Post COVID-19 Analysis Of Barrier Method Use And Sex Practices Among Undergraduate Students

Background: Undergraduate students are often between ages 18-24 and have a high predisposition for engaging in risky sexual behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the normality of socially protective behaviors and communicable disease knowledge for public health defense. Purpose: To measure the frequency of barrier method use among undergraduate students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including variables of relationship status, forms of sex, and barrier method communication comfort. Methods: A researcher-created questionnaire was used to collect data on the COVID-19 safety habits, sexual behaviors, and communication practices of the previous 12 months among respondents. Results: Precautionary behaviors related to COVID-19 were not predictive of safer sex behaviors like barrier method use among the undergraduate population from August 2020-August 2021. Additional tests that demonstrated statistical significance included: Upperclassmen comfort in barrier method communication with non-monogamous partners; Increased face mask use and handwashing among fully-vaccinated participants before vaccination than afterward; and Self-identified “Lesbians” were the least likely sexual identity to use any form of barrier method. Discussion: Tests did not prove overall significance between socially and sexually protective behaviors, but future research could compare the identities and sexual practices of individuals on their knowledge and application of population and public health preservation

The Role of CD38 on the Function of Regulatory B Cells in a Murine Model of Lupus

Previous work from our group has shown that Cd38-/- mice develop a milder pristane-induced lupus disease than WT or Art2-/- counterparts, demonstrating a new role for CD38 in promoting aberrant inflammation and lupus-like autoimmunity via a Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 2 (TRPM2)-dependent apoptosis-driven mechanism. In this study we asked whether CD38 may play a role in the expression and function of regulatory B cells (IL-10-producing B cells or B10 cells). In pristane-treated mice the frequency of spleen CD19+CD1dhiCD5+ B cells, which are highly enriched in B10 cells, was significantly increased in Cd38-/- splenocytes compared to WT, while the frequency of peritoneal plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), which are major type I Interferon (IFN) producers, was greatly diminished. The low proportion of pDCs correlated with lower amounts of IFN-α in the peritoneal lavage fluids of the Cd38-/- mice than of WT and Art2-/- mice. Functional ex vivo assays showed increased frequencies of IL-10-producing B cells in Cd38-/- splenocytes than in WT upon stimulation with an agonist anti-CD40 mAb. Overall these results strongly suggest that Cd38-/- mice are better suited than WT mice to generate and expand regulatory B10 cells following the appropriate stimulation.Work performed in the Sancho and Zubiaur labs was supported in part by the European Commission in collaboration with the following Funding Agencies: (i) Junta de Andalucía, Consejería Innovación Ciencia y Empresa y Consejería Educación y Ciencia, Project: PC08-CTS-04046 to Jaime Sancho and Mercedes Zubiaur, and (ii) Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Projects: SAF-2011-27261 and SAF-2017-89801-R to Jaime Sancho and Mercedes Zubiaur. The stay of B.B. and G.R. in Sancho’s lab was supported by National Science Foundation: Grant #HRD-0963629 (G-STEM). USA.; and U.S. Department of Education; Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act; Title III Grant (SAFRA, Part F). Grant SAF-2017-89801-R covers in part the costs to publish in open access

Evolutionary Events in a Mathematical Sciences Research Collaboration Network

This study examines long-term trends and shifting behavior in the collaboration network of mathematics literature, using a subset of data from Mathematical Reviews spanning 1985-2009. Rather than modeling the network cumulatively, this study traces the evolution of the "here and now" using fixed-duration sliding windows. The analysis uses a suite of common network diagnostics, including the distributions of degrees, distances, and clustering, to track network structure. Several random models that call these diagnostics as parameters help tease them apart as factors from the values of others. Some behaviors are consistent over the entire interval, but most diagnostics indicate that the network's structural evolution is dominated by occasional dramatic shifts in otherwise steady trends. These behaviors are not distributed evenly across the network; stark differences in evolution can be observed between two major subnetworks, loosely thought of as "pure" and "applied", which approximately partition the aggregate. The paper characterizes two major events along the mathematics network trajectory and discusses possible explanatory factors.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figures, 1 table; supporting information: 5 pages, 5 figures; published in Scientometric

Comparative Treatment Outcomes for Patients With Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked DownloadImportance: Surgical treatment comparisons in rare diseases are difficult secondary to the geographic distribution of patients. Fortunately, emerging technologies offer promise to reduce these barriers for research. Objective: To prospectively compare the outcomes of the 3 most common surgical approaches for idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS), a rare airway disease. Design, setting, and participants: In this international, prospective, 3-year multicenter cohort study, 810 patients with untreated, newly diagnosed, or previously treated iSGS were enrolled after undergoing a surgical procedure (endoscopic dilation [ED], endoscopic resection with adjuvant medical therapy [ERMT], or cricotracheal resection [CTR]). Patients were recruited from clinician practices in the North American Airway Collaborative and an online iSGS community on Facebook. Main outcomes and measures: The primary end point was days from initial surgical procedure to recurrent surgical procedure. Secondary end points included quality of life using the Clinical COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) Questionnaire (CCQ), Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), Eating Assessment Test-10 (EAT-10), the 12-Item Short-Form Version 2 (SF-12v2), and postoperative complications. Results: Of 810 patients in this cohort, 798 (98.5%) were female and 787 (97.2%) were white, with a median age of 50 years (interquartile range, 43-58 years). Index surgical procedures were ED (n = 603; 74.4%), ERMT (n = 121; 14.9%), and CTR (n = 86; 10.6%). Overall, 185 patients (22.8%) had a recurrent surgical procedure during the 3-year study, but recurrence differed by modality (CTR, 1 patient [1.2%]; ERMT, 15 [12.4%]; and ED, 169 [28.0%]). Weighted, propensity score-matched, Cox proportional hazards regression models showed ED was inferior to ERMT (hazard ratio [HR], 3.16; 95% CI, 1.8-5.5). Among successfully treated patients without recurrence, those treated with CTR had the best CCQ (0.75 points) and SF-12v2 (54 points) scores and worst VHI-10 score (13 points) 360 days after enrollment as well as the greatest perioperative risk. Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study of 810 patients with iSGS, endoscopic dilation, the most popular surgical approach for iSGS, was associated with a higher recurrence rate compared with other procedures. Cricotracheal resection offered the most durable results but showed the greatest perioperative risk and the worst long-term voice outcomes. Endoscopic resection with medical therapy was associated with better disease control compared with ED and had minimal association with vocal function. These results may be used to inform individual patient treatment decision-making.Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute - PCOR

ShpWay: A Shapefile Navigation System

This paper outlines the process in leveraging ESRI shapefiles to create an optimal shapefile navigation system referred to as ShpWay. A point of emphasis in this paper was to investigate three specific areas. One, the conversion of a shapefile into a workable graph containing a series of nodes to represent shapefile objects, such as buildings, and edges for the given pathways between these objects. Two, how to calculate the appropriate weights for the edges of the represented shapefile’s graph. Three, examine a series of algorithms that calculate the shortest route between the given objects

Effect of the anionic dopant on nerve growth and controlled release of a neurotrophic protein from polypyrrole

The dopant anion in polypyrrole plays a critical role in determining the physical and chemical properties of these conducting polymers. Here we demonstrate an additional effect on the ability to incorporate and release a neurotrophic protein e neurotrophin-3. The multi-faceted role of the dopant is critical in ensuring optimal performance of polypyrroles in their use as platforms for nerve growth. In this paper, the effect of changing the co-dopant used in electrochemical polypyrrole synthesis on the compatibility with primary auditory nerve tissue is considered and compared to some of the physical properties of the films. Significant differences in the controlled-release properties of the films were also observed. The ability of the polymers to enhance nerve growth and survival in vitro with neurotrophin-3 release was also studied, which is a function of both compatibility with the neural tissue and the ability of the polymer to release sufficient neurotrophic protein to affect cell growth. A small synthetic dopant, paratoluene sulphonate, was found to perform favourably in both aspects and ultimately proved to be the most suitable material for the application at hand, which is the delivery of neurotrophins for inner-ear therapies