Regulatory focus and sexual health: Motives for security and pleasure in sexuality are associated with distinct protective behaviors

We examined if motives for security (i.e., prevention focus) or pleasure (i.e., promotion focus) were uniquely associated with intentions to get tested for STIs and behavioral control over condom use, over and above variables already identified in theoretical models. We conducted an online survey with Portuguese adults (N = 836; Mage = 22.27, SD = 5.14). Overall, 99.4% of the participants knew at least one of eight STIs, but only 25.2% got tested in the last six months. Participants more focused on prevention had condomless sex less frequently, whereas participants more focused on promotion knew more STIs and got tested for more STIs. Furthermore, participants had stronger intentions to get tested for STIs if they got tested for more STIs in the past, were more concerned about STIs, perceived greater susceptibility to STI acquisition, and were more focused on promotion (but not prevention). Participants had greater behavioral control over condom use if they had condomless sex less often and were more focused on prevention (but not promotion). These findings suggest that promotion-focused people are more likely to consider the consequences of having condomless sex. In contrast, prevention-focused people are more likely to take control of their sexual health.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A Comment on Quantum Distribution Functions and the OSV Conjecture

Using the attractor mechanism and the relation between the quantization of $H^{3}(M)$ and topological strings on a Calabi Yau threefold $M$ we define a map from BPS black holes into coherent states. This map allows us to represent the Bekenstein-Hawking-Wald entropy as a quantum distribution function on the phase space $H^{3}(M)$. This distribution function is a mixed Husimi/anti-Husimi distribution corresponding to the different normal ordering prescriptions for the string coupling and deviations of the complex structure moduli. From the integral representation of this distribution function in terms of the Wigner distribution we recover the Ooguri-Strominger-Vafa (OSV) conjecture in the region "at infinity" of the complex structure moduli space. The physical meaning of the OSV corrections are briefly discussed in this limit.Comment: 27 pages. v2:reference and footnote adde

The type of adjuvant in whole inactivated influenza a virus vaccines impacts vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a disease burden in the swine industry in the US and is a challenge to prevent due to substantial genetic and antigenic diversity of IAV that circulate in pig populations. Whole inactivated virus (WIV) vaccines formulated with oil-in-water (OW) adjuvant are commonly used in swine. However, WIV-OW are associated with vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) when the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase of the vaccine strain are mismatched with the challenge virus. Here, we assessed if different types of adjuvant in WIV vaccine formulations impacted VAERD outcome. WIV vaccines with a swine δ1-H1N2 were formulated with different commercial adjuvants: OW1, OW2, nano-emulsion squalene-based (NE) and gel polymer (GP). Pigs were vaccinated twice by the intramuscular route, 3 weeks apart, then challenged with an H1N1pdm09 three weeks post-boost and necropsied at 5 days post infection. All WIV vaccines elicited antibodies detected using the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay against the homologous vaccine virus, but not against the heterologous challenge virus; in contrast, all vaccinated groups had cross-reactive IgG antibody and IFN-γ responses against H1N1pdm09, with a higher magnitude observed in OW groups. Both OW groups demonstrated robust homologous HI titers and cross-reactivity against heterologous H1 viruses in the same genetic lineage. However, both OW groups had severe immunopathology consistent with VAERD after challenge when compared to NE, GP, and non-vaccinated challenge controls. None of the WIV formulations protected pigs from heterologous virus replication in the lungs or nasal cavity. Thus, although the type of adjuvant in the WIV formulation played a significant role in the magnitude of immune response to homologous and antigenically similar H1, none tested here increased the breadth of protection against the antigenically-distinct challenge virus, and some impacted immunopathology after challenge

A Comprehensive In Silico Analysis of the Functional and Structural Impact of SNPs in the IGF1R Gene

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) acts as a critical mediator of cell proliferation and survival. Many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in the IGF1R gene have been associated with various diseases, including both breast and prostate cancer. The genetics of these diseases could be better understood by knowing the functions of these SNPs. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the functional and structural impact of all known SNPs in this gene using publicly available computational prediction tools. Out of a total of 2412 SNPs in IGF1R retrieved from dbSNP, we found 32 nsSNPs, 58 sSNPs, 83 mRNA 3′ UTR SNPs, and 2225 intronic SNPs. Among the nsSNPs, a total of six missense nsSNPs were found to be damaging by both a sequence homology-based tool (SIFT) and a structural homology-based method (PolyPhen), and one nonsense nsSNP was found. Further, we modeled mutant proteins and compared the total energy values with the native IGF1R protein, and showed that a mutation from arginine to cysteine at position 1216 (rs61740868) on the surface of the protein caused the greatest impact on stability. Also, the FASTSNP tool suggested that 31 sSNPs and 3 intronic SNPs might affect splicing regulation. Based on our investigation, we report potential candidate SNPs for future studies on IGF1R mutations

Produção de sementes, qualidade fisiológica e identificação de genótipos de alface termotolerantes.

O objetivo neste trabalho foi identificar as diferenças de germinação de sementes de vinte cultivares de alface em condições de temperatura ideal 20° C

Experiencias en investigación participativa en sinergia con el desarrollo en la producción de rumiantes menores en el Semiárido del Nordeste de Brasil.

En este capítulo se describen las experiencias logradas en el proyecto conducido por Embrapa (a través de Embrapa Caprinos y Ovinos y Embrapa Semiárido) e ICARDA (2004-2008) en dos núcleos de intervención, en las comunidades de Boa Vista-Quixadá y Boqueirão, localizadas en los estados de Ceará y Pernambuco, respectivamente, además de las lecciones aprendidas que se espera sean de utilidad a iniciativas y esfuerzos similares en otras áreas de la región

Non-parametric comparison of histogrammed two-dimensional data distributions using the Energy Test

When monitoring complex experiments, comparison is often made between regularly acquired histograms of data and reference histograms which represent the ideal state of the equipment. With the larger HEP experiments now ramping up, there is a need for automation of this task since the volume of comparisons could overwhelm human operators. However, the two-dimensional histogram comparison tools available in ROOT have been noted in the past to exhibit shortcomings. We discuss a newer comparison test for two-dimensional histograms, based on the Energy Test of Aslan and Zech, which provides more conclusive discrimination between histograms of data coming from different distributions than methods provided in a recent ROOT release.The Science and Technology Facilities Council, U