Metabolically and epigenetically reprogrammed splenic TRNP1(hi)CD8(+) T cells exacerbate liver fibrosis.

By age 18, most males are sexually active [] and experience high rates of STIs, HIV, and unintended partner pregnancy [–]. Disparities in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) indicators are especially pronounced among racial, ethnic, and gender and sexual minority (GSM) males, who are disproportionately affected due to intersecting systems of oppression and structural inequities in access to care and prevention [,]. As such, U.S. preventive care guidelines recommend primary care clinicians deliver SRH care to male adolescents [,]. The recommend SRH care package for adolescents includes: screening and counseling on sexual behaviors and risk reduction; sexually transmitted infection (STI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, testing, and treatment (including vaccination and pre-/post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP)); pregnancy prevention and contraceptive counseling; condom education and access; sexual function and anatomy education; and skills support for healthy relationships and communication (e.g., consent, boundary-setting, and partner negotiation) delivered in confidential, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive ways [,]. Despite recommendations, male adolescents receive SRH screening and counseling less consistently than females [,], and current approaches fail to adequately engage the diversity of young males presenting to care, including GSM individuals [,]. Several factors contribute to missed opportunities for prevention for young males underscoring the need for tools in the clinical setting that normalize young males’ SRH care, strengthen their knowledge and skills, and facilitate developmentally appropriate clinician-patient discussions. At the patient and social levels, young males discuss receiving fewer social cues that SRH care is “for them,” are less often socialized to seek preventive care, and may internalize masculinity norms that discourage help-seeking and disclosure about sexual concerns []. Many young males also enter sexual activity before receiving comprehensive, skills-based education [,], and services perceived as female-focused further deter care engagement [,,]. Growing research has explored male adolescents’ SRH needs [,–] however, none of this work has explored what young males’ need to improve comprehensive SRH care delivery in primary care. For example, a digital intervention targeted male adolescents’ condom use in an acute care setting, but did not address the fuller recommended SRH care package or assess its use primary care [,,]. Existing work highlights young males’ needs related to STI knowledge and testing, condom access [–], and the protective role of reproductive health knowledge in preventing teen fatherhood [], but has not examined ways to engage young males in comprehensive SRH care in primary care.