A randomized trial to assess the effect of a research informational pamphlet on telephone survey completion rates among older Latinos

Purpose of the studyTo assess the effects of receiving a research informational pamphlet produced by the federal Office for Human Research Protections on telephone survey participation rates of older Latinos, and illustrate the feasibility of nesting recruitment studies within other funded studies when stand alone funding for recruitment studies is limited.Design and methodsLatino patients aged ≥ 50 with ≥ 1 visit during the preceding year (N = 1314) were sampled from three community clinics and a multi-specialty medical group. Patients were randomly assigned to receive or not receive a pamphlet that contained information on research participation in the initial mailing for the telephone survey study. Survey participation rates were compared between the pamphlet and no pamphlet groups.ResultsIn a multivariate model, women (OR = 1.4; 95% CI 1.1, 1.8), and those with public insurance (vs. no insurance; OR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.1, 2.5) were more likely to participate, while those age 65 + (vs. age 50–54; OR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.8) were less likely to participate; there was no significant difference by pamphlet group (OR = 0.8; 95% CI 0.7, 1.1). Nesting of the randomized trial of the recruitment pamphlet within the funded study required minimal additional resources.ImplicationsRecruitment methods that are more intensive than a pamphlet may be needed to enhance survey participation rates among older Latinos. Nesting recruitment trials within funded studies is a promising and efficient approach for testing recruitment strategies.     

Novel recombinant norovirus in Japan

Based on the genetic analysis, novel, naturally occurring recombinant norovirus strains were identified in Japan. Breakpoint analysis of recombinant norovirus showed that the recombination site was at the open reading frame ORF1/ORF2 overlap.     

Genetic characterization of bovine coronavirus in Vietnam

A maximum clade credibility tree constructed using the full-length spike (S) and hemagglutinin-esterase genes revealed that Vietnamese Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) strains belong to a single cluster (C1); therefore, they might share a common origin with Cuban and Chinese BCoV strains. The omega values of cluster 1 (C1) and cluster 2 (C2) were 0.15734 and 0.11613, respectively, and naive empirical bayes analysis identified two amino acid positions (179 and 501) in the S protein in C1 and three amino acid positions (113, 501, and 525) in that of C2 that underwent positive selection (p?>?99%). The evolutionary rate of C1 was estimated to be 7.6206?×?10^?4 substitutions/site/year, and the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of Vietnamese BCoVs was estimated to date back to 1962 (95% HPD 1950–1973). The effective population sizes of C1 and C2 underwent a rapid reduction after 2000 and 2004, respectively.

     

Salience and Impact of Health Warning Label on Cigarette Packs in Vietnam: Findings From the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2015

Viet Nam is among the countries having highest rate of male smokers in the world. The country has joined the Global Tobacco Surveillance System since 2010. Under this system, two rounds of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) were conducted in 2010 and 2015. Those two surveys provide excellent comparable data on tobacco usage and its related aspects in Vietnam. This study using the data from GATS 2015 to examine the salience and impact of cigarette pack health warnings on quitting intention in Vietnam. The Vietnam GATS 2015 was a nationally representative survey in which 9,513 households were selected using two-stage random systematic sampling method. Results of multivariate analysis showed that the strongest predictor for quit intention because of health warnings was “ever made a quit attempt in the past 12 months” followed by “believes that tobacco smoking causes serious illness”. Compared to GATS 2010, GATS 2015 observed the increase in salience of cigarette health warnings. However, the current pictorial health warnings are losing their impact on motivating intention to quit. The results highlight that it is time to start the rotation cycle to refresh the current health warning set. Actions to select a new and more impressive set of pictorial health warnings should be developed as soon as possible.