Effects of tadalafil treatment combined with physical activity in patients with low onset hypogonadism: results from a not-randomized single arm phase 2 study

Purpose: To investigate a possible relation between penile Doppler ultrasound examination (PDUE) parameters and efficacy of chronic therapy with tadalafil (TAD) combined with a protocol of aerobic physical activity (PA) in patients with late onset hypogonadism (LOH). Methods: The study evaluated 30 patients consecutively enrolled with LOH and erectile dysfunction which present contraindication to hormonal replacement therapy for concomitant prostate disease. These patients were subjected to a combined protocol with phosphodiesterase V selective inhibitors (TAD 5?mg daily) and aerobic PA.

Results: After three months, we observed significant improvements in erectile function [IIEF-5, median (IQR)?=?13.0 (7.0–18.0) versus 6.0 (5.0–6.75); p?p?Conclusion: PA in association with phosphodiesterase V inhibitors could compensate the effects of hypogonadism on erectile function and facilitate the clinical response to these drugs even in the absence of adequate serum concentrations of total testosterone.     

Gene‐environment correlations in the cross‐generational transmission of parenting: Grandparenting moderates the effect of child 5‐HTTLPR genotype on mothers' parenting

Evidence suggests that parenting is associated cross‐generationally and that children's genes may elicit specific parenting styles (evocative gene‐environment correlation). This study examined whether the effect of children's genotype, specifically 5‐HTTLPR, on mothers' parenting behaviors was moderated by her own parenting experiences from her mother. Two independent samples of three‐year‐olds (N = 476 and 405) were genotyped for the serotonin transporter gene, and observational measures of parenting were collected. Mothers completed measures of the parenting they received as children. The child having a short allele on 5‐HTTLPR was associated with more maternal hostility (Samples 1 and 2) and with less maternal support (Sample 1), but only if the mother reported lower quality grandmothers' parenting (abuse and indifference in Sample 1 and lower levels of grandmother care in Sample 2). Results support the possibility of a moderated evocative gene‐environment correlation.     

Dealing with the biased effects issue when handling huge datasets: the case of INVALSI data

The increasing prevalence of huge datasets addresses the research to appropriate statistical methods for solving troubles caused by their complexity. On the one hand, several techniques are mentioned in the literature, especially for the time-consuming and variables reduction issues. On the other, less debate is devoted to the statistical inference issue. Indeed, a large number of involved statistical units may lead to wrongly consider as significant variables without any actual impact on the phenomenon under study. This paper suggests a suitable subsampling procedure for the reduction of the number of statistical units and provides a novel index for the assessment of the significance effects. The proposal is validated by comparing results obtained from the analysis on the original data to those obtained from the proposed subsampling approach. The illustrative application focuses on the educational dataset made available by the National Committee for the Evaluation of the Italian Education Systems (INVALSI). This dataset collects information about the student features and achievements in Maths within the lower secondary schools of the Lombardy region (Italy). Due to the hierarchical structure of the data, a multilevel model is implemented with the purpose of investigating the effects of both individual and school factors on student Maths score.     

Immigration and the Changing Population of New South Wales and Sydney with Implications for Education and Health Services

The problem of economic and social support for the dependant sectors of the Australian population in the future is addressed through consideration of recent national and regional population projections in relation to dependency theory. The level of immigration required to prevent the dependent sectors growing unduly at the expense of the productive is shown to be significant and this is complicated by high unemployment, and the issue of how many immigrants that can continue to be absorbed into the workforce. The contribution of suburban development trends, with their often wasteful provision of services at the local level in the longer term, as the result of regional demographic change, is seen to exacerbate the problems at the national level.