"Across well-known remarks in each debate, mentions in social media start within 5-10 seconds after it occurs..."

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 16;10(4):e0122742. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122742.

Timescales of Massive Human Entrainment.

Fusaroli R1, Perlman M2, Mislove A3, Paxton A4, Matlock T4, Dale R4.

Author information

• 1Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Semiotics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
• 2Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
• 3College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
• 4Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California, United States of America.

Abstract

The past two decades have seen an upsurge of interest in the collective behaviors of complex systems composed of many agents entrained to each other and to external events. In this paper, we extend the concept of entrainment to the dynamics of human collective attention. We conducted a detailed investigation of the unfolding of human entrainment-as expressed by the content and patterns of hundreds of thousands of messages on Twitter-during the 2012 US presidential debates. By time-locking these data sources, we quantify the impact of the unfolding debate on human attention at three time scales. We show that collective social behavior covaries second-by-second to the interactional dynamics of the debates: A candidate speaking induces rapid increases in mentions of his name on social media and decreases in mentions of the other candidate. Moreover, interruptions by an interlocutor increase the attention received. We also highlight a distinct time scale for the impact of salient content during the debates: Across well-known remarks in each debate, mentions in social media start within 5-10 seconds after it occurs; peak at approximately one minute; and slowly decay in a consistent fashion across well-known events during the debates. Finally, we show that public attention after an initial burst slowly decays through the course of the debates. Thus we demonstrate that large-scale human entrainment may hold across a number of distinct scales, in an exquisitely time-locked fashion. The methods and results pave the way for careful study of the dynamics and mechanisms of large-scale human entrainment.

Jackie Fox's The 10 Commandments of Breast Cancer

The 10 Commandments of Breast Cancer

By Jackie Fox

Web 2.0 applications in medicine

Med 2 0. 2015 Apr 1;4(1):e2. doi: 10.2196/med20.3628.

Web 2.0 applications in medicine: trends and topics in the literature.

Boudry C1.

Author information

• 1Media Normandie, Normandy University, University of Caen Basse-Normandie, Caen Cedex, France. boudry@enc.sorbonne.fr.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The World Wide Web has changed research habits, and these changes were further expanded when "Web 2.0" became popular in 2005. Bibliometrics is a helpful tool used for describing patterns of publication, for interpreting progression over time, and the geographical distribution of research in a given field. Few studies employing bibliometrics, however, have been carried out on the correlative nature of scientific literature and Web 2.0.

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this bibliometric analysis was to provide an overview of Web 2.0 implications in the biomedical literature. The objectives were to assess the growth rate of literature, key journals, authors, and country contributions, and to evaluate whether the various Web 2.0 applications were expressed within this biomedical literature, and if so, how.

METHODS:

A specific query with keywords chosen to be representative of Web 2.0 applications was built for the PubMed database. Articles related to Web 2.0 were downloaded in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and were processed through developed hypertext preprocessor (PHP) scripts, then imported to Microsoft Excel 2010 for data processing.

RESULTS:

A total of 1347 articles were included in this study. The number of articles related to Web 2.0 has been increasing from 2002 to 2012 (average annual growth rate was 106.3% with a maximum of 333% in 2005). The United States was by far the predominant country for authors, with 514 articles (54.0%; 514/952). The second and third most productive countries were the United Kingdom and Australia, with 87 (9.1%; 87/952) and 44 articles (4.6%; 44/952), respectively. Distribution of number of articles per author showed that the core population of researchers working on Web 2.0 in the medical field could be estimated at approximately 75. In total, 614 journals were identified during this analysis. Using Bradford's law, 27 core journals were identified, among which three (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Nucleic Acids Research) produced more than 35 articles related to Web 2.0 over the period studied. A total of 274 words in the field of Web 2.0 were found after manual sorting of the 15,878 words appearing in title and abstract fields for articles. Word frequency analysis reveals "blog" as the most recurrent, followed by "wiki", "Web 2.0", "social media", "Facebook", "social networks", "blogger", "cloud computing", "Twitter", and "blogging". All categories of Web 2.0 applications were found, indicating the successful integration of Web 2.0 into the biomedical field.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study shows that the biomedical community is engaged in the use of Web 2.0 and confirms its high level of interest in these tools. Therefore, changes in the ways researchers use information seem to be far from over.

J Cancer Educ. 2015 Apr 14. [Epub ahead of print]

"Obesity is the New Major Cause of Cancer": Connections Between Obesity and Cancer on Facebook andTwitter.

Kent EE1, Prestin A, Gaysynsky A, Galica K, Rinker R, Graff K, Chou WY.

Author information

• 1Outcomes Research Branch, Healthcare Deliver Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, USA, Erin.Kent@nih.gov.

Abstract

Social media interactions can inform public health risk perceptions. While research has examined the risk relationships between obesity and cancer, public attitudes about their associations remain largely unknown. We explored how these constructs were discussed together on two social media platforms. Publicly accessible Facebook and Twitter posts from a 2-month period in 2012 containing references to obesity ("obese/obesity," "overweight," and "fat") and cancer-related words were extracted (N = 3702 posts). Data cleaning yielded a final set of 1382 posts (Facebook: N = 291; Twitter: N = 1091). Using a mixed-methods approach, themes were inductively generated, and sentiment valence, structural elements, and epistemic stance were coded. Seven relational themes emerged: obesity is associated with cancer (n = 389), additional factors are associated with both obesity and cancer (n = 335), obesity causes cancer (n = 85), cancer causes obesity (n = 6), obesity is not linked to cancer (n = 13), co-occurrence (n = 492), and obesity is valued differently than cancer (n = 60). Fifty-nine percent of posts focused on an associative or causal link between obesity and cancer. Thirty-one percent of posts contained positive and/or negative sentiment. Facebook was more likely to contain any sentiment, but Twitter contained proportionately more negative sentiment. Concurrent qualitative analysis revealed a dominance of individual blame for overweight/obese persons and more support and empathy for cancer survivors. Our study reflects wide recognition of the evidence linking obesity to increased risk of cancer, a diverse set of factors perceived to be dually associated with both conditions and differing attribution of responsibility. We demonstrate that social media monitoring can provide an important gauge of public health risk perception.

J Pers Med. 2015 Apr 15;5(2):91-95.

A Patient-Centered Perspective on Cancer Survivorship.

Zebrack B1.

Author information

• 1University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 S University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106, USA. zebrack@umich.edu.

Abstract

Survivorship is a complicated notion because people often confuse a process of survivorship with a mythic identity of being a cancer survivor. This confusion may be a distraction to addressing the real-life struggles and challenges experienced by all people diagnosed with cancer. A more expansive perspective of survivorship, one that attends to patients' physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and existential challenges throughout a continuum of care, would be more in line with what is known empirically about people's experiences with cancer. In an effort to gain a patient-centered perspective on cancer, and one that emphasizes multiple dimensions of cancer survivorship, the author reports findings from a non-scientific social media poll (via Facebook and personal emails) in which survivors and colleagues working in the field of cancer survivorship answered the question: What does cancer survivorship mean to you? The comments are enlightening and useful for guiding the development of a patient-centered, and, thus, more comprehensive, approach to caring for people affected by cancer.

College of American Pathologists' Laboratory Standards for Next-Generation Sequencing Clinical Tests

The spiral of silence theory in social media contexts

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2015 Apr;18(4):208-13. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0443.

"Was it something I said?" "no, it was something you posted!" a study of the spiral of silence theory in social media contexts.

Gearhart S1, Zhang W.

Author information

• 11 School of Communication, University of Nebraska at Omaha , Omaha, Nebraska.

Abstract

New media technologies make it necessary for scholars to reassess mass communication theories developed among legacy media. One such theory is the spiral of silence theory originally proposed by Noelle-Neumann in the 1970s. Increasing diversity of media content, selectivity, social networking site (SNS) interactivity, and the potential for anonymity have posed various challenges to its theoretical assumptions. While application of the spiral of silence in SNS contexts has been theorized, its empirical testing is scarce. To fill this void, the Pew 2012 Search, Social Networks, and Politics survey is used to test the theory. Results reveal that encountering agreeable political content predicts speaking out, while encountering disagreeable postings stifles opinion expression, supporting the spiral of silence theory in the SNS environment. However, certain uses of SNSs and psychological factors demonstrate a liberating effect on opinion expression.

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 17;10(4):e0123563. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123563.

Mesothelioma Tumor Cells Modulate Dendritic Cell Lipid Content, Phenotype and Function.

Gardner JK1, Mamotte CD2, Patel P1, Yeoh TL1, Jackaman C1, Nelson DJ1.

Author information

• 1Immunology and Cancer Group, School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; CHIRI Biosciences Research Precinct, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
• 2CHIRI Biosciences Research Precinct, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in the generation of anti-cancer immune responses, however there is evidence that DCs in cancer patients are dysfunctional. Lipid accumulation driven by tumor-derived factors has recently been shown to contribute to DC dysfunction in several human cancers, but has not yet been examined in mesothelioma. This study investigated if mesothelioma tumor cells and/or their secreted factors promote increases in DC lipid content and modulate DC function. Human monocyte-derived DCs (MoDCs) were exposed to human mesotheliomatumor cells and tumor-derived factors in the presence or absence of lipoproteins. The data showed that immature MoDCs exposed to mesotheliomacells or factors contained increased lipid levels relative to control DCs. Lipid accumulation was associated with reduced antigen processing ability (measured using a DQ OVA assay), upregulation of the co-stimulatory molecule, CD86, and production of the tolerogenic cytokine, IL-10. Increases in DC lipid content were further enhanced by co-exposure to mesothelioma-derived factors and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, but not low-density lipoproteins. In vivo studies using a murine mesothelioma model showed that the lipid content of tumor-infiltrating CD4+CD8α- DCs, CD4-CD8α- DCs DCs and plasmacytoid DCs increased with tumor progression. Moreover, increasing tumor burden was associated with reduced proliferation of tumor-antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes. This study shows that mesothelioma promotes DC lipid acquisition, which is associated with altered activation status and reduced capacity to process and present antigens, which may impair the ability of DCs to generate effective anti mesothelioma T cell responses.

Linking social and built environmental factors to the health of public housing residents

BMC Public Health. 2015 Apr 10;15(1):351.

Linking social and built environmental factors to the health of public housing residents: a focus group study.

Hayward E1, Ibe C2,3, Young JH4,5,6,7, Potti K8, Jones P 3rd9, Pollack CE10,11,12, Gudzune KA13,14,15.

Author information

• 1The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. ehaywar2@jhmi.edu.
• 2Johns Hopkins Health Care, LLC, Baltimore, MD, USA. cibe2@jhu.edu.
• 3Department of Health Policy and Management, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. cibe2@jhu.edu.
• 4The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. jhyoung@jhmi.edu.
• 5Johns Hopkins Health Care, LLC, Baltimore, MD, USA. jhyoung@jhmi.edu.
• 6Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. jhyoung@jhmi.edu.
• 7Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. jhyoung@jhmi.edu.
• 8University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. karthya.potti@gmail.com.
• 9The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. pauljonesiii@yahoo.com.
• 10The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. cpollac2@jhmi.edu.
• 11Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. cpollac2@jhmi.edu.
• 12Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. cpollac2@jhmi.edu.
• 13The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. gudzune@jhu.edu.
• 14Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. gudzune@jhu.edu.
• 15Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 2024 E. Monument St, Room 2-621, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA. gudzune@jhu.edu.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Public housing residents have a high risk of chronic disease, which may be related to neighborhood environmental factors. Our objective was to understand how public housing residents perceive that the social and built environments might influence their health and wellbeing.

METHODS:

We conducted focus groups of residents from a low-income public housing community in Baltimore, MD to assess their perceptions of health and neighborhood attributes, resources, and social structure. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Two investigators independently coded transcripts for thematic content using editing style analysis technique.

RESULTS:

Twenty-eight residents participated in six focus groups. All were African American and the majority were women. Most had lived in public housing for more than 5 years. We identified four themes: public housing's unhealthy physical environment limits health and wellbeing, the city environment limits opportunities for healthy lifestyle choices, lack of trust in relationships contributes to social isolation, and increased neighborhood social capital could improve wellbeing.

CONCLUSIONS:

Changes in housing and city policies might lead to improved environmental health conditions for public housing residents. Policymakers and researchers may consider promoting community cohesiveness to attempt to empower residents in facilitating neighborhood change.

Why is patient safety so hard in low-income countries?

Global Health. 2015 Feb 25;11(1):6.

Why is patient safety so hard in low-income countries? A qualitative study of healthcare workers' views in two African hospitals.

Aveling EL1,2, Kayonga Y3, Nega A4, Dixon-Woods M5.

Author information

• 1SAPPHIRE Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, 22-28 Princess Road West, Leicester, LE1 6TP, UK. eea5@le.ac.uk.
• 2Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. eea5@le.ac.uk.
• 3Department of Welfare and Social Development, Catholic University of Rwanda, Huye, Rwanda. kayongayvette1@gmail.com.
• 4Institute of Public Health, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia. aish262000@gmail.com.
• 5SAPPHIRE Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, 22-28 Princess Road West, Leicester, LE1 6TP, UK. md11@le.ac.uk.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The views of practitioners at the sharp end of health care provision are now recognised as a valuable source of intelligence that can inform efforts to improve patient safety in high-income countries. Yet despite growing policy emphasis on patient safety in low-income countries, little research examines the views of practitioners in these settings. We aimed to give voice to how healthcare workers in two East African hospitals identify and explain the major obstacles to ensuring the safety of patients in their care.

METHODS:

We conducted in-depth, face to face interviews with healthcare workers in two East African hospitals. Our sample included a total of 57 hospital staff, including nurses, physicians, technicians, clinical services staff, administrative staff and hospital managers.

RESULTS:

Hospital staff in low-income settings offered broadly encompassing and aspirational definitions of patient safety. They identified obstacles to patient safety across three major themes: material context, staffing issues and inter-professional working relationships. Participants distinguished between the proximal influences on patient safety that posed an immediate threat to patient care, and the distal influences that generated the contexts for such hazards. These included contexts of severe material deprivation, but also the impact of relational factors such as teamwork and professional hierarchies. Structures of authority, governance and control that were not optimally aligned with achieving patient safety were widely reported.

CONCLUSIONS:

As in high-income countries, the accounts of healthcare workers in low-income countries provide sophisticated and valuable insights into the challenges of patient safety. Though the impact of resource constraints and weak governance structures are particularly marked in low-income countries, the congruence between accounts of health workers in diverse settings suggest that the origins and solutions to patient safety problems are likely to be similar everywhere and are rooted in human factors, resources, culture and behaviour. While additional resources are essential to patient safety improvement in low-income settings, such resources on their own will not be sufficient to secure the changes needed.

Fast-track surgery

Anesth Essays Res. 2014 May-Aug;8(2):127-133.

Fast-track surgery: Toward comprehensive peri-operative care.

Nanavati AJ1, Prabhakar S2.

Author information

• 1Department of General Surgery, K.B. Bhabha Hospital, Bandra, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
• 2Department of General Surgery, L.T.M.G.H., Sion, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Abstract

Fast-track surgery is a multimodal approach to patient care using a combination of several evidence-based peri-operative interventions to expedite recovery after surgery. It is an extension of the critical pathway that integrates modalities in surgery, anesthesia, and nutrition, enforces early mobilization and feeding, and emphasizes reduction of the surgical stress response. It entails a great partnership between a surgeon and an anesthesiologist with several other specialists to form a multi-disciplinary team, which may then engage in patient care. The practice of fast-track surgery has yielded excellent results and there has been a significant reduction in hospital stay without a rise in complications or re-admissions. The effective implementation begins with the formulation of a protocol, carrying out each intervention and gathering outcome data. The care of a patient is divided into three phases: Before, during, and after surgery. Each stage needs active participation of few or all the members of the multi-disciplinary team. Other than surgical technique, anesthetic drugs, and techniques form the cornerstone in the ability of the surgeon to carry out a fast-track surgery safely. It is also the role of this team to keep abreast with the latest development in fast-track methodology and make appropriate changes to policy. In the Indian healthcare system, there is a huge benefit that may be achieved by the successful implementation of a fast-track surgery program at an institutional level. The lack of awareness regarding this concept, fear and apprehension regarding its implementation are the main barriers that need to be overcome.

Michael Misialek: What Women Need To Know About Breast Biopsy Accuracy

What Women Need To Know About Breast Biopsy Accuracy

 Michael J. Misialek

"Remember, all treatment begins with a diagnosis. Take control of your healthcare, ask questions, get answers and become engaged, it makes for better care."

"Women don’t need to become physicians overnight to develop a basic understanding of what their pathology report means."

Making the Most of Your Pathology Report: Four Tips for Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Breast pathologist and CAP Cancer Committee chair shares tips for women facing invasive or non-invasive breast cancer diagnosis

Released: 17-Apr-2015 12:05 PM EDT 

"Get your pathology report: Ask for a copy of your pathology report and remember that it may be just a few clicks away. While many practices share hard copies, a growing number are offering password-protected patient portals.

Understand what it means: Women don’t need to become physicians overnight to develop a basic understanding of what their pathology report means."

What It's Like to Live With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

You probably aren't "a little obsessive-compulsive." I know because I am

"I try to be logical. When the thought materializes, I hear the morbid absurdity of the science-fiction scary words in my head (you are rotting from the inside, and nobody can smell it but you). And that's when I understand what is going on.

Ah, I tell myself. It's my OCD. Right. Of course it is."

BMC Med Ethics. 2015 Mar 7;16(1):15.

A systematic review of empirical bioethics methodologies.

Davies R1, Ives J2, Dunn M3.

Author information

• 1C/O Medicine, Ethics, Society and History, School of Health and Population Sciences, The University of Birmingham, 90 Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. Rachel.davies@doctors.org.uk.
• 2Medicine, Ethics, Society and History, School of Health and Population Sciences, The University of Birmingham, 90 Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. j.c.ives@bham.ac.uk.
• 3The Ethox Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Rosemary Rue Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK. michael.dunn@ethox.ox.ac.uk.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Despite the increased prevalence of bioethics research that seeks to use empirical data to answer normative research questions, there is no consensus as to what an appropriate methodology for this would be. This review aims to search the literature, present and critically discuss published Empirical Bioethics methodologies.

METHODS:

MedLine, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched between 15/02/12 and 16/06/13 to find relevant papers. These were abstract reviewed independently by two reviewers with papers meeting the inclusion criteria subjected to data extraction.

RESULTS:

33 publications (32 papers and one book chapter) were included which contained 32 distinct methodologies. The majority of these methodologies (n = 22) can be classed as either dialogical or consultative, and these represent two extreme 'poles' of methodological orientation. Consideration of these results provoked three central questions that are central to the planning of an empirical bioethics study, and revolve around how a normative conclusion can be justified, the analytic process through which that conclusion is reached, and the kind of conclusion that is sought.

CONCLUSION:

When considering which methodology or research methods to adopt in any particular study, researchers need to think carefully about the nature of the claims they wish to generate through their analyses, and how these claims align with the aims of the research. Whilst there are superficial similarities in the ways that identical research methods are made use of, the different meta-ethical and epistemological commitments that undergird the range of methodological approaches adopted rehearse many of the central foundational disagreements that play out within moral philosophy and bioethical analysis more broadly. There is little common ground that transcends these disagreements, and we argue that this is likely to present a challenge for the legitimacy of the bioethical enterprise. We conclude, however, that this heterogeneity ought to be welcomed, but urge those involved in the field to engage meaningfully and explicitly with questions concerning what kinds of moral claim they want to be able to make, about normative justification and the methodological process, and about the coherence of these components within their work.

"Like substance abusers, obese people pay a significant price."

What is your obesity costing you?

"Like substance abusers, obese people pay a significant price."

Prostate Cancer-Obesity Link Stronger in Blacks

"The study's primary author, Wendy E. Barrington, PhD, of the University of Washington School of Nursing and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues found that among AA men a body mass index (BMI) of 35 kg/m2 or higher increased risk of low-grade PCa by 122% and increased risk of high-grade PCa by 81% compared to a BMI less than 25 which is considered normal weight. Among NHW men, having a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or higher was associated with a 20% reduced risk of low-grade and only a 33% increased risk of high-grade PCa compared to being of normal weight,. Compared with normal weight NHW men, AA men with a BMI less than 25, 25.0 to less than 27.5, 27.5 to less than 30.0, 30 to less than 35.5, and 35.0–50.0 had a significant 28%, 49%, 58%, 75%, and 103% increased risk of PCa, respectively, the researchers reported online in JAMA Oncology."

Obese people fall into six distinct categories, study suggests

Scientists call for bespoke treatment rather than a 'one size fits all' approach to tackling the epidemic

Camilla Turner

10:15PM BST 17 Apr 2015

"The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, suggests that clinicians should not target all obese people in exactly the same way, but rather treat them according to which "type" they belong to."

The advantages and challenges of regular telephone contact with participants in a qualitative longitudinal interview study

BMC Res Notes. 2015 Apr 11;8(1):142. [Epub ahead of print]

Methodological developments in qualitative longitudinal research: the advantages and challenges of regular telephone contact with participants in a qualitative longitudinal interview study.

Carduff E1, Murray SA2, Kendall M3.

Author information

• 1Research Fellow, Primary Palliative Care Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK. emma.carduff@ed.ac.uk.
• 2St Columba's Hospice Chair of Primary Palliative Care, Primary Palliative Care Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK. Scott.Murray@ed.ac.uk.
• 3Senior Research Fellow, Primary Palliative Care Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK. Marilyn.Kendall@ed.ac.uk.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Qualitative longitudinal research is an evolving methodology, particularly within health care research. It facilitates a nuanced understanding of how phenomena change over time and is ripe for innovative approaches. However, methodological reflections which are tailored to health care research are scarce. This article provides a synthesised and practical account of the advantages and challenges of maintaining regular telephone contact between interviews with participants in a qualitative longitudinal study.

METHODS:

Participants with metastatic colorectal cancer were interviewed at 3 time points over the course of a year. Half the group also received monthly telephone calls to explore the added value and the feasibility of capturing change as close to when it was occurring as possible.

RESULTS:

The data gathered from the telephone calls added context to the participants' overall narrative and informed subsequent interviews. The telephone calls meant we were able to capture change close to when it happened and there was a more evolved, and involved, relationship between the researcher and the participants who were called on a monthly basis. However, ethical challenges were amplified, boundaries of the participant/researcher relationship questioned, and there was the added analytical burden.

CONCLUSIONS:

The telephone calls facilitated a more nuanced understanding of the illness experience to emerge, when compared with the interview only group. The findings suggest that intensive telephone contact may be justified if retention is an issue, when the phenomena being studied is unpredictable and when participants feel disempowered or lack control. These are potential issues for research involving participants with long-term illness.

BMC Med Ethics. 2015 Mar 27;16(1):18.

The ethics of talking about 'HIV cure'.

Rennie S1, Siedner M2, Tucker JD3,4, Moodley K5.

Author information

• 1Center for Bioethics, Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA. stuart_rennie@med.unc.edu.
• 2Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. MSIEDNER@mgh.harvard.edu.
• 3Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA. jdtucker@med.unc.edu.
• 4UNC Project-China, Guangdong Provincial Dermatology/STD Hospital, Guangzhou, China. jdtucker@med.unc.edu.
• 5Center for Medical Ethics and Law, Department of Medicine, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa. km@sun.ac.za.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

In 2008, researchers reported that Timothy Brown (the 'Berlin Patient'), a man with HIV infection and leukemia, received a stem-cell transplant that removed HIV from his body as far as can be detected. In 2013, an infant born with HIV infection received anti-retroviral treatment shortly after birth, but was then lost to the health care system for the next six months. When tested for HIV upon return, the child (the 'Mississippi Baby') had no detectable viral load despite cessation of treatment. These remarkable clinical developments have helped reinvigorate the field of 'HIV cure' research.

DISCUSSION:

Although this research field is largely in a pre-clinical phase, talk about curing HIV has become a regular feature in the global mass media. This paper explores the language of HIV cure from philosophical, ethical and historical perspectives. Examination of currently influential definitions of 'functional' and 'sterilizing' HIV cure reveal that these conceptualizations are more complicated than they seem. Cure is often understood in narrowly biomedical terms in isolation from the social and psychological dimensions of illness. Contemporary notions of HIV cure also inherit some of the epistemic problems traditionally associated with cures for other health conditions, such as cancer. Efforts to gain greater conceptual clarity about cure lead to the normative question of how 'HIV cure research' ought to be talked about. We argue that attention to basic concepts ethically matter in this context, and identify advantages as well as potential pitfalls of how different HIV/AIDS stakeholders may make use of the concept of cure. While concepts other than cure (such as remission) may be appropriate in clinical contexts, use of the word cure may be justified for other important purposes in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.

Timothy Craig Allen (2015) Comes Digital Pathology. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine In-Press.

Early Online Release

Comes Digital Pathology

Timothy Craig Allen, MD, JD

From the Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.

"Digital pathology is unlikely to replace glass slides any time soon, but glass slides and digital pathology appear destined to be comites diagnosticus."

Kennedy Inst Ethics J. 2015;25(1):89-110. doi: 10.1353/ken.2015.0001.

Obesity and obligation.

Jeppsson S.

Abstract

The belief that obese people ought to lose weight and keep it off is widespread, and has a profound negative impact on the lives of the obese. I argue in this paper that most obese people have no such obligation, even if obesity is bad, and caused by calorie input exceeding output. Obese people do not have an obligation to achieve long-term weight loss if this is impossible for them, is worse than the alternative, or requires such an enormous effort in relation to what stands to be gained that this option is supererogatory rather than obligatory. It is highly plausible that most obese people fall into one of these three groups. Politicians may still have obligations to fight obesity, but they ought to do so through progressive politicsrather than blaming and shaming.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Is Guilty in Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYEAPRIL 8, 2015

HT:PC