The role of low-cost robots in the future of spaceflight.

Lessons from the CubeSat and Mars Exploration programs may guide the infusion of robotics for planetary science and exploration.

Efficacy of a combined anti-seizure treatment against cholinergic established status epilepticus following a sarin nerve agent insult in rats.

The development of refractory status epilepticus (SE) following sarin intoxication presents a therapeutic challenge. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of delayed combined double or triple treatment in reducing abnormal epileptiform seizure activity (ESA) and the ensuing long-term neuronal insult. SE was induced in rats by exposure to 1.

The Reproducibility Movement in Psychology: Does Researcher Gender Affect How People Perceive Scientists With a Failed Replication?

The reproducibility movement in psychology has resulted in numerous highly publicized instances of replication failures. The goal of the present work was to investigate people's reactions to a psychology replication failure vs. success, and to test whether a failure elicits harsher reactions when the researcher is a woman vs.

Branching Vine Robots for Unmapped Environments.

While exploring complex unmapped spaces is a persistent challenge for robots, plants are able to reliably accomplish this task. In this work we develop branching robots that deploy through an eversion process that mimics key features of plant growth (i.e.

Exposure to violence and its relationship to mental health among young people in Palestine.

Background: Exposure to violence is a significant risk factor for the development of psychopathology in young people. Research on the mental health consequences of violence exposure in youth has focused mostly on post-traumatic stress disorder, however, the association with depression and anxiety has also been established. As a result of the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, young Palestinians are vulnerable to exposure to various types of violence.

The beauty myth: Prescriptive beauty norms for women reflect hierarchy-enhancing motivations leading to discriminatory employment practices.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported online in on Sep 5 2019 (see record 2019-53417-001). In the article, the first sentence was not set as an epigraph on the first page of the article due to a printer error. All versions of this article have been corrected.

The individual and household impacts of cataract surgery on older blind adults in ethiopia.

Purpose: To comprehensively measure the impacts of cataract surgery on patients' activities and mental and physical health, caregivers' well-being, and household incomes in a resource-poor setting Methods: One thousand two hundred thirty-four bilaterally blind older adults in Amhara region, Ethiopia, were interviewed at baseline and 1030 (83%) re-interviewed at follow-up 1 year later. Six hundred ninety three (45%) at baseline were diagnosed with cataracts and offered free surgery, of which 484 (73%) were operated. Difference-in-difference was used to estimate impacts of surgery, using surgery-ineligible, mostly non-cataract blind as controls.

Perceived peer norms, health risk behaviors, and clustering of risk behaviors among Palestinian youth.

Relatively little is known about patterns of health risk behaviors among Middle Eastern youth, including how these behaviors are related to perceived peer norms. In a sample of approximately 2,500 15-24 year old Palestinian youth, perceived engagement of general peers in alcohol consumption, drug use and sexual activity was substantially greater than youths' own (self-reported) engagement in these activities, suggesting a tendency to overestimate the prevalence of risk-taking behavior among peers. Individual participation in a risk behavior strongly covaries with the perceived levels of both friends' and peers' engagement in that behavior (p = 0.

Health risk behaviours of Palestinian youth: findings from a representative survey.

Background: There is little systematic information about health risk behaviours among youth in Middle Eastern countries, leaving public health authorities unprepared to deal with emerging public health threats at a time of major social change.

Aim: The Palestinian Youth Health Risk study investigates patterns of risk behaviours among Palestinian youth, their perceptions of the risks and benefits of such behaviours, and the relationship of exposure to violence with mental health and engagement in risk behaviours.

Methods: We conducted a representative survey among 2500 individuals aged 15-24 years in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, permitting reliable comparison across sex and rural-urban divisions.

Active Presurgical Infant Orthopedics for Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: Intercenter Outcome Comparison of Latham, Modified McNeil, and Nasoalveolar Molding.

Objective: To compare dental arch relationship, craniofacial form, and nasolabial aesthetic outcomes among cleft centers using distinct methods of presurgical infant orthopedics (PSIO).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Four cleft centers in North America.

Going to scale: design and implementation challenges of a program to increase access to skilled birth attendants in Nigeria.

Background: The lack of availability of skilled providers in low- and middle- income countries is considered to be an important barrier to achieving reductions in maternal and child mortality. However, there is limited research on programs increasing the availability of skilled birth attendants in developing countries. We study the implementation of the Nigeria Midwives Service Scheme, a government program that recruited and deployed nearly 2,500 midwives to rural primary health care facilities across Nigeria in 2010.

Effects of Depression Alleviation on Work Productivity and Income Among HIV Patients in Uganda.

Purpose: Depression is common among people living with HIV, and it is associated with impaired work functioning. However, little research has examined whether depression alleviation improves work-related outcomes in this population, which is the focus of this analysis.

Method: A sample of 1028 depressed HIV clients in Uganda enrolled in a comparative trial of depression care models and were surveyed over 12 months.

The effect of increasing the supply of skilled health providers on pregnancy and birth outcomes: evidence from the midwives service scheme in Nigeria.

Background: Limited availability of skilled health providers in developing countries is thought to be an important barrier to achieving maternal and child health-related MDG goals. Little is known, however, about the extent to which scaling-up supply of health providers will lead to improved pregnancy and birth outcomes. We study the effects of the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS), a public sector program in Nigeria that increased the supply of skilled midwives in rural communities on pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Persistent barriers to care; a qualitative study to understand women's experiences in areas served by the midwives service scheme in Nigeria.

Background: The Nigerian Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) is an ambitious human resources project created in 2009 to address supply side barriers to accessing care. Key features include the recruitment and deployment of newly qualified, unemployed and retired midwives to rural primary healthcare centres (PHCs) to ensure improved access to skilled care. This study aimed to understand, from multiple perspectives, the views and experiences of childbearing women living in areas where it has been implemented.

Substance use among Palestinian youth in the West Bank, Palestine: a qualitative investigation.

Background: Youth health risk behaviors, including substance use (psychoactive substances including alcohol and illicit drugs), have been the subject of relatively limited study to date in Middle Eastern countries. This study provides insights into the perceived prevalence and patterns of alcohol and drug use among Palestinian youth.

Methods: The study was based on ten focus groups and 17 individual interviews with youth aged 16-24 years (n = 83), collected as part of the formative phase of a cross-sectional, population representative study of risk taking behaviors among Palestinian youth in the West Bank in 2012.

Effects of Depression Alleviation on ART Adherence and HIV Clinic Attendance in Uganda, and the Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Motivation.

With depression known to impede HIV care adherence and retention, we examined whether depression alleviation improves these disease management behaviors. A sample of 1028 depressed HIV clients in Uganda enrolled in a cluster randomized controlled trial of two depression care models, and were surveyed over 12 months. Serial regression analyses examined whether depression alleviation was associated with self-reported antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and clinic attendance at month 12, and whether these relationships were mediated by self-efficacy and motivation.

Blindness, cataract surgery and mortality in Ethiopia.

Purpose: To examine the relationships between blindness, the intervention of cataract surgery and all-cause mortality in a rural Ethiopian population.

Design: Population-based, interventional prospective study.

Methods: Community-based detection methods identified blind Ethiopian persons from two selected kebeles in Amhara region, Ethiopia.

A Structured Protocol Model of Depression Care versus Clinical Acumen: A Cluster Randomized Trial of the Effects on Depression Screening, Diagnostic Evaluation, and Treatment Uptake in Ugandan HIV Clinics.

Unlabelled: Depression is common among people living with HIV, and it has consequences for both HIV prevention and treatment response, yet depression treatment is rarely integrated into HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa, partly due to the paucity of mental health professionals. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial of two task-shifting models to facilitating depression care delivered by medical providers: one that utilized a structured protocol, and one that relied on clinical acumen, in 10 HIV clinics in Uganda. Both models started with routine depression screening of all clients at triage using the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), from which we enrolled 1252 clients (640 at structured protocol clinics, 612 at clinical acumen clinics) who had screened positive over 12 months.

A cluster randomized controlled trial of two task-shifting depression care models on depression alleviation and antidepressant response among HIV clients in Uganda.

Background: depression is common among people living with HIV, but rarely diagnosed and treated in sub-Saharan Africa, in part due to the paucity of mental health professionals. Task-shifting approaches have been used to address this barrier. We compared the effects of two task-shifting models of depression care on depression alleviation and antidepressant response.

Men as cultural ideals: Cultural values moderate gender stereotype content.

Four studies tested whether cultural values moderate the content of gender stereotypes, such that male stereotypes more closely align with core cultural values (specifically, individualism vs. collectivism) than do female stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, using different measures, Americans rated men as less collectivistic than women, whereas Koreans rated men as more collectivistic than women.

Schooling, marriage, and age at first birth in Madagascar.

The low school attainment, early marriage, and low age at first birth of females are major policy concerns in less developed countries. This study jointly estimated the determinants of educational attainment, marriage age, and age at first birth among females aged 12-25 in Madagascar, explicitly accounting for the endogeneities that arose from modelling these related outcomes simultaneously. An additional year of schooling results in a delay to marriage of 1.

Perceptions of sexual risk behavior among Palestinian youth in the West Bank: a qualitative investigation.

Background: Young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are profoundly affected by violence, high unemployment, and economic hardship. Experiences of community-level violence and personal trauma increase the likelihood that young people will engage in risky behaviors that include smoking, drug use, and unsafe sex. Little is known about the sexual behavior of young people in the region, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

INtegration of DEPression Treatment into HIV Care in Uganda (INDEPTH-Uganda): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Despite 10 to% of persons living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa having clinical depression, and the consequences of depression for key public health outcomes (HIV treatment adherence and condom use), depression treatment is rarely integrated into HIV care programs. Task-shifting, protocolized approaches to depression care have been used to overcome severe shortages of mental health specialists in developing countries, but not in sub-Saharan Africa and not with HIV clients. The aims of this trial are to evaluate the implementation outcomes and cost-effectiveness of a task-shifting, protocolized model of antidepressant care for HIV clinics in Uganda.