Beyond the IT Magic Bullet: HIV Prevention Education and Public Policy

Analytic applications are vital in the assessments of public health and surveillance as these applications can drive resource allocation, community assessment and public policy. Using a dataset of nearly 90,000 patient hospital encounters, the number of instances with an ICD code of HIV and co-morbidities was identified. Blacks accounted for 75 percent of HIV hospital encounters in the dataset. While business analytic applications informed this study of cross-tabulations and interaction effects among race, age and gender, there appears to be a significant relationship among HIV diagnoses and substance abuse. Payer data is informed by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and these findings indicate significant service utilization among those insured by Medicare. More importantly, these issues raise more salient implications among the current health and public policy among HIV care delivery, in general, and among the Black community, in particular. Attention to health and public policy warrants further investigation given that this discourse has shifted to a focus on curvative medicine and away from prevention and education

ZRT1 harbors an excess of nonsynonymous polymorphism and shows evidence of balancing selection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Estimates of the fraction of nucleotide substitutions driven by positive selection vary widely across different species. Accounting for different estimates of positive selection has been difficult, in part because selection on polymorphism within a species is known to obscure a signal of positive selection between species. While methods have been developed to control for the confounding effects of negative selection against deleterious polymorphism, the impact of balancing selection on estimates of positive selection has not been assessed. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, there is no signal of positive selection within protein coding sequences as the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous polymorphism is higher than that of divergence. To investigate the impact of balancing selection on estimates of positive selection we examined five genes with high rates of nonsynonymous polymorphism in S. cerevisiae relative to divergence from S. paradoxus. One of the genes, a high affinity zinc transporter ZRT1, shows an elevated rate of synonymous polymorphism indicative of balancing selection. The high rate of synonymous polymorphism coincides with nonsynonymous divergence between three haplotype groups, which we find to be functionally indistinguishable. We conclude that balancing selection is not likely to be a common cause of genes harboring a large excess of nonsynonymous polymorphism in yeast

Lunar orbiting microwave beam power system

A microwave beam power system using lunar orbiting solar powered satellite(s) and surface rectenna(s) was investigated as a possible energy source for the Moon's surface. The concept has the potential of reduced system mass by placing the power source in orbit. This can greatly reduce and/or eliminate the 14 day energy storage requirement of a lunar surface solar system. Also propellants required to de-orbit to the surface are greatly reduced. To determine the practicality of the concept and the most important factors, a zero-th order feasibility analysis was performed. Three different operational scenarios employing state of the art technology and forecasts for two different sets of advanced technologies were investigated. To reduce the complexity of the problem, satellite(s) were assumed in circular equatorial orbits around the Moon, supplying continuous power to a single equatorial base through a fixed horizontal rectenna on the surface. State of the art technology yielded specific masses greater than 2500 kg/kw, well above projections for surface systems. Using advanced technologies the specific masses are on the order of 100 kg/kw which is within the range of projections for surface nuclear (20 kg/kw) and solar systems (500 kg/kw). Further studies examining optimization of the scenarios, other technologies such as lasers transmitters and nuclear sources, and operational issues such as logistics, maintenance and support are being carried out to support the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) to the Moon and Mars

The Influence of an Educational Intervention in Developing the Interprofessional Values and Behaviors of Doctor of Physical Therapy Students

Interprofessional collaboration is a key component of the provision of high quality, safe, and effective healthcare. The complex needs of patients demand that healthcare professionals demonstrate competency within their particular discipline, and in interprofessional collaboration. The programs that educate healthcare professionals, including physical therapy programs, are obliged to provide students interprofessional education (IPE) to meet accreditation guidelines and to prepare students for professional practice. The literature lacks evidence on the ability of IPE to impact higher level learning outcomes, such as students’ interprofessional behaviors. The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of an IPE experience on Doctor of Physical Therapy students’ interprofessional values and behaviors. In addition, the interprofessional values and behaviors of all students who participated in IPE were compared to one another. Findings from this quantitative quasi-experimental study indicate that the IPE experience improved the self-assessed interprofessional behaviors of the physical therapy students who participated, as compared to peers who did not. Additionally, among the students who participated in IPE, the most novice students retrospectively identified significantly lower pretest levels of interprofessional behaviors, as compared to students who were approaching the end of their program. However, despite these initial differences, students of all disciplines experienced a similar amount of growth in their self-reported interprofessional values and interactions at the conclusion of the IPE experience. In this study, IPE based on interprofessional competency frameworks, with learning objectives aligned to instructional methods produced higher level learning outcomes, including changes in self-perceived interprofessional interactions and behaviors