Sexual behaviours and sexually transmitted infection outcomes in a cohort of HIV-negative men who have sex with men attending sexual health clinics in England.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) attending sexual health (SH) clinics are at high risk for HIV acquisition and are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We collected standardised behavioural data from MSM attending clinics to characterise sexual behaviours and identify predictors for HIV and STIs. In 2012–2013, HIV-negative MSM attending five SH clinics in England reported sexual behaviours in the previous three months via a self-administered questionnaire. Behaviours were linked to the individual’s clinical records using national surveillance. The prevalence and incidence of bacterial STIs (gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum and syphilis) and incidence of HIV were calculated. Adjusted odds ratios and hazard ratios with 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported for significant predictors. Of 1278 HIV-negative MSM, 54% were of white ethnicity and UK-born and 43% were 25–34 years old. Almost all men reported at least one partner in the last three months. Half reported condomless anal sex and 36% condomless receptive anal intercourse (CRAI). Incidence of bacterial STIs was 46/100 (95%CI 39–54) person years (py) and of HIV was 3.1/100 (95%CI 1.7–5.6) py. A STI at baseline and CRAI with increasing numbers of partners were associated with both incident infections. In this cohort of MSM high-risk behaviours and STIs were prevalent. Engagement in CRAI increased the likelihood of subsequent infection, while men diagnosed with a bacterial STI were at increased risk of a future STI. Clinical and behavioural risk assessments to determine an individual’s risk of infection could allow a more nuanced prevention approach that has greater success in reducing transmission

Sexual behaviours and sexually transmitted infection outcomes in a cohort of HIV-negative men who have sex with men attending sexual health clinics in England

Men who have sex with men (MSM) attending sexual health (SH) clinics are at high risk for HIV acquisition and are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We collected standardised behavioural data from MSM attending clinics to characterise sexual behaviours and identify predictors for HIV and STIs. In 2012-2013, HIV-negative MSM attending five SH clinics in England reported sexual behaviours in the previous three months via a self-administered questionnaire. Behaviours were linked to the individual's clinical records using national surveillance. The prevalence and incidence of bacterial STIs (gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum and syphilis) and incidence of HIV were calculated. Adjusted odds ratios and hazard ratios with 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported for significant predictors. Of 1278 HIV-negative MSM, 54% were of white ethnicity and UK-born and 43% were 25-34 years old. Almost all men reported at least one partner in the last three months. Half reported condomless anal sex and 36% condomless receptive anal intercourse (CRAI). Incidence of bacterial STIs was 46/100 (95%CI 39-54) person years (py) and of HIV was 3.1/100 (95%CI 1.7-5.6) py. A STI at baseline and CRAI with increasing numbers of partners were associated with both incident infections. In this cohort of MSM high-risk behaviours and STIs were prevalent. Engagement in CRAI increased the likelihood of subsequent infection, while men diagnosed with a bacterial STI were at increased risk of a future STI. Clinical and behavioural risk assessments to determine an individual's risk of infection could allow a more nuanced prevention approach that has greater success in reducing transmission

Identifying regions that carry the best information about global facial configurations

Regions of the face are not equally important in conveying information about configural change. The bubbles spatial occlusion technique has proved to be a good method for revealing which areas carry diagnostic facial information for different perceptual categorization tasks. We have applied it here within a performance-driven mimicry system implemented using a computer-generated model of the face designed to automatically retarget the behavior of one face onto another face. Our bubbles technique, mapping an occluded face into a PCA model of the same face, revealed the areas around and including the mouth and eyebrows as the most important for facial image reconstruction. These regions overlapped with but interestingly were not identical to areas of maximum pixel-value variance. Here we show a system that is indifferent to stimulus content and uses the correlation between vectors in face space as a criterion, rather than just pixel-value correlation, identifies the eyebrows and mouth as important regions. This implies that the importance of the eyebrows and the mouth in dynamic face perception may depend not on the information content of the features per se but on the degree to which these regions of the face provide information about the global form of the face

Equal opportunities A guide to good practice

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:q96/15478 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Making a start A resource pack for voluntary organisations and community groups

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:99/39494 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo