Early sexual intercourse: Prospective associations with adolescents physical activity and screen time

Objectives: To assess the prospective associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time with early sexual intercourse initiation (i.e., before 15 years) in a large sample of adolescents. Methods: We used two waves of data from the Rotterdam Youth Monitor, a longitudinal study conducted in the Netherlands. The analysis sample consisted of 2,141 adolescents aged 12 to 14 years (mean age at baseline = 12.2 years, SD = 0.43). Physical activity (e.g., sports outside school), screen time (e.g., computer use), and early sexual intercourse initiation were assessed by means of self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression models were tested to assess the associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time (separately and simultaneously) with early sexual intercourse initiation, controlling for confounders (i.e., socio-demographics and substance use). Interaction effects with gender were tested to assess whether these associations differed significantly between boys and girls. Results: The only physical activity behavior that was a significant predictor of early sexual intercourse initiation was sports club membership. Adolescent boys and girls who were members of a sports club) were more likely to have had early sex (OR = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.33, 3.56. Significant gender interaction effects indicated that boys who watched TV ≥2 hours/ day (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.08, 3.68) and girls who used the computer ≥2 hours/day (OR = 3.92; 95% CI = 1.76, 8.69) were also significantly more likely to have engaged in early sex. Conclusion: These findings have implications for professionals in general pediatric healthcare, sexual health educators, policy makers, and parents, who should be aware of these possible prospective links between sports club membership, TV watching (for boys), and computer use (for girls), and early sexual intercourse initiation. However, continued research on determinants of adolescents' early sexual initiation is needed to further contribute to the strategies for improving adolescents' healthy sexual development and behaviors

Review of Kaon Physics at CERN and in Europe

The Kaon physics program at CERN and in Europe will be presented. I will first give a short review of recent results form the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments, with special emphasis to the measurement of RK , the ratio of Kaon leptonic decays rates, K → eν and K → μν, using the full minimum bias data sample collected in 2007-2008. The main subject of the talk will be the study of the highly suppressed decay K → πνν. While its rate can be predicted with minimal theoretical uncertainty in the Standard Model (BR ∼ 8 × 10−11), the smallness of BR and the challenging experimental signature make it very difficult to measure. The branching ratio for this decay is thus a sensitive probe of the flavour sector of the SM. The aim of NA62 is the measurement of the K → πνν BR with ∼ 10% precision in two years of data taking. This will require the observation of 10K decays in the experiment's fiducial volume, as well as the use of high-performance systems for precision tracking, particle identification, and photon vetoing. These aspects of the experiment will also allow NA62 to carry out a rich program of searches for lepton flavour and/or number violating K decays. Data taking will start in October 2014. The physics prospects and the status of the construction and commissioning of the NA62 experiment will be presented. In the last part of the talk I will report on Kaon physics results and prospects from other experiments at CERN (e.g. LHCb) and in Europe (e.g. KLOE and KLOE-2) and briefly mention the status in US

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Identification of an Amino Acid Motif in HLA-DR1 That Distinguishes Uveitis in Patients With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

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A Novel Conserved RNA-binding Domain Protein, RBD-1, Is Essential For Ribosome Biogenesis

Synthesis of the ribosomal subunits from pre-rRNA requires a large number of trans-acting proteins and small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles to execute base modifications, RNA cleavages, and structural rearrangements. We have characterized a novel protein, RNA-binding domain-1 (RBD-1), that is involved in ribosome biogenesis. This protein contains six consensus RNA-binding domains and is conserved as to sequence, domain organization, and cellular location from yeast to human. RBD-1 is essential in Caenorhabditis elegans. In the dipteran Chironomus tentans, RBD-1 (Ct-RBD-1) binds pre-rRNA in vitro and anti-Ct-RBD-1 antibodies repress pre-rRNA processing in vivo. Ct-RBD-1 is mainly located in the nucleolus in an RNA polymerase I transcription-dependent manner, but it is also present in discrete foci in the interchromatin and in the cytoplasm. In cytoplasmic extracts, 20–30% of Ct-RBD-1 is associated with ribosomes and, preferentially, with the 40S ribosomal subunit. Our data suggest that RBD-1 plays a role in structurally coordinating pre-rRNA during ribosome biogenesis and that this function is conserved in all eukaryotes