Recommendations from Black and Latinx sexual minority males to include pharmacists to increase greater accessibility and OnlyFans stars to promote uptake of injectable PrEP.

BACKGROUND: Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication is the keystone of preventative measures to curtail the spread of HIV. However, oral PrEP, the pill intended to prevent HIV, has been slow to proliferate among men who have sex with men (MSM). This is of major concern as MSM account for the largest number of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. More recently, the newest generation of PrEP in the form of a long-acting injectable (LAI) is to be administered every two months as an intramuscular injection and many MSM indicate preferring LAI-PrEP to the oral form of PrEP. However, uptake of PrEP, in all forms, remains low. Research is sparse that focuses on LAI-PrEP uptake among Black/African American and Latinx men who have sex with men (BLMSM). OBJECTIVE: To address this concern, this study explored the willingness to uptake LAI-PrEP, and recommendations for increasing awareness and encouraging uptake of LAI-PrEP among BLMSM. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected between February 2022 to December 2022 through focus groups via Zoom with BLMSM (N=30; Black=14, Latinx=16) aged 18 to 29 (Mean = 23, SD = 3) in Los Angeles County. RESULTS: Findings revealed that while 90% of BLMSM were aware of PrEP in oral form, only 10% were aware of LAI-PrEP. Findings from the qualitative analysis suggested to consider self-administration of LAI-PrEP, allow local community pharmacists to assess and administer it, and promote uptake of LAI-PrEP using high-profile male content creators and stars on OnlyFans social media platform. CONCLUSION: Increasing PrEP uptake, in all forms available, such as promoting awareness through popular social media stars, and engaging community pharmacists in feasible ways, is critical for addressing the disproportionate impact of HIV among the BLMSM community.

A Test of Foraging Models Using Dietary Diversity Indices for the Lomako Forest Bonobos.

Optimal diet and functional response models are used to understand the evolution of primate foraging strategies. The predictions of these models can be tested by examining the geographic and seasonal variation in dietary diversity. Dietary diversity is a useful tool that allows dietary comparisons across differing sampling locations and time periods. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are considered primarily frugivorous and consume fruits, leaves, insects, vertebrates, terrestrial herbaceous vegetation, and flowers. Frugivores, like bonobos, are valuable for examining dietary diversity and testing foraging models because they eat a variety of species and are subject to seasonal shifts in fruit availability. Frugivorous primate species thus allow for tests of how variation in dietary diversity is correlated with variation in ecological factors. We investigated measures of dietary diversity in bonobos at two research camps across field seasons within the same protected area (N'dele and Iyema) in Lomako Forest, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We compared the results of behavioral observation (1984/1985, 1991, 1995, 2014, and 2017) and fecal washing analysis (2007 and 2009) between seasons and study period using three diversity indices (Shannon's, Simpson's, and SW evenness). The average yearly dietary diversity indices at N'dele were Shannon's H' = 2.04, Simpson's D = 0.82, and SW evenness = 0.88 while at Iyema, the indices were Shannon's H' = 2.02, Simpson's D = 0.82, and SW evenness = 0.88. Behavioral observation data sets yielded significantly higher dietary diversity indices than fecal washing data sets. We found that food item (fruit, leaf, and flower) consumption was not associated with seasonal food availability for the 2017 behavioral observation data set. Shannon's index was lower during periods when fewer bonobo dietary items were available to consume and higher when fruit was abundant. Finally, we found that optimal diet models best-explained patterns of seasonal food availability and dietary diversity. Dietary diversity is an essential factor to consider when understanding primate diets and can be a tool in understanding variation in primate diets, particularly among frugivores. Dietary diversity varies across populations of the same species and across time, and it is critical in establishing a complete understanding of how primate diets change over time.

Index Admission Emergency Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and Common Bile Duct Exploration: Results From a Specialist Center in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of common bile duct (CBD) stones is between 10% to 18% in people undergoing cholecystectomy for gallstones. Laparoscopic exploration of the CBD is now becoming routine practice in the elective setting, however its safety and efficacy in emergencies is poorly understood. METHODS: We analyzed our results for index emergency admission laparoscopic cholecystectomy within a specialist center in the United Kingdom. Data from all emergency cholecystectomies in our unit, between 2011 to 2016 were collected and analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In total, 494 patients underwent emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy; 53 (10.7%) patients underwent common bile duct exploration (CBDE), with 1 conversion and 1 bile leak. Indications for CBDE were based on preoperative imaging (41 cases, 81%) or intra-operative cholangiogram (44 cases, 83%) findings. CONCLUSIONS: Index admission laparoscopic cholecystectomy and concomitant CBDE is safe and should be the gold standard treatment for patients presenting with acute biliary complications, reducing readmissions and the need for a 2-stage procedure.

Extending Ethnoprimatology: Human-Alloprimate Relationships in Managed Settings.

The majority of studies in ethnoprimatology focus on areas of sympatry where humans and nonhuman primates (hereafter, primates) naturally coexist. We argue that much can be gained by extending the field's scope to incorporate settings where humans manage most aspects of primates' lives, such as zoos, laboratories, sanctuaries, and rehabilitation centers (hereafter, managed settings). We suggest that the mixed-methods approach of ethnoprimatology, which facilitates examination of both humans' and primates' responses to one another, can reveal not only how humans' ideas about primates shape management strategies, but also how those management strategies affect primates' lives. Furthermore, we note that a greater focus on managed settings will strengthen links between ethnoprimatology and primate rights/welfare approaches, and will introduce new questions into discussions of ethics in primatology. For example, managed settings raise questions about when it might be justifiable to restrict primates' freedom for a "greater good," and the desirability of making primates' lives more "natural" even if this would decrease their well-being. Finally, we propose that because ethnoprimatology is premised on challenging false dichotomies between categories of field site-specifically, between "natural" and "unnatural" free-ranging populations-it makes sense for ethnoprimatologists to examine settings in which humans exert considerable control over primates' lives, given that the distinction between "wild" and "captive" is similarly unclear.

Conflict and post-conflict behavior in a small group of chimpanzees.

Chimpanzee research plays a central role in the discussions of conflict negotiation. Reconciliation, or the attraction and affiliation of former opponents following conflict, has been proposed as a central element of conflict negotiation in chimpanzees and various other taxa. In an attempt to expand the database of chimpanzee conflict resolution, conflict and post-conflict behavior were recorded for a small group of socially housed chimpanzees at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, at Central Washington University. Data were collected over six 6-week periods between 1997 and 2000, for a total of 840 hours of observation, resulting in a substantial post-conflict (PC) and matched control (MC) data set. The data demonstrate this group's tendencies to maintain visual contact and closer proximity after conflicts. Dyadic corrected conciliatory tendencies ranged between 0 - 37.5% and averaged 17.25% across all dyads. Individual corrected conciliatory tendencies ranged between 5.8 and 32%. The results of this study combined with recent publications on captive and free-ranging chimpanzee post-conflict behavior suggest that variation in post-conflict behavior may be important to our understanding of chimpanzee conflict negotiation, and may also have implications for the design and management of captive chimpanzee enclosures and social groups, respectively.