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This article describes how Sister to Sister, an evidence-based HIV/STD intervention for African American women in clinical settings, was prepared for national dissemination using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Replicating Effective Programs research translation process. To test the feasibility of the intervention in the "real world," Sister to Sister's original research team collaborated with community partners to field-test the intervention in three clinical settings. Experiences from field-testing and input from a community advisory board were used to translate research protocols into a package of user-friendly materials that could be easily adopted by frontline clinic staff throughout the nation. Process monitoring and evaluation data demonstrated that Sister to Sister could be implemented successfully by a variety of practitioners including nurses, health educators, and HIV test counselors. "Buy-in" from clinic administrators and providers was a prerequisite to the success of the intervention. Replicating Effective Programs provided a useful process that can be applied by others to successfully prepare evidence-based interventions such as Sister to Sister for national dissemination.

Translating evidence-based HIV/STD prevention interventions and research findings into applicable HIV prevention practice has become an important challenge for the fields of community psychology and public health due to evidence-based interventions and evidence-based practice being given higher priority and endorsement by federal, state, and local health department funders. The Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) for Dissemination and Implementation and the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) Research-to-Practice model both address this challenge. The DHAP model and the ISF are each presented with a brief history and an introduction of their features from synthesis of research findings through translation into intervention materials to implementation by prevention providers. This paper describes why the ISF and the DHAP model were developed and the similarities and differences between them. Specific examples of the use of the models to translate research to practice and the subsequent implications for support of each model are provided. The paper concludes that the ISF and the DHAP model are truly complementary with some unique differences, while both contribute substantially to addressing the gap between identifying effective programs and ensuring their widespread adoption in the field.

The concept of core elements was developed to denote characteristics of an intervention, such as activities or delivery methods, presumed to be responsible for the efficacy of evidence-based behavioral interventions (EBIs) for HIV/AIDS prevention. This paper describes the development of a taxonomy of core elements based on a literature review of theoretical approaches and characteristics of EBIs. Sixty-one categories of core elements were identified from the literature and grouped into three distinct domains: implementation, content and pedagogy. The taxonomy was tested by categorizing core elements from 20 HIV prevention EBIs disseminated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results indicated that core elements represented all three domains but several were difficult to operationalize due to vague language or the inclusion of numerous activities or constructs. A process is proposed to describe core elements in a method that overcomes some of these challenges. The taxonomy of core elements can be used to identify core elements of EBIs, strengthen the translation of EBIs from research to practice and guide future research seeking to identify essential core elements in prevention interventions.

Diabetes Technology Society facilitated a second meeting of insulin pump experts at Mills-Peninsula Health Services, San Mateo, California on November 4, 2009, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories. The first such meeting was held in Bethesda, Maryland, on November 12, 2008. The group of physicians, nurses, diabetes educators, and engineers from across the United States discussed safety issues in insulin pump therapy and recommended adjustments to current insulin pump design and use to enhance overall safety. The meeting discussed safety issues in the context of pump operation; software; hardware; physical structure; electrical, biological, and chemical considerations; use; and environment from engineering, medical, nursing, and pump/user perspectives. There was consensus among meeting participants that insulin pump designs have made great progress in improving the quality of life of people with diabetes, but much more remains to be done., ((c) 2010 Diabetes Technology Society.)

The likelihood of prevention providers and consumers adopting and implementing evidence-based HIV prevention interventions depends on the strategies employed in translating, packaging, and disseminating the findings from research to practice. Lessons from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Replicating Effective Programs project have shown that to smoothly transfer HIV prevention technology from research to practice, researchers need to prepare for possible transfer during research trials. Preparation should include documenting details of the intervention beyond what is published in journals, including important details regarding what the intervention was about, how preparations for it were made, and how it was delivered. Researchers should also ensure that all relevant stakeholders are integrally involved in all aspects of the research and technology transfer process. Such collaborations encourage exchange of ideas and can make certain that interventions are designed to be relevant and acceptable to community agencies and feasible for them to implement.

The safety of any medical device system is dependent on the application of a disciplined, well-defined, risk management process throughout the product life cycle. Hardware, software, human, and environmental interactions must be assessed in terms of intended use, risk, and cost/benefit criteria. This article addresses these issues in the context of medical devices that incorporate software. The article explains the principles of risk management, using terminology and examples from the domain of software engineering. It may serve as a guide to those new to the concepts of risk management and as an aide-memoire for medical device system/software engineers who are more familiar with the topic.

When a population is too large for exhaustive study, as is the case for all possible uses of a software system, a statistically correct sample must be drawn as a basis for inferences about the population. A Markov chain usage model is an engineering formalism that represents the population of possible uses for which a product is to be tested. In statistical testing of software based on a Markov chain usage model, the rich body of analytical results available for Markov chains provides numerous insights that can be used in both product development and test planing. A usage model is based on specifications rather than code, so insights that result from model building can inform product decisions in the early stages of a project when the opportunity to prevent problems is the greatest. Statistical testing based on a usage model provides a sound scientific basis for quantifying the reliability of software.