Health Disparities in the LGBTQ Populations

Problem: Individuals within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community are at greater risk for increased health disparities and inequalities. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to review evidence related to the following PICO(T) question: What strategies (I) can be employed to reduce health disparities and inequalities (O) in the LGBTQ community (P)? Methods: The databases Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Academic Search Premier, Proquest Central, and LGBT Life were searched using the following terms: health inequalities, health disparities, lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, queer, and LGBTQ. Twenty-five articles were found to be relevant and were leveled using the evaluation system by Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt (2005). Results: Evidence levels ranged from I-VII. Research suggests LGBTQ individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of civil and human rights. Strategies to reduce disparities and inequalities should focus on understanding LGBTQ health and addressing social determinants impacting health. Implications/Significance: Approximately 9 million Americans (3.5%) identify as LGBTQ. Understanding how expansive this population is would help reduce disparities and inequalities. Including LGBTQ individuals in national surveys provides focused data necessary to relieve disparities and inequalities

EMU Detection of a Large and Low Surface Brightness Galactic SNR G288.8-6.3

We present the serendipitous detection of a new Galactic Supernova Remnant (SNR), G288.8-6.3 using data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)-Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. Using multi-frequency analysis, we confirm this object as an evolved Galactic SNR at high Galactic latitude with low radio surface brightness and typical SNR spectral index of $\alpha = -0.41\pm0.12$. To determine the magnetic field strength in SNR G288.8-6.3, we present the first derivation of the equipartition formulae for SNRs with spectral indices $\alpha>-0.5$. The angular size is 1.\!^\circ 8\times 1.\!^\circ 6 (107.\!^\prime 6 \times 98.\!^\prime 4) and we estimate that its intrinsic size is $\sim40$pc which implies a distance of $\sim1.3$kpc and a position of $\sim140$pc above the Galactic plane. This is one of the largest angular size and closest Galactic SNRs. Given its low radio surface brightness, we suggest that it is about 13000 years old.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Viewing the body modulates both pain sensations and pain responses

Viewing the body can influence pain perception, even when vision is non-informative about the noxious stimulus. Prior studies used either continuous pain rating scales or pain detection thresholds, which cannot distinguish whether viewing the body changes the discriminability of noxious heat intensities or merely shifts reported pain levels. In Experiment 1, participants discriminated two intensities of heat-pain stimulation. Noxious stimuli were delivered to the hand in darkness immediately after participants viewed either their own hand or a non-body object appearing in the same location. The visual condition varied randomly between trials. Discriminability of the noxious heat intensities (d?) was lower after viewing the hand than after viewing the object, indicating that viewing the hand reduced the information about stimulus intensity available within the nociceptive system. In Experiment 2, the hand and the object were presented in separate blocks of trials. Viewing the hand shifted perceived pain levels irrespective of actual stimulus intensity, biasing responses toward ‘high pain’ judgments. In Experiment 3, participants saw the noxious stimulus as it approached and touched their hand or the object. Seeing the pain-inducing event counteracted the reduction in discriminability found when viewing the hand alone. These findings show that viewing the body can affect both perceptual processing of pain and responses to pain, depending on the visual context. Many factors modulate pain; our study highlights the importance of distinguishing modulations of perceptual processing from modulations of response bias

A matter of time : parallel processing improves flow

"Missouri Bariatric Services clinic c staff noted long delays/wait times during post-bariatric-surgery yearly follow-upclinic visits. Clinic staff developed process flow diagram, and identified precedence requirements. Standard workflow involved sending a single batch of patients through 3 process steps (lab tests,education class,visit with physician) along a linear path."--Problem

Testing the feasibility of a mobile technology intervention promoting healthy gestational weight gain in pregnant women (txt4two) - study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Overweight, obesity and excess gestational weight gain (GWG) are associated with negative health outcomes for mother and child in pregnancy and across the life course. Interventions promoting GWG within guidelines report mixed results. Most are time and cost intensive, which limits scalability. Mobile technologies (mHealth) offer low cost, ready access and individually-tailored support. We aim to test the feasibility of an mHealth intervention promoting healthy nutrition, physical activity and GWG in women who begin pregnancy overweight or obese

A catalogue of radio supernova remnants and candidate supernova remnants in the EMU/POSSUM Galactic pilot field

We use data from the pilot observations of the EMU/POSSUM surveysto study the ‘missing supernova remnant (SNR) problem’, the discrepancy between the number of Galactic SNRs that have been observed, and the number that are estimated to exist. The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) and the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM) are radio sky surveys that are conducted using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). We report on the properties of seven known SNRs in the joint Galactic pilot field, with an approximate longitude and latitude of 323◦ ≤ l ≤ 330◦ and −4◦ ≤ b ≤ 2◦, respectively, and identify 21 SNR candidates. Of these, four have been previously identified as SNR candidates, three were previously listed as a single SNR, 13 have not been previously studied, and one has been studied in the infrared. These are the first discoveries of Galactic SNR candidates with EMU/POSSUM and, if confirmed, they will increase the SNR density in this field by a factor of 4. By comparing our SNR candidates to the known Galactic SNR population, we demonstrate that many of these sources were likely missed in previous surveys due to their small angular size and/or low surface brightness. We suspect that there are SNRs in this field that remain undetected due to limitations set by the local background and confusion with other radio sources. The results of this paper demonstrate the potential of the full EMU/POSSUM surveys to uncover more of the missing Galactic SNR population

Flagellin hypervariable region determines symbiotic properties of commensal Escherichia coli strains.

Escherichia coli represents a classical intestinal gram-negative commensal. Despite this commensalism, different E. coli strains can mediate disparate immunogenic properties in a given host. Symbiotic E. coli strains such as E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) are attributed beneficial properties, e.g., promotion of intestinal homeostasis. Therefore, we aimed to identify molecular features derived from symbiotic bacteria that might help to develop innovative therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of intestinal immune disorders. This study was performed using the dextran sodium sulphate (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model, which is routinely used to evaluate potential therapeutics for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs). We focused on the analysis of flagellin structures of different E. coli strains. EcN flagellin was found to harbor a substantially longer hypervariable region (HVR) compared to other commensal E. coli strains, and this longer HVR mediated symbiotic properties through stronger activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)5, thereby resulting in interleukin (IL)-22-mediated protection of mice against DSS-induced colitis. Furthermore, using bone-marrow-chimeric mice (BMCM), CD11c+ cells of the colonic lamina propria (LP) were identified as the main mediators of these flagellin-induced symbiotic effects. We propose flagellin from symbiotic E. coli strains as a potential therapeutic to restore intestinal immune homeostasis, e.g., for the treatment of IBD patients

Complete Genome Sequences of 12 B1 Cluster Mycobacteriophages, Gareth, JangoPhett, Kailash, MichaelPhcott, PhenghisKhan, Phleuron, Phergie, PhrankReynolds, PhrodoBaggins, Phunky, Vaticameos, and Virapocalypse

Twelve B1 cluster mycobacteriophages were isolated from soil samples collected in Philadelphia, PA, USA, using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 as a host, and were sequenced. The genome sequences range in size from 66,887 bp to 68,953 bp in length and have between 99 and 105 putative protein-coding genes.</p