The increasing popularity and widespread use of the Internet has made it an emerging venue for delivering health-related messages and interventions. The current study explored the potential for using social networking sites (SNS), specifically MySpace, to connect youth to sexual health services. Surveys and focus groups with youth aged 14-19 living in low-income communities in California revealed high levels of overall Internet access, frequent use of SNS, and experience in searching for health information online. However, disparities in frequency and location of Internet access by race/ethnicity, and hesitancy among some youth to join a clinic's online social network, may affect the success of this new strategy in some populations. Interviews with clinic staff highlighted the successes and challenges of using MySpace as part of their outreach efforts. Staff described balancing the benefits of web-based outreach, including its low cost, wide reach, and teen friendliness, with its challenges, including overcoming technological barriers, ensuring teens' safety from inappropriate contact, and remaining timely and relevant given the dynamic nature of the Internet. This study indicates that SNS and other technologies have strong potential for reaching diverse youth with critical health information when implemented as part of a comprehensive outreach strategy.

Spongosine (1), deoxyspongosine (2), spongothymidine (Ara T) (3), and spongouridine (Ara U) were isolated from the Caribbean sponge Tectitethya crypta and given the general name "spongonucleosides". Spongosine, a methoxyadenosine derivative, has demonstrated a diverse bioactivity profile including anti-inflammatory activity and analgesic and vasodilation properties. Investigations into unusual nucleoside production by T. crypta-associated microorganisms using mass spectrometric techniques have identified a spongosine-producing strain of Vibrio harveyi and several structurally related compounds from multiple strains. Supporting Information: An additional MS/MS-based molecular network, MS/MS spectra, 1 H NMR spectra, spongonucleoside spectroscopic data, bioactivity data, and photographs of T. crypta spicule preparations are included. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. Graphical abstract Notes:The authors declare no competing financial interest. HHS Public AccessAuthor manuscript J Nat Prod. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 October 14. Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptIn an attempt to isolate sterols from a marine sponge in the early 1950s, a crystalline material was separated from sponge tissue by refluxing in acetone. 1 This material was recrystallized and subjected to a variety of chemical and spectroscopic analyses and was ultimately determined to consist of three compounds, two of which were pyrimidine bases linked to the sugar arabinose [1-β-D-arabinofuranosylthymine (spongothymidine or Ara T) and 1-β-D-arabinofuranosyluracil (spongouridine or Ara U)] and a third purine compound containing ribose [9-β-D-ribofuranosyl-2-methoxyadenosine (spongosine)]. 1,2 A subsequent investigation of Tectitethya crypta from Western Australia yielded another nucleoside analogue, 2′-deoxyspongosine. 3 While the arabinonucleosides are exceptional in their utility to cancer chemotherapy, spongosine has been investigated for its vasodilation 4 and analgesic activities, 5 whereas 2′-deoxyspongosine has shown moderate antitumor activity. 6There is growing recognition that bacteria and sponges engage in significant relationships; 7-9 a sponge's biomass may contain up to 35% bacterial cells, 7 and over 25 bacterial phyla have been isolated from within marine sponges alone. 9 Sponges have been extraordinarily rich sources of structurally diverse and highly bioactive natural products, such as the parent structure halichondrin A, which has given rise to the anticancer agent eribulin. 10 On the basis of biosynthetic precedence, it has been speculated that many spongederived metabolites actually derive from metabolic processes of their associated microflora. 11 However, relatively few unequivocal examples exist in which the biosynthesis of a natural product has been demonstrated from a marine sponge-derived microbe. For example, several diketopiperzines have been isolated from a cultivated Micrococcus species associated with specimens of t...

Coral reef health depends on an intricate relationship among the coral animal, photosynthetic algae, and a complex microbial community. The holobiont can impact the nutrient balance of their hosts amid an otherwise oligotrophic environment, including by cycling physiologically important nitrogen compounds. Here we use 15N-tracer experiments to produce the first simultaneous measurements of ammonium oxidation, nitrate reduction, and nitrous oxide (N2O) production among five iconic species of reef-building corals (Acropora palmata, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Orbicella faveolata, Porites astreoides, and Porites porites) in the highly protected Jardines de la Reina reefs of Cuba. Nitrate reduction is present in most species, but ammonium oxidation is low potentially due to photoinhibition and assimilatory competition. Coral-associated rates of N2O production indicate a widespread potential for denitrification, especially among D. labyrinthiformis, at rates of ~1 nmol cm−2 d−1. In contrast, A. palmata displays minimal active nitrogen metabolism. Enhanced rates of nitrate reduction and N2O production are observed coincident with dark net respiration periods. Genomes of bacterial cultures isolated from multiple coral species confirm that microorganisms with the ability to respire nitrate anaerobically to either dinitrogen gas or ammonium exist within the holobiont. This confirmation of anaerobic nitrogen metabolisms by coral-associated microorganisms sheds new light on coral and reef productivity.

Teenage births among Latina women living in the USA remain higher than any other racial/ethnic group. This study explored the role that male partners play in the occurrence of pregnancy and their influence on teenage mothers' future plans in a sample of women pregnant with their first child. Qualitative analysis revealed that partners played a significant role in the use of contraception, timing and desire for pregnancy and young women's post-pregnancy plans for education, work and childrearing. Men's older age, concerns about contraceptive use and fertility, reluctance to use condoms, and readiness for parenthood put their partners at increased risk for pregnancy. More acculturated men were supportive of young women's educational goals in many cases, whereas less acculturated males subscribed to more rigid gender roles which required that their partners remain at home after the birth of their child. These findings have important implications for programmes that seek to reduce teenage pregnancy in the US Latino population.