Institutional review board perspectives on obligations to disclose genetic incidental findings to research participants.

Purpose: Researchers' obligations to disclose genetic incidental findings (GIFs) have been widely debated, but there has been little empirical study of the engagement of institutional review boards (IRBs) with this issue.

Methods: This article presents data from the first extensive (n = 796) national survey of IRB professionals' understanding of, experience with, and beliefs surrounding GIFs.

Results: Most respondents had dealt with questions about GIFs (74%), but only a minority (47%) felt prepared to address them.

Social Media and HIV: A Systematic Review of Uses of Social Media in HIV Communication.

Background: Social media, including mobile technologies and social networking sites, are being used increasingly as part of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment efforts. As an important avenue for communication about HIV, social media use may continue to increase and become more widespread.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive systematic review of the current published literature on the design, users, benefits, and limitations of using social media to communicate about HIV prevention and treatment.

Do researchers have an obligation to actively look for genetic incidental findings?

The rapid growth of next-generation genetic sequencing has prompted debate about the responsibilities of researchers toward genetic incidental findings. Assuming there is a duty to disclose significant incidental findings, might there be an obligation for researchers to actively look for these findings? We present an ethical framework for analyzing whether there is a positive duty to look for genetic incidental findings. Using the ancillary care framework as a guide, we identify three main criteria that must be present to give rise to an obligation to look: high benefit to participants, lack of alternative access for participants, and reasonable burden on researchers.

CREB downregulation in vascular disease: a common response to cardiovascular risk.

Objective: To examine the impact of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), an established mediator of atherosclerosis, on the transcription factor cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), which is a regulator of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) quiescence.

Methods And Results: VSMC CREB content is diminished in rodent models of diabetes and pulmonary hypertension. We examined aortic CREB content in rodent models of aging, hypertension, and insulin resistance, and we determined nuclear CREB protein in the medial VSMC of high-fat-fed LDL receptor-null mice.