Group Behavior: Social Context Modulates Behavioral Responses to Sensory Stimuli

SummaryA new study reveals an unanticipated role for social context in driving group behavior of a solitary species to a sensory stimulus and is mediated by mechanosensory neurons signaling touch interactions among individuals

Burden of pneumocystis pneumonia in HIV-infected adults in sub-Saharan Africa: protocol for a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Reports from Africa have suggested that pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is a less important cause of morbidity than in the developed world. However, more recent studies have shown high seroprevalence rates of P. jirovecii in healthy individuals with HIV as well as high rates of clinical disease in African children. This suggests that PCP may be more common in Africa than was previously recognised. Understanding the contribution of PCP to disease in HIV-infected individuals in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has important implications for diagnosis, management and resource allocation. We therefore propose to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to investigate the burden of PCP in this population.METHODS AND DESIGN:We plan to search electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles published from 1995 to May 2013 using broad terms for pneumocystis, HIV/AIDS and sub-Saharan Africa. Studies will be included if they provide clear diagnostic criteria for PCP and well-defined study populations or mortality data (denominator). A novel quality score assessment tool has been developed to ensure fidelity to inclusion criteria, minimise risk of selection bias between reviewers and to assess quality of outcome ascertainment. This will be applied to eligible full-text articles. We will extract data using a standardised form and perform descriptive and quantitative analysis to assess PCP prevalence, mortality and case fatality, as well as the quality of included studies. This review protocol has been published in the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of systematic reviews, registration number CRD42013005530.DISCUSSION:Our planned review will contribute to the diagnosis and management of community-acquired pneumonia in HIV-infected individuals in SSA by systematically assessing the burden of PCP in this population. We also describe a novel quality assessment tool that may be applied to other prevalence reviews

All Politics Are Local: Nineteenth-Century Mexico Revisited

This essay reviews the following works: Popular Politics and Rebellion in Mexico: Manuel Lozada and La Reforma, 1855–1876. By Zachary Brittsan. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 220. $55.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780826520449. El jefe político: Un dominio negociado en el mundo rural del Estado de México, 1856–1911. By Romana Falcón. Mexico City: El Colegio de México; El Colegio de Michoacán; CIESAS, 2015. Pp. 9 + 744.$39.99 paper. ISBN: 9786074627381. Independent Mexico: The Pronunciamiento in the Age of Santa Anna, 1821–1858. By Will Fowler. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. viii + 362. $40.00 paper. ISBN: 9780803225398. Mexico’s Supreme Court: Between Liberal Individual and Revolutionary Social Rights, 1867–1934. By Timothy M. James. Albuquerque: University of Mexico Press, 2013. Pp. ix + 149.$45.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780826353788. Conflict and Carnage in Yucatán: Liberals, the Second Empire, and Maya Revolutionaries, 1855–1876. By Douglas W. Richmond. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 177. $49.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780817318703. Las élites empresariales y la independencia económica de México: Estevan de Antun~ano o las vicisitudes del fundador de la industria textil moderna, 1792–1847. By Evelyne Sanchez. Mexico: Plaza y Valdés Editores, 2013. Pp. ix + 363.$29.95 paper. ISBN: 9786074026177

What’s Behind Recent Transit Ridership Trends in the Bay Area? Volume I: Overview and Analysis of Underlying Factors

Public transit ridership has been falling nationally and in California since 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area, with the state’s highest rates of transit use, had until recently resisted those trends, especially compared to Greater Los Angeles. However, in 2017 and 2018 the region lost over five percent (>27 million) of its annual riders, despite a booming economy and service increases. This report examines Bay Area transit ridership to understand the dimensions of changing transit use, its possible causes, and potential solutions. We find that: 1) the steepest ridership losses have come on buses, at off-peak times, on weekends, in non-commute directions, on outlying lines, and on operators that do not serve the region’s core employment clusters; 2) transit trips in the region are increasingly commute-focused, particularly into and out of downtown San Francisco; 3) transit commuters are increasingly non-traditional transit users, such as those with higher incomes and automobile access; 4) the growing job-housing imbalance in the Bay Area is related to rising housing costs and likely depressing transit ridership as more residents live less transit-friendly parts of the region; and 5) ridehail is substituting for some transit trips, particularly in the off-peak. Arresting falling transit use will likely require action both by transit operators (to address peak capacity constraints; improve off-peak service; ease fare payments; adopt fare structures that attract off-peak riders; and better integrate transit with new mobility options) and public policymakers in other realms (to better meter and manage private vehicle use and to increase the supply and affordability of housing near job centers)