Motivations for Intravaginal Product Use among a Cohort of Women in Los Angeles

Objective

Intravaginal practices—including behaviors such as intravaginal cleansing and insertion of products—have been linked to a number of adverse reproductive health outcomes, including increased risk for bacterial vaginosis, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV. Currently, little is known about the motivations for intravaginal practices among women in the United States. The objective of this study was to identify and describe motivations for intravaginal washing and intravaginal insertion of products among women of differing ages and racial/ethnic groups.

Methods

Between 2008 and 2010, we enrolled a convenience sample of sexually active women aged 18–65 years living in Los Angeles recruited through community education and outreach activities in HIV/AIDS service organizations, women’s health clinics, community-based organizations, and HIV testing sites. At the enrollment visit, women completed a self-administered, computer-assisted questionnaire covering demographics, sexual behaviors, intravaginal practices, and motivations for intravaginal practices over the past month and past year.

Results

We enrolled 141 women; 34% of participants were Caucasian, 40% African American, and 26% Latina. Peri-sexual intravaginal washing was common in all groups, whether to clean up after sex (70%) or to prepare for sex (54%). African American women were more likely to report learning to wash intravaginally from their mothers compared to Latina or Caucasian women (70% vs. 49%, P = 0.04). Sixty-one percent of African American women reported using a douching device over the past year compared to 41% of Latina and 40% of Caucasian women (p = 0.02). Younger women were more likely to report that their male partners wanted them to wash intravaginally than older women (77% vs. 24%, P<0.01), and more likely to report the removal of odors as a motive than older women (65% vs. 40%, P = 0.04). The most commonly used intravaginal products included sexual lubricants, petroleum jelly, body lotions, oils, and wet wipes. Use of these products varied by race, and motives given included increasing lubrication, preparing for sex, smelling good, and preventing sexually transmitted infections.

Conclusion

Women’s intravaginal practices and motivations for these practices differ across race and age. Motivations for use also vary by type of intravaginal product used. Given that some intravaginal practices have been shown to be harmful, interventions, programs and counseling messages to encourage less harmful practices are needed, and should consider underlying motivations that influence women’s vaginal practices. Practitioners may use these results to better support women in achieving vaginal health.     

Diterpenes from the leaves of Croton zambesicus

Two new trachylobane- and one isopimarane-type diterpenoids: ent-18-hydroxy-trachyloban-3-one; ent-trachyloban-3-one; isopimara-7,15-dien-3beta-ol, were isolated from the leaves of Croton zambesicus, together with trans-phytol, beta-sitosterol, alpha-amyrin and stigmasterol. The structures were determined by extensive NMR techniques and X-ray analysis. The cytotoxicity of these compounds has been evaluated on cancer and non-cancer cell-lines.     

Expression and functional role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma in ovarian folliculogenesis in the sheep

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARgamma) is a nuclear receptor that is activated by fatty acids and derivatives and the antidiabetic glitazones, which plays a role in the control of lipid and glucose homeostasis. In the present work, we tested the hypothesis that PPARgamma plays a role in reproductive tissues by studying its expression and function in the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovary axis in the sheep. PPARgamma 1 and PPARgamma 2 proteins and mRNAs were detected in whole ovine pituitary and ovary but not in hypothalamic extracts. In situ hybridization on ovarian section localized PPARgamma mRNA in the granulosa layer of follicles. Interestingly, PPARgamma expression was higher in small antral (1-3 mm diameter) than in preovulatory follicles (>5 mm diameter) (P < 0.001) and was not correlated with healthy status. To assess the biological activity of ovarian PPARgamma, ovine granulosa cells were transfected with a reporter construct driven by PPARgamma-responsive elements. Addition of rosiglitazone, a PPARgamma ligand, stimulated reporter gene expression, showing that endogenous PPARgamma is functional in ovine granulosa cells in vitro. Moreover, rosiglitazone inhibited granulosa cell proliferation (P < 0.05) and increased the secretion of progesterone in vitro (P < 0.05). This stimulation effect was stronger in granulosa cells from small than from large follicles. In contrast, rosiglitazone had no effect on LH, FSH, prolactin and growth hormone secretion by ovine pituitary cells in vitro. Overall, these data suggest that PPARgamma ligands might stimulate follicular differentiation in vivo likely through a direct action on granulosa cells rather than by modulating pituitary hormone secretion.     

Basic residues in azurocidin/HBP contribute to both heparin binding and antimicrobial activity

Azurocidin/CAP37/HBP is an antimicrobial and chemotactic protein that is part of the innate defenses of human neutrophils. In addition, azurocidin is an inactive serine protease homolog with binding sites for diverse ligands including heparin and the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The structure of the protein reveals a highly cationic domain concentrated on one side of the molecule and responsible for its strong polarity. To investigate the role of this highly basic region, we produced three recombinant azurocidin mutant proteins that were altered in either one or both of two clusters of 4 basic residues located symmetrically on each side of a central cleft in the cationic domain. Two of the mutant proteins (Loop 3: R5Q, K6Q, R8Q, and R10Q; Loop 4: R61Q, R62Q, R63Q, and R65Q) exhibited little or no change in heparin and BPTI binding or in antimicrobial function. In contrast, the Loop 3/Loop 4 mutant (R5Q, K6Q, R8Q, R10Q, R61Q, R62Q, R63Q, and R65Q) in which all 8 basic residues were replaced showed greatly decreased ability to bind heparin and to kill Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. Thus, we report that the 8 basic residues that were altered in the Loop 3/Loop 4 mutant contribute to the ability of the wild-type azurocidin molecule to bind heparin and to kill E. coli and C. albicans. Because BPTI binding was comparable in wild-type and Loop 3/Loop 4 mutant protein, we conclude that the same 8 basic residues are not involved in the binding of BPTI to azurocidin, supporting the notion that the binding site for BPTI is distinct from the site involved in heparin binding and antimicrobial activity. Finally, we show that removal of all 4 positively charged amino acids in the 20-44 azurocidin sequence (DMC1: R23Q,H24S,H32S,R34Q), a region previously thought to contain an antimicrobial domain, does not affect the activity of the protein against E. coli, Streptococcus faecalis, and C. albicans.     

Muscarinic M2 receptors in acetylcholine-isoproterenol functional antagonism in human isolated bronchus

The muscarinic functional antagonism of isoproterenol relaxation and the contribution of muscarinic M2 receptors were examined in human isolated bronchus. In intact tissues, acetylcholine (ACh) precontraction decreased isoproterenol potency and maximal relaxation (-log EC50 shift = -1.49 +/- 0.16 and E(max) inhibition for 100 microM ACh = 30%) more than the same levels of histamine contraction. The M2 receptor-selective antagonist methoctramine (1 microM) reduced this antagonism in ACh- but not histamine-contracted tissues. Similar results were obtained for forskolin-induced relaxation. After selective inactivation of M3 receptors with 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-(2-chloroethyl)piperadine hydrochloric acid (30 nM), demonstrated by abolition of contractile and inositol phosphate responses to ACh, muscarinic recontractile responses were obtained in U-46619-precontracted tissues fully relaxed with isoproterenol. Methoctramine antagonized recontraction, with pK(B) (6.9) higher than in intact tissues (5.4), suggesting participation of M2 receptors. In M3-inactivated tissues, methoctramine augmented the isoproterenol relaxant potency in U-46619-contracted bronchus and reversed the ACh-induced inhibition of isoproterenol cAMP accumulation. These results indicate that M2 receptors cause indirect contraction of human bronchus by reversing sympathetically mediated relaxation and contribute to cholinergic functional antagonism.     

The mechanism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor quinapril is not related to bradykinin level in heart tissue

In order to examine the effect of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) quinapril, we performed a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) to quantify bradykinin, BK-(1-9), in heart and kidney tissues. The BK-(1-9) level was unaffected in the heart of sham and water-deprived rats treated for 2h with quinapril (10mg/kg), but was significantly higher in the kidneys in the two groups. In these conditions, circulating and tissue angiotensin II (Ang II) levels were significantly decreased by quinapril. Moreover, our results indicated that acute treatment with this dose of quinapril induced kinin-mediated effects which were not related to its action on bradykinin degradation in rat hearts.     

TIP,a T-cell factor identified using high-throughput screening increases survival in a graft-versus-host disease model

A coordinated effort combining bioinformatic tools with high-throughput cell-based screening assays was implemented to identify novel factors involved in T-cell biology. We generated a unique library of cDNAs encoding predicted secreted and transmembrane domain-containing proteins generated by analyzing the Human Genome Sciences cDNA database with a combination of two algorithms that predict signal peptides. Supernatants from mammalian cells transiently transfected with this library were incubated with primary T cells and T-cell lines in several high-throughput assays. Here we describe the discovery of a T cell factor, TIP (T cell immunomodulatory protein), which does not show any homology to proteins with known function. Treatment of primary human and murine T cells with TIP in vitro resulted in the secretion of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-10, whereas in vivo TIP had a protective effect in a mouse acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) model. Therefore, combining functional genomics with high-throughput cell-based screening is a valuable and efficient approach to identifying immunomodulatory activities for novel proteins.     

Interleukin-1beta activates specific populations of enteric neurons and enteric glia in the guinea pig ileum and colon

Fos expression was used to assess whether the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) activated specific, chemically coded neuronal populations in isolated preparations of guinea pig ileum and colon. Whether the effects of IL-1beta were mediated through a prostaglandin pathway and whether IL-1beta induced the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 was also examined. Single- and double-labeling immunohistochemistry was used after treatment of isolated tissues with IL-1beta (0.1-10 ng/ml). IL-1beta induced Fos expression in enteric neurons and also in enteric glia in the ileum and colon. For enteric neurons, activation was concentration-dependent and sensitive to indomethacin, in both the myenteric and submucosal plexuses in both regions of the gut. The maximum proportion of activated neurons differed between the ileal (approximately 15%) and colonic (approximately 42%) myenteric and ileal (approximately 60%) and colonic (approximately 75%) submucosal plexuses. The majority of neurons activated in the myenteric plexus of the ileum expressed nitric oxide synthase (NOS) or enkephalin immunoreactivity. In the colon, activated myenteric neurons expressed NOS. In the submucosal plexus of both regions of the gut, the majority of activated neurons were vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) immunoreactive. After treatment with IL-1beta, COX-2 immunoreactivity was detected in the wall of the gut in both neurons and nonneuronal cells. In conclusion, we have found that the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1beta specifically activates certain neurochemically defined neural pathways and that these changes may lead to disturbances in motility observed in the inflamed bowel.     

Effects of Pieris host species on life history parameters in a solitary specialist and gregarious generalist parasitoid (Cotesia species)

Host specificity and host selection by insect parasitoids are hypothesized to be correlated with suitability of the hosts for parasitoid development. The present study investigates the correlation between host suitability and earlier studied host-finding behaviour of two closely related braconid larval parasitoid species, the generalist Cotesia glomerata (L.) and the specialist C. rubecula (Marshall) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). We compared the capability of both parasitoid species to parasitize and develop in three Pieris host species, i.e. P. brassicae (L.), P. rapae (L.) and P. napi (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). In laboratory experiments, we measured the effect of host species on fitness parameters such as survival, development, sex ratio and size of parasitoid progeny. The results show that C. glomerata is capable of developing in the three host species, with significant differences in parasitoid survival, clutch size and adult weight among Pieris species. The host range for development was more restricted for C. rubecula. Although C. rubecula is physiologically able to develop in P. brassicae larvae, parasitoid fitness is negatively affected by this host species, compared to its most regular host, P. rapae. A comparison of the present data on host suitability with earlier studies on host-searching behaviour suggests that the host-foraging behaviour of both parasitoid species not only leads to selection of the most suitable host species for parasitoid development, but also plays a significant role in shaping parasitoid host range.