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Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) genes play an important role in the success of organ transplantation and are associated with autoimmune and infectious diseases. Current DNA based genotyping methods, including Sanger sequence-based typing (SSBT), have identified a high degree of polymorphism. This level of polymorphism makes high-resolution HLA genotyping challenging, resulting in ambiguous typing results due to an inability to resolve phase and/or defining polymorphisms lying outside the region amplified. Next generation sequencing (NGS) may resolve the issue through the combination of clonal amplification, which provides phase information, and the ability to sequence larger regions of genes, including introns, without the additional effort or cost associated with current methods. The NGS HLA sequencing project of the 16IHIW aimed to discuss the different approaches to; (i) template preparation including short and long range PCR amplicons, exome capture and whole genome; (ii) sequencing platforms, including GS 454 FLX, Ion Torrent PGM, Illumina MiSeq/HiSeq and Pacific Biosciences SMRT; (iii) data analysis, specifically allele calling software. The pilot studies presented at the workshop demonstrated that although individual sequencers have very different performance characteristics, all produced sequence data suitable for the resolution of HLA genotyping ambiguities. The developments presented at this workshop clearly highlight the potential benefits of NGS in the HLA laboratory.

Theories of attitude change have failed to identify the architecture of interattitudinal structures and relate it to attitude change. This article examines two models (a hierarchical and a spatial‐linkage model) of interattitudinal structure that explicitly posit consequences for attitude change. An experiment (N = 391) was conducted that manipulated type of hierarchy (explicit versus implicit), whether the hierarchy was primed or not, and the location in the hierarchy to which a message was directed. Whereas the hierarchical model predicts only top‐ down influence of attitudes on each other, a spatial‐linkage model predicts that linked attitudes may influence each other regardless of hierarchical position. The results support the spatial‐linkage model in that interattitudinal change is constrained less by a concept’s relative position in a hierarchical structure than by the concept’s association with other concepts in that structure. Furthermore, within these interattitudinal structures, concepts directly targeted by a persuasive message often exhibit less attitude change than related concepts to which the focal concept appears to be linked. Finally, an explicit hierarchy of concepts appears to facilitate interattitudinal influence much more than an implicit hierarchy of concepts does; the key to this facilitation seems to be the mental accessibility of the organizational structure.

Women in academia generally publish fewer articles than do men; also, many women traditionally have not been attracted to quantitative methodologies. Therefore, this study investigated whether female authors have been underrepresented in «Human Communication Research» (HCR) as compared to their representation in the communication field and as compared to a more qualitative communication journal that publishes articles employing different methods. The results indicated that the difference between the percentage of female authors in HCR and the percentage of women in the field was not significant for 4 of 6 sample years. The difference between the percentages of female authors in HCR and Quarterly Journal of Speech was not significant for any of the 6 years; however, there was a significant difference in the number of female sole or lead (first) authors in 3 of the 6 sample years. Institutional affiliation was also examined because, in most fields, a small percentage of scholars produce a majority of research. The 10 highest ranking programs in Communication Theory and Research (as determined by a survey conducted by the National Communication Association) contributed more than one third of all HCR articles. Overall, the journal seems to have represented the work of a relatively diverse group of scholars during the past 25 years.