Human Papillomavirus Infection: Prevention, Barriers to Vaccination, and the Need for Education

While there is no known cure for HPV, prophylactic vaccination provides an effective method of primary prevention against HPV-related diseases. However, many females and males never receive the HPV vaccine as recommended. There are multiple barriers to vaccination, and these barriers can be identified as parental, provider, or system level. Understanding these barriers and developing strategies that provide accurate information about HPV, its risks, and the need for vaccination are essential in the form of sustained educational campaigns for parents, young adults, and providers

An Undergraduate Collaborative Team Model to Engage Nursing Students in Research

Purpose: Student-faculty collaboration on research is an effective model to engage undergraduate students in the research process outside of the traditional curriculum. Using this model, a student-faculty team developed a longitudinal study about college students’ alcohol use behaviors and implemented an intervention to influence the culture of drinking on campus. Methods: A longitudinal design was used to assess drinking behaviors and evaluate the effect of a mass media campaign with social norm messages and alcohol education. Undergraduate students on a faith-based, Midwestern campus completed baseline (N = 1,095) and post-intervention (N = 1,011) electronic surveys. Results: In addition to helping students learn about and develop enthusiasm for research, this project had an impact on the drinking culture on campus. Findings showed 88% of students observed media campaign messages with 82% viewing the printed posters, 47% viewing the outdoor displays, and 25% viewing messages on social media. There was a significant change in binge drinking from the pre- (72%) to post-intervention (40%) surveys. Conclusions: Collaborative undergraduate research teams are an effective model to help students learn how to carry out research and develop interest and enthusiasm for the process. The outcomes of the project demonstrated interventions were effective at influencing the drinking culture on campus. The development of a research program outside the required curriculum can be a successful strategy to engage students in all phases of the research process, increase enthusiasm for research, and enhance health care outcomes in various settings

Social Networking and Users: The Interaction of Personality and Motivation to Post on Facebook

Facebook is the reigning king of Social Networking Sites (SNSs). Due to Facebook’s impact on current culture, researchers have been focused on how it interacts with its members on a variety of issues including well-being, personal identity, personality type, and motivation. While the topics of personality type and motivation have been investigated separately, their possible relationship has not been examined until now. Participants consisted of 415 students from the University of Central Florida were surveyed with an International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), a Facebook Intensity Survey, and a Facebook Motivation Scale. Results showed that the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability were positively related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to make posts on Facebook, extraversion was found to be related to extrinsic motivation to make posts, and intellect was found to have almost no relationship to motivation. In addition, participants who were higher in the traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability were more likely to be more intensely involved in Facebook than those who were high in extraversion and intellect. Finally, I found that participants who were more intensely involved in Facebook experienced more motivation to make posts on Facebook

Robot Autonomy and Malfunction Affects on Trust During Human Robot Interaction

Many factors affect how much trust a person places in a robotic system that they work with. In particular, the reliability of a robot is a current leader in predicting trust levels in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) (Hancock, et al., 2011). Because robots are built and programmed by fallible humans, it is likely that malfunctions will occur periodically during their operation. However, the question still remains as to how a robot’s decision making capacity (level of autonomy) combined with level of information (status and projected end state) they provide to the operator affect operator trust in the system. Previous studies have focused on level of information, and modality of information provided (Sanders et al., 2014). However, none have yet to combine system malfunctions, system autonomy level, and level of information. The findings of this study will be principally salient for those operating robots in team situations (e.g., the military). In particular, the findings may assist programmers in deciding how much information the robot should be giving to its teammates as well as the level of autonomy needed in order to engender proper trust in the operator. Study design and implementation will be discussed along with preliminary data

Cytoplasmic colocalization of RXRα and PPARγ as an independent negative prognosticator for breast cancer patients

Retinoid X receptor α (RXRα) is a nuclear receptor (NR) which functions as the primary heterodimeric partner of other NRs including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). We previously reported that, in breast cancers (BC), the subcellular localization of these two receptors was strongly associated with patient prognosis. In the present work, we investigated the prognosis value of the combined cytoplasmic expression of RXRα and PPARγ using a retrospective cohort of 250 BC samples. Patients with tumors expressing both NRs in tumor cell cytoplasm exhibited a significant shorter overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). This was also observed for patients with stage 1 tumors. Cox univariate analysis indicated that patients with tumors coexpressing RXRα and PPARγ in the cytoplasm of tumor cells have a decreased 5 y OS rate. Cytoplasmic co-expression of the two NRs significantly correlated with HER2 positivity and with NCAD and CD133, two markers of tumor aggressiveness. Finally, in Cox multivariate analysis, the co-expression of RXRα and PPARγ in the cytoplasm appeared as an independent OS prognosticator. Altogether, this study demonstrates that the cytoplasmic co-expression of RXRα and PPARγ could be of relevance for clinicians by identifying high-risk BC patients, especially amongst those with early and node-negative disease

Prognostic relevance of nuclear receptors in relation to peritumoral inflammation and tumor infiltration by lymphocytes in breast cancer

The prognostic impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is intensively investigated in breast cancer (BC). It is already known that triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive type of BC, has the highest percentage of TILs. In addition, there is an influence of steroid hormone receptor expression (type I nuclear receptors) on TIL subpopulations in breast cancer tissue. The link between type II nuclear receptors and the level of TILs is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantify TILs in a panel of 264 sporadic breast cancers and investigate the correlation of TIL levels with type I and II nuclear receptors expression. TIL levels were significantly increased in the subgroup of TNBC. By contrast, they decreased in estrogen (ER)- or progesterone receptor (PR)-positive cases. Moreover, TIL levels were correlated with type II nuclear receptors, including PPARγ, with a significant inverse correlation of the nuclear form (r = −0.727, p 15% showed a significantly decreased overall survival. In addition, peritumoral inflammation was also quantified in BC tissue samples. In our cohort, although the level of peritumoral inflammation was not correlated with OS, it determined the prognostic value of ER, PR, and PPARγ in BC. Altogether, the present study provides a differentiated overview of the relations between nuclear receptor expression, TIL levels, peritumoral inflammation, and prognosis in BC

HIV prevalence in severely malnourished children admitted to nutrition rehabilitation units in Malawi: Geographical & seasonal variations a cross-sectional study

Background: Severe malnutrition in childhood associated with HIV infection presents a serious humanitarian and public health challenge in Southern Africa. The aim of this study was to collect country wide data on HIV infection patterns in severely malnourished children to guide the development of integrated care in a resource limited setting.Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted in 12 representative rural and urban Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRUs), from each of Malawi's 3 regions.All children and their caretakers admitted to each NRU over a two week period were offered HIV counselling and testing. Testing was carried out using two different rapid antibody tests, with PCR testing for discordant results. Children under 15 months were excluded, to avoid difficulties with interpretation of false positive rapid test results.The survey was conducted once in the dry/post-harvest season, and repeated in the rainy/hungry season.Results: 570 children were eligible for study inclusion. Acceptability and uptake of HIV testing was high: 523(91.7%) of carers consented for their children to take part; 368(70.6%) themselves accepted testing.Overall HIV prevalence amongst children tested was 21.6%(95% confidence intervals, 18.2-25.5%). There was wide variation between individual NRUs: 2.0-50.0%.Geographical prevalence variations were significant between the three regions (p < 0.01) with the highest prevalence being in the south: Northern Region 23.1%(95%CI 14.3-34.0%), Central Region 10.9%(95%CI 7.5-15.3%), and Southern Region 36.9%(95%CI 14.3-34.0%). HIV prevalence was significantly higher in urban areas, 32.9%(95%CI 26.8-39.4%) than in rural 13.2%(95%CI 9.5-17.6%)(p < 0.01). NRU HIV prevalence rates were lower in the rainy/hungry season 18.4%(95%CI 14.7-22.7%) than in the dry/post-harvest season 30.9%(95%CI 23.2-39.4%) (p < 0.001%).Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of HIV infection in severely malnourished Malawian children attending NRUs with children in urban areas most likely to be infected. Testing for HIV is accepted by their carers in both urban and rural areas. NRUs could act as entry points to HIV treatment and support programmes for affected children and families. Recognition of wide geographical variations in childhood HIV prevalence will ensure that limited resources are initially targeted to areas of highest need.These findings may have implications for the other countries with similar patterns of childhood illness and food insecurity

Human alveolar progenitors generate dual lineage bronchioalveolar organoids

Mechanisms of epithelial renewal in the alveolar compartment remain incompletely understood. To this end, we aimed to characterize alveolar progenitors. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of the HTII-280+/EpCAM+ population from adult human lung revealed subclusters enriched for adult stem cell signature (ASCS) genes. We found that alveolar progenitors in organoid culture in vitro show phenotypic lineage plasticity as they can yield alveolar or bronchial cell-type progeny. The direction of the differentiation is dependent on the presence of the GSK-3β inhibitor, CHIR99021. By RNA-seq profiling of GSK-3β knockdown organoids we identified additional candidate target genes of the inhibitor, among others FOXM1 and EGF. This gives evidence of Wnt pathway independent regulatory mechanisms of alveolar specification. Following influenza A virus (IAV) infection organoids showed a similar response as lung tissue explants which confirms their suitability for studies of sequelae of pathogen-host interaction