Sexual assault: Exploring real-time consequences the next day and in subsequent days

Approximately 15-20% of adult women in the United States have been sexually assaulted. Given the high prevalence of sexual assault, it becomes increasingly important to understand immediate responses to sexual assault. A lack of information prior to sexual assaults contributes to a literature that is unable to showcase the presence and amount of change. A tendency to rely on comparisons between people, instead of the collection of multiple moments of a single person over time, will continue to point toward imprecise, statistical “average” reactions to sexual assaults. Prior methodological approaches lead to broad overgeneralizations about sexual assault survivors that may undermine their unique experiences in the aftermath of an assault. The present study extends the existing literature with access to unprecedented data gathered on the days before and immediately after someone survived a sexual assault. To our knowledge, there are no studies capturing prior functioning and near immediate psychological reactions of sexual assault survivors. In the present study, each night over the course of three weeks, we asked college students (n = 186) to report on their sexual activity and well-being. Six women and one man reported being sexually assaulted at least once. We examined psychological experiences on the days before and after sexual assaults (including negative and positive affect, social anxiety, self-esteem, emotion expressive suppression, and cognitive reappraisal). To examine sexual assault reactions, we used various descriptive approaches. Our results suggest that before and after being assaulted, survivors showed no consistent response in subjective well-being. We failed to find a prototypical psychological profile. Despite the small sample, our results raise important questions and offer future hypotheses about individual differences in responses to sexual assault

Activity Provider-Facilitated Patient and Public Involvement with Care Home Residents

© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background In care home research, residents are rarely included in Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) despite their lived experiences of day-to-day care. This paper reports on a novel approach to PPIE, developed in response to Covid-19, and utilised in a large UK-based study focused on care homes. PPIE sessions were facilitated on behalf of the research team by Activity Providers (APs) already working within the care homes. This paper provides an account of how PPIE with care home residents can be achieved. Methods An exploratory design was used to see if it was possible to support “in-house” PPIE, with researchers working at a distance in partnership with care home staff. The National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) recruited five APs working in care homes. A series of optional discussion or activity sessions were developed by the research team in partnership with APs, tailored to reflect the research topics of interest and to make sessions accessible to residents with differing needs. Results APs facilitated four rounds of PPIE with up to 56 residents per topic, including individuals living with cognitive and communication impairments. Topics discussed included residents’ views on data use, measuring quality of life and the prioritisation of care-related data for study collection. Feedback from the residents was observed to have unexpected and positive changes to participating care homes’ practice. APs valued participation and working with researchers. They identified acquisition of new skills and insights into residents’ thoughts and preferences as direct benefits. Challenges included time pressures on APs and managing emotive feedback. APs were able to approach residents at times convenient to them and in ways that best suited their individual needs. PPIE with residents provided different perspectives, particularly with respect to the importance of different types of data, and constructive challenge about some of the research team’s assumptions. Conclusions PPIE with APs as research partners is a promising approach to working in an inclusive and participatory way with care home residents. The voices of older care home residents, including those living with cognitive or communicative impairments, are important for the successful and meaningful completion of research.Peer reviewe

Web-Based Software for Managing Research

aeroCOMPASS is a software system, originally designed to aid in the management of wind tunnels at Langley Research Center, that could be adapted to provide similar aid to other enterprises in which research is performed in common laboratory facilities by users who may be geographically dispersed. Included in aeroCOMPASS is Web-interface software that provides a single, convenient portal to a set of project- and test-related software tools and other application programs. The heart of aeroCOMPASS is a user-oriented document-management software subsystem that enables geographically dispersed users to easily share and manage a variety of documents. A principle of "write once, read many" is implemented throughout aeroCOMPASS to eliminate the need for multiple entry of the same information. The Web framework of aeroCOMPASS provides links to client-side application programs that are fully integrated with databases and server-side application programs. Other subsystems of aeroCOMPASS include ones for reserving hardware, tracking of requests and feedback from users, generating interactive notes, administration of a customer-satisfaction questionnaire, managing execution of tests, managing archives of metadata about tests, planning tests, and providing online help and instruction for users

Oncogenic RET Kinase domain mutations perturb the autophosphorylation trajectory by enhancing substrate presentation in trans

To decipher the molecular basis for RET kinase activation and oncogenic deregulation, we defined the temporal sequence of RET autophosphorylation by label-free quantitative mass spectrometry. Early autophosphorylation sites map to regions flanking the kinase domain core, while sites within the activation loop only form at later time points. Comparison with oncogenic RET kinase revealed that late autophosphorylation sites become phosphorylated much earlier than wild-type RET, which is due to a combination of an enhanced enzymatic activity, increased ATP affinity, and surprisingly, by providing a better intermolecular substrate. Structural analysis of oncogenic M918T and wild-type RET kinase domains reveal a cis-inhibitory mechanism involving tethering contacts between the glycine-rich loop, activation loop, and αC-helix. Tether mutations only affected substrate presentation but perturbed the autophosphorylation trajectory similar to oncogenic mutations. This study reveals an unappreciated role for oncogenic RET kinase mutations in promoting intermolecular autophosphorylation by enhancing substrate presentation

Ending TB means responding to socially produced vulnerabilities of all genders

Globally and in Africa, tuberculosis (TB) affects more men than women, as masculine norms, behaviours, and practices can increase likelihood of exposure to TB whilst undermining engagement in TB care (1). The WHO Africa region remains particularly affected, accounting for nearly a quarter (23%) of the estimated 10.6 million people who developed TB and close to a third (31%) of the 1.6 million people who died from the disease in 2021 (2), despite being home to only 15% of the world’s population (3). 25 African countries are considered high burden countries for TB, HIV-associated TB, and drug-resistant TB (2). TB affects close to 6 million men globally and 1.3 million men in the WHO Africa region every year (2), undermining their physical health, mental well-being, and capacity to contribute to their families and communities

How equitable is social franchising? Case studies of three maternal healthcare franchises in Uganda and India.

Substantial investments have been made in clinical social franchising to improve quality of care of private facilities in low- and middle-income countries but concerns have emerged that the benefits fail to reach poorer groups. We assessed the distribution of franchise utilization and content of care by socio-economic status (SES) in three maternal healthcare social franchises in Uganda and India (Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan). We surveyed 2179 women who had received antenatal care (ANC) and/or delivery services at franchise clinics (in Uttar Pradesh only ANC services were offered). Women were allocated to national (Uganda) or state (India) SES quintiles. Franchise users were concentrated in the higher SES quintiles in all settings. The percent in the top two quintiles was highest in Uganda (over 98% for both ANC and delivery), followed by Rajasthan (62.8% for ANC, 72.1% for delivery) and Uttar Pradesh (48.5% for ANC). The percent of clients in the lowest two quintiles was zero in Uganda, 7.1 and 3.1% for ANC and delivery, respectively, in Rajasthan and 16.3% in Uttar Pradesh. Differences in SES distribution across the programmes may reflect variation in user fees, the average SES of the national/state populations and the range of services covered. We found little variation in content of care by SES. Key factors limiting the ability of such maternal health social franchises to reach poorer groups may include the lack of suitable facilities in the poorest areas, the inability of the poorest women to afford any private sector fees and competition with free or even incentivized public sector services. Moreover, there are tensions between targeting poorer groups, and franchise objectives of improving quality and business performance and enhancing financial sustainability, meaning that middle income and poorer groups are unlikely to be reached in large numbers in the absence of additional subsidies

Methods for prioritizing protected areas using individual and aggregate rankings

Despite their legal protection status, protected areas (PAs) can benefit from priority ranks when ongoing threats to their biodiversity and habitats outpace the financial resources available for their conservation. It is essential to develop methods to prioritize PAs that are not computationally demanding in order to suit stakeholders in developing countries where technical and financial resources are limited. We used expert knowledge-derived biodiversity measures to generate individual and aggregate priority ranks of 98 mostly terrestrial PAs on Madagascar. The five variables used were state of knowledge (SoK), forest loss, forest loss acceleration, PA size and relative species diversity, estimated by using standardized residuals from negative binomial models of SoK regressed onto species diversity. We compared our aggregate ranks generated using unweighted averages and principal component analysis (PCA) applied to each individual variable with those generated via Markov chain (MC) and PageRank algorithms. SoK significantly affected the measure of species diversity and highlighted areas where more research effort was needed. The unweighted- and PCA-derived ranks were strongly correlated, as were the MC and PageRank ranks. However, the former two were weakly correlated with the latter two. We recommend using these methods simultaneously in order to provide decision-makers with the flexibility to prioritize those PAs in need of additional research and conservation efforts

The introduction of a midwife-led obstetric triage system into a regional referral hospital in Ghana

Objective: To introduce and embed a midwife-led obstetric triage system in a busy labour ward in Accra, Ghana to improve the quality of care and to reduce delay. Design: The study utilized a participatory action research design. Local staff participated in baseline data collection, the triage training course design and delivery, and post-training monitoring and evaluation. Setting: A regional referral hospital in Accra, Ghana undertaking 11,032 deliveries in 2012. Participants: All midwives and medical staff. Measurements: Measurements included maternal health outcomes, observations of labour ward activity, structured assessments of midwife actions during admission, waiting times, focus group discussions, and learning needs assessments which informed the course content. During training, two quality improvement tools were developed; coloured risk acuity wristbands and a one page triage assessment form. Participants measured compliance and accuracy in the use of these tools following course completion. Findings: Initially, no formal triage system was in place. The environment was chaotic with poor compliance to existing protocols. Sixty-two midwives received triage training between 2013 and 2014. Two Triage Champions became responsible for triage implementation, monitoring and further training. Following training, the ‘in-charge’ midwives recorded a cumulative average of 83.4% of women wearing coloured wristbands. A separate audit by the Triage Champions found that 495/535 (93%) of the wristbands were correctly applied based on the diagnosis. Quarterly monitoring of the triage assessment forms by Kybele trainers, showed that 92% recorded the risk acuity colour, 85% a “working diagnosis” and 82% a “plan.” Median (interquartile range) waiting times were reduced from 40 (15-100) to 29 (11-60) minutes (p=007). Twenty of 25 of the staff reported that the wristbands were helpful. Conclusions: An interactive triage training course led to the development of a triage assessment form and the use of coloured patient wristbands which resulted in delay reduction and improved quality of maternity care

Activity provider-facilitated patient and public involvement with care home residents

Background In care home research, residents are rarely included in patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) despite their lived experiences of day-to-day care. This paper reports on a novel approach to PPIE, developed in response to Covid-19, and utilised in a large UK-based study focused on care homes. PPIE sessions were facilitated on behalf of the research team by Activity Providers (APs) already working within the care homes. This paper provides an account of how PPIE with care home residents can be achieved. Methods An exploratory design was used to see if it was possible to support “in-house” PPIE, with researchers working at a distance in partnership with care home staff. The National Activity Providers Association recruited five APs working in care homes. A series of optional discussion or activity sessions were developed by the research team in partnership with APs, tailored to reflect the research topics of interest and to make sessions accessible to residents with differing needs. Results APs facilitated four rounds of PPIE with up to 56 residents per topic, including individuals living with cognitive and communication impairments. Topics discussed included residents’ views on data use, measuring quality of life and the prioritisation of care-related data for study collection. Feedback from the residents was observed to have unexpected and positive changes to participating care homes’ practice. APs valued participation and working with researchers. They identified acquisition of new skills and insights into residents’ thoughts and preferences as direct benefits. Challenges included time pressures on APs and managing emotive feedback. APs were able to approach residents at times convenient to them and in ways that best suited their individual needs. PPIE with residents provided different perspectives, particularly with respect to the importance of different types of data, and constructive challenge about some of the research team’s assumptions. Conclusions PPIE with APs as research partners is a promising approach to working in an inclusive and participatory way with care home residents. The voices of older care home residents, including those living with cognitive or communicative impairments, are important for the successful and meaningful completion of research