Adolescent experiences of HIV and sexual health communication with parents and caregivers in Soweto, South Africa

Communication about sexual health between parents and adolescents has been shown to have a protective influence on behaviours that reduce the risk of HIV transmission. This study explored experiences of HIV and sexual health (HSH) communication between parents and/or caregivers and adolescents in an urban HIV-endemic community in Southern Africa. Adolescents (aged 14–19 years) were recruited from the Kganya Motsha Adolescent Centre and the Kliptown community between June and August 2009. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions (n = 10 adolescents) and semi-structured interviews (n = 31 adolescents). In total, 41 adolescents (56% female, 44% male, mean age = 17.2) participated in the study. Adolescent participants identified emotional, physical and sociocultural barriers to initiating HSH communication with parents and caregivers including fear of verbal warnings, threats and physical assault. Adolescents also expressed a desire for mentorship around HSH communication beyond abstinence and peer-based information. Public health interventions need to support adolescents’ access to bi-directional HSH information from adult mentors that address the lived realities of adolescents beyond expectations of abstinence.Keywords: adolescent, parent–adolescent communication, qualitative, sexual health, HIV prevention, South Afric

Can People with Chronic Neck Pain Recognize Their Own Digital Pain Drawing?

Background: Although the reliability of pain drawings (PDs) has been confirmed in people with chronic pain, there is a lack of evidence about the validity of the PD, that is, does the PD accurately represent the pain experience of the patient? Objectives: We investigate whether people with chronic neck pain (CNP) can recognize their own PD to support the validity of the PD in reporting the experience of pain. Moreover, we examined the association between their ability to recognize their own PD with their levels of pain intensity and disability and extent of psychosocial and somatic features. Study Design: Experimental. Setting: University Laboratory. Methods: Individuals with CNP completed their PD on a digital body chart, which was then automatically modified with specific dimensions using a novel software, providing an objective range of distortion and eliminating errors, which could potentially occur in manually controlled visual-subjective based methods. Following a 10-minute break listening to music, a series of 20 PDs were presented to each patient in a random order, with only 2 being their original PD. For each PD, the patients rated its likeliness to their own original PD on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 representing “this is my pain.” Results: Overall, the patients rated their original PD with a median score of 92% similarity, followed by 91.8% and 89.5% similarity when presented with a PD scaled down to 75% and scaled up by 150% of the original size, respectively; these scores were not significantly different to the ratings given for their original PD. The PD with horizontal translation by 40 pixels (8%) and vertical translation by 70 pixels (12.8%) were rated as the most dissimilar to their original PD; these scores were significantly different to their original PD scores. The Spearman correlation coefficient revealed a significant negative association between their ability to recognize their original PD and their Modified Somatic Perceptions Questionnaire scores. Limitations: The patients in the study presented with relatively mild CNP, and the results may not be generalized to those with more severe symptoms. Conclusions: People with CNP are generally able to identify their own PD but that their ability to recognize their original PD is negatively correlated with the extent of somatic awareness

Evidence of Spiro-OMeTAD De-doping by tert-Butylpyridine Additive in Hole-Transporting Layers for Perovskite Solar Cells

The development of solid-state hole-transporting materials (HTMs) dates back to the first reports on solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells in 1998, which provided solar cell efficiencies around 1%. The need for these components has then steadily grown with the advent in 2009 of perovskite-based photovoltaics, which cannot sustain any liquid electrolyte. Spiro-OMeTAD molecules have been for many years the material of choice for this application. When doped with LiTFSI salts and tert-butylpyridine, the resulting mixture can efficiently extract photogenerated holes in the perovskite absorber and transport them to the collecting electrode. This benchmark for hole transport in third-generation hybrid photovoltaics suffers from intrinsic limitations, which have been studied widely over the years. A detailed molecular-level understanding of the processes involved in Spiro-OMeTAD-based HTM degradation is a key requirement for the future development of new stable and efficient substitutes for this task

Two-stage hepatectomy with radioembolization for bilateral colorectal liver metastases: A case report

BACKGROUND Two-stage hepatectomy (TSH) is a well-established surgical technique, used to treat bilateral colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) with a small future liver remnant (FLR). However, in classical TSH, drop-out is reported to be around 25%- 40%, due to insufficient FLR increase or progression of disease. Trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) has been described to control locally tumor growth of liver malignancies such as hepatocellular carcinoma, but it has been also reported to induce a certain degree of contralateral liver hypertrophy, even if at a lower rate compared to portal vein embolization or ligation. CASE SUMMARY Herein we report the case of a 75-year-old female patient, where TSH and TARE were combined to treat bilateral CRLM. According to computed tomography (CT)-scan, the patient had a hepatic lesion in segment VI-VII and two other confluent lesions in segment II-III. Therefore, one-stage posterior right sectionectomy plus left lateral sectionectomy (LLS) was planned. The liver volumetry estimated a FLR of 38% (segments I-IV-V-VIII). However, due to a more than initially planned, extended right resection, simultaneous LLS was not performed and the patient underwent selective TARE to segments II-III after the first surgery. The CT-scan performed after TARE showed a reduction of the treated lesion and a FLR increase of 55%. Carcinoembryonic antigen and CA 19.9 decreased significantly. Nearly three months later after the first surgery, LLS was performed and the patient was discharged without any postoperative complications. CONCLUSION According to this specific experience, TARE was used to induce liver hypertrophy and simultaneously control cancer progression in TSH settings for bilateral CRLM