Morality, responsibility and risk: Gay men and proximity to HIV. London

Network analysis and network theory have emerged in various strands of research on HIV. Epidemiological research has used network analysis to map and predict the course of the HIV and STI epidemics among Gay men (Doherty et al. 2005; Piqueira et al. 2004). It constitutes an advance on cruder epidemiological models of random mixing (see Keeling & Eames 2005). Social network analysis and social attachment have been important concepts in informing more recent HIV prevention interventions (see Fernandez et al. 2003; Latkin and Knowlton 2005) and have had specific applications in the case of disadvantaged communities such as injecting drug users and sex workers (Latkin et al. 2003; Rhodes et al. 2005). Moreover, network analysis has been useful in understanding social support of disadvantaged groups living with HIV such as African migrants and ethnic minority women (Hough et al. 2005; Asander et al. 2004; Sivaram et al. 2005). Considering a Gay man as part of a social network involves engaging with the social and cultural factors that shape his experience. Rather than thinking of his relationships as essentially random, we characterise them as being profoundly influenced by his social environment; an environment made up by other individuals who share common understandings and social norms. This social network is generally self-perpetuating and limited. Individuals come into contact and hence derive friends and partners from this finite network. Network analysis is especially valuable when examining a population that is highly heterogeneous and made up of individuals who enter that population as autonomous adults. Gay men are such a population being made up of socially mobile individuals deriving from a range of social, ethnic and geographical backgrounds. Social networks are central to our understanding of the dynamics of HIV risk among Gay men. The nature and density of social networks have been found to be connected to sexual risk practices and susceptibility to HIV infection in Gay men (Smith et al. 2004). Moreover, networks influence Gay men’s perceptions and understandings of the HIV epidemic (Grierson 2005). In addition, social networks may have a role in influencing an individuals’ knowledge and understandings of, and access to new technologies such as PEP (see Dodds & Hammond 2006; Korner et al. 2005). Social norms have been found to be important in influencing Gay men’s attitudes towards safer sex and risk-taking especially among groups that have been traditionally disempowered or marginalised such as young Gay men (see Amirkhanian et al. 2005a) and Black/ethnic minority Gay men (see Wilson et al. 2002; Peterson et al. 2003; Zea et al. 2005). Finally social network analysis has been useful in describing social support for Gay men living with HIV and their carers (Shippy et al. 2003; White and Cant 2003; Cant 2004; Zea et al. 2005). A range of HIV prevention interventions have been based around social networks and innovation diffusion theory (see Amirkhanian et al. 2005a). Such interventions would seem to have most salience with disadvantaged groups of Gay and Bisexual men and have achieved some success (see Amirkhanian et al. 2005b). Other authors point out the limitations of network interventions in reaching men at relatively low risk or stress limitations in their efficacy over time (see Martin et al. 2003). Findings from the 2003 Gay Men’s Sex Survey (GMSS) highlight the importance of proximity to HIV. That is, men in certain social and cultural networks had limited experience of HIV in their social network and these men tended to have greater HIV prevention need (see Reid et al. 2004). GMSS 2003 established a range of indicators to measure personal and social proximity to the epidemic. These included: • Having tested for HIV. • Not having tested positive, but believing you are or could be infected. • Being in or having had a sero-discordant relationship. • Personally knowing someone with HIV. At the population level proximity to HIV was mediated by a range of demographic factors. • Area of residence: Men resident in London had greater proximity than men resident elsewhere, although men with low proximity to HIV were present in every city and town and in every area of the UK. • Age: Men in their 30's and 40's had greater proximity than either older or younger men. • Ethnicity: Black men and White men of ethnicities other than British had greater proximity than men in other ethnic groups. • Education: Better educated men had greater proximity (even though less well educated men were more likely to have HIV). • Income: Men in higher income brackets had greater proximity than men in lower income brackets. • Gender of sexual partners: Exclusively homosexually active men had greater proximity to HIV than men who were behaviourally bisexual. • Numbers of male partners: Men with greater numbers of partners had greater proximity than men with fewer partners. While these differences are important it is essential to note that they denote difference at the population level. In fact, there are men with low proximity to HIV in every city and town in the UK (including London); in every age group and ethnic group; with every level of formal education and at every income level; and with a range of sexual identities and sexual practices. These population differences in proximity to HIV present an interesting health promotion dilemma. Those men with greatest proximity have less unmet needs but are more likely to be involved in HIV exposure. Those with less proximity have the greatest unmet need and will therefore be vulnerable if they do come into contact with HIV (either knowingly or unknowingly) but they are probably less likely to do so. In response, the original research recommends “a diverse portfolio of interventions that are encountered by men with a wide variety of relationships to HIV” (Reid et al. 2004). The study presented in this report is in response to these findings. That is, a qualitative examination of social proximity to the epidemic among Gay men. However, we must start with a caveat. Neither GMSS nor this study measures actual proximity to HIV, that is the numbers of social and sexual contacts an individual has who are actually HIV positive, or the percentages of a social network who are actually positive. Rather, GMSS sets up a range of proxy markers to indicate proximity (such as testing history, beliefs about one’s own status and beliefs about the HIV status of social and sexual partners). Likewise, this study measures perceptions of proximity to the epidemic rather than actual proximity (to study actual proximity would require an ambitious network analysis where we recruited all the social and sexual contacts of respondents and asked them about their actual or known HIV status). Studying men’s perceptions of their proximity to the epidemic allows us to examine the ways in which men’s perceptions of their social surroundings influence how they experience and negotiate sexual risk. Moreover, an individual’s perception of the world around him influences the types of information and messages he is likely to notice. The purpose of this study is to inform the nature of interventions targeting men based on their perceived proximity to the epidemic. We will do so by exploring how their perceptions of proximity influence management of HIV-related sexual risk among men who assume or know themselves to be HIV negative

The Effect of Deep Sea Bed Mining on Strategic Minerals and National Security

Deep sea bed mining has been a topic of considerable debate since it became technically and economically viable as a mining venture in the mid 1960\u27s. The availability of manganese nodules has been determined through costly prospecting operations and their existence in sufficient quantity and quality has been found to be adequate for the mining industry. Though the future of the nodule mining is undetermined, it is the purpose of this paper to determine its impact on the national management of its associated strategic minerals and national security

HIV diagnosis and disclosure

For those we interviewed the knowledge that either they or their partner had diagnosed HIV needed to be managed on both an individual and collective level. It impacted on how each partner saw themselves and also how they perceived the future of their relationship. This report begins by exploring how participants with diagnosed HIV became aware of their HIV status, and how they have tried to come to terms with it, before describing their decision making about sharing this status with their partner and their means of doing so. The thoughts and experiences of participants who had not disclosed their status are described. Finally it explores the reactions of the HIV negative or untested partners to disclosure, its impact on a personal level and how they sought to come to terms with this news

The Value of Instructor Interactivity in the Online Classroom

As the number of faculty teaching online continues to grow, so has the interest in and understanding of the role of instructor interaction in the online classroom. Online education provides a unique platform in which course design and teaching are independent factors. Understanding faculty and student perceptions about the shifting role of instructor interaction in the online classroom can provide insight on policies and procedures that can support student learning through student-instructor interaction. Participants included faculty and students responding to an anonymous online survey who indicated “online” as their primary mode of teaching. Three key “value” themes emerged as significantly valuable: instructor interactivity, instructor feedback on participation, and asynchronous interaction in discussion forums. These findings illuminate opportunities and areas of consideration for three stakeholders in the student-teacher interaction equation: faculty, faculty developers, and administrators that can be used to inform quality online teaching through instructor interactivity

Contrasting arbuscular mycorrhizal communities colonizing different host plants show a similar response to a soil phosphorus concentration gradient

High soil phosphorus (P) concentration is frequently shown to reduce root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, but the influence of P on the diversity of colonizing AM fungi is uncertain. We used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 18S rDNA and cloning to assess diversity of AM fungi colonizing maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycene max) and field violet (Viola arvensis) at three time points in one season along a P gradient of 10–280 mg l−1 in the field. Percentage AM colonization changed between sampling time points but was not reduced by high soil P except in maize. There was no significant difference in AM diversity between sampling time points. Diversity was reduced at concentrations of P > 25 mg l−1, particularly in maize and soybean. Both cloning and T-RFLP indicated differences between AM communities in the different host species. Host species was more important than soil P in determining the AM community, except at the highest P concentration. Our results show that the impact of soil P on the diversity of AM fungi colonizing plants was broadly similar, despite the fact that different plants contained different communities. However, subtle differences in the response of the AM community in each host were evident

Use of Online Food Delivery Services to Order Food Prepared Away-From-Home and Associated Sociodemographic Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional, Multi-Country Analysis

Online food delivery services like Just Eat and Grubhub facilitate online ordering and home delivery of food prepared away-from-home. It is poorly understood how these services are used and by whom. This study investigated the prevalence of online food delivery service use and sociodemographic characteristics of customers, in and across Australia, Canada, Mexico, the UK, and the USA. We analyzed online survey data (n = 19,378) from the International Food Policy Study, conducted in 2018. We identified respondents who reported any online food delivery service use in the past 7 days and calculated the frequency of use and number of meals ordered. We investigated whether odds of any online food delivery service use in the past 7 days differed by sociodemographic characteristics using adjusted logistic regression. Overall, 15% of respondents (n = 2929) reported online food delivery service use, with the greatest prevalence amongst respondents in Mexico (n = 839 (26%)). Online food delivery services had most frequently been used once and the median number of meals purchased through this mode of order was two. Odds of any online food delivery service use were lower per additional year of age (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.94, 0.95) and greater for respondents who were male (OR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.35, 1.66), that identified with an ethnic minority (OR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.38, 1.78), were highly educated (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.46, 1.90), or living with children (OR: 2.71; 95% CI: 2.44, 3.01). Further research is required to explore how online food delivery services may influence diet and health

UV Observations of the Cool DBQA5 White Dwarf LDS 678A - Limits on the Atmospheric Composition, Pressure Shift, and Gravitational Redshift Derived from C I 2479

A high-resolution ultraviolet spectrum of the helium-rich degenerate LDS 678A, obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, is presented. LDS 678A is the coolest metallic line degenerate (DQ or DZ) yet observed with the IUE echelle. These observations provide a detailed line profile of the strong C I 2479 absorption line and equivalent width W2479 = 2.35 + or - 0.06 A from which theoretical profile fits yield a carbon abundance of log C/He = (-6.7 + or- 0.2). The presence of carbon in a He-rich atmosphere lends credence to the notion that LDS 678A is a transitional case between the DB white dwarfs with nearly pure helium atmospheres and the helium-rich DQ white dwarfs which exhibit carbon bands. Corrected for an inferred pressure shift Vp = + 38 + or - 4 km/s for the C I 2479 line, a gravitational redshift of Vrs = + 26 + or - 13 km/s is deduced from which a most probable mass of 0.55 solar mass is derived

Texture of Butters Made from Milks Differing in Indices of Atherogenicity

The current study examined whether the phenotypic variation in milk fatty acid composition among cows fed the same diet was sufficient to produce butter with different textural properties. Butter samples from cows with a more unsaturated milk fatty acid composition had a lower index of atherogenicity and were more spreadable, softer, and less adhesive than were butter samples from cows with a more saturated milk fatty acid composition. Thus, selection of cows for milk fatty acid composition short-term by segregation and long-term by breeding programs can be used to produce butter that is more healthful and has a more favorable texture