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BackgroundYouth experiencing homelessness are more likely than housed youth to experience premature death, suicide, drug overdose, pregnancy, substance use, and mental illness. Yet while youth experiencing homelessness are 6 to 12 times more likely to become infected with HIV than housed youth, with HIV prevalence as high as 16%, many do not access the prevention services they need. Despite adversities, youth experiencing homelessness are interested in health promotion programs, can be recruited and retained in interventions and research studies, and demonstrate improved outcomes when programs are tailored and relevant to them. ObjectiveThe study aims to compare the efficacy of a nurse case management HIV prevention and care intervention, titled Come As You Are, with that of usual care among youth experiencing homelessness aged 16 to 25 years. MethodsThe study is designed as a 2-armed randomized wait-list controlled trial. Participants (n=450) will be recruited and followed up for 9 months after the intervention for a total study period of 12 months. Come As You Are combines nurse case management with a smartphone-based daily ecological momentary assessment to develop participant-driven HIV prevention behavioral goals that can be monitored in real-time. Youth in the city of Houston, Texas will be recruited from drop-in centers, shelters, street outreach programs, youth-serving organizations, and clinics. ResultsInstitutional review board approval (Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston) was obtained in November 2018. The first participant was enrolled in November 2019. Data collection is ongoing. To date, 123 participants have consented to participate in the study, 89 have been enrolled, and 15 have completed their final follow-up. ConclusionsThere is a paucity of HIV prevention research regarding youth experiencing homelessness. Novel and scalable interventions that address the full continuum of behavioral and biomedical HIV prevention are needed. This study will determine whether a personalized and mobile HIV prevention approach can reduce HIV risk among a hard-to-reach, transient population of youth at high risk. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/26716

Antibodies are critical tools for research into extracellular vesicles (EVs) and other extracellular nanoparticles (ENPs), where they can be used for their identification, characterization, and isolation. However, the lack of a centralized antibody platform where researchers can share validation results thus minimizing wasted personnel time and reagents, has been a significant obstacle. Moreover, because the performance of antibodies varies among assay types and conditions, detailed information on assay variables and protocols is also of value. To facilitate sharing of results on antibodies that are relevant to EV/ENP research, the EV Antibody Database has been developed by the investigators of the Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium (ERCC). Hosted by the ExRNA Portal (https://exrna.org/resources/evabdb/), this interactive database aggregates and shares results from antibodies that have been tested by research groups in the EV/ENP field. Currently, the EV Antibody Database includes modules for antibodies tested for western Blot, EV Flow Cytometry, and EV Sandwich Assays, and holds 110 records contributed by 6 laboratories from the ERCC. Detailed information on antibody sources, assay conditions, and results is provided, including negative results. We encourage ongoing expert input and community feedback to enhance the databases utility, making it a valuable resource for comprehensive validation data on antibodies and protocols in EV biology.

BackgroundParents use apps to access information on child health, but there are no standards for providing evidence-based advice, support, and information. Well-developed apps that promote appropriate infant feeding and play can support healthy growth and development. A 2015 systematic assessment of smartphone apps in Australia about infant feeding and play found that most apps had minimal information, with poor readability and app quality. ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically evaluate the information and quality of smartphone apps providing information on breastfeeding, formula feeding, introducing solids, or infant play for consumers. MethodsThe Google Play store and Apple App Store were searched for free and paid Android and iPhone Operating System (iOS) apps using keywords for infant feeding, breastfeeding, formula feeding, and tummy time. The apps were evaluated between September 2018 and January 2019 for information content based on Australian guidelines, app quality using the 5-point Mobile App Rating Scale, readability, and suitability of health information. ResultsA total of 2196 unique apps were found and screened. Overall, 47 apps were evaluated, totaling 59 evaluations for apps across both the Android and iOS platforms. In all, 11 apps had affiliations to universities and health services as app developers, writers, or editors. Furthermore, 33 apps were commercially developed. The information contained within the apps was poor: 64% (38/59) of the evaluations found no or low coverage of information found in the Australian guidelines on infant feeding and activity, and 53% (31/59) of the evaluations found incomplete or incorrect information with regard to the depth of information provided. Subjective app assessment by health care practitioners on whether they would use, purchase, or recommend the app ranged from poor to acceptable (median 2.50). Objective assessment of the apps’ engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information was scored as acceptable (median 3.63). The median readability score for the apps was at the American Grade 8 reading level. The suitability of health information was rated superior or adequate for content, reading demand, layout, and interaction with the readers. ConclusionsThe quality of smartphone apps on infant feeding and activity was moderate based on the objective measurements of engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information from a reliable source. The overall quality of information on infant feeding and activity was poor, indicated by low coverage of topics and incomplete or partially complete information. The key areas for improvement involved providing evidence-based information consistent with the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council’s Infant Feeding Guidelines. Apps supported and developed by health care professionals with adequate health service funding can ensure that parents are provided with credible and reliable resources.

Soil microbiomes are heterogeneous, complex microbial communities. Metagenomic analysis is generating vast amounts of data, creating immense challenges in sequence assembly and analysis. Although advances in technology have resulted in the ability to easily collect large amounts of sequence data, soil samples containing thousands of unique taxa are often poorly characterized. These challenges reduce the usefulness of genome-resolved metagenomic (GRM) analysis seen in other fields of microbiology, such as the creation of high quality metagenomic assembled genomes and the adoption of genome scale modeling approaches. The absence of these resources restricts the scale of future research, limiting hypothesis generation and the predictive modeling of microbial communities. Creating publicly available databases of soil MAGs, similar to databases produced for other microbiomes, has the potential to transform scientific insights about soil microbiomes without requiring the computational resources and domain expertise for assembly and binning.