School Entry Requirements and Coverage of Nontargeted Adolescent Vaccines

Low human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage is an urgent public health problem requiring action. To identify policy remedies to suboptimal HPV vaccination, we assessed the relationship between states’ school entry requirements and adolescent vaccination

ASSESSMENT OF PROCEDURAL ASPECTS AND QUALITY CONTROL IN HUMAN PLACENTAL RNA ISOLATION PROTOCOLS

poster abstractHigh quality RNA is of paramount importance in accurately interpreting gene expression changes in the placenta throughout pregnancy, as well as in common placental pathologies. The purpose of this study was to develop a standard operating procedure for the collection of human placental tissue and isolation of high quality RNA for pregnancy-related molecular studies. To accomplish this task, we compared several different parameters to minimize RNA degradation, including preservation (liquid nitrogen vs. RNAlater), dis-ruption (mortar/pestle vs. homogenization), and isolation (Trizol vs. RNeasy). We performed 150 RNA isolations from 30 term placentas. The overall yield was 365 ± 197 ng RNA per mg of tissue. The A260/280 ratio for all samples was 2.11 ± 0.1 (mean ± s.d.) and the RQI was 7.1 ± 1.4. No significant differences in RNA purity, yield, or quality were observed between different placental collections or RNA isolation techniques. However, poor RQI values of 2.7 to 3.3 were obtained after brief thawing of frozen placental samples. We also compared storage of RNAlater stabilized tissue at 4 de-grees or room temperature for 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. The integrity of RNA stored at room temperature for 1 day was significantly better (P‹0.05 RQI 7.3 ± 0.58, mean ± s.d) than RNA stored at room temperature for 30 days (RQI 5.0 ±1.2, mean ± s.d). The results of these studies will be useful for establishing standard procedures for placenta collection for pregnancy biobanks

WATER REPELLENT RENDERINGS FOR THE DAMP-PROOFING OF MONUMENTS

The global transitional justice tool kit—involving the use of criminal prosecutions, amnesties, and other mechanisms to address past human rights abuse—has become a primary means for thwarting future human rights violations and consolidating democracy. Nevertheless, evidence on the consequences of transitional justice remains mixed and amenable to contradictory interpretations. Existing studies fail to adequately address issues of selection, the difference between short- and long-term effects of transitional justice mechanisms, and qualitative and quantitative differences in state practices. This article uses a new database of transitional justice mechanisms to address these concerns and test propositions from realist, constructivist, and holistic approaches to this set of policy issues. We find, among other things, that prosecutions increase physical integrity protections, while amnesties increase the protection of civil and political rights. Our analysis suggests that different transnational justice policies each play a potentially positive, but distinct, role in new democracies and in decreasing violations of human rights

Relaxation of classical many-body hamiltonians in one dimension

The relaxation of Fourier modes of hamiltonian chains close to equilibrium is studied in the framework of a simple mode-coupling theory. Explicit estimates of the dependence of relevant time scales on the energy density (or temperature) and on the wavenumber of the initial excitation are given. They are in agreement with previous numerical findings on the approach to equilibrium and turn out to be also useful in the qualitative interpretation of them. The theory is compared with molecular dynamics results in the case of the quartic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam potential.Comment: 9 pag. 6 figs. To appear in Phys.Rev.

Summer Peaks in Uptake of Human Papillomavirus and Other Adolescent Vaccines in the United States

BACKGROUND: Seasonality in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination could have a large impact on national cancer prevention efforts. We hypothesized that uptake of HPV vaccine and other adolescent vaccines in the United States would be highest in the summer. METHODS: Data came from health care provider-verified vaccination records for 70,144 adolescents (ages 13-17 years) from the 2008 to 2012 versions of the National Immunization Survey-Teen. Using the Edwards method for testing annual trends, we examined seasonal patterns in the uptake of HPV and other recommended adolescent vaccines [tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) booster and meningococcal vaccine]. HPV vaccine initiation (receipt of the first of the three-dose series) data were for female adolescents. RESULTS: Uptake for HPV and other adolescent vaccines peaked in the summer across years and states (all P < 0.001). Uptake was five times as frequent at the peak as at the trough for HPV vaccine, and HPV vaccine initiation was highest in June, July, and August (percent of doses delivered in these months: 38.7%). The same pattern existed for Tdap booster and meningococcal vaccine. Concomitant (same-day) vaccination of HPV vaccine with other adolescent vaccines also demonstrated summer peaks each year nationally (all P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Uptake of adolescent vaccines increased dramatically in summer months. These summer peaks are an important opportunity for interventions focused on concomitant vaccination. IMPACT: The potential cancer prevention impact of HPV vaccination programs could be increased, for example, by delivering messages about concomitant vaccination during the summer, when adolescents and their parents might be most open to them

Dewetting of Glassy Polymer Films

Dynamics and morphology of hole growth in a film of power hardening viscoplastic solid (yield stress ~ [strain-rate]^n) is investigated. At short-times the growth is exponential and depends on the initial hole size. At long-times, for n > 1/3, the growth is exponential with a different exponent. However, for n < 1/3, the hole growth slows; the hole radius approaches an asymptotic value as time tends to infinity. The rim shape is highly asymmetric, the height of which has a power law dependence on the hole radius (exponent close to unity for 0.25 < n < 0.4). The above results explain recent intriguing experiments of Reiter, Phys. Rev. Lett, 87, 186101 (2001).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTe

Dissociative recombination and electron-impact de-excitation in CH photon emission under ITER divertor-relevant plasma conditions

For understanding carbon erosion and redeposition in nuclear fusion devices, it is important to understand the transport and chemical break-up of hydrocarbon molecules in edge plasmas, often diagnosed by emission of the CH A^2\Delta - X^2\Pi Ger\"o band around 430 nm. The CH A-level can be excited either by electron-impact or by dissociative recombination (D.R.) of hydrocarbon ions. These processes were included in the 3D Monte Carlo impurity transport code ERO. A series of methane injection experiments was performed in the high-density, low-temperature linear plasma generator Pilot-PSI, and simulated emission intensity profiles were benchmarked against these experiments. It was confirmed that excitation by D.R. dominates at T_e < 1.5 eV. The results indicate that the fraction of D.R. events that lead to a CH radical in the A-level and consequent photon emission is at least 10%. Additionally, quenching of the excited CH radicals by electron impact de-excitation was included in the modeling. This quenching is shown to be significant: depending on the electron density, it reduces the effective CH emission by a factor of 1.4 at n_e=1.3*10^20 m^-3, to 2.8 at n_e=9.3*10^20 m^-3. Its inclusion significantly improved agreement between experiment and modeling

Altered Blood Flow Response to Small Muscle Mass Exercise in Cancer Survivors Treated With Adjuvant Therapy

Citation: Didier, K. D., Ederer, A. K., Reiter, L. K., Brown, M., Hardy, R., Caldwell, J., . . . Ade, C. J. (2017). Altered Blood Flow Response to Small Muscle Mass Exercise in Cancer Survivors Treated With Adjuvant Therapy. Journal of the American Heart Association, 6(2), 9. doi:10.1161/jaha.116.004784Background-Adjuvant cancer treatments have been shown to decrease cardiac function. In addition to changes in cardiovascular risk, there are several additional functional consequences including decreases in exercise capacity and increased incidence of cancer-related fatigue. However, the effects of adjuvant cancer treatment on peripheral vascular function during exercise in cancer survivors have not been well documented. We investigated the vascular responses to exercise in cancer survivors previously treated with adjuvant cancer therapies. Methods and Results-Peripheral vascular responses were investigated in 11 cancer survivors previously treated with adjuvant cancer therapies (age 58 +/- 6 years, 34 +/- 30 months from diagnosis) and 9 healthy controls group matched for age, sex, and maximal voluntary contraction. A dynamic handgrip exercise test at 20% maximal voluntary contraction was performed with simultaneous measurements of forearm blood flow and mean arterial pressure. Forearm vascular conductance was calculated from forearm blood flow and mean arterial pressure. Left ventricular ejection time index (LVETi) was derived from the arterial pressure wave form. Forearm blood flow was attenuated in cancer therapies compared to control at 20% maximal voluntary contraction (189.8 +/- 53.8 vs 247.9 +/- 80.3 mL.min (1), respectively). Forearm vascular conductance was not different between groups at rest or during exercise. Mean arterial pressure response to exercise was attenuated in cancer therapies compared to controls (107.8 +/- 10.8 vs 119.2 +/- 16.2 mm Hg). LEVTi was lower in cancer therapies compared to controls. Conclusions-These data suggest an attenuated exercise blood flow response in cancer survivors approximate to 34 months following adjuvant cancer therapy that may be attributed to an attenuated increase in mean arterial pressure

Fragmentation of exotic oxygen isotopes

Abrasion-ablation models and the empirical EPAX parametrization of projectile fragmentation are described. Their cross section predictions are compared to recent data of the fragmentation of secondary beams of neutron-rich, unstable 19,20,21O isotopes at beam energies near 600 MeV/nucleon as well as data for stable 17,18O beams

General and specific utility measures for synthetic data

Data holders can produce synthetic versions of datasets when concerns about potential disclosure restrict the availability of the original records. This paper is concerned with methods to judge whether such synthetic data have a distribution that is comparable to that of the original data, what we will term general utility. We consider how general utility compares with specific utility, the similarity of results of analyses from the synthetic data and the original data. We adapt a previous general measure of data utility, the propensity score mean-squared-error (pMSE), to the specific case of synthetic data and derive its distribution for the case when the correct synthesis model is used to create the synthetic data. Our asymptotic results are confirmed by a simulation study. We also consider two specific utility measures, confidence interval overlap and standardized difference in summary statistics, which we compare with the general utility results. We present two examples examining this comparison of general and specific utility to real data syntheses and make recommendations for their use for evaluating synthetic data