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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a manualized mindfulness-based program for adolescents, Learning to Breathe (L2B), on indicators of adolescent social-emotional well-being, mental health, substance use, and executive function. Methods: Participants included 251 high school students attending an urban school district who were randomly assigned to required health education classes that offered L2B or the business-as-usual health curriculum. Results: No direct effects on self-report measures were found. Students exposed to L2B demonstrated significant improvements on executive functioning measures related to susceptibility to cognitive interference and working memory. Subsequent tests of moderation revealed beneficial program effects within the treatment group were dependent on rates of practice, and those that used L2B strategies regularly showed small-to-moderate improvements on indices of emotional awareness, emotional clarity, impulse control, social connectedness, mind-wandering, substance use, perceived stress, and self-compassion relative to controls. Conclusions: This study provides mixed support regarding the potential effectiveness of a universal mindfulness program for high school students. The absence of direct effects on self-report measures implies that simply exposing adolescents to a mindfulness curriculum within the context of typical instruction, in the absence of supports for implementation, is unlikely to impact youth socio-emotional well-being or behavior. However, changes in EF favoring the intervention group suggest that possible benefits on tasks related to susceptibility, cognitive interference, and selective attention are possible. Tests of moderation revealed dosage effects, and students who adopt mindfulness practices can indeed benefit on multiple fronts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé Introduction La lymphogranulomatose vénérienne (LVG) est une infection sexuellement transmissible (IST), causée par le sérovar L de Chlamydia trachomatis . Méthodes Nous présentons les difficultés diagnostiques de la LVG, à travers l’exposé de 5 cas d’adénites inguinales. Résultats Il s’agit de cinq hommes (âge moyen : 30 ± 7 ans) vus en médecine interne pour bilan d’adénopathie(s) inguinale(s). Un patient présentait des signes d’urétrite (aucun cas de rectite), trois des antécédents d’IST et deux une infection par le VIH de découverte concomitante. La polymerase chain reaction (PCR) urinaire n’était positive que chez le patient ayant une urétrite. La PCR ganglionnaire était positive à C . trachomatis chez tous les patients, de sérotype L2b, dans les 4 cas où cette recherche a été effectuée. Conclusion La LVG doit être évoquée devant tout tableau d’adénomégalie(s) inguinale(s), particulièrement en cas d’antécédent d’IST. La négativité de la PCR urinaire doit inciter à poursuivre les explorations par réalisation d’une cytoponction ganglionnaire pour recherche de C . trachomatis . Introduction Lymphogranuloma venereum (LG) is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by Chlamydia trachomatis L serovar. Methods These five consecutive cases aim to highlight the risk of LG misdiagnosis, in case of initial presentation with isolated inguinal adenitis. Results Five men (mean age: 30 ± 7 years) were seen in an internal medicine department, for inguinal adenopathy. One patient had clinical signs of urethritis. None presented an associated rectitis. Three patients had a history of STI, and two had a discovery of related HIV disease. Urinary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was positive for the symptomatic patient and negative for the others. Lymph node PCR was positive in all patients within a L2b serotype (searched in 4 out of 5 cases). Conclusion LG should be evoked in any patient with inguinal adenomegaly, particularly in case of STI history or risk factors. Negativity of urinary PCR should lead to further investigations, essentially a lymph node cytopuncture to evidence C . trachomatis . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We retrospectively conducted a study of men who have sex with men who visited the Amsterdam, the Netherlands, sexually transmitted diseases clinic from January 2002 to December 2003 and had rectal Chlamydia trachomatis infections. We found that symptomatic (73%) as well as asymptomatic (43%) patients were infected with a new C. trachomatis LGV variant.

The lymphogranuloma venereum ( LGV) outbreak described in the Netherlands in 2003, increased the interest in the genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis. Although international surveillance programmes were implemented, these studies slowly decreased in the following years. Now data have revealed a new accumulation of LGV cases in those European countries with extended surveillance programmes. Between March 2009 and November 2011, a study was carried out to detect LGV cases in Madrid. The study was based on screening of C. trachomatis using commercial kits, followed by real-time pmpH- PCR discriminating LGV strains, and finally ompA gene was sequenced for phylogenetic reconstruction. Ninety-four LGV infections were identified. The number of cases increased from 10 to 30 and then to 54 during 2009-2011. Incidence of LGV was strongly associated with men who have sex with men; but in 2011, LGV cases were described in women and heterosexual men. Sixty-nine patients were also human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) positive, with detectable viral loads at the moment of LGV diagnosis, suggesting a high-risk of co-transmission. In fact, in four patients the diagnosis of HIV was simultaneous with LGV infection. The conventional treatment with doxycycline was prescribed in 75 patients, although in three patients the treatment failed. The sequencing of the ompA gene permitted identification of two independent transmission nodes. One constituted by 25 sequences identical to the L2b variant, and a second node including 37 sequences identical to L2. This epidemiological situation characterized by the co-circulation of two LGV variants has not been previously described, reinforcing the need for screening and genotyping of LGV strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate surface wind in the equatorial Indian Ocean is crucial for modeling ocean circulation over this region. In this study, the surface wind analysis generated at the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) are compared with NASA QuikSCAT satellite derived Level2B (swath level) and Level3 (gridded) surface winds for the year 2005. It is observed that the ECMWF winds exhibit speed bias of 1.5 m/s with respect to QuikSCAT Level3 in the southern equatorial Indian Ocean. The NCEP winds are found to exhibit speed bias (1.0-1.5 m/s) in the southern equatorial Indian Ocean specifically during January-February 2005. The biases are also observed in the analysis when compared with Level2B product as well; however, it is less in comparison to Level3 products. The amplitude of daily variations of both ECMWF and NCEP wind speed in Bay of Bengal and parts of the Arabian Sea is about 80% of that in QuikSCAT, while in the equatorial Indian Ocean it is about 60% of that of QuikSCAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The French Reference Centre for chlamydiae uses two real-time PCRs targeting the pmp H gene of Chlamydia trachomatis to differentiate between L strains and variant L2b, responsible for a lymphogranuloma venereum outbreak in Europe. We compared the results obtained for 122 L2b C. trachomatis -positive specimens, using the two real-time PCRs, with the sequencing of the omp A gene. Only 91 specimens were confirmed as L2b. Our results demonstrate that the lymphogranuloma venereum outbreak is no longer dominated by the variant L2b, and that many L-positive specimens were misidentified as L2b with the method used, which raises the question of its specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]