Sexually transmitted infections and associated risk factors among sexual minority women in China

There is a potential for transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within sexual minority women (SMW) in China. However, research specifically focused on STIs among SMW in China is severely limited. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of STIs and identify associated risk factors among SMW in Beijing, China. This study comprised a baseline assessment followed by a follow-up evaluation. Consistent questionnaire interviews and STI tests were administered during both stages. Participants were recruited online in Beijing between 2020 and 2021 and factors associated with STIs were analyzed using logistic and Cox regression models. The baseline included 219 SMW, and 58.9% (129/219) of these individuals participated in the follow-up. During the baseline assessment, 4.1% (9/219) tested positive for chlamydia infection, while 5.0% (11/219) were HSV-2 seropositive. At the follow-up, the incidence of HSV-2 was 3.7 cases per 100 person-years. Notably, engaging in sexual activity with men and having an increased number of sexual partners were both identified as factors associated with a higher risk of STIs. The findings suggest that SMW in Beijing may face a significant risk of contracting STIs. As a preventive measure, there should be a concerted effort to promote STI testing within the SMW community

A study on influential factors of occupant window-opening behavior in an office building in China

Occupants often perform many types of behavior in buildings to adjust the indoor thermal environment. In these types, opening/closing the windows, often regarded as window-opening behavior, is more commonly observed because of its convenience. It not only improves indoor air quality to satisfy occupants' requirement for indoor thermal comfort but also influences building energy consumption. To learn more about potential factors having effects on occupants' window-opening behavior, a field study was carried out in an office building within a university in Beijing. Window state (open/closed) for a total of 5 windows in 5 offices on the second floor in 285 days (9.5 months) were recorded daily. Potential factors, categorized as environmental and non-environmental ones, were subsequently identified with their impact on window-opening behavior through logistic regression and Pearson correlation approaches. The analytical results show that occupants' window-opening behavior is more strongly correlated to environmental factors, such as indoor and outdoor air temperatures, wind speed, relative humidity, outdoor PM2.5 concentrations, solar radiation, sunshine hours, in which air temperatures dominate the influence. While the non-environmental factors, i.e. seasonal change, time of day and personal preference, also affects the patterns of window-opening probability. This paper provides solid field data on occupant window opening behavior in China, with high resolutions and demonstrates the way in analyzing and predicting the probability of window-opening behavior. Its discussion into the potential impact factors shall be useful for further investigation of the relationship between building energy consumption and window-opening behavior

Novi VP2/VP3 rekombinantni senekavirus A izoliran u sjevernoj Kini

Senecavirus A (SVA), previously called the Seneca Valley virus, is the only member of the genus Senecavirus within the family Picornaviridae. This virus was discovered as a serendipitous finding in 2002 and named Seneca Valley virus 001 (SVV-001). SVA is an emerging pathogen that can cause vesicular lesions and epidemic transient neonatal a sharp decline in swine. In this study, an SVA strain was isolated from a pig herd in Shandong Province in China and identified as SVA-CH-SDFX-2022. The full-length genome was 7282 nucleotides (nt) in length and contained a single open reading frame (ORF), excluding the poly (A) tails of the SVA isolates. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the isolate shares its genomic organization, resembling and sharing high nucleotide identities of 90.5% to 99.6%, with other previously reported SVA isolates. The strain was proved by in vitro characterization and the results demonstrate that the virus has robust growth ability in vitro. The recombination event of the SVA-CH-SDFX-2022 isolate was found and occurred between nts 1836 and 2710, which included the region of the VP2 (partial), and VP3 (partial) genes. It shows the importance of faster vaccine development and a better understanding of virus infection and spread because of increased infection rates and huge economic losses. This novel incursion has substantial implications for the regional control of vesicular transboundary diseases, and will be available for further study of the epidemiology of porcine SVA. Our findings provide useful data for studying SVA in pigs.Senekavirus A (SVA), prije nazivan virusom doline Seneca Valley, jedini je pripadnik roda senekavirusa u porodici Picornaviridae. Virus je slučajno otkriven 2002. i nazvan virusom doline Seneca 001 (SVV-001). SVA je novi patogen koji može uzrokovati vezikularne lezije i prolaznu epidemiju novorođene prasadi s naglim gubicima u proizvodnji. U ovom je istraživanju soj SVA izoliran u populaciji svinja iz provincije Shandong u Kini i identificiran kao SVA-CHSDFX-2022. Kompletni genom izolata SVA imao je 7282 nukleotida (nt) u dužini i sadržavao je jedan otvoreni okvir za očitavanje (ORF), bez poli-A repova. Filogenetska je analiza pokazala da izolat u velikoj mjeri sadržava genomsku organizaciju i nukleotidne identitete, od 90,5 % do 99,6 %, s drugim poznatim SVA izolatima. Karakterizacija virusa je pokazala da ima veliku sposobnost rasta in vitro. Pronađena je rekombinacija izolata SVA-CH-SDFX-između nukleotida 1836 i 2710 što je uključilo regiju gena VP2 (parcijalno) i gena VP3 (parcijalno). Zbog visoke stope infektivnosti i golemih ekonomskih gubitaka važan je brži razvoj cjepiva i bolje razumijevanje zaraze. Rezultati ovog istraživanja pružaju korisne podatke za proučavanje SVA virusa, posebno s obzirom na njegovu epidemiologiju u svinja i regionalnu prekograničnu kontrolu vezikularnih bolesti

Analiza genskih varijacija rekombinantnog soja dobivenog iz triju linija virusa-2 reproduktivnog i respiratornog sindroma svinja

Since the rise of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in China, gene mutations have frequently occurred. To understand the current prevalence and evolution of PRRSV in Shandong Province, 1,528 samples suspected of PRRSV were collected from local pig farms of different sizes. The complete genome sequence of the PRRSV strain SDLY-27 was determined by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The genomic sequence of SDLY-27 was 15,363 nucleotides (nt) in length, comparative analysis of the whole genome sequence suggested that the homology between SDLY 27 and 81 PRRSV strains from China and other countries in genbank was 61.9 ~ 96.4%. This study is the first to detect recombinants from multiple recombination events among the Lineage 8 (JXA1-like strains), Lineage 5 (RespPRRSV-MLV and VR2332 strains) and Sublineage 1.5 (NADC34-like strains) in Shandong, China, and provides new data for the epidemiological study of PRRSV in China. This study enriches the epidemiological data on PRRSV in Shandong Province, China. It provides an important reference for the development of new vaccines and for the prevention and control of PRRSV in China.Usporedno sa širenjem virusa reproduktivnog i respiratornog sindroma svinja (PRRSV) u Kini, sve su češće bile i njegove genske mutacije. Kako bi se ustanovila trenutačna prevalencija i evolucija PRRSV-a u pokrajini Shandong, s lokalnih farmi prikupljeno je 1528 uzoraka svinja različitih kategorija za koje je postojala sumnja na zarazu PRRSVom. Kompletan genomski slijed soja SDLY-27 PRRSV-a određen je tehnologijom sekvenciranja sljedeće generacije (NGS). Slijed je imao dužinu od 15 363 nukleotida (nt), a komparativna analiza cijeloga genomskog slijeda uputila je na to da je homolognost između sojeva SDLY 27 i 81 PRRSV-a iz Kine i uzoraka u banci gena iz drugih zemalja 61,9~96,4%. Ovo je prvo istraživanje koje je otkrilo rekombinantne sojeve iz višestrukih rekombinacija među linijama 8 (sojevi nalik na JXA1), 5 (sojevi RespPRRSV-MLV i VR2332) i podlinije 1,5 (sojevi nalik na NADC34) u Shandongu, Kina.Kao takvo, istraživanje pruža nove podatke o epidemiologiji PRRSV-a u Kini, posebno u pokrajini Shandong, a ujedno predstavlja i važnu referenciju za razvoj novih cjepiva te prevenciju i kontrolu bolesti uzrokovane navedenim virusom

A QoS-Based Fairness-Aware BBR Congestion Control Algorithm Using QUIC

Congestion control is a fundamental technology to balance the traffic load and the network. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol has flexible congestion control and at the same time possesses the advantages of high efficiency, low latency, and easy deployment at the application layer. Bottleneck bandwidth and round-trip propagation time (BBR) is an optional congestion control algorithm adopted by QUIC. BBR can significantly increase throughput and reduce latency, in particular over long-haul paths. However, BBR results in high packet loss in low bandwidth and low fairness in multi-stream scenarios. In this article, we propose the enhanced BBR congestion control (eBCC) algorithm, which improves the BBR algorithm in two aspects: (1) 10.87% higher throughput and 74.58% lower packet loss rate in the low-bandwidth scenario and (2) 8.39% higher fairness in the multi-stream scenario. This improvement makes eBCC very suitable for IoT communications to provide better QoS services

Role of Er doping on isoamyl alcohol sensing performance of LaFeO3 microspheres and its prospects in wheat mildew detection

peer reviewedIt is essential for food safety to recognize isoamyl alcohol, one of the biomarkers of wheat mildew. However, there has been limited research on isoamyl alcohol gas sensors with superior sensing performance. Herein, highly sensitive Er-doped LaFeO3-based sensors were fabricated using simple hydrothermal combined with dip-coating, and 5 at% Er@LaFeO3 exhibited extraordinary response (219.1 @ 25 ppm), outstanding selectivity, repeatability (435.7 ± 5.0 @ 50 ppm), and long-term stability (432.0 ± 8.2 @ 15 days). The superior isoamyl alcohol sensing performance could be ascribed to several factors, including the smaller particle size (3.02 μm), higher concentration of oxygen vacancies (21.3%) and chemisorbed oxygen (36.2%), larger specific surface area (54.102 m2 g−1), and narrower band gap (1.86 eV). DFT calculations elucidated the sensitization mechanism of Er doped LaFeO3: the reduction in adsorption energy and the enhancement of interaction forces between gas molecules and the sensing coating. Furthermore, the practical application of 5 at% Er@LaFeO3 to volatile gases generated from stored wheat confirmed the potential of fabricated Er-doped LaFeO3 microsphere-based sensors in the analysis of wheat mildew. This work may serve as a guide for the selection of sensing materials to detect biomarkers emitted throughout the wheat mildew process, which may contribute to developing non-destructive and rapid detection technology to minimize losses during wheat storage

Development of an adaptation table to enhance the accuracy of the predicted mean vote model

The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model is extensively used by current thermal comfort standards, such as ASHRAE 55 and ISO 7730, despite its discrepancy in predicting Thermal Sensation (TS). The implicit assumption is that PMV can be applied for predicting TS of a large population. Our statistical analysis of a subset of ASHRAE global database of thermal comfort field study shows that occupants’ expectations towards TS are affected by factors that are not accounted for in the classic PMV model, such as climate, building type, age group, season and gender. The influences of the climate and building type are more determinant. An adapted PMV (PMVa) model and an adaptation table were developed based on the selected samples to reduce this discrepancy. After adaptation, the medians of each category corresponding to the discrepancy are zero or near zero. The results also show that the adapted PMV outperforms the classic PMV in predicting TS, while increasing the overall accuracy from 36% to 39%

Well-designed g-C3N4 nanosheet incorporated Ag loaded Er0.05La0.95FeO3 heterojunctions for isoamyl alcohol detection

Because the volatile content of isoamyl alcohol increases sharply on the seventh day of wheat mildew infection, isoamyl alcohol can be used as an early biomarker of wheat mildew infection. Currently, only a few sensors for isoamyl alcohol detection have been reported, and these sensors still suffer from low sensitivity and poor moisture resistance. Herein, the isoamyl alcohol sensitivity of 5 at% Er@LaFeO3 (ELFO) was enhanced by loading Ag nanoparticles on the surface of the ELFO microspheres, while the optimal operating temperature was reduced. The moisture resistance of Ag/ELFO was improved by the incorporation of g-C3N4 nanosheets (NSs) on the surface of Ag/ELFO through electrostatic self-assembly. Given the requirements for practical applications in grain granaries, the sensing behavior of a Ag/ELFO-based sensor incorporating g-C3N4 NSs at 20% relative humidity (RH) was systematically studied, and the sensor demonstrated excellent repeatability, long-term stability, and superior selectivity (791 at 50 ppm) for isoamyl alcohol with a low limit of detection (LOD = 75 ppb). Furthermore, the practical results obtained for wheat at different mildew stages further confirmed the potential of the g-C3N4/Ag/ELFO-based sensor for monitoring the early mildew stage of wheat. This work may offer guidance for enhancing the moisture resistance of gas-sensitive materials through the strategy of employing composite nanomaterials

Digital Twin for Accelerating Sustainability in Positive Energy District: A Review of Simulation Tools and Applications

A digital twin is regarded as a potential solution to optimize positive energy districts (PED). This paper presents a compact review about digital twins for PED from aspects of concepts, working principles, tools/platforms, and applications, in order to address the issues of both how a digital PED twin is made and what tools can be used for a digital PED twin. Four key components of digital PED twin are identified, i.e., a virtual model, sensor network integration, data analytics, and a stakeholder layer. Very few available tools now have full functions for digital PED twin, while most tools either have a focus on industrial applications or are designed for data collection, communication and visualization based on building information models (BIM) or geographical information system (GIS). Several observations gained from successful application are that current digital PED twins can be categorized into three tiers: (1) an enhanced version of BIM model only, (2) semantic platforms for data flow, and (3) big data analysis and feedback operation. Further challenges and opportunities are found in areas of data analysis and semantic interoperability, business models, data security, and management. The outcome of the review is expected to provide useful information for further development of digital PED twins and optimizing its sustainability