No abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of Flebogamma 5%, an immune globulin intravenous product, for replacement therapy in primary immunodeficient patients. The US Food and Drug Administration has proposed that the use of new products must result in < or =1 serious bacterial infection/subject/year, have acceptable safety and tolerability, and have pharmacokinetic properties similar to endogenous IgG and other commercially available immune globulin products. Flebogamma 5% was administered at seven clinical sites to 51 subjects aged 14-74 years with well-defined primary immunodeficiency diseases at a dose of 300-600 mg/kg every 21-28 days for 12 months. The calculated serious infection rate for the intent-to-treat population was 0.061/subject/year. The incidence of adverse events considered potentially related to Flebogamma 5%, and occurring during or within 72 h after completing the infusion was approximately 8%. The half-life of total IgG was 37 days. Flebogamma 5% is efficacious, safe, and well-tolerated, and does not put subjects at increased risk of adverse events other than those that could be reasonably expected in primary immunodeficient subjects who are receiving any immune globulin product.

Despite peer education's having become an extremely common strategy on many college campuses, very few outcome evaluations of these programs, particularly evaluations that focus on the peers themselves, have been performed. In this article, we report on a study that measured changes in self-esteem, personal development, and sexual behavior over 1 academic year in 65 sexuality peer educators from 10 universities in the United States. Objective measures of those traits demonstrated a shift in a positive direction; after analysis, however, the changes were not statistically significant. Qualitative data described increased levels of self-esteem, confidence, and safer sexual behavior as a major outcomes of the program, reinforcing the notion of the positive effects of peer education. Implications for program enhancement and considerations of the importance of evaluation are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered.

Six hundred twenty-seven sorority women were surveyed to determine if sorority members constituted a subgroup of college women who may be at increased risk for disordered eating. The sorority members were administered Body Mass Index Silhouettes and the Eating Disorder Inventory. The findings indicated that these sorority women may have a greater fear of becoming fat, are more dissatisfied with their bodies, and are more weight preoccupied and concerned with dieting than are college women from previous studies. The findings also suggested that body size perceptions were distorted among both underweight and overweight women and that thin was the ideal body profile for the majority of the women. Although bulimia scores were higher for this population than for those reported in all but one of the previous studies, these differences were not significant. More research and innovative programs designed to address weight-related attitudes and behaviors among this population are called for.

Flebogamma 10% DIF is efficacious and safe, has adequate pharmacokinetic properties, and is well-tolerated for the treatment of PIDD.