Longitudinal cohort of HIV-negative transgender women of colour in New York City: protocol for the TURNNT ('Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighbourhoods among Transgender women of colour') study.

IntroductionIn the USA, transgender women are among the most vulnerable to HIV. In particular, transgender women of colour face high rates of infection and low uptake of important HIV prevention tools, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This paper describes the design, sampling methods, data collection and analyses of the TURNNT ('Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighbourhoods among Transgender women of colour') study. In collaboration with communities of transgender women of colour, TURNNT aims to explore the complex social and environmental (ie, neighbourhood) structures that affect HIV prevention and other aspects of health in order to identify avenues for intervention.Methods and analysesTURNNT is a prospective cohort study, which will recruit 300 transgender women of colour (150 Black/African American, 100 Latina and 50 Asian/Pacific Islander participants) in New York City. There will be three waves of data collection separated by 6 months. At each wave, participants will provide information on their relationships, social and sexual networks, and neighbourhoods. Global position system technology will be used to generate individual daily path areas in order to estimate neighbourhood-level exposures. Multivariate analyses will be conducted to assess cross-sectional and longitudinal, independent and synergistic associations of personal relationships (notably individual social capital), social and sexual networks, and neighbourhood factors (notably neighbourhood-level social cohesion) with PrEP uptake and discontinuation.Ethics and disseminationThe TURNNT protocol was approved by the Columbia University Institutional Review Board (reference no. AAAS8164). This study will provide novel insights into the relationship, network and neighbourhood factors that influence HIV prevention behaviours among transgender women of colour and facilitate exploration of this population's health and well-being more broadly. Through community-based dissemination events and consultation with policy makers, this foundational work will be used to guide the development and implementation of future interventions with and for transgender women of colour

Fexofenadine is Efficacious and Safe in Children (Aged 6-11 Years) with Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis

Background: This is the first prospective, randomized, doubleblind, placebo-controlled study showing statistical improvement of an H1-antihistamine in children with seasonal allergic rhinitis in all symptoms throughout the entire treatment period. Objective: This randomized, placebo-controlled, parallelgroup,double-blind study was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of fexofenadine in children with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Methods: This study was conducted at 148 centers in 15 countries. Nine hundred thirty-five children (aged 6-11 years) were randomized and treated with either fexofenadine HCl 30 mg (n = 464) or placebo (n = 471) tablets twice a day for 14 days. Individual symptoms (sneezing; rhinorrhea; itchy nose, mouth, throat, and/or ears; itchy, watery, and/or red eyes; and nasal congestion) were assessed at baseline and then daily at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM (±1 hour) during the double-blind treatment period. Each total symptom score was the sum of all symptoms, excluding nasal congestion. The primary efficacy variable was the change from baseline in the average of the daily 12-hour evening reflective total symptom scores throughout the double-blind treatment. Safety was evaluated from adverse-event reporting, vital signs, physical examinations, and clinical laboratory data at screening and study end point

Maximal subgroups acting with two composition factors on irreducible representations of exceptional algebraic groups

Let $Y$ be a simply connected simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p$ and let $X$ be a maximal closed connected simple subgroup of $Y$. Excluding some small primes in specific cases, we classify the $p$-restricted irreducible representations of $Y$ on which $X$ acts with exactly two composition factors. This work follows on naturally from the classification of irreducible subgroups of exceptional algebraic groups given by Testerman

Avalanche dynamics, surface roughening and self-organized criticality - experiments on a 3 dimensional pile of rice

We present a two-dimensional system which exhibits features of self-organized criticality. The avalanches which occur on the surface of a pile of rice are found to exhibit finite size scaling in their probability distribution. The critical exponents are $\tau$ = 1.21(2) for the avalanche size distribution and $D$ = 1.99(2) for the cut-off size. Furthermore the geometry of the avalanches is studied leading to a fractal dimension of the active sites of $d_B$ = 1.58(2). Using a set of scaling relations, we can calculate the roughness exponent $\alpha = D - d_B$ = 0.41(3) and the dynamic exponent $z = D(2 - \tau)$ = 1.56(8). This result is compared with that obtained from a power spectrum analysis of the surface roughness, which yields $\alpha$ = 0.42(3) and $z$ = 1.5(1) in excellent agreement with those obtained from the scaling relations.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Ortsbasierte Indoor Optical-See-Through Augmented Reality mit der Google Glass

Ziel der Arbeit war es, den Nutzen der Google Glass im Alltag und ihr Potenzial als AR-Brille ( Augmented Reality ) aufzuzeigen. Mit der Arbeit wurde ein ortsbasierter AR Ansatz vorgestellt, der innerhalb von Gebäuden zum Einsatz kommt. Als Beispielszenario diente die AR-basierte Navigation innerhalb des Gebaudes der TH Köln. Hierbei wurde ein Umgebungsmodell in Form eines Regular Grids konstruiert, welches eine diskrete Positionsbestimmung im Raum erlaubt. Ferner wurden verschiedene Verfahren zur Positionsbestimmung innerhalb von Gebäuden gegen übergestellt und deren Vor- und Nachteile evaluiert. Hierbei wurden die Erkenntnisse gewonnen, dass die Positionsbestimmung mittels LLA Markern die höchste Stabilität, jedoch die geringste Kontinuität aufweist, da Marker zunächst erkannt werden müssen, bevor die Position bestimmt werden kann

Blood histamine levels (BHL) in infants and children with respiratory and non-respiratory diseases.

BACKGROUND: Blood histamine levels are decreased after severe allergic reactions and in various chronic diseases. AIMS: To study blood histamine levels in infants and children with acute infectious and non-infectious, non-allergic, disease. METHODS: Blood histamine levels were investigated by a fluorometric method in infants and children admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis, non-wheezing bronchitis, acute infections of the urinary tract, skin and ear-nose-throat, gastroenteritis, or hyperthermia of unknown aetiology. Results of blood histamine levels and white blood cell counts were compared with those obtained for children recovering from benign non-infectious, non-allergic illnesses. RESULTS: As compared with control children, white blood cell numbers were significantly increased in children with acute infections of the urinary tract, skin and ear-nose-throat, and were significantly decreased in children with gastroenteritis. Blood histamine levels were significantly lower in children with gastroenteritis and hyperthermia than in children with other diseases and control children. It was not possible to correlate blood histamine levels and the number of blood basophils. CONCLUSIONS: BHL are significantly decreased in infants and children with acute gastroenteritis and hyperthermia of unknown aetiology. The mechanisms responsible for the decrease in blood histamine levels in children with gastroenteritis and hyperthermia are discussed

Détermination d’une orbite autour de L2 pour la mission CHEOPS

Afin de déterminer l’orbite qu’un satellite d’observation d’exoplanètes devait adopter, il a été nécessaire de considérer les points de Lagrange et plus particulièrement le deuxième de ces points. Dans les pages suivantes, nous localisons les trois premiers de ces points (L1, L2 et L3), expliquons en quoi ils sont importants et démontrons la quasi-stabilité de L1 et L2. Ensuite, nous analysons les différents types d’orbites quasi-périodiques qui existent autour de L2 et construisons une orbite de Lyapunov grâce au logiciel STK/Astrogator, ce qui permet de modéliser la mission et de souligner ses avantages et ses inconvénients