Long-term low-dose dehydroepiandrosterone replacement therapy in aging males with partial androgen deficiency

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) age-related withdrawal is very likely to be involved in the aging process and the onset of age-related diseases, giving rise to the question of whether preventing or compensating the decline of these steroids may have endocrine and clinical benefits. The aim of the present trial was to evaluate the endocrine, neuroendocrine and clinical consequences of a long-term (1 year), low-dose (25?mg/day) replacement therapy in a group of aging men who presented the clinical characteristics of partial androgen deficiency (PADAM). Circulating DHEA, DHEAS, androstenedione, total testosterone and free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, allopregnanolone, estrone, estradiol, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), cortisol, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels were evaluated monthly to assess the endocrine effects of the therapy, while β-endorphin values were used as a marker of the neuroendocrine effects. A Kupperman questionnaire was performed to evaluate the subjective symptoms before and after treatment.

The results showed a great modification of the endocrine profile; with the exception of cortisol levels, which remained unchanged, DHEA, DHEAS, androstenedione, total and free testosterone, DHT, progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, estrone, estradiol, GH, IGF-1 and β-endorphin levels increased significantly with respect to baseline values, while FSH, LH and SHBG levels showed a significant decrease. The Kupperman score indicated a progressive improvement in mood, fatigue and joint pain.

In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that 25?mg/day of DHEA is able to cause significant changes in the hormonal profile and clinical symptoms and can counteract the age-related decline of endocrine and neuroendocrine functions. Restoring DHEA levels to young adult values seems to benefit the age-related decline in physiological functions but, however promising, placebo-controlled trials are required to confirm these preliminary results.     

Inside Out: Postcolonial Subjectivities and Everyday Life Online

What gets overlooked amid the hype surrounding the Internet/world-wide web is that these are a newer communicative means and medium for people to gather from all over the place, not only to meet each other but also to discuss a wide range of issues. Discussion Forums and News Groups are important and long-standing examples of these sorts of non-commercial online interactions. This article argues that this sort of onlineness constitutes emergent (cyber)spatial practices of everyday life. These entail complex gender-power relations that encompass struggles for ownership and control of ICTs, on the one hand, and the intimate, public and political nature of online discussions visà-vis lived lives offline on the other hand. One way of seeing these dynamics at work in everyday life online is when women from non-western diasporas talk about their personal-public lives and changing sociocultural obligations on Internet discussion forums. Such discussions provide newer, electronically mediated (re)articulations of the 'public-private' problematic and a (re)articulation of how the 'personal is political'. In so doing they recall feminist and postcolonial critiques of the androcentric and eurocentric nature of the public-private dichotomy itself. The article explores the intersection between these critiques, the practice of everyday life for postcolonial diasporas and the advent of the Internet/world-wide web. Through the reconstruction of someof these open andintimate online discussions between older andyounger women from the Samoan and Tongan diasporas, the article argues that postcolonial everyday uses of the Internet/www are challenging assumptions about what constitutes access, ownership and control of ICTs. These have implications for equitable research and development of ICTs in terms of the practice of everyday life online and offline and the future of public cyberspace(s) in a neo-liberal world order.     

Organizational rhetoric and collective action in a medical association ∗

Research on organizational rhetoric and on joint action within organizations can be enriched through investigation of ideological accounts - public rhetorical statements that explain and justify collective actions. This paper assumes that ideological accounts, like other forms of organization rhetoric, are worthy of study in their own right - rather than being trivial reflections of “important” structures and processes, as many social scientists assume. The accounts examined here were provided by the heads of the Israel Medical Association (IMA), a national professional association and representatives of the physicians’ union during two conflicts between the IMA, government agencies, and the nation's largest health care organization. The IMA's accounts contributed to the dynamic flow of talk and action during these conflicts - rather than merely reflecting group interests. The IMA cases suggest that accounts usually change incrementally, as leaders respond to the ebb and flow of organizational interactions. Occasionally power shifts or emergent, collective-behavior episodes produce radically new accounts. This study also shows how accounts can contribute to collective mobilization and joint action by sustaining solidarity and coalition formation and by shaping the interpretive frames used by members of an organization.     

New Possibilities for Integration and Unification in Interdisciplinary Studies Commentary on Janice Haaken's Pillar of Salt

Janice Haaken's ambitious and wide-ranging interdisciplinary work synthesizes a large and diverse array of profoundly complex subjects. By focusing primarily on her psychotherapy work, I demonstrate close kinship between her therapeutic attitudes, beliefs, and values and my own. My beliefs and values are psychoanalytic, and I find that similar or compatible ones motivate Haaken's feminist, social activist, and radical academic sensibilities. Thus, underlying common attitudes, beliefs, and values between these seemingly diverse areas and psychoanalysis contribute significantly to the authority, unity, and integrative power in Haaken's interdisciplinary work.     

Overseas experience of social workers

This paper provides an outline of the various organizations working with or for Aborigines in South Australia and a discussion of questions of co-ordination and co-operation. The analysis will inevitably be subjective. In the first place one man's way of seeing things is a result of his previous experience and environment; secondly, there was no opportunity for an exhaustive investigation of all the groups in this field. Lastly, I am employed by an organization to which I have naturally developed certain loyalties and attitudes. I have, however, attempted to state what I believe and I have not made statements for effect or to score points.     

From counselling to community work: Developing a framework for social work practice with displaced persons

Abstract

This paper represents the outcome of a process of reflection during and following a practice experience with 400 displaced persons from Kosova who were accommodated in southern Tasmania in 1999. Engaged to provide counselling services, the authors experienced misgivings from the outset that this alone would be an effective and appropriate response to people in circumstances of continuing displacement and uncertainty. The paper describes the evolution of services from counselling to community work, discusses emergent practice issues and identifies key principles for future practice.     

Child Protection Workers’ Perspectives on the School-to-Work Transition for Young People in Care

Abstract

Young people in the care of the state are reported as having generally poor education and employment outcomes due to such factors as high rates of school exclusions and non-attendance, frequent placement moves with consequent school disruptions, deprived precare backgrounds, lack of coordination between education and child protection personnel, lack of attention to educational needs by professionals, and low expectations held by carers and caseworkers. The present article examines child protection worker perspectives on young people's transition from school to work. Caseworkers believe that, for young people in care, factors such as unstable placements, psychological and behavioural problems, inadequate vocational options, poor caseworker knowledge of available training and education, and negative perceptions of young people in care may impede them from making a successful transition from school. Research suggests that child protection caseworkers need to integrate education and work with leaving care planning, given it is vital to the future wellbeing of young people in care.     

Revisión teórico-metodológica de los instrumentos para la medición de la identidad de género

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es ofrecer una serie de criterios metodológicos de los instrumentos más utilizados en la medición de la identidad de género (BRSI y PAQ). Para ello, se presentan brevemente las perspectivas teóricas actuales para posteriormente avanzar en una serie de criterios metodológicos tales como la descripción y validez de los procedimientos de selección de los ítems y su validez ante sesgos de respuesta; fiabilidad de las escalas; y validez estructural, discriminante, convergente/divergente y de constructo. Por último se presentan diversos criterios de clasificación de los sujetos según estas escalas, así como las técnicas de análisis de datos más apropiadas. Además, se ha intentado recoger las críticas y discusiones que desde las diferentes líneas de investigación se están proponiendo.     

Goal Orientation and Performance of Family Businesses

Family businesses consist of family members pooling their resources together to achieve a particular goal for the family business. The objectives of this study were to profile the characteristics of the family businesses and business owners by owners’ goal orientation and to examine the influence of goal orientation on family business performance. The mean differences in values of business size, business age, and business liabilities were statistically significant by owners’ goal orientation. The major findings of this study suggest that owner goal orientation had a statistically significant effect on business performance. Specifically, setting a business goal such as growth or a positive reputation with customers had a significant and positive impact on family business performance.     

Factors Associated With Growth in Daily Smoking Among Indigenous Adolescents

North American Indigenous adolescents smoke earlier, smoke more, and are more likely to become regular smokers as adults than youth from any other ethnic group, yet we know very little about their early smoking trajectories. We use multilevel growth modeling across five waves of data from Indigenous adolescents (aged 10–13 years at Wave 1) to investigate factors associated with becoming a daily smoker. Several factors, including number of peers who smoked at Wave 1 and meeting diagnostic criteria for major depressive episode and conduct disorder, were associated with early daily smoking. Only age and increases in the number of smoking peers were associated with increased odds of becoming a daily smoker.