Can laboratory HIV and infectious syphilis data inform future pre-exposure prophylaxis use in women in Ontario, Canada?

OBJECTIVES: Infectious syphilis has been proposed as an indication for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in women. We explored how many women experienced HIV seroconversion after being diagnosed with syphilis in Ontario between 20 April 2010 and 31 December 2021. METHODS: Through deterministic linkage of laboratory data at the Public Health Ontario laboratory, which conducts the vast majority of syphilis and HIV testing in Ontario, we quantified the number of females with positive syphilis diagnoses who subsequently exhibited HIV seroconversion between April 2010 and December 2021. New HIV cases were identified by diagnostic serology or HIV viral load test result of ≥20 copies/mL at least 60 days after the positive syphilis test. We report aggregate numbers of women with new laboratory evidence of HIV infection after their first positive syphilis test. RESULTS: Among 7957 women with positive syphilis tests during the study period, 6554 (82.4%) had linkable HIV serology tests and 133 (1.7%) ever tested HIV positive. With further linkage to viral load data, the number of women who ever had laboratory evidence of HIV infection increased to 184 (2.3%). However, when restricting to women whose first positive HIV test or HIV viral load occurred after their first positive syphilis test, this number decreased to 34 (0.4%). The median (IQR) time between the positive syphilis test and the first laboratory evidence of HIV was 551 (IQR=226-1159) days. CONCLUSION: Although it is clinically appropriate to recommend HIV PrEP to women with syphilis, Ontario surveillance data suggest that the population-level impact of this strategy on the HIV epidemic in Ontario would have been modest during this 11-year period. Future studies should explore additional ways of prioritising women for PrEP.

The Effects of Multifaceted Introversion and Sensory Processing Sensitivity on Solitude-Seeking Behavior.

INTRODUCTION: The state of solitude may be desirable and beneficial particularly for individuals who are highly sensitive and introverted. METHODS: To test these predictions, we surveyed a nationally representative US sample of 301 adults and a sample of 99 undergraduates on their levels of sensory processing sensitivity and assessed introversion with the Big Five Inventory and the multifaceted STAR Introversion Scale. Participants then reported the frequency and duration of their volitional solitude, stress levels, and subjective well-being across 10 consecutive days. RESULTS: Results revealed that Social Introversion and sensitivity significantly predicted higher motivations for solitude, both self-determined and not. Thinking Introversion also predicted higher self-determined solitude, but BFI introversion showed no relationship with either motivation. Social Introversion and sensitivity predicted higher frequency of solitude in daily life and longer duration of solitary episodes; BFI Introversion and Restrained Introversion showed the opposite pattern for both outcomes. Finally, stress was positively associated with daily solitude frequency, and in turn, solitude frequency was negatively associated with same-day well-being; there were no interaction effects with personality traits. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that introversion, as measured by the STAR Introversion Scale, and sensitivity contribute significantly to solitary motivation; however, solitude appears to be sought after by people in times of stress regardless of their scores on these traits.

Correction: ORFanID: A web-based search engine for the discovery and identification of orphan and taxonomically restricted genes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291260.].

Beyond active learning: Using 3-Dimensional learning to create scientifically authentic, student-centered classrooms.

In recent years, much of the emphasis for transformation of introductory STEM courses has focused on "active learning", and while this approach has been shown to produce more equitable outcomes for students, the construct of "active learning" is somewhat ill-defined and is often used as a "catch-all" that can encompass a wide range of pedagogical techniques. Here we present an alternative approach for how to think about the transformation of STEM courses that focuses instead on what students should know and what they can do with that knowledge. This approach, known as three-dimensional learning (3DL), emerged from the National Academy's "A Framework for K-12 Science Education", which describes a vision for science education that centers the role of constructing productive causal accounts for phenomena. Over the past 10 years, we have collected data from introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses to assess the impact of such a transformation on higher education courses. Here we report on an analysis of video data of class sessions that allows us to characterize these sessions as active, 3D, neither, or both 3D and active. We find that 3D classes are likely to also involve student engagement (i.e. be active), but the reverse is not necessarily true. That is, focusing on transformations involving 3DL also tends to increase student engagement, whereas focusing solely on student engagement might result in courses where students are engaged in activities that do not involve meaningful engagement with core ideas of the discipline.