Infertility as a lonely struggle? Coping stories of previously infertile women.

In this narrative study, we explored the meaning infertile women attribute to social support in coping with their infertility-related challenges. Written accounts and episodic interviews with 26 previously infertile Finnish women were used as data. Two different coping story types emerged: coping alone and coping with support. In the coping alone type women neither sought nor received support. Their coping appeared as a lonely struggle. In the coping with stories, women turned to their spouses, peers, or professionals, but still emphasized that they would have needed more support. Based on our findings, we underline the need for individually tailored support.

Human memory CD4+ T cell response to the major dog allergen Can f 5, prostatic kallikrein.

BACKGROUND: Human CD4+ T cell responses to important animal allergens are still insufficiently understood. OBJECTIVE: To comprehensively characterize in vitro and ex vivo the peripheral blood memory CD4+ T cell responses of subjects with and without allergy to the major dog allergen Can f 5, the only known animal allergen in the kallikrein family of proteins. METHODS: Can f 5-specific memory CD4+ T cell lines (TCLs) were established from the peripheral blood of 12 subjects with and 12 subjects without allergy to Can f 5 and characterized for their functional and phenotypic properties. The results were evaluated with those obtained ex vivo with a novel CD154 enrichment method. The epitopes recognized by the Can f 5-specific TCLs were determined with 72 overlapping 16-mer peptides covering the sequence of the allergen. RESULTS: Can f 5-specific TCLs were obtained at about tenfold higher frequency from allergic than from non-allergic subjects. Functionally, the TCLs of allergic subjects displayed a Th2-biased cytokine phenotype and increased T cell receptor avidity, whereas the TCLs of non-allergic subjects displayed a Th1-/Th0-biased cytokine phenotype and lower TCR avidity. The higher frequency and the Th2 phenotype of Can f 5-specific memory CD4+ T cells in allergic subjects were confirmed by the CD154 enrichment method ex vivo. Six distinct T cell epitope regions of Can f 5 were predominantly recognized by the TCLs from allergic subjects. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Can f 5-specific memory CD4+ T cell responses differ considerably between subjects with and without allergy, as assessed by both in vitro and ex vivo approaches. Peptides containing the dominant T cell epitopes of Can f 5 can be employed for developing peptide-based immunotherapy for dog allergy.

Accumulation of problems in social functioning in young adulthood: a developmental approach.

Using longitudinal data from a sample of 369 Finnish adolescents, the authors examined whether problems in social functioning in young adulthood were interrelated and accumulated, and analyzed processes that may lead to cumulative problems. The log-linear modeling showed that an unstable career line of men at age 26 was related to poor social relations, a poor financial standing, drinking problems, and criminal arrests; for both sexes, drinking problems and criminal arrests were interrelated. At a personal level, the authors analyzed male patterns of problems in social functioning and pathways resulting in patterns of social functioning. The pathway leading to an unstable career, criminal arrests, and drinking problems among men included aggressiveness at age 8 and problems in school adjustment and in the family at age 14.

Habitat deterioration and efficiency of antipredator strategy in a meadow-breeding wader, Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii).

Many populations of waders breeding on open shores and shores with short vegetation especially on the Baltic coasts have recently become endangered. The declines have taken place simultaneously with human-induced loss and deterioration of habitats due to eutrophication and overgrowth. To investigate mechanisms by which habitat changes could affect breeding success and ultimately population dynamics, we studied an endangered coastal population of Temminck's stint. We hypothesized that the rate of nest predation has become higher because the nest defence strategy (early detection of predator and early departure from the nest), which originally evolved in open habitats, is less effective on shores with reduced visibility. As predicted, nests survived better on wide than on narrow shores. Predation made a major contribution to this trend, although successful and predated nests did not differ in concealment at a microhabitat scale. The better the visibility from the nest, the longer was the flushing distance, but only in response to alarm calls or behaviour of other species, not when they were absent. Temminck's stints seem to obtain information about an approaching predator visually from sentinels. Therefore, it is essential that there is at least moderate visibility around the nest. We conclude that habitat characteristics - visibility from the nest and sentinel birds - affect the effectiveness of the nest defence strategy of Temminck's stint. These should be taken into account when seeking causes and mechanisms for declines of Temminck's stint and other waders of open and shortly vegetated shores.