The aim of the present study is to use the syndemic framework to investigate the risk of contracting HIV in the US population. Cross-sectional analyses are from The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We extracted and aggregated data on HIV antibody test, socio-demographic characteristics, alcohol use, drug use, depression, sexual behaviours and sexually transmitted diseases from cycle 2009–2010 to 2015–2016. We carried out weighted regression among young adults (20–39 years) and adults (40–59 years) separately. In total, 5230 men and 5794 women aged 20–59 years were included in the present analyses. In total, 0.8% men and 0.2% women were tested HIV-positive. Each increasing HIV risk behaviour was associated with elevated odds of being tested HIV-positive (1.15, 95% CI 1.15–1.15) among young adults and adults (1.61, 95% CI 1.61–1.61). Multi-faceted, community-based interventions are urgently required to reduce the incidence of HIV in the USA.

To compare the epidemiologic features (e.g. settings and transmission mode) and patient clinical characteristics associated with outbreaks of different norovirus (Nov) strains, we retrospectively analysed data of Nov outbreaks occurring in Guangzhou, China from 2012 to 2018. The results suggested that outbreaks of Nov GII.2, GII.17 and GII.4 Sydney exhibited different outbreak settings, transmission modes and symptoms. GII.2 outbreaks mainly occurred in kindergartens, elementary and high schools and were transmitted mainly through person-to-person contact. By contrast, GII.4 Sydney outbreaks frequently occurred in colleges and were primarily associated with foodborne transmission. Cases from GII.2 and GII.17 outbreaks reported vomiting more frequently than those from outbreaks associated with GII.4 Sydney.

Employing atomic-scale simulations, the response of a high-angle grain boundary (GB), the soft/hard GB, against external loading was systematically investigated. Under tensile loading close to the hard orientation, strain-induced dynamic recrystallization was observed to initiate through direct soft-to-hard grain reorientation, which was triggered by stress mismatch, inhibited by surface tension from the soft-hard GB, and proceeded by interface ledges. Such grain reorientation corresponds with expansion and contraction of the hard grain along and perpendicular to the loading direction, respectively, accompanied by local atomic shuffling, providing relatively large normal strain of 8.3% with activation energy of 0.04 eV per atom. Tensile strain and residual dislocations on the hard/soft GB facilitate the initiation of dynamic recrystallization by lowering the energy barrier and the critical stress for grain reorientation, respectively.

A layer of silver nanoparticles created by thermal annealing of evaporated silver films can increase the photocurrents in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices by fivefold or more, but significant enhancements have been restricted to wavelengths greater than 800 nm. Here we report a significant enhancement of photoconductance at shorter wavelengths (500-750 nm) by using a monolayer of silver nanoparticles transferred from a colloidal suspension. Photocurrents on SOI increased in the 500-750 nm spectral range with the addition of silver nanoparticles, with enhancements more than two times; enhancements at longer wavelengths were small, in contrast to results with annealed silver films. We prepared similar colloidal silver nanoparticle monolayers layers on nanocrystalline silicon solar cells with conducting oxide top layers. There is an overall decrease in the quantum efficiency of these cells with the deposition of silver nanoparticles. We attribute these effects to the substantial substrate-mediated changes in the localized surface plasmon resonance frequencies of the differing nanoparticle configurations.

Heading date (HD) and flowering date (FD) are critical for yield potential and stability, so understanding their genetic foundation is of great significance in wheat breeding. Three related recombinant inbred line populations with a common female parent were developed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for HD and FD in four environments. In total, 25 putative additive QTL and 20 pairwise epistatic effect QTL were detected in four environments. The additive QTL were distributed across 17 wheat chromosomes. Of these, QHd-1A, QHd-1D, QHd-2B, QHd-3B, QHd-4A, QHd-4B and QHd-6D were major and stable QTL for HD. QFd-1A, QFd-2B, QFd-4A and QFd-4B were major and stable QTL for FD. In addition, an epistatic interaction test showed that epistasis played important roles in controlling wheat HD and FD. Genetic relationships between HD/FD and five yield-related traits (YRTs) were characterized and ten QTL clusters (C1–C10) simultaneously controlling YRTs and HD/FD were identified. The present work laid a genetic foundation for improving yield potential in wheat molecular breeding programmes.

Muons produced by the Bethe–Heitler process from laser wakefield accelerated electrons interacting with high $Z$ materials have velocities close to the laser wakefield. It is possible to accelerate those muons with laser wakefield directly. Therefore for the first time we propose an all-optical ‘Generator and Booster’ scheme to accelerate the produced muons by another laser wakefield to supply a prompt, compact, low cost and controllable muon source in laser laboratories. The trapping and acceleration of muons are analyzed by one-dimensional analytic model and verified by two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. It is shown that muons can be trapped in a broad energy range and accelerated to higher energy than that of electrons for longer dephasing length. We further extrapolate the dependence of the maximum acceleration energy of muons with the laser wakefield relativistic factor $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ and the relevant initial energy $E_{0}$ . It is shown that a maximum energy up to 15.2 GeV is promising with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}=46$ and $E_{0}=1.45~\text{GeV}$ on the existing short pulse laser facilities.

Full-scale simulations of a (Magnetorheological) MR damper are carried out for revealing its hysteretic behaviors associated with implementation of semi-active control using the routine of computational fluid dynamics. By virtue of the structural symmetry of the MR damper, a two-dimensional configuration for finite element simulation is built up. Herschel-Bulkley model is employed to represent the property of the MR fluid, of which the control parameters and their relevances to the input current are addressed. Typical cases involving sinusoidal and irregular displacements, steady and transient currents loaded upon the MR damper are investigated. Numerical investigations reveal that the damper force has a positive correlation with input current, excitation amplitude and excitation frequency. The full-scale simulation is proved to exhibit a sound accuracy through the validation of experimental data. It provides a logical manner revealing the true performance of MR dampers under desirable operating modes in practice, and can be readily integrated with the gain design of the associated semi-actively controlled structure. This progress bypasses the technical challenge inherent in the traditional tests with low-frequency cyclic loadings due to the limitation of experimental setup. Besides, comparative study between two-dimensional and three-dimensional configuration simulations of the MR damper shows that former has a better applicability, which can be carried out on a low-cost platform.

Good canopy structure is essential for optimal maize (Zea mays L.) production. However, creating appropriate maize canopy structure can be difficult, because the characteristics of individual plants are altered by changes in plant age, density and interactions with neighbouring plants. The objective of the current study was to find a reliable method for building good maize canopy structure by analysing changes in canopy structure, light distribution and grain yield (GY). A modern maize cultivar (ZhengDan958) was planted at 12 densities ranging from 1.5 to 18 plants/m2 at two field locations in Xinjiang, China. At the silking stage (R1), plant and ear height increased with plant density as well as leaf area index (LAI), whereas leaf area per plant decreased logarithmically. The fraction of light intercepted by the plant (F) increased with increasing plant density, but the light extinction coefficient (K) decreased linearly from 0.61 to 0.39. Taking the optimum value of F (95%) as an example, and using measured values of K for each plant density at R1 and the equation from Beer's law, the corresponding (theoretical) LAI for each plant density was calculated and optimum plant density (9.72 plants/m2) obtained by calculating the difference between theoretical LAIs and actual observations. Further analysis showed that plant density ranging from 10.64 to 11.55 plants/m2 yielded a stable GY range. Therefore, taking into account the persistence time for maximum LAI, the plant density required to obtain an ideal GY maize canopy structure should be increased by 10–18% from 9.72 plants/m2.

To investigate the control effect of the synthetic jet on the aerodynamic characteristic of rotors, a numerical simulation procedure for the rotor flowfield is established. First, a moving-embedded grid method and an unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) solver are established for predicting the complex flowfield of rotors. A velocity jet boundary condition over the jet actuator orifice is constructed, and a numerical method for simulating the active flow control on rotors is developed. Then, the effectiveness of the simulation method is validated by comparing the numerical results of jet control on NACA 0015 aerofoil with the experimental data. At last, the aerodynamic characteristic of rotors with synthetic jet actuators located on the suction surface of the blade in forward flight is calculated. The results indicate that the synthetic jet has the capability of improving the aerodynamic characteristic of rotors, especially in inhibiting the flow separation over the surface. In addition, the increase of the jet momentum coefficient and the jet angle can both enhance the lift coefficient in the retreating side. Compared with a single jet, jet arrays have better control effects on improving the aerodynamic characteristic of rotors in forward flight.

Systemic uptake of organic compounds from roots to leaves follows a Gaussian distribution in relation to the lipophilicity, as measured by the log Kow. Quantification of compound uptake with different lipophilicities, and applied as a seed treatment that diffuses through the seed coat into the embryo during imbibition, has not been reported. The aim of this investigation was to quantify the uptake of non-ionic compounds into seeds of soybean and corn. A series of fluorescent piperonyl amides were synthesized and a novel combinatorial pharmacodynamic technique was developed that provided a range of compounds from log Kow 0.02 to 5.7. Seeds were treated with a mixture of amides, imbibed and compounds chemically extracted and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography using a fluorescence detector. The maximum uptake efficiency of the applied amide mixture from whole soybean and corn seeds was 67% at log Kow 2.9, and 43% at log Kow 3.4, respectively. The critical partition coefficient for uptake for both species was <4.2 log Kow. Seeds were dissected and separated as soybean embryo and testa, and corn internal tissues (embryo + endosperm) or seed covering layers (pericarp + testa), and >75% of the amides were found in the soybean embryo or corn internal tissues compared with the covering layers at log Kow <4.2. The distribution of amides showed that the corn seed covering layer had similar hydrophilic/lipophilic properties as internal tissues, while soybean tissues had different hydrophilic/lipophilic properties. Collectively, the Gaussian uptake pattern for systemic uptake into plants was not found for either seed species.

We present the results of an experimental investigation of the motion of a light, solid sphere in a horizontal rotating cylinder filled with viscous fluid. At high rotation rates, the sphere sits near the axis of the cylinder. At lower rotation rates, a set of off-axis fixed points are observed for a range of sphere radii. The locations of these fixed points are in quantitative agreement with the predictions of a model based on available theory. The fixed points are observed to become unstable to periodic orbits below a critical Reynolds number $Re_{c}$ . The radius of the observed orbits increases with Reynolds number more slowly than a typical Hopf bifurcation, in this case, growing as $1/Re^{2}$ .

Introduction: ex-specific diagnostic cutoffs may improve the test characteristics of high-sensitivity troponin assays for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Sex-specific cutoffs for ruling in MI improve the sensitivity of the assay for MI among women, and improve the specificity of diagnosis among men. We hypothesized that the use of sex-specific high-sensitivity Troponin T (hsTnT) cutoffs for ruling out MI at the time of ED arrival would improve the classification efficiency of the assay by enabling more patients to have MI ruled out at the time of ED arrival while maintaining diagnostic sensitivity. The objective of this study was to quantify the test characteristics of sex-specific cutoffs of an hsTnT assay for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) when performed at ED arrival in patients with chest pain. Methods: This retrospective study included consecutive ED patients with suspected cardiac chest pain evaluated in four urban EDs were, excluding those with ST-elevation AMI, cardiac arrest or abnormal kidney function. The primary outcomes was AMI at 7 days. Secondary outcomes included major adverse cardiac events (MACE: all-cause mortality, AMI and revascularization) and the individual MACE components. We quantified test characteristics (sensitivity, negative predictive value, likelihood ratios and proportion of patients ruled out) for multiple combinations of sex-specific rule-out cutoffs. We calculated net reclassification improvement compared to universal rule-out cutoffs of 5ng/L (the assays limit of detection) and 6ng/L (the FDA-approved limit of quantitation for US laboratories). Results: 7130 patients, including 3931 men and 3199 women, were included. The 7-day incidence of AMI was 7.38% among men and 3.78% among women. Universal cutoffs of 5 and 6 ng/L ruled out AMI with 99.7% sensitivity in 33.6 and 42.2% of patients. The best-performing combination of sex-specific cutoffs (8g/L for men and 6ng/L for men) ruled out AMI with 98.7% sensitivity in 51.9% of patients. Conclusion: Sex-specific hsTnT cutoffs for ruling out AMI at ED arrival may achieve substantial improvement in classification performance, enabling more patients to be ruled out at ED arrival, while maintaining acceptable diagnostic sensitivity for AMI. Universal and sex-specific rule-out cutoffs differ by only small changes in hsTnT concentration. Therefore, these findings should be confirmed in other datasets.

Introduction: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) patients (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) commonly present to the emergency department (ED). Presenting symptoms (swelling and pain) may be erroneously attributed to common allergic and gastrointestinal conditions resulting in major delays in diagnosis and appropriate treatment. No published tools currently exist for HAE screening and management in undiagnosed disease. The overall goal of the study was to develop a HAE-RT tool for ED settings. Methods: A two-phase mixed methods approach was used to develop the HAE-RT Tool including: Phase 1: A Delphi Study [HAE specialists (N=9) and National Patient Advocacy Group Members (N=3)] was conducted to reach consensus (80% agreement) on predictor variables to include. Phase 2: A retrospective chart review was conducted to assess the predictive findings of the predictor variables. A convenient sample of patients presenting with angioedema (with and without HAE) between January 2012 January 2017 were included in the study. Results: Of the 12 experts invited, 9 (75%) participated in the Delphi study. Of 8 HAE-specific predictive variables, 4 reached consensuses including: (1) recurrent angioedema; (2) absence of urticaria; (3) past recurrent abdominal pain/swelling; (4) response to allergic therapy. The retrospective study included 85 patients (N=46 with HAE; N=39 non-HAE; overall 72% female). HAE patients were significantly more likely to have a family history of HAE (72% vs 0%; P<0.0001); previous recurrent angioedema (96%; P<0.009); present with no hives (91%; P<0.036); previous recurrent abdominal pain (80%; P<0.0001); and only 2% responded positively to allergy treatments (P<0.0001). Conclusion: Our study emphasizes the importance of key stakeholder involvement and feedback to facilitate the prioritization of important information that must be included in the design of an HAE-RT tool. The next step is to observe the effect of the HAE-RT tool on patient triage in the ED.