The Effects of CenteringPregnancy Group Prenatal Care on Postpartum Visit Attendance and Contraception Use

We examined whether Medicaid-enrolled women in CenteringPregnancy group prenatal care had 23 higher rates of postpartum visit attendance and postpartum uptake of contraceptives, compared to women in individual prenatal care

Advancing Maternal Health Equity in Southern States: What Are Medicaid Programs Doing and What More Could They Do?

The US is facing a severe maternal morbidity and mortality crisis, and Black women and other women of color are at particularly high risk. Maternal mortality is also higher in the South than in other regions. Given evidence that abortion restrictions are associated with higher maternal mortality, such risks could grow under the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, especially in the South, where in many states abortion is now severely restricted. With more than 40 percent of all births nationally, 65 percent of births among Black women, and 59 percent of births among Hispanic women covered by Medicaid, state Medicaid policies and practices have the potential to improve maternal health and reduce racial and ethnic inequities in maternal health outcomes.For this study on Medicaid and maternal health, we conducted interviews with national experts, a national policy scan, and case studies in three Southern states (Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) that are using various approaches to promote improvements in maternal health care for their Medicaid populations. We sought to identify facilitators of and barriers to maternal health equity and promising programs and policy levers that could advance maternal health equity to inform approaches in other Southern states

Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals and Georgia Medicaid: Utilization, Outcomes, and Cost

Because most research on long-term acute care hospitals has focused on Medicare, the objective of this research is to describe the Georgia Medicaid population who received care at a long-term acute care hospital, the type and volume of services provided by these long-term acute care hospitals, and the costs and outcomes of these services. For those with select respiratory conditions, we descriptively compare costs and outcomes to those of patients who received care for the same services in acute care hospitals

Modelling environmental drivers of black band disease outbreaks in populations of foliose corals in the genus Montipora

Seawater temperature anomalies associated with warming climate have been linked to increases in coral disease outbreaks that have contributed to coral reef declines globally. However, little is known about how seasonal scale variations in environmental factors influence disease dynamics at the level of individual coral colonies. In this study, we applied a multi-state Markov model (MSM) to investigate the dynamics of black band disease (BBD) developing from apparently healthy corals and/or a precursor-stage, termed `cyanobacterial patches' (CP), in relation to seasonal variation in light and seawater temperature at two reef sites around Pelorus Island in the central sector of the Great Barrier Reef. The model predicted that the proportion of colonies transitioning from BBD to Healthy states within three months was appro)dmately 57%, but 5.6% of BBD cases resulted in whole colony mortality. According to our modelling, healthy coral colonies were more susceptible to BBD during summer months when light levels were at their maxima and seawater temperatures were either rising 0r at their maxima. In contrast, CP mostly occurred during spring, when both light and seawater temperatures were rising. This suggests that environmental drivers for healthy coral colonies transitioning into a Cl' state are different from those driving transitions into BBD. Our model predicts that (1) the transition from healthy to CP state is best explained by increasing light, (2) the transition between Healthy to BBD occurs more frequently from early to late summer, (3) 20% of CP infected corals developed BBD, although light and temperature appeared to have limited impact on this state transition, and (4) the number of transitions from Healthy to BBD differed significantly between the two study sites, potentially reflecting differences in localised wave action regimes

Visualization of coral host--pathogen interactions using a stable GFP-labeled Vibrio coralliilyticus strain

The bacterium Vibrio coralliilyticus has been implicated as the causative agent of coral tissue loss diseases (collectively known as white syndromes) at sites across the Indo-Pacific and represents an emerging model pathogen for understanding the mechanisms linking bacterial infection and coral disease. In this study, we used a mini-Tn7 transposon delivery system to chromosomally label a strain of V. coralliilyticus isolated from a white syndrome disease lesion with a green fluorescent protein gene (GFP). We then tested the utility of this modified strain as a research tool for studies of coral host–pathogen interactions. A suite of biochemical assays and experimental infection trials in a range of model organisms confirmed that insertion of the GFP gene did not interfere with the labeled strain’s virulence. Using epifluorescence video microscopy, the GFP-labeled strain could be reliably distinguished from non-labeled bacteria present in the coral holobiont, and the pathogen’s interactions with the coral host could be visualized in real time. This study demonstrates that chromosomal GFP labeling is a useful technique for visualization and tracking of coral pathogens and provides a novel tool to investigate the role of V. coralliilyticus in coral disease pathogenesis.Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg, France) (No. RGY0089RS

The RNA binding protein Larp1 regulates cell division, apoptosis and cell migration.

The RNA binding protein Larp1 was originally shown to be involved in spermatogenesis, embryogenesis and cell-cycle progression in Drosophila. Our data show that mammalian Larp1 is found in a complex with poly A binding protein and eukaryote initiation factor 4E and is associated with 60S and 80S ribosomal subunits. A reduction in Larp1 expression by siRNA inhibits global protein synthesis rates and results in mitotic arrest and delayed cell migration. Consistent with these data we show that Larp1 protein is present at the leading edge of migrating cells and interacts directly with cytoskeletal components. Taken together, these data suggest a role for Larp1 in facilitating the synthesis of proteins required for cellular remodelling and migration

From inclusion to independence – Training consumers to review research

Health and medical research invariably impacts on the lives of everyday people. Organisations in the developed world are increasingly involving the public in health research projects, and research governance structures and processes. The form the involvement takes varies, as does the level of involvement, from individuals, to groups, to the wider community. Lay community members can be trained to independently review health and medical research, and wider societal involvement in funding decisions, can be effectively fostered. The theoretical foundation, design and development of a task based consumer-training program, including a number of enabling factors to support the success of such training are presented. This work is likely to be of value to those planning to train consumers in technical or complex areas