectivity were found in various neuroimaging studies, though little is known about sex steroid effects on insular functioning. Based on well-characterized sex differences in emotion regulation, interoception and higher-level cognition, gender-dysphoric individuals receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy represent an interesting cohort to investigate how sex hormones might influence insular connectivity and related brain functions.
METHODS
To analyze the potential effect of sex steroids on insular connectivity at rest, 11 transgender women, 14 transgender men, 20 cisgender women, and 11 cisgender men were recruited. All participants underwent two magnetic resonance imaging sessions involving resting-state acquisitions separated by a median time period of 4.5 months and also completed the Bermond-Vorst alexithymia questionnaire at the initial and final examination. Between scans, transgender subjects received gender-affirming hormone therapy.
RESULTS
A seed based functional connectivity analysis revealed a significant 2-way interaction effect of group-by-time between right insula, cingulum, left middle frontal gyrus and left angular gyrus. Post-hoc tests demonstrated an increase in connectivity for transgender women when compared to cisgender men. Furthermore, spectral dynamic causal modelling showed reduced effective connectivity from the posterior cingulum and left angular gyrus to the left middle frontal gyrus as well as from the right insula to the left middle frontal gyrus. Alexithymia changes were found after gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender women in both fantasizing and identifying.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest a considerable influence of estrogen administration and androgen suppression on brain networks implicated in interoception, own-body perception and higher-level cognition.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Gender Dysphoria; Gender Identity; Transsexualism; Brain; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Steroids
PubMed: 37499299
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106336 -
Clinics in Geriatric Medicine May 2024Lesbian and bisexual (LB) women are a growing and understudied population in the United States. LB women have unique histories and health experiences and encounter... (Review)
Review
Lesbian and bisexual (LB) women are a growing and understudied population in the United States. LB women have unique histories and health experiences and encounter numerous resource and health care disparities that impact healthy aging. Despite LB population growth, little research has investigated the experiences of LB women separately from the broader lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, or another diverse gender identity (LGBTQ+) community. The research that does exist largely focuses on the experiences of younger LB women. Nonetheless, there are unique care considerations providers can enact to improve clinical care and address lifetimes of disparities and discrimination.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; United States; Gender Identity; Sexual and Gender Minorities; Healthcare Disparities
PubMed: 38521596
DOI: 10.1016/j.cger.2023.12.001 -
Current Nutrition Reports Dec 2023To synthesize differences in familial negative weight talk and health-related correlates across gender identities and to highlight gaps relevant to the unique... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
To synthesize differences in familial negative weight talk and health-related correlates across gender identities and to highlight gaps relevant to the unique experiences and health correlates of boys and transgender and gender diverse youth.
RECENT FINDINGS
Most of the studies included in this review observed no difference by gender in familial negative weight talk health correlates. Gender biases in existing measures, however, may have contributed to underreporting of health correlates in boys. Moreover, transgender and gender diverse youth are severely underrepresented in this research. Future research should consistently examine effect modification across gender identities and include measures that are specific to the weight-based concerns and experiences of boys and transgender and gender diverse youth.
Topics: Male; Adolescent; Humans; Gender Identity; Transgender Persons
PubMed: 37837600
DOI: 10.1007/s13668-023-00501-z -
Recenti Progressi in Medicina Dec 2023The future of palliative care is quite uncertain, both in terms of health economics and organisation. Among elements which affect his future development, it is mostly...
The future of palliative care is quite uncertain, both in terms of health economics and organisation. Among elements which affect his future development, it is mostly difficult to identify those ones operating covertly. Among these ones, the long shadow of a division within medical practice since the origins of palliative care: two models of medicine oriented in opposite directions. Adopting a symbolic terminology, we can talk about a medicine modeled in a heroic and masculine sense (according with the cliché that "men come from Mars") and a medicine that takes on the stereotype of female kindness and humanity ("women come from Venus"). Gender dualism translated into the practice of palliative care is highlighted in an all-out interventionism, which then makes way to palliation "when there is nothing left to do". Similarly to what happened in the field of gender identity, bipolar rigidity must also be questioned in medicine by a model inspired by queerness. Palliation that can fluidly integrate the two approaches can be an inspiration to the practice of medicine tout court.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Palliative Care; Gender Identity
PubMed: 38031852
DOI: 10.1701/4142.41388