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Judith B. Cornelius, PhD,MS, RN, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. Michael G. Cato, MBA, BS, is the Executive Director of Health Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. Jennifer L. Toth, MS-CS, is a Business Systems Analyst at Barnhardt Manufacturing Company, Charlotte, NC. Philip M. Bard, AS, is a Technology Solutions Analyst in Health Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. Michael W. Moore, PhD, MA, BS, is an Instructional Technologist in Health Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. Ann White, MPH, is a Master Facilitator on the BART Text Messaging Project and the President and CEO of Sony Beck Consulting in Charlotte, NC, USA. Since the emergence of HIV, a plethora of Web sites have been developed to disseminate information about the disease. HIV-related Web sites provide facts about prevention, treatment, clinical trials, funding, support, and resources (Chou, Holzemer, Portillo, & Slaughter, 2004; Courtenay-Quirk et al., 2010; Courtenay-Quirk, Wolitski, Hoff, & Parsons, 2003; Kremer & Ironson, 2007; Reeves, 2000, 2001). However, while the number of HIV-related Web sites has increased, rates of infection among AfricanAmerican adolescents has also increased. In 2005, African Americans were 15% of the U.S. population ages 13–19 but represented 66% of adolescent AIDS cases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2007, 2008). These infection rates indicate that HIV-prevention efforts have not been fully effective in reaching at-risk adolescents. One evidencebased intervention, Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART), has been effective in reaching AfricanAmerican adolescents with HIV information (CDC, 2009), but the face-to-face approach of BART limits dissemination to only small groups of teens. Clearly an alternative approach to the delivery of this information is needed. One such alternative is the use of mobile cell phones (MCPs). MCPs are ubiquitous in the hands of youth today and are an important part of adolescent culture.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a critical health concern for African American adolescents and young adults. Current estimates suggest that rates of infection are worse than previously expected, with half of HIV-infected individuals, 13–29 years of age, self-identifying as African American (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010a). African American adolescents are at greater risk for infection in part because they are more likely than adolescents of other ethnic groups to be sexually active, to have multiple sexual partners, and to have gotten someone pregnant (CDC, 2008, 2010c). Given these high risk behaviors, reaching adolescents with safer sex information is crucial (CDC, 2010b). Yet, despite efforts to reach those at risk, many adolescents do not know their HIV status (CDC, 2010a) or understand modes of HIV transmission (Cornelius, Cato, St. Lawrence, Boyer, & Lightfoot, 2011). Therefore, new interventions and better methods of disseminating effective interventions are urgently needed (CDC, 2010c). Mobile cell phones (MCPs) may be an effective way to reach adolescents as these phone users are more likely to be African American, younger, less educated, and belong to a low socioeconomic group (Lenhart, 2010). The amount of time that African American adolescents spend on media and multitasking with MCPs averages 13 hr a day (Kaiser Family Foundation Study, 2010). These adolescents now spend more time using the media features on their MCPs than talking on them (Kaiser Family Foundation Study, 2010). One study found that African American adolescents used their MCPs more than adolescents from other racial groups for texting and social interaction (Lenhart, 2010). Lim, Hocking, Hellard, and Aitken (2008) identified several programs that used MCP technology to provide sexual health services via text messages. Services in Australia, Singapore, India, China, Finland, and the United States sent general safer sex messages to masses of people using MCPs (Lim et al., 2008). This approach has proven to be a cost-effective way of reaching large groups of people with safer sex information. However, while success has been reported with general sexual health messages, few MCP sexual health studies have targeted adolescents (Currie et al., 2010; de Tolly & Alexander, 2009; Dhar, Leggat, & Bonas, 2006; Gold, Lim, Hellard, Hocking, & Keogh, 2010; Lim et al., 2011; Puccio et al., 2006; Samal et al., 2009), and even fewer have targeted African American adolescents (Cornelius et al., 2011; Cornelius & St. Lawrence, 2009; Juzang, Fortune, Black, Wright, & Bull, 2011; Levine, McCright, Dobkin, Woodruff, & Klausner, 2008; Wright, Fortune, Juzang, & Bull, 2011). In one of the few studies, Juzang and colleagues (2011) explored the feasibility of delivering HIV prevention text messages to African American men, 16–20 years of age. Three text messages per week were delivered for 12 weeks to the intervention group, while the control group received text messages about nutrition. Participants in the intervention group showed significantly greater awareness of HIV knowledge and sexual health. Levine and colleagues (2008) conducted a sexual health program in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The program has been successful in providing safer sex messages using MCP technology to the general public. African American adolescents were more likely than adolescents of other ethnic groups to report awareness of the program, live in the targeted neighborhoods, and own an MCP (Levine et al., 2008). In another study, Cornelius and St. Lawrence (2009) examined the receptivity of African American adolescents, 13–18 years of age, to an HIV-prevention intervention enhanced by text messaging boosters. Adolescents were receptive to the idea of receiving text messaging boosters about safer sex information but wanted to receive no more than three messages per day during the hours of 4–6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Cornelius and colleagues (2011) then conducted a study to develop and pretest multimedia text message boosters with a sample of 12 African American adolescents to enhance the Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART) intervention. Adolescents received one multimedia text message daily for 3 weeks and provided feedback as to what they liked and disliked about the text messages and delivery process. A majority of the adolescents felt connected to the research team by having a project MCP, but they recommended keeping the text messaging language simple (Cornelius et al., 2011). Thus, MCP technology clearly has the potential for reaching African American adolescents with HIV prevention information. However, before we can adapt an HIV prevention intervention for MCP-based delivery to masses of adolescents, we must understand adolescents’ perceptions of MCP text messaging-enhanced and MCP-based HIV prevention interventions.

Rare copy number variants (CNVs) disrupting ASTN2 or both ASTN2 and TRIM32 have been reported at 9q33.1 by genome-wide studies in a few individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). The vertebrate-specific astrotactins, ASTN2 and its paralog ASTN1, have key roles in glial-guided neuronal migration during brain development. To determine the prevalence of astrotactin mutations and delineate their associated phenotypic spectrum, we screened ASTN2/TRIM32 and ASTN1 (1q25.2) for exonic CNVs in clinical microarray data from 89 985 individuals across 10 sites, including 64 114 NDD subjects. In this clinical dataset, we identified 46 deletions and 12 duplications affecting ASTN2. Deletions of ASTN1 were much rarer. Deletions near the 3' terminus of ASTN2, which would disrupt all transcript isoforms (a subset of these deletions also included TRIM32), were significantly enriched in the NDD subjects (P = 0.002) compared with 44 085 population-based controls. Frequent phenotypes observed in individuals with such deletions include autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), speech delay, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The 3'-terminal ASTN2 deletions were significantly enriched compared with controls in males with NDDs, but not in females. Upon quantifying ASTN2 human brain RNA, we observed shorter isoforms expressed from an alternative transcription start site of recent evolutionary origin near the 3' end. Spatiotemporal expression profiling in the human brain revealed consistently high ASTN1 expression while ASTN2 expression peaked in the early embryonic neocortex and postnatal cerebellar cortex. Our findings shed new light on the role of the astrotactins in psychopathology and their interplay in human neurodevelopment.

In this study, we examined the sexual communication needs of African-American parents and their adolescent children in relation to faith-based HIV prevention. Eight focus groups of 10 members each were conducted, four with parents and four with adolescents. The sessions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Findings indicated that some African Americans are not knowledgeable about sexually transmitted infections. The sample members were not in agreement about when sexual communications should begin, yet the majority felt that the church was the best place to have these discussions. Healthcare professionals can use the findings from this study to assist faith-based organizations to strengthen the sexual communication skills of African-American families.

This study examined African American adolescents' perceptions of a mobile cell phone (MCP)-enhanced intervention and development of an MCP-based HIV prevention intervention.One focus group was conducted with 11 adolescents who participated in the Becoming a Responsible Teen Text Messaging project.Adolescents said they benefited from the MCP-enhanced approach and were receptive to the idea of developing an MCP-based intervention.Nurses can use the findings of this report as a starting point in examining the development of MCP-based sexuality education with parents and adolescents.