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IntroductionSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission frequently occurs within households, yet few studies describe which household contacts and household units are most likely to engage in transmission-interrupting behaviors.MethodsWe analyzed a COVID-19 prospective household transmission cohort in North Carolina (April to October 2020) to quantify changes in physical distancing behaviors among household contacts over 14 days. We evaluated which household contacts were most likely to ever mask at home and to ever share a bedroom with the index case between days 7–14.ResultsIn the presence of a household COVID-19 infection, 24% of household contacts reported ever masking at home during the week before study entry. Masking in the home between days 7–14 was reported by 26% of household contacts and was more likely for participants who observed their household index case wearing a mask. Participants of color and participants in high-density households were more likely to mask at home. After adjusting for race/ethnicity, living density was not as clearly associated with masking. Symptomatic household contacts were more likely to share a bedroom with the index case. Working individuals and those with comorbidities avoided sharing a bedroom with the index case.DiscussionIn-home masking during household exposure to COVID-19 was infrequent in 2020. In light of the ongoing transmission of SARS-CoV-2, these findings underscore a need for health campaigns to increase the feasibility and social desirability of in-home masking among exposed household members. Joint messaging on social responsibility and prevention of breakthrough infections, reinfections, and long COVID-19 may help motivate transmission-interruption behaviors.

We propose Destin2, a novel statistical and computational method for cross-modality dimension reduction, clustering, and trajectory reconstruction for single-cell ATAC-seq data. The framework integrates cellular-level epigenomic profiles from peak accessibility, motif deviation score, and pseudo-gene activity and learns a shared manifold using the multimodal input, followed by clustering and/or trajectory inference. We apply Destin2 to real scATAC-seq datasets with both discretized cell types and transient cell states and carry out benchmarking studies against existing methods based on unimodal analyses. Using cell-type labels transferred with high confidence from unmatched single-cell RNA sequencing data, we adopt four performance assessment metrics and demonstrate how Destin2 corroborates and improves upon existing methods. Using single-cell RNA and ATAC multiomic data, we further exemplify how Destin2’s cross-modality integrative analyses preserve true cell-cell similarities using the matched cell pairs as ground truths. Destin2 is compiled as a freely available R package available at https://github.com/yuchaojiang/Destin2.

Developing a minimum backbone grid in the power system planning is beneficial to improve the power system’s resilience. To obtain a minimum backbone grid, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model with network connectivity constraints for a minimum backbone grid is proposed. In the model, some constraints are presented to consider the practical application requirements. Especially, to avoid islands in the minimum backbone grid, a set of linear constraints based on single-commodity flow formulations is proposed to ensure connectivity of the backbone grid. The simulations on the IEEE-39 bus system and the French 1888 bus system show that the proposed model can be solved with higher computational efficiency in only about 30 min for such a large system and the minimum backbone grid has a small scale only 52% of the original grid. Compared with the improved fireworks method, the minimum backbone grid from the proposed method has fewer lines and generators.

Single ion conducting gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) are characterized as having a certain amount of ionic liquid or solvent incorporated into a single ion-conducting polymer matrix and may afford the advantages of high conductivity and low electrolyte polarization under battery operation. Single ion conducting polymers often suffer from low conductivity due to their reliance on polymer segmental motion to achieve sufficient ion mobility. However, by incorporating specific solvents into a single ion conducting matrix, mobility of the polymer can be enhanced while still maintaining the advantages of single ion conduction. Although many of the solvents used to swell GPEs are mixtures of flammable organic solvents (such as dimethyl carbonate), there are many potential non-reactive, low vapor pressure solvents that could effectively solvate alkali-ion based GPEs and plasticize the polymer matrix to enhance ion conductivity. Adipate-based solvents are a group of non-volatile plasticizers with low viscosities and low vapor pressures at room temperature derived from adipic acid. The ester groups in these solvents may effectively solvate alkali ions such as Na+, leading to higher conductivity, while circumventing issues of flammability found in current alkali-ion conducting electrolytes. This study investigates the properties of sodium-ion conducting GPEs that have been swollen with varying adipate-based solvents and the subsequent dielectric response from the solvent addition. Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy was used to characterize the Na+ conductivity, static dielectric constant, ion-conducting content, and mobility of the membranes before and after the non-volatile solvent uptake. Understanding this relationship will pave the path toward safer, more efficient solid-state polymer electrolytes for battery applications.

We propose Destin2, a novel statistical and computational method for crossmodality dimension reduction, clustering, and trajectory reconstruction for single-cell ATAC-seq data. The framework integrates cellular-level epigenomic profiles from peak accessibility, motif deviation score, and pseudo-gene activity and learns a shared manifold using the multimodal input, followed by clustering and/or trajectory inference. We apply Destin2 to real scATAC-seq datasets with both discretized cell types and transient cell states and carry out benchmarking studies against existing methods based on unimodal analyses. Using cell-type labels transferred with high confidence from unmatched single-cell RNA sequencing data, we adopt four performance assessment metrics and demonstrate how Destin2 corroborates and improves upon existing methods. Using single-cell RNA and ATAC multiomic data, we further exemplify how Destin2's cross-modality integrative analyses preserve true cell-cell similarities using the matched cell pairs as ground truths. Destin2 is compiled as a freely available R package available at https://github.com/yuchaojiang/Destin2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Male circumcision reduces the risk of human immunodeficiency virus infection in men. We assessed the effect of male circumcision on the incidence and natural history of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a randomized clinical trial in Kisumu, Kenya. Methods: Sexually active, 18- to 24-year-old men provided penile exfoliated cells for HPV DNA testing every 6 months for 2 years. HPV DNA was detected via GP5+/6+ PCR in glans/coronal sulcus and in shaft samples. HPV incidence and persistence were assessed by intent-to-treat analyses. Results: A total of 2,193 men participated (1,096 randomized to circumcision; 1,097 controls). HPV prevalence was 50% at baseline for both groups and dropped to 23.7% at 24 months in the circumcision group, and 41.0% in control group. Incident infection of any HPV type over 24 months was lower among men in the circumcision group than in the control group [HR = 0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.52-0.72]. Clearance rate of any HPV infection over 24 months was higher in the circumcision group than in the control group (HR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.49-2.34). Lower HPV point-prevalence, lower HPV incidence, and higher HPV clearance in the circumcision group were observed in glans but not in shaft samples. Conclusion: Male circumcision reduced the risk of HPV acquisition and reinfection, and increased HPV clearance in the glans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thiazolothiazole-linked porous organic polymers have been synthesized from a facile catalyst-free condensation reaction between aldehydes and dithiooxamide under solvothermal conditions. The resultant porous frameworks exhibit a highly selective uptake of CO2 over N2 under ambient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials exhibiting high dielectric constants (ϵs) are critical for energy storage and actuators. A successful approach to increase ϵs is to incorporate polar additives (with high ϵs) but controlling the resulting dispersion state is difficult. Here, we show that significant ϵs increases are realized by adding zwitterions, which are small molecules with a cation and an anion separated by covalent bonds. The increase in ϵs with zwitterion addition is attributed to the large molecular dipole of zwitterions, ranging from 35 to 41 D, as experimentally quantified and confirmed using density functional theory. At elevated zwitterion concentration in an ethylene glycol medium, there is a nonlinear increase of ϵs that eventually saturates due to the strong Coulombic interactions between zwitterions. The presented work provides a fundamental molecular understanding of why zwitterions are effective additives in boosting ϵs in soft materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]