Does regretting first vaginal intercourse have an effect on young adults' sexual behaviour?

Background The aims of this research were to determine personal differences depending on the reason for regretting or not first vaginal intercourse and its effects on sexual behaviour later on among young adults, and to assess the association between reasons for engaging in first vaginal intercourse and regretting it. Data were drawn from the 2017 Swiss national survey on youth sexual behaviours among young adults (mean age 26 years) living in Switzerland. Out of the 7142 participants, 4793 (51% females) answered the question 'Looking back now to the first time you had vaginal intercourse, do you think that…' with five possible answers: (1) I should not have done it (6.7%); (2) I should have waited longer (7.7%); (3) I should have done it earlier (7.4%); (4) It was about the right time (67.9%); and (5) I don't know (10.3%). The five groups were compared on sociodemographic and sex behaviour-related variables, analysed separately by gender. One-third of participants regretted their first experience. In the multivariate analysis, compared with the 'right time' group, all other groups were more likely to find their first experience unpleasant and to have done it with a casual partner. Those in the 'I should not have done it' and 'I should have waited longer' groups were also more likely to have done it because of external pressure, especially among females. The study results underline the significance to choose the right time and the right partner for first vaginal intercourse and the importance of including partner respect and avoiding external pressure as part of sexual education

Does the Primary Resource of Sex Education Matter? A Swiss National Study.

Sex education (SE) remains a subject of debate, including controversies on resources. The purpose of this paper was to determine the main SE resource during adolescence and its associations with personal characteristics and sexual behaviors of youths. Data were obtained from a self-administrated Swiss national survey on sexuality among young adults (mean age 26.3). Participants (N = 4978) were divided into six groups according to their main SE resource during their adolescence: Friends (1939; 38.9%), Parents (1361; 27.3%), School (n = 949; 19.1%), The Internet (399; 8.0%), Nobody (172; 3.5%) and Other (157; 3.2%). Groups were compared on sociodemographic, first sexual experiences, pregnancy, risky sexual behaviors, and undesired sexual experiences data. Males and non-heterosexual participants were overrepresented in the Internet group while, females more often reported their parents as their main SE resource. Participants in the School group reported the lowest rates of sexually transmitted infections and Friends the highest. Compared to the School group, those in the Friends, Internet, Nobody, and Other groups were more likely to report undesired sexual experiences. Few differences appeared between parents and school. Even though some resources such as friends or the Internet presented negative outcomes when they were assessed individually, we cannot deny the important place that they occupy in the lives of some youths

Control of field- and current-driven magnetic domain wall motion by exchange bias in Cr2 O3/Co/Pt trilayers

We investigate the motion of magnetic domain walls driven by magnetic fields and current-driven spin-orbit torques in an exchange-biased system with perpendicular magnetization. We consider Cr2O3/Co/Pt trilayers as a model system, in which the magnetization of the Co layer can be exchanged biased out-of-plane or in-plane depending on the field-cooling direction. In field-driven experiments, the in-plane exchange bias favors the propagation of the domain walls with internal magnetization parallel to the exchange-bias field. In current-driven experiments, the domain walls propagate along the current direction, but the domain wall velocity increases and decreases symmetrically (antisymmetrically) for both current polarities when the exchange bias is parallel (perpendicular) to the current line. At zero external field, the exchange bias modifies the velocity of current-driven domain wall motion by a factor of 10. We also find that the exchange bias remains stable under external fields up to 15 kOe and nanosecond-long current pulses with current density up to 3.5 × 1012 A/m. Our results demonstrate versatile control of the domain wall motion by exchange bias, which is relevant to achieve field-free switching of the magnetization in perpendicular systems and current-driven manipulation of domain walls velocity in spintronic device

PrivateRide: A Privacy-Enhanced Ride-Hailing Service

In the past few years, we have witnessed a rise in the popularity of ride-hailing services (RHSs), an on-line marketplace that enables accredited drivers to use their own cars to drive ride-hailing users. Unlike other transportation services, RHSs raise significant privacy concerns, as providers are able to track the precise mobility patterns of millions of riders worldwide. We present the first survey and analysis of the privacy threats in RHSs. Our analysis exposes high-risk privacy threats that do not occur in conventional taxi services. Therefore, we pro- pose PrivateRide, a privacy-enhancing and practical solu- tion that offers anonymity and location privacy for riders, and protects drivers’ information from harvesting attacks. PrivateRide lowers the high-risk privacy threats in RHSs to a level that is at least as low as that of many taxi services. Using real data-sets from Uber and taxi rides, we show that PrivateRide significantly enhances riders’ privacy, while preserving tangible accuracy in ride matching and fare calculation, with only negligible effects on convenience. Moreover, by using our Android implementation for experimental evaluations, we show that PrivateRide’s overhead during ride setup is negligible. In short, we enable privacy- conscious riders to achieve levels of privacy that are not possible in current RHSs and even in some conventional taxi services, thereby offering a potential business differentiator

Nicotine Replacement Therapy for Smokers with Acute Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: An International Survey.

Smoking prevalence is twice as high among patients admitted to hospital because of the acute condition of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) as in the general population. Smoking cessation may improve the prognosis of aSAH, but nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) administered at the time of aSAH remains controversial because of potential adverse effects such as cerebral vasospasm. We investigated the international practice of NRT use for aSAH among neurosurgeons. The online SurveyMonkey software was used to administer a 15-question, 5-min online questionnaire. An invitation link was sent to those 1425 of 1988 members of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) who agreed to participate in surveys to assess treatment strategies for withdrawal of tobacco smoking during aSAH. Factors contributing to physicians' posture towards NRT were assessed. A total of 158 physicians from 50 nations participated in the survey (response rate 11.1%); 68.4% (108) were affiliated with university hospitals and 67.7% (107) practiced at high-volume neurovascular centers with at least 30 treated aSAH cases per year. Overall, 55.7% (88) of physicians offered NRT to smokers with aSAH, 22.1% (35) offered non-NRT support including non-nicotine medication and counselling, while the remaining 22.1% (35) did not actively support smoking cessation. When smoking was not possible, 42.4% (67) of physicians expected better clinical outcomes when prescribing NRT instead of nicotine deprivation, 36.1% (57) were uncertain, 13.9% (22) assumed unaffected outcomes, and 7.6% (12) assumed worse outcomes. Only 22.8% (36) physicians had access to a local smoking cessation team in their practice, of whom half expected better outcomes with NRT as compared to deprivation. A small majority of the surveyed physicians of the EANS offered NRT to support smoking cessation in hospitalized patients with aSAH. However, less than half believed that NRT could positively impact clinical outcome as compared to deprivation. This survey demonstrated the lack of consensus regarding use of NRT for hospitalized smokers with aSAH

Detection and Quantification of Antiviral Drug Tenofovir Using Silver Nanoparticles and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) With Spatially Resolved Hotspot Selection

This study introduces a convenient and ultra-sensitive method of detection and quantification of the antiviral drug, tenofovir (TFV), by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Novel spatially resolved instrumentation for spectral acquisition and subsequent statistical analysis for hot spot selection was developed for convenient quantification of TFV in an aqueous matrix. Methods of statistical analysis include the use of partial least squares (PLS) regression vector analysis and spectral ranking by quality indices computed using CHAOS theory. Hydroxylamine-reduced Ag colloidal nanoparticles evaporated to dryness on an aluminum well-plate were used as the SERS substrate. To our knowledge, quantification of TFV down to 25 ng/mL by SERS, comprising clinically relevant concentrations, has not been previously reported. Furthermore, in this work we propose a novel method of quantification of aqueous TFV standards by SERS using statistical treatment of data by PLS and CHAOS theory. Based on these data, we propose future studies to develop a method of TFV detection and quantification in biological samples, beneficial to clinicians for rapid assessment of drug adherence during the treatment and prevention of viral diseases

Minimal Stability in Maximal Supergravity

Recently, it has been shown that maximal supergravity allows for non-supersymmetric AdS critical points that are perturbatively stable. We investigate this phenomenon of stability without supersymmetry from the sGoldstino point of view. In particular, we calculate the projection of the mass matrix onto the sGoldstino directions, and derive the necessary conditions for stability. Indeed we find a narrow window allowing for stable SUSY breaking points. As a by-product of our analysis, we find that it seems impossible to perturb supersymmetric critical points into non-supersymmetric ones: there is a minimal amount of SUSY breaking in maximal supergravity.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure. v2: two typos corrected, published versio

Severe cutaneous toxicity following treatment with radiotherapy and cetuximab: a case report

While the addition of cetuximab to radiotherapy improves clinical outcomes in locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancers, there are a small number of reports of severe radiation dermatitis occurring with this therapeutic combination. We present the case of a 69 year old male who developed severe radiation dermatitis following treatment with cetuximab and radiotherapy for a locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer

PPARγ Controls Ectopic Adipogenesis and Cross-Talks with Myogenesis During Skeletal Muscle Regeneration.

Skeletal muscle is a regenerative tissue which can repair damaged myofibers through the activation of tissue-resident muscle stem cells (MuSCs). Many muscle diseases with impaired regeneration cause excessive adipose tissue accumulation in muscle, alter the myogenic fate of MuSCs, and deregulate the cross-talk between MuSCs and fibro/adipogenic progenitors (FAPs), a bi-potent cell population which supports myogenesis and controls intra-muscular fibrosis and adipocyte formation. In order to better characterize the interaction between adipogenesis and myogenesis, we studied muscle regeneration and MuSC function in whole body <i>Pparg</i> null mice generated by epiblast-specific Cre/lox deletion ( <i>Pparg <sup>Δ/Δ</sup></i> ). We demonstrate that deletion of PPARγ completely abolishes ectopic muscle adipogenesis during regeneration and impairs MuSC expansion and myogenesis after injury. Ex vivo assays revealed that perturbed myogenesis in <i>Pparg <sup>Δ/Δ</sup></i> mice does not primarily result from intrinsic defects of MuSCs or from perturbed myogenic support from FAPs. The immune transition from a pro- to anti-inflammatory MuSC niche during regeneration is perturbed in <i>Pparg <sup>Δ/Δ</sup></i> mice and suggests that PPARγ signaling in macrophages can interact with ectopic adipogenesis and influence muscle regeneration. Altogether, our study demonstrates that a PPARγ-dependent adipogenic response regulates muscle fat infiltration during regeneration and that PPARγ is required for MuSC function and efficient muscle repair