Parental intent to initiate and Complete the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Series in the Usa: a Nationwide, Cross-Sectional Survey

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among US adolescents is primarily dependent on the intent of their parents. to the best of our knowledge, an analysis quantifying parental intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series in the USA at both the national and state level has not been done. We aim to estimate parental intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series at the national-level and state-level and to identify reasons for lack of intent to initiate and complete the vaccine series. METHODS: This cross-sectional study uses data from the adolescent component of the 2017-18 National Immunization Survey (NIS-Teen). Study participants were parents or caregivers of US adolescents aged 13-17 years, who were most knowledgeable about the immunisation status of the adolescents. The primary outcome was parental intent to vaccinate the adolescent in the next 12 months. The secondary outcomes were (1) the prevalence of reasons given for lack of intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series, and (2) the relationship between receiving a recommendation from a health-care provider to vaccinate and intent to initiate the vaccination series. We computed national-level and state-level estimates for parental lack of intent to initiate and to complete the vaccine series; population-level estimates were derived using survey weights. A survey design-adjusted Wald F test was used for bivariate analysis. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the association between health-care provider recommendation and parental intent to initiate the series. Analyses were stratified by history of health-care provider recommendation to initiate the HPV vaccine series. FINDINGS: In 2017-18, the parent or caregiver of 82 297 US adolescents aged 13-17 years completed the NIS-Teen survey. 30 558 (37·1%) were unvaccinated and 9073 (10·8%) received only one HPV vaccine dose. Parents of 58·0% (17 171/29 086) of unvaccinated adolescents with data available on parental intent had no intention to initiate the HPV vaccine series. More than 65% of parents of unvaccinated adolescents in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah had no intention to initiate the HPV vaccine series. Parents of 23·5% (2166/9072) of initiators with data available on parental intent had no intention to complete the HPV vaccine series. More than 30% of parents in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, and West Virginia did not intend to complete the HPV vaccine series, whereas in the District of Columbia (11·2% [22/166]) and Rhode Island (20·4% [21/112]) parental lack of intent was relatively low (both regions have an HPV vaccine mandate). The most common reason for lack of intent among parents to initiate the vaccine for unvaccinated adolescents was safety concerns (22·8% [4182/16 455]); lack of a recommendation from a health-care provider (22·2% [440/1944]) was the most frequently cited reason for absence of intent to complete the series among parents of adolescents who received only one HPV vaccine dose. Receipt of a recommendation from a health-care provider was associated with greater odds of parental intent to initiate the HPV vaccine series (odds ratio 1·11, 95% CI 1·01-1·22). 45·5% (13 156/29 086) of parents of unvaccinated adolescents had reportedly received an HPV vaccine recommendation. Parents of 60·6% (7938/13 156) of unvaccinated adolescents with a recommendation from a health-care provider and data available on parental intent had no intention to initiate the series. INTERPRETATION: Lack of parental intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series for adolescents is a major public health concern in the USA. Combating vaccine safety concerns and strong recommendations from health-care providers could improve the currently suboptimal HPV vaccination coverage. FUNDING: US National Cancer Institute

Application of Radiation Sources in Steel Industry in India

The applications of ionizing radiation sources (radioisotope and X-ray)in India have registered the phenomenal growth for beneficial uses in medicine, ind-ustry, agriculture, research and training. In industry, there are different applications of radioisotopes viz. tracer studies, nucleonic control systems(NCS), i.e. nucleonic gauges; radiography for non-destructive testing(NDT) and radiation processing of food and health care products. With the obvious beneficial use of radiation sources, there is also concern about the likehood of harmful effects of radiation, which necissitates the eff-ecive regulatory control over radiation sources. The compr-ehensive regulatory programme has been estabilished in the country and the requirement of licence for handling of radiation sources in India is a statutory requirement as per Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rule, 2004. The NCS find many non-destructive applications in steel industry, such as in situ determination of thickness of steel plate(s); measurement of density and determination of elemental composition of materials; level measurements; control of process material in closed containers i.e. mould level measurement; moisture content in blast fur-nace; analysis of ores and minerals. The type of radiation used includes gamma, X-rays, XRF and neutron sources with activity varying from several MBq to GBq. There are about 1500 number of NCS installed and operated in around 150 numbers of steel and allied industries all over the country. The NDT by radiation sources play important role in verifying integrity of steel structure. The radiation equipment (i.e. NCS and radiography device) with several built-in-saftey features and trained/certified operating staff ensures safe handling and use of radiation sources in industry. While handling of radiation sources, unusual occurrences do occur

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) and their applications [forthcoming]

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) and Their Application

Search for a vector-like quark T′ → tH via the diphoton decay mode of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for the electroweak production of a vector-like quark T′, decaying to a top quark and a Higgs boson is presented. The search is based on a sample of proton-proton collision events recorded at the LHC at = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. This is the first T′ search that exploits the Higgs boson decay to a pair of photons. For narrow isospin singlet T′ states with masses up to 1.1 TeV, the excellent diphoton invariant mass resolution of 1–2% results in an increased sensitivity compared to previous searches based on the same production mechanism. The electroweak production of a T′ quark with mass up to 960 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming a coupling strength κT = 0.25 and a relative decay width Γ/MT′ < 5%

Search for new physics in multijet events with at least one photon and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

A search for new physics in final states consisting of at least one photon, multiple jets, and large missing transverse momentum is presented, using proton-proton collision events at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb−1, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC from 2016 to 2018. The events are divided into mutually exclusive bins characterized by the missing transverse momentum, the number of jets, the number of b-tagged jets, and jets consistent with the presence of hadronically decaying W, Z, or Higgs bosons. The observed data are found to be consistent with the prediction from standard model processes. The results are interpreted in the context of simplified models of pair production of supersymmetric particles via strong and electroweak interactions. Depending on the details of the signal models, gluinos and squarks of masses up to 2.35 and 1.43 TeV, respectively, and electroweakinos of masses up to 1.23 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level

Observation of the Rare Decay of the η Meson to Four Muons

A search for the rare η→μ+μ−μ+μ− double-Dalitz decay is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with high-rate muon triggers during 2017 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101  fb−1. A signal having a statistical significance well in excess of 5 standard deviations is observed. Using the η→μ+μ− decay as normalization, the branching fraction B(η→μ+μ−μ+μ−)=[5.0±0.8(stat)±0.7(syst)±0.7(B2μ)]×10−9 is measured, where the last term is the uncertainty in the normalization channel branching fraction. This work achieves an improved precision of over 5 orders of magnitude compared to previous results, leading to the first measurement of this branching fraction, which is found to agree with theoretical predictions

Search for long-lived particles decaying to a pair of muons in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

An inclusive search for long-lived exotic particles decaying to a pair of muons is presented. The search uses data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV in 2016 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 97.6 fb−1. The experimental signature is a pair of oppositely charged muons originating from a common secondary vertex spatially separated from the pp interaction point by distances ranging from several hundred μm to several meters. The results are interpreted in the frameworks of the hidden Abelian Higgs model, in which the Higgs boson decays to a pair of long-lived dark photons ZD, and of a simplified model, in which long-lived particles are produced in decays of an exotic heavy neutral scalar boson. For the hidden Abelian Higgs model with m(ZD) greater than 20 GeV and less than half the mass of the Higgs boson, they provide the best limits to date on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to dark photons for cτ(ZD) (varying with m(ZD)) between 0.03 and ≈0.5 mm, and above ≈0.5 m. Our results also yield the best constraints on long-lived particles with masses larger than 10 GeV produced in decays of an exotic scalar boson heavier than the Higgs boson and decaying to a pair of muons

Search for top squarks in the four-body decay mode with single lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for the pair production of the lightest supersymmetric partner of the top quark, the top squark (t∼1), is presented. The search targets the four-body decay of the t∼1, which is preferred when the mass difference between the top squark and the lightest supersymmetric particle is smaller than the mass of the W boson. This decay mode consists of a bottom quark, two other fermions, and the lightest neutralino (χ∼01), which is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Events are selected using the presence of a high-momentum jet, an electron or muon with low transverse momentum, and a significant missing transverse momentum. The signal is selected based on a multivariate approach that is optimized for the difference between m(t∼1) and m(χ∼01). The contribution from leading background processes is estimated from data. No significant excess is observed above the expectation from standard model processes. The results of this search exclude top squarks at 95% confidence level for masses up to 480 and 700 GeV for m(t∼1) − m(χ∼01) = 10 and 80 GeV, respectively