Is Food Insecurity Associated with HIV Risk? Cross-Sectional Evidence from Sexually Active Women in Brazil

Alexander Tsai and colleagues show that in sexually active women in Brazil severe food insecurity with hunger was positively associated with symptoms potentially indicative of sexually transmitted infection and with reduced odds of condom use

Reliability and Validity of Instruments for Assessing Perinatal Depression in African Settings: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: A major barrier to improving perinatal mental health in Africa is the lack of locally validated tools for identifying probable cases of perinatal depression or for measuring changes in depression symptom severity. We systematically reviewed the evidence on the reliability and validity of instruments to assess perinatal depression in African settings. Methods and Findings: Of 1,027 records identified through searching 7 electronic databases, we reviewed 126 full-text reports. We included 25 unique studies, which were disseminated in 26 journal articles and 1 doctoral dissertation. These enrolled 12,544 women living in nine different North and sub-Saharan African countries. Only three studies (12%) used instruments developed specifically for use in a given cultural setting. Most studies provided evidence of criterion-related validity (20 [80%]) or reliability (15 [60%]), while fewer studies provided evidence of construct validity, content validity, or internal structure. The Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS), assessed in 16 studies (64%), was the most frequently used instrument in our sample. Ten studies estimated the internal consistency of the EPDS (median estimated coefficient alpha, 0.84; interquartile range, 0.71-0.87). For the 14 studies that estimated sensitivity and specificity for the EPDS, we constructed 2 x 2 tables for each cut-off score. Using a bivariate random-effects model, we estimated a pooled sensitivity of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68-0.99) and a pooled specificity of 0.77 (95% CI, 0.59-0.88) at a cut-off score of ≥9, with higher cut-off scores yielding greater specificity at the cost of lower sensitivity. Conclusions: The EPDS can reliably and validly measure perinatal depression symptom severity or screen for probable postnatal depression in African countries, but more validation studies on other instruments are needed. In addition, more qualitative research is needed to adequately characterize local understandings of perinatal depression-like syndromes in different African contexts

Solar Powered Multipurpose Remotely Powered Aircraft

Increase in energy demands coupled with rapid depletion of natural energy resources have deemed solar energy as an attractive alternative source of power. The focus was to design and construct a solar powered, remotely piloted vehicle to demonstrate the feasibility of solar energy as an effective, alternate source of power. The final design included minimizing the power requirements and maximizing the strength-to-weight and lift-to-drag ratios. Given the design constraints, Surya (the code-name given to the aircraft), is a lightweight aircraft primarily built using composite materials and capable of achieving level flight powered entirely by solar energy

Recognizable clinical subtypes of obstructive sleep apnea across international sleep centers: a cluster analysis

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesSTUDY OBJECTIVES: A recent study of patients with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Iceland identified three clinical clusters based on symptoms and comorbidities. We sought to verify this finding in a new cohort in Iceland and examine the generalizability of OSA clusters in an international ethnically diverse cohort. METHODS: Using data on 972 patients with moderate-severe OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] ≥ 15 events per hour) recruited from the Sleep Apnea Global Interdisciplinary Consortium (SAGIC), we performed a latent class analysis of 18 self-reported symptom variables, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. RESULTS: The original OSA clusters of disturbed sleep, minimally symptomatic, and excessively sleepy replicated among 215 SAGIC patients from Iceland. These clusters also generalized to 757 patients from five other countries. The three clusters had similar average AHI values in both Iceland and the international samples, suggesting clusters are not driven by OSA severity; differences in age, gender, and body mass index were also generally small. Within the international sample, the three original clusters were expanded to five optimal clusters: three were similar to those in Iceland (labeled disturbed sleep, minimal symptoms, and upper airway symptoms with sleepiness) and two were new, less symptomatic clusters (labeled upper airway symptoms dominant and sleepiness dominant). The five clusters showed differences in demographics and AHI, although all were middle-aged (44.6-54.5 years), obese (30.6-35.9 kg/m2), and had severe OSA (42.0-51.4 events per hour) on average. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm and extend previously identified clinical clusters in OSA. These clusters provide an opportunity for a more personalized approach to the management of OSA.National Institutes of Health Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) National Center For Advancing Translational Science

Adaptive optics in single objective inclined light sheet microscopy enables three-dimensional localization microscopy in adult Drosophila brains

Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) enables the high-resolution visualization of organelle structures and the precise localization of individual proteins. However, the expected resolution is not achieved in tissue as the imaging conditions deteriorate. Sample-induced aberrations distort the point spread function (PSF), and high background fluorescence decreases the localization precision. Here, we synergistically combine sensorless adaptive optics (AO), in-situ 3D-PSF calibration, and a single-objective lens inclined light sheet microscope (SOLEIL), termed (AO-SOLEIL), to mitigate deep tissue-induced deteriorations. We apply AO-SOLEIL on several dSTORM samples including brains of adult Drosophila. We observed a 2x improvement in the estimated axial localization precision with respect to widefield without aberration correction while we used synergistic solution. AO-SOLEIL enhances the overall imaging resolution and further facilitates the visualization of sub-cellular structures in tissue

Fifteen new risk loci for coronary artery disease highlight arterial-wall-specific mechanisms

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although 58 genomic regions have been associated with CAD thus far, most of the heritability is unexplained, indicating that additional susceptibility loci await identification. An efficient discovery strategy may be larger-scale evaluation of promising associations suggested by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Hence, we genotyped 56,309 participants using a targeted gene array derived from earlier GWAS results and performed meta-analysis of results with 194,427 participants previously genotyped, totaling 88,192 CAD cases and 162,544 controls. We identified 25 new SNP-CAD associations (P < 5 × 10(-8), in fixed-effects meta-analysis) from 15 genomic regions, including SNPs in or near genes involved in cellular adhesion, leukocyte migration and atherosclerosis (PECAM1, rs1867624), coagulation and inflammation (PROCR, rs867186 (p.Ser219Gly)) and vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation (LMOD1, rs2820315). Correlation of these regions with cell-type-specific gene expression and plasma protein levels sheds light on potential disease mechanisms

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes