The antioxidant capacity of erythrocyte concentrates is increased during the first week of storage and correlated with the uric acid level.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Red blood cells (RBCs) suffer from lesions during cold storage, depending in part on their ability to counterbalance oxidative stress by activating their antioxidant defence. The aim of this study was to monitor the antioxidant power (AOP) in erythrocyte concentrates (ECs) during cold storage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six ECs were prepared in saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol (SAGM) additive solution and followed during 43 days. The AOP was quantified electrochemically using disposable electrode strips and compared with results obtained from a colorimetric assay. Haematological data, data on haemolysis and the extracellular concentration of uric acid were also recorded. Additionally, a kinetic model was developed to extract quantitative kinetic data on the AOP behaviour. RESULTS: The AOP of total ECs and their extracellular samples attained a maximum after 1 week of storage prior to decaying and reaching a plateau, as shown by the electrochemical measurements. The observed trend was confirmed with a colorimetric assay. Uric acid had a major contribution to the extracellular AOP. Interestingly, the AOP and uric acid levels were linked to the sex of the donors. CONCLUSION: The marked increase in AOP during the first week of storage suggests that RBCs are impacted early by the modification of their environment. The AOP behaviour reflects the changes in metabolism activity following the adjustment of the extracellular uric acid level. Knowing the origin, interdonor variability and the effects of the AOP on the RBCs could be beneficial for the storage quality, which will have to be further studied.

"There is not a safe space where they can find themselves to be free": (Un)safe spaces and the promotion of queer visibilities among township males who have sex with males (MSM) in Cape Town, South Africa.

Males who have sex with males (MSM) are prioritised in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, as a key affected population to receive HIV prevention, treatment, and HIV-related care and support (WHO, 2016). There is, however, limited empirical research conducted on how to engage communities of South African MSM in clinical HIV prevention research programs. The development of LGBTIQ safe spaces may potentially be a viable option to promote community-based engagement by bridging the divides between HIV-prevention researchers, marginalised queer populations, and other HIV-prevention stakeholders located in heteronormative spaces (Molyneux et al., 2016). We conducted ten in-depth, qualitative interviews with MSM safe space members who have been involved in HIV prevention research programs. Data were analysed using a thematic analytic strategy (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Our results indicate that the "safe spaces" currently operational in Cape Town are not stable spaces nor are they always safe, but they form part of a broader and much more long-term political and geographical strategy of inclusion and emancipation.

Is participation in HIV vaccine trials a health promoting behaviour?

Health behaviours are individual acts by which people aim to preserve or enhance their health. Theories commonly used to understand health behaviour include the Health Belief Model, the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour, the Transtheoretical Model of Change, Social Cognitive Theory and Problem-Behaviour Theory. Targets for health-promotion interventions include exercise, smoking cessation and condom use. Some behaviours that may contribute to changes in population health, however, are not health behaviours as traditionally understood. For example, participating in an HIV vaccine trial may have the potential to contribute long-term to lowering HIV incidence. To what extent, though, can or should we apply models of health behaviour to HIV vaccine trial participation? This article grapples with the theoretical challenges facing social scientists who conduct research related to HIV vaccine trial participation. We initially consider decision making regarding trial participation from both the participant and investigator perspectives, before considering how these alternate decision-making narratives might impact on the conduct of HIV vaccine trials. We conclude by arguing that social scientists need to move beyond a narrow focus on health promotion theory and to engage in the interrelated scientific activities of theory testing and theory building.

Paediatric HIV/AIDS disclosure: towards a developmental and process-oriented approach.

As antiretroviral therapy becomes more widely available in low-resource settings and children with HIV/AIDS live for longer periods, disclosure of HIV diagnosis to infected children is becoming increasingly important. This article reviews the current literature on HIV-related disclosure in light of theories of cognitive development, and argues for the adoption of a process-oriented approach to discussing HIV with infected children. Disclosure presents unique challenges to healthcare workers and caregivers of children with HIV/AIDS that include controlling the flow of information about the child's HIV status to him/her and deciding on what is in his/her best interest. Health care workers' and caregivers' views regarding disclosure to children may often be contradictory, with healthcare workers likely to support disclosing the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS to children and caregivers more reluctant to discuss the disease with them. There is a clear need for practical interventions to support paediatric HIV disclosure which provide children with age-appropriate information about the disease.

The diencephalon in schizophrenia: evidence for reduced thickness of the periventricular grey matter.

To find out whether ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia, as demonstrated by neuroradiological methods, is caused by an atrophy of ventricle surrounding diencephalic structures, volume measurements and linear measurements of the whole thalamus, all large thalamic subnuclei and some extrathalamic brain parts were carried out on serial sections of post mortem brains belonging to the Vogt collection. The only significantly diminished parameter of this study was the thickness of the periventricular grey matter surrounding the third ventricle, while the volume and linear measurements of the whole thalamus and all large thalamic subnuclei were not significantly changed. The findings are discussed with respect to current hypotheses of diencephalic dysfunction in schizophrenia.

[Psychotropic drug-induced myoclonus]. / Psychopharmakainduzierte Myoklonien.

Based on five case studies, the suggestion is that, if physiological myoclonus can be excluded, antidepressant - or neuroleptic-induced myoclonus must as a rule be presumed to be a most subtle indication of increased cerebral exitability, an epileptic fragment or, in some instances, a myoclonus epilepsy. In each of the reported cases EEG recordings reflected epilepsy-specific potentials. Whether, however, the scope of differences in the EEG recordings and the N1/P1 amplitude increase of the SSEP may be used as an additional diagnostic criterion to determine the risk of epileptic seizures, should depend on the type of myoclonus chiefly induced. This would require more extensive neurophysiological examinations which should mainly include the back-averaging to permit, beside the EEG, a better evaluation of the relatively easily obtainable SSEP findings.

Women in Egypt: new roles and realities.

PIP: This is an extensive background presentation on the recent changes in Egyptian society, followed by results of a survey of attitudes toward family planning and the role of women. There have been remarkable social changes in Egypt recently, accompanied by rapid growth of the densely packed population. Virtually all of Egypt's 50 million people live on the banks of the Nile, 12 million of them in Cairo. Family planning has been government policy since 1981; the IUD and the pill are commonly used; but sterilization and abortion are illegal except for certain medical indications. Family subsidies and many public services have been eliminated, and even the lower classes are feeling the pinch of high cost of living, to the extent of desiring to balance their family size with their income. The survey was conducted by 35 students of the American University in Cairo, targeting middle and upper class adults, middle and upper class students, and lower class workers and domestics. The subjects were selected to be known to the interviewers to increase reliability of the data. This design created bias in the results, a preponderance of urban, student, single, childless and upper class subjects relative to the general population. The most common trend in the survey results was a conservatism among men, the lower class or less educated, or the rural lower classes. For example most women wanted 2 children, while those with traditional views valued male children and questioned the rights of women to be educated, to work outside the home, and to use contraception. The survey found that few people knew much about Egypt's Personal Status Law of 1979, which specifies women's rights regarding divorce, alimony, child support, and male polygamy. Women faced with divorce, however, rapidly learn their rights. This study revealed a consensus toward egalitarian values, along with distinct discord between the classes and sexes, and conflict between modern development and traditional roles for women.^ieng