Predictors of willingness to participate in HIV vaccine trials among African Americans

African Americans in the United States (U.S.) are disproportionately affected by HIV. Developing an HIV vaccine is an important part of the HIV prevention and treatment toolkit and may help contribute to ending the HIV epidemic. To date, HIV vaccine trials have not engaged representative numbers of African Americans. We evaluated the willingness of African Americans to participate in HIV vaccine trials and identified correlates of willingness to participate (WTP) by surveying African Americans at low- and high-risk of HIV infection in a multi-site, cross-sectional study. We enrolled 1,452 participants; 59% heterosexual women; 21% heterosexual men; 20% men who have sex with men (MSM). Over half of participants (58%) expressed some level of WTP in HIV vaccine trials. Multivariable analyses revealed several variables were positively related to WTP: HIV risk behavior, knowing someone with HIV/AIDS, social support for trial participation, high perception of risk, perceived protection if in a trial, altruism, and greater tolerance for the ambiguous nature of trials (p\u3c0.01). Emphasis on contextual factors related to personal HIV experiences, including knowledge of someone with HIV, and community support for research, may provide effective strategies for engaging African Americans in future HIV vaccine trials

Shape Memory Alloy Actuator Design: CASMART Collaborative Best Practices

Upon examination of shape memory alloy (SMA) actuation designs, there are many considerations and methodologies that are common to them all. A goal of CASMART's design working group is to compile the collective experiences of CASMART's member organizations into a single medium that engineers can then use to make the best decisions regarding SMA system design. In this paper, a review of recent work toward this goal is presented, spanning a wide range of design aspects including evaluation, properties, testing, modeling, alloy selection, fabrication, actuator processing, design optimization, controls, and system integration. We have documented each aspect, based on our collective experiences, so that the design engineer may access the tools and information needed to successfully design and develop SMA systems. Through comparison of several case studies, it is shown that there is not an obvious single, linear route a designer can adopt to navigate the path of concept to product. SMA engineering aspects will have different priorities and emphasis for different applications

When does the action start and finish? Making the case for an ethnographic action research in educational research

This paper explores how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects. Interpretations of ethnography and action research are developed that aim to minimise the epistemological differences between them. The paper also contextualises an ‘ethnographic action research’ approach with reference to an example of the author’s research into participation in three ‘reception’ (first year of schooling) classes in the United Kingdom. It is argued that research into the theme of participation in early years education, using participative methods, was particularly suitable for this new methodological approach

Prostate Surgery for Men with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: Do We Need Urodynamics to Find the Right Candidates?:Exploratory Findings from the UPSTREAM Trial

BackgroundIdentifying men whose lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) may benefit from surgery is challenging.ObjectiveTo identify routine diagnostic and urodynamic measures associated with treatment decision-making, and outcome, in exploratory analyses of the UPSTREAM trial.Design, setting, and participantsA randomised controlled trial was conducted including 820 men, considering surgery for LUTS, across 26 hospitals in England (ISCTRN56164274).InterventionMen were randomised to a routine care (RC) diagnostic pathway (n = 393) or a pathway that included urodynamics (UDS) in addition to RC (n = 427).Outcome measurements and statistical analysisMen underwent uroflowmetry and completed symptom questionnaires, at baseline and 18 mo after randomisation. Regression models identified baseline clinical and symptom measures that predicted recommendation for surgery and/or surgical outcome (measured by the International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS]). We explored the association between UDS and surgical outcome in subgroups defined by routine measures.Results and limitationsThe recommendation for surgery could be predicted successfully in the RC and UDS groups (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.78), with maximum flow rate (Qmax) and age predictors in both groups. Surgery was more beneficial in those with higher symptom scores (eg, IPSS >16), age 47.6, and bladder contractility index >123.0. In the UDS group, urodynamic measures were more strongly predictive of surgical outcome for those with Qmax >15, although patient-reported outcomes were also more predictive in this subgroup.ConclusionsTreatment decisions were informed with UDS, when available, but without evidence of change in the decisions reached. Despite the small group sizes, exploratory analyses suggest that selective use of UDS could detect obstructive pathology, missed by routine measures, in certain subgroups.Patient summaryBaseline clinical and symptom measurements were able to predict treatment decisions. The addition of urodynamic test results, while useful, did not generally lead to better surgical decisions and outcomes over routine tests alone

Giant Magnetostriction in Annealed Co\u3csub\u3e1-x\u3c/sub\u3eFe\u3csub\u3ex\u3c/sub\u3e Thin-Films

Chemical and structural heterogeneity and the resulting interaction of coexisting phases can lead to extraordinary behaviours in oxides, as observed in piezoelectric materials at morphotropic phase boundaries and relaxor ferroelectrics. However, such phenomena are rare in metallic alloys. Here we show that, by tuning the presence of structural heterogeneity in textured Co1−xFex thin films, effective magnetostriction λeff as large as 260 p.p.m. can be achieved at low-saturation field of ~10 mT. Assuming λ100 is the dominant component, this number translates to an upper limit of magnetostriction ofλ100≈5λeff \u3e1,000 p.p.m. Microstructural analyses of Co1−xFex films indicate that maximal magnetostriction occurs at compositions near the (fcc+bcc)/bcc phase boundary and originates from precipitation of an equilibrium Co-rich fcc phase embedded in a Fe-rich bcc matrix. The results indicate that the recently proposed heterogeneous magnetostriction mechanism can be used to guide exploration of compounds with unusual magnetoelastic properties

Social comparison based relaying in device-to-device networks

Device-to-device (D2D) communications are recognized as a key component of future wireless networks which will help to improve spectral efficiency and network densification simultaneously. In order to guarantee a quality of service (QoS) to the cellular links, the transmit power of the D2D nodes needs to be restricted, which has lead to a poor link quality over D2D transmission. One viable option to improve the D2D link quality is incorporating cooperative relays into D2D networks. However most of the existing published work in relay assisted D2D networks has assumed that relay nodes cooperate spontaneously. This cannot always be guaranteed and we take this into account by considering a fundamental model on which donation-based cooperation depends. In par- ticular we model relay cooperation as a donation game based on social comparison and characterize cooperation probability in an evolutionary context. When applying this model we evaluate the outage and capacity of relay assisted D2D network using a stochastic geometric framework

Selenoprotein gene nomenclature

The human genome contains 25 genes coding for selenocysteine-containing proteins (selenoproteins). These proteins are involved in a variety of functions, most notably redox homeostasis. Selenoprotein enzymes with known functions are designated according to these functions: TXNRD1, TXNRD2, and TXNRD3 (thioredoxin reductases), GPX1, GPX2, GPX3, GPX4 and GPX6 (glutathione peroxidases), DIO1, DIO2, and DIO3 (iodothyronine deiodinases), MSRB1 (methionine-R-sulfoxide reductase 1) and SEPHS2 (selenophosphate synthetase 2). Selenoproteins without known functions have traditionally been denoted by SEL or SEP symbols. However, these symbols are sometimes ambiguous and conflict with the approved nomenclature for several other genes. Therefore, there is a need to implement a rational and coherent nomenclature system for selenoprotein-encoding genes. Our solution is to use the root symbol SELENO followed by a letter. This nomenclature applies to SELENOF (selenoprotein F, the 15 kDa selenoprotein, SEP15), SELENOH (selenoprotein H, SELH, C11orf31), SELENOI (selenoprotein I, SELI, EPT1), SELENOK (selenoprotein K, SELK), SELENOM (selenoprotein M, SELM), SELENON (selenoprotein N, SEPN1, SELN), SELENOO (selenoprotein O, SELO), SELENOP (selenoprotein P, SeP, SEPP1, SELP), SELENOS (selenoprotein S, SELS, SEPS1, VIMP), SELENOT (selenoprotein T, SELT), SELENOV (selenoprotein V, SELV) and SELENOW (selenoprotein W, SELW, SEPW1). This system, approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, also resolves conflicting, missing and ambiguous designations for selenoprotein genes and is applicable to selenoproteins across vertebrates