The Attitudes of Polish Women towards Breastfeeding Based on the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS).

BACKGROUND: The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS), which is used for the assessment of attitudes towards breastfeeding, has been found to be reliable and valid in a number of countries, but has not yet been psychometrically tested in Polish women. The purpose of the study was to report on the cultural adaptation of the IIFAS to Polish settings and on its validation, to evaluate the breastfeeding attitudes in Polish women who recently gave birth, and to identify the determinants of these attitudes. METHODS: The study was performed in a group of 401 women in their first postpartum days. RESULTS: Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.725. Discriminative power coefficients of all questionnaire items were higher than 0.2. Subscales were strongly correlated with the total score, with a correlation coefficient of 0.803 for the "favorable toward breastfeeding" subscale (p < 0.001), and 0.803 for the "favorable toward formula feeding" subscale (p < 0.05). For the item "A mother who occasionally drinks alcohol should not breastfeed her baby", the factor loading did not reach the criterion value, and so the item was not included in further analyses. The mean IIFAS score was 63.12 (±7.34). CONCLUSIONS: The Polish version of the IIFAS is a reliable and appropriate measure of women's attitudes towards infant feeding in Polish settings, with acceptable psychometric properties and construct validity.

The Association Between Sexual Disorders and the Quality of Life of Woman Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: Findings of a Prospective, Observational, and Cross-Sectional Survey.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive, chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, whose symptoms include sexual disorders. Sexual dysfunctions can influence on quality of life (QOL) of patients with MS. AIM: To evaluate the occurrence of sexual disorders among women with MS and correlations between QOL, prevalence of sexual disorders, and level of sexual satisfaction. METHODS: Polish women (n = 101) aged 22-66 years with diagnosed MS were included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Female Sexual Function Index, the Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Multiple Sclerosis International Quality of Life Questionnaire were used. In addition, an Authors-Designed Questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data. RESULTS: More than half of the patients surveyed were totally or somewhat unsatisfied with their sex life, and 44.55% of the patients were diagnosed with significant sexual disorders. It was shown that patients with diagnosed sexual disorders and a low level of sexual satisfaction rated their QOL the lowest among all the surveyed patients. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that sexual disorders and the level of sexual satisfaction correlate significantly with QOL in patients with MS. Sexual dysfunctions are a significant problem in women with MS; thus, they should be considered with comprehensive care. Koltuniuk A, Przestrzelska M, Karnas A, et al. The Association Between Sexual Disorders and the Quality of Life of Woman Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: Findings of a Prospective, Observational, and Cross-Sectional Survey. Sex Med 2020;8:297-306.

Calophyllum inophyllum in vaginitis treatment: Stimulated by electroporation with an in vitro approach.

BACKGROUND: Vaginitis is one of the most common problems in clinical medicine and is cited most often during visits to obstetricians and gynecologists. Most of the inflammation cases are caused by candidiasis trichomoniasis and bacterial vaginosis. Therefore, treatment of vaginal infections must use antibiotic or antifungal drugs, which often provide quick relief to the patient. The real cause of the problem - disrupting the ecosystem of the vagina - remains unchanged. Thus, new therapeutic compounds are being explored. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of a natural substance: tamanu oil, an extract from the plant Calophyllum inophyllum, applied to the human fibroblast cell line (normal human dermal fibroblasts - NHDFs) and to the isolated human fibroblasts from the vagina (human vaginal fibroblasts - HVFs) in vitro. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated the viability of cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay after incubation only with tamanu oil and with electroporation (EP). We also examined the immunocytochemical reaction of collagen type III and mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) under established conditions. RESULTS: Tamanu oil increased the proliferation of cells and the amount of collagen III. It has been shown that the C. inophyllum extract stimulates the proliferation of commercial fibroblasts. For direct application in patients, one should use C. inophyllum extract in the range of 1:10-1:100 (saline dilution). CONCLUSIONS: The use of this extract (at concentrations indicated by the studies presented here) stimulates the healing processes (increased expression of collagen type III), and has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antiseptic qualities.

Evaluation of factors affecting the sense of coherence in women during pregnancy: A prospective pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is a special time in the life of a woman, which induces many changes not only in the biological, but also in the biopsychosocial dimension. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to evaluate the factors affecting the sense of coherence (SOC) among women during pregnancy. It was hypothesized that a high SOC will depend on a high level of received support, lack of the risk of mental disorders in the perinatal period and physiological course of pregnancy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Factographic material was collected by a diagnostic survey method. As a 1st research tool, the Polish adaptation of the Sense of Coherence - Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) was used. Another research tool was the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), used here for pregnant women and therefore called Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS). RESULTS: We analyzed the data of all 200 women with physiological pregnancies and 200 women with complicated pregnancies from whom a complete valid responses were obtained. All women were aged between 18 and 36 years. Significant predictors of low SOC results in the model were: age (odd ratio [OR] = 0.929, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.870-0.992, p = 0.0280), being multipara (OR = 1.996, 95% CI 1.271-3.135, p = 0.0027), having never/occasionally husband/partner support (OR = 1.978, 95% CI 1.070-3.656, p = 0.0295), and EDS results (OR = 1.312, 95% CI 1.169-1.472, p = 0.0000). CONCLUSIONS: Predisposing factors for the occurrence of a low rate of SOC in pregnant women are: lower age, multiparity, lack of social support, especially from the husband/partner, and the risk of depression during pregnancy. This may result from the fact that a strong SOC develops in the process of socialization, and with age we acquire the ability to accurately assess reality.

Comparison of the Short-Term Outcomes after Postisometric Muscle Relaxation or Kinesio Taping Application for Normalization of the Upper Trapezius Muscle Tone and the Pain Relief: A Preliminary Study.

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the resting bioelectrical activity of the upper trapezius muscle (the UT muscle) before and after one of the two interventions: postisometric muscle relaxation (PIR) and Kinesio Taping (KT). Moreover a comparison between group results was conducted. From the initial 61 volunteers, 52 were selected after exclusion criteria and were allocated randomly to 2 groups: PIR group and KT group. Outcome measures were assessed at baseline and completion of the intervention. The primary outcome measure was change in bioelectrical activity of UT muscle evaluated by surface electromyography (sEMG). Secondary outcomes included subjective assessment of pain using visual analogue scale (VAS). Significant differences were found only in KT group: the average resting bioelectrical activity decreased by 0.8 µV (p = 0.0237) and the average VAS result reduced by 2.0 points (p = 0.0001). Greater decrease of VAS results was recorded in KT group compared to PIR group (p = 0.0010). Both PIR and KT intervention did not influence significantly the resting bioelectrical activity of UT muscle. KT application was better for pain relief in the studied sample compared with PIR intervention.