Accessible summary• For a long time, people tried to stop women with intellectual disabilities from knowing about sex and from having sex. • We talked to some women with intellectual disabilities to find out what they thought about sex. • Many of the women told us that they thought sex is bad and that they should not do it. • We want people to be able to help women with intellectual disabilities to feel confident to make choices about sex. SummaryThere is very little literature concerning how women with intellectual disabilities conceptualise their sexuality or develop a sexual identity. Semi-structured interview schedules were used to guide interviews with 10 women with intellectual disabilities. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview transcripts. Many of the women could not conceptualise themselves as sexual beings, and they tended to regard sex as a dirty and inappropriate activity for them. They generally believed that other people prohibited them from engaging in sexual activity. The women often considered themselves to be of little value, and the majority had no clear sense of identity. It is incumbent upon services to find the means to empower women with intellectual disabilities to acknowledge, welcome and take control of their own sexuality.

Caffeine ingestion is associated with increases in the concentration of plasma epinephrine and epinephrine is associated with alterations in immune cell trafficking and function following intensive exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of caffeine ingestion on plasma epinephrine concentration, lymphocyte counts and subset activation in vivo, as measured by the expression the CD69 surface antigen, before and after intensive cycling. On two occasions, following an overnight fast and 60 h abstention from caffeine containing foods and drinks, eight endurance trained males cycled for 90 min at 70% O(2 max) 60 min after ingesting caffeine (6 mg kg(-1 )body mass; CAF) or placebo (PLA). Venous blood samples were collected at pre-treatment, pre-exercise, post-exercise and 1 h post-exercise. Plasma epinephrine concentrations were significantly higher in CAF compared with PLA at pre-exercise [0.28 (0.05) nmol l(-1) versus 0.08 (0.03) nmol l(-1), P<0.01; mean (SE)] and immediately post-exercise [1.02 (0.16) nmol l(-1) versuss 0.60 (0.13) nmol l(-1), P<0.01]. Compared with pre-treatment, numbers of CD4(+) and CD8(+) cells decreased by 54% and 55%, respectively, in CAF at 1 h post-exercise (both P<0.01) but did not significantly differ in PLA. Compared with PLA, in CAF the percentage of CD4(+)CD69(+) cells was 5-fold higher at post-exercise (P<0.05) and 5.5-fold higher at 1 h post-exercise (P=0.01). Compared with PLA, in CAF the percentage of CD8(+)CD69(+) cells was 2-fold higher at pre-exercise (P<0.05) and 1.7-fold higher at post-exercise (P<0.05). These findings suggest that caffeine ingestion is associated with alterations in lymphocyte subset trafficking and expression of CD69 in vivo following prolonged, intensive exercise.

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