Preparing for and executing a randomised controlled trial of podoconiosis treatment in Northern Ethiopia: the utility of rapid ethical assessment

Background Community-based randomized controlled trials are often complex pieces of research with significant challenges around the approach to the community, information provision, and decision-making, all of which are fundamental to the informed consent process. We conducted a rapid ethical assessment to guide the preparation for and conduct of a randomized controlled trial of podoconiosis treatment in northern Ethiopia. Methods A qualitative study was carried out in Aneded woreda, East Gojjam Zone, Amhara Regional State from August to September, 2013. A total of 14 In-depth Interviews (IDIs) with researchers, experts, and leaders, and 8 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) involving 80 participants (people of both gender, with and without podoconiosis), were conducted. Interviews were carried out in Amharic. Data analysis was started alongside collection. Final data analysis used a thematic approach based on themes identified a priori and those that emerged during the analysis. Results Respondents made a range of specific suggestions, including that sensitisation meetings were called by woreda or kebele leaders or the police; that Health Extension Workers were asked to accompany the research team to patients’ houses; that detailed trial information was explained by someone with deep local knowledge; that analogies from agriculture and local social organisations be used to explain randomisation; that participants in the ‘delayed’ intervention arm be given small incentives to continue in the trial; and that key community members be asked to quell rumours arising in the course of the trial. Conclusion Many of these recommendations were incorporated into the preparatory phases of the trial, or were used during the course of the trial itself. This demonstrates the utility of rapid ethical assessment preceding a complex piece of research in a relatively research-naive setting

The Vehicle, Spring 1993

1993 Commemorative Edition: Celebrating 35 Years Table of Contents The Vehicle Editors\u27 Lineagepage 5 Milestonespage 6 THE SIXTIES Coverspage 7 Editors\u27 Notespage 8 Sureness is Never - excerptDon Shepardsonpage 9 SophisticationBenjamin Polkpage 10 A SonnetMignon Stricklandpage 11 The Twenty-Third ChannelBen Polkpage 11 Opposite AttractionsC.E.M. (Christine McColl)page 12 John F. KennedyJoel E. Hendrickspage 13 The Girl on the White PonyLarry Gatespage 14 The TimesW.D.M. (William Moser)page 16 Home ThoughtsJane Careypage 17 1966Roger Zulaufpage 18 Nagging ThoughtJanet Andrewspage 18 THE SEVENTIES Coverspage 19 Editors\u27 Notespage 20 RevolutionsSteve Siegelpage 21 UntitledKristine Kirkhampage 23 The Arithmetic ProblemJanice Forbuspage 23 Willie Seeverson Threw a Worm at MeMary Pipekpage 24 a love poem (by approximation)Ted Baldwinpage 25 Night and Summer in Two WorldsBarry Smithpage 26 Story of a Teenage PickleTerry Louis Schultzpage 27 Danny Lonely, Danny WildDevin Brownpage 28 Always TomorrowMary McDanielpage 29 THE EIGHTIES Coverspage 31 Having ChildrenDevon Flesorpage 33 What is Unnatural Is Sometimes MagicAngelique Jenningspage 34 If My Father Were A Writer, He Would Still BuildAngelique Jenningspage 35 Photo AlbumPatrick Peterspage 36 Poet Born in Pearl HarborAngelique Jenningspage 37 The History of High School BasketballPatrick Peterspage 38 Banana BreadGail Bowerpage 39 Cover LetterBob Zordanipage 40 Home MoviesBob Zordanipage 41 MigrationPatrick Peterspage 42 THE NINETIES Ba, Ba, Black SheepVictoria Bennettpage 45 Daily LessonsJennifer Moropage 49 Folding My OwnLaurie Ann Malispage 51 About the Authorspage 53 Editors\u27 Notespage 56https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1062/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, Spring 1993

1993 Commemorative Edition: Celebrating 35 Years Table of Contents The Vehicle Editors\u27 Lineagepage 5 Milestonespage 6 THE SIXTIES Coverspage 7 Editors\u27 Notespage 8 Sureness is Never - excerptDon Shepardsonpage 9 SophisticationBenjamin Polkpage 10 A SonnetMignon Stricklandpage 11 The Twenty-Third ChannelBen Polkpage 11 Opposite AttractionsC.E.M. (Christine McColl)page 12 John F. KennedyJoel E. Hendrickspage 13 The Girl on the White PonyLarry Gatespage 14 The TimesW.D.M. (William Moser)page 16 Home ThoughtsJane Careypage 17 1966Roger Zulaufpage 18 Nagging ThoughtJanet Andrewspage 18 THE SEVENTIES Coverspage 19 Editors\u27 Notespage 20 RevolutionsSteve Siegelpage 21 UntitledKristine Kirkhampage 23 The Arithmetic ProblemJanice Forbuspage 23 Willie Seeverson Threw a Worm at MeMary Pipekpage 24 a love poem (by approximation)Ted Baldwinpage 25 Night and Summer in Two WorldsBarry Smithpage 26 Story of a Teenage PickleTerry Louis Schultzpage 27 Danny Lonely, Danny WildDevin Brownpage 28 Always TomorrowMary McDanielpage 29 THE EIGHTIES Coverspage 31 Having ChildrenDevon Flesorpage 33 What is Unnatural Is Sometimes MagicAngelique Jenningspage 34 If My Father Were A Writer, He Would Still BuildAngelique Jenningspage 35 Photo AlbumPatrick Peterspage 36 Poet Born in Pearl HarborAngelique Jenningspage 37 The History of High School BasketballPatrick Peterspage 38 Banana BreadGail Bowerpage 39 Cover LetterBob Zordanipage 40 Home MoviesBob Zordanipage 41 MigrationPatrick Peterspage 42 THE NINETIES Ba, Ba, Black SheepVictoria Bennettpage 45 Daily LessonsJennifer Moropage 49 Folding My OwnLaurie Ann Malispage 51 About the Authorspage 53 Editors\u27 Notespage 56https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1062/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, Fall 1987

Table of Contents Sketches in the SunRodger L. Patiencepage 3 Reflecting PoolRob Montgomerypage 5 Grandpa\u27s Porcelain DollRichard E. Hallpage 6 Tintype 1837Catherine Friemannpage 6 PhotographSteven M. Beamerpage 7 Washerwoman\u27s SongBob Zordanipage 8 Scrambled Eggs for D.O.Lynne A. Rafoolpage 8 my mother would sayMonica Grothpage 9 Retired by His ChildrenDan Von Holtenpage 10 I am the oldestMonica Grothpage 11 Ice on WheatRob Montgomerypage 12 The Nature of the RoseTroy Mayfieldpage 12 Past NebraskaDan Hornbostelpage 13 Five Minute Jamaican VacationChristy Dunphypage 14 PhotographSteven M. Beamerpage 14 The Angry PoemChristy Dunphypage 15 Road UnfamiliarChristy Dunphypage 15 raised voicesMonica Grothpage 16 Old Ladies & MiniskirtsKara Shannonpage 17 FreakspeakBob Zordanipage 18 PortraitDan Von Holtenpage 18 Mobile VacuumKathleen L. Fairfieldpage 19 Rev. Fermus DickSteve Hagemannpage 20 PhotographSteven M. Beamerpage 21 What\u27s the Name of That Flower?Richard Jesse Davispage 22 RequestChristy Dunphypage 23 SketchPaul Seabaughpage 24 ExperiencedMarilyn Wilsonpage 26 Leaving: Two ViewsTina Phillipspage 27 AntaeusDan Von Holtenpage 28 Misogyny at 19J. D. Finfrockpage 29 A Mental CrippleSteve Hagemannpage 32 AssociationsRhonda Ealypage 33 Banana BreadGail Bowerpage 34 Bill and JackBradford B. Autenpage 35 After Image No. 2Rob Montgomerypage 35 VrrooomBeth Goodmanpage 36 Mr. Modern LoverMolly Maddenpage 36 TravelogueRodger L. Patiencepage 37 Down the HighwayJoan Sebastianpage 38 A Retread HeavenRob Montgomerypage 41 StuporDan Von Holtenpage 42 Love Poem After a Seizure in Your BedBob Zordanipage 43 PalsyChristy Dunphypage 44 Interview with Mr. MatthewsBob Zordanipage 45 Chasing Down Hot Air Balloons on a Sunday MorningRob Montgomerypage 48https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1049/thumbnail.jp

Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 4 comprises globally distributed and geographically restricted sublineages

Generalist and specialist species differ in the breadth of their ecological niches. Little is known about the niche width of obligate human pathogens. Here we analyzed a global collection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 4 clinical isolates, the most geographically widespread cause of human tuberculosis. We show that lineage 4 comprises globally distributed and geographically restricted sublineages, suggesting a distinction between generalists and specialists. Population genomic analyses showed that, whereas the majority of human T cell epitopes were conserved in all sublineages, the proportion of variable epitopes was higher in generalists. Our data further support a European origin for the most common generalist sublineage. Hence, the global success of lineage 4 reflects distinct strategies adopted by different sublineages and the influence of human migration.We thank S. Lecher, S. Li and J. Zallet for technical support. Calculations were performed at the sciCORE scientific computing core facility at the University of Basel. This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 310030_166687 (S.G.) and 320030_153442 (M.E.) and Swiss HIV Cohort Study grant 740 to L.F.), the European Research Council (309540-EVODRTB to S.G.), TB-PAN-NET (FP7-223681 to S.N.), PathoNgenTrace projects (FP7-278864-2 to S.N.), SystemsX.ch (S.G.), the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF; S.N.), the Novartis Foundation (S.G.), the Natural Science Foundation of China (91631301 to Q.G.), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (5U01-AI069924-05) of the US National Institutes of Health (M.E.)

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Yoga reduces inflammatory signaling in fatigued breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundYoga is a popular mind-body therapy that has demonstrated beneficial effects on psychological, behavioral, and functional outcomes. However, few studies have investigated effects on inflammatory processes. This study tested the hypothesis that an Iyengar yoga intervention specifically designed for fatigued breast cancer survivors would lead to decreases in inflammation-related gene expression and circulating markers of proinflammatory cytokine activity.MethodsBreast cancer survivors with persistent cancer-related fatigue were randomized to a 12-week Iyengar yoga intervention (n=16) or a 12-week health education control condition (n=15). Blood samples were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up for genome-wide transcriptional profiling and bioinformatic analyses. Plasma inflammatory markers and salivary cortisol were also assessed.ResultsIn promoter-based bioinformatics analyses, the yoga group showed reduced activity of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), increased activity of the anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid receptor, and reduced activity of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) family transcription factors relative to controls (all ps<.05). There was also a significant intervention effect on the soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor type II (sTNF-RII), a marker of TNF activity; plasma levels of sTNF-RII remained stable in the yoga group, whereas levels of this marker increased in the health education group (p=.028). A similar, non-significant trend was observed for the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (p=.16). No significant changes in C reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), or diurnal cortisol measures were observed.ConclusionsA 12-week restorative Iyengar yoga intervention reduced inflammation-related gene expression in breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue. These findings suggest that a targeted yoga program may have beneficial effects on inflammatory activity in this patient population, with potential relevance for behavioral and physical health