A workshop report on promoting HIV/AIDS understanding through a capacity building train-the-trainer educational intervention

Nursing educators are frequently confronted with challenges that bring about innovation and transition to new ways of transferring knowledge in their home environments. These challenges are magnified when approached from an international perspective. Optimal implementation of knowledge transfer incorporates choosing models that promote local initiatives in line with increasingly decentralized educational structures. These decentralized models are a means to foster ongoing participation for both educators and students in their own professional development. Innovative education stems from creativity in approaching the need with formats and activities to meet a specific challenge. This experimental study builds upon previous study by the authors which was conducted in March, 2009, based upon the qualitative open focus forum at each of the five nursing programs. Overwhelmingly, the Cameroonian nursing students expressed a keen desire to study the HIV infected pregnant woman and the feeding options of the newborn. The study team developed the train-the-trainer program which was delivered at the University of Buea in the Southwest region of Cameroon in March, 2011. TTT is particularly effective for reaching large audiences and also permits a degree of sustainability such that the Cameroonian students will be trainers for subsequent cohorts of their peers. This study continues to strengthen the collaborative endeavors between the two nursing schools; the University of Buea (UB) and Goldfarb School of Nursing (GSON) at Barnes Jewish College in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. The final aim of the intervention was the initiation of collaborative relationships between the faculty members of the two educational organizations.Key words: Workshop, HIV, AIDS, capacity building, education, intervention, Cameroo

A compendium and functional characterization of mammalian genes involved in adaptation to Arctic or Antarctic environments

Many mammals are well adapted to surviving in extremely cold environments. These species have likely accumulated genetic changes that help them efficiently cope with low temperatures. It is not known whether the same genes related to cold adaptation in one species would be under selection in another species. The aims of this study therefore were: to create a compendium of mammalian genes related to adaptations to a low temperature environment; to identify genes related to cold tolerance that have been subjected to independent positive selection in several species; to determine promising candidate genes/pathways/organs for further empirical research on cold adaptation in mammals

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Association of diurnal temperature range with daily hospitalization for exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases in 21 cities, China

BACKGROUND: The association between diurnal temperature range (DTR) and hospitalization for exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) was rarely reported. OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between DTR and daily hospital admissions for exacerbation of CRD and find out the potential effect of modifications on this association. METHOD: Data on daily hospitalization for exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and bronchiectasis and meteorology measures from 2013 through 2017 were obtained from 21 cities in South China. After controlling the effects of daily mean temperature, relative humidity (RH), particulate matter < 2.5 μm diameter (PM2.5) and other confounding factors, a standard generalized additive model (GAM) with a quasi-Poisson distribution was performed to evaluate the relationships between DTR and daily hospital admissions of CRD in a two-stage strategy. Subgroup analysis was performed to find potential modifications, including seasonality and population characteristics. RESULT: Elevated risk of hospitalization for exacerbation of CRD (RR = 1.09 [95%CI: 1.08 to 1.11]) was associated with the increase in DTR (the 75th percentile versus the 25th percentile of DTR at lag0–6). The effects of DTR on hospital admissions for CRD were strong at low DTR in the hot season and high DTR in the cold season. The RR (the 75th percentile versus the 25th percentile of DTR at lag0–6) of hospitalization was 1.11 (95%CI: 1.08 to 1.12) for exacerbations of COPD and 1.09 (95%CI: 1.05 to 1.13) for asthma. The adverse effect of DTR on hospitalization for bronchiectasis was only observed in female patients (RR = 1.06 [95%CI: 1.03 to 1.10]). CONCLUSION: Our study provided additional evidence for the association between DTR and daily hospitalization for exacerbation of CRD, and these associations are especially stronger in COPD patients and in the cold season than the hot season. Preventive measures to reduce the adverse impacts of DTR were needed for CRD patients