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Soluble urokinase plasminogen activation receptor (suPAR) is an emerging new biomarker, which has been shown to not only correlate with traditional biomarkers but also outperform CRP at prognosticating CVD. More clinical trials on suPAR is in the future research agenda.

Objective and systematic methods to search, review, and synthesize published studies are a fundamental aspect of carcinogen hazard classification. Systematic review is a historical strength of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Program and the United States National Toxicology Program (NTP) Office of the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). Both organizations are tasked with evaluating peer-reviewed, published evidence to determine whether specific substances, exposure scenarios, or mixtures pose a cancer hazard to humans. This evidence synthesis is based on objective, transparent, published methods that call for extracting and interpreting data in a systematic manner from multiple domains, including ) human exposure, ) epidemiological evidence, ) evidence from experimental animals, and ) mechanistic evidence. The process involves multiple collaborators and requires an extensive literature search, review, and synthesis of the evidence. Several online tools have been implemented to facilitate these collaborative systematic review processes. Specifically, Health Assessment Workplace Collaborative (HAWC) and Table Builder are custom solutions designed to record and share the results of the systematic literature search, data extraction, and analyses. In addition, a content management system for web-based project management and document submission has been adopted to enable access to submitted drafts simultaneously by multiple co-authors and to facilitate their peer review and revision. These advancements in cancer hazard classification have applicability in multiple systematic review efforts. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4224.

In an effort to meet the needs of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) while hospitalized, a team of experts and providers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MGH for Children as well as parents of individuals with ASD was sparked in 2013. This became a multidisciplinary collaborative, the MGH Autism Care Collaborative, to improve adult care for inpatients with ASD. The collaborative was created with three goals in mind: (1) to educate internal medicine adult inpatient providers and staff on the unique needs of adults with ASD when hospitalized; (2) to create ASD specific resources for internal medicine adult inpatient providers; (3) to optimize patient care from admission to discharge among adults with ASD admitted to internal medicine services.

Studies of deception detection traditionally have focused on verbal communication. Nevertheless, people commonly deceive others through nonverbal cues. Previous research has shown that intentions can be inferred from the ways in which people move their bodies. Furthermore, motor expertise within a given domain has been shown to increase visual sensitivity to other people’s movements within that domain. Does expertise also enhance deception detection from bodily movement? In two psychophysical studies, experienced basketball players and novices attempted to distinguish deceptive intentions (fake passes) and veridical intentions (true passes) from an observed individual’s actions. Whereas experts and novices performed similarly with postural cues, only experts could detect deception from kinematics alone. These results demonstrate a link between action expertise and the detection of nonverbal deception.

Objective. To use a comprehensive job analysis to identify and describe the roles and responsibilities of pharmacist preceptors. Methods. After gathering input from local pharmacist preceptors, a task inventory questionnaire was created that included 92 tasks divided among nine domains related to the job of preceptors. The task inventory questionnaire was distributed to expert pharmacist preceptors in the United States, which were those who had been recognized for excellence in precepting by a national organization. Participants evaluated each task and determined whether they were responsible for the task, as well as the importance, difficulty, and frequency of each task. A composite score for each task was calculated based on a unique combination of these ratings. Descriptive statistics summarized the findings for each task and across the domains. Results. Nineteen pharmacist preceptors completed the task inventory questionnaire. The three most salient domains were professionalism (M=41.9, SD=12.9), communication (M=37.0, SD=11.7), and interpersonal skills (M=37.0, SD=10.3). The three most critical tasks related to professionalism were maintaining professional composure in stressful situations, demonstrating a commitment to service and the profession, and engaging in sound ethical and moral decision-making. Conclusion. This study represents the first attempt of using a job analysis to define pharmacist preceptor roles and responsibilities. More research is needed to fully understand the implications of these results, to understand how the relative significance of tasks may vary based on the population assessed (eg, learners and less experienced pharmacists), and to improve and validate the findings of the task inventory questionnaire developed in this study.

The United States (US) has experienced a surge of anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, raising concerns about the influence on health outcomes for immigrants living in the US. We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 20) with health care and social service providers, attorneys, and legal/policy experts in California to understand how agencies were maintaining access to HIV care and prevention for immigrant clients. We conducted a thematic analysis to describe the role of medical–legal partnerships (MLPs) and document best practices. Informants reported high demand for legal services. Referrals were facilitated by case managers, medical providers, and pre-existing relationships between clinics and legal agencies. Informants identified a need for additional funding and further guidance on screening for and supporting patients with legal needs. MLPs have the capacity to create sustainable, efficient, comprehensive structural changes that minimize barriers to HIV prevention and treatment and improve health outcomes among immigrant populations.

Consensus problem is investigated for heterogeneous multi-agent systems composed of first-order agents and second-order agents in this paper. Leader-following consensus protocol is adopted to solve consensus problem of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with time-varying communication and input delays. By constructing Lyapunov-Krasovkii functional, sufficient consensus conditions in linear matrix inequality (LMI) form are obtained for the system under fixed interconnection topology. Moreover, consensus conditions are also obtained for the heterogeneous systems under switching topologies with time delays. Simulation examples are given to illustrate effectiveness of the results.

The probability and consequences of gene flow to wild relatives is typically considered in the environmental risk assessment of genetically engineered crops. This is a report from a discussion by a group of experts who used a problem formulation approach to consider existing information for risk assessment of gene flow from cassava (Manihot esculenta) genetically engineered for virus resistance to the ‘wild’ (naturalized) relative M. glaziovii in East Africa. Two environmental harms were considered in this case: (1) loss of genetic diversity in the germplasm pool, and (2) loss of valued species, ecosystem resources, or crop yield and quality due to weediness or invasiveness of wild relatives. Based on existing information, it was concluded that gene flow will occur, but it is not likely that this will reduce the genetic diversity in the germplasm pool. There is little existing information about the impact of the virus in natural populations that could be used to inform a prediction about whether virus resistance would lead to an increase in reproduction or survival, hence abundance of M. glaziovii. However, an increase in the abundance of M. glaziovii should be manageable, and would not necessarily lead to the identified environmental harms.

There is currently no uniform definition of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) upon which to base a study population for observational and interventional trials. A preliminary questionnaire was derived from and sent to a panel of CLE experts which demonstrated consensus agreement that (1) there is a need for new definitions for CLE (2) CLE is distinct from systemic lupus erythematosus and that a CLE grouping scheme should remain apart from current systemic lupus erythematosus schema (3) current CLE grouping schemes are inadequate around communication, prognostic information and to meet the needs of researchers, clinicians, patients and payers.

Naming, listing and measuring human-induced threats in protected areas are crucial in conservation. Here, we defined a check-list of direct threats in a Mediterranean remnant wetland (central Italy), managed as nature reserve, grouping them according to a taxonomically-oriented nomenclature. We assessed three regime parameters (scope, severity, and magnitude) applying an experience-based method, then comparing the assessments obtained from two different level of expertise: a panel of independent people, upper level “university students” in an applied ecology class; and a panel of “experts” as nature reserve biologists and managers. Despite observing a significant correlation among values assigned from students and experts for each regime parameter, students underestimated the scope of feral dogs, the severity of fires and the magnitude of feral dogs and water stress. Considering only the magnitude values (sum of scope and severity), students assigned the higher values to alien species, antropophilous species, aircraft, and pollution, while the experts assigned the higher values to antropophilous species, aircraft, alien species, and water stress. In an order of priority, there was an agreement between students and experts with a coincidence for three threats out of four. We suppose that a panel of students with a short academic training could be useful to a get a first order of priority in regard to a set of local selected threats, with much similarity to the assessment obtained from a panel of experts. When threat metrics are difficult to compare, experience-based approach obtained from technicians trained ad hoc (“students”) could be useful to define priorities for management strategies in nature reserves, but data obtained should be examined critically. Indeed, students may assign higher scores to regime parameters of threats more readily identified and perceivable, underestimating the threats with an inconstant regime, localized in time and space, mobile, or cryptic. If experience-based methods are used to define scale of priorities, these issues need to be considered.