The Role of Reinfection and Partner Notification in the Efficacy of Chlamydia Screening Programs

Repeated Chlamydia trachomatis infections after treatment are common. One reason is reinfection from untreated partners in ongoing sexual partnerships. Mathematical models that are used to predict the impact of screening on reducing chlamydia prevalence often do not incorporate reinfection and might overestimate the expected impact. We describe a pair compartmental model that explicitly incorporates sexual partnership duration and reinfection. The pair model predicts a weaker impact of screening when compared directly with a model that does not accommodate partnerships. Effective management of sex partners to prevent reinfection might need to be strengthened in chlamydia control program

Deep inelastic scattering off a N=4 SYM plasma at strong coupling

By using the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the deep inelastic scattering of an R-current off a N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) plasma at finite temperature and strong coupling. Within the supergravity approximation valid when the number of colors is large, we compute the structure functions by solving Maxwell equations in the space-time geometry of the AdS_5 black three-brane. We find a rather sharp transition between a low energy regime where the scattering is weak and quasi-elastic, and a high-energy regime where the current is completely absorbed. The critical energy for this transition determines the plasma saturation momentum in terms of its temperature T and the Bjorken x variable: Q_s=T/x. These results suggest a partonic picture for the plasma where all the partons have transverse momenta below the saturation momentum and occupation numbers of order one.Comment: Version accepted for publication in JHEP: more references added; some technical points were displaced from Sect. 4 to the new Appendix

Pastoral production is associated with increased peste des petits ruminants seroprevalence in northern Tanzania across sheep, goats and cattle

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes a contagious disease of high morbidity and mortality in small ruminant populations globally. Using cross-sectional serosurvey data collected in 2016, our study investigated PPRV seroprevalence and risk factors among sheep, goats and cattle in 20 agropastoral (AP) and pastoral (P) villages in northern Tanzania. Overall observed seroprevalence was 21.1% (95% exact confidence interval (CI) 20.1–22.0) with 5.8% seroprevalence among agropastoral (95% CI 5.0–6.7) and 30.7% among pastoral villages (95% CI 29.3–32.0). Seropositivity varied significantly by management (production) system. Our study applied the catalytic framework to estimate the force of infection. The associated reproductive numbers (R0) were estimated at 1.36 (95% CI 1.32–1.39), 1.40 (95% CI 1.37–1.44) and 1.13 (95% CI 1.11–1.14) for sheep, goats and cattle, respectively. For sheep and goats, these R0 values are likely underestimates due to infection-associated mortality. Spatial heterogeneity in risk among pairs of species across 20 villages was significantly positively correlated (R2: 0.59–0.69), suggesting either cross-species transmission or common, external risk factors affecting all species. The non-negligible seroconversion in cattle may represent spillover or cattle-to-cattle transmission and must be investigated further to understand the role of cattle in PPRV transmission ahead of upcoming eradication efforts

Brane/flux annihilation transitions and nonperturbative moduli stabilization

By extending the calculation of Kahler moduli stabilization to account for an embiggened antibrane, we reevaluate brane/flux annihilation in a warped throat with one stabilized Kahler modulus. We find that depending on the relative size of various fluxes three things can occur: the decay process proceeds unhindered, the anti-D3-branes are forbidden to decay classically, or the entire space decompactifies. Additionally, we show that the Kahler modulus receives a contribution from the collective 3-brane tension. This allows for a significant change in compactified volume during the transition and possibly mitigates some fine tuning otherwise required to achieve large volume.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX. v2: references adde

Energy Loss of Gluons, Baryons and k-Quarks in an N=4 SYM Plasma

We consider different types of external color sources that move through a strongly-coupled thermal N=4 super-Yang-Mills plasma, and calculate, via the AdS/CFT correspondence, the dissipative force (or equivalently, the rate of energy loss) they experience. A bound state of k quarks in the totally antisymmetric representation is found to feel a force with a nontrivial k-dependence. Our result for k=1 (or k=N-1) agrees at large N with the one obtained recently by Herzog et al. and Gubser, but contains in addition an infinite series of 1/N corrections. The baryon (k=N) is seen to experience no drag. Finally, a heavy gluon is found to be subject to a force which at large N is twice as large as the one experienced by a heavy quark, in accordance with gauge theory expectations.Comment: Latex 2e, 24 pages, 1 eps figure; v2: slightly amplified discussion on the relation between the drag force and the tension of a spatial Wilson loop; v3: minor changes, version to appear in JHE

C^2/Z_n Fractional branes and Monodromy

We construct geometric representatives for the C^2/Z_n fractional branes in terms of branes wrapping certain exceptional cycles of the resolution. In the process we use large radius and conifold-type monodromies, and also check some of the orbifold quantum symmetries. We find the explicit Seiberg-duality which connects our fractional branes to the ones given by the McKay correspondence. We also comment on the Harvey-Moore BPS algebras.Comment: 34 pages, v1 identical to v2, v3: typos fixed, discussion of Harvey-Moore BPS algebras update

Assessing associations between the AURKAHMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers

While interplay between BRCA1 and AURKA-RHAMM-TPX2-TUBG1 regulates mammary epithelial polarization, common genetic variation in HMMR (gene product RHAMM) may be associated with risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Following on these observations, we further assessed the link between the AURKA-HMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers. Forty-one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 mutation carriers and subsequently analyzed using a retrospective likelihood appr

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat