A computer-assisted motivational social network intervention to reduce alcohol, drug and HIV risk behaviors among Housing First residents.

BackgroundIndividuals transitioning from homelessness to housing face challenges to reducing alcohol, drug and HIV risk behaviors. To aid in this transition, this study developed and will test a computer-assisted intervention that delivers personalized social network feedback by an intervention facilitator trained in motivational interviewing (MI). The intervention goal is to enhance motivation to reduce high risk alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and reduce HIV risk behaviors.Methods/designIn this Stage 1b pilot trial, 60 individuals that are transitioning from homelessness to housing will be randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition. The intervention condition consists of four biweekly social network sessions conducted using MI. AOD use and HIV risk behaviors will be monitored prior to and immediately following the intervention and compared to control participants' behaviors to explore whether the intervention was associated with any systematic changes in AOD use or HIV risk behaviors.DiscussionSocial network health interventions are an innovative approach for reducing future AOD use and HIV risk problems, but little is known about their feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy. The current study develops and pilot-tests a computer-assisted intervention that incorporates social network visualizations and MI techniques to reduce high risk AOD use and HIV behaviors among the formerly homeless. CLINICALTRIALS.Gov identifierNCT02140359

Impact of a new bicycle path on physical activity

There has been a great deal of concern about obesity, with many calls for Americans to increase physical activity. In spite of all the attention and exhortations, the Outdoor Industry Foundation reported that bicycling is declining, having dropped from 3.9 billion outings in 2004 to 3.1 billion outings in 2005 (Outdoor Industry Foundation, 2006). The most dramatic drop in outings was for American females, who averaged 18 paved road biking outings in 2005 compared to 28 in 2004. Although new bike paths and roadways are frequently being built, there are few studies using objective measures in the United States that prospectively document increases in physical activity in response to environmental changes (Morrison et al., 2004; Killoran et al., 2006). Studies of the association between bicycling and the built environment have typically been cross-sectional (Nelson and Allen, 1997; Dill and Carr, 2003) and when change in the built environment is assessed for its impact on physical activity, studies have included repeated cross-sectional self-reports (Ogilvie et al., 2006), retrospective accounts of use over time (Boarnet et al., 2005), or simulations of what is expected (Niemeier, 1996)

Measurement Properties of a Park Use Questionnaire

We determined the criterion validity and test-retest reliability of a brief park use questionnaire. From five US locations, 232 adults completed a brief survey four times and wore a global positioning system (GPS) monitor for three weeks. We assessed validity for park visits during the past week and during a usual week by examining agreement between frequency and duration of park visits reported in the questionnaire to the GPS monitor results. Spearman correlation coefficients (SCC) were used to measure agreement. For past week park visit frequency and duration, the SCC were 0.62–0.65 and 0.62–0.67, respectively. For usual week park visit frequency and duration, the SCC were 0.40–0.50 and 0.50–0.53, respectively. Usual park visit frequency reliability was 0.78–0.88 (percent agreement 69%–82%) and usual park visit duration was 0.75–0.84 (percent agreement 64%–73%). These results suggest that the questionnaire to assess usual and past week park use had acceptable validity and reliability

Bioresorbable Nanostructured Chemical Sensor for Monitoring of pH Level In Vivo

Here, the authors report on the manufacturing and in vivo assessment of a bioresorbable nanostructured pH sensor. The sensor consists of a micrometer-thick porous silica membrane conformably coated layer-by-layer with a nanometer-thick multilayer stack of two polyelectrolytes labeled with a pH-insensitive fluorophore. The sensor fluorescence changes linearly with the pH value in the range 4 to 7.5 upon swelling/shrinking of the polymer multilayer and enables performing real-time measurements of the pH level with high stability, reproducibility, and accuracy, over 100 h of continuous operation. In vivo studies carried out implanting the sensor in the subcutis on the back of mice confirm real-time monitoring of the local pH level through skin. Full degradation of the pH sensor occurs in one week from implant in the animal model, and its biocompatibility after 2 months is confirmed by histological and fluorescence analyses. The proposed approach can be extended to the detection of other (bio)markers in vivo by engineering the functionality of one (at least) of the polyelectrolytes with suitable receptors, thus paving the way to implantable bioresorbable chemical sensors

Arming Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells Against Cancer: Has the Time Come?

Since mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) were discovered, researchers have been drawn to study their peculiar biological features, including their immune privileged status and their capacity to selectively migrate into inflammatory areas, including tumors. These properties make MSCs promising cellular vehicles for the delivery of therapeutic molecules in the clinical setting. In recent decades, the engineering of MSCs into biological vehicles carrying anticancer compounds has been achieved in different ways, including the loadingof MSCs with chemotherapeutics or drug functionalized nanoparticles (NPs), genetic modifications to force the production of anticancer proteins, and the use of oncolytic viruses. Recently, it has been demonstrated that wild-type and engineered MSCs can release extracellular vesicles (EVs) that contain therapeutic agents. Despite the enthusiasm for MSCs as cyto-pharmaceutical agents, many challenges, including controlling the fate of MSCs after administration, must still be considered. Preclinical results demonstrated that MSCs accumulate in lung, liver, and spleen, which could prevent their engraftment into tumor sites. For this reason, physical, physiological, and biological methods have been implemented to increase MSC concentration in the target tumors. Currently, there are more than 900 registered clinical trials using MSCs. Only a small fraction of these are investigating MSC-based therapies for cancer, but the number of these clinical trials is expected to increase as technology and our understanding of MSCs improve. This review will summarize MSC-based antitumor therapies to generate an increasing awareness of their potential and limits to accelerate their clinical translation

Physical Activity Surveillance in Parks Using Direct Observation

IntroductionPrimary features of observational public health surveillance instruments are that they are valid, can reliably estimate physical activity behaviors, and are useful across diverse geographic settings and seasons by different users. Previous studies have reported the validity and reliability of Systematic Observation of Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) to estimate park and user characteristics. The purpose of this investigation was to establish the use of SOPARC as a surveillance instrument and to situate the findings from the study in the context of the previous literature.MethodsWe collected data by using SOPARC for more than 3 years in 4 locations: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Chapel Hill/Durham, North Carolina; and Albuquerque, New Mexico during spring, summer, and autumn.ResultsWe observed a total of 35,990 park users with an overall observer reliability of 94% (range, 85%–99%) conducted on 15% of the observations. We monitored the proportion of park users engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and found marginal differences in MVPA by both city and season. Park users visited parks significantly more on weekend days than weekdays and visitation rates tended to be lower during summer than spring.ConclusionSOPARC is a highly reliable observation instrument that can be used to collect data across diverse geographic settings and seasons by different users and has potential as a surveillance system

Autologous anti-GD2 CAR T cells efficiently target primary human glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains a deadly tumor. Treatment with chemo-radiotherapy and corticosteroids is known to impair the functionality of lymphocytes, potentially compromising the development of autologous CAR T cell therapies. We here generated pre-clinical investigations of autologous anti-GD2 CAR T cells tested against 2D and 3D models of GBM primary cells. We detected a robust antitumor effect, highlighting the feasibility of developing an autologous anti-GD2 CAR T cell-based therapy for GBM patients

Building the core of the Istat system of models for forecasting the Italian economy: MeMo-It

10noopenThis paper provides a description of Istat’s new Macroeconometric Model MeMo-It. This is the tool used by Istat to produce bi-annual medium-term forecasts of the Italian economy since May 2012. The key model’s features are illustrated and compared with other modeling approaches used in the literature. The paper describes the theoretical foundations of the model along with the set of equations and their estimation. It also presents an assessment of model’s performance by focusing on the key multipliers.openBacchini, Fabio; Brandimarte, Cristina; Crivelli, Piero; De Santis, Roberta; Fioramanti, Marco; Girardi, Alessandro; Golinelli, Roberto; Jona-Lasinio, Cecilia; Mancini, Massimo; Pappalardo, CarmineBacchini, Fabio; Brandimarte, Cristina; Crivelli, Piero; DE SANTIS, Roberta; Fioramanti, Marco; Girardi, Alessandro; Golinelli, Roberto; JONA-LASINIO, CECILIA SUSANNA; Mancini, Massimo; Pappalardo, Carmin