Contraceptive Utilization Among New Exotic Dancers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Female exotic dancers are a population at high risk of unintended pregnancy. The objective of this study is to describe the reproductive health needs and contraceptive utilization of exotic dancers. Methods New exotic dancers (\u3c 6 months dancing) from 26 clubs in Baltimore City/County completed a one-time survey. Results Of 117 participants, 96 (82%) had current contraceptive need. The mean age was 24 years, and 55% were black. Sex work (45%), alcohol use disorder (73%), illicit (44%; e.g., heroin, crack, cocaine), and injection drug use (8%) were common. The majority (66%) reported contraception use in the prior 6 months. Condoms were reported by 46% whereas 45% reported non-barrier methods, most commonly hormonal injection. Consistent condom use was rare (3%), and only 11% used a long-acting reversible method. Conclusions Despite their unique reproductive health vulnerabilities, female exotic dancers have unmet contraceptive needs. Targeted harm reduction strategies are needed to fill this gap

Optical properties and Raman scattering of vanadium ladder compounds

We investigate electronic and optical properties of the V-based ladder compounds NaV2O5, the iso-structural CaV2O5, as well as MgV2O5, which differs from NaV2O5 and CaV2O5 in the c axis stacking. We calculate ab initio the A_g phonon modes in these compounds as a basis for the investigation of the electron-phonon and spin-phonon coupling. The phonon modes together with the dielectric tensors as a function of the corresponding ion displacements are the starting point for the calculation of the A_g Raman scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, .bbl file with references included. Accepted for publication in Physica Script

Spin fluctuations influence on quasiparticle spectrum of realistic p-d model

In the present work the multiband p-d model for $CuO_2$-layer is treated. It was shown that for the realistic set of parameters besides Zhang-Rice two-particle singlet there is non-negligible contribution of two-particle triplet state to the top of the valence band. Also shown, that to gain quantitative agreement with experimental data the minimal approximation should include the spin fluctuations beyond the Hubbard-I scheme. Quasiparticle spectrum, obtained in this approximation, is in fairly good agreement with ARPES data on Bi2212 High-$T_c$ compound.Comment: Submitted to ICM 2003 Conference 3 pages, 2 figure