Sexual health education for behavior change: How much is enough?

Purpose: Successful implementation of sexual health curricula in school settings is often compromised by competing academic priorities. This study explores the association between exposure to sexual health lessons (time-on-task in hours and lesson content topics) and delayed sexual initiation of middle school students at long term follow-up. Methods: Post hoc data analysis was conducted from a RCT (n=15 middle schools) in the south-central U.S. in which grade 7 students demonstrated delayed sexual initiation (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.99) by grade 9 follow-up after using It’s Your Game (IYG), a 24 lesson sexual health curriculum. Logistic regression was conducted on a sub-sample of 314 grade 7 and 8 students who received IYG and who were sexually inexperienced at baseline, adjusting for covariates of age, gender, and race/ethnicity to address the impact of lesson exposure variables (time-on-task in hours and type of sexual health content) on initiation of any sex by grade 9. Results: The greatest impact of exposure on delayed sexual initiation was a duration of 13 or more lesson hours (OR = 8.40; p\u3c0.05) and exposure to lesson content on HIV/STI and pregnancy consequences (OR = 4.93; p\u3c0.05). Conclusions: Results support previous exposure studies and provide guidance on how effective sexual health curricula can meet the challenges of delivery in a reduced and competitive academic environment

A safe, effective and adaptable live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to reduce disease and transmission using one-to-stop genome modifications.

Approved vaccines are effective against severe COVID-19, but broader immunity is needed against new variants and transmission. Therefore, we developed genome-modified live-attenuated vaccines (LAV) by recoding the SARS-CoV-2 genome, including 'one-to-stop' (OTS) codons, disabling Nsp1 translational repression and removing ORF6, 7ab and 8 to boost host immune responses, as well as the spike polybasic cleavage site to optimize the safety profile. The resulting OTS-modified SARS-CoV-2 LAVs, designated as OTS-206 and OTS-228, are genetically stable and can be intranasally administered, while being adjustable and sustainable regarding the level of attenuation. OTS-228 exhibits an optimal safety profile in preclinical animal models, with no side effects or detectable transmission. A single-dose vaccination induces a sterilizing immunity in vivo against homologous WT SARS-CoV-2 challenge infection and a broad protection against Omicron BA.2, BA.5 and XBB.1.5, with reduced transmission. Finally, this promising LAV approach could be applicable to other emerging viruses

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe

Measurement of prompt open-charm production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

The production cross sections for prompt open-charm mesons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV are reported. The measurement is performed using a data sample collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 nb(-1). The differential production cross sections of the D*(+/-), D-+/-, and D-0 ((D) over bar (0)) mesons are presented in ranges of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity 4 < p(T) < 100 GeV and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.1, respectively. The results are compared to several theoretical calculations and to previous measurements.Peer reviewe

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of B-c(2S)(+) and B-c*(2S)(+) cross section ratios in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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Development and validation of HERWIG 7 tunes from CMS underlying-event measurements

This paper presents new sets of parameters (“tunes”) for the underlying-event model of the HERWIG7 event generator. These parameters control the description of multiple-parton interactions (MPI) and colour reconnection in HERWIG7, and are obtained from a fit to minimum-bias data collected by the CMS experiment at s=0.9, 7, and 13Te. The tunes are based on the NNPDF 3.1 next-to-next-to-leading-order parton distribution function (PDF) set for the parton shower, and either a leading-order or next-to-next-to-leading-order PDF set for the simulation of MPI and the beam remnants. Predictions utilizing the tunes are produced for event shape observables in electron-positron collisions, and for minimum-bias, inclusive jet, top quark pair, and Z and W boson events in proton-proton collisions, and are compared with data. Each of the new tunes describes the data at a reasonable level, and the tunes using a leading-order PDF for the simulation of MPI provide the best description of the dat

Measurement of the W gamma Production Cross Section in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=13 TeV and Constraints on Effective Field Theory Coefficients

A fiducial cross section for W gamma production in proton-proton collisions is measured at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 137 fb(-1) of data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The W -> e nu and mu nu decay modes are used in a maximum-likelihood fit to the lepton-photon invariant mass distribution to extract the combined cross section. The measured cross section is compared with theoretical expectations at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. In addition, 95% confidence level intervals are reported for anomalous triple-gauge couplings within the framework of effective field theory.Peer reviewe