The State of Play in HIV Health Promotion for Black and Minority Ethnic Men Who Have Sex with Men

HIV is one of the defining diseases of the last thirty years and despite billions spent on researching treatment, vaccines, and causes; it continues to impact tens of millions of people worldwide. Sexual transmission remains the key route of infection in the majority of new cases with sex between men in minority ethnic communities one of the highest-identified risks. Misconceptions of the definitions of men who have sex with men (“MSM”) and Black and Minority Ethnic (“BME”) populations influence the ways in which health promotion agencies—whether private, public, or non-profit—interact with these target populations. This in turn impacts the likelihood of successful public health outcomes, such as reduced HIV incidence rates, improved safe sex behaviours for HIV positive individuals, and robust, accurate education provision. In this paper we contextualise the need for highly developed health interventions to improve the sexual health of BME MSM, as well as critically discuss the effect that the very designation “BME MSM” has on both sexual health epidemiology and our ability to understand current trends and bring future HIV infections under control

Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 4, October-December 1981

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1159/thumbnail.jp

Fibroblast growth factors 1 and 2 in cerebrospinal fluid are associated with HIV disease, methamphetamine use, and neurocognitive functioning.

BackgroundHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and methamphetamine use commonly affect neurocognitive (NC) functioning. We evaluated the relationships between NC functioning and two fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) in volunteers who differed in HIV serostatus and methamphetamine dependence (MAD).MethodsA total of 100 volunteers were categorized into four groups based on HIV serostatus and MAD in the prior year. FGF-1 and FGF-2 were measured in cerebrospinal fluid by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays along with two reference biomarkers (monocyte chemotactic protein [MCP]-1 and neopterin). Comprehensive NC testing was summarized by global and domain impairment ratings.ResultsSixty-three volunteers were HIV+ and 59 had a history of MAD. FGF-1, FGF-2, and both reference biomarkers differed by HIV and MAD status. For example, FGF-1 levels were lower in subjects who had either HIV or MAD than in HIV- and MAD- controls (P=0.003). Multivariable regression identified that global NC impairment was associated with an interaction between FGF-1 and FGF-2 (model R(2)=0.09, P=0.01): higher FGF-2 levels were only associated with neurocognitive impairment among subjects who had lower FGF-1 levels. Including other covariates in the model (including antidepressant use) strengthened the model (model R(2)=0.18, P=0.004) but did not weaken the association with FGF-1 and FGF-2. Lower FGF-1 levels were associated with impairment in five of seven cognitive domains, more than FGF-2, MCP-1, or neopterin.ConclusionThese findings provide in vivo support that HIV and MAD alter expression of FGFs, which may contribute to the NC abnormalities associated with these conditions. These cross-sectional findings cannot establish causality and the therapeutic benefits of recombinant FGF-1 need to be investigated

A high specific strength, deformation-processed scandium-titanium composite

A 59% Sc–41% Ti deformation-processed metal-metal composite was produced by rolling to a true strain of 2.3 at 873 K followed by cold rolling to a total true strain of 3.6. Rolling reduced the original eutectoid microstructure to lamellae of α–Sc and α–Ti with average lamellar thicknesses of 150 nm (Sc) and 120 nm (Ti). The cold-rolled material had an ultimate tensile strength of 942 MPa and a specific strength of 259 J/g. The Sc matrix was oriented with the 〈0001〉 tilted 22° from the sheet normal direction toward the rolling direction, an unusual texture for an HCP metal with a low c/a ratio, which suggests Sc may deform primarily by basal slip

Connecting does not necessarily mean learning: Course handbooks as mediating tools in school-university partnerships

This is the author's accepted manuscript (titled "Course handbooks as mediating tools in learning to teach"). The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.Partnerships between schools and universities in England use course handbooks to guide student teacher learning during long field experiences. Using data from a yearlong ethnographic study of a postgraduate certificate of education programme in one English university, the function of course handbooks in mediating learning in two high school subject departments (history and modern foreign languages) is analyzed. Informed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory, the analysis focuses on the handbooks as mediating tools in the school-based teacher education activity systems. Qualitative differences in the mediating functions of the handbooks-in-use are examined and this leads to a consideration of the potential of such tools for teacher learning in school–university partnerships. Following Zeichner’s call for rethinking the relationships between schools and universities, the article argues that strong structural connections between different institutional sites do not necessarily enhance student teacher learning

Supersymmetry Breaking in the Early Universe

Supersymmetry breaking in the early universe induces scalar soft potentials with curvature of order the Hubble constant. This has a dramatic effect on the coherent production of scalar fields along flat directions. For the moduli problem it generically gives a concrete realization of the problem by determining the field value subsequent to inflation. However it might suggest a solution if the minimum of the induced potential coincides with the true minimum. The induced Hubble scale mass also has important implications for the Affleck-Dine mechanism of baryogenesis. This mechanism requires large squark or slepton expectation values to develop along flat directions in the early universe. This is generally not the case if the induced mass squared is positive, but does occur if it is negative. The resulting baryon to entropy ratio depends mainly on the dimension of the nonrenormalizable operator in the superpotential which stabilizes the flat direction, and the reheat temperature after inflation. Unlike the original scenario, it is possible to obtain an acceptable baryon asymmetry without subsequent entropy releases.Comment: 11 pages, requires phyzz

Human Leukocyte Antigen Typing Using a Knowledge Base Coupled with a High-Throughput Oligonucleotide Probe Array Analysis

Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are important biomarkers because multiple diseases, drug toxicity, and vaccine responses reveal strong HLA associations. Current clinical HLA typing is an elimination process requiring serial testing. We present an alternative in situ synthesized DNA-based microarray method that contains hundreds of thousands of probes representing a complete overlapping set covering 1,610 clinically relevant HLA class I alleles accompanied by computational tools for assigning HLA type to 4-digit resolution. Our proof-of-concept experiment included 21 blood samples, 18 cell lines, and multiple controls. The method is accurate, robust, and amenable to automation. Typing errors were restricted to homozygous samples or those with very closely related alleles from the same locus, but readily resolved by targeted DNA sequencing validation of flagged samples. High-throughput HLA typing technologies that are effective, yet inexpensive, can be used to analyze the world’s populations, benefiting both global public health and personalized health care

The role of herbivory in structuring tropical seagrass ecosystem service delivery

Seagrass meadows support key ecosystem services, via provision of food directly for herbivores, and indirectly to their predators. The importance of herbivores in seagrass meadows has been well-documented, but the links between food webs and ecosystem services in seagrass meadows have not previously been made explicit. Herbivores interact with ecosystem services – including carbon sequestration, cultural values, and coastal protection. Interactions can be positive or negative and depend on a range of factors including the herbivore identity and the grazing type and intensity. There can be unintended consequences from management actions based on a poor understanding of trade-offs that occur with complex seagrass-herbivore interactions. Tropical seagrass meadows support a diversity of grazers spanning the meso-, macro- and megaherbivore scales. We present a conceptual model to describe how multiple ecosystem services are influenced by herbivore pressure in tropical seagrass meadows. Our model suggests that a balanced ecosystem, incorporating both seagrass and herbivore diversity, is likely to sustain the broadest range of ecosystem services. Our framework suggests the pathway to achieve desired ecosystem services outcomes requires knowledge on four key areas: (1) how size classes of herbivores interact to structure seagrass; (2) desired community and management values; (3) seagrass responses to top-down and bottom-up controls; (4) the pathway from intermediate to final ecosystem services and human benefits. We suggest research should be directed to these areas. Herbivory is a major structuring influence in tropical seagrass systems and needs to be considered for effective management of these critical habitats and their services

A Profile Likelihood Analysis of the Constrained MSSM with Genetic Algorithms

The Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) is one of the simplest and most widely-studied supersymmetric extensions to the standard model of particle physics. Nevertheless, current data do not sufficiently constrain the model parameters in a way completely independent of priors, statistical measures and scanning techniques. We present a new technique for scanning supersymmetric parameter spaces, optimised for frequentist profile likelihood analyses and based on Genetic Algorithms. We apply this technique to the CMSSM, taking into account existing collider and cosmological data in our global fit. We compare our method to the MultiNest algorithm, an efficient Bayesian technique, paying particular attention to the best-fit points and implications for particle masses at the LHC and dark matter searches. Our global best-fit point lies in the focus point region. We find many high-likelihood points in both the stau co-annihilation and focus point regions, including a previously neglected section of the co-annihilation region at large m_0. We show that there are many high-likelihood points in the CMSSM parameter space commonly missed by existing scanning techniques, especially at high masses. This has a significant influence on the derived confidence regions for parameters and observables, and can dramatically change the entire statistical inference of such scans.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures; Fig. 8, Table 7 and more discussions added to Sec. 3.4.2 in response to referee's comments; accepted for publication in JHE