Improving Adolescent Immunization Coverage: The Time to Act Is Now

Adolescent immunization rates continue to lag far behind infant immunization rates and millions of adolescents remain unprotected from serious and potentially deadly diseases. Adolescent Immunization: Understanding Challenges and Framing Solutions for Healthcare Providers, a whitepaper issued by the UNITY Consortium identifies best practices and common elements among successful adolescent immunization initiatives. The whitepaper, a collaboration of the group’s members, liaisons and invited experts, outlines the INSPECT(Immunization Neighborhood, Sharing, Platform, Educate, Champions and Talk) Imperatives, a call to action urging healthcare providers to increase adolescent immunization coverage rates by improving in one or more of the following areas: (1) Access -maximize opportunities for vaccination and avoid missed opportunities; (2) Education - educate parents and teens to further understanding of vaccines and to elevate prioritization; (3) Advocacy – guide healthcare providers to make confident, concise recommendations for all CDC-recommended adolescent vaccines, along with developing immunization champions who advocate for adolescent immunization within their practice or network; (4) Systems - advance technology, including the use of electronic immunization information systems (IIS), implement standing orders and other tools that improve efficiencies; and (5) Measurement - improve knowledge (and dissemination) of provider and practice progress on meeting adolescent immunization goals (e.g. benchmarking, performance reports)

Atypical Strokes in a Young African American Male: A Case of Mitochondrial Encephalopathy Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-Like Episodes (MELAS) Syndrome

Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is a rare but important cause of stroke-like symptoms which can often be missed Thambisetty and Newman 2004. We describe a case of a young male presenting with stroke-like episodes, later diagnosed with MELAS in an attempt to improve the understanding about diagnosing MELAS in the appropriate clinical context

The Concept of Originality and Creativity in the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences

The study was conducted to determine how 21 experts in the discipline clusters of humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences defined originality and creativity in terms of how these concepts are understood and realized in the production of works in their respective disciplines, what related copyright issues emerge related to these concepts, and how these two concepts are related. Through thematic qualitative analysis of in-depth interview data, findings suggest that while there may be converging ideas about originality and creativity among the discipline clusters, the way this concept is operationalized by each discipline significantly vary. The study is deemed useful because apart from clarifying vague notions about original works, the study can serve as reference for legislators in amending the Copyright law, and for law practitioners in contextualizing cases involving original and derivative works, plagiarism and other related concepts. In this connection, the study provides the implications for the evaluation of the originality and creativity in works produced from the various discipline clusters

Mobile Technology for Healthy Aging Among Older HIV-Positive Black Men Who Have Sex with Men: Qualitative Study.

BackgroundPeople living with HIV are living longer in the United States as a result of antiretroviral therapy. Black men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionally affected by HIV and have low rates of engagement in HIV care and treatment. Mobile technology holds promise as an intervention platform; however, little is known regarding its use among older black MSM living with HIV.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to explore mobile technology use and narratives of aging with HIV among older black MSM to inform mobile health intervention development.MethodsA total of 12 black MSM living with HIV, aged 50 years or older, completed in-person, semistructured interviews exploring the issues of aging, HIV care engagement, and mobile technology use. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative research methods.ResultsMen appreciated having survived the AIDS epidemic, but some expressed discomfort and ambivalence toward aging. Men described various levels of engagement in HIV care and treatment; challenges included social isolation and need for support that was not focused on HIV. Almost all described using mobile technology to engage in health care, whereas some referenced important barriers and challenges to technology use.ConclusionsFindings highlighted a high level of interest toward a mobile technology-based intervention targeting older black men but also identified barriers and challenges to using mobile technology for health care engagement. Mobile technology is well incorporated into older black MSM's lives and shows potential as an intervention platform for addressing aging issues to enhance engagement in HIV care and treatment

Positive and Negative Experiences With Supportive Services and Programming: Gaps and Recommendations From Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Services for youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) are designed with limited input from the youth themselves. This study explored the experiences and recommendations for services aimed at mitigating the negative effects of homelessness among youth. A total of 45 interviews were conducted with YEH (ages 15 to 24, M = 21.5 years) who experienced at least one night of homelessness. Transcripts were coded by using a modified constructivist grounded theory approach. YEH reported myriad challenges to navigating disjointed programming and misguided policies. Recommendations from YEH for policy and programmatic change include peacekeeping and diffusion training for program staff, trauma-informed approaches, and conflict resolution among agency staff; and integrate creative outlets and transitional services into existing programs. Programming supporting YEH must extend beyond meeting only basic needs to creating opportunities for safety, autonomy, and growth. Programs targeting youth homelessness need input from YEH in their design and implementation

Impact of Large Language Models on Generating Software Specifications

Software specifications are essential for ensuring the reliability of software systems. Existing specification extraction approaches, however, suffer from limited generalizability and require manual efforts. We study the effectiveness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in generating software specifications from software documentation, utilizing Few-Shot Learning (FSL) to enable LLMs to generalize from a small number of examples. We compare the performance of LLMs with FSL to that of state-of-the-art specification extraction techniques and study the impact of prompt construction strategies on LLM performance. In addition, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of their symptoms and root causes of the failures to understand the pros and cons of LLMs and existing approaches. We also compare 11 LLMs' performance, cost, and response time for generating software specifications. Our findings include that (1) the best performing LLM outperforms existing approaches by 9.1--13.7% with a few similar examples, (2) the two dominant root causes combined (ineffective prompts and missing domain knowledge) result in 57--60% of LLM failures, and (3) most of the 11 LLMs achieve better or comparable performance compared to traditional techniques. Our study offers valuable insights for future research to improve specification generation

Evaluation of Silica Sol-Gel Microcapsule for the Controlled Release of Insect Repellent, N,N-Diethyl-2-methoxybenzamide, on Cotton

N,N-diethyl-2-methoxybenzamide, an insect repellent compound, was incorporated into cotton textile using the sol-gel method. Evaluation of the results of four different sol-gel formulations showed that a lower condensation rate resulted in significantly better encapsulation. Also investigated was the encapsulation in the presence of other polymers like polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) that prolong the release of the repellent. The sol-gel formulation, SiO2 : polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) (1:0.8), gave smooth fabric and good encapsulation of the insect repellent compound. PS and PVA resulted in cloths which are aesthetically undesirable. Cloths coated with sol-gel PVA gave the best repellent release profile

RSNA International Trends: A Global Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Radiology in Late 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and changed our healthcare systems around the world. There has been a heterogeneity of disease burden, healthcare resources, and non-imaging testing availability, both geographically and over time. In parallel, there has been a continued increase in understanding of how the disease affects patients, effectiveness of therapeutic options, and factors that modulate transmission risk. Here we detail experiences from radiology experts in representative countries from around the world, to share insights gained from local experience. These insights provide a guidepost to help address management challenges as cases continue to rise in many parts of the world and suggest modifications in workflow that are likely to continue after this pandemic subsides