Leveraging Social Networks to Integrate Depression Treatment into Primary Health and Tuberculosis Care in Brazil.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) and depression are highly comorbid and linked to higher rates of death and disability. Several evidence-based treatments for depression have been successfully implemented in low- and middle-income countries, but more knowledge is needed on how to bring these innovations to scale within complex 'real world' public health systems.

Objective: To explore whether the principles of social network analysis could be used to enhance receptivity to integrating depression treatment into primary care for individuals with and without TB in Brazil.

Structural measures of personal networks predict migrants' cultural backgrounds: an explanation from Grid/Group theory.

Culture and social structure are not separated analytical domains but intertwined phenomena observable in personal networks. Drawing on a personal networks dataset of migrants in the United States and Spain, we show that the country of origin, a proxy for diverse languages and cultural institutions, and religion may be predicted by specific combinations of personal network structural measures (closeness, clustering, betweenness, average degree, etc). We obtain similar results applying three different methods (a multinomial logistic regression, a Random Forest algorithm, and an artificial neural network).

Understanding social network support, composition, and structure among cancer caregivers.

Objective: We examined the social network support, composition, and structure of pediatric cancer caregivers.

Methods: We used a self-report survey to collect egocentric social network data from 107 caregivers of pediatric cancer patients and calculated descriptive statistics to examine cancer-related support network composition, function, and structure. We then ran logistic regressions to examine the relationships between network characteristics and overall satisfaction with social support.

An initial investigation of using smartphone-enabled micro-temporal data collection to increase acceptability, feasibility, and validity of research on cancer caregiving.

Purpose: Smartphone-enabled micro-temporal data collection has potential to increase reliability, validity, and feasibility of participant-reported data and is a promising strategy for pediatric oncology supportive care and quality-of-life research. Given the demands of pediatric cancer caregiving, we sought to understand the feasibility and acceptability of smartphone data collection that included short surveys administered daily for 14 days via text message link.

Methods: We recruited pediatric cancer caregivers, whose children (ages 0-18 years) were on active treatment, to complete a 14-day daily survey study via smartphone.

gom1 Mutant Mice as a Model of Otitis Media.

Otitis media (OM) disease is a common cause of hearing loss that is primarily the result of middle ear infection. At present, our understanding of the mechanisms leading to OM is limited due to the lack of animal models of OM with effusion (OME). Here, we report that the mice with genetic otitis media one (gom1) mutants are prone to OM.

Stressful social environment and financial strain drive depressive symptoms, and reveal the effects of a FKBP5 variant and male sex, in African Americans living in Tallahassee.

Objectives: The World Health Organization estimates that almost 300 million people suffer from depression worldwide. African Americans are understudied for depression-related phenotypes despite widespread racial disparities. In our study of African Americans, we integrated information on psychosocial stressors with genetic variation in order to better understand how these factors associated with depressive symptoms.

HIV Risk among trafficked women: a systematic review of the global literature.

This review examines the global literature concerning HIV/STI risk among trafficked female sex workers (FSWs), in relation to sex trafficking and drug use. The compound effects of sexual and drug-related risk merit a systematic literature review to grant a better understanding of their role in HIV/STI transmission. The current review synthesizes the results of 21 studies conducted in multiple cultural settings.

Great minds think alike, or do they often differ? Research topic overlap and the formation of scientific teams.

Over the last century scientific research has become an increasingly collaborative endeavor. Commentators have pointed to different factors which contribute to this trend, including the specialization of science and growing need for diversity of interest and expertise areas in a scientific team. Very few studies, however, have precisely evaluated how the diversity of interest topics between researchers is related to the emergence of collaboration.

ACE gene haplotypes and social networks: Using a biocultural framework to investigate blood pressure variation in African Americans.

Deaths due to hypertension in the US are highest among African Americans, who have a higher prevalence of hypertension and more severe hypertensive symptoms. Research indicates that there are both genetic and sociocultural risk factors for hypertension. Racial disparities in hypertension also likely involve genetic and sociocultural factors, but the factors may interact and manifest differently across racial groups.

Network and Individual Factors Associated with Drug Use among Female Sex Workers (FSWs) in Southern China: A Mixed-Method Approach.

Research on women who engage both in drug use and sex work has been limited, as most previous studies have focused on these risk behaviors separately. The current study examines the network properties as well as the demographic and behavioral factors associated with drug use among female sex workers (FSWs) in southern China. We collected survey data (n = 175) in the Hainan province during our 26 months of ethnographic fieldwork in China.

Androgen receptor deficiency in monocytes/macrophages does not alter adiposity or glucose homeostasis in male mice.

Androgen deprivation in men leads to increased adiposity, but the mechanisms underlying androgen regulation of fat mass have not been fully defined. Androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in monocytes/macrophages, which are resident in key metabolic tissues and influence energy metabolism in surrounding cells. Male mice bearing a cell-specific knockout of the AR in monocytes/macrophages (M-ARKO) were generated to determine whether selective loss of androgen signaling in these cells would lead to altered body composition.

Detecting and analyzing research communities in longitudinal scientific networks.

A growing body of evidence shows that collaborative teams and communities tend to produce the highest-impact scientific work. This paper proposes a new method to (1) Identify collaborative communities in longitudinal scientific networks, and (2) Evaluate the impact of specific research institutes, services or policies on the interdisciplinary collaboration between these communities. First, we apply community-detection algorithms to cross-sectional scientific collaboration networks and analyze different types of co-membership in the resulting subgroups over time.

APOBEC1 complementation factor (A1CF) is dispensable for C-to-U RNA editing in vivo.

Editing of the human and murine mRNA by APOBEC1, the catalytic enzyme of the protein complex that catalyzes C-to-U RNA editing, creates an internal stop codon within the APOB coding sequence, generating two protein isoforms. It has been long held that APOBEC1-mediated editing activity is dependent on the RNA binding protein A1CF. The function of A1CF in adult tissues has not been reported because a previously reported null allele displays embryonic lethality.

Social networks and participation with others for youth with learning, attention, and autism spectrum disorders.

Background: Social participation involves activities and roles providing interactions with others, including those within their social networks.

Purpose: This study sought to characterize social networks and participation with others for 36 youth, ages 11 to 16 years, with (n = 19) and without (n = 17) learning disability, attention disorder, or high-functioning autism.

Method: Social networks were measured using methods of personal network analysis.

Mixed-Method Exploration of Social Network Links to Participation.

The people who regularly interact with an adolescent form that youth's social network (SN), which may impact participation. We investigated the relationship of SNs to participation using personal network analysis and individual interviews. The sample included 36 youth, aged 11 to 16 years.

Herbal remedy knowledge acquisition and transmission among the Yucatec Maya in Tabi, Mexico: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Ethnobotanical knowledge continues to be important for treating illness in many rural communities, despite access to health care clinics and pharmaceuticals. However, access to health care clinics and other modern services can have an impact on the distribution of medical ethnobotanical knowledge. Many factors have been shown to be associated with distributions in this type of knowledge.

Designing a CTSA-Based Social Network Intervention to Foster Cross-Disciplinary Team Science.

This paper explores the application of network intervention strategies to the problem of assembling cross-disciplinary scientific teams in academic institutions. In a project supported by the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute, we used VIVO, a semantic-web research networking system, to extract the social network of scientific collaborations on publications and awarded grants across all UF colleges and departments. Drawing on the notion of network interventions, we designed an alteration program to add specific edges to the collaboration network, that is, to create specific collaborations between previously unconnected investigators.

Developmental cis-regulatory analysis of the cyclin D gene in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

Cyclin D genes regulate the cell cycle, growth and differentiation in response to intercellular signaling. While the promoters of vertebrate cyclin D genes have been analyzed, the cis-regulatory sequences across an entire cyclin D locus have not. Doing so would increase understanding of how cyclin D genes respond to the regulatory states established by developmental gene regulatory networks, linking cell cycle and growth control to the ontogenetic program.

Changes in personal networks of women in residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment.

Changes in personal network composition, support and structure over 12 months were examined in 377 women from residential (n=119) and intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment (n=258) through face-to-face interviews utilizing computer based data collection. Personal networks of women who entered residential treatment had more substance users, more people with whom they had used alcohol and/or drugs, and fewer people from treatment programs or self- help groups than personal networks of women who entered intensive outpatient treatment. By 12 months post treatment intake, network composition improved for women in residential treatment; however, concrete support was still lower and substance users are still more prevalent in their networks.

Evidence of emerging hookah use among university students: a cross-sectional comparison between hookah and cigarette use.

Background: The emergence of hookah is being noted on college campuses and in large U.S. cities and evidence points to an increasing trend for college students.

Cross-cultural and site-based influences on demographic, well-being, and social network predictors of risk perception in hazard and disaster settings in Ecuador and Mexico: predictors of risk perception in hazard and disaster settings in Ecuador and Mexico.

Although virtually all comparative research about risk perception focuses on which hazards are of concern to people in different culture groups, much can be gained by focusing on predictors of levels of risk perception in various countries and places. In this case, we examine standard and novel predictors of risk perception in seven sites among communities affected by a flood in Mexico (one site) and volcanic eruptions in Mexico (one site) and Ecuador (five sites). We conducted more than 450 interviews with questions about how people feel at the time (after the disaster) regarding what happened in the past, their current concerns, and their expectations for the future.

Personal social network factors associated with overdose prevention training participation.

We investigated social network factors associated with participation in overdose prevention training among injection drug users (IDUs). From 2008 to 2010, 106 IDUs who had witnessed an overdose in the past year from two syringe exchange programs in Los Angeles provided data on overdose prevention training status (trained vs. untrained), social networks, history of overdose, and demographics.

Substance Abuse Treatment Stage and Personal Networks of Women in Substance Abuse Treatment.

This study examines the relationship among 4 treatment stages (i.e., engagement, persuasion, active treatment, relapse prevention) and the composition, social support, and structural characteristics of personal networks.

Non-experts' Recognition of Structure in Personal Network Data.

Network-based interventions are gaining prominence in the treatment of chronic illnesses; however, little is known about what aspects of network structure are easily identified by non-experts when shown network visualizations. This study examines which structural features are recognizable by non-experts. Nineteen non-experts were asked to pile-sort 68 network diagrams.

Molecular characterization of an allelic series of mutations in the mouse Nox3 gene.

The inner ear consists of the cochlea (the organ of hearing) and the vestibular system (the organs of balance). Within the vestibular system, linear acceleration and gravity are detected by the saccule and utricle. Resting above the neurosensory epithelia of these organs are otoconia, minute proteinaceous and crystalline (calcite) inertial masses that shift under the physical forces imparted by linear movements and gravity.