Short Text Messages to Motivate HIV Testing Among Men Who have Sex with Men: A Qualitative Study in Lima, Peru

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify features and content that short message service (SMS) should have in order to motivate HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Lima, Peru. Methods: From October, 2010 to February, 2011, we conducted focus groups at two stages; six focus groups were conducted to explore and identify SMS content and features and two additional focus groups were conducted to tailor SMS content. The text messages were elaborated within the theoretical framework of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model and the Social Support Theory. Results: A total of 62 individuals participated in the focus groups. The mean age of participants was 28 years (range 18-39). We identified important features and content items needed for the successful delivery of text messages, including: a) the use of neutral and coded language; b) appropriate frequency and time of delivery; c) avoiding mass and repetitive messages; and d) use of short, concise and creative messages. Although in Peru receiving text messages is usually a free service, it is important to remind participants that receiving messages will be free of charge. Conclusion: Text messages can be used to promote HIV testing among Peruvian MSM. It is important to consider adequate frequency, message content and cost when delivering messages to promote HIV testing in this population

Maternal exposure to a high-magnitude earthquake during pregnancy influences pre-reading skills in early childhood

Exposure to an adverse prenatal environment can influence fetal development and result in long-lasting changes in the offspring. However, the association between maternal exposure to stressful events during pregnancy and the achievement of pre-reading skills in the offspring is unknown. Here we examined the association between prenatal exposure to the Chilean high-magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 27th, 2010 and the development of early reading precursors skills (listening comprehension, print knowledge, alphabet knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness) in children at kindergarten age. This multilevel retrospective cohort study including 3280 children, of whom 2415 were unexposed and 865 were prenatally exposed to the earthquake shows substantial evidence that maternal exposure to an unambiguously stressful event resulted in impaired pre-reading skills and that a higher detrimental effect was observed in those children who had been exposed to the earthquake during the first trimester of gestation. In addition, females were more significantly affected by the exposure to the earthquake than their male peers in alphabet knowledge; contrarily, males were more affected than females in print knowledge skills. These findings suggest that early intervention programs for pregnant women and/or children exposed to prenatal stress may be effective strategies to overcome impaired pre-reading skills in children

Maternal exposure to a high-magnitude earthquake during pregnancy influences pre-reading skills in early childhood

Exposure to an adverse prenatal environment can influence fetal development and result in long-lasting changes in the offspring. However, the association between maternal exposure to stressful events during pregnancy and the achievement of pre-reading skills in the offspring is unknown. Here we examined the association between prenatal exposure to the Chilean high-magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 27th, 2010 and the development of early reading precursors skills (listening comprehension, print knowledge, alphabet knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness) in children at kindergarten age. This multilevel retrospective cohort study including 3280 children, of whom 2415 were unexposed and 865 were prenatally exposed to the earthquake shows substantial evidence that maternal exposure to an unambiguously stressful event resulted in impaired pre-reading skills and that a higher detrimental effect was observed in those children who had been exposed to the earthquake during the first trimester of gestation. In addition, females were more significantly affected by the exposure to the earthquake than their male peers in alphabet knowledge; contrarily, males were more affected than females in print knowledge skills. These findings suggest that early intervention programs for pregnant women and/or children exposed to prenatal stress may be effective strategies to overcome impaired pre-reading skills in children

Charge density wave in layered La1-xCexSb2

The layered rare-earth diantimonides RSb2 are anisotropic metals with generally low electronic densities whose properties can be modified by substituting the rare earth. LaSb2 is a nonmagnetic metal with a low residual resistivity presenting a low-temperature magnetoresistance that does not saturate with the magnetic field. It has been proposed that the latter can be associated to a charge density wave (CDW), but no CDW has yet been found. Here we find a kink in the resistivity above room temperature in LaSb2 (at 355 K) and show that the kink becomes much more pronounced with substitution of La by Ce along the La1-xCexSb2 series. We find signatures of a CDW in x-ray scattering, specific heat, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in particular for x≈0.5. We observe a distortion of rare-earth-Sb bonds lying in-plane of the tetragonal crystal using x-ray scattering, an anomaly in the specific heat at the same temperature as the kink in resistivity and charge modulations in STM. We conclude that LaSb2 has a CDW which is stabilized in the La1-xCexSb2 series due to substitutional disorder.E.H. acknowledges the support of Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, COL-CIENCIAS (Colombia) Programa Doctorados en el Exterior Convocatoria 568-2012. This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT2011-27470-C02-02, and CSD-2009-00013), by the European Union (Graphene Flagship Contract No. CNECT-ICT-604391 and COST MP1201 action), and by the Comunidad de Madrid through programs Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT-2850) and MAD2D-CM (S2013/MIT-3007). We acknowledge MINECO and CSIC for financial support and for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities and would like to thank the SpLine BM25 staff for assistance in using the beamline

Phytotherapics of Amazonian and Cerrado biome’s medicinal plants as an alternative approach for preventive and/or curative therapy of diseases by emerging Coronavirus variants

Em face da constante emergência e reemergência de patógenos virais, como no momento atual por SARS-CoV-2, a terapia da COVID-19 tem sido polêmica. Vacinas anti-SARS-CoV-2 estão em desenvolvimento, mas a eficácia e segurança são discutíveis. Raras exceções, os fármacos são obtidos de produtos naturais ou tem sua imagem química em base ao que a natureza nos proporciona, assim que, continua--se a prospecção na biodiversidade nacional, de novas promessas na resolução dos constantes desafios que surgem de formas evolutivas virais, enquanto buscam o equilíbrio ecológico com seus hospedeiros

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV