Home-based pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services for gay and bisexual men: An opportunity to address barriers to PrEP uptake and persistence.

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. Despite the promise of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in reducing HIV transmission risk, barriers for uptake and persistence exist. We sought to identify whether GBM in a nationwide cohort who have not yet initiated PrEP (n = 906) would prefer to get PrEP-related care from a primary care provider (PCP) compared to a specialist clinic or provider.

Protocol for project IMPACT (improving millions hearts for provider and community transformation): a quasi-experimental evaluation of an integrated electronic health record and community health worker intervention study to improve hypertension management among South Asian patients.

Background: The Million Hearts® initiative aims to prevent heart disease and stroke in the United States by mobilizing public and private sectors around a core set of objectives, with particular attention on improving blood pressure control. South Asians in particular have disproportionately high rates of hypertension and face numerous cultural, linguistic, and social barriers to accessing healthcare. Interventions utilizing Health information technology (HIT) and community health worker (CHW)-led patient coaching have each been demonstrated to be effective at advancing Million Hearts® goals, yet few studies have investigated the potential impact of integrating these strategies into a clinical-community linkage initiative.

Can the introduction of a full-service supermarket in a food desert improve residents' economic status and health?

Purpose: To estimate the impacts of a new supermarket in a low-income desert, on residents' economic status and health.

Methods: We surveyed a randomly selected cohort in two low-income Pittsburgh neighborhoods before and about 1 year following the opening of a supermarket. We used difference-in-difference approach to test changes across the two neighborhoods in residents' food security, United States Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infant and Children participation, employment, income, and self-reported health/chronic disease diagnoses.

Home Health Aides' Perceptions of Quality Care: Goals, Challenges, and Implications for a Rapidly Changing Industry.

Home care payment models, quality measures, and care plans are based on physical tasks workers perform, ignoring relational care that supports clients' cognitive, emotional, and social well-being. As states seek to rein in costs and improve the efficiency and quality of care, they will need to consider how to measure and support relational care. In four focus groups ( n = 27) of unionized, agency-based New York City home health aides, workers reported aide-client relationships were a cornerstone of high-quality care, and building them required communication, respect, and going the extra mile.

The neuro-ophthalmological effects related to long-term occupational exposure to organic solvents in painters.

Purpose: Organic solvents are widely used in many industries, and usually, exposure occurs with mixtures of solvents. Organic solvent mixtures are known for their ability to affect tissues of high lipid content including the myelin sheath in the nervous system. The purpose of this work was to study the evidence that long-term (more than 10 years) exposure to organic solvent mixtures among painters can induce neuro-ophthalmological effects on the function of retinal ganglion cells and the optic tract.

Mixed-Method Evaluation of Social Media-Based Tools and Traditional Strategies to Recruit High-Risk and Hard-to-Reach Populations into an HIV Prevention Intervention Study.

Men who have sex with men and transgender women are hard-to-reach populations for research. Social media-based tools may overcome certain barriers in accessing these groups and are being tested in an ongoing study exploring HIV home-test kit use to reduce risk behavior. We analyzed pre-screening responses about how volunteers learned about the study (n = 896) and demographic data from eligible participants who came for an initial study visit (n = 216) to determine the strengths and weaknesses of recruitment strategies.

"Testing, Testing": Multiple HIV-Positive Tests among Patients Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy in Ethiopia.

Repeat HIV testing after receiving a positive result has never been studied systematically and may give insight into reasons for delayed linkage to care. Among 831 adults in 6 secondary facilities in Oromia, Ethiopia, who completed an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire within 2 weeks of initiating antiretroviral therapy in 2012 to 2013, 110 (13.2%) reported having retested after an HIV-positive result.

Age-period-cohort analysis of trends in blood pressure and body mass index in children and adolescents in Hong Kong.

Background: The declining or fluctuating trend in blood pressure (BP) despite the rising trend in body mass index (BMI) during childhood and adolescence is unexplained. We decomposed trends in BP and BMI to identify the relevance of early-life and contemporaneous factors.

Methods: We assessed the relative contribution of age, period and cohort to secular trends in BP in children and adolescents (9-18 years) from 1999 to 2014 and BMI (6-18 years) from 1996 to 2014 in Hong Kong, China.

The Mental Health Benefits of Acquiring a Home in Older Age: A Fixed-Effects Analysis of Older US Adults.

Homeownership is consistently associated with better mental health, but whether becoming a homeowner in later in life has positive psychological benefits has not, to our knowledge, been examined. We assessed whether acquiring a home after age 50 years was associated with depression in a representative sample of older US adults. We used individual fixed-effects models based on data from 20,524 respondents aged ≥50 years from the Health and Retirement Study, who were interviewed biennially during 1993-2010.

Differences in the association between persistent pathogens and mood disorders among young- to middle-aged women and men in the U.S.

Background: A growing literature supports the role of immune system alterations in the etiology of mood regulation, yet there is little population-based evidence regarding the association between persistent pathogens, inflammation and mood disorders among younger women and men in the U.S.

Methods: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III on individuals 15-39 years of age assessed for major depression, dysthymia, and/or bipolar disorder I and tested for cytomegalovirus (N=6825), herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 (N=5618) and/or Helicobacter pylori (H.

Will Gay and Bisexual Men Taking Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Switch to Long-Acting Injectable PrEP Should It Become Available?

Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective at reducing HIV transmission risk and is CDC recommended for many gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM). We sought to investigate awareness of and preference for using long-acting injectable PrEP (LAI-PrEP) among GBM currently taking oral PrEP (n = 104), and identify their concerns. About half of GBM had heard of LAI-PrEP, and 30.

Viewing Sexually Explicit Media and Its Association with Mental Health Among Gay and Bisexual Men Across the U.S.

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) have reported viewing significantly more sexually explicit media (SEM) than heterosexual men. There is evidence that viewing greater amounts of SEM may result in more negative body attitude and negative affect. However, no studies have examined these variables within the same model.

Alcohol and substance use diagnoses among HIV-positive patients receiving care in NYC clinic settings.

Background: Substance use among HIV-positive persons exacerbates health problems. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of alcohol and drug-use diagnoses and examined hypothesized predictors associated with alcohol and drug-use diagnoses among HIV-positive patients in New York City (NYC).

Methods: This cohort study reviewed electronic medical records (EMRs) of 4965 HIV-positive patients based on diagnostic codes.

Blogs as Channels for Disseminating Health Technology Innovations.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe the features of health informatics blogs on the Internet.

Methods: A search was conducted in August, 2016 using the search engine, Google, and key words: 'mobile health blog,' 'telehealth/telemedicine blog,' 'Electronic Health Record blog,' 'personalized health record blog,' 'population health decision support system blog,' and 'public/population health dashboard blog.' The first 24 blogs resulting from each key word search were recorded, generating 144 blogs.

HIV testing preferences among long distance truck drivers in Kenya: a discrete choice experiment.

Providing HIV testing services to truck drivers in Africa is crucial but has proven challenging. The introduction of HIV self-testing promises to provide expanded service delivery options for clients, potentially increasing demand for services and expanding coverage - especially important for high-risk and difficult-to-reach populations. This study examines the preferences regarding HIV testing service delivery models, among long distance truck drivers to identify testing services that would appeal to this population.

Offering self-administered oral HIV testing to truck drivers in Kenya to increase testing: a randomized controlled trial.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial among 305 truck drivers from two North Star Alliance roadside wellness clinics in Kenya to see if offering HIV testing choices would increase HIV testing uptake. Participants were randomized to be offered (1) a provider-administered rapid blood (finger-prick) HIV test (i.e.

Mediating Effects of Social Support and Internalized Homonegativity on the Association Between Population Density and Mental Health Among Gay and Bisexual Men.

Purpose: Depression negatively impacts the health and well-being of gay and bisexual men (GBM). However, little is known about the contexts in which rural GBM live relative to those living in urban areas and their overall mental health. The aim of this study was to examine associations between population density and depressive symptoms and the role of internalized homonegativity and social support as potential mediators.

Process Evaluation of a Peer-Driven, HIV Stigma Reduction and HIV Testing Intervention in Latino and African American Churches.

Faith-based organizations may be effective in addressing HIV-related disparities, but few interventions have been implemented across diverse churches. The Facilitating Awareness to Increase Testing for HIV (FAITH) intervention harnessed peer leadership to decrease HIV stigma and promote HIV testing in African American and Latino congregations. A pilot study found more consistent effects among Latino congregations.

Professional quality of life of adult protective service workers.

Adult Protective Services (APS) workers are exposed to substantial occupational hazards and job stress, but these stressors are underdocumented. Therefore, we sought to describe APS workers' work environments and responses to occupational hazards and stressors, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Survey data were gathered with closed-ended questionnaires administered to APS workers in an urban setting.

Should I Convince My Partner to Go on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)? The Role of Personal and Relationship Factors on PrEP-Related Social Control among Gay and Bisexual Men.

An estimated 35-68% of new HIV infections among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) are transmitted through main partnerships. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective in reducing HIV seroconversion, yet PrEP uptake has been modest. PrEP-naïve GBM with HIV-negative, PrEP-naïve main partners enrolled in One Thousand Strong (n = 409), a U.

Peer Victimization and Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors-the Role of Intersecting Identities among New York City Youth.

We investigated the intersection of sexual minority, gender, and Hispanic identities, and their interaction with peer victimization in predicting unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCB) among New York City (NYC) youths. Using logistic regression with data from the 2011 NYC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, we examined the association of sexual identity, gender, ethnicity, and peer victimization (dating violence, bullying at school, electronic bullying) in predicting UWCB. Sexual minority youths, dating violence victims, and youths bullied at school had 1.

Offering Self-administered Oral HIV Testing as a Choice to Truck Drivers in Kenya: Predictors of Uptake and Need for Guidance While Self-testing.

We assessed predictors of choosing self-administered oral HIV testing in the clinic with supervision versus the standard provider-administered blood test when offered the choice among 149 Kenyan truck drivers, described the types of guidance participants needed during self-testing and predictors of needing guidance. Overall, 56.38% of participants chose the self-test, 23.