Youth’s Socio-Sexual Competences With Romantic and Casual Sexual Partners

We investigated youth’s self-reported socio-sexual competences (esteem, assertiveness, control, communication) within their most recent sexual partnerships, and explored disparities in these competences between romantic versus casual sexual partnerships, including age and gender differences therein. Data were used from 6,098 Dutch adolescents and young adults (12.1–26.1 years), who participated in a national study on sexual health. Results indicated that being in love and sexual activity frequency were significant confound

N N bar,Delta bar N, Delta N bar excitation for the pion propagator in nuclear matter

The particle-hole and Delta -hole excitations are well-known elementary excitation modes for the pion propagator in nuclear matter. But, the excitation also involves antiparticles, namely, nucleon-antinucleon, anti-Delta-nucleon and Delta-antinucleon excitations. These are important for high-energy momentum as well, and have not been studied before, to our knowledge. In this paper, we give both the formulas and the numerical calculations for the real and the imaginary parts of these excitations.Comment: Latex, 3 eps file

Early sexual intercourse: Prospective associations with adolescents physical activity and screen time

Objectives: To assess the prospective associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time with early sexual intercourse initiation (i.e., before 15 years) in a large sample of adolescents. Methods: We used two waves of data from the Rotterdam Youth Monitor, a longitudinal study conducted in the Netherlands. The analysis sample consisted of 2,141 adolescents aged 12 to 14 years (mean age at baseline = 12.2 years, SD = 0.43). Physical activity (e.g., sports outside school), screen time (e.g., computer use), and early sexual intercourse initiation were assessed by means of self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression models were tested to assess the associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time (separately and simultaneously) with early sexual intercourse initiation, controlling for confounders (i.e., socio-demographics and substance use). Interaction effects with gender were tested to assess whether these associations differed significantly between boys and girls. Results: The only physical activity behavior that was a significant predictor of early sexual intercourse initiation was sports club membership. Adolescent boys and girls who were members of a sports club) were more likely to have had early sex (OR = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.33, 3.56. Significant gender interaction effects indicated that boys who watched TV ≥2 hours/ day (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.08, 3.68) and girls who used the computer ≥2 hours/day (OR = 3.92; 95% CI = 1.76, 8.69) were also significantly more likely to have engaged in early sex. Conclusion: These findings have implications for professionals in general pediatric healthcare, sexual health educators, policy makers, and parents, who should be aware of these possible prospective links between sports club membership, TV watching (for boys), and computer use (for girls), and early sexual intercourse initiation. However, continued research on determinants of adolescents' early sexual initiation is needed to further contribute to the strategies for improving adolescents' healthy sexual development and behaviors

Proton Drivers for Neutrino Factories: The CERN Approach

The paper describes the CERN approach for a proton driver for a Neutrino Factory. Two main layouts are presented: the so-called CERN Reference Scenario, based on a 2.2 GeV linac and an alternative one, based on a 30 GeV synchrotron. Both produce bunches of 1 ns (r.m.s.) and a beam power of 4 MW

Longitudinal Associations Between Sexual Communication With Friends and Sexual Behaviors Through Perceived Sexual Peer Norms

The role of peers in adolescents’ sexual behaviors is not yet fully understood. We investigated the association between sexual communication with friends (at T1) and subsequent changes in adolescents’ experience with sexual behaviors (between T1–T3), and examined whether this association was explained by adolescents’ perceptions of three sexual peer norms (at T2): (1) peers’ se

Haplotype Reconstruction Error as a Classical Misclassification Problem: Introducing Sensitivity and Specificity as Error Measures

BACKGROUND: Statistically reconstructing haplotypes from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes, can lead to falsely classified haplotypes. This can be an issue when interpreting haplotype association results or when selecting subjects with certain haplotypes for subsequent functional studies. It was our aim to quantify haplotype reconstruction error and to provide tools for it. METHODS AND RESULTS: By numerous simulation scenarios, we systematically investigated several error measures, including discrepancy, error rate, and R(2), and introduced the sensitivity and specificity to this context. We exemplified several measures in the KORA study, a large population-based study from Southern Germany. We find that the specificity is slightly reduced only for common haplotypes, while the sensitivity was decreased for some, but not all rare haplotypes. The overall error rate was generally increasing with increasing number of loci, increasing minor allele frequency of SNPs, decreasing correlation between the alleles and increasing ambiguity. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that, with the analytical approach presented here, haplotype-specific error measures can be computed to gain insight into the haplotype uncertainty. This method provides the information, if a specific risk haplotype can be expected to be reconstructed with rather no or high misclassification and thus on the magnitude of expected bias in association estimates. We also illustrate that sensitivity and specificity separate two dimensions of the haplotype reconstruction error, which completely describe the misclassification matrix and thus provide the prerequisite for methods accounting for misclassification

Efficacy and Safety of Lacosamide in Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate efficacy and safety of lacosamide compared with placebo in painful diabetic polyneuropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Diabetic patients with at least moderate neuropathic pain were randomized to placebo or lacosamide 400 (in a slow or standard titration) or 600 mg/day over 6-week titration and 12-week maintenance periods. Primary efficacy criterion was intra-individual change in average daily Numeric Pain Rating Scale score from baseline to the last 4 weeks. RESULTS: For the primary end point, pain reduction was numerically but not statistically greater with lacosamide compared with placebo (400 mg/day, P = 0.12; 600 mg/day, P = 0.18). Both doses were significantly more effective compared with placebo over the titration (P = 0.03, P = 0.006), maintenance (P = 0.01, P = 0.005), and entire treatment periods (P = 0.03, P = 0.02). Safety profiles between titration schemes were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Lacosamide reduced neuropathic pain and was well tolerated in diabetic patients, but the primary efficacy criterion was not met, possibly due to an increased placebo response over the last 4 weeks.status: publishe

Connecting the sustainable development goals by their energy inter-linkages

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide guide-posts to society as it attempts to respond to an array of pressing challenges. One of these challenges is energy; thus, the SDGs have become paramount for energy policy-making. Yet, while governments throughout the world have already declared the SDGs to be 'integrated and indivisible', there are still knowledge gaps surrounding how the interactions between the energy SDG targets and those of the non-energy-focused SDGs might play out in different contexts. In this review, we report on a large-scale assessment of the relevant energy literature, which we conducted to better our understanding of key energy-related interactions between SDGs, as well as their context-dependencies (relating to time, geography, governance, technology, and directionality). By (i) evaluating the nature and strength of the interactions identified, (ii) indicating the robustness of the evidence base, the agreement of that evidence, and our confidence in it, and (iii) highlighting critical areas where better understanding is needed or context dependencies should be considered, our review points to potential ways forward for both the policy making and scientific communities. First, we find that positive interactions between the SDGs outweigh the negative ones, both in number and magnitude. Second, of relevance for the scientific community, in order to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas, there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research geared toward developing new data, scientific tools, and fresh perspectives. Third, of relevance for policy-making, wider efforts to promote policy coherence and integrated assessments are required to address potential policy spillovers across sectors, sustainability domains, and geographic and temporal boundaries. The task of conducting comprehensive science-to-policy assessments covering all SDGs, such as for the UN's Global Sustainable Development Report, remains manageable pending the availability of systematic reviews focusing on a limited number of SDG dimensions in each case