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BackgroundEven though 1 in 5 Americans experience some form of mental illness each year, 80% have been shown to discontinue psychotherapy prematurely. The traditional psychotherapy service delivery model, consisting of isolated clinical sessions, lacks the ability to keep patients engaged outside clinical sessions. Newer digital mental health platforms can address the clinical need for a robust tool that tracks mental well-being and improves engagement in patients with depressive symptoms. ObjectiveThe primary goals of this feasibility study were to (1) assess compliance among providers and their patients with a digital mental health platform protocol, and (2) examine the usability and fidelity of a mobile app through structured participant feedback. MethodsA sample of 30 participants was recruited for a 5-week study from a community-based mental health clinic in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Inclusion criteria were: aged 18 years or older, having access to a smartphone, and having at least mild-to-moderate depression and/or anxiety as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scales, respectively. Eligible participants were randomized into one of two study arms: (1) the intervention arm or (2) the waitlist control arm. Participants in the intervention arm were asked to download the Rose app and were prompted to complete clinical assessments (PHQ-9 and GAD-7) every other week, daily mood and anxiety Likert scales, and daily journal entries. The participants in the waitlist arm served as controls for the study and completed the clinical assessments only. Both arms engaged in weekly psychotherapy sessions, with participant in-app input informing the psychotherapy process of the intervention arm, while those in the waitlist control arm continued their standard care. Outcomes of interest included adherence to completion of in-app assessments and usability of the Rose mobile app assessed through the modified Mobile Application Rating Scale. ResultsOver the study period, a sample of 30 participants used the Rose app 2834 times to complete clinical assessments. On average, 70% (21; 95% CI 61.14%-77.41%) of participants completed mood and anxiety daily check-ins and journal entries 5 days per week. Nearly all participants (29/30, 97%) completed all PHQ-9 and GAD-7 in-app scales during the study. Subjective impressions showed that 73% (22/30) of participants found the mobile app to be engaging and in line with their needs, and approximately 70% (21/30) of participants reported the app functionality and quality of information to be excellent. Additionally, more than two-thirds of the participants felt that their knowledge and awareness of depression and anxiety management improved through using the app. ConclusionsSteady compliance and high app ratings showcase the utility of the Rose mobile mental health app in augmenting the psychotherapy process for patients with mood disorders and improving mental health knowledge. Future studies are needed to further examine the impact of Rose on treatment outcomes. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04200170; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04200170

Introduction Effective prevention and control of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) builds upon an understanding of the dynamics that sustain viral transmission within sexual networks [1,2]. These networks are comprised [...], Background: It is often assumed that local sexual networks play a dominant role in HIV spread in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which continued HIV transmission in rural communities--home to two- thirds of the African population--is driven by intra-community sexual networks versus viral introductions from outside of communities. Methods and Findings: We analyzed the spatial dynamics of HIV transmission in rural Rakai District, Uganda, using data from a cohort of 14,594 individuals within 46 communities. We applied spatial clustering statistics, viral phylogenetics, and probabilistic transmission models to quantify the relative contribution of viral introductions into communities versus community- and household-based transmission to HIV incidence. Individuals living in households with HIV-incident (n = 189) or HIV-prevalent (n = 1,597) persons were 3.2 (95% CI: 2.7-3.7) times more likely to be HIV infected themselves compared to the population in general, but spatial clustering outside of households was relatively weak and was confined to distances < 500 m. Phylogenetic analyses of gag and env genes suggest that chains of transmission frequently cross community boundaries. A total of 95 phylogenetic clusters were identified, of which 44% (42/95) were two individuals sharing a household. Among the remaining clusters, 72% (38/53) crossed community boundaries. Using the locations of self-reported sexual partners, we estimate that 39% (95% CI: 34%-42%) of new viral transmissions occur within stable household partnerships, and that among those infected by extra-household sexual partners, 62% (95% CI: 55%-70%) are infected by sexual partners from outside their community. These results rely on the representativeness of the sample and the quality of self-reported partnership data and may not reflect HIV transmission patterns outside of Rakai. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HIV introductions into communities are common and account for a significant proportion of new HIV infections acquired outside of households in rural Uganda, though the extent to which this is true elsewhere in Africa remains unknown. Our results also suggest that HIV prevention efforts should be implemented at spatial scales broader than the community and should target key populations likely responsible for introductions into communities. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

Assays to determine HIV incidence from cross-sectional surveys have exhibited a high rate of false-recent misclassification in Kenya and Uganda where HIV subtypes A and D predominate. Samples from individuals infected with HIV for at least 2 years with known infecting subtype (133 subtype A, 373 subtype D) were tested using the BED-CEIA and an avidity assay. Both assays had a higher rate of false-recent misclassification for subtype D compared to subtype A (13.7% vs. 6.0%, p = 0.02 for BED-CEIA; 11.0% vs. 1.5%, p< 0.001 for avidity). For subtype D samples, false-recent misclassification by the BED-CEIA was also more frequent in women than men (15.0% vs. 5.6%, p = 0.002), and for samples where that had an amino acid other than lysine at position 12 in the BED-CEIA peptide coding region (p = 0.002). Furthermore in subtype D-infected individuals, samples misclassified by one assay were 3.5 times more likely to be misclassified by the other assay. Differential misclassification by infecting subtype of long-term infected individuals as recently infected makes it difficult to use these assays individually to estimate population level incidence without precise knowledge of the distribution of these subtypes within populations where subtype A and D cocirculate. The association of misclassification of the BEDCEIA with the avidity assay in subtype D-infected individuals limits the utility of using these assays in combination within this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]