BACKGROUND Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), it was previously found that demyelinated gray matter (GM) lesions have increased fractional anisotropy (FA) when compared to normal-appearing gray matter (NAGM) in multiple sclerosis (MS). The biological substrate underlying this FA change is so far unclear; both neurodegenerative changes and microglial activation have been proposed as causal co...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To report the preliminary outcomes of patients with single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss undergoing cochlear implantation at two centers. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective review and prospective data collection. METHODS Patients with single-sided deafness who underwent cochlear implantation at two centers were included. Pre- and postoperative measures included mo...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether more self-controlled children are protected from weight gain as they enter adolescence. DESIGN Prospective, longitudinal study. SETTING Ten sites across the United States from 1991 to 2007. PARTICIPANTS The 844 children in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development birth cohort who had height ...

BACKGROUND This study was conducted to evaluate the association between hemorrhoid and risk of incident peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAOD). METHODS Using the Taiwanese Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000, we compared the incident PAOD risk between the hemorrhoid and the non-hemorrhoid cohorts. Both of these cohorts were followed up from the index date until the date of PAOD di...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of Kinesio taping for stroke patients with hemiplegic shoulder pain. DESIGN Double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SUBJECTS Twenty-one stroke patients with hemiplegic shoulder pain within 6 months of stroke onset in the rehabilitation ward of a medical university hospital in Taiwan. METHODS A 3-week intervention involving a conventional rehab...

Cyclical parthenogens are a valuable system in which to empirically test theoretical predictions as to the genetic consequences of sexual reproduction in natural populations, particularly if the frequency of sexual relative to asexual reproduction can be quantified. In this study, we used a series of lake populations of the cyclical parthenogen, Daphnia pulicaria, that vary consistently in thei...

OBJECTIVES This study examined the roles of identity formation and moral identity in predicting college student mental health (anxiety and depressive symptoms), health-risk behaviors (hazardous alcohol use and sexual risk taking), and psychological well-being (self-esteem and meaning). METHOD The sample comprised 9,500 college students (aged 18-25 years, mean = 19.78, standard deviation = 1.6...

Peyronie's disease appears to be a condition of middle-aged men. In many of them, the disease is accompanied by erectile dysfunction, which, until recently, was attributed to penile deformity. Later, it turned out that the erectile dysfunction has the same causes as in men without Peyronie's disease with vascular and psychological components. In all cases, the pathology of the disease is charac...

background: sexual practices as an important aspect of reproductive health have many physical and psychological effects on people’s lives, there is limited evidence on such practices and their pattern among iranian women. hence we aimed to determine different types of sexual practices among 19-45 year old married iranian women. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 married...

PURPOSE To compare the quality of life (QOL) in patients treated with stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) alone or high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy+hypofractionated external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). METHODS AND MATERIALS Patient self-reported QOL was prospectively measured among patients from two sequential phase 2 clinical trials: 1-SABR 35Gy/5fractions/5 weeks, 2-15Gy HDR 1 fr...