Nepalese trekking guides: A quantitative study of sexual health knowledge and sexual behaviour

Background: Tourism, a global industry, brings with it a number of public health problems, one of which is the spread of sexually transmitted infections transmitted between travellers and hosts. Previous studies have largely focused on sex workers and sex tourists. This study assesses sexual behaviour, knowledge and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey (n=324) was conducted using snowball sampling amongst men working as mountain trekking guides in Nepal. Results: Most respondents (59%) had initiated sex before the age of 18. Most (84 %) reported sexual relations with a woman other than their partner, 46% reported foreign partners, 43% had Nepalese partners, and 28% had concurrent foreign and Nepalese partners. Most (70 %) reported ever having sex with a foreign woman and two-thirds had had sexual intercourse with foreign women in the previous 12 months. Participants’ age, education status, age of first sex, smoking and drinking habits and English proficiency were significant predictors of having sex with foreign women. About 60% reported condom use during their most recent occasion of extra-martial sex. A similar proportion had used a condom during last sexual intercourse with a foreign woman. The likelihood of condom use was associated with a guide’s age, educational level, ethnicity, age of first sex and work experience. Conclusions: Most trekking guides reported sexual relations with foreign women as well as irregular use of condoms. Although sexual health knowledge about among trekking guides is high, some misconceptions still result in unsafe sex. Hence there is an urgent need to revise the existing training for trekking guides and implement appropriate health promotion programmes

Mining tissue specificity, gene connectivity and disease association to reveal a set of genes that modify the action of disease causing genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The tissue specificity of gene expression has been linked to a number of significant outcomes including level of expression, and differential rates of polymorphism, evolution and disease association. Recent studies have also shown the importance of exploring differential gene connectivity and sequence conservation in the identification of disease-associated genes. However, no study relates gene interactions with tissue specificity and disease association.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We adopted an <it>a priori </it>approach making as few assumptions as possible to analyse the interplay among gene-gene interactions with tissue specificity and its subsequent likelihood of association with disease. We mined three large datasets comprising expression data drawn from massively parallel signature sequencing across 32 tissues, describing a set of 55,606 true positive interactions for 7,197 genes, and microarray expression results generated during the profiling of systemic inflammation, from which 126,543 interactions among 7,090 genes were reported.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Amongst the myriad of complex relationships identified between expression, disease, connectivity and tissue specificity, some interesting patterns emerged. These include elevated rates of expression and network connectivity in housekeeping and disease-associated tissue-specific genes. We found that disease-associated genes are more likely to show tissue specific expression and most frequently interact with other disease genes. Using the thresholds defined in these observations, we develop a guilt-by-association algorithm and discover a group of 112 non-disease annotated genes that predominantly interact with disease-associated genes, impacting on disease outcomes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that parameters such as tissue specificity and network connectivity can be used in combination to identify a group of genes, not previously confirmed as disease causing, that are involved in interactions with disease causing genes. Our guilt-by-association algorithm should be useful for the discovery of additional modifiers of genetic diseases, and more generally, for the ability to associate genes of unknown function to clusters of genes with defined functions allowing for novel biological inference that can be subsequently validated.</p

A porous media model for CFD simulations of gas-liquid two-phase flow in rotating packed beds

The rotating packed bed (RPB) is a promising advanced reactor used in industrial gas-liquid two-phase reaction processes because of its high phase contact efficiency and mixing efficiency. Investigation of RPBs using CFD simulations will improve the understanding of physical behaviours of gas and liquid flows in such reactors. Currently, CFD simulations on the RPBs only focus on the volume of fluid (VOF) method. However, the VOF method is not suitable for simulations of pilot-scale 2D and 3D RPBs due to the limitations in computer resources, while the Eulerian method using a porous media model is a promising alternative method but it is rarely reported. The reason is that there are no suitable porous media models that accurately describe the drag force between the gas and liquid, the gas and solids and the liquid and solids due to the high porosity and the stacked wire screen packing used in RPBs. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a new model for modelling RPBs. The new proposed model is based on the Kołodziej high porosity wire screen one-phase porous media model. In this work, two experimental counter-current gas–liquid flow cases from the literatures have been used for validating the CFD simulation results. Finally, the new model has been compared with the current porous media models for traditional spherical or structured slit packed beds, which are the Attou, Lappalainen, Iliuta and Zhang models. The simulation results show that the proposed new model is the most appropriate and accurate model for the simulation of RPBs among all the models investigated in this paper

Modelling of CO2 absorption in a rotating packed bed using an Eulerian porous media approach

The rotating packed bed (RPB) is a promising reactor for CO2 capture with liquid amine because of its high mass transfer rate and energy and space savings. The CFD simulations of RPBs generally use the volume of fluid (VOF) method, but this method is prohibitively expensive for 3D simulations, in particular for large-scale reactors. The Eulerian method is a promising and effective method; however, there are still several difficulties, such as the settings for the porous media models in the gas-liquid counter-current flow and the interfacial area between the gas and liquid. To overcome these difficulties in the Eulerian method, this paper uses a new porous media model, a novel liquid generation-elimination model for numerically investigating the gas-liquid counter-current flow in RPBs and a new interfacial area model derived from the VOF simulation. These new models, incorporating the two-film reaction-enhancement mass transfer model, have successfully simulated the CO2 capture process with monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions in a RPB under both low (30 wt%) and high (90 wt%) concentration conditions. The results show that the overall gas phase mass transfer coefficient (KGa) increases with increasing the rotation speeds and the liquid to gas mass flow rate (L/G ratio). The simulations were validated by the experimental data and the results were analysed and discussed

Chiral excitonic order from twofold van Hove singularities in kagome metals

Recent experiments on kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A=K,Rb,Cs) identify twofold van Hove singularities (TvHS) with opposite concavity near the Fermi energy, generating two approximately hexagonal Fermi surfaces – one electron-like and the other hole-like. Here we propose that a TvHS generates a novel time-reversal symmetry breaking excitonic order – arising due to bound pairs of electrons and holes located at opposite concavity van Hove singularities. We introduce a minimal model for the TvHS and investigate interaction induced many-body instabilities via the perturbative renormalisation group technique and a free energy analysis. Specialising to parameters appropriate for the kagome metals AV3Sb5, we construct a phase diagram comprising chiral excitons, charge density wave and a region of coexistence. We propose this as an explanation of a diverse range of experimental observations in AV3Sb5. Notably, the chiral excitonic state gives rise to a quantum anomalous Hall conductance, providing an appealing interpretation of the observed anomalous Hall effect in kagome metals. Possible alternative realisations of the TvHS mechanism in bilayer materials are also discussed. We suggest that TvHS open up interesting possibilities for correlated phases, enriching the set of competing ground states to include excitonic order

Identifying needs-based groupings among people accessing intellectual disability services

There is increasing emphasis on needs-led service-provision for people with intellectual disability (ID). This study outlines the statistical cluster analysis of clinical data from 1692 individuals accessing UK secondary care ID services. Using objective needs assessment data from a newly developed ID assessment tool, six clusters were identified. These had clinical face validity and were validated using six concurrently (but independently) rated tools. In keeping with previous studies, the clusters varied in terms of overall level of need as well as specific clinical features (autism spectrum disorder, mental health problems, challenging behaviors and physical health conditions). More work is now needed to further develop these clusters and explore their utility for planning, commissioning and optimizing needs-led services

Masking of an auditory behaviour reveals how male mosquitoes use distortion to detect females

The mating behaviour of many mosquito species is mediated essentially by sound: males follow and mate with a female mid-flight by detecting and tracking the whine of her flight-tones. The stereotypical rapid frequency modulation (RFM) male behaviour, initiated in response to the detection of the female's flight-tones, has provided a means of investigating these auditory mechanisms while males are free-flying. Mosquitoes hear with their antennae, which vibrate to near-field acoustic excitation. The antennae generate nonlinear vibrations (distortion products, DPs) at frequencies that are equal to the difference between the two simultaneously presented tones, e.g. the male and female flight-tones, which are detected by mechanoreceptors in the auditory Johnston's organ (JO) at the base of the antenna. Recent studies indicated the male mosquito's JO is tuned not to the female flight-tone, but to the frequency difference between the male and female flight-tones. To test the hypothesis that mosquitoes detect this frequency difference, Culex quinquefasciatus males were presented simultaneously with a female flight-tone and a masking tone, which should suppress the male's RFM response to sound. The free-flight behavioural and in vivo electrophysiological experiments revealed that acoustic masking suppresses the RFM response to the female's flight-tones by attenuating the DPs generated in the nonlinear vibration of the antennae. These findings provide direct evidence in support of the hypothesis that male mosquitoes detect females when both are in flight through difference tones generated in the vibrations of their antennae owing to the interaction between their own flight-tones and those of a female

Correlates for the risk of specialist ID hospital admission for people with intellectual disabilities: development of the LDNAT inpatient index

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse ratings data from the recently developed Learning Disability Needs Assessment Tool (LDNAT) to identify factors associated with specialist intellectual disability (ID) hospital admissions. Design/methodology/approach: Ratings from 1,692 individuals were analysed and the LDNAT items differing significantly between inpatients and non-inpatients were identified. Statistical analyses on total scores derived from these items were used to calculate an optimal cut-off. This LDNAT Inpatient Index score was also confirmed via an alternative statistical technique.. Findings: On average, 18 of the 23 LDNAT item ratings were significantly higher in people with ID assessed as inpatient compared to those rated in community settings. Using the total of these items, the resulting LDNAT Inpatient Index was analysed. A cut-off score of 22.5 was calculated to be the optimal balance between sensitivity (.833) and specificity (.750). This was confirmed by calculating the Youden index (j= .583). At this level 68% of inpatients and 81% of non-inpatient cases were correctly identified. Practical implications: Currently there is a national (UK) programme to radically reduce the amount of specialist inpatient care for people ID. This will necessitate early identification of individuals most at risk of admission together with investment in improved, proactive community services if admissions to a diminishing bed-base are to remain manageable. Originality/value: This study confirms the associations between mental health difficulties, challenging behaviour and specialist hospital admissions for people with ID, extending existing research by translating these findings into a clinically usable risk index