Experiences of people living with HIV and people living close to them of a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in an urban and a rural setting

HIV stigma remains high globally. Although there is a selection of HIV stigma reduction interventions discussed in the literature, there is a paucity of research about the effectiveness of these interventions. This study aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the experiences of people living with HIV (PLWH) and people living close to them from six designated groups during and after having undergone a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in both an urban and a rural setting. Attention was focused on their expressed  experiences of the workshop and projects executed. A qualitative interpretive description approach was used. PLWH as participants were selected through purposive voluntary sampling and through snowball sampling for the people living close to them. Recruitment was from both urban and rural settings in the North West Province, South Africa. Data collection was via in-depth interviews with 23 PLWH and 60 people living close to them from specific designated groups. The data were thematically analysed through manual open coding. The results from the urban and rural settings were pooled, as there were no noteworthy differences in the themes between them. The results indicated that there was an increase in knowledge in all the groups, as well as experiences of enhanced relationships and of being equipped with leadership skills in order to go out into the community and being part of HIV stigma reduction actions. The intervention in its comprehensive nature was found to have been successful and promising for future use in reducing HIV stigma.Keywords: community, comprehensive, HIV, intervention, stigmaLa stigmatisation lie´e au VIH est re´pandue dans le monde. Bien que la documentation sur le sujet aborde un ensemble d’interventions en faveur de sa re´duction, les recherches sur l’efficacite´ de telles interventions restent limite´es. Cette e´tude vise donc a` mieux comprendre l’expe´rience des personnes vivant avec le VIH (PVVIH) et de leur entourage dans six groupes se´lectionne´s pendant et apre`s une intervention communautaire globale de re´duction de la stigmatisation lie´e au VIH, en milieu urbain et rural. L’on a accorde´ une attention  particulie`re aux expe´riences partage´es sur l’atelier et les projets entrepris. Une approche de description qualitative et interpre´tative a e´te´ adopte´e. Les PVVIH participantes ont e´te´ se´lectionne´es graˆce a` un e´chantillonnage dirige´ et volontaire, et un e´chantillon boule de neige pour l’entourage. Les personnes recrute´es provenaient de milieux urbains et ruraux de la province du Nord-Ouest, Afrique du Sud. La collecte de donne´es s’est faite par des entretiens approfondis avec 23 PVVIH et 60 personnes de leur entourage, toutes issues de groupes spe´cifiques de´signe´s. Les donne´es ont e´te´ analyse´es the´matiquement par codage  ouvert et manuel. Les re´sultats des milieux urbains et ruraux ont ensuite e´te´ regroupe´s car il ne semblait pas y avoir de diffe´rence remarquable entre les the`mes souleve´s dans les deux milieux. Dans tous les  groupes, les re´sultats indiquaient un accroissement des connaissances, de l’ame´lioration des relations, et des compe´tences de leadership pour prendre part a` la vie communautaire et participer aux activite´s de re´duction de la stigmatisation. La re´ussite de la nature globale de l’intervention est prometteuse pour les activite´s  futures de re´duction de la stigmatisation du VIH.Mots-cle´s: communaute´, global(e), VIH, intervention, stigmatisatio

Visualising apoptosis in live zebrafish using fluorescence lifetime imaging with optical projection tomography to map FRET biosensor activity in space and time

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) combined with optical projection tomography (OPT) has the potential to map Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) readouts in space and time in intact transparent or near transparent live organisms such as zebrafish larvae, thereby providing a means to visualise cell signalling processes in their physiological context. Here the first application of FLIM OPT to read out biological function in live transgenic zebrafish larvae using a genetically expressed FRET biosensor is reported. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is mapped in 3-D by imaging the activity of a FRET biosensor that is cleaved by Caspase 3, which is a key effector of apoptosis. Although apoptosis is a naturally occurring process during development, it can also be triggered in a variety of ways, including through gamma irradiation. FLIM OPT is shown here to enable apoptosis to be monitored over time, in live zebrafish larvae via changes in Caspase 3 activation following gamma irradiation at 24 hours post fertilisation. Significant apoptosis was observed at 3.5 hours post irradiation, predominantly in the head region

Challenges in lifestyle and community interventions research; a call for innovation

Earlier this year the BMC portfolio was enriched by a new journal BMC Obesity. Here, we present the aims and objectives of the section on Lifestyle and Community Interventions. Innovative research is needed. Preventing or managing obesity requires addressing different determinants across multiple levels where diverse levers and stakeholders can play a critical role. Interactions of these determinants within and between systems need to be studied. How to leverage, manage and measure this complexity underlies the innovation that is needed in the next generation of obesity interventions. The ambition of the Lifestyle and Community Interventions section is to provide a space for innovative research, including research that falls outside the traditional comfort zone. We welcome studies of heterogeneous designs, including those of qualitative, quantitative, mixed and systems methodologies. Studies of interest include not only outcomes research of interventions but also process evaluation, cost-effectiveness or cost-benefit analysis, and implementation and dissemination research. Innovations that integrate diverse intervention levers or combine primary and secondary levels of prevention are particularly encouraged. The general aim of BMC Obesity’s Lifestyle and Community Interventions section is to advance our ability to decide on what combinations of approaches will be required to effectively and equitably prevent obesity

8th International Conference: Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer, St Gallen, Switzerland, March 12–15 2003

The International St Gallen Breast Cancer Conference concentrates almost exclusively on adjuvant, multimodal primary therapy for early breast cancer. Begun 25 years ago, this meeting was initially held every 4 years, but therapeutic progress, new strategies and provocative trials data have accelerated to the extent that conferences are now held biennially. The meeting this year was attended by almost 3000 delegates. Major topics included new prognostic and predictive markers in early breast cancer, the best use of adjuvant chemotherapy and endocrine therapy, and innovations in local surgery and radiation therapy

Accelerated optical projection tomography applied to in vivo imaging of zebrafish

Optical projection tomography (OPT) provides a non-invasive 3-D imaging modality that can be applied to longitudinal studies of live disease models, including in zebrafish. Current limitations include the requirement of a minimum number of angular projections for reconstruction of reasonable OPT images using filtered back projection (FBP), which is typically several hundred, leading to acquisition times of several minutes. It is highly desirable to decrease the number of required angular projections to decrease both the total acquisition time and the light dose to the sample. This is particularly important to enable longitudinal studies, which involve measurements of the same fish at different time points. In this work, we demonstrate that the use of an iterative algorithm to reconstruct sparsely sampled OPT data sets can provide useful 3-D images with 50 or fewer projections, thereby significantly decreasing the minimum acquisition time and light dose while maintaining image quality. A transgenic zebrafish embryo with fluorescent labelling of the vasculature was imaged to acquire densely sampled (800 projections) and under-sampled data sets of transmitted and fluorescence projection images. The under-sampled OPT data sets were reconstructed using an iterative total variation-based image reconstruction algorithm and compared against FBP reconstructions of the densely sampled data sets. To illustrate the potential for quantitative analysis following rapid OPT data acquisition, a Hessian-based method was applied to automatically segment the reconstructed images to select the vasculature network. Results showed that 3-D images of the zebrafish embryo and its vasculature of sufficient visual quality for quantitative analysis can be reconstructed using the iterative algorithm from only 32 projections-achieving up to 28 times improvement in imaging speed and leading to total acquisition times of a few seconds

Recommendations for the treatment of epilepsy in adult patients in general practice in Belgium: an update

In 2008, a group of Belgian epilepsy experts published recommendations for antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment of epilepsies in adults and children. Selection of compounds was based on the registration and reimbursement status in Belgium, the level of evidence for efficacy, common daily practice and the personal views and experiences of the authors. In November 2011 the validity of these recommendations was reviewed by the same group of Belgian epilepsy experts who contributed to the preparation of the original paper. The recommendations made in 2008 for initial monotherapy in paediatric patients were still considered to be valid, except for the first choice treatment for childhood absence epilepsy. This update therefore focuses on the treatment recommendations for initial monotherapy and add-on treatment in adult patients. Several other relevant aspects of treatment with AEDs are addressed, including considerations for optimal combination of AEDs (rational polytherapy), pharmacokinetic properties, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interaction profile, adverse effects, comorbidity, treatment of elderly patients, AED treatment during pregnancy, and generic substitution of AEDs

Reflections on the labyrinth: Investigating Black and Minority Ethnic leaders’ career experiences

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employees appear to experience more difficulty reaching senior leadership positions than their white counterparts. Using Eagly and Carli’s (2007) metaphor of the labyrinth our aim was to give voice to black and minority ethnic managers who have successfully achieved senior management roles, and compare their leadership journeys with those of matched white managers. This paper used semi-structured interviews and attribution theory to examine how 20 black and minority ethnic and 20 white senior managers, from a UK government department made sense of significant career incidents in their leadership journeys. Template analysis was used to identify facilitators and barriers of career progression from causal explanations of these incidents. Although BME and white managers identified four common themes (visibility, networks, development, and line manager support), they differed in how they made sense of formal and informal organisational processes to achieve career progression. The findings are used to theorise about the individual and organisational factors that contribute to the leadership journeys of minority ethnic employees

Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies

Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters, provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the distorted spirals in clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.Comment: Submitted to Nature. Latex file, 7 pages, 10 photographs in gif and jpeg format included. 10 compressed postscript figures and text available using anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/pub/hpcc/moore/ (mget *) Also available at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/papers