Risk factors for high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:51,200) in black, HIV-1 negative South African cancer patients: a case control study

Background: Infection with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is the necessary causal agent in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Infection with HIV-1, male gender and older age all increase risk for KS. However, the geographic distribution of HHV-8 and KS both prior to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and with HIV/AIDS suggest the presence of an additional co-factor in the development of KS. Methods: Between January 1994 and October 1997, we interviewed 2576 black in-patients with cancer in Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa. Blood was tested for antibodies against HIV-1 and HHV-8 and the study was restricted to 2191 HIV-1 negative patients. Antibodies against the latent nuclear antigen of HHV-8 encoded by orf73 were detected with an indirect immunofluorescence assay. We examined the relationship between high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:51,200) and sociodemographic and behavioral factors using unconditional logistic regression models. Variables that were significant at p = 0.10 were included in multivariate analysis. Results: Of the 2191 HIV-1 negative patients who did not have Kaposi's sarcoma, 854 (39.0%) were positive for antibodies against HHV-8 according to the immunofluorescent assay. Among those seropositive for HHV-8, 530 (62.1%) had low titers (1:200), 227 (26.6%) had medium titers (1:51,200) and 97 (11.4%) had highest titers (1:204,800). Among the 2191 HIV-1 negative patients, the prevalence of high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:51,200) was independently associated with increasing age (ptrend = 0.04), having a marital status of separated or divorced (p = 0.003), using wood, coal or charcoal as fuel for cooking 20 years ago instead of electricity (p = 0.02) and consuming traditional maize beer more than one time a week (p = 0.02; p-trend for increasing consumption = 0.05) although this may be due to chance given the large number of predictors considered in this analysis. Conclusions: Among HIV-negative subjects, patients with high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers are characterized by older age. Other associations that may be factors in the development of high anti- HHV-8 titers include exposure to poverty or a low socioeconomic status environment and consumption of traditional maize beer. The relationship between these variables and high anti- HHV-8 titers requires further, prospective study

Transforming Graph Representations for Statistical Relational Learning

Relational data representations have become an increasingly important topic due to the recent proliferation of network datasets (e.g., social, biological, information networks) and a corresponding increase in the application of statistical relational learning (SRL) algorithms to these domains. In this article, we examine a range of representation issues for graph-based relational data. Since the choice of relational data representation for the nodes, links, and features can dramatically affect the capabilities of SRL algorithms, we survey approaches and opportunities for relational representation transformation designed to improve the performance of these algorithms. This leads us to introduce an intuitive taxonomy for data representation transformations in relational domains that incorporates link transformation and node transformation as symmetric representation tasks. In particular, the transformation tasks for both nodes and links include (i) predicting their existence, (ii) predicting their label or type, (iii) estimating their weight or importance, and (iv) systematically constructing their relevant features. We motivate our taxonomy through detailed examples and use it to survey and compare competing approaches for each of these tasks. We also discuss general conditions for transforming links, nodes, and features. Finally, we highlight challenges that remain to be addressed

Perception of neighborhood crime and drugs Increases cardiometabolic risk in Chilean adolescents

PURPOSE: Studies report an association between neighborhood risk and both obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMR) among adolescents. Here we describe the effect of perceived neighborhood risk on adiposity and CMR among Chilean adolescents. METHODS: Participants were 523 low- to middle-income Chilean adolescents. We assessed neighborhood risk in early adolescence, adiposity in childhood and in early and later adolescence, and blood pressure and fasting glucose in later adolescence. Neighborhood risk profiles were estimated using latent profile analysis (LPA) and based on reported perceptions of crime and drug sales/use. Using linear and logistic regression, we examined the effect of neighborhood risk on adiposity and CMR. RESULTS: Mean age in early and later adolescence was 14 and 17 years, respectively. Participants were 52% male, with a mean BMI z-score of .67, and 8% met criteria for metabolic syndrome. LPA identified two neighborhood profiles: 61% low risk and 39% high risk. In later adolescence, being in the high risk profile predicted a higher BMI z-score, waist-to-height ratio, and fat mass index (p < .05). Adolescents in the high risk profile had three times greater odds of meeting criteria for metabolic syndrome (OR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.5, 5.8) compared with those in the low risk profile. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that there are physiological responses to living in a neighborhood perceived as "risky," which may contribute to obesity and CMR even in adolescence. For Chilean neighborhoods with high crime and drugs, targeted public health interventions and policies for youth could be beneficial.This research was funded by R01HL088530 (NIH-NHLBI, PI: Gahagan); R01HD33487 (NIH-NICHD, PIs: Lozoff and Gahagan); R01DA021181 (NIH-NIDA, PI: Delva). The first author acknowledges D. Eastern Kang Sim for his support. All authors would like to thank the study participants for their on-going commitment to the project. (R01HL088530 - NIH-NHLBI; R01HD33487 - NIH-NICHD; R01DA021181 - NIH-NIDA

Do consensus meetings undermine the validity of assessment centres?

In this study the effects of latent-informal processes operating in assessment centre consensus meetings is investigated with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Non-participative observation is carried out in several consensus meetings, and auditory recordings made in three of these. In an analysis of the transcript of a consensus meeting in one organization, evidence is found for several latent-informal processes. These include active attempts by assessors to persuade other assessors, and the group facilitator, to appoint candidates; the use of assessors’ general impressions of candidates in this persuasion process; and the active use of power derived from an assessors’ relative seniority in the organization. Evidence consistent with the use of seniority-derived power is also found in a quantitative analysis of the selection decisions made in consensus meetings about 413 candidates. The results of the study are considered in relation to the practical utility of consensus meetings, and it is concluded that the use of such meetings is difficult to justify