scholarly journals Digital epidemiologic research on multilevel risks for HIV acquisition and other health outcomes among transgender women in Eastern and Southern United States: A protocol for an online cohort (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Erin E Cooney ◽  
Megan Stevenson ◽  
Asa Radix ◽  
Tonia Poteat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Epidemiologic Research ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Hiv Acquisition ◽  
A Site

BACKGROUND The HIV epidemic disproportionately impacts transgender women in the United States. Cohort studies identify unique risks for affected populations, but use of facility-based methods may bias findings towards individuals living in research catchment areas, more engaged in health services, and/or, in the case of transgender populations, those who are open about their transgender identity. Digital clinical trials and other online research methods are increasingly common, providing opportunity to reach those not commonly engaged in research. Simultaneously, there is a need to understand potential biases associated with digital research, how these methods perform and whether they are accepted across populations. OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess the feasibility of developing and implementing an online cohort of transgender women to assess risks for HIV acquisition and other health experiences and to evaluate how an online cohort compares to a site-based, technology enhanced cohort for epidemiologic research. The overarching goal is to estimate incidence of HIV and other health outcomes among transgender women in eastern and southern United States. METHODS This sub-study is part of a larger multisite prospective cohort (LITE) conducted among transgender women, which also includes a site-based cohort of six eastern and southern US cities. The online cohort was launched to enroll and follow participants across 72 cities with similar demographic characteristics in the same regions as the site-based cohorts. Participants are followed for 24 months. Adult transgender women are recruited via convenience sampling (e.g., peer referrals, social media, and dating apps). Participants reporting negative or unknown HIV status are enrolled in a baseline study visit, complete a socio-behavioral survey, and provide oral fluid specimens to test for HIV. Participants not living with HIV (lab-confirmed) at baseline are offered enrollment into the cohort; follow-up assessments occur every six months. RESULTS Enrollment into the online cohort launched in January 2019. Active recruitment stopped in May 2019 and enrollment officially closed in August 2020. A total of 580 participants enrolled into and are followed in the cohort. A recruitment-enrollment cascade was observed across screening, consent, and completion of study activities. Implementation experiences with HIV test kits highlight the need for heavy staff engagement to support participant engagement, visit completion, and retention, even with automated digital procedures. CONCLUSIONS This study is responsive to increasing research interest in online cohort research, particularly for populations who are most affected by the HIV epidemic and for those who may otherwise not participate in-person. The progression across stages of the recruitment-enrollment cascade provides useful insight for implementation of cohort studies in the online environment.

scholarly journals American Cohort to Study HIV Acquisition Among Transgender Women in High-Risk Areas (The LITE Study): Protocol for a Multisite Prospective Cohort Study in the Eastern and Southern United States (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Tonia Poteat ◽  
Asa Radix ◽  
Keri N Althoff ◽  
Christopher M Cannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Prospective Cohort ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Community Advisory Board ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Hiv Acquisition ◽  
Living With Hiv

BACKGROUND In the United States, transgender women (TW) are disproportionately burdened by HIV infection. Cohort studies are needed to evaluate factors driving HIV acquisition among TW over time. These will require implementation strategies that are acceptable to the TW community and feasible to implement. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate the rate and correlates of HIV acquisition and other health outcomes among TW in eastern and southern United States. METHODS LITE is a multisite prospective cohort in 6 eastern and southern US cities, which will be followed across 24 months of technology-enhanced biobehavioral follow-up. Adult TW, regardless of HIV status, are recruited via convenience sampling (eg, peer referrals, social media, and dating apps). Participants are enrolled in a baseline study visit, complete a sociobehavioral survey, and test for HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Participants who are not living with HIV at baseline are offered enrollment into the cohort (N=1100); follow-up assessments occur quarterly. RESULTS Cohort assembly was informed by synchronous Web-based focus group discussions with TW (n=41) and by continuing engagement with community advisory board members from each site. Enrollment launched in March 2018. The study is underway in the Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Miami; New York City; and Washington, DC, metro areas. As of March 2019, 795 TW completed a baseline visit (mean age 35 years). The majority of the participants are racial/ethnic minorities, with 45% of the TW identifying as black and 28% of the TW identifying as Hispanic/Latinx. More than one-quarter (28%) of the TW are living with HIV infection (laboratory-confirmed). Online recruitment methods support engagement with TW, although peer referral and referral through trusted health facilities and organizations remain most effective. CONCLUSIONS This study is responsive to increasing research interest in technology-enhanced methods for cohort research, particularly for hard-to-reach populations. Importantly, the diversity of literacy, technology use, and overall socioeconomic situations in this sample of TW highlights the need to leverage technology to permit a flexible, adaptive methodology that enhances engagement of potential participants living in marginalized contexts while still ensuring rigorous and sound study design.

scholarly journals American Cohort to Study HIV Acquisition Among Transgender Women in High-Risk Areas (The LITE Study): Protocol for a Multisite Prospective Cohort Study in the Eastern and Southern United States

10.2196/14704 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. e14704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Tonia Poteat ◽  
Asa Radix ◽  
Keri N Althoff ◽  
Christopher M Cannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Prospective Cohort ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Community Advisory Board ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Hiv Acquisition ◽  
Living With Hiv

Background In the United States, transgender women (TW) are disproportionately burdened by HIV infection. Cohort studies are needed to evaluate factors driving HIV acquisition among TW over time. These will require implementation strategies that are acceptable to the TW community and feasible to implement. Objective This study aims to investigate the rate and correlates of HIV acquisition and other health outcomes among TW in eastern and southern United States. Methods LITE is a multisite prospective cohort in 6 eastern and southern US cities, which will be followed across 24 months of technology-enhanced biobehavioral follow-up. Adult TW, regardless of HIV status, are recruited via convenience sampling (eg, peer referrals, social media, and dating apps). Participants are enrolled in a baseline study visit, complete a sociobehavioral survey, and test for HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Participants who are not living with HIV at baseline are offered enrollment into the cohort (N=1100); follow-up assessments occur quarterly. Results Cohort assembly was informed by synchronous Web-based focus group discussions with TW (n=41) and by continuing engagement with community advisory board members from each site. Enrollment launched in March 2018. The study is underway in the Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Miami; New York City; and Washington, DC, metro areas. As of March 2019, 795 TW completed a baseline visit (mean age 35 years). The majority of the participants are racial/ethnic minorities, with 45% of the TW identifying as black and 28% of the TW identifying as Hispanic/Latinx. More than one-quarter (28%) of the TW are living with HIV infection (laboratory-confirmed). Online recruitment methods support engagement with TW, although peer referral and referral through trusted health facilities and organizations remain most effective. Conclusions This study is responsive to increasing research interest in technology-enhanced methods for cohort research, particularly for hard-to-reach populations. Importantly, the diversity of literacy, technology use, and overall socioeconomic situations in this sample of TW highlights the need to leverage technology to permit a flexible, adaptive methodology that enhances engagement of potential participants living in marginalized contexts while still ensuring rigorous and sound study design. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/14704

Health Outcomes and Health Care Utilization Among Obstetric Deliveries With Concurrent CKD in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L. Oliverio ◽  
Lindsay K. Admon ◽  
Laura H. Mariani ◽  
Tyler N.A. Winkelman ◽  
Vanessa K. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Utilization ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Utilization

scholarly journals Challenges in evaluating the use of viral sequence data to identify HIV transmission networks for public health

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami Kantor ◽  
John P. Fulton ◽  
Jon Steingrimsson ◽  
Vladimir Novitsky ◽  
Mark Howison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Viral Sequence ◽  
Transmission Networks ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
The World

AbstractGreat efforts are devoted to end the HIV epidemic as it continues to have profound public health consequences in the United States and throughout the world, and new interventions and strategies are continuously needed. The use of HIV sequence data to infer transmission networks holds much promise to direct public heath interventions where they are most needed. As these new methods are being implemented, evaluating their benefits is essential. In this paper, we recognize challenges associated with such evaluation, and make the case that overcoming these challenges is key to the use of HIV sequence data in routine public health actions to disrupt HIV transmission networks.

scholarly journals Italianness in the United States between migrants’ informal gardening practices and agricultural diplomacy (1880–1912)

Modern Italy ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Gilberto Mazzoli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Food Production ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Political Radicalism

During the Age of Mass Migration more than four million Italians reached the United States. The experience of Italians in US cities has been widely explored: however, the study of how migrants adjusted in relation to nature and food production is a relatively recent concern. Due to a mixture of racism and fear of political radicalism, Italians were deemed to be undesirable immigrants in East Coast cities and American authorities had long perceived Italian immigrants as unclean, unhealthy and carriers of diseases. As a flipside to this narrative, Italians were also believed to possess a ‘natural’ talent for agriculture, which encouraged Italian diplomats and politicians to propose the establishment of agricultural colonies in the southern United States. In rural areas Italians could profit from their agricultural skills and finally turn into ‘desirable immigrants’. The aim of this paper is to explore this ‘emigrant colonialism’ through the lens of environmental history, comparing the Italian and US diplomatic and public discourses on the potential and limits of Italians’ agricultural skills.

Christian Doctrine and Free Church Ecclesiology: Recent Developments among Baptists in the Southern United States

Ecclesiology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-219
Author(s):  
Paul Fiddes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Southern Baptist ◽  
The United States ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Local Manifestation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe main substance of this article is an extended review of a recent book by a Southern Baptist historical theologian, Malcolm Yarnell, entitled The Formation of Christian Doctrine, which aims to root the development of doctrine in a free-church ecclesiology. This review offers the opportunity to examine a spectrum of ecclesiologies that has recently emerged among Baptists in the Southern region of the United States of America. Four 'conservative' versions of ecclesiology are identified, which are named as 'Landmarkist', 'Reformed', 'Reformed-Ecumenical' and 'Conservative Localist'. Four 'moderate' versions are similarly identified, and named as 'Voluntarist', 'Catholic', 'Moderate Localist' and 'World-Baptist'. While these categories are not intended to be mutually exclusive, the typology is useful both in positioning Yarnell's particular thesis, and in making comparisons with recent Baptist ecclesiology in Great Britain, which has focussed on the concept of covenant. Yarnell's own appeal to covenant is unusual in Southern Baptist thinking, and means that he cannot be easily fitted into the typology suggested. Though he belongs most evidently to the group named here as 'Conservative Localists', and is overtly opposed to any concept of a visible, universal church except in an eschatological sense, it is suggested that his own arguments might be seen as tending towards a more 'universal' view of the reality of the church beyond its local manifestation. His own work thus offers the promise that present polarizations among Baptists in the southern United States might, in time, be overcome.

scholarly journals On the probability distribution of daily streamflow in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 3093-3103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalise G. Blum ◽  
Stacey A. Archfield ◽  
Richard M. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Probability Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Representation ◽  
Lognormal Distributions ◽  
Daily Streamflow ◽  
The Us ◽  
Flow Duration Curves ◽  
A Site ◽  
Physiographic Regions

Abstract. Daily streamflows are often represented by flow duration curves (FDCs), which illustrate the frequency with which flows are equaled or exceeded. FDCs have had broad applications across both operational and research hydrology for decades; however, modeling FDCs has proven elusive. Daily streamflow is a complex time series with flow values ranging over many orders of magnitude. The identification of a probability distribution that can approximate daily streamflow would improve understanding of the behavior of daily flows and the ability to estimate FDCs at ungaged river locations. Comparisons of modeled and empirical FDCs at nearly 400 unregulated, perennial streams illustrate that the four-parameter kappa distribution provides a very good representation of daily streamflow across the majority of physiographic regions in the conterminous United States (US). Further, for some regions of the US, the three-parameter generalized Pareto and lognormal distributions also provide a good approximation to FDCs. Similar results are found for the period of record FDCs, representing the long-term hydrologic regime at a site, and median annual FDCs, representing the behavior of flows in a typical year.

A review of the biology and ecology of Florida beggarweed (Desmodium tortuosum)

Weed Science ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Webster ◽  
John Cardina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Southeast United States ◽  
Forage Crop ◽  
Disturbed Areas ◽  
The World

Florida beggarweed is native to the Western Hemisphere but is naturalized around the world. During the last century, the mechanization of agriculture has transitioned Florida beggarweed from an important forage component to a weed of significance in the coastal plain of the southeast United States. This herbaceous annual is naturalized and found in fields and disturbed areas throughout the southern United States. The characteristics that made Florida beggarweed a good forage crop also make it a formidable weed. This review describes the importance of Florida beggarweed as a weed in the southern United States and the taxonomy of this species and details the distribution throughout the world and within the United States. The ecology of Florida beggarweed and its interactions with crop plants, insects, nematodes, and plant pathogens also are summarized. Finally, management of Florida beggarweed in agricultural systems using cultural practices and herbicides is reviewed.

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