Sequencing Centers Panel at SFAF

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schilkey, Faye; Ali, Johar; Grafham, Darren

From left to right: Faye Schilkey of NCGR, Johar Ali of OICR, Darren Grafham of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Donna Muzny of the Baylor College of Medicine, Bob Fulton of Washington University, Mike Fitzgerald of the Broad Institute, Jessica Hostetler of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Chris Daum of the DOE Joint Genome Institute discuss sequencing technologies, applications and pipelines on June 2, 2010 at the "Sequencing, Finishing, Analysis in the Future" meeting in Santa Fe, NM.

News

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2002-05-01

Physics on Stage: Physics on the political stage Women in Physics: Allez les girls! Curriculum: Students want ethics debate in school science Physics on Stage: Buzzing around the tulips Events: GIREP 2002 Competition: Schumacher in the shower! Higher Education: Universities consider conceptual physics courses Resources: Evaluation of Advancing Physics Research Frontiers: Physics Teachers @ CERN 2002 UK Curriculum: Preparing useful citizens China: Changing the approach NSTA Annual Convention: Innovations and simplicity Europe: European Community Science and Society Action Plan Citizenship: ASE-Wellcome Trust citizenship education initiative

The origins of the British Neuroscience Association.

PubMed

Reynolds, Edward H

2017-12-26

I describe the origins of the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) based on new documents which I have discovered. The foundation of the Brain Research Association (BRA) on February 23rd 1968 was influenced by IBRO, notably its two UK Council members, and by many UK neuroscientists, especially the London-based Black Horse Group. The BRA changed its name to the BNA in 1996. The documents are in the Wellcome Trust Archives. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rheumatoid arthritis association at 6q23

PubMed Central

Thomson, Wendy; Barton, Anne; Ke, Xiayi; Eyre, Steve; Hinks, Anne; Bowes, John; Donn, Rachelle; Symmons, Deborah; Hider, Samantha; Bruce, Ian N; Wilson, Anthony G; Marinou, Ioanna; Morgan, Ann; Emery, Paul; Carter, Angela; Steer, Sophia; Hocking, Lynne; Reid, David M; Wordsworth, Paul; Harrison, Pille; Strachan, David; Worthington, Jane

2009-01-01

The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) identified nine single SNPs putatively associated with rheumatoid arthritis at P = 1 × 10 -5 - 5 × 10-7 in a genome-wide association screen. One, rs6920220, was unequivocally replicated (trend P = 1.1 × 10-8) in a validation study, as described here. This SNP maps to 6q23, between the genes oligodendrocyte lineage transcription factor 3 (OLIG3) and tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3). PMID:17982455

Uncovering Capgras delusion using a large-scale medical records database

PubMed Central

Marshall, Caryl; Kanji, Zara; Wilkinson, Sam; Halligan, Peter; Deeley, Quinton

2017-01-01

Background Capgras delusion is scientifically important but most commonly reported as single case studies. Studies analysing large clinical records databases focus on common disorders but none have investigated rare syndromes. Aims Identify cases of Capgras delusion and associated psychopathology, demographics, cognitive function and neuropathology in light of existing models. Method Combined computational data extraction and qualitative classification using 250 000 case records from South London and Maudsley Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) database. Results We identified 84 individuals and extracted diagnosis-matched comparison groups. Capgras was not ‘monothematic’ in the majority of cases. Most cases involved misidentified family members or close partners but others were misidentified in 25% of cases, contrary to dual-route face recognition models. Neuroimaging provided no evidence for predominantly right hemisphere damage. Individuals were ethnically diverse with a range of psychosis spectrum diagnoses. Conclusions Capgras is more diverse than current models assume. Identification of rare syndromes complements existing ‘big data’ approaches in psychiatry. Declaration of interests V.B. is supported by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Science (200589/Z/16/Z) and the UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. S.W. is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (WT098455MA). Q.D. has received a grant from King’s Health Partners. Copyright and usage © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license. PMID:28794897

Haplotypic Analysis of Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium Data

PubMed Central

Browning, Brian L.; Browning, Sharon R.

2008-01-01

We applied a recently developed multilocus association testing method (localized haplotype clustering) to Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium data (14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls genotyped on the Affymetrix 500K array). After rigorous data quality filtering, we identified three disease-associated loci with strong statistical support from localized haplotype cluster tests but with only marginal significance in single marker tests. These loci are chromosomes 10p15.1 with type 1 diabetes (p = 5.1 × 10-9), 12q15 with type 2 diabetes (p = 1.9 × 10-7) and 15q26.2 with hypertension (p = 2.8 × 10-8). We also detected the association of chromosome 9p21.3 with type 2 diabetes (p = 2.8 × 10-8), although this locus did not pass our stringent genotype quality filters. The association of 10p15.1 with type 1 diabetes and 9p21.3 with type 2 diabetes have both been replicated in other studies using independent data sets. Overall, localized haplotype cluster analysis had better success detecting disease associated variants than a previous single-marker analysis of imputed HapMap SNPs. We found that stringent application of quality score thresholds to genotype data substantially reduced false-positive results arising from genotype error. In addition, we demonstrate that it is possible to simultaneously phase 16,000 individuals genotyped on genome-wide data (450K markers) using the Beagle software package. PMID:18224336

Efficient phagocytosis and laccase activity affect the outcome of HIV-associated cryptococcosis

PubMed Central

Sabiiti, Wilber; Robertson, Emma; Beale, Mathew A.; Johnston, Simon A.; Brouwer, Annemarie E.; Loyse, Angela; Jarvis, Joseph N.; Gilbert, Andrew S.; Fisher, Matthew C.; Harrison, Thomas S.; May, Robin C.; Bicanic, Tihana

2014-01-01

Background. Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a leading cause of HIV-associated mortality globally. High fungal burden in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at diagnosis and poor fungal clearance during treatment are recognized adverse prognostic markers; however, the underlying pathogenic factors that drive these clinical manifestations are incompletely understood. We profiled a large set of clinical isolates for established cryptococcal virulence traits to evaluate the contribution of C. neoformans phenotypic diversity to clinical presentation and outcome in human cryptococcosis. Methods. Sixty-five C. neoformans isolates from clinical trial patients with matched clinical data were assayed in vitro to determine murine macrophage uptake, intracellular proliferation rate (IPR), capsule induction, and laccase activity. Analysis of the correlation between prognostic clinical and host immune parameters and fungal phenotypes was performed using Spearman’s r, while the fungal-dependent impact on long-term survival was determined by Cox regression analysis. Results. High levels of fungal uptake by macrophages in vitro, but not the IPR, were associated with CSF fungal burden (r = 0.38, P = 0.002) and long-term patient survival (hazard ratio [HR] 2.6, 95% CI 1.2–5.5, P = 0.012). High-uptake strains were hypocapsular (r = –0.28, P = 0.05) and exhibited enhanced laccase activity (r = 0.36, P = 0.003). Fungal isolates with greater laccase activity exhibited heightened survival ex vivo in purified CSF (r = 0.49, P < 0.0001) and resistance to clearance following patient antifungal treatment (r = 0.39, P = 0.003). Conclusion. These findings underscore the contribution of cryptococcal-phagocyte interactions and laccase-dependent melanin pathways to human clinical presentation and outcome. Furthermore, characterization of fungal-specific pathways that drive clinical manifestation provide potential targets for the development of therapeutics and the management of CM. Funding. This work was made possible by funding from the Wellcome Trust (WT088148MF), the Medical Research Council (MR/J008176/1), the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre and the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine (to R.C. May), and a Wellcome Trust Intermediate fellowship (089966, to T. Bicanic). The C. neoformans isolates were collected within clinical trials funded by the British Infection Society (fellowship to T. Bicanic), the Wellcome Trust (research training fellowships WT069991, to A.E. Brouwer and WT081794, to J.N. Jarvis), and the Medical Research Council, United Kingdom (76201). The funding sources had no role in the design or conduct of this study, nor in preparation of the manuscript. PMID:24743149

Beginning community engagement at a busy biomedical research programme: Experiences from the KEMRI CGMRC-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya

PubMed Central

Marsh, Vicki; Kamuya, Dorcas; Rowa, Yvonne; Gikonyo, Caroline; Molyneux, Sassy

2008-01-01

There is wide acknowledgement of the need for community engagement in biomedical research, particularly in international settings. Recent debates have described theoretical approaches to identifying situations where this is most critical and potential mechanisms to achieve it. However, there is relatively little published experience of community engagement in practice. A major component of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Wellcome Trust Research Programme is centred on Kilifi District General Hospital and surrounding community of 240,000 local residents. Documented community perceptions of the research centre are generally positive, but many indicate a low understanding of research and therapeutic misconceptions of its activities. As in other settings, these misunderstandings have contributed to concerns and rumours, and potentially undermine ethical aspects of research and local trust in the institution. Through a series of consultative activities, a community engagement strategy has been developed in Kilifi to strengthen mutual understanding between community members and the Centre. One important component is the establishment of a representative local resident network in different geographic locations commonly involved in research, to supplement existing communication channels. Early implementation of the strategy has provided new and diverse opportunities for dialogue, interaction and partnership building. Through the complex social interactions inherent in the community engagement strategy, the centre aims to build context specific ethical relations with local residents and to strengthen understanding of how ethical principles can be applied in practice. Evaluations over time will assess the effectiveness and sustainability of these strategies, provide generalisable information for similar research settings, and contribute to debates on the universality of ethical principles for research. This paper aims to summarise the rationale for community engagement in research, drawing on published literature and local findings, to outline the process of community engagement in Kilifi and to describe issues emerging from its development and early implementation. PMID:18375028

Mutational Signature Mark Cancer’s Smoking Gun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexandrov, Ludmil

A broad computational study of cancer genome sequences by Los Alamos National Laboratory with the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and other collaborators identifies telltale mutational signatures associated with smoking tobacco. The research demonstrates, for the first time, that smoking increases cancer risk by causing somatic mutations in tissues directly and indirectly exposed to tobacco smoke. The international study was published in the November 4 issue of Science. The analysis shows that tobacco smoking causes mutations leading to cancer by multiple distinct mechanisms, including by damaging DNA in organs and by speeding up a mutational cellular clock.

Mutational Signature Mark Cancer’s Smoking Gun

ScienceCinema

Alexandrov, Ludmil

2018-06-13

A broad computational study of cancer genome sequences by Los Alamos National Laboratory with the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and other collaborators identifies telltale mutational signatures associated with smoking tobacco. The research demonstrates, for the first time, that smoking increases cancer risk by causing somatic mutations in tissues directly and indirectly exposed to tobacco smoke. The international study was published in the November 4 issue of Science. The analysis shows that tobacco smoking causes mutations leading to cancer by multiple distinct mechanisms, including by damaging DNA in organs and by speeding up a mutational cellular clock.

Sequence variants in the autophagy gene IRGM and multiple other replicating loci contribute to Crohn disease susceptibility

PubMed Central

Parkes, Miles; Barrett, Jeffrey C; Prescott, Natalie; Tremelling, Mark; Anderson, Carl A; Fisher, Sheila A; Roberts, Roland G; Nimmo, Elaine R; Cummings, Fraser R; Soars, Dianne; Drummond, Hazel; Lees, Charlie W; Khawaja, Saud A; Bagnall, Richard; Burke, Denis A; Todhunter, Catherine E; Ahmad, Tariq; Onnie, Clive M; McArdle, Wendy; Strachan, David; Bethel, Graeme; Bryan, Claire; Deloukas, Panos; Forbes, Alastair; Sanderson, Jeremy; Jewell, Derek P; Satsangi, Jack; Mansfield, John C; Cardon, Lon; Mathew, Christopher G

2008-01-01

A genome-wide association scan in Crohn disease by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium1 detected strong association at 6 novel loci. We tested 37 SNPs from these and other loci for association in an independent case control sample. Replication was obtained for the IRGM gene on chromosome 5q33.1 which induces autophagy (replication P = 6.6 × 10−4, combined P = 2.1 × 10−10), and for 9 other loci including NKX2-3 and gene deserts on chromosomes 1q and 5p13. PMID:17554261

Struggling to be Fit: Identity, Integrity, and the Law

PubMed Central

Harmon, Shawn HE; Brown, Abbe; Popat, Sita; Whatley, Sarah; O’Connor, Rory

2017-01-01

This interdisciplinary co-authored Analysis piece introduces identity and integrity, which are argued to sit at the core of the person. It analyses approaches taken to these concepts by legal regimes, particularly in the context of individuals using artificial limbs or digital avatars. The piece concludes that law engages with identity and integrity to a limited and incomplete extent; and that law is thus inadequate in its engagement with the person, and its meaning making in this respect. This piece draws on two interdisciplinary funded projects, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. PMID:29271979

Implementing a genomic data management system using iRODS in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Increasingly large amounts of DNA sequencing data are being generated within the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI). The traditional file system struggles to handle these increasing amounts of sequence data. A good data management system therefore needs to be implemented and integrated into the current WTSI infrastructure. Such a system enables good management of the IT infrastructure of the sequencing pipeline and allows biologists to track their data. Results We have chosen a data grid system, iRODS (Rule-Oriented Data management systems), to act as the data management system for the WTSI. iRODS provides a rule-based system management approach which makes data replication much easier and provides extra data protection. Unlike the metadata provided by traditional file systems, the metadata system of iRODS is comprehensive and allows users to customize their own application level metadata. Users and IT experts in the WTSI can then query the metadata to find and track data. The aim of this paper is to describe how we designed and used (from both system and user viewpoints) iRODS as a data management system. Details are given about the problems faced and the solutions found when iRODS was implemented. A simple use case describing how users within the WTSI use iRODS is also introduced. Conclusions iRODS has been implemented and works as the production system for the sequencing pipeline of the WTSI. Both biologists and IT experts can now track and manage data, which could not previously be achieved. This novel approach allows biologists to define their own metadata and query the genomic data using those metadata. PMID:21906284

Establishing the UK DNA Bank for motor neuron disease (MND).

PubMed

Smith, Lucy; Cupid, B C; Dickie, B G M; Al-Chalabi, A; Morrison, K E; Shaw, C E; Shaw, P J

2015-07-14

In 2003 the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, together with The Wellcome Trust, funded the creation of a national DNA Bank specific for MND. It was anticipated that the DNA Bank would constitute an important resource to researchers worldwide and significantly increase activity in MND genetic research. The DNA Bank houses over 3000 high quality DNA samples, all of which were donated by people living with MND, family members and non-related controls, accompanied by clinical phenotype data about the patients. Today the primary focus of the UK MND DNA Bank still remains to identify causative and disease modifying factors for this devastating disease.

Endemic Scrub Typhus in South America.

PubMed

Weitzel, Thomas; Dittrich, Sabine; López, Javier; Phuklia, Weerawat; Martinez-Valdebenito, Constanza; Velásquez, Katia; Blacksell, Stuart D; Paris, Daniel H; Abarca, Katia

2016-09-08

Scrub typhus is a life-threatening zoonosis caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi organisms that are transmitted by the larvae of trombiculid mites. Endemic scrub typhus was originally thought to be confined to the so called "tsutsugamushi triangle" within the Asia-Pacific region. In 2006, however, two individual cases were detected in the Middle East and South America, which suggested that the pathogen was present farther afield. Here, we report three autochthonous cases of scrub typhus caused by O. tsutsugamushi acquired on Chiloé Island in southern Chile, which suggests the existence of an endemic focus in South America. (Funded by the Chilean Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica and the Wellcome Trust.).

Henry Solomon Wellcome: A philanthropist and a pioneer sponsor of medical research in the Sudan

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Henry Solomon Wellcome, the famous drug manufacturer had a fascinating association with the Sudan. Besides supporting tropical medicine research in this country, he established an extensive project in the Sudan that aimed at combining archeological excavations, philanthropy and social reform. This article is an archives-based account on this side of Wellcome’s association with the Sudan. The article starts with Wellcome’s early years in the American Midwest and the evolution of his career and his rise as a world-renowned drug manufacturer. After the battle of Omdurman, Wellcome visited Sudan in 1900 – 1901 where he offered to support the establishment of the research laboratories which later came to be known as the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories in Khartoum. He then became directly involved in the planning and running of extensive archeological excavations in the central Sudan. This project served as a field in which Wellcome found an outlet for his philanthropy. More than 4000 labourers were employed in Jebel Moya. Professional archeologists and anatomists were recruited by Wellcome to supervise the work, and all the requirements in terms of equipment were catered for. Wellcome devised a Savings Bank System whereby part of the earnings of each labourer were saved to him till the end of the season. He also introduced one of his innovations: aerial photography using box kite which was used for the first time in archeology. Wellcome made it a rule that no applicant should be turned away. The Camp Commandant had to find suitable work for each applicant, including the handicapped who were assigned to appropriate jobs like mending baskets or cutting grass for building huts. Wellcome’s welfare work had a significant impact on the local inhabitants of Jebel Moya. Henry Solomon Wellcome, 1906. Oil painting by Hugh Goldwin Riviere. Credit: Wellcome Library PMID:27493379

Public engagement in Malawi through a health-talk radio programme ' Umoyo nkukambirana': A mixed-methods evaluation.

PubMed

Nyirenda, Deborah; Makawa, Tamara Chipasula; Chapita, Greyson; Mdalla, Chisomo; Nkolokosa, Mzati; O'byrne, Thomasena; Heyderman, Robert; Desmond, Nicola

2018-02-01

Radio is an effective source of health information in many resource poor countries. In Malawi, 53% of households own radios however few radio programmes in Malawi focus on health issues in the context of medical research. An interactive health-talk radio programme ' Umoyo nkukambirana' was introduced by Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme on a national radio station. The aim was to increase awareness of health and medical research, and improve engagement between researchers, healthcare workers and the public. The content and presentation were developed through participatory community consultations. Focus Group Discussions were conducted with established Radio Listening Clubs whilst quantitative data was collected using toll free FrontlineSMS to explore national response. A total of 277 to 695 SMS (Median: 477) were received per theme. The majority of SMS were received from men (64%) and mainly from rural areas (54%). The programme improved knowledge of medical research, health and dispelled misconceptions. This study suggests that the radio may be an effective means of increasing the exposure of men to health information in resource poor settings.

Public engagement in Malawi through a health-talk radio programme ‘Umoyo nkukambirana’: A mixed-methods evaluation

PubMed Central

Nyirenda, Deborah; Makawa, Tamara Chipasula; Chapita, Greyson; Mdalla, Chisomo; Nkolokosa, Mzati; O’byrne, Thomasena; Heyderman, Robert; Desmond, Nicola

2016-01-01

Radio is an effective source of health information in many resource poor countries. In Malawi, 53% of households own radios however few radio programmes in Malawi focus on health issues in the context of medical research. An interactive health-talk radio programme ‘Umoyo nkukambirana’ was introduced by Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme on a national radio station. The aim was to increase awareness of health and medical research, and improve engagement between researchers, healthcare workers and the public. The content and presentation were developed through participatory community consultations. Focus Group Discussions were conducted with established Radio Listening Clubs whilst quantitative data was collected using toll free FrontlineSMS to explore national response. A total of 277 to 695 SMS (Median: 477) were received per theme. The majority of SMS were received from men (64%) and mainly from rural areas (54%). The programme improved knowledge of medical research, health and dispelled misconceptions. This study suggests that the radio may be an effective means of increasing the exposure of men to health information in resource poor settings. PMID:27365364

Toward an architecture of attachment disorganization: John Bowlby's published and unpublished reflections.

PubMed

Solomon, Judith; Duschinsky, Robbie; Bakkum, Lianne; Schuengel, Carlo

2017-10-01

This article examines the construct of disorganized attachment originally proposed by Main and Solomon, developing some new conjectures based on inspiration from a largely unknown source: John Bowlby's unpublished texts, housed at the Wellcome Trust Library Archive in London (with permission from the Bowlby family). We explore Bowlby's discussions of disorganized attachment, which he understood from the perspective of ethological theories of conflict behavior. Bowlby's reflections regarding differences among the behaviors used to code disorganized attachment will be used to explore distinctions that may underlie the structure of the current coding system. The article closes with an emphasis on the importance Bowlby placed on Popper's distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification in developmental science.

Toward an architecture of attachment disorganization: John Bowlby’s published and unpublished reflections

PubMed Central

Solomon, Judith; Duschinsky, Robbie; Bakkum, Lianne; Schuengel, Carlo

2017-01-01

This article examines the construct of disorganized attachment originally proposed by Main and Solomon, developing some new conjectures based on inspiration from a largely unknown source: John Bowlby’s unpublished texts, housed at the Wellcome Trust Library Archive in London (with permission from the Bowlby family). We explore Bowlby’s discussions of disorganized attachment, which he understood from the perspective of ethological theories of conflict behavior. Bowlby’s reflections regarding differences among the behaviors used to code disorganized attachment will be used to explore distinctions that may underlie the structure of the current coding system. The article closes with an emphasis on the importance Bowlby placed on Popper’s distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification in developmental science. PMID:28791871

Imaging as a biomarker in drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease: is MRI a suitable technology?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

This review provides perspectives on the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a neuroimaging approach in the development of novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. These considerations were generated in a roundtable at a recent Wellcome Trust meeting that included experts from academia and industry. It was agreed that MRI, either structural or functional, could be used as a diagnostic, for assessing worsening of disease status, for monitoring vascular pathology, and for stratifying clinical trial populations. It was agreed also that MRI implementation is in its infancy, requiring more evidence of association with the disease states, test-retest data, better standardization across multiple clinical sites, and application in multimodal approaches which include other imaging technologies, such as positron emission tomography, electroencephalography, and magnetoencephalography. PMID:25484927

Mental disorder ethics: theory and empirical investigation

PubMed Central

Eastman, N; Starling, B

2006-01-01

Mental disorders and their care present unusual problems within biomedical ethics. The disorders themselves invite an ethical critique, as does society's attitude to them; researching the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders also presents special ethical issues. The current high profile of mental disorder ethics, emphasised by recent political and legal developments, makes this a field of research that is not only important but also highly topical. For these reasons, the Wellcome Trust's biomedical ethics programme convened a meeting, “Investigating Ethics and Mental Disorders”, in order to review some current research, and to stimulate topics and methods of future research in the field. The meeting was attended by policy makers, regulators, research funders, and researchers, including social scientists, psychiatrists, psychologists, lawyers, philosophers, criminologists, and others. As well as aiming to inspire a stronger research endeavour, the meeting also sought to stimulate an improved understanding of the methods and interactions that can contribute to “empirical ethics” generally. This paper reports on the meeting by describing contributions from individual speakers and discussion sections of the meeting. At the end we describe and discuss the conclusions of the meeting. As a result, the text is referenced less than would normally be expected in a review. Also, in summarising contributions from named presenters at the meeting it is possible that we have created inaccuracies; however, the definitive version of each paper, as provided directly by the presenter, is available at http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc.WTX025116.html. PMID:16446414

A relic of the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories in Khartoum (1903-34).

PubMed

Adeel, Ahmed Awad

2016-01-01

This article explores the origins of an old brass monocular microscope in the Central Laboratory in Khartoum, which used to be the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratory in Khartoum (1903-1934). Examination of the microscope and review of published literature gave clues to the historical background of this microscope. Identical microscopes were first manufactured by R and J Beck in 1898, and continued to be advertised in 1899. The microscope was probably among the instruments provided by Wellcome for the initial establishment of the laboratories in 1902-1903. The article includes a brief review of the development of light microscopy. The need for preservation and proper restoration of old relics of the Wellcome laboratories in Khartoum is emphasized.

A relic of the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories in Khartoum (1903–34)

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

This article explores the origins of an old brass monocular microscope in the Central Laboratory in Khartoum, which used to be the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratory in Khartoum (1903–1934). Examination of the microscope and review of published literature gave clues to the historical background of this microscope. Identical microscopes were first manufactured by R and J Beck in 1898, and continued to be advertised in 1899. The microscope was probably among the instruments provided by Wellcome for the initial establishment of the laboratories in 1902–1903. The article includes a brief review of the development of light microscopy. The need for preservation and proper restoration of old relics of the Wellcome laboratories in Khartoum is emphasized. PMID:27651557

50 years of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses: progress and prospects.

PubMed

Adams, Michael J; Lefkowitz, Elliot J; King, Andrew M Q; Harrach, Balázs; Harrison, Robert L; Knowles, Nick J; Kropinski, Andrew M; Krupovic, Mart; Kuhn, Jens H; Mushegian, Arcady R; Nibert, Max L; Sabanadzovic, Sead; Sanfaçon, Hélène; Siddell, Stuart G; Simmonds, Peter; Varsani, Arvind; Zerbini, Francisco Murilo; Orton, Richard J; Smith, Donald B; Gorbalenya, Alexander E; Davison, Andrew J

2017-05-01

We mark the 50th anniversary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) by presenting a brief history of the organization since its foundation, showing how it has adapted to advancements in our knowledge of virus diversity and the methods used to characterize it. We also outline recent developments, supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust (UK), that are facilitating substantial changes in the operations of the ICTV and promoting dialogue with the virology community. These developments will generate improved online resources, including a freely available and regularly updated ICTV Virus Taxonomy Report. They also include a series of meetings between the ICTV and the broader community focused on some of the major challenges facing virus taxonomy, with the outcomes helping to inform the future policy and practice of the ICTV.

[The program of Founding Research Centers for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases: the present status and future prospects].

PubMed

Okamoto, Yoshiko; Nagai, Yoshiyuki

2007-12-01

The program of Founding Research Centers for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases was commenced in 2005 with an outline for Japanese universities and research institutions to establish bilateral collaboration research bases in countries where emerging and reemerging infections are breaking out or will likely break out. So far, six universities and two institutions are participating in the program and ten collaboration bases have been established in six countries (five in Asia and one in Africa). Each research base aims to contribute to the security and safety of the partner and own countries by facilitating better understanding of infectious diseases, technology innovation in diagnosis, therapy and prevention, and human resources development. The experiences of the Reseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), France, and the Wellcome Trust Southeast Asian Tropical Medicine Research Units (Oxford Network), United Kingdom, which appear to share similar missions, suggest that infectious diseases research that is based on overseas research bases can produce first-time results through the building of long-term mutual trust with the counterparts. By referring to these networks as models, Japan's program should be implemented over the long run but not be based on a short-time perspective. Thus, secure funding is a major issue.

Poly-Omic Prediction of Complex Traits: OmicKriging

PubMed Central

Wheeler, Heather E.; Aquino-Michaels, Keston; Gamazon, Eric R.; Trubetskoy, Vassily V.; Dolan, M. Eileen; Huang, R. Stephanie; Cox, Nancy J.; Im, Hae Kyung

2014-01-01

High-confidence prediction of complex traits such as disease risk or drug response is an ultimate goal of personalized medicine. Although genome-wide association studies have discovered thousands of well-replicated polymorphisms associated with a broad spectrum of complex traits, the combined predictive power of these associations for any given trait is generally too low to be of clinical relevance. We propose a novel systems approach to complex trait prediction, which leverages and integrates similarity in genetic, transcriptomic, or other omics-level data. We translate the omic similarity into phenotypic similarity using a method called Kriging, commonly used in geostatistics and machine learning. Our method called OmicKriging emphasizes the use of a wide variety of systems-level data, such as those increasingly made available by comprehensive surveys of the genome, transcriptome, and epigenome, for complex trait prediction. Furthermore, our OmicKriging framework allows easy integration of prior information on the function of subsets of omics-level data from heterogeneous sources without the sometimes heavy computational burden of Bayesian approaches. Using seven disease datasets from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC), we show that OmicKriging allows simple integration of sparse and highly polygenic components yielding comparable performance at a fraction of the computing time of a recently published Bayesian sparse linear mixed model method. Using a cellular growth phenotype, we show that integrating mRNA and microRNA expression data substantially increases performance over either dataset alone. Using clinical statin response, we show improved prediction over existing methods. PMID:24799323

Malaria research in Malawi from 1984 to 2016: a literature review and bibliometric analysis.

PubMed

Mwendera, Chikondi A; de Jager, Christiaan; Longwe, Herbert; Hongoro, Charles; Mutero, Clifford M; Phiri, Kamija S

2017-06-12

Malaria research can play a vital role in addressing the malaria burden in Malawi. An organized approach in addressing malaria in Malawi started in 1984 by the establishment of the first National Malaria Control Programme and research was recognized to be significant. This study aimed to assess the type and amount of malaria research conducted in Malawi from 1984 to 2016 and its related source of funding. A systematic literature search was conducted in the Medline/PubMed database for Malawian publications and approved malaria studies from two Ethical Committees were examined. Bibliometric analysis was utilized to capture the affiliations of first and senior/last authors, funding acknowledgements, while titles, abstracts and accessed full text were examined for research type. A total of 483 publications and 165 approved studies were analysed. Clinical and basic research in the fields of malaria in pregnancy 105 (21.5%), severe malaria 97 (20.1%) and vector and/or agent dynamics 69 (14.3%) dominated in the publications while morbidity 33 (20%), severe malaria 28 (17%) and Health Policy and Systems Research 24 (14.5%) dominated in the approved studies. In the publications, 146 (30%) first authors and 100 (21%) senior authors, and 88 (53.3%) principal investigators in approved studies were affiliated to Malawian-based institutions. Most researchers were affiliated to the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust, College of Medicine, Blantyre Malaria Project, Ministry of Health, and Malaria Alert Centre. The major malaria research funders were the National Institute for Health/USA, Wellcome Trust and the US Agency for International Development. Only three (2.5%) out of 118 journals publishing research on malaria in Malawi were from Africa and the Malaria Journal, with 76 (15.7%) publications, published most of the research from Malawi, followed by the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene with 57 (11.8%) in comparison to only 13 (2.7%) published in the local Malawi Medical Journal. Clinical and basic research, which is mostly funded externally, in the fields of malaria in pregnancy, severe malaria and vector and/or agent dynamics dominated, while health policy and system research was least supported. The quantity may reflect scientific research activity but the initial primary impact is contribution to policy development.

Kisspeptin modulates sexual and emotional brain processing in humans.

PubMed

Comninos, Alexander N; Wall, Matthew B; Demetriou, Lysia; Shah, Amar J; Clarke, Sophie A; Narayanaswamy, Shakunthala; Nesbitt, Alexander; Izzi-Engbeaya, Chioma; Prague, Julia K; Abbara, Ali; Ratnasabapathy, Risheka; Salem, Victoria; Nijher, Gurjinder M; Jayasena, Channa N; Tanner, Mark; Bassett, Paul; Mehta, Amrish; Rabiner, Eugenii A; Hönigsperger, Christoph; Silva, Meire Ribeiro; Brandtzaeg, Ole Kristian; Lundanes, Elsa; Wilson, Steven Ray; Brown, Rachel C; Thomas, Sarah A; Bloom, Stephen R; Dhillo, Waljit S

2017-02-01

Sex, emotion, and reproduction are fundamental and tightly entwined aspects of human behavior. At a population level in humans, both the desire for sexual stimulation and the desire to bond with a partner are important precursors to reproduction. However, the relationships between these processes are incompletely understood. The limbic brain system has key roles in sexual and emotional behaviors, and is a likely candidate system for the integration of behavior with the hormonal reproductive axis. We investigated the effects of kisspeptin, a recently identified key reproductive hormone, on limbic brain activity and behavior. Using a combination of functional neuroimaging and hormonal and psychometric analyses, we compared the effects of kisspeptin versus vehicle administration in 29 healthy heterosexual young men. We demonstrated that kisspeptin administration enhanced limbic brain activity specifically in response to sexual and couple-bonding stimuli. Furthermore, kisspeptin's enhancement of limbic brain structures correlated with psychometric measures of reward, drive, mood, and sexual aversion, providing functional significance. In addition, kisspeptin administration attenuated negative mood. Collectively, our data provide evidence of an undescribed role for kisspeptin in integrating sexual and emotional brain processing with reproduction in humans. These results have important implications for our understanding of reproductive biology and are highly relevant to the current pharmacological development of kisspeptin as a potential therapeutic agent for patients with common disorders of reproductive function. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Wellcome Trust (Ref 080268), and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Using ancestry-informative markers to identify fine structure across 15 populations of European origin.

PubMed

Huckins, Laura M; Boraska, Vesna; Franklin, Christopher S; Floyd, James A B; Southam, Lorraine; Sullivan, Patrick F; Bulik, Cynthia M; Collier, David A; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Tachmazidou, Ioanna

2014-10-01

The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 anorexia nervosa genome-wide association scan includes 2907 cases from 15 different populations of European origin genotyped on the Illumina 670K chip. We compared methods for identifying population stratification, and suggest list of markers that may help to counter this problem. It is usual to identify population structure in such studies using only common variants with minor allele frequency (MAF) >5%; we find that this may result in highly informative SNPs being discarded, and suggest that instead all SNPs with MAF >1% may be used. We established informative axes of variation identified via principal component analysis and highlight important features of the genetic structure of diverse European-descent populations, some studied for the first time at this scale. Finally, we investigated the substructure within each of these 15 populations and identified SNPs that help capture hidden stratification. This work can provide information regarding the designing and interpretation of association results in the International Consortia.

Back to the Future: Lessons Learned in Modern Target-based and Whole-Cell Lead Optimization of Antimalarials

PubMed Central

Chatterjee, Arnab K; Yeung, Bryan KS

2012-01-01

Antimalarial drug discovery has historically benefited from the whole-cell (phenotypic) screening approach to identify lead molecules in the search for new drugs. However over the past two decades there has been a shift in the pharmaceutical industry to move away from whole-cell screening to target-based approaches. As part of a Wellcome Trust and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) funded consortium to discover new blood-stage antimalarials, we used both approaches to identify new antimalarial chemotypes, two of which have progressed beyond the lead optimization phase and display excellent in vivo efficacy in mice. These two advanced series were identified through a cell-based optimization devoid of target information and in this review we summarize the advantages of this approach versus a target-based optimization. Although the each lead optimization required slightly different medicinal chemistry strategies, we observed some common issues across the different the scaffolds which could be applied to other cell based lead optimization programs. PMID:22242845

Implementing a successful data-management framework: the UK10K managed access model

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

This paper outlines the history behind open access principles and describes the development of a managed access data-sharing process for the UK10K Project, currently Britain’s largest genomic sequencing consortium (2010 to 2013). Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the purpose of UK10K was two-fold: to investigate how low-frequency and rare genetic variants contribute to human disease, and to provide an enduring data resource for future research into human genetics. In this paper, we discuss the challenge of reconciling data-sharing principles with the practicalities of delivering a sequencing project of UK10K’s scope and magnitude. We describe the development of a sustainable, easy-to-use managed access system that allowed rapid access to UK10K data, while protecting the interests of participants and data generators alike. Specifically, we focus in depth on the three key issues that emerge in the data pipeline: study recruitment, data release and data access. PMID:24229443

Significance of genome-wide association studies in molecular anthropology.

PubMed

Gupta, Vipin; Khadgawat, Rajesh; Sachdeva, Mohinder Pal

2009-12-01

The successful advent of a genome-wide approach in association studies raises the hopes of human geneticists for solving a genetic maze of complex traits especially the disorders. This approach, which is replete with the application of cutting-edge technology and supported by big science projects (like Human Genome Project; and even more importantly the International HapMap Project) and various important databases (SNP database, CNV database, etc.), has had unprecedented success in rapidly uncovering many of the genetic determinants of complex disorders. The magnitude of this approach in the genetics of classical anthropological variables like height, skin color, eye color, and other genome diversity projects has certainly expanded the horizons of molecular anthropology. Therefore, in this article we have proposed a genome-wide association approach in molecular anthropological studies by providing lessons from the exemplary study of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. We have also highlighted the importance and uniqueness of Indian population groups in facilitating the design and finding optimum solutions for other genome-wide association-related challenges.

Prevalence of infertility and help seeking among 15 000 women and men

PubMed Central

Datta, J.; Palmer, M.J.; Tanton, C.; Gibson, L.J.; Jones, K.G.; Macdowall, W.; Glasier, A.; Sonnenberg, P.; Field, N.; Mercer, C.H.; Johnson, A.M.; Wellings, K.

2016-01-01

STUDY QUESTION What is the prevalence of infertility and of help seeking among women and men in Britain? SUMMARY ANSWER One in eight women and one in ten men aged 16–74 years had experienced infertility, defined by unsuccessfully attempting pregnancy for a year or longer, and little more than half of these people sought medical or professional help. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Estimates of infertility and help seeking in Britain vary widely and are not easily comparable because of different definitions and study populations. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION A cross-sectional population survey was conducted between 2010 and 2012 with a sample of 15 162 women and men aged 16–74 years. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Participants completed the Natsal-3 questionnaire, using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and computer-assisted self-interview (CASI). MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE The reported prevalence of infertility was 12.5% (CI 95% 11.7–13.3) among women and 10.1% (CI 95% 9.2–11.1) among men. Increased prevalence was associated with later cohabitation with a partner, higher socio-economic status and, for those who had a child, becoming parents at older ages. The reported prevalence of help seeking was 57.3% (CI 95% 53.6–61.0) among women and 53.2% (CI 95% 48.1–58.1) among men. Help seekers were more likely to be better educated and in higher status occupations and, among those who had a child, to have become parents later in life. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION These data are cross-sectional so it is not possible to establish temporality or infer causality. Self-reported data may be subject to recall bias. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The study provides estimates of infertility and help seeking in Britain and the results indicate that the prevalence of infertility is higher among those delaying parenthood. Those with higher educational qualifications and occupational status are more likely to consult with medical professionals for fertility problems than others and these inequalities in help seeking should be considered by clinical practice and public health. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) Funding was provided by grants from the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust, with support from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department of Health. AMJ is a Governor of the Wellcome Trust. Other authors have no competing interests. PMID:27365525

Heritability of variation in glycaemic response to metformin: a genome-wide complex trait analysis

PubMed Central

Zhou, Kaixin; Donnelly, Louise; Yang, Jian; Li, Miaoxin; Deshmukh, Harshal; Van Zuydam, Natalie; Ahlqvist, Emma; Spencer, Chris C; Groop, Leif; Morris, Andrew D; Colhoun, Helen M; Sham, Pak C; McCarthy, Mark I; Palmer, Colin N A; Pearson, Ewan R

2014-01-01

Summary Background Metformin is a first-line oral agent used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but glycaemic response to this drug is highly variable. Understanding the genetic contribution to metformin response might increase the possibility of personalising metformin treatment. We aimed to establish the heritability of glycaemic response to metformin using the genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) method. Methods In this GCTA study, we obtained data about HbA1c concentrations before and during metformin treatment from patients in the Genetics of Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Scotland (GoDARTS) study, which includes a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes and is linked to comprehensive clinical databases and genome-wide association study data. We applied the GCTA method to estimate heritability for four definitions of glycaemic response to metformin: absolute reduction in HbA1c; proportional reduction in HbA1c; adjusted reduction in HbA1c; and whether or not the target on-treatment HbA1c of less than 7% (53 mmol/mol) was achieved, with adjustment for baseline HbA1c and known clinical covariates. Chromosome-wise heritability estimation was used to obtain further information about the genetic architecture. Findings 5386 individuals were included in the final dataset, of whom 2085 had enough clinical data to define glycaemic response to metformin. The heritability of glycaemic response to metformin varied by response phenotype, with a heritability of 34% (95% CI 1–68; p=0·022) for the absolute reduction in HbA1c, adjusted for pretreatment HbA1c. Chromosome-wise heritability estimates suggest that the genetic contribution is probably from individual variants scattered across the genome, which each have a small to moderate effect, rather than from a few loci that each have a large effect. Interpretation Glycaemic response to metformin is heritable, thus glycaemic response to metformin is, in part, intrinsic to individual biological variation. Further genetic analysis might enable us to make better predictions for stratified medicine and to unravel new mechanisms of metformin action. Funding Wellcome Trust. PMID:24731673

Heritability of variation in glycaemic response to metformin: a genome-wide complex trait analysis.

PubMed

Zhou, Kaixin; Donnelly, Louise; Yang, Jian; Li, Miaoxin; Deshmukh, Harshal; Van Zuydam, Natalie; Ahlqvist, Emma; Spencer, Chris C; Groop, Leif; Morris, Andrew D; Colhoun, Helen M; Sham, Pak C; McCarthy, Mark I; Palmer, Colin N A; Pearson, Ewan R

2014-06-01

Metformin is a first-line oral agent used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but glycaemic response to this drug is highly variable. Understanding the genetic contribution to metformin response might increase the possibility of personalising metformin treatment. We aimed to establish the heritability of glycaemic response to metformin using the genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) method. In this GCTA study, we obtained data about HbA1c concentrations before and during metformin treatment from patients in the Genetics of Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Scotland (GoDARTS) study, which includes a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes and is linked to comprehensive clinical databases and genome-wide association study data. We applied the GCTA method to estimate heritability for four definitions of glycaemic response to metformin: absolute reduction in HbA1c; proportional reduction in HbA1c; adjusted reduction in HbA1c; and whether or not the target on-treatment HbA1c of less than 7% (53 mmol/mol) was achieved, with adjustment for baseline HbA1c and known clinical covariates. Chromosome-wise heritability estimation was used to obtain further information about the genetic architecture. 5386 individuals were included in the final dataset, of whom 2085 had enough clinical data to define glycaemic response to metformin. The heritability of glycaemic response to metformin varied by response phenotype, with a heritability of 34% (95% CI 1-68; p=0·022) for the absolute reduction in HbA1c, adjusted for pretreatment HbA1c. Chromosome-wise heritability estimates suggest that the genetic contribution is probably from individual variants scattered across the genome, which each have a small to moderate effect, rather than from a few loci that each have a large effect. Glycaemic response to metformin is heritable, thus glycaemic response to metformin is, in part, intrinsic to individual biological variation. Further genetic analysis might enable us to make better predictions for stratified medicine and to unravel new mechanisms of metformin action. Wellcome Trust. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stochastic model search with binary outcomes for genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Russu, Alberto; Malovini, Alberto; Puca, Annibale A; Bellazzi, Riccardo

2012-06-01

The spread of case-control genome-wide association studies (GWASs) has stimulated the development of new variable selection methods and predictive models. We introduce a novel Bayesian model search algorithm, Binary Outcome Stochastic Search (BOSS), which addresses the model selection problem when the number of predictors far exceeds the number of binary responses. Our method is based on a latent variable model that links the observed outcomes to the underlying genetic variables. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach is used for model search and to evaluate the posterior probability of each predictor. BOSS is compared with three established methods (stepwise regression, logistic lasso, and elastic net) in a simulated benchmark. Two real case studies are also investigated: a GWAS on the genetic bases of longevity, and the type 2 diabetes study from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Simulations show that BOSS achieves higher precisions than the reference methods while preserving good recall rates. In both experimental studies, BOSS successfully detects genetic polymorphisms previously reported to be associated with the analyzed phenotypes. BOSS outperforms the other methods in terms of F-measure on simulated data. In the two real studies, BOSS successfully detects biologically relevant features, some of which are missed by univariate analysis and the three reference techniques. The proposed algorithm is an advance in the methodology for model selection with a large number of features. Our simulated and experimental results showed that BOSS proves effective in detecting relevant markers while providing a parsimonious model.

Kisspeptin modulates sexual and emotional brain processing in humans

PubMed Central

Comninos, Alexander N.; Wall, Matthew B.; Demetriou, Lysia; Shah, Amar J.; Clarke, Sophie A.; Narayanaswamy, Shakunthala; Nesbitt, Alexander; Izzi-Engbeaya, Chioma; Prague, Julia K.; Abbara, Ali; Ratnasabapathy, Risheka; Salem, Victoria; Nijher, Gurjinder M.; Jayasena, Channa N.; Tanner, Mark; Bassett, Paul; Mehta, Amrish; Rabiner, Eugenii A.; Hönigsperger, Christoph; Silva, Meire Ribeiro; Brandtzaeg, Ole Kristian; Wilson, Steven Ray; Brown, Rachel C.; Thomas, Sarah A.; Bloom, Stephen R.; Dhillo, Waljit S.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND. Sex, emotion, and reproduction are fundamental and tightly entwined aspects of human behavior. At a population level in humans, both the desire for sexual stimulation and the desire to bond with a partner are important precursors to reproduction. However, the relationships between these processes are incompletely understood. The limbic brain system has key roles in sexual and emotional behaviors, and is a likely candidate system for the integration of behavior with the hormonal reproductive axis. We investigated the effects of kisspeptin, a recently identified key reproductive hormone, on limbic brain activity and behavior. METHODS. Using a combination of functional neuroimaging and hormonal and psychometric analyses, we compared the effects of kisspeptin versus vehicle administration in 29 healthy heterosexual young men. RESULTS. We demonstrated that kisspeptin administration enhanced limbic brain activity specifically in response to sexual and couple-bonding stimuli. Furthermore, kisspeptin’s enhancement of limbic brain structures correlated with psychometric measures of reward, drive, mood, and sexual aversion, providing functional significance. In addition, kisspeptin administration attenuated negative mood. CONCLUSIONS. Collectively, our data provide evidence of an undescribed role for kisspeptin in integrating sexual and emotional brain processing with reproduction in humans. These results have important implications for our understanding of reproductive biology and are highly relevant to the current pharmacological development of kisspeptin as a potential therapeutic agent for patients with common disorders of reproductive function. FUNDING. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Wellcome Trust (Ref 080268), and the Medical Research Council (MRC). PMID:28112678

Current dichotomy between traditional molecular biological and omic research in cancer biology and pharmacology.

PubMed

Reinhold, William C

2015-12-10

There is currently a split within the cancer research community between traditional molecular biological hypothesis-driven and the more recent "omic" forms or research. While the molecular biological approach employs the tried and true single alteration-single response formulations of experimentation, the omic employs broad-based assay or sample collection approaches that generate large volumes of data. How to integrate the benefits of these two approaches in an efficient and productive fashion remains an outstanding issue. Ideally, one would merge the understandability, exactness, simplicity, and testability of the molecular biological approach, with the larger amounts of data, simultaneous consideration of multiple alterations, consideration of genes both of known interest along with the novel, cross-sample comparisons among cell lines and patient samples, and consideration of directed questions while simultaneously gaining exposure to the novel provided by the omic approach. While at the current time integration of the two disciplines remains problematic, attempts to do so are ongoing, and will be necessary for the understanding of the large cell line screens including the Developmental Therapeutics Program's NCI-60, the Broad Institute's Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's Cancer Genome Project, as well as the the Cancer Genome Atlas clinical samples project. Going forward there is significant benefit to be had from the integration of the molecular biological and the omic forms or research, with the desired goal being improved translational understanding and application.

fMRat: an extension of SPM for a fully automatic analysis of rodent brain functional magnetic resonance series.

PubMed

Chavarrías, Cristina; García-Vázquez, Verónica; Alemán-Gómez, Yasser; Montesinos, Paula; Pascau, Javier; Desco, Manuel

2016-05-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a multi-platform automatic software tool for full processing of fMRI rodent studies. Existing tools require the usage of several different plug-ins, a significant user interaction and/or programming skills. Based on a user-friendly interface, the tool provides statistical parametric brain maps (t and Z) and percentage of signal change for user-provided regions of interest. The tool is coded in MATLAB (MathWorks(®)) and implemented as a plug-in for SPM (Statistical Parametric Mapping, the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging). The automatic pipeline loads default parameters that are appropriate for preclinical studies and processes multiple subjects in batch mode (from images in either Nifti or raw Bruker format). In advanced mode, all processing steps can be selected or deselected and executed independently. Processing parameters and workflow were optimized for rat studies and assessed using 460 male-rat fMRI series on which we tested five smoothing kernel sizes and three different hemodynamic models. A smoothing kernel of FWHM = 1.2 mm (four times the voxel size) yielded the highest t values at the somatosensorial primary cortex, and a boxcar response function provided the lowest residual variance after fitting. fMRat offers the features of a thorough SPM-based analysis combined with the functionality of several SPM extensions in a single automatic pipeline with a user-friendly interface. The code and sample images can be downloaded from https://github.com/HGGM-LIM/fmrat .

Greek Manuscripts at the Wellcome Library in London: A Descriptive Catalogue

PubMed Central

Bouras-Vallianatos, Petros

2015-01-01

This article presents a new, detailed catalogue of the Greek manuscripts at the Wellcome Library in London. It consists of an introduction to the history of the collection and its scholarly importance, followed by separate entries for each manuscript. Each entry identifies the text(s) found in the respective manuscript – including reference to existing printed edition(s) of such texts – and gives a physical description of the codex, details on its provenance and bibliographical references. PMID:25766544

GBOOST: a GPU-based tool for detecting gene-gene interactions in genome-wide case control studies.

PubMed

Yung, Ling Sing; Yang, Can; Wan, Xiang; Yu, Weichuan

2011-05-01

Collecting millions of genetic variations is feasible with the advanced genotyping technology. With a huge amount of genetic variations data in hand, developing efficient algorithms to carry out the gene-gene interaction analysis in a timely manner has become one of the key problems in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Boolean operation-based screening and testing (BOOST), a recent work in GWAS, completes gene-gene interaction analysis in 2.5 days on a desktop computer. Compared with central processing units (CPUs), graphic processing units (GPUs) are highly parallel hardware and provide massive computing resources. We are, therefore, motivated to use GPUs to further speed up the analysis of gene-gene interactions. We implement the BOOST method based on a GPU framework and name it GBOOST. GBOOST achieves a 40-fold speedup compared with BOOST. It completes the analysis of Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium Type 2 Diabetes (WTCCC T2D) genome data within 1.34 h on a desktop computer equipped with Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 display card. GBOOST code is available at http://bioinformatics.ust.hk/BOOST.html#GBOOST.

Genome-wide significant locus for Research Diagnostic Criteria Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar type.

PubMed

Green, Elaine K; Di Florio, Arianna; Forty, Liz; Gordon-Smith, Katherine; Grozeva, Detelina; Fraser, Christine; Richards, Alexander L; Moran, Jennifer L; Purcell, Shaun; Sklar, Pamela; Kirov, George; Owen, Michael J; O'Donovan, Michael C; Craddock, Nick; Jones, Lisa; Jones, Ian R

2017-12-01

Studies have suggested that Research Diagnostic Criteria for Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar type (RDC-SABP) might identify a more genetically homogenous subgroup of bipolar disorder. Aiming to identify loci associated with RDC-SABP, we have performed a replication study using independent RDC-SABP cases (n = 144) and controls (n = 6,559), focusing on the 10 loci that reached a p-value <10 -5 for RDC-SABP in the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) bipolar disorder sample. Combining the WTCCC and replication datasets by meta-analysis (combined RDC-SABP, n = 423, controls, n = 9,494), we observed genome-wide significant association at one SNP, rs2352974, located within the intron of the gene TRAIP on chromosome 3p21.31 (p-value, 4.37 × 10 -8 ). This locus did not reach genome-wide significance in bipolar disorder or schizophrenia large Psychiatric Genomic Consortium datasets, suggesting that it may represent a relatively specific genetic risk for the bipolar subtype of schizoaffective disorder. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gene therapy coming of age in Latin America.

PubMed

Podhajcer, Osvaldo; Pitossi, Fernando; Agilar-Cordova, Estuardo

2002-08-01

"Gene Therapy in Latin America: From the Bench to the Clinic," a meeting sponsored by the Wellcome Trust and the United Nations University through the Biotechnology Program for Latin America and the Caribbean, took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from May 20 to 22. This symposium, which was hosted by Osvaldo Podhajcer and Fernando Pitossi,had more than 150 basic scientists and physician-scientists from academia, government and industry in Latin America, similar to the first meeting of the Asociacion Iberoamericana de Terapia Génica (Iberoamerican Society of Gene Therapy, AITG) held in Guadalajara, México, two years ago. Participants represented Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala, with guests from the United States and Europe. All came together to discuss the latest developments in this field in the region. A primary objective of this gathering was to bring together Latin American scientists involved in gene therapy to strengthen continental collaborations and to further disseminate the scientific expertise available in Latin America. The symposium was followed by a 10-day practical course for 25 students from all over Latin America.

PBOOST: a GPU-based tool for parallel permutation tests in genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Yang, Guangyuan; Jiang, Wei; Yang, Qiang; Yu, Weichuan

2015-05-01

The importance of testing associations allowing for interactions has been demonstrated by Marchini et al. (2005). A fast method detecting associations allowing for interactions has been proposed by Wan et al. (2010a). The method is based on likelihood ratio test with the assumption that the statistic follows the χ(2) distribution. Many single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) pairs with significant associations allowing for interactions have been detected using their method. However, the assumption of χ(2) test requires the expected values in each cell of the contingency table to be at least five. This assumption is violated in some identified SNP pairs. In this case, likelihood ratio test may not be applicable any more. Permutation test is an ideal approach to checking the P-values calculated in likelihood ratio test because of its non-parametric nature. The P-values of SNP pairs having significant associations with disease are always extremely small. Thus, we need a huge number of permutations to achieve correspondingly high resolution for the P-values. In order to investigate whether the P-values from likelihood ratio tests are reliable, a fast permutation tool to accomplish large number of permutations is desirable. We developed a permutation tool named PBOOST. It is based on GPU with highly reliable P-value estimation. By using simulation data, we found that the P-values from likelihood ratio tests will have relative error of >100% when 50% cells in the contingency table have expected count less than five or when there is zero expected count in any of the contingency table cells. In terms of speed, PBOOST completed 10(7) permutations for a single SNP pair from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) genome data (Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, 2007) within 1 min on a single Nvidia Tesla M2090 device, while it took 60 min in a single CPU Intel Xeon E5-2650 to finish the same task. More importantly, when simultaneously testing 256 SNP pairs for 10(7) permutations, our tool took only 5 min, while the CPU program took 10 h. By permuting on a GPU cluster consisting of 40 nodes, we completed 10(12) permutations for all 280 SNP pairs reported with P-values smaller than 1.6 × 10⁻¹² in the WTCCC datasets in 1 week. The source code and sample data are available at http://bioinformatics.ust.hk/PBOOST.zip. gyang@ust.hk; eeyu@ust.hk Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Stochastic model search with binary outcomes for genome-wide association studies

PubMed Central

Malovini, Alberto; Puca, Annibale A; Bellazzi, Riccardo

2012-01-01

Objective The spread of case–control genome-wide association studies (GWASs) has stimulated the development of new variable selection methods and predictive models. We introduce a novel Bayesian model search algorithm, Binary Outcome Stochastic Search (BOSS), which addresses the model selection problem when the number of predictors far exceeds the number of binary responses. Materials and methods Our method is based on a latent variable model that links the observed outcomes to the underlying genetic variables. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach is used for model search and to evaluate the posterior probability of each predictor. Results BOSS is compared with three established methods (stepwise regression, logistic lasso, and elastic net) in a simulated benchmark. Two real case studies are also investigated: a GWAS on the genetic bases of longevity, and the type 2 diabetes study from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Simulations show that BOSS achieves higher precisions than the reference methods while preserving good recall rates. In both experimental studies, BOSS successfully detects genetic polymorphisms previously reported to be associated with the analyzed phenotypes. Discussion BOSS outperforms the other methods in terms of F-measure on simulated data. In the two real studies, BOSS successfully detects biologically relevant features, some of which are missed by univariate analysis and the three reference techniques. Conclusion The proposed algorithm is an advance in the methodology for model selection with a large number of features. Our simulated and experimental results showed that BOSS proves effective in detecting relevant markers while providing a parsimonious model. PMID:22534080

Cross-Tissue and Tissue-Specific eQTLs: Partitioning the Heritability of a Complex Trait

PubMed Central

Torres, Jason M.; Gamazon, Eric R.; Parra, Esteban J.; Below, Jennifer E.; Valladares-Salgado, Adan; Wacher, Niels; Cruz, Miguel; Hanis, Craig L.; Cox, Nancy J.

2014-01-01

Top signals from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of type 2 diabetes (T2D) are enriched with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) identified in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. We therefore hypothesized that such eQTLs might account for a disproportionate share of the heritability estimated from all SNPs interrogated through GWASs. To test this hypothesis, we applied linear mixed models to the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) T2D data set and to data sets representing Mexican Americans from Starr County, TX, and Mexicans from Mexico City. We estimated the proportion of phenotypic variance attributable to the additive effect of all variants interrogated in these GWASs, as well as a much smaller set of variants identified as eQTLs in human adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and lymphoblastoid cell lines. The narrow-sense heritability explained by all interrogated SNPs in each of these data sets was substantially greater than the heritability accounted for by genome-wide-significant SNPs (∼10%); GWAS SNPs explained over 50% of phenotypic variance in the WTCCC, Starr County, and Mexico City data sets. The estimate of heritability attributable to cross-tissue eQTLs was greater in the WTCCC data set and among lean Hispanics, whereas adipose eQTLs significantly explained heritability among Hispanics with a body mass index ≥ 30. These results support an important role for regulatory variants in the genetic component of T2D susceptibility, particularly for eQTLs that elicit effects across insulin-responsive peripheral tissues. PMID:25439722

WGE: a CRISPR database for genome engineering.

PubMed

Hodgkins, Alex; Farne, Anna; Perera, Sajith; Grego, Tiago; Parry-Smith, David J; Skarnes, William C; Iyer, Vivek

2015-09-15

The rapid development of CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing techniques has given rise to a number of online and stand-alone tools to find and score CRISPR sites for whole genomes. Here we describe the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Genome Editing database (WGE), which uses novel methods to compute, visualize and select optimal CRISPR sites in a genome browser environment. The WGE database currently stores single and paired CRISPR sites and pre-calculated off-target information for CRISPRs located in the mouse and human exomes. Scoring and display of off-target sites is simple, and intuitive, and filters can be applied to identify high-quality CRISPR sites rapidly. WGE also provides a tool for the design and display of gene targeting vectors in the same genome browser, along with gene models, protein translation and variation tracks. WGE is open, extensible and can be set up to compute and present CRISPR sites for any genome. The WGE database is freely available at www.sanger.ac.uk/htgt/wge : vvi@sanger.ac.uk or skarnes@sanger.ac.uk Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Diverse Genome-wide Association Studies Associate the IL12/IL23 Pathway with Crohn Disease

PubMed Central

Wang, Kai; Zhang, Haitao; Kugathasan, Subra; Annese, Vito; Bradfield, Jonathan P.; Russell, Richard K.; Sleiman, Patrick M.A.; Imielinski, Marcin; Glessner, Joseph; Hou, Cuiping; Wilson, David C.; Walters, Thomas; Kim, Cecilia; Frackelton, Edward C.; Lionetti, Paolo; Barabino, Arrigo; Van Limbergen, Johan; Guthery, Stephen; Denson, Lee; Piccoli, David; Li, Mingyao; Dubinsky, Marla; Silverberg, Mark; Griffiths, Anne; Grant, Struan F.A.; Satsangi, Jack; Baldassano, Robert; Hakonarson, Hakon

2009-01-01

Previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies typically focus on single-locus analysis, which may not have the power to detect the majority of genuinely associated loci. Here, we applied pathway analysis using Affymetrix SNP genotype data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) and uncovered significant association between Crohn Disease (CD) and the IL12/IL23 pathway, harboring 20 genes (p = 8 × 10−5). Interestingly, the pathway contains multiple genes (IL12B and JAK2) or homologs of genes (STAT3 and CCR6) that were recently identified as genuine susceptibility genes only through meta-analysis of several GWA studies. In addition, the pathway contains other susceptibility genes for CD, including IL18R1, JUN, IL12RB1, and TYK2, which do not reach genome-wide significance by single-marker association tests. The observed pathway-specific association signal was subsequently replicated in three additional GWA studies of European and African American ancestry generated on the Illumina HumanHap550 platform. Our study suggests that examination beyond individual SNP hits, by focusing on genetic networks and pathways, is important to unleashing the true power of GWA studies. PMID:19249008

Fish from Head to Tail: The 9th European Zebrafish Meeting in Oslo.

PubMed

Griffiths, Gareth; Müller, Ferenc; Ledin, Johan; Patton, E Elizabeth; Gjøen, Tor; Lobert, Viola Hélène; Winther-Larsen, Hanne Cecilie; Mullins, Mary; Joly, Jean-Stephane; Weltzien, Finn-Arne; Press, Charles McLean; Aleström, Peter

2016-04-01

The 9th European Zebrafish Meeting took place recently in Oslo (June 28-July 2, 2015). A total of 650 participants came to hear the latest research news focused on the zebrafish, Danio rerio, and to its distant evolutionary relative medaka, Oryzias latipes. The packed program included keynote and plenary talks, short oral presentations and poster sessions, workshops, and strategic discussions. The meeting was a great success and revealed dramatically how important the zebrafish in particular has become as a model system for topics, such as developmental biology, functional genomics, biomedicine, toxicology, and drug development. A new emphasis was given to its potential as a model for aquaculture, a topic of great economic interest to the host country Norway and for the future global food supply in general. Zebrafish husbandry as well as its use in teaching were also covered in separate workshops. As has become a tradition in these meetings, there was a well-attended Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and ZFIN workshop focused on Zebrafish Genome Resources on the first day. The full EZM 2015 program with abstracts can be read and downloaded from the EZM 2015 Web site zebrafish2015.org .

Thinking ethically about genetic inheritance: liberal rights, communitarianism and the right to privacy for parents of donor insemination children.

PubMed

Burr, J; Reynolds, P

2008-04-01

The issue of genetic inheritance, and particularly the contradictory rights of donors, recipients and donor offspring as to the disclosure of donor identities, is ethically complicated. Donors, donor offspring and parents of donor offspring may appeal to individual rights for confidentiality or disclosure within legal systems based on liberal rights discourse. This paper explores the ethical issues of non-disclosure of genetic inheritance by contrasting two principle models used to articulate the problem--liberal and communitarian ethical models. It argues that whilst the latter provides a more constructive avenue to providing an ethics for donation than the competing and contradictory positions represented in a liberal rights approach, it raises issues of ethical judgement and authority that remain problematic. This ethical discussion is supported by a field study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, exploring the perceptions and experiences of recipients of donor sperm and their partners towards donor anonymity. The field study provides the empirical basis of an argument for making ethical judgements on the grounds of the community good rather than individual rights, that nevertheless recognises that both are inherently problematic.

CMDR based differential evolution identifies the epistatic interaction in genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Yang, Cheng-Hong; Chuang, Li-Yeh; Lin, Yu-Da

2017-08-01

Detecting epistatic interactions in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is a computational challenge. Such huge numbers of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) combinations limit the some of the powerful algorithms to be applied to detect the potential epistasis in large-scale SNP datasets. We propose a new algorithm which combines the differential evolution (DE) algorithm with a classification based multifactor-dimensionality reduction (CMDR), termed DECMDR. DECMDR uses the CMDR as a fitness measure to evaluate values of solutions in DE process for scanning the potential statistical epistasis in GWAS. The results indicated that DECMDR outperforms the existing algorithms in terms of detection success rate by the large simulation and real data obtained from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. For running time comparison, DECMDR can efficient to apply the CMDR to detect the significant association between cases and controls amongst all possible SNP combinations in GWAS. DECMDR is freely available at https://goo.gl/p9sLuJ . chuang@isu.edu.tw or e0955767257@yahoo.com.tw. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Blood transcriptomic diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Roe, Jennifer K; Thomas, Niclas; Gil, Eliza; Best, Katharine; Tsaliki, Evdokia; Morris‑Jones, Stephen; Stafford, Sian; Simpson, Nandi; Witt, Karolina D; Chain, Benjamin; Miller, Robert F; Martineau, Adrian

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND. Novel rapid diagnostics for active tuberculosis (TB) are required to overcome the time delays and inadequate sensitivity of current microbiological tests that are critically dependent on sampling the site of disease. Multiparametric blood transcriptomic signatures of TB have been described as potential diagnostic tests. We sought to identify the best transcript candidates as host biomarkers for active TB, extend the evaluation of their specificity by comparison with other infectious diseases, and to test their performance in both pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. METHODS. Support vector machine learning, combined with feature selection, was applied to new and previously published blood transcriptional profiles in order to identify the minimal TB‑specific transcriptional signature shared by multiple patient cohorts including pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB, and individuals with and without HIV-1 coinfection. RESULTS. We identified and validated elevated blood basic leucine zipper transcription factor 2 (BATF2) transcript levels as a single sensitive biomarker that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from healthy individuals, with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) scores of 0.93 to 0.99 in multiple cohorts of HIV-1–negative individuals, and 0.85 in HIV-1–infected individuals. In addition, we identified and validated a potentially novel 4-gene signature comprising CD177, haptoglobin, immunoglobin J chain, and galectin 10 that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from other febrile infections, giving ROC AUCs of 0.94 to 1. CONCLUSIONS. Elevated blood BATF2 transcript levels provide a sensitive biomarker that discriminates active TB from healthy individuals, and a potentially novel 4-gene transcriptional signature differentiates between active TB and other infectious diseases in individuals presenting with fever. FUNDING. MRC, Wellcome Trust, Rosetrees Trust, British Lung Foundation, NIHR. PMID:27734027

Blood transcriptomic diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.

PubMed

Roe, Jennifer K; Thomas, Niclas; Gil, Eliza; Best, Katharine; Tsaliki, Evdokia; Morris-Jones, Stephen; Stafford, Sian; Simpson, Nandi; Witt, Karolina D; Chain, Benjamin; Miller, Robert F; Martineau, Adrian; Noursadeghi, Mahdad

2016-10-06

BACKGROUND. Novel rapid diagnostics for active tuberculosis (TB) are required to overcome the time delays and inadequate sensitivity of current microbiological tests that are critically dependent on sampling the site of disease. Multiparametric blood transcriptomic signatures of TB have been described as potential diagnostic tests. We sought to identify the best transcript candidates as host biomarkers for active TB, extend the evaluation of their specificity by comparison with other infectious diseases, and to test their performance in both pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. METHODS. Support vector machine learning, combined with feature selection, was applied to new and previously published blood transcriptional profiles in order to identify the minimal TB‑specific transcriptional signature shared by multiple patient cohorts including pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB, and individuals with and without HIV-1 coinfection. RESULTS. We identified and validated elevated blood basic leucine zipper transcription factor 2 ( BATF2 ) transcript levels as a single sensitive biomarker that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from healthy individuals, with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) scores of 0.93 to 0.99 in multiple cohorts of HIV-1-negative individuals, and 0.85 in HIV-1-infected individuals. In addition, we identified and validated a potentially novel 4-gene signature comprising CD177, haptoglobin, immunoglobin J chain, and galectin 10 that discriminated active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB from other febrile infections, giving ROC AUCs of 0.94 to 1. CONCLUSIONS. Elevated blood BATF2 transcript levels provide a sensitive biomarker that discriminates active TB from healthy individuals, and a potentially novel 4-gene transcriptional signature differentiates between active TB and other infectious diseases in individuals presenting with fever. FUNDING. MRC, Wellcome Trust, Rosetrees Trust, British Lung Foundation, NIHR.

Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome and Dr Andrew Balfour: an enterprise on the Nile and the early foundation of public health and medical research in the Sudan (1899-1935).

PubMed

Elhadd, T A

2015-01-01

In Sudan, modern medical practice and medical research began soon after the creation of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan at the turn of the 20th century. The benevolent involvement of Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome, and the ingenious feat of his protégé Sir Andrew Balfour, was crucial to the strong foundation of that establishment. Sir Henry Wellcome provided the financial sponsorship plus influential, logistical and moral support. Dr Balfour put great energy into making the enterprise one of the most amazing medical achievements in colonial medicine. Improvement in the public health of the capital Khartoum was emulated by other doctors working in this vast country. Research was not restricted to tropical medicine; it also encompassed agricultural and chemical research. This helped with the establishment of the first modern medical school in the country in 1924 and resulted in the medical service in Sudan being described as one of the best in the world. Many British doctors flocked to Sudan to make a fortune and to set a path for their career back in Britain.

Integrated Enrichment Analysis of Variants and Pathways in Genome-Wide Association Studies Indicates Central Role for IL-2 Signaling Genes in Type 1 Diabetes, and Cytokine Signaling Genes in Crohn's Disease

PubMed Central

Carbonetto, Peter; Stephens, Matthew

2013-01-01

Pathway analyses of genome-wide association studies aggregate information over sets of related genes, such as genes in common pathways, to identify gene sets that are enriched for variants associated with disease. We develop a model-based approach to pathway analysis, and apply this approach to data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) studies. Our method offers several benefits over existing approaches. First, our method not only interrogates pathways for enrichment of disease associations, but also estimates the level of enrichment, which yields a coherent way to promote variants in enriched pathways, enhancing discovery of genes underlying disease. Second, our approach allows for multiple enriched pathways, a feature that leads to novel findings in two diseases where the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a major determinant of disease susceptibility. Third, by modeling disease as the combined effect of multiple markers, our method automatically accounts for linkage disequilibrium among variants. Interrogation of pathways from eight pathway databases yields strong support for enriched pathways, indicating links between Crohn's disease (CD) and cytokine-driven networks that modulate immune responses; between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and “Measles” pathway genes involved in immune responses triggered by measles infection; and between type 1 diabetes (T1D) and IL2-mediated signaling genes. Prioritizing variants in these enriched pathways yields many additional putative disease associations compared to analyses without enrichment. For CD and RA, 7 of 8 additional non-MHC associations are corroborated by other studies, providing validation for our approach. For T1D, prioritization of IL-2 signaling genes yields strong evidence for 7 additional non-MHC candidate disease loci, as well as suggestive evidence for several more. Of the 7 strongest associations, 4 are validated by other studies, and 3 (near IL-2 signaling genes RAF1, MAPK14, and FYN) constitute novel putative T1D loci for further study. PMID:24098138

Do gifts increase consent to home-based HIV testing? A difference-in-differences study in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

PubMed Central

McGovern, Mark E; Herbst, Kobus; Tanser, Frank; Mutevedzi, Tinofa; Canning, David; Gareta, Dickman; Pillay, Deenan; Bärnighausen, Till

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Despite the importance of HIV testing for controlling the HIV epidemic, testing rates remain low. Efforts to scale up testing coverage and frequency in hard-to-reach and at-risk populations commonly focus on home-based HIV testing. This study evaluates the effect of a gift (a US$5 food voucher for families) on consent rates for home-based HIV testing. Methods: We use data on 18 478 individuals (6 418 men and 12 060 women) who were successfully contacted to participate in the 2009 and 2010 population-based HIV surveillance carried out by the Wellcome Trust's Africa Health Research Institute in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Of 18 478 potential participants contacted in both years, 35% (6 518) consented to test in 2009, and 41% (7 533) consented to test in 2010. Our quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach controls for unobserved confounding in estimating the causal effect of the intervention on HIV-testing consent rates. Results: Allocation of the gift to a family in 2010 increased the probability of family members consenting to test in the same year by 25 percentage points [95% confidence interval (CI) 21–30 percentage points; P < 0.001]. The intervention effect persisted, slightly attenuated, in the year following the intervention (2011). Conclusions: In HIV hyperendemic settings, a gift can be highly effective at increasing consent rates for home-based HIV testing. Given the importance of HIV testing for treatment uptake and individual health, as well as for HIV treatment-as-prevention strategies and for monitoring the population impact of the HIV response, gifts should be considered as a supportive intervention for HIV-testing initiatives where consent rates have been low. PMID:27940483

Damage to the insula is associated with abnormal interpersonal trust

PubMed Central

Belfi, Amy M.; Koscik, Timothy R.; Tranel, Daniel

2015-01-01

Reciprocal trust is a crucial component of cooperative, mutually beneficial social relationships. Previous research using tasks that require judging and developing interpersonal trust has suggested that the insula may be an important brain region underlying these processes (King-Casas et al., 2008). Here, using a neuropsychological approach, we investigated the role of the insula in reciprocal trust during the Trust Game (TG), an interpersonal economic exchange. Consistent with previous research, we found that neurologically normal adults reciprocate trust in kind, i.e., they increase trust in response to increases from their partners, and decrease trust in response to decreases. In contrast, individuals with damage to the insula displayed abnormal expressions of trust. Specifically, these individuals behaved benevolently (expressing misplaced trust) when playing the role of investor, and malevolently (violating their partner’s trust) when playing the role of the trustee. Our findings lend further support to the idea that the insula is important for expressing normal interpersonal trust, perhaps because the insula helps to recognize risk during decision-making and to identify social norm violations. PMID:25846668

Silence speaks volumes: the effectiveness of reticence in comparison to apology and denial for responding to integrity- and competence-based trust violations.

PubMed

Ferrin, Donald L; Kim, Peter H; Cooper, Cecily D; Dirks, Kurt T

2007-07-01

Prior research on responses to trust violations has focused primarily on the effects of apology and denial. The authors extended this research by studying another type of verbal response that is often used to respond to trust violations but has not been considered in the trust literature: reticence. An accused party may use reticence in a sincere and even legitimate attempt to persuade a trustor to withhold judgment. Yet, by considering information diagnosticity and belief formation mechanisms through which verbal responses influence trust, the authors argue that reticence is a suboptimal response because it combines the least effective elements of apology and denial. Specifically, reticence is a suboptimal response to an integrity violation because, like apology, it fails to address guilt. And reticence is a suboptimal response to a competence violation because, like denial, it fails to signal redemption. Results from 2 laboratory studies, simulating different contexts and using research participants from 2 different countries, provide support for the prediction. The results offer important implications for those who might use reticence to respond to a perceived trust violation and also for those who must judge another's reticence.

Trust and terrorism: citizen responses to anti-terrorism performance history.

PubMed

Johnson, Branden B

2010-09-01

The "intuitive detection theorists" model of trust posits greater trust for correctly distinguishing danger from safety and an activist response under uncertainty about danger. An American sample evaluated U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) performance after two possible terrorism events in which DHS has the same activist or nonactivist response bias. Outcomes were two successes (bombing prevented or lack of threat accurately foretold), two failures (bombing or DHS action against high school prank leads to student deaths), or a mix. Hindsight empathy (a belief one would have made the same decision) differed across treatments but trust less so; contrary to a similar one-event experiment in Germany, an active but incorrect response did not raise trust relative to passive incorrect action. Political conservatives were much more trusting and empathetic than liberals, and all ideological groups (including moderates) exhibited little internal variation reflecting experimental conditions. Consistently accurate outcomes rated significantly higher in empathy than either inconsistent results or consistent inaccuracy (the lowest rated); trust exhibited no significant differences. Results in this study show actual (experimentally manipulated) performance being trumped by the interpretive screen of political ideology, but this seemed less the case in the earlier German study, despite its finding of a strong moderating effect of right-wing authoritarianism. Trust scholars need to attend more to effects of performance history (i.e., a sequence of events) and their limiting factors. More systematic testing of effects of ideology and performance history would enhance future research on trust. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

In Law We Trust? Trusted Computing and Legal Responsibility for Internet Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danidou, Yianna; Schafer, Burkhard

This paper analyses potential legal responses and consequences to the anticipated roll out of Trusted Computing (TC). It is argued that TC constitutes such a dramatic shift in power away from users to the software providers, that it is necessary for the legal system to respond. A possible response is to mirror the shift in power by a shift in legal responsibility, creating new legal liabilities and duties for software companies as the new guardians of internet security.

Artemis and ACT: viewing, annotating and comparing sequences stored in a relational database.

PubMed

Carver, Tim; Berriman, Matthew; Tivey, Adrian; Patel, Chinmay; Böhme, Ulrike; Barrell, Barclay G; Parkhill, Julian; Rajandream, Marie-Adèle

2008-12-01

Artemis and Artemis Comparison Tool (ACT) have become mainstream tools for viewing and annotating sequence data, particularly for microbial genomes. Since its first release, Artemis has been continuously developed and supported with additional functionality for editing and analysing sequences based on feedback from an active user community of laboratory biologists and professional annotators. Nevertheless, its utility has been somewhat restricted by its limitation to reading and writing from flat files. Therefore, a new version of Artemis has been developed, which reads from and writes to a relational database schema, and allows users to annotate more complex, often large and fragmented, genome sequences. Artemis and ACT have now been extended to read and write directly to the Generic Model Organism Database (GMOD, http://www.gmod.org) Chado relational database schema. In addition, a Gene Builder tool has been developed to provide structured forms and tables to edit coordinates of gene models and edit functional annotation, based on standard ontologies, controlled vocabularies and free text. Artemis and ACT are freely available (under a GPL licence) for download (for MacOSX, UNIX and Windows) at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute web sites: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Software/Artemis/ http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Software/ACT/

The Sheffield RNAi Screening Facility (SRSF): portfolio growth and technology development.

PubMed

Brown, Stephen

2014-05-01

The Sheffield RNAi Screening Facility (SRSF) (www.rnai.group.shef.ac.uk) was established in 2008 with Wellcome Trust and University of Sheffield funding, with the task to provide the first UK RNAi screening resource for academic groups interested in identifying genes required in a diverse range of biological processes using Drosophila cell culture. The SRSF has carried out a wide range of screens varying in sizes from bespoke small-scale libraries, targeting a few hundred genes, to high-throughput, genome-wide studies. The SRSF has grown and improved with a dedicated partnership of its academic customers based mainly in the UK. We are part of the UK Academics Functional Genomics Network, participating in organizing an annual meeting in London and are part of the University of Sheffield's D3N (www.d3n.org.uk), connecting academics, biotech and pharmaceutical companies with a multidisciplinary network in Drug Discovery and Development. Recently, the SRSF has been funded by the Yorkshire Cancer Research Fund to perform genome-wide RNAi screens using human cells as part of a core facility for regional Yorkshire Universities and screens are now underway. Overall the SRSF has carried out more than 40 screens from Drosophila and human cell culture experiments.

Investigating Time Lags and Attribution in the Translation of Cancer Research: A Case Study Approach.

PubMed

Guthrie, Susan; Pollitt, Alexandra; Hanney, Stephen; Grant, Jonathan

2014-01-01

In 2012, RAND Europe and the Health Economics Research Group (Brunel University) were commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research and the Academy of Medical Science to conduct a study of the returns to the public/charitable investment in cancer-related research. This study built on previous work published in the 2008 "What's it worth?" report that estimated the economic returns to medical research in terms of spillover benefits and health gain. The 2008 study was extensively quoted and cited as a clear justification for the economic importance of medical research and appears to have played a role in achieving the protection of the medical science budget in the recent public expenditure cuts. This cancer study used a similar approach to that used in the previous study, but with some methodological developments. One of the methodological developments was the inclusion of case studies to examine the validity and variability of the estimates on elapsed time between funding and health gains, and the amount of health gains that can be attributed to UK research. This study provides the full text of the five case studies conducted as well as some discussion of observations emerging across the case study set.

The under-representation of minority ethnic groups in UK medical research.

PubMed

Smart, Andrew; Harrison, Eric

2017-02-01

Objectives . The paper investigates differences in engagement with medical research between White British and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in the UK, using data from the Wellcome Trust Monitor (WTM). The study used two waves of the WTM (n = 2575) to examine associations between ethnic group and participation in medical research, and willingness to participate (WP) in medical research. Logistic regression models controlled for socio-economic and demographic factors, and relevant outlooks and experiences that are assumed to be markers of engagement. Respondents from the BAME group were less likely to have participated in medical research compared to those from the White British group, but there was only patchy evidence of small ethnic group differences in WP. Influences on engagement with medical research varied somewhat between the White British and BAME groups, in particular in relation to occupation, education, health, attitudes to medical science and belief. These findings consolidate previously context-specific evidence of BAME group under-representation in the UK, and highlight heterogeneity in that group. Efforts to address the under-representation of those from BAME groups might benefit from targeted strategies for recruitment and advocacy, although improved data sets are required to fully understand ethnic differences in engagement with medical research.

Trust, Accountability, and Integrity: Board Responsibilities for Intercollegiate Athletics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, 2012

2012-01-01

The financial and legal dimensions of trusteeship stem from the broader conception of trust that emphasizes trustees' responsibility to uphold and protect the integrity of the institution and its programs as a mission-centered institution of higher education. In accepting the mantle of trust, the board pledges the highest degree of responsibility…

25 CFR 1000.359 - What are the responsibilities of the Secretary's designated representative(s) after the annual...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... designated representative(s) after the annual trust evaluation? 1000.359 Section 1000.359 Indians OFFICE OF... THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Trust Evaluation Review Annual Trust Evaluations § 1000.359 What are the responsibilities of the Secretary's...

77 FR 24974 - Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-26

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust... Office of the Secretary is announcing that the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and... administers trust responsibilities to American Indians. The Secretarial Commission's charter requires the...

Trust that binds: the impact of collective felt trust on organizational performance.

PubMed

Salamon, Sabrina Deutsch; Robinson, Sandra L

2008-05-01

The impact of employees' collective perceptions of being trusted by management was examined with a longitudinal study involving 88 retail stores. Drawing on the appropriateness framework (March, 1994; Weber, Kopelman, & Messick, 2004), the authors develop and test a model showing that when employees in an organization perceive they are trusted by management, increases in the presence of responsibility norms, as well as in the sales performance and customer service performance of the organization, are observed. Moreover, the relationship between perceptions of being trusted and sales performance is fully mediated by responsibility norms. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Guide to the Administration of Charitable Remainder Trusts. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, David W.; And Others

This is the third edition of a workbook prepared as a kind of primer for those responsible for the administration of charitable remainder trusts in accordance with the Tax Reform Act of 1969. The topics covered include: trust administration in general; pooled income fund; unitrust; annuity trust; gift annuity; short term income (lead) trust; gift…

Learning to trust: social feedback normalizes trust behavior in first-episode psychosis and clinical high risk.

PubMed

Lemmers-Jansen, Imke L J; Fett, Anne-Kathrin J; Hanssen, Esther; Veltman, Dick J; Krabbendam, Lydia

2018-06-13

Psychosis is characterized by problems in social functioning that exist well before illness onset, and in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. Trust is an essential element for social interactions that is impaired in psychosis. In the trust game, chronic patients showed reduced baseline trust, impaired response to positive social feedback, and attenuated brain activation in reward and mentalizing areas. We investigated whether first-episode psychosis patients (FEP) and CHR show similar abnormalities in the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying trust. Twenty-two FEP, 17 CHR, and 43 healthy controls performed two trust games, with a cooperative and an unfair partner in the fMRI scanner. Region of interest analyses were performed on mentalizing and reward processing areas, during the investment and outcome phases of the games. Compared with healthy controls, FEP and CHR showed reduced baseline trust, but like controls, learned to trust in response to cooperative and unfair feedback. Symptom severity was not associated with baseline trust, however in FEP associated with reduced response to feedback. The only group differences in brain activation were that CHR recruited the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) more than FEP and controls during investment in the unfair condition. This hyper-activation in CHR was associated with greater symptom severity. Reduced baseline trust may be associated with risk for psychotic illness, or generally with poor mental health. Feedback learning is still intact in CHR and FEP, as opposed to chronic patients. CHR however show distinct neural activation patterns of hyper-activation of the TPJ.

Application of the Reina Trust and Betrayal Model to the experience of pediatric critical care clinicians.

PubMed

Rushton, Cynda Hylton; Reina, Michelle L; Francovich, Christopher; Naumann, Phyllis; Reina, Dennis S

2010-07-01

Trust is essential in the workplace, yet no systematic studies of trust among pediatric critical care professionals have been done. To determine the feasibility of measuring trust in a pediatric intensive care unit by using established scales from the corporate world and to determine what behaviors build, break, and rebuild trust. The Reina Trust and Betrayal Model was used to explore contractual, competence, and communication trust. Nurses and physicians in a pediatric intensive care unit completed online surveys to measure organizational, team, and patient trust. Quantitative data from 3 standard survey instruments and qualitative responses to 3 open-ended questions were analyzed and compared. Quantitative data from all 3 instruments indicated moderate to high levels of trust; scores for competence and contractual trust were higher than scores for communication trust. Scores indicated agreement on behaviors that build trust, such as pointing out risky situations to each other, actively striving to build supportive and productive relationships, and giving and receiving constructive feedback. Foremost among trust-breaking behaviors was gossip, which was more troublesome to respondents with longer experience in critical care. Responses to the open-ended questions underscored these themes. The most frequently cited items included encouraging mutually serving intentions, sharing information, and involving and seeking the input of others. The Reina trust scales and open-ended questions are feasible and applicable to pediatric critical care units, and data collected with these instruments are useful in determining what behaviors build, break, and rebuild trust among staff.

Career Benchmarks From the Burroughs Wellcome Fund's Early Faculty Career Development Awards.

PubMed

McGovern, Victoria; Kramarik, Jean; Wilkins, Gary

2013-11-01

Documenting the career characteristics of a highly selective group of researchers provides some insight into how a successful career begins. This knowledge is of value to early-career faculty and those who evaluate them, as well as trainees who aspire to the professoriate and those who educate them. In 2010, the authors extracted information by hand from the curricula vitae of 196 basic scientists who have been supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund's early faculty career development programs from 1982 to 2010. Data were collected on awardees' education, awards and honors, funding, promotion, publication, service, and training activities. The end point for data was December 2010. Analyses quantified participants' time to terminal degree, faculty appointment, and first R01; determined their publication productivity; and calculated their rates of training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This group moved into jobs and gained first R01s faster than average. Surprisingly, those who train the most students and fellows do not publish the most. Women and men trained different numbers of undergraduates, PhDs, and postdocs. Women awardees had fewer publications on average than men. Researchers who are highly competitive at the early faculty career stage have generally been both timely in their arrival at important benchmarks and productive in terms of their scientific output. Newly trained researchers and the people and institutions that train them share responsibility for attaining expeditious progress, developing a substantial track record, and staking out fertile intellectual ground from which to grow an independent faculty career.

WILDLIFE HEALTH AND PUBLIC TRUST RESPONSIBILITIES FOR WILDLIFE RESOURCES.

PubMed

Decker, Daniel J; Schuler, Krysten; Forstchen, Ann B; Wild, Margaret A; Siemer, William F

2016-10-01

A significant development in wildlife management is the mounting concern of wildlife professionals and the public about wildlife health and diseases. Concurrently, the wildlife profession is reexamining implications of managing wildlife populations as a public trust and the concomitant obligation to ensure the quality (i.e., health) and sustainability of wildlife. It is an opportune time to emphasize the importance of wildlife health, specifically to advocate for comprehensive and consistent integration of wildlife health in wildlife management. We summarize application of public trust ideas in wildlife population management in the US. We argue that wildlife health is essential to fulfilling public trust administration responsibilities with respect to wildlife, due to the central responsibility of trustees for ensuring the well-being of wildlife species (i.e., the core resources of the trust). Because both health of wildlife and risk perceptions regarding threats posed by wildlife disease to humans and domestic animals are issues of growing concern, managing wildlife disease and risk communication vis-à-vis wildlife health is critical to wildlife trust administration. We conclude that wildlife health professionals play a critical role in protecting the wildlife trust and that current conditions provide opportunities for important contributions by wildlife health professionals in wildlife management.

A high HIV-1 strain variability in London, UK, revealed by full-genome analysis: Results from the ICONIC project.

PubMed

Yebra, Gonzalo; Frampton, Dan; Gallo Cassarino, Tiziano; Raffle, Jade; Hubb, Jonathan; Ferns, R Bridget; Waters, Laura; Tong, C Y William; Kozlakidis, Zisis; Hayward, Andrew; Kellam, Paul; Pillay, Deenan; Clark, Duncan; Nastouli, Eleni; Leigh Brown, Andrew J

2018-01-01

The ICONIC project has developed an automated high-throughput pipeline to generate HIV nearly full-length genomes (NFLG, i.e. from gag to nef) from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. The pipeline was applied to 420 HIV samples collected at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust (London) and sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Cambridge). Consensus genomes were generated and subtyped using COMET, and unique recombinants were studied with jpHMM and SimPlot. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed using RAxML to identify transmission networks using the Cluster Picker. The pipeline generated sequences of at least 1Kb of length (median = 7.46Kb, IQR = 4.01Kb) for 375 out of the 420 samples (89%), with 174 (46.4%) being NFLG. A total of 365 sequences (169 of them NFLG) corresponded to unique subjects and were included in the down-stream analyses. The most frequent HIV subtypes were B (n = 149, 40.8%) and C (n = 77, 21.1%) and the circulating recombinant form CRF02_AG (n = 32, 8.8%). We found 14 different CRFs (n = 66, 18.1%) and multiple URFs (n = 32, 8.8%) that involved recombination between 12 different subtypes/CRFs. The most frequent URFs were B/CRF01_AE (4 cases) and A1/D, B/C, and B/CRF02_AG (3 cases each). Most URFs (19/26, 73%) lacked breakpoints in the PR+RT pol region, rendering them undetectable if only that was sequenced. Twelve (37.5%) of the URFs could have emerged within the UK, whereas the rest were probably imported from sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South America. For 2 URFs we found highly similar pol sequences circulating in the UK. We detected 31 phylogenetic clusters using the full dataset: 25 pairs (mostly subtypes B and C), 4 triplets and 2 quadruplets. Some of these were not consistent across different genes due to inter- and intra-subtype recombination. Clusters involved 70 sequences, 19.2% of the dataset. The initial analysis of genome sequences detected substantial hidden variability in the London HIV epidemic. Analysing full genome sequences, as opposed to only PR+RT, identified previously undetected recombinants. It provided a more reliable description of CRFs (that would be otherwise misclassified) and transmission clusters.

Trust Mines: Legal Documents and Settlements

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Legal Documents and Settlements related to the Northern Abandoned Uranium Mines Region including the Phase 1 Settlement Agreement and Environmental Response Trust Agreement, Phase 2 Settlement Agreement Removal Site Evaluation (RSE) Trust Agreement.

Why we need easy access to all data from all clinical trials and how to accomplish it

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

International calls for registering all trials involving humans and for sharing the results, and sometimes also the raw data and the trial protocols, have increased in recent years. Such calls have come, for example, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the US National Institutes of Heath, the US Congress, the European Commission, the European ombudsman, journal editors, The Cochrane Collaboration, and several funders, for example the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation. Calls for data sharing have mostly been restricted to publicly-funded research, but I argue that the distinction between publicly-funded and industry-funded research is an artificial and irrelevant one, as the interests of the patients must override commercial interests. I also argue why it is a moral imperative to render all results from all trials involving humans, also healthy volunteers, publicly available. Respect for trial participants who often run a personal and unknown risk by participating in trials requires that they - and therefore also the society at large that they represent - be seen as the ultimate owners of trial data. Data sharing would lead to tremendous benefits for patients, progress in science, and rational use of healthcare resources based on evidence we can trust. The harmful consequences are minor compared to the benefits. It has been amply documented that the current situation, with selective reporting of favorable research and biased data analyses being the norm rather than the exception, is harmful to patients and has led to the death of tens of thousands of patients that could have been avoided. National and supranational legislation is needed to make data sharing happen as guidelines and other voluntary agreements do not work. I propose the contents of such legislation and of appropriate sanctions to hold accountable those who refuse to share their data. PMID:22112900

Understanding the positive effect of financial compensation on trust after norm violations: Evidence from fMRI in favor of forgiveness.

PubMed

Haesevoets, Tessa; De Cremer, David; Van Hiel, Alain; Van Overwalle, Frank

2018-05-01

Norm violations are ubiquitous in organizations and often result in tangible harm and a loss of trust. One possible response to enhance trust involves the provision of financial compensation. Unfortunately, little is known about the processes that underlie the effect of such a tangible response to increase trust. We employed techniques in cognitive neuroscience (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine these processes. Participants placed in the scanner played the role of recipient in a series of dictator games with different allocators who (unknown to them) were preprogrammed. An unequal division of resources was used as a norm violation that resulted in a financial loss. Afterward the inflicted harm was restored through equal financial compensation. Our neuroimaging data indicate that financial compensation activates forgiveness-related brain areas and that this activation mediates the positive effect of financial compensation on trust. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of using tangible responses to increase trust in organizational settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Toward Understanding Trust: A Response to Adams and Miskell

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romero, Lisa S.; Mitchell, Douglas E.

2018-01-01

Purpose: Trust is a key component of successful schools. Although scholars widely agree that trust is multifaceted, there is less agreement about the number and nature of these factors. In the October 2016 issue of "Educational Administration Quarterly," C. M. Adams and Miskell (see EJ1112413) argued that their Teacher Trust of District…

Trust in the Contemporary Principalship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noonan, Brian; Walker, Keith; Kutsyuruba, Benjamin

2008-01-01

The social relevance of trust and the principals' obligation to foster trust in schools have been strongly advocated. This paper describes an in-depth, qualitative study that engaged a group of twenty-five Canadian school principals over a period of seven months, exploring the issues of trust as it affects principals' roles and responsibilities.…

36 CFR 1012.7 - Can I get an authenticated copy of a Presidio Trust record?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... copy of a Presidio Trust record, for purposes of admissibility under Federal, State or Tribal law. We... copy of a Presidio Trust record? 1012.7 Section 1012.7 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST LEGAL PROCESS: TESTIMONY BY EMPLOYEES AND PRODUCTION OF RECORDS Responsibilities of Requesters...

40 CFR 280.102 - Trust fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Trust fund. 280.102 Section 280.102...) Financial Responsibility § 280.102 Trust fund. (a) An owner or operator may satisfy the requirements of § 280.93 by establishing a trust fund that conforms to the requirements of this section. The trustee...

40 CFR 280.102 - Trust fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Trust fund. 280.102 Section 280.102...) Financial Responsibility § 280.102 Trust fund. (a) An owner or operator may satisfy the requirements of § 280.93 by establishing a trust fund that conforms to the requirements of this section. The trustee...

Association between breastfeeding and intelligence, educational attainment, and income at 30 years of age: a prospective birth cohort study from Brazil

PubMed Central

Victora, Cesar G; Horta, Bernardo Lessa; de Mola, Christian Loret; Quevedo, Luciana; Pinheiro, Ricardo Tavares; Gigante, Denise P; Gonçalves, Helen; Barros, Fernando C

2015-01-01

Summary Background Breastfeeding has clear short-term benefits, but its long-term consequences on human capital are yet to be established. We aimed to assess whether breastfeeding duration was associated with intelligence quotient (IQ), years of schooling, and income at the age of 30 years, in a setting where no strong social patterning of breastfeeding exists. Methods A prospective, population-based birth cohort study of neonates was launched in 1982 in Pelotas, Brazil. Information about breastfeeding was recorded in early childhood. At 30 years of age, we studied the IQ (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd version), educational attainment, and income of the participants. For the analyses, we used multiple linear regression with adjustment for ten confounding variables and the G-formula. Findings From June 4, 2012, to Feb 28, 2013, of the 5914 neonates enrolled, information about IQ and breastfeeding duration was available for 3493 participants. In the crude and adjusted analyses, the durations of total breastfeeding and predominant breastfeeding (breastfeeding as the main form of nutrition with some other foods) were positively associated with IQ, educational attainment, and income. We identified dose-response associations with breastfeeding duration for IQ and educational attainment. In the confounder-adjusted analysis, participants who were breastfed for 12 months or more had higher IQ scores (difference of 3·76 points, 95% CI 2·20–5·33), more years of education (0·91 years, 0·42–1·40), and higher monthly incomes (341·0 Brazilian reals, 93·8–588·3) than did those who were breastfed for less than 1 month. The results of our mediation analysis suggested that IQ was responsible for 72% of the effect on income. Interpretation Breastfeeding is associated with improved performance in intelligence tests 30 years later, and might have an important effect in real life, by increasing educational attainment and income in adulthood. Funding Wellcome Trust, International Development Research Center (Canada), CNPq, FAPERGS, and the Brazilian Ministry of Health. PMID:25794674

Technique Selectively Represses Immune System

MedlinePlus

... from attacking myelin in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Dr David Furness, Wellcome Images. All rights reserved ... devised a way to successfully treat symptoms resembling multiple sclerosis in a mouse model. With further development, the ...

25 CFR 115.812 - Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with statutory language or other federal law? 115.812 Section 115.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES TRUST FUNDS FOR TRIBES AND INDIVIDUAL INDIANS Tribal Accounts...

25 CFR 1000.350 - What is the purpose of this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... EDUCATION ACT Trust Evaluation Review § 1000.350 What is the purpose of this subpart? This subpart describes how the trust responsibility of the United States is legally maintained through a system of trust...

40 CFR 280.103 - Standby trust fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Standby trust fund. 280.103 Section... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.103 Standby trust fund. (a) An owner or operator using any one of the mechanisms authorized by §§ 280.96, 280.98, or 280.99 must establish a standby trust fund when the...

Neural Responses to Truth Telling and Risk Propensity under Asymmetric Information

PubMed Central

Suzuki, Hideo; Misaki, Masaya; Krueger, Frank; Bodurka, Jerzy

2015-01-01

Trust is multi-dimensional because it can be characterized by subjective trust, trust antecedent, and behavioral trust. Previous research has investigated functional brain responses to subjective trust (e.g., a judgment of trustworthiness) or behavioral trust (e.g., decisions to trust) in perfect information, where all relevant information is available to all participants. In contrast, we conducted a novel examination of the patterns of functional brain activity to a trust antecedent, specifically truth telling, in asymmetric information, where one individual has more information than others, with the effect of varying risk propensity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and recruited 13 adults, who played the Communication Game, where they served as the “Sender” and chose either truth telling (true advice) or lie telling (false advice) regarding the best payment allocation for their partner. Our behavioral results revealed that subjects with recreational high risk tended to choose true advice. Moreover, fMRI results yielded that the choices of true advice were associated with increased cortical activation in the anterior rostral medial and frontopolar prefrontal cortices, middle frontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and precuneus. Furthermore, when we specifically evaluated a role of the bilateral amygdala as the region of interest (ROI), decreased amygdala response was associated with high risk propensity, regardless of truth telling or lying. In conclusion, our results have implications for how differential functions of the cortical areas may contribute to the neural processing of truth telling. PMID:26325581

Trust in health Websites: a survey among Norwegian Internet users.

PubMed

Rosenvinge, Jan H; Laugerud, Stein; Hjortdahl, Per

2003-01-01

Whether consumers feel able to trust the information presented on a health-related Website is as important a quality criterion as more objective criteria. We investigated whether trust was related to five aspects of health Websites: the involvement of health professionals, a facility for interactive communication, information about those responsible for the site, a picture of those responsible for the site, and the impression of site update frequency. A polling agency invited, by email, a sample of 600 Norwegian users of e-health information to participate in the study and 476 subjects did so (a 79% response rate), by completing a questionnaire online. Their mean age was 41 years and 53% were female. All five aspects of health Websites were related to the trust placed in the site but they were not consistently related to gender or age. Trust in Websites that were frequently updated was related to being a frequent e-health user, while those who trusted interactive e-health sites were low-frequency users who tended to order drugs and health products from the sites. The probability of taking action as a result of e-health information was related to the frequency of visits to health Websites but not to the five aspects of them investigated in relation to trust. However, respondents who trusted sites that were perceived as being frequently updated and to have health professionals involved were more likely to be frequent users of e-health information.

Funding infectious disease research: a systematic analysis of UK research investments by funders 1997-2010.

PubMed

Fitchett, Joseph R; Head, Michael G; Cooke, Mary K; Wurie, Fatima B; Atun, Rifat

2014-01-01

Research investments are essential to address the burden of disease, however allocation of limited resources is poorly documented. We systematically reviewed the investments awarded by funding organisations to UK institutions and their global partners for infectious disease research. Public and philanthropic investments for the period 1997 to 2010 were included. We categorised studies by infectious disease, cross-cutting theme, and by research and development value chain, reflecting the type of science. We identified 6165 funded studies, with a total research investment of UK £2.6 billion. Public organisations provided £1.4 billion (54.0%) of investments compared with £1.1 billion (42.4%) by philanthropic organisations. Global health studies represented an investment of £928 million (35.7%). The Wellcome Trust was the leading investor with £688 million (26.5%), closely followed by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) with £673 million (25.9%). Funding over time was volatile, ranging from ∼£40 million to ∼£160 million per year for philanthropic organisations and ∼£30 million to ∼£230 million for public funders. Infectious disease research funding requires global coordination and strategic long-term vision. Our analysis demonstrates the diversity and inconsistent patterns in investment, with volatility in annual funding amounts and limited investment for product development and clinical trials.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Measuring Individual Privacy in Aggregate Genomic Data

PubMed Central

Simmons, Sean; Berger, Bonnie

2017-01-01

Even in the aggregate, genomic data can reveal sensitive information about individuals. We present a new model-based measure, PrivMAF, that provides provable privacy guarantees for aggregate data (namely minor allele frequencies) obtained from genomic studies. Unlike many previous measures that have been designed to measure the total privacy lost by all participants in a study, PrivMAF gives an individual privacy measure for each participant in the study, not just an average measure. These individual measures can then be combined to measure the worst case privacy loss in the study. Our measure also allows us to quantify the privacy gains achieved by perturbing the data, either by adding noise or binning. Our findings demonstrate that both perturbation approaches offer significant privacy gains. Moreover, we see that these privacy gains can be achieved while minimizing perturbation (and thus maximizing the utility) relative to stricter notions of privacy, such as differential privacy. We test PrivMAF using genotype data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, providing a more nuanced understanding of the privacy risks involved in an actual genome-wide association studies. Interestingly, our analysis demonstrates that the privacy implications of releasing MAFs from a study can differ greatly from individual to individual. An implementation of our method is available at http://privmaf.csail.mit.edu. PMID:29202050

Funding Infectious Disease Research: A Systematic Analysis of UK Research Investments by Funders 1997–2010

PubMed Central

Fitchett, Joseph R.; Head, Michael G.; Cooke, Mary K.; Wurie, Fatima B.; Atun, Rifat

2014-01-01

Background Research investments are essential to address the burden of disease, however allocation of limited resources is poorly documented. We systematically reviewed the investments awarded by funding organisations to UK institutions and their global partners for infectious disease research. Methodology/Principal Findings Public and philanthropic investments for the period 1997 to 2010 were included. We categorised studies by infectious disease, cross-cutting theme, and by research and development value chain, reflecting the type of science. We identified 6165 funded studies, with a total research investment of UK £2.6 billion. Public organisations provided £1.4 billion (54.0%) of investments compared with £1.1 billion (42.4%) by philanthropic organisations. Global health studies represented an investment of £928 million (35.7%). The Wellcome Trust was the leading investor with £688 million (26.5%), closely followed by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) with £673 million (25.9%). Funding over time was volatile, ranging from ∼£40 million to ∼£160 million per year for philanthropic organisations and ∼£30 million to ∼£230 million for public funders. Conclusions/Significance Infectious disease research funding requires global coordination and strategic long-term vision. Our analysis demonstrates the diversity and inconsistent patterns in investment, with volatility in annual funding amounts and limited investment for product development and clinical trials. PMID:25162631

Bioinformatics Education—Perspectives and Challenges out of Africa

PubMed Central

Adebiyi, Ezekiel F.; Alzohairy, Ahmed M.; Everett, Dean; Ghedira, Kais; Ghouila, Amel; Kumuthini, Judit; Mulder, Nicola J.; Panji, Sumir; Patterton, Hugh-G.

2015-01-01

The discipline of bioinformatics has developed rapidly since the complete sequencing of the first genomes in the 1990s. The development of many high-throughput techniques during the last decades has ensured that bioinformatics has grown into a discipline that overlaps with, and is required for, the modern practice of virtually every field in the life sciences. This has placed a scientific premium on the availability of skilled bioinformaticians, a qualification that is extremely scarce on the African continent. The reasons for this are numerous, although the absence of a skilled bioinformatician at academic institutions to initiate a training process and build sustained capacity seems to be a common African shortcoming. This dearth of bioinformatics expertise has had a knock-on effect on the establishment of many modern high-throughput projects at African institutes, including the comprehensive and systematic analysis of genomes from African populations, which are among the most genetically diverse anywhere on the planet. Recent funding initiatives from the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust are aimed at ameliorating this shortcoming. In this paper, we discuss the problems that have limited the establishment of the bioinformatics field in Africa, as well as propose specific actions that will help with the education and training of bioinformaticians on the continent. This is an absolute requirement in anticipation of a boom in high-throughput approaches to human health issues unique to data from African populations. PMID:24990350

Histopathology reveals correlative and unique phenotypes in a high-throughput mouse phenotyping screen

PubMed Central

Adissu, Hibret A.; Estabel, Jeanne; Sunter, David; Tuck, Elizabeth; Hooks, Yvette; Carragher, Damian M.; Clarke, Kay; Karp, Natasha A.; Project, Sanger Mouse Genetics; Newbigging, Susan; Jones, Nora; Morikawa, Lily; White, Jacqueline K.; McKerlie, Colin

2014-01-01

The Mouse Genetics Project (MGP) at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute aims to generate and phenotype over 800 genetically modified mouse lines over the next 5 years to gain a better understanding of mammalian gene function and provide an invaluable resource to the scientific community for follow-up studies. Phenotyping includes the generation of a standardized biobank of paraffin-embedded tissues for each mouse line, but histopathology is not routinely performed. In collaboration with the Pathology Core of the Centre for Modeling Human Disease (CMHD) we report the utility of histopathology in a high-throughput primary phenotyping screen. Histopathology was assessed in an unbiased selection of 50 mouse lines with (n=30) or without (n=20) clinical phenotypes detected by the standard MGP primary phenotyping screen. Our findings revealed that histopathology added correlating morphological data in 19 of 30 lines (63.3%) in which the primary screen detected a phenotype. In addition, seven of the 50 lines (14%) presented significant histopathology findings that were not associated with or predicted by the standard primary screen. Three of these seven lines had no clinical phenotype detected by the standard primary screen. Incidental and strain-associated background lesions were present in all mutant lines with good concordance to wild-type controls. These findings demonstrate the complementary and unique contribution of histopathology to high-throughput primary phenotyping of mutant mice. PMID:24652767

Machine learning derived risk prediction of anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Guo, Yiran; Wei, Zhi; Keating, Brendan J; Hakonarson, Hakon

2016-01-20

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex psychiatric disease with a moderate to strong genetic contribution. In addition to conventional genome wide association (GWA) studies, researchers have been using machine learning methods in conjunction with genomic data to predict risk of diseases in which genetics play an important role. In this study, we collected whole genome genotyping data on 3940 AN cases and 9266 controls from the Genetic Consortium for Anorexia Nervosa (GCAN), the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3), Price Foundation Collaborative Group and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and applied machine learning methods for predicting AN disease risk. The prediction performance is measured by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), indicating how well the model distinguishes cases from unaffected control subjects. Logistic regression model with the lasso penalty technique generated an AUC of 0.693, while Support Vector Machines and Gradient Boosted Trees reached AUC's of 0.691 and 0.623, respectively. Using different sample sizes, our results suggest that larger datasets are required to optimize the machine learning models and achieve higher AUC values. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to assess AN risk based on genome wide genotype level data. Future integration of genomic, environmental and family-based information is likely to improve the AN risk evaluation process, eventually benefitting AN patients and families in the clinical setting.

The activity of the Research Investments in Global Health study and ways forward within the global funding and policy landscape.

PubMed

Head, Michael G; Brown, Rebecca J

2016-01-01

The Research Investments in Global Health (ResIn, www.researchinvestments.org) study analyses funding trends in health research, with a predominant focus on infectious diseases. Since October 2015, the project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is now based at the University of Southampton in the UK. In 2016, Public Policy@Southampton provided ResIn with a small grant to explore developing links with policy, funding and research stakeholders with an interest in global health. Three meetings were organised in London (Wellcome Trust, 25 May 2016), Brussels (UK Research Office, 2 June 2016), and Geneva (WHO R&D Observatory, 8 June 2016). In total, 45 stakeholders attended and provided comment and critique on the study methodology and potential expansion into other disciplines. A theme that emerged across all three meetings concerned the use of a standardised categorisation system. A key benefit of the ResIn study is the ability to present granular detail in precise areas. Further work packages that could enhance the use of the collected R&D data included integration with geospatial, policy and scientometric methodologies. There was broad enthusiasm that outputs from these proposed projects would provide clear benefits in informing health policy and R&D strategy. Outputs from the ongoing study covering infection-related R&D investments in the G20 nations will be available in 2017.

Frontal responses during learning predict vulnerability to the psychotogenic effects of ketamine: linking cognition, brain activity, and psychosis.

PubMed

Corlett, Philip R; Honey, Garry D; Aitken, Michael R F; Dickinson, Anthony; Shanks, David R; Absalom, Anthony R; Lee, Michael; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith; Murray, Graham K; McKenna, Peter J; Robbins, Trevor W; Bullmore, Edward T; Fletcher, Paul C

2006-06-01

Establishing a neurobiological account of delusion formation that links cognitive processes, brain activity, and symptoms is important to furthering our understanding of psychosis. To explore a theoretical model of delusion formation that implicates prediction error-dependent associative learning processes in a pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the psychotomimetic drug ketamine. Within-subject, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Hospital-based clinical research facility, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England. The work was completed within the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge. Fifteen healthy, right-handed volunteers (8 of whom were male) with a mean +/- SD age of 29 +/- 7 years and a mean +/- SD predicted full-scale IQ of 113 +/- 4 were recruited from within the local community by advertisement. Subjects were given low-dose ketamine (100 ng/mL of plasma) or placebo while performing a causal associative learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. In a separate session outside the scanner, the dose was increased (to 200 ng/mL of plasma) and subjects underwent a structured clinical interview. Brain activation, blood plasma levels of ketamine, and scores from psychiatric ratings scales (Brief Psychiatric Ratings Scale, Present State Examination, and Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale). Low-dose ketamine perturbs error-dependent learning activity in the right frontal cortex (P = .03). High-dose ketamine produces perceptual aberrations (P = .01) and delusion-like beliefs (P = .007). Critically, subjects showing the highest degree of frontal activation with placebo show the greatest occurrence of drug-induced perceptual aberrations (P = .03) and ideas or delusions of reference (P = .04). These findings relate aberrant prediction error-dependent associative learning to referential ideas and delusions via a perturbation of frontal cortical function. They are consistent with a model of delusion formation positing disruptions in error-dependent learning.

Do gifts increase consent to home-based HIV testing? A difference-in-differences study in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

McGovern, Mark E; Herbst, Kobus; Tanser, Frank; Mutevedzi, Tinofa; Canning, David; Gareta, Dickman; Pillay, Deenan; Bärnighausen, Till

2016-12-01

Despite the importance of HIV testing for controlling the HIV epidemic, testing rates remain low. Efforts to scale up testing coverage and frequency in hard-to-reach and at-risk populations commonly focus on home-based HIV testing. This study evaluates the effect of a gift (a US$5 food voucher for families) on consent rates for home-based HIV testing. We use data on 18 478 individuals (6 418 men and 12 060 women) who were successfully contacted to participate in the 2009 and 2010 population-based HIV surveillance carried out by the Wellcome Trust's Africa Health Research Institute in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Of 18 478 potential participants contacted in both years, 35% (6 518) consented to test in 2009, and 41% (7 533) consented to test in 2010. Our quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach controls for unobserved confounding in estimating the causal effect of the intervention on HIV-testing consent rates. Allocation of the gift to a family in 2010 increased the probability of family members consenting to test in the same year by 25 percentage points [95% confidence interval (CI) 21-30 percentage points; P  < 0.001]. The intervention effect persisted, slightly attenuated, in the year following the intervention (2011). In HIV hyperendemic settings, a gift can be highly effective at increasing consent rates for home-based HIV testing. Given the importance of HIV testing for treatment uptake and individual health, as well as for HIV treatment-as-prevention strategies and for monitoring the population impact of the HIV response, gifts should be considered as a supportive intervention for HIV-testing initiatives where consent rates have been low. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

Investments in respiratory infectious disease research 1997–2010: a systematic analysis of UK funding

PubMed Central

Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph R; Cooke, Mary K; Wurie, Fatima B; Hayward, Andrew C; Lipman, Marc C; Atun, Rifat

2014-01-01

Objectives Respiratory infections are responsible for a large global burden of disease. We assessed the public and philanthropic investments awarded to UK institutions for respiratory infectious disease research to identify areas of underinvestment. We aimed to identify projects and categorise them by pathogen, disease and position along the research and development value chain. Setting The UK. Participants Institutions that host and carry out infectious disease research. Primary and secondary outcome measures The total amount spent and number of studies with a focus on several different respiratory pathogens or diseases, and to correlate these against the global burden of disease; also the total amount spent and number of studies relating to the type of science, the predominant funder in each category and the mean and median award size. Results We identified 6165 infectious disease studies with a total investment of £2·6 billion. Respiratory research received £419 million (16.1%) across 1192 (19.3%) studies. The Wellcome Trust provided greatest investment (£135.2 million; 32.3%). Tuberculosis received £155 million (37.1%), influenza £80 million (19.1%) and pneumonia £27.8 million (6.6%). Despite high burden, there was relatively little investment in vaccine-preventable diseases including diphtheria (£0.1 million, 0.03%), measles (£5.0 million, 1.2%) and drug-resistant tuberculosis. There were 802 preclinical studies (67.3%) receiving £273 million (65.2%), while implementation research received £81 million (19.3%) across 274 studies (23%). There were comparatively few phase I–IV trials or product development studies. Global health research received £68.3 million (16.3%). Relative investment was strongly correlated with 2010 disease burden. Conclusions The UK predominantly funds preclinical science. Tuberculosis is the most studied respiratory disease. The high global burden of pneumonia-related disease warrants greater investment than it has historically received. Other priority areas include antimicrobial resistance (particularly within tuberculosis), economics and proactive investments for emerging infectious threats. PMID:24670431

Investments in respiratory infectious disease research 1997-2010: a systematic analysis of UK funding.

PubMed

Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph R; Cooke, Mary K; Wurie, Fatima B; Hayward, Andrew C; Lipman, Marc C; Atun, Rifat

2014-03-26

Respiratory infections are responsible for a large global burden of disease. We assessed the public and philanthropic investments awarded to UK institutions for respiratory infectious disease research to identify areas of underinvestment. We aimed to identify projects and categorise them by pathogen, disease and position along the research and development value chain. The UK. Institutions that host and carry out infectious disease research. The total amount spent and number of studies with a focus on several different respiratory pathogens or diseases, and to correlate these against the global burden of disease; also the total amount spent and number of studies relating to the type of science, the predominant funder in each category and the mean and median award size. We identified 6165 infectious disease studies with a total investment of £2·6 billion. Respiratory research received £419 million (16.1%) across 1192 (19.3%) studies. The Wellcome Trust provided greatest investment (£135.2 million; 32.3%). Tuberculosis received £155 million (37.1%), influenza £80 million (19.1%) and pneumonia £27.8 million (6.6%). Despite high burden, there was relatively little investment in vaccine-preventable diseases including diphtheria (£0.1 million, 0.03%), measles (£5.0 million, 1.2%) and drug-resistant tuberculosis. There were 802 preclinical studies (67.3%) receiving £273 million (65.2%), while implementation research received £81 million (19.3%) across 274 studies (23%). There were comparatively few phase I-IV trials or product development studies. Global health research received £68.3 million (16.3%). Relative investment was strongly correlated with 2010 disease burden. The UK predominantly funds preclinical science. Tuberculosis is the most studied respiratory disease. The high global burden of pneumonia-related disease warrants greater investment than it has historically received. Other priority areas include antimicrobial resistance (particularly within tuberculosis), economics and proactive investments for emerging infectious threats.

Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe.

PubMed

Agnandji, Selidji T; Huttner, Angela; Zinser, Madeleine E; Njuguna, Patricia; Dahlke, Christine; Fernandes, José F; Yerly, Sabine; Dayer, Julie-Anne; Kraehling, Verena; Kasonta, Rahel; Adegnika, Akim A; Altfeld, Marcus; Auderset, Floriane; Bache, Emmanuel B; Biedenkopf, Nadine; Borregaard, Saskia; Brosnahan, Jessica S; Burrow, Rebekah; Combescure, Christophe; Desmeules, Jules; Eickmann, Markus; Fehling, Sarah K; Finckh, Axel; Goncalves, Ana Rita; Grobusch, Martin P; Hooper, Jay; Jambrecina, Alen; Kabwende, Anita L; Kaya, Gürkan; Kimani, Domtila; Lell, Bertrand; Lemaître, Barbara; Lohse, Ansgar W; Massinga-Loembe, Marguerite; Matthey, Alain; Mordmüller, Benjamin; Nolting, Anne; Ogwang, Caroline; Ramharter, Michael; Schmidt-Chanasit, Jonas; Schmiedel, Stefan; Silvera, Peter; Stahl, Felix R; Staines, Henry M; Strecker, Thomas; Stubbe, Hans C; Tsofa, Benjamin; Zaki, Sherif; Fast, Patricia; Moorthy, Vasee; Kaiser, Laurent; Krishna, Sanjeev; Becker, Stephan; Kieny, Marie-Paule; Bejon, Philip; Kremsner, Peter G; Addo, Marylyn M; Siegrist, Claire-Anne

2016-04-28

The replication-competent recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based vaccine expressing a Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein was selected for rapid safety and immunogenicity testing before its use in West Africa. We performed three open-label, dose-escalation phase 1 trials and one randomized, double-blind, controlled phase 1 trial to assess the safety, side-effect profile, and immunogenicity of rVSV-ZEBOV at various doses in 158 healthy adults in Europe and Africa. All participants were injected with doses of vaccine ranging from 300,000 to 50 million plaque-forming units (PFU) or placebo. No serious vaccine-related adverse events were reported. Mild-to-moderate early-onset reactogenicity was frequent but transient (median, 1 day). Fever was observed in up to 30% of vaccinees. Vaccine viremia was detected within 3 days in 123 of the 130 participants (95%) receiving 3 million PFU or more; rVSV was not detected in saliva or urine. In the second week after injection, arthritis affecting one to four joints developed in 11 of 51 participants (22%) in Geneva, with pain lasting a median of 8 days (interquartile range, 4 to 87); 2 self-limited cases occurred in 60 participants (3%) in Hamburg, Germany, and Kilifi, Kenya. The virus was identified in one synovial-fluid aspirate and in skin vesicles of 2 other vaccinees, showing peripheral viral replication in the second week after immunization. ZEBOV-glycoprotein-specific antibody responses were detected in all the participants, with similar glycoprotein-binding antibody titers but significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers at higher doses. Glycoprotein-binding antibody titers were sustained through 180 days in all participants. In these studies, rVSV-ZEBOV was reactogenic but immunogenic after a single dose and warrants further evaluation for safety and efficacy. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust and others; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT02283099, NCT02287480, and NCT02296983; Pan African Clinical Trials Registry number, PACTR201411000919191.).

29 CFR 2550.403a-1 - Establishment of trust.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Establishment of trust. 2550.403a-1 Section 2550.403a-1... REGULATIONS FOR FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY § 2550.403a-1 Establishment of trust. (a) In general. Except as otherwise provided in § 403b-1, all assets of an employee benefit plan shall be held in trust by one or more...

On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research--Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academies Press, 2009

2009-01-01

The scientific research enterprise is built on a foundation of trust. Scientists trust that the results reported by others are valid. Society trusts that the results of research reflect an honest attempt by scientists to describe the world accurately and without bias. But this trust will endure only if the scientific community devotes itself to…

Trust in prescription drug brand websites: website trust cues, attitude toward the website, and behavioral intentions.

PubMed

Huh, Jisu; Shin, Wonsun

2014-01-01

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug brand websites, as a form of DTC advertising, are receiving increasing attention due to the growing number and importance as an ad and a consumer information source. This study examined consumer trust in a DTC website as an important factor influencing consumers' attitude toward the website and behavioral intention. Applying the conceptual framework of website trust, the particular focus of investigation was the effect of the website trust cue factor on consumers' perceived DTC website trust and subsequent attitudinal and behavioral responses. Results show a significant relation between the website trust cue factor and consumers' perceived DTC website trust. Perceived DTC website trust, in turn, was found to be significantly associated with consumers' attitude toward the DTC website and behavioral intention.

Adequate trust avails, mistaken trust matters: on the moral responsibility of doctors as proxies for patients' trust in biobank research.

PubMed

Johnsson, Linus; Helgesson, Gert; Hansson, Mats G; Eriksson, Stefan

2013-11-01

In Sweden, most patients are recruited into biobank research by non-researcher doctors. Patients' trust in doctors may therefore be important to their willingness to participate. We suggest a model of trust that makes sense of such transitions of trust between domains and distinguishes adequate trust from mistaken trust. The unique position of doctors implies, we argue, a Kantian imperfect duty to compensate for patients' mistaken trust. There are at least three kinds of mistaken trust, each of which requires a different set of countermeasures. First, trust is mistaken when necessary competence is lacking; the competence must be developed or the illusion dispelled. Second, trust is irrational whenever the patient is mistaken about his actual reasons for trusting. Care must therefore be taken to support the patient's reasoning and moral agency. Third, some patients inappropriately trust doctors to recommend only research that will benefit them directly. Such trust should be counteracted by nurturing a culture where patients expect to be asked occasionally to contribute to the common good. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Social trust and the management of threatened and endangered species: A study of communities of interest and communities of place.

Treesearch

George T. Cvetkovich; Patricia L Winter

2002-01-01

Social trust, the willingness to rely on those with formal responsibility to develop policies and make decisions, facilitates effective management of environmental issues, including wildlife management. National polls suggest that the public trusts government agencies to solve environmental problems, yet such trust is low (or non-existent) in areas of controversy, such...

Trust, but verify: social media models for disaster management.

PubMed

Mehta, Amisha M; Bruns, Axel; Newton, Judith

2017-07-01

A lack of trust in the information exchanged via social media may significantly hinder decisionmaking by community members and emergency services during disasters. The need for timely information at such times, though, challenges traditional ways of establishing trust. This paper, building on a multi-year research project that combined social media data analysis and participant observation within an emergency management organisation and in-depth engagement with stakeholders across the sector, pinpoints and examines assumptions governing trust and trusting relationships in social media disaster management. It assesses three models for using social media in disaster management-information gathering, quasi-journalistic verification, and crowdsourcing-in relation to the guardianship of trust to highlight the verification process for content and source and to identify the role of power and responsibilities. The conclusions contain important implications for emergency management organisations seeking to enhance their mechanisms for incorporating user-generated information from social media sources in their disaster response efforts. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Regulatory focus and generalized trust: the impact of prevention-focused self-regulation on trusting others.

PubMed

Keller, Johannes; Mayo, Ruth; Greifeneder, Rainer; Pfattheicher, Stefan

2015-01-01

The current research suggests that taking self-regulatory mechanisms into account provides insights regarding individuals' responses to threats in social interactions. In general, based on the notion that a prevention-focused orientation of self-regulation is associated with a need for security and a vigilant tendency to avoid losses and other types of negative events we advocate that a prevention-focused orientation, both as a disposition as well as a situationally induced state, lowers generalized trust, thus hindering cooperation within social interactions that entail threats. Specifically, we found that the more individuals' habitual self-regulatory orientation is dominated by a prevention focus, the less likely they are to score high on a self-report measure of generalized trust (Study 1), and to express trust in a trust game paradigm as manifested in lower sums of transferred money (Studies 2 and 3). Similar findings were found when prevention focus was situationally manipulated (Study 4). Finally, one possible factor underlying the impact of prevention-focused self-regulation on generalized trust was demonstrated as individuals with a special sensitivity to negative information were significantly affected by a subtle prevention focus manipulation (versus control condition) in that they reacted with reduced trust in the trust game (Study 5). In sum, the current findings document the crucial relevance of self-regulatory orientations as conceptualized in regulatory focus theory regarding generalized trust and responses to threats within a social interaction. The theoretical and applied implications of the findings are discussed.

Prevention of sexually transmitted infections in urban communities (Peru PREVEN): a multicomponent community-randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

García, Patricia J; Holmes, King K; Cárcamo, César P; Garnett, Geoff P; Hughes, James P; Campos, Pablo E; Whittington, William L H

2012-03-24

Previous community-randomised trials of interventions to control sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have involved rural settings, were rarely multicomponent, and had varying results. We aimed to assess the effect of a multicomponent intervention on curable STIs in urban young adults and female sex workers (FSWs). In this community-randomised trial, baseline STI screening was done between August, and November, 2002, in random household samples of young adults (aged 18-29 years) and in FSWs in Peruvian cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Geographically separate cities were selected, matched into pairs, and randomly allocated to intervention or control groups with an S-PLUS program. Follow-up surveys of random samples were done after 2 years and 3 years. The intervention comprised four modalities: strengthened STI syndromic management by pharmacy workers and clinicians; mobile-team outreach to FSWs for STI screening and pathogen-specific treatment; periodic presumptive treatment of FSWs for trichomoniasis; and condom promotion for FSWs and the general population. Individuals in control cities received standard care. The composite primary endpoint was infection of young adults with Chlamydia trachomatis, Trichomonas vaginalis, or Neisseria gonorrhoeae, or syphilis seroreactivity. Laboratory workers and the data analyst were masked, but fieldworkers, the Peruvian study team, and participants in the outcome surveys were not. All analyses were done by intention to treat. This trial is registered, ISRCTN43722548. We did baseline surveys of 15,261 young adults in 24 Peruvian cities. Of those, 20 geographically separate cities were matched into pairs, in each of which one city was assigned to intervention and the other to standard of care. In the 2006 follow-up survey, data for the composite primary outcome were available for 12,930 young adults. We report a non-significant reduction in prevalence of STIs in young adults, adjusted for baseline prevalence, in intervention cities compared with control cities (relative risk 0·84, 95% CI 0·69-1·02; p=0·096). In subgroup analyses, significant reductions were noted in intervention cities in young adult women and FSWs. Syndromic management of STIs, mobile-team outreach to FSWs, presumptive treatment for trichomoniasis in FSWs, and condom promotion might reduce the composite prevalence of any of the four curable STIs investigated in this trial. Wellcome Trust and Burroughs Wellcome Fund, National Institutes of Health, Center for AIDS Research, CIPRA, and USAID-Peru. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

36 CFR 1010.4 - NEPA Compliance Coordinator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false NEPA Compliance Coordinator. 1010.4 Section 1010.4 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY § 1010.4... Director, shall be the Trust official responsible for implementation and operation of the Trust's policies...

29 CFR 2550.403b-1 - Exemptions from trust requirement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Exemptions from trust requirement. 2550.403b-1 Section 2550.403b-1 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SECURITY ADMINISTRATION... AND REGULATIONS FOR FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY § 2550.403b-1 Exemptions from trust requirement. (a...

Oxytocin can hinder trust and cooperation in borderline personality disorder.

PubMed

Bartz, Jennifer; Simeon, Daphne; Hamilton, Holly; Kim, Suah; Crystal, Sarah; Braun, Ashley; Vicens, Victor; Hollander, Eric

2011-10-01

We investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin (OXT) on trust and cooperation in borderline personality disorder (BPD), a disorder marked by interpersonal instability and difficulties with cooperation. Although studies in healthy adults show that intranasal OXT increases trust, individuals with BPD may show an altered response to exogenous OXT because the effects of OXT on trust and pro-social behavior may vary depending on the relationship representations and expectations people possess and/or altered OXT system functioning in BPD. BPD and control participants received intranasal OXT and played a social dilemma game with a partner. Results showed that OXT produced divergent effects in BPD participants, decreasing trust and the likelihood of cooperative responses. Additional analyses focusing on individual differences in attachment anxiety and avoidance across BPD and control participants indicate that these divergent effects were driven by the anxiously attached, rejection-sensitive participants. These data suggest that OXT does not uniformly facilitate trust and pro-social behavior in humans; indeed, OXT may impede trust and pro-social behavior depending on chronic interpersonal insecurities, and/or possible neurochemical differences in the OXT system. Although popularly dubbed the 'hormone of love', these data suggest a more circumspect answer to the question of who will benefit from OXT.

Driver trust in five driver assistance technologies following real-world use in four production vehicles.

PubMed

Kidd, David G; Cicchino, Jessica B; Reagan, Ian J; Kerfoot, Laura B

2017-05-29

Information about drivers' experiences with driver assistance technologies in real driving conditions is sparse. This study characterized driver interactions with forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, active lane keeping, side-view assist, and lane departure warning systems following real-world use. Fifty-four Insurance Institute for Highway Safety employees participated and drove a 2016 Toyota Prius, 2016 Honda Civic, 2017 Audi Q7, or 2016 Infiniti QX60 for up to several weeks. Participants reported mileage and warnings from the technologies in an online daily-use survey. Participants reported their level of agreement with five statements regarding trust in an online post-use survey. Responses were averaged to create a composite measure of trust ranging from -2 (strongly disagree) to +2 (strongly agree) for each technology. Mixed-effect regression models were constructed to compare trust among technologies and separately among the study vehicles. Participants' free-response answers about what they liked least about each system were coded and examined. Participants reported driving 33,584 miles during 4 months of data collection. At least one forward collision warning was reported in 26% of the 354 daily reports. The proportion of daily reports indicating a forward collision warning was much larger for the Honda (70%) than for the Audi (18%), Infiniti (15%), and Toyota (10%). Trust was highest for side-view assist (0.98) and lowest for active lane keeping (0.20). Trust in side-view assist was significantly higher than trust in active lane keeping and lane departure warning (0.53). Trust in active lane keeping was significantly lower than trust in adaptive cruise control (0.67) and forward collision warning (0.71). Trust in adaptive cruise control was higher for the Audi (0.72) and Toyota (0.75) compared with the Honda (0.30), and significantly higher for the Infiniti (0.93). Trust in Infiniti's side-view assist (0.58) was significantly lower than trust in Audi (1.17) and Honda (1.23) systems. Coding of answers to free-response questions showed that more than 80% of complaints about Honda's adaptive cruise control were about the way it functioned and/or performed. Infiniti's side-view assist was the only one with complaints mentioning circumstances where it was used. Trust in forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and active lane keeping was not significantly different among vehicles. Driver trust varied among driver assistance technologies, and trust in adaptive cruise control and side-view assist differed among vehicles. Trust may affect real-world use of driver assistance technologies and limit the opportunity for the systems to provide their intended benefits.

[Trust-promoting variables in child-adult interaction].

PubMed

Esser, M; Petermann, F

1985-01-01

As interpersonal trust is recognized as a central variable in child-psychotherapy, and as psychological research has not yet developed strategies to advance interpersonal trust, the question arose by which social behavior variables children's trust is determined in the interaction process between adults and children. After having developed a most concrete definition of trust in terms of social interaction behavior, everyday pedagogical interaction sequences involving adults and children were analyzed in order to identify behavioral elements or patterns of interaction conducive to trust. According to the hypotheses, the behavior classes "positive adult reaction", "adult trusting behavior" and the interaction pattern "positive adult response to child trusting behavior" were found as conducive to interpersonal trust in children. Furthermore the realisation of the pattern "alternation of trusting child behavior and positive adult behavior" for a longer period of interaction was identified as material to the foundation of interpersonal trust. The realisation of that pattern is encouraged by positive and permanent reinforcement of different child reactions by the adult and by the child's readiness to react trustfully to positive adult behavior.

Genome-wide genetic analyses highlight mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

PubMed

Uimari, Outi; Rahmioglu, Nilufer; Nyholt, Dale R; Vincent, Katy; Missmer, Stacey A; Becker, Christian; Morris, Andrew P; Montgomery, Grant W; Zondervan, Krina T

2017-04-01

Do genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for endometriosis provide insight into novel biological pathways associated with its pathogenesis? GWAS analysis uncovered multiple pathways that are statistically enriched for genetic association signals, analysis of Stage A disease highlighted a novel variant in MAP3K4, while top pathways significantly associated with all endometriosis and Stage A disease included several mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-related pathways. Endometriosis is a complex disease with an estimated heritability of 50%. To date, GWAS revealed 10 genomic regions associated with endometriosis, explaining <4% of heritability, while half of the heritability is estimated to be due to common risk variants. Pathway analyses combine the evidence of single variants into gene-based measures, leveraging the aggregate effect of variants in genes and uncovering biological pathways involved in disease pathogenesis. Pathway analysis was conducted utilizing the International Endogene Consortium GWAS data, comprising 3194 surgically confirmed endometriosis cases and 7060 controls of European ancestry with genotype data imputed up to 1000 Genomes Phase three reference panel. GWAS was performed for all endometriosis cases and for Stage A (revised American Fertility Society (rAFS) I/II, n = 1686) and B (rAFS III/IV, n = 1364) cases separately. The identified significant pathways were compared with pathways previously investigated in the literature through candidate association studies. The most comprehensive biological pathway databases, MSigDB (including BioCarta, KEGG, PID, SA, SIG, ST and GO) and PANTHER were utilized to test for enrichment of genetic variants associated with endometriosis. Statistical enrichment analysis was performed using the MAGENTA (Meta-Analysis Gene-set Enrichment of variaNT Associations) software. The first genome-wide association analysis for Stage A endometriosis revealed a novel locus, rs144240142 (P = 6.45 × 10-8, OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.23-2.37), an intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within MAP3K4. This SNP was not associated with Stage B disease (P = 0.086). MAP3K4 was also shown to be differentially expressed in eutopic endometrium between Stage A endometriosis cases and controls (P = 3.8 × 10-4), but not with Stage B disease (P = 0.26). A total of 14 pathways enriched with genetic endometriosis associations were identified (false discovery rate (FDR)-P < 0.05). The pathways associated with any endometriosis were Grb2-Sos provides linkage to MAPK signaling for integrins pathway (P = 2.8 × 10-5, FDR-P = 3.0 × 10-3), Wnt signaling (P = 0.026, FDR-P = 0.026) and p130Cas linkage to MAPK signaling for integrins pathway (P = 6.0 × 10-4, FDR-P = 0.029); with Stage A endometriosis: extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1 ERK2 MAPK (P = 5.0 × 10-4, FDR-P = 5.0 × 10-4) and with Stage B endometriosis: two overlapping pathways that related to extracellular matrix biology-Core matrisome (P = 1.4 × 10-3, FDR-P = 0.013) and ECM glycoproteins (P = 1.8 × 10-3, FDR-P = 7.1 × 10-3). Genes arising from endometriosis candidate gene studies performed to date were enriched for Interleukin signaling pathway (P = 2.3 × 10-12), Apoptosis signaling pathway (P = 9.7 × 10-9) and Gonadotropin releasing hormone receptor pathway (P = 1.2 × 10-6); however, these pathways did not feature in the results based on GWAS data. Not applicable. The analysis is restricted to (i) variants in/near genes that can be assigned to pathways, excluding intergenic variants; (ii) the gene-based pathway definition as registered in the databases; (iii) women of European ancestry. The top ranked pathways associated with overall and Stage A endometriosis in particular involve integrin-mediated MAPK activation and intracellular ERK/MAPK acting downstream in the MAPK cascade, both acting in the control of cell division, gene expression, cell movement and survival. Other top enriched pathways in Stage B disease include ECM glycoprotein pathways important for extracellular structure and biochemical support. The results highlight the need for increased efforts to understand the functional role of these pathways in endometriosis pathogenesis, including the investigation of the biological effects of the genetic variants on downstream molecular processes in tissue relevant to endometriosis. Additionally, our results offer further support for the hypothesis of at least partially distinct causal pathophysiology for minimal/mild (rAFS I/II) vs. moderate/severe (rAFS III/IV) endometriosis. The genome-wide association data and Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) were generated through funding from the Wellcome Trust (WT084766/Z/08/Z, 076113 and 085475) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (241944, 339462, 389927, 389875, 389891, 389892, 389938, 443036, 442915, 442981, 496610, 496739, 552485 and 552498). N.R. was funded by a grant from the Medical Research Council UK (MR/K011480/1). A.P.M. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science (grant WT098017). All authors declare there are no conflicts of interest. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Genome-wide genetic analyses highlight mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in the pathogenesis of endometriosis

PubMed Central

Uimari, Outi; Rahmioglu, Nilufer; Nyholt, Dale R.; Vincent, Katy; Missmer, Stacey A.; Becker, Christian; Morris, Andrew P.; Montgomery, Grant W.

2017-01-01

Abstract STUDY QUESTION Do genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for endometriosis provide insight into novel biological pathways associated with its pathogenesis? SUMMARY ANSWER GWAS analysis uncovered multiple pathways that are statistically enriched for genetic association signals, analysis of Stage A disease highlighted a novel variant in MAP3K4, while top pathways significantly associated with all endometriosis and Stage A disease included several mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-related pathways. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Endometriosis is a complex disease with an estimated heritability of 50%. To date, GWAS revealed 10 genomic regions associated with endometriosis, explaining <4% of heritability, while half of the heritability is estimated to be due to common risk variants. Pathway analyses combine the evidence of single variants into gene-based measures, leveraging the aggregate effect of variants in genes and uncovering biological pathways involved in disease pathogenesis. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Pathway analysis was conducted utilizing the International Endogene Consortium GWAS data, comprising 3194 surgically confirmed endometriosis cases and 7060 controls of European ancestry with genotype data imputed up to 1000 Genomes Phase three reference panel. GWAS was performed for all endometriosis cases and for Stage A (revised American Fertility Society (rAFS) I/II, n = 1686) and B (rAFS III/IV, n = 1364) cases separately. The identified significant pathways were compared with pathways previously investigated in the literature through candidate association studies. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS The most comprehensive biological pathway databases, MSigDB (including BioCarta, KEGG, PID, SA, SIG, ST and GO) and PANTHER were utilized to test for enrichment of genetic variants associated with endometriosis. Statistical enrichment analysis was performed using the MAGENTA (Meta-Analysis Gene-set Enrichment of variaNT Associations) software. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE The first genome-wide association analysis for Stage A endometriosis revealed a novel locus, rs144240142 (P = 6.45 × 10−8, OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.23–2.37), an intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within MAP3K4. This SNP was not associated with Stage B disease (P = 0.086). MAP3K4 was also shown to be differentially expressed in eutopic endometrium between Stage A endometriosis cases and controls (P = 3.8 × 10−4), but not with Stage B disease (P = 0.26). A total of 14 pathways enriched with genetic endometriosis associations were identified (false discovery rate (FDR)-P < 0.05). The pathways associated with any endometriosis were Grb2-Sos provides linkage to MAPK signaling for integrins pathway (P = 2.8 × 10−5, FDR-P = 3.0 × 10−3), Wnt signaling (P = 0.026, FDR-P = 0.026) and p130Cas linkage to MAPK signaling for integrins pathway (P = 6.0 × 10−4, FDR-P = 0.029); with Stage A endometriosis: extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1 ERK2 MAPK (P = 5.0 × 10−4, FDR-P = 5.0 × 10−4) and with Stage B endometriosis: two overlapping pathways that related to extracellular matrix biology—Core matrisome (P = 1.4 × 10−3, FDR-P = 0.013) and ECM glycoproteins (P = 1.8 × 10−3, FDR-P = 7.1 × 10−3). Genes arising from endometriosis candidate gene studies performed to date were enriched for Interleukin signaling pathway (P = 2.3 × 10−12), Apoptosis signaling pathway (P = 9.7 × 10−9) and Gonadotropin releasing hormone receptor pathway (P = 1.2 × 10−6); however, these pathways did not feature in the results based on GWAS data. LARGE SCALE DATA Not applicable. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION The analysis is restricted to (i) variants in/near genes that can be assigned to pathways, excluding intergenic variants; (ii) the gene-based pathway definition as registered in the databases; (iii) women of European ancestry. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The top ranked pathways associated with overall and Stage A endometriosis in particular involve integrin-mediated MAPK activation and intracellular ERK/MAPK acting downstream in the MAPK cascade, both acting in the control of cell division, gene expression, cell movement and survival. Other top enriched pathways in Stage B disease include ECM glycoprotein pathways important for extracellular structure and biochemical support. The results highlight the need for increased efforts to understand the functional role of these pathways in endometriosis pathogenesis, including the investigation of the biological effects of the genetic variants on downstream molecular processes in tissue relevant to endometriosis. Additionally, our results offer further support for the hypothesis of at least partially distinct causal pathophysiology for minimal/mild (rAFS I/II) vs. moderate/severe (rAFS III/IV) endometriosis. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) The genome-wide association data and Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) were generated through funding from the Wellcome Trust (WT084766/Z/08/Z, 076113 and 085475) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (241944, 339462, 389927, 389875, 389891, 389892, 389938, 443036, 442915, 442981, 496610, 496739, 552485 and 552498). N.R. was funded by a grant from the Medical Research Council UK (MR/K011480/1). A.P.M. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science (grant WT098017). All authors declare there are no conflicts of interest. PMID:28333195

Race and trust in the health care system.

PubMed

Boulware, L Ebony; Cooper, Lisa A; Ratner, Lloyd E; LaVeist, Thomas A; Powe, Neil R

2003-01-01

A legacy of racial discrimination in medical research and the health care system has been linked to a low level of trust in medical research and medical care among African Americans. While racial differences in trust in physicians have been demonstrated, little is known about racial variation in trust of health insurance plans and hospitals. For the present study, the authors analyzed responses to a cross-sectional telephone survey to assess the independent relationship of self-reported race (non-Hispanic black or non-Hispanic white) with trust in physicians, hospitals, and health insurance plans. Respondents ages 18-75 years were asked to rate their level of trust in physicians, health insurance plans, and hospitals. Items from the Medical Mistrust Index were used to assess fear and suspicion of hospitals. Responses were analyzed for 49 (42%) non-Hispanic black and 69 (58%) non-Hispanic white respondents (N=118; 94% of total survey population). A majority of respondents trusted physicians (71%) and hospitals (70%), but fewer trusted their health insurance plans (28%). After adjustment for potential confounders, non-Hispanic black respondents were less likely to trust their physicians than non-Hispanic white respondents (adjusted absolute difference 37%; p=0.01) and more likely to trust their health insurance plans (adjusted absolute difference 28%; p=0.04). The difference in trust of hospitals (adjusted absolute difference 13%) was not statistically significant. Non-Hispanic black respondents were more likely than non-Hispanic white respondents to be concerned about personal privacy and the potential for harmful experimentation in hospitals. Patterns of trust in components of our health care system differ by race. Differences in trust may reflect divergent cultural experiences of blacks and whites as well as differences in expectations for care. Improved understanding of these factors is needed if efforts to enhance patient access to and satisfaction with care are to be effective.

77 FR 9625 - Recommendations for Establishing an Identity Ecosystem Governance Structure for the National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-17

... Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology... Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and responds to comments received in response to the related Notice of... Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). On June 14, 2011, NIST published a Notice of Inquiry...

49 CFR 387.307 - Property broker surety bond or trust fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... Evidence of a trust fund with a financial institution must be filed using the FMCSA's prescribed Form BMC... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Property broker surety bond or trust fund. 387.307... MINIMUM LEVELS OF FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR MOTOR CARRIERS Surety Bonds and Policies of Insurance for...

Understanding Trust as an Essential Element of Trainee Supervision and Learning in the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauer, Karen E.; ten Cate, Olle; Boscardin, Christy; Irby, David M.; Iobst, William; O'Sullivan, Patricia S.

2014-01-01

Clinical supervision requires that supervisors make decisions about how much independence to allow their trainees for patient care tasks. The simultaneous goals of ensuring quality patient care and affording trainees appropriate and progressively greater responsibility require that the supervising physician trusts the trainee. Trust allows the…

Partnering Research Involving Mentoring and Education (PRIME) in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-01

Nurses Symposium on Cancer in African Americans, Atlanta. 7. Price, M.M. (1994, October 28-30). “Living with Genital Herpes : Counseling the...Patient”, Paper presented and Seminar Moderator for the Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical Corporation Nursing Conference on Genital Herpes , Research

A high HIV-1 strain variability in London, UK, revealed by full-genome analysis: Results from the ICONIC project

PubMed Central

Frampton, Dan; Gallo Cassarino, Tiziano; Raffle, Jade; Hubb, Jonathan; Ferns, R. Bridget; Waters, Laura; Tong, C. Y. William; Kozlakidis, Zisis; Hayward, Andrew; Kellam, Paul; Pillay, Deenan; Clark, Duncan; Nastouli, Eleni; Leigh Brown, Andrew J.

2018-01-01

Background & methods The ICONIC project has developed an automated high-throughput pipeline to generate HIV nearly full-length genomes (NFLG, i.e. from gag to nef) from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. The pipeline was applied to 420 HIV samples collected at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust (London) and sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Cambridge). Consensus genomes were generated and subtyped using COMET, and unique recombinants were studied with jpHMM and SimPlot. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed using RAxML to identify transmission networks using the Cluster Picker. Results The pipeline generated sequences of at least 1Kb of length (median = 7.46Kb, IQR = 4.01Kb) for 375 out of the 420 samples (89%), with 174 (46.4%) being NFLG. A total of 365 sequences (169 of them NFLG) corresponded to unique subjects and were included in the down-stream analyses. The most frequent HIV subtypes were B (n = 149, 40.8%) and C (n = 77, 21.1%) and the circulating recombinant form CRF02_AG (n = 32, 8.8%). We found 14 different CRFs (n = 66, 18.1%) and multiple URFs (n = 32, 8.8%) that involved recombination between 12 different subtypes/CRFs. The most frequent URFs were B/CRF01_AE (4 cases) and A1/D, B/C, and B/CRF02_AG (3 cases each). Most URFs (19/26, 73%) lacked breakpoints in the PR+RT pol region, rendering them undetectable if only that was sequenced. Twelve (37.5%) of the URFs could have emerged within the UK, whereas the rest were probably imported from sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South America. For 2 URFs we found highly similar pol sequences circulating in the UK. We detected 31 phylogenetic clusters using the full dataset: 25 pairs (mostly subtypes B and C), 4 triplets and 2 quadruplets. Some of these were not consistent across different genes due to inter- and intra-subtype recombination. Clusters involved 70 sequences, 19.2% of the dataset. Conclusions The initial analysis of genome sequences detected substantial hidden variability in the London HIV epidemic. Analysing full genome sequences, as opposed to only PR+RT, identified previously undetected recombinants. It provided a more reliable description of CRFs (that would be otherwise misclassified) and transmission clusters. PMID:29389981

25 CFR 30.100 - What is the purpose of this part?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... definition of “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).” Nothing in this part: (a) Diminishes the Secretary's trust responsibility for Indian education or any statutory rights in law; (b) Affects in any way the sovereign rights of tribes; or (c) Terminates or changes the trust responsibility of the United States to Indian...

Are we on the same page? The performance effects of congruence between supervisor and group trust.

PubMed

Carter, Min Z; Mossholder, Kevin W

2015-09-01

Taking a multiple-stakeholder perspective, we examined the effects of supervisor-work group trust congruence on groups' task and contextual performance using a polynomial regression and response surface analytical framework. We expected motivation experienced by work groups to mediate the positive influence of trust congruence on performance. Although hypothesized congruence effects on performance were more strongly supported for affective rather than for cognitive trust, we found significant indirect effects on performance (via work group motivation) for both types of trust. We discuss the performance effects of trust congruence and incongruence between supervisors and work groups, as well as implications for practice and future research. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effect of 9/11 on the Heritability of Political Trust.

PubMed

Ojeda, Christopher

2016-02-01

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, a rally effect led to a precipitous rise in political trust. However, the increase in political trust concealed a simultaneous decline among a smaller portion of the population. This paper examines the psychological mechanisms underlying these heterogeneous attitudes towards government and shows that a biosocial model best explains the observed patterns of response. The interplay of genetic and environmental factors of political trust reveals the stable but dynamic nature of heritability: genetic influences of political trust increased immediately following 9/11 but quickly decayed to pre-9/11 levels.

The Effect of 9/11 on the Heritability of Political Trust1

PubMed Central

Ojeda, Christopher

2014-01-01

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, a rally effect led to a precipitous rise in political trust. However, the increase in political trust concealed a simultaneous decline among a smaller portion of the population. This paper examines the psychological mechanisms underlying these heterogeneous attitudes towards government and shows that a biosocial model best explains the observed patterns of response. The interplay of genetic and environmental factors of political trust reveals the stable but dynamic nature of heritability: genetic influences of political trust increased immediately following 9/11 but quickly decayed to pre-9/11 levels. PMID:26843705

Chemical Manufacturing and Refining Industry Legitimacy: Reflective Management, Trust, Precrisis Communication to Achieve Community Efficacy.

PubMed

Heath, Robert L; Lee, Jaesub

2016-06-01

Calls for emergency right-to-know in the 1980s, and, in the 1990s, risk management planning, motivated U.S. chemical manufacturing and refining industries to operationalize a three-pronged approach to risk minimization and communication: reflective management to increase legitimacy, operational safety programs to raise trust, and community engagement designed to facilitate citizens' emergency response efficacy. To assess these management, operational, and communication initiatives, communities (often through Local Emergency Planning Committees) monitored the impact of such programs. In 2012, the fourth phase of a quasi-longitudinal study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of operational change and community outreach in one bellwether community. This study focuses on legitimacy, trust, and response efficacy to suggest that an industry can earn legitimacy credits by raising its safety and environmental impact standards, by building trust via that change, and by communicating emergency response messages to near residents to raise their response efficacy. As part of its campaign to demonstrate its concern for community safety through research, planning, and implementation of safe operations and viable emergency response systems, this industry uses a simple narrative of risk/emergency response-shelter-in-place-communicated by a spokes-character: Wally Wise Guy. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Collaboration Around Research and Education (CARE) in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-01

the Oncology Nurses Symposium on Cancer in African Americans, Atlanta, GA. 7. Price, M.M. (1994, October 28-30). “Living with Genital Herpes ...Counseling the Patient”. Paper presented and Seminar Moderator for the Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical Corporation Nursing Conference on Genital Herpes

Collaboration around Research and Education (Care) in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-01

M.M. (1994, October 28-30). “Living with Genital Herpes : Counseling the Patient”, Paper presented and Seminar Moderator for the Burroughs Wellcome...Pharmaceutical Corporation Nursing Conference on Genital Herpes , Research Triangle Park, NC. 8. Price, M.M. (1995, April, Miami; 1995, March

The history of ergot of rye (Claviceps purpurea) II: 1900-1940.

PubMed

Lee, M R

2009-12-01

Ergot, in 1900, was a 'chemical mess'. Henry Wellcome, the pharmaceutical manufacturer, invited Henry Hallett Dale, a physiologist, to join his research department and solve this problem. Dale, in turn, recruited an outstanding group of scientists, including George Barger, Arthur Ewins and Harold Dudley, who would make distinguished contributions not only to the chemistry of ergot but also to the identification of acetylcholine, histamine and tyramine and to studies on their physiological effects. Initially Barger and Dale isolated the compound ergotoxine, but this proved to be a false lead; it was later shown to be a mixture of three different ergot alkaloids. The major success of the Wellcome group was the discovery and isolation of ergometrine, which would prove to be life-saving in postpartum haemorrhage. In 1917 Arthur Stoll and his colleagues started work on ergot at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Basel. A series of important results emerged over the next 30 years, including the isolation of ergotamine in 1918, an effective treatment for migraine with aura.

Signaling When (and When Not) to Be Cautious and Self-Protective: Impulsive and Reflective Trust in Close Relationships

PubMed Central

Murray, Sandra L.; Pinkus, Rebecca T.; Holmes, John G.; Harris, Brianna; Gomillion, Sarah; Aloni, Maya; Derrick, Jaye L.; Leder, Sadie

2011-01-01

A dual process model is proposed to explain how automatic evaluative associations to the partner (i.e., impulsive trust) and deliberative expectations of partner caring (i.e., reflective trust) interact to govern self-protection in romantic relationships. Experimental and correlational studies of dating and marital relationships supported the model. Subliminally conditioning more positive evaluative associations to the partner increased confidence in the partner’s caring, suggesting that trust has an impulsive basis. Being high on impulsive trust (i.e., more positive evaluative associations to the partner on the IAT) also reduced the automatic inclination to distance in response to doubts about the partner’s trustworthiness. It similarly reduced self-protective behavioral reactions to these reflective trust concerns. The studies further revealed that the effects of impulsive trust depend on working memory capacity: Being high on impulsive trust inoculated against reflective trust concerns for people low on working memory capacity. PMID:21443370

The role of training in STD prevention and control.

PubMed

Barnes, C; Cathcart, S

1998-03-01

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 340 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (excluding HIV and herpes simplex virus) occurred in 1995. The level of infection with STDs is especially troubling in developing countries, where they cause considerable morbidity. The consequences of infection with STDs can be personal, social, and economic. STD control programs are based upon the principles of primary and secondary prevention. Primary prevention strategies involve preventing the occurrence of new infections, while secondary prevention strategies aim to improve the management of STDs, and thereby to reduce their transmission and subsequent associated morbidity and mortality. Both primary and secondary prevention strategies require the dissemination of information from health workers to the at-risk population at a grassroots level, usually in primary health care centers. Health workers must therefore have a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of the many aspects of STDs, and be confident in their ability to communicate that information to others. A study in Tanzania determined that improvement in primary health care, including the provision of worker training, resulted in a 40% reduction in the incidence of HIV. The Wellcome Trust's new Topics in International Health series provides information on STDs on an interactive CD-ROM covering the epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical features, and treatment of the major STDs, except HIV, which is the subject of a separate CD-ROM. The CD-ROM was designed to be used in training programs for medical students and health care workers.

Hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase: a new risk gene for multiple sclerosis

PubMed Central

Alcina, Antonio; Ramagopalan, Sreeram V; Fernández, Óscar; Catalá-Rabasa, Antonio; Fedetz, María; Ndagire, Dorothy; Leyva, Laura; Arnal, Carmen; Delgado, Concepción; Lucas, Miguel; Izquierdo, Guillermo; Ebers, George C; Matesanz, Fuencisla

2010-01-01

A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) performed by the The Wellcome Trust Case–Control Consortium based on 12 374 nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) provided evidence for several genes involved in multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility. In this study, we aimed at verifying the association of 19 SNPs with MS, with P-values ≤0.005, in an independent cohort of 732 patients and 974 controls, all Caucasian from the South of Spain. We observed an association of the rs17368528 polymorphism with MS (P=0.04, odds ratio (OR)=0.801, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.648–0.990). The association of this polymorphism with MS was further validated in an independent set of 1318 patients from the Canadian Collaborative Project (P=0.04, OR=0.838, 95% CI=0.716–0.964). This marker is located on chromosome 1p36.22, which is 1 Mb away from the MS-associated kinesin motor protein KIF1B, although linkage disequilibrium was not observed between these two markers. The rs17368528 SNP results in an amino-acid substitution (proline to leucine) in the fifth exon of the hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (H6PD) gene, in which some variants have been reported to attenuate or abolish H6PD activity, in individuals with cortisone reductase deficiency. This study corroborates the association of one locus determined by GWAS and points to H6PD as a new candidate gene for MS. PMID:19935835

Galvanising the NHS to Adopt Innovation

PubMed Central

Parris, Stuart; Cochrane, Gavin; Marjanovic, Sonja; Ling, Tom; Chataway, Joanna

2016-01-01

Abstract The Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust, in co-operation with NHS England, asked RAND Europe to conduct a limited consultation with key stakeholders about the practicality of measures and incentives proposed as part of the NHS Accelerated Access Review (AAR), which aims to assess the pathways for the development, assessment, and adoption of innovative medicines and medical technology. Through a focused engagement exercise with key healthcare stakeholders this project explored the implications of selected interim AAR propositions and feasibility of implementation for key actors, in primary and secondary care as well as commissioners and academia. Specifically, the project investigated the feasibility of implementation of three specific propositions including: a new earmarked fund to encourage AHSNs and other key innovation actors to re-design systems to embrace innovation; mobilising the influence of clinical system leaders to champion change; and encouraging secondary care organisations to take on “innovation champion” roles linked to financial incentives and a new emphasis on accountable care organisations. Data was collected on the feasibility of the three AAR propositions from a workshop with AHSN CEOs and Commercial Directors and interviews with senior NHS staff in three AHSN regions (South West, University College London Partners, and North East, North Cumbria). The study concludes with reflections on the feasibility of each recommendation and identifies factors expected to facilitate or challenge their implementation, as well as considering the wider cross cutting issues that may influence the adoption and diffusion of innovation in the NHS. PMID:28083436

MultiBLUP: improved SNP-based prediction for complex traits.

PubMed

Speed, Doug; Balding, David J

2014-09-01

BLUP (best linear unbiased prediction) is widely used to predict complex traits in plant and animal breeding, and increasingly in human genetics. The BLUP mathematical model, which consists of a single random effect term, was adequate when kinships were measured from pedigrees. However, when genome-wide SNPs are used to measure kinships, the BLUP model implicitly assumes that all SNPs have the same effect-size distribution, which is a severe and unnecessary limitation. We propose MultiBLUP, which extends the BLUP model to include multiple random effects, allowing greatly improved prediction when the random effects correspond to classes of SNPs with distinct effect-size variances. The SNP classes can be specified in advance, for example, based on SNP functional annotations, and we also provide an adaptive procedure for determining a suitable partition of SNPs. We apply MultiBLUP to genome-wide association data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (seven diseases), and from much larger studies of celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, finding that it consistently provides better prediction than alternative methods. Moreover, MultiBLUP is computationally very efficient; for the largest data set, which includes 12,678 individuals and 1.5 M SNPs, the total analysis can be run on a single desktop PC in less than a day and can be parallelized to run even faster. Tools to perform MultiBLUP are freely available in our software LDAK. © 2014 Speed and Balding; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Simultaneous Genotype Calling and Haplotype Phasing Improves Genotype Accuracy and Reduces False-Positive Associations for Genome-wide Association Studies

PubMed Central

Browning, Brian L.; Yu, Zhaoxia

2009-01-01

We present a novel method for simultaneous genotype calling and haplotype-phase inference. Our method employs the computationally efficient BEAGLE haplotype-frequency model, which can be applied to large-scale studies with millions of markers and thousands of samples. We compare genotype calls made with our method to genotype calls made with the BIRDSEED, CHIAMO, GenCall, and ILLUMINUS genotype-calling methods, using genotype data from the Illumina 550K and Affymetrix 500K arrays. We show that our method has higher genotype-call accuracy and yields fewer uncalled genotypes than competing methods. We perform single-marker analysis of data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium bipolar disorder and type 2 diabetes studies. For bipolar disorder, the genotype calls in the original study yield 25 markers with apparent false-positive association with bipolar disorder at a p < 10−7 significance level, whereas genotype calls made with our method yield no associated markers at this significance threshold. Conversely, for markers with replicated association with type 2 diabetes, there is good concordance between genotype calls used in the original study and calls made by our method. Results from single-marker and haplotypic analysis of our method's genotype calls for the bipolar disorder study indicate that our method is highly effective at eliminating genotyping artifacts that cause false-positive associations in genome-wide association studies. Our new genotype-calling methods are implemented in the BEAGLE and BEAGLECALL software packages. PMID:19931040

Genome-wide gene–gene interaction analysis for next-generation sequencing

PubMed Central

Zhao, Jinying; Zhu, Yun; Xiong, Momiao

2016-01-01

The critical barrier in interaction analysis for next-generation sequencing (NGS) data is that the traditional pairwise interaction analysis that is suitable for common variants is difficult to apply to rare variants because of their prohibitive computational time, large number of tests and low power. The great challenges for successful detection of interactions with NGS data are (1) the demands in the paradigm of changes in interaction analysis; (2) severe multiple testing; and (3) heavy computations. To meet these challenges, we shift the paradigm of interaction analysis between two SNPs to interaction analysis between two genomic regions. In other words, we take a gene as a unit of analysis and use functional data analysis techniques as dimensional reduction tools to develop a novel statistic to collectively test interaction between all possible pairs of SNPs within two genome regions. By intensive simulations, we demonstrate that the functional logistic regression for interaction analysis has the correct type 1 error rates and higher power to detect interaction than the currently used methods. The proposed method was applied to a coronary artery disease dataset from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) study and the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) dataset, and the early-onset myocardial infarction (EOMI) exome sequence datasets with European origin from the NHLBI's Exome Sequencing Project. We discovered that 6 of 27 pairs of significantly interacted genes in the FHS were replicated in the independent WTCCC study and 24 pairs of significantly interacted genes after applying Bonferroni correction in the EOMI study. PMID:26173972

Scalable privacy-preserving data sharing methodology for genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Yu, Fei; Fienberg, Stephen E; Slavković, Aleksandra B; Uhler, Caroline

2014-08-01

The protection of privacy of individual-level information in genome-wide association study (GWAS) databases has been a major concern of researchers following the publication of "an attack" on GWAS data by Homer et al. (2008). Traditional statistical methods for confidentiality and privacy protection of statistical databases do not scale well to deal with GWAS data, especially in terms of guarantees regarding protection from linkage to external information. The more recent concept of differential privacy, introduced by the cryptographic community, is an approach that provides a rigorous definition of privacy with meaningful privacy guarantees in the presence of arbitrary external information, although the guarantees may come at a serious price in terms of data utility. Building on such notions, Uhler et al. (2013) proposed new methods to release aggregate GWAS data without compromising an individual's privacy. We extend the methods developed in Uhler et al. (2013) for releasing differentially-private χ(2)-statistics by allowing for arbitrary number of cases and controls, and for releasing differentially-private allelic test statistics. We also provide a new interpretation by assuming the controls' data are known, which is a realistic assumption because some GWAS use publicly available data as controls. We assess the performance of the proposed methods through a risk-utility analysis on a real data set consisting of DNA samples collected by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and compare the methods with the differentially-private release mechanism proposed by Johnson and Shmatikov (2013). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relaxation exercise and social support trial-resst: study protocol for a randomized community based trial

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Studies suggests a possible link between vaginal discharge and common mental distress, as well as highlight the implications of the subjective burden of disease and its link with mental health. Methods/Design This is a community-based intervention trial that aims to evaluate the impact of a psycho-social intervention on medically unexplained vaginal discharge (MUVD) in a group of married, low-income Lebanese women, aged 18-49, and suffering from low to moderate levels of anxiety and/or depression. The intervention consisted of 12 sessions of structured social support, problem solving techniques, group discussions and trainer-supervised relaxation exercises (twice per week over six weeks). Women were recruited from Hey el Selloum, a southern disadvantaged suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, during an open recruitment campaign. The primary outcome was self-reported MUVD, upon ruling out reproductive tract infections (RTIs), through lab analysis. Anxiety and/or depression symptoms were the secondary outcomes for this trial. These were assessed using an Arabic validated version of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25). Assessments were done at baseline and six months using face-to face interviews, pelvic examinations and laboratory tests. Women were randomized into either intervention or control group. Intent to treat analysis will be used. Discussion The results will indicate whether the proposed psychosocial intervention was effective in reducing MUVD (possibly mediated by common mental distress). Trial Registration The trial is registered at the Wellcome Trust Registry, ISRCTN assigned: ISRCTN: ISRCTN98441241 PMID:21864414

Dual-5α-Reductase Inhibition Promotes Hepatic Lipid Accumulation in Man.

PubMed

Hazlehurst, Jonathan M; Oprescu, Andrei I; Nikolaou, Nikolaos; Di Guida, Riccardo; Grinbergs, Annabel E K; Davies, Nigel P; Flintham, Robert B; Armstrong, Matthew J; Taylor, Angela E; Hughes, Beverly A; Yu, Jinglei; Hodson, Leanne; Dunn, Warwick B; Tomlinson, Jeremy W

2016-01-01

5α-Reductase 1 and 2 (SRD5A1, SRD5A2) inactivate cortisol to 5α-dihydrocortisol in addition to their role in the generation of DHT. Dutasteride (dual SRD5A1 and SRD5A2 inhibitor) and finasteride (selective SRD5A2 inhibitor) are commonly prescribed, but their potential metabolic effects have only recently been identified. Our objective was to provide a detailed assessment of the metabolic effects of SRD5A inhibition and in particular the impact on hepatic lipid metabolism. We conducted a randomized study in 12 healthy male volunteers with detailed metabolic phenotyping performed before and after a 3-week treatment with finasteride (5 mg od) or dutasteride (0.5 mg od). Hepatic magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and two-step hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamps incorporating stable isotopes with concomitant adipose tissue microdialysis were used to evaluate carbohydrate and lipid flux. Analysis of the serum metabolome was performed using ultra-HPLC-mass spectrometry. The study was performed in the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Incorporation of hepatic lipid was measured with MRS. Dutasteride, not finasteride, increased hepatic insulin resistance. Intrahepatic lipid increased on MRS after dutasteride treatment and was associated with increased rates of de novo lipogenesis. Adipose tissue lipid mobilization was decreased by dutasteride. Analysis of the serum metabolome demonstrated that in the fasted state, dutasteride had a significant effect on lipid metabolism. Dual-SRD5A inhibition with dutasteride is associated with increased intrahepatic lipid accumulation.

An overview of the genetic dissection of complex traits.

PubMed

Rao, D C

2008-01-01

Thanks to the recent revolutionary genomic advances such as the International HapMap consortium, resolution of the genetic architecture of common complex traits is beginning to look hopeful. While demonstrating the feasibility of genome-wide association (GWA) studies, the pathbreaking Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) study also serves to underscore the critical importance of very large sample sizes and draws attention to potential problems, which need to be addressed as part of the study design. Even the large WTCCC study had vastly inadequate power for several of the associations reported (and confirmed) and, therefore, most of the regions harboring relevant associations may not be identified anytime soon. This chapter provides an overview of some of the key developments in the methodological approaches to genetic dissection of common complex traits. Constrained Bayesian networks are suggested as especially useful for analysis of pathway-based SNPs. Likewise, composite likelihood is suggested as a promising method for modeling complex systems. It discusses the key steps in a study design, with an emphasis on GWA studies. Potential limitations highlighted by the WTCCC GWA study are discussed, including problems associated with massive genotype imputation, analysis of pooled national samples, shared controls, and the critical role of interactions. GWA studies clearly need massive sample sizes that are only possible through genuine collaborations. After all, for common complex traits, the question is not whether we can find some pieces of the puzzle, but how large and what kind of a sample we need to (nearly) solve the genetic puzzle.

25 CFR 224.40 - How does the Act or a TERA affect the Secretary's trust responsibility?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How does the Act or a TERA affect the Secretary's trust responsibility? 224.40 Section 224.40 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ENERGY AND MINERALS TRIBAL ENERGY RESOURCE AGREEMENTS UNDER THE INDIAN TRIBAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND SELF...

Learning and Growing: Trust, Leadership, and Response to Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutherland, Ian E.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of trust in a school community related to the leadership response to crisis. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was a multiple-source qualitative study of a single case of a PreK-12 international school called The Learning School. Findings: The findings revealed the nature of how…

The psychological well-being and prenatal bonding of gestational surrogates.

PubMed

Lamba, N; Jadva, V; Kadam, K; Golombok, S

2018-02-23

How does the psychological well-being and prenatal bonding of Indian surrogates differ from a comparison group of mothers? Surrogates had higher levels of depression during pregnancy and post-birth, displayed lower emotional connection with the unborn baby, and greater care towards the healthy growth of the foetus, than the comparison group of mothers. Studies in the West have found that surrogates do not suffer long-term psychological harm. One study has shown that surrogates bond less with the foetus than expectant mothers. This study uses a prospective, longitudinal and cross-sectional design. Surrogates and a matched group of expectant mothers were seen twice, during 4-9 months of pregnancy and 4-6 months after the birth. Semi-structured interviews and standardized questionnaires were administered to 50 surrogates and 69 expectant mothers during pregnancy and 45 surrogates and 49 expectant mothers post-birth. All gestational surrogates were hosting pregnancies for international intended parents. Surrogates had higher levels of depression compared to the comparison group of mothers, during pregnancy and post-birth (P < 0.02). Low social support during pregnancy, hiding surrogacy and criticism from others were found to be predictive of higher depression in surrogates post-birth (P < 0.05). Regarding prenatal bonding, surrogates interacted less with and thought less about the foetus but adopted better eating habits and were more likely to avoid unhealthy practices during pregnancy, than expectant mothers (P < 0.05). No associations were found between greater prenatal bonding and greater psychological distress during pregnancy or after relinquishment. All surrogates were recruited from one clinic in Mumbai, and thus the representativeness of this sample is not known. Also, the possibility of socially desirable responding from surrogates cannot be ruled out. As this is the first study of the psychological well-being of surrogates in low-income countries, the findings have important policy implications. Providing support and counselling to surrogates, especially during pregnancy, may alleviate some of the psychological problems faced by surrogates. This study was supported by the Wellcome Trust [097857/Z/11/Z] and Nehru Trust, Cambridge. K.K. is the Medical Director of Corion Fertility Clinic. All other authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Global yellow fever vaccination coverage from 1970 to 2016: an adjusted retrospective analysis.

PubMed

Shearer, Freya M; Moyes, Catherine L; Pigott, David M; Brady, Oliver J; Marinho, Fatima; Deshpande, Aniruddha; Longbottom, Joshua; Browne, Annie J; Kraemer, Moritz U G; O'Reilly, Kathleen M; Hombach, Joachim; Yactayo, Sergio; de Araújo, Valdelaine E M; da Nóbrega, Aglaêr A; Mosser, Jonathan F; Stanaway, Jeffrey D; Lim, Stephen S; Hay, Simon I; Golding, Nick; Reiner, Robert C

2017-11-01

Substantial outbreaks of yellow fever in Angola and Brazil in the past 2 years, combined with global shortages in vaccine stockpiles, highlight a pressing need to assess present control strategies. The aims of this study were to estimate global yellow fever vaccination coverage from 1970 through to 2016 at high spatial resolution and to calculate the number of individuals still requiring vaccination to reach population coverage thresholds for outbreak prevention. For this adjusted retrospective analysis, we compiled data from a range of sources (eg, WHO reports and health-service-provider registeries) reporting on yellow fever vaccination activities between May 1, 1939, and Oct 29, 2016. To account for uncertainty in how vaccine campaigns were targeted, we calculated three population coverage values to encompass alternative scenarios. We combined these data with demographic information and tracked vaccination coverage through time to estimate the proportion of the population who had ever received a yellow fever vaccine for each second level administrative division across countries at risk of yellow fever virus transmission from 1970 to 2016. Overall, substantial increases in vaccine coverage have occurred since 1970, but notable gaps still exist in contemporary coverage within yellow fever risk zones. We estimate that between 393·7 million and 472·9 million people still require vaccination in areas at risk of yellow fever virus transmission to achieve the 80% population coverage threshold recommended by WHO; this represents between 43% and 52% of the population within yellow fever risk zones, compared with between 66% and 76% of the population who would have required vaccination in 1970. Our results highlight important gaps in yellow fever vaccination coverage, can contribute to improved quantification of outbreak risk, and help to guide planning of future vaccination efforts and emergency stockpiling. The Rhodes Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Patterns of trust in sources of health information.

PubMed

Lawson, Rob; Forbes, Sarah; Williams, John

2011-01-21

To understand the different patterns of trust that exist regarding different sources of information about health issues. Data from a large national health lifestyles survey of New Zealanders was examined using a factor analysis of trust toward 24 health information sources (HIS). Differences in trust are compared across a range of demographic variables. Factor analysis identified six different groupings of health information. Variations in trust in sources for health information are identified by age, employment status, level of education, income, sex and ethnic group. Systematic variations exist in the trust that people report with respect to different sources of health information. Understanding these variations may assist policymakers and other agencies which are responsible for planning the dissemination of health information.

Trust at zero acquaintance: more a matter of respect than expectation of reward.

PubMed

Dunning, David; Anderson, Joanna E; Schlösser, Thomas; Ehlebracht, Daniel; Fetchenhauer, Detlef

2014-07-01

Trust is essential for a secure and flourishing social life, but many economic and philosophical approaches argue that rational people should never extend it, in particular to strangers they will never encounter again. Emerging data on the trust game, a laboratory economic exchange, suggests that people trust strangers excessively (i.e., far more than their tolerance for risk and cynical views of their peers should allow). What produces this puzzling "excess" of trust? We argue that people trust due to a norm mandating that they show respect for the other person's character, presuming the other person has sufficient integrity and goodwill even if they do not believe it privately. Six studies provided converging evidence that decisions to trust follow the logic of norms. Trusting others is what people think they should do, and the emotions associated with fulfilling a social duty or responsibility (e.g., guilt, anxiety) account for at least a significant proportion of the excessive trust observed. Regarding the specific norm in play, trust rates collapse when respect for the other person's character is eliminated as an issue.

Social capital, political trust and experience of cannabis smoking: a population-based study in southern Sweden.

PubMed

Lindström, Martin

2008-06-01

To investigate whether political mistrust in the Riksdag (the national parliament in Sweden) is an independent characteristic of cannabis smokers, or whether it reflects low confidence in people in general, and therefore low social capital. The 2004 public health survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study answered by 27,757 respondents aged 18-80 with a 59% response rate providing data on political trust, cannabis smoking, and potential confounders. 13.9% of the men and 8.3% of the women had smoked cannabis; 17.3% of the male and 11.6% of the female respondents reported no trust at all in the Riksdag, and another 38.2% and 36.2%, respectively, reported a moderate political trust. Young age, high education, unemployment, low generalized trust in other people, and lower levels of political trust were associated with cannabis smoking, even after multiple adjustments. The groups men with no trust at all in the Riksdag, and women with high trust, not particularly high political trust and no political trust at all had significantly higher odds ratios of cannabis smoking than the very high trust reference category. The results thus somewhat differed between men and women. Low political trust is associated with cannabis smoking, independently of trust in people in general.

Overseeing oversight: governance of quality and safety by hospital boards in the English NHS.

PubMed

Mannion, Russell; Davies, Huw; Freeman, Tim; Millar, Ross; Jacobs, Rowena; Kasteridis, Panos

2015-01-01

To contribute towards an understanding of hospital board composition and to explore board oversight of patient safety and health care quality in the English NHS. We reviewed the theory related to hospital board governance and undertook two national surveys about board management in NHS acute and specialist hospital trusts in England. The first survey was issued to 150 trusts in 2011/2012 and was completed online via a dedicated web tool. A total 145 replies were received (97% response rate). The second online survey was undertaken in 2012/2013 and targeted individual board members, using a previously validated standard instrument on board members' attitudes and competencies (the Board Self-Assessment Questionnaire). A total of 334 responses were received from 165 executive and 169 non-executive board members, providing at least one response from 95 of the 144 NHS trusts then in existence (66% response rate). Over 90% of the English NHS trust boards had 10-15 members. We found no significant difference in board size between trusts of different types (e.g. Foundation Trusts versus non-Foundation Trusts and Teaching Hospital Trusts versus non-Teaching Hospital Trusts). Clinical representation on boards was limited: around 62% had three or fewer members with clinical backgrounds. For about two-thirds of the trusts (63%), board members with a clinical background comprised less than 30% of the members. Boards were using a wide range and mix of quantitative performance metrics and soft intelligence (e.g. walk-arounds, patient stories) to monitor their organisations with regard to patient safety. The Board Self-Assessment Questionnaire data showed generally high or very high levels of agreement with desirable statements of practice in each of its six dimensions. Aggregate levels of agreement within each dimension ranged from 73% (for the dimension addressing interpersonal issues) to 85% (on the political). English NHS boards largely hold a wide range of attitudes and behaviours that might be expected to benefit patient safety and quality. However, there is significant scope for improvement as regards formal training for board members on quality and safety, routine morbidity reporting at boards and attention to the interpersonal dynamics within boards. Directors with clinical backgrounds remain a minority on most boards despite policies to increase their representation. A better understanding of board composition, actions and attitudes should help refine policy recommendations around boards. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Teaching, Tasks, and Trust: Functions of the Public Executive. Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brehm, John; Gates, Scott

2008-01-01

The mere word "bureaucracy" brings to mind images of endless lines, piles of paperwork, and frustrating battles over rules and red tape. But some bureaucracies are clearly more efficient and responsive than others. Why? In "Teaching, Tasks, and Trust", distinguished political scientists John Brehm and Scott Gates show that a good part of the…

Business planning health-check questionnaire: a survey of first, second, third and fourth wave NHS Trusts.

PubMed

Bennett, A R; Banks, J M

1999-02-01

This paper reports the results of primary research which was carried out in July 1995 with respect to business planning within first, second, third and fourth wave National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. The purpose of the research was to examine current practice in these Trusts in three areas--namely, the levels of responsibility for business planning in general, the business planning processes applied by these Trusts, and the tools and techniques used by business planning managers in the compilation of business plans. The research, based on a 37.5% response rate, concludes that, as a general rule, business planning in first, second, third and fourth wave NHS Trusts tends to be a board-level activity, where senior managers have a job title which reflects this function. Secondly, the research shows that by far the greatest challenge for Trusts lies in the external marketplace. In areas such as patient needs forecasting, competitive (Trust) intelligence, purchaser and general practice fundholder requirements, data are difficult to acquire. Finally, the evidence suggests that there is a significant gap between what is regarded as business planning practice in the NHS and what is actually applied as best practice. The report concludes that business planning in the NHS Trusts sampled appears to be an art rather than a science, and that many assumptions made by business planning managers are founded on qualitative information rather than on specific, measurable data derived from the external and internal market.

The influences of patient's trust in medical service and attitude towards health policy on patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in China

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background It is widely accepted that patient generates overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction on the basis of response to patient's trust in medical service and response to patient's attitude towards health policy in China. This study aimed to investigate the correlations between patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy and patient's overall satisfaction with medical service/sub satisfaction in current medical experience and find inspiration for future reform of China's health delivery system on improving patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in considering patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy. Methods This study collaborated with the National Bureau of Statistics to collect a sample of 3,424 residents from 17 provinces and municipalities in a 2008 China household survey on patient's trust in medical service, patient's attitude towards health policy, patient's overall satisfaction and sub satisfaction in current medical experience. Results Patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and most kinds of sub satisfaction in current medical experience were significantly influenced by both patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy; among all kinds of sub satisfaction in current medical experience, patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy had the largest influence on patient's satisfaction with medical costs, the influences of patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy on patient's satisfaction with doctor-patient interaction and satisfaction with treatment process were at medium-level, patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy had the smallest influence on patient's satisfaction with medical facilities and hospital environment, while patient's satisfaction with waiting time in hospital was not influenced by patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy. Conclusion In order to improve patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in considering patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy, both improving patient's interpersonal trust in medical service from individual's own medical experience/public trust in medical service and improving patient's attitude towards health policy were indirect but effective ways. PMID:21676228

Impact of case-mix on comparisons of patient-reported experience in NHS acute hospital trusts in England.

PubMed

Raleigh, Veena; Sizmur, Steve; Tian, Yang; Thompson, James

2015-04-01

To examine the impact of patient-mix on National Health Service (NHS) acute hospital trust scores in two national NHS patient surveys. Secondary analysis of 2012 patient survey data for 57,915 adult inpatients at 142 NHS acute hospital trusts and 45,263 adult emergency department attendees at 146 NHS acute hospital trusts in England. Changes in trust scores for selected questions, ranks, inter-trust variance and score-based performance bands were examined using three methods: no adjustment for case-mix; the current standardization method with weighting for age, sex and, for inpatients only, admission method; and a regression model adjusting in addition for ethnicity, presence of a long-term condition, proxy response (inpatients only) and previous emergency attendances (emergency department survey only). For both surveys, all the variables examined were associated with patients' responses and affected inter-trust variance in scores, although the direction and strength of impact differed between variables. Inter-trust variance was generally greatest for the unadjusted scores and lowest for scores derived from the full regression model. Although trust scores derived from the three methods were highly correlated (Kendall's tau coefficients 0.70-0.94), up to 14% of trusts had discordant ranks of when the standardization and regression methods were compared. Depending on the survey and question, up to 14 trusts changed performance bands when the regression model with its fuller case-mix adjustment was used rather than the current standardization method. More comprehensive case-mix adjustment of patient survey data than the current limited adjustment reduces performance variation between NHS acute hospital trusts and alters the comparative performance bands of some trusts. Given the use of these data for high-impact purposes such as performance assessment, regulation, commissioning, quality improvement and patient choice, a review of the long-standing method for analysing patient survey data would be timely, and could improve rigour and comparability across the NHS. Performance comparisons need to be perceived as fair and scientifically robust to maintain confidence in publicly reported data, and to support their use by both the public and the NHS. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

The influences of patient's trust in medical service and attitude towards health policy on patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in China.

PubMed

Tang, Liyang

2011-06-15

It is widely accepted that patient generates overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction on the basis of response to patient's trust in medical service and response to patient's attitude towards health policy in China. This study aimed to investigate the correlations between patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy and patient's overall satisfaction with medical service/sub satisfaction in current medical experience and find inspiration for future reform of China's health delivery system on improving patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in considering patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy. This study collaborated with the National Bureau of Statistics to collect a sample of 3,424 residents from 17 provinces and municipalities in a 2008 China household survey on patient's trust in medical service, patient's attitude towards health policy, patient's overall satisfaction and sub satisfaction in current medical experience. Patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and most kinds of sub satisfaction in current medical experience were significantly influenced by both patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy; among all kinds of sub satisfaction in current medical experience, patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy had the largest influence on patient's satisfaction with medical costs, the influences of patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy on patient's satisfaction with doctor-patient interaction and satisfaction with treatment process were at medium-level, patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy had the smallest influence on patient's satisfaction with medical facilities and hospital environment, while patient's satisfaction with waiting time in hospital was not influenced by patient's trust in medical service/patient's attitude towards health policy. In order to improve patient's overall satisfaction with medical service and sub satisfaction in considering patient's trust in medical service and patient's attitude towards health policy, both improving patient's interpersonal trust in medical service from individual's own medical experience/public trust in medical service and improving patient's attitude towards health policy were indirect but effective ways.

Is It a Trust Issue? Factors That Influence Trust for Persons Living With HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Krause, Denise D; May, Warren L

2016-09-01

Trust in one's health care provider, trust in the health care system in general, and even trust in one's community affects engagement in HIV-related health care. This article examines the issue of trust among a random sample of HIV-infected individuals residing in Mississippi, an area hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Five constructs based on survey responses from these individuals were developed: (1) trust in one's provider to offer the best possible medical care, (2) trust in one's provider to protect patient privacy, (3) willingness to disclose HIV status to one's provider, (4) trust in the health care system, and (5) trust in one's community. Findings suggest that interventions to improve trust in providers to deliver the highest quality of care should be targeted to young people, African Americans, and the more highly educated. Interventions to increase trust in providers to protect privacy should focus on creating and strengthening social support groups or networks that build relationships and foster trust. Interventions aimed to increase community trust also should be targeted to young people. This information is useful to researchers, policy makers, health care providers, and organizations interested in prioritizing interventions and strategies that have the greatest potential to reduce health disparities in HIV diagnosis and treatment in the Deep South. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

A qualitative study of the role of workplace and interpersonal trust in shaping service quality and responsiveness in Zambian primary health centres

PubMed Central

Topp, Stephanie M; Chipukuma, Julien M

2016-01-01

Background: Human decisions, actions and relationships that invoke trust are at the core of functional and productive health systems. Although widely studied in high-income settings, comparatively few studies have explored the influence of trust on health system performance in low- and middle-income countries. This study examines how workplace and inter-personal trust impact service quality and responsiveness in primary health services in Zambia. Methods: This multi-case study included four health centres selected for urban, peri-urban and rural characteristics. Case data included provider interviews (60); patient interviews (180); direct observation of facility operations (two weeks/centre) and key informant interviews (14) that were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Case-based thematic analysis incorporated inductive and deductive coding. Results: Findings demonstrated that providers had weak workplace trust influenced by a combination of poor working conditions, perceptions of low pay and experiences of inequitable or inefficient health centre management. Weak trust in health centre managers’ organizational capacity and fairness contributed to resentment amongst many providers and promoted a culture of blame-shifting and one-upmanship that undermined teamwork and enabled disrespectful treatment of patients. Although patients expressed a high degree of trust in health workers’ clinical capacity, repeated experiences of disrespectful or unresponsive care undermined patients’ trust in health workers’ service values and professionalism. Lack of patient–provider trust prompted some patients to circumvent clinic systems in an attempt to secure better or more timely care. Conclusion: Lack of resourcing and poor leadership were key factors leading to providers’ weak workplace trust and contributed to often-poor quality services, driving a perverse cycle of negative patient–provider relations across the four sites. Findings highlight the importance of investing in both structural factors and organizational management to strengthen providers’ trust in their employer(s) and colleagues, as an entry-point for developing both the capacity and a work culture oriented towards respectful and patient-centred care. PMID:25999586

25 CFR 1000.351 - Does the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 alter the trust responsibility of the United States...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Does the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 alter the trust responsibility of the United States to Indian Tribes and individuals under self-governance? 1000... INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF...

Adult and Adolescent Social Reciprocity: Experimental Data from the Trust Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belli, Stefano R.; Rogers, Robert D.; Lau, Jennifer Y. F.

2012-01-01

Twenty-four adults (aged 19-35) and 27 adolescents (aged 13-14) played as "Trustee" in an iterated Trust Game against a pre-programmed set of "Investor" moves, said to belong to an unknown co-player. Trustee behaviour was examined first in response to normative Investor cooperation, and then in response to a period of social rupture caused by…

Who regulates food? Australians' perceptions of responsibility for food safety.

PubMed

Henderson, Julie; Coveney, John; Ward, Paul

2010-01-01

Food scares have diminished trust in public institutions to guarantee food safety. Food governance after the food scare era is concerned with institutional independence and transparency leading to a hybrid of public and private sector management and to mechanisms for consumer involvement in food governance. This paper explores Australian consumers' perceptions of who is, and should be responsible for food safety. Forty-seven participants were interviewed as part of a larger study on trust in the food system. Participants associate food governance with government, industry, and the individual. While few participants can name the national food regulator, there is a strong belief that the government is responsible for regulating the quality and safety of food. Participants are wary of the role of the food industry in food safety, believing that profit motives will undermine effective food regulation. Personal responsibility for food safety practices was also identified. While there are fewer mechanisms for consumer involvement and transparency built into the food governance system, Australian consumers display considerable trust in government to protect food safety. There is little evidence of the politicisation of food, reflecting a level of trust in the Australian food governance system that may arise from a lack of exposure to major food scares.

A perspective on emerging law, consumer trust and social responsibility in China's food sector: the "bleaching" case study.

PubMed

Roberts, Michael T

2011-01-01

Trust underpins the Chinese social system, and yet it is lacking from a Chinese food system that is riddled with safety disasters and disgruntled consumers. Government and industry play a major role in rehabilitating consumer trust in China. To this end, food safety and quality laws have been constructed to foster this process; however, safety scandals continue even in the face of stricter regulations and increased enforcement. A potential toll to abate food-safety problems and to build trust is the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR"). Mandates by the government promote CSR in enterprise activity, including Article 3 of the 2009 China Food Safety Law. Officials have also recently touted the need for "moral education" of operators in the food industry. Regardless of government activity or whether CSR is employed by food enterprises, it is imperative that the food industry recognizes how critical it is to establish trust with Chinese consumers, who increasingly expect safe, quality food. The case study with pistachios highlights this evolving consumer expectation and the principles of social responsibility in the framework of the relationship between government and industry and consumers, while demonstrating the benefits of doing the right thing for food companies doing business in China.

If you come from a well-known organisation, I will trust you: Exploring and understanding the community's attitudes towards healthcare research in Cambodia.

PubMed

Pol, Sreymom; Fox-Lewis, Shivani; Neou, Leakhena; Parker, Michael; Kingori, Patricia; Turner, Claudia

2018-01-01

To explore Cambodian community members' understanding of and attitudes towards healthcare research. This qualitative study generated data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. This study was conducted at a non-governmental paediatric hospital and in nearby villages in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. A total of ten semi-structured interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted, involving 27 participants. Iterative data collection and analysis were performed concurrently. Data were analysed by thematic content analysis and the coding structure was developed using relevant literature. Participants did not have a clear understanding of what activities related to research compared with those for routine healthcare. Key attitudes towards research were responsibility and trust: personal (trust of the researcher directly) and institutional (trust of the institution as a whole). Villagers believe the village headman holds responsibility for community activities, while the village headman believes that this responsibility should be shared across all levels of the government system. It is essential for researchers to understand the structure and relationship within the community they wish to work with in order to develop trust among community participants. This aids effective communication and understanding among all parties, enabling high quality ethical research to be conducted.

Development and validation of a socioculturally competent trust in physician scale for a developing country setting.

PubMed

Gopichandran, Vijayaprasad; Wouters, Edwin; Chetlapalli, Satish Kumar

2015-05-03

Trust in physicians is the unwritten covenant between the patient and the physician that the physician will do what is in the best interest of the patient. This forms the undercurrent of all healthcare relationships. Several scales exist for assessment of trust in physicians in developed healthcare settings, but to our knowledge none of these have been developed in a developing country context. To develop and validate a new trust in physician scale for a developing country setting. Dimensions of trust in physicians, which were identified in a previous qualitative study in the same setting, were used to develop a scale. This scale was administered among 616 adults selected from urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu, south India, using a multistage sampling cross sectional survey method. The individual items were analysed using a classical test approach as well as item response theory. Cronbach's α was calculated and the item to total correlation of each item was assessed. After testing for unidimensionality and absence of local dependence, a 2 parameter logistic Semajima's graded response model was fit and item characteristics assessed. Competence, assurance of treatment, respect for the physician and loyalty to the physician were important dimensions of trust. A total of 31 items were developed using these dimensions. Of these, 22 were selected for final analysis. The Cronbach's α was 0.928. The item to total correlations were acceptable for all the 22 items. The item response analysis revealed good item characteristic curves and item information for all the items. Based on the item parameters and item information, a final 12 item scale was developed. The scale performs optimally in the low to moderate trust range. The final 12 item trust in physician scale has a good construct validity and internal consistency. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Development and validation of a socioculturally competent trust in physician scale for a developing country setting

PubMed Central

Gopichandran, Vijayaprasad; Wouters, Edwin; Chetlapalli, Satish Kumar

2015-01-01

Trust in physicians is the unwritten covenant between the patient and the physician that the physician will do what is in the best interest of the patient. This forms the undercurrent of all healthcare relationships. Several scales exist for assessment of trust in physicians in developed healthcare settings, but to our knowledge none of these have been developed in a developing country context. Objectives To develop and validate a new trust in physician scale for a developing country setting. Methods Dimensions of trust in physicians, which were identified in a previous qualitative study in the same setting, were used to develop a scale. This scale was administered among 616 adults selected from urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu, south India, using a multistage sampling cross sectional survey method. The individual items were analysed using a classical test approach as well as item response theory. Cronbach's α was calculated and the item to total correlation of each item was assessed. After testing for unidimensionality and absence of local dependence, a 2 parameter logistic Semajima's graded response model was fit and item characteristics assessed. Results Competence, assurance of treatment, respect for the physician and loyalty to the physician were important dimensions of trust. A total of 31 items were developed using these dimensions. Of these, 22 were selected for final analysis. The Cronbach's α was 0.928. The item to total correlations were acceptable for all the 22 items. The item response analysis revealed good item characteristic curves and item information for all the items. Based on the item parameters and item information, a final 12 item scale was developed. The scale performs optimally in the low to moderate trust range. Conclusions The final 12 item trust in physician scale has a good construct validity and internal consistency. PMID:25941182

HCMI Organization | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

Consortium The Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) was created and funded by the US National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK, the foundation Hubrecht Organoid Technology, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Together, these organizations develop policy and make programmatic decisions to contribute to the function of the HCMI. National Cancer Institute

Using Trust to Establish a Secure Routing Model in Cognitive Radio Network.

PubMed

Zhang, Guanghua; Chen, Zhenguo; Tian, Liqin; Zhang, Dongwen

2015-01-01

Specific to the selective forwarding attack on routing in cognitive radio network, this paper proposes a trust-based secure routing model. Through monitoring nodes' forwarding behaviors, trusts of nodes are constructed to identify malicious nodes. In consideration of that routing selection-based model must be closely collaborative with spectrum allocation, a route request piggybacking available spectrum opportunities is sent to non-malicious nodes. In the routing decision phase, nodes' trusts are used to construct available path trusts and delay measurement is combined for making routing decisions. At the same time, according to the trust classification, different responses are made specific to their service requests. By adopting stricter punishment on malicious behaviors from non-trusted nodes, the cooperation of nodes in routing can be stimulated. Simulation results and analysis indicate that this model has good performance in network throughput and end-to-end delay under the selective forwarding attack.

The role of perceived interactivity in virtual communities: building trust and increasing stickiness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hongwei; Meng, Yuan; Wang, Wei

2013-03-01

Although previous research has explored factors affecting trust building in websites, little research has been analysed from the perceived interactivity perspective in virtual communities (VCs). A research model for verifying interactivity antecedents to trust and its impact on member stickiness behaviour is presented. Two social interactivity components and two system interactivity components are, respectively, theorised as process-based antecedents and institution-based antecedents to trust in the model. Data were collected from 310 members of VCs to test the model. The results show that connectedness and reciprocity are important antecedents to trust in members, while responsiveness and active control are important antecedents to trust in systems. The results also indicate that trust has significant influence on the members' duration and retention, which are two dimensions of member stickiness measured in this research. These findings have theoretical implications for online interaction-related literature and critical business implications for practitioners of VCs.

Trust in health information sources differs between young/middle and oldest old.

PubMed

Le, Thai; Chaudhuri, Shomir; White, Cathy; Thompson, Hilaire; Demiris, George

2014-01-01

Examine differences in trust of health information sources between the oldest old and young/middle old. Cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling. Eleven retirement communities. Older adults ≥65 years (N = 353). Self-rated trust in health information sources. Mann-Whitney U-test or Fisher exact test to compare trust between age groups; multinomial ordered logistic regression analyses to model trust in Internet information sources. The overall survey response rate was 26.6%. Differences in trust were identified between oldest old (n = 108) and young/middle old (n = 245) for pharmacist (p < .05), Internet (p < .001), television (p < .05), radio (p < .001), and newspaper (p < .05) sources. In the oldest old, we found associations between levels of trust in Internet sources and frequency of Internet use (β = 4.13, p < .001). Understanding where differences in trust arise can inform the design of resources to support the information-seeking process. When planning widespread distribution of health information to these distinct groups, program developers need to consider these differences.

Hype and public trust in science.

PubMed

Master, Zubin; Resnik, David B

2013-06-01

Social scientists have begun elucidating the variables that influence public trust in science, yet little is known about hype in biotechnology and its effects on public trust. Many scholars claim that hyping biotechnology results in a loss of public trust, and possibly public enthusiasm or support for science, because public expectations of the biotechnological promises will be unmet. We argue for the need for empirical research that examines the relationships between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support. We discuss the complexities in designing empirical studies that provide evidence for a causal link between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support, but also illustrate how this may be remedied. Further empirical research on hype and public trust is needed in order to improve public communication of science and to design evidence-based education on the responsible conduct of research for scientists. We conclude that conceptual arguments made on hype and public trust must be nuanced to reflect our current understanding of this relationship.

Hype and Public Trust in Science

PubMed Central

Resnik, David B.

2014-01-01

Social scientists have begun elucidating the variables that influence public trust in science, yet little is known about hype in biotechnology and its effects on public trust. Many scholars claim that hyping biotechnology results in a loss of public trust, and possibly public enthusiasm or support for science, because public expectations of the biotechnological promises will be unmet. We argue for the need for empirical research that examines the relationships between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support. We discuss the complexities in designing empirical studies that provide evidence for a causal link between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support, but also illustrate how this may be remedied. Further empirical research on hype and public trust is needed in order to improve public communication of science and to design evidence-based education on the responsible conduct of research for scientists. We conclude that conceptual arguments made on hype and public trust must be nuanced to reflect our current understanding of this relationship. PMID:22045550

How different types of users develop trust in technology: A qualitative analysis of the antecedents of active and passive user trust in a shared technology

PubMed Central

Xu, Jie; Le, Kim; Deitermann, Annika; Montague, Enid

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the antecedents of trust in technology for active users and passive users working with a shared technology. According to the prominence-interpretation theory, to assess the trustworthiness of a technology, a person must first perceive and evaluate elements of the system that includes the technology. An experimental study was conducted with 54 participants who worked in two-person teams in a multi-task environment with a shared technology. Trust in technology was measured using a trust in technology questionnaire and antecedents of trust were elicited using an open-ended question. A list of antecedents of trust in technology was derived using qualitative analysis techniques. The following categories emerged from the antecedent: technology factors, user factors, and task factors. Similarities and differences between active users and passive user responses, in terms of trust in technology were discussed. PMID:24882059

How different types of users develop trust in technology: a qualitative analysis of the antecedents of active and passive user trust in a shared technology.

PubMed

Xu, Jie; Le, Kim; Deitermann, Annika; Montague, Enid

2014-11-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the antecedents of trust in technology for active users and passive users working with a shared technology. According to the prominence-interpretation theory, to assess the trustworthiness of a technology, a person must first perceive and evaluate elements of the system that includes the technology. An experimental study was conducted with 54 participants who worked in two-person teams in a multi-task environment with a shared technology. Trust in technology was measured using a trust in technology questionnaire and antecedents of trust were elicited using an open-ended question. A list of antecedents of trust in technology was derived using qualitative analysis techniques. The following categories emerged from the antecedent: technology factors, user factors, and task factors. Similarities and differences between active users and passive user responses, in terms of trust in technology were discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

25 CFR 115.812 - Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... that are not made in compliance with statutory language or other federal law? 115.812 Section 115.812... other federal law? If a tribe's use of trust funds is limited by statutory language or other federal law(s) and a tribe uses those trust funds in direct violation of those laws, absent an approved...

Hypersensitivity to Contingent Behavior in Paranoia: A New Virtual Reality Paradigm.

PubMed

Fornells-Ambrojo, Miriam; Elenbaas, Maaike; Barker, Chris; Swapp, David; Navarro, Xavier; Rovira, Aitor; Sanahuja, Josep Maria Tomàs; Slater, Mel

2016-02-01

Contingency in interpersonal relationships is associated with the development of secure attachment and trust, whereas paranoia arises from the overattribution of negative intentions. We used a new virtual reality paradigm to experimentally investigate the impact of contingent behavior on trust along the paranoia continuum. Sixty-one healthy participants were randomly allocated to have a social interaction with a pleasant virtual human (avatar) programmed to be highly responsive or not (high/low contingency). Perceived trustworthiness and trusting behavior were assessed alongside control variables attachment and anxiety. Higher paranoia and dismissive attachment were associated with larger interpersonal distances. Unexpectedly, extremely paranoid individuals experienced the highly contingent avatar as more trustworthy than their low contingency counterpart. Higher dismissive attachment was also associated with more subjective trust in both conditions. Extreme paranoia is associated with hypersensitivity to noncontingent behavior, which might explain experiences of mistrust when others are not highly responsive in everyday social situations.

75 FR 35506 - Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-22

... Judgment in United States v. The Kasper (1977) Irrevocable Trusts, et al., No. CV-08-4780, was lodged with... States v. The Kasper (1977) Irrevocable Trusts, et al., No. CV-08-4780 (E.D.N.Y.), D.J. Ref. 90-11-2... Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq., in...

25 CFR 224.40 - How does the Act or a TERA affect the Secretary's trust responsibility?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How does the Act or a TERA affect the Secretary's trust responsibility? 224.40 Section 224.40 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ENERGY AND MINERALS TRIBAL ENERGY RESOURCE AGREEMENTS UNDER THE INDIAN TRIBAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND SELF DETERMINATION ACT General Provisions § 224.40...

Trust and the Compliance-Reliance Paradigm: The Effects of Risk, Error Bias, and Reliability on Trust and Dependence.

PubMed

Chancey, Eric T; Bliss, James P; Yamani, Yusuke; Handley, Holly A H

2017-05-01

This study provides a theoretical link between trust and the compliance-reliance paradigm. We propose that for trust mediation to occur, the operator must be presented with a salient choice, and there must be an element of risk for dependence. Research suggests that false alarms and misses affect dependence via two independent processes, hypothesized as trust in signals and trust in nonsignals. These two trust types manifest in categorically different behaviors: compliance and reliance. Eighty-eight participants completed a primary flight task and a secondary signaling system task. Participants evaluated their trust according to the informational bases of trust: performance, process, and purpose. Participants were in a high- or low-risk group. Signaling systems varied by reliability (90%, 60%) within subjects and error bias (false alarm prone, miss prone) between subjects. False-alarm rate affected compliance but not reliance. Miss rate affected reliance but not compliance. Mediation analyses indicated that trust mediated the relationship between false-alarm rate and compliance. Bayesian mediation analyses favored evidence indicating trust did not mediate miss rate and reliance. Conditional indirect effects indicated that factors of trust mediated the relationship between false-alarm rate and compliance (i.e., purpose) and reliance (i.e., process) but only in the high-risk group. The compliance-reliance paradigm is not the reflection of two types of trust. This research could be used to update training and design recommendations that are based upon the assumption that trust causes operator responses regardless of error bias.

Only the carrot, not the stick: incorporating trust into the enforcement of regulation.

PubMed

Mendoza, Juan P; Wielhouwer, Jacco L

2015-01-01

New enforcement strategies allow agents to gain the regulator's trust and consequently face a lower audit probability. Prior research suggests that, in order to prevent lower compliance, a reduction in the audit probability (the "carrot") must be compensated with the introduction of a higher penalty for non-compliance (the "stick"). However, such carrot-and-stick strategies reflect neither the concept of trust nor the strategies observed in practice. In response to this, we define trust-based regulation as a strategy that incorporates rules that allow trust to develop, and using a generic (non-cooperative) game of tax compliance, we examine whether trust-based regulation is feasible (i.e., whether, in equilibrium, a reduction in the audit probability, without ever increasing the penalty for non-compliance, does not lead to reduced compliance). The model shows that trust-based regulation is feasible when the agent sufficiently values the future. In line with the concept of trust, this strategy is feasible when the regulator is uncertain about the agent's intentions. Moreover, the model shows that (i) introducing higher penalties makes trust-based regulation less feasible, and (ii) combining trust and forgiveness can lead to a lower audit probability for both trusted and distrusted agents. Policy recommendations often point toward increasing deterrence. This model shows that the opposite can be optimal.

Social capital, political trust and self-reported psychological health: a population-based study.

PubMed

Lindstrom, Martin; Mohseni, Mohabbat

2009-02-01

This study investigates the association between political trust (an aspect of institutional trust) in the Riksdag (the national parliament in Sweden) and self-reported psychological health, taking generalized (horizontal) trust in other people into account. The 2004 public health survey in Skåne in Southern Sweden is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study that was answered by 27,757 respondents aged 18-80 yielding a 59% response rate. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the associations between political trust and self-reported psychological health adjusting for possible confounders (age, country of origin, education, economic stress and generalized trust in other people i.e. horizontal trust). We found that 13.0% of the men and 18.9% of the women reported poor psychological health. A total of 17.3% and 11.6% of the male and female respondents, respectively, reported that they had no trust at all in the national parliament, and another 38.2% and 36.2%, respectively, reported that their political trust was not particularly high. Respondents in younger age groups, born abroad, with high education, high levels of economic stress, low horizontal trust and low political trust had significantly higher levels of self-reported poor psychological health. There was a significant association between low political trust and low horizontal trust. After adjustments for age, country of origin, education and economic stress, the inclusion of horizontal trust reduced the odds ratios of self-reported poor psychological health in the "no political trust at all" category compared to the "very high political trust" category from 1.6 to 1.4 among men and from 1.7 to 1.4 among women. It is concluded that low political trust in the Riksdag seems to be significantly and positively associated with poor mental health.

Trust in Teams Scale, Trust in Leaders Scale: Manual for Administration and Analyses

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-01

Committee The scientific or technical validity of this Contractor Report is entirely the responsibility of the contractor and the...and Farley’s exploratory analysis of the unit climate profile. DRDC Toronto Report CR-2001-149. KORSGAARD, M . A., S. E. BRODT, & WHITENER, E. M ...8217 trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1(2), 107-142. ROUSSEAU , D ., SITKIN, S., BURT, R

25 CFR 115.812 - Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... funds that are not made in compliance with statutory language or other federal law? 115.812 Section 115... language or other federal law? If a tribe's use of trust funds is limited by statutory language or other federal law(s) and a tribe uses those trust funds in direct violation of those laws, absent an approved...

25 CFR 115.812 - Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... funds that are not made in compliance with statutory language or other federal law? 115.812 Section 115... language or other federal law? If a tribe's use of trust funds is limited by statutory language or other federal law(s) and a tribe uses those trust funds in direct violation of those laws, absent an approved...

25 CFR 115.812 - Is a tribe responsible for its expenditures of trust funds that are not made in compliance with...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... funds that are not made in compliance with statutory language or other federal law? 115.812 Section 115... language or other federal law? If a tribe's use of trust funds is limited by statutory language or other federal law(s) and a tribe uses those trust funds in direct violation of those laws, absent an approved...

Swift Trust: Implications for Whole of Government/Comprehensive Approach (WoG/CA) Missions

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

departments who have no history together must quickly coalesce into an effective team, often in response to a crisis or a top governmental priority...efficient and effective performance (Dirks, 1999). Assumed to be particularly important during a crisis (Webb, 1996); trust in such situations works...to keep authority decentralized, lines of communication open and behavior flexible (Mishra, 1996). 2.1 Knowledge- and category-based trust As

Prevalences of sexually transmitted infections in young adults and female sex workers in Peru: a national population-based survey.

PubMed

Cárcamo, César P; Campos, Pablo E; García, Patricia J; Hughes, James P; Garnett, Geoff P; Holmes, King K

2012-10-01

We assessed prevalences of seven sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Peru, stratified by risk behaviours, to help to define care and prevention priorities. In a 2002 household-based survey of the general population, we enrolled randomly selected 18-29-year-old residents of 24 cities with populations greater than 50 000 people. We then surveyed female sex workers (FSWs) in these cities. We gathered data for sexual behaviour; vaginal specimens or urine for nucleic acid amplification tests for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Trichomonas vaginalis; and blood for serological tests for syphilis, HIV, and (in subsamples) herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2) and human T-lymphotropic virus. This study is a registered component of the PREVEN trial, number ISRCTN43722548. 15 261 individuals from the general population and 4485 FSWs agreed to participate in our survey. Overall prevalence of infection with HSV2, weighted for city size, was 13·5% in men, 13·6% in women, and 60·6% in FSWs (all values in FSWs standardised to age composition of women in the general population). The prevalence of C trachomatis infection was 4·2% in men, 6·5% in women, and 16·4% in FSWs; of T vaginalis infection was 0·3% in men, 4·9% in women, and 7·9% in FSWs; and of syphilis was 0·5% in men, 0·4% in women, and 0·8% in FSWs. N gonorrhoeae infection had a prevalence of 0·1% in men and women, and of 1·6% in FSWs. Prevalence of HIV infection was 0·5% in men and FSWs, and 0·1% in women. Four (0·3%) of 1535 specimens were positive for human T-lymphotropic virus 1. In men, 65·0% of infections with HIV, 71·5% of N gonorrhoeae, and 41·4% of HSV2 and 60·9% of cases of syphilis were in the 13·3% who had sex with men or unprotected sex with FSWs in the past year. In women from the general population, 66·7% of infections with HIV and 16·7% of cases of syphilis were accounted for by the 4·4% who had been paid for sex by any of their past three partners. Defining of high-risk groups could guide targeting of interventions for communicable diseases-including STIs-in the general Peruvian population. Wellcome Trust-Burroughs Wellcome Fund Infectious Disease Initiative and US National Institutes of Health. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Expert and the Lay Public: Reflections on Influenza A (H1N1) and the Risk Society

PubMed Central

Williams-Jones, Bryn

2012-01-01

Trust between the lay public and scientific experts is a key element to ensuring the efficient implementation of emergency public health measures. In modern risk societies, the management and elimination of risk have become preeminent drivers of public policy. In this context, the protection of public trust is a complex task. Those actors involved in public health decision-making and implementation (e.g., mass vaccination for influenza A virus) are confronted with growing pressures and responsibility to act. However, they also need to accept the limits of their own expertise and recognize the ability of lay publics to understand and be responsible for public health. Such a shared responsibility for risk management, if grounded in participative public debates, can arguably strengthen public trust in public health authorities and interventions. PMID:22397338

Marketing of patent medicines in the nineteenth century via a corkscrew medicine spoon.

PubMed

Fincham, Jack E

2010-01-01

The C. T. Williamson spoon with manufactured products from a pharmaceutical company engraved on the bowl of the spoon is one of the earliest examples of a manufacturer marketing products via a drug delivery device. The Burroughs, Wellcome and Company, a British corporation using initially an American patented, and later a British patented, Williamson corkscrew spoon marketed British manufactured medicinal products in the U.S. and England to physicians and pharmacists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Other corkscrew spoons were manufactured in this era without product specific notations contained on the spoons. 40 These corkscrew spoons, such as the Williamson and Noe patented apparatuses, helped patients in more easily consuming liquid medications. They also were items potentially favored by physicians and pharmacists for patient's pro- vided liquid medications. Finally, they allowed patients to open corked containers, consume liquid dosage amounts, and hopefully more appropriately comply with necessary regimens in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Not surprisingly, Burroughs, Wellcome and Company used the Williamson spoon to successfully market company products to physicians, pharmacists, and patients on several continents.

Understanding and managing trust at the climate science-policy interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacey, Justine; Howden, Mark; Cvitanovic, Christopher; Colvin, R. M.

2018-01-01

Climate change effects are accelerating, making the need for appropriate actions informed by sound climate knowledge ever more pressing. A strong climate science-policy relationship facilitates the effective integration of climate knowledge into local, national and global policy processes, increases society's responsiveness to a changing climate, and aligns research activity to policy needs. This complex science-policy relationship requires trust between climate science `producers' and `users', but our understanding of trust at this interface remains largely uncritical. To assist climate scientists and policymakers, this Perspective provides insights into how trust develops and operates at the interface of climate science and policy, and examines the extent to which trust can manage — or even create — risk at this interface.

High-dose rifapentine with moxifloxacin for pulmonary tuberculosis.

PubMed

Jindani, Amina; Harrison, Thomas S; Nunn, Andrew J; Phillips, Patrick P J; Churchyard, Gavin J; Charalambous, Salome; Hatherill, Mark; Geldenhuys, Hennie; McIlleron, Helen M; Zvada, Simbarashe P; Mungofa, Stanley; Shah, Nasir A; Zizhou, Simukai; Magweta, Lloyd; Shepherd, James; Nyirenda, Sambayawo; van Dijk, Janneke H; Clouting, Heather E; Coleman, David; Bateson, Anna L E; McHugh, Timothy D; Butcher, Philip D; Mitchison, Denny A

2014-10-23

Tuberculosis regimens that are shorter and simpler than the current 6-month daily regimen are needed. We randomly assigned patients with newly diagnosed, smear-positive, drug-sensitive tuberculosis to one of three regimens: a control regimen that included 2 months of ethambutol, isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide administered daily followed by 4 months of daily isoniazid and rifampicin; a 4-month regimen in which the isoniazid in the control regimen was replaced by moxifloxacin administered daily for 2 months followed by moxifloxacin and 900 mg of rifapentine administered twice weekly for 2 months; or a 6-month regimen in which isoniazid was replaced by daily moxifloxacin for 2 months followed by one weekly dose of both moxifloxacin and 1200 mg of rifapentine for 4 months. Sputum specimens were examined on microscopy and after culture at regular intervals. The primary end point was a composite treatment failure and relapse, with noninferiority based on a margin of 6 percentage points and 90% confidence intervals. We enrolled a total of 827 patients from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia; 28% of patients were coinfected with the human immunodefiency virus. In the per-protocol analysis, the proportion of patients with an unfavorable response was 4.9% in the control group, 3.2% in the 6-month group (adjusted difference from control, -1.8 percentage points; 90% confidence interval [CI], -6.1 to 2.4), and 18.2% in the 4-month group (adjusted difference from control, 13.6 percentage points; 90% CI, 8.1 to 19.1). In the modified intention-to-treat analysis these proportions were 14.4% in the control group, 13.7% in the 6-month group (adjusted difference from control, 0.4 percentage points; 90% CI, -4.7 to 5.6), and 26.9% in the 4-month group (adjusted difference from control, 13.1 percentage points; 90% CI, 6.8 to 19.4). The 6-month regimen that included weekly administration of high-dose rifapentine and moxifloxacin was as effective as the control regimen. The 4-month regimen was not noninferior to the control regimen. (Funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and the Wellcome Trust; RIFAQUIN Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN44153044.).

Trust and social reciprocity in adolescence--a matter of perspective-taking.

PubMed

Fett, Anne-Kathrin J; Shergill, Sukhi S; Gromann, Paula M; Dumontheil, Iroise; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Yakub, Farah; Krabbendam, Lydia

2014-02-01

Changes in social behaviour from childhood to adulthood have been suggested to be driven by an increased sensitivity to others' perspectives. Yet, the link between perspective-taking and social processes, such as trust and reciprocity, has rarely been investigated during adolescence. Using two trust games with a cooperative and an unfair counterpart and an online perspective-taking task with 50 adolescents, we show that those with a higher perspective-taking tendency demonstrate greater trust towards others and higher levels of trust during cooperative interactions. Both low and high perspective-takers adapted their levels of trust in response to unfair behaviour. However, high perspective-takers reduced their trust more drastically and showed more malevolent and less benevolent tit-for-tat when they were treated unfairly by their counterpart. The findings suggest that a higher perspective-taking tendency in adolescence is associated with specific mechanisms of trust and reciprocity, as opposed to undifferentiated increases in positive social behaviour towards others. Copyright © 2013 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trust, control strategies and allocation of function in human-machine systems.

PubMed

Lee, J; Moray, N

1992-10-01

As automated controllers supplant human intervention in controlling complex systems, the operators' role often changes from that of an active controller to that of a supervisory controller. Acting as supervisors, operators can choose between automatic and manual control. Improperly allocating function between automatic and manual control can have negative consequences for the performance of a system. Previous research suggests that the decision to perform the job manually or automatically depends, in part, upon the trust the operators invest in the automatic controllers. This paper reports an experiment to characterize the changes in operators' trust during an interaction with a semi-automatic pasteurization plant, and investigates the relationship between changes in operators' control strategies and trust. A regression model identifies the causes of changes in trust, and a 'trust transfer function' is developed using time series analysis to describe the dynamics of trust. Based on a detailed analysis of operators' strategies in response to system faults we suggest a model for the choice between manual and automatic control, based on trust in automatic controllers and self-confidence in the ability to control the system manually.

Analysis of public responses to preparedness policies: the cases of H1N1 influenza vaccination and gas mask distribution

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background During several months in 2009–2010, the Israeli population was asked to take part in two preparedness programs: Acquisition of gas masks against a potential chemical-warfare attack, and vaccination against the A/H1N1 influenza pandemics. Compliance with the first request was moderate and did not attract much attention, whereas compliance with the second request was very low and was accompanied by significant controversy. The aims of this study are to compare the public’s attitudes towards these two preparedness campaigns, and to explore the roles of trust, reasoned assessment, and reflexive reactions in the public’s response to governmental preparedness policies. Methods The comparative analysis was based on a telephone survey of 2,018 respondents representing a cross-section of the adult Israeli population. Univariate analysis to describe associations of public response and attitude was performed by Chi-square tests. Findings A set of queries related to actual compliance, trust in credibility of authorities, personal opinions, reasons for non-compliance, and attitudes towards uncertainties was used to characterize the response to mask-acquisition and vaccination. In the case of mask-acquisition, the dominant response profile was of trusting compliance based on non-conditional belief in the need to adhere to the recommendation (35.6% of respondents). In the case of vaccination, the dominant response profile was of trusting non-compliance based on a reflective belief in the need for adherence (34.8% of respondents). Among the variables examined in the study, passivity was found to be the major reason for non-compliance with mask-acquisition, whereas reasoned assessment of risk played a major role in non-compliance with vaccination. Realization of the complexity in dealing with uncertainty related to developing epidemics and to newly-developed vaccines was identified in the public’s response to the H1N1 vaccination campaign. Conclusions The newly identified profile of “trusting-reflective-non-complier” individuals should be of concern to policy makers. The public is not accepting governmental recommendations in an unconditional manner. This is not driven by lack of trust in authorities, but rather by the perception of the responsibility of individuals in confronting forthcoming risks. Nevertheless, under certain conditions the public may respond in a non-reflective way and delegate this responsibly to authorities in an uncontested manner. This leaves the policy makers with the complex challenge of interacting with a passive non-involved public or alternatively with an opinionated, reflexive public. PMID:23537171

Dynamic Trust Management for Delay Tolerant Networks and Its Application to Secure Routing

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-28

population of misbehaving nodes or evolving hostility or social relations such that an application (e.g., secure routing) built on top of trust...optimization in DTNs in response to dynamically changing conditions such as increasing population of misbehaving nodes. The design part addresses the...The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we survey existing trust management protocols and approaches to deal with misbehaved

Trust in the Medical Profession: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

PubMed Central

Hall, Mark A; Camacho, Fabian; Dugan, Elizabeth; Balkrishnan, Rajesh

2002-01-01

Objective To develop and test a multi-item measure for general trust in physicians, in contrast with trust in a specific physician. Data Sources Random national telephone survey of 502 adult subjects with a regular physician and source of payment. Study Design Based on a multidimensional conceptual model, a large pool of candidate items was generated, tested, and revised using focus groups, expert reviewers, and pilot testing. The scale was analyzed for its factor structure, internal consistency, construct validity, and other psychometric properties. Principal Findings The resulting 11-item scale measuring trust in physicians generally is consistent with most aspects of the conceptual model except that it does not include the dimension of confidentiality. This scale has a single-factor structure, good internal consistency (alpha=.89), and good response variability (range=11–54; mean=33.5; SD=6.9). This scale is related to satisfaction with care, trust in one's physician, following doctors' recommendations, having no prior disputes with physicians, not having sought second opinions, and not having changed doctors. No association was found with race/ethnicity. While general trust and interpersonal trust are qualitatively similar, they are only moderately correlated with each other and general trust is substantially lower. Conclusions Emerging research on patients' trust has focused on interpersonal trust in a specific, known physician. Trust in physicians in general is also important and differs significantly from interpersonal physician trust. General physician trust potentially has a strong influence on important behaviors and attitudes, and on the formation of interpersonal physician trust. PMID:12479504

A qualitative study of the role of workplace and interpersonal trust in shaping service quality and responsiveness in Zambian primary health centres.

PubMed

Topp, Stephanie M; Chipukuma, Julien M

2016-03-01

Human decisions, actions and relationships that invoke trust are at the core of functional and productive health systems. Although widely studied in high-income settings, comparatively few studies have explored the influence of trust on health system performance in low- and middle-income countries. This study examines how workplace and inter-personal trust impact service quality and responsiveness in primary health services in Zambia. This multi-case study included four health centres selected for urban, peri-urban and rural characteristics. Case data included provider interviews (60); patient interviews (180); direct observation of facility operations (two weeks/centre) and key informant interviews (14) that were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Case-based thematic analysis incorporated inductive and deductive coding. Findings demonstrated that providers had weak workplace trust influenced by a combination of poor working conditions, perceptions of low pay and experiences of inequitable or inefficient health centre management. Weak trust in health centre managers' organizational capacity and fairness contributed to resentment amongst many providers and promoted a culture of blame-shifting and one-upmanship that undermined teamwork and enabled disrespectful treatment of patients. Although patients expressed a high degree of trust in health workers' clinical capacity, repeated experiences of disrespectful or unresponsive care undermined patients' trust in health workers' service values and professionalism. Lack of patient-provider trust prompted some patients to circumvent clinic systems in an attempt to secure better or more timely care. Lack of resourcing and poor leadership were key factors leading to providers' weak workplace trust and contributed to often-poor quality services, driving a perverse cycle of negative patient-provider relations across the four sites. Findings highlight the importance of investing in both structural factors and organizational management to strengthen providers' trust in their employer(s) and colleagues, as an entry-point for developing both the capacity and a work culture oriented towards respectful and patient-centred care. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Is whistleblowing now mandatory? The impact of mandatory reporting law on trust relationships in health care.

PubMed

Hewitt, Jayne

2013-09-01

Trust is vital for promoting positive health care relationships aimed at achieving positive patient outcomes. Patients, as well as the broader society, trust that health care practitioners who have been granted authority by the state to provide safe and beneficial health care are competent to do so. Recent instances where patients have been harmed as the result of treatment that fell below the accepted standard of competence have negatively impacted on trust. As the state has a responsibility to protect the public from this type of harm, legislation that mandates reporting of certain instances where the behaviour of health care professionals has fallen below the acceptable standard has been introduced. While this may have been designed to restore public trust, this article argues that it has the potential to diminish trust on the basis that mandatory reporting may be equivalent to mandatory whistleblowing.

Only the Carrot, Not the Stick: Incorporating Trust into the Enforcement of Regulation

PubMed Central

Mendoza, Juan P.; Wielhouwer, Jacco L.

2015-01-01

New enforcement strategies allow agents to gain the regulator’s trust and consequently face a lower audit probability. Prior research suggests that, in order to prevent lower compliance, a reduction in the audit probability (the “carrot”) must be compensated with the introduction of a higher penalty for non-compliance (the “stick”). However, such carrot-and-stick strategies reflect neither the concept of trust nor the strategies observed in practice. In response to this, we define trust-based regulation as a strategy that incorporates rules that allow trust to develop, and using a generic (non-cooperative) game of tax compliance, we examine whether trust-based regulation is feasible (i.e., whether, in equilibrium, a reduction in the audit probability, without ever increasing the penalty for non-compliance, does not lead to reduced compliance). The model shows that trust-based regulation is feasible when the agent sufficiently values the future. In line with the concept of trust, this strategy is feasible when the regulator is uncertain about the agent’s intentions. Moreover, the model shows that (i) introducing higher penalties makes trust-based regulation less feasible, and (ii) combining trust and forgiveness can lead to a lower audit probability for both trusted and distrusted agents. Policy recommendations often point toward increasing deterrence. This model shows that the opposite can be optimal. PMID:25705898

[Is the person of trust a reliable witness in case of organ removal from a deceased person for donation purposes?].

PubMed

Gignon, M; Manaouil, C; Jardé, O

2008-10-01

All adults (people over the age of 18) can assign a person of trust and this person can be a parent, a partner or the treating doctor. Following the introduction of the 4(th) March 2002 law, this third party is now within the doctor-patient relationship. The aim of this study is to find out who is appointed as a person of trust by patients notably concerning the level of education or medical knowledge of these people. We have equally put the person of trust to the test within the realms that they would be questioned regarding organ donation from the deceased. The included subjects were adults admitted to hospital for surgical procedures or medical biopsies that were not deemed life threatening. The data collection was done by doctors from the legal medicine department at the university hospital of Amiens over a period of 18 months. With the permission of the patient and his or her person of trust, a one-to-one discussion was held. Statistical analysis took place focusing on all the variables together and is shown by comparing the patient group versus the person of trust group. The significance threshold returned was 0.05. A total of 125 patients-persons of trust couples were interviewed. The patients and their person of trust were not different in terms of age, social status, occupational groups and education. However, a person of trust is more often a woman (64%) against 50% of patients. A person of trust more often lives as a couple than the patients. Concerning organ donation, over half of the people questioned were for donation but only a third of patients had already discussed the subject with their person of trust. The persons of trust bring in 40% of cases a response that is not concordant in the position of the patient. The creation of a person of trust due to the law of 4(th) March 2002 brings about the opportunity for the patient to take on an approach, with the doctors, of having somebody that can advise them. Yet in this study, there is no significant evidence of a difference between the level of education of patients and that of their person of trust, or a difference in the distribution of the socio-professional categories, or specific choices for the GP. The person of trust can be used to wait on behalf of the patient whilst he or she is not able to do so. Even if the patient feels that the person of trust has come first over other close friends or relatives, the persons of trust assume this role with difficulty. Since its creation, the person of trust was presented as a response to social demand; however, it seems that patients are not sufficiently informed when it comes to the possibilities that are on offer to them.

From HIV infection to therapeutic response: a population-based longitudinal HIV cascade-of-care study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

Haber, Noah; Tanser, Frank; Bor, Jacob; Naidu, Kevindra; Mutevedzi, Tinofa; Herbst, Kobus; Porter, Kholoud; Pillay, Deenan; Bärnighausen, Till

2017-05-01

Standard approaches to estimation of losses in the HIV cascade of care are typically cross-sectional and do not include the population stages before linkage to clinical care. We used indiviual-level longitudinal cascade data, transition by transition, including population stages, both to identify the health-system losses in the cascade and to show the differences in inference between standard methods and the longitudinal approach. We used non-parametric survival analysis to estimate a longitudinal HIV care cascade for a large population of people with HIV residing in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We linked data from a longitudinal population health surveillance (which is maintained by the Africa Health Research Institute) with patient records from the local public-sector HIV treatment programme (contained in an electronic clinical HIV treatment and care database, ARTemis). We followed up all people who had been newly detected as having HIV between Jan 1, 2006, and Dec 31, 2011, across six cascade stages: three population stages (first positive HIV test, HIV status knowledge, and linkage to care) and three clinical stages (eligibility for antiretroviral therapy [ART], initiation of ART, and therapeutic response). We compared our estimates to cross-sectional cascades in the same population. We estimated the cumulative incidence of reaching a particular cascade stage at a specific time with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Our population consisted of 5205 individuals with HIV who were followed up for 24 031 person-years. We recorded 598 deaths. 4539 individuals gained knowledge of their positive HIV status, 2818 were linked to care, 2151 became eligible for ART, 1839 began ART, and 1456 had successful responses to therapy. We used Kaplan-Meier survival analysis to adjust for censorship due to the end of data collection, and found that 8 years after testing positive in the population health surveillance, 16% had died. Among living patients, 82% knew their HIV status, 45% were linked to care, 39% were eligible for ART, 35% initiated ART, and 33% had reached therapeutic response. Median times to transition for these cascade stages were 52 months, 52 months, 20 months, 3 months, and 9 months, respectively. Compared with the population stages in the cascade, the transitions across the clinical stages were fast. Over calendar time, rates of linkage to care have decreased and patients presenting for the first time for care were, on average, healthier. HIV programmes should focus on linkage to care as the most important bottleneck in the cascade. Cascade estimation should be longitudinal rather than cross-sectional and start with the population stages preceding clinical care. Wellcome Trust, PEPFAR. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

5 CFR 2634.404 - Qualified diversified trusts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... this part; (14) No person, including investment counsel, investment advisers, accountants, and tax... of Federal responsibility; (7) The trustee or designee shall prepare the trust's income tax return and, on behalf of any interested party, the personal income tax returns and similar tax documents...

Screen and clean: a tool for identifying interactions in genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Wu, Jing; Devlin, Bernie; Ringquist, Steven; Trucco, Massimo; Roeder, Kathryn

2010-04-01

Epistasis could be an important source of risk for disease. How interacting loci might be discovered is an open question for genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Most researchers limit their statistical analyses to testing individual pairwise interactions (i.e., marginal tests for association). A more effective means of identifying important predictors is to fit models that include many predictors simultaneously (i.e., higher-dimensional models). We explore a procedure called screen and clean (SC) for identifying liability loci, including interactions, by using the lasso procedure, which is a model selection tool for high-dimensional regression. We approach the problem by using a varying dictionary consisting of terms to include in the model. In the first step the lasso dictionary includes only main effects. The most promising single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are identified using a screening procedure. Next the lasso dictionary is adjusted to include these main effects and the corresponding interaction terms. Again, promising terms are identified using lasso screening. Then significant terms are identified through the cleaning process. Implementation of SC for GWAS requires algorithms to explore the complex model space induced by the many SNPs genotyped and their interactions. We propose and explore a set of algorithms and find that SC successfully controls Type I error while yielding good power to identify risk loci and their interactions. When the method is applied to data obtained from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium study of Type 1 Diabetes it uncovers evidence supporting interaction within the HLA class II region as well as within Chromosome 12q24.

A "candidate-interactome" aggregate analysis of genome-wide association data in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Mechelli, Rosella; Umeton, Renato; Policano, Claudia; Annibali, Viviana; Coarelli, Giulia; Ricigliano, Vito A G; Vittori, Danila; Fornasiero, Arianna; Buscarinu, Maria Chiara; Romano, Silvia; Salvetti, Marco; Ristori, Giovanni

2013-01-01

Though difficult, the study of gene-environment interactions in multifactorial diseases is crucial for interpreting the relevance of non-heritable factors and prevents from overlooking genetic associations with small but measurable effects. We propose a "candidate interactome" (i.e. a group of genes whose products are known to physically interact with environmental factors that may be relevant for disease pathogenesis) analysis of genome-wide association data in multiple sclerosis. We looked for statistical enrichment of associations among interactomes that, at the current state of knowledge, may be representative of gene-environment interactions of potential, uncertain or unlikely relevance for multiple sclerosis pathogenesis: Epstein-Barr virus, human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, cytomegalovirus, HHV8-Kaposi sarcoma, H1N1-influenza, JC virus, human innate immunity interactome for type I interferon, autoimmune regulator, vitamin D receptor, aryl hydrocarbon receptor and a panel of proteins targeted by 70 innate immune-modulating viral open reading frames from 30 viral species. Interactomes were either obtained from the literature or were manually curated. The P values of all single nucleotide polymorphism mapping to a given interactome were obtained from the last genome-wide association study of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium & the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, 2. The interaction between genotype and Epstein Barr virus emerges as relevant for multiple sclerosis etiology. However, in line with recent data on the coexistence of common and unique strategies used by viruses to perturb the human molecular system, also other viruses have a similar potential, though probably less relevant in epidemiological terms.

Investigation of rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility loci in juvenile idiopathic arthritis confirms high degree of overlap.

PubMed

Hinks, Anne; Cobb, Joanna; Sudman, Marc; Eyre, Stephen; Martin, Paul; Flynn, Edward; Packham, Jonathon; Barton, Anne; Worthington, Jane; Langefeld, Carl D; Glass, David N; Thompson, Susan D; Thomson, Wendy

2012-07-01

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) shares some similar clinical and pathological features with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA); indeed, the strategy of investigating whether RA susceptibility loci also confer susceptibility to JIA has already proved highly successful in identifying novel JIA loci. A plethora of newly validated RA loci has been reported in the past year. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) to determine if they were also associated with JIA. Thirty-four SNP that showed validated association with RA and had not been investigated previously in the UK JIA cohort were genotyped in JIA cases (n=1242), healthy controls (n=4281), and data were extracted for approximately 5380 UK Caucasian controls from the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium 2. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared between cases with JIA and controls using PLINK. A replication cohort of 813 JIA cases and 3058 controls from the USA was available for validation of any significant findings. Thirteen SNP showed significant association (p<0.05) with JIA and for all but one the direction of association was the same as in RA. Of the eight loci that were tested, three showed significant association in the US cohort. A novel JIA susceptibility locus was identified, CD247, which represents another JIA susceptibility gene whose protein product is important in T-cell activation and signalling. The authors have also confirmed association of the PTPN2 and IL2RA genes with JIA, both reaching genome-wide significance in the combined analysis.

Identifying and exploiting trait-relevant tissues with multiple functional annotations in genome-wide association studies

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shujun

2018-01-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many disease associated loci, the majority of which have unknown biological functions. Understanding the mechanism underlying trait associations requires identifying trait-relevant tissues and investigating associations in a trait-specific fashion. Here, we extend the widely used linear mixed model to incorporate multiple SNP functional annotations from omics studies with GWAS summary statistics to facilitate the identification of trait-relevant tissues, with which to further construct powerful association tests. Specifically, we rely on a generalized estimating equation based algorithm for parameter inference, a mixture modeling framework for trait-tissue relevance classification, and a weighted sequence kernel association test constructed based on the identified trait-relevant tissues for powerful association analysis. We refer to our analytic procedure as the Scalable Multiple Annotation integration for trait-Relevant Tissue identification and usage (SMART). With extensive simulations, we show how our method can make use of multiple complementary annotations to improve the accuracy for identifying trait-relevant tissues. In addition, our procedure allows us to make use of the inferred trait-relevant tissues, for the first time, to construct more powerful SNP set tests. We apply our method for an in-depth analysis of 43 traits from 28 GWASs using tissue-specific annotations in 105 tissues derived from ENCODE and Roadmap. Our results reveal new trait-tissue relevance, pinpoint important annotations that are informative of trait-tissue relationship, and illustrate how we can use the inferred trait-relevant tissues to construct more powerful association tests in the Wellcome trust case control consortium study. PMID:29377896

Global extent of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium vivax: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Price, Ric N; von Seidlein, Lorenz; Valecha, Neena; Nosten, Francois; Baird, J Kevin; White, Nicholas J

2014-01-01

Summary Background Chloroquine is the first-line treatment for Plasmodium vivax malaria in most endemic countries, but resistance is increasing. Monitoring of antimalarial efficacy is essential, but in P vivax infections the assessment of treatment efficacy is confounded by relapse from the dormant liver stages. We systematically reviewed P vivax malaria treatment efficacy studies to establish the global extent of chloroquine resistance. Methods We searched Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to identify studies published in English between Jan 1, 1960, and April 30, 2014, which investigated antimalarial treatment efficacy in P vivax malaria. We excluded studies that did not include supervised schizonticidal treatment without primaquine. We determined rates of chloroquine resistance according to P vivax malaria recurrence rates by day 28 whole-blood chloroquine concentrations at the time of recurrence and study enrolment criteria. Findings We identified 129 eligible clinical trials involving 21 694 patients at 179 study sites and 26 case reports describing 54 patients. Chloroquine resistance was present in 58 (53%) of 113 assessable study sites, spread across most countries that are endemic for P vivax. Clearance of parasitaemia assessed by microscopy in 95% of patients by day 2, or all patients by day 3, was 100% predictive of chloroquine sensitivity. Interpretation Heterogeneity of study design and analysis has confounded global surveillance of chloroquine-resistant P vivax, which is now present across most countries endemic for P vivax. Improved methods for monitoring of drug resistance are needed to inform antimalarial policy in these regions. Funding Wellcome Trust (UK). PMID:25213732

Brain swelling and death in children with cerebral malaria.

PubMed

Seydel, Karl B; Kampondeni, Samuel D; Valim, Clarissa; Potchen, Michael J; Milner, Danny A; Muwalo, Francis W; Birbeck, Gretchen L; Bradley, William G; Fox, Lindsay L; Glover, Simon J; Hammond, Colleen A; Heyderman, Robert S; Chilingulo, Cowles A; Molyneux, Malcolm E; Taylor, Terrie E

2015-03-19

Case fatality rates among African children with cerebral malaria remain in the range of 15 to 25%. The key pathogenetic processes and causes of death are unknown, but a combination of clinical observations and pathological findings suggests that increased brain volume leading to raised intracranial pressure may play a role. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) became available in Malawi in 2009, and we used it to investigate the role of brain swelling in the pathogenesis of fatal cerebral malaria in African children. We enrolled children who met a stringent definition of cerebral malaria (one that included the presence of retinopathy), characterized them in detail clinically, and obtained MRI scans on admission and daily thereafter while coma persisted. Of 348 children admitted with cerebral malaria (as defined by the World Health Organization), 168 met the inclusion criteria, underwent all investigations, and were included in the analysis. A total of 25 children (15%) died, 21 of whom (84%) had evidence of severe brain swelling on MRI at admission. In contrast, evidence of severe brain swelling was seen on MRI in 39 of 143 survivors (27%). Serial MRI scans showed evidence of decreasing brain volume in the survivors who had had brain swelling initially. Increased brain volume was seen in children who died from cerebral malaria but was uncommon in those who did not die from the disease, a finding that suggests that raised intracranial pressure may contribute to a fatal outcome. The natural history indicates that increased intracranial pressure is transient in survivors. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust U.K.).

A “Candidate-Interactome” Aggregate Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Data in Multiple Sclerosis

PubMed Central

Policano, Claudia; Annibali, Viviana; Coarelli, Giulia; Ricigliano, Vito A. G.; Vittori, Danila; Fornasiero, Arianna; Buscarinu, Maria Chiara; Romano, Silvia; Salvetti, Marco; Ristori, Giovanni

2013-01-01

Though difficult, the study of gene-environment interactions in multifactorial diseases is crucial for interpreting the relevance of non-heritable factors and prevents from overlooking genetic associations with small but measurable effects. We propose a “candidate interactome” (i.e. a group of genes whose products are known to physically interact with environmental factors that may be relevant for disease pathogenesis) analysis of genome-wide association data in multiple sclerosis. We looked for statistical enrichment of associations among interactomes that, at the current state of knowledge, may be representative of gene-environment interactions of potential, uncertain or unlikely relevance for multiple sclerosis pathogenesis: Epstein-Barr virus, human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, cytomegalovirus, HHV8-Kaposi sarcoma, H1N1-influenza, JC virus, human innate immunity interactome for type I interferon, autoimmune regulator, vitamin D receptor, aryl hydrocarbon receptor and a panel of proteins targeted by 70 innate immune-modulating viral open reading frames from 30 viral species. Interactomes were either obtained from the literature or were manually curated. The P values of all single nucleotide polymorphism mapping to a given interactome were obtained from the last genome-wide association study of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium & the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, 2. The interaction between genotype and Epstein Barr virus emerges as relevant for multiple sclerosis etiology. However, in line with recent data on the coexistence of common and unique strategies used by viruses to perturb the human molecular system, also other viruses have a similar potential, though probably less relevant in epidemiological terms. PMID:23696811

Gene-Gene and Gene-Environment Interactions in Ulcerative Colitis

PubMed Central

Wang, Ming-Hsi; Fiocchi, Claudio; Zhu, Xiaofeng; Ripke, Stephan; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Rebert, Nancy; Duerr, Richard H.; Achkar, Jean-Paul

2014-01-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified at least 133 ulcerative colitis (UC) associated loci. The role of genetic factors in clinical practice is not clearly defined. The relevance of genetic variants to disease pathogenesis is still uncertain because of not characterized gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. We examined the predictive value of combining the 133 UC risk loci with genetic interactions in an ongoing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) GWAS. The Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium (WTCCC) IBD GWAS was used as a replication cohort. We applied logic regression (LR), a novel adaptive regression methodology, to search for high order interactions. Exploratory genotype correlations with UC sub-phenotypes (extent of disease, need of surgery, age of onset, extra-intestinal manifestations and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)) were conducted. The combination of 133 UC loci yielded good UC risk predictability (area under the curve [AUC] of 0.86). A higher cumulative allele score predicted higher UC risk. Through LR, several lines of evidence for genetic interactions were identified and successfully replicated in the WTCCC cohort. The genetic interactions combined with the gene-smoking interaction significantly improved predictability in the model (AUC, from 0.86 to 0.89, P=3.26E-05). Explained UC variance increased from 37% to 42% after adding the interaction terms. A within case analysis found suggested genetic association with PSC. Our study demonstrates that the LR methodology allows the identification and replication of high order genetic interactions in UC GWAS datasets. UC risk can be predicted by a 133 loci and improved by adding gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. PMID:24241240

Genetic variants of FTO influence adiposity, insulin sensitivity, leptin levels, and resting metabolic rate in the Quebec Family Study.

PubMed

Do, Ron; Bailey, Swneke D; Desbiens, Katia; Belisle, Alexandre; Montpetit, Alexandre; Bouchard, Claude; Pérusse, Louis; Vohl, Marie-Claude; Engert, James C

2008-04-01

A genome-wide association study conducted by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium recently associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FTO (fatso/fat mass and obesity associated) gene with type 2 diabetes. These associations were shown to be mediated by obesity. Other research groups found similar results in Europeans and Hispanics but not African Americans. The mechanism by which FTO influences obesity and type 2 diabetes is currently unknown. The present study investigated the role of two FTO SNPs (rs17817449 and rs1421085) in adiposity, insulin sensitivity, and body weight regulation, including energy intake and expenditure. We genotyped 908 individuals from the Quebec City metropolitan area that participated in the Quebec Family Study, a long-term study of extensively phenotyped individuals designed to investigate factors involved in adiposity. We found significant associations for both SNPs with several obesity-related phenotypes. In particular, rs17817449 was associated with BMI (P = 0.0014), weight (P = 0.0059), and waist circumference (P = 0.0021) under an additive model. In addition, this FTO SNP influenced fasting insulin (P = 0.011), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (P = 0.038), and an insulin sensitivity index derived from an oral glucose tolerance test (P = 0.0091). Associations were also found with resting metabolic rate (RMR) (P = 0.042) and plasma leptin levels (P = 0.036). Adjustment for BMI abolished the associations with insulin sensitivity, RMR, and plasma leptin levels. These results confirm that genetic variation at the FTO locus contributes to the etiology of obesity, insulin resistance, and increased plasma leptin levels.

Shared Ageing Research Models (ShARM): a new facility to support ageing research.

PubMed

Duran, Adele L; Potter, Paul; Wells, Sara; Kirkwood, Tom; von Zglinicki, Thomas; McArdle, Anne; Scudamore, Cheryl; Meng, Qing-Jun; de Haan, Gerald; Corcoran, Anne; Bellantuono, Ilaria

2013-12-01

In order to manage the rise in life expectancy and the concomitant increased occurrence of age-related diseases, research into ageing has become a strategic priority. Mouse models are commonly utilised as they share high homology with humans and show many similar signs and diseases of ageing. However, the time and cost needed to rear aged cohorts can limit research opportunities. Sharing of resources can provide an ethically and economically superior framework to overcome some of these issues but requires dedicated infrastructure. Shared Ageing Research Models (ShARM) ( www.ShARMUK.org ) is a new, not-for-profit organisation funded by Wellcome Trust, open to all investigators. It collects, stores and distributes flash frozen tissues from aged murine models through its biorepository and provides a database of live ageing mouse colonies available in the UK and abroad. It also has an online environment (MICEspace) for collation and analysis of data from communal models and discussion boards on subjects such as the welfare of ageing animals and common endpoints for intervention studies. Since launching in July 2012, thanks to the generosity of researchers in UK and Europe, ShARM has collected more than 2,500 tissues and has in excess of 2,000 mice registered in live ageing colonies. By providing the appropriate support, ShARM has been able to bring together the knowledge and experience of investigators in the UK and Europe to maximise research outputs with little additional cost and minimising animal use in order to facilitate progress in ageing research.

Role of genetic variation in insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor on insulin resistance and arterial hypertension.

PubMed

Sookoian, Silvia; Gianotti, Tomas Fernandez; Gemma, Carolina; Burgueño, Adriana L; Pirola, Carlos J

2010-06-01

To perform a two-stage study to explore the role of gene variants in the risk of insulin resistance and arterial hypertension. The selection of variants was performed by a first stage of in-silico analysis of the original genome-wide association data sets on genes involved in metabolic syndrome components, granted by the Diabetes Genetics Initiative and the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium. We started by identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms with a cutoff for association (P < 0.05) in both data sets after the application of a computational algorithm of gene prioritization. Among the more promising variants, six single-nucleotide polymorphisms in IGF1R (rs11247362, rs10902606, rs1317459, rs11854132, rs2684761, and rs2715416) were selected for further evaluation in our population. Altogether, 1094 men, aged 34.4 +/- 8.6 years, were included in a population-based study. Genotypes of rs2684761 showed significant association with insulin resistance (as a discrete trait, odds ratio per G allele 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.56, P = 0.026; and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance as a continuous trait, P = 0.01). A significant association of rs2684761 with arterial hypertension was also observed (odds ratio per G allele 1.29, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.64, P = 0.037) after adjusting for age and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance. Our study suggests for the first time a putative role of IGF1R variants in individual susceptibility to metabolic syndrome-related phenotypes, in particular on the risk of having insulin resistance and arterial hypertension.

Hierarchical Naive Bayes for genetic association studies.

PubMed

Malovini, Alberto; Barbarini, Nicola; Bellazzi, Riccardo; de Michelis, Francesca

2012-01-01

Genome Wide Association Studies represent powerful approaches that aim at disentangling the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying complex traits. The usual "one-SNP-at-the-time" testing strategy cannot capture the multi-factorial nature of this kind of disorders. We propose a Hierarchical Naïve Bayes classification model for taking into account associations in SNPs data characterized by Linkage Disequilibrium. Validation shows that our model reaches classification performances superior to those obtained by the standard Naïve Bayes classifier for simulated and real datasets. In the Hierarchical Naïve Bayes implemented, the SNPs mapping to the same region of Linkage Disequilibrium are considered as "details" or "replicates" of the locus, each contributing to the overall effect of the region on the phenotype. A latent variable for each block, which models the "population" of correlated SNPs, can be then used to summarize the available information. The classification is thus performed relying on the latent variables conditional probability distributions and on the SNPs data available. The developed methodology has been tested on simulated datasets, each composed by 300 cases, 300 controls and a variable number of SNPs. Our approach has been also applied to two real datasets on the genetic bases of Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. The approach proposed in this paper, called Hierarchical Naïve Bayes, allows dealing with classification of examples for which genetic information of structurally correlated SNPs are available. It improves the Naïve Bayes performances by properly handling the within-loci variability.

Efficient analysis of mouse genome sequences reveal many nonsense variants

PubMed Central

Steeland, Sophie; Timmermans, Steven; Van Ryckeghem, Sara; Hulpiau, Paco; Saeys, Yvan; Van Montagu, Marc; Vandenbroucke, Roosmarijn E.; Libert, Claude

2016-01-01

Genetic polymorphisms in coding genes play an important role when using mouse inbred strains as research models. They have been shown to influence research results, explain phenotypical differences between inbred strains, and increase the amount of interesting gene variants present in the many available inbred lines. SPRET/Ei is an inbred strain derived from Mus spretus that has ∼1% sequence difference with the C57BL/6J reference genome. We obtained a listing of all SNPs and insertions/deletions (indels) present in SPRET/Ei from the Mouse Genomes Project (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) and processed these data to obtain an overview of all transcripts having nonsynonymous coding sequence variants. We identified 8,883 unique variants affecting 10,096 different transcripts from 6,328 protein-coding genes, which is about 28% of all coding genes. Because only a subset of these variants results in drastic changes in proteins, we focused on variations that are nonsense mutations that ultimately resulted in a gain of a stop codon. These genes were identified by in silico changing the C57BL/6J coding sequences to the SPRET/Ei sequences, converting them to amino acid (AA) sequences, and comparing the AA sequences. All variants and transcripts affected were also stored in a database, which can be browsed using a SPRET/Ei M. spretus variants web tool (www.spretus.org), including a manual. We validated the tool by demonstrating the loss of function of three proteins predicted to be severely truncated, namely Fas, IRAK2, and IFNγR1. PMID:27147605

An empirical study of the toxic capsule crisis in China: risk perceptions and behavioral responses.

PubMed

Feng, Tianjun; Keller, L Robin; Wu, Ping; Xu, Yifan

2014-04-01

The outbreak of the toxic capsule crisis during April 2012 aroused widespread public concern about the risk of chromium-contaminated capsules and drug safety in China. In this article, we develop a conceptual model to investigate risk perceptions of the pharmaceutical drug capsules and behavioral responses to the toxic capsule crisis and the relationship between associated factors and these two variables. An online survey was conducted to test the model, including questions on the measures of perceived efficacy of the countermeasures, trust in the State FDA (Food and Drug Administration), trust in the pharmaceutical companies, trust in the pharmaceutical capsule producers, risk perception, concern, need for information, information seeking, and risk avoidance. In general, participants reported higher levels of risk perception, concern, and risk avoidance, and lower levels of trust in the three different stakeholders. The results from the structural equation modeling procedure suggest that perceived efficacy of the countermeasures is a predictor of each of the three trust variables; however, only trust in the State FDA has a dampening impact on risk perception. Both risk perception and information seeking are significant determinants of risk avoidance. Risk perception is also positively related to concern. Information seeking is positively related to both concern and need for information. The theoretical and policy implications are also discussed. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

Questions of trust in health research on social capital: what aspects of personal network social capital do they measure?

PubMed

Carpiano, Richard M; Fitterer, Lisa M

2014-09-01

Health research on personal social capital has often utilized measures of respondents' perceived trust of others as either a proxy for one's social capital in the absence of more focused measures or as a subjective component of social capital. Little empirical work has evaluated the validity of such practices. We test the construct validity of two trust measures used commonly in health research on social capital-generalized trust and trust of neighbors-with respect to measures of people's general network-, organization-, family-, friend-, and neighborhood-based social capital and the extent to which these two trust measures are associated with self-rated general health and mental health when social capital measures are included in the same models. Analyses of 2008 Canadian General Social Survey data (response rate 57.3%) indicate that generalized trust and trust of neighbors are both positively-yet modestly-associated with measures of several domains of network-based social capital. Both trust measures are positively associated with general and mental health, but these associations remain robust after adjusting for social capital measures. Our findings suggest that (a) trust is conceptually distinct from social capital, (b) trust measures are inadequate proxies for actual personal social networks, and (c) trust measures may only be capturing psychological aspects relevant to-but not indicative of-social capital. Though links between perceived trust and health deserve study, health research on social capital needs to utilize measures of respondents' actual social networks and their inherent resources. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recuperating from BSE: the shifting UK institutional basis for trust in food.

PubMed

Wales, Corinne; Harvey, Mark; Warde, Alan

2006-09-01

How did the UK, the villain of Europe as the source of the greatest recent crisis in trust in food, become the country with the highest reported levels of trust in the safety of food? The nature of the BSE crisis is explored, particularly how it rapidly became primarily a question of trust in government and science. The responses to the crisis by the different institutional actors is examined, especially the provisioning system and retailers, but also consumers themselves. A major reform of governmental institutional architecture resulted in the Food Standards Agency, a model for European development. But, we argue that this reform conformed with growing retailer power and control over the supply chain to provide a new institutional basis for trust in food.

40 CFR 146.85 - Financial responsibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....e., Financial Test and Corporate Guarantee). (vi) Escrow Account. (vii) Any other instrument(s... requirements of § 146.92); (iii) Post injection site care and site closure (that meets the requirements of...), for example trust funds, surety bonds guaranteeing payment into a trust fund, letters of credit...

40 CFR 146.85 - Financial responsibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....e., Financial Test and Corporate Guarantee). (vi) Escrow Account. (vii) Any other instrument(s... requirements of § 146.92); (iii) Post injection site care and site closure (that meets the requirements of...), for example trust funds, surety bonds guaranteeing payment into a trust fund, letters of credit...

Early History of the Concept of Chemical Transmission of the Nerve Impulse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davenport, Horace W.

1991-01-01

Describes the research efforts of scientists involved in discovering chemical transmission of the nerve impulse. The work includes that of J.N. Langley, George Oliver, Edward A. Schafer, Reid Hunt, Henry Dale, Henry Wellcome, Otto Loewi, and others. The discovery and the importance of both acetylcholine and adrenaline are also discussed. (84…

Development and validation of an abbreviated version of the Trust in Oncologist Scale-the Trust in Oncologist Scale-short form (TiOS-SF).

PubMed

Hillen, Marij A; Postma, Rosa-May; Verdam, Mathilde G E; Smets, Ellen M A

2017-03-01

The original 18-item, four-dimensional Trust in Oncologist Scale assesses cancer patients' trust in their oncologist. The current aim was to develop and validate a short form version of the scale to enable more efficient assessment of cancer patients' trust. Existing validation data of the full-length Trust in Oncologist Scale were used to create a short form of the Trust in Oncologist Scale. The resulting short form was validated in a new sample of cancer patients (n = 92). Socio-demographics, medical characteristics, trust in the oncologist, satisfaction with communication, trust in healthcare, willingness to recommend the oncologist to others and to contact the oncologist in case of questions were assessed. Internal consistency, reliability, convergent and structural validity were tested. The five-item Trust in Oncologist Scale Short Form was created by selecting the statistically best performing item from each dimension of the original scale, to ensure content validity. Mean trust in the oncologist was high in the validation sample (response rate 86%, M = 4.30, SD = 0.98). Exploratory factor analyses supported one-dimensionality of the short form. Internal consistency was high, and temporal stability was moderate. Initial convergent validity was suggested by moderate correlations between trust scores with associated constructs. The Trust in Oncologist Scale Short Form appears to efficiently, reliably and validly measures cancer patients' trust in their oncologist. It may be used in research and as a quality indicator in clinical practice. More thorough validation of the scale is recommended to confirm this initial evidence of its validity.

Farmers are the most trusted part of the Australian food chain: results from a national survey of consumers.

PubMed

Henderson, Julie; Coveney, John; Ward, Paul R; Taylor, Anne W

2011-08-01

Trust is a crucial component of food safety and governance. This research surveyed a random selection of the population to examine its level of trust in a variety of 'actors' and organisations in the food chain. A computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) survey addressing trust in the food system was administrated during October to December 2009 to a random sample of 1,109 participants across all states (response rate 41.2%). Farmers enjoyed high levels of trust, whereas politicians were considered less trustworthy. Supermarkets were afforded more trust than media and news outlets. Logistic regression analysis determined that two socio-demographic variables - age and education level - were significantly associated with trust in food actors, with young people finding the media the least trustworthy. Our respondents invested the most trust in farmers, possibly indicating an awareness and appreciation of primary food production among the Australian public. The finding that young people's trust in the media is low challenges media use in social marketing campaigns aimed to improve health and nutrition in younger age groups. Health education, including nutrition education, needs to consider the channels of communication most suited to age and social grouping. © 2011 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2011 Public Health Association of Australia.

Demographic indicators of trust in federal, state and local government: implications for Australian health policy makers.

PubMed

Meyer, Samantha B; Mamerow, Loreen; Taylor, Anne W; Henderson, Julie; Ward, Paul R; Coveney, John

2013-02-01

To provide baseline findings regarding Australians' trust in federal, state and local government. A computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) survey was administrated during October to December 2009 to a random sample (n=1109) across Australia (response rate 41.2%). Binary logistic regression analyses were carried out by means of SPSS. Age, household size, household income, IRSD and ARIA were found to be significant indicators for trust in federal, state and local government. Trust in state government is lower for older respondents and respondents living in inner and outer regional areas. Trust in local council is lower in respondents living in inner regional areas, respondents living in disadvantaged areas, and respondents in the income bracket of $60001 to $100000. Trust in federal government is lower for older respondents and respondents living in disadvantaged areas. Of note is diminished trust in government among older, regional and lower income ($30001-$60000) respondents. Trust in all levels of government was found to be the lowest in population groups that are identified by empirical research and media to have the poorest access to government services. As a consequence, improved access to services for these populations may increase trust in health policy. Increased trust in health governance may in turn, ensure effective dissemination and implementation of health policies and that existing inequities are not perpetuated through distrust of health information and policy initiatives.

Social capital, political trust and purchase of illegal liquor: a population-based study in southern Sweden.

PubMed

Lindström, Martin

2008-05-01

To investigate the association between political trust in the Riksdag (the national parliament in Sweden) and having purchased illegal liquor during the past 12 months. The 2004 public health survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study answered by 27,757 respondents aged 18-80 with a 59% response rate. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the associations between political trust and having purchased illegal liquor during the past 12 months. Multivariate analyses of political trust and having purchased illegal liquor were performed in order to investigate the importance of possible confounders (including generalized/horizontal trust in other people). A 21.2% fraction of the men and 9.6% of the women had purchased illegal alcohol during the past 12 months. A total of 17.3% and 11.6% of the male and female respondents, respectively, reported that they had no trust at all in the national parliament, and another 38.2% and 36.2%, respectively, reported that their political trust was not particularly high. Respondents in younger age groups, with medium/low education, economic stress, low horizontal trust and not particularly high and no political trust at all and no opinion had significantly higher levels of having purchased illegal liquor. The significant odds ratios of having purchased illegal liquor in the not particularly high political trust and no political trust at all categories were somewhat reduced although still significant after multiple adjustments. The results suggest that political trust may have an independent effect on the propensity to purchase illegal liquor in Sweden.

Organizational Trust in Times of Challenge: The Impact on Faculty and Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoppes, Cherron R.; Holley, Karri A.

2014-01-01

Higher education institutions have faced increased social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in recent decades. In this study we used the socio-cultural construct of trust to understand how organizational responses to external challenges impact the relationship between faculty members and administrators. Using extensive interviews,…

5 CFR 2634.404 - Qualified diversified trusts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... investments the proceeds of sale are to be reinvested; (2) The trustee and any other designated fiduciary in... of Federal responsibility; (7) The trustee or designee shall prepare the trust's income tax return and, on behalf of any interested party, the personal income tax returns and similar tax documents...

Trust as a Virtue in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Olimpio, Laura

2018-01-01

As social and political beings, we are able to flourish only if we collaborate with others. Trust, understood as a virtue, incorporates appropriate rational emotional dispositions such as compassion as well as action that is contextual, situated in a time and place. We judge responses as appropriate and characters as trustworthy or untrustworthy…

36 CFR 401.10 - Monument Trust Fund Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... perform any deferred maintenance necessary to bring the monument up to a mutually agreeable standard. At... responsibility for its maintenance. To be accepted in the Monument Trust Fund Program, an organization must develop an acceptable maintenance plan and transfer sufficient monies to the Commission to fully fund the...

36 CFR § 401.10 - Monument Trust Fund Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... perform any deferred maintenance necessary to bring the monument up to a mutually agreeable standard. At... responsibility for its maintenance. To be accepted in the Monument Trust Fund Program, an organization must develop an acceptable maintenance plan and transfer sufficient monies to the Commission to fully fund the...

36 CFR 401.10 - Monument Trust Fund Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... perform any deferred maintenance necessary to bring the monument up to a mutually agreeable standard. At... responsibility for its maintenance. To be accepted in the Monument Trust Fund Program, an organization must develop an acceptable maintenance plan and transfer sufficient monies to the Commission to fully fund the...

36 CFR 401.10 - Monument Trust Fund Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... perform any deferred maintenance necessary to bring the monument up to a mutually agreeable standard. At... responsibility for its maintenance. To be accepted in the Monument Trust Fund Program, an organization must develop an acceptable maintenance plan and transfer sufficient monies to the Commission to fully fund the...

A Sacred Trust: The Safety of Our Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Momentum, 2002

2002-01-01

Provides the text of the National Catholic Educational Association Statement on Child Abuse. This document, titled A Sacred Trust: The Safety of Our Children, was generated in response to the growing number of both confirmed and alleged cases of pedophilia and sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. (RC)

78 FR 44950 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection Renewal; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-25

... powers. State banking authorities, not the FDIC, grant trust powers to their banks. The FDIC merely... of Response: On occasion. Affected Public: Insured State nonmember banks wishing to exercise trust... Collection: FDIC regulations (12 CFR 333.2) prohibit any insured State nonmember bank from changing the...

Individual and Organizational Trust in a Reciprocal Peer Coaching Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Elaine

2012-01-01

This paper explores organizational and peer dynamics that impact the potential for productive, trusting peer relationships. An in-depth phenomenological study of five peer coaching dyads was undertaken to examine the establishment and maintenance of peer coaching. Joint interviews were used to promote co-construction of responses. Findings…

Trust and social representations of the management of threatened and endangered species

Treesearch

George Cvetkovich; Patricia L. Winter

2003-01-01

Using quantitative analysis of questionnaire responses, observations during focus group discussions, and qualitative assessment of discussion statements, the present study examined trust and social representations of the U.S. Forest Service's management of Southern California national forests for the protection of endangered species. Supporting expectations based...

Perceived threat and corroboration: key factors that improve a predictive model of trust in internet-based health information and advice.

PubMed

Harris, Peter R; Sillence, Elizabeth; Briggs, Pam

2011-07-27

How do people decide which sites to use when seeking health advice online? We can assume, from related work in e-commerce, that general design factors known to affect trust in the site are important, but in this paper we also address the impact of factors specific to the health domain. The current study aimed to (1) assess the factorial structure of a general measure of Web trust, (2) model how the resultant factors predicted trust in, and readiness to act on, the advice found on health-related websites, and (3) test whether adding variables from social cognition models to capture elements of the response to threatening, online health-risk information enhanced the prediction of these outcomes. Participants were asked to recall a site they had used to search for health-related information and to think of that site when answering an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a general Web trust questionnaire plus items assessing appraisals of the site, including threat appraisals, information checking, and corroboration. It was promoted on the hungersite.com website. The URL was distributed via Yahoo and local print media. We assessed the factorial structure of the measures using principal components analysis and modeled how well they predicted the outcome measures using structural equation modeling (SEM) with EQS software. We report an analysis of the responses of participants who searched for health advice for themselves (N = 561). Analysis of the general Web trust questionnaire revealed 4 factors: information quality, personalization, impartiality, and credible design. In the final SEM model, information quality and impartiality were direct predictors of trust. However, variables specific to eHealth (perceived threat, coping, and corroboration) added substantially to the ability of the model to predict variance in trust and readiness to act on advice on the site. The final model achieved a satisfactory fit: χ(2) (5) = 10.8 (P = .21), comparative fit index = .99, root mean square error of approximation = .052. The model accounted for 66% of the variance in trust and 49% of the variance in readiness to act on the advice. Adding variables specific to eHealth enhanced the ability of a model of trust to predict trust and readiness to act on advice.

Perceived Threat and Corroboration: Key Factors That Improve a Predictive Model of Trust in Internet-based Health Information and Advice

PubMed Central

Harris, Peter R; Briggs, Pam

2011-01-01

Background How do people decide which sites to use when seeking health advice online? We can assume, from related work in e-commerce, that general design factors known to affect trust in the site are important, but in this paper we also address the impact of factors specific to the health domain. Objective The current study aimed to (1) assess the factorial structure of a general measure of Web trust, (2) model how the resultant factors predicted trust in, and readiness to act on, the advice found on health-related websites, and (3) test whether adding variables from social cognition models to capture elements of the response to threatening, online health-risk information enhanced the prediction of these outcomes. Methods Participants were asked to recall a site they had used to search for health-related information and to think of that site when answering an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a general Web trust questionnaire plus items assessing appraisals of the site, including threat appraisals, information checking, and corroboration. It was promoted on the hungersite.com website. The URL was distributed via Yahoo and local print media. We assessed the factorial structure of the measures using principal components analysis and modeled how well they predicted the outcome measures using structural equation modeling (SEM) with EQS software. Results We report an analysis of the responses of participants who searched for health advice for themselves (N = 561). Analysis of the general Web trust questionnaire revealed 4 factors: information quality, personalization, impartiality, and credible design. In the final SEM model, information quality and impartiality were direct predictors of trust. However, variables specific to eHealth (perceived threat, coping, and corroboration) added substantially to the ability of the model to predict variance in trust and readiness to act on advice on the site. The final model achieved a satisfactory fit: χ2 5 = 10.8 (P = .21), comparative fit index = .99, root mean square error of approximation = .052. The model accounted for 66% of the variance in trust and 49% of the variance in readiness to act on the advice. Conclusions Adding variables specific to eHealth enhanced the ability of a model of trust to predict trust and readiness to act on advice. PMID:21795237

The Role of Organizational Control Systems in Employees' Organizational Trust and Performance Outcomes.

PubMed

Verburg, Robert M; Nienaber, Ann-Marie; Searle, Rosalind H; Weibel, Antoinette; Den Hartog, Deanne N; Rupp, Deborah E

2018-04-01

This study examined how organizational control is related to employees' organizational trust. We specifically focus on how different forms of control (process, outcome, and normative) relate to employees' trust in their employing organizations and examine whether such trust in turn relates positively to employee job performance (task performance and organizational citizenship behavior). In addition, and in response to the recommendations of past research, we examined these relationships in a high control and compliance-based cultural context. Using data from 105 employee-supervisor dyads from professional services firms in Singapore, we find support for our hypothesized model. The implications of the results for theory and practice, and directions for future research, are discussed.

The Role of Organizational Control Systems in Employees’ Organizational Trust and Performance Outcomes

PubMed Central

Verburg, Robert M.; Nienaber, Ann-Marie; Searle, Rosalind H.; Weibel, Antoinette; Den Hartog, Deanne N.; Rupp, Deborah E.

2017-01-01

This study examined how organizational control is related to employees’ organizational trust. We specifically focus on how different forms of control (process, outcome, and normative) relate to employees’ trust in their employing organizations and examine whether such trust in turn relates positively to employee job performance (task performance and organizational citizenship behavior). In addition, and in response to the recommendations of past research, we examined these relationships in a high control and compliance-based cultural context. Using data from 105 employee–supervisor dyads from professional services firms in Singapore, we find support for our hypothesized model. The implications of the results for theory and practice, and directions for future research, are discussed. PMID:29568213

Gender, trust and cooperation in environmental social dilemmas.

PubMed

Irwin, Kyle; Edwards, Kimberly; Tamburello, Jeffrey A

2015-03-01

This research addresses gender differences in environmental protection efforts. Recent work indicates that, across a variety of domains, women are more generous, charitable, and prosocial than men. Despite above-average levels of these motivators for cooperation, considerable experimental research points to no difference in cooperation between genders. What can explain women's lower-than-expected cooperation levels? Prior research indicates that, compared to men, women are less trusting and respond to fear incentives in social dilemmas - they are concerned about being exploited. We test these arguments in the context of environmental behaviors and argue that lower trust and greater responses to fear incentives mean that women's cooperation is predicated on trust. For men, trust does not predict environmental cooperation. The current research represents the first empirical test of these arguments. Using data from the General Social Survey we focus on private sphere behaviors and political participation and predict an interaction between gender and trust on cooperation. Results support this prediction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Examining single- and multiple-process theories of trust in automation.

PubMed

Rice, Stephen

2009-07-01

The author examined the effects of human responses to automation alerts and nonalerts. Previous research has shown that automation false alarms and misses have differential effects on human trust (i.e., automation false alarms tend to affect operator compliance, whereas automation misses tend to affect operator reliance). Participants performed a simulated combat task, whereby they examined aerial photographs for the presence of enemy targets. A diagnostic aid provided a recommendation during each trial. The author manipulated the reliability and response bias of the aid to provide appropriate data for state-trace analyses. The analyses provided strong evidence that only a multiple-process theory of operator trust can explain the effects of automation errors on human dependence behaviors. The author discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this finding.

Building trust and diversity in patient-centered oncology clinical trials: An integrated model.

PubMed

Hurd, Thelma C; Kaplan, Charles D; Cook, Elise D; Chilton, Janice A; Lytton, Jay S; Hawk, Ernest T; Jones, Lovell A

2017-04-01

Trust is the cornerstone of clinical trial recruitment and retention. Efforts to decrease barriers and increase clinical trial participation among diverse populations have yielded modest results. There is an urgent need to better understand the complex interactions between trust and clinical trial participation. The process of trust-building has been a focus of intense research in the business community. Yet, little has been published about trust in oncology clinical trials or the process of building trust in clinical trials. Both clinical trials and business share common dimensions. Business strategies for building trust may be transferable to the clinical trial setting. This study was conducted to understand and utilize contemporary thinking about building trust to develop an Integrated Model of Trust that incorporates both clinical and business perspectives. A key word-directed literature search of the PubMed, Medline, Cochrane, and Google Search databases for entries dated between 1 January 1985 and 1 September 2015 was conducted to obtain information from which to develop an Integrated Model of Trust. Successful trial participation requires both participants and clinical trial team members to build distinctly different types of interpersonal trust to effect recruitment and retention. They are built under conditions of significant emotional stress and time constraints among people who do not know each other and have never worked together before. Swift Trust and Traditional Trust are sequentially built during the clinical trial process. Swift trust operates during the recruitment and very early active treatment phases of the clinical trial process. Traditional trust is built over time and operates during the active treatment and surveillance stages of clinical trials. The Psychological Contract frames the participants' and clinical trial team members' interpersonal trust relationship. The "terms" of interpersonal trust are negotiated through the psychological contract. Contract renegotiation occurs in response to cyclical changes within the trust relationship throughout trial participation. The Integrated Model of Trust offers a novel framework to interrogate the process by which diverse populations and clinical trial teams build trust. To our knowledge, this is the first model of trust-building in clinical trials that frames trust development through integrated clinical and business perspectives. By focusing on the process, rather than outcomes of trust-building diverse trial participants, clinical trials teams, participants, and cancer centers may be able to better understand, measure, and manage their trust relationships in real time. Ultimately, this may foster increased recruitment and retention of diverse populations to clinical trials.

Collegial Support and Community with Trust in Swedish and Danish dentistry.

PubMed

Berthelsen, Hanne; Söderfeldt, Björn; Harris, Rebecca; Pejtersen, Jan Hyld; Bergström, Kamilla; Hjalmers, Karin; Ordell, Sven

2011-11-01

The aim of the study was to better understand the associations between work factors and professional support among dentists (Collegial Support) as well as the sense of being part of a work community characterized by trust (Community with Trust). A questionnaire was sent to 1835 general dental practitioners, randomly selected from the members of dental associations in Sweden and Denmark in 2008. The response rate was 68%. Two models with the outcome variables Collegial Support and being part of a Community with Trust were built using multiple hierarchical linear regression. Demographic background factors, work factors, managerial factors and factors relating to objectives and to values characterizing climate of the practice were all introduced as blocks into the models. A different pattern emerged for Collegial Support than for Community with Trust, indicating different underlying mechanisms. The main results were: (I) Female, married/cohabitant, collegial network outside the practice, common breaks, formalized managerial education of leader and a climate characterized by professional values, which were positively associated with Collegial Support, while number of years as a dentist and being managerially responsible were negatively associated. (II) Common breaks, decision authority and a climate characterized by professional values were positively associated with Community with Trust. A professionally-oriented practice climate and having common breaks at work were strongly associated with both outcome variables. The study underlined the importance of managing dentistry in a way which respects the professional ethos of dentists.

Study of African Trypanosomiasis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-09-30

received foot and mouth vaccine (Wellcome-Kenya). In general, the experimental animals were kept out- side and supplemental food was provided during... vaccinant dans le plasma de souris experimentalement infectees par Trypanosoma gaibiense et par Trypanosoma concolense. Bullitin de la Society...Medicine and Hyciene, 35: 165-176. Jchnson, P., Neal, R.A. and Gall, D., 1963. Protective effect of killed trypanosome vaccines with incorporated

Synergy between medicinal chemistry and biological research.

PubMed

Moncada, Salvador; Coaker, Hannah

2014-09-01

Salvador Moncada studied medicine at the University of El Salvador (El Salvador) before coming to the UK in 1971 to work on a PhD with Professor John Vane at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons (UK). After a short period of research at the University of Honduras (Honduras), he joined the Wellcome Research Laboratories (UK) where he became Head of the Department of Prostaglandin Research and later, Director of Research. He returned to academic life in 1996 as founder and director of the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at University College London (UK). Moncada played a role in the discovery of the mechanism of action of aspirin-like drugs and later led the teams which discover prostacyclin and identified nitric oxide as a biological mediator. In his role as a Director of Research of the Wellcome Laboratories, he oversaw the discovery and development of medicines for epilepsy, migraine, malaria and cancer. Currently, he is working on the regulation of cell proliferation as Director of the Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Manchester (UK). Moncada has won numerous awards from the international scientific community and in 2010, he received a knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to science.

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with a novel mecA homologue in human and bovine populations in the UK and Denmark: a descriptive study

PubMed Central

García-Álvarez, Laura; Holden, Matthew TG; Lindsay, Heather; Webb, Cerian R; Brown, Derek FJ; Curran, Martin D; Walpole, Enid; Brooks, Karen; Pickard, Derek J; Teale, Christopher; Parkhill, Julian; Bentley, Stephen D; Edwards, Giles F; Girvan, E Kirsty; Kearns, Angela M; Pichon, Bruno; Hill, Robert LR; Larsen, Anders Rhod; Skov, Robert L; Peacock, Sharon J; Maskell, Duncan J; Holmes, Mark A

2011-01-01

Summary Background Animals can act as a reservoir and source for the emergence of novel meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clones in human beings. Here, we report the discovery of a strain of S aureus (LGA251) isolated from bulk milk that was phenotypically resistant to meticillin but tested negative for the mecA gene and a preliminary investigation of the extent to which such strains are present in bovine and human populations. Methods Isolates of bovine MRSA were obtained from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in the UK, and isolates of human MRSA were obtained from diagnostic or reference laboratories (two in the UK and one in Denmark). From these collections, we searched for mecA PCR-negative bovine and human S aureus isolates showing phenotypic meticillin resistance. We used whole-genome sequencing to establish the genetic basis for the observed antibiotic resistance. Findings A divergent mecA homologue (mecALGA251) was discovered in the LGA251 genome located in a novel staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element, designated type-XI SCCmec. The mecALGA251 was 70% identical to S aureus mecA homologues and was initially detected in 15 S aureus isolates from dairy cattle in England. These isolates were from three different multilocus sequence type lineages (CC130, CC705, and ST425); spa type t843 (associated with CC130) was identified in 60% of bovine isolates. When human mecA-negative MRSA isolates were tested, the mecALGA251 homologue was identified in 12 of 16 isolates from Scotland, 15 of 26 from England, and 24 of 32 from Denmark. As in cows, t843 was the most common spa type detected in human beings. Interpretation Although routine culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing will identify S aureus isolates with this novel mecA homologue as meticillin resistant, present confirmatory methods will not identify them as MRSA. New diagnostic guidelines for the detection of MRSA should consider the inclusion of tests for mecALGA251. Funding Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Isaac Newton Trust (University of Cambridge), and the Wellcome Trust. PMID:21641281

Harm Reduction and Tensions in Trust and Distrust in a Mental Health Service: A Qualitative Approach.

PubMed

Lago, Rozilaine Redi; Peter, Elizabeth; Bógus, Cláudia Maria

2017-03-08

People seeking care for substance use (PSCSU) experience deep social and health inequities. Harm reduction can be a moral imperative to approach these persons. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among users, health care providers, relatives, and society regarding harm reduction in mental health care, using a trust approach rooted in feminist ethics. A qualitative study was conducted in a mental health service for PSCSU, and included fifteen participants who were health care providers, users, and their relatives. Individual in-depth and group interviews, participant observation, and a review of patients' records and service reports were conducted. Three nested levels of (dis)trust were identified: (dis)trust in the treatment, (dis)trust in the user, and self-(dis)trust of the user, revealing the interconnections among different layers of trust. (Dis)trust at each level can amplify or decrease the potential for a positive therapeutic response in users, their relatives' support, and how professionals act and build innovations in care. Distrust was more abundant than trust in participants' reports, revealing the fragility of trust and the focus on abstinence within this setting. The mismatch between wants and needs of users and the expectations and requirements of a society and mental health care system based on a logic of "fixing" has contributed to distrust and stigma. Therefore, we recommend policies that increase the investment in harm reduction education and practice that target service providers, PSCSU, and society to change the context of distrust identified.

Community trust and household health: A spatially-based approach with evidence from rural Honduras.

PubMed

Zarychta, Alan

2015-12-01

What is the relationship between community trust and household health? Scholars working to understand the effects of trust and social capital on human health tend to focus on individual characteristics or social environments, frequently without integrating these two dimensions. In light of this, the present paper makes contributions in both conceptualization and measurement. First, I develop a spatially-based approach for operationalizing community trust as the product of individual orientation and social environment. This approach highlights the need for a household to trust its neighbors and for those neighbors to reciprocate trust in order to constitute the psychological and material mechanisms critical for linking social context to individual health. Second, I illustrate the utility of this measure by evaluating the relationship between community trust and self-rated health status using an original population census survey from 2009 to 2010 for two municipalities in western Honduras (approximately 2800 households with a response rate of 94.9%). I implement spatial regression analysis and show that there is a positive and substantively meaningful relationship between community trust and household health; households that are trusting and surrounded by similarly trusting neighbors report better health status, while those in uncertain or mutually distrusting environments report worse health. The theory and results presented here suggest an important link between trust and social capital at the community level, which is particularly salient for rural regions in developing countries where health resources are scarce and community-based interventions are common. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

(Dis)-Trust in transitioning ventilator-dependent children from hospital to homecare.

PubMed

Manhas, Kiran Pohar; Mitchell, Ian

2015-12-01

Scholarly work is needed to develop the conceptual and theoretical understanding of trust to nursing practice. The transition from hospital care to complex pediatric homecare involves nurses in myriad roles, including management and care provision. Complex pediatric homecare transforms children, families, professionals, and communities, but its exact implications are unclear. To conduct an ethical inquiry into the role and responsibilities of nurses in the qualitative experience of adults involved in the hospital-to-home transition of young, ventilator-dependent children. We followed methods described by Franco Carnevale. We used a sociologically grounded theoretical orientation-trust-to re-interpret qualitative data for an ethical inquiry into a specific facet of that data. The participants included 26 adults, including 14 nurses, involved in the hospital-to-home transition in a Canadian province. Participants represented family, hospital, home, and government. The Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board at the University of Calgary approved this study. First, the concept and practice of trust was salient to the experience of transition. For example, responsibilities' allocation between hospital-based professionals to mothers, home-based nurses, and non-professionals necessitated reliance and vulnerability. Second, the consequences of distrust connected to recognized challenges. For example, tensions along rural-urban, medical-family, and professional-personal divide each revealed suspicion and uncertainty that led to isolation and anxiety for all involved. Third, recommendations to improve the experience and mitigate the challenges of transition can be grounded in trust promotion. For example, transition-specific education programs and codes of ethics would promote openness, recognize mutual vulnerability, and advance trust in transition. The challenges to transition evidenced distrust, while trust represents a powerful tool to counter these challenges and their implications. A climate of trust could bridge divides between mothers and professionals; rural and urban professionals; and professionals with differing relationships with the family. © The Author(s) 2014.

Physical pain increases interpersonal trust in females.

PubMed

Wang, C; Gao, J; Ma, Y; Zhu, C; Dong, X-W

2018-01-01

People behave and interact with others differently when experiencing physical pain. Pain has dramatic effects on one's emotional responses, cognitive functions and social interaction. However, little has been known about whether and how physical pain influences interpersonal trust in social interaction. In the present study, we examined the influence of physical pain on trusting behaviour. A total of 112 healthy participants were recruited and assigned to physical pain condition (induced by Capsaicin) and control condition (with hand cream), respectively. Thirty minutes after pain induction, three decision-making tasks were conducted to measure behaviours in social interaction, including trust and trustworthiness (trust game), non-social risk-taking (risk game) and altruism (dictator game). Results showed that physical pain increased interpersonal trust among females, but not among males. Pain did not influence non-social risk-taking, altruism or trustworthiness, as evaluated by monetary transfers in those tasks. Moreover, the effect of physical pain on interpersonal trust was fully mediated by expectation of monetary profit. These findings demonstrate an effect of pain on interpersonal trust and suggest a reciprocity mechanism that the effect may be driven by self-interest rather than altruistic motivation. The pain effect on trust was evident only in females, implying distinct pain coping strategies used by both genders. The present work highlights the social component of pain and extends our understanding of mutual interactions between pain and social cognition. © 2017 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

Public trust in primary care doctors, the medical profession and the healthcare system among Redhill residents in Singapore.

PubMed

Lee, Yi Yong; Ng, Choon Ta; Siti Aishah, M Ghazalie; Ngiam, Ju Zheng; Tai, Bee Choo; Lim, Meng Kin; Hughes, Kenneth

2007-08-01

There have been few studies on public trust in doctors and healthcare systems and this is the first in Singapore. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Redhill in January 2005. Citizens or Permanent Residents aged > or =18 years were randomly selected, one per household to avoid cluster bias, and 361 participated (response rate 68.7%). An interview administered questionnaire included 3 questionnaires measuring public trust: "Interpersonal Trust in Physicians Scale" for primary care doctors; "Trust in Physicians Generally Scale" for the medical profession; and "Trust in Healthcare System Scale" for the Healthcare System. Questions were answered on a Likert scale: 1. Strongly Disagree, 2. Disagree, 3. Neutral, 4. Agree, 5. Strongly Agree. Individual transformed scores of trust (range, 0 to 100) were equally divided into 5 categories with their average being the transformed mean. Trust in primary care doctors (mean 59.7) had proportions (prevalence rates) of: very low 0.3%, low 2.5%, neutral 40.4%, high 54.0%, and very high 2.8%. Trust in the medical profession (mean 61.8) had proportions of: very low 1.0%, low 7.7%, neutral 33.7%, high 47.0%, and very high 10.5%. Trust in the healthcare system (mean 61.5) had proportions of: very low 0.5%, low 4.1%, neutral 40.0%, high 48.7%, and very high 6.7%. For areas of the healthcare system, proportions of high/very high trust were: "Healthcare Providers' Expertise" (70.8%), "Quality of Care" (61.5%), "Patient Focus of Providers" (58.7%), "Information Supply and Communication by Care Providers" (52.3%), "Quality of Cooperation" (43.3%), and Policies of the Healthcare System" (24.6%). While low proportions had low/very low trust, the high proportions with neutral trust and the rather low level of trust in "Policies of the Healthcare System" are causes for concern.

78 FR 59930 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request (3064-0025)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-30

... powers. State banking authorities, not the FDIC, grant trust powers to their banks. The FDIC merely... Response: On occasion. Affected Public: Insured State nonmember banks wishing to exercise trust powers... Collection: FDIC regulations (12 CFR 333.2) prohibit any insured State nonmember bank from changing the...

The Rhetoric of Arrogance: The Public Relations Response of the Standard Oil Trust.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd, Josh

2001-01-01

Illustrates one of the earliest American public relations debacles (ending in the dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911). Presents background on Standard Oil and offers an overview Ida Tarbell's influential "History of the Standard Oil company." Argues that Standard failed to respond to these accounts adequately, reinforcing…

The Role of Trust in Effective Instructional Leadership: Exploring the Perceptions of Educational Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salazar, Tammie L.

2016-01-01

The current study explored the dimensions and roles of trust in effective instructional leadership through a triangulation of data gathered from 78 survey responders and 35 interview participants along with a review of pertinent literature. The interviews and written free-responses related effective instructional leadership to three clear…

Money and trust: relationships between patients, physicians, and health plans.

PubMed

Goold, S D

1998-08-01

In response to three articles on managed care by Allen Buchanan, David Mechanic, and Ezekiel Emanual and Lee Goldman (this issue), I discuss doctor-patient and organization-member trust and the moral obligations of those relationships. Trust in managed care organizations (providers of and payers for health care) stands in stark contrast to the current contractual model of health insurance purchase, but is more coherent with consumer expectations and with the provider role of such organizations. Such trust is likely to differ from that between doctors and patients. Financial reimbursement systems for physicians, one example of organizational change in our health system, can be evaluated for their impact on both kinds of trust according to their intrusiveness, openness, and goals. Although involving managed care enrollees in value-laden decisions that affect them is commendable, restrictions on or regulation of physician incentive systems may be better accomplished on a national level.

Students' trust judgements in online health information seeking.

PubMed

Rowley, Jennifer; Johnson, Frances; Sbaffi, Laura

2015-12-01

As one of the most active groups of Internet users, students and other young people are active users of digital health information. Yet, research into young people's evaluation of health information is limited, and no previous studies have focused on trust formation. In addition, prior studies on adults' use of digital information do not reach a consensus regarding the key factors in trust formation. This study seeks to address this gap. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from undergraduate students studying a variety of disciplines in one UK university. The Trust in Online Health Information Scale is proposed, and it includes the following dimensions: authority, style, content, usefulness, brand, ease of use, recommendation, credibility, and verification. In addition, inspection of responses to specific items/questions provides further insights into aspects of the information that were of specific importance in influencing trust judgements. © The Author(s) 2014.

How do we trust strangers? The neural correlates of decision making and outcome evaluation of generalized trust

PubMed Central

Wang, Yiwen; Zhang, Zhen; Jing, Yiming; Valadez, Emilio A.

2016-01-01

This study investigates the brain correlates of decision making and outcome evaluation of generalized trust (i.e. trust in unfamiliar social agents)—a core component of social capital which facilitates civic cooperation and economic exchange. We measured 18 (9 male) Chinese participants’ event-related potentials while they played the role of the trustor in a one-shot trust game with unspecified social agents (trustees) allegedly selected from a large representative sample. At the decision-making phase, greater N2 amplitudes were found for trustors’ distrusting decisions compared to trusting decisions, which may reflect greater cognitive control exerted to distrust. Source localization identified the precentral gyrus as one possible neuronal generator of this N2 component. At the outcome evaluation phase, principal components analysis revealed that the so called feedback-related negativity was in fact driven by a reward positivity, which was greater in response to gain feedback compared to loss feedback. This reduced reward positivity following loss feedback may indicate that the absence of reward for trusting decisions was unexpected by the trustor. In addition, we found preliminary evidence suggesting that the decision-making processes may differ between high trustors and low trustors. PMID:27317927

The dynamics of socio-connective trust within support networks accessed by informal caregivers.

PubMed

Ray, Robin A; Street, Annette F

2011-03-01

This article introduces the concept of socio-connective trust, the synapse between the social structures and processes that underpin relationships in supportive care networks. Data from an ethnographic case study of 18 informal caregivers providing in-home care for people with life-limiting illness were analysed drawing on theoretical concepts from the work of Giddens and writings on social capital, as well as the construction of trust in the caregiving literature. While conceptions of trust were found to contribute to understanding supportive care relationships, they did not account for the dynamic nature of the availability and use of support networks. Instead, informal caregivers undertook ongoing reflexive negotiation of relationship boundaries in response to their own conception of the current situation and their perception of trust in their relationships with the various members of the support network. The concept of socio-connective trust describes the movement and flow of the flexible bonds that influence relationships among care networks and determine the type and range of support accessed by informal caregivers. Understanding the complexities of socio-connective trust in caregiving relationships will assist health and social care workers to mobilize relevant resources to support informal caregivers.

Overview | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

The Human Cancer Model Initiative (HCMI) is an international consortium that is generating novel human tumor-derived culture models with associated genomic and clinical data. The HCMI consortium includes the US-National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, Cancer Research UK, foundation Hubrecht Organoid Technology, and Wellcome Sanger Institute. The goal of HCMI is to create up to one thousand cancer models from patient tumors.

Partnering Research Involving Mentoring and Education (PRIME) in Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-01

Genital Herpes , Research Triangle Park, NC. 8. Price, M.M. (1995, April, Miami; 1995, March, Washington, DC; & 1995, February, Philadelphia...Workshop during the Oncology Nurses Symposium on Cancer in African Americans, Atlanta. 7. Price, M.M. (1994, October 28-30). “Living with Genital ... Herpes : Counseling the Patient”, Paper presented and Seminar Moderator for the Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical Corporation Nursing Conference on

Trust-based environmental regulation.

PubMed

Lange, Bettina; Gouldson, Andy

2010-10-15

Within this paper, we examine the contribution that trust-based relationships can make to achieving better-and particularly more effective, efficient and equitable-environmental regulation. While levels of trust in regulators, regulatory processes and outcomes are often discussed, the influence of trust on different actors and on different measures of regulatory performance is poorly understood. Within this paper, we define trust-based environmental regulation as a specific regulatory style that involves openness and cooperation in interaction between regulated, regulators and third-party stakeholders in order to achieve environmental protection objectives. We then discuss the pros and cons of trust relationships between regulators, regulated businesses and citizens for achieving behavioural change towards greater environmental protection. To illustrate the significance of these issues, we then examine three forms of contractual regulatory style where trust relationships are critically important: responsive regulation, self-regulation and environmental agreements. Based on this analysis, we highlight the importance of trust-based relationships, and we argue that one of the greatest contributions of trust-based environmental regulation is to challenge how we think about regulation. Trust is often understood as enabling existing regulatory relationships or in the case of self-regulation as a complement to regulation. However, we argue that the real potential of trust is to open up new ways for participants in regulatory regimes to engage in collective action, to go beyond a perception of regulation as driven by the competing interests of individual actors, and thus, to open up new channels of influence for behavioural change towards greater environmental protection. Our analysis therefore has great relevance for future research and for on-going debates on the future of regulation. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Empowerment of physiotherapy students on placement: The interplay between autonomy, risk, and responsibility.

PubMed

Clouder, Lynn; Adefila, Arinola

2017-11-01

Knowledge of the effects on students of clinical educators' giving or withholding responsibility on placement is limited. The associated empowering, or disempowering impact indicates the need for research on what grounds such decisions are made. The study aimed to explore clinical educators' perspectives on the importance of giving student physiotherapists increasing levels of responsibility on clinical placement, and the factors considered when giving or withholding responsibility. A grounded theory methodology underpins this United Kingdom (UK) based study. The phase of the study reported in this article involved 26, semi-structured interviews with clinical educators, each followed by the completion of a diamond ranking exercise. Three themes emerged: 1) the ubiquity of risk; 2) the relationship between trust and trustworthiness; and 3) graduated supervision. The first theme, acknowledged that risk is ever-present and that clinical educators are used to managing it, balancing risk and responsibility given to students. The second theme highlighted the importance of developing trust/trustworthiness as a foundation for a sound working relationship between student and clinical educator. The third theme focusing on graduated supervision as a means of empowering students to take on increasingly demanding responsibilities on placement. The study illustrates the complex relationship between risk, trust, responsibility, and developing student autonomy. A strategy is proposed to provide an empowering alternative to the tendency to increase surveillance and/or limit the responsibility for students who lack confidence or capability in taking responsibility on clinical placement. Future research could aim to test the strategy more widely.

Literacy: A Route to Addressing Child Poverty? National Literacy Trust Research Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Literacy Trust, 2011

2011-01-01

This short document reviews research into the role of low literacy in poverty and disadvantage. It sets out evidence for the impact of parental engagement in home learning and the significance of attitudes, aspirations and literacy development. The National Literacy Trust hopes that this is a useful resource for those with responsibility for, and…

Consumer Trust in the U.S. Food System: An Examination of the Recreancy Theorem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sapp, Stephen G.; Arnot, Charlie; Fallon, James; Fleck, Terry; Soorholtz, David; Sutton-Vermeulen, Matt; Wilson, Jannette J. H.

2009-01-01

Because consumer opinions to an increasing extent affect the structure and management of the U.S. food system, it is important for social scientists to accurately model consumer trust in this system so they can better understand and anticipate public responses to existing or proposed food-related regulatory policies and facilitate effective…

Trusted computation through biologically inspired processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Gustave W.

2013-05-01

Due to supply chain threats it is no longer a reasonable assumption that traditional protections alone will provide sufficient security for enterprise systems. The proposed cognitive trust model architecture extends the state-of-the-art in enterprise anti-exploitation technologies by providing collective immunity through backup and cross-checking, proactive health monitoring and adaptive/autonomic threat response, and network resource diversity.

The Impact of Various Demographic and Educational Attributes on International Students' Propensity to Trust School Officials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Samuel D.; Hallam, Pamela R.; Hite, Steven J.; Hite, Julie M.

2016-01-01

This study examined "propensity to trust" of students studying at a foreign university. Responses were collected from 576 international students from 71 countries attending a large private institution of higher education in the Midwestern United States. Findings indicated that students who were not native speakers of the dominant…

Enabling School Structures, Collegial Trust and Academic Emphasis: Antecedents of professional learning communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Julie; Kruse, Sharon; Tarter, C. John

2016-01-01

This study tested the role of enabling school structures, collegial trust and academic emphasis in the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in a low-income school district. The empirical study was based upon the perceptions of teachers and principals as provided by survey responses (N = 67 schools). While enabling school…

Plasma Oxytocin Immunoreactive Products and Response to Trust in Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder

PubMed Central

Hoge, EA; Lawson, EA; Metcalf, CA; Keshaviah, A; Zak, PJ; Pollack, MH; Simon, NM

2013-01-01

Background Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder (GSAD) is characterized by excessive fear and avoidance of several types of social and performance situations. The pathophysiology is not well understood, but research in animals and humans has provided evidence that oxytocin helps regulate normal social affiliative behavior. Previous work in healthy male subjects demonstrated a rise in plasma oxytocin after receiving a high trust signal. To examine the oxytocin system in GSAD, we measured plasma oxytocin in GSAD patients and controls, before and after the social “Trust Game,” a neuroeconomic test examining trust behavior and reaction to trust using real monetary incentives. Methods Thirty-nine subjects with GSAD and 28 healthy controls provided three blood samples for oxytocin measurement before the Trust Game, and one sample after the game. Plasma estradiol was also measured at baseline. The Trust Game protocol version prioritized the sending of a signal of high cooperation and trust to all participants. All analyses controlled for gender and estradiol levels. Results Mean oxytocin levels post-Trust Game (p=0.025), and overall (area under the curve, p=0.011) were lower in GSAD patients compared to controls, after controlling for sex and estradiol. There was no significant change in oxytocin levels after the Game in either group. Conclusions We report low plasma oxytocin levels in patients with generalized social anxiety disorder during a pro-social laboratory task paradigm. Additional research will be important to further examine the relationship between oxytocin and social behavior in GSAD. PMID:22807189

Plasma oxytocin immunoreactive products and response to trust in patients with social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Hoge, Elizabeth A; Lawson, Elizabeth A; Metcalf, Christina A; Keshaviah, Aparna; Zak, Paul J; Pollack, Mark H; Simon, Naomi M

2012-11-01

Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder (GSAD) is characterized by excessive fear and avoidance of several types of social and performance situations. The pathophysiology is not well understood, but research in animals and humans has provided evidence that oxytocin helps regulate normal social affiliative behavior. Previous work in healthy male subjects demonstrated a rise in plasma oxytocin after receiving a high trust signal. To examine the oxytocin system in GSAD, we measured plasma oxytocin in GSAD patients and controls, before and after the social "Trust Game," a neuroeconomic test examining trust behavior and reaction to trust using real monetary incentives. Thirty-nine subjects with GSAD and 28 healthy controls provided three blood samples for oxytocin measurement before the Trust Game, and one sample after the game. Plasma estradiol was also measured at baseline. The Trust Game protocol version prioritized the sending of a signal of high cooperation and trust to all participants. All analyses controlled for gender and estradiol levels. Mean oxytocin levels post-Trust Game (P = .025), and overall (area under the curve, P = .011) were lower in GSADpatients compared to controls, after controlling for sex and estradiol. There was no significant change in oxytocin levels after the game in either group. We report low plasma oxytocin levels in patients with GSAD during a prosocial laboratory task paradigm. Additional research will be important to further examine the relationship between oxytocin and social behavior in GSAD. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Concepts of trust among patients with serious illness.

PubMed

Mechanic, D; Meyer, S

2000-09-01

This paper examines conceptions of trust among three groups of respondents diagnosed with either breast cancer, Lyme disease or mental illness. Interviews were carried out using an open-ended interview guide to explore how patients made assessments of trust in their doctors and health care plans. The guide followed a conceptual approach that asked questions about competence, agency/fiduciary responsibility, control, disclosure and confidentiality. Respondents were given ample opportunity to raise other areas of concern. The data were organized using the NUDIST software package for the analysis of non-numerical and unstructured qualitative data. Patients viewed trust as an iterative process and commonly tested their physicians against their knowledge and expectations. Interpersonal competence, involving caring, concern and compassion, was the most common aspect of trust reported, with listening as a central focus. Most patient comments referred to learnable skills and not simply to personality characteristics. Technical competence also received high priority but was often assessed by reputation or interpersonal cues. Patients were much concerned that doctors be their agents and fight for their interests with health care plans. Disclosure and confidentiality were less common concerns; most patients anticipated that doctors would be honest with them and respect their confidences. Patients' responses also appeared to vary by their disease, their socio-demographic characteristics, their involvement with self-help groups, and how their illness conditions unfolded.

Partnership, Trust and Leadership among Nursing Researchers.

PubMed

Zanchetta, Margareth S; Edwards, Susanne; Salami, Bukola; Osino, Eunice; Yu, Lina; Babalola, Oluwafunmbi; Cooper, Linda

2016-01-01

Members of a nursing research cluster realized that they needed to determine whether, given their diverse philosophies, they could formulate a collective research agenda responding to an administrative recommendation. The cluster's leaders conducted an appraisal of the role and importance of trust as an element for promoting collaboration in a nursing research cluster and for building a collective social identity. The Social Exchange Theory framed the appraisal. A survey and a facilitation session about trust in research partnerships were conducted with eight female nursing researchers/faculty. Facilitation day's discussion was fully audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and the content coded using ATLAS.ti 6. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative aspects of the recorded discussion and the survey questionnaire explanatory responses. Responses to survey closed-questions were compiled as descriptive statistics. Participants revealed that mutual support, valuing each other and working collaboratively facilitated trust in intellectual partnership. Hindering factors were an environment suppressing expression of ideas and views, lack of open dialogue and decision-making among team members and lack of a sense of belonging. This paper has the potential to contribute to the knowledge of nursing leaders who are intending to develop and sustain nursing research teams in both academic and non-academic organizations. The paper will be especially useful as they deal with issues of trust in intellectual partnership in diverse settings.

A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Boraska, V; Franklin, C S; Floyd, J A B; Thornton, L M; Huckins, L M; Southam, L; Rayner, N W; Tachmazidou, I; Klump, K L; Treasure, J; Lewis, C M; Schmidt, U; Tozzi, F; Kiezebrink, K; Hebebrand, J; Gorwood, P; Adan, R A H; Kas, M J H; Favaro, A; Santonastaso, P; Fernández-Aranda, F; Gratacos, M; Rybakowski, F; Dmitrzak-Weglarz, M; Kaprio, J; Keski-Rahkonen, A; Raevuori, A; Van Furth, E F; Slof-Op 't Landt, M C T; Hudson, J I; Reichborn-Kjennerud, T; Knudsen, G P S; Monteleone, P; Kaplan, A S; Karwautz, A; Hakonarson, H; Berrettini, W H; Guo, Y; Li, D; Schork, N J; Komaki, G; Ando, T; Inoko, H; Esko, T; Fischer, K; Männik, K; Metspalu, A; Baker, J H; Cone, R D; Dackor, J; DeSocio, J E; Hilliard, C E; O'Toole, J K; Pantel, J; Szatkiewicz, J P; Taico, C; Zerwas, S; Trace, S E; Davis, O S P; Helder, S; Bühren, K; Burghardt, R; de Zwaan, M; Egberts, K; Ehrlich, S; Herpertz-Dahlmann, B; Herzog, W; Imgart, H; Scherag, A; Scherag, S; Zipfel, S; Boni, C; Ramoz, N; Versini, A; Brandys, M K; Danner, U N; de Kovel, C; Hendriks, J; Koeleman, B P C; Ophoff, R A; Strengman, E; van Elburg, A A; Bruson, A; Clementi, M; Degortes, D; Forzan, M; Tenconi, E; Docampo, E; Escaramís, G; Jiménez-Murcia, S; Lissowska, J; Rajewski, A; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, N; Slopien, A; Hauser, J; Karhunen, L; Meulenbelt, I; Slagboom, P E; Tortorella, A; Maj, M; Dedoussis, G; Dikeos, D; Gonidakis, F; Tziouvas, K; Tsitsika, A; Papezova, H; Slachtova, L; Martaskova, D; Kennedy, J L; Levitan, R D; Yilmaz, Z; Huemer, J; Koubek, D; Merl, E; Wagner, G; Lichtenstein, P; Breen, G; Cohen-Woods, S; Farmer, A; McGuffin, P; Cichon, S; Giegling, I; Herms, S; Rujescu, D; Schreiber, S; Wichmann, H-E; Dina, C; Sladek, R; Gambaro, G; Soranzo, N; Julia, A; Marsal, S; Rabionet, R; Gaborieau, V; Dick, D M; Palotie, A; Ripatti, S; Widén, E; Andreassen, O A; Espeseth, T; Lundervold, A; Reinvang, I; Steen, V M; Le Hellard, S; Mattingsdal, M; Ntalla, I; Bencko, V; Foretova, L; Janout, V; Navratilova, M; Gallinger, S; Pinto, D; Scherer, S W; Aschauer, H; Carlberg, L; Schosser, A; Alfredsson, L; Ding, B; Klareskog, L; Padyukov, L; Courtet, P; Guillaume, S; Jaussent, I; Finan, C; Kalsi, G; Roberts, M; Logan, D W; Peltonen, L; Ritchie, G R S; Barrett, J C; Estivill, X; Hinney, A; Sullivan, P F; Collier, D A; Zeggini, E; Bulik, C M

2014-10-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and heritable eating disorder characterized by dangerously low body weight. Neither candidate gene studies nor an initial genome-wide association study (GWAS) have yielded significant and replicated results. We performed a GWAS in 2907 cases with AN from 14 countries (15 sites) and 14 860 ancestrally matched controls as part of the Genetic Consortium for AN (GCAN) and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3). Individual association analyses were conducted in each stratum and meta-analyzed across all 15 discovery data sets. Seventy-six (72 independent) single nucleotide polymorphisms were taken forward for in silico (two data sets) or de novo (13 data sets) replication genotyping in 2677 independent AN cases and 8629 European ancestry controls along with 458 AN cases and 421 controls from Japan. The final global meta-analysis across discovery and replication data sets comprised 5551 AN cases and 21 080 controls. AN subtype analyses (1606 AN restricting; 1445 AN binge-purge) were performed. No findings reached genome-wide significance. Two intronic variants were suggestively associated: rs9839776 (P=3.01 × 10(-7)) in SOX2OT and rs17030795 (P=5.84 × 10(-6)) in PPP3CA. Two additional signals were specific to Europeans: rs1523921 (P=5.76 × 10(-)(6)) between CUL3 and FAM124B and rs1886797 (P=8.05 × 10(-)(6)) near SPATA13. Comparing discovery with replication results, 76% of the effects were in the same direction, an observation highly unlikely to be due to chance (P=4 × 10(-6)), strongly suggesting that true findings exist but our sample, the largest yet reported, was underpowered for their detection. The accrual of large genotyped AN case-control samples should be an immediate priority for the field.

Analyzing Genome-Wide Association Studies with an FDR Controlling Modification of the Bayesian Information Criterion

PubMed Central

Dolejsi, Erich; Bodenstorfer, Bernhard; Frommlet, Florian

2014-01-01

The prevailing method of analyzing GWAS data is still to test each marker individually, although from a statistical point of view it is quite obvious that in case of complex traits such single marker tests are not ideal. Recently several model selection approaches for GWAS have been suggested, most of them based on LASSO-type procedures. Here we will discuss an alternative model selection approach which is based on a modification of the Bayesian Information Criterion (mBIC2) which was previously shown to have certain asymptotic optimality properties in terms of minimizing the misclassification error. Heuristic search strategies are introduced which attempt to find the model which minimizes mBIC2, and which are efficient enough to allow the analysis of GWAS data. Our approach is implemented in a software package called MOSGWA. Its performance in case control GWAS is compared with the two algorithms HLASSO and d-GWASelect, as well as with single marker tests, where we performed a simulation study based on real SNP data from the POPRES sample. Our results show that MOSGWA performs slightly better than HLASSO, where specifically for more complex models MOSGWA is more powerful with only a slight increase in Type I error. On the other hand according to our simulations GWASelect does not at all control the type I error when used to automatically determine the number of important SNPs. We also reanalyze the GWAS data from the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium and compare the findings of the different procedures, where MOSGWA detects for complex diseases a number of interesting SNPs which are not found by other methods. PMID:25061809

Atrial Fibrillation Genetic Risk and Ischemic Stroke Mechanisms.

PubMed

Lubitz, Steven A; Parsons, Owen E; Anderson, Christopher D; Benjamin, Emelia J; Malik, Rainer; Weng, Lu-Chen; Dichgans, Martin; Sudlow, Cathie L; Rothwell, Peter M; Rosand, Jonathan; Ellinor, Patrick T; Markus, Hugh S; Traylor, Matthew

2017-06-01

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a leading cause of cardioembolic stroke, but the relationship between AF and noncardioembolic stroke subtypes are unclear. Because AF may be unrecognized, and because AF has a substantial genetic basis, we assessed for predisposition to AF across ischemic stroke subtypes. We examined associations between AF genetic risk and Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment stroke subtypes in 2374 ambulatory individuals with ischemic stroke and 5175 without from the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium 2 using logistic regression. We calculated AF genetic risk scores using single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with AF in a previous independent analysis across a range of preselected significance thresholds. There were 460 (19.4%) individuals with cardioembolic stroke, 498 (21.0%) with large vessel, 474 (20.0%) with small vessel, and 814 (32.3%) individuals with strokes of undetermined cause. Most AF genetic risk scores were associated with stroke, with the strongest association ( P =6×10 - 4 ) attributed to scores of 944 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (each associated with AF at P <1×10 - 3 in a previous analysis). Associations between AF genetic risk and stroke were enriched in the cardioembolic stroke subset (strongest P =1.2×10 - 9 , 944 single-nucleotide polymorphism score). In contrast, AF genetic risk was not significantly associated with noncardioembolic stroke subtypes. Comprehensive AF genetic risk scores were specific for cardioembolic stroke. Incomplete workups and subtype misclassification may have limited the power to detect associations with strokes of undetermined pathogenesis. Future studies are warranted to determine whether AF genetic risk is a useful biomarker to enhance clinical discrimination of stroke pathogeneses. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

“The One Who Chases You Away Does Not Tell You Go”: Silent Refusals and Complex Power Relations in Research Consent Processes in Coastal Kenya

PubMed Central

Kamuya, Dorcas M.; Theobald, Sally J.; Marsh, Vicki; Parker, Michael; Geissler, Wenzel P.; Molyneux, Sassy C.

2015-01-01

Consent processes have attracted significant research attention over the last decade, including in the global south. Although relevant studies suggest consent is a complex negotiated process involving multiple actors, most guidelines assume consent is a one-off encounter with a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision. In this paper we explore the concept of ‘silent refusals’, a situation where it is not clear whether potential participants want to join studies or those in studies want to withdraw from research, as they were not actively saying no. We draw on participant observation, in-depth interviews and group discussions conducted with a range of stakeholders in two large community based studies conducted by the KEMRI Wellcome Trust programme in coastal Kenya. We identified three broad inter-related rationales for silent refusals: 1) a strategy to avoid conflicts and safeguard relations within households, - for young women in particular—to appear to conform to the wishes of elders; 2) an approach to maintain friendly, appreciative and reciprocal relationships with fieldworkers, and the broader research programme; and 3) an effort to retain study benefits, either for individuals, whole households or wider communities. That refusals and underlying rationales were silent posed multiple dilemmas for fieldworkers, who are increasingly recognised to play a key interface role between researchers and communities in many settings. Silent refusals reflect and reinforce complex power relations embedded in decisions about research participation, with important implications for consent processes and broader research ethics practice. Fieldworkers need support to reflect upon and respond to the ethically charged environment they work in. PMID:25978465

Design of the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-Wide Replication And Meta-Analysis (CARDIoGRAM) Study: A Genome-wide association meta-analysis involving more than 22 000 cases and 60 000 controls.

PubMed

Preuss, Michael; König, Inke R; Thompson, John R; Erdmann, Jeanette; Absher, Devin; Assimes, Themistocles L; Blankenberg, Stefan; Boerwinkle, Eric; Chen, Li; Cupples, L Adrienne; Hall, Alistair S; Halperin, Eran; Hengstenberg, Christian; Holm, Hilma; Laaksonen, Reijo; Li, Mingyao; März, Winfried; McPherson, Ruth; Musunuru, Kiran; Nelson, Christopher P; Burnett, Mary Susan; Epstein, Stephen E; O'Donnell, Christopher J; Quertermous, Thomas; Rader, Daniel J; Roberts, Robert; Schillert, Arne; Stefansson, Kari; Stewart, Alexandre F R; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Voight, Benjamin F; Wells, George A; Ziegler, Andreas; Kathiresan, Sekar; Reilly, Muredach P; Samani, Nilesh J; Schunkert, Heribert

2010-10-01

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of myocardial infarction (MI) and other forms of coronary artery disease (CAD) have led to the discovery of at least 13 genetic loci. In addition to the effect size, power to detect associations is largely driven by sample size. Therefore, to maximize the chance of finding novel susceptibility loci for CAD and MI, the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wide Replication And Meta-analysis (CARDIoGRAM) consortium was formed. CARDIoGRAM combines data from all published and several unpublished GWAS in individuals with European ancestry; includes >22 000 cases with CAD, MI, or both and >60 000 controls; and unifies samples from the Atherosclerotic Disease VAscular functioN and genetiC Epidemiology study, CADomics, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, deCODE, the German Myocardial Infarction Family Studies I, II, and III, Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Heath Study/AtheroRemo, MedStar, Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, Ottawa Heart Genomics Study, PennCath, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genotyping was carried out on Affymetrix or Illumina platforms followed by imputation of genotypes in most studies. On average, 2.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms were generated per study. The results from each study are combined using meta-analysis. As proof of principle, we meta-analyzed risk variants at 9p21 and found that rs1333049 confers a 29% increase in risk for MI per copy (P=2×10⁻²⁰). CARDIoGRAM is poised to contribute to our understanding of the role of common genetic variation on risk for CAD and MI.

The extant World War 1 dysentery bacillus NCTC1: a genomic analysis.

PubMed

Baker, Kate S; Mather, Alison E; McGregor, Hannah; Coupland, Paul; Langridge, Gemma C; Day, Martin; Deheer-Graham, Ana; Parkhill, Julian; Russell, Julie E; Thomson, Nicholas R

2014-11-08

Shigellosis (previously bacillary dysentery) was the primary diarrhoeal disease of World War 1, but outbreaks still occur in military operations, and shigellosis causes hundreds of thousands of deaths per year in developing nations. We aimed to generate a high-quality reference genome of the historical Shigella flexneri isolate NCTC1 and to examine the isolate for resistance to antimicrobials. In this genomic analysis, we sequenced the oldest extant Shigella flexneri serotype 2a isolate using single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. Isolated from a soldier with dysentery from the British forces fighting on the Western Front in World War 1, this bacterium, NCTC1, was the first isolate accessioned into the National Collection of Type Cultures. We created a reference sequence for NCTC1, investigated the isolate for antimicrobial resistance, and undertook comparative genetics with S flexneri reference strains isolated during the 100 years since World War 1. We discovered that NCTC1 belonged to a 2a lineage of S flexneri, with which it shares common characteristics and a large core genome. NCTC1 was resistant to penicillin and erythromycin, and contained a complement of chromosomal antimicrobial resistance genes similar to that of more recent isolates. Genomic islands gained in the S flexneri 2a lineage over time were predominately associated with additional antimicrobial resistances, virulence, and serotype conversion. This S flexneri 2a lineage is a well adapted pathogen that has continued to respond to selective pressures. We have created a valuable historical benchmark for shigellae in the form of a high-quality reference sequence for a publicly available isolate. The Wellcome Trust. Copyright © 2014 Baker et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sandscape - engaging people in Met Office science through sand sculpture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liggins, Felicity; Dowell, Ellen; Wardley, Jamie; Jamieson, Claire

2017-04-01

In 2015, the Met Office's award-winning outreach programme, designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, delivered one of its most ambitious and creative activities to date. It explored how scientists and artists can come together to create an engaging experience for young people and families. This activity was called Sandscape. Sandscape is an interactive sand sculpture workshop exploring how weather and climate affect our health. Budding sand sculptors are shown how to fashion elaborate structures from sand and water - creating a landscape with bridges, skyscrapers, forests and factories. As they work, participants are encouraged by the scientists delivering the activity to reflect on what makes a healthy city, considering how the natural and built environments influence air quality and circulation and how this impacts our health. Topics discussed include urban heat islands, air pollution and dispersion modelling, pollen forecasting and predicting the wind-borne spread of animal diseases. Each hour long workshop culminates in a dramatic demonstration that uses dry ice to represent clean air circulating from mountains, along rivers and into cities. Here we present an overview of Sandscape, identify the strengths and challenges of such a collaborative, innovative and playful approach to public engagement and share the results of our evaluation. Sandscape was originally supported by the Met Office and the Wellcome Trust, and produced by Einstein's Garden in collaboration with the Met Office, scientists from the University of Exeter and sand sculptors from Sand in Your Eye. It was first presented in Einstein's Garden at Green Man festival 2015, an independent music and arts festival held annually in Wales, and has since been invited to run at the 2015 Bournemouth Arts By the Sea Festival and Teignmouth's TRAIL Sculpture Festival in the summer of 2016.

Does the world need a global project on artificial photosynthesis?

PubMed Central

Faunce, Thomas

2015-01-01

This paper introduces a theme issue of Interface Focus derived from papers presented at the Royal Society supported meeting ‘Do we need a global project on artificial photosynthesis?’ held at Chicheley Hall in July 2014. At that meeting, leaders of national solar fuels and chemicals projects and research presented ‘state of the art’ on artificial photosynthesis (AP) in the context of the policy challenges for globalizing a practical technology to address climate change and energy and food security concerns. The discussions included contributions from many experts with legal and policy skills and uniquely focused on producing principles for prioritizing and specializing work while enhancing the funding and attendant public policy profile. To this end, representatives of major public, philanthropic and private potential stakeholders in such a project (such as the Wellcome Trust, the Moore Foundation, Shell, the Leighty Foundation, the EPSRC and Deutsche Alternative Asset Management) were invited to provide feedback at various points in the meeting. For this Interface Focus issue, speakers at the Chicheley Hall meeting were required to present a snapshot of their cutting edge research related to AP and then draw upon the Chicheley Hall discussions to innovatively analyse how their research could best be advanced by a global AP project. Such multidisciplinary policy analysis was not a skill many of these researchers were experienced or trained in. Nonetheless their efforts here represent one of the first published collections to attempt such a significant task. This introduction contains a brief summary of those papers, focusing particularly on their policy aspects. It then summarizes the core discussions that took place at the Chicheley Hall meeting and sets out some of the central ethical principles that were considered during those discussions.

Reliability and validity of the combined heart rate and movement sensor Actiheart.

PubMed

Brage, S; Brage, N; Franks, P W; Ekelund, U; Wareham, N J

2005-04-01

Accurate quantification of physical activity energy expenditure is a key part of the effort to understand disorders of energy metabolism. The Actiheart, a combined heart rate (HR) and movement sensor, is designed to assess physical activity in populations. To examine aspects of Actiheart reliability and validity in mechanical settings and during walking and running. In eight Actiheart units, technical reliability (coefficients of variation, CV) and validity for movement were assessed with sinusoid accelerations (0.1-20 m/s(2)) and for HR by simulated R-wave impulses (25-250 bpm). Agreement between Actiheart and ECG was determined during rest and treadmill locomotion (3.2-12.1 km/h). Walking and running intensity (in J/min/kg) was assessed with indirect calorimetry in 11 men and nine women (26-50 y, 20-29 kg/m(2)) and modelled from movement, HR, and movement + HR by multiple linear regression, adjusting for sex. Median intrainstrument CV was 0.5 and 0.03% for movement and HR, respectively. Corresponding interinstrument CV values were 5.7 and 0.03% with some evidence of heteroscedasticity for movement. The linear relationship between movement and acceleration was strong (R(2) = 0.99, P < 0.001). Simulated R-waves were detected within 1 bpm from 30 to 250 bpm. The 95% limits of agreement between Actiheart and ECG were -4.2 to 4.3 bpm. Correlations with intensity were generally high (R(2) > 0.84, P < 0.001) but significantly highest when combining HR and movement (SEE < 1 MET). The Actiheart is technically reliable and valid. Walking and running intensity may be estimated accurately but further studies are needed to assess validity in other activities and during free-living. The study received financial support from the Wellcome Trust and SB was supported by a scholarship from Unilever, UK.

Genetic liability for schizophrenia predicts risk of immune disorders.

PubMed

Stringer, Sven; Kahn, René S; de Witte, Lot D; Ophoff, Roel A; Derks, Eske M

2014-11-01

Schizophrenia patients and their parents have an increased risk of immune disorders compared to population controls and their parents. This may be explained by genetic overlap in the pathogenesis of both types of disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the genetic overlap between schizophrenia and three immune disorders and to compare with the overlap between schizophrenia and two disorders not primarily characterized by immune dysregulation: bipolar disorder and type 2 diabetes. We performed a polygenic risk score analysis using results from the schizophrenia Psychiatric GWAS consortium (PGC) (8922 cases and 9528 controls) and five Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) case samples as target cases: bipolar disorder (n=1998), type 1 diabetes (n=2000), Crohn's diseases (n=2005), rheumatoid arthritis (n=1999), and type 2 diabetes (n=1999). The WTCCC British Birth Cohort and National Blood Service samples (n=3004) were used as target controls. Additionally, we tested whether schizophrenia polygenic risk scores significantly differed between patients with immune disorder, bipolar disorder, and type 2 diabetes respectively. Polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia significantly predicted disease status in all three immune disorder samples (Nagelkerke-R(2) 1.1%-1.3%; p<0.05). The polygenic risk of schizophrenia in patients with immune disorders was significantly lower than in patients with bipolar disorder (Nagelkerke-R(2) 6.0%; p<0.05), but higher than in type 2 diabetes patients (Nagelkerke-R(2) 0.5%; p<0.05). Our results suggest that genetic factors are shared between schizophrenia and immune disorders. This contributes to an accumulating body of evidence that immune processes may play a role in the etiology of schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid and Accurate Multiple Testing Correction and Power Estimation for Millions of Correlated Markers

PubMed Central

Han, Buhm; Kang, Hyun Min; Eskin, Eleazar

2009-01-01

With the development of high-throughput sequencing and genotyping technologies, the number of markers collected in genetic association studies is growing rapidly, increasing the importance of methods for correcting for multiple hypothesis testing. The permutation test is widely considered the gold standard for accurate multiple testing correction, but it is often computationally impractical for these large datasets. Recently, several studies proposed efficient alternative approaches to the permutation test based on the multivariate normal distribution (MVN). However, they cannot accurately correct for multiple testing in genome-wide association studies for two reasons. First, these methods require partitioning of the genome into many disjoint blocks and ignore all correlations between markers from different blocks. Second, the true null distribution of the test statistic often fails to follow the asymptotic distribution at the tails of the distribution. We propose an accurate and efficient method for multiple testing correction in genome-wide association studies—SLIDE. Our method accounts for all correlation within a sliding window and corrects for the departure of the true null distribution of the statistic from the asymptotic distribution. In simulations using the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium data, the error rate of SLIDE's corrected p-values is more than 20 times smaller than the error rate of the previous MVN-based methods' corrected p-values, while SLIDE is orders of magnitude faster than the permutation test and other competing methods. We also extend the MVN framework to the problem of estimating the statistical power of an association study with correlated markers and propose an efficient and accurate power estimation method SLIP. SLIP and SLIDE are available at http://slide.cs.ucla.edu. PMID:19381255

A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa

PubMed Central

Boraska, Vesna; Franklin, Christopher S; Floyd, James AB; Thornton, Laura M; Huckins, Laura M; Southam, Lorraine; Rayner, N William; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Klump, Kelly L; Treasure, Janet; Lewis, Cathryn M; Schmidt, Ulrike; Tozzi, Federica; Kiezebrink, Kirsty; Hebebrand, Johannes; Gorwood, Philip; Adan, Roger AH; Kas, Martien JH; Favaro, Angela; Santonastaso, Paolo; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Gratacos, Monica; Rybakowski, Filip; Dmitrzak-Weglarz, Monika; Kaprio, Jaakko; Keski-Rahkonen, Anna; Raevuori, Anu; Van Furth, Eric F; Landt, Margarita CT Slof-Op t; Hudson, James I; Reichborn-Kjennerud, Ted; Knudsen, Gun Peggy S; Monteleone, Palmiero; Kaplan, Allan S; Karwautz, Andreas; Hakonarson, Hakon; Berrettini, Wade H; Guo, Yiran; Li, Dong; Schork, Nicholas J.; Komaki, Gen; Ando, Tetsuya; Inoko, Hidetoshi; Esko, Tõnu; Fischer, Krista; Männik, Katrin; Metspalu, Andres; Baker, Jessica H; Cone, Roger D; Dackor, Jennifer; DeSocio, Janiece E; Hilliard, Christopher E; O'Toole, Julie K; Pantel, Jacques; Szatkiewicz, Jin P; Taico, Chrysecolla; Zerwas, Stephanie; Trace, Sara E; Davis, Oliver SP; Helder, Sietske; Bühren, Katharina; Burghardt, Roland; de Zwaan, Martina; Egberts, Karin; Ehrlich, Stefan; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Herzog, Wolfgang; Imgart, Hartmut; Scherag, André; Scherag, Susann; Zipfel, Stephan; Boni, Claudette; Ramoz, Nicolas; Versini, Audrey; Brandys, Marek K; Danner, Unna N; de Kovel, Carolien; Hendriks, Judith; Koeleman, Bobby PC; Ophoff, Roel A; Strengman, Eric; van Elburg, Annemarie A; Bruson, Alice; Clementi, Maurizio; Degortes, Daniela; Forzan, Monica; Tenconi, Elena; Docampo, Elisa; Escaramís, Geòrgia; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Lissowska, Jolanta; Rajewski, Andrzej; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Slopien, Agnieszka; Hauser, Joanna; Karhunen, Leila; Meulenbelt, Ingrid; Slagboom, P Eline; Tortorella, Alfonso; Maj, Mario; Dedoussis, George; Dikeos, Dimitris; Gonidakis, Fragiskos; Tziouvas, Konstantinos; Tsitsika, Artemis; Papezova, Hana; Slachtova, Lenka; Martaskova, Debora; Kennedy, James L.; Levitan, Robert D.; Yilmaz, Zeynep; Huemer, Julia; Koubek, Doris; Merl, Elisabeth; Wagner, Gudrun; Lichtenstein, Paul; Breen, Gerome; Cohen-Woods, Sarah; Farmer, Anne; McGuffin, Peter; Cichon, Sven; Giegling, Ina; Herms, Stefan; Rujescu, Dan; Schreiber, Stefan; Wichmann, H-Erich; Dina, Christian; Sladek, Rob; Gambaro, Giovanni; Soranzo, Nicole; Julia, Antonio; Marsal, Sara; Rabionet, Raquel; Gaborieau, Valerie; Dick, Danielle M; Palotie, Aarno; Ripatti, Samuli; Widén, Elisabeth; Andreassen, Ole A; Espeseth, Thomas; Lundervold, Astri; Reinvang, Ivar; Steen, Vidar M; Le Hellard, Stephanie; Mattingsdal, Morten; Ntalla, Ioanna; Bencko, Vladimir; Foretova, Lenka; Janout, Vladimir; Navratilova, Marie; Gallinger, Steven; Pinto, Dalila; Scherer, Stephen; Aschauer, Harald; Carlberg, Laura; Schosser, Alexandra; Alfredsson, Lars; Ding, Bo; Klareskog, Lars; Padyukov, Leonid; Finan, Chris; Kalsi, Gursharan; Roberts, Marion; Logan, Darren W; Peltonen, Leena; Ritchie, Graham RS; Barrett, Jeffrey C; Estivill, Xavier; Hinney, Anke; Sullivan, Patrick F; Collier, David A; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Bulik, Cynthia M

2015-01-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and heritable eating disorder characterized by dangerously low body weight. Neither candidate gene studies nor an initial genome wide association study (GWAS) have yielded significant and replicated results. We performed a GWAS in 2,907 cases with AN from 14 countries (15 sites) and 14,860 ancestrally matched controls as part of the Genetic Consortium for AN (GCAN) and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3). Individual association analyses were conducted in each stratum and meta-analyzed across all 15 discovery datasets. Seventy-six (72 independent) SNPs were taken forward for in silico (two datasets) or de novo (13 datasets) replication genotyping in 2,677 independent AN cases and 8,629 European ancestry controls along with 458 AN cases and 421 controls from Japan. The final global meta-analysis across discovery and replication datasets comprised 5,551 AN cases and 21,080 controls. AN subtype analyses (1,606 AN restricting; 1,445 AN binge-purge) were performed. No findings reached genome-wide significance. Two intronic variants were suggestively associated: rs9839776 (P=3.01×10-7) in SOX2OT and rs17030795 (P=5.84×10-6) in PPP3CA. Two additional signals were specific to Europeans: rs1523921 (P=5.76×10-6) between CUL3 and FAM124B and rs1886797 (P=8.05×10-6) near SPATA13. Comparing discovery to replication results, 76% of the effects were in the same direction, an observation highly unlikely to be due to chance (P=4×10-6), strongly suggesting that true findings exist but that our sample, the largest yet reported, was underpowered for their detection. The accrual of large genotyped AN case-control samples should be an immediate priority for the field. PMID:24514567

Open Access Publishing in the Field of Medical Informatics.

PubMed

Kuballa, Stefanie

2017-05-01

The open access paradigm has become an important approach in today's information and communication society. Funders and governments in different countries stipulate open access publications of funded research results. Medical informatics as part of the science, technology and medicine disciplines benefits from many research funds, such as National Institutes of Health in the US, Wellcome Trust in UK, German Research Foundation in Germany and many more. In this study an overview of the current open access programs and conditions of major journals in the field of medical informatics is presented. It was investigated whether there are suitable options and how they are shaped. Therefore all journals in Thomson Reuters Web of Science that were listed in the subject category "Medical Informatics" in 2014 were examined. An Internet research was conducted by investigating the journals' websites. It was reviewed whether journals offer an open access option with a subsequent check of conditions as for example the type of open access, the fees and the licensing. As a result all journals in the field of medical informatics that had an impact factor in 2014 offer an open access option. A predominantly consistent pricing range was determined with an average fee of 2.248 € and a median fee of 2.207 €. The height of a journals' open access fee did not correlate with the height of its Impact Factor. Hence, medical informatics journals have recognized the trend of open access publishing, though the vast majority of them are working with the hybrid method. Hybrid open access may however lead to problems in questions of double dipping and the often stipulated gold open access.

Evidence for somatic gene conversion and deletion in bipolar disorder, Crohn's disease, coronary artery disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, type-1 diabetes, and type-2 diabetes

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background During gene conversion, genetic information is transferred unidirectionally between highly homologous but non-allelic regions of DNA. While germ-line gene conversion has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some diseases, somatic gene conversion has remained technically difficult to investigate on a large scale. Methods A novel analysis technique is proposed for detecting the signature of somatic gene conversion from SNP microarray data. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium has gathered SNP microarray data for two control populations and cohorts for bipolar disorder (BD), cardiovascular disease (CAD), Crohn's disease (CD), hypertension (HT), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), type-1 diabetes (T1D) and type-2 diabetes (T2D). Using the new analysis technique, the seven disease cohorts are analyzed to identify cohort-specific SNPs at which conversion is predicted. The quality of the predictions is assessed by identifying known disease associations for genes in the homologous duplicons, and comparing the frequency of such associations with background rates. Results Of 28 disease/locus pairs meeting stringent conditions, 22 show various degrees of disease association, compared with only 8 of 70 in a mock study designed to measure the background association rate (P < 10-9). Additional candidate genes are identified using less stringent filtering conditions. In some cases, somatic deletions appear likely. RA has a distinctive pattern of events relative to other diseases. Similarities in patterns are apparent between BD and HT. Conclusions The associations derived represent the first evidence that somatic gene conversion could be a significant causative factor in each of the seven diseases. The specific genes provide potential insights about disease mechanisms, and are strong candidates for further study. Please see Commentary: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/9/13/abstract. PMID:21291537

Evidence for somatic gene conversion and deletion in bipolar disorder, Crohn's disease, coronary artery disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, type-1 diabetes, and type-2 diabetes.

PubMed

Ross, Kenneth Andrew

2011-02-03

During gene conversion, genetic information is transferred unidirectionally between highly homologous but non-allelic regions of DNA. While germ-line gene conversion has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some diseases, somatic gene conversion has remained technically difficult to investigate on a large scale. A novel analysis technique is proposed for detecting the signature of somatic gene conversion from SNP microarray data. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium has gathered SNP microarray data for two control populations and cohorts for bipolar disorder (BD), cardiovascular disease (CAD), Crohn's disease (CD), hypertension (HT), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), type-1 diabetes (T1D) and type-2 diabetes (T2D). Using the new analysis technique, the seven disease cohorts are analyzed to identify cohort-specific SNPs at which conversion is predicted. The quality of the predictions is assessed by identifying known disease associations for genes in the homologous duplicons, and comparing the frequency of such associations with background rates. Of 28 disease/locus pairs meeting stringent conditions, 22 show various degrees of disease association, compared with only 8 of 70 in a mock study designed to measure the background association rate (P < 10-9). Additional candidate genes are identified using less stringent filtering conditions. In some cases, somatic deletions appear likely. RA has a distinctive pattern of events relative to other diseases. Similarities in patterns are apparent between BD and HT. The associations derived represent the first evidence that somatic gene conversion could be a significant causative factor in each of the seven diseases. The specific genes provide potential insights about disease mechanisms, and are strong candidates for further study.

Genome-wide association study of suicide attempts in mood disorder patients.

PubMed

Perlis, Roy H; Huang, Jie; Purcell, Shaun; Fava, Maurizio; Rush, A John; Sullivan, Patrick F; Hamilton, Steven P; McMahon, Francis J; Schulze, Thomas G; Schulze, Thomas; Potash, James B; Zandi, Peter P; Willour, Virginia L; Penninx, Brenda W; Boomsma, Dorret I; Vogelzangs, Nicole; Middeldorp, Christel M; Rietschel, Marcella; Nöthen, Markus; Cichon, Sven; Gurling, Hugh; Bass, Nick; McQuillin, Andrew; Hamshere, Marian; Craddock, Nick; Sklar, Pamela; Smoller, Jordan W

2010-12-01

Family and twin studies suggest that liability for suicide attempts is heritable and distinct from mood disorder susceptibility. The authors therefore examined the association between common genomewide variation and lifetime suicide attempts. The authors analyzed data on lifetime suicide attempts from genomewide association studies of bipolar I and II disorder as well as major depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder subjects were drawn from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder cohort, the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium bipolar cohort, and the University College London cohort. Replication was pursued in the NIMH Genetic Association Information Network bipolar disorder project and a German clinical cohort. Depression subjects were drawn from the Sequential Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression cohort, with replication in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety/Netherlands Twin Register depression cohort. Strongest evidence of association for suicide attempt in bipolar disorder was observed in a region without identified genes (rs1466846); five loci also showed suggestive evidence of association. In major depression, strongest evidence of association was observed for a single nucleotide polymorphism in ABI3BP, with six loci also showing suggestive association. Replication cohorts did not provide further support for these loci. However, meta-analysis incorporating approximately 8,700 mood disorder subjects identified four additional regions that met the threshold for suggestive association, including the locus containing the gene coding for protein kinase C-epsilon, previously implicated in models of mood and anxiety. The results suggest that inherited risk for suicide among mood disorder patients is unlikely to be the result of individual common variants of large effect. They nonetheless provide suggestive evidence for multiple loci, which merit further investigation.

Design of the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-Wide Replication And Meta-Analysis (CARDIoGRAM) Study

PubMed Central

Preuss, Michael; König, Inke R.; Thompson, John R.; Erdmann, Jeanette; Absher, Devin; Assimes, Themistocles L.; Blankenberg, Stefan; Boerwinkle, Eric; Chen, Li; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Hall, Alistair S.; Halperin, Eran; Hengstenberg, Christian; Holm, Hilma; Laaksonen, Reijo; Li, Mingyao; März, Winfried; McPherson, Ruth; Musunuru, Kiran; Nelson, Christopher P.; Burnett, Mary Susan; Epstein, Stephen E.; O’Donnell, Christopher J.; Quertermous, Thomas; Rader, Daniel J.; Roberts, Robert; Schillert, Arne; Stefansson, Kari; Stewart, Alexandre F.R.; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Voight, Benjamin F.; Wells, George A.; Ziegler, Andreas; Kathiresan, Sekar; Reilly, Muredach P.; Samani, Nilesh J.; Schunkert, Heribert

2011-01-01

Background Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of myocardial infarction (MI) and other forms of coronary artery disease (CAD) have led to the discovery of at least 13 genetic loci. In addition to the effect size, power to detect associations is largely driven by sample size. Therefore, to maximize the chance of finding novel susceptibility loci for CAD and MI, the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wide Replication And Meta-analysis (CARDIoGRAM) consortium was formed. Methods and Results CARDIoGRAM combines data from all published and several unpublished GWAS in individuals with European ancestry; includes >22 000 cases with CAD, MI, or both and >60 000 controls; and unifies samples from the Atherosclerotic Disease VAscular functioN and genetiC Epidemiology study, CADomics, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, deCODE, the German Myocardial Infarction Family Studies I, II, and III, Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Heath Study/AtheroRemo, MedStar, Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, Ottawa Heart Genomics Study, PennCath, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genotyping was carried out on Affymetrix or Illumina platforms followed by imputation of genotypes in most studies. On average, 2.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms were generated per study. The results from each study are combined using meta-analysis. As proof of principle, we meta-analyzed risk variants at 9p21 and found that rs1333049 confers a 29% increase in risk for MI per copy (P=2×10−20). Conclusion CARDIoGRAM is poised to contribute to our understanding of the role of common genetic variation on risk for CAD and MI. PMID:20923989

The genetic association between personality and major depression or bipolar disorder. A polygenic score analysis using genome-wide association data

PubMed Central

Middeldorp, C M; de Moor, M H M; McGrath, L M; Gordon, S D; Blackwood, D H; Costa, P T; Terracciano, A; Krueger, R F; de Geus, E J C; Nyholt, D R; Tanaka, T; Esko, T; Madden, P A F; Derringer, J; Amin, N; Willemsen, G; Hottenga, J-J; Distel, M A; Uda, M; Sanna, S; Spinhoven, P; Hartman, C A; Ripke, S; Sullivan, P F; Realo, A; Allik, J; Heath, A C; Pergadia, M L; Agrawal, A; Lin, P; Grucza, R A; Widen, E; Cousminer, D L; Eriksson, J G; Palotie, A; Barnett, J H; Lee, P H; Luciano, M; Tenesa, A; Davies, G; Lopez, L M; Hansell, N K; Medland, S E; Ferrucci, L; Schlessinger, D; Montgomery, G W; Wright, M J; Aulchenko, Y S; Janssens, A C J W; Oostra, B A; Metspalu, A; Abecasis, G R; Deary, I J; Räikkönen, K; Bierut, L J; Martin, N G; Wray, N R; van Duijn, C M; Smoller, J W; Penninx, B W J H; Boomsma, D I

2011-01-01

The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains controversial. Previous research has reported differences and similarities in risk factors for MDD and BD, such as predisposing personality traits. For example, high neuroticism is related to both disorders, whereas openness to experience is specific for BD. This study examined the genetic association between personality and MDD and BD by applying polygenic scores for neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness to both disorders. Polygenic scores reflect the weighted sum of multiple single-nucleotide polymorphism alleles associated with the trait for an individual and were based on a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for personality traits including 13 835 subjects. Polygenic scores were tested for MDD in the combined Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN-MDD) and MDD2000+ samples (N=8921) and for BD in the combined Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder and Wellcome Trust Case–Control Consortium samples (N=6329) using logistic regression analyses. At the phenotypic level, personality dimensions were associated with MDD and BD. Polygenic neuroticism scores were significantly positively associated with MDD, whereas polygenic extraversion scores were significantly positively associated with BD. The explained variance of MDD and BD, ∼0.1%, was highly comparable to the variance explained by the polygenic personality scores in the corresponding personality traits themselves (between 0.1 and 0.4%). This indicates that the proportions of variance explained in mood disorders are at the upper limit of what could have been expected. This study suggests shared genetic risk factors for neuroticism and MDD on the one hand and for extraversion and BD on the other. PMID:22833196

Genome-Wide Association Study of Suicide Attempts in Mood Disorder Patients

PubMed Central

Perlis, Roy H.; Huang, Jie; Purcell, Shaun; Fava, Maurizio; Rush, A. John; Sullivan, Patrick F.; Hamilton, Steven P.; McMahon, Francis J.; Schulze, Thomas; Potash, James B.; Zandi, Peter P.; Willour, Virginia L.; Penninx, Brenda W.; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Vogelzangs, Nicole; Middeldorp, Christel M.; Rietschel, Marcella; Nöthen, Markus; Cichon, Sven; Gurling, Hugh; Bass, Nick; McQuillin, Andrew; Hamshere, Marian; Craddock, Nick; Sklar, Pamela; Smoller, Jordan W.

2013-01-01

Objective Family and twin studies suggest that liability for suicide attempts is heritable and distinct from mood disorder susceptibility. The authors therefore examined the association between common genomewide variation and lifetime suicide attempts. Method The authors analyzed data on lifetime suicide attempts from genomewide association studies of bipolar I and II disorder as well as major depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder subjects were drawn from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder cohort, the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium bipolar cohort, and the University College London cohort. Replication was pursued in the NIMH Genetic Association Information Network bipolar disorder project and a German clinical cohort. Depression subjects were drawn from the Sequential Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression cohort, with replication in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety/Netherlands Twin Register depression cohort. Results Strongest evidence of association for suicide attempt in bipolar disorder was observed in a region without identified genes (rs1466846); five loci also showed suggestive evidence of association. In major depression, strongest evidence of association was observed for a single nucleotide polymorphism in ABI3BP, with six loci also showing suggestive association. Replication cohorts did not provide further support for these loci. However, meta-analysis incorporating approximately 8,700 mood disorder subjects identified four additional regions that met the threshold for suggestive association, including the locus containing the gene coding for protein kinase C-epsilon, previously implicated in models of mood and anxiety. Conclusions The results suggest that inherited risk for suicide among mood disorder patients is unlikely to be the result of individual common variants of large effect. They nonetheless provide suggestive evidence for multiple loci, which merit further investigation. PMID:21041247

Protective Effect of Natural Rotavirus Infection in an Indian Birth Cohort

PubMed Central

Gladstone, Beryl P.; Ramani, Sasirekha; Mukhopadhya, Indrani; Muliyil, Jayaprakash; Sarkar, Rajiv; Rehman, Andrea M.; Jaffar, Shabbar; Gomara, Miren Iturriza; Gray, James J.; Brown, David W.G.; Desselberger, Ulrich; Crawford, Sue E.; John, Jacob; Babji, Sudhir; Estes, Mary K.; Kang, Gagandeep

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND More than 500,000 deaths are attributed to rotavirus gastroenteritis annually worldwide, with the highest mortality in India. Two successive, naturally occurring rotavirus infections have been shown to confer complete protection against moderate or severe gastroenteritis during subsequent infections in a birth cohort in Mexico. We studied the protective effect of rotavirus infection on subsequent infection and disease in a birth cohort in India (where the efficacy of oral vaccines in general has been lower than expected). METHODS We recruited children at birth in urban slums in Vellore; they were followed for 3 years after birth, with home visits twice weekly. Stool samples were collected every 2 weeks, as well as on alternate days during diarrheal episodes, and were tested by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase-chain-reaction assay. Serum samples were obtained every 6 months and evaluated for seroconversion, defined as an increase in the IgG antibody level by a factor of 4 or in the IgA antibody level by a factor of 3. RESULTS Of 452 recruited children, 373 completed 3 years of follow-up. Rotavirus infection generally occurred early in life, with 56% of children infected by 6 months of age. Levels of reinfection were high, with only approximately 30% of all infections identified being primary. Protection against moderate or severe disease increased with the order of infection but was only 79% after three infections. With G1P[8], the most common viral strain, there was no evidence of homotypic protection. CONCLUSIONS Early infection and frequent reinfection in a locale with high viral diversity resulted in lower protection than has been reported elsewhere, providing a possible explanation why rotavirus vaccines have had lower-than-expected efficacy in Asia and Africa. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust.) PMID:21793745

Origins of the current outbreak of multidrug-resistant malaria in southeast Asia: a retrospective genetic study.

PubMed

Amato, Roberto; Pearson, Richard D; Almagro-Garcia, Jacob; Amaratunga, Chanaki; Lim, Pharath; Suon, Seila; Sreng, Sokunthea; Drury, Eleanor; Stalker, Jim; Miotto, Olivo; Fairhurst, Rick M; Kwiatkowski, Dominic P

2018-03-01

Antimalarial resistance is rapidly spreading across parts of southeast Asia where dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is used as first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The first published reports about resistance to antimalarial drugs came from western Cambodia in 2013. Here, we analyse genetic changes in the P falciparum population of western Cambodia in the 6 years before those reports. We analysed genome sequence data on 1492 P falciparum samples from 11 locations across southeast Asia, including 464 samples collected in western Cambodia between 2007 and 2013. Different epidemiological origins of resistance were identified by haplotypic analysis of the kelch13 artemisinin resistance locus and the plasmepsin 2-3 piperaquine resistance locus. We identified more than 30 independent origins of artemisinin resistance, of which the KEL1 lineage accounted for 140 (91%) of 154 parasites resistant to dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine. In 2008, KEL1 combined with PLA1, the major lineage associated with piperaquine resistance. By 2013, the KEL1/PLA1 co-lineage had reached a frequency of 63% (24/38) in western Cambodia and had spread to northern Cambodia. The KEL1/PLA1 co-lineage emerged in the same year that dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine became the first-line antimalarial drug in western Cambodia and spread rapidly thereafter, displacing other artemisinin-resistant parasite lineages. These findings have important implications for management of the global health risk associated with the current outbreak of multidrug-resistant malaria in southeast Asia. Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Medical Research Council, UK Department for International Development, and the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Framework model and principles for trusted information sharing in pervasive health.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Blobel, Bernd; Nykänen, Pirkko; Seppälä, Antto; Sorvari, Hannu

2011-01-01

Trustfulness (i.e. health and wellness information is processed ethically, and privacy is guaranteed) is one of the cornerstones for future Personal Health Systems, ubiquitous healthcare and pervasive health. Trust in today's healthcare is organizational, static and predefined. Pervasive health takes place in an open and untrusted information space where person's lifelong health and wellness information together with contextual data are dynamically collected and used by many stakeholders. This generates new threats that do not exist in today's eHealth systems. Our analysis shows that the way security and trust are implemented in today's healthcare cannot guarantee information autonomy and trustfulness in pervasive health. Based on a framework model of pervasive health and risks analysis of ubiquitous information space, we have formulated principles which enable trusted information sharing in pervasive health. Principles imply that the data subject should have the right to dynamically verify trust and to control the use of her health information, as well as the right to set situation based context-aware personal policies. Data collectors and processors have responsibilities including transparency of information processing, and openness of interests, policies and environmental features. Our principles create a base for successful management of privacy and information autonomy in pervasive health. They also imply that it is necessary to create new data models for personal health information and new architectures which support situation depending trust and privacy management.

Development of a scale to measure patients' trust in health insurers.

PubMed

Zheng, Beiyao; Hall, Mark A; Dugan, Elizabeth; Kidd, Kristin E; Levine, Douglas

2002-02-01

To develop a scale to measure patients' trust in health insurers, including public and private insurers and both indemnity and managed care. A scale was developed based on our conceptual model of insurer trust. The scale was analyzed for its factor structure, internal consistency, construct validity, and other psychometric properties. The scale was developed and validated on a random national sample (n = 410) of subjects with any type of insurance and further validated and used in a regional random sample of members of an HMO in North Carolina (n = 1152). Factor analysis was used to uncover the underlying dimensions of the scale. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity was established by Pearson or Spearman correlations and t tests. Data were collected via telephone interviews. The 11-item scale has good internal consistency (alpha = 0.92/ 0.89) and response variability (range = 11-55, M = 36.5/37.0, SD = 7.8/7.0). Insurer trust is a unidimensional construct and is related to trust in physicians, satisfaction with care and with insurer, having enough choice in selecting health insurer, no prior disputes with health insurer, type of insurer, and desire to remain with insurer. Trust in health insurers can be validly and reliably measured. Additional studies are required to learn more about what factors affect insurer trust and whether differences and changes in insurer trust affect actual behaviors and other outcomes of interest.

Diversity climate enhances work outcomes through trust and openness in workgroup communication.

PubMed

Hofhuis, Joep; van der Rijt, Pernill G A; Vlug, Martijn

2016-01-01

Diversity climate, defined as an organizational climate characterized by openness towards and appreciation of individual differences, has been shown to enhance outcomes in culturally diverse teams. To date, it remains unclear which processes are responsible for these findings. This paper presents two quantitative studies (n = 91; 246) that identify trust and openness in workgroup communication as possible mediators. We replicate earlier findings that perceived diversity climate positively relates to job satisfaction, sense of inclusion, work group identification and knowledge sharing in teams. In study 1, trust is shown to mediate the effects of perceived diversity climate on team members' sense of inclusion. In study 2, trust mediates the relationship between perceived diversity climate and workgroup identification and openness mediates its relationship with knowledge sharing.

Responses of HMO Medical Directors to Trust Building in Managed Care

PubMed Central

Mechanic, David; Rosenthal, Marsha

1999-01-01

Managed care organizations (MCOs) are facing intense criticism at national, state, and local levels and battling initiatives that would impose stricter regulation. Medical directors of HMOs were surveyed regarding their organizations’ strategies of communication, the programs they have instituted to build trust, and their commitment to sponsoring family and patient support groups. The responses obtained from 252 directors indicate that nonprofit and free-standing organizations are more likely than either for-profitHMOs or organizations that are part of a chain to sponsor community activities and programs and to offer family and patient support groups. Staff- and group-model HMOs are more likely than other organizational configurations to initiate many types of “trust programs.” The results indicate that more dispersed and “virtual-type” organizations must explore ways to respond meaningfully to community concerns–and to public health, prevention, and health promotion needs as well–while continuing to improve their practice patterns. PMID:10526546

The Moral of the Tale: Stories, Trust, and Public Engagement with Clinical Ethics via Radio and Theatre.

PubMed

Bowman, Deborah

2017-03-01

Trust is frequently discussed with reference to the professional-patient relationship. However, trust is less explored in relation to the ways in which understanding of, and responses to, questions of ethics are discussed by both the "public" and "experts." Public engagement activity in healthcare ethics may invoke "trust" in analysing a moral question or problem but less frequently conceives of trust as integral to "public engagement" itself. This paper explores the relationship between trust and the ways in which questions of healthcare ethics are identified and negotiated by both "experts" and the public. Drawing on two examples from the author's "public engagement" work-a radio programme for the British Broadcasting Corporation and work with a playwright and theatre-the paper interrogates the ways in which "public engagement" is often characterized. The author argues that the common approach to public engagement in questions of ethics is unhelpfully constrained by a systemic disposition which continues to privilege the professional or expert voice at the expense of meaningful exchange and dialogue. By creating space for novel interactions between the "expert" and the "public," authentic engagement is achieved that enables not only the participants to flourish but also contributes to trust itself.

Extent and Distribution of Old Forest Conditions on DNR-Managed State Trust Lands in Eastern Washington

Treesearch

Jerry F. Franklin; Miles Hemstrom; Robert Van Pelt; Joe Buchanan; Sabra Hull; Rex Crawford; Steve Curry; Walt Obermeyer

2007-01-01

An inventory was conducted of old forests on state trust lands in Eastern Washington managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), in response to legislative direction (ESSB 6384, Section 189,2006). This inventory was conducted with guidance from an independent science panel, chaired by Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington. As...

'Trusting blindly can be the biggest risk of all': organised resistance to childhood vaccination in the UK.

PubMed

Hobson-West, Pru

2007-03-01

Sociological interest in vaccination has recently increased, largely in response to media coverage of concerns over the safety of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. The resulting body of research highlights the importance of risk and trust in understanding parental and professional engagement with vaccination. To date, only limited attention has been paid to organised parental groups that campaign against aspects of vaccination policy. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of contemporary groups in the UK, and develops three main lines of argument. First, these actors are best analysed as 'Vaccine Critical groups' and include Radical and Reformist types. Second, Vaccine Critical groups discursively resist vaccination through a reframing that constructs risk as unknown and non-random. Third, trust as faith is negatively contrasted with the empowerment that is promised to result from taking personal responsibility for health and decision-making. Whilst representing a challenge to aspects of vaccination policy, this study confirms that the groups are involved in the articulation and promotion of other dominant discourses. These findings have implications for wider sociological debates about risk and trust in relation to health.

The role of emotion in learning trustworthiness from eye-gaze: Evidence from facial electromyography

PubMed Central

Manssuer, Luis R.; Pawling, Ralph; Hayes, Amy E.; Tipper, Steven P.

2016-01-01

Gaze direction can be used to rapidly and reflexively lead or mislead others’ attention as to the location of important stimuli. When perception of gaze direction is congruent with the location of a target, responses are faster compared to when incongruent. Faces that consistently gaze congruently are also judged more trustworthy than faces that consistently gaze incongruently. However, it’s unclear how gaze-cues elicit changes in trust. We measured facial electromyography (EMG) during an identity-contingent gaze-cueing task to examine whether embodied emotional reactions to gaze-cues mediate trust learning. Gaze-cueing effects were found to be equivalent regardless of whether participants showed learning of trust in the expected direction or did not. In contrast, we found distinctly different patterns of EMG activity in these two populations. In a further experiment we showed the learning effects were specific to viewing faces, as no changes in liking were detected when viewing arrows that evoked similar attentional orienting responses. These findings implicate embodied emotion in learning trust from identity-contingent gaze-cueing, possibly due to the social value of shared attention or deception rather than domain-general attentional orienting. PMID:27153239

Trust and reliance on an automated combat identification system.

PubMed

Wang, Lu; Jamieson, Greg A; Hollands, Justin G

2009-06-01

We examined the effects of aid reliability and reliability disclosure on human trust in and reliance on a combat identification (CID) aid. We tested whether trust acts as a mediating factor between belief in and reliance on a CID aid. Individual CID systems have been developed to reduce friendly fire incidents. However, these systems cannot positively identify a target that does not have a working transponder. Therefore, when the feedback is "unknown", the target could be hostile, neutral, or friendly. Soldiers have difficulty relying on this type of imperfect automation appropriately. In manual and aided conditions, 24 participants completed a simulated CID task. The reliability of the aid varied within participants, half of whom were told the aid reliability level. We used the difference in response bias values across conditions to measure automation reliance. Response bias varied more appropriately with the aid reliability level when it was disclosed than when not. Trust in aid feedback correlated with belief in aid reliability and reliance on aid feedback; however, belief was not correlated with reliance. To engender appropriate reliance on CID systems, users should be made aware of system reliability. The findings can be applied to the design of information displays for individual CID systems and soldier training.

Patient-provider communication and trust in relation to use of an online patient portal among diabetes patients: The Diabetes and Aging Study.

PubMed

Lyles, Courtney R; Sarkar, Urmimala; Ralston, James D; Adler, Nancy; Schillinger, Dean; Moffet, Howard H; Huang, Elbert S; Karter, Andrew J

2013-01-01

Patient-provider relationships influence diabetes care; less is known about their impact on online patient portal use. Diabetes patients rated provider communication and trust. In this study, we linked responses to electronic medical record data on being a registered portal user and using secure messaging (SM). We specified regression models to evaluate main effects on portal use, and subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity and age. 52% of subjects were registered users; among those, 36% used SM. Those reporting greater trust were more likely to be registered users (relative  risk (RR)=1.14) or SM users (RR=1.29). In subgroup analyses, increased trust was associated with being a registered user among white, Latino, and older patients, as well as SM use among white patients. Better communication ratings were also related to being a registered user among older patients. Since increased trust and communication were associated with portal use within subgroups, this suggests that patient-provider relationships encourage portal engagement.

Competence and Human Resource Development in Multinational Companies in Three European Union Member States: A Comparative Analysis between Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. CEDEFOP Panorama Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markowitsch, Jorg; Kollinger, Iris; Warmerdam, John; Moerel, Hans; Konrad, John; Burell, Catherine; Guile, David

A comparative analysis of human resources development and management in the subsidiaries of three multinational companies (Xerox, Glaxo Wellcome, and AXA Nordstern Colonia) was conducted in these three European Union (EU) member states: Austria, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Case studies were used, focusing on competence needs and…

Infusion of Autologous Lysed Plasma Into the Baboon: Assessment of Coagulation, Platelet, and Pulmonary Function

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-06-03

obtained from whole blood collected into a commercially available tube containing thrombin and epsilon aminocaproic acid (Wellcome 44 Diagnostics...first proposed by Hall & Slayter in 1959 as an extended, multidomained molecule. Electron microscopy, amino acid sequencing and proteolytic studies have...Plasminogen (Figure 7) is a single chain, 88 kilodalton glycoprotein. It contains 790 amino acids , 24 disulfide bridges and five homologous triple loop

Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistant Infections Consortium (SEDRIC): Supporting the transition from strategy to action

PubMed Central

Fukuda, Keiji; Limmathurotsakul, Direk; Okeke, Iruka N.; Shetty, Nandini; van Doorn, Rogier; Feasey, Nicholas A.; Chiara, Francesca; Zoubiane, Ghada; Jinks, Tim; Parkhill, Julian; Patel, Jean; Reid, Stuart W.J.; Holmes, Alison H.; Peacock, Sharon J.

2018-01-01

In recognition of the central importance of surveillance and epidemiology in the control of antimicrobial resistance and the need to strengthen surveillance at all levels, Wellcome has brought together a new international expert group SEDRIC (Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistant Infections Consortium). SEDRIC aims to advance and transform the ways of tracking, sharing and analysing rates of infection and drug resistance, burden of disease, information on antibiotic use, opportunities for preventative measures such as vaccines, and contamination of the environment. SEDRIC will strengthen the availability of information needed to monitor and track risks, including an evaluation of access to, and utility of data generated by pharma and research activities, and will support the translation of surveillance data into interventions, changes in policy and more effective practices. Ways of working will include the provision of independent scientific analysis, advocacy and expert advice to groups, such as the Wellcome Drug Resistant Infection Priority Programme. A priority for SEDRIC’s first Working Group is to review mechanisms to strengthen the generation, collection, collation and dissemination of high quality data, together with the need for creativity in the use of existing data and proxy measures, and linking to existing in-country networking infrastructure. SEDRIC will also promote the translation of technological innovations into public health solutions. PMID:29904730

Nature's Trust: A Paradigm for Natural Resources Stewardship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, M. C.; Whitelaw, E.; Doppelt, B.; Burchell, A.

2007-12-01

Climate change uncertainty puts a premium on all remaining natural resources. Farmland, air, water, wetlands, wildlife, soils, mineral resources and forests must be protected to ensure that Americans - present citizens and future generations - have the fundamental survival resources they need in a future that holds many unknowns. Moreover, in light of the need to manage resources given climate and particle forcing, government must mitigate dangerous carbon loading of the atmosphere. Confronting climate change and protecting natural resources requires a clear sense of government obligation that is inherent to sovereignty, not a matter of political choice. Our government representatives can and must reframe government's discretion into a trustee obligation to protect Nature and ensure natural resource stewardship. Drawing upon enduring legal principles and court decisions, government can be characterized as a trustee of the natural resources essential to human survival. A trust is a fundamental type of ownership whereby one manages property for the benefit of another. Viewed as a trust, the environment consists of a portfolio of quantified natural assets that government manages. As beneficiaries, citizens hold a common property interest in defined, bounded assets that make up Nature's Trust. Such trust principles form the bedrock of statutory law. Trustees have a fiduciary obligation to protect trust assets and may not allow destruction of property they manage. This session will provide a policy frame for current scientific efforts to address climate change and natural resources loss. Under the Nature's Trust frame, U.S. government leaders and agencies at every level inherit a strict fiduciary obligation to protect our collective natural resources, including our water and the atmosphere, as assets in the trust. Their fiduciary standard of care consists of a proportionate responsibility, which ties directly to "Nature's Mandate" as defined by current climate scientists: each jurisdiction must cap and begin reducing total GHG emissions within the decade and continue reduction until they reach 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The trust framework positions all nations of the world in a logical relationship that can guide international diplomacy. The atmosphere, oceans and the global hydrologic cycle are commonly held assets shared as property among all nations on Earth. Thus, all Nations are sovereign co-tenant trustees, each holding the fiduciary responsibility to not degrade the common asset and to accomplish proportionate carbon reduction.

Reduced reciprocal giving in social anxiety - Evidence from the Trust Game.

PubMed

Anderl, Christine; Steil, Regina; Hahn, Tim; Hitzeroth, Patricia; Reif, Andreas; Windmann, Sabine

2018-06-01

Social anxiety is known to impair interpersonal relationships. These impairments are thought to partly arise from difficulties to engage in affiliative interactions with others, such as sharing favors or reciprocating prosocial acts. Here, we examined whether individuals high compared to low in social anxiety differ in giving towards strangers in an economic game paradigm. One hundred and twenty seven non-clinical participants who had been pre-screened to be either particularly high or low in social anxiety played an incentivized Trust Game to assess trustful and reciprocal giving towards strangers in addition to providing information on real life interpersonal functioning (perceived social support and attachment style). We found that reciprocal, but not trustful giving, was significantly decreased among highly socially anxious individuals. Both social anxiety and reciprocal giving furthermore showed significant associations with self-reported real life interpersonal functioning. Participants played the Trust Game with the strategy method; results need replication with a clinical sample. Individuals high in social anxiety showed reduced reciprocal, but intact trustful giving, pointing to a constraint in responsiveness. The research may contribute to the development of new treatment and prevention programs to reduce the interpersonal impairments in socially anxious individuals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Compliance with recommendations for pandemic influenza H1N1 2009: the role of trust and personal beliefs.

PubMed

Prati, Gabriele; Pietrantoni, Luca; Zani, Bruna

2011-10-01

To investigate the relationship between risk perception, worry, control, trust, exposure to an educational campaign, media exaggeration with recommendations for pandemic influenza H1N1 2009. Cross sectional telephone survey using random digit dialing. A total of 1010 adult Italians were interviewed by telephone between 16 and 19 February 2010. The survey instrument included demographic data, measures on risk perception, worry, trust and compliance with recommendations for pandemic influenza H1N1 2009. Controlling for socio-demographic variables, compliance with all the recommended behaviors was associated with media trust, trust in the Ministry of Health, worry and perceived severity of illness. Perceptions that the risk of catching pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 is high, that the authorities are acting in the public's best interest in dealing with it, that the media had exaggerated the risks of catching it and that people can control their risk of catching it were associated with compliance with some recommended behaviors even after considering effects of socio-demographic characteristics. The results underscore the importance of building public trust and to consider the influence of risk perception and affective response in promoting compliance with recommended behaviors.

Trust in Physicians, Continuity and Coordination of Care, and Quality of Death in Patients with Advanced Cancer.

PubMed

Hamano, Jun; Morita, Tatsuya; Fukui, Sakiko; Kizawa, Yoshiyuki; Tunetou, Satoru; Shima, Yasuo; Kobayakawa, Makoto; Aoyama, Maho; Miyashita, Mitsunori

2017-11-01

Provider-centered factors contribute to unexplained variation in the quality of death (QOD). The relationship between healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients, bidirectional communication, and consistency of longitudinal care planning are important provider-centered factors. To explore whether the level of trust in HCPs, the quality of continuity of care, and the level of coordination of care among home HCPs are associated with the QOD for cancer patients dying at home. This study was a part of a nationwide multicenter questionnaire survey of bereaved family members of cancer patients evaluating the quality of end-of-life care in Japan. We investigated 702 family members of cancer patients who died at home. The QOD was evaluated from nine core domains of the short version of the Good Death Inventory (GDI). We measured five factors on a Likert scale, including patient and family trust in HCPs, continuity of care by home hospice and hospital physicians, and coordination of care among home hospice staff. A total of 538 responses (77%) were obtained and 486 responses were analyzed. Trust in HCPs was correlated with the GDI score (r = 0.300-0.387, p < 0.001). The quality of care coordination was associated with the GDI score (r = 0.242, p < 0.001). Trust of the patient and family in home hospice staff, as well as coordination of care among hospice staff, are associated with the QOD for cancer patients dying at home.

Detection and treatment of Fiebig stage I HIV-1 infection in young at-risk women in South Africa: a prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Dong, Krista L; Moodley, Amber; Kwon, Douglas S; Ghebremichael, Musie S; Dong, Mary; Ismail, Nasreen; Ndhlovu, Zaza M; Mabuka, Jenniffer M; Muema, Daniel M; Pretorius, Karyn; Lin, Nina; Walker, Bruce D; Ndung'u, Thumbi

2018-01-01

HIV incidence among young women in sub-Saharan Africa remains high and their inclusion in vaccine and cure efforts is crucial. We aimed to establish a cohort of young women detected during Fiebig stage I acute HIV infection in whom treatment was initiated immediately after diagnosis to advance research in this high-risk group. 945 women aged 18-23 years in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were HIV uninfected and sexually active consented to HIV-1 RNA testing twice a week and biological sampling and risk assessment every 3 months during participation in a 48-96 week life-skills and job-readiness programme. We analysed the effect of immediate combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) on viraemia and immune responses, sexual risk behaviour, and the effect of the socioeconomic intervention. 42 women were diagnosed with acute HIV infection between Dec 1, 2012, and June 30, 2016, (incidence 8·2 per 100 person-years, 95% CI 5·9-11·1), of whom 36 (86%) were diagnosed in Fiebig stage I infection with a median initial viral load of 2·97 log 10 copies per mL (IQR 2·42-3·85). 23 of these 36 women started ART at a median of 1 day (1-1) after detection, which limited the median peak viral load to 4·22 log 10 copies per mL (3·27-4·83) and the CD4 nadir to 685 cells per μL (561-802). ART also suppressed viral load (to <20 copies per mL) within a median of 16 days (12-26) and, in 20 (87%) of 23 women, prevented seroconversion, as shown with western blotting. 385 women completed the 48 week socioeconomic intervention, of whom 231 were followed up for 1 year. 202 (87%) of these 231 women were placed in jobs, returned to school, or started a business. Frequent HIV screening combined with a socioeconomic intervention facilitated sampling and risk assessment before and after infection. In addition to detection of acute infection and immediate treatment, we established a cohort optimised for prevention and cure research. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Linking international clinical research with stateless populations to justice in global health

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In response to calls to expand the scope of research ethics to address justice in global health, recent scholarship has sought to clarify how external research actors from high-income countries might discharge their obligation to reduce health disparities between and within countries. An ethical framework—‘research for health justice’—was derived from a theory of justice (the health capability paradigm) and specifies how international clinical research might contribute to improved health and research capacity in host communities. This paper examines whether and how external funders, sponsors, and researchers can fulfill their obligations under the framework. Methods Case study research was undertaken on the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit’s (SMRU) vivax malaria treatment trial, which was performed on the Thai-Myanmar border with Karen and Myanmar refugees and migrants. We conducted nineteen in-depth interviews with trial stakeholders, including investigators, trial participants, community advisory board members, and funder representatives; directly observed at trial sites over a five-week period; and collected trial-related documents for analysis. Results The vivax malaria treatment trial drew attention to contextual features that, when present, rendered the ‘research for health justice’ framework’s guidance partially incomplete. These insights allowed us to extend the framework to consider external research actors’ obligations to stateless populations. Data analysis then showed that framework requirements are largely fulfilled in relation to the vivax malaria treatment trial by Wellcome Trust (funder), Oxford University (sponsor), and investigators. At the same time, this study demonstrates that it may be difficult for long-term collaborations to shift the focus of their research agendas in accordance with the changing burden of illness in their host communities and to build the independent research capacity of host populations when working with refugees and migrants. Obstructive factors included the research funding environment and staff turnover due to resettlement or migration. Conclusions Our findings show that obligations for selecting research targets, research capacity strengthening, and post-trial benefits that link clinical trials to justice in global health can be upheld by external research actors from high-income countries when working with stateless populations in LMICs. However, meeting certain framework requirements for long-term collaborations may not be entirely feasible. PMID:24969638

The perspectives of adolescents conceived using surrogacy, egg or sperm donation.

PubMed

Zadeh, S; Ilioi, E C; Jadva, V; Golombok, S

2018-04-12

What are the perspectives of adolescents conceived using surrogacy, egg or sperm donation regarding their conception and the third party involved? The majority of adolescents described feeling indifferent about their conception, and yet simultaneously reported an interest in the third party involved, or were in contact with them. There is an assumption that children conceived through reproductive donation will feel negatively about their origins in adolescence. However, little is known about the views of adolescents who have been conceived through different types of reproductive donation. Forty-four adolescents, all of whom had been told about their conception in childhood, participated in a semi-structured interview as part of the sixth phase of a longitudinal, multi-method, multi-informant study of assisted reproduction families in the UK. All adolescents were aged 14 years, had been conceived using surrogacy (n = 22), egg donation (n = 13) or sperm donation (n = 9) to heterosexual couples, and varied in terms of their information about, and contact with, the third party involved in their conception. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in participants' homes. Interviews were analysed qualitatively to determine adolescents' perceptions of their conception, and their thoughts and feelings about the surrogate or donor involved. Adolescents were found to feel positive (n = 7), indifferent (n = 32) or ambivalent (n = 5) about their conception. Amongst adolescents not in contact with the surrogate or donor, most were interested (n = 16) in the surrogate or donor, and others were ambivalent (n = 4), or not interested (n = 6) in them. Adolescents in contact with the surrogate or donor expressed positive (n = 14), ambivalent (n = 1) or negative (n = 1) feelings about them. Of 56 adolescents invited to take part in the study, 47 consented to take part, giving a response rate of 84%. It was not possible to obtain information from adolescents who do not know about their conception. The findings contradict the assumption that children conceived through reproductive donation will feel negatively about their origins in adolescence and suggest that it may be helpful to draw a distinction between adolescents' feelings about their conception in general, and their feelings about the surrogate or donor in particular. This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust [097857/Z/11/Z]. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Hazardous Waste Site Analysis (Small Site Technology)

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

Act HSRT - Hazardous Substance Response Trust (Superfund Trust) HSWA - Hdzardeus and Solid Waste Amendments (to RCRA) NAAQSD - National Ambient Air...impoundments (basically, any area where hazardous substances are located). * Under CERCLA, "Environment" includes surface and groundwater, ambient air, land...34 provisions with permit requirements for new source construction). " Ambient Air Quality standards (NAAQs) have been issued for six "criteria" pollutants

Specific loss of CatSper function is sufficient to compromise fertilizing capacity of human spermatozoa

PubMed Central

Williams, Hannah L.; Mansell, Steven; Alasmari, Wardah; Brown, Sean G.; Wilson, Stuart M.; Sutton, Keith A.; Miller, Melissa R.; Lishko, Polina V.; Barratt, Christopher L.R.; Publicover, Steven J.; Martins da Silva, Sarah

2015-01-01

STUDY QUESTION Are significant abnormalities of CatSper function present in IVF patients with normal sperm concentration and motility and if so what is their functional significance for fertilization success? SUMMARY ANSWER Sperm with a near absence of CatSper current failed to respond to activation of CatSper by progesterone and there was fertilization failure at IVF. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY In human spermatozoa, Ca2+ influx induced by progesterone is mediated by CatSper, a sperm-specific Ca2+ channel. A suboptimal Ca2+ influx is significantly associated with, and more prevalent in, men with abnormal semen parameters, and is associated with reduced fertilizing capacity. However, abnormalities in CatSper current can only be assessed directly using electrophysiology. There is only one report of a CatSper-deficient man who showed no progesterone potentiated CatSper current. A CatSper 2 genetic abnormality was present but there was no information on the [Ca2+]i response to CatSper activation by progesterone. Additionally, the semen samples had indicating significant abnormalities (oligoasthenoteratozoospermia) multiple suboptimal functional responses in the spermatozoon. As such it cannot be concluded that impaired CatSper function alone causes infertility or that CatSper blockade is a potential safe target for contraception. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Spermatozoa were obtained from donors and subfertile IVF patients attending a hospital assisted reproductive techniques clinic between January 2013 and December 2014. In total 134 IVF patients, 28 normozoospermic donors and 10 patients recalled due to a history of failed/low fertilization at IVF took part in the study. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Samples were primarily screened using the Ca2+ influx induced by progesterone and, if cell number was sufficient, samples were also assessed by hyperactivation and penetration into viscous media. A defective Ca2+ response to progesterone was defined using the 99% confidence interval from the distribution of response amplitudes in normozoospermic donors. Samples showing a defective Ca2+ response were further examined in order to characterize the potential CatSper abnormalities. In men where there was a consistent and robust failure of calcium signalling, a direct assessment of CatSper function was performed using electrophysiology (patch clamping), and a blood sample was obtained for genetic analysis. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE A total of 101/102 (99%) IVF patients and 22/23 (96%) donors exhibited a normal Ca2+ response. The mean (±SD) normalized peak response did not differ between donors and IVF patients (2.57 ± 0.68 [n = 34 ejaculates from 23 different donors] versus 2.66 ± 0.68 [n = 102 IVF patients], P = 0.63). In recall patients, 9/10 (90%) showed a normal Ca2+ response. Three men were initially identified with a defective Ca2+ influx. However, only one (Patient 1) had a defective response in repeat semen samples. Electrophysiology experiments on sperm from Patient 1 showed a near absence of CatSper current and exon screening demonstrated no mutations in the coding regions of the CatSper complex. There was no increase in penetration of viscous media when the spermatozoa were stimulated with progesterone and importantly there was failed fertilization at IVF. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION A key limitation relates to working with a specific functional parameter (Ca2+ influx induced by progesterone) in fresh sperm samples from donors and patients that have limited viability. Therefore, for practical, technical and logistical reasons, some men (∼22% of IVF patients) could not be screened. As such the incidence of significant Ca2+ abnormalities induced by progesterone may be higher than the ∼1% observed here. Additionally, we used a strict definition of a defective Ca2+ influx such that only substantial abnormalities were selected for further study. Furthermore, electrophysiology was only performed on one patient with a robust and repeatable defective calcium response. This man had negligible CatSper current but more subtle abnormalities (e.g. currents present but significantly smaller) may have been present in men with either normal or below normal Ca2+ influx. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS These data add significantly to the understanding of the role of CatSper in human sperm function and its impact on male fertility. Remarkably, these findings provide the first direct evidence that CatSper is a suitable and specific target for human male contraception. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) Initial funding was from NHS Tayside, Infertility Research Trust, TENOVUS, Chief Scientist Office NRS Fellowship, the Wellcome Trust, University of Abertay. The majority of the data were obtained using funding from a MRC project grant (# 4190). The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER Not applicable. PMID:26453676

Vaccine hesitancy and trust. Ethical aspects of risk communication.

PubMed

Nihlén Fahlquist, Jessica

2018-03-01

This paper analyses vaccination policy from an ethical perspective, against the background of the growing hesitancy towards e.g. the measles vaccine. The paper is normative and analyses ethical aspects of risk communication in the context of vaccination. It is argued that ethical analysis of risk communication should be done at the level of the message, the procedure and the effects. The paper takes examples from the Swedish context, linking the current lack of trust in experts to the 2009 vaccination policy and communication promoting the H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix. During the Swedish H1N1 vaccination policy in 2009, the message was that the vaccine is safe. However, a group of adolescents developed narcolepsy as a side effect of the vaccine. Taking this into account, it becomes clear that the government should communicate risks and benefits responsibly and take responsibility for individuals affected negatively by populational health interventions. To communicate respectfully entails not treating vaccine sceptics as ill-informed or less educated, but instead taking the concerns of the vaccine hesitant, who potentially could change their minds, as a starting-point of a respectful discussion. There will inevitably be individuals who suffer from side effects of justifiable population-based health promotion activities. However, the public should be able to trust the message and count on the government to take responsibility for individuals affected by side effects. This is important for normative reasons, but is additionally likely to contribute to restored and maintained trust.

The public health disaster trust scale: validation of a brief measure.

PubMed

Eisenman, David P; Williams, Malcolm V; Glik, Deborah; Long, Anna; Plough, Alonzo L; Ong, Michael

2012-01-01

Trust contributes to community resilience by the critical influence it has on the community's responses to public health recommendations before, during, and after disasters. However, trust in public health is a multifactorial concept that has rarely been defined and measured empirically in public health jurisdictional risk assessment surveys. Measuring trust helps public health departments identify and ameliorate a threat to effective risk communications and increase resilience. Such a measure should be brief to be incorporated into assessments conducted by public health departments. We report on a brief scale of public health disaster-related trust, its psychometric properties, and its validity. On the basis of a literature review, our conceptual model of public health disaster-related trust and previously conducted focus groups, we postulated that public health disaster-related trust includes 4 major domains: competency, honesty, fairness, and confidentiality. A random-digit-dialed telephone survey of the Los Angeles county population, conducted in 2004-2005 in 6 languages. Two thousand five hundred eighty-eight adults aged 18 years and older including oversamples of African Americans and Asian Americans. Trust was measured by 4 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale. A summary score from 4 to 16 was constructed. Scores ranged from 4 to 16 and were normally distributed with a mean of 8.5 (SD 2.7). Cronbach α = 0.79. As hypothesized, scores were lower among racial/ethnic minority populations than whites. Also, trust was associated with lower likelihood of following public health recommendations in a hypothetical disaster and lower likelihood of household disaster preparedness. The Public Health Disaster Trust scale may facilitate identifying communities where trust is low and prioritizing them for inclusion in community partnership building efforts under Function 2 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Preparedness Capability 1. The scale is brief, reliable, and validated in multiple ethnic populations and languages.

Risk communication and trust in decision-maker action: a case study of the Giant Mine Remediation Plan.

PubMed

Jardine, Cynthia G; Banfield, Laura; Driedger, S Michelle; Furgal, Christopher M

2013-01-01

The development and implementation of a remediation plan for the residual arsenic trioxide stored at the former Giant Mine site in the Canadian Northwest Territories has raised important issues related to trust. Social and individual trust of those responsible for making decisions on risks is critically important in community judgements on risk and the acceptability of risk management decisions. Trust is known to be affected by value similarity and confidence in past performance, which serve as interacting sources of cooperation in acting toward a common goal. To explore the elements of trust associated with the development and implementation of the Giant Mine Remediation Plan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight purposively selected key informants representing both various interested and affected parties and the two government proponents. Five primary issues related to trust were identified by the participants: (1) a historical legacy of mistrust between the community (particularly Aboriginal peoples) and government; (2) barriers to building trust with the federal government; (3) limited community input and control over the decision-making process; (4) the conflicted and confounded role of the government agencies being both proponent and regulator, and the resulting need for independent oversight; and (5) distrust of the government to commit to the perpetual care required for the remediation option selected. The dual-mode model of trust and confidence was shown to be a useful framework for understanding the pivotal role of trust in the development of the Giant Mine Remediation Plan. Failure to recognize issues of trust based on value dissimilarity and lack of confidence based on past performance have resulted in a lack of cooperation characterized by delayed remediation and a prolonged and expensive consultation process. Government recognition of the importance of trust to these issues will hopefully improve future communication and public engagement endeavours.

A trust region-based approach to optimize triple response systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Shu-Kai S.; Fan, Chihhao; Huang, Chia-Fen

2014-05-01

This article presents a new computing procedure for the global optimization of the triple response system (TRS) where the response functions are non-convex quadratics and the input factors satisfy a radial constrained region of interest. The TRS arising from response surface modelling can be approximated using a nonlinear mathematical program that considers one primary objective function and two secondary constraint functions. An optimization algorithm named the triple response surface algorithm (TRSALG) is proposed to determine the global optimum for the non-degenerate TRS. In TRSALG, the Lagrange multipliers of the secondary functions are determined using the Hooke-Jeeves search method and the Lagrange multiplier of the radial constraint is located using the trust region method within the global optimality space. The proposed algorithm is illustrated in terms of three examples appearing in the quality-control literature. The results of TRSALG compared to a gradient-based method are also presented.

Perceptions of the health system and public trust in government in low- and middle-income countries: evidence from the World Health Surveys.

PubMed

Rockers, Peter C; Kruk, Margaret E; Laugesen, Miriam J

2012-06-01

In low- and middle-income countries, health care systems are an important means by which individuals interact with their government. As such, aspects of health systems in these countries may be associated with public trust in government. Greater trust in government may in turn improve governance and government effectiveness. We identify health system and non-health system factors hypothesized to be associated with trust in government and fit several multilevel regression models to cross-national data from 51,300 respondents in thirty-eight low- and middle-income countries participating in the World Health Surveys. We find that health system performance factors are associated with trust in government while controlling for a range of non-health system covariates. Taken together, higher technical quality of health services, more responsive service delivery, fair treatment, better health outcomes, and financial risk protection accounted for a 13 percentage point increase in the probability of having trust in government. Health system performance and good governance may be more inter-related than previously thought. This finding is particularly important for low-income and fragile states, where health systems and governments tend to be weakest. Future research efforts should focus on determining the causal mechanisms that underlie the observed associations between health system performance and trust in government.

Exploring factors affecting owners' trust of contractors in construction projects: a case of China.

PubMed

Tai, Shuangliang; Sun, Chengshuang; Zhang, Shoujian

2016-01-01

It has been found that a low level of trust among members of a construction project team leads to poor performance in China. Many researchers have described the challenges, consequently advocating partnering as an attractive approach for more valuable cooperation. Because substantial investments have been poured into construction projects since the year 2000, trust research will improve the performance of construction projects and will be meaningful to the Chinese construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attributes affecting owners' trust of contractors, to understand the potential properties of these factors, and to rank the factors in order of importance. Twenty-four attributes are identified from a literature review. Supported by qualitative reviews, a questionnaire is conducted to obtain relevant data, and 168 valid responses are obtained for data analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) is employed to find the factor structure of the identified trust attributes. By the method of PCA, the attributes are extracted into eight factors, including interaction history, information sharing and communication, contract and institution, relation-specific investment, reputation, integrity, competence, and opportunistic behaviour. The value and originality of this paper are embodied in using PCA to understand the various attribute groupings and to illuminate trust impact factors in the Chinese context. When they understand the critical factors affecting trust better, owners and contractors can devise more appropriate strategies to improve performance.

Pain Assessment: Subjectivity, Objectivity, and the Use of Neurotechnology Part One: Practical and Ethical Issues

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-08

assessment, neurotechnology, biotechnology, neuroethics , medicine Pain Physician 2010; 13:305-315 Ethics Pain Assessment: Subjectivity, Objectivity...Studies, Arlington, VA, USA; Wellcome Centre for Neuroethics , University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 2Institute for BioTechnology Futures, New York, NY, USA...which to guide care. a role for technology? PossIbIlItIes, Problems, and the neuroethIcs of PaIn care Can biotechnology provide the means and tools

Friendship trust and psychological well-being from late adolescence to early adulthood: A structural equation modelling approach.

PubMed

Miething, Alexander; Almquist, Ylva B; Edling, Christofer; Rydgren, Jens; Rostila, Mikael

2017-05-01

This study explored the sex-specific associations between friendship trust and the psychological well-being of young Swedes from late adolescence to early adulthood. A random sample of native Swedes born in 1990 was surveyed at age 19 years and again at age 23 years regarding their own well-being and their relationships with a maximum of five self-named peers. The response rate was 31.3%, resulting in 782 cases to be analysed. We used sex-stratified structural equation models to explore the associations between trust and well-being. Psychological well-being was constructed as the latent variable in the measurement part. The structural part accounted for the autocorrelation of trust with respect to well-being over time and incorporated the cross-lagged effects between late adolescence and early adulthood. It was found that trust increased while well-being decreased for young men and remained stable for young women from 19 to 23 years of age. The young women reported lower well-being at both time points, whereas no sex difference was found for trust. Based on model fit comparisons, a simple model without forward or reward causation was accepted for young men, whereas reversed causation from well-being to trust was suggested for young women. Subsequent analysis based on these assumptions confirmed the reversed effect for young women. The findings suggest that young people do not benefit from trustful social relations to the same extent as adult populations. Young women who express impaired well-being run a greater risk of being members of networks characterized by low friendship trust over time.

p,p′-DDE activates CatSper and compromises human sperm function at environmentally relevant concentrations

PubMed Central

Tavares, Renata S.; Mansell, Steven; Barratt, Christopher L.R.; Wilson, Stuart M.; Publicover, Stephen J.; Ramalho-Santos, João

2013-01-01

STUDY QUESTION Is the environmental endocrine disruptor p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE) able to induce non-genomic changes in human sperm and consequently affect functional sperm parameters? SUMMARY ANSWER p,p′-DDE promoted Ca2+ flux into human sperm by activating CatSper channels even at doses found in human reproductive fluids, ultimately compromising sperm parameters important for fertilization. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY p,p′-DDE may promote non-genomic actions and interact directly with pre-existing signaling pathways, as already observed in other cell types. However, although often found in both male and female reproductive fluids, its effects on human spermatozoa function are not known. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Normozoospermic sperm samples from healthy individuals were included in this study. Samples were exposed to several p,p′-DDE concentrations for 3 days at 37°C and 5% CO2 in vitro to mimic the putative continuous exposure to this toxicant in the female reproductive tract in vivo. Shorter p,p′-DDE incubation periods were also performed in order to monitor sperm rapid Ca2+ responses. All experiments were repeated on a minimum of five sperm samples from different individuals. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS All healthy individuals were recruited at the Biosciences School, University of Birmingham, the Medical Research Institute, University of Dundee and in the Human Reproduction Service at University Hospitals of Coimbra. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was monitored by imaging single spermatozoa loaded with Oregon Green BAPTA-1AM and further whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed to validate our results. Sperm viability and acrosomal integrity were assessed using the LIVE/DEAD sperm vitality kit and the acrosomal content marker PSA-FITC, respectively. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE p,p′-DDE rapidly increased [Ca2+]i (P < 0.05) even at extremely low doses (1 pM and 1 nM), with magnitudes of response up to 200%, without affecting sperm viability, except after 3 days of continuous exposure to the highest concentration tested (P < 0.05). Furthermore, experiments performed in a low Ca2+ medium demonstrated that extracellular Ca2+ influx was responsible for this Ca2+ increase (P < 0.01). Mibefradil and NNC 55-0396, both inhibitors of the sperm-specific CatSper channel, reversed the p,p′-DDE-induced [Ca2+]i rise, suggesting the participation of CatSper in this process (P < 0.05). In fact, whole-cell patch-clamp recordings confirmed CatSper as a target of p,p′-DDE action by monitoring an increase in CatSper currents of >100% (P < 0.01). Finally, acrosomal integrity was adversely affected after 2 days of exposure to p,p′-DDE concentrations, suggesting that [Ca2+]i rise may cause premature acrosome reaction (P < 0.05). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION This is an in vitro study, and caution must be taken when extrapolating the results. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS A novel non-genomic p,p′-DDE mechanism specific to sperm is shown in this study. p,p′-DDE was able to induce [Ca2+]i rise in human sperm through the opening of CatSper consequently compromising male fertility. The promiscuous nature of CatSper activation may predispose human sperm to the action of some persistent endocrine disruptors. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) The study was supported by both the Portuguese National Science Foundation (FCT; PEst-C/SAU/LA0001/2011) and the UK Wellcome Trust (Grant #86470). SM was supported by the Infertility Research Trust. RST is a recipient of a PhD fellowship from FCT (SFRH/BD/46002/2008). None of the authors has any conflict of interest to declare. PMID:24067601

Re-building Trust after Physical Restraint During Involuntary Psychiatric Hospitalization.

PubMed

Khatib, Anwar; Ibrahim, Mahajne; Roe, David

2018-06-01

This study attempted to identify the elements which might best minimize the negative consequences of restriction of inpatients and rebuild therapeutic alliance and trust. Through in depth interviews with 15 psychiatric patients who had experience restrained during the last involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Analysis of the data revealed three major themes with regard to trust between restrained patient and restraining staff members during restriction of the patient's freedom. Duration of Restriction, Contact with a Staff Member while Restrained, Supportive Interactions and Staff's Response to Restricted Patients' Needs were reported by patients as crucial in determining the way restrained is experienced and its later impact. Physical restraint in psychiatric hospitalizations generates many negative feelings and can even be traumatic. The patients interviewed help us learn how to provide more human and therapeutic interactions even in extreme situations of restrain which can be crucial to rebuild therapeutic alliance and trust. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Values, trust and science - building trust in today's food system in an era of radical transparency.

PubMed

Arnot, Charlie; Vizzier-Thaxton, Yvonne; Scanes, Colin G

2016-07-21

Public concern exists globally about the food system and both the practices and the intensification of animal agriculture. Examples are presented of public opinion in North America, the European Union, and the People's Republic of China. Negative perceptions increase with distance from production agriculture. Even animal science faculty members do not uniformly support present production practices. Public trust in the food system is based on consumers' or public confidence (shared values based on corporate and institutional social responsibility or their fiduciary responsibility), competence of the people or groups providing the information and the influence of others (e.g., friends and family). Producer or company discussion of issues has focused on competency and "the science" when confidence is markedly more important to consumers and more effective. It is argued that the food system largely escapes regulation by federal and state governments by a social license based on public confidence. However, a tipping point(s) exists such that a crisis could greatly diminish public confidence and end the social license and bring with it increases in regulation. Advocacy for production agriculture (poultry and livestock) needs to incorporate recognition of the need to reaffirm the public's trust, assuring shared values together with an emphasis on good science. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Understanding Farmer Perspectives on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: The Roles of Trust in Sources of Climate Information, Climate Change Beliefs, and Perceived Risk.

PubMed

Arbuckle, J Gordon; Morton, Lois Wright; Hobbs, Jon

2015-02-01

Agriculture is vulnerable to climate change and a source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Farmers face pressures to adjust agricultural systems to make them more resilient in the face of increasingly variable weather (adaptation) and reduce GHG production (mitigation). This research examines relationships between Iowa farmers' trust in environmental or agricultural interest groups as sources of climate information, climate change beliefs, perceived climate risks to agriculture, and support for adaptation and mitigation responses. Results indicate that beliefs varied with trust, and beliefs in turn had a significant direct effect on perceived risks from climate change. Support for adaptation varied with perceived risks, while attitudes toward GHG reduction (mitigation) were associated predominantly with variation in beliefs. Most farmers were supportive of adaptation responses, but few endorsed GHG reduction, suggesting that outreach should focus on interventions that have adaptive and mitigative properties (e.g., reduced tillage, improved fertilizer management).

Will forensic use of medical biobanks decrease public trust in healthcare services? Some empirical observations.

PubMed

Bexelius, Christin; Hoeyer, Klaus; Lynöe, Niels

2007-01-01

The authors tested the prevalent hypothesis that forensic use of medical biobanks has a negative impact on public trust in healthcare services. A questionnaire was sent to 1,184 inhabitant in the age group 20-80 years in Stockholm County, Sweden, in November 2005. With a response rate of 68.4%, the results showed that a majority (88.1%) of the respondents thought that it would be acceptable for the police to gain access to genetic samples stored in relation to healthcare; 5.6% said no and 6.3% were uncertain. In the case of police access to medical biobanks, a minority (6.3%) indicated that this would have a negative impact on their trust, a larger proportion (37.8%) that it would influence their trust in the healthcare services positively, and 56% stated that it would not affect their trust at all. The hypothesis tested appears to be unfounded. This should cause us to reconsider prevalent assumptions and current policies on the interface of medical and forensic genetics.

Implementation of the hepatitis C guidelines in UK health care workers.

PubMed

Gibson, Kirstie; Kennedy, Ioana

2007-12-01

The UK Health Department circular HSC 2002/010 requires health care employers to test certain groups of health care workers (HCWs) for hepatitis C, without additional funding. Little is known about the consistency of implementation of such guidelines. This study audited the process, completeness and problems of implementation of circular HSC 2002/010 in acute and ambulance trusts in London and the Southeast of England. Telephone questionnaire survey of 51 National Health Service trusts between July and October 2005. The response rate was 92% (47/51). Eighty-five per cent (40/47) of the trusts reported partial or full implementation of the guidance. All compliant trusts reported testing HCWs entering exposure prone procedure specialities, although 40% (16/40) were testing more staff than specified in the guidance. Most trusts (85%) in this audit reported having implemented the guidance 3 years after publication and 90% claimed not to have needed additional funding. Implementation may be improved by greater clarity about which staff should be tested, frequency of testing and by raising HCWs awareness about hepatitis C infection and treatment. Newly published health clearance guidance addresses some of these points.

Trust, Benefit, Satisfaction, and Burden

PubMed Central

Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Ammerman, Alice S; Katz, Mira L; St. George, Diane Marie M; Blumenthal, Connie; Washington, Chanetta; Weathers, Benita; Keyserling, Thomas C; Switzer, Boyd

2003-01-01

BACKGROUND Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches that actively engage communities in a study are assumed to lead to relevant findings, trusting relationships, and greater satisfaction with the research process. OBJECTIVE To examine community members' perceptions of trust, benefit, satisfaction, and burden associated with their participation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A randomized controlled trial tested a cancer prevention intervention in members of African-American churches. Data were collected at baseline and 1-year follow-up. MEASUREMENTS Subscales measured perception of trust in the research project and the project team, benefit from involvement with the project, satisfaction with the project and the team, and perception of burden associated with participation. MAIN RESULTS Overall, we found high levels of trust, perceived benefit, and satisfaction, and low perceived burden among community members in Partnership to Reach African Americans to Increase Smart Eating. In bivariate analyses, participants in the intervention group reported more perceived benefit and trust (P < .05). Participants in smaller churches reported more benefit, satisfaction and trust, while participants from churches without recent health activities perceived greater benefit, greater satisfaction, and lower burden with the project and the team (P < .05). Participants whose pastors had less educational attainment noted higher benefit and satisfaction; those whose pastors were making personal lifestyle changes noted higher benefit and satisfaction, but also reported higher burden (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS A randomized clinical trial designed with a CBPR approach was associated with high levels of trust and a perceived benefit of satisfaction with the research process. Understanding variations in responses to a research partnership will be helpful in guiding the design and implementation of future CBPR efforts. PMID:12848836

Neither the internist nor the Internet: use of and trust in health information sources by people with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Maguire, Paul A; Reay, Rebecca E; Looi, Jeffrey C L; Cubis, Jeff; Byrne, Gerard J; Raphael, Beverley

2011-06-01

The aim of this study was to explore health information sources accessed by people with schizophrenia and the level of trust invested in them. A cross-sectional survey was performed comparing the responses of 71 adults with schizophrenia (recruited from both community and inpatient settings) with 238 general practice attendees on their use of television, radio, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, family and friends, and doctor to obtain information on health matters, and their levels of trust in these sources. People with schizophrenia most commonly reported using a doctor, family and friends, and television to obtain information on health matters. However, compared with general practice attendees, they gained less health information from doctors and the Internet, and had less trust in doctors. Within-group analysis revealed that in people with schizophrenia: living alone increased the likelihood of obtaining health information from television; a higher level of education increased the odds of trusting the Internet as a health information source; a higher estimated household income was associated with an increased likelihood of trusting newspapers; and women with schizophrenia were considerably more likely than men with schizophrenia to trust family and friends as providers of health information. For both groups, there were significant positive correlations between the amount of health information obtained from a given information source and the level of trust invested in it. There are significant differences in the reported utilization and trust of health information sources between people with schizophrenia and attendees at general practice settings. Those with schizophrenia are less likely to trust and obtain information from a doctor, and less likely to access the Internet. Further research is required to explore this disparity. This is critical given the high rates of comorbid physical illness and reduced longevity in people suffering from schizophrenia.

Access and use of human tissues from the developing world: ethical challenges and a way forward using a tissue trust

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Scientists engaged in global health research are increasingly faced with barriers to access and use of human tissues from the developing world communities where much of their research is targeted. In part, the problem can be traced to distrust of researchers from affluent countries, given the history of 'scientific-imperialism' and 'biocolonialism' reflected in past well publicized cases of exploitation of research participants from low to middle income countries. Discussion To a considerable extent, the failure to adequately engage host communities, the opacity of informed consent, and the lack of fair benefit-sharing have played a significant role in eroding trust. These ethical considerations are central to biomedical research in low to middle income countries and failure to attend to them can inadvertently contribute to exploitation and erode trust. A 'tissue trust' may be a plausible means for enabling access to human tissues for research in a manner that is responsive to the ethical challenges considered. Summary Preventing exploitation and restoring trust while simultaneously promoting global health research calls for innovative approaches to human tissues research. A tissue trust can reduce the risk of exploitation and promote host capacity as a key benefit. PMID:21266076

Trust-Based and Context-Aware Authentication in a Software Architecture for Context and Proximity-Aware Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenzini, Gabriele

We describe an existing software architecture for context and proximity aware services that enables trust-based and context-aware authentication. A service is proximity aware when it automatically detects the presence of entities in its proximity. Authentication is context-aware when it uses contextual information to discern among different identities and to evaluate to which extent they are authentic. The software architecture that we describe here is functioning in our Institute: It manages a sensor network to detect the presence and location of users and their devices. A context manager is responsible to merge the different sources of contextual information, to solve potential contradictions, and to determine the level of authentication of the identity of the person approaching one of the services offered in the coffee-break corners of our Institute. In our solution for context-aware authentication, sensors are managed as if they were recommenders having subjective belief, disbelief, and uncertainty (i.e., trust) on the position and identity of users. A sensor’s subjective trust depends on what it has been sensing in the environment. We discuss the results of an array of simulations that we conducted to validate our concept of trust-based and context-aware authentication. We use Subjective Logic to manage trust.

Mass casualty incidents: are NHS staff prepared? An audit of one NHS foundation trust.

PubMed

Milkhu, C S; Howell, D C J; Glynne, P A; Raptis, D; Booth, H L; Langmead, L; Datta, V K

2008-09-01

Lack of knowledge of an NHS trust's major incident policies by clinical staff may result in poorly coordinated responses during a mass casualty incident (MCI). To audit knowledge of the major incident policy by clinical staff working in a central London major acute NHS trust designated to receive casualties on a 24-h basis during a MCI. A 12-question proforma was distributed to 307 nursing and medical staff in the hospital, designed to assess their knowledge of the major incident policy. Completed proformas were collected over a 2-month period between December 2006 and February 2007. A reply rate of 34% was obtained, with a reasonable representation from all disciplines ranging from nurses to consultants. Despite only 41% having read the policy in full, 70% knew the correct immediate action to take if informed of major incident activation. 76% knew the correct stand-down procedure. 56% knew the correct reporting point but less than 25% knew that an action card system was utilised. Nurses had significantly (p<0.01) more awareness of the policy than doctors. In view of the heightened terrorist threat in London, knowledge of major incident policy is essential. The high percentage of positive responses relating to immediate and stand-down actions reflects the rolling trust-wide MCI education programme and the organisational memory of the trust following several previous MCI in the capital. There is still scope for an improvement in awareness, however, particularly concerning knowledge of action cards, which are now displayed routinely throughout clinical areas and will be incorporated into induction packs.

The psychological well-being and prenatal bonding of gestational surrogates

PubMed Central

Lamba, N; Jadva, V; Kadam, K; Golombok, S

2018-01-01

Abstract STUDY QUESTION How does the psychological well-being and prenatal bonding of Indian surrogates differ from a comparison group of mothers? SUMMARY ANSWER Surrogates had higher levels of depression during pregnancy and post-birth, displayed lower emotional connection with the unborn baby, and greater care towards the healthy growth of the foetus, than the comparison group of mothers. WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN Studies in the West have found that surrogates do not suffer long-term psychological harm. One study has shown that surrogates bond less with the foetus than expectant mothers. STUDY, DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This study uses a prospective, longitudinal and cross-sectional design. Surrogates and a matched group of expectant mothers were seen twice, during 4–9 months of pregnancy and 4–6 months after the birth. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Semi-structured interviews and standardized questionnaires were administered to 50 surrogates and 69 expectant mothers during pregnancy and 45 surrogates and 49 expectant mothers post-birth. All gestational surrogates were hosting pregnancies for international intended parents. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Surrogates had higher levels of depression compared to the comparison group of mothers, during pregnancy and post-birth (P < 0.02). Low social support during pregnancy, hiding surrogacy and criticism from others were found to be predictive of higher depression in surrogates post-birth (P < 0.05). Regarding prenatal bonding, surrogates interacted less with and thought less about the foetus but adopted better eating habits and were more likely to avoid unhealthy practices during pregnancy, than expectant mothers (P < 0.05). No associations were found between greater prenatal bonding and greater psychological distress during pregnancy or after relinquishment. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION All surrogates were recruited from one clinic in Mumbai, and thus the representativeness of this sample is not known. Also, the possibility of socially desirable responding from surrogates cannot be ruled out. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS As this is the first study of the psychological well-being of surrogates in low-income countries, the findings have important policy implications. Providing support and counselling to surrogates, especially during pregnancy, may alleviate some of the psychological problems faced by surrogates. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study was supported by the Wellcome Trust [097857/Z/11/Z] and Nehru Trust, Cambridge. K.K. is the Medical Director of Corion Fertility Clinic. All other authors have no conflict of interest to declare. PMID:29566176

Using Reputation Based Trust to Overcome Malfunctions and Malicious Failures in Electric Power Protection Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

concert with a physical attack. Additionally, the importance of preventive measures implemented by a social human network to counteract a cyber attack...integrity of the data stored on specific computers. This coordinated cyber attack would have been successful if not for the trusted social network...established by Mr. Hillar Aarelaid, head of the Estonian computer 6 emergency response team (CERT). This social network consisted of Mr. Hillar Aarelaid

Ego depletion decreases trust in economic decision making

PubMed Central

Ainsworth, Sarah E.; Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D.; Ariely, Dan

2014-01-01

Three experiments tested the effects of ego depletion on economic decision making. Participants completed a task either requiring self-control or not. Then participants learned about the trust game, in which senders are given an initial allocation of $10 to split between themselves and another person, the receiver. The receiver receives triple the amount given and can send any, all, or none of the tripled money back to the sender. Participants were assigned the role of the sender and decided how to split the initial allocation. Giving less money, and therefore not trusting the receiver, is the safe, less risky response. Participants who had exerted self-control and were depleted gave the receiver less money than those in the non-depletion condition (Experiment 1). This effect was replicated and moderated in two additional experiments. Depletion again led to lower amounts given (less trust), but primarily among participants who were told they would never meet the receiver (Experiment 2) or who were given no information about how similar they were to the receiver (Experiment 3). Amounts given did not differ for depleted and non-depleted participants who either expected to meet the receiver (Experiment 2) or were led to believe that they were very similar to the receiver (Experiment 3). Decreased trust among depleted participants was strongest among neurotics. These results imply that self-control facilitates behavioral trust, especially when no other cues signal decreased social risk in trusting, such as if an actual or possible relationship with the receiver were suggested. PMID:25013237

Predators and the public trust.

PubMed

Treves, Adrian; Chapron, Guillaume; López-Bao, Jose V; Shoemaker, Chase; Goeckner, Apollonia R; Bruskotter, Jeremy T

2017-02-01

Many democratic governments recognize a duty to conserve environmental resources, including wild animals, as a public trust for current and future citizens. These public trust principles have informed two centuries of U.S.A. Supreme Court decisions and environmental laws worldwide. Nevertheless numerous populations of large-bodied, mammalian carnivores (predators) were eradicated in the 20th century. Environmental movements and strict legal protections have fostered predator recoveries across the U.S.A. and Europe since the 1970s. Now subnational jurisdictions are regaining management authority from central governments for their predator subpopulations. Will the history of local eradication repeat or will these jurisdictions adopt public trust thinking and their obligation to broad public interests over narrower ones? We review the role of public trust principles in the restoration and preservation of controversial species. In so doing we argue for the essential roles of scientists from many disciplines concerned with biological diversity and its conservation. We look beyond species endangerment to future generations' interests in sustainability, particularly non-consumptive uses. Although our conclusions apply to all wild organisms, we focus on predators because of the particular challenges they pose for government trustees, trust managers, and society. Gray wolves Canis lupus L. deserve particular attention, because detailed information and abundant policy debates across regions have exposed four important challenges for preserving predators in the face of interest group hostility. One challenge is uncertainty and varied interpretations about public trustees' responsibilities for wildlife, which have created a mosaic of policies across jurisdictions. We explore how such mosaics have merits and drawbacks for biodiversity. The other three challenges to conserving wildlife as public trust assets are illuminated by the biology of predators and the interacting behavioural ecologies of humans and predators. The scientific community has not reached consensus on sustainable levels of human-caused mortality for many predator populations. This challenge includes both genuine conceptual uncertainty and exploitation of scientific debate for political gain. Second, human intolerance for predators exposes value conflicts about preferences for some wildlife over others and balancing majority rule with the protection of minorities in a democracy. We examine how differences between traditional assumptions and scientific studies of interactions between people and predators impede evidence-based policy. Even if the prior challenges can be overcome, well-reasoned policy on wild animals faces a greater challenge than other environmental assets because animals and humans change behaviour in response to each other in the short term. These coupled, dynamic responses exacerbate clashes between uses that deplete wildlife and uses that enhance or preserve wildlife. Viewed in this way, environmental assets demand sophisticated, careful accounting by disinterested trustees who can both understand the multidisciplinary scientific measurements of relative costs and benefits among competing uses, and justly balance the needs of all beneficiaries including future generations. Without public trust principles, future trustees will seldom prevail against narrow, powerful, and undemocratic interests. Without conservation informed by public trust thinking predator populations will face repeated cycles of eradication and recovery. Our conclusions have implications for the many subfields of the biological sciences that address environmental trust assets from the atmosphere to aquifers. © 2015 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.

The national bowel cancer audit project: the impact of organisational structure on outcome in operative bowel cancer within the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Cornish, J A; Tekkis, P P; Tan, E; Tilney, H S; Thompson, M R; Smith, J J

2011-06-01

To investigate the relationship between organisational structure, process and surgical outcomes for bowel cancer surgery. An e-survey was sent to the members of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland to determine the organisational structure of their Trusts. Responses were combined with the National Bowel Cancer Audit (NBOCAP) data. Items investigated included; number of consultants, nurse specialists, volume of cases and intensive care facilities. Main outcome measures included: 30-day risk-adjusted mortality, length of stay (LOS), lymph node yield and circumferential margin involvement (CRM). One hundred and seventeen Trusts responded (65.8%), matched to 7666 patient episodes (NBOCAP data) from 54 (62.8%)Trusts who submitted data to the audit. Trusts treating <190 cases/annum (p > 0.001), <4 colorectal consultants (p > 0.001), <4 HDU beds (p > 0001) and <8 ITU beds (p > 0001) were more likely to have a 30-day-risk-adjusted mortality twice that of the national mean. Sixty five percent (n = 1603) of Trusts treating ≥ 190 cases/annum harvested ≥ 12 lymph nodes vs. 58.3% (n = 1435) in Trusts <190 cases/annum (p < 0.001). Trusts with ≥ 2 pathologists with an interest in bowel cancer harvested ≥ 12 lymph nodes more frequently (p=<0.001) and were more likely to identify extramural vascular invasion in the specimen (p = 0.015). Negative CRM was achieved in 81.4% (n = 81.4) of patients in Trusts treating ≥ 190 cases vs. 66.5% (n = 569) in Trusts<190 cases/annum (p < 0.001). Trusts offering fast track discharge were more likely to have a LOS < 15 days (p = 0.006). Surgeons treating ≤ 35 cases/annum had increased major post-operative complications (<35 cases = 70.2% vs. ≥ 35 cases = 21.9%; p < 0.001), however 30 day risk adjusted mortality was not increased in surgeons treating <35 cases/annum. This study shows that the organisational infrastructure of hospitals appears to have as great an impact on patient outcomes as the volume of cases performed by hospital Trusts. Crown Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Revisiting Frank-Starling: regulatory light chain phosphorylation alters the rate of force redevelopment (ktr ) in a length-dependent fashion.

PubMed

Toepfer, Christopher N; West, Timothy G; Ferenczi, Michael A

2016-09-15

Regulatory light chain (RLC) phosphorylation has been shown to alter the ability of muscle to produce force and power during shortening and to alter the rate of force redevelopment (ktr ) at submaximal [Ca(2+) ]. Increasing RLC phosphorylation ∼50% from the in vivo level in maximally [Ca(2+) ]-activated cardiac trabecula accelerates ktr . Decreasing RLC phosphorylation to ∼70% of the in vivo control level slows ktr and reduces force generation. ktr is dependent on sarcomere length in the physiological range 1.85-1.94 μm and RLC phosphorylation modulates this response. We demonstrate that Frank-Starling is evident at maximal [Ca(2+) ] activation and therefore does not necessarily require length-dependent change in [Ca(2+) ]-sensitivity of thin filament activation. The stretch response is modulated by changes in RLC phosphorylation, pinpointing RLC phosphorylation as a modulator of the Frank-Starling law in the heart. These data provide an explanation for slowed systolic function in the intact heart in response to RLC phosphorylation reduction. Force and power in cardiac muscle have a known dependence on phosphorylation of the myosin-associated regulatory light chain (RLC). We explore the effect of RLC phosphorylation on the ability of cardiac preparations to redevelop force (ktr ) in maximally activating [Ca(2+) ]. Activation was achieved by rapidly increasing the temperature (temperature-jump of 0.5-20ºC) of permeabilized trabeculae over a physiological range of sarcomere lengths (1.85-1.94 μm). The trabeculae were subjected to shortening ramps over a range of velocities and the extent of RLC phosphorylation was varied. The latter was achieved using an RLC-exchange technique, which avoids changes in the phosphorylation level of other proteins. The results show that increasing RLC phosphorylation by 50% accelerates ktr by ∼50%, irrespective of the sarcomere length, whereas decreasing phosphorylation by 30% slows ktr by ∼50%, relative to the ktr obtained for in vivo phosphorylation. Clearly, phosphorylation affects the magnitude of ktr following step shortening or ramp shortening. Using a two-state model, we explore the effect of RLC phosphorylation on the kinetics of force development, which proposes that phosphorylation affects the kinetics of both attachment and detachment of cross-bridges. In summary, RLC phosphorylation affects the rate and extent of force redevelopment. These findings were obtained in maximally activated muscle at saturating [Ca(2+) ] and are not explained by changes in the Ca(2+) -sensitivity of acto-myosin interactions. The length-dependence of the rate of force redevelopment, together with the modulation by the state of RLC phosphorylation, suggests that these effects play a role in the Frank-Starling law of the heart. © 2016 Wellcome Trust The Journal of Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.

Romantic Relationship Advice from Anonymous Online Helpers: The Peer Support Adolescents Exchange

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jung-Eun; Weinstein, Emily C.; Selman, Robert L.

2017-01-01

This empirical study investigates adolescents' responses to peers' personal accounts of romantic relationship difficulties posted to an online forum. We analyze 440 anonymous responses to personal accounts of four romantic relationship issues: controlling partners, break-ups, trust issues, and partner cruelty. Responses were categorized, in order…

A survey of the health needs of hospital staff: implications for health care managers.

PubMed

Jinks, Annette M; Lawson, Valerie; Daniels, Ruth

2003-09-01

Developing strategies to address the health needs of the National Health Services (NHS) workforce are of concern to many health care managers. Focal to the development of such strategies are of being in receipt of baseline information about employees expressed health needs and concerns. This article addresses obtaining such baseline information and presents the findings of a health needs survey of acute hospital staff in a trust in North Wales. The total population of trust employees were surveyed (n = 2300) and a 44% (n = 1021) response rate was achieved. A number of positive findings are given. Included are that the majority of those surveyed stated that their current health status is good, are motivated to improve their health further, do not smoke and their alcohol consumption is within recommended levels. There appears, however, to be a number of areas where trust managers can help its staff improve their health. Included are trust initiatives that focus on weight control and taking more exercise. In addition, there appears to be a reported lack of knowledge and positive health behaviour amongst the male respondents surveyed that would imply the trust needs to be more effective in promoting well man type issues. Finally there appears to be a general lack of pride in working for the trust and a pervasive feeling that the trust does not care about its employees that needs to be addressed. It is concluded that the findings of this survey have implications for management practices in the trust where the survey was conducted and also wider applicability to the management of health care professionals. For example, addressing work-related psychological and physical problems of employees are of importance to all health care managers. This is especially so when considering recruitment and retention issues.

The interleukin-6 receptor as a target for prevention of coronary heart disease: a mendelian randomisation analysis

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Summary Background A high circulating concentration of interleukin 6 is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease. Blockade of the interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R) with a monoclonal antibody (tocilizumab) licensed for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis reduces systemic and articular inflammation. However, whether IL6R blockade also reduces risk of coronary heart disease is unknown. Methods Applying the mendelian randomisation principle, we used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene IL6R to evaluate the likely efficacy and safety of IL6R inhibition for primary prevention of coronary heart disease. We compared genetic findings with the effects of tocilizumab reported in randomised trials in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Findings In 40 studies including up to 133 449 individuals, an IL6R SNP (rs7529229) marking a non-synonymous IL6R variant (rs8192284; p.Asp358Ala) was associated with increased circulating log interleukin-6 concentration (increase per allele 9·45%, 95% CI 8·34–10·57) as well as reduced C-reactive protein (decrease per allele 8·35%, 95% CI 7·31–9·38) and fibrinogen concentrations (decrease per allele 0·85%, 95% CI 0·60–1·10). This pattern of effects was consistent with IL6R blockade from infusions of tocilizumab (4–8 mg/kg every 4 weeks) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis studied in randomised trials. In 25 458 coronary heart disease cases and 100 740 controls, the IL6R rs7529229 SNP was associated with a decreased odds of coronary heart disease events (per allele odds ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·93–0·97, p=1·53×10−5). Interpretation On the basis of genetic evidence in human beings, IL6R signalling seems to have a causal role in development of coronary heart disease. IL6R blockade could provide a novel therapeutic approach to prevention of coronary heart disease that warrants testing in suitably powered randomised trials. Genetic studies in populations could be used more widely to help to validate and prioritise novel drug targets or to repurpose existing agents and targets for new therapeutic uses. Funding UK Medical Research Council; British Heart Foundation; Rosetrees Trust; US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Du Pont Pharma; Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland; Wellcome Trust; Coronary Thrombosis Trust; Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research; UCLH/UCL Comprehensive Medical Research Centre; US National Institute on Aging; Academy of Finland; Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; SANCO; Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports; World Cancer Research Fund; Agentschap NL; European Commission; Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation; Swedish Research Council; Strategic Cardiovascular Programme of the Karolinska Institutet; Stockholm County Council; US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; MedStar Health Research Institute; GlaxoSmithKline; Dutch Kidney Foundation; US National Institutes of Health; Netherlands Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands; Diabetes UK; European Union Seventh Framework Programme; National Institute for Healthy Ageing; Cancer Research UK; MacArthur Foundation. PMID:22421340

An analysis of relationships among transformational leadership, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational trust in two Turkish hospitals.

PubMed

Top, Mehmet; Tarcan, Menderes; Tekingündüz, Sabahattin; Hikmet, Neşet

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among employee organizational commitment, organizational trust, job satisfaction and employees' perceptions of their immediate supervisors' transformational leadership behaviors in Turkey. First, this study examined the relationships among organizational commitment, organizational trust, job satisfaction and transformational leadership in two Turkish public hospitals. Second, this investigation examined how job satisfaction, organizational trust and transformational leadership affect organizational commitment. Moreover, it was aimed to investigate how organizational commitment, job satisfaction and transformational leadership affect organizational trust. A quantitative, cross-sectional method, self-administered questionnaire was used for this study. Eight hundred four employees from two public hospitals in Turkey were recruited for collecting data. The overall response rate was 38.14%. The measurement instruments of survey were the Job Satisfaction Survey (developed by P. Spector), the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (developed by J. Meyer and N. Allen), the Organizational Trust Inventory-short form (developed by L. Cummings and P. Bromiley) and the Transformational Leadership Inventory (TLI) (developed by P. M. Podsakoff). Five-point Likert scales were used in these measurement instruments. Correlation test (the Pearson's rank test) was used to examine relationships between variables. Also, multiple regression analysis was used to determine the regressors for organizational commitment and organizational trust. There were significant relationships among overall job satisfaction, overall transformational leadership and organizational trust. Regression analyses showed that organizational trust and two job satisfaction dimensions (contingent rewards and communication) were significant predictors for organizational commitment. It was found that one transformational leadership dimension (articulating a vision), two job satisfaction dimensions (pay and supervision) and two organizational commitment dimensions (affective commitment and normative commitment) were significant regressors for organizational trust. There is a lack of research in the health organizations regarding organizational commitment, organizational trust, job satisfaction and transformational leadership. The investigator of the proposed study intends to add to the literature and intends to prove that the proposed study would be important for healthcare organizations. A number of specific measures should be undertaken to reduce factors that negatively affect organizational commitment, organizational trust and job satisfaction of hospital personnel and to improve transformational leadership behaviors of hospital administrators. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abandoned Uranium Mine (AUM) Trust Mine Points, Navajo Nation, 2016, US EPA Region 9

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This GIS dataset contains point features that represent mines included in the Navajo Environmental Response Trust. This mine category also includes Priority mines. USEPA and NNEPA prioritized mines based on gamma radiation levels, proximity to homes and potential for water contamination identified in the preliminary assessments. Attributes include mine names, reclaimed status, links to US EPA AUM reports, and the region in which the mine is located. This dataset contains 19 features.

Facilitation of Risk Communication During the Anthrax Attacks of 2001: The Organizational Backstory

PubMed Central

Chess, Caron; Clarke, Lee

2007-01-01

The anthrax attacks of 2001 created risk communication problems that cannot be fully understood without appreciating the dynamics among organizations. Case studies of communication in New Jersey, consisting of interviews with a range of participants, found that existing organizational and professional networks facilitated trust among decisionmakers. This interpersonal trust improved communication among agencies and thereby risk communication with the public. For example, “white powder scares” were a problem even in places without contamination. Professionals’ trust in each other was vital for responding productively. Conversely, organizational challenges, including conflict among agencies, hindered communication with key audiences. Although centralization and increased control are often seen as the remedy for communicative confusion, they also can quash the improvisational responses needed during crises. PMID:17666692

Facilitation of risk communication during the anthrax attacks of 2001: the organizational backstory.

PubMed

Chess, Caron; Clarke, Lee

2007-09-01

The anthrax attacks of 2001 created risk communication problems that cannot be fully understood without appreciating the dynamics among organizations. Case studies of communication in New Jersey, consisting of interviews with a range of participants, found that existing organizational and professional networks facilitated trust among decisionmakers. This interpersonal trust improved communication among agencies and thereby risk communication with the public. For example, "white powder scares" were a problem even in places without contamination. Professionals' trust in each other was vital for responding productively. Conversely, organizational challenges, including conflict among agencies, hindered communication with key audiences. Although centralization and increased control are often seen as the remedy for communicative confusion, they also can quash the improvisational responses needed during crises.

On the association of field dependence-independence with personality, learning style, and social-political attitudes among adolescents.

PubMed

DeBell, Matthew; Crystal, David S

2005-12-01

This study examined the relationship between scores on field dependence and field independence and sensory learning preference, cognitive learning style, personality, interpersonal trust, attributions of responsibility for solving social problems, and attitudes regarding citizenship among youth. Participants were 72 private school students in Grades 6 through 12 (26 girls, 46 boys; M age: 15.2 yr., SD=1.9). When controlling for grade and sex, field independence (measured by Group Embedded Figures Test scores) was associated with Intuitive Thinking personality, Concrete lobal learning style, and rejection of individual responsibility for social problems, relative to governmental and community responsibility. Associations with other aspects of learning style fell short of significance. No association was found with generalized trust or citizenship attitudes. Reassessment of these variables with a larger sample should be undertaken.

Sick Note to Fit Note: one trust’s project to improve usage by hospital clinicians

PubMed Central

Moran, Amy; Mainwaring, Cathryn; Keane, Oliver; Sanctuary, Thomas; Watson, Kathryn; Lasoye, Tunji

2018-01-01

Introduction In April 2010, the government introduced a new Statement of Fitness to Work or ’Fit Note' for patients requiring time off of work or adaptations to their work due to illness. Responsibility to issue these documents has shifted from primary to secondary care. Hospital clinicians are required to issue for inpatients and for outpatients where clinical responsibility has not been taken over by the general practitioner (GP). However, awareness of this change is lacking. Misdirecting patients to their GP for the sole purpose of receiving a ’Fit Note' is an unnecessary use of appointment time and negatively impacts on patients. King’s College Hospital NHS Trust receives a number of quality alerts from primary care regarding this issue. Methods A trust-wide educational initiative was designed and implemented to increase staff awareness of Fit Notes and their correct usage in order to reduce the number of patients being misdirected to their GP to obtain one. Interventions included direct staff engagement, a trust-wide promotional campaign and creation of an electronic version of the document. Results Uptake of the electronic version of the Fit Note has steadily increased and there has been a fall in the number of quality alerts received by the trust. However, staff awareness on the whole remains low. Conclusions Patients being misdirected to their general practice for Fit Notes is an important issue and one on which the baseline level of awareness among hospital clinicians is low. Challenges during this intervention have been in penetrating a trust of this size and getting the message across to staff. However, digitising the Fit Note can help to increase its use. PMID:29333499

An international study of hospitalized cancer patients' health status, nursing care quality, perceived individuality in care and trust in nurses: A path analysis.

PubMed

Charalambous, Andreas; Radwin, Laurel; Berg, Agneta; Sjovall, Katarina; Patiraki, Elisabeth; Lemonidou, Chryssoula; Katajisto, Jouko; Suhonen, Riitta

2016-09-01

Providing high quality nursing care for patients with malignancies is complex and driven by many factors. Many of the associations between nursing care quality, trust, health status and individualized care remain obscure. To empirically test a model of association linking hospitalized cancer patients' health status, nursing care quality, perceived individuality in care and trust in nurses. A cross-sectional, exploratory and correlational study design was used. This multi-site study was conducted in cancer care clinics, in-patient wards of five tertiary care hospitals in Cyprus, Finland, Greece and Sweden. Out of 876 hospitalized patients with a confirmed histopathological diagnosis of cancer approached to participate in the study in consecutive order, 599 (response rate 68%) agreed to participate and the data from 590 were used for path analysis. Data were collected in 2012-2013 with the Individualized Care Scale-Patient (ICS-Patient), the Oncology Patients' Perceptions of Quality Nursing Care Scale (OPPQNCS), the Euro-Qol (EQ-5D-3L) and the Trust in Nurses Scale. Data were analysed statistically using descriptive and inferential statistics. Mplus version 7.11 was used to determine the best Trust model with path analysis. Although the model fit indices suggested that the hypothesized model did not perfectly to the data, a slightly modified model which includes the reciprocal path between individualized care and nursing care quality demonstrated a good fit. A model of trust in nurses was developed. Health status, individualized care, and nursing care quality were found to be associated with trust. The model highlights the complexity of caring for cancer patients. Trust in nurses is influenced by the provision of individualized care. Generating and promoting trust requires interventions, which promote nursing care quality, individuality and patients' health status. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Perceptions of Health Care: Does Health Plan Type Matter?

PubMed Central

Hunt, Kelly A; Gaba, Ayorkor; Lavizzo-Mourey, Risa

2005-01-01

Objective To examine whether racial and ethnic differences in the distribution of individuals across types of health plans explain differences in satisfaction and trust with their physicians. Data Sources Data were derived from the 1998–1999 Community Tracking Household and Followback Studies and consisted of a nationwide sample of adults (18 years and older). Data Collection The data were collected by telephone survey. Surveys were administered in English and Spanish. The response rate for the Household Survey was 63 percent, and the match rate for the Followback Survey was 59 percent. Study Design Multivariate analyses used regression methods to detect independent effects of respondent race and ethnicity on satisfaction and trust with physician, while controlling for enrollment in different types of health plans. Principal Findings Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than whites to have lower levels of trust and satisfaction with their physician. The most prominent differences occurred within the Latino and Native American/Asian American/Pacific Islander/Other (“Other”) populations. Plan type does not mitigate the relationship between race/ethnicity and trust and satisfaction for the overall adult population. Conclusions Disparate levels of trust and satisfaction exist within ethnic and minority populations, even when controlling for the distribution of individuals across types of health plans. The results demonstrate a need to better understand the health care-related factors that drive disparate trust and satisfaction. PMID:15762907

Does corruption undermine trust in health care? Results from public opinion polls in Croatia.

PubMed

Radin, Dagmar

2013-12-01

Health and health care provision are one of the most important topics in public policy, and often a highly debated topic in the political arena. The importance of considering trust in the health care sector is highlighted by studies showing that trust is associated, among others, with poor self-related health, and poorer health outcomes. Similarly, corruption has shown to create economic costs and inefficiencies in the health care sector. This is particularly important for a newly democratized country such as Croatia, where a policy responsive government indicates a high level of quality of democracy (Roberts, 2009) and where a legacy of corruption in the health care sector has been carried over from the previous regime. In this study, I assess the relationship between health care corruption and trust in public health care and hypothesize that experience with health care corruption as well as perception of corruption has a negative effect on trust in public care facilities. Data were collected in two surveys, administered in 2007 and 2009 in Croatia. Experience with corruption and salience with corruption has a negative effect on trust in public health care in the 2007 survey, but not in the 2009 survey. While the results are mixed, they point to the importance of further studying this relationship. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Moderating Role of Age in Responses to Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising.

PubMed

Ball, Jennifer G; Manika, Danae; Stout, Patricia A

2016-01-01

Age is an important factor that can influence processing of and response to health messages. Many studies examining evaluations of and responses to direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising (DTCA) have incorporated age as a predictor variable, moderating variable, or sample criterion. However, findings have been inconsistent. This study attempts to add clarity to this body of research by assessing age differences in the antecedent factors of various DTCA outcomes. A multigroup structural equation modeling analysis revealed several significant differences in variable relationships between older (50+) and younger (<50) adults. Overall, older adults exhibited greater complexity in their consideration of DTCA than younger adults in terms of the sheer number of significant relationships within the model. In particular, trust in mediated health information sources and trust in one's physician appeared to be more relevant predictors for older adults. Trust in DTCA was also distinguished as having an inverse relationship with behavioral intentions among older adults while showing a straightforward positive association with attention among younger adults. Further analysis indicated that health status accounted for some but not all of the age differences. It is suggested that younger adults are more open to seeking additional information following DTCA exposure, whereas older adults remain ambivalent.

Ethical climate as a moderator between organizational trust and whistle-blowing among nurses and secretaries

PubMed Central

Aydan, Seda; Kaya, Sidika

2018-01-01

Objectives: To reveal the effect of perception of ethical climate by nurses and secretaries and their level of organizational trust on their whistleblowing intention. Methods: Nurses and secretaries working in a University Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, were enrolled in the study conducted in 2016. Responses were received from 369 nurses and secretaries working at Clinics and Polyclinics. Path analysis, investigation of structural equation models used while multi-regression analysis was also applied. Results: According to the regression model, ethical climate dimensions, profession, gender, and work place had significant impact on the whistleblowing intention. According to Path analysis, ethical climate had direct impact of 69% on whistleblowing intention. It was seen that organizational trust had an indirect impact of 27% on the whistleblowing score when ethical climate had a moderator role. Conclusion: In order to promote whistleblowing in organizations, it is important to keep the ethical climate perception of employees and the level of their organizational trust at high levels. PMID:29805421

Ethical climate as a moderator between organizational trust and whistle-blowing among nurses and secretaries.

PubMed

Aydan, Seda; Kaya, Sidika

2018-01-01

To reveal the effect of perception of ethical climate by nurses and secretaries and their level of organizational trust on their whistleblowing intention. Nurses and secretaries working in a University Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, were enrolled in the study conducted in 2016. Responses were received from 369 nurses and secretaries working at Clinics and Polyclinics. Path analysis, investigation of structural equation models used while multi-regression analysis was also applied. According to the regression model, ethical climate dimensions, profession, gender, and work place had significant impact on the whistleblowing intention. According to Path analysis, ethical climate had direct impact of 69% on whistleblowing intention. It was seen that organizational trust had an indirect impact of 27% on the whistleblowing score when ethical climate had a moderator role. In order to promote whistleblowing in organizations, it is important to keep the ethical climate perception of employees and the level of their organizational trust at high levels.

Helping yourself helps others: Linking children's emotion regulation to prosocial behavior through sympathy and trust.

PubMed

Song, Ju-Hyun; Colasante, Tyler; Malti, Tina

2018-06-01

Although emotionally well-regulated children are more likely to behave prosocially, the psychological processes that connect their emotion regulation abilities and prosocial behavior are less clear. We tested if other-oriented sympathy and trust mediated the links between emotion regulation capacities (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA], negative emotional intensity, and sadness regulation) and prosocial behavior in an ethnically diverse sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 131; 49% girls). Resting RSA was calculated from children's electrocardiogram data in response to a nondescript video. Sympathy was child and caregiver reported, whereas negative emotional intensity, sadness regulation, trust, and prosocial behavior were caregiver reported. Regardless of age, higher resting RSA was linked to higher sympathy, which was associated with higher prosocial behavior. The positive link between sadness regulation and prosocial behavior was mediated by higher sympathy and trust. Children's other-oriented psychological processes may play important roles in translating certain emotion regulation capacities into prosocial behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between organizational trust and nurse administrators’ productivity in hospitals

PubMed Central

Bahrami, Susan; Hasanpour, Marzieh; Rajaeepour, Saeed; Aghahosseni, Taghi; Hodhodineghad, Nilofar

2012-01-01

Context: Management of health care organizations based on employee’s mutual trust will increase the improvement in functions and tasks. Aims: The present study was performed to investigate the relationship between organizational trust and the nurse administrators’ productivity in educational health centers of in Health-Education Centers of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Settings and Design: This research was a descriptive and correlational study. Materials and Methods: The population included all nurse administrators. In this research, 165 nurses were selected through random sampling method. Data collection instruments were organizational trust questionnaire based on Robbins’s model and productivity questionnaire based on Hersy and Blanchard’s model. Validity of these questionnaires was determined through content validity and their reliability was calculated through Cranach’s alpha. Statistical analysis was used: The data analysis was done using the SPSS (18) statistical software. Results: The indicators of organizational trust such as loyalty, competence, honesty, and stability were more than average level but explicitness indicator was at average level. The components of productivity such as ability, job knowledge, environmental compatibility, performance feedback, and validity were more than average level but motivation factor was at average level and organizational support was less than average level. There were a significant multiple correlations between organizational trust and productivity. Beta coefficients among organizational trust and productivity were significant and no autocorrelation existed and regression model was significant. Conclusions: Committed employees, timely performing the tasks and developing the sense of responsibility among employees can enhance production and productivity in the health care organizations. PMID:23922588

Institutional trust in the national social security and municipal healthcare systems for the elderly in Japan.

PubMed

Murayama, Hiroshi; Taguchi, Atsuko; Ryu, Shuhei; Nagata, Satoko; Murashima, Sachiyo

2012-09-01

Japanese social security systems and institutions for the elderly, as well as the general attitude toward elderly care services among the Japanese population, have been undergoing a dramatic change. By examining the association between institutional trust, which is a representative element of social capital, and anxiety regarding receiving elderly care, we can uncover clues toward building a more robust social security system for the elderly. This study examines the relationship between institutional trust, in the national social security and municipal healthcare systems for the elderly, and anxiety with respect to receiving elderly care among the general Japanese population. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire that was returned by mail in January and February 2005. The target population was 4735 community residents aged 20-75 years, who lived in the city of Koka, Shiga, Japan. A total of 2264 questionnaires were included in the analysis. A binominal logistic regression analysis showed that responses of 'trust' [odds ratio (OR): 2.09, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.01-4.30] and 'strongly trust' (OR: 3.80, 95% CI: 1.55-9.31) for the national system were associated with not having anxiety regarding elderly care, compared with the reference category of feeling strongly distrust. However, trust in the municipal system showed no association with this anxiety. These results indicate the importance of developing strategies to increase a common trust in the national care services for the elderly to reduce the anxiety people feel regarding whether they will be able to receive elderly care when required.

Braving a faceless new world? Conceptualizing trust in the pharmaceutical industry and its products.

PubMed

Brown, Patrick; Calnan, Michael

2012-01-01

Pharmaceutical products are commonly relied upon by professionals, and correspondingly patients, within a wide range of healthcare contexts. This dependence, combined with the inherent risk and uncertainty surrounding both medical practice and the drugs it harnesses, points towards the importance of trust in the pharmaceutical industry--a subject which has been much neglected by researchers. This article begins to address this deficiency by mapping out a conceptual framework which may form a useful basis for future research into this important topic. The often negative portrayal of the pharmaceutical industry in the public sphere belies a state of apparent confidence in its products. The role of prescribing professionals as 'mediators of trust' amid a faceless system of production and, alongside regulators, as bases of assurance in the quality of drugs goes some way towards explaining this contradiction. Recent policy moves towards fostering increased patient 'expertise' and responsibility for illness management, a widening of over-the-counter medication availability and a growing market of products (mainstream and illicit) via the Internet suggest this role of 'facework' in facilitating trust may be becoming more marginal. This heightened requirement for trusting amid the unfamiliar, and an apparent willingness to do so, underlines the need for further research into trust in the industry--both mainstream and underground--and its products. Within this discussion an agenda for furthering our understandings of the political-economy of the pharmaceutical industry becomes apparent, one which might be most effectively approached by way of a broader political-economy of hope and trust.

[The growing importance of ethics in medical care and research].

PubMed

Sass, Hans-Martin

2009-01-01

The integration of medical humanities into future patient care and medical research will become as importance for trust, care and health as the natural sciences were during the last 100 years. In particular, improvements of lay health literacy and responsibility, new forms of physician-nurse partnership and expert-lay interaction, also revisions of clinical research towards models of informed contract will improve trust and health on a global scale, allow for healthier and happier citizens and populations and eventually might reduce health care costs.

An Action Learning Approach to the Question: Are Ambulance Response Time Targets Achievable?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slater, Alan

2017-01-01

In recent years, NHS Ambulance Trusts throughout the UK have consistently failed to achieve their response time targets for both actual and potential life-threatening calls. To avoid a media and public outcry, the NHS response has been to change the basic parameters upon which the response time targets are calculated. An action learning study,…

Measuring and analyzing the causes of problematic Internet use.

PubMed

Chiang, I-Ping; Su, Yung-Hsiang

2012-11-01

Since Internet surfing became a daily activity, people have changed their behavior. This research analyzes the causes of problematic Internet use through an online survey, where 1,094 samples were collected. Based on the results of structural equation modeling analysis, the following conclusions are reached: First, novelty, security, and efficiency increase users' online trust. Second, information and efficiency enhance users' sharing and anonymity online. Third, greater trust in Internet environments leads to an increase in a user's cognitive bias toward online behavioral responsibility and Internet addiction. Fourth, a user's attitude toward online sharing further increases the cognitive bias toward online copyright. Fifth, a user's attitude toward anonymity increases cognitive bias toward online copyright, online behavioral responsibility, and deepens Internet addiction.

Chemical incidents: are we ready in the West Midlands? Testing the communication arrangements of on-call public health doctors.

PubMed

Pooransingh, S; Kibble, A; Saunders, P

2005-01-01

Primary care trusts are responsible for handling major chemical hazards. This includes the testing and exercising of plans in a regular and routine manner. The Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division (Birmingham), which provides a 24-h, 365-day resource for the West Midlands region in the UK, undertook an audit to test the out-of-hours communication arrangements of public health doctors. The audit revealed that there is an urgent need to: (1) review contact details within on-call packs; (2) ensure that doctors performing on-call duties know, at the very least, the names of the primary care trusts/local authorities, county councils/other trusts in the area; and (3) ensure a failsafe method for contacting the person on call for public health.

VLSI Design of Trusted Virtual Sensors.

PubMed

Martínez-Rodríguez, Macarena C; Prada-Delgado, Miguel A; Brox, Piedad; Baturone, Iluminada

2018-01-25

This work presents a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design of trusted virtual sensors providing a minimum unitary cost and very good figures of size, speed and power consumption. The sensed variable is estimated by a virtual sensor based on a configurable and programmable PieceWise-Affine hyper-Rectangular (PWAR) model. An algorithm is presented to find the best values of the programmable parameters given a set of (empirical or simulated) input-output data. The VLSI design of the trusted virtual sensor uses the fast authenticated encryption algorithm, AEGIS, to ensure the integrity of the provided virtual measurement and to encrypt it, and a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) based on a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) to ensure the integrity of the sensor itself. Implementation results of a prototype designed in a 90-nm Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology show that the active silicon area of the trusted virtual sensor is 0.86 mm 2 and its power consumption when trusted sensing at 50 MHz is 7.12 mW. The maximum operation frequency is 85 MHz, which allows response times lower than 0.25 μ s. As application example, the designed prototype was programmed to estimate the yaw rate in a vehicle, obtaining root mean square errors lower than 1.1%. Experimental results of the employed PUF show the robustness of the trusted sensing against aging and variations of the operation conditions, namely, temperature and power supply voltage (final value as well as ramp-up time).

VLSI Design of Trusted Virtual Sensors

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This work presents a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design of trusted virtual sensors providing a minimum unitary cost and very good figures of size, speed and power consumption. The sensed variable is estimated by a virtual sensor based on a configurable and programmable PieceWise-Affine hyper-Rectangular (PWAR) model. An algorithm is presented to find the best values of the programmable parameters given a set of (empirical or simulated) input-output data. The VLSI design of the trusted virtual sensor uses the fast authenticated encryption algorithm, AEGIS, to ensure the integrity of the provided virtual measurement and to encrypt it, and a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) based on a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) to ensure the integrity of the sensor itself. Implementation results of a prototype designed in a 90-nm Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology show that the active silicon area of the trusted virtual sensor is 0.86 mm2 and its power consumption when trusted sensing at 50 MHz is 7.12 mW. The maximum operation frequency is 85 MHz, which allows response times lower than 0.25 μs. As application example, the designed prototype was programmed to estimate the yaw rate in a vehicle, obtaining root mean square errors lower than 1.1%. Experimental results of the employed PUF show the robustness of the trusted sensing against aging and variations of the operation conditions, namely, temperature and power supply voltage (final value as well as ramp-up time). PMID:29370141

Building a framework to manage trust in automation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metcalfe, J. S.; Marathe, A. R.; Haynes, B.; Paul, V. J.; Gremillion, G. M.; Drnec, K.; Atwater, C.; Estepp, J. R.; Lukos, J. R.; Carter, E. C.; Nothwang, W. D.

2017-05-01

All automations must, at some point in their lifecycle, interface with one or more humans. Whether operators, end-users, or bystanders, human responses can determine the perceived utility and acceptance of an automation. It has been long believed that human trust is a primary determinant of human-automation interactions and further presumed that calibrating trust can lead to appropriate choices regarding automation use. However, attempts to improve joint system performance by calibrating trust have not yet provided a generalizable solution. To address this, we identified several factors limiting the direct integration of trust, or metrics thereof, into an active mitigation strategy. The present paper outlines our approach to addressing this important issue, its conceptual underpinnings, and practical challenges encountered in execution. Among the most critical outcomes has been a shift in focus from trust to basic interaction behaviors and their antecedent decisions. This change in focus inspired the development of a testbed and paradigm that was deployed in two experiments of human interactions with driving automation that were executed in an immersive, full-motion simulation environment. Moreover, by integrating a behavior and physiology-based predictor within a novel consequence-based control system, we demonstrated that it is possible to anticipate particular interaction behaviors and influence humans towards more optimal choices about automation use in real time. Importantly, this research provides a fertile foundation for the development and integration of advanced, wearable technologies for sensing and inferring critical state variables for better integration of human elements into otherwise fully autonomous systems.

Mining the human phenome using allelic scores that index biological intermediates.

PubMed

Evans, David M; Brion, Marie Jo A; Paternoster, Lavinia; Kemp, John P; McMahon, George; Munafò, Marcus; Whitfield, John B; Medland, Sarah E; Montgomery, Grant W; Timpson, Nicholas J; St Pourcain, Beate; Lawlor, Debbie A; Martin, Nicholas G; Dehghan, Abbas; Hirschhorn, Joel; Smith, George Davey

2013-10-01

It is common practice in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to focus on the relationship between disease risk and genetic variants one marker at a time. When relevant genes are identified it is often possible to implicate biological intermediates and pathways likely to be involved in disease aetiology. However, single genetic variants typically explain small amounts of disease risk. Our idea is to construct allelic scores that explain greater proportions of the variance in biological intermediates, and subsequently use these scores to data mine GWAS. To investigate the approach's properties, we indexed three biological intermediates where the results of large GWAS meta-analyses were available: body mass index, C-reactive protein and low density lipoprotein levels. We generated allelic scores in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and in publicly available data from the first Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. We compared the explanatory ability of allelic scores in terms of their capacity to proxy for the intermediate of interest, and the extent to which they associated with disease. We found that allelic scores derived from known variants and allelic scores derived from hundreds of thousands of genetic markers explained significant portions of the variance in biological intermediates of interest, and many of these scores showed expected correlations with disease. Genome-wide allelic scores however tended to lack specificity suggesting that they should be used with caution and perhaps only to proxy biological intermediates for which there are no known individual variants. Power calculations confirm the feasibility of extending our strategy to the analysis of tens of thousands of molecular phenotypes in large genome-wide meta-analyses. We conclude that our method represents a simple way in which potentially tens of thousands of molecular phenotypes could be screened for causal relationships with disease without having to expensively measure these variables in individual disease collections.

Preventing Unintended Pregnancy and HIV Transmission: Effects of the HIV Treatment Cascade on Contraceptive Use and Choice in Rural KwaZulu-Natal

PubMed Central

Raifman, Julia; Chetty, Terusha; Tanser, Frank; Mutevedzi, Tinofa; Matthews, Philippa; Herbst, Kobus; Pillay, Deenan

2014-01-01

Background: For women living with HIV, contraception using condoms is recommended because it prevents not only unintended pregnancy but also acquisition of other sexually transmitted infections and onward transmission of HIV. Dual-method dual-protection contraception (condoms with other contraceptive methods) is preferable over single-method dual-protection contraception (condoms alone) because of its higher contraceptive effectiveness. We estimate the effect of progression through the HIV treatment cascade on contraceptive use and choice among HIV-infected women in rural South Africa. Methods: We linked population-based surveillance data on contraception collected by the Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies to data from the local antiretroviral treatment (ART) program in Hlabisa subdistrict, KwaZulu-Natal. In bivariate probit regression, we estimated the effects of progressing through the cascade on contraceptive choice among HIV-infected sexually active women aged 15–49 years (N = 3169), controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. Findings: Contraception use increased across the cascade from <40% among HIV-infected women who did not know their status to >70% among women who have been on ART for 4–7 years. Holding other factors equal (1) awareness of HIV status, (2) ART initiation, and (3) being on ART for 4–7 years increased the likelihood of single-method/dual-method dual protection by the following percentage points (pp), compared with women who were unaware of their HIV status: (1) 4.6 pp (P = 0.030)/3.5 pp (P = 0.001), (2) 10.3 pp (P = 0.003)/5.2 pp (P = 0.007), and (3) 21.6 pp (P < 0.001)/11.2 pp (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Progression through the HIV treatment cascade significantly increased the likelihood of contraception in general and contraception with condoms in particular. ART programs are likely to contribute to HIV prevention through the behavioral pathway of changing contraception use and choice. PMID:25436821

Preventing unintended pregnancy and HIV transmission: effects of the HIV treatment cascade on contraceptive use and choice in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

PubMed

Raifman, Julia; Chetty, Terusha; Tanser, Frank; Mutevedzi, Tinofa; Matthews, Philippa; Herbst, Kobus; Pillay, Deenan; Bärnighausen, Till

2014-12-01

For women living with HIV, contraception using condoms is recommended because it prevents not only unintended pregnancy but also acquisition of other sexually transmitted infections and onward transmission of HIV. Dual-method dual-protection contraception (condoms with other contraceptive methods) is preferable over single-method dual-protection contraception (condoms alone) because of its higher contraceptive effectiveness. We estimate the effect of progression through the HIV treatment cascade on contraceptive use and choice among HIV-infected women in rural South Africa. We linked population-based surveillance data on contraception collected by the Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies to data from the local antiretroviral treatment (ART) program in Hlabisa subdistrict, KwaZulu-Natal. In bivariate probit regression, we estimated the effects of progressing through the cascade on contraceptive choice among HIV-infected sexually active women aged 15-49 years (N = 3169), controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. Contraception use increased across the cascade from <40% among HIV-infected women who did not know their status to >70% among women who have been on ART for 4-7 years. Holding other factors equal (1) awareness of HIV status, (2) ART initiation, and (3) being on ART for 4-7 years increased the likelihood of single-method/dual-method dual protection by the following percentage points (pp), compared with women who were unaware of their HIV status: (1) 4.6 pp (P = 0.030)/3.5 pp (P = 0.001), (2) 10.3 pp (P = 0.003)/5.2 pp (P = 0.007), and (3) 21.6 pp (P < 0.001)/11.2 pp (P < 0.001). Progression through the HIV treatment cascade significantly increased the likelihood of contraception in general and contraception with condoms in particular. ART programs are likely to contribute to HIV prevention through the behavioral pathway of changing contraception use and choice.

iLOCi: a SNP interaction prioritization technique for detecting epistasis in genome-wide association studies

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) do not provide a full account of the heritability of genetic diseases since gene-gene interactions, also known as epistasis are not considered in single locus GWAS. To address this problem, a considerable number of methods have been developed for identifying disease-associated gene-gene interactions. However, these methods typically fail to identify interacting markers explaining more of the disease heritability over single locus GWAS, since many of the interactions significant for disease are obscured by uninformative marker interactions e.g., linkage disequilibrium (LD). Results In this study, we present a novel SNP interaction prioritization algorithm, named iLOCi (Interacting Loci). This algorithm accounts for marker dependencies separately in case and control groups. Disease-associated interactions are then prioritized according to a novel ranking score calculated from the difference in marker dependencies for every possible pair between case and control groups. The analysis of a typical GWAS dataset can be completed in less than a day on a standard workstation with parallel processing capability. The proposed framework was validated using simulated data and applied to real GWAS datasets using the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) data. The results from simulated data showed the ability of iLOCi to identify various types of gene-gene interactions, especially for high-order interaction. From the WTCCC data, we found that among the top ranked interacting SNP pairs, several mapped to genes previously known to be associated with disease, and interestingly, other previously unreported genes with biologically related roles. Conclusion iLOCi is a powerful tool for uncovering true disease interacting markers and thus can provide a more complete understanding of the genetic basis underlying complex disease. The program is available for download at http://www4a.biotec.or.th/GI/tools/iloci. PMID:23281813

The contribution of poor and rural populations to national trends in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health coverage: analyses of cross-sectional surveys from 64 countries.

PubMed

Victora, Cesar G; Barros, Aluisio J D; França, Giovanny V A; da Silva, Inácio C M; Carvajal-Velez, Liliana; Amouzou, Agbessi

2017-04-01

Coverage levels for essential interventions aimed at reducing deaths of mothers and children are increasing steadily in most low-income and middle-income countries. We assessed how much poor and rural populations in these countries are benefiting from national-level progress. We analysed trends in a composite coverage indicator (CCI) based on eight reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health interventions in 209 national surveys in 64 countries, from Jan 1, 1994, to Dec 31, 2014. Trends by wealth quintile and urban or rural residence were fitted with multilevel modelling. We used an approach akin to the calculation of population attributable risk to quantify the contribution of poor and rural populations to national trends. From 1994 to 2014, the CCI increased by 0·82 percent points a year across all countries; households in the two poorest quintiles had an increase of 0·99 percent points a year, which was faster than that for the three wealthiest quintiles (0·68 percent points). Gains among poor populations were faster in lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income countries than in low-income countries. Globally, national level increases in CCI were 17·5% faster than they would have been without the contribution of the two poorest quintiles. Coverage increased more rapidly annually in rural (0·93 percent points) than urban (0·52 percent points) areas. National coverage gains were accelerated by important increases among poor and rural mothers and children. Despite progress, important inequalities persist, and need to be addressed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. UNICEF, Wellcome Trust. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the cardiovascular health effects of a managed aquifer recharge initiative to reduce drinking water salinity in southwest coastal Bangladesh: study design and rationale

PubMed Central

Naser, Abu Mohd; Unicomb, Leanne; Doza, Solaiman; Ahmed, Kazi Matin; Rahman, Mahbubur; Uddin, Mohammad Nasir; Quraishi, Shamshad B; Selim, Shahjada; Shamsudduha, Mohammad; Burgess, William; Chang, Howard H; Gribble, Matthew O; Clasen, Thomas F; Luby, Stephen P

2017-01-01

Introduction Saltwater intrusion and salinisation have contributed to drinking water scarcity in many coastal regions globally, leading to dependence on alternative sources for water supply. In southwest coastal Bangladesh, communities have few options but to drink brackish groundwater which has been associated with high blood pressure among the adult population, and pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension among pregnant women. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR), the purposeful recharge of surface water or rainwater to aquifers to bring hydrological equilibrium, is a potential solution for salinity problem in southwest coastal Bangladesh by creating a freshwater lens within the brackish aquifer. Our study aims to evaluate whether consumption of MAR water improves human health, particularly by reducing blood pressure among communities in coastal Bangladesh. Methods and analysis The study employs a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled community trial design in 16 communities over five monthly visits. During each visit, we will collect data on participants’ source of drinking and cooking water and measure the salinity level and electrical conductivity of household stored water. At each visit, we will also measure the blood pressure of participants ≥20 years of age and pregnant women and collect urine samples for urinary sodium and protein measurements. We will use generalised linear mixed models to determine the association of access to MAR water on blood pressure of the participants. Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Informed written consent will be taken from all the participants. This study is funded by Wellcome Trust, UK. The study findings will be disseminated to the government partners, at research conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number NCT02746003; Pre-results. PMID:28864689

Spread of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum in Myanmar: a cross-sectional survey of the K13 molecular marker.

PubMed

Tun, Kyaw M; Imwong, Mallika; Lwin, Khin M; Win, Aye A; Hlaing, Tin M; Hlaing, Thaung; Lin, Khin; Kyaw, Myat P; Plewes, Katherine; Faiz, M Abul; Dhorda, Mehul; Cheah, Phaik Yeong; Pukrittayakamee, Sasithon; Ashley, Elizabeth A; Anderson, Tim J C; Nair, Shalini; McDew-White, Marina; Flegg, Jennifer A; Grist, Eric P M; Guerin, Philippe; Maude, Richard J; Smithuis, Frank; Dondorp, Arjen M; Day, Nicholas P J; Nosten, François; White, Nicholas J; Woodrow, Charles J

2015-04-01

Emergence of artemisinin resistance in southeast Asia poses a serious threat to the global control of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Discovery of the K13 marker has transformed approaches to the monitoring of artemisinin resistance, allowing introduction of molecular surveillance in remote areas through analysis of DNA. We aimed to assess the spread of artemisinin-resistant P falciparum in Myanmar by determining the relative prevalence of P falciparum parasites carrying K13-propeller mutations. We did this cross-sectional survey at malaria treatment centres at 55 sites in ten administrative regions in Myanmar, and in relevant border regions in Thailand and Bangladesh, between January, 2013, and September, 2014. K13 sequences from P falciparum infections were obtained mainly by passive case detection. We entered data into two geostatistical models to produce predictive maps of the estimated prevalence of mutations of the K13 propeller region across Myanmar. Overall, 371 (39%) of 940 samples carried a K13-propeller mutation. We recorded 26 different mutations, including nine mutations not described previously in southeast Asia. In seven (70%) of the ten administrative regions of Myanmar, the combined K13-mutation prevalence was more than 20%. Geospatial mapping showed that the overall prevalence of K13 mutations exceeded 10% in much of the east and north of the country. In Homalin, Sagaing Region, 25 km from the Indian border, 21 (47%) of 45 parasite samples carried K13-propeller mutations. Artemisinin resistance extends across much of Myanmar. We recorded P falciparum parasites carrying K13-propeller mutations at high prevalence next to the northwestern border with India. Appropriate therapeutic regimens should be tested urgently and implemented comprehensively if spread of artemisinin resistance to other regions is to be avoided. Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2015 Tun et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Variant in the BACH2 Gene Is Associated With Susceptibility to Autoimmune Addison's Disease in Humans.

PubMed

Pazderska, Agnieszka; Oftedal, Bergithe E; Napier, Catherine M; Ainsworth, Holly F; Husebye, Eystein S; Cordell, Heather J; Pearce, Simon H S; Mitchell, Anna L

2016-11-01

Autoimmune Addison's disease (AAD) is a rare but highly heritable condition. The BACH2 protein plays a crucial role in T lymphocyte maturation, and allelic variation in its gene has been associated with a number of autoimmune conditions. We aimed to determine whether alleles of the rs3757247 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the BACH2 gene are associated with AAD. This case-control association study was performed in two phases using Taqman chemistry. In the first phase, the rs3757247 SNP was genotyped in 358 UK AAD subjects and 166 local control subjects. Genotype data were also available from 5154 healthy UK controls from the Wellcome Trust (WTCCC2) for comparison. In the second phase, the SNP was genotyped in a validation cohort comprising 317 Norwegian AAD subjects and 365 controls. The frequency of the minor T allele was significantly higher in subjects with AAD from the United Kingdom compared to both the local and WTCCC2 control cohorts (58% vs 45 and 48%, respectively) (local controls, P = 1.1 × 10 -4 ; odds ratio [OR], 1.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-2.18; WTCCC2 controls, P = 1.4 × 10 -6 ; OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.23-1.69). This finding was replicated in the Norwegian validation cohort (P = .0015; OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.14-1.75). Subgroup analysis showed that this association is present in subjects with both isolated AAD (OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.22-1.92) and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2 (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.12-1.69) in the UK cohort, and with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2 in the Norwegian cohort (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.22-2.06). We have demonstrated, for the first time, that allelic variability at the BACH2 locus is associated with susceptibility to AAD. Given its association with multiple autoimmune conditions, BACH2 can be considered a "universal" autoimmune susceptibility locus.

Improving health research governance and management in the Western Pacific: a WHO expert consultation.

PubMed

Rani, Manju; Bekedam, Hendrik; Buckley, Brian S

2011-11-01

Repeated calls have been made in recent decades to increase investments in health research, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). However, the perceived low relevance and quality of health research, poor visibility of outputs, and difficulties in tracking current levels of and returns on investments have undermined efforts to advocate for additional investments in these countries. Some of these issues emanate from inadequate governance and management systems for health research at the national level, which are ineffective in tracking and steering the research portfolio and investments, ensuring quality, and facilitating access to research outputs. In spite of this, the value, necessity, and cost of performing health research management and governance functions are not well appreciated, especially in LMIC. To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific organized an expert consultation in August 2011, involving experts from 14 of its developed and developing member states and from leading research organizations such as the Wellcome Trust. The consultation identified essential health research governance and management functions that must be performed by appropriate organizational entities to maximize returns on health research investments. In addition, three specific areas for intervention were considered: (1) prospective research registration in publicly accessible national health research registries; (2) systematic health research data archiving and wider access; and (3) national research ethics systems. A consensus was reached on the need to invest more in essential health research and management functions, including establishing publicly accessible web-based national health research registries for prospective registration of health research, setting up systems to archive and share health research data, and improving the governance of research ethics committees. The consultation also concluded that the costs of performing these functions are legitimate and necessary research costs that must be shouldered by research funding organizations. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University.

Epidemiological characteristics of hand-foot-and-mouth disease in China, 2008-2012

PubMed Central

Sun, Junling; Wu, Joseph T; Chang, Zhaorui; Liu, Fengfeng; Fang, Vicky J; Zheng, Yingdong; Cowling, Benjamin J; Varma, Jay K; Farrar, Jeremy J; Leung, Gabriel M; Yu, Hongjie

2014-01-01

Summary Background Hand–foot–and–mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood illness caused by enteroviruses. Increasingly it imposes a substantial disease burden throughout East and Southeast Asia. To better inform vaccine and other interventions, we characterized the epidemiology of HFMD in China based on enhanced surveillance. Methods We extracted epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data from reported HFMD cases during 2008–2012 and compiled climatic, geographic and demographic information. All analyses were stratified by age, disease severity, laboratory confirmation status and enterovirus subtype. Findings The surveillance registry captured 7,200,092 probable HFMD cases (annualized incidence, 1·2 per 1,000), of whom 3·7% were laboratory–confirmed and 0·03% died. Incidence and mortality were highest in children aged 12–23 months (in 2012: 38·2 cases per 1,000 and 1·5 death per 100,000). Median durations from onset to diagnosis and death were 1·5 days and 3·5 days respectively. The risk of cardiopulmonary or neurological complications was 1·1% and the severe-case fatality risk was 3·0%, with >90% of deaths associated with enterovirus 71. HFMD peaked annually in June in the North, whereas Southern China experienced semi-annual outbreaks in May and September/October. Geographic differences in seasonal patterns were weakly associated with climate and demographic factors (variance explained 8-23% and 3–19%, respectively). Interpretation This is the largest population-based study to date of the epidemiology of HFMD. Future mitigation policies should take full account of the heterogeneities of disease burden identified. Additional epidemiologic and serologic studies are warranted to elucidate local HFMD dynamics and immunity patterns and optimize interventions. Funding China–US Collaborative Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases; World Health Organization; The Li Ka Shing Oxford Global Health Programme and Wellcome Trust; Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics; Health and Medical Research Fund, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. PMID:24485991

A hidden two-locus disease association pattern in genome-wide association studies

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Recent association analyses in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) mainly focus on single-locus association tests (marginal tests) and two-locus interaction detections. These analysis methods have provided strong evidence of associations between genetics variances and complex diseases. However, there exists a type of association pattern, which often occurs within local regions in the genome and is unlikely to be detected by either marginal tests or interaction tests. This association pattern involves a group of correlated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The correlation among SNPs can lead to weak marginal effects and the interaction does not play a role in this association pattern. This phenomenon is due to the existence of unfaithfulness: the marginal effects of correlated SNPs do not express their significant joint effects faithfully due to the correlation cancelation. Results In this paper, we develop a computational method to detect this association pattern masked by unfaithfulness. We have applied our method to analyze seven data sets from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC). The analysis for each data set takes about one week to finish the examination of all pairs of SNPs. Based on the empirical result of these real data, we show that this type of association masked by unfaithfulness widely exists in GWAS. Conclusions These newly identified associations enrich the discoveries of GWAS, which may provide new insights both in the analysis of tagSNPs and in the experiment design of GWAS. Since these associations may be easily missed by existing analysis tools, we can only connect some of them to publicly available findings from other association studies. As independent data set is limited at this moment, we also have difficulties to replicate these findings. More biological implications need further investigation. Availability The software is freely available at http://bioinformatics.ust.hk/hidden_pattern_finder.zip. PMID:21569557

The science commons in health research: structure, function, and value.

PubMed

Cook-Deegan, Robert

The "science commons," knowledge that is widely accessible at low or no cost, is a uniquely important input to scientific advance and cumulative technological innovation. It is primarily, although not exclusively, funded by government and nonprofit sources. Much of it is produced at academic research centers, although some academic science is proprietary and some privately funded R&D enters the science commons. Science in general aspires to Mertonian norms of openness, universality, objectivity, and critical inquiry. The science commons diverges from proprietary science primarily in being open and being very broadly available. These features make the science commons particularly valuable for advancing knowledge, for training innovators who will ultimately work in both public and private sectors, and in providing a common stock of knowledge upon which all players-both public and private-can draw readily. Open science plays two important roles that proprietary R&D cannot: it enables practical benefits even in the absence of profitable markets for goods and services, and its lays a shared foundation for subsequent private R&D. The history of genomics in the period 1992-2004, covering two periods when genomic startup firms attracted significant private R&D investment, illustrates these features of how a science commons contributes value. Commercial interest in genomics was intense during this period. Fierce competition between private sector and public sector genomics programs was highly visible. Seemingly anomalous behavior, such as private firms funding "open science," can be explained by unusual business dynamics between established firms wanting to preserve a robust science commons to prevent startup firms from limiting established firms' freedom to operate. Deliberate policies to create and protect a large science commons were pursued by nonprofit and government funders of genomics research, such as the Wellcome Trust and National Institutes of Health. These policies were crucial to keeping genomic data and research tools widely available at low cost.

UK investments in global infectious disease research 1997-2010: a case study.

PubMed

Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph R; Cooke, Mary K; Wurie, Fatima B; Hayward, Andrew C; Atun, Rifat

2013-01-01

Infectious diseases account for 15 million deaths per year worldwide, and disproportionately affect young people, elderly people, and the poorest sections of society. We aimed to describe the investments awarded to UK institutions for infectious disease research. We systematically searched databases and websites for information on research studies from funding institutions and created a comprehensive database of infectious disease research projects for the period 1997-2010. We categorised studies and funding by disease, cross-cutting theme, and by a research and development value chain describing the type of science. Regression analyses were reported with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to establish the relation between research investment, mortality, and disease burden as measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). We identified 6170 funded studies, with a total research investment of UK£2·6 billion. Studies with a clear global health component represented 35·6% of all funding (£927 million). By disease, HIV received £461 million (17·7%), malaria £346 million (13·3%), tuberculosis £149 million (5·7%), influenza £80 million (3·1%), and hepatitis C £60 million (2·3%). We compared funding with disease burden (DALYs and mortality) to show low levels of investment relative to burden for gastrointestinal infections (£254 million, 9·7%), some neglected tropical diseases (£184 million, 7·1%), and antimicrobial resistance (£96 million, 3·7%). Virology was the highest funded category (£1 billion, 38·4%). Leading funding sources were the Wellcome Trust (£688 million, 26·4%) and the Medical Research Council (£673 million, 25·8%). Research funding has to be aligned with prevailing and projected global infectious disease burden. Funding agencies and industry need to openly document their research investments to redress any inequities in resource allocation. None. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the cardiovascular health effects of a managed aquifer recharge initiative to reduce drinking water salinity in southwest coastal Bangladesh: study design and rationale.

PubMed

Naser, Abu Mohd; Unicomb, Leanne; Doza, Solaiman; Ahmed, Kazi Matin; Rahman, Mahbubur; Uddin, Mohammad Nasir; Quraishi, Shamshad B; Selim, Shahjada; Shamsudduha, Mohammad; Burgess, William; Chang, Howard H; Gribble, Matthew O; Clasen, Thomas F; Luby, Stephen P

2017-09-01

Saltwater intrusion and salinisation have contributed to drinking water scarcity in many coastal regions globally, leading to dependence on alternative sources for water supply. In southwest coastal Bangladesh, communities have few options but to drink brackish groundwater which has been associated with high blood pressure among the adult population, and pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension among pregnant women. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR), the purposeful recharge of surface water or rainwater to aquifers to bring hydrological equilibrium, is a potential solution for salinity problem in southwest coastal Bangladesh by creating a freshwater lens within the brackish aquifer. Our study aims to evaluate whether consumption of MAR water improves human health, particularly by reducing blood pressure among communities in coastal Bangladesh. The study employs a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled community trial design in 16 communities over five monthly visits. During each visit, we will collect data on participants' source of drinking and cooking water and measure the salinity level and electrical conductivity of household stored water. At each visit, we will also measure the blood pressure of participants ≥20 years of age and pregnant women and collect urine samples for urinary sodium and protein measurements. We will use generalised linear mixed models to determine the association of access to MAR water on blood pressure of the participants. The study protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Informed written consent will be taken from all the participants. This study is funded by Wellcome Trust, UK. The study findings will be disseminated to the government partners, at research conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. NCT02746003; Pre-results. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Providing a conceptual framework for HIV prevention cascades and assessing feasibility of empirical measurement with data from east Zimbabwe: a case study.

PubMed

Garnett, Geoffrey P; Hallett, Timothy B; Takaruza, Albert; Hargreaves, James; Rhead, Rebecca; Warren, Mitchel; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon

2016-07-01

The HIV treatment cascade illustrates the steps required for successful treatment and is a powerful advocacy and monitoring tool. Similar cascades for people susceptible to infection could improve HIV prevention programming. We aim to show the feasibility of using cascade models to monitor prevention programmes. Conceptual prevention cascades are described taking intervention-centric and client-centric perspectives to look at supply, demand, and efficacy of interventions. Data from two rounds of a population-based study in east Zimbabwe are used to derive the values of steps for cascades for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and for partner reduction or condom use driven by HIV testing and counselling (HTC). In 2009 to 2011 the availability of circumcision services was negligible, but by 2012 to 2013 about a third of the population had access. However, where it was available only 12% of eligible men sought to be circumcised leading to an increase in circumcision prevalence from 3·1% to 6·9%. Of uninfected men, 85·3% did not perceive themselves to be at risk of acquiring HIV. The proportions of men and women tested for HIV increased from 27·5% to 56·6% and from 61·1% to 79·6%, respectively, with 30·4% of men tested self-reporting reduced sexual partner numbers and 12·8% reporting increased condom use. Prevention cascades can be populated to inform HIV prevention programmes. In eastern Zimbabwe programmes need to provide greater access to circumcision services and the design and implementation of associated demand creation activities. Whereas, HTC services need to consider how to increase reductions in partner numbers or increased condom use or should not be considered as contributing to prevention services for the HIV-negative adults. Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2016 Garnett et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The geography of imported malaria to non-endemic countries: a meta-analysis of nationally reported statistics.

PubMed

Tatem, Andrew J; Jia, Peng; Ordanovich, Dariya; Falkner, Michael; Huang, Zhuojie; Howes, Rosalind; Hay, Simon I; Gething, Peter W; Smith, David L

2017-01-01

Malaria remains a problem for many countries classified as malaria free through cases imported from endemic regions. Imported cases to non-endemic countries often result in delays in diagnosis, are expensive to treat, and can sometimes cause secondary local transmission. The movement of malaria in endemic countries has also contributed to the spread of drug resistance and threatens long-term eradication goals. Here we focused on quantifying the international movements of malaria to improve our understanding of these phenomena and facilitate the design of mitigation strategies. In this meta-analysis, we studied the database of publicly available nationally reported statistics on imported malaria in the past 10 years, covering more than 50 000 individual cases. We obtained data from 40 non-endemic countries and recorded the geographical variations. Infection movements were strongly skewed towards a small number of high-traffic routes between 2005 and 2015, with the west Africa region accounting for 56% (13 947/24 941) of all imported cases to non-endemic countries with a reported travel destination, and France and the UK receiving the highest number of cases, with more than 4000 reported cases per year on average. Countries strongly linked by movements of imported cases are grouped by historical, language, and travel ties. There is strong spatial clustering of plasmodium species types. The architecture of the air network, historical ties, demographics of travellers, and malaria endemicity contribute to highly heterogeneous patterns of numbers, routes, and species compositions of parasites transported. With global malaria eradication on the international agenda, malaria control altering local transmission, and the threat of drug resistance, understanding these patterns and their drivers is increasing in importance. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health, UK Medical Research Council, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Systematic analysis of funding awarded for mycology research to institutions in the UK, 1997–2010

PubMed Central

Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph R; Atun, Rifat; May, Robin C

2014-01-01

Objectives Fungal infections cause significant global morbidity and mortality. We have previously described the UK investments in global infectious disease research, and here our objective is to describe the investments awarded to UK institutions for mycology research and outline potential funding gaps in the UK portfolio. Design Systematic analysis. Setting UK institutions carrying out infectious disease research. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome is the amount of funding and number of studies related to mycology research. Secondary outcomes are describing the investments made to specific fungal pathogens and diseases, and also the type of science along the R&D value chain. Methods We systematically searched databases and websites for information on research studies from public and philanthropic funding institutions awarded between 1997 and 2010, and highlighted the mycology-related projects. Results Of 6165 funded studies, we identified 171 studies related to mycology (total investment £48.4 million, 1.9% of all infection research, with mean annual funding £3.5 million). Studies related to global health represented 5.1% of this funding (£2.4 million, compared with 35.6% of all infectious diseases). Leading funders were the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (£14.8 million, 30.5%) and Wellcome Trust (£12.0 million, 24.7%). Preclinical studies received £42.2 million (87.3%), with clinical trials, intervention studies and implementation research in total receiving £6.2 million (12.7%). By institution, University of Aberdeen received most funding (£16.9 million, 35%). Studies investigating antifungal resistance received £1.5 million (3.2%). Conclusions There is little translation of preclinical research into clinical trials or implementation research in spite of substantial disease burden globally, and there are few UK institutions that carry out significant quantities of mycology research of any type. In the context of global health and the burden of disease in low-income countries, more investment is required for mycology research. PMID:24413353

CHEK2, MGMT, SULT1E1 and SULT1A1 polymorphisms and endometrial cancer risk.

PubMed

O'Mara, Tracy A; Ferguson, Kaltin; Fahey, Paul; Marquart, Louise; Yang, Hannah P; Lissowska, Jolanta; Chanock, Stephen; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Thompson, Deborah J; Healey, Catherine S; Dunning, Alison M; Easton, Douglas F; Webb, Penelope M; Spurdle, Amanda B

2011-08-01

Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes of DNA repair and hormone pathways have been reported to be associated with endometrial cancer risk. We sought to confirm these associations in two endometrial cancer case-control sample sets and used additional data from an existing genome-wide association study to prioritize an additional SNP for further study. Five SNPs from the CHEK2, MGMT, SULT1E1 and SULT1A1 genes, genotyped in a total of 1597 cases and 1507 controls from two case-control studies, the Australian National Endometrial Cancer Study and the Polish Endometrial Cancer Study, were assessed for association with endometrial cancer risk using logistic regression analysis. Imputed data was drawn for CHEK2 rs8135424 for 666 cases from the Study of Epidemiology and Risk factors in Cancer Heredity study and 5190 controls from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. We observed no association between SNPs in the MGMT, SULT1E1 and SULT1A1 genes and endometrial cancer risk. The A allele of the rs8135424 CHEK2 SNP was associated with decreased risk of endometrial cancer (adjusted per-allele OR 0.83; 95%CI 0.70-0.98; p = .03) however this finding was opposite to that previously published. Imputed data for CHEK2 rs8135424 supported the direction of effect reported in this study (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.65-1.10). Previously reported endometrial cancer risk associations with SNPs from in genes involved in estrogen metabolism and DNA repair were not replicated in our larger study population. This study highlights the need for replication of candidate gene SNP studies using large sample groups, to confirm risk associations and better prioritize downstream studies to assess the causal relationship between genetic variants and cancer risk. Our findings suggest that the CHEK2 SNP rs8135424 be prioritized for further study as a genetic factor associated with risk of endometrial cancer.

Systematic analysis of funding awarded for mycology research to institutions in the UK, 1997-2010.

PubMed

Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph R; Atun, Rifat; May, Robin C

2014-01-09

Fungal infections cause significant global morbidity and mortality. We have previously described the UK investments in global infectious disease research, and here our objective is to describe the investments awarded to UK institutions for mycology research and outline potential funding gaps in the UK portfolio. Systematic analysis. UK institutions carrying out infectious disease research. Primary outcome is the amount of funding and number of studies related to mycology research. Secondary outcomes are describing the investments made to specific fungal pathogens and diseases, and also the type of science along the R&D value chain. We systematically searched databases and websites for information on research studies from public and philanthropic funding institutions awarded between 1997 and 2010, and highlighted the mycology-related projects. Of 6165 funded studies, we identified 171 studies related to mycology (total investment £48.4 million, 1.9% of all infection research, with mean annual funding £3.5 million). Studies related to global health represented 5.1% of this funding (£2.4 million, compared with 35.6% of all infectious diseases). Leading funders were the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (£14.8 million, 30.5%) and Wellcome Trust (£12.0 million, 24.7%). Preclinical studies received £42.2 million (87.3%), with clinical trials, intervention studies and implementation research in total receiving £6.2 million (12.7%). By institution, University of Aberdeen received most funding (£16.9 million, 35%). Studies investigating antifungal resistance received £1.5 million (3.2%). There is little translation of preclinical research into clinical trials or implementation research in spite of substantial disease burden globally, and there are few UK institutions that carry out significant quantities of mycology research of any type. In the context of global health and the burden of disease in low-income countries, more investment is required for mycology research.

A second dose of kisspeptin-54 improves oocyte maturation in women at high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: a Phase 2 randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Abbara, Ali; Clarke, Sophie; Islam, Rumana; Prague, Julia K; Comninos, Alexander N; Narayanaswamy, Shakunthala; Papadopoulou, Deborah; Roberts, Rachel; Izzi-Engbeaya, Chioma; Ratnasabapathy, Risheka; Nesbitt, Alexander; Vimalesvaran, Sunitha; Salim, Rehan; Lavery, Stuart A; Bloom, Stephen R; Huson, Les; Trew, Geoffrey H; Dhillo, Waljit S

2017-09-01

Can increasing the duration of LH-exposure with a second dose of kisspeptin-54 improve oocyte maturation in women at high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)? A second dose of kisspeptin-54 at 10 h following the first improves oocyte yield in women at high risk of OHSS. Kisspeptin acts at the hypothalamus to stimulate the release of an endogenous pool of GnRH from the hypothalamus. We have previously reported that a single dose of kisspeptin-54 results in an LH-surge of ~12-14 h duration, which safely triggers oocyte maturation in women at high risk of OHSS. Phase-2 randomized placebo-controlled trial of 62 women at high risk of OHSS recruited between August 2015 and May 2016. Following controlled ovarian stimulation, all patients (n = 62) received a subcutaneous injection of kisspeptin-54 (9.6 nmol/kg) 36 h prior to oocyte retrieval. Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive either a second dose of kisspeptin-54 (D; Double, n = 31), or saline (S; Single, n = 31) 10 h thereafter. Patients, embryologists, and IVF clinicians remained blinded to the dosing allocation. Study participants: Sixty-two women aged 18-34 years at high risk of OHSS (antral follicle count ≥23 or anti-Mullerian hormone level ≥40 pmol/L). Setting: Single centre study carried out at Hammersmith Hospital IVF unit, London, UK. Primary outcome: Proportion of patients achieving an oocyte yield (percentage of mature oocytes retrieved from follicles ≥14 mm on morning of first kisspeptin-54 trigger administration) of at least 60%. Secondary outcomes: Reproductive hormone levels, implantation rate and OHSS occurrence. A second dose of kisspeptin-54 at 10 h following the first induced further LH-secretion at 4 h after administration. A higher proportion of patients achieved an oocyte yield ≥60% following a second dose of kisspeptin-54 (Single: 14/31, 45%, Double: 21/31, 71%; absolute difference +26%, CI 2-50%, P = 0.042). Patients receiving two doses of kisspeptin-54 had a variable LH-response following the second kisspeptin dose, which appeared to be dependent on the LH-response following the first kisspeptin injection. Patients who had a lower LH-rise following the first dose of kisspeptin had a more substantial 'rescue' LH-response following the second dose of kisspeptin. The variable LH-response following the second dose of kisspeptin resulted in a greater proportion of patients achieving an oocyte yield ≥60%, but without also increasing the frequency of ovarian over-response and moderate OHSS (Single: 1/31, 3.2%, Double: 0/31, 0%). Further studies are warranted to directly compare kisspeptin-54 to more established triggers of oocyte maturation. Triggering final oocyte maturation with kisspeptin is a novel therapeutic option to enable the use of fresh embryo transfer even in the woman at high risk of OHSS. The study was designed, conducted, analysed and reported entirely by the authors. The Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust & National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) provided research funding to carry out the studies. There are no competing interests to declare. Clinicaltrial.gov identifier NCT01667406. 8 August 2012. 10 August 2015. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Authentic leadership and nurses' voice behaviour and perceptions of care quality.

PubMed

Wong, Carol A; Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Cummings, Greta G

2010-11-01

The purpose of the present study was to test a theoretical model linking authentic leadership with staff nurses' trust in their manager, work engagement, voice behaviour and perceived unit care quality. Authentic leadership is a guide for effective leadership needed to build trust and healthier work environments because there is special attention given to honesty, integrity and high ethical standards in the development of leader-follower relationships. A non-experimental, predictive survey design was used to test the hypothesized model in a random sample of 280 (48% response rate) registered nurses working in acute care hospitals in Ontario. The final model fitted the data acceptably (χ(2)=17.24, d.f.=11, P=0.10, IFI=0.99, CFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.045). Authentic leadership significantly and positively influenced staff nurses' trust in their manager and work engagement which in turn predicted voice behaviour and perceived unit care quality. These findings suggest that authentic leadership and trust in the manager play a role in fostering trust, work engagement, voice behaviour and perceived quality of care. Nursing leaders can improve care quality and workplace conditions by paying attention to facilitating genuine and positive relationships with their staff. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Erosion of Trust in the Medical Profession in India: Time for Doctors to Act

PubMed Central

Kane, Sumit; Calnan, Michael

2017-01-01

In India, over the last decade, a series of stewardship failures in the health system, particularly in the medical profession, have led to a massive erosion of trust in these institutions. In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the situation is similar and has reached crisis proportions; this crisis requires urgent attention. This paper draws on the insights from the recent developments in India, to argue that a purely control-based regulatory response to this crisis in the medical profession, as is being currently envisaged by the Parliament and the Supreme Court of India, runs the risk of undermining the trusting interpersonal relations between doctors and their patients. A more balanced approach which takes into account the differences between system and interpersonal forms of trust and distrust is warranted. Such an approach should on one hand strongly regulate the institutions mandated with the stewardship and qualities of care functions, and simultaneously on the other hand, initiate measures to nurture the trusting interpersonal relations between doctors and patients. The paper concludes by calling for doctors, and those mandated with the stewardship of the profession, to individually and collectively, critically self-reflect upon the state of their profession, its priorities and its future direction. PMID:28005537

To Trust or Not to Trust: Social Decision Making in Post-institutionalized, Internationally Adopted Youth

PubMed Central

Pitula, Clio E.; Wenner, Jennifer A.; Gunnar, Megan R.; Thomas, Kathleen M.

2015-01-01

Chronic parental maltreatment has been associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, and depriving environments have been shown to predict shortsighted, risk-averse decision-making. The present study examined whether a circumscribed period of adverse care occurring only early in life was associated with biases in trust behavior. Fifty-three post-institutionalized (PI) youth, adopted internationally on average by one year of age, and 33 never-institutionalized, non-adopted youth (M age = 12.9 years) played a trust game. Participants decided whether or not to share coins with a different anonymous peer in each trial with the potential to receive a larger number of coins in return. Trials were presented in blocks that varied in the degree to which the peers behaved in a trustworthy (reciprocal) or untrustworthy (non-reciprocal) manner. A comparison condition consisted of a computerized lottery with the same choices and probabilistic risk as the peer trials. Non-adopted comparison youth showed a tendency to share more with peers than to invest in the lottery and tended to maintain their level of sharing across trials despite experiencing trials in which peers failed to reciprocate. In contrast, PI children, particularly those who were adopted over a year of age, shared less with peers than they invested in the lottery and quickly adapted their sharing behavior to peers' responses. These results suggest that PI youth were more mistrusting, more sensitive to both defection and reciprocation, and potentially more accurate in their trusting decisions than comparison youth. Results support the presence of a sensitive period for the development of trust in others, whereby conditions early in life may set long-term biases in decision-making. PMID:27089448

To trust or not to trust: social decision-making in post-institutionalized, internationally adopted youth.

PubMed

Pitula, Clio E; Wenner, Jennifer A; Gunnar, Megan R; Thomas, Kathleen M

2017-05-01

Chronic parental maltreatment has been associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, and depriving environments have been shown to predict short-sighted, risk-averse decision-making. The present study examined whether a circumscribed period of adverse care occurring only early in life was associated with biases in trust behavior. Fifty-three post-institutionalized (PI) youth, adopted internationally on average by 1 year of age, and 33 never-institutionalized, non-adopted youth (M age  = 12.9 years) played a trust game. Participants decided whether or not to share coins with a different anonymous peer in each trial with the potential to receive a larger number of coins in return. Trials were presented in blocks that varied in the degree to which the peers behaved in a trustworthy (reciprocal) or untrustworthy (non-reciprocal) manner. A comparison condition consisted of a computerized lottery with the same choices and probabilistic risk as the peer trials. Non-adopted comparison youth showed a tendency to share more with peers than to invest in the lottery and tended to maintain their level of sharing across trials despite experiencing trials in which peers failed to reciprocate. In contrast, PI children, particularly those who were adopted over 1 year of age, shared less with peers than they invested in the lottery and quickly adapted their sharing behavior to peers' responses. These results suggest that PI youth were more mistrusting, more sensitive to both defection and reciprocation, and potentially more accurate in their trusting decisions than comparison youth. Results support the presence of a sensitive period for the development of trust in others, whereby conditions early in life may set long-term biases in decision-making. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Context of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonner, Emily P.; Adams, Thomasenia L.

2012-01-01

In this grounded theory case study, four interconnected, foundational cornerstones of culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT), communication, knowledge, trust/relationships, and constant reflection/revision, were systematically unearthed to develop an initial working theory of CRMT that directly informs classroom practice. These…

Situational Awareness and Health Protective Responses to Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) in Hong Kong: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Liao, Qiuyan; Cowling, Benjamin; Lam, Wing Tak; Ng, Man Wai; Fielding, Richard

2010-01-01

Background Whether information sources influence health protective behaviours during influenza pandemics or other emerging infectious disease epidemics is uncertain. Methodology Data from cross-sectional telephone interviews of 1,001 Hong Kong adults in June, 2009 were tested against theory and data-derived hypothesized associations between trust in (formal/informal) information, understanding, self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility and worry, and hand hygiene and social distancing using Structural Equation Modelling with multigroup comparisons. Principal Findings Trust in formal (government/media) information about influenza was associated with greater reported understanding of A/H1N1 cause (β = 0.36) and A/H1N1 prevention self-efficacy (β = 0.25), which in turn were associated with more hand hygiene (β = 0.19 and β = 0.23, respectively). Trust in informal (interpersonal) information was negatively associated with perceived personal A/H1N1 susceptibility (β = −0.21), which was negatively associated with perceived self-efficacy (β = −0.42) but positively associated with influenza worry (β = 0.44). Trust in informal information was positively associated with influenza worry (β = 0.16) which was in turn associated with greater social distancing (β = 0.36). Multigroup comparisons showed gender differences regarding paths from trust in formal information to understanding of A/H1N1 cause, trust in informal information to understanding of A/H1N1 cause, and understanding of A/H1N1 cause to perceived self-efficacy. Conclusions/Significance Trust in government/media information was more strongly associated with greater self-efficacy and handwashing, whereas trust in informal information was strongly associated with perceived health threat and avoidance behaviour. Risk communication should consider the effect of gender differences. PMID:20967280

Public trust in Dutch health care.

PubMed

Straten, G F M; Friele, R D; Groenewegen, P P

2002-07-01

This article describes the development of a valid and reliable instrument to measure different dimensions of public trust in health care in the Netherlands. This instrument is needed because the concept was not well developed, or operationalized in earlier research. The new instrument will be used in a research project to monitor trust and to predict behaviour of people such as consulting "alternative practitioners". The idea for the research was suggested by economic research into public trust. In the study, a phased design was used to overcome the operationalization problem. In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted; and, in the second, a quantitative study. In the first phase, more than 100 people were interviewed to gain insight into the issues they associated with trust. Eight categories of issues that were derived from the interviews were assumed to be possible dimensions of trust. On the basis of these eight categories and the interviews, a questionnaire was developed that was used in the second phase. In this phase, the questionnaire was sent to 1500 members of a consumer panel; the response was 70 percent. The analysis reveals that six of the eight possible dimensions appear in factor analysis. These dimensions are trust in: the patient-focus of health care providers; macro policies level will have no consequences for patients; expertise of health care providers; quality of care; information supply and communication by care providers and the quality of cooperation. The reliability of most scales is higher than 0.8. The validity of the dimensions is assessed by determining the correlation between the scales on the one hand, and people's experience and a general mark they would assign on the other. We conclude that public trust is a multi-dimensional concept, including not only issues that relate to the patient-doctor relationship, but also issues that relate to health care institutions. The instrument appears to be reliable and valid.

Longitudinal investigation of public trust in institutions relative to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in Switzerland.

PubMed

Bangerter, Adrian; Krings, Franciska; Mouton, Audrey; Gilles, Ingrid; Green, Eva G T; Clémence, Alain

2012-01-01

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic left a legacy of mistrust in the public relative to how outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are managed. To prepare for future outbreaks, it is crucial to explore the phenomenon of public trust in the institutions responsible for managing disease outbreaks. We investigated the evolution of public trust in institutions during and after the 2009 pandemic in Switzerland. We also explored respondents' perceptions of the prevention campaign and the roles of the government and media. A two-wave longitudinal survey was mailed to 2,400 members of the Swiss public. Wave 1 was in Spring 2009. Wave 2 was in Spring 2010. Six hundred and two participants responded in both waves. Participants indicated moderate to high levels of trust in medical organizations, the WHO, the Swiss government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the EU. On the other hand, trust in the media was low. Moreover, trust in almost all institutions decreased over time. Participants were satisfied with the amount of information received and indicated having followed official recommendations, but widespread concerns about the vaccine were evident. A large majority of participants agreed the vaccine might have unknown or undesirable side effects. Perceptions of the government's and the media's role in handling the outbreak were characterized by a substantial degree of skepticism and mistrust. Results show clear patterns of skepticism and mistrust on the part of the public relative to various institutions and their actions. Results underscore the importance of systematically investigating trust of the public relative to epidemics. Moreover, studies investigating the evolution of the public's memories of the pandemic over the coming years may be important to understand reactions to future pandemics. A systematic research program on trust can inform public health communication campaigns, enabling tailored communication initiatives.

Longitudinal Investigation of Public Trust in Institutions Relative to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic in Switzerland

PubMed Central

Bangerter, Adrian; Krings, Franciska; Mouton, Audrey; Gilles, Ingrid; Green, Eva G. T.; Clémence, Alain

2012-01-01

Background The 2009 H1N1 pandemic left a legacy of mistrust in the public relative to how outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are managed. To prepare for future outbreaks, it is crucial to explore the phenomenon of public trust in the institutions responsible for managing disease outbreaks. We investigated the evolution of public trust in institutions during and after the 2009 pandemic in Switzerland. We also explored respondents’ perceptions of the prevention campaign and the roles of the government and media. Methodology/Principal Findings A two-wave longitudinal survey was mailed to 2,400 members of the Swiss public. Wave 1 was in Spring 2009. Wave 2 was in Spring 2010. Six hundred and two participants responded in both waves. Participants indicated moderate to high levels of trust in medical organizations, the WHO, the Swiss government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the EU. On the other hand, trust in the media was low. Moreover, trust in almost all institutions decreased over time. Participants were satisfied with the amount of information received and indicated having followed official recommendations, but widespread concerns about the vaccine were evident. A large majority of participants agreed the vaccine might have unknown or undesirable side effects. Perceptions of the government’s and the media’s role in handling the outbreak were characterized by a substantial degree of skepticism and mistrust. Conclusions/Significance Results show clear patterns of skepticism and mistrust on the part of the public relative to various institutions and their actions. Results underscore the importance of systematically investigating trust of the public relative to epidemics. Moreover, studies investigating the evolution of the public’s memories of the pandemic over the coming years may be important to understand reactions to future pandemics. A systematic research program on trust can inform public health communication campaigns, enabling tailored communication initiatives. PMID:23185444

33 CFR 136.311 - Types of advertisement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... area designated by the Director, NPFC. (b) Notice posted in marinas, marine supply stores, bait and...

33 CFR 136.311 - Types of advertisement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... area designated by the Director, NPFC. (b) Notice posted in marinas, marine supply stores, bait and...

33 CFR 136.311 - Types of advertisement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... area designated by the Director, NPFC. (b) Notice posted in marinas, marine supply stores, bait and...

33 CFR 136.311 - Types of advertisement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... area designated by the Director, NPFC. (b) Notice posted in marinas, marine supply stores, bait and...

33 CFR 136.311 - Types of advertisement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... area designated by the Director, NPFC. (b) Notice posted in marinas, marine supply stores, bait and...

Lessons learned in Liberia: preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of trust and teamwork among maternal healthcare workers.

PubMed

Lori, Jody R; Munro, Michelle L; Moore, Jennifer E; Fladger, Jessica

2013-04-11

Post-conflict Liberia has one of the fastest growing populations on the continent and one of the highest maternal mortality rates among the world. However, in the rural regions, less than half of all births are attended by a skilled birth attendant. There is a need to evaluate the relationship between trained traditional healthcare providers and skilled birth attendants to improve maternal health outcomes. This evaluation must also take into consideration the needs and desires of the patients. The purpose of this pilot study was to establish the validity and reliability of a survey tool to evaluate trust and teamwork in the working relationships between trained traditional midwives and certified midwives in a post-conflict country. A previously established scale, the Trust and Teambuilding Scale, was used with non- and low-literate trained traditional midwives (n=48) in rural Liberia to evaluate trust and teamwork with certified midwives in their communities. Initial results indicated that the scale and response keys were culturally inadequate for this population. A revised version of the scale, the Trust and Teamwork Scale - Liberia, was created and administered to an additional group of non- and low-literate, trained traditional midwives (n=42). Exploratory factor analysis using Mplus for dichotomous variables was used to determine the psychometric properties of the revised scale and was then confirmed with the full sample (n=90). Additional analyses included contrast validity, convergent validity, and Kuder-Richardson reliability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors in the revised Trust and Teamwork Scale - Liberia. These two factors, labeled trust and teamwork, included eleven of the original eighteen items used in the Trust and Teamwork Scale and demonstrated contrast and convergent validity and adequate reliability. The revised scale is suitable for use with non- and low-literate, trained traditional midwives in rural Liberia. Continued cross-cultural validation of tools is essential to ensure scale adequacy across populations. Future work should continue to evaluate the use of the Trust and Teamwork Scale - Liberia across cultures and additional work is needed to confirm the factor structure.

Fueling the Flames of the Green-Eyed Monster: The Role of Ruminative Thought in Reaction to Romantic Jealousy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carson, Christine L.; Cupach, William R.

2000-01-01

Examines factors predicted to influence individuals' responses to romantic jealousy. Details a study in which undergraduate students completed scales measuring relationship-specific linking, relationship-specific rumination, possessiveness, trust, and communicative responses to jealousy. Suggests that jealous rumination is an important cognitive…

Common Leadership Responsibilities of Principals of Successful Turnaround Model Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fullwood, Jezelle

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover which leadership responsibilities, within the domains of trust, communication, learning, and shared leadership, did elementary and middle school principals of successful turnaround schools commonly perceive as most necessary to lead a turnaround intervention model school. Themes were…

The Family Liaison Position in High-Poverty, Urban Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dretzke, Beverly J.; Rickers, Susan R.

2016-01-01

This study examined the roles and responsibilities of family liaisons working in urban schools with enrollments characterized by high poverty, high mobility, and ethnic diversity. Results indicated that the major responsibilities of the liaisons were creating a trusting and welcoming environment, facilitating parent involvement in the school,…

Medical supplies for the expeditions of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration: introduction.

PubMed

Guly, H R

2012-06-01

During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration (1895-1922) there were at least 18 expeditions to the Antarctic lasting between 18 and 30 months. This is an introduction to a series of articles about the drugs taken and used in the Antarctic at this time. Most of the information relates to the expeditions of Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the main supplier of medical equipment was Burroughs Wellcome and Co. This article also describes the medical cases that were taken to the Antarctic.

Competitive strategy for providers.

PubMed

Hackett, M C

1996-01-01

National Health Service (NHS) Trusts are struggling to determine a long-term strategic direction for their organizations in response to the competitive pressures generated by the NHS reforms. The development of long-term strategic direction and the methods to implement this are presenting real challenges to the Trusts which have inherited service configurations based on bureaucratic planning frameworks rather than service configurations suited to a more competitive environment. Examines the strategic choices available to these organizations; explores the importance of identifying positive strategic choices; and discusses the advantages and disadvantages in the context of the NHS internal market.

NHS politics. Winging it.

PubMed

Dewar, Steve; Chantler, Cyril

2002-03-14

At present, NHS managers are highly constrained, suffering excessive regulation and central control. More autonomy for trusts would mean fewer directives and less performance management. Giving trusts a new organisational form, such as a public interest company or foundation hospital, might be reinvigorating and would not involve further reorganisation. These new freedoms should be accompanied by new accountabilities, not solely to politicians but to independent NHS regulators, local communities and patients. Devolved power and greater patient choice could produce a more responsive NHS. Its potential needs to be explored through experimentation and evaluation.

33 CFR 133.25 - Notification of Governor's designee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST... information required by paragraph (b) of this section must be forwarded to the Director National Pollution...

33 CFR 133.25 - Notification of Governor's designee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST... information required by paragraph (b) of this section must be forwarded to the Director National Pollution...

33 CFR 133.25 - Notification of Governor's designee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST... information required by paragraph (b) of this section must be forwarded to the Director National Pollution...

33 CFR 133.25 - Notification of Governor's designee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST... information required by paragraph (b) of this section must be forwarded to the Director National Pollution...

33 CFR 133.25 - Notification of Governor's designee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST... information required by paragraph (b) of this section must be forwarded to the Director National Pollution...

A cross-sectional study of all clinicians' conflict of interest disclosures to NHS hospital employers in England 2015-2016.

PubMed

Feldman, Harriet Ruth; DeVito, Nicholas J; Mendel, Jonathan; Carroll, David E; Goldacre, Ben

2018-03-05

We set out to document how NHS trusts in the UK record and share disclosures of conflict of interest by their employees. Cross-sectional study of responses to a Freedom of Information Act request for Gifts and Hospitality Registers. NHS Trusts (secondary/tertiary care organisations) in England. 236 Trusts were contacted, of which 217 responded. We assessed all disclosures for completeness and openness, scoring them for achieving each of five measures of transparency. 185 Trusts (78%) provided a register. 71 Trusts did not respond within the 28 day time limit required by the FoIA. Most COI registers were incomplete by design, and did not contain the information necessary to assess conflicts of interest. 126/185 (68%) did not record the names of recipients. 47/185 (25%) did not record the cash value of the gift or hospitality. Only 31/185 registers (16%) contained the names of recipients, the names of donors, and the cash amounts received. 18/185 (10%) contained none of: recipient name, donor name, and cash amount. Only 15 Trusts had their disclosure register publicly available online (6%). We generated a transparency index assessing whether each Trust met the following criteria: responded on time; provided a register; had a register with fields identifying donor, recipient, and cash amount; provided a register in a format that allowed further analysis; and had their register publicly available online. Mean attainment was 1.9/5; no NHS trust met all five criteria. Overall, recording of employees' conflicts of interest by NHS trusts is poor. None of the NHS Trusts in England met all transparency criteria. 19 did not respond to our FoIA requests, 51 did not provide a Gifts and Hospitality Register and only 31 of the registers provided contained enough information to assess employees' conflicts of interest. Despite obligations on healthcare professionals to disclose conflicts of interest, and on organisations to record these, the current system for logging and tracking such disclosures is not functioning adequately. We propose a simple national template for reporting conflicts of interest, modelled on the US 'Sunshine Act'. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

2010 Military Family Life Project (MFLP) - Couples: Tabulations of Responses

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-31

interest income; dividends; child support/alimony; social security, welfare assistance; and net rent, trusts, and royalties from any other investments ...2010 Military Family Life Project: Couples Tabulations of Responses Additional copies of this report may be obtained from: Defense... RESPONSES Defense Manpower Data Center Human Resources Strategic Assessment Program 4800 Mark Center Drive, Suite 04E25-01, Alexandria, VA 22350

Associations between Community Attachments and Adolescent Substance Use in Nationally Representative Samples

PubMed Central

Wray-Lake, Laura; Maggs, Jennifer L.; Johnston, Lloyd D.; Bachman, Jerald G.; O’Malley, Patrick M.; Schulenberg, John E.

2012-01-01

Purpose Social capital and social attachment theories of substance use argue that positive bonds to society and the conventional values they promote deter adolescents from substance use. Using nationally representative samples of U.S. high school seniors, we hypothesized that adolescents’ community attachments, measured by social trust, social responsibility, and religiosity, would be negatively associated with lifetime and 30-day substance use. Method We used repeated cross-sectional nationally representative high school senior data from 1976–2008 Monitoring the Future Study cohorts (weighted N = 64,246; 51.6% female). Participation rate ranged from 77% to 86% across years. A series of multiple linear and logistic regressions examined unique associations of adolescents’ social trust, social responsibility, and religiosity with lifetime and 30-day use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, tranquilizers, and narcotics. Models controlled for gender, race, college aspirations, high school grades, parents’ education, and survey year. Results Social trust, social responsibility, and religiosity showed independent negative associations with use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and six other types of drugs. After accounting for controls, community attachments related to lower lifetime and past 30-day use. Associations were consistent across measures, except social responsibility was not associated with binge drinking or lifetime illicit drugs besides marijuana. Conclusions Study strengths included the nationally representative sample, diverse substance use measures, and inclusion of controls. We extend theory by suggesting that distinct aspects of adolescents’ community attachments uniquely relate to lower substance use. Results suggest potential public health benefits of integrating promotion of community attachments with substance use prevention. PMID:22999832

Public health professionals' perceptions toward provision of health protection in England: a survey of expectations of Primary Care Trusts and Health Protection Units in the delivery of health protection

PubMed Central

Cosford, Paul A; O'Mahony, Mary; Angell, Emma; Bickler, Graham; Crawshaw, Shirley; Glencross, Janet; Horsley, Stephen S; McCloskey, Brian; Puleston, Richard; Seare, Nichola; Tobin, Martin D

2006-01-01

Background Effective health protection requires systematised responses with clear accountabilities. In England, Primary Care Trusts and the Health Protection Agency both have statutory responsibilities for health protection. A Memorandum of Understanding identifies responsibilities of both parties, but there is a potential lack of clarity about responsibility for specific health protection functions. We aimed to investigate professionals' perceptions of responsibility for different health protection functions, to inform future guidance for, and organisation of, health protection in England. Methods We sent a postal questionnaire to all health protection professionals in England from the following groups: (a) Directors of Public Health in Primary Care Trusts; (b) Directors of Health Protection Units within the Health Protection Agency; (c) Directors of Public Health in Strategic Health Authorities and; (d) Regional Directors of the Health Protection Agency Results The response rate exceeded 70%. Variations in perceptions of who should be, and who is, delivering health protection functions were observed within, and between, the professional groups (a)-(d). Concordance in views of which organisation should, and which does deliver was high (≥90%) for 6 of 18 health protection functions, but much lower (≤80%) for 6 other functions, including managing the implications of a case of meningitis out of hours, of landfill environmental contamination, vaccination in response to mumps outbreaks, nursing home infection control, monitoring sexually transmitted infections and immunisation training for primary care staff. The proportion of respondents reporting that they felt confident most or all of the time in the safe delivery of a health protection function was strongly correlated with the concordance (r = 0.65, P = 0.0038). Conclusion Whilst we studied professionals' perceptions, rather than actual responses to incidents, our study suggests that there are important areas of health protection where consistent understanding of responsibility for delivery is lacking. There are opportunities to clarify the responsibility for health protection in England, perhaps learning from the approaches used for those health protection functions where we found consistent perceptions of accountability. PMID:17156421

Public health professionals' perceptions toward provision of health protection in England: a survey of expectations of Primary Care Trusts and Health Protection Units in the delivery of health protection.

PubMed

Cosford, Paul A; O'Mahony, Mary; Angell, Emma; Bickler, Graham; Crawshaw, Shirley; Glencross, Janet; Horsley, Stephen S; McCloskey, Brian; Puleston, Richard; Seare, Nichola; Tobin, Martin D

2006-12-07

Effective health protection requires systematised responses with clear accountabilities. In England, Primary Care Trusts and the Health Protection Agency both have statutory responsibilities for health protection. A Memorandum of Understanding identifies responsibilities of both parties, but there is a potential lack of clarity about responsibility for specific health protection functions. We aimed to investigate professionals' perceptions of responsibility for different health protection functions, to inform future guidance for, and organisation of, health protection in England. We sent a postal questionnaire to all health protection professionals in England from the following groups: (a) Directors of Public Health in Primary Care Trusts; (b) Directors of Health Protection Units within the Health Protection Agency; (c) Directors of Public Health in Strategic Health Authorities and; (d) Regional Directors of the Health Protection Agency The response rate exceeded 70%. Variations in perceptions of who should be, and who is, delivering health protection functions were observed within, and between, the professional groups (a)-(d). Concordance in views of which organisation should, and which does deliver was high (> or =90%) for 6 of 18 health protection functions, but much lower (< or =80%) for 6 other functions, including managing the implications of a case of meningitis out of hours, of landfill environmental contamination, vaccination in response to mumps outbreaks, nursing home infection control, monitoring sexually transmitted infections and immunisation training for primary care staff. The proportion of respondents reporting that they felt confident most or all of the time in the safe delivery of a health protection function was strongly correlated with the concordance (r = 0.65, P = 0.0038). Whilst we studied professionals' perceptions, rather than actual responses to incidents, our study suggests that there are important areas of health protection where consistent understanding of responsibility for delivery is lacking. There are opportunities to clarify the responsibility for health protection in England, perhaps learning from the approaches used for those health protection functions where we found consistent perceptions of accountability.

Impact of Risk-Benefit Perception and Trust on Medical Technology Acceptance in Relation to Drug and Device Lag: A Tripartite Cross-Sectional Survey.

PubMed

Todaka, Koji; Kishimoto, Junji; Ikeda, Masayuki; Ikeda, Koji; Yamamoto, Haruko

2017-01-01

New drug and medical device introduction in Japan usually lags behind that in the West. Many reports indicate that in Japan, the associated risks are considered greater than the benefits recognized in other countries. This study aimed to compare the relationship between risk-benefit perception and acceptance of medical technologies in 3 leading markets. A tripartite cross-sectional survey of the general public was used. In total, 3345 adults in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan participated, and sexes and age groups were equally represented. Questions about the perception of risk, benefit, and acceptance of medical and other scientific technologies, and trust of medical product providers or regulatory authorities were included. Five-step Likert coding for risk/benefit/acceptance of 4 medical items (x-rays, antibiotics, vaccines, and cardiac pacemakers) and 6 general items (such as automobiles and airplanes) were collected. Relationships between benefit perception and acceptance were linear for 4 medical technologies. The relationship had a similar slope but was shifted downward in Japan compared with the UK and US ( P < .01), suggesting a lower acceptance in Japan for all benefit perceptions. The trend was the same between risk perception and acceptance, except for slopes that were negative. Correspondence analysis showed a strong correlation among acceptance of medical technologies, benefits of medical technologies, trust in doctors, and trust in the Department of Health. The UK and US attributes were clustered with positive responses such as "useful," "acceptable," and "trustworthy," whereas Japan was clustered with intermediate to negative responses such as "neither" and "untrustworthy." Acceptance of medical technologies was low in Japan because of significant differences in trust for doctors and authorities compared with that in the UK and US. This is a possible basis for delays of 24 to 60 months for medical product approval in Japan.

How Do Acquired Political Identities Influence Our Neural Processing toward Others within the Context of a Trust Game?

PubMed

Wu, Chien-Te; Fan, Yang-Teng; Du, Ye-Rong; Yang, Tien-Tun; Liu, Ho-Ling; Yen, Nai-Shing; Chen, Shu-Heng; Hsung, Ray-May

2018-01-01

Trust is essential for mutually beneficial human interactions in economic exchange and politics and people's social identities notably have dramatic effects on trust behaviors toward others. Previous literature concerning social identities generally suggests that people tend to show in-group favoritism toward members who share the same identity. However, how our brains process signals of identity while facing uncertain situations in interpersonal interactions remains largely unclear. To address this issue, we performed an fMRI experiment with 54 healthy adults who belonged to two identity groups of opposing political orientations. The identity information of participants was extracted from a large-scale social survey on the 2012 Taiwan presidential election. Accordingly, participants were categorized as either the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters. During the experiment, participants played trust games with computer agents with labels of the same or the opposing political identity. Interestingly, our results suggest that the behaviors of the two groups cannot be equally attributed to in-group favoritism. Behaviorally, only the DPP supporter group showed a significant trust preference toward in-group members, which did not hold for the KMT supporter group. Consistently, neurophysiological findings further revealed that only the DPP supporter group showed neuronal responses to both unexpected negative feedback from in-group members in anterior insula, temporoparietal junction, and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, as well as to unexpected rewards from out-group members in caudate. These findings therefore suggest that acquired identities play a more complex role in modulating people's social expectation in interpersonal trust behaviors under identity-relevant contexts.

Consumer trust in the Australian food system - The everyday erosive impact of food labelling.

PubMed

Tonkin, Emma; Webb, Trevor; Coveney, John; Meyer, Samantha B; Wilson, Annabelle M

2016-08-01

Consumer trust in food system actors is foundational for ensuring consumer confidence in food safety. As food labelling is a direct communication between consumers and food system actors, it may influence consumer perceptions of actor trustworthiness. This study explores the judgements formed about the trustworthiness of the food system and its actors through labelling, and the expectations these judgements are based on. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 24 Australian consumers were conducted. Theoretical sampling focussed on shopping location, dietary requirements, rurality, gender, age and educational background. The methodological approach used (adaptive theory) enabled emerging data to be examined through the lens of a set of guiding theoretical concepts, and theory reconsidered in light of emerging data. Food labelling acted as a surrogate for personal interaction with industry and government for participants. Judgements about the trustworthiness of these actors and the broader food system were formed through interaction with food labelling and were based on expectations of both competence and goodwill. Interaction with labelling primarily reduced trust in actors within the food system, undermining trust in the system as a whole. Labelling has a role as an access point to the food system. Access points are points of vulnerability for systems, where trust can be developed, reinforced or broken down. For the participants in this study, in general labelling demonstrates food system actors lack goodwill and violate their fiduciary responsibility. This paper provides crucial insights for industry and policy actors to use this access point to build, rather than undermine, trust in food systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Protection in Indian Country

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's efforts to protect human health and the environment of federally recognized Indian tribes by supporting implementation of federal environmental laws consistent with the federal trust responsibility, and the government-to-government relationship.

Intelligent Agent Transparency in Human-Agent Teaming for Multi-UxV Management.

PubMed

Mercado, Joseph E; Rupp, Michael A; Chen, Jessie Y C; Barnes, Michael J; Barber, Daniel; Procci, Katelyn

2016-05-01

We investigated the effects of level of agent transparency on operator performance, trust, and workload in a context of human-agent teaming for multirobot management. Participants played the role of a heterogeneous unmanned vehicle (UxV) operator and were instructed to complete various missions by giving orders to UxVs through a computer interface. An intelligent agent (IA) assisted the participant by recommending two plans-a top recommendation and a secondary recommendation-for every mission. A within-subjects design with three levels of agent transparency was employed in the present experiment. There were eight missions in each of three experimental blocks, grouped by level of transparency. During each experimental block, the IA was incorrect three out of eight times due to external information (e.g., commander's intent and intelligence). Operator performance, trust, workload, and usability data were collected. Results indicate that operator performance, trust, and perceived usability increased as a function of transparency level. Subjective and objective workload data indicate that participants' workload did not increase as a function of transparency. Furthermore, response time did not increase as a function of transparency. Unlike previous research, which showed that increased transparency resulted in increased performance and trust calibration at the cost of greater workload and longer response time, our results support the benefits of transparency for performance effectiveness without additional costs. The current results will facilitate the implementation of IAs in military settings and will provide useful data to the design of heterogeneous UxV teams. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Trust, choice and power in mental health care: experiences of patients with psychosis.

PubMed

Laugharne, Richard; Priebe, Stefan; McCabe, Rose; Garland, Natasha; Clifford, Damian

2012-09-01

Trust, choice and power are critical issues in clinical practice, public policies and a post-modern understanding of mental health care. We aimed to investigate the experiences and attitudes of patients with psychosis in relation to trust, choice and power. We conducted 20 in-depth interviews with patients with psychotic disorders in care of NHS services. The interviews were subjected to thematic analysis. Patients discussed aspects of their care in terms of dimensions that enhance or undermine trust, choice and power. Two interpretive themes emerged from this data. First, patients perceive the need for a shifting balance of power, according to the severity of their illness and their own experience of care, but feel that threats of coercion and neglect disable them. Second, they appreciate the expertise of clinicians, but particularly value 'the personal touch' that goes beyond this expertise, including personal disclosure about their own lives, common acts of kindness and conversation outside clinical matters. Patients view trust as a two-way process with responsibility shared between patient and clinician. The active involvement of patients with psychosis in their individual care may be strengthened, particularly when they are not acutely ill and have more experience of their illness. While patients value expertise and respect in interactions with clinicians, they also appreciate a 'personal touch', which may go beyond current notions of professionalism.

Tangible evidence, trust and power: public perceptions of community environmental health studies.

PubMed

Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen; Senier, Laura; Darrah-Okike, Jennifer; Brown, Phil; Santos, Susan

2009-01-01

Communities with environmental health concerns in the USA frequently request studies from their local or state departments of public health. This paper presents findings from three focus groups conducted in communities north of Boston that have been the subject of two different environmental health studies. The focus groups were designed to elicit residents' perceptions of environmental health, and of the particular studies conducted in their communities. In all focus groups, participants had difficulty accepting the findings of health studies that contradicted their own experiences of environmental exposures and illness. Our results suggest that lay knowledge, informed in varying degrees by the experience of what we term "tangible evidence," creates a lens through which communities interpret a health study's findings. The differences in reliance on tangible evidence were related to participants' sense of trust in public officials, and the institutions responsible for conducting health studies. Participants from the wealthier, predominantly white communities discussed trust in study design and methodologies used. In contrast, participants from the lower-income, higher-minority communities assessed health studies with reference to their trust (or lack thereof) in study sponsors and public health institutions. Participants' experience of tangible evidence, trust or distrust in health agencies and research institutions, and a sense of relative community power, influence how they assess the findings of environmental health studies and may have implications for pubic health.

Tangible Evidence, Trust and Power: Public Perceptions of Community Environmental Health Studies

PubMed Central

Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen; Senier, Laura; Darrah-Okike, Jennifer; Brown, Phil; Santos, Susan

2009-01-01

Communities with environmental health concerns in the USA frequently request studies from their local or state departments of public health. This paper presents findings from three focus groups conducted in communities north of Boston that have been the subject of two different environmental health studies. The focus groups were designed to elicit residents’ perceptions of environmental health, and of the particular studies conducted in their communities. In all focus groups, participants had difficulty accepting the findings of health studies that contradicted their own experiences of environmental exposures and illness. Our results suggest that lay knowledge, informed in varying degrees by the experience of what we term “tangible evidence,” creates a lens through which communities interpret a health study’s findings. The differences in reliance on tangible evidence were related to participants’ sense of trust in public officials, and the institutions responsible for conducting health studies. Participants from the wealthier, predominantly white communities discussed trust in study design and methodologies used. In contrast, participants from the lower income, higher minority communities assessed health studies with reference to their trust (or lack thereof) in study sponsors and public health institutions. Participants’ experience of tangible evidence, trust or distrust in health agencies and research institutions, and a sense of relative community power, influence how they assess the findings of environmental health studies and may have implications for pubic health. PMID:18995942

Among the Authentic Audience: Young Adults' Perceptions and Responses to Youth as Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patchen, Amie K.

Lifelong science learning is important for making informed decisions on science topics, and there is a need to engage broader and more diverse audiences with science. One opportunity for engagement occurs when students share science topics with a public audience. Research indicates this interaction can have benefits for students, but little is known about the impact it may have on audience members’ thoughts about science. Youth are different from typical sources of science information, and may elicit different reactions. This dissertation examines the impact youth sources may have on adults’ perceptions of and responses to science topics. Young adults (N = 399) were randomly assigned to one of two scenarios. Both scenarios stated two individuals would describe research they had done about local air quality on the news. One scenario identified the individuals as local high school students, and the other as research scientists from a local institution. Dependent variables included perceptions of the warmth and competence of the presenters, expectations of the quality of the information they would share, willingness to take action based on that information, and general trust in scientists. A subset of participants (N=22) was selected for cognitive interviews and asked to explain the thoughts that influenced their survey responses. Results showed multiple reactions to the scenario. Three groups were identified in the perceptions data: one expressed trust in the presenters, one expressed skepticism, and one based their perceptions on personal experiences doing science. Participants said intertwined thoughts about trust in scientists and assumptions about the presenters’ intentions influenced perceptions, with an overall assumption that youth would have good intentions while adults might not. Participants did not appear to separate their expectations of the information from the people who would share it. However, their willingness to take action was related to the action, not the presenter or information. Findings suggest youth may be an avenue for engaging individuals who have lower trust in typical science information sources. Implications for science education and communication are discussed.

Whom do older adults trust most to provide information about prescription drugs?

PubMed

Donohue, Julie M; Huskamp, Haiden A; Wilson, Ira B; Weissman, Joel

2009-04-01

Cost-related nonadherence to medieations is common among older adults, yet physician-patient communication about medication cost concerns is infrequent. One factor affecting communication and adherence may be older adults' confidence in the information about prescription drugs provided by physicians and other sources. This study was conducted to identify which source older adults most trust to provide information on drugs and to examine the relationship between older patients' trust in physicians to provide price information and the occurrence of cost-related nonadherence. We conducted a cross-sectional national telephone survey of individuals aged > or =50 years who were taking at least 1 prescription medication. Respondents were asked how much they would trust various sources (physician, pharmacist, nurse, insurance plan, the Internet, consumer groups, friends and family) to provide helpful information on "the price of the prescription medicine compared to others like it" and on "how well the prescription medicine will work for you compared to other medicines like it." The response options were a lot, somewhat, and not at all. Other measures of interest were respondents' beliefs concerning physicians' ability to lower drug costs and patient activation. We also evaluated the potential association between trust in physicians to deliver drug price information and cost-related medication nonadherence. Compared with the other sources of information studied, doctors and pharmacists were the sources that respondents were most likely to trust "a lot" to provide information on drug prices (55.6% and 61.7%, respectively) and to provide information on drug effectiveness (79.9% and 66.4%). Less than half (42.3%) of respondents who said that they trusted their doctor to provide drug price information "somewhat" or "not at all" agreed that there are ways doctors could lower drug costs (P = 0.01 vs those who trusted their doctor "a lot"). Adults aged > or =65 years were more likely than those aged 50 to 64 years to trust their doctors "a lot" to provide information on drug prices (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08-1.92); the same was true of members of minority groups compared with white respondents (OR = 1.72; 95%) CT, 1.1 3-2.61 ). Among individuals with high drug spending, those who placed "a lot" of trust in their doctors to provide price information were less likely than those who trusted their doctor "somewhat" or "not at all" to have cost-related nonadhcrence (OR = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.20-0.78). In this survey, older adults trusted physicians and pharmacists more than the other sources studied to provide information on prescription drugs. Trust in physicians to provide price information was an important moderator of the effect of high drug spending on cost-related nonadhcrence. Efforts to provide patients and their providers with comparative data on drug prices and effectiveness may reduce cost-related nonadhcrence.

Rigid Response in an Age of Accountability: The Potential of Leadership and Trust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daly, Alan J.

2009-01-01

Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act laudably brings social justice and equity issues to the forefront; however, the act's threat- and sanction-driven methods are not only increasing stress levels but potentially causing a rigid response, especially in the growing population of schools labeled "program improvement" (PI). Specifically,…

Anticipated responses to a fee program: The key is trust

Treesearch

Patricia L. Winter; Laura J. Palucki; Rachel L. Burkhardt

1999-01-01

Anticipated responses to a proposed recreation fee program were examined through the use of focus groups and self-administered questionnaires. Varied communities of interest (based on ethnicity and recreation activity groups) and communities of place (based on residency within a National Forest boundary and greater geographic proximity) were targeted for the study....

33 CFR 136.101 - Time limitations on claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... Pollution Funds Center, NPFC MS 7100, U.S. Coast Guard, 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 20598...

33 CFR 136.101 - Time limitations on claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... Pollution Funds Center, NPFC MS 7100, U.S. Coast Guard, 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 20598...

33 CFR 136.101 - Time limitations on claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... Pollution Funds Center, NPFC MS 7100, U.S. Coast Guard, 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 20598...

33 CFR 136.101 - Time limitations on claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... Pollution Funds Center, NPFC MS 7100, U.S. Coast Guard, 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 20598...

33 CFR 136.101 - Time limitations on claims.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND; CLAIMS... Pollution Funds Center, NPFC MS 7100, U.S. Coast Guard, 4200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 20598...

The Challenge of Communicating Flood Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthew, R.

2015-12-01

Worldwide, natural hazard risks, and especially flood risk, are increasing dramatically as populations grow, infrastructure deteriorates, and climate change worsens. Street level modeling technologies may help decision makers and the general public understand risk and explore options for building resilience. But there are challenges in linking powerful visualization technologies to people in ways that they trust, support and can use. Technology adoption depends on a host of social and psychological factors—for example, how have past experiences shaped perceptions? Where do people currently turn for information? Who do they trust? Who do they see as responsible for implementing response and resilience measures? What do people think about climate change and sea level rise? What are the values that will motivate them to act? The answers vary from place to place and group to group. Visualization technologies that are responsive to this type of information may be most effective. Through household level survey data collected at sites in California and Mexico, we identify factors that may help in designing effective flood risk communication tools.

Comparison of social resistance to Ebola response in Sierra Leone and Guinea suggests explanations lie in political configurations not culture

PubMed Central

Wilkinson, Annie; Fairhead, James

2017-01-01

Abstract Sierra Leone and Guinea share broadly similar cultural worlds, straddling the societies of the Upper Guinea Coast with Islamic West Africa. There was, however, a notable difference in their reactions to the Ebola epidemic. As the epidemic spread in Guinea, acts of violent or everyday resistance to outbreak control measures repeatedly followed, undermining public health attempts to contain the crisis. In Sierra Leone, defiant resistance was rarer. Instead of looking to ‘culture’ to explain patterns of social resistance (as was common in the media and in the discourse of responding public health authorities) a comparison between Sierra Leone and Guinea suggests that explanations lie in divergent political practice and lived experiences of the state. In particular the structures of state authority through which the national epidemic response were organised integrated very differently with trusted institutions in each country. Predicting and addressing social responses to epidemic control measures should assess such political-trust configurations when planning interventions. PMID:28366999

76 FR 41769 - Information Collection; Submission for OMB Review, Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-15

... techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.../maintenance): None. Dated: July 11, 2011. Maggie Taylor-Coates, Chief, Trust Operations Branch. [FR Doc. 2011...

The Willingness of Military Members to Seek Help: The Role of Social Involvement and Social Responsibility.

PubMed

Bowen, Gary L; Jensen, Todd M; Martin, James A; Mancini, Jay A

2016-03-01

Anchored in the social organization theory of action and change, we use data from a large sample of active-duty Air Force members to examine the direct and indirect influence of social involvement and social responsibility on willingness to seek help in times of need via trust in formal systems and informal supports. Group comparisons are conducted between junior male, junior female, senior male, and senior female service members. The key mediational path in the model for all groups is the connection between social involvement and willingness to seek help via trust in formal systems. These results can inform both unit- and community-level interventions intended to increase the likelihood that active-duty AF members will seek help in times of need. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Salient Feature of Haptic-Based Guidance of People in Low Visibility Environments Using Hard Reins.

PubMed

Ranasinghe, Anuradha; Sornkarn, Nantachai; Dasgupta, Prokar; Althoefer, Kaspar; Penders, Jacques; Nanayakkara, Thrishantha

2016-02-01

This paper presents salient features of human-human interaction where one person with limited auditory and visual perception of the environment (a follower) is guided by an agent with full perceptual capabilities (a guider) via a hard rein along a given path. We investigate several salient features of the interaction between the guider and follower such as: 1) the order of an autoregressive (AR) control policy that maps states of the follower to actions of the guider; 2) how the guider may modulate the pulling force in response to the trust level of the follower; and 3) how learning may successively apportion the responsibility of control across different muscles of the guider. Based on experimental systems identification on human demonstrations from ten pairs of naive subjects, we show that guiders tend to adopt a third-order AR predictive control policy and followers tend to adopt second-order reactive control policy. Moreover, the extracted guider's control policy was implemented and validated by human-robot interaction experiments. By modeling the follower's dynamics with a time varying virtual damped inertial system, we found that it is the coefficient of virtual damping which is most sensitive to the trust level of the follower. We used these experimental insights to derive a novel controller that integrates an optimal order control policy with a push/pull force modulator in response to the trust level of the follower monitored using a time varying virtual damped inertial model.

Understanding the school community's response to school closures during the H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic.

PubMed

Braunack-Mayer, Annette; Tooher, Rebecca; Collins, Joanne E; Street, Jackie M; Marshall, Helen

2013-04-15

During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Australian public health officials closed schools as a strategy to mitigate the spread of the infection. This article examines school communities' understanding of, and participation in, school closures and the beliefs and values which underpinned school responses to the closures. We interviewed four school principals, 25 staff, 14 parents and 13 students in five schools in one Australian city which were either fully or partially closed during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Drawing on Thompson et al's ethical framework for pandemic planning, we show that considerable variation existed between and within schools in their attention to ethical processes and values. In all schools, health officials and school leaders were strongly committed to providing high quality care for members of the school community. There was variation in the extent to which information was shared openly and transparently, the degree to which school community members considered themselves participants in decision-making, and the responsiveness of decision-makers to the changing situation. Reservations were expressed about the need for closures and quarantine and there was a lack of understanding of the rationale for the closures. All schools displayed a strong duty of care toward those in need, although school communities had a broader view of care than that of the public health officials. Similarly, there was a clear understanding of and commitment to protect the public from harm and to demonstrate responsible stewardship. We conclude that school closures during an influenza pandemic represent both a challenge for public health officials and a litmus test for the level of trust in public officials, government and the school as institution. In our study, trust was the foundation upon which effective responses to the school closure were built. Trust relations within the school were the basis on which different values and beliefs were used to develop and justify the practices and strategies in response to the pandemic.

76 FR 62470 - MFS Series Trust I, et al.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-07

...] MFS Series Trust I, et al.; Notice of Application September 30, 2011. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... Series Trust I, MFS Series Trust II, MFS Series Trust III, MFS Series Trust IV, MFS Series Trust V, MFS Series Trust VI, MFS Series Trust VII, MFS Series Trust VIII, MFS Series Trust IX, MFS Series Trust X...

[Oxytocin: the hormone of love, trust and social bond. Clinical use in autism and social phobia].

PubMed

Martin-Du Pan, R C

2012-03-21

Oxytocin, an octapeptide synthesized in the hypothalamus, stimulates milk election and uterine contractions. In the brain this hormone acts as a neuropeptide. It could inhibit through the GABAergic system the activity of limbic amygdala, which is involved in the response to fear. Oxytocin could also induce the protective behaviour of the mother towards its offspring through the dopaminergic system. In mankind, oxytocin plays a role in trust, empathy, generosity, stress and sexuality. Clinical studies are testing potential benefits of oxytocin administration in autism, depression and social phobia. Results are still preliminary.

Self-reported and employer-recorded sickness absence in doctors.

PubMed

Murphy, I J

2014-09-01

Doctors' sickness absence reduces the quality and continuity of patient care and is financially costly. Doctors have lower rates of sickness absence than other healthcare workers. To compare self-reported with recorded sickness absence in doctors in a UK National Health Service hospital trust. A retrospective questionnaire study. The main outcome measures were self-reported and trust-recorded sickness absence episodes of 4 days or more in two consecutive 6-month periods. The response rate was 82% (607/736). Self-reported sickness absence rates were 1.2% compared with a rate of 0.6% from trust-recorded data. There were 38 matched pairs of self-reported (mean duration: 18 days, standard deviation: 22 days) and trust-recorded (mean duration: 10 days, standard deviation: 17 days) sickness absence episodes of 4 days or more in the 12 months studied. A matched pairs t-test determined that the difference between the two means was significant (t = 2.57, P < 0.05). Doctors' sickness absence was significantly under-recorded in this study population. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Organisational culture and post-merger integration in an academic health centre: a mixed-methods study.

PubMed

Ovseiko, Pavel V; Melham, Karen; Fowler, Jan; Buchan, Alastair M

2015-01-22

Around the world, the last two decades have been characterised by an increase in the numbers of mergers between healthcare providers, including some of the most prestigious university hospitals and academic health centres. However, many mergers fail to bring the anticipated benefits, and successful post-merger integration in university hospitals and academic health centres is even harder to achieve. An increasing body of literature suggests that organisational culture affects the success of post-merger integration and academic-clinical collaboration. This paper reports findings from a mixed-methods single-site study to examine 1) the perceptions of organisational culture in academic and clinical enterprises at one National Health Service (NHS) trust, and 2) the major cultural issues for its post-merger integration with another NHS trust and strategic partnership with a university. From the entire population of 72 clinician-scientists at one of the legacy NHS trusts, 38 (53%) completed a quantitative Competing Values Framework survey and 24 (33%) also provided qualitative responses. The survey was followed up by semi-structured interviews with six clinician-scientists and a group discussion including five senior managers. The cultures of two legacy NHS trusts differed and were primarily distinct from the culture of the academic enterprise. Major cultural issues were related to the relative size, influence, and history of the legacy NHS trusts, and the implications of these for respective identities, clinical services, and finances. Strategic partnership with a university served as an important ameliorating consideration in reaching trust merger. However, some aspects of university entrepreneurial culture are difficult to reconcile with the NHS service delivery model and may create tension. There are challenges in preserving a more desirable culture at one of the legacy NHS trusts, enhancing cultures in both legacy NHS trusts during their post-merger integration, and in aligning academic and clinical cultures following strategic partnership with a university. The seeds of success may be found in current best practice, good will, and a near identical ideal of the future preferred culture. Strong, fair leadership will be required both nationally and locally for the success of mergers and post-merger integration in university hospitals and academic health centres.

Monitoring the level of government trust, risk perception and intention of the general public to adopt protective measures during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in The Netherlands.

PubMed

van der Weerd, Willemien; Timmermans, Daniëlle Rm; Beaujean, Desirée Jma; Oudhoff, Jurriaan; van Steenbergen, Jim E

2011-07-19

During the course of an influenza pandemic, governments know relatively little about the possibly changing influence of government trust, risk perception, and receipt of information on the public's intention to adopt protective measures or on the acceptance of vaccination. This study aims to identify and describe possible changes in and factors associated with public's intentions during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the Netherlands. Sixteen cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted (N = 8060) between April - November 2009. From these repeated measurements three consecutive periods were categorized based on crucial events during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Time trends in government trust, risk perception, intention to adopt protective measures, and the acceptance of vaccination were analysed. Factors associated with an intention to adopt protective measures or vaccination were identified. Trust in the government was high, but decreased over time. During the course of the pandemic, perceived vulnerability and an intention to adopt protective measures increased. Trust and vulnerability were associated with an intention to adopt protective measures in general only during period one. Higher levels of intention to receive vaccination were associated with increased government trust, fear/worry, and perceived vulnerability. In periods two and three receipt of information was positively associated with an intention to adopt protective measures. Most respondents wanted to receive information about infection prevention from municipal health services, health care providers, and the media. The Dutch response to the H1N1 virus was relatively muted. Higher levels of trust in the government, fear/worry, and perceived vulnerability were all positively related to an intention to accept vaccination. Only fear/worry was positively linked to an intention to adopt protective measures during the entire pandemic. Risk and crisis communication by the government should focus on building and maintaining trust by providing information about preventing infection in close collaboration with municipal health services, health care providers, and the media.

Antibiotic policies in acute English NHS trusts: implementation of 'Start Smart-Then Focus' and relationship with Clostridium difficile infection rates.

PubMed

Llewelyn, Martin J; Hand, Kieran; Hopkins, Susan; Walker, A Sarah

2015-04-01

The objective of this study was to establish how antibiotic prescribing policies at National Health Service (NHS) hospitals match the England Department of Health 'Start Smart-Then Focus' recommendations and relate to Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates. Antibiotic pharmacists were surveyed regarding recommendations for empirical treatment of common syndromes ('Start Smart') and antimicrobial prescription reviews ('Focus') at their hospital trusts. If no response was provided, policy data were sought from trust websites and the MicroGuide app (Horizon Strategic Partners, UK). Empirical treatment recommendations were categorized as broad spectrum (a β-lactam penicillin/β-lactamase inhibitor, cephalosporin, quinolone or carbapenem) or narrow spectrum. CDI rates were gathered from the national mandatory surveillance system. Data were obtained for 105/145 English acute hospital trusts (72%). β-Lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations were recommended extensively. Only for severe community-acquired pneumonia and pyelonephritis were narrow-spectrum agents recommended first line at a substantial number of trusts [42/105 (40%) and 50/105 (48%), respectively]. Policies commonly recommended dual therapy with aminoglycosides and β-lactams for abdominal sepsis [40/93 trusts (43%)] and undifferentiated severe sepsis [54/94 trusts (57%)]. Most policies recommended treating for ≥ 7 days for most indications. Nearly all policies [100/105 trusts (95%)] recommended antimicrobial prescription reviews, but only 46/96 respondents (48%) reported monitoring compliance. Independent predictors of higher CDI rates were recommending a broad-spectrum regimen for community-acquired pneumonia (P=0.06) and, counterintuitively, a recommended treatment duration of <48 h for nosocomial pneumonia (P=0.01). Hospital antibiotic policies in the NHS 'Start Smart' by recommending broad-spectrum antibiotics for empirical therapy, but this may have the unintended potential to increase the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and risk of CDI unless better mechanisms are in place to improve 'Focus'. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Monitoring the level of government trust, risk perception and intention of the general public to adopt protective measures during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the Netherlands

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background During the course of an influenza pandemic, governments know relatively little about the possibly changing influence of government trust, risk perception, and receipt of information on the public's intention to adopt protective measures or on the acceptance of vaccination. This study aims to identify and describe possible changes in and factors associated with public's intentions during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the Netherlands. Methods Sixteen cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted (N = 8060) between April - November 2009. From these repeated measurements three consecutive periods were categorized based on crucial events during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Time trends in government trust, risk perception, intention to adopt protective measures, and the acceptance of vaccination were analysed. Factors associated with an intention to adopt protective measures or vaccination were identified. Results Trust in the government was high, but decreased over time. During the course of the pandemic, perceived vulnerability and an intention to adopt protective measures increased. Trust and vulnerability were associated with an intention to adopt protective measures in general only during period one. Higher levels of intention to receive vaccination were associated with increased government trust, fear/worry, and perceived vulnerability. In periods two and three receipt of information was positively associated with an intention to adopt protective measures. Most respondents wanted to receive information about infection prevention from municipal health services, health care providers, and the media. Conclusions The Dutch response to the H1N1 virus was relatively muted. Higher levels of trust in the government, fear/worry, and perceived vulnerability were all positively related to an intention to accept vaccination. Only fear/worry was positively linked to an intention to adopt protective measures during the entire pandemic. Risk and crisis communication by the government should focus on building and maintaining trust by providing information about preventing infection in close collaboration with municipal health services, health care providers, and the media. PMID:21771296

Public health and public trust: Survey evidence from the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in Liberia.

PubMed

Blair, Robert A; Morse, Benjamin S; Tsai, Lily L

2017-01-01

Trust in government has long been viewed as an important determinant of citizens' compliance with public health policies, especially in times of crisis. Yet evidence on this relationship remains scarce, particularly in the developing world. We use results from a representative survey conducted during the 2014-15 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in Monrovia, Liberia to assess the relationship between trust in government and compliance with EVD control interventions. We find that respondents who expressed low trust in government were much less likely to take precautions against EVD in their homes, or to abide by government-mandated social distancing mechanisms designed to contain the spread of the virus. They were also much less likely to support potentially contentious control policies, such as "safe burial" of EVD-infected bodies. Contrary to stereotypes, we find no evidence that respondents who distrusted government were any more or less likely to understand EVD's symptoms and transmission pathways. While only correlational, these results suggest that respondents who refused to comply may have done so not because they failed to understand how EVD is transmitted, but rather because they did not trust the capacity or integrity of government institutions to recommend precautions and implement policies to slow EVD's spread. We also find that respondents who experienced hardships during the epidemic expressed less trust in government than those who did not, suggesting the possibility of a vicious cycle between distrust, non-compliance, hardships and further distrust. Finally, we find that respondents who trusted international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) were no more or less likely to support or comply with EVD control policies, suggesting that while INGOs can contribute in indispensable ways to crisis response, they cannot substitute for government institutions in the eyes of citizens. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future public health crises. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The influence of social-cognitive factors on personal hygiene practices to protect against influenzas: using modelling to compare avian A/H5N1 and 2009 pandemic A/H1N1 influenzas in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Liao, Qiuyan; Cowling, Benjamin J; Lam, Wendy Wing Tak; Fielding, Richard

2011-06-01

Understanding population responses to influenza helps optimize public health interventions. Relevant theoretical frameworks remain nascent. To model associations between trust in information, perceived hygiene effectiveness, knowledge about the causes of influenza, perceived susceptibility and worry, and personal hygiene practices (PHPs) associated with influenza. Cross-sectional household telephone surveys on avian influenza A/H5N1 (2006) and pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (2009) gathered comparable data on trust in formal and informal sources of influenza information, influenza-related knowledge, perceived hygiene effectiveness, worry, perceived susceptibility, and PHPs. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed domain content while confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the extracted factors. The hypothesized model, compiled from different theoretical frameworks, was optimized with structural equation modelling using the A/H5N1 data. The optimized model was then tested against the A/H1N1 dataset. The model was robust across datasets though corresponding path weights differed. Trust in formal information was positively associated with perceived hygiene effectiveness which was positively associated with PHPs in both datasets. Trust in formal information was positively associated with influenza worry in A/H5N1 data, and with knowledge of influenza cause in A/H1N1 data, both variables being positively associated with PHPs. Trust in informal information was positively associated with influenza worry in both datasets. Independent of information trust, perceived influenza susceptibility associated with influenza worry. Worry associated with PHPs in A/H5N1 data only. Knowledge of influenza cause and perceived PHP effectiveness were associated with PHPs. Improving trust in formal information should increase PHPs. Worry was significantly associated with PHPs in A/H5N1.

Feelings of Clinician-Patient Similarity and Trust Influence Pain: Evidence From Simulated Clinical Interactions.

PubMed

Losin, Elizabeth A Reynolds; Anderson, Steven R; Wager, Tor D

2017-07-01

Pain is influenced by many factors other than external sources of tissue damage. Among these, the clinician-patient relationship is particularly important for pain diagnosis and treatment. However, the effects of the clinician-patient relationship on pain remain underexamined. We tested the hypothesis that patients who believe they share core beliefs and values with their clinician will report less pain than patients who do not. We also measured feelings of perceived clinician-patient similarity and trust to see if these interpersonal factors influenced pain. We did so by experimentally manipulating perceptions of similarity between participants playing the role of clinicians and participants playing the role of patients in simulated clinical interactions. Participants were placed in 2 groups on the basis of their responses to a questionnaire about their personal beliefs and values, and painful thermal stimulation was used as an analog of a painful medical procedure. We found that patients reported feeling more similarity and trust toward their clinician when they were paired with clinicians from their own group. In turn, patients' positive feelings of similarity and trust toward their clinicians-but not clinicians' feelings toward patients or whether the clinician and patient were from the same group-predicted lower pain ratings. Finally, the most anxious patients exhibited the strongest relationship between their feelings about their clinicians and their pain report. These findings increase our understanding of context-driven pain modulation and suggest that interventions aimed at increasing patients' feelings of similarity to and trust in health care providers may help reduce the pain experienced during medical care. We present novel evidence that the clinician-patient relationship can affect the pain experienced during medical care. We found that "patients" in simulated clinical interactions who reported feeling more similarity and trust toward their "clinicians" reported less pain, suggesting that increasing feelings of clinician-patient similarity and trust may reduce pain disparities. Copyright © 2017 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Organizational justice, trust, and identification and their effects on organizational commitment in hospital nursing staff.

PubMed

Chen, Su-Yueh; Wu, Wen-Chuan; Chang, Ching-Sheng; Lin, Chia-Tzu; Kung, Jung-Yuan; Weng, Hui-Ching; Lin, Yu-Tz; Lee, Shu-I

2015-09-07

It is of importance and urgency for hospitals to retain excellent nursing staff in order to improve patient satisfaction and hospital performance. However, it was found that simply increasing the salary is not the best method to resolve the problem of lacking nursing staff; it is necessary to focus on the impact of non-monetary factors. The delicate relationship between organizational justice, organizational trust, organizational identification, and organizational commitment requires investigation and clarification from more studies if application in nursing practice is to be expected. Therefore, this study was to investigate how the organizational justice perception could affect nurses' organizational trust and organizational identification, and whether the organizational trust and organizational identification could encourage nurses to willingly remain in their jobs and commit themselves to the hospitals. A cross-sectional design was used. Questionnaires were distributed in 2013 to a convenience sample of 400 registered nurses in one teaching hospital in Taiwan: 392 were retrieved. Of these, 386 questionnaires were valid, which was a 96.5% response rate. The SPSS 17.0 and Amos 17.0 (structural equation modeling) statistical software packages were used for data analysis. The organizational justice perceived by nurses significantly and positively affects their organizational trust (γ₁₁ = 0.49) and organizational identification (γ₂₁ = 0.58). Organizational trust (β₃₁ = 0.62) and organizational identification (β₃₂ = 0.53) significantly and positively affect organizational commitment. Hospital managers can enhance the service concepts and attitudes of frontline nursing personnel by maximizing organizational justice, organizational trust and organizational identification. Nursing personnel would then be motivated to provide feedback to the attention and care provided by hospital management by demonstrating substantial improvements in their extra-role performance. Improved service concepts and attitudes would also facilitate teamwork among colleagues, boost the morale of the nursing faculty and reduce resignations and career changes.

How Do Acquired Political Identities Influence Our Neural Processing toward Others within the Context of a Trust Game?

PubMed Central

Wu, Chien-Te; Fan, Yang-Teng; Du, Ye-Rong; Yang, Tien-Tun; Liu, Ho-Ling; Yen, Nai-Shing; Chen, Shu-Heng; Hsung, Ray-May

2018-01-01

Trust is essential for mutually beneficial human interactions in economic exchange and politics and people’s social identities notably have dramatic effects on trust behaviors toward others. Previous literature concerning social identities generally suggests that people tend to show in-group favoritism toward members who share the same identity. However, how our brains process signals of identity while facing uncertain situations in interpersonal interactions remains largely unclear. To address this issue, we performed an fMRI experiment with 54 healthy adults who belonged to two identity groups of opposing political orientations. The identity information of participants was extracted from a large-scale social survey on the 2012 Taiwan presidential election. Accordingly, participants were categorized as either the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters. During the experiment, participants played trust games with computer agents with labels of the same or the opposing political identity. Interestingly, our results suggest that the behaviors of the two groups cannot be equally attributed to in-group favoritism. Behaviorally, only the DPP supporter group showed a significant trust preference toward in-group members, which did not hold for the KMT supporter group. Consistently, neurophysiological findings further revealed that only the DPP supporter group showed neuronal responses to both unexpected negative feedback from in-group members in anterior insula, temporoparietal junction, and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, as well as to unexpected rewards from out-group members in caudate. These findings therefore suggest that acquired identities play a more complex role in modulating people’s social expectation in interpersonal trust behaviors under identity-relevant contexts. PMID:29456496

Social capital, anticipated ethnic discrimination and self-reported psychological health: a population-based study.

PubMed

Lindström, Martin

2008-01-01

This study investigates the association between anticipated ethnic discrimination and self-reported psychological health, taking generalized trust in other people into consideration. The 2004 Public Health Survey in Skåne, Sweden, is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study including a total of 27,757 respondents aged 18-80 with a 59% response rate. Multivariate analyses of anticipated discrimination and self-reported psychological health were performed using logistic regressions in order to investigate the importance of possible confounders (age, country of origin, education and horizontal trust). Poor psychological health was reported by 13.0% of men and 18.9% of women, and 44.8% and 44.7%, respectively, reported that 50% or more of employers would discriminate according to race, colour of skin, religion, or cultural background. Respondents in younger age groups, born abroad, with high education, low trust and high levels of self-reported anticipated discrimination, had significantly higher levels of poor self-reported psychological health. There was a significant association between anticipated discrimination and low horizontal trust. After multiple adjustments for age, country of origin and education, the addition of trust in the model reduced the odds ratio of poor self-reported psychological health in the "most employers" category from 1.8 (1.4-2.1) to 1.5 (1.3-1.9) among men and from 2.2 (1.8-2.6) to 1.8 (1.5-2.2) among women. Generalized trust in other people may be a confounder of the association between anticipated discrimination and poor psychological health. Anticipated discrimination may have effects on the mental health of not only the affected minorities, but also on the mental health of the general population.

"You don't want to lose that trust that you've built with this patient...": (dis)trust, medical tourism, and the Canadian family physician-patient relationship.

PubMed

Crooks, Valorie A; Li, Neville; Snyder, Jeremy; Dharamsi, Shafik; Benjaminy, Shelly; Jacob, Karen J; Illes, Judy

2015-02-25

Recent trends document growth in medical tourism, the private pursuit of medical interventions abroad. Medical tourism introduces challenges to decision-making that impact and are impacted by the physician-patient trust relationship-a relationship on which the foundation of beneficent health care lies. The objective of the study is to examine the views of Canadian family physicians about the roles that trust plays in decision-making about medical tourism, and the impact of medical tourism on the therapeutic relationship. We conducted six focus groups with 22 family physicians in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Data were analyzed thematically using deductive and inductive codes that captured key concepts across the narratives of participants. Family physicians indicated that they trust their patients to act as the lead decision-makers about medical tourism, but are conflicted when the information they are managing contradicts the best interests of the patients. They reported that patients distrust local health care systems when they experience insufficiencies in access to care and that this can prompt patients to consider going abroad for care. Trust fractures in the physician-patient relationship can arise from shame, fear and secrecy about medical tourism. Family physicians face diverse tensions about medical tourism as they must balance their roles in: (1) providing information about medical tourism within a context of information deficits; (2) supporting decision-making while distancing themselves from patients' decisions to engage in medical tourism; and (3) acting both as agents of the patient and of the domestic health care system. These tensions highlight the ongoing need for reliable third-party informational resources about medical tourism and the development of responsive policy.

Dispositional pathways to trust: Self-esteem and agreeableness interact to predict trust and negative emotional disclosure.

PubMed

McCarthy, Megan H; Wood, Joanne V; Holmes, John G

2017-07-01

Expressing our innermost thoughts and feelings is critical to the development of intimacy (Reis & Shaver, 1988), but also risks negative evaluation and rejection. Past research suggests that people with high self-esteem are more expressive and self-disclosing because they trust that others care for them and will not reject them (Gaucher et al., 2012). However, feeling good about oneself may not always be enough; disclosure may also depend on how we feel about other people. Drawing on the principles of risk regulation theory (Murray et al., 2006), we propose that agreeableness-a trait that refers to the positivity of interpersonal motivations and behaviors-is a key determinant of trust in a partner's caring and responsiveness, and may work in conjunction with self-esteem to predict disclosure. We examined this possibility by exploring how both self-esteem and agreeableness predict a particularly risky and intimate form of self-disclosure, the disclosure of emotional distress. In 6 studies using correlational, partner-report, and experimental methods, we demonstrate that self-esteem and agreeableness interact to predict disclosure: People who are high in both self-esteem and agreeableness show higher emotional disclosure. We also found evidence that trust mediates this effect. People high in self-esteem and agreeableness are most self-revealing, it seems, because they are especially trusting of their partners' caring. Self-esteem and agreeableness were particularly important for the disclosure of vulnerable emotions (i.e., sadness; Study 5) and disclosures that were especially risky (Study 6). These findings illustrate how dispositional variables can work together to explain behavior in close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Much ado about flu: A mixed methods study of parental perceptions, trust and information seeking in a pandemic.

PubMed

King, Catherine L; Chow, Maria Y K; Wiley, Kerrie E; Leask, Julie

2018-07-01

Effective public health messaging is essential in both the planning phase and duration of a pandemic. This study aimed to gain an understanding of parental information seeking, trusted sources and needs in relation to pandemic influenza A 2009 (pH1N1) to inform future policy planning and resource development. We conducted a mixed methods study; parents from 16 childcare centres in Sydney, Australia, were surveyed between 16 November and 9 December 2009, and interviews were conducted with participants from six childcare centres between June 2009 and May 2011. From 972 surveys distributed, 431 were completed; a response rate of 44%. Most parents (90%) reported that doctors were "trusted a lot" as a source of influenza information, followed by nurses (59%), government (56%) and childcare centres (52%). Less trusted sources included media (7% selected "trusted a lot"), antivaccination groups (6%) and celebrities (1%). Parents identified a range of key search terms for influenza infection and vaccine. From 42 in-depth interviews, key themes were as follows: "Action trigger," "In an emergency, think Emergency," "Fright to hype" and "Dr Google and beyond." Parents relied heavily on media messages, but cynicism emerged when the pandemic was milder than expected. Parents viewed a range of information sources as trustworthy, including doctors, authoritative hospital or government websites, and childcare centres and schools. A user-centred orientation is vital for pandemic communications including tailored information provision, via trusted sources based on what parents want to know and how they can find it. © 2018 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Oxytocin attenuates trust as a subset of more general reinforcement learning, with altered reward circuit functional connectivity in males.

PubMed

Ide, Jaime S; Nedic, Sanja; Wong, Kin F; Strey, Shmuel L; Lawson, Elizabeth A; Dickerson, Bradford C; Wald, Lawrence L; La Camera, Giancarlo; Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne R

2018-07-01

Oxytocin (OT) is an endogenous neuropeptide that, while originally thought to promote trust, has more recently been found to be context-dependent. Here we extend experimental paradigms previously restricted to de novo decision-to-trust, to a more realistic environment in which social relationships evolve in response to iterative feedback over twenty interactions. In a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled within-subject/crossover experiment of human adult males, we investigated the effects of a single dose of intranasal OT (40 IU) on Bayesian expectation updating and reinforcement learning within a social context, with associated brain circuit dynamics. Subjects participated in a neuroeconomic task (Iterative Trust Game) designed to probe iterative social learning while their brains were scanned using ultra-high field (7T) fMRI. We modeled each subject's behavior using Bayesian updating of belief-states ("willingness to trust") as well as canonical measures of reinforcement learning (learning rate, inverse temperature). Behavioral trajectories were then used as regressors within fMRI activation and connectivity analyses to identify corresponding brain network functionality affected by OT. Behaviorally, OT reduced feedback learning, without bias with respect to positive versus negative reward. Neurobiologically, reduced learning under OT was associated with muted communication between three key nodes within the reward circuit: the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and lateral (limbic) habenula. Our data suggest that OT, rather than inspiring feelings of generosity, instead attenuates the brain's encoding of prediction error and therefore its ability to modulate pre-existing beliefs. This effect may underlie OT's putative role in promoting what has typically been reported as 'unjustified trust' in the face of information that suggests likely betrayal, while also resolving apparent contradictions with regard to OT's context-dependent behavioral effects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A model for (re)building consumer trust in the food system.

PubMed

Wilson, Annabelle M; Withall, Elizabeth; Coveney, John; Meyer, Samantha B; Henderson, Julie; McCullum, Dean; Webb, Trevor; Ward, Paul R

2017-12-01

The article presents a best practice model that can be utilized by food system actors to assist with (re)building trust in the food system, before, during and after a food incident defined as 'any situation within the food supply chain where there is a risk or potential risk of illness or confirmed illness or injury associated with the consumption of a food or foods' (Commonwealth of Australia. National Food Incident Response Protocol. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2012). Interviews were undertaken with 105 actors working within the media, food industry and food regulatory settings across Australia, New Zealand (NZ) and the United Kingdom (UK). Interview data produced strategy statements, which indicated participant views on how to (re)build consumer trust in the food system. These included: (i) be transparent, (ii) have protocols and procedures in place, (iii) be credible, (iv) be proactive, (v) put consumers first, (vi) collaborate with stakeholders, (vii) be consistent, (viii) educate stakeholders and consumers, (ix) build your reputation and (x) keep your promises. A survey was designed to enable participants to indicate their agreement/disagreement with the ideas, rate their importance and provide further comment. The five strategies considered key to (re)building consumer trust were used to develop a model demonstrating best practice strategies for (re)building consumer trust in the food system before, during and after a food incident. In a world where the food system is increasingly complex, strategies for (re)building and fostering consumer trust are important. This study offers a model to do so which is derived from the views and experiences of actors working across the food industry, food regulation and the media. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Parental Monitoring, Negotiated Unsupervised Time, and Parental Trust: The Role of Perceived Parenting Practices in Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors

PubMed Central

BORAWSKI, ELAINE A.; IEVERS-LANDIS, CAROLYN E.; LOVEGREEN, LOREN D.; TRAPL, ERIKA S.

2010-01-01

Purpose To compare two different parenting practices (parental monitoring and negotiated unsupervised time) and perceived parental trust in the reporting of health risk behaviors among adolescents. Methods Data were derived from 692 adolescents in 9th and 10th grades (X̄ = 15.7 years) enrolled in health education classes in six urban high schools. Students completed a self-administered paper-based survey that assessed adolescents’ perceptions of the degree to which their parents monitor their whereabouts, are permitted to negotiate unsupervised time with their friends and trust them to make decisions. Using gender-specific multivariate logistic regression analyses, we examined the relative importance of parental monitoring, negotiated unsupervised time with peers, and parental trust in predicting reported sexual activity, sex-related protective actions (e.g., condom use, carrying protection) and substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana). Results For males and females, increased negotiated unsupervised time was strongly associated with increased risk behavior (e.g., sexual activity, alcohol and marijuana use) but also sex-related protective actions. In males, high parental monitoring was associated with less alcohol use and consistent condom use. Parental monitoring had no affect on female behavior. Perceived parental trust served as a protective factor against sexual activity, tobacco, and marijuana use in females, and alcohol use in males. Conclusions Although monitoring is an important practice for parents of older adolescents, managing their behavior through negotiation of unsupervised time may have mixed results leading to increased experimentation with sexuality and substances, but perhaps in a more responsible way. Trust established between an adolescent female and her parents continues to be a strong deterrent for risky behaviors but appears to have little effect on behaviors of adolescent males. PMID:12890596

How do NHS general hospitals in England deal with patients with alcohol-related problems? A questionnaire survey.

PubMed

Owens, Lynn; Gilmore, Ian T; Pirmohamed, Munir

2005-01-01

Alcohol-related disease represents a major burden on hospitals. However, it is unclear whether hospitals have developed the necessary expertise and guidelines to deal with this burden. The aim of this survey was to determine what measures general hospital NHS Trusts in England had in place to deal with alcohol-related problems, including the employment of dedicated alcohol specialist nurses. Two postal surveys of all NHS general hospital Trusts in England, the first in 2000 (n = 138; 54% response rate) and the second in 2003 after the publication of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) report on alcohol in secondary care (n = 164; 75% response rate). Between the two surveys, there was a significant increase (P = 0.005) in the number of dedicated alcohol nurses employed by general hospital trusts; however, the numbers remain low (n = 21). Additionally, the availability of prescribing guidelines for the management of alcohol withdrawal increased significantly (P = 0.0001). The survey indicates that most general hospitals do not have appropriate services in place to deal with such patients. Although there is a need and willingness to develop alcohol services in general hospitals, which is one of the key recommendations of the RCP report, the lack of funding is going to act as a major barrier.

40 CFR 22.41 - Supplemental rules governing the administrative assessment of civil penalties under Title II of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). 22.41 Section 22.41 Protection of... II of the Toxic Substance Control Act, enacted as section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response... shall be deposited into the Asbestos Trust Fund established under section 5 of AHERA. ...

40 CFR 22.41 - Supplemental rules governing the administrative assessment of civil penalties under Title II of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). 22.41 Section 22.41 Protection of... II of the Toxic Substance Control Act, enacted as section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response... shall be deposited into the Asbestos Trust Fund established under section 5 of AHERA. ...

40 CFR 22.41 - Supplemental rules governing the administrative assessment of civil penalties under Title II of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). 22.41 Section 22.41 Protection of... II of the Toxic Substance Control Act, enacted as section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response... shall be deposited into the Asbestos Trust Fund established under section 5 of AHERA. ...

40 CFR 22.41 - Supplemental rules governing the administrative assessment of civil penalties under Title II of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). 22.41 Section 22.41 Protection of... II of the Toxic Substance Control Act, enacted as section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response... shall be deposited into the Asbestos Trust Fund established under section 5 of AHERA. ...

40 CFR 22.41 - Supplemental rules governing the administrative assessment of civil penalties under Title II of...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). 22.41 Section 22.41 Protection of... II of the Toxic Substance Control Act, enacted as section 2 of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response... shall be deposited into the Asbestos Trust Fund established under section 5 of AHERA. ...

Relationship-Based Infant Care: Responsive, on Demand, and Predictable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, Sandra; Wittmer, Donna

2008-01-01

Young babies are easily overwhelmed by the pain of hunger or gas. However, when an infant's day is filled with caregiving experiences characterized by quick responses to his cries and accurate interpretations of the meaning of his communication, the baby learns that he can count on being fed and comforted. He begins to develop trust in his teacher…

White House Conference on Library and Information Services Follow-Up Inquiry. State/Territory Agency Responses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Washington, DC.

State and territory agency responses to a 1980 follow-up inquiry of the 1979 White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIST) are presented. Individual questionnaires were completed by 24 states and 2 trust territories. Questionnaires provide information on increased state aid to libraries, new library legislation,…

Ethical Issues in Online Educational Research: Protecting Privacy, Establishing Authenticity in Email Interviewing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Nalita; Busher, Hugh

2007-01-01

Educational researchers have a responsibility to ensure that in whatever research paradigm they work, the research that is conducted is done so within an "ethic of respect" to those who participate. This implies a number of responsibilities on the part of the researcher that include ensuring trust, dignity, privacy, confidentiality and anonymity.…

Physicians' acceptance of electronic medical records exchange: an extension of the decomposed TPB model with institutional trust and perceived risk.

PubMed

Hsieh, Pi-Jung

2015-01-01

Electronic medical records (EMRs) exchange improves clinical quality and reduces medical costs. However, few studies address the antecedent factors of physicians' intentions to use EMR exchange. Based on institutional trust and perceived risk integrated with the decomposed theory of planned behavior (TPB) model, we propose a theoretical model to explain the intention of physicians to use an EMR exchange system. We conducted a field survey in Taiwan to collect data from physicians who had experience using the EMR exchange systems. A valid sample of 191 responses was collected for data analysis. To test the proposed research model, we employed structural equation modeling using the partial least squares method. The study findings show that the following five factors have a significant influence on the physicians' intentions to use EMR exchange systems: (a) attitude; (b) subjective norm; (c) perceived behavior control; (d) institutional trust; and (e) perceived risk. These five factors are predictable by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and compatibility, interpersonal and governmental influence, facilitating conditions and self-efficacy, situational normality and structural assurance, and institutional trust, respectively. The results also indicate that institutional trust and perceived risk integrated with the decomposed TPB model improve the prediction of physician's intentions to use EMR exchange. The results of this study indicate that our research model effectively predicts the intention of physicians to use EMR exchange, and provides valuable implications for academics and practitioners. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding Farmer Perspectives on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

PubMed Central

Morton, Lois Wright; Hobbs, Jon

2015-01-01

Agriculture is vulnerable to climate change and a source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Farmers face pressures to adjust agricultural systems to make them more resilient in the face of increasingly variable weather (adaptation) and reduce GHG production (mitigation). This research examines relationships between Iowa farmers’ trust in environmental or agricultural interest groups as sources of climate information, climate change beliefs, perceived climate risks to agriculture, and support for adaptation and mitigation responses. Results indicate that beliefs varied with trust, and beliefs in turn had a significant direct effect on perceived risks from climate change. Support for adaptation varied with perceived risks, while attitudes toward GHG reduction (mitigation) were associated predominantly with variation in beliefs. Most farmers were supportive of adaptation responses, but few endorsed GHG reduction, suggesting that outreach should focus on interventions that have adaptive and mitigative properties (e.g., reduced tillage, improved fertilizer management). PMID:25983336

Oxytocin Enhances Social Persuasion during Hypnosis

PubMed Central

Bryant, Richard A.; Hung, Lynette

2013-01-01

It has long been argued that hypnosis cannot promote behaviors that people will not otherwise engage in. Oxytocin can enhance trust in others, and may promote the extent to which a hypnotized person complies with the suggestion of a hypnotist. This double-blind placebo study administered oxytocin or placebo to high hypnotizable participants (N = 28), who were then administered hypnotic suggestions for socially unorthodox behaviors, including swearing during the experiment, singing out loud, and dancing in response to a posthypnotic cue. Participants who received oxytocin were significantly more likely to swear and dance than those who received the placebo. This finding may be interpreted in terms of oxytocin increasing social compliance in response as a function of (a) increased trust in the hypnotist, (b) reduced social anxiety, or (c) enhanced sensitivity to cues to respond to experimental expectations. These results point to the potential role of oxytocin in social persuasion. PMID:23577153

Balancing uncertainty and acceptance: understanding Chinese women's responses to an abnormal cervical smear result.

PubMed

Twinn, Sheila

2006-09-01

The aims of this study were to examine the responses of Hong Kong Chinese women receiving an abnormal smear result and to compare any differences in responses depending on the diagnosis of the abnormal smear. The implementation of cervical screening programmes has resulted in an increasing number of women receiving an abnormal smear result requiring cytological surveillance or referral for colposcopy. Evidence suggests that women frequently misunderstood such results, believing that they already have cancer. However, little is known about the responses of Chinese women in this situation. An exploratory qualitative study. Face-to-face semi-structured tape-recorded interviews were undertaken with 66 women sampled opportunistically from an urban centre of a major non-governmental service provider. Amongst this sample, 22 women required cytological surveillance, 20 required treatment for vaginitis and 24 were referred for colposcopy. Thematic analysis was undertaken of the translated interviews within and across groups to identify categories and themes illustrating women's responses to an abnormal smear result. An important difference in the comparison of the data sets was that of women's understanding of the cause of the abnormal result. Women with vaginitis understood the cause of their abnormality, whereas those in the other groups remained unclear about their abnormality, generating feelings of fear and uncertainty. Trust in practitioners influenced women's acceptance of the result. Although responses of Chinese women are similar to those in other population groups, with those referred for colposcopy experiencing greater anxiety than those undergoing cytological surveillance, balancing feelings of uncertainty and acceptance influenced Chinese women's responses to their abnormal results and allowed them to make sense of their result in their everyday life. Trust in the practitioner was essential to the acceptance of their result. Such findings highlight implications for nursing practice, in particular developing information-giving strategies and targeted information to help women manage feelings of uncertainty. The importance of trusting professional relationships in determining women's acceptance of an abnormal result is also highlighted. The findings suggest nurses working with Chinese women should consider the underlying influence of culture on women's beliefs and actions.

Trust, fear, stigma and disruptions: community perceptions and experiences during periods of low but ongoing transmission of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, 2015.

PubMed

Nuriddin, Azizeh; Jalloh, Mohamed F; Meyer, Erika; Bunnell, Rebecca; Bio, Franklin A; Jalloh, Mohammad B; Sengeh, Paul; Hageman, Kathy M; Carroll, Dianna D; Conteh, Lansana; Morgan, Oliver

2018-01-01

Social mobilisation and risk communication were essential to the 2014-2015 West African Ebola response. By March 2015, >8500 Ebola cases and 3370 Ebola deaths were confirmed in Sierra Leone. Response efforts were focused on 'getting to zero and staying at zero'. A critical component of this plan was to deepen and sustain community engagement. Several national quantitative studies conducted during this time revealed Ebola knowledge, personal prevention practices and traditional burial procedures improved as the outbreak waned, but healthcare system challenges were also noted. Few qualitative studies have examined these combined factors, along with survivor stigma during periods of ongoing transmission. To obtain an in-depth understanding of people's perceptions, attitudes and behaviours associated with Ebola transmission risks, 27 focus groups were conducted between April and May 2015 with adult Sierra Leonean community members on: trust in the healthcare system, interactions with Ebola survivors, impact of Ebola on lives and livelihood, and barriers and facilitators to ending the outbreak. Participants perceived that as healthcare practices and facilities improved, so did community trust. Resource management remained a noted concern. Perceptions of survivors ranged from sympathy and empathy to fear and stigmatisation. Barriers included persistent denial of ongoing Ebola transmission, secret burials and movement across porous borders. Facilitators included personal protective actions, consistent messaging and the inclusion of women and survivors in the response. Understanding community experiences during the devastating Ebola epidemic provides practical lessons for engaging similar communities in risk communication and social mobilisation during future outbreaks and public health emergencies.

Use of a safety climate questionnaire in UK health care: factor structure, reliability and usability.

PubMed

Hutchinson, A; Cooper, K L; Dean, J E; McIntosh, A; Patterson, M; Stride, C B; Laurence, B E; Smith, C M

2006-10-01

To explore the factor structure, reliability, and potential usefulness of a patient safety climate questionnaire in UK health care. Four acute hospital trusts and nine primary care trusts in England. The questionnaire used was the 27 item Teamwork and Safety Climate Survey. Thirty three healthcare staff commented on the wording and relevance. The questionnaire was then sent to 3650 staff within the 13 NHS trusts, seeking to achieve at least 600 responses as the basis for the factor analysis. 1307 questionnaires were returned (36% response). Factor analyses and reliability analyses were carried out on 897 responses from staff involved in direct patient care, to explore how consistently the questions measured the underlying constructs of safety climate and teamwork. Some questionnaire items related to multiple factors or did not relate strongly to any factor. Five items were discarded. Two teamwork factors were derived from the remaining 11 teamwork items and three safety climate factors were derived from the remaining 11 safety items. Internal consistency reliabilities were satisfactory to good (Cronbach's alpha > or =0.69 for all five factors). This is one of the few studies to undertake a detailed evaluation of a patient safety climate questionnaire in UK health care and possibly the first to do so in primary as well as secondary care. The results indicate that a 22 item version of this safety climate questionnaire is useable as a research instrument in both settings, but also demonstrates a more general need for thorough validation of safety climate questionnaires before widespread usage.

Defense AT and L. Volume 38, Number 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

trust of running the business or doing their job in the hands of employees, and allows a greater degree of autonomy (think Warren Buffet ). This can...Reserve Air Fleet and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement. Financial accountability for all its missions is extremely important, as the funds for...cutting-edge responsiveness. Your Dollars, Spent Responsibly Establishing Stronger Financial Accountability Alan “Keith” Bentley, USTRANSCOM

Learning To Be Independent and Responsible. Functional Programming for People with Autism: A Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalrymple, Nancy

Children with autism cannot be taught independent and responsible behavior in the way that most "sociable" children are taught, due to their deficits in social interaction and communication. Children with autism must first build trust in order to feel secure and to be able to concentrate on learning new skills and behaviors. Environmental supports…

Mutual Interest: Engaging Vietnam on Oil Spill Prevention and Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-01

on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling builds trust and improves their response capability. The Commission concluded that the...Surface recovery skimmers were 26 National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and...Sea. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1979. National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Report to

Assessing the responsiveness of chronic disease care - is the World Health Organization's concept of health system responsiveness applicable?

PubMed

Röttger, Julia; Blümel, Miriam; Fuchs, Sabine; Busse, Reinhard

2014-07-01

The concept of health system responsiveness is an important dimension of health system performance assessment. Further efforts have been made in recent years to improve the analysis of responsiveness measurements, yet few studies have applied the responsiveness concept to the evaluation of specific health care delivery structures. The objective of this study was to test the World Health Organization's (WHO's) responsiveness concept for an application in the evaluation of chronic disease care. In September and October 2012 we conducted four focus groups of chronically ill people (n = 38) in Germany, in which participants discussed their experiences and expectations regarding health care. The data was analyzed deductively (on the basis of the WHO responsiveness concept) and inductively using directed content analysis. Ten themes related to health system responsiveness and one theme (finances) not directly related to health system responsiveness, but of high importance to the focus group participants, could be identified. Eight of the ten responsiveness themes are consistent with the WHO concept. Additionally, two new themes were identified: trust (consultation and treatment are not led by any motive other than the patients' wellbeing) and coordination (treatment involving different providers is coordinated and different actors communicate with each other). These findings indicate the suitability of the WHO responsiveness concept for the evaluation of chronic disease care. However, some amendments, in particular an extension of the concept to include the two domains trust and coordination, are necessary for a thorough assessment of the responsiveness of chronic disease care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 58849 - Legg Mason Partners Equity Trust, et al.;

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-22

...] Legg Mason Partners Equity Trust, et al.; Notice of Application September 15, 2011. AGENCY: Securities... Trust (``LMP Equity Trust''), Legg Mason Partners Variable Equity Trust (``LMP Variable Equity Trust'' and together with LMP Equity Trust, the ``Trusts''), Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC (``LMPFA...

Neighborhood differences in social capital: a compositional artifact or a contextual construct?

PubMed

Subramanian, S V; Lochner, Kimberly A; Kawachi, Ichiro

2003-03-01

Assessment of social capital at the neighborhood level is often based on aggregating individual perceptions of trust and reciprocity. Individual perceptions, meanwhile, are influenced through a range of individual attributes. This paper examines the socioeconomic and demographic attributes that systematically correlate with individual perception of social capital and determines the extent to which such attributes account for neighborhood differences in social capital. Using improved multilevel modeling procedures, we ascertain the extent to which differences in social capital perception can be ascribed to true neighborhood-level variations. The analysis is based on the 1994-95 Community Survey of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). The response measure is based on survey respondent's perceptions of whether people in their neighborhood can be trusted. The results suggest that even after accounting for individual demographic (age, sex, race, marital status) and socioeconomic characteristics (income, education), significant neighborhood differences remain in individual perceptions of trust, substantiating the notion of social capital as a true contextual construct.

Guiding principles of safety as a basis for developing a pharmaceutical safety culture.

PubMed

Edwards, Brian; Olsen, Axel K; Whalen, Matthew D; Gold, Marla J

2007-05-01

Despite the best efforts of industry and regulatory authorities, the trust of society in the process of medicine development and communication of pharmaceutical risk has ebbed away. In response the US government has called for a culture of compliance while the EU regulators talk of a 'culture of scientific excellence'. However, one of the fundamental problems hindering progress to rebuilding trust based on a pharmaceutical safety culture is the lack of agreement and transparency between all stakeholders as to what is meant by a 'Safety of Medicines'. For that reason, we propose 'Guiding Principles of Safety for Pharmaceuticals' are developed analogous to the way that Chemical Safety has been tackled. A logical starting point would be to examine the Principles outlined by the US Institute of Medicine although we acknowledge that these Principles require further extensive debate and definition. Nevertheless, the Principles should take centre stage in the reform of pharmaceutical development required to restore society's trust.

Social trust, interpersonal trust and self-rated health in China: a multi-level study.

PubMed

Feng, Zhixin; Vlachantoni, Athina; Liu, Xiaoting; Jones, Kelvyn

2016-11-08

Trust is important for health at both the individual and societal level. Previous research using Western concepts of trust has shown that a high level of trust in society can positively affect individuals' health; however, it has been found that the concepts and culture of trust in China are different from those in Western countries and research on the relationship between trust and health in China is scarce. The analyses use data from the national scale China General Social Survey (CGSS) on adults aged above 18 in 2005 and 2010. Two concepts of trust ("out-group" and "in-group" trust) are used to examine the relationship between trust and self-rated health in China. Multilevel logistical models are applied, examining the trust at the individual and societal level on individuals' self-rated health. In terms of interpersonal trust, both "out-group" and "in-group" trust are positively associated with good health in 2005 and 2010. At the societal level, the relationships between the two concepts of trust and health are different. In 2005, higher "out-group" social trust (derived from trust in strangers) is positively associated with better health; however, higher "in-group" social trust (derived from trust in most people) is negatively associated with good health in 2010. The cross-level interactions show that lower educated individuals (no education or only primary level), rural residents and those on lower incomes are the most affected groups in societies with higher "out-group" social trust; whereas people with lower levels of educational attainment, a lower income, and those who think that most people can be trusted are the most affected groups in societies with higher "in-group" social trust. High levels of interpersonal trust are of benefit to health. Higher "out-group" social trust is positively associated with better health; while higher "in-group" social trust is negatively associated with good health. Individuals with different levels of educational attainment are affected by trust differently.