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A broadly neutralising antibody to prevent HIV transmissionTwo HIV prevention trials (HVTN 704/HPTN buy kamagra online australia 085 kamagra 100 gold tablets. HVTN 703/HPTN 081) enrolled 2699 at-risk cisgender men and transgender persons in the Americas and Europe and 1924 at-risk women in sub-Saharan Africa who were randomly assigned to receive the broadly neutralising antibody (bnAb) VRC01 or placebo (10 infusions at an interval of 8 weeks). Moderate-to-severe adverse events related to kamagra 100 gold tablets VRC01 were uncommon. In a prespecified pooled analysis, over 20 months, VRC01 offered an estimated prevention efficacy of ~75% against VRC01-sensitive isolates (30% of kamagraes circulating in the trial regions).

However, VRC01 did not prevent with other kamagra 100 gold tablets HIV isolates and overall HIV acquisition compared with placebo. The data provide proof of concept that bnAb can prevent HIV acquisition, although the approach is limited by viral diversity and potential selection of resistant isolates.Corey L, Gilbert PB, Juraska M, et al. Two randomized trials of neutralizing antibodies to prevent HIV-1 kamagra 100 gold tablets acquisition. N Engl J Med.

2021;384:1003–1014.Seminal cytokine profiles are associated with the kamagra 100 gold tablets risk of HIV transmissionInvestigators analysed a panel of 34 cytokines/chemokines in blood and semen of men (predominantly men who have sex with men) with HIV, comparing 21 who transmitted HIV to their partners and 22 who did not. Overall, 47% of men had a recent HIV , 19% were on antiretroviral therapy and 84% were viraemic. The cytokine profile in seminal fluid, but not in blood, differed significantly between transmitters and non-transmitters, with transmitters showing higher seminal concentrations of interleukin 13 (IL-13), IL-15 and IL-33, and lower concentrations of interferon‐gamma, IL-15, macrophage colony-stimulating factor kamagra 100 gold tablets (M-CSF), IL-17, granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF), IL-4, IL-16 and eotaxin. Although limited, the findings suggest that the seminal milieu modulates the risk of HIV transmission, providing a potential development opportunity for HIV prevention strategies.Vanpouille C, Frick A, Rawlings SA, et al.

Cytokine network and sexual HIV transmission in men who have kamagra 100 gold tablets sex with men. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71:2655–2662.The challenge of estimating global treatment eligibility for chronic hepatitis B from incomplete datasetsWorldwide, over kamagra 100 gold tablets 250 million people are estimated to live with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), although only ~11% is diagnosed and a minority receives antiviral therapy. An estimate of the global proportion eligible for treatment was not previously available.

A systematic review analysed studies of CHB populations done between 2007 and 2018 to estimate the prevalence of cirrhosis, abnormal alanine aminotransferase, kamagra 100 gold tablets hepatitis B kamagra DNA >2000 or >20 000 IU/mL, hepatitis B e-antigen, and overall eligibility for treatment as per WHO and other guidelines. The pooled treatment eligibility estimate was 19% (95% CI 18% to 20%), with about 10% requiring urgent treatment due to cirrhosis. However, the estimate should be interpreted with caution due to incomplete data kamagra 100 gold tablets acquisition and reporting in available studies. Standardised reporting is needed to improve global and regional estimates of CHB treatment eligibility and guide effective policy formulation.Tan M, Bhadoria AS, Cui F, et al.

Estimating the proportion of people kamagra 100 gold tablets with chronic hepatitis B kamagra eligible for hepatitis B antiviral treatment worldwide. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2021 kamagra 100 gold tablets. 6:106–119.Broad geographical disparity in the contribution of HIV to the burden of cervical cancerThis systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the contribution of HIV to the global and regional burden of cervical cancer using data from 24 studies which included 236 127 women with HIV.

HIV markedly increased the risk kamagra 100 gold tablets of cervical cancer (pooled relative risk 6.07. 95% CI 4.40 to 8.37). In 2018, 4.9% (95% CI 3.6% to 6.4%) of cervical cancers were attributable to HIV globally, although the population-attributable kamagra 100 gold tablets fraction for HIV varied geographically, reaching 21% (95% CI 15.6% to 26.8%) in the African region. Cervical cancer is preventable and treatable.

Efforts are needed to kamagra 100 gold tablets expand access to HPV vaccination in sub-Saharan Africa. More immediately, there is an urgent need to integrate cervical cancer screening within HIV services.Stelzle D, Tanaka LF, Lee KK, et al. Estimates of the global burden of cervical cancer associated with kamagra 100 gold tablets HIV. Lancet Glob Health.

2020. 9:e161–69.The complex relationship between serum vitamin D and persistence of high-risk human papilloma kamagra Most cervical high-risk human papilloma kamagra (hrHPV) s are transient and those that persist are more likely to progress to cancer. Based on the proposed immunomodulatory properties of vitamin D, a longitudinal study examined the association between serum concentrations of five vitamin D biomarkers and short-term persistent (vs transient or sporadic) detection of hrHPV in 72 women who collected monthly cervicovaginal swabs over 6 months. No significant associations were detected in the primary analysis.

In sensitivity analyses, after multiple adjustments, serum concentrations of multiple vitamin D biomarkers were positively associated with the short-term persistence of 14 selected hrHPV types. The relationship between vitamin D and hrHPV warrants closer examination. Studies should have longer follow-up, include populations with more diverse vitamin D concentrations and account for vitamin D supplementation.Troja C, Hoofnagle AN, Szpiro A, et al. Understanding the role of emerging vitamin D biomarkers on short-term persistence of high-risk HPV among mid-adult women.

J Infect Dis 2020. Online ahead of printPublished in STI—the editor’s choice. One in five cases of with Neisseria gonorrhoeae clear spontaneouslyStudies have indicated that Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) s can resolve spontaneously without antibiotic therapy. A substudy of a randomised trial investigated 405 untreated subjects (71% men) who underwent both pretrial and enrolment NG testing at the same anatomical site (genital, pharyngeal and rectal).

Based on nuclear acid amplification tests, 83 subjects (20.5%) showed clearance of the anatomical site within a median of 10 days (IQR 7–15) between tests. Those with spontaneous clearance were less likely to have concurrent chlamydia (p=0.029) and dysuria (p=0.035), but there were no differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, HIV status, number of previous NG episodes, and symptoms other than dysuria between those with and without clearance. Given the high rate of spontaneous resolution, point-of-care NG testing should be considered to reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment.Mensforth S, Ayinde OC, Ross J. Spontaneous clearance of genital and extragenital Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Data from GToG. STI 2020. 96:556–561.BackgroundReproductive aged women are at risk of both pregnancy and sexually transmitted s (STI). The modern contraceptive prevalence among married and unmarried women in South Africa is 54% and 64%, respectively, with injectable progestins being most widely used.1 Moreover, current global efforts aim towards all women having access to a range of reliable contraceptives options.2 The prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea are high among women in Africa, particularly among younger women.

A recent meta-analysis of over 37 000 women estimated prevalences for chlamydia and gonorrhoea by region and population type (South Africa clinic/community-based, Eastern Africa higher-risk and Southern/Eastern Africa clinic community-based). High chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences were found among 15–24 year-old South African women and high risk populations in East Africa.3 Both chlamydia and gonorrhoea are associated with numerous comorbidities including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, infertility, increased risk of HIV and other STIs, as well as significant social harm.4While STIs are a significant global health burden, data on STI prevalence by gender and drivers of are limited, hindering an effective public health response.5 Moreover, data on the association between contraceptive use and risk of non-HIV STIs are limited. The WHO recently reported stagnation in efforts to decrease global STI incidence.5 Understanding drivers of STI acquisition, including any possible associations with widely used contraceptive methods, is necessary to effectively target public health responses that reduce STI incidence and associated comorbidities.The ECHO Trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier. NCT02550067) was a multicentre, open-label randomised trial of 7829 HIV-seronegative women seeking effective contraception in Eswatini, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia.

Detailed trial methods and results have been published.6 7 We conducted a secondary analysis of ECHO trial data to evaluate absolute and relative chlamydia and gonorrhoea final visit prevalences among women randomised to intramuscular depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-IM), a copper intrauterine device (IUD) and a levonorgestrel (LNG) implant.MethodsStudy design, participants and ethicsWomen were enrolled in the ECHO trial from December 2015 through September 2017. Institutional review boards at each site approved the study protocol and women provided written informed consent before any study procedures. In brief, women who were not pregnant, HIV-seronegative, aged 16–35 years, seeking effective contraception, without medical contraindications, willing to use the assigned method for 18 months, reported not using injectable, intrauterine or implantable contraception for the previous 6 months and reported being sexually active, were enrolled. At every visit, participants received HIV risk reduction counselling, HIV testing and STI management, condoms and, as it became a part of national standard of care, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Counselling messages related to HIV risk were implemented consistently across the three groups throughout the trial.6The trial was implemented in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice. Informed consent was obtained from participants or their parents/guardians and human experimentation guidelines of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and those of the authors' institution(s) were followed.Contraceptive exposureAt enrolment, women were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to DMPA-IM, copper IUD or LNG implant.6 Participants received an injection of 150 mg/mL DMPA-IM (Depo Provera. Pfizer, Puurs, Belgium) at enrolment and every 3 months until the final visit at 18 months after enrolment, a copper IUD (Optima TCu380A. Injeflex, Sao Paolo, Brazil) or a LNG implant (Jadelle.

Bayer, Turku, Finland) at enrolment. Women returned for follow-up visits at 1 month after enrolment to address initial contraceptive side-effects and every 3 months thereafter, for up to 18 months with later enrolling participants contributing 12 to 18 months of follow-up. Visits included HIV serological testing, contraceptive counselling, syndromic STI management and safety monitoring.STI outcomesThe primary outcomes of this secondary analysis were prevalent chlamydia and gonorrhoea at the final visit. Syndromic STI management was provided at screening and all follow-up visits.

Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae was conducted at screening and final visits, at the visit of HIV detection for participants who became HIV infected and at clinical discretion. Any untreated participants with positive NAAT results were contacted to return to the study clinic for treatment.CovariatesAt baseline (inclusive of screening and enrolment visits), we collected demographic, sexual and reproductive risk behaviour and reproductive and contraceptive history data. Baseline risk factors evaluated as covariates included age, whether the participant earned her own income, chlamydia and gonorrhoea status, herpes simplex kamagra type 2 (HSV-2) sero-status and suspected PID. Final visit factors evaluated as covariates included number of sex partners in the past 3 months, number of new sex partners in the past 3 months, HIV serostatus, HSV-2 serostatus, condom use in the past 3 months, sex exchanged for money/gifts, sex during vaginal bleeding, follow-up time and number of pelvic examinations during follow-up.

Age and HSV-2 serostatus were evaluated for effect measure modification.Statistical analysisWe conducted analyses using R V.3.5.3 (Vienna, Austria), and log-binomial regression to estimate chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences within each contraceptive group and pairwise prevalence ratios (PR) between each arm in as-randomised and consistent use analyses.In the as-randomised analysis, we analysed participants by the contraceptive method assigned at randomisation independent of method adherence. We estimated crude point prevalences by arm and study site and pairwise adjusted PRs.In the consistent use analysis, we only included women who initiated use of their randomised contraceptive method and maintained randomised method adherence throughout follow-up. We estimated crude point prevalences by arm and pairwise adjusted PRs, with evaluation of age and HSV-2 status first as potential effect measure modifiers, and all covariates above as potential confounders. Study site and age were retained in the final model.

Other covariates were retained if their inclusion in the base model led to a 10% change in the effect estimate through backwards selection.Supplementary analysesAdditional supporting analyses to assess postrandomisation potential sources of bias were conducted to inform interpretation of results. These include evaluation of recent sexual behaviour at enrolment, month 9 and the final visit. Cohort participation (ie, follow-up time, early discontinuation and timing of randomised method discontinuation) and health outcomes (ie, final visit HIV and HSV-2 status) and frequency and results of pelvic examinations by STI status, site and visit month by randomised arm.ResultsA total of 7829 women were randomly assigned as follows. 2609 to the DMPA-IM group, 2607 to the copper IUD group and 2613 to the LNG implant group (figure 1).

Participants were excluded if they were HIV positive at enrolment, did not have at least one HIV test or did not have chlamydia and gonorrhoea test results at the final visit. Overall, 90%, 94% and 93% from the DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant groups, respectively, were included in analyses.Study profile. DMPA-IM, depot medroxy progesterone acetate. IUD, intrauterine device.

LNG, levonorgestrel." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 1 Study profile. DMPA-IM, depot medroxy progesterone acetate. IUD, intrauterine device. LNG, levonorgestrel.Participant characteristicsBaseline characteristics were similar across groups (table 1).

Nearly two-third of enrolled women (63%) were aged 24 and younger and 5768 (74%) of the study population resided in South Africa.View this table:Table 1 Participant baseline and final visit characteristicsThe duration of participation averaged 16 months with no differences between randomised groups (table 1). A total of 1468 (19%) women either did not receive their randomised method or discontinued use during follow-up. Overall method continuation rates were high with minimal differences between randomised groups when measured by person-years.6 The proportion, however, of method non-adherence as defined in this analysis (ie, did not receive randomised method at baseline or discontinued randomised method at any point during follow-up), was greater in the DMPA-IM group (26%), followed by the copper IUD (18%) and LNG implant (12%) groups. Timing of discontinuation also differed across methods.

During the first 6 months, method discontinuation was highest in the copper IUD group (7%) followed closely by DMPA-IM (6%) and LNG implant (4%) groups. Between 7 and 12 months of follow-up, it was highest in DMPA-IM group (15%), with equivalent proportions in the LNG implant (5%) and copper IUD (5%) groups.Point prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visitsIn total, 18% of women had chlamydia at baseline (figure 2A) and 15% at the final visit. Among women 24 years and younger, 22% and 20% had chlamydia at baseline and final visits, respectively. Women aged 25–35 at baseline were less likely to have chlamydia at both baseline (12%) and final visits (8%) compared with younger women.

Baseline chlamydia prevalence ranged from 5% in Zambia to 28% in the Western Cape, South Africa (figure 2B).Point prevalence (per 100 persons) of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visit by age category and study site region. Y-axis scale differs for chlamydia and gonorrhoea figures." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 2 Point prevalence (per 100 persons) of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visit by age category and study site region. Y-axis scale differs for chlamydia and gonorrhoea figures.Among all women, 5% had gonorrhoea at baseline and the final visit (figure 2C). Women aged 24 and younger were more likely to have gonorrhoea compared with women aged 25 and older at both baseline (5% vs 4%, respectively) and the final visit (6% vs 3%, respectively).

Baseline gonorrhoea prevalence ranged from 3% in Zambia and Kenya to 9% in the Western Cape, South Africa (figure 2D). Similar prevalences were observed at the final visit.Point prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at final visit by randomised contraceptive methodFourteen per cent of women randomised to DMPA-IM, 15% to copper IUD and 17% to LNG implant had chlamydia at the final visit (table 2).View this table:Table 2 Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae prevalence at final visitThe prevalence of chlamydia did not significantly differ between DMPA-IM and copper IUD groups (PR 0.90, 95% CI (0.79 to 1.04)) or between copper IUD and LNG implant groups (PR 0.92, 95% CI (0.81 to 1.04)). Women in the DMPA-IM group, however, had a significantly lower risk of chlamydia compared with the LNG implant group (PR. 0.83, 95% CI (0.72 to 0.95)).

Findings from the consistent use analysis were similar, and neither age nor HSV-2 status modified the observed associations.Four per cent of women randomised to DMPA-IM, 6% to copper IUD and 5% to LNG implant had gonorrhoea at the final visit (table 2). Gonorrhoea prevalence did not significantly differ between DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups (PR. 0.79, 95% CI (0.61 to 1.03)) or between copper IUD and LNG implant groups (PR. 1.18, 95% CI (0.93 to 1.49)).

Women in the DMPA-IM group had a significantly lower risk of gonorrhoea compared with women in the copper IUD group (PR. 0.67, 95% CI (0.52 to 0.87)). Results from as randomised and continuous use analyses did not differ. And again, neither age nor HSV-2 status modified the observed associations.Clinical assessment by randomised contraceptive methodTo assess the potential for outcome ascertainment bias, we evaluated the frequency of pelvic examinations and abdominal/pelvic pain and discharge by study arm.

Women in the copper IUD group were generally more likely to receive a pelvic examination during follow-up as compared with women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups (online supplemental appendix 1). Similarly, abdominal/pelvic pain on examination or abnormal discharge was observed most frequently in the copper IUD group. The number of pelvic examinations met the prespecified criteria for retention in the adjusted gonorrhoea model but not in the chlamydia model.Supplemental materialFrequency of syndromic symptoms and potential reAmong women who had chlamydia at baseline, 23% were also positive at the final visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3A). Nine per cent of gonorrhoea-positive women at baseline were also positive at the final visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3B).

Across both baseline and final visits, a minority of women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea presented with signs and/or symptoms. Among chlamydia-positive women, only 12% presented with either abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain at their test-positive visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3C). Similarly, only 15% of gonorrhoea-positive women presented with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain at their test-positive visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3D).Potential re and symptoms among women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea. Data are pooled across the screening and final visits in figures (C) and (D).

Symptomatic is defined as presenting with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain. Final visit is described as potential re because test of cure was not conducted following baseline diagnosis and treatment." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 3 Potential re and symptoms among women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea. Data are pooled across the screening and final visits in figures (C) and (D). Symptomatic is defined as presenting with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain.

Final visit is described as potential re because test of cure was not conducted following baseline diagnosis and treatment.DiscussionWe observed differences in final prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea by contraceptive group in both as-randomised and consistent-use analyses. The DMPA-IM group had lower final visit chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences as compared with copper IUD and LNG implant groups, though only the DMPA-IM versus the copper IUD comparison of gonorrhoea and DMPA-IM versus LNG implant comparison of chlamydia reached statistical significance. These are novel findings that have not previously been reported to our knowledge and were determined in a randomised trial setting with high participant retention, robust biomarker testing and high randomised method adherence. Interestingly, the copper IUD group had higher gonorrhoea and lower chlamydia prevalence compared with the LNG implant group, though neither finding was statistically significant.Two recent systematic reviews of the association between contraceptives and STIs found inconsistent and insufficient evidence on the association between the contraceptive methods under study in ECHO and chlamydia and gonorrhoea.8 9 Neither systematic review identified any randomised studies or any direct comparative evidence for DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant, thus enabling a unique scientific contribution from this secondary trial analysis.

Nonetheless, these findings should be interpreted in light of biological plausibility, as well as the design strengths and limitations of this analysis.The emerging science on the biological mechanisms underlying HIV susceptibility demonstrates the complex relationship between the infectious pathogen, the host innate and adaptive immune response and the interaction of both with the vaginal microbiome and other -omes. Data on these factors in relationship to chlamydia and gonorrhoea acquisition are much more limited but can be assumed to be equally complex. Vaginal microbiome composition, including microbial metabolic by-products, have been shown to significantly modify risk of HIV acquisition and to vary with exogenous hormone exposure, menstrual cycle phase, ethnicity and geography.10–12 These same biological principles likely apply to chlamydia and gonorrhoea susceptibility. While DMPA-IM has been associated with decreased bacterial vaginosis (BV), initiation of the copper IUD has been associated with increased BV prevalence, and BV is associated with chlamydia and gonorrhoea acquisition.13 14 Moreover, Lactobacillus crispatus, which is less abundant in BV, has been shown to inhibit HeLa cell by Chlamydia trachomatis and inhibits growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in animal models.15 16 In addition, microbial community state types that are deficient in Lactobacillus crispatus and/or dominated by dysbiotic species are associated with inflammation, which is a driver of both STI and HIV susceptibility.

Thus, while the exact mechanisms of chlamydia and gonorrhoea in the presence of exogenous hormones and varying host microbiomes are unknown, it is biologically plausible that these complex factors may result in differential susceptibility to chlamydia and gonorrhoea among DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant users.An alternative explanation for these findings may be postrandomisation differences in clinical care and/or sexual behaviour. Participants in the copper IUD arm were more likely to have pelvic examinations and more likely to have discharge compared with women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups. While interim STI testing and/or treatment were not documented, women in the copper IUD arm may have been more likely to receive syndromic STI treatment during follow-up due to more examination and observed discharge. More frequent STI treatment in the copper IUD group would theoretically lower the final visit point prevalence relative to women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant arms, suggesting that the observed lower risk of STI in the DMPA-IM arm is not due to differential examination, testing and treatment.

Differential sexual risk behaviour may also have influenced the results. As reported previously, women in the DMPA-IM group less frequently reported condomless sex and multiple partners than women in the other groups, and both DMPA-IM and LNG implant users less frequently reported new partners and sex during menses than copper IUD users.6 Statistical control of self-reported sexual risk behaviour in the consistent-use analysis may have been inadequate if self-reported sexual behaviour was inaccurately or insufficiently reported.A second alternative explanation may be differences in randomised method non-adherence, which was greater in the DMPA-IM group, compared with copper IUD and LNG implant groups. Yet, the consistency of findings in the as-randomised and continuous use analyses suggests that method non-adherence had minimal effect on study outcomes. Taken as a whole, these findings indicate that there may be real differences in chlamydia and gonorrhoea risk associated with use of DMPA-IM, the copper IUD and LNG implant.

However, any true differential risk by method must be evaluated in light of the holistic benefits and risks of each method.The high observed chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences, despite intensive counselling and condom provision, warrants attention, particularly among women ages 24 years and younger and among women in South Africa and Eswatini. While the ECHO study was conducted in settings of high HIV/STI incidence, enrolment criteria did not purposefully target women at highest risk of HIV/STI in the trial communities, suggesting that the observed prevalences may be broadly applicable to women seeking effective contraception in those settings. Improved approaches are needed to prevent STIs, including options for expedited partner treatment, to prevent re.As expected, few women testing positive for chlamydia or gonorrhoea presented with symptoms (12% and 15%, respectively), and a substantial proportion of women who were positive and treated at baseline were infected at the final visit despite syndromic management during the follow-up. Given that syndromic management is the standard of care within primary health facilities in most trial settings, these data suggest that a large proportion of among reproductive aged women is missed, exacerbating the burden of curable STIs and associated morbidities.

Routine access to more reliable diagnostics, like NAAT and novel point-of-care diagnostic tests, will be key to managing asymptomatic STIs and reducing STI prevalence and related morbidities in these settings.17This secondary analysis of the ECHO trial has strengths and limitations. Strengths include the randomised design with comparator groups of equal STI baseline risk. Participants had high adherence to their randomised contraceptive method.6 While all participants received standardised clinical care and counselling, the unblinded randomisation may have allowed postrandomisation differences in STI risk over time by method. It is possible that participants modified their risk-taking behaviour based on study counselling messages regarding the potential association between DMPA-IM and HIV.In conclusion, our analyses suggest that DMPA-IM users may have lower risk of chlamydia and gonorrhoea compared with LNG implant and copper IUD users, respectively.

Further investigation is warranted to better understand the mechanisms of chlamydia and gonorrhoea susceptibility in the context of contraceptive use. Moreover, the high chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences in this population, independent of contraceptive method, warrants urgent attention.Key messagesThe prevalence of chlamydia and gonorrhoea varied by contraceptive method in this randomised trial.High chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences, despite intensive counselling and condom provision, warrants attention, particularly among young women in South Africa and Eswatini.Most chlamydia and gonorrhoea s were asymptomatic. Therefore, routine access to reliable diagnostics are needed to effectively manage and prevent STIs in African women..

A broadly neutralising antibody to https://mind-3.com/privacy-policy/ prevent HIV kamagra online review transmissionTwo HIV prevention trials (HVTN 704/HPTN 085. HVTN 703/HPTN 081) enrolled 2699 at-risk cisgender men and transgender persons in the Americas and Europe and 1924 at-risk women in sub-Saharan Africa who were randomly assigned to receive the broadly neutralising antibody (bnAb) VRC01 or placebo (10 infusions at an interval of 8 weeks). Moderate-to-severe adverse events related to VRC01 were uncommon kamagra online review. In a prespecified pooled analysis, over 20 months, VRC01 offered an estimated prevention efficacy of ~75% against VRC01-sensitive isolates (30% of kamagraes circulating in the trial regions).

However, VRC01 did not kamagra online review prevent with other HIV isolates and overall HIV acquisition compared with placebo. The data provide proof of concept that bnAb can prevent HIV acquisition, although the approach is limited by viral diversity and potential selection of resistant isolates.Corey L, Gilbert PB, Juraska M, et al. Two randomized trials kamagra online review of neutralizing antibodies to prevent HIV-1 acquisition. N Engl J Med.

2021;384:1003–1014.Seminal cytokine profiles are associated with the risk of HIV transmissionInvestigators analysed a panel of 34 cytokines/chemokines in blood and semen of men (predominantly men who have sex with men) with HIV, comparing 21 who transmitted HIV to their partners and 22 who did kamagra online review not. Overall, 47% of men had a recent HIV , 19% were on antiretroviral therapy and 84% were viraemic. The cytokine profile in seminal fluid, but not in blood, differed significantly between transmitters and non-transmitters, with transmitters showing higher seminal concentrations of interleukin 13 (IL-13), kamagra online review IL-15 and IL-33, and lower concentrations of interferon‐gamma, IL-15, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), IL-17, granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF), IL-4, IL-16 and eotaxin. Although limited, the findings suggest that the seminal milieu modulates the risk of HIV transmission, providing a potential development opportunity for HIV prevention strategies.Vanpouille C, Frick A, Rawlings SA, et al.

Cytokine network and sexual HIV transmission in kamagra online review men who have sex with men. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71:2655–2662.The challenge of estimating global treatment eligibility for chronic hepatitis B from incomplete datasetsWorldwide, over 250 million people are estimated to live with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), although only ~11% is diagnosed and a minority receives kamagra online review antiviral therapy. An estimate of the global proportion eligible for treatment was not previously available.

A systematic review analysed studies of CHB populations done between 2007 and 2018 to estimate the prevalence of cirrhosis, abnormal alanine aminotransferase, hepatitis B kamagra DNA >2000 or >20 000 IU/mL, hepatitis B e-antigen, and overall eligibility for treatment as per WHO and other kamagra online review guidelines. The pooled treatment eligibility estimate was 19% (95% CI 18% to 20%), with about 10% requiring urgent treatment due to cirrhosis. However, the estimate should be interpreted with caution due kamagra online review to incomplete data acquisition and reporting in available studies. Standardised reporting is needed to improve global and regional estimates of CHB treatment eligibility and guide effective policy formulation.Tan M, Bhadoria AS, Cui F, et al.

Estimating the kamagra online review proportion of people with chronic hepatitis B kamagra eligible for hepatitis B antiviral treatment worldwide. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2021 kamagra online review. 6:106–119.Broad geographical disparity in the contribution of HIV to the burden of cervical cancerThis systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the contribution of HIV to the global and regional burden of cervical cancer using data from 24 studies which included 236 127 women with HIV.

HIV markedly increased the kamagra online review risk of cervical cancer (pooled relative risk 6.07. 95% CI 4.40 to 8.37). In 2018, 4.9% (95% CI 3.6% to 6.4%) of cervical cancers were kamagra online review attributable to HIV globally, although the population-attributable fraction for HIV varied geographically, reaching 21% (95% CI 15.6% to 26.8%) in the African region. Cervical cancer is preventable and treatable.

Efforts are needed to expand kamagra online review access to HPV vaccination in sub-Saharan Africa. More immediately, there is an urgent need to integrate cervical cancer screening within HIV services.Stelzle D, Tanaka LF, Lee KK, et al. Estimates of the global burden of cervical kamagra online review cancer associated with HIV. Lancet Glob Health.

2020. 9:e161–69.The complex relationship between serum vitamin D and persistence of high-risk human papilloma kamagra Most cervical high-risk human papilloma kamagra (hrHPV) s are transient and those that persist are more likely to progress to cancer. Based on the proposed immunomodulatory properties of vitamin D, a longitudinal study examined the association between serum concentrations of five vitamin D biomarkers and short-term persistent (vs transient or sporadic) detection of hrHPV in 72 women who collected monthly cervicovaginal swabs over 6 months. No significant associations were detected in the primary analysis.

In sensitivity analyses, after multiple adjustments, serum concentrations of multiple vitamin D biomarkers were positively associated with the short-term persistence of 14 selected hrHPV types. The relationship between vitamin D and hrHPV warrants closer examination. Studies should have longer follow-up, include populations with more diverse vitamin D concentrations and account for vitamin D supplementation.Troja C, Hoofnagle AN, Szpiro A, et al. Understanding the role of emerging vitamin D biomarkers on short-term persistence of high-risk HPV among mid-adult women.

J Infect Dis 2020. Online ahead of printPublished in STI—the editor’s choice. One in five cases of with Neisseria gonorrhoeae clear spontaneouslyStudies have indicated that Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) s can resolve spontaneously without antibiotic therapy. A substudy of a randomised trial investigated 405 untreated subjects (71% men) who underwent both pretrial and enrolment NG testing at the same anatomical site (genital, pharyngeal and rectal).

Based on nuclear acid amplification tests, 83 subjects (20.5%) showed clearance of the anatomical site within a median of 10 days (IQR 7–15) between tests. Those with spontaneous clearance were less likely to have concurrent chlamydia (p=0.029) and dysuria (p=0.035), but there were no differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, HIV status, number of previous NG episodes, and symptoms other than dysuria between those with and without clearance. Given the high rate of spontaneous resolution, point-of-care NG testing should be considered to reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment.Mensforth S, Ayinde OC, Ross J. Spontaneous clearance of genital and extragenital Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Data from GToG. STI 2020. 96:556–561.BackgroundReproductive aged women are at risk of both pregnancy and sexually transmitted s (STI). The modern contraceptive prevalence among married and unmarried women in South Africa is 54% and 64%, respectively, with injectable progestins being most widely used.1 Moreover, current global efforts aim towards all women having access to a range of reliable contraceptives options.2 The prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea are high among women in Africa, particularly among younger women.

A recent meta-analysis of over 37 000 women estimated prevalences for chlamydia and gonorrhoea by region and population type (South Africa clinic/community-based, Eastern Africa higher-risk and Southern/Eastern Africa clinic community-based). High chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences were found among 15–24 year-old South African women and high risk populations in East Africa.3 Both chlamydia and gonorrhoea are associated with numerous comorbidities including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, infertility, increased risk of HIV and other STIs, as well as significant social harm.4While STIs are a significant global health burden, data on STI prevalence by gender and drivers of are limited, hindering an effective public health response.5 Moreover, data on the association between contraceptive use and risk of non-HIV STIs are limited. The WHO recently reported stagnation in efforts to decrease global STI incidence.5 Understanding drivers of STI acquisition, including any possible associations with widely used contraceptive methods, is necessary to effectively target public health responses that reduce STI incidence and associated comorbidities.The ECHO Trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier. NCT02550067) was a multicentre, open-label randomised trial of 7829 HIV-seronegative women seeking effective contraception in Eswatini, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia.

Detailed trial methods and results have been published.6 7 We conducted a secondary analysis of ECHO trial data to evaluate absolute and relative chlamydia and gonorrhoea final visit prevalences among women randomised to intramuscular depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-IM), a copper intrauterine device (IUD) and a levonorgestrel (LNG) implant.MethodsStudy design, participants and ethicsWomen were enrolled in the ECHO trial from December 2015 through September 2017. Institutional review boards at each site approved the study protocol and women provided written informed consent before any study procedures. In brief, women who were not pregnant, HIV-seronegative, aged 16–35 years, seeking effective contraception, without medical contraindications, willing to use the assigned method for 18 months, reported not using injectable, intrauterine or implantable contraception for the previous 6 months and reported being sexually active, were enrolled. At every visit, participants received HIV risk reduction counselling, HIV testing and STI management, condoms and, as it became a part of national standard of care, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Counselling messages related to HIV risk were implemented consistently across the three groups throughout the trial.6The trial was implemented in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice. Informed consent was obtained from participants or their parents/guardians and human experimentation guidelines of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and those of the authors' institution(s) were followed.Contraceptive exposureAt enrolment, women were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to DMPA-IM, copper IUD or LNG implant.6 Participants received an injection of 150 mg/mL DMPA-IM (Depo Provera. Pfizer, Puurs, Belgium) at enrolment and every 3 months until the final visit at 18 months after enrolment, a copper IUD (Optima TCu380A. Injeflex, Sao Paolo, Brazil) or a LNG implant (Jadelle.

Bayer, Turku, Finland) at enrolment. Women returned for follow-up visits at 1 month after enrolment to address initial contraceptive side-effects and every 3 months thereafter, for up to 18 months with later enrolling participants contributing 12 to 18 months of follow-up. Visits included HIV serological testing, contraceptive counselling, syndromic STI management and safety monitoring.STI outcomesThe primary outcomes of this secondary analysis were prevalent chlamydia and gonorrhoea at the final visit. Syndromic STI management was provided at screening and all follow-up visits.

Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae was conducted at screening and final visits, at the visit of HIV detection for participants who became HIV infected and at clinical discretion. Any untreated participants with positive NAAT results were contacted to return to the study clinic for treatment.CovariatesAt baseline (inclusive of screening and enrolment visits), we collected demographic, sexual and reproductive risk behaviour and reproductive and contraceptive history data. Baseline risk factors evaluated as covariates included age, whether the participant earned her own income, chlamydia and gonorrhoea status, herpes simplex kamagra type 2 (HSV-2) sero-status and suspected PID. Final visit factors evaluated as covariates included number of sex partners in the past 3 months, number of new sex partners in the past 3 months, HIV serostatus, HSV-2 serostatus, condom use in the past 3 months, sex exchanged for money/gifts, sex during vaginal bleeding, follow-up time and number of pelvic examinations during follow-up.

Age and HSV-2 serostatus were evaluated for effect measure modification.Statistical analysisWe conducted analyses using R V.3.5.3 (Vienna, Austria), and log-binomial regression to estimate chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences within each contraceptive group and pairwise prevalence ratios (PR) between each arm in as-randomised and consistent use analyses.In the as-randomised analysis, we analysed participants by the contraceptive method assigned at randomisation independent of method adherence. We estimated crude point prevalences by arm and study site and pairwise adjusted PRs.In the consistent use analysis, we only included women who initiated use of their randomised contraceptive method and maintained randomised method adherence throughout follow-up. We estimated crude point prevalences by arm and pairwise adjusted PRs, with evaluation of age and HSV-2 status first as potential effect measure modifiers, and all covariates above as potential confounders. Study site and age were retained http://howyouruletheworld.com/beowulf-and-the-first-press-release/ in the final model.

Other covariates were retained if their inclusion in the base model led to a 10% change in the effect estimate through backwards selection.Supplementary analysesAdditional supporting analyses to assess postrandomisation potential sources of bias were conducted to inform interpretation of results. These include evaluation of recent sexual behaviour at enrolment, month 9 and the final visit. Cohort participation (ie, follow-up time, early discontinuation and timing of randomised method discontinuation) and health outcomes (ie, final visit HIV and HSV-2 status) and frequency and results of pelvic examinations by STI status, site and visit month by randomised arm.ResultsA total of 7829 women were randomly assigned as follows. 2609 to the DMPA-IM group, 2607 to the copper IUD group and 2613 to the LNG implant group (figure 1).

Participants were excluded if they were HIV positive at enrolment, did not have at least one HIV test or did not have chlamydia and gonorrhoea test results at the final visit. Overall, 90%, 94% and 93% from the DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant groups, respectively, were included in analyses.Study profile. DMPA-IM, depot medroxy progesterone acetate. IUD, intrauterine device.

LNG, levonorgestrel." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 1 Study profile. DMPA-IM, depot medroxy progesterone acetate. IUD, intrauterine device. LNG, levonorgestrel.Participant characteristicsBaseline characteristics were similar across groups (table 1).

Nearly two-third of enrolled women (63%) were aged 24 and younger and 5768 (74%) of the study population resided in South Africa.View this table:Table 1 Participant baseline and final visit characteristicsThe duration of participation averaged 16 months with no differences between randomised groups (table 1). A total of 1468 (19%) women either did not receive their randomised method or discontinued use during follow-up. Overall method continuation rates were high with minimal differences between randomised groups when measured by person-years.6 The proportion, however, of method non-adherence as defined in this analysis (ie, did not receive randomised method at baseline or discontinued randomised method at any point during follow-up), was greater in the DMPA-IM group (26%), followed by the copper IUD (18%) and LNG implant (12%) groups. Timing of discontinuation also differed across methods.

During the first 6 months, method discontinuation was highest in the copper IUD group (7%) followed closely by DMPA-IM (6%) and LNG implant (4%) groups. Between 7 and 12 months of follow-up, it was highest in DMPA-IM group (15%), with equivalent proportions in the LNG implant (5%) and copper IUD (5%) groups.Point prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visitsIn total, 18% of women had chlamydia at baseline (figure 2A) and 15% at the final visit. Among women 24 years and younger, 22% and 20% had chlamydia at baseline and final visits, respectively. Women aged 25–35 at baseline were less likely to have chlamydia at both baseline (12%) and final visits (8%) compared with younger women.

Baseline chlamydia prevalence ranged from 5% in Zambia to 28% in the Western Cape, South Africa (figure 2B).Point prevalence (per 100 persons) of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visit by age category and study site region. Y-axis scale differs for chlamydia and gonorrhoea figures." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 2 Point prevalence (per 100 persons) of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at baseline and final visit by age category and study site region. Y-axis scale differs for chlamydia and gonorrhoea figures.Among all women, 5% had gonorrhoea at baseline and the final visit (figure 2C). Women aged 24 and younger were more likely to have gonorrhoea compared with women aged 25 and older at both baseline (5% vs 4%, respectively) and the final visit (6% vs 3%, respectively).

Baseline gonorrhoea prevalence ranged from 3% in Zambia and Kenya to 9% in the Western Cape, South Africa (figure 2D). Similar prevalences were observed at the final visit.Point prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea at final visit by randomised contraceptive methodFourteen per cent of women randomised to DMPA-IM, 15% to copper IUD and 17% to LNG implant had chlamydia at the final visit (table 2).View this table:Table 2 Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae prevalence at final visitThe prevalence of chlamydia did not significantly differ between DMPA-IM and copper IUD groups (PR 0.90, 95% CI (0.79 to 1.04)) or between copper IUD and LNG implant groups (PR 0.92, 95% CI (0.81 to 1.04)). Women in the DMPA-IM group, however, had a significantly lower risk of chlamydia compared with the LNG implant group (PR. 0.83, 95% CI (0.72 to 0.95)).

Findings from the consistent use analysis were similar, and neither age nor HSV-2 status modified the observed associations.Four per cent of women randomised to DMPA-IM, 6% to copper IUD and 5% to LNG implant had gonorrhoea at the final visit (table 2). Gonorrhoea prevalence did not significantly differ between DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups (PR. 0.79, 95% CI (0.61 to 1.03)) or between copper IUD and LNG implant groups (PR. 1.18, 95% CI (0.93 to 1.49)).

Women in the DMPA-IM group had a significantly lower risk of gonorrhoea compared with women in the copper IUD group (PR. 0.67, 95% CI (0.52 to 0.87)). Results from as randomised and continuous use analyses did not differ. And again, neither age nor HSV-2 status modified the observed associations.Clinical assessment by randomised contraceptive methodTo assess the potential for outcome ascertainment bias, we evaluated the frequency of pelvic examinations and abdominal/pelvic pain and discharge by study arm.

Women in the copper IUD group were generally more likely to receive a pelvic examination during follow-up as compared with women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups (online supplemental appendix 1). Similarly, abdominal/pelvic pain on examination or abnormal discharge was observed most frequently in the copper IUD group. The number of pelvic examinations met the prespecified criteria for retention in the adjusted gonorrhoea model but not in the chlamydia model.Supplemental materialFrequency of syndromic symptoms and potential reAmong women who had chlamydia at baseline, 23% were also positive at the final visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3A). Nine per cent of gonorrhoea-positive women at baseline were also positive at the final visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3B).

Across both baseline and final visits, a minority of women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea presented with signs and/or symptoms. Among chlamydia-positive women, only 12% presented with either abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain at their test-positive visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3C). Similarly, only 15% of gonorrhoea-positive women presented with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain at their test-positive visit (online supplemental appendix 2, figure 3D).Potential re and symptoms among women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea. Data are pooled across the screening and final visits in figures (C) and (D).

Symptomatic is defined as presenting with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain. Final visit is described as potential re because test of cure was not conducted following baseline diagnosis and treatment." data-icon-position data-hide-link-title="0">Figure 3 Potential re and symptoms among women with chlamydia or gonorrhoea. Data are pooled across the screening and final visits in figures (C) and (D). Symptomatic is defined as presenting with abnormal vaginal discharge and/or abdominal/pelvic pain.

Final visit is described as potential re because test of cure was not conducted following baseline diagnosis and treatment.DiscussionWe observed differences in final prevalences of chlamydia and gonorrhoea by contraceptive group in both as-randomised and consistent-use analyses. The DMPA-IM group had lower final visit chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences as compared with copper IUD and LNG implant groups, though only the DMPA-IM versus the copper IUD comparison of gonorrhoea and DMPA-IM versus LNG implant comparison of chlamydia reached statistical significance. These are novel findings that have not previously been reported to our knowledge and were determined in a randomised trial setting with high participant retention, robust biomarker testing and high randomised method adherence. Interestingly, the copper IUD group had higher gonorrhoea and lower chlamydia prevalence compared with the LNG implant group, though neither finding was statistically significant.Two recent systematic reviews of the association between contraceptives and STIs found inconsistent and insufficient evidence on the association between the contraceptive methods under study in ECHO and chlamydia and gonorrhoea.8 9 Neither systematic review identified any randomised studies or any direct comparative evidence for DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant, thus enabling a unique scientific contribution from this secondary trial analysis.

Nonetheless, these findings should be interpreted in light of biological plausibility, as well as the design strengths and limitations of this analysis.The emerging science on the biological mechanisms underlying HIV susceptibility demonstrates the complex relationship between the infectious pathogen, the host innate and adaptive immune response and the interaction of both with the vaginal microbiome and other -omes. Data on these factors in relationship to chlamydia and gonorrhoea acquisition are much more limited but can be assumed to be equally complex. Vaginal microbiome composition, including microbial metabolic by-products, have been shown to significantly modify risk of HIV acquisition and to vary with exogenous hormone exposure, menstrual cycle phase, ethnicity and geography.10–12 These same biological principles likely apply to chlamydia and gonorrhoea susceptibility. While DMPA-IM has been associated with decreased bacterial vaginosis (BV), initiation of the copper IUD has been associated with increased BV prevalence, and BV is associated with chlamydia and gonorrhoea acquisition.13 14 Moreover, Lactobacillus crispatus, which is less abundant in BV, has been shown to inhibit HeLa cell by Chlamydia trachomatis and inhibits growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in animal models.15 16 In addition, microbial community state types that are deficient in Lactobacillus crispatus and/or dominated by dysbiotic species are associated with inflammation, which is a driver of both STI and HIV susceptibility.

Thus, while the exact mechanisms of chlamydia and gonorrhoea in the presence of exogenous hormones and varying host microbiomes are unknown, it is biologically plausible that these complex factors may result in differential susceptibility to chlamydia and gonorrhoea among DMPA-IM, copper IUD and LNG implant users.An alternative explanation for these findings may be postrandomisation differences in clinical care and/or sexual behaviour. Participants in the copper IUD arm were more likely to have pelvic examinations and more likely to have discharge compared with women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant groups. While interim STI testing and/or treatment were not documented, women in the copper IUD arm may have been more likely to receive syndromic STI treatment during follow-up due to more examination and observed discharge. More frequent STI treatment in the copper IUD group would theoretically lower the final visit point prevalence relative to women in the DMPA-IM and LNG implant arms, suggesting that the observed lower risk of STI in the DMPA-IM arm is not due to differential examination, testing and treatment.

Differential sexual risk behaviour may also have influenced the results. As reported previously, women in the DMPA-IM group less frequently reported condomless sex and multiple partners than women in the other groups, and both DMPA-IM and LNG implant users less frequently reported new partners and sex during menses than copper IUD users.6 Statistical control of self-reported sexual risk behaviour in the consistent-use analysis may have been inadequate if self-reported sexual behaviour was inaccurately or insufficiently reported.A second alternative explanation may be differences in randomised method non-adherence, which was greater in the DMPA-IM group, compared with copper IUD and LNG implant groups. Yet, the consistency of findings in the as-randomised and continuous use analyses suggests that method non-adherence had minimal effect on study outcomes. Taken as a whole, these findings indicate that there may be real differences in chlamydia and gonorrhoea risk associated with use of DMPA-IM, the copper IUD and LNG implant.

However, any true differential risk by method must be evaluated in light of the holistic benefits and risks of each method.The high observed chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences, despite intensive counselling and condom provision, warrants attention, particularly among women ages 24 years and younger and among women in South Africa and Eswatini. While the ECHO study was conducted in settings of high HIV/STI incidence, enrolment criteria did not purposefully target women at highest risk of HIV/STI in the trial communities, suggesting that the observed prevalences may be broadly applicable to women seeking effective contraception in those settings. Improved approaches are needed to prevent STIs, including options for expedited partner treatment, to prevent re.As expected, few women testing positive for chlamydia or gonorrhoea presented with symptoms (12% and 15%, respectively), and a substantial proportion of women who were positive and treated at baseline were infected at the final visit despite syndromic management during the follow-up. Given that syndromic management is the standard of care within primary health facilities in most trial settings, these data suggest that a large proportion of among reproductive aged women is missed, exacerbating the burden of curable STIs and associated morbidities.

Routine access to more reliable diagnostics, like NAAT and novel point-of-care diagnostic tests, will be key to managing asymptomatic STIs and reducing STI prevalence and related morbidities in these settings.17This secondary analysis of the ECHO trial has strengths and limitations. Strengths include the randomised design with comparator groups of equal STI baseline risk. Participants had high adherence to their randomised contraceptive method.6 While all participants received standardised clinical care and counselling, the unblinded randomisation may have allowed postrandomisation differences in STI risk over time by method. It is possible that participants modified their risk-taking behaviour based on study counselling messages regarding the potential association between DMPA-IM and HIV.In conclusion, our analyses suggest that DMPA-IM users may have lower risk of chlamydia and gonorrhoea compared with LNG implant and copper IUD users, respectively.

Further investigation is warranted to better understand the mechanisms of chlamydia and gonorrhoea susceptibility in the context of contraceptive use. Moreover, the high chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences in this population, independent of contraceptive method, warrants urgent attention.Key messagesThe prevalence of chlamydia and gonorrhoea varied by contraceptive method in this randomised trial.High chlamydia and gonorrhoea prevalences, despite intensive counselling and condom provision, warrants attention, particularly among young women in South Africa and Eswatini.Most chlamydia and gonorrhoea s were asymptomatic. Therefore, routine access to reliable diagnostics are needed to effectively manage and prevent STIs in African women..

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What are the key features of hospitals that consistently what i should buy with kamagra deliver safe care on labour and delivery? buy super kamagra online uk. This is the primary question posed by Liberati and colleagues in this issue of BMJ buy super kamagra online uk Quality &. Safety.1 The authors propose a framework distilled from observations on a group of high-performing units in the UK participating in a training activity to improve patient safety. This study combined ethnography with individual interviews and focus groups buy super kamagra online uk and involved over 400 hours of total observations at six different maternity care sites.

The seven features in their resulting For Us framework correspond well to existing theoretical as well as applied quality improvement strategies. While we agree that their framework describes features that every labour and delivery unit should strive to include, this approach buy super kamagra online uk has some limitations in terms of generalisability. Specifically, Liberati and colleagues studied maternity units that are high performing, but their sample included only large-volume hospitals in what appear to be well-resourced settings. What is potentially missing is observations on underperforming units, and how these findings may or may not apply to smaller, lower resourced settings buy super kamagra online uk.

Additionally, the structure of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) also limits generalisability. For example, this is most analogous to employed physician models in buy super kamagra online uk the USA, with the potential advantage of a more organisationally oriented provider workforce. Given that most US hospitals do not have an employed provider model, we can’t assume that these factors will have the same impact in other models of care.In the USA, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed a Culture of Safety framework that delineates four key features. (1) organisations recognise that their buy super kamagra online uk primary activities are inherently high risk and make it their goal to operate in a reliably safe manner.

(2) organisations create buy super kamagra online uk a safe and blame-free reporting environment. (3) interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration is encouraged to address safety problems. And (4) resources are deliberately allocated and made available to address safety.2 This framework, as does For Us, focuses on a healthcare-oriented conceptualisation of safety and quality, and details medical outcomes buy super kamagra online uk as the primary metrics by which to measure success. Although achievement of these medical quality outcomes is imperative, we propose that there are additional domains needed to provide safe intrapartum care.

(A) prioritising patient experience—including emotional safety, birthing buy super kamagra online uk with dignity and an expectation of person-centred care. And (B) a unit culture that values low intervention births. Let us buy super kamagra online uk consider these domains in more depth.Patient experience and safety are inextricable. While much work has been done to improve physician–patient communication,3 4 few have successfully targeted the perpetuation of dysfunctional behaviours grounded in healthcare professionals’ implicit and explicit biases.5 This may be in part due to the tendency to observe and look for answers from the standpoint of the healthcare system rather than patients.

Women who had recently given birth were included in the study of Liberati and colleagues, but represented buy super kamagra online uk only 8 of 65 individual stakeholder interviews, and were not included in focus groups. The framework thus describes a high-functioning system buy super kamagra online uk from primarily the healthcare system’s perspective. In general, the patient’s role in achieving safe care includes many aspects, including providing personal information to reach the correct diagnosis, providing their values and lived experience in shared decision-making discussions, choosing their provider such that their needs regarding provider experience and safe practice are met, making sure that they receive the recommended treatments in a timely manner, as well as identifying and reporting errors.6 The detriment to health outcomes among patients who have failed interactions with providers is well documented (eg, leaving against medical advice or experiencing disrespect during their care) while other harms, such as psychological trauma, often go unmeasured.7Emotional and psychological trauma are safety errors, whether or not a patient leaves the hospital physically intact.8 Research has shown that patients experience psychological trauma both as a result of an adverse outcome and as a result of how the incident was managed. In birth, patients conceptualise the meaning of safety very differently from that of the medical system, with physical and emotional safety being inextricably interwoven into a single concept.9 Psychological trauma may manifest in postpartum depression, post-traumatic buy super kamagra online uk stress disorder10 and, some studies suggest, reduced childbearing in patients who experience traumatic birth.11 The experience of emotional safety on the part of the patient is only knowable to the patient, and only addressable when health systems—and health services research—ask the appropriate questions.

Therefore, patient-reported experience measures and critical examination of the process of patient-centred care should be at the centre of quality improvement.High-performing units prioritise patient voice and patient experience as a part of their culture. In a recent article, Morton and Simkin12 delineate steps to promote respectful maternity care in institutions, including obtaining unit commitment to respectful care, implementing training programmes to support respectful care as the norm and, finally, instituting respectful treatment of healthcare staff and clinicians by administrators and leaders—in other words, a unit culture buy super kamagra online uk of mutual respect and care among the entire team enables respectful care of the patient. Liberati and colleagues address the issue of hierarchies on labour and delivery, making the key observation that high-performing units create hierarchies around expertise rather than formal titles or disciplinary silos. However, this power differential buy super kamagra online uk applies to patients as well.

The existing hierarchy on most labour units places physicians at the top and patients at the bottom, which often acts to silence patients’ voices.13 Implicit bias and interpersonal racism and sexism contribute to this cycle of silence and mistreatment on labour and delivery units.14 Disrespect and dismissal of patient concerns have been increasingly described, but still lack quantitative measurement in association with maternal and child health outcomes.15 Interventions aimed at harm reduction are emerging,16 but more work is desperately needed in this area.Valuing low intervention is an important dimension of safety. Safety culture, as it is conceptualised by AHRQ and the current study, is ideally created to prevent or respond to harmful safety buy super kamagra online uk lapses. This model is more difficult to apply to an environment where the goal is safe facilitation of a normal biological process. In this setting, interventions (that often beget more interventions) buy super kamagra online uk can increase complications.

High rates of primary and repeat caesarean deliveries, and other invasive obstetric interventions seen in many birthing units are now widely acknowledged to be overused and overuse constitutes a patient safety risk.17 In our work in California, we buy super kamagra online uk have been able to demonstrate that provider attitudes, beliefs and unit culture can drive caesarean delivery overuse in ways that do not contribute to patient safety.18 19 Each intervention needs to be carefully and jointly considered for value and safety. This in no way diminishes the life-saving nature of caesarean delivery when it is medically indicated, but it sets up the expectation that safety measures, processes and procedures must be in place to actively work towards supporting vaginal birth rather than treating each labour as an emergency waiting to happen. The striking variation in obstetric intervention rates among hospitals and providers buy super kamagra online uk can provide critical insights. So, what is the right balance of intervention rates and mother/baby safety outcomes?.

In many instances, this buy super kamagra online uk may be a false dichotomy. In a study of California hospital labour practices, Lundsberg et al found that hospitals that prioritised low labour interventions and actively supported vaginal birth (eg, delaying admission until active labour onset, use of doulas, intermittent auscultation of fetal heart tones, non-pharmacological pain relief, and so on) had reduced caesarean delivery rates with well-preserved neonatal outcomes.20 It should be noted that in the USA, rates of intervention are starting at a high level so there is less danger of harm from achieving too low a rate. This may not be the case in the UK where there are now formal inquiries examining obstetric care in multiple NHS hospital trusts where poor buy super kamagra online uk perinatal outcomes have been linked to a systematic aversion to medical interventions even when indicated.21 Getting this balance right has been referred to as the Goldilocks quandary. Doing too little, too much or just right?.

22In conclusion, physical safety is buy super kamagra online uk the bare minimum of what should be expected in childbirth. Patients have a right, and healthcare providers and systems have an obligation to aim higher, to ensure patients emerge from childbirth as healthy or healthier—both physically and psychologically—than before entering the hospital. This can be best achieved by buy super kamagra online uk broadening the lens of what we consider essential to safety on maternity units to include prioritising patient experience, birthing with dignity and valuing low intervention rates. All of these domains need to be in balance.

Good mother or baby medical outcomes at the cost of high rates of intervention and high maternal psychological trauma are not a success, nor is the buy super kamagra online uk opposite. The true ‘safe’ maternity unit is one that does well on all of these dimensions, which, of course, means that we need buy super kamagra online uk to be able to measure each of them. Finally, all of these safety domains, including the ‘For Us’ framework proposed by Liberati and colleagues, focus on unit culture, provider behaviours and processes of care, and thus are within the reach of all maternity units no matter their level of resources.Healthcare-associated s (HCAIs) are those s acquired by an individual who is seeking medical care in any healthcare facility, including acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities (including nursing homes), outpatient surgical centres, dialysis centres or ambulatory care clinics.1 They are further defined as occurring at least 48 hours after hospitalisation or within 30 days of receiving medical care.2 HCAIs have plagued hospitals, physicians and patients for centuries and likely played a role in the reputation that hospitals historically had as dangerous places.3 In the mid-19th century, Ignaz Semmelweis observed that labouring mothers in an obstetrics unit had a high incidence of Puerperal (Childbed) fever, which he thought was related to direct contact with medical students. After working with cadavers, students often moved buy super kamagra online uk directly from the anatomy lab to the hospital, leading Semmelweis to postulate that students were contaminated and bringing a pathogen into the unit.

He saw dramatic improvements in maternal mortality after introducing a chlorinated lime hand wash for healthcare providers.4 Though not quickly accepted at large, his observations would become part of the foundation of the germ theory that we intuitively accept today.Over a century after Semmelweis introduced the idea of hand hygiene, prevention in healthcare settings has been thrust into the spotlight worldwide. In the 1960s, the US buy super kamagra online uk Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted research within the Comprehensive Hospital s Project and introduced surveillance and control techniques still used today. The creation of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) propelled control onto a national public health platform in the USA.3 Today, reduction of HCAIs has become a regulatory, financial and quality imperative across the world.Healthcare frequently involves the use of invasive devices and procedures that can increase the risk of HCAIs, including catheter-associated urinary tract s, central-line associated bloodstream s (CLABSIs), surgical site s and ventilator-associated events.5 The development of antimicrobial resistance related to antibiotic misuse or overuse6 has given rise to multidrug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), extended spectrum beta lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and diarrheal s with Clostridioides difficile. Today, most states in buy super kamagra online uk the USA have passed legislation mandating that healthcare facilities publicly report HCAIs, most often using the CDC NHSN surveillance definition for event reporting.7 Globally, the WHO’s Clean Care is Safer Care Programme is working alongside many nations to introduce surveillance and reporting programmes to strengthen the international response.8The patient environment has become a major focus of control interventions.

Although a large proportion of HCAIs are attributed to a patient’s endogenous microflora, up to 40% of nosocomial s are cross-s from the hands of healthcare providers, including transmission from high-touch patient-care surfaces.9 In order for pathogens to be transmitted, they generally must have characteristics that make them more robust in the environment, such as the ability to frequently colonise, survive and remain virulent on environmental surfaces and the ability to transiently colonise and pass from the hands of healthcare providers to patients or environmental surfaces.9 C. Difficile poses additional challenges for environmental control because of its ability to form spores that resist dry heat and many disinfectants.9 Even buy super kamagra online uk with active surveillance and the introduction of new environmental dis technologies, such as uaviolet germicidal irradiation,10 studies have demonstrated that patients hospitalised in rooms with previous occupants who were MRSA colonised or infected with C. Difficile were more likely to become contaminated,7 supporting the notion that hospital environments play an important role in HCAI transmission.Both the duration of hospitalisation and frequency of transfer between and within healthcare facilities increase the likelihood of exposure to contaminated environments. Intrahospital transfers refer to the movement of a patient within a healthcare facility, including transfers from the emergency room to an inpatient unit on admission, between two different units, to a different department for a procedure or diagnostic study or between rooms on the same unit.11 McHaney-Lindstrom and colleagues conducted a retrospective case-control study that found that with every additional intrahospital transfer, buy super kamagra online uk the odds of acquiring an with C.

Difficile increased by 7%.12 These transfers require a complex cascade of events and are affected by environmental control and communication challenges, professional conflicts related to variation in culture between units, hospital census and provider workload.13 In a systematic review, Bristol and colleagues found that intrahospital transfers are frequently associated with adverse outcomes, such as delirium, increased risk of falls, increased length of stay and prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation and central venous catheterisation.13 This therefore further highlights the significance of intrahospital transfers on patient outcomes.In this issue, Boncea and colleagues report on a retrospective case-control study conducted to estimate the risk of developing a HCAI depending on the number of buy super kamagra online uk intrahospital transfers between inpatient units or the same unit.11 The study was conducted in three urban hospitals within one UK hospital organisation. The study focused on patients aged 65 or older, given their higher frequency of access to medical care. Data were collected from the electronic health record (EHR) over a 3-year period and included a total of 24 240 hospitalisations of which 2877 were cases where the patient had a positive clinical buy super kamagra online uk culture obtained at least 48 hours after hospitalisation. Cases and controls were matched by potential confounding variables, including Elixhauser comorbidities, age, gender and total number of admissions.

Using multivariable logistic regression modelling, buy super kamagra online uk they found that for every additional intrahospital transfer, the odds of acquiring a HCAI increased by 9%, with the most common HCAI being C. Difficile .This study is one of the first to quantify the risk associated with the number of intrahospital transfers and HCAIs. Cases and buy super kamagra online uk controls were well matched, and the statistical modelling provides very compelling results. However, it is worth noting some features of the study that can affect the findings.

The study does not provide specific details on the active surveillance testing practices of the hospital network buy super kamagra online uk. Without these data, theoretically (and by chance), cases selected for this study could have been colonised by MRSA more frequently than controls, which would introduce a level of bias. C. Difficile was measured from the EHR by positive toxin immunoassay results, but the clinical context of this testing is not clear, raising the possibility that some positive patients may have represented colonisation and not acute .

The study also did not adjust for the indication for transfer (eg, transfer to or from the intensive care unit based on patient acuity, transfer for isolation precautions or transfer due to bed capacity or staffing issues) to determine if the patient care needs, isolation status or hospital strain modify the observed risk. As the authors acknowledge, prospective studies are needed to identify the clinical, administrative and systems factors that contribute to more frequent intrahospital transfers.Guidelines for prevention and control of HCAIs include evidence-based interventions that can be broadly categorised as either vertical or horizontal. Vertical interventions focus on reducing colonisation, and transmission of specific pathogens,7 and include surveillance testing for asymptomatic carriers, contact isolation precautions and targeted decolonisation.7 Horizontal interventions aim to reduce the risk of by a larger group of pathogens, independent of patient-specific conditions, such as optimisation of hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship and environmental cleaning practices.7 control programmes are tasked with weighing the risks and benefits of interventions to reduce rates of HCAIs while also being cost effective. Vertical approaches to prevent MRSA transmission and remain controversial due to inconsistent findings.7 In a nationwide US Veteran’s Affairs study that assessed the impact of MRSA surveillance testing and contact isolation in MRSA carriers, researchers demonstrated that these interventions resulted in reduced rates of MRSA and colonisation as well as reductions in the incidence of healthcare-associated C.

Difficile and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus s.14 In contrast, other studies evaluating similar practices in intensive care units found little impact of vertical control measures on MRSA rates15 and describe unintended consequences, such as decreased provider-patient contact, increased patient anxiety and patient dissatisfaction with quality of care.16Under endemic conditions, horizontal interventions may be more cost effective and beneficial given the broader number of microorganisms that can be targeted.7 Hand hygiene remains a core horizontal intervention, but hand hygiene compliance varies widely, with some countries’ hospitals compliance reported as low as 15%.17 Several studies focused on intensive care units have shown significant declines in MRSA colonisation rates when hand hygiene practices improve.7 In addition to hand hygiene, universal decolonisation strategies that typically use chlorhexidine gluconate bathing of high risk patients are more impactful than active surveillance testing for individual pathogens at reducing rates of HCAIs such as CLABSIs.7 A central pillar of control is antimicrobial stewardship. These programmes use coordinated interventions to promote appropriate antimicrobial use, improve patient outcomes, decrease antibiotic resistance and reduce the incidence of s secondary to multidrug-resistant organisms.18 Given variation in environmental dis practices and provider-to-provider communication, reducing the frequency of intrahospital transfers is another potential horizontal intervention to reduce the burden of HCAIs.Boncea and colleagues’ study adds to the growing body of literature that intrahospital transfers may increase the risk of HCAIs. Prior studies have identified that patients experience an average of 2.4 transfers during a hospitalisation and approximately 96% of individuals experience a transfer during hospitalisation.13 Transfers within the hospital also affect patient care and safety in other ways, resulting in delays in diagnosis and treatment due, in part, to poor coordination of care and inadequate handoffs between units.19 Additionally, intrahospital transfers take an average of 1 hour to complete, adding significantly to nursing workload.19The field of control must continue to adapt to changing hospital environments in order to further reduce the risk of HCAIs. In the most recent progress report from US CDC, one in every 31 US patients will experience a HCAI while hospitalised,20 contributing to preventable deaths and permanent harm and to a tremendous excess cost of care.21 While the impact of these s is readily recognised in the developed world, recent studies indicate that the impact of HCAIs in the developing world is staggering, with one study reporting that the pooled-prevalence of HCAIs in resource-limited settings is 15.5 per 100 patients, compared with 4.5 per 100 patients in the USA and 7.1 per 100 patients in Europe.22 control programmes must continue to survey their respective hospital populations and evolve to the demand of the time, weighing benefits, balancing measures and costs.

Reducing the number of intrahospital transfers and improving care coordination across these transitions represent a future opportunity to further reduce the burden of HCAIs..

What are kamagra online review kamagra cost the key features of hospitals that consistently deliver safe care on labour and delivery?. This is the kamagra online review primary question posed by Liberati and colleagues in this issue of BMJ Quality &. Safety.1 The authors propose a framework distilled from observations on a group of high-performing units in the UK participating in a training activity to improve patient safety. This study combined ethnography with individual interviews and focus kamagra online review groups and involved over 400 hours of total observations at six different maternity care sites. The seven features in their resulting For Us framework correspond well to existing theoretical as well as applied quality improvement strategies.

While we agree that their framework describes features that every labour and delivery unit should strive to include, this approach kamagra online review has some limitations in terms of generalisability. Specifically, Liberati and colleagues studied maternity units that are high performing, but their sample included only large-volume hospitals in what appear to be well-resourced settings. What is potentially missing is observations on underperforming units, and how kamagra online review these findings may or may not apply to smaller, lower resourced settings. Additionally, the structure of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) also limits generalisability. For example, this is most analogous to employed physician models in the USA, with the potential advantage of a more organisationally oriented provider workforce kamagra online review.

Given that most US hospitals do not have an employed provider model, we can’t assume that these factors will have the same impact in other models of care.In the USA, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed a Culture of Safety framework that delineates four key features. (1) organisations recognise that their primary activities are inherently high risk and make it their kamagra online review goal to operate in a reliably safe manner. (2) organisations create kamagra online review a safe and blame-free reporting environment. (3) interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration is encouraged to address safety problems. And (4) resources are deliberately kamagra online review allocated and made available to address safety.2 This framework, as does For Us, focuses on a healthcare-oriented conceptualisation of safety and quality, and details medical outcomes as the primary metrics by which to measure success.

Although achievement of these medical quality outcomes is imperative, we propose that there are additional domains needed to provide safe intrapartum care. (A) prioritising patient experience—including emotional safety, birthing with dignity and kamagra online review an expectation of person-centred care. And (B) a unit culture that values low intervention births. Let us consider these domains in kamagra online review more depth.Patient experience and safety are inextricable. While much work has been done to improve physician–patient communication,3 4 few have successfully targeted the perpetuation of dysfunctional behaviours grounded in healthcare professionals’ implicit and explicit biases.5 This may be in part due to the tendency to observe and look for answers from the standpoint of the healthcare system rather than patients.

Women who had recently given birth were included in the study of Liberati and colleagues, but represented only 8 of 65 kamagra online review individual stakeholder interviews, and were not included in focus groups. The framework thus describes kamagra online review a high-functioning system from primarily the healthcare system’s perspective. In general, the patient’s role in achieving safe care includes many aspects, including providing personal information to reach the correct diagnosis, providing their values and lived experience in shared decision-making discussions, choosing their provider such that their needs regarding provider experience and safe practice are met, making sure that they receive the recommended treatments in a timely manner, as well as identifying and reporting errors.6 The detriment to health outcomes among patients who have failed interactions with providers is well documented (eg, leaving against medical advice or experiencing disrespect during their care) while other harms, such as psychological trauma, often go unmeasured.7Emotional and psychological trauma are safety errors, whether or not a patient leaves the hospital physically intact.8 Research has shown that patients experience psychological trauma both as a result of an adverse outcome and as a result of how the incident was managed. In birth, patients conceptualise the meaning of safety very differently from that of the medical system, with physical and emotional safety being inextricably interwoven into a single concept.9 Psychological trauma may manifest in postpartum depression, post-traumatic stress disorder10 and, some studies suggest, reduced childbearing in patients who experience traumatic birth.11 The experience of emotional safety on the part of the patient is only knowable to the patient, kamagra online review and only addressable when health systems—and health services research—ask the appropriate questions. Therefore, patient-reported experience measures and critical examination of the process of patient-centred care should be at the centre of quality improvement.High-performing units prioritise patient voice and patient experience as a part of their culture.

In a recent article, Morton and Simkin12 delineate steps to promote respectful maternity care in institutions, including obtaining unit commitment to respectful care, implementing training programmes to support respectful care as the norm and, finally, instituting respectful treatment kamagra online review of healthcare staff and clinicians by administrators and leaders—in other words, a unit culture of mutual respect and care among the entire team enables respectful care of the patient. Liberati and colleagues address the issue of hierarchies on labour and delivery, making the key observation that high-performing units create hierarchies around expertise rather than formal titles or disciplinary silos. However, this power kamagra online review differential applies to patients as well. The existing hierarchy on most labour units places physicians at the top and patients at the bottom, which often acts to silence patients’ voices.13 Implicit bias and interpersonal racism and sexism contribute to this cycle of silence and mistreatment on labour and delivery units.14 Disrespect and dismissal of patient concerns have been increasingly described, but still lack quantitative measurement in association with maternal and child health outcomes.15 Interventions aimed at harm reduction are emerging,16 but more work is desperately needed in this area.Valuing low intervention is an important dimension of safety. Safety culture, as it is conceptualised by AHRQ and the current kamagra online review study, is ideally created to prevent or respond to harmful safety lapses.

This model is more difficult to apply to an environment where the goal is safe facilitation of a normal biological process. In this kamagra online review setting, interventions (that often beget more interventions) can increase complications. High rates of primary and repeat caesarean deliveries, and other invasive obstetric interventions seen in many birthing units are now widely acknowledged to be overused and overuse constitutes a patient safety risk.17 In our work in California, we have been able to demonstrate that provider attitudes, beliefs and unit culture can drive caesarean delivery overuse in kamagra online review ways that do not contribute to patient safety.18 19 Each intervention needs to be carefully and jointly considered for value and safety. This in no way diminishes the life-saving nature of caesarean delivery when it is medically indicated, but it sets up the expectation that safety measures, processes and procedures must be in place to actively work towards supporting vaginal birth rather than treating each labour as an emergency waiting to happen. The striking variation in obstetric intervention rates among hospitals and kamagra online review providers can provide critical insights.

So, what is the right balance of intervention rates and mother/baby safety outcomes?. In many instances, this may be a false dichotomy kamagra online review. In a study of California hospital labour practices, Lundsberg et al found that hospitals that prioritised low labour interventions and actively supported vaginal birth (eg, delaying admission until active labour onset, use of doulas, intermittent auscultation of fetal heart tones, non-pharmacological pain relief, and so on) had reduced caesarean delivery rates with well-preserved neonatal outcomes.20 It should be noted that in the USA, rates of intervention are starting at a high level so there is less danger of harm from achieving too low a rate. This may not be the case in the UK where there are now formal inquiries examining obstetric care in multiple NHS hospital trusts where poor perinatal outcomes have been linked to a systematic aversion to medical kamagra online review interventions where to buy kamagra even when indicated.21 Getting this balance right has been referred to as the Goldilocks quandary. Doing too little, too much or just right?.

22In conclusion, physical safety is the bare kamagra online review minimum of what should be expected in childbirth. Patients have a right, and healthcare providers and systems have an obligation to aim higher, to ensure patients emerge from childbirth as healthy or healthier—both physically and psychologically—than before entering the hospital. This can kamagra online review be best achieved by broadening the lens of what we consider essential to safety on maternity units to include prioritising patient experience, birthing with dignity and valuing low intervention rates. All of these domains need to be in balance. Good mother or baby medical outcomes at the cost of high rates of intervention and high maternal psychological trauma are not a success, kamagra online review nor is the opposite.

The true ‘safe’ maternity unit is one that does well on all of these dimensions, which, of course, means that we need kamagra online review to be able to measure each of them. Finally, all of these safety domains, including the ‘For Us’ framework proposed by Liberati and colleagues, focus on unit culture, provider behaviours and processes of care, and thus are within the reach of all maternity units no matter their level of resources.Healthcare-associated s (HCAIs) are those s acquired by an individual who is seeking medical care in any healthcare facility, including acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities (including nursing homes), outpatient surgical centres, dialysis centres or ambulatory care clinics.1 They are further defined as occurring at least 48 hours after hospitalisation or within 30 days of receiving medical care.2 HCAIs have plagued hospitals, physicians and patients for centuries and likely played a role in the reputation that hospitals historically had as dangerous places.3 In the mid-19th century, Ignaz Semmelweis observed that labouring mothers in an obstetrics unit had a high incidence of Puerperal (Childbed) fever, which he thought was related to direct contact with medical students. After working with cadavers, students often moved directly from the anatomy lab to the hospital, leading Semmelweis to postulate that kamagra online review students were contaminated and bringing a pathogen into the unit. He saw dramatic improvements in maternal mortality after introducing a chlorinated lime hand wash for healthcare providers.4 Though not quickly accepted at large, his observations would become part of the foundation of the germ theory that we intuitively accept today.Over a century after Semmelweis introduced the idea of hand hygiene, prevention in healthcare settings has been thrust into the spotlight worldwide. In the 1960s, the US Centers for Disease Control kamagra online review and Prevention (CDC) conducted research within the Comprehensive Hospital s Project and introduced surveillance and control techniques still used today.

The creation of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) propelled control onto a national public health platform in the USA.3 Today, reduction of HCAIs has become a regulatory, financial and quality imperative across the world.Healthcare frequently involves the use of invasive devices and procedures that can increase the risk of HCAIs, including catheter-associated urinary tract s, central-line associated bloodstream s (CLABSIs), surgical site s and ventilator-associated events.5 The development of antimicrobial resistance related to antibiotic misuse or overuse6 has given rise to multidrug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), extended spectrum beta lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and diarrheal s with Clostridioides difficile. Today, most kamagra online review states in the USA have passed legislation mandating that healthcare facilities publicly report HCAIs, most often using the CDC NHSN surveillance definition for event reporting.7 Globally, the WHO’s Clean Care is Safer Care Programme is working alongside many nations to introduce surveillance and reporting programmes to strengthen the international response.8The patient environment has become a major focus of control interventions. Although a large proportion of HCAIs are attributed to a patient’s endogenous microflora, up to 40% of nosocomial s are cross-s from the hands of healthcare providers, including transmission from high-touch patient-care surfaces.9 In order for pathogens to be transmitted, they generally must have characteristics that make them more robust in the environment, such as the ability to frequently colonise, survive and remain virulent on environmental surfaces and the ability to transiently colonise and pass from the hands of healthcare providers to patients or environmental surfaces.9 C. Difficile poses additional challenges for environmental control because of its ability to form spores that resist dry heat and many disinfectants.9 Even with active surveillance and the introduction of new environmental dis technologies, such as uaviolet germicidal irradiation,10 studies have demonstrated that patients hospitalised in rooms with previous occupants who were MRSA colonised or infected with kamagra online review C. Difficile were more likely to become contaminated,7 supporting the notion that hospital environments play an important role in HCAI transmission.Both the duration of hospitalisation and frequency of transfer between and within healthcare facilities increase the likelihood of exposure to contaminated environments.

Intrahospital transfers refer to the movement of a patient within a healthcare facility, including transfers from the emergency room to an inpatient unit on admission, between two different units, to a different department for a procedure or diagnostic study or between rooms on the same unit.11 McHaney-Lindstrom and colleagues conducted a retrospective case-control study that found that with every additional intrahospital transfer, the odds of acquiring an kamagra online review with C. Difficile increased by 7%.12 These transfers require a complex cascade of events and are affected by environmental control and communication challenges, professional conflicts related to variation in culture between units, hospital census and provider workload.13 kamagra online review In a systematic review, Bristol and colleagues found that intrahospital transfers are frequently associated with adverse outcomes, such as delirium, increased risk of falls, increased length of stay and prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation and central venous catheterisation.13 This therefore further highlights the significance of intrahospital transfers on patient outcomes.In this issue, Boncea and colleagues report on a retrospective case-control study conducted to estimate the risk of developing a HCAI depending on the number of intrahospital transfers between inpatient units or the same unit.11 The study was conducted in three urban hospitals within one UK hospital organisation. The study focused on patients aged 65 or older, given their higher frequency of access to medical care. Data were collected from the electronic health record (EHR) over a 3-year period kamagra online review and included a total of 24 240 hospitalisations of which 2877 were cases where the patient had a positive clinical culture obtained at least 48 hours after hospitalisation. Cases and controls were matched by potential confounding variables, including Elixhauser comorbidities, age, gender and total number of admissions.

Using multivariable logistic regression modelling, they found that for every additional intrahospital transfer, the odds of acquiring a HCAI increased kamagra online review by 9%, with the most common HCAI being C. Difficile .This study is one of the first to quantify the risk associated with the number of intrahospital transfers and HCAIs. Cases and kamagra online review controls were well matched, and the statistical modelling provides very compelling results. However, it is worth noting some features of the study that can affect the findings. The study does not provide specific details on the active surveillance testing practices of the kamagra online review hospital network.

Without these data, theoretically (and by chance), cases selected for this study could have been colonised by MRSA more frequently than controls, which would introduce a level of bias. C. Difficile was measured from the EHR by positive toxin immunoassay results, but the clinical context of this testing is not clear, raising the possibility that some positive patients may have represented colonisation and not acute . The study also did not adjust for the indication for transfer (eg, transfer to or from the intensive care unit based on patient acuity, transfer for isolation precautions or transfer due to bed capacity or staffing issues) to determine if the patient care needs, isolation status or hospital strain modify the observed risk. As the authors acknowledge, prospective studies are needed to identify the clinical, administrative and systems factors that contribute to more frequent intrahospital transfers.Guidelines for prevention and control of HCAIs include evidence-based interventions that can be broadly categorised as either vertical or horizontal.

Vertical interventions focus on reducing colonisation, and transmission of specific pathogens,7 and include surveillance testing for asymptomatic carriers, contact isolation precautions and targeted decolonisation.7 Horizontal interventions aim to reduce the risk of by a larger group of pathogens, independent of patient-specific conditions, such as optimisation of hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship and environmental cleaning practices.7 control programmes are tasked with weighing the risks and benefits of interventions to reduce rates of HCAIs while also being cost effective. Vertical approaches to prevent MRSA transmission and remain controversial due to inconsistent findings.7 In a nationwide US Veteran’s Affairs study that assessed the impact of MRSA surveillance testing and contact isolation in MRSA carriers, researchers demonstrated that these interventions resulted in reduced rates of MRSA and colonisation as well as reductions in the incidence of healthcare-associated C. Difficile and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus s.14 In contrast, other studies evaluating similar practices in intensive care units found little impact of vertical control measures on MRSA rates15 and describe unintended consequences, such as decreased provider-patient contact, increased patient anxiety and patient dissatisfaction with quality of care.16Under endemic conditions, horizontal interventions may be more cost effective and beneficial given the broader number of microorganisms that can be targeted.7 Hand hygiene remains a core horizontal intervention, but hand hygiene compliance varies widely, with some countries’ hospitals compliance reported as low as 15%.17 Several studies focused on intensive care units have shown significant declines in MRSA colonisation rates when hand hygiene practices improve.7 In addition to hand hygiene, universal decolonisation strategies that typically use chlorhexidine gluconate bathing of high risk patients are more impactful than active surveillance testing for individual pathogens at reducing rates of HCAIs such as CLABSIs.7 A central pillar of control is antimicrobial stewardship. These programmes use coordinated interventions to promote appropriate antimicrobial use, improve patient outcomes, decrease antibiotic resistance and reduce the incidence of s secondary to multidrug-resistant organisms.18 Given variation in environmental dis practices and provider-to-provider communication, reducing the frequency of intrahospital transfers is another potential horizontal intervention to reduce the burden of HCAIs.Boncea and colleagues’ study adds to the growing body of literature that intrahospital transfers may increase the risk of HCAIs. Prior studies have identified that patients experience an average of 2.4 transfers during a hospitalisation and approximately 96% of individuals experience a transfer during hospitalisation.13 Transfers within the hospital also affect patient care and safety in other ways, resulting in delays in diagnosis and treatment due, in part, to poor coordination of care and inadequate handoffs between units.19 Additionally, intrahospital transfers take an average of 1 hour to complete, adding significantly to nursing workload.19The field of control must continue to adapt to changing hospital environments in order to further reduce the risk of HCAIs.

In the most recent progress report from US CDC, one in every 31 US patients will experience a HCAI while hospitalised,20 contributing to preventable deaths and permanent harm and to a tremendous excess cost of care.21 While the impact of these s is readily recognised in the developed world, recent studies indicate that the impact of HCAIs in the developing world is staggering, with one study reporting that the pooled-prevalence of HCAIs in resource-limited settings is 15.5 per 100 patients, compared with 4.5 per 100 patients in the USA and 7.1 per 100 patients in Europe.22 control programmes must continue to survey their respective hospital populations and evolve to the demand of the time, weighing benefits, balancing measures and costs. Reducing the number of intrahospital transfers and improving care coordination across these transitions represent a future opportunity to further reduce the burden of HCAIs..

Kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects

How to visit cite this kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects article:Singh OP. Mental health in diverse India. Need for kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects advocacy.

Indian J Psychiatry 2021;63:315-6”Unity in diversity” - That is the theme of India which we are quite proud of. We have diversity in terms of geography kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects – From the Himalayas to the deserts to the seas. Every region has its own distinct culture and food.

There are so many varieties of dress and language. There is huge difference between the states in terms of development, attitude toward women, health infrastructure, child mortality, and other sociodemographic kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects development indexes. There is now ample evidence that sociocultural factors influence mental health.

Compton and Shim[1] have described in their model of gene environment interaction how public policies and social kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects norms act on the distribution of opportunity leading to social inequality, exclusion, poor environment, discrimination, and unemployment. This in turn leads to reduced options, poor choices, and high-risk behavior. Combining genetic vulnerability and early brain insult with low access to health care leads to poor mental health, kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects disease, and morbidity.When we come to the field of mental health, we find huge differences between different states of India.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was markedly different while it was 5.8 and 5.1 for Assam and Uttar Pradesh at the lower end of the spectrum, it was 13.9 and 14.1 for Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra at the higher end of the spectrum. There was also a huge difference between the rural areas and metros, particularly in terms of psychosis and bipolar disorders.[2] The difference was distinct not only in the prevalence but also in the type of psychiatric disorders. While the more developed southern states had higher prevalence of adult-onset disorders kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects such as depression and anxiety, the less developed northern states had more of childhood onset disorders.

This may be due to lead toxicity, nutritional status, and perinatal issues. Higher rates of depression and anxiety were found in kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects females. Apart from the genetic and hormonal factors, increase was attributed to gender discrimination, violence, sexual abuse, and adverse sociocultural norms.

Marriage was found to be a negative prognostic indicator kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects contrary to the western norms.[3]Cultural influences on the presentation of psychiatric disorders are apparent. Being in recessive position in the family is one of the strongest predictors of psychiatric illnesses and psychosomatic disorders. The presentation of depressive and anxiety disorders with more somatic symptoms results from inability to express due to unequal power equation in the family rather than the lack of expressions.

Apart from culture bound syndromes, the role of cultural idioms of distress in manifestations kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects of psychiatric symptoms is well acknowledged.When we look into suicide data, suicide in lower socioeconomic strata (annual income <1 lakh) was 92,083, in annual income group of 1–5 lakhs, it was 41,197, and in higher income group, it was 4726. Among those who committed suicide, 67% were young adults, 34% had family problems, 23.4% of suicides occurred in daily laborers, 10.1% in unemployed persons, and 7.4% in farmers.[4]While there are huge regional differences in mental health issues, the challenges in mental health in India remain stigma reduction, conducting research on efficacy of early intervention, reaching the unreached, gender sensitive services, making quality mental healthcare accessible and available, suicide prevention, reduction of substance abuse, implementing insurance for mental health and reducing out-of-pocket expense, and finally, improving care for homeless mentally ill. All these require sustained advocacy aimed at promoting rights kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects of mentally ill persons and reducing stigma and discriminations.

It consists of various actions aimed at changing the attitudinal barriers in achieving positive mental health outcomes in the general population. Psychiatrists as Mental Health Advocates There is a debate whether psychiatrists who are overburdened with clinical care could or should be involved in the advocacy activities which require skills in other areas, and sometimes, they find themselves at the receiving end of mental health advocates. We must be involved and pathways should be to build technical kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects evidence for mapping out the problem, cost-effective interventions, and their efficacy.Advocacy can be done at institutional level, organizational level, and individual level.

There has been huge work done in this regard at institution level. Important research work done in this regard includes the National Mental Health Survey, National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India, Global Burden of Diseases in kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects Indian States, and Trajectory of Brain Development. Other activities include improving the infrastructure of mental hospitals, telepsychiatry services, provision of free drugs, providing training to increase the number of service providers.

Similarly, at organizational level, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) has filed a case for lacunae in Mental kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects Health-care Act, 2017. Another case filed by the IPS lead to change of name of the film from “Mental Hai Kya” to “Judgemental Hai Kya.” In LGBT issue, the IPS statement was quoted in the final judgement on the decriminalization of homosexuality. The IPS has also started helplines at different levels and media interactions.

The Indian Journal of Psychiatry has also come out with editorials highlighting the need of care of marginalized population such as migrant laborers and persons with dementia kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects. At an individual level, we can be involved in ensuring quality treatment, respecting dignity and rights of the patient, sensitization of staff, working with patients and caregivers to plan services, and being involved locally in media and public awareness activities.The recent experience of Brazil is an eye opener where suicide reduction resulted from direct cash transfer pointing at the role of economic decision in suicide.[5] In India where economic inequality is increasing, male-to-female ratio is abysmal in some states (877 in Haryana to 1034 in Kerala), our actions should be sensitive to this regional variation. When the enemy is economic inequality, our weapon is research highlighting the role of these factors on mental kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects health.

References 1.Compton MT, Shim RS. The social determinants of mental kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects health. Focus 2015;13:419-25.

2.Gururaj G, Varghese M, Benegal V, Rao GN, Pathak K, Singh LK, et al. National Mental Health Survey kamagra oral jelly 100mg side effects of India, 2015-16. Prevalence, Patterns and Outcomes.

Bengaluru. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, NIMHANS Publication No. 129.

2016. 3.Sagar R, Dandona R, Gururaj G, Dhaliwal RS, Singh A, Ferrari A, et al. The burden of mental disorders across the states of India.

The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017. Lancet Psychiatry 2020;7:148-61. 4.National Crime Records Bureau, 2019.

Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India. 2019. Available from.

Https://ncrb.gov.in. [Last accessed on 2021 Jun 24]. 5.Machado DB, Rasella D, dos Santos DN.

Impact of income inequality and other social determinants on suicide rate in Brazil. PLoS One 2015;10:e0124934. Correspondence Address:Om Prakash SinghDepartment of Psychiatry, WBMES, Kolkata, West Bengal.

AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal IndiaSource of Support. None, Conflict of Interest. NoneDOI.

10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_635_21Abstract Sexual health, an essential component of individual's health, is influenced by many complex issues including sexual behavior, attitudes, societal, and cultural factors on the one hand and while on the other hand, biological aspects, genetic predisposition, and associated mental and physical illnesses. Sexual health is a neglected area, even though it influences mortality, morbidity, and disability. Dhat syndrome (DS), the term coined by Dr.

N. N. Wig, has been at the forefront of advancements in understanding and misunderstanding.

The concept of DS is still evolving being treated as a culture-bound syndrome in the past to a syndrome of depression and treated as “a culturally determined idiom of distress.” It is bound with myths, fallacies, prejudices, secrecy, exaggeration, and value-laden judgments. Although it has been reported from many countries, much of the literature has emanated from Asia, that too mainly from India. The research in India has ranged from the study of a few cases in the past to recent national multicentric studies concerning phenomenology and beliefs of patients.

The epidemiological studies have ranged from being hospital-based to population-based studies in rural and urban settings. There are studies on the management of individual cases by resolving sexual myths, relaxation exercises, supportive psychotherapy, anxiolytics, and antidepressants to broader and deeper research concerning cognitive behavior therapy. The presentation looks into DS as a model case highlighting the importance of exploring sexual health concerns in the Indian population in general and in particular need to reconsider DS in the light of the newly available literature.

It makes a fervent appeal for the inclusion of DS in the mainstream diagnostic categories in the upcoming revisions of the diagnostic manuals which can pave the way for a better understanding and management of DS and sexual problems.Keywords. Culture-bound syndrome, Dhat syndrome, Dhat syndrome management, Dhat syndrome prevalence, psychiatric comorbidity, sexual disordersHow to cite this article:Sathyanarayana Rao T S. History and mystery of Dhat syndrome.

A critical look at the current understanding and future directions. Indian J Psychiatry 2021;63:317-25 Introduction Mr. President, Chairpersons, my respected teachers and seniors, my professional colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen:I deem it a proud privilege and pleasure to receive and to deliver DLN Murti Rao Oration Award for 2020.

I am humbled at this great honor and remain grateful to the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) in general and the awards committee in particular. I would like to begin my presentation with my homage to Professor DLN Murti Rao, who was a Doyen of Psychiatry.[1] I have a special connection to the name as Dr. Doddaballapura Laxmi Narasimha Murti Rao, apart from a family name, obtained his medical degree from Mysore Medical College, Mysuru, India, the same city where I have served last 33 years in JSS Medical College and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research.

His name carries the reverence in the corridors of the current National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) at Bangalore which was All India Institute of Mental Health, when he served as Head and the Medical Superintendent. Another coincidence was his untimely demise in 1962, the same year another Doyen Dr. Wig[2],[3] published the article on a common but peculiar syndrome in the Indian context and gave the name Dhat syndrome (DS).

Even though Dr. Wig is no more, his legacy of profound contribution to psychiatry and psychiatric education in general and service to the society and Mental Health, in particular, is well documented. His keen observation and study culminated in synthesizing many aspects and developments in DS.I would also like to place on record my humble pranams to my teachers from Christian Medical College, Vellore – Dr.

Abraham Varghese, the first Editor of the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine and Dr. K. Kuruvilla, Past Editor of Indian Journal of Psychiatry whose legacies I carried forward for both the journals.

I must place on record that my journey in the field of Sexual Medicine was sown by Dr. K. Kuruvilla and subsequent influence of Dr.

Ajit Avasthi from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research from Chandigarh as my role model in the field. There are many more who have shaped and nurtured my interest in the field of sex and sexuality.The term “Dhat” was taken from the Sanskrit language, which is an important word “Dhatu” and has known several meanings such as “metal,” a “medicinal constituent,” which can be considered as most powerful material within the human body.[4] The Dhat disorder is mainly known for “loss of semen”, and the DS is a well-known “culture-bound syndrome (CBS).”[4] The DS leads to several psychosexual disorders such as physical weakness, tiredness, anxiety, appetite loss, and guilt related to the loss of semen through nocturnal emission, in urine and by masturbation as mentioned in many studies.[4],[5],[6] Conventionally, Charaka Samhita mentions “waste of bodily humors” being linked to the “loss of Dhatus.”[5] Semen has even been mentioned by Aristotle as a “soul substance” and weakness associated with its loss.[6] This has led to a plethora of beliefs about “food-blood-semen” relationship where the loss of semen is considered to reduce vitality, potency, and psychophysiological strength. People have variously attributed DS to excessive masturbation, premarital sex, promiscuity, and nocturnal emissions.

Several past studies have emphasized that CBS leads to “anxiety for loss of semen” is not only prevalent in the Indian subcontinent but also a global phenomenon.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20]It is important to note that DS manifestation and the psychosexual features are based on the impact of culture, demographic profiles, and the socioeconomic status of the patients.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20] According to Leff,[21] culture depends upon norms, values, and myths, based on a specific area, and is also shared by the indigenous individuals of that area. Tiwari et al.[22] mentioned in their study that “culture is closely associated with mental disorders through social and psychological activities.” With this background, the paper attempts to highlight the multidimensional construct of DS for a better clinical understanding in routine practice. Dhat Syndrome.

A Separate Entity or a “Cultural Variant” of Depression Even though DS has been studied for years now, a consensus on the definition is yet to be achieved. It has mostly been conceptualized as a multidimensional psychosomatic entity consisting of anxiety, depressive, somatic, and sexual phenomenology. Most importantly, abnormal and erroneous attributions are considered to be responsible for the genesis of DS.

The most important debate is, however, related to the nosological status of DS. Although considered to a CBS unique to India, it has also been increasingly reported in China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and America.[11] The consistency and validity of its diagnosis have been consistently debated, and one of the most vital questions that emerged was. Can there be another way to conceptualize DS?.

There is no single answer to that question. Apart from an independent entity, the diagnostic validity of which has been limited in longitudinal studies,[23] it has also been a cultural variant of depressive and somatization disorders. Mumford[11] in his study of Asian patients with DS found a significant association with depressed mood, anxiety, and fatigue.

Around the same time, another study by Chadha[24] reported comorbidities in DS at a rate of 50%, 32%, and 18% related to depression, somatoform disorders, and anxiety, respectively. Depression continued to be reported as the most common association of DS in many studies.[25],[26] This “cause-effect” dilemma can never be fully resolved. Whether “loss of semen” and the cultural attributions to it leads to the affective symptoms or whether low mood and neuroticism can lead to DS in appropriate cultural context are two sides of the argument.

However, the cognitive biases resulting in the attributional errors of DS and the subsequently maintained attitudes with relation to sexuality can be explained by the depressive cognitions and concepts of learned helplessness. Balhara[27] has argued that since DS is not really culture specific as thought of earlier, it should not be solely categorized as a functional somatic syndrome, as that can have detrimental effects on its understanding and management. He also mentions that the underlying “emotional distress and cultural contexts” are not unique to DS but can be related to any psychiatric syndrome for that matter.

On the contrary, other researchers have warned that subsuming DS and other CBS under the broader rubric of “mood disorders” can lead to neglect and reductionism in disorder like DS that can have unique cultural connotations.[28] Over the years, there have been multiple propositions to relook and relabel CBS like DS. Considering it as a variant of depression or somatization can make it a “cultural phenotype” of these disorders in certain regions, thus making it easier for the classificatory systems. This dichotomous debate seems never-ending, but clinically, it is always better to err on over-diagnosing and over-treating depression and anxiety in DS, which can improve the well-being of the distressed patients.

Why Discuss Dhat Syndrome. Implications in Clinical Practice DS might occur independently or associated with multiple comorbidities. It has been a widely recognized clinical condition in various parts of the world, though considered specific to the Indian subcontinent.

The presentation can often be polymorphic with symptom clusters of affective, somatic, behavioral, and cognitive manifestations.[29] Being common in rural areas, the first contacts of the patients are frequently traditional faith healers and less often, the general practitioners. A psychiatric referral occurs much later, if at all. This leads to underdetection and faulty treatments, which can strengthen the already existing misattributions and misinformation responsible for maintaining the disorder.

Furthermore, depression and sexual dysfunction can be the important comorbidities that if untreated, lead to significant psychosocial dysfunction and impaired quality of life.[30] Besides many patients of DS believe that their symptoms are due to failure of interpersonal relationships, s, and heredity, which might cause early death and infertility. This contributes to the vicious cycle of fear and panic.[31] Doctor shopping is another challenge and failure to detect and address the concern of DS might lead to dropping out from the care.[15] Rao[17] in their epidemiological study reported 12.5% prevalence in the general population, with 20.5% and 50% suffering from comorbid depression and sexual disorders. The authors stressed upon the importance of early detection of DS for the psychosexual and social well-being.

Most importantly, the multidimensional presentation of DS can at certain times be a facade overshadowing underlying neurotic disorders (anxiety, depression, somatoform, hypochondriasis, and phobias), obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders and body dysmorphic disorders, delusional disorders, sexual disorders (premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction) and infectious disorders (urinary tract s, sexually transmitted diseases), and even stress-related manifestations in otherwise healthy individuals.[4],[14],[15] This significant overlap of symptomatology, increased prevalence, and marked comorbidity make it all the more important for physicians to make sense out of the construct of DS. That can facilitate prompt detection and management of DS in routine clinical practice.In an earlier review study, it was observed that few studies are undertaken to update the research works from published articles as an updated review, systemic review, world literature review, etc., on DS and its management approach.[29],[32],[33],[34],[35] The present paper attempts to compile the evidence till date on DS related to its nosology, critique, manifestations, and management plan. The various empirical studies on DS all over the world will be briefly discussed along with the implications and importance of the syndrome.

The Construct of Dhat Syndrome. Summary of Current Evidence DS is a well-known CBS, which is defined as undue concern about the weakening effects after the passage of semen in urine or through nocturnal emission that has been stated by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10).[36] It is also known as “semen loss syndrome” by Shakya,[20] which is prevalent mainly in the Indian subcontinent[37] and has also been reported in the South-Eastern and western population.[15],[16],[20],[32],[38],[39],[40],[41] Individuals with “semen loss anxiety” suffer from a myriad of psychosexual symptoms, which have been attributed to “loss of vital essence through semen” (common in South Asia).[7],[15],[16],[17],[32],[37],[41],[42],[43] The various studies related to attributes of DS and their findings are summarized further.Prakash et al.[5] studied 100 DS patients through 139 symptoms of the Associated Symptoms Scale. They studied sociodemographic profile, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and Postgraduate Institute Neuroticism Scale.

The study found a wide range of physical, anxiety, depression, sexual, and cognitive symptoms. Most commonly associated symptoms were found as per score ≥1. This study reported several parameters such as the “sense of being unhealthy” (99%), worry (99%), feeling “no improvement despite treatment” (97%), tension (97%), tiredness (95%), fatigue (95%), weakness (95%), and anxiety (95%).

The common sexual disorders were observed as loss of masculinity (83%), erectile dysfunction (54%), and premature ejaculation (53%). Majority of patients had faced mild or moderate level of symptoms in which 47% of the patients reported severe weakness. Overall distress and dysfunction were observed as 64% and 81% in the studied subjects, respectively.A study in Taiwan involved 87 participants from a Urology clinic.

Most of them have sexual neurosis (Shen-K'uei syndrome).[7] More than one-third of the patients belonged to lower social class and symptoms of depression, somatization, anxiety, masturbation, and nocturnal emissions. Other bodily complaints as reported were sleep disturbances, fatigue, dizziness, backache, and weakness. Nearly 80% of them considered that all of their problems were due to masturbatory practices.De Silva and Dissanayake[8] investigated several manifestations on semen loss syndrome in the psychiatric clinic of Colombo General Hospital, Sri Lanka.

Beliefs regarding effects of semen loss and help-seeking sought for DS were explored. 38 patients were studied after psychiatrically ill individuals and those with organic disorders were excluded. Duration of semen loss varied from 1 to 20 years.

Every participant reported excessive loss of semen and was preoccupied with it. The common forms of semen loss were through nocturnal emission, masturbation, urinary loss, and through sexual activities. Most of them reported multiple modes of semen loss.

Masturbatory frequency and that of nocturnal emissions varied significantly. More than half of the patients reported all types of complaints (psychological, sexual, somatic, and genital).In the study by Chadda and Ahuja,[9] 52 psychiatric patients (mostly adolescents and young adults) complained of passing “Dhat” in urine. They were assessed for a period of 6 months.

More than 80% of them complained of body weakness, aches, and pains. More than 50% of the patients suffered from depression and anxiety. All the participants felt that their symptoms were due to loss of “dhat” in urine, attributed to excessive masturbation, extramarital and premarital sex.

Half of those who faced sexual dysfunctions attributed them to semen loss.Mumford[11] proposed a controversial explanation of DS arguing that it might be a part of other psychiatric disorders, like depression. A total of 1000 literate patients were recruited from a medical outdoor in a public sector hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. About 600 educated patients were included as per Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI).

Men with DS reported greater symptoms on BSI than those without DS. 60 psychiatric patients were also recruited from the same hospital and diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-III-R. Among them, 33% of the patients qualified for “Dhat” items on BSI.

The symptoms persisted for more than 15 days. It was observed that symptoms of DS highly correlated with BSI items, namely erectile dysfunction, burning sensation during urination, fatigue, energy loss, and weakness. This comparative study indicated that patients with DS suffered more from depressive disorders than without DS and the age group affected by DS was mostly the young.Grover et al.[15] conducted a study on 780 male patients aged >16 years in five centers (Chandigarh, Jaipur, Faridkot, Mewat, and New Delhi) of Northern India, 4 centers (2 from Kolkata, 1 each in Kalyani and Bhubaneswar) of Eastern India, 2 centers (Agra and Lucknow) of Central India, 2 centers (Ahmedabad and Wardha) of Western India, and 2 centers of Southern India (both located at Mysore) spread across the country by using DS questionnaire.

Nearly one-third of the patients were passing “Dhat” multiple times a week. Among them, nearly 60% passed almost a spoonful of “Dhat” each time during a loss. This work on sexual disorders reported that the passage of “Dhat” was mostly attributed to masturbation (55.1%), dreams on sex (47.3%), sexual desire (42.8%), and high energy foods consumption (36.7%).

Mostly, the participants experienced passage of Dhat as “night falls” (60.1%) and “while passing stools” (59.5%). About 75.6% showed weakness in sexual ability as a common consequence of the “loss of Dhat.” The associated symptoms were depression, hopelessness, feeling low, decreased energy levels, weakness, and lack of pleasure. Erectile problems and premature ejaculation were also present.Rao[17] in his first epidemiological study done in Karnataka, India, showed the prevalence rate of DS in general male population as 12.5%.

It was found that 57.5% were suffering either from comorbid depression or anxiety disorders. The prevalence of psychiatric and sexual disorders was about three times higher with DS compared to non-DS subjects. One-third of the cases (32.8%) had no comorbidity in hospital (urban).

One-fifth (20.5%) and 50% subjects (51.3%) had comorbid depressive disorders and sexual dysfunction. The psychosexual symptoms were found among 113 patients who had DS. The most common psychological symptoms reported by the subjects with DS were low self-esteem (100%), loss of interest in any activity (95.60%), feeling of guilt (92.00%), and decreased social interaction (90.30%).

In case of sexual disorders, beliefs were held commonly about testes becoming smaller (92.00%), thinness of semen (86.70%), decreased sexual capabilities (83.20%), and tilting of penis (70.80%).Shakya[20] studied a clinicodemographic profile of DS patients in psychiatry outpatient clinic of B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.

A total of 50 subjects were included in this study, and the psychiatric diagnoses as well as comorbidities were investigated as per the ICD-10 criteria. Among the subjects, most of the cases had symptoms of depression and anxiety, and all the subjects were worried about semen loss. Somehow these subjects had heard or read that semen loss or masturbation is unhealthy practice.

The view of participants was that semen is very “precious,” needs preservation, and masturbation is a malpractice. Beside DS, two-thirds of the subjects had comorbid depression.In another Indian study, Chadda et al.[24] compared patients with DS with those affected with neurotic/depressive disorders. Among 100 patients, 50%, 32%, and 18% reported depression, somatic problems, and anxiety, respectively.

The authors argued that cases of DS have similar symptom dimensions as mood and anxiety disorders.Dhikav et al.[31] examined prevalence and management depression comorbid with DS. DSM-IV and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used for assessments. About 66% of the patients met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria of depression.

They concluded that depression was a frequent comorbidity in DS patients.In a study by Perme et al.[37] from South India that included 32 DS patients, the control group consisted of 33 people from the same clinic without DS, depression, and anxiety. The researchers followed the guidelines of Bhatia and Malik's for the assessment of primary complaints of semen loss through “nocturnal emissions, masturbation, sexual intercourse, and passing of semen before and after urine.” The assessment was done based on several indices, namely “Somatization Screening Index, Illness Behavior Questionnaire, Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Whitley Index, and Revised Chalder Fatigue Scale.” Several complaints such as somatic complaints, hypochondriacal beliefs, and fatigue were observed to be significantly higher among patients with DS compared to the control group.A study conducted in South Hall (an industrial area in the borough of Middlesex, London) included Indian and Pakistani immigrants. Young men living separately from their wives reported promiscuity, some being infected with gonorrhea and syphilis.

Like other studies, nocturnal emission, weakness, and impotency were the other reported complaints. Semen was considered to be responsible for strength and vigor by most patients. Compared to the sexual problems of Indians, the British residents complained of pelvic issues and backache.In another work, Bhatia et al.[42] undertook a study on culture-bound syndromes and reported that 76.7% of the sample had DS followed by possession syndrome and Koro (a genital-related anxiety among males in South-East Asia).

Priyadarshi and Verma[43] performed a study in Urology Department of S M S Hospital, Jaipur, India. They conducted the study among 110 male patients who complained of DS and majority of them were living alone (54.5%) or in nuclear family (30%) as compared to joint family. Furthermore, 60% of them reported of never having experienced sex.Nakra et al.[44] investigated incidence and clinical features of 150 consecutive patients who presented with potency complaints in their clinic.

Clinical assessments were done apart from detailed sexual history. The patients were 15–50 years of age, educated up to mid-school and mostly from a rural background. Most of them were married and reported premarital sexual practices, while nearly 67% of them practiced masturbation from early age.

There was significant guilt associated with nocturnal emissions and masturbation. Nearly 27% of the cases reported DS-like symptoms attributing their health problems to semen loss.Behere and Nataraj[45] reported that majority of the patients with DS presented with comorbidities of physical weakness, anxiety, headache, sad mood, loss of appetite, impotence, and premature ejaculation. The authors stated that DS in India is a symptom complex commonly found in younger age groups (16–23 years).

The study subjects presented with complaints of whitish discharge in urine and believed that the loss of semen through masturbation was the reason for DS and weakness.Singh et al.[46] studied 50 cases with DS and sexual problems (premature ejaculation and impotence) from Punjab, India, after exclusion of those who were psychiatrically ill. It was assumed in the study that semen loss is considered synonymous to “loss of something precious”, hence its loss would be associated with low mood and grief. Impotency (24%), premature ejaculation (14%), and “Dhat” in urine (40%) were the common complaints observed.

Patients reported variety of symptoms including anxiety, depression, appetite loss, sleep problems, bodily pains, and headache. More than half of the patients were independently diagnosed with depression, and hence, the authors argued that DS may be a manifestation of depressive disorders.Bhatia and Malik[47] reported that the most common complaints associated with DS were physical weakness, fatigue and palpitation, insomnia, sad mood, headache, guilt feeling and suicidal ideation, impotence, and premature ejaculation. Psychiatric disorders were found in 69% of the patients, out of which the most common was depression followed by anxiety, psychosis, and phobia.

About 15% of the patients were found to have premature ejaculation and 8% had impotence.Bhatia et al.[48] examined several biological variables of DS after enrolment of 40 patients in a psychosexual clinic in Delhi. Patients had a history of impotence, premature ejaculation, and loss of semen (after exclusion of substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders). Twenty years was the mean age of onset and semen loss was mainly through masturbation and sexual intercourse.

67.5% and 75% of them reported sexual disorders and psychiatric comorbidity while 25%, 12.5%, and 37.5% were recorded to suffer from ejaculatory impotence, premature ejaculation, and depression (with anxiety), respectively.Bhatia[49] conducted a study on CBS among 60 patients attending psychiatric outdoor in a teaching hospital. The study revealed that among all patients with CBSs, DS was the most common (76.7%) followed by possession syndrome (13.3%) and Koro (5%). Hypochondriasis, sexually transmitted diseases, and depression were the associated comorbidities.

Morrone et al.[50] studied 18 male patients with DS in the Dermatology department who were from Bangladesh and India. The symptoms observed were mainly fatigue and nonspecific somatic symptoms. DS patients manifested several symptoms in psychosocial, religious, somatic, and other domains.

The reasons provided by the patients for semen loss were urinary loss, nocturnal emission, and masturbation. Dhat Syndrome. The Epidemiology The typical demographic profile of a DS patient has been reported to be a less educated, young male from lower socioeconomic status and usually from rural areas.

In the earlier Indian studies by Carstairs,[51],[52],[53] it was observed that majority of the cases (52%–66.7%) were from rural areas, belonged to “conservative families and posed rigid views about sex” (69%-73%). De Silva and Dissanayake[8] in their study on semen loss syndrome reported the average age of onset of DS to be 25 years with most of them from lower-middle socioeconomic class. Chadda and Ahuja[9] studied young psychiatric patients who complained of semen loss.

They were mainly manual laborers, farmers, and clerks from low socioeconomic status. More than half were married and mostly uneducated. Khan[13] studied DS patients in Pakistan and reported that majority of the patients visited Hakims (50%) and Homeopaths (24%) for treatment.

The age range was wide between 12 and 65 years with an average age of 24 years. Among those studied, majority were unmarried (75%), literacy was up to matriculation and they belonged to lower socioeconomic class. Grover et al.[15] in their study of 780 male subjects showed the average age of onset to be 28.14 years and the age ranged between 21 and 30 years (55.3%).

The subjects were single or unmarried (51.0%) and married (46.7%). About 23.5% of the subjects had graduated and most were unemployed (73.5%). Majority of subjects were lower-middle class (34%) and had lower incomes.

Rao[17] studied 907 subjects, in which majority were from 18 to 30 years (44.5%). About 45.80% of the study subjects were illiterates and very few had completed postgraduation. The subjects were both married and single.

Majority of the subjects were residing in nuclear family (61.30%) and only 0.30% subjects were residing alone. Most of the patients did not have comorbid addictive disorders. The subjects were mainly engaged in agriculture (43.40%).

Majority of the subjects were from lower middle and upper lower socioeconomic class.Shakya[20] had studied the sociodemographic profile of 50 patients with DS. The average age of the studied patients was 25.4 years. The age ranges in decreasing order of frequency were 16–20 years (34%) followed by 21–25 years (28%), greater than 30 years (26%), 26–30 years (10%), and 11–15 years (2%).

Further, the subjects were mostly students (50%) and rest were in service (26%), farmers (14%), laborers (6%), and business (4%), respectively. Dhikav et al.[31] conducted a study on 30 patients who had attended the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary care hospital with complaints of frequently passing semen in urine. In the studied patients, the age ranged between 20 and 40 years with an average age of 29 years and average age of onset of 19 years.

The average duration of illness was that of 11 months. Most of the studied patients were unmarried (64.2%) and educated till middle or high school (70%). Priyadarshi and Verma[43] performed a study in 110 male patients with DS.

The average age of the patients was 23.53 years and it ranged between 15 and 68 years. The most affected age group of patients was of 18–25 years, which comprised about 60% of patients. On the other hand, about 25% ranged between 25 and 35 years, 10% were lesser than 18 years of age, and 5.5% patients were aged >35 years.

Higher percentage of the patients were unmarried (70%). Interestingly, high prevalence of DS was found in educated patients and about 50% of patients were graduate or above but most of the patients were either unemployed or student (49.1%). About 55% and 24.5% patients showed monthly family income of <10,000 and 5000 Indian Rupees (INR), respectively.

Two-third patients belonged to rural areas of residence. Behere and Nataraj[45] found majority of the patients with DS (68%) to be between 16 and 25 years age. About 52% patients were married while 48% were unmarried and from lower socioeconomic strata.

The duration of DS symptoms varied widely. Singh[46] studied patients those who reported with DS, impotence, and premature ejaculation and reported the average age of the affected to be 21.8 years with a younger age of onset. Only a few patients received higher education.

Bhatia and Malik[47] as mentioned earlier reported that age at the time of onset of DS ranged from 16 to 24 years. More than half of them were single. It was observed that most patients had some territorial education (91.67%) but few (8.33%) had postgraduate education or professional training.

Finally, Bhatia et al.[48] studied cases of sexual dysfunctions and reported an average age of 21.6 years among the affected, majority being unmarried (80%). Most of those who had comorbid DS symptoms received minimal formal education. Management.

A Multimodal Approach As mentioned before, individuals affected with DS often seek initial treatment with traditional healers, practitioners of alternative medicine, and local quacks. As a consequence, varied treatment strategies have been popularized. Dietary supplements, protein and iron-rich diet, Vitamin B and C-complexes, antibiotics, multivitamin injections, herbal “supplements,” etc., have all been used in the treatment though scientific evidence related to them is sparse.[33] Frequent change of doctors, irregular compliance to treatment, and high dropout from health care are the major challenges, as the attributional beliefs toward DS persist in the majority even after repeated reassurance.[54] A multidisciplinary approach (involving psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers) is recommended and close liaison with the general physicians, the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy practitioners, dermatologists, venereologists, and neurologists often help.

The role of faith healers and local counselors is vital, and it is important to integrate them into the care of DS patients, rather than side-tracking them from the system. Community awareness needs to be increased especially in primary health care for early detection and appropriate referrals. Follow-up data show two-thirds of patients affected with DS recovering with psychoeducation and low-dose sedatives.[45] Bhatia[49] studied 60 cases of DS and reported better response to anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications compared to psychotherapy alone.

Classically, the correction of attributional biases through empathy, reflective, and nonjudgmental approaches has been proposed.[38] Over the years, sex education, psychotherapy, psychoeducation, relaxation techniques, and medications have been advocated in the management of DS.[9],[55] In psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral and brief solution-focused approaches are useful to target the dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs in DS. The role of sex education is vital involving the basic understanding of sexual anatomy and physiology of sexuality. This needs to be tailored to the local terminology and beliefs.

Biofeedback has also been proposed as a treatment modality.[4] Individual stress factors that might have precipitated DS need to be addressed. A detailed outline of assessment, evaluation, and management of DS is beyond the scope of this article and has already been reported in the IPS Clinical Practice Guidelines.[56] The readers are referred to these important guidelines for a comprehensive read on management. Probably, the most important factor is to understand and resolve the sociocultural contexts in the genesis of DS in each individual.

Adequate debunking of the myths related to sexuality and culturally appropriate sexual education is vital both for the prevention and treatment of DS.[56] Adequate treatment of comorbidities such as depression and anxiety often helps in reduction of symptoms, more so when the DS is considered to be a manifestation of the same. Future of Dhat Syndrome. The Way Forward Classifications in psychiatry have always been fraught with debates and discussion such as categorical versus dimensional, biological versus evolutionary.

CBS like DS forms a major area of this nosological controversy. Longitudinal stability of a diagnosis is considered to be an important part of its independent categorization. Sameer et al.[23] followed up DS patients for 6.0 ± 3.5 years and concluded that the “pure” variety of DS is not a stable diagnostic entity.

The authors rather proposed DS as a variant of somatoform disorder, with cultural explanations. The right “place” for DS in classification systems has mostly been debated and theoretically fluctuant.[14] Sridhar et al.[57] mentioned the importance of reclassifying DS from a clinically, phenomenologically, psycho-pathologically, and diagnostically valid standpoint. Although both ICD and DSM have been culturally sensitive to classification, their approach to DS has been different.

While ICD-10 considers DS under “other nonpsychotic mental disorders” (F48), DSM-V mentions it only in appendix section as “cultural concepts of distress” not assigning the condition any particular number.[12],[58] Fundamental questions have actually been raised about its separate existence altogether,[35] which further puts its diagnostic position in doubt. As discussed in the earlier sections, an alternate hypothesization of DS is a cultural variant of depression, rather than a “true syndrome.”[27] Over decades, various schools of thought have considered DS either to be a global phenomenon or a cultural “idiom” of distress in specific geographical regions or a manifestation of other primary psychiatric disorders.[59] Qualitative studies in doctors have led to marked discordance in their opinion about the validity and classificatory area of DS.[60] The upcoming ICD-11 targets to pay more importance to cultural contexts for a valid and reliable classification. However, separating the phenomenological boundaries of diseases might lead to subsetting the cultural and contextual variants in broader rubrics.[61],[62] In that way, ICD-11 might propose alternate models for distinction of CBS like DS at nosological levels.[62] It is evident that various factors include socioeconomics, acceptability, and sustainability influence global classificatory systems, and this might influence the “niche” of DS in the near future.

It will be interesting to see whether it retains its diagnostic independence or gets subsumed under the broader “narrative” of depression. In any case, uniformity of diagnosing this culturally relevant yet distressing and highly prevalent condition will remain a major area related to psychiatric research and treatment. Conclusion DS is a multidimensional psychiatric “construct” which is equally interesting and controversial.

Historically relevant and symptomatically mysterious, this disorder provides unique insights into cultural contexts of human behavior and the role of misattributions, beliefs, and misinformation in sexuality. Beyond the traditional debate about its “separate” existence, the high prevalence of DS, associated comorbidities, and resultant dysfunction make it relevant for emotional and psychosexual health. It is also treatable, and hence, the detection, understanding, and awareness become vital to its management.

This oration attempts a “bird's eye” view of this CBS taking into account a holistic perspective of the available evidence so far. The clinical manifestations, diagnostic and epidemiological attributes, management, and nosological controversies are highlighted to provide a comprehensive account of DS and its relevance to mental health. More systematic and mixed methods research are warranted to unravel the enigma of this controversial yet distressing psychiatric disorder.AcknowledgmentI sincerely thank Dr.

Debanjan Banerjee (Senior Resident, Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore) for his constant selfless support, rich academic discourse, and continued collaboration that helped me condense years of research and ideas into this paper.Financial support and sponsorshipNil.Conflicts of interestThere are no conflicts of interest. References 1.2.3.Srinivasa Murthy R, Wig NN. A man ahead of his time.

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Indian J Soc Psychiatry 2018;34 Suppl S1:1-4. Correspondence Address:T S Sathyanarayana RaoDepartment of Psychiatry, JSS Medical College and Hospital, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysore - 570 004, Karnataka IndiaSource of Support. None, Conflict of Interest.

NoneDOI. 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_791_20.

How to kamagra online review cite this article:Singh OP. Mental health in diverse India. Need for kamagra online review advocacy. Indian J Psychiatry 2021;63:315-6”Unity in diversity” - That is the theme of India which we are quite proud of.

We have diversity in terms of geography – From the Himalayas to the deserts to the kamagra online review seas. Every region has its own distinct culture and food. There are so many varieties of dress and language. There is huge difference between the states in terms of development, attitude kamagra online review toward women, health infrastructure, child mortality, and other sociodemographic development indexes.

There is now ample evidence that sociocultural factors influence mental health. Compton and Shim[1] have described in their model of gene environment interaction kamagra online review how public policies and social norms act on the distribution of opportunity leading to social inequality, exclusion, poor environment, discrimination, and unemployment. This in turn leads to reduced options, poor choices, and high-risk behavior. Combining genetic vulnerability and early brain insult with low access to health care leads kamagra online review to poor mental health, disease, and morbidity.When we come to the field of mental health, we find huge differences between different states of India.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was markedly different while it was 5.8 and 5.1 for Assam and Uttar Pradesh at the lower end of the spectrum, it was 13.9 and 14.1 for Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra at the higher end of the spectrum. There was also a huge difference between the rural areas and metros, particularly in terms of psychosis and bipolar disorders.[2] The difference was distinct not only in the prevalence but also in the type of psychiatric disorders. While the kamagra online review more developed southern states had higher prevalence of adult-onset disorders such as depression and anxiety, the less developed northern states had more of childhood onset disorders. This may be due to lead toxicity, nutritional status, and perinatal issues.

Higher rates of depression kamagra online review and anxiety were found in females. Apart from the genetic and hormonal factors, increase was attributed to gender discrimination, violence, sexual abuse, and adverse sociocultural norms. Marriage was found to be a negative prognostic indicator contrary to the western norms.[3]Cultural influences on the presentation of psychiatric kamagra online review disorders are apparent. Being in recessive position in the family is one of the strongest predictors of psychiatric illnesses and psychosomatic disorders.

The presentation of depressive and anxiety disorders with more somatic symptoms results from inability to express due to unequal power equation in the family rather than the lack of expressions. Apart from culture bound syndromes, the role of cultural idioms of distress in manifestations of psychiatric symptoms is well acknowledged.When we look into suicide data, suicide in lower socioeconomic strata (annual income <1 lakh) was 92,083, in kamagra online review annual income group of 1–5 lakhs, it was 41,197, and in higher income group, it was 4726. Among those who committed suicide, 67% were young adults, 34% had family problems, 23.4% of suicides occurred in daily laborers, 10.1% in unemployed persons, and 7.4% in farmers.[4]While there are huge regional differences in mental health issues, the challenges in mental health in India remain stigma reduction, conducting research on efficacy of early intervention, reaching the unreached, gender sensitive services, making quality mental healthcare accessible and available, suicide prevention, reduction of substance abuse, implementing insurance for mental health and reducing out-of-pocket expense, and finally, improving care for homeless mentally ill. All these require sustained advocacy aimed at promoting rights of mentally ill persons and kamagra online review reducing stigma and discriminations.

It consists of various actions aimed at changing the attitudinal barriers in achieving positive mental health outcomes in the general population. Psychiatrists as Mental Health Advocates There is a debate whether psychiatrists who are overburdened with clinical care could or should be involved in the advocacy activities which require skills in other areas, and sometimes, they find themselves at the receiving end of mental health advocates. We must be involved and pathways should be to build technical evidence for mapping out the problem, cost-effective interventions, and their efficacy.Advocacy can be done at institutional kamagra online review level, organizational level, and individual level. There has been huge work done in this regard at institution level.

Important research kamagra online review work done in this regard includes the National Mental Health Survey, National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India, Global Burden of Diseases in Indian States, and Trajectory of Brain Development. Other activities include improving the infrastructure of mental hospitals, telepsychiatry services, provision of free drugs, providing training to increase the number of service providers. Similarly, at organizational level, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) has filed a case for lacunae in Mental Health-care Act, 2017 kamagra online review. Another case filed by the IPS lead to change of name of the film from “Mental Hai Kya” to “Judgemental Hai Kya.” In LGBT issue, the IPS statement was quoted in the final judgement on the decriminalization of homosexuality.

The IPS has also started helplines at different levels and media interactions. The Indian Journal of Psychiatry has kamagra online review also come out with editorials highlighting the need of care of marginalized population such as migrant laborers and persons with dementia. At an individual level, we can be involved in ensuring quality treatment, respecting dignity and rights of the patient, sensitization of staff, working with patients and caregivers to plan services, and being involved locally in media and public awareness activities.The recent experience of Brazil is an eye opener where suicide reduction resulted from direct cash transfer pointing at the role of economic decision in suicide.[5] In India where economic inequality is increasing, male-to-female ratio is abysmal in some states (877 in Haryana to 1034 in Kerala), our actions should be sensitive to this regional variation. When the enemy is economic inequality, our weapon is research kamagra online review highlighting the role of these factors on mental health.

References 1.Compton MT, Shim RS. The social determinants of kamagra online review mental health. Focus 2015;13:419-25. 2.Gururaj G, Varghese M, Benegal V, Rao GN, Pathak K, Singh LK, et al.

National Mental Health Survey of India, 2015-16 kamagra online review. Prevalence, Patterns and Outcomes. Bengaluru. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, NIMHANS Publication No.

129. 2016. 3.Sagar R, Dandona R, Gururaj G, Dhaliwal RS, Singh A, Ferrari A, et al. The burden of mental disorders across the states of India.

The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017. Lancet Psychiatry 2020;7:148-61. 4.National Crime Records Bureau, 2019. Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India.

2019. Available from. Https://ncrb.gov.in. [Last accessed on 2021 Jun 24].

5.Machado DB, Rasella D, dos Santos DN. Impact of income inequality and other social determinants on suicide rate in Brazil. PLoS One 2015;10:e0124934. Correspondence Address:Om Prakash SinghDepartment of Psychiatry, WBMES, Kolkata, West Bengal.

AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal IndiaSource of Support. None, Conflict of Interest. NoneDOI. 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_635_21Abstract Sexual health, an essential component of individual's health, is influenced by many complex issues including sexual behavior, attitudes, societal, and cultural factors on the one hand and while on the other hand, biological aspects, genetic predisposition, and associated mental and physical illnesses.

Sexual health is a neglected area, even though it influences mortality, morbidity, and disability. Dhat syndrome (DS), the term coined by Dr. N. N.

Wig, has been at the forefront of advancements in understanding and misunderstanding. The concept of DS is still evolving being treated as a culture-bound syndrome in the past to a syndrome of depression and treated as “a culturally determined idiom of distress.” It is bound with myths, fallacies, prejudices, secrecy, exaggeration, and value-laden judgments. Although it has been reported from many countries, much of the literature has emanated from Asia, that too mainly from India. The research in India has ranged from the study of a few cases in the past to recent national multicentric studies concerning phenomenology and beliefs of patients.

The epidemiological studies have ranged from being hospital-based to population-based studies in rural and urban settings. There are studies on the management of individual cases by resolving sexual myths, relaxation exercises, supportive psychotherapy, anxiolytics, and antidepressants to broader and deeper research concerning cognitive behavior therapy. The presentation looks into DS as a model case highlighting the importance of exploring sexual health concerns in the Indian population in general and in particular need to reconsider DS in the light of the newly available literature. It makes a fervent appeal for the inclusion of DS in the mainstream diagnostic categories in the upcoming revisions of the diagnostic manuals which can pave the way for a better understanding and management of DS and sexual problems.Keywords.

Culture-bound syndrome, Dhat syndrome, Dhat syndrome management, Dhat syndrome prevalence, psychiatric comorbidity, sexual disordersHow to cite this article:Sathyanarayana Rao T S. History and mystery of Dhat syndrome. A critical look at the current understanding and future directions. Indian J Psychiatry 2021;63:317-25 Introduction Mr.

President, Chairpersons, my respected teachers and seniors, my professional colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen:I deem it a proud privilege and pleasure to receive and to deliver DLN Murti Rao Oration Award for 2020. I am humbled at this great honor and remain grateful to the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) in general and the awards committee in particular. I would like to begin my presentation with my homage to Professor DLN Murti Rao, who was a Doyen of Psychiatry.[1] I have a special connection to the name as Dr. Doddaballapura Laxmi Narasimha Murti Rao, apart from a family name, obtained his medical degree from Mysore Medical College, Mysuru, India, the same city where I have served last 33 years in JSS Medical College and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research.

His name carries the reverence in the corridors of the current National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) at Bangalore which was All India Institute of Mental Health, when he served as Head and the Medical Superintendent. Another coincidence was his untimely demise in 1962, the same year another Doyen Dr. Wig[2],[3] published the article on a common but peculiar syndrome in the Indian context and gave the name Dhat syndrome (DS). Even though Dr.

Wig is no more, his legacy of profound contribution to psychiatry and psychiatric education in general and service to the society and Mental Health, in particular, is well documented. His keen observation and study culminated in synthesizing many aspects and developments in DS.I would also like to place on record my humble pranams to my teachers from Christian Medical College, Vellore – Dr. Abraham Varghese, the first Editor of the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine and Dr. K.

Kuruvilla, Past Editor of Indian Journal of Psychiatry whose legacies I carried forward for both the journals. I must place on record that my journey in the field of Sexual Medicine was sown by Dr. K. Kuruvilla and subsequent influence of Dr.

Ajit Avasthi from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research from Chandigarh as my role model in the field. There are many more who have shaped and nurtured my interest in the field of sex and sexuality.The term “Dhat” was taken from the Sanskrit language, which is an important word “Dhatu” and has known several meanings such as “metal,” a “medicinal constituent,” which can be considered as most powerful material within the human body.[4] The Dhat disorder is mainly known for “loss of semen”, and the DS is a well-known “culture-bound syndrome (CBS).”[4] The DS leads to several psychosexual disorders such as physical weakness, tiredness, anxiety, appetite loss, and guilt related to the loss of semen through nocturnal emission, in urine and by masturbation as mentioned in many studies.[4],[5],[6] Conventionally, Charaka Samhita mentions “waste of bodily humors” being linked to the “loss of Dhatus.”[5] Semen has even been mentioned by Aristotle as a “soul substance” and weakness associated with its loss.[6] This has led to a plethora of beliefs about “food-blood-semen” relationship where the loss of semen is considered to reduce vitality, potency, and psychophysiological strength. People have variously attributed DS to excessive masturbation, premarital sex, promiscuity, and nocturnal emissions. Several past studies have emphasized that CBS leads to “anxiety for loss of semen” is not only prevalent in the Indian subcontinent but also a global phenomenon.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20]It is important to note that DS manifestation and the psychosexual features are based on the impact of culture, demographic profiles, and the socioeconomic status of the patients.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20] According to Leff,[21] culture depends upon norms, values, and myths, based on a specific area, and is also shared by the indigenous individuals of that area.

Tiwari et al.[22] mentioned in their study that “culture is closely associated with mental disorders through social and psychological activities.” With this background, the paper attempts to highlight the multidimensional construct of DS for a better clinical understanding in routine practice. Dhat Syndrome. A Separate Entity or a “Cultural Variant” of Depression Even though DS has been studied for years now, a consensus on the definition is yet to be achieved. It has mostly been conceptualized as a multidimensional psychosomatic entity consisting of anxiety, depressive, somatic, and sexual phenomenology.

Most importantly, abnormal and erroneous attributions are considered to be responsible for the genesis of DS. The most important debate is, however, related to the nosological status of DS. Although considered to a CBS unique to India, it has also been increasingly reported in China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and America.[11] The consistency and validity of its diagnosis have been consistently debated, and one of the most vital questions that emerged was. Can there be another way to conceptualize DS?.

There is no single answer to that question. Apart from an independent entity, the diagnostic validity of which has been limited in longitudinal studies,[23] it has also been a cultural variant of depressive and somatization disorders. Mumford[11] in his study of Asian patients with DS found a significant association with depressed mood, anxiety, and fatigue. Around the same time, another study by Chadha[24] reported comorbidities in DS at a rate of 50%, 32%, and 18% related to depression, somatoform disorders, and anxiety, respectively.

Depression continued to be reported as the most common association of DS in many studies.[25],[26] This “cause-effect” dilemma can never be fully resolved. Whether “loss of semen” and the cultural attributions to it leads to the affective symptoms or whether low mood and neuroticism can lead to DS in appropriate cultural context are two sides of the argument. However, the cognitive biases resulting in the attributional errors of DS and the subsequently maintained attitudes with relation to sexuality can be explained by the depressive cognitions and concepts of learned helplessness. Balhara[27] has argued that since DS is not really culture specific as thought of earlier, it should not be solely categorized as a functional somatic syndrome, as that can have detrimental effects on its understanding and management.

He also mentions that the underlying “emotional distress and cultural contexts” are not unique to DS but can be related to any psychiatric syndrome for that matter. On the contrary, other researchers have warned that subsuming DS and other CBS under the broader rubric of “mood disorders” can lead to neglect and reductionism in disorder like DS that can have unique cultural connotations.[28] Over the years, there have been multiple propositions to relook and relabel CBS like DS. Considering it as a variant of depression or somatization can make it a “cultural phenotype” of these disorders in certain regions, thus making it easier for the classificatory systems. This dichotomous debate seems never-ending, but clinically, it is always better to err on over-diagnosing and over-treating depression and anxiety in DS, which can improve the well-being of the distressed patients.

Why Discuss Dhat Syndrome. Implications in Clinical Practice DS might occur independently or associated with multiple comorbidities. It has been a widely recognized clinical condition in various parts of the world, though considered specific to the Indian subcontinent. The presentation can often be polymorphic with symptom clusters of affective, somatic, behavioral, and cognitive manifestations.[29] Being common in rural areas, the first contacts of the patients are frequently traditional faith healers and less often, the general practitioners.

A psychiatric referral occurs much later, if at all. This leads to underdetection and faulty treatments, which can strengthen the already existing misattributions and misinformation responsible for maintaining the disorder. Furthermore, depression and sexual dysfunction can be the important comorbidities that if untreated, lead to significant psychosocial dysfunction and impaired quality of life.[30] Besides many patients of DS believe that their symptoms are due to failure of interpersonal relationships, s, and heredity, which might cause early death and infertility. This contributes to the vicious cycle of fear and panic.[31] Doctor shopping is another challenge and failure to detect and address the concern of DS might lead to dropping out from the care.[15] Rao[17] in their epidemiological study reported 12.5% prevalence in the general population, with 20.5% and 50% suffering from comorbid depression and sexual disorders.

The authors stressed upon the importance of early detection of DS for the psychosexual and social well-being. Most importantly, the multidimensional presentation of DS can at certain times be a facade overshadowing underlying neurotic disorders (anxiety, depression, somatoform, hypochondriasis, and phobias), obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders and body dysmorphic disorders, delusional disorders, sexual disorders (premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction) and infectious disorders (urinary tract s, sexually transmitted diseases), and even stress-related manifestations in otherwise healthy individuals.[4],[14],[15] This significant overlap of symptomatology, increased prevalence, and marked comorbidity make it all the more important for physicians to make sense out of the construct of DS. That can facilitate prompt detection and management of DS in routine clinical practice.In an earlier review study, it was observed that few studies are undertaken to update the research works from published articles as an updated review, systemic review, world literature review, etc., on DS and its management approach.[29],[32],[33],[34],[35] The present paper attempts to compile the evidence till date on DS related to its nosology, critique, manifestations, and management plan. The various empirical studies on DS all over the world will be briefly discussed along with the implications and importance of the syndrome.

The Construct of Dhat Syndrome. Summary of Current Evidence DS is a well-known CBS, which is defined as undue concern about the weakening effects after the passage of semen in urine or through nocturnal emission that has been stated by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10).[36] It is also known as “semen loss syndrome” by Shakya,[20] which is prevalent mainly in the Indian subcontinent[37] and has also been reported in the South-Eastern and western population.[15],[16],[20],[32],[38],[39],[40],[41] Individuals with “semen loss anxiety” suffer from a myriad of psychosexual symptoms, which have been attributed to “loss of vital essence through semen” (common in South Asia).[7],[15],[16],[17],[32],[37],[41],[42],[43] The various studies related to attributes of DS and their findings are summarized further.Prakash et al.[5] studied 100 DS patients through 139 symptoms of the Associated Symptoms Scale. They studied sociodemographic profile, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, and Postgraduate Institute Neuroticism Scale. The study found a wide range of physical, anxiety, depression, sexual, and cognitive symptoms.

Most commonly associated symptoms were found as per score ≥1. This study reported several parameters such as the “sense of being unhealthy” (99%), worry (99%), feeling “no improvement despite treatment” (97%), tension (97%), tiredness (95%), fatigue (95%), weakness (95%), and anxiety (95%). The common sexual disorders were observed as loss of masculinity (83%), erectile dysfunction (54%), and premature ejaculation (53%). Majority of patients had faced mild or moderate level of symptoms in which 47% of the patients reported severe weakness.

Overall distress and dysfunction were observed as 64% and 81% in the studied subjects, respectively.A study in Taiwan involved 87 participants from a Urology clinic. Most of them have sexual neurosis (Shen-K'uei syndrome).[7] More than one-third of the patients belonged to lower social class and symptoms of depression, somatization, anxiety, masturbation, and nocturnal emissions. Other bodily complaints as reported were sleep disturbances, fatigue, dizziness, backache, and weakness. Nearly 80% of them considered that all of their problems were due to masturbatory practices.De Silva and Dissanayake[8] investigated several manifestations on semen loss syndrome in the psychiatric clinic of Colombo General Hospital, Sri Lanka.

Beliefs regarding effects of semen loss and help-seeking sought for DS were explored. 38 patients were studied after psychiatrically ill individuals and those with organic disorders were excluded. Duration of semen loss varied from 1 to 20 years. Every participant reported excessive loss of semen and was preoccupied with it.

The common forms of semen loss were through nocturnal emission, masturbation, urinary loss, and through sexual activities. Most of them reported multiple modes of semen loss. Masturbatory frequency and that of nocturnal emissions varied significantly. More than half of the patients reported all types of complaints (psychological, sexual, somatic, and genital).In the study by Chadda and Ahuja,[9] 52 psychiatric patients (mostly adolescents and young adults) complained of passing “Dhat” in urine.

They were assessed for a period of 6 months. More than 80% of them complained of body weakness, aches, and pains. More than 50% of the patients suffered from depression and anxiety. All the participants felt that their symptoms were due to loss of “dhat” in urine, attributed to excessive masturbation, extramarital and premarital sex.

Half of those who faced sexual dysfunctions attributed them to semen loss.Mumford[11] proposed a controversial explanation of DS arguing that it might be a part of other psychiatric disorders, like depression. A total of 1000 literate patients were recruited from a medical outdoor in a public sector hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. About 600 educated patients were included as per Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI). Men with DS reported greater symptoms on BSI than those without DS.

60 psychiatric patients were also recruited from the same hospital and diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-III-R. Among them, 33% of the patients qualified for “Dhat” items on BSI. The symptoms persisted for more than 15 days. It was observed that symptoms of DS highly correlated with BSI items, namely erectile dysfunction, burning sensation during urination, fatigue, energy loss, and weakness.

This comparative study indicated that patients with DS suffered more from depressive disorders than without DS and the age group affected by DS was mostly the young.Grover et al.[15] conducted a study on 780 male patients aged >16 years in five centers (Chandigarh, Jaipur, Faridkot, Mewat, and New Delhi) of Northern India, 4 centers (2 from Kolkata, 1 each in Kalyani and Bhubaneswar) of Eastern India, 2 centers (Agra and Lucknow) of Central India, 2 centers (Ahmedabad and Wardha) of Western India, and 2 centers of Southern India (both located at Mysore) spread across the country by using DS questionnaire. Nearly one-third of the patients were passing “Dhat” multiple times a week. Among them, nearly 60% passed almost a spoonful of “Dhat” each time during a loss. This work on sexual disorders reported that the passage of “Dhat” was mostly attributed to masturbation (55.1%), dreams on sex (47.3%), sexual desire (42.8%), and high energy foods consumption (36.7%).

Mostly, the participants experienced passage of Dhat as “night falls” (60.1%) and “while passing stools” (59.5%). About 75.6% showed weakness in sexual ability as a common consequence of the “loss of Dhat.” The associated symptoms were depression, hopelessness, feeling low, decreased energy levels, weakness, and lack of pleasure. Erectile problems and premature ejaculation were also present.Rao[17] in his first epidemiological study done in Karnataka, India, showed the prevalence rate of DS in general male population as 12.5%. It was found that 57.5% were suffering either from comorbid depression or anxiety disorders.

The prevalence of psychiatric and sexual disorders was about three times higher with DS compared to non-DS subjects. One-third of the cases (32.8%) had no comorbidity in hospital (urban). One-fifth (20.5%) and 50% subjects (51.3%) had comorbid depressive disorders and sexual dysfunction. The psychosexual symptoms were found among 113 patients who had DS.

The most common psychological symptoms reported by the subjects with DS were low self-esteem (100%), loss of interest in any activity (95.60%), feeling of guilt (92.00%), and decreased social interaction (90.30%). In case of sexual disorders, beliefs were held commonly about testes becoming smaller (92.00%), thinness of semen (86.70%), decreased sexual capabilities (83.20%), and tilting of penis (70.80%).Shakya[20] studied a clinicodemographic profile of DS patients in psychiatry outpatient clinic of B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.

A total of 50 subjects were included in this study, and the psychiatric diagnoses as well as comorbidities were investigated as per the ICD-10 criteria. Among the subjects, most of the cases had symptoms of depression and anxiety, and all the subjects were worried about semen loss. Somehow these subjects had heard or read that semen loss or masturbation is unhealthy practice. The view of participants was that semen is very “precious,” needs preservation, and masturbation is a malpractice.

Beside DS, two-thirds of the subjects had comorbid depression.In another Indian study, Chadda et al.[24] compared patients with DS with those affected with neurotic/depressive disorders. Among 100 patients, 50%, 32%, and 18% reported depression, somatic problems, and anxiety, respectively. The authors argued that cases of DS have similar symptom dimensions as mood and anxiety disorders.Dhikav et al.[31] examined prevalence and management depression comorbid with DS. DSM-IV and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used for assessments.

About 66% of the patients met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria of depression. They concluded that depression was a frequent comorbidity in DS patients.In a study by Perme et al.[37] from South India that included 32 DS patients, the control group consisted of 33 people from the same clinic without DS, depression, and anxiety. The researchers followed the guidelines of Bhatia and Malik's for the assessment of primary complaints of semen loss through “nocturnal emissions, masturbation, sexual intercourse, and passing of semen before and after urine.” The assessment was done based on several indices, namely “Somatization Screening Index, Illness Behavior Questionnaire, Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Whitley Index, and Revised Chalder Fatigue Scale.” Several complaints such as somatic complaints, hypochondriacal beliefs, and fatigue were observed to be significantly higher among patients with DS compared to the control group.A study conducted in South Hall (an industrial area in the borough of Middlesex, London) included Indian and Pakistani immigrants. Young men living separately from their wives reported promiscuity, some being infected with gonorrhea and syphilis.

Like other studies, nocturnal emission, weakness, and impotency were the other reported complaints. Semen was considered to be responsible for strength and vigor by most patients. Compared to the sexual problems of Indians, the British residents complained of pelvic issues and backache.In another work, Bhatia et al.[42] undertook a study on culture-bound syndromes and reported that 76.7% of the sample had DS followed by possession syndrome and Koro (a genital-related anxiety among males in South-East Asia). Priyadarshi and Verma[43] performed a study in Urology Department of S M S Hospital, Jaipur, India.

They conducted the study among 110 male patients who complained of DS and majority of them were living alone (54.5%) or in nuclear family (30%) as compared to joint family. Furthermore, 60% of them reported of never having experienced sex.Nakra et al.[44] investigated incidence and clinical features of 150 consecutive patients who presented with potency complaints in their clinic. Clinical assessments were done apart from detailed sexual history. The patients were 15–50 years of age, educated up to mid-school and mostly from a rural background.

Most of them were married and reported premarital sexual practices, while nearly 67% of them practiced masturbation from early age. There was significant guilt associated with nocturnal emissions and masturbation. Nearly 27% of the cases reported DS-like symptoms attributing their health problems to semen loss.Behere and Nataraj[45] reported that majority of the patients with DS presented with comorbidities of physical weakness, anxiety, headache, sad mood, loss of appetite, impotence, and premature ejaculation. The authors stated that DS in India is a symptom complex commonly found in younger age groups (16–23 years).

The study subjects presented with complaints of whitish discharge in urine and believed that the loss of semen through masturbation was the reason for DS and weakness.Singh et al.[46] studied 50 cases with DS and sexual problems (premature ejaculation and impotence) from Punjab, India, after exclusion of those who were psychiatrically ill. It was assumed in the study that semen loss is considered synonymous to “loss of something precious”, hence its loss would be associated with low mood and grief. Impotency (24%), premature ejaculation (14%), and “Dhat” in urine (40%) were the common complaints observed. Patients reported variety of symptoms including anxiety, depression, appetite loss, sleep problems, bodily pains, and headache.

More than half of the patients were independently diagnosed with depression, and hence, the authors argued that DS may be a manifestation of depressive disorders.Bhatia and Malik[47] reported that the most common complaints associated with DS were physical weakness, fatigue and palpitation, insomnia, sad mood, headache, guilt feeling and suicidal ideation, impotence, and premature ejaculation. Psychiatric disorders were found in 69% of the patients, out of which the most common was depression followed by anxiety, psychosis, and phobia. About 15% of the patients were found to have premature ejaculation and 8% had impotence.Bhatia et al.[48] examined several biological variables of DS after enrolment of 40 patients in a psychosexual clinic in Delhi. Patients had a history of impotence, premature ejaculation, and loss of semen (after exclusion of substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders).

Twenty years was the mean age of onset and semen loss was mainly through masturbation and sexual intercourse. 67.5% and 75% of them reported sexual disorders and psychiatric comorbidity while 25%, 12.5%, and 37.5% were recorded to suffer from ejaculatory impotence, premature ejaculation, and depression (with anxiety), respectively.Bhatia[49] conducted a study on CBS among 60 patients attending psychiatric outdoor in a teaching hospital. The study revealed that among all patients with CBSs, DS was the most common (76.7%) followed by possession syndrome (13.3%) and Koro (5%). Hypochondriasis, sexually transmitted diseases, and depression were the associated comorbidities.

Morrone et al.[50] studied 18 male patients with DS in the Dermatology department who were from Bangladesh and India. The symptoms observed were mainly fatigue and nonspecific somatic symptoms. DS patients manifested several symptoms in psychosocial, religious, somatic, and other domains. The reasons provided by the patients for semen loss were urinary loss, nocturnal emission, and masturbation.

Dhat Syndrome. The Epidemiology The typical demographic profile of a DS patient has been reported to be a less educated, young male from lower socioeconomic status and usually from rural areas. In the earlier Indian studies by Carstairs,[51],[52],[53] it was observed that majority of the cases (52%–66.7%) were from rural areas, belonged to “conservative families and posed rigid views about sex” (69%-73%). De Silva and Dissanayake[8] in their study on semen loss syndrome reported the average age of onset of DS to be 25 years with most of them from lower-middle socioeconomic class.

Chadda and Ahuja[9] studied young psychiatric patients who complained of semen loss. They were mainly manual laborers, farmers, and clerks from low socioeconomic status. More than half were married and mostly uneducated. Khan[13] studied DS patients in Pakistan and reported that majority of the patients visited Hakims (50%) and Homeopaths (24%) for treatment.

The age range was wide between 12 and 65 years with an average age of 24 years. Among those studied, majority were unmarried (75%), literacy was up to matriculation and they belonged to lower socioeconomic class. Grover et al.[15] in their study of 780 male subjects showed the average age of onset to be 28.14 years and the age ranged between 21 and 30 years (55.3%). The subjects were single or unmarried (51.0%) and married (46.7%).

About 23.5% of the subjects had graduated and most were unemployed (73.5%). Majority of subjects were lower-middle class (34%) and had lower incomes. Rao[17] studied 907 subjects, in which majority were from 18 to 30 years (44.5%). About 45.80% of the study subjects were illiterates and very few had completed postgraduation.

The subjects were both married and single. Majority of the subjects were residing in nuclear family (61.30%) and only 0.30% subjects were residing alone. Most of the patients did not have comorbid addictive disorders. The subjects were mainly engaged in agriculture (43.40%).

Majority of the subjects were from lower middle and upper lower socioeconomic class.Shakya[20] had studied the sociodemographic profile of 50 patients with DS. The average age of the studied patients was 25.4 years. The age ranges in decreasing order of frequency were 16–20 years (34%) followed by 21–25 years (28%), greater than 30 years (26%), 26–30 years (10%), and 11–15 years (2%). Further, the subjects were mostly students (50%) and rest were in service (26%), farmers (14%), laborers (6%), and business (4%), respectively.

Dhikav et al.[31] conducted a study on 30 patients who had attended the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary care hospital with complaints of frequently passing semen in urine. In the studied patients, the age ranged between 20 and 40 years with an average age of 29 years and average age of onset of 19 years. The average duration of illness was that of 11 months. Most of the studied patients were unmarried (64.2%) and educated till middle or high school (70%).

Priyadarshi and Verma[43] performed a study in 110 male patients with DS. The average age of the patients was 23.53 years and it ranged between 15 and 68 years. The most affected age group of patients was of 18–25 years, which comprised about 60% of patients. On the other hand, about 25% ranged between 25 and 35 years, 10% were lesser than 18 years of age, and 5.5% patients were aged >35 years.

Higher percentage of the patients were unmarried (70%). Interestingly, high prevalence of DS was found in educated patients and about 50% of patients were graduate or above but most of the patients were either unemployed or student (49.1%). About 55% and 24.5% patients showed monthly family income of <10,000 and 5000 Indian Rupees (INR), respectively. Two-third patients belonged to rural areas of residence.

Behere and Nataraj[45] found majority of the patients with DS (68%) to be between 16 and 25 years age. About 52% patients were married while 48% were unmarried and from lower socioeconomic strata. The duration of DS symptoms varied widely. Singh[46] studied patients those who reported with DS, impotence, and premature ejaculation and reported the average age of the affected to be 21.8 years with a younger age of onset.

Only a few patients received higher education. Bhatia and Malik[47] as mentioned earlier reported that age at the time of onset of DS ranged from 16 to 24 years. More than half of them were single. It was observed that most patients had some territorial education (91.67%) but few (8.33%) had postgraduate education or professional training.

Finally, Bhatia et al.[48] studied cases of sexual dysfunctions and reported an average age of 21.6 years among the affected, majority being unmarried (80%). Most of those who had comorbid DS symptoms received minimal formal education. Management. A Multimodal Approach As mentioned before, individuals affected with DS often seek initial treatment with traditional healers, practitioners of alternative medicine, and local quacks.

As a consequence, varied treatment strategies have been popularized. Dietary supplements, protein and iron-rich diet, Vitamin B and C-complexes, antibiotics, multivitamin injections, herbal “supplements,” etc., have all been used in the treatment though scientific evidence related to them is sparse.[33] Frequent change of doctors, irregular compliance to treatment, and high dropout from health care are the major challenges, as the attributional beliefs toward DS persist in the majority even after repeated reassurance.[54] A multidisciplinary approach (involving psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers) is recommended and close liaison with the general physicians, the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy practitioners, dermatologists, venereologists, and neurologists often help. The role of faith healers and local counselors is vital, and it is important to integrate them into the care of DS patients, rather than side-tracking them from the system. Community awareness needs to be increased especially in primary health care for early detection and appropriate referrals.

Follow-up data show two-thirds of patients affected with DS recovering with psychoeducation and low-dose sedatives.[45] Bhatia[49] studied 60 cases of DS and reported better response to anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications compared to psychotherapy alone. Classically, the correction of attributional biases through empathy, reflective, and nonjudgmental approaches has been proposed.[38] Over the years, sex education, psychotherapy, psychoeducation, relaxation techniques, and medications have been advocated in the management of DS.[9],[55] In psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral and brief solution-focused approaches are useful to target the dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs in DS. The role of sex education is vital involving the basic understanding of sexual anatomy and physiology of sexuality. This needs to be tailored to the local terminology and beliefs.

Biofeedback has also been proposed as a treatment modality.[4] Individual stress factors that might have precipitated DS need to be addressed. A detailed outline of assessment, evaluation, and management of DS is beyond the scope of this article and has already been reported in the IPS Clinical Practice Guidelines.[56] The readers are referred to these important guidelines for a comprehensive read on management. Probably, the most important factor is to understand and resolve the sociocultural contexts in the genesis of DS in each individual. Adequate debunking of the myths related to sexuality and culturally appropriate sexual education is vital both for the prevention and treatment of DS.[56] Adequate treatment of comorbidities such as depression and anxiety often helps in reduction of symptoms, more so when the DS is considered to be a manifestation of the same.

Future of Dhat Syndrome. The Way Forward Classifications in psychiatry have always been fraught with debates and discussion such as categorical versus dimensional, biological versus evolutionary. CBS like DS forms a major area of this nosological controversy. Longitudinal stability of a diagnosis is considered to be an important part of its independent categorization.

Sameer et al.[23] followed up DS patients for 6.0 ± 3.5 years and concluded that the “pure” variety of DS is not a stable diagnostic entity. The authors rather proposed DS as a variant of somatoform disorder, with cultural explanations. The right “place” for DS in classification systems has mostly been debated and theoretically fluctuant.[14] Sridhar et al.[57] mentioned the importance of reclassifying DS from a clinically, phenomenologically, psycho-pathologically, and diagnostically valid standpoint. Although both ICD and DSM have been culturally sensitive to classification, their approach to DS has been different.

While ICD-10 considers DS under “other nonpsychotic mental disorders” (F48), DSM-V mentions it only in appendix section as “cultural concepts of distress” not assigning the condition any particular number.[12],[58] Fundamental questions have actually been raised about its separate existence altogether,[35] which further puts its diagnostic position in doubt. As discussed in the earlier sections, an alternate hypothesization of DS is a cultural variant of depression, rather than a “true syndrome.”[27] Over decades, various schools of thought have considered DS either to be a global phenomenon or a cultural “idiom” of distress in specific geographical regions or a manifestation of other primary psychiatric disorders.[59] Qualitative studies in doctors have led to marked discordance in their opinion about the validity and classificatory area of DS.[60] The upcoming ICD-11 targets to pay more importance to cultural contexts for a valid and reliable classification. However, separating the phenomenological boundaries of diseases might lead to subsetting the cultural and contextual variants in broader rubrics.[61],[62] In that way, ICD-11 might propose alternate models for distinction of CBS like DS at nosological levels.[62] It is evident that various factors include socioeconomics, acceptability, and sustainability influence global classificatory systems, and this might influence the “niche” of DS in the near future. It will be interesting to see whether it retains its diagnostic independence or gets subsumed under the broader “narrative” of depression.

In any case, uniformity of diagnosing this culturally relevant yet distressing and highly prevalent condition will remain a major area related to psychiatric research and treatment. Conclusion DS is a multidimensional psychiatric “construct” which is equally interesting and controversial. Historically relevant and symptomatically mysterious, this disorder provides unique insights into cultural contexts of human behavior and the role of misattributions, beliefs, and misinformation in sexuality. Beyond the traditional debate about its “separate” existence, the high prevalence of DS, associated comorbidities, and resultant dysfunction make it relevant for emotional and psychosexual health.

It is also treatable, and hence, the detection, understanding, and awareness become vital to its management. This oration attempts a “bird's eye” view of this CBS taking into account a holistic perspective of the available evidence so far. The clinical manifestations, diagnostic and epidemiological attributes, management, and nosological controversies are highlighted to provide a comprehensive account of DS and its relevance to mental health. More systematic and mixed methods research are warranted to unravel the enigma of this controversial yet distressing psychiatric disorder.AcknowledgmentI sincerely thank Dr.

Debanjan Banerjee (Senior Resident, Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore) for his constant selfless support, rich academic discourse, and continued collaboration that helped me condense years of research and ideas into this paper.Financial support and sponsorshipNil.Conflicts of interestThere are no conflicts of interest. References 1.2.3.Srinivasa Murthy R, Wig NN. A man ahead of his time. In.

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[PUBMED] [Full text] 55.Prakash O, Rao TS. Sexuality research in India. An update. Indian J Psychiatry 2010;52:S260-3.

56.Avasthi A, Grover S, Rao TS. Clinical practice guidelines for management of sexual dysfunction. Indian J Psychiatry 2017;59 Suppl 1:S91-115. 57.Kavanoor Sridhar V, Subramanian K, Menon V.

Current nosology of Dhat syndrome and state of evidence. Indian J Health Sex Cult 2018;4:8-14. 58.APA (American Psychological Association). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

DSM-5. Washington. DC. American Psychological Association.

2013. 59.Yasir Arafat SM. Dhat syndrome. Culture bound, separate entity, or removed.

J Behav Health 2017;6:147-50. 60.Prakash S, Sharan P, Sood M. A qualitative study on psychopathology of dhat syndrome in men. Implications for classification of disorders.

Asian J Psychiatr 2018;35:79-88. 61.Lewis-Fernández R, Aggarwal NK. Culture and psychiatric diagnosis. Adv Psychosom Med 2013;33:15-30.

62.Sharan P, Keeley J. Cultural perspectives related to international classification of diseases-11. Indian J Soc Psychiatry 2018;34 Suppl S1:1-4. Correspondence Address:T S Sathyanarayana RaoDepartment of Psychiatry, JSS Medical College and Hospital, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysore - 570 004, Karnataka IndiaSource of Support.

None, Conflict of Interest. NoneDOI. 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_791_20.

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Before moving to Munich, he was Director of the Department for Internal Medicine kamagra vs generic viagra at the University Hospital in Lübeck. His research interest shifted from the molecular biology of the renin–angiotensin system to complex genetics of atherosclerosis. He was amongst the first to conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses, which allowed the identification of numerous genetic variants that contribute to coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, kamagra vs generic viagra or aortic stenosis.The editorial team on cardiovascular genetics aims to facilitate the publication of strong translational research that illustrates to clinicians and cardiovascular scientists how genetic and epigenetic variation influences the development of heart diseases. The future perspective is to communicate genetically driven therapeutic targets as has become evident already with the utilization of interfering antibodies, RNAs, or even genome-editing instruments.In this respect, the team encourages submission of world-class genetic research on the cardiovascular system to the EHJ.

The team is also pleased to cooperate with the novel Council on Cardiovascular Genomics which was kamagra vs generic viagra inaugurated by the ESC in 2020.Conflict of interest. None declared.Andros TofieldMerlischachen, Switzerland Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights kamagra vs generic viagra reserved. © The Author(s) 2020.

For permissions, please email kamagra vs generic viagra. Journals.permissions@oup.com.With thanks to Amelia Meier-Batschelet, Johanna Huggler, and Martin Meyer for help with compilation of this article.This is a Focus Issue on genetics. Described as kamagra vs generic viagra the ‘single largest unmet need in cardiovascular medicine’, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains an untreatable disease currently representing 65% of new HF diagnoses. HFpEF is more frequent among women and is associated with a poor prognosis and unsustainable healthcare costs.1,2 Moreover, the variability in HFpEF phenotypes amplifies the complexity and difficulties of the approach.3–5 In this perspective, unveiling novel molecular targets is imperative.

In a kamagra vs generic viagra State of the Art Review article entitled ‘Leveraging clinical... Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved kamagra vs generic viagra. © The Author(s) 2021.

For permissions, please email kamagra vs generic viagra. Journals.permissions@oup.com.This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model).

The team of Deputy kamagra online review and Associate Editors Heribert Schunkert, Sharlene Day and Peter SchwartzThe European Heart Journal (EHJ) wants to attract high-class submissions dealing with genetic findings that help to improve the mechanistic understanding https://www.anitapt.com/buy-cheap-viagra-online and the therapy of cardiovascular diseases. In charge of identifying such articles is a mini-team of experts on genetics, Heribert Schunkert, Sharlene Day, and Peter Schwartz.Genetic findings have contributed enormously to the molecular understanding of cardiovascular diseases. A number of diseases including various channelopathies, cardiomyopathies, and metabolic disorders have been elucidated based on a monogenic inheritance and kamagra online review the detection of disease-causing mutations in large families.

More recently, the complex genetic architecture of common cardiovascular diseases such as atrial fibrillation or coronary artery disease has become increasingly clear. Moreover, genetics became a sensitive tool to characterize the kamagra online review role of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in the form of Mendelian randomized studies. However, the real challenge is still ahead, i.e., to bridge genetic findings into novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of cardiac diseases.

The full cycle from identification of a family with hypercholesterolaemia due to a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK-9) mutation to successful risk kamagra online review lowering by PCSK-9 antibodies illustrates the power of genetics in this regard.With its broad expertise, the new EHJ editorial team on genetics aims to cover manuscripts from all areas in which genetics may contribute to the understanding of cardiovascular diseases. Prof. Peter Schwartz kamagra online review is a world-class expert on channelopathies and pioneered the field of long QT syndrome.

He is an experienced clinical specialist on cardiac arrhythmias of genetic origins and a pioneer in the electrophysiology of the myocardium. He studied in Milan, worked at the University of Texas for 3 years and, as Associate Professor, at the University of Oklahoma kamagra online review 4 months/year for 12 years. He has been Chairman of Cardiology at the University of Pavia for 20 years and since 1999 acts as an extraordinary professor at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town for 3 months/year.Prof.

Sharlene M kamagra online review. Day is Director of Translational Research in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. She trained at the University of Michigan and stayed on as faculty as kamagra online review the founding Director of the Inherited Cardiomyopathy and Arrhythmia Program before moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 2019.

Like Prof. Schwartz, her research programme covers the full spectrum from clinical medicine kamagra online review to basic research with a focus on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Both she and Prof.

Schwartz have developed kamagra online review inducible pluripotent stem cell models of human monogenic cardiac disorders as a platform to study the underlying biological mechanisms of disease.Heribert Schunkert is Director of the Cardiology Department in the German Heart Center Munich. He trained in the Universities of Aachen and Regensburg, Germany and for 4 years in various teaching hospitals in Boston. Before moving to Munich, he was Director of the Department for Internal Medicine at kamagra online review the University Hospital in Lübeck.

His research interest shifted from the molecular biology of the renin–angiotensin system to complex genetics of atherosclerosis. He was amongst the first to conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses, which allowed the identification of kamagra online review numerous genetic variants that contribute to coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, or aortic stenosis.The editorial team on cardiovascular genetics aims to facilitate the publication of strong translational research that illustrates to clinicians and cardiovascular scientists how genetic and epigenetic variation influences the development of heart diseases. The future perspective is to communicate genetically driven therapeutic targets as has become evident already with the utilization of interfering antibodies, RNAs, or even genome-editing instruments.In this respect, the team encourages submission of world-class genetic research on the cardiovascular system to the EHJ.

The team is also pleased to cooperate with the novel Council on Cardiovascular Genomics which was inaugurated kamagra online review by the ESC in 2020.Conflict of interest. None declared.Andros TofieldMerlischachen, Switzerland Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights kamagra online review reserved.

© The Author(s) 2020. For permissions, kamagra online review please email. Journals.permissions@oup.com.With thanks to Amelia Meier-Batschelet, Johanna Huggler, and Martin Meyer for help with compilation of this article.This is a Focus Issue on genetics.

Described as the ‘single largest unmet need in cardiovascular medicine’, heart failure with kamagra online review preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains an untreatable disease currently representing 65% of new HF diagnoses. HFpEF is more frequent among women and is associated with a poor prognosis and unsustainable healthcare costs.1,2 Moreover, the variability in HFpEF phenotypes amplifies the complexity and difficulties of the approach.3–5 In this perspective, unveiling novel molecular targets is imperative. In a State of the Art Review article entitled kamagra online review ‘Leveraging clinical...

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights kamagra online review reserved. © The Author(s) 2021.

For permissions, please email kamagra online review. Journals.permissions@oup.com.This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model).

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