5,466 research outputs found
Evaluating the impact of policies recommending PrEP to subpopulations of men and transgender women who have sex with men based on demographic and behavioral risk factors.
IntroductionDeveloping guidelines to inform the use of antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in resource-limited settings must necessarily be informed by considering the resources and infrastructure needed for PrEP delivery. We describe an approach that identifies subpopulations of cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) to prioritize for the rollout of PrEP in resource-limited settings.MethodsWe use data from the iPrEx study, a multi-national phase III study of PrEP for HIV prevention in MSM/TGW, to build statistical models that identify subpopulations at high risk of HIV acquisition without PrEP, and with high expected PrEP benefit. We then evaluate empirically the population impact of policies recommending PrEP to these subpopulations, and contrast these with existing policies.ResultsA policy recommending PrEP to a high risk subpopulation of MSM/TGW reporting condomless receptive anal intercourse over the last 3 months (estimated 3.3% 1-year HIV incidence) yields an estimated 1.95% absolute reduction in 1-year HIV incidence at the population level, and 3.83% reduction over 2 years. Importantly, such a policy requires rolling PrEP out to just 59.7% of MSM/TGW in the iPrEx population. We find that this policy is identical to that which prioritizes MSM/TGW with high expected PrEP benefit. It is estimated to achieve nearly the same reduction in HIV incidence as the PrEP guideline put forth by the US Centers for Disease Control, which relies on the measurement of more behavioral risk factors and which would recommend PrEP to a larger subset of the MSM/TGW population (86% vs. 60%).ConclusionsThese findings may be used to focus future mathematical modelling studies of PrEP in resource-limited settings on prioritizing PrEP for high-risk subpopulations of MSM/TGW. The statistical approach we took could be employed to develop PrEP policies for other at-risk populations and resource-limited settings
Galactic Winds and the Photo-chemical Evolution of Elliptical Galaxies: The Classic Model Revisited
We consider the simultaneous chemical, photometric, and gaseous thermal
energy evolution of elliptical galaxies. The evolution of chemical abundances
in the intracluster medium (ICM) is set by the differing timescales for gas
ejection, via supernovae (SNe)-driven winds, from dwarf, normal, and giant
ellipticals, and is monitored concurrently. Emphasis is placed upon the
influence of, and sensitivity to, the underlying stellar initial mass function
(IMF), star formation efficiency, supernovae Type Ia rates, supernovae remnant
(SNR) dynamics, and the most recent advances in stellar nucleosynthesis. Unlike
many previous studies, we adhere to a wide range of optical (e.g.
colour-metallicity-luminosity relationship) and x-ray (e.g. recent ASCA ICM
abundance measurements) observational constraints. IMFs biased toward high mass
stars, at least during the early phases of star formation, are implicated in
order to satisfy all the observational constraints.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, also available at
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~gibson/publications.html, MNRAS, in pres
Probing the evolution of early-type galaxies using multi-colour number counts and redshift distributions
We investigate pure luminosity evolution models for early-type (elliptical
and S0) galaxies (i.e., no number density change or morphology transition), and
examine whether these models are consistent with observed number counts in the
B, I and K bands and redshift distributions of two samples of faint galaxies
selected in the I and K bands. The models are characterized by the star
formation time scale and the time when galactic wind blows
in addition to several other conventional parameters. We find the single-burst
model (=0.1 Gyr and =0.353 Gyr), which is known to reproduce
the photometric properties of early-type galaxies in clusters, is inconsistent
with redshift distributions of early-type galaxies in the field environment due
to overpredictions of galaxies at z\gsim1.4 even with strong extinction which
is at work until . In order for dust extinction to be more effective,
we change and as free parameters, and find that models
with \tau_{SF}\gsim0.5 Gyr and Gyr can be made consistent with
both the observed redshift distributions and number counts, if we introduce
strong extinction as a peak value). These results suggest that
early-type galaxies in the field environment do not have the same evolutionary
history as described by the single-burst model.Comment: 6 pages including 4 PS figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
Numerical Relativity Injection Infrastructure
This document describes the new Numerical Relativity (NR) injection
infrastructure in the LIGO Algorithms Library (LAL), which henceforth allows
for the usage of NR waveforms as a discrete waveform approximant in LAL. With
this new interface, NR waveforms provided in the described format can directly
be used as simulated GW signals ("injections") for data analyses, which include
parameter estimation, searches, hardware injections etc. As opposed to the
previous infrastructure, this new interface natively handles sub-dominant modes
and waveforms from numerical simulations of precessing binary black holes,
making them directly accessible to LIGO analyses. To correctly handle
precessing simulations, the new NR injection infrastructure internally
transforms the NR data into the coordinate frame convention used in LAL.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, technical repor
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HIV transmission networks among transgender women in Los Angeles County, CA, USA: a phylogenetic analysis of surveillance data.
BackgroundTransgender women are among the groups at highest risk for HIV infection, with a prevalence of 27·7% in the USA; and despite this known high risk, undiagnosed infection is common in this population. We set out to identify transgender women and their partners in a molecular transmission network to prioritise public health activities.MethodsSince 2006, HIV protease and reverse transcriptase gene (pol) sequences from drug resistance testing have been reported to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and linked to demographic data, gender, and HIV transmission risk factor data for each case in the enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System. We reconstructed a molecular transmission network by use of HIV-TRAnsmission Cluster Engine (with a pairwise genetic distance threshold of 0·015 substitutions per site) from the earliest pol sequences from 22 398 unique individuals, including 412 (2%) self-identified transgender women. We examined the possible predictors of clustering with multivariate logistic regression. We characterised the genetically linked partners of transgender women and calculated assortativity (the tendency for people to link to other people with the same attributes) for each transmission risk group.Findings8133 (36·3%) of 22 398 individuals clustered in the network across 1722 molecular transmission clusters. Transgender women who indicated a sexual risk factor clustered at the highest frequency in the network, with 147 (43%) of 345 being linked to at least one other person (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2·0, p=0·0002). Transgender women were assortative in the network (assortativity 0·06, p<0·001), indicating that they tended to link to other transgender women. Transgender women were more likely than expected to link to other transgender women (OR 4·65, p<0·001) and cisgender men who did not identify as men who have sex with men (MSM; OR 1·53, p<0·001). Transgender women were less likely than expected to link to MSM (OR 0·75, p<0·001), despite the high prevalence of HIV among MSM. Transgender women were distributed across 126 clusters, and cisgender individuals linked to one transgender woman were 9·2 times more likely to link to a second transgender woman than other individuals in the surveillance database. Reconstruction of the transmission network is limited by sample availability, but sequences were available for more than 40% of diagnoses.InterpretationClustering of transgender women and the observed tendency for linkage with cisgender men who did not identify as MSM, shows the potential to use molecular epidemiology both to identify clusters that are likely to include undiagnosed transgender women with HIV and to improve the targeting of public health prevention and treatment services to transgender women.FundingCalifornia HIV and AIDS Research Program and National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
On Dwarf Galaxies as the Source of Intracluster Gas
Recent observational evidence for steep dwarf galaxy luminosity functions in
several rich clusters has led to speculation that their precursors may be the
source of the majority of gas and metals inferred from intracluster medium
(ICM) x-ray observations. Their deposition into the ICM is presumed to occur
through early supernovae-driven winds, the resultant systems reflecting the
photometric and chemical properties of the low luminosity dwarf spheroidals and
ellipticals we observe locally. We consider this scenario, utilising a
self-consistent model for spheroidal photo-chemical evolution and gas ejection
via galactic superwinds. Insisting that post-wind dwarfs obey the observed
colour-luminosity-metallicity relations, we conclude that the bulk of the ICM
gas and metals does not originate within their precursors.Comment: 43 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX, also available at
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~gibson/publications.html, to appear in ApJ, Vol
473, 1997, in pres
Gravitational Waves in Brans-Dicke Theory : Analysis by Test Particles around a Kerr Black Hole
Analyzing test particles falling into a Kerr black hole, we study
gravitational waves in Brans-Dicke theory of gravity. First we consider a test
particle plunging with a constant azimuthal angle into a rotating black hole
and calculate the waveform and emitted energy of both scalar and tensor modes
of gravitational radiation. We find that the waveform as well as the energy of
the scalar gravitational waves weakly depends on the rotation parameter of
black hole and on the azimuthal angle.
Secondly, using a model of a non-spherical dust shell of test particles
falling into a Kerr black hole, we study when the scalar modes dominate. When a
black hole is rotating, the tensor modes do not vanish even for a ``spherically
symmetric" shell, instead a slightly oblate shell minimizes their energy but
with non-zero finite value, which depends on Kerr parameter . As a result,
we find that the scalar modes dominate only for highly spherical collapse, but
they never exceed the tensor modes unless the Brans-Dicke parameter
\omega_{BD} \lsim 750 for or unless \omega_{BD} \lsim 20,000
for , where is mass of black hole.
We conclude that the scalar gravitational waves with \omega_{BD} \lsim
several thousands do not dominate except for very limited situations
(observation from the face-on direction of a test particle falling into a
Schwarzschild black hole or highly spherical dust shell collapse into a Kerr
black hole). Therefore observation of polarization is also required when we
determine the theory of gravity by the observation of gravitational waves.Comment: 24 pages, revtex, 18 figures are attached with ps file
Multiparameter Twisted Weyl Algebras
We introduce a new family of twisted generalized Weyl algebras, called
multiparameter twisted Weyl algebras, for which we parametrize all simple
quotients of a certain kind. Both Jordan's simple localization of the
multiparameter quantized Weyl algebra and Hayashi's q-analog of the Weyl
algebra are special cases of this construction. We classify all simple weight
modules over any multiparameter twisted Weyl algebra. Extending results by
Benkart and Ondrus, we also describe all Whittaker pairs up to isomorphism over
a class of twisted generalized Weyl algebras which includes the multiparameter
twisted Weyl algebras.Comment: 20 page
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