This editorial describes why surge planning in the community must account for potential infection outbreaks in jails and prisons, and why incarcerated people and those in contact with them, including over 450,000 correctional officers and thousands of healthcare staff working in prisons, are at significant risk of COVID-19 exposure. We then explain how our nation's jails and prisons will continue to serve as breeding grounds for devastating COVID-19 outcomes and offer specific guidance and a call to action for the immediate development of correctional healthcare strategies designed to protect the health and safety of patients and correctional and healthcare staff and the communities in which they are situated. Correctional officers and correctional healthcare professionals need the nation's reassurance during this dire time that they will not be abandoned and further stigmatized for responding to the needs of incarcerated people. Our collective health depends on it.

Virtual assistants have become fixtures in everyday settings, but most research focuses on their development rather than their use following deployment. To facilitate study of their use in office settings, we introduce OfficeDial, a multimodal dataset containing audio recordings, transcriptions, eye tracking data, and screen recordings from conversations between humans and virtual assistants in office environments. Conversations are paired with physical and behavioral measures of cognitive load. We study the associations between verbal behavior and noise level and reveal key relationships between verbal redundancy, disfluency, and noise level. We make our new dataset available to interested researchers to inspire further exploration.

Low abundance mRNAs are more difficult to examine using microarrays than high abundance mRNAs due to the effect of concentration on hybridization kinetics and signal-to-noise ratios. This report describes the use of low complexity representations (LCRs) of mRNA as the targets for cDNA microarrays. Individual sequences in LCRs are more highly represented than in the mRNA populations from which they are derived, leading to favorable hybridization kinetics. LCR targets permit the measurement of abundance changes that are difficult to measure using oligo(dT) priming for target synthesis. An oligo(dT)-primed target and three LCRs detect twice as many differentially regulated genes as could be detected by the oligo(dT)-primed target alone, in an experiment in which serum-starved fibroblasts responded to the reintroduction of serum. Thus, this target preparation strategy considerably increases the sensitivity of cDNA microarrays.

Background

Words matter when describing people involved in the criminal justice system because language can have a significant impact upon health, wellbeing, and access to health information and services. However, terminology used in policies, programs, and research publications is often derogatory, stigmatizing, and dehumanizing.

Discussion

In response, health experts from Europe, the United States, and Australia recommend that healthcare professionals, researchers, and policy makers working with people in detention follow key principles that foster constructive and humanizing language. These principles include: engage people and respect their preferences; use stigma-free and accurate language; prioritize individuals over their characteristics; and cultivate self-awareness. The article offers examples of problematic terms to be avoided because they do not convey respect for incarcerated people and propose preferred wording which requires contextualization to local language, culture, and environment.

Conclusion

The use of respectful and appropriate language is a cornerstone of reducing harm and suffering when working with people involved in the criminal justice system; the use of stigmatizing and dehumanizing language must therefore come to an end.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a community-based seroprevalence study using three HBV seromarkers (HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, to (1) determine the prevalence of HBV serologic profiles; (2) document factors associated with HBV infection or susceptibility; and (3) propose strategies toward HBV elimination by 2030. METHODS: During 2019-2020, we deployed a multistage cluster design with probability proportionate to size, to recruit 20,000 adults for an HBV screening and linkage to care program citywide. Screening results with interpretation, recommendations, and health education materials were returned to participants. Post-study surveys were conducted within three months to identify gaps in linkage to care. FINDINGS: Of the 17,600 adults invited, 15,275 (86.7%) participated in the study, 14,674 (96.1%) completing all data for final analyses. The prevalence of HBsAg (+) and HBV-naïve were 7.5% and 37.7%, respectively. HBV vaccination rates were 18.7% and about 50% of HCMC population had been exposed to HBV. Of the persons with HBsAg (+), 27.1% linked to care (76% used health insurance). There were wide variations in HBsAg (+) and HBV vaccination rates between districts, risk factors, and socio-economic statuses. INTERPRETATION: The significant disease burden of and gaps in the continuum of care highlight the need and urgency to address the HBV public health problem in Vietnam. Using three screening seromarkers that tailor interventions to the needs of HBV micro-populations could be an effective strategy to pursue HBV elimination goals. FUNDING: Gilead Sciences Inc; Roche Diagnostic International Ltd; Roche Diagnostics-Vietnam; Abbott Diagnostics-Vietnam; Hepatitis B Foundation; Medic MedicalCenter, Vietnam; Center of Excellence for Liver Disease in Vietnam, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.