Bystander Exposure to Ultra-Low-Volume Insecticide Applications Used for Adult Mosquito Management

A popular and effective management option for adult mosquitoes is the use of insecticides applied by ultra-low-volume (ULV) equipment. However, there is a paucity of data on human dermal exposure to insecticides applied by this method. The objective of the current study was to estimate dermal exposures to the insecticide active ingredient permethrin using water- (Aqua-Reslin®) and oil-based (Permanone® 30-30) formulations with passive dosimetry. No significant differences in deposition of permethrin were observed between years, distance from the spray source, front or back of the body, or the placement of the patches on the body. However, exposure to Aqua-Reslin was significantly greater than Permanone 30-30 and average concentrations deposited on the body were 4.2 and 2.1 ng/cm2, respectively. The greater deposition of Aqua-Reslin is most likely due to the higher density of the water-based formulation which causes it to settle out faster than the lighter oil-based formulation of Permanone 30-30. The estimated average absorbed dermal exposure for permethrin from Aqua-Reslin and Permanone 30-30 was 0.00009 and 0.00005 mg/kg body weight, respectively. We also found that ground deposition of ULV insecticides can be used as a surrogate for estimating dermal exposure. The estimated exposures support the findings of previous risk assessments that exposure to ULV applications used for mosquito management are below regulatory levels of concern

“I’ve been doing this for years”: the COVID-19 pandemic and family caregiver isolation and loneliness

Background: Family caregivers are family members or friends of care recipients who assist with activities of daily living, medication management, transportation, and help with finances among other activities. As a result of their caregiving, family caregivers are often considered a population at risk of experiencing increased stress, isolation, and loneliness. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, social isolation and decrease in social activities were a top concern among older adults and their family caregivers. Using secondary analysis of survey data as part of a multi-site implementation trial of a caregiver skills training program, we describe differences in caregiver experiences of loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Health and wellbeing surveys of family caregivers were collected on 422 family caregivers of veterans before and during COVID-19. Logistic regression modeling examined whether the loneliness differed between caregiver groups pre vs during COVID-19, using the UCLA 3-item loneliness measure. Rapid directed qualitative content analysis of open-ended survey questions was used to explore the context of how survey responses were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: There were no significant differences in loneliness between caregivers pre vs during COVID-19. In open-ended responses regarding effects of COVID-19, caregivers described experiencing loneliness and social isolation; why they were unaffected by the pandemic; and how caregiving equipped them with coping strategies to manage negative pandemic-related effects. Conclusion: Loneliness did not differ significantly between pre vs during COVID-19 caregivers. Future research could assess what specific characteristics are associated with caregivers who have resiliency, and identify caregivers who are more susceptible to experiencing loneliness. Understanding caregiver loneliness could assist other healthcare systems in developing and implementing caregiver support interventions

2022 Upgrade and Improved Low Frequency Camera Sensitivity for CMB Observation at the South Pole

Constraining the Galactic foregrounds with multi-frequency Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations is an essential step towards ultimately reaching the sensitivity to measure primordial gravitational waves (PGWs), the sign of inflation after the Big-Bang that would be imprinted on the CMB. The BICEP Array telescope is a set of multi-frequency cameras designed to constrain the energy scale of inflation through CMB B-mode searches while also controlling the polarized galactic foregrounds. The lowest frequency BICEP Array receiver (BA1) has been observing from the South Pole since 2020 and provides 30 GHz and 40 GHz data to characterize the Galactic synchrotron in our CMB maps. In this paper, we present the design of the BA1 detectors and the full optical characterization of the camera including the on-sky performance at the South Pole. The paper also introduces the design challenges during the first observing season including the effect of out-of-band photons on detectors performance. It also describes the tests done to diagnose that effect and the new upgrade to minimize these photons, as well as installing more dichroic detectors during the 2022 deployment season to improve the BA1 sensitivity. We finally report background noise measurements of the detectors with the goal of having photon noise dominated detectors in both optical channels. BA1 achieves an improvement in mapping speed compared to the previous deployment season.Comment: Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022 (AS22

Characterizing the genetic basis of methylome diversity in histologically normal human lung tissue

The genetic regulation of the human epigenome is not fully appreciated. Here we describe the effects of genetic variants on the DNA methylome in human lung based on methylation-quantitative trait loci (meQTL) analyses. We report 34,304 cis- and 585 trans-meQTLs, a genetic-epigenetic interaction of surprising magnitude, including a regulatory hotspot. These findings are replicated in both breast and kidney tissues and show distinct patterns: cis-meQTLs mostly localize to CpG sites outside of genes, promoters and CpG islands (CGIs), while trans-meQTLs are over-represented in promoter CGIs. meQTL SNPs are enriched in CTCF-binding sites, DNaseI hypersensitivity regions and histone marks. Importantly, four of the five established lung cancer risk loci in European ancestry are cis-meQTLs and, in aggregate, cis-meQTLs are enriched for lung cancer risk in a genome-wide analysis of 11,587 subjects. Thus, inherited genetic variation may affect lung carcinogenesis by regulating the human methylome

The SPTPoL extended cluster survey

We describe the observations and resultant galaxy cluster catalog from the 2770 deg2 SPTpol Extended Cluster Survey (SPT-ECS). Clusters are identified via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and confirmed with a combination of archival and targeted follow-up data, making particular use of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). With incomplete follow-up we have confirmed as clusters 244 of 266 candidates at a detection significance ξ ≥ 5 and an additional 204 systems at 4 4 threshold, and 10% of their measured SZ flux. We associate SZ-selected clusters, from both SPT-ECS and the SPT-SZ survey, with clusters from the DES redMaPPer sample, and we find an offset distribution between the SZ center and central galaxy in general agreement with previous work, though with a larger fraction of clusters with significant offsets. Adopting a fixed Planck-like cosmology, we measure the optical richness-SZ mass (l - M) relation and find it to be 28% shallower than that from a weak-lensing analysis of the DES data-a difference significant at the 4σ level-with the relations intersecting at λ = 60. The SPT-ECS cluster sample will be particularly useful for studying the evolution of massive clusters and, in combination with DES lensing observations and the SPT-SZ cluster sample, will be an important component of future cosmological analyses

Phenomenological MSSM interpretation of CMS searches in pp collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV

Searches for new physics by the CMS collaboration are interpreted in the framework of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric standard model (pMSSM). The data samples used in this study were collected at root s = 7 and 8 TeV and have integrated luminosities of 5.0 fb(-1) and 19.5 fb(-1), respectively. A global Bayesian analysis is performed, incorporating results from a broad range of CMS supersymmetry searches, as well as constraints from other experiments. Because the pMSSM incorporates several well-motivated assumptions that reduce the 120 parameters of the MSSM to just 19 parameters defined at the electroweak scale, it is possible to assess the results of the study in a relatively straightforward way. Approximately half of the model points in a potentially accessible subspace of the pMSSM are excluded, including all pMSSM model points with a gluino mass below 500 GeV, as well as models with a squark mass less than 300 GeV. Models with chargino and neutralino masses below 200 GeV are disfavored, but no mass range of model points can be ruled out based on the analyses considered. The nonexcluded regions in the pMSSM parameter space are characterized in terms of physical processes and key observables, and implications for future searches are discussed

Search for neutral resonances decaying into a Z boson and a pair of b jets or τ leptons

A search is performed for a new resonance decaying into a lighter resonance and a Z boson. Two channels are studied, targeting the decay of the lighter resonance into either a pair of oppositely charged τ leptons or a bb‾ pair. The Z boson is identified via its decays to electrons or muons. The search exploits data collected by the CMS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 fb −1 . No significant deviations are observed from the standard model expectation and limits are set on production cross sections and parameters of two-Higgs-doublet models

Search for a low-mass pseudoscalar Higgs boson produced in association with a bb⁻ pair in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

A search is reported for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson decaying to a pair of tau leptons, produced in association with a b (b) over bar pair, in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models. The results are based on pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). Pseudoscalar boson masses between 25 and 80 GeV are probed. No evidence for a pseudoscalar boson is found and upper limits are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction to tau pairs between 7 and 39 pb at the 95% confidence level. This excludes pseudoscalar A bosons with masses between 25 and 80 GeV, with SM-like Higgs boson negative couplings to down-type fermions, produced in association with bb pairs, in Type II, two-Higgs-doublet models. (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommonnorg/licensesiby/4.01)

Forward-backward asymmetry of Drell-Yan lepton pairs in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

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