Crowdsourcing contests to facilitate community engagement in HIV cure research: a qualitative evaluation of facilitators and barriers of participation.

BACKGROUND: As HIV cure research advances, there is an increasing need for community engagement in health research, especially in low- and middle-income countries with ongoing clinical trials. Crowdsourcing contests provide an innovative bottom-up way to solicit community feedback on clinical trials in order to enhance community engagement. The objective of this study was to identify facilitators and barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests about HIV cure research in a city with ongoing HIV cure clinical trials. METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews to evaluate facilitators and barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests in Guangzhou, China. Contests included the following activities: organizing a call for entries, promoting the call, evaluating entries, celebrating exceptional entries, and sharing entries. We interviewed 31 individuals, including nine HIV cure clinical trial participants, 17 contest participants, and five contest organizers. Our sample included men who have sex with men (20), people living with HIV (14), and people who inject drugs (5). We audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed the data using inductive and deductive coding techniques. RESULTS: Facilitators of crowdsourcing contest participation included responsiveness to lived experiences, strong community interest in HIV research, and community trust in medical professionals and related groups. Contests had more participants if they responded to the lived experiences, challenges, and opportunities of living with HIV in China. Strong community interest in HIV research helped to drive the formulation and execution of HIV cure contests, building support and momentum for these activities. Finally, participant trust in medical professionals and related groups (community-based organizations and contest organizers) further strengthened the ties between community members and researchers. Barriers to participating in crowdsourcing contests included persistent HIV stigma and myths about HIV. Stigma associated with discussing HIV made promotion difficult in certain contexts (e.g., city squares and schools). Myths and misperceptions about HIV science confused participants. CONCLUSIONS: Our data identified facilitators and barriers of participation in HIV cure crowdsourcing contests in China. Our findings could complement existing HIV community engagement strategies and help to design HIV contests for community engagement in other settings, particularly in low- and middle-income countries

A Men Who Have Sex With Men-Friendly Doctor Finder Hackathon in Guangzhou, China: Development of a Mobile Health Intervention to Enhance Health Care Utilization.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHeath)-based HIV and sexual health promotion among men who have sex with men (MSM) is feasible in low- and middle-income settings. However, many currently available mHealth tools on the market were developed by the private sector for profit and have limited input from MSM communities. OBJECTIVE: A health hackathon is an intensive contest that brings together participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds to develop a proposed solution for a specific health issue within a short period. The purpose of this paper was to describe a hackathon event that aimed to develop an mHealth tool to enhance health care (specifically HIV prevention) utilization among Chinese MSM, summarize characteristics of the final prototypes, and discuss implications for future mHealth intervention development. METHODS: The hackathon took place in Guangzhou, China. An open call for hackathon participants was advertised on 3 Chinese social media platforms, including Blued, a popular social networking app among MSM. All applicants completed a Web-based survey and were then scored. The top scoring applicants were grouped into teams based on their skills and content area expertise. Each team was allowed 1 month to prepare for the hackathon. The teams then came together in person with on-site expert mentorship for a 72-hour hackathon contest to develop and present mHealth prototype solutions. The judging panel included experts in psychology, public health, computer science, social media, clinical medicine, and MSM advocacy. The final prototypes were evaluated based on innovation, usability, and feasibility. RESULTS: We received 92 applicants, and 38 of them were selected to attend the April 2019 hackathon. A total of 8 teams were formed, including expertise in computer science, user interface design, business or marketing, clinical medicine, and public health. Moreover, 24 participants self-identified as gay, and 3 participants self-identified as bisexual. All teams successfully developed a prototype tool. A total of 4 prototypes were designed as a mini program that could be embedded within a popular Chinese social networking app, and 3 prototypes were designed as stand-alone apps. Common prototype functions included Web-based physician searching based on one's location (8 prototypes), health education (4 prototypes), Web-based health counseling with providers or lay health volunteers (6 prototypes), appointment scheduling (8 prototypes), and between-user communication (2 prototypes). All prototypes included strategies to ensure privacy protection for MSM users, and some prototypes offered strategies to ensure privacy of physicians. The selected prototypes are undergoing pilot testing. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of using a hackathon to create mHealth intervention tools. This suggests a different pathway to developing mHealth interventions and could be relevant in other settings

Blockade to pathological remodeling of infarcted heart tissue using a porcupine antagonist

The secreted Wnt signaling molecules are essential to the coordination of cell-fate decision making in multicellular organisms. In adult animals, the secreted Wnt proteins are critical for tissue regeneration and frequently contribute to cancer. Small molecules that disable the Wnt acyltransferase Porcupine (Porcn) are candidate anticancer agents in clinical testing. Here we have systematically assessed the effects of the Porcn inhibitor (WNT-974) on the regeneration of several tissue types to identify potentially unwanted chemical effects that could limit the therapeutic utility of such agents. An unanticipated observation from these studies is proregenerative responses in heart muscle induced by systemic chemical suppression of Wnt signaling. Using in vitro cultures of several cell types found in the heart, we delineate the Wnt signaling apparatus supporting an antiregenerative transcriptional program that includes a subunit of the nonfibrillar collagen VI. Similar to observations seen in animals exposed to WNT-974, deletion of the collagen VI subunit, COL6A1, has been shown to decrease aberrant remodeling and fibrosis in infarcted heart tissue. We demonstrate that WNT-974 can improve the recovery of heart function after left anterior descending coronary artery ligation by mitigating adverse remodeling of infarcted tissue. Injured heart tissue exposed to WNT-974 exhibits decreased scarring and reduced Col6 production. Our findings support the development of Porcn inhibitors as antifibrotic agents that could be exploited to promote heart repair following injury

Sexual Health Influencer Distribution of HIV/Syphilis Self-Tests Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Secondary Analysis to Inform Community-Based Interventions.

BACKGROUND: Social network-based strategies can expand HIV/syphilis self-tests among men who have sex with men (MSM). Sexual health influencers are individuals who are particularly capable of spreading information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within their social networks. However, it remains unknown whether a sexual health influencer can encourage their peers to self-test for HIV/syphilis. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to examine the impact of MSM sexual health influencers on improving HIV/syphilis self-test uptake within their social networks compared to that of nonsexual health influencers. METHODS: In Zhuhai, China, men 16 years or older, born biologically male, who reported ever having had sex with a man, and applying for HIV/syphilis self-tests were enrolled online as indexes and encouraged to distribute self-tests to individuals (alters) in their social network. Indexes scoring >3 on a sexual health influencer scale were considered to be sexual health influencers (Cronbach α=.87). The primary outcome was the mean number of alters encouraged to test per index for sexual health influencers compared with the number encouraged by noninfluencers. RESULTS: Participants included 371 indexes and 278 alters. Among indexes, 77 (20.8%) were sexual health influencers and 294 (79.2%) were noninfluencers. On average, each sexual health influencer successfully encouraged 1.66 alters to self-test compared to 0.51 alters encouraged by each noninfluencer (adjusted rate ratio 2.07, 95% CI 1.59-2.69). More sexual health influencers disclosed their sexual orientation (80.5% vs 67.3%, P=.02) and were community-based organization volunteers (18.2% vs 2.7%, P<.001) than noninfluencers. More alters of sexual health influencers came from a rural area (45.5% vs 23.8%, P<.001), had below-college education (57.7% vs 37.1%, P<.001), and had multiple casual male sexual partners in the past 6 months (25.2% vs 11.9%, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Being a sexual health influencer was associated with encouraging more alters with less testing access to self-test for HIV/syphilis. Sexual health influencers can be engaged as seeds to expand HIV/syphilis testing coverage

Joint international consensus statement on crowdsourcing challenge contests in health and medicine: results of a modified Delphi process

OBJECTIVES: To develop a consensus statement to provide advice on designing, implementing and evaluating crowdsourcing challenge contests in public health and medical contexts. DESIGN: Modified Delphi using three rounds of survey questionnaires and one consensus workshop. SETTING: Uganda for face-to-face consensus activities, global for online survey questionnaires. PARTICIPANTS: A multidisciplinary expert panel was convened at a consensus-development conference in Uganda and included 21 researchers with experience leading challenge contests, five public health sector workers, and nine Ugandan end users. An online survey was sent to 140 corresponding authors of previously published articles that had used crowdsourcing methods. RESULTS: A subgroup of expert panel members developed the initial statement and survey. We received responses from 120 (85.7%) survey participants, which were presented at an in-person workshop of all 21 panel members. Panelists discussed each of the sections, revised the statement, and participated in a second round of the survey questionnaire. Based on this second survey round, we held detailed discussions of each subsection with workshop participants and further revised the consensus statement. We then conducted the third round of the questionnaire among the 21 expert panelists and used the results to finalize the statement. This iterative process resulted in 23 final statement items, all with greater than 80% consensus. Statement items are organised into the seven stages of a challenge contest, including the following: considering the appropriateness, organising a community steering committee, promoting the contest, assessing contributions, recognising contributors, sharing ideas and evaluating the contest (COPARSE). CONCLUSIONS: There is high agreement among crowdsourcing experts and stakeholders on the design and implementation of crowdsourcing challenge contests. The COPARSE consensus statement can be used to organise crowdsourcing challenge contests, improve the rigour and reproducibility of crowdsourcing research and enable large-scale collaboration

Social Media-Based Secondary Distribution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Syphilis Self-testing Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men.

BACKGROUND: Social media and secondary distribution (distributing self-testing kits by indexes through their networks) both show strong promise to improve human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) self-testing uptake. We assessed an implementation program in Zhuhai, China, which focused on the secondary distribution of HIV/syphilis self-test kits among men who have sex with men (MSM) via social media. METHODS: Men aged ≥16 years, born biologically male, and ever had sex with another man were recruited as indexes. Banner ads on a social media platform invited the participants to apply for up to 5 self-test kits every 3 months. Index men paid a deposit of US$15/kit refundable upon submitting a photograph of a completed test result via an online submission system. They were informed that they could distribute the kits to others (referred to as "alters"). RESULTS: A total of 371 unique index men applied for 1150 kits (mean age, 28.7 [standard deviation, 6.9] years), of which 1141 test results were returned (99%). Among them, 1099 were valid test results; 810 (74%) were from 331 unique index men, and 289 tests (26%) were from 281 unique alters. Compared to index men, a higher proportion of alters were naive HIV testers (40% vs 21%; P < .001). The total HIV self-test reactivity rate was 3%, with alters having a significantly higher rate than indexes (5% vs 2%; P = .008). A total of 21 people (3%) had a reactive syphilis test result. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating social media with the secondary distribution of self-test kits may hold promise to increase HIV/syphilis testing coverage and case identification among MSM

Oral microbiome and risk of malignant esophageal lesions in a high-risk area of China: A nested case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of oral microbiome with malignant esophageal lesions and its predictive potential as a biomarker of risk. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study nested within a population-based cohort with up to 8 visits of oral swab collection for each subject over an 11-year period in a high-risk area for esophageal cancer in China. The oral microbiome was evaluated with 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing in 428 pre-diagnostic oral specimens from 84 cases with esophageal lesions of severe squamous dysplasia and above (SDA) and 168 matched healthy controls. DESeq analysis was performed to identify taxa of differential abundance. Differential oral species together with subject characteristics were evaluated for their potential in predicting SDA risk by constructing conditional logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 125 taxa including 37 named species showed significantly different abundance between SDA cases and controls (all P0.84. CONCLUSIONS: The oral microbiome may play an etiological and predictive role in esophageal cancer, and it holds promise as a non-invasive early warning biomarker for risk stratification for esophageal cancer screening programs

From pandemic to plandemic: examining the amplification and attenuation of COVID-19 misinformation on social media

This study examines the proliferation of COVID-19 misinformation through Plandemic-a pseudo-documentary of COVID-19 conspiracy theories-on social media and examines how factors such as (a) themes of misinformation, (b) types of misinformation, (c) sources of misinformation, (d) emotions of misinformation, and (e) fact-checking labels amplify or attenuate online misinformation during the early days of the pandemic. Using CrowdTangle, a Facebook API, we collected a total of 5732 publicly available Facebook pages posts containing Plandemic-related keywords from January 1 to December 19, 2020. A random sample of 600 posts was subsequently coded, and the data were analyzed using negative binomial regression to examine factors associated with amplification and attenuation. Overall, the extended an extended Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) provided a theoretical lens to understand why certain misinformation was amplified, while others were attenuated. As for posts with misinformation, results showed that themes related to private firms, treatment and prevention of virus transmission, diagnosis and health impacts, virus origins, and social impact were more likely to be amplified. While the different types of misinformation (manipulated, fabricated, or satire) and emotions were not associated with amplification, the type of fact-check labels did influence the virality of misinformation. Specifically, posts that were flagged as false by Facebook were more likely to be amplified, while the virality of posts flagged as containing partially false information was attenuated. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.Nanyang Technological UniversityThis work was supported by Nanyang Technological University (grant number Start Up Grant: 020154-00001)

Biochar Acts as an Emerging Soil Amendment and Its Potential Ecological Risks: A Review

Biochar, known as “Black Gold”, has become a novel approach with potential benefits for soil amendment, such as improving soil physicochemical properties, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing soil fertility. The previous research studies mainly focus on exploring different methods for the improvement of biochar enriched nutrients as fertilizers; however, the migration and transformation mechanisms of these nutrients induced by biochar are yet to be extensively investigated. This paper provides an overview of recent advances in the application and mechanisms of biochar for soil amendment focusing on soil properties and nutrients improvement. Biochar positively alters microbial-mediated reactions in the soil C and N cycles, i.e., mineralization of C and N, and N2 fixation, thus enhancing maximizing C and N use efficiency and reducing the potential losses. Moreover, biochar provides reactive surfaces where P and K ions are retained in soil microbial biomass and in exchange sites, leading to increasing the availability of P and K to plants uptake. In addition, the toxic substances and potential ecological risks of biochar were also reviewed and discussed, thereby providing a baseline reference and guiding significance for future biochar applications as promising soil amendments

Data_Sheet_1_Rapid biodegradation of atrazine by a novel Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens ZY and its effects on soil native microbial community dynamic.docx

An atrazine-utilizing bacterium, designated as ZY, was isolated from agricultural soil and identified as Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens. The P. ureafaciens ZY demonstrated a significant degradation capacity of atrazine, with the degradation efficiency of 12.5 mg L−1 h−1 in liquid media (at pH 7, 30°C, and the atrazine level of 100 mg L−1). The P. ureafaciens ZY contained three atrazine-degrading genes (i.e., trzN, atzB, and atzC) could metabolize atrazine to form cyanuric acid, which showed lower biotoxicity than the parent atrazine as predicted by Ecological Structure Activity Relationships model. A laboratory-scale pot experiment was performed to examine the degradation of atrazine by P. ureafaciens ZY inoculation and investigate its effects on the native microbial communities. The results exhibited that the P. ureafaciens ZY was conductive to the degradation of atrazine, increased the total soil phospholipid fatty acids at the atrazine level of 50, 70, and 100 mg kg−1. By using high-throughput sequencing analysis, Frateuria, Dyella, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia were considered as the most important indigenous atrazine-degrading microorganisms due to their relative abundances were positively correlated with the atrazine degradation rate. In addition, P. ureafaciens ZY also increased the abundance of atrazine-degrading genus Streptomyces and Bacillus, indicating that there may be a synergic relationship between them in the process of atrazine degradation. Our work provides a new insight between inoculums and native microorganisms on the degradation of atrazine.</p