HIV risk reduction interventions in populations with serious mental illness: a critical review of the "second generation"

There is a disparity between the HIV prevalence in the seriously mentally ill (SMI) population (8%) as compared to the general population (0.6%) in the United States. In order to identify interventions for HIV prevention for people with SMI, a literature search was conducted in PubMed and PsychInfo. For PubMed, the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms were used: HIV Infections, Prevention and control, and Mental Disorders. For PsychInfo the following terms were used in the search: Mental Disorders and HIV. Sixteen independent studies were found after being subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The most notable finding of this study was that effective gender-specific interventions have been designed and implemented in SMI populations. Also HIV prevention interventions have demonstrated changes in attitudes and HIV related risk behaviors in this population. However analysis by some of the studies revealed that the intervention outcomes can be impacted by individual differences (i.e. race, psychiatric diagnosis, and reported substance use). The issue of exploring subpopulations among people with SMI is the next suggested step in combatting this issue. This essay is of public health significance because it explores the issue of reducing HIV related risk behaviors in people with mental illness in order to reduce their chance of contracting this deadly virus

It's not what you do it's the way that it's measured: quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies:Quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies

Background: Effective management of minor ailments in community pharmacies could reduce the burden on alternative high-cost services (general practices, Emergency Departments). Evidence is needed regarding the appropriateness of management of these conditions in community pharmacies. Objective: To explore the appropriateness of minor ailment management in community pharmacies. Setting: Prospective, observational study of simulated patient (SP) visits to community pharmacies in Grampian (Scotland) and East Anglia (England). Method: Eighteen pharmacies (nine per centre) were recruited within a 25-mile radius of Aberdeen or Norwich. Consultations for four minor ailments were evaluated: back pain; vomiting/diarrhoea; sore throat; and eye discomfort. Each pharmacy received one SP visit per ailment (four visits/pharmacy; 72 visits total). Visits were audio-recorded and SPs completed a data collection form immediately after each visit. Primary Outcome Measure: Each SP consultation was assessed for appropriateness against product licence, practice guidelines and study-specific consensus standards developed by a multi-disciplinary consensus panel. Results: Evaluable data were available for 68/72 (94.4%) visits. Most (96%) visits resulted in the sale of a product; advice alone was the outcome of three visits. All product sales complied with the product licence, 52 (76%) visits complied with practice guidelines and seven visits achieved a ‘basic’ standard according to the consensus standard. Conclusion: Appropriateness of care varied according to the standard used. Pharmacy-specific quality standards are needed which are realistic and relevant to the pharmacy context and which reflect legal and clinical guidelines to promote the safe and effective management of minor ailments in this setting

Development of a Village-Scale, Solar-Powered Reverse Osmosis System

This paper details the development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis water desalination system for a groundwater well in Bercy, Haiti. The well was constructed to provide potable drinking and agricultural water for the 300-person community. However, its water has a salinity level of 5,290 ppm, rendering it harmful for both human consumption and soil fertility. This reverse osmosis system is designed to be low-cost and operational off-grid while providing 900 gallons per day of desalinated water for the community. The system is composed of a photovoltaic power system, a submersible solar pump, and three reverse osmosis membranes. The system is designed to have a material cost significantly below that of any commercially-available system of similar scale. Furthermore, it has an average water production cost of $1.21/m3 and an average specific energy of 1.2 kWh/m3. Its performance was tested in the laboratory by connecting the desalination module to a DC power supply, demonstrating good agreement with its modeled performance. The installation of the full system with the PV module will take place on-site in the summer of 2016. Following implementation, the system will be monitored and compared against predicted performance. The first attempt is meant to serve as a verification and validation of the system as a whole. However, successful operation within the given cost target could pave the way for wider use of off-grid reverse osmosis systems at many remote locations with limited freshwater access around the world.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tata Center for Technology and Desig

W::Neo: A Novel Dual-Selection Marker for High Efficiency Gene Targeting in Drosophila

We have recently developed a so-called genomic engineering approach that allows for directed, efficient and versatile modifications of Drosophila genome by combining the homologous recombination (HR)-based gene targeting with site-specific DNA integration. In genomic engineering and several similar approaches, a “founder” knock-out line must be generated first through HR-based gene targeting, which can still be a potentially time and resource intensive process. To significantly improve the efficiency and success rate of HR-based gene targeting in Drosophila, we have generated a new dual-selection marker termed W::Neo, which is a direct fusion between proteins of eye color marker White (W) and neomycin resistance (Neo). In HR-based gene targeting experiments, mutants carrying W::Neo as the selection marker can be enriched as much as fifty times by taking advantage of the antibiotic selection in Drosophila larvae. We have successfully carried out three independent gene targeting experiments using the W::Neo to generate genomic engineering founder knock-out lines in Drosophila

Invasive Plants in U. S. National Wildlife Refuges: A Coordinated Research Project Using Undergraduate Ecology Students

Answering large-scale questions in ecology can involve time-consuming data compilation. We show how networks of undergraduate classes can make these projects more manageable and provide an authentic research experience for students. With this approach, we examined the factors associated with plant species richness in US national wildlife refuges. We found that the richness of harmful invasive plants and the richness of native plants were positively correlated in mainland refuges but negatively correlated in island refuges. Nonnative richness and invasive richness were also positively correlated with colonization pressure as indicated by nonnative richness around each refuge. Associations between refuge characteristics and invasive plants varied substantially among regions, with refuge area and habitat diversity important predictors of invasion in some regions but not in others. Our results serve to identify the refuges that are most susceptible to plant invasion and demonstrate the potential value of a new model for education and research integration

Using human induced pluripotent stem cells to investigate neurodevelopmental effects of human cytomegalovirus

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of the leading prenatal causes of mental retardation and congenital deformities, world-wide. Its pathogenesis has generally been investigated using animal models. Human studies in vitro have been limited to neurospheres prepared using forebrain tissues from fetal abortuses. This approach is limited and does not permit analysis of individual specific cells. We generated iPS cells from adult human fibroblasts. iPS cells were differentiated into neurospheres, that were expanded as monolayer culture of neuroprogenitors (NPs). Furthermore, neurospheres were differentiated into neurons that could be stained for Tuj1, tyrosine hydroxylase and NR4A2. Functional competency was confirmed by live imaging of intracellular calcium. NPs and neurons were infected with HCMV (MOI = 3). Cell viability was assessed by FACS analysis. Cytopathic effects of HCMV were observed on the 10th day post infection in neuroprogenitor cells. Earlier, the adherence of these cells to the matrix was reduced. Neurons were much more refractory. Reduced cell density and shortening of neuritic processes was only observed at day 15 after infection. We are presently examining the intracellular effects of HCMV. Human iPS cells can efficiently generate neurospheres, which can be expanded as almost pure cultures of neuroprogenitors or differentiated into neurons. iPS cells-derived NP and neurons offer powerful cellular models to investigate the effect of neurotropic viral agents on neurodevelopment

Concurrent Oral 1 - Rheumatoid Arthritis: Treatment [OP4-OP9]: OP4. Inhibition of Radiographic Progression and Improvements in Physical Function at 2 Years, with Increasing Clinical Efficacy Over Time, in Rheumatoid Arthritis (Ra) Patients Treated with Tocilizumab (Tcz): The Lithe Study

Background: Patients with moderate to severe RA who remained on methotrexate (MTX) despite inadequate response were treated with TCZ in a double-blind, randomized, controlled phase 3 trial. Results of a 2-year planned analysis from this study are presented. Methods: Patients were randomized to treatment with TCZ 4 mg/kg + MTX (TCZ4), TCZ 8 mg/kg + MTX (TCZ8) or placebo + MTX (CON) every 4 weeks. If patients failed to respond ( 60% of patients and the DAS28 remission (DAS28 < 2.6) rate was 48% at week 52 and continued to increase to week 104. By week 52, patients treated with TCZ8 had clinically significant improvements in SJC that were maintained through week 104. Rates per 100 PY for adverse events (AEs) were higher in TCZ8 and TCZ4 (263.6, 275.4) vs CON patients (251.4) while rates for serious AEs were comparable (11.4, 12.1, 10.9, respectively). Rates per 100 PY of AEs leading to withdrawal (7.4, 32.5, 4.8) and treatment modification (8.4, 30.7, 20.4) were higher in TCZ8 and TCZ4 vs CON patients, respectively and death rates were comparable (0.6, 0.2, 0.4). Conclusions: Treatment with TCZ + MTX inhibits radiographic progression over 2 years and improves physical function as shown by DAS28 remission, LDAS and low SJC, with a manageable safety profile. Disclosure statement: E.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Employee. P.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Employee. R.B.-V., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Honoraria. R.F., Genentech - Research Funding, Honoraria. J.K., F. Hoffmann-La Roche - Research funding, Honorari

The Inclusiveness and Emptiness of <i>Gong Qi</i>: A Non-Anglophone Perspective on Ethics from a Sino-Japanese Corporation

This article introduces a non-Anglophone concept of gong qi(communal vessel, 公器) as a metaphor for ‘corporation’. It contributes an endogenous perspective from a Sino-Japanese organizational context that enriches mainstream business ethics literature, otherwise heavily reliant on Western traditions. We translate the multi-layered meanings of gong qi based on analysis of its ideograms, its references into classical philosophies, and contemporary application in this Japanese multinational corporation in China. Gong qi contributes a perspective that sees a corporation as an inclusive and virtuous social entity, and also addresses the elusive, implicit, and forever evolving nature of organizational life that is rarely noticed. We propose gong qi can be applied in other organizations and wider cultural contexts to show a new way of seeing and understanding business ethics and organization. Rather than considering virtue as a list of definable individual qualities, we suggest that the metaphor of gong qi reveals how virtue can be experienced as indeterminate, yet immanently present, like the substance of emptiness. This, then allows us to see the virtue of immanence, the beauty of implicitness, and hence, the efficacy of gong qi

Sounding Situated Knowledges - Echo in Archaeoacoustics

This article proposes that feminist epistemologies via Donna Haraway's “Situated Knowledges” can be productively brought to bear upon theories of sonic knowledge production, as “sounding situated knowledges.” Sounding situated knowledges re-reads debates around the “nature of sound” with a Harawayan notion of the “natureculture of sound.” This aims to disrupt a traditional subject-object relation which I argue has perpetuated a pervasive “sonic naturalism” in sound studies. The emerging field of archaeoacoustics (acoustic archaeology), which examines the role of sound in human behaviour in archaeology, is theorized as an opening with potentially profound consequences for sonic knowledge production which are not currently being realized. The echo is conceived as a material-semiotic articulation, which akin to Haraway's infamous cyborg, serves as a feminist figuration which enables this renegotiation. Archaeoacoustics research, read following Haraway both reflectively and diffractively, is understood as a critical juncture for sound studies which exposes the necessity of both embodiedness and situatedness for sonic knowledge production. Given the potential opened up by archaeoacoustics through the figure of echo, a critical renegotiation of the subject-object relation in sound studies is suggested as central in further developing theories of sonic knowledge production

Positive Affect Predicts Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Late Middle-aged Adults.

Positive affect is associated with a number of health benefits; however, few studies have examined the relationship between positive affect and cerebral glucose metabolism, a key energy source for neuronal function and a possible index of brain health. We sought to determine if positive affect was associated with cerebral glucose metabolism in late middle-aged adults (n = 133). Participants completed the positive affect subscale of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale at two time points over a two-year period and underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography scanning. After controlling for age, sex, perceived health status, depressive symptoms, anti-depressant use, family history of Alzheimer’s disease, APOE ε4 status and interval between visits, positive affect was associated with greater cerebral glucose metabolism across para-/limbic, frontal, temporal and parietal regions. Our findings provide evidence that positive affect in late midlife is associated with greater brain health in regions involved in affective processing and also known to be susceptible to early neuropathological processes. The current findings may have implications for interventions aimed at increasing positive affect to attenuate early neuropathological changes in at-risk individuals