Sexual and Gender Minorities' Vaccine Uptake and Behavioral Change in Response to the Mpox Outbreak in the United States: August 2022 Through November 2022.

BACKGROUND: In the summer of 2022, the United States faced a nationwide outbreak of mpox, with cases concentrated in sexual and gender minorities who have sex with men. Understanding rates of mpox vaccine uptake and concomitant behavioral change is essential to guide the implementation of targeted public health responses to the potential reemergence of mpox. METHODS: Between August 2022 and November 2022, 8551 individuals recruited via geosocial networking apps completed a brief survey that assessed mpox vaccine uptake, intentions to get a mpox vaccine, and behavioral change. RESULTS: In August, 17.4% of participants reported having received at least 1 dose of the mpox vaccine. By November, this prevalence estimate was 35.0%. Black participants were significantly less likely to be vaccinated, and vaccine hesitancy increased among Black participants over time. Among those who had not yet received a vaccination, the intention to get vaccinated decreased over time. We observed trends that coincided with the evolving outbreak, such as decreased worry about mpox and less engagement in risk reduction behaviors over time. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a 2-fold increase in mpox vaccine uptake between August 2022 and November 2022 in sexual and gender minorities who have sex with men, disparities in vaccine uptake were observed among Black participants. Findings will guide the implementation of public health responses to the potential reemergence of mpox and other viral infectious diseases (eg, meningitis) with a specific focus on optimizing vaccine uptake in Black communities.

Changes in Health Insurance During COVID-19 Among a U.S. National Cohort of Cisgender Gay and Bisexual Men and Transgender Individuals.

The extant data suggest that LGBT communities were disproportionately impacted by the economic ramifications of the pandemic and were more likely to report being uninsured throughout the first two years of the pandemic. Additionally, these groups are at heightened vulnerability for several health conditions that require insurance to manage or prevent. Thus, there is a need to assess changes in pandemic-era insurance coverage among these populations. This study uses data collected as part of the Together 5,000 study, a U.S. national, internet-based cohort study of cisgender men, trans men, and trans women who have sex with men. We analyze insurance data across three different assessments between 2019 and 2021, exploring changes in insurance coverage and type. Among our sample, 6.4% lost their insurance in 2020 because of the pandemic. Insurance loss was associated with living in a state that had not expanded Medicaid, race/ethnicity, employment status, and income. Among those who lost their insurance in early 2020, most (59.2%) reported gaining insurance by 2021, with those living in non-expanded states less likely to gain insurance. Finally, those who were uninsured prior to the pandemic were less likely to report gaining insurance by 2021, when compared to those uninsured as a result of the pandemic. This suggests that there are uninsured cisgender gay and bisexual men and transgender individuals that continue to go unreached by policies to assuage uninsurance. Further policy intervention is needed to address uninsurance among LGBT individuals, which has important implications for addressing health disparities among these populations.

BugSigDB captures patterns of differential abundance across a broad range of host-associated microbial signatures.

The literature of human and other host-associated microbiome studies is expanding rapidly, but systematic comparisons among published results of host-associated microbiome signatures of differential abundance remain difficult. We present BugSigDB, a community-editable database of manually curated microbial signatures from published differential abundance studies accompanied by information on study geography, health outcomes, host body site and experimental, epidemiological and statistical methods using controlled vocabulary. The initial release of the database contains >2,500 manually curated signatures from >600 published studies on three host species, enabling high-throughput analysis of signature similarity, taxon enrichment, co-occurrence and coexclusion and consensus signatures. These data allow assessment of microbiome differential abundance within and across experimental conditions, environments or body sites. Database-wide analysis reveals experimental conditions with the highest level of consistency in signatures reported by independent studies and identifies commonalities among disease-associated signatures, including frequent introgression of oral pathobionts into the gut.

Sex in the Era of COVID-19 in a U.S. National Cohort of Cisgender Men, Transgender Women, and Transgender Men Who Have Sex with Men: April-May 2020.

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing body of research focused on the effects that measures like stay-at-home orders and social distancing are having on other aspects of health, including mental health and sexual health. Currently, there are limited extant data on the effects of the pandemic on sexual and gender minorities. Between April 15, 2020, and May 15, 2020, we invited participants in an ongoing U.S. national cohort study (Together 5000) to complete a cross-sectional online survey about the pandemic, and its effects on mental and sexual health and well-being (n = 3991). Nearly all (97.7%) were living in an area where they were told they should only leave their homes for essentials. Most (70.1%) reported reducing their number of sex partners as a result of the pandemic. Among the 789 participants prescribed HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), 29.9% said they stopped taking their PrEP entirely, and 14.2% started selectively skipping doses. For those who had been taking PrEP, discontinuing PrEP was associated with having no new sex partners (ß = 0.90, 95% CI 0.40-1.40). Among the 152 HIV-positive participants, 30.9% said they were unable to maintain an HIV-related medical appointment because of the pandemic and 13.8% said they had been unable to retrieve HIV medications. Additionally, 35.3% of participants were experiencing moderate to severe anxiety because of the pandemic and 36.7% reported symptoms of depression. In a multivariable logistic regression, reporting a new sex partner in the prior 30 days was significantly associated with being aged 30 or older (vs. not, AOR = 1.21), being Black (AOR = 1.79) or Latinx (AOR = 1.40, vs. white), and being unsure if they had been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 (AOR = 1.32, vs. no contact). It was unassociated with COVID-19-induced anxiety, depression, or knowing someone hospitalized with COVID-19. The pandemic has caused disruptions in sexual behavior (partner reduction) as well as difficulties navigating PrEP and HIV care continua. Findings will guide more comprehensive public health responses to optimize HIV prevention and treatment in the era of COVID-19.

Reporting guidelines for human microbiome research: the STORMS checklist.

The particularly interdisciplinary nature of human microbiome research makes the organization and reporting of results spanning epidemiology, biology, bioinformatics, translational medicine and statistics a challenge. Commonly used reporting guidelines for observational or genetic epidemiology studies lack key features specific to microbiome studies. Therefore, a multidisciplinary group of microbiome epidemiology researchers adapted guidelines for observational and genetic studies to culture-independent human microbiome studies, and also developed new reporting elements for laboratory, bioinformatics and statistical analyses tailored to microbiome studies. The resulting tool, called 'Strengthening The Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies' (STORMS), is composed of a 17-item checklist organized into six sections that correspond to the typical sections of a scientific publication, presented as an editable table for inclusion in supplementary materials. The STORMS checklist provides guidance for concise and complete reporting of microbiome studies that will facilitate manuscript preparation, peer review, and reader comprehension of publications and comparative analysis of published results.

Fitness advantage of inter-species TYLCV recombinants induced by beneficial intra-genomic interactions rather than by specific mutations.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and its related viruses are prone to recombination. It was reported that random homologous recombination between 20% diverging TYLCV related species is rarely deleterious and may be associated with a fitness advantage. Indeed, TYLCV-IS76, a recombinant between the 20% divergent TYLCV and tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV), exhibited a higher fitness than that of parental viruses. As this typical fitness advantage was observed with TYLCV-IS76 representatives of different pedigrees, it was thought that it is induced by beneficial intra-genomic interactions rather than by specific mutations. This hypothesis was further supported with TYLCV-IS141, a TYLCV recombinant with a short TYLCSV inherited fragment of around 141 nts, slightly longer than that of TYLCV-IS76. Indeed, the typical fitness advantage was detected irrespective of the position of the recombination breakpoint (loci 76 or 141) and the sequences of the TYLCV and TYLCSV inherited fragments.

Primary care healthcare policy implementation in the Eastern Mediterranean region; experiences of six countries: Part II.

Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) is essential for equitable access and cost-effective healthcare. This makes PHC a key factor in the global strategy for universal health coverage (UHC). Implementing PHC requires an understanding of the health system under prevailing circumstances, but for most countries, no data are available.Objectives: This paper describes and analyses the health systems of Algeria, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq to PHC.Methods: Data were collected during a workshop at the Wonca East Mediterranean Regional Conference in 2018. Academic family physicians (FP) presented their country; using the Wonca framework of 11 PowerPoint slides, with queries of the country demographics, main health challenges, and the position of PHC in the health system.Results: The six countries had achieved a significant improvement in populations' health but currently face challenges of health financing, a small number of certified FPs, difficulties in accessing services and bureaucratic procedures. Primary concerns were the absence of a family practice model, brain drain and immigration of FPs. Countries differed in building a coherent policy.Conclusion: Priorities should be focused on: developing PHC model in Eastern Mediterranean region with advocacy for community-based PHC to policymakers; capacity building for strengthening PHC-oriented health systems with FP specialty training and restrict practising to fully trained FPs; engage communities to improve understanding of PHC; adopt quality and accreditation policies for better services; validation of the referral and follow-up process; and, develop public-private partnership mechanisms to enhance PHC for UHC.

Nigella sativa seed based nanohybrid composite-Fe2O3-SnO2/BC: A novel material for enhanced adsorptive removal of methylene blue from water.

In this work, an advance approach is reported for the water treatment technology using nanohybrid composite Fe2O3-SnO2/BC prepared by incorporation of iron-tin binary oxide into the cellulosic framework of medicinally active Nigella sativa (Black cumin) seed powder. The co-precipitation method was followed to prepare the nanohybrid composite which was subjected to investigate its physiochemical properties using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the formation of highly functionalized nanocomposite through the hydrogen and electrostatic interactions between the functional groups of seeds and Fe2O3-SnO2. X-ray and selected area electron diffraction pattern revealed the presence of cubic phase of γ-Fe2O3 and tetragonal phase of SnO2 in the composite. The scanning electron microscopic images suggested the porous and relatively smooth surface of the composite, and transmittance electron microscopic images showed the trapping of nano-cubes of Fe2O3-SnO2, having particles size in the range 95-185 nm, into the organic framework of Black cumin seeds, whose zero point charge was found at pH 7.2. The composite was investigated for adsorption of Methylene blue dye from water for which the results revealed that 2.0 gL-1 amount of Fe2O3-SnO2/BC was sufficient to remove more than 95% dye, within 15 min, at 6-9 pH, from its 10 mgL-1 concentration. The thermodynamic studies established spontaneity, feasibility, and endothermic nature of the adsorption process. The adsorption data was satisfactorily described by the Freundlich isotherm which indicated inhomogeneous surface of the composite. Application of Temkin isotherm revealed the same extent of bonding probability and heat of adsorption at 27, 35, and 45 °C. The free energy change calculated from Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm suggested weak interaction between Methylene blue and Fe2O3-SnO2/BC. The process satisfactorily followed the pseudo-second order kinetics that was controlled by the film diffusion step which indicated interaction of Methylene blue with functional sites of the Fe2O3-SnO2/BC. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis gave the confirmatory evidence for interaction of Methylene blue to Fe2O3-SnO2/BC. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of the Fe2O3-SnO2/BC was found to be 58.82 mgg-1 at 27 °C which is higher than the previously reported adsorbents, MnFe2O4/BC [J. Clean. Prod. 2018. 200, 996-1008], and Fe2O3-ZrO2/BC [J. Clean. Prod. 2019. 223, 849-868]. Therefore, the study showed excellent results for water treatment and can be useful to develop advance water treatment technology.