Brief interventions to prevent sexually transmitted infections suitable for in-service use: a systematic review

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are more common in young people and men who have sex with men (MSM) and effective in-service interventions are needed. Methods: A systematic review of randomized control trials (RCTs) of waiting-room delivered,self-delivered and brief healthcare-provider-delivered interventions designed to reduce STIs, increase use of home-based STI testing, or reduce STI-risk behaviour was conducted. Six databases were searched between January 2000 to October 2014. Results: 17,916 articles were screened. 23 RCTs of interventions for young people met our inclusion criteria. Significant STI reductions were found in four RCTs of interventions using brief one-to-one counselling (2 RCTs), video (1 RCT) and a STI home-testing kit (1 RCT). Increase in STI test uptake was found in five studies using video (1 RCT), one-to-one counselling (1 RCT), home test kit (2 RCTs) and a web-based intervention (1 RCT). Reduction in STI-risk behaviour was found in seven RCTs of interventions using digital online (web-based) and offline (computer software) (3 RCTs), printed materials (1 RCT) and video (3 RCTs). Ten RCTs of interventions for MSM met our inclusion criteria. Three tested for STI reductions but none found significant differences between intervention and control groups. Increased STI test uptake was found in two studies using brief one-to-one counselling (1 RCT) and an online web-based intervention (1 RCT. Reduction in STI-risk behaviour was found in six studies using digital online (web-based) interventions (4 RCTs) and brief one-to one counselling (2 RCTs. Conclusion: A small number of interventions which could be used, or adapted for use, in sexual health clinics were found to be effective in reducing STIs among young people and in promoting self-reported STI-risk behaviour change in MSM

Muscle Activation Patterns of Lower Body Musculature Among Three Traditional Lower Body Exercises in Trained Women

Korak, JA, Paquette, MR, Fuller, DK, Caputo, JL, and Coons, JM. Muscle activation patterns of lower-body musculature among 3 traditional lower-body exercises in trained women. J Strength Cond Res 32(10): 2770-2775, 2018-The deadlift and back and front squats are common multijoint, lower-body resistance exercises that target similar musculature. To our knowledge, muscle activity measured using surface electromyography has never been analyzed among these 3 exercises. Furthermore, most literature examining this topic has included male participants creating a void in the literature for the female population. Knowledge of lower-body muscle activation among these 3 exercises can aid coaches, trainers, and therapists for training and rehabilitative purposes. Trained women (n = 13) completed 2 days of testing including a 1-repetition maximum (1RM) estimation, an actual 1RM, and 3 repetitions at 75% 1RM load for the deadlift and back and front squats. Muscle activity of the 3 repetitions of each muscle was averaged and normalized as a percentage to the 1RM lifts for the deadlift and front and back squats. Five separate repeated-measure analysis of variances were performed indicating muscle activity of the gluteus maximus (GM) differed among the 3 exercises (p = 0.01, (Equation is included in full-text article.)= 0.39). Specifically, post hoc analysis indicated greater muscle activity during the front squat (M = 94%, SD = 15%) compared with the deadlift (M = 72%, SD = 16%; p ≤ 0.05) in the GM. No significant differences were observed among the lifts in the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, and rectus femoris. Strength and conditioning specialist and trainers can use these findings by prescribing the front squat to recruit greater motor units of the GM

Koszul duality in quantum field theory

In this article, we introduce basic aspects of the algebraic notion of Koszul duality for a physics audience. We then review its appearance in the physical problem of coupling QFTs to topological line defects, and illustrate the concept with some examples drawn from twists of various simple supersymmetric theories. Though much of the content of this article is well-known to experts, the presentation and examples have not, to our knowledge, appeared in the literature before. Our aim is to provide an elementary introduction for those interested in the appearance of Koszul duality in supersymmetric gauge theories with line defects and, ultimately, its generalizations to higher-dimensional defects and twisted holography.Comment: v3: minor typos corrected. 57 pages, 4 figure

Side-Chain Boron Difluoride Formazanate Polymers via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

The synthesis, characterization, and ring-opening methathesis polymerization (ROMP) of a novel norbornene-based boron difluoride (BF2) formazante monomer are described in detail. The polymerization studies confirmed ROMP to occur in the presence of BF2 formazanates, and also demonstrated the controlled nature of the polymerization. The polymers retained many of the unique characteristics of the monomers in dichloromethane, including absorption and emission at maximum wavelengths of 518 and 645 nm, large Stoke\u27s shifts (uST = 127 nm, 3,800 cm-1), and the ability to act as electron reservoirs to form borataverdazyl-based poly(radical anions) (E°red1 = -0.95 V). Furthermore, the results described in this paper demonstrate the potential of these and related polymers based on BF2 formazanates as redox-active, light-harvesting materials

Systematic derivation of a rotationally covariant extension of the 2-dimensional Newell-Whitehead-Segel equation

An extension of the Newell-Whitehead-Segel amplitude equation covariant under abritrary rotations is derived systematically by the renormalization group method.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letters, March 18, 199

Soil carbon pools are affected by species identity and productivity in a tree common garden experiment

The formation and turnover of soil organic carbon (C), the largest terrestrial C pool, is strongly impacted by the ultimate source of that C: leaves, wood, roots, and root exudates. The quantity and quality of these inputs is determined by the identity of the plants involved. Yet substantial uncertainty surrounds the complex relationships among plant traits and soil C, precluding efforts to maximize whole-ecosystem C uptake in nature-based climate mitigation scenarios. In this study, we leveraged a biodiversity-ecosystem function experiment with trees (IDENT) to explore the effects of interspecific variation in plant traits on soil C dynamics in the very early stages of stand development (9 years since planting). Mineral soil C stocks to 5 cm depth were quantified in monospecific plots of 19 tree species planted on a former agricultural field, and analyzed in relation to tree growth and functional traits. We found that tree species identity affected soil bulk density and, to a lesser extent, the carbon content of the topsoil, and thereby total C pools. Among species and across plots, mineral soil C stocks were positively correlated with rates of tree growth and were significantly larger beneath broadleaf trees with “fast” functional traits vs. conifers with more conservative leaf traits, when comparisons were made over equivalent soil depth increments. Thus, plant functional traits mediate interspecific differences in productivity, which in turn influence the magnitude of belowground C stocks. These results highlight important linkages between above- and belowground carbon cycles in the earliest stages of afforestation

New exact fronts for the nonlinear diffusion equation with quintic nonlinearities

We consider travelling wave solutions of the reaction diffusion equation with quintic nonlinearities $u_t = u_{xx} + \mu u (1 -u ) ( 1 +\alpha u + \beta u^2 +\gamma u^3)$. If the parameters $\alpha , \beta$ and $\gamma$ obey a special relation, then the criterion for the existence of a strong heteroclinic connection can be expressed in terms of two of these parameters. If an additional restriction is imposed, explicit front solutions can be obtained. The approach used can be extended to polynomials whose highest degree is odd.Comment: Revtex, 5 page

Self-Stabilizing Byzantine Resilient Topology Discovery and Message Delivery

Traditional Byzantine resilient algorithms use $2f + 1$ vertex disjoint paths to ensure message delivery in the presence of up to f Byzantine nodes. The question of how these paths are identified is related to the fundamental problem of topology discovery. Distributed algorithms for topology discovery cope with a never ending task, dealing with frequent changes in the network topology and unpredictable transient faults. Therefore, algorithms for topology discovery should be self-stabilizing to ensure convergence of the topology information following any such unpredictable sequence of events. We present the first such algorithm that can cope with Byzantine nodes. Starting in an arbitrary global state, and in the presence of f Byzantine nodes, each node is eventually aware of all the other non-Byzantine nodes and their connecting communication links. Using the topology information, nodes can, for example, route messages across the network and deliver messages from one end user to another. We present the first deterministic, cryptographic-assumptions-free, self-stabilizing, Byzantine-resilient algorithms for network topology discovery and end-to-end message delivery. We also consider the task of r-neighborhood discovery for the case in which $r$ and the degree of nodes are bounded by constants. The use of r-neighborhood discovery facilitates polynomial time, communication and space solutions for the above tasks. The obtained algorithms can be used to authenticate parties, in particular during the establishment of private secrets, thus forming public key schemes that are resistant to man-in-the-middle attacks of the compromised Byzantine nodes. A polynomial and efficient end-to-end algorithm that is based on the established private secrets can be employed in between periodical re-establishments of the secrets

Front propagation into unstable and metastable states in Smectic C* liquid crystals: linear and nonlinear marginal stability analysis

We discuss the front propagation in ferroelectric chiral smectics (SmC*) subjected to electric and magnetic fields applied parallel to smectic layers. The reversal of the electric field induces the motion of domain walls or fronts that propagate into either an unstable or a metastable state. In both regimes, the front velocity is calculated exactly. Depending on the field, the speed of a front propagating into the unstable state is given either by the so-called linear marginal stability velocity or by the nonlinear marginal stability expression. The cross-over between these two regimes can be tuned by a magnetic field. The influence of initial conditions on the velocity selection problem can also be studied in such experiments. SmC$^*$ therefore offers a unique opportunity to study different aspects of front propagation in an experimental system