Developing an Inclusive Generation of HIV Researchers Through Diversity and Community.

BACKGROUND: The DC Center for AIDS Research Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pathway Initiative (CDEIPI) is designed to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students engaged in HIV research by providing an opportunity to participate in research and developing a sense of self-efficacy and community. SETTING: Currently in its second year, the program provides high school (HS) and undergraduate (UG) URM students (CFAR scholars) HIV mentored-research opportunities, and a range of professional development, outreach, and volunteer opportunities meant to build a sense of community and promote self-efficacy. A near-peer mentoring program, led by graduate students leads (GSL), was added in the second year to enhance community building. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive evaluation of the program using both individual surveys distributed to program participants and a series of focus groups conducted with current HS and UG scholars, and GSL. RESULTS: Based on initial evaluation results, this program was able to recruit a diverse group of scholars who have persisted in mentored HIV research, increased interests in pursuing careers in HIV research and care, developed research competencies, and increased confidence and self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: Our long-term goal is to build on this program by annually recruiting new cohorts, providing multiyear support to UG scholars, and developing additional evaluation tools to measure program impacts on the career trajectories of program participants, and identify program characteristics associated with those impacts.

Characterization of age-related microstructural changes in locus coeruleus and substantia nigra pars compacta.

Locus coeruleus (LC) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) degrade with normal aging, but not much is known regarding how these changes manifest in MRI images, or whether these markers predict aspects of cognition. Here, we use high-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI to investigate microstructural and compositional changes in LC and SNpc in young and older adult cohorts, as well as their relationship with cognition. In LC, the older cohort exhibited a significant reduction in mean and radial diffusivity, but a significant increase in fractional anisotropy compared with the young cohort. We observed a significant correlation between the decrease in LC mean, axial, and radial diffusivities and measures examining cognition (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test delayed recall) in the older adult cohort. This observation suggests that LC is involved in retaining cognitive abilities. In addition, we observed that iron deposition in SNpc occurs early in life and continues during normal aging.