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Abstract: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are ubiquitous in humans, but the determinants of clinical and virologic severity are not completely understood. Prior research has suggested that psychological distress can be a co-factor in reactivation of latent HSV infection. Personality traits such as extraversion and neuroticism influence stress attributions and may inform the relationship between psychological distress and health outcomes. Earlier studies in this area have primarily focused on subjective reports of HSV lesion recurrence, but such reports may be influenced by both personality traits and distress. We report results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of acyclovir in 19 women for whom personality was assessed at baseline and daily assessments of genital lesions, stress, anxiety, and depression levels were collected for 22weeks. In addition, daily swabs of the genital mucosa were collected to assess HSV-2 viral reactivation. We found that daily stress predicted genital lesion frequency, and that daily stress, anxiety, and depression predicted genital lesion onset approximately 5days before onset. Anxiety was also associated with genital lesions 3days after onset. Distress and viral reactivation were not associated; and no personality traits were associated with any of the outcomes. These results support the hypothesis that psychological distress is both a cause and a consequence of genital lesion episodes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: American Indian (AI) women living in the Northern Plains have high incidence and mortality rates for cervical cancer. We assessed risk factors for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among AI and White women. Methods: We tested cervical samples for HPV infection obtained from women ages 18–65years attending 2 rural AI reservation clinics in South Dakota (n =235) and an urban clinic serving predominantly White women (n =246). Patients self-reported information on HPV risk factors. We used percentages and chi-square tests to compare risk factors, and logistic regression with HPV status as the outcome to quantify the association between HPV and risk factors. Results: AI women had more risk factors than White women, including younger age, less education, less vegetable consumption, more sexual partners, younger age at first sexual experience and first pregnancy, and more pregnancies (p values≤0.003). AI women more often endorsed recreational drug use, history of sexually transmitted diseases, and current smoking; White women reported more alcohol consumption (p values<0.001). In multivariate analysis, younger age and current smoking were associated with higher odds of HPV infection in AI women, whereas a higher number of sexual partners was associated with higher odds of HPV infection in White women. Conclusions: AI women have a high burden of risk factors for HPV disease, and associations with HPV infection appear to differ by community. Knowledge of specific risk factors in AI populations may provide targets for public health officials to decrease HPV infection and disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In women with fibromyalgia (FM), central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction in pain, mood, and sleep processes could be associated with changes in immune system indicators. The primary purpose of this study was to compare pain, psychological variables, subjective and objective sleep quality, lymphocyte phenotypes and activation markers, and natural killer activity (NKA) in midlife women with and without FM. A secondary purpose was to explore relationships among these variables in a step-wise regression. Subjects had pain pressure tender points assessed, completed a psychiatric interview and questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory, SCL-90, Profile of Mood States, subjective sleep), and underwent polysomnograhic assessment for two consecutive nights. Lymphocyte phenotypes, activation markers, and NKA were assessed from blood drawn the morning after sleep laboratory night 2. Compared to controls, women with FM had lower pain thresholds, more psychological distress, higher depression scores, and reduced subjective and objective sleep quality. They also had fewer NK cells (p<.009) and more NK cells that expressed the IL-2 receptor (p<.04), but these differences were not statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. NKA was not statistically significantly lower in the women with FM compared to controls. In a multiple regression of age, tender point threshold, depression, psychological distress, and sleep efficiency, only the effect of group was significant (F=5.479, p<.03) on NKA. In conclusion, we found little evidence to support the hypothesis that pain, mood, and sleep symptoms are associated with changes in the enumeration of peripheral lymphocytes or function in FM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]