Scholarly Productivity of US Medical Schools Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic profoundly disrupted scientific research but was accompanied by a rapid increase in biomedical research focused on this new disease. We aimed to study how the academic productivity of US medical schools changed during the pandemic and what structural characteristics of medical schools were associated with trends in scholarly publication. METHODS: Annual totals of publications for each US Doctor of Medicine-granting medical school were extracted for 2019 to 2021 from the Scopus database, and schools were categorized a priori as experiencing a sustained increase in publications, a transient increase in publications, or no increase in publications. Bivariate tests compared school characteristics among these three groups. RESULTS: Of 139 Doctor of Medicine-granting medical schools, 79% experienced sustained growth in publications from 2019 to 2021, 6% experienced transient growth, and 14% experienced no growth. Sustained growth in publications was associated with being affiliated with a research-intensive university, larger faculty size, the presence of an Emergency Medicine residency, having higher baseline National Institutes of Health funding, and experiencing higher coronavirus disease 2019 infection rates in the local community during the early months of the pandemic. Among predominantly White institutions, a higher diversity of female faculty was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing transient rather than sustained growth in publications. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that scientific output increased during the pandemic at most medical schools, despite significant barriers to research experienced by individual investigators. Further attention is needed to enhance equity in research opportunities, considering diverging trends in productivity between more- and less-advantaged schools, however.

Social Capital and Risk of Concurrent Sexual Partners Among African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi.

Concurrent sexual partnerships (i.e., relationships that overlap in time) contribute to higher HIV acquisition risk. Social capital, defined as resources and connections available to individuals is hypothesized to reduce sexual HIV risk behavior, including sexual concurrency. Additionally, we do not know whether any association between social capital and sexual concurrency is moderated by gender. Multivariable logistic regression tested the association between social capital and sexual concurrency and effect modification by gender. Among 1445 African Americans presenting for care at an urban STI clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, mean social capital was 2.85 (range 1-5), mean age was 25 (SD = 6), and 62% were women. Sexual concurrency in the current year was lower for women compared to men (45% vs. 55%, χ2(df = 1) = 11.07, p = .001). Higher social capital was associated with lower adjusted odds of sexual concurrency for women compared to men (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 0.62 (95% CI 0.39-0.97), p = 0.034), controlling for sociodemographic and psychosocial covariates. Interventions that add social capital components may be important for lowering sexual risk among African Americans in Mississippi.

Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Benefits of Exercise, Yoga, and Meditation.

Many people with depression or anxiety turn to nonpharmacologic and nonconventional interventions, including exercise, yoga, meditation, tai chi, or qi gong. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews have shown that these interventions can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders. As an adjunctive treatment, exercise seems most helpful for treatment-resistant depression, unipolar depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Yoga as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy shows positive effects, particularly for depression. As an adjunctive therapy, it facilitates treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly panic disorder. Tai chi and qi gong may be helpful as adjunctive therapies for depression, but effects are inconsistent. As monotherapy or an adjunctive therapy, mindfulness-based meditation has positive effects on depression, and its effects can last for six months or more. Although positive findings are less common in people with anxiety disorders, the evidence supports adjunctive use. There are no apparent negative effects of mindfulness-based interventions, and their general health benefits justify their use as adjunctive therapy for patients with depression and anxiety disorders.

Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Behaviors among Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Adolescents with psychiatric disorders appear to be at increased risk for acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; however, little is known about the prevalence of behavioral risk factors in this population. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the prevalence of alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors among adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Electronic database searches identified studies sampling adolescents diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and assessing both alcohol and sexual risk behaviors. Fourteen studies sampling 3,029 adolescents with psychiatric disorders were included. The majority of adolescents with psychiatric disorders report alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors. Risk reduction interventions targeting these two behaviors are needed.

Alcohol Use Predicts Sexual Decision-Making: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Literature.

Alcohol is associated with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections through increased sexual risk-taking behavior. Establishing a causal link between alcohol and sexual behavior has been challenging due to methodological limitations (e.g., reliance on cross-sectional designs). Experimental methods can be used to establish causality. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of alcohol consumption on unprotected sex intentions. We searched electronic bibliographic databases for records with relevant keywords; 26 manuscripts (k = 30 studies) met inclusion criteria. Results indicate that alcohol consumption is associated with greater intentions to engage in unprotected sex (d +s = 0.24, 0.35). The effect of alcohol on unprotected sex intentions was greater when sexual arousal was heightened. Alcohol consumption is causally linked to theoretical antecedents of sexual risk behavior, consistent with the alcohol myopia model. Addressing alcohol consumption as a determinant of unprotected sex intentions may lead to more effective HIV interventions.

Regretful liaisons: exploring the role of partner regret in the association between sexual and relationship satisfaction.

Regrets over partner selection can negatively influence romantic relationship functioning. It may even undermine stability in otherwise satisfied unions. The present study extends research on partner regret by exploring its several possible links with sexual satisfaction and satisfaction with the relationship as a whole. The authors analyzed data provided by 351 individuals using path analysis. Primary findings indicate that partner regret reduces sexual satisfaction by first depreciating satisfaction with the relationship as a whole. This effect was especially pronounced for parents and women. Implications for assessment and targeted interventions for partner regret are discussed.

An examination of the factor structure of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory in a sample of detained adolescent boys.

Prior empirical examinations of the factor structure of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI; Millon, 1993, 2006) have produced mixed results and have not included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In this study, we examined the internal structure of the MACI in a sample of 1,015 detained adolescent boys (ages 13 to 19). The sample was randomly divided into independent samples. Replication of prior factor models was first attempted in one half (n = 505) of the sample (Sample 1) and disconfirmed these models on the current data. An exploratory factor analysis was then conducted and revealed a 2-factor model representing internalizing and externalizing dimensions. Next, CFA was conducted with Sample 2 (n = 510) and revealed acceptable fit when the model was revised to include correlated error terms among certain scales and factor cross-loadings. Implications for the use of the MACI with adolescents as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Depressed mood predicts pulmonary rehabilitation completion among women, but not men.

BACKGROUND: As many as 30% of patients who start pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) fail to complete it, and depressed mood has been associated with PR non-completion. Depression is more common in women than men with COPD and historically women with COPD have been under studied. However, no studies to date have investigated gender-specific predictors of PR completion. METHODS: The study included 111 patients with COPD who enrolled in a community based outpatient PR program in Providence, RI. Patients who attended 20 or more sessions were designated "completers". Depression was measured using the CES-D. Logistic regression models were evaluated to test depressed mood as a predictor of PR completion. Analyses controlled for demographic and health variables found to differ between completers and non-completers. RESULTS: Patients were 95% white and 49.5% women, and 74% had a GOLD stage ≥3. Sixty-eight percent of patients were PR completers. A logistic regression model, showed that lower depressed mood independently predicted PR completion across all patients (adjusted OR = 0.92, p = .002). In gender-stratified analyses, lower depressed mood was an independent predictor of PR completion for women (adjusted OR = .91, p = .024) but not men (adjusted OR = .97, p = .45). Greater 6-min walk test distance was also an independent predictor of PR completion among women. CONCLUSION: Depressed mood is an important predictor of completion of community based PR among women. Screening and brief treatment of depression should be considered in practice.

The role of illicit substance use in a conceptual model of intimate partner violence in men undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

Illicit substance use (ISU) predicts intimate partner violence (IPV) above and beyond alcohol use and other known IPV correlates. Stuart and colleagues (2008) provided evidence for a theoretical framework by which ISU contributes both directly and indirectly to IPV. We sought to replicate and extend their findings using data from 181 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples in which the male had recently begun a substance abuse treatment program and met criteria for alcohol dependence (97%) or abuse (3%). Using SEM, we found that (a) Stuart et al.'s model provided a good fit to the data; (b) men's cocaine use and women's sedative use emerged as particularly relevant to their respective perpetration of IPV; (c) a positive association between men's antisociality and physical aggression was mediated by increased stimulant use; and (d) the specific pattern of IPV predicted by women's sedative use differed across levels of aggression severity. These findings not only highlight the direct role of ISU in relationship aggression, but also support a larger theory-driven model comprising various proximal and distal precursors of IPV.