Abstract Purpose To estimate lifetime risk of receiving an HIV diagnosis in the United States if existing infection rates continue. Methods We used mortality, census, and HIV surveillance data for ...2010-2014 to calculate age-specific probabilities of an HIV diagnosis. The probabilities were applied to a hypothetical cohort of 10 million live births to estimate lifetime risk. Results Lifetime risk was 1 in 68 for males and 1 in 253 for females. Lifetime risk for men was 1 in 22 for blacks, 1 in 51 for Hispanic/Latinos, and 1 in 140 for whites; and for women was 1 in 54 for blacks, 1 in 256 for Hispanic/Latinas, and 1 in 941 for whites. By risk group, the highest risk was among men who have sex with men (1 in 6) and the lowest was among male heterosexuals (1 in 524). The majority of the states with the highest lifetime risk were in the south. Conclusions The estimates highlight different risks across populations and the need for continued improvements in prevention and treatment. They can also be used to communicate the risk of HIV infection and increase public awareness of HIV.
As a class of nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds, poly-1,2,3-triazole-based functional materials have recently attracted growing attention across many important scientific areas such as the synthesis ...of drugs and functional materials. There is therefore an urgent need to perform a review study of such an important class of materials for summarizing the state-of-the-art contributions and for clarifying the direction of the most recent advances (mostly in 2016). Herein, from the perspective of raw material selection and synthetic processes, we conduct a mini review study of the most recent new findings, including technologies and strategies, on the synthesis of macromolecular 1,2,3-triazole-based functional materials, such as various state-of-the-art approaches based on click chemistry and optimization of synthetic conditions like selection of raw materials, control of their concentrations, and selective utilization of different active groups. This mini review also briefly introduces the progress of using poly-1,2,3-triazole-based materials for a broad range of applications including molecular recognition, chemical sensing, drug chemistry, bio-chemistry, and conducting materials,
etc.
Most recent advances of the synthesis of poly-1,2,3-triazole-based functional materials.
We experimentally demonstrate the implementation of 10 Gbps high-speed mid-infrared (MIR) free-space optical (FSO) communication, by means of our developed robust high-speed MIR transmitter and ...receiver modules. Such modules can enable frequency down- and up-conversion between 1550 nm and 3594 nm based on difference frequency generation (DFG) in MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO
(MgO: PPLN). The MIR transmitter generates 5.34 dBm power at 3594 nm for input powers of 33 dBm at 1550 nm and 37 dBm at 1083 nm. The MIR receiver regenerates -24.5 dBm power at 1550 nm for input powers of -1.2 dBm at 3594 nm and 36.7 dBm at 1083 nm. The eye diagram of regenerated 1550 nm signal is clear, and both for the on-off keying (OOK) and differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation, the power penalties compared with back to back (BTB) signals are lower than 3.5 dB measured at bit error ratio (BER) of 1E-6. According to our analyses, the system supports variable data rate, wavelength, and modulation format. Furthermore, the optical and electrical components are well integrated and fixed in MIR transmitter and receiver modules, which exhibit long-term stability and can be applied to field experiments.
Chinese strong-flavored liquor (CSFL) accounts for more than 70% of all Chinese liquor production. Microbes in pit mud play key roles in the fermentation cellar for the CSFL production. However, ...microbial diversity, community structure, and cellar-age-related changes in pit mud are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the prokaryotic community structure and diversity in pit-mud samples with different cellar ages (1, 10, 25, and 50 years) using the pyrosequencing technique. Results indicated that prokaryotic diversity increased with cellar age until the age reached 25 years and that prokaryotic community structure changed significantly between three cellar ages (1, 10, and 25 years). Significant correlations between prokaryotic communities and environmental variables (pH, NH4(+), lactic acid, butyric acid, and caproic acid) were observed. Overall, our study results suggested that the long-term brewing operation shapes unique prokaryotic community structure and diversity as well as pit-mud chemistry. We have proposed a three-phase model to characterize the changes of pit-mud prokaryotic communities. (i) Phase I is an initial domestication period. Pit mud is characterized by abundant Lactobacillus and high lactic acid and low pH levels. (ii) Phase II is a transition period. While Lactobacillus abundance decreases dramatically, that of Bacteroidetes and methanogens increases. (iii) Phase III is a relative mature period. The prokaryotic community shows the highest diversity and capability to produce more caproic acid as a precursor for synthesis of ethyl caproate, the main flavor component in CSFL. This research provides scientific evidence to support the practical experience that old fermentation cellars produce high-quality liquor.
Acid rain in China is mainly caused by man-made SO2 emission. In order to reduce SO2 emission, "Environmental Protection Tax Law of People's Republic of China" has been implemented on January 1, ...2018. This study, based on environmental CGE model, analyses the impact of different ratio of environmental tax revenue refunded to consumption tax on China's economy and further decomposes sectors' SO2 emissions reduction into output scale effect, process emission effect, intermediate input substitution effect, energy substitution effect and imported-domestic energy substitution effect. Results show that environmental tax can effectively reduce SO2 emission, and not always hurt the economy. With the tax refund ratio rising, GDP appears an upward trend in varying degrees (−0.25%–0.21%), and SO2 emission reduction shows a downward trend (−3.81%∼-3.28%). A critical point of tax refund ratio is found to locate at 59.5%, which represents the maximum amount of SO2 emission reduction without sacrificing economy. For the SO2 emission reduction, sectors' combustion emission reduction of oilgas and coal play a leading role. After specific decomposition, the energy substitution effect dominates the SO2 emission reduction. Further, emission reductions of SO2 mainly focus on high pollution sectors such as power, building materials manufacturing and paper. Factors driving emission changes in sectors may differ substantially. Therefore, the environmental tax does not necessarily hurt the economy, and can effectively curb high pollution sectors' SO2 emission, stimulating the demand for clean energy like gas and upgrading energy structure.
Biochar plays an essential role in soil remediation, but its effect on the arsenic remediation has been controversial. In this study, hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br) modified or ...unmodified biochar on As mobility and bioavailability in soil were studied. The sequential extraction experiment showed that As in the original soil mainly existed in the occluded form (78.24%), followed by Fe‒As (20.72%) and Al‒As (0.88%) forms. With the addition of the modified and unmodified biochars, the contents of Ca‒As and Fe‒As increased by 0.36 – 0.95% and 2.06 – 3.36%, respectively, suggesting the increased potential toxicity of As. The NaH2PO4 extraction result showed that the unmodified biochar increased the As availability by 3.23 – 22.76%, whereas the HDTMA-modified biochar reduced the As availability by 4.80 – 13.41%. Pot experiment showed that the unmodified and modified biochar increased the biomass of Brassica pekinensis, and the modified biochar (HB5) decreased the uptake of As by plants by 80.77% compared to the unmodified biochar. In particular, the plant achieved better growth in the modified biochar treatment (average height 8.31 cm) than in the unmodified biochar treatment (average height 6.97 cm). Therefore, both biochars facilitated phase transformation of As from the stable to the mobile states in the soil. Nevertheless, the HDTMA-modified biochar had an effect on alleviating As bioavailability and toxicity.
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•Biochar was modified with cationic surfactant HDTMA.•Arsenic fractionation and bioavailability were assessed.•Soil Ca-As fraction was increased in both biochar treatments.•NaH2PO4 extractable As was significantly reduced in the modified biochar treatment.•Modified biochar increased Brassica pekinensis growth and reduced As accumulation.
The nanomechanics of cells have been proven to play important roles in regulating cell behaviors. However, conventional measurement of cell nanomechanics that is processed on uniform surfaces lacks ...the control of cell morphology, which is reported to significantly influence the cell nanomechanics. This study prepares the micropatterned surfaces using photolithographic micropatterning of photoreactive poly(vinyl alcohol) on cell‐culture polystyrene plates to provide controllable and reproducible cell morphology. The nanomechanics of osteoblasts (NHOst), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and osteosarcoma cell line (MG‐63) are compared on micropatterns. Cell stiffness increases with increase of spreading area due to the ordering of cytoskeleton. Disrupting F‐actin assembly reduces cell stiffness. Meanwhile, cell spreading area influences the expression of phosphoezrin that affects cell surface roughness. Rough membrane is accompanied with high non‐specific adhesion force and migration rate. The influence of spreading area on cancer cell nanomechanics is not as evident as that of normal cells indicating cancer cells behave less dependently on their microenvironment compared to normal cells. The findings of this study suggest that the nanomechanical differences between normal and cancer cells can be used as a biomarker to enhance the diagnosis of cancers. The use of micropatterns should be very useful to compare the nanomechanics of cells.
Nanomechanics of micropatterned osteosarcoma microenvironment cells are investigated using atomic force microscopy. Cancer cells are less stiff but more invasive than their normal counterparts when they have same morphology. The decrease of spreading area leads to decrease of elasticity but increase of surface roughness and non‐specific adhesion force. These further influence cell migration potential, which is important especially for cancer cells.