24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum: gender and parity differences and effects

Background: Pregnancy and postpartum have been associated to several physiological changes;however, empirical evidence was almost exclusively obtained in primiparous women and few studies focus on hormonal changes in men and second-time parents. The main aim of this study is to examine 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum, comparing women/men and first/second-time parents.Methods: Twenty-six women and 22 men (N = 48) were recruited from an antenatal obstetric unit in Porto, Portugal. 24-h urinary free cortisol was measured at the 2nd and 3rd trimester and at 3-months postpartum. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted, in order to analyze 24-h urinary free cortisol patterns of change over this period. Gender and parity were included in the analyses as potential modifiers, in order to compare women and men, and first-and second-time parents.Results: An increase from the 2nd to the 3rd trimester (p = .006) and a decrease from the 3rd trimester to 3-months postpartum (p = .005) were reported in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol. The interaction effects for Time * Gender (p = .03) and Time * Parity (p = .02) were found. Women and first-time parents revealed higher levels, while men and second-time parents showed lower 24-h urinary free cortisol levels at the 2nd trimester than at 3-months postpartum.Conclusions: Findings appear to clarify the direction, as well as, the timing, gender and parity extension of 24-h urinary free cortisol changes from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum.The same pattern of change in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum is consistent with the proposed role of hormones in preparation to parenting.

Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: the role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse

It has been suggested that being physically abused leads to someone becoming a perpetrator of abuse which could be associated to parents' gender, timing of the physical abuse and specific socio-demographic variables. This study aims to investigate the role the parents' gender, timing of childhood abuse and socio-demographic variables on the relationship between parents' history of childhood physical abuse and current risk for children. The sample consisted of 920 parents (414 fathers, 506 mothers) from the Portuguese National Representative Study of Psychosocial Context of Child Abuse and Neglect who completed the Childhood History Questionnaire and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. The results showed that fathers had lower current potential risk of becoming physical abuse perpetrators with their children than mothers although they did not differed in their physical victimization history. Moreover, the risk was higher in parents (both genders) with continuous history of victimization than in parents without victimization. Prediction models showed that for fathers and mothers separately similar socio-demographic variables (family income, number of children at home, employment status and marital status) predicted the potential risk of becoming physical abuses perpetrators. Nevertheless, the timing of victimization was different for fathers (before 13 years old) and mothers (after 13 years old). Then our study targets specific variables (timing of physical abuse, parents' gender and specific socio-demographic variables), which may enable professionals to select groups of parents at greater need of participating in abuse prevention programs.

Democracia Deliberativa en Córdoba: análisis de los alcances y limitaciones de algunas experiencias participativas, contribuciones para su factibilidad. Deliberative Democracy in Córdoba: scope and limitations of participatory experiences.

En el debate académico y social los críticos de la democracia deliberativa coinciden en sostener la imposibilidad de realización de este ideal, fundamentando dicha afirmación en hechos sociales relevantes como el pluralismo, la desigualdad, la complejidad, poderosas instituciones y una esfera pública polarizada en extremo. En atención a las mencionadas críticas algunos autores han destacado que la viabilidad de una forma deliberativa de democracia depende de la creación de condiciones sociales y arreglos institucionales que propicien el uso público de la razón. La deliberación es pública en la medida en que estos arreglos permitan el diálogo abierto entre ciudadanos capaces de formular juicios informados y razonados en torno a las formas de resolver situaciones problemáticas. La factibilidad y eficacia de la deliberación pública reside, a su vez, en la posibilidad de sostener no sólo un diálogo abierto y continuo entre ciudadanos, sino también de éstos con las instituciones políticas. En esta discusión se inserta el presente proyecto con el fin de estudiar los problemas de justificación e institucionalización, como así también los obstáculos y constreñimientos empíricos con los que se enfrenta la democracia deliberativa. Para ello se toman diversas experiencias en la Provincia de Córdoba: El Acta de Compromiso Público de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Los Observatorios de Servicios Públicos de la Asociación Civil el Ágora, Concertación en Espacios Locales de la Asociación Civil el Ágora y las Juntas de Participación Vecinal de la Municipalidad de Córdoba. Todos estos procesos se caracterizan por constituir iniciativas que procuran la creación, fortalecimiento e institucionalización de espacios de participación ciudadana y de interacción dialógica de los ciudadanos entre sí y de éstos con el estado. Estos espacios son espacios situados y, en cuanto tales, implican contigencias devenidas de las particularidades territoriales, temáticas y de los diferentes horizontes temporales sobre los que se proponen actuar. El proyecto se propone analizar los alcances y dificultades (políticas, sociales, organizativas, informacionales) que se presentan en estas experiencias deliberativas, atendiendo tanto a los requisitos de factibilidad de las propias experiencias como a la necesidad de fortalecer los planteamientos teóricos de la teoría de la deliberación pública a partir de la consideración de los problemas empíricos con los que la misma se enfrenta. Se prevé el desarrollo e implementación de indicadores de seguimiento y monitoreo de las experiencias que den cuenta de las dimensiones y presupuestos de la democracia deliberativa, la construcción de modelos procedimentales y tecnologías comunicativas que contribuyan a la factibilidad de los presupuestos comunicativos y la contribuición al desarrollo de proposiciones teóricas vinculadas con la preocupación académica referida a los procesos deliberativos y participativos en las sociedades contemporáneas.

The days of a man, being memories of a naturalist, teacher, and minor prophet of democracy.

2

The days of a man, being memories of a naturalist, teacher, and minor prophet of democracy.

1

Gender, violence, and politics

მოხსენება მომზადდა სოციალურ მეცნიერებათა ცენტრის მიერ ორგანიზებული გენდერის კვლევაში მე-4 ყოველწლიური კონფერენციის ფარგლებში

Gender-Based Differences in Cardiac Remodeling and ILK Expression after Myocardial Infarction

Background: Gender can influence post-infarction cardiac remodeling. Objective: To evaluate whether gender influences left ventricular (LV) remodeling and integrin-linked kinase (ILK) after myocardial infarction (MI). Methods: Female and male Wistar rats were assigned to one of three groups: sham, moderate MI (size: 20-39% of LV area), and large MI (size: ≥40% of LV area). MI was induced by coronary occlusion, and echocardiographic analysis was performed after six weeks to evaluate MI size as well as LV morphology and function. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to quantify ILK in the myocardium. Results: MI size was similar between genders. MI resulted in systolic dysfunction and enlargement of end-diastolic as well as end-systolic dimension of LV as a function of necrotic area size in both genders. Female rats with large MI showed a lower diastolic and systolic dilatation than the respective male rats; however, LV dysfunction was similar between genders. Gene and protein levels of ILK were increased in female rats with moderate and large infarctions, but only male rats with large infarctions showed an altered ILK mRNA level. A negative linear correlation was evident between LV dimensions and ILK expression in female rats with large MI. Conclusions: Post-MI ILK expression is altered in a gender-specific manner, and higher ILK levels found in females may be sufficient to improve LV geometry but not LV function.

Male Gender and Arterial Hypertension are Plaque Predictors at Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography

Background: Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) is one of the main risk factors for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), in addition to male gender. Differences in coronary artery lesions between hypertensive and normotensive individuals of both genders at the Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) have not been clearly determined. Objective: To Investigate the calcium score (CS), CAD extent and characteristics of coronary plaques at CCTA in men and women with and without SAH. Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study of 509 patients undergoing CCTA for CAD diagnosis and risk stratification, from November 2011 to December 2012, at Instituto de Cardiologia Dante Pazzanese. Individuals were stratified according to gender and subdivided according to the presence (HT +) or absence (HT-) of SAH. Results: HT+ women were older (62.3 ± 10.2 vs 57.8 ± 12.8, p = 0.01). As for the assessment of CAD extent, the HT+ individuals of both genders had significant CAD, although multivessel disease is more frequent in HT + men. The regression analysis for significant CAD showed that age and male gender were the determinant factors of multivessel disease and CS ≥ 100. Plaque type analysis showed that SAH was a predictive risk factor for partially calcified plaques (OR = 3.9). Conclusion: Hypertensive men had multivessel disease more often than women. Male gender was a determinant factor of significant CAD, multivessel disease, CS ≥ 100 and calcified and partially calcified plaques, whereas SAH was predictive of partially calcified plaques.

Pulmonary Embolism Mortality in Brazil from 1989 to 2010: Gender and Regional Disparities

Abstract Background: A significant variation in pulmonary embolism (PE) mortality trends have been documented around the world. We investigated the trends in mortality rate from PE in Brazil over a period of 21 years and its regional and gender differences. Methods: Using a nationwide database of death certificate information we searched for all cases with PE as the underlying cause of death between 1989 and 2010. Population data were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). We calculated age-, gender- and region-specific mortality rates for each year, using the 2000 Brazilian population for direct standardization. Results: Over 21 years the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) fell 31% from 3.04/100,000 to 2.09/100,000. In every year between 1989 and 2010, the ASMR was higher in women than in men, but both showed a significant declining trend, from 3.10/100,000 to 2.36/100,000 and from 2.94/100,000 to 1.80/100,000, respectively. Although all country regions showed a decline in their ASMR, the largest fall in death rates was concentrated in the highest income regions of the South and Southeast Brazil. The North and Northeast regions, the lowest income areas, showed a less marked fall in death rates and no distinct change in the PE mortality rate in women. Conclusions: Our study showed a reduction in the PE mortality rate over two decades in Brazil. However, significant variation in this trend was observed amongst the five country regions and between genders, pointing to possible disparities in health care access and quality in these groups.

Development-oriented refugee assistance : sustainable, efficient and gender-sensitive? ; theoretical and practical analyses based on a case study of the Rhino camp in Uganda

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Humanwiss., Diss., 2012