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A cross-sectional study employing two-stage cluster sampling was conducted between December 2005 and March 2006 to compare adults' knowledge of HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and the attitudes toward and acceptance of VCT between a county in which a comprehensive HIV/AIDS program, China CARES (CC), was available, and a county where it was not. Information on HIV/AIDS knowledge, awareness of VCT, and attitudes was collected. All participants were given a coupon for free VCT after the cross-sectional interview. Uptake of VCT was measured within 2 months of the interview. More participants in the CC county knew someone infected with HIV, had participated in AIDS-related activities, and/or had heard about China CARES. In the control county, education and income levels were higher, there were fewer minorities, and there was a higher proportion of women. VCT uptake was low. Overall, no significant differences in uptake were found between the two counties. Urban residents of the CC county had higher HIV/AIDS knowledge levels than urban residents of the comparison county (p = 0.002). Residents of the CC county were more discriminative against HIV/AIDS and persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and had lower perceptions of risk. The differences may be due to the higher proportion of rural residents in the CC county (p < 0.001). The China CARES program may have had a positive effect on urban areas of Guizhou Province in terms of improving HIV/AIDS and VCT knowledge and reducing discrimination, but had little impact in the rural areas. If the China CARES program is to be successful, it must implement a more effective education program and increase the acceptability of testing.

Considering the thermal issues of sever, a thermal simulation model is built using the lumped parameter method. It finds that the high temperature areas are mainly concentrated in CPU and north bridge chip. With regard to CPU, the fin thickness and fins number of heat pipe radiator are optimized through nonlinear curve fitting method. The optimized radiator could reduce the maximum temperature of CPU by 3.45–6.67 °C, varied by CPU load. With regard to north bridge chip, a chip-level cooling method based on Peltier effect is proposed. The macro-scale and micro-scale thermoelectric cooler (TEC) are respectively introduced to cool the chip and its hot spot. It finds that the added TEC could reduce the temperature rise of north bridge chip by 0.99–8.32 °C, and the hot spot temperature of north bridge chip can be significantly reduced by utilizing a mini-contact structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess HIV incidence and its associated risk factors among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in urban areas, China. Design: The study used a prospective cohort study design and standard diagnostic tests. Methods: A twelve-month prospective cohort study was conducted among YMSM (18–25 years old) in 8 large cities in China. The participants were recruited via snowball sampling. A total of 1102 HIV-negative YMSM completed baseline assessment, 878 YMSM participants completed 6-month follow-up, and 902 completed 12-month follow-up. HIV was screened by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and confirmed with Western Blot. Syphilis was screened via rapid plasma reagent and confirmed by treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay. Results: 78 HIV seroconversions were identified within 1168.4 person-year observations yielding an incidence rate of 6.7 per 100 person-years. HIV seroconversion was associated with non-student status (RR = 2.61, 90% CI = 1.3–5.26), low HIV transmission knowledge (RR = 8.87, 90% CI = 2.16–36.43), and syphilis infection (RR = 5.04, 90% CI = 2.57–9.90). Conclusions: Incidence of HIV among YMSM is high in urban areas of China. Interventions measures are required to contain the HIV epidemic within this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells (DCs) constitute an attractive target for specific delivery of nanovaccines for immunotherapeutic applications. Here we tested nano-sized dextran (DEX) particles to serve as a DC-addressing nanocarrier platform. Non-functionalized DEX particles had no immunomodulatory effect on bone marrow (BM)-derived murine DCs in vitro. However, when adsorbed with ovalbumine (OVA), DEX particles were efficiently engulfed by BM-DCs in a mannose receptor-dependent manner. A DEX-based nanovaccine containing OVA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a DC stimulus induced strong OVA peptide-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation both in vitro and upon systemic application in mice, as well as a robust OVA-specific humoral immune response (IgG1>IgG2a) in vivo. Accordingly, this nanovaccine also raised both a more pronounced delayed-type hypersensitivity response and a stronger induction of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells than obtained upon administration of OVA and LPS in soluble form. Therefore, DEX-based nanoparticles constitute a potent, versatile and easy to prepare nanovaccine platform for immunotherapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells (DCs) constitute an attractive target for specific delivery of nanovaccines for immunotherapeutic applications. Here we tested nano-sized dextran (DEX) particles to serve as a DC-addressing nanocarrier platform. Non-functionalized DEX particles had no immunomodulatory effect on bone marrow (BM)-derived murine DCs in vitro. However, when adsorbed with ovalbumine (OVA), DEX particles were efficiently engulfed by BM-DCs in a mannose receptor-dependent manner. A DEX-based nanovaccine containing OVA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a DC stimulus induced strong OVA peptide-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation both in vitro and upon systemic application in mice, as well as a robust OVA-specific humoral immune response (IgG1>IgG2a) in vivo. Accordingly, this nanovaccine also raised both a more pronounced delayed-type hypersensitivity response and a stronger induction of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells than obtained upon administration of OVA and LPS in soluble form. Therefore, DEX-based nanoparticles constitute a potent, versatile and easy to prepare nanovaccine platform for immunotherapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoelectric interface materials (TEiMs) are key to optimizing the electrical contact and stability of the interface between thermoelectric material and metal electrode in high-performance thin-film thermoelectric coolers (TECs). Herein, we explored TEiMs applicable to representative Bi-Te films and found that Cr and Ag are effective TEiMs for p-type Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 , respectively. By introducing 200 nm Cr and 200 nm Ag as TEiMs for p-type Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 /Cu and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 /Cu interfaces, Cu diffusion is suppressed, and excellent electrical contact is achieved (1.81 × 10 -12 Ω m 2 for p-type and 3.32 × 10 -12 Ω m 2 for n-type) and remains stable after heat treatment (2.37 × 10 -12 Ω m 2 for p-type and 1.63 × 10 -12 Ω m 2 for n-type). Furthermore, the cooling flux of TECs with optimized TEiMs increases from 122.74 to 296.56 W/cm 2 , while the performance degradation caused by contact resistance decreases from 50.81 to 4.15%. In addition, our results show that diffusion occurs between not only Cu but also Ag and the thermoelectric material, as TEiMs diffuse slightly. The diffusion of Cu and Ag at the interface can optimize the electrical contact of Bi 2 Te 3 /Cu but strongly degrade the electrical contacts of Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 /Cu. Our work provides an optimal selection of TEiMs for high-performance Bi-Te thin film coolers and provides guidance for further miniaturization of devices.

Aim: We wanted to assess the potency of a trifunctional nanoparticle (NP) that targeted and activated CD8 + dendritic cells (DC) and delivered an antigen to induce antitumor responses., Materials & Methods: The DC targeting and activating properties of ferrous NPs conjugated with immunostimulatory CpG-oligonucleotides, anti-DEC205 antibody and ovalbumin (OVA) as a model antigen to induce antigen-specific T-cell responses and antitumor responses were analyzed., Results: OVA-loaded NP conjugated with immunostimulatory CpG-oligonucleotides and anti-DEC205 antibody efficiently targeted and activated CD8 + DC in vivo, and induced strong OVA-specific T-cell activation. Vaccination of B16/OVA tumor-burdened mice with this NP formulation resulted in tumor growth arrest., Conclusion: CD8 + DC-targeting trifunctional nanocarriers bear significant potential for antitumor immunotherapy.

Objectives: To investigate the incidence of syphilis infection and to determine the risk factors related to syphilis infection among young men who had sex with men (YMSM), which were documented for developing effective intervention to prevent sexually transmitted diseases among YMSM., Methods: A cohort study was conducted in 8 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming,Guiyang, Chongqing, Chengdu, Urumqi and Nanning) from May to December, 2009. A total of 1 037 syphilis-negative YMSM aged 18-25 were enrolled in the cohort and the two follow-up surveys were carried out every six months. The contents of study included sociodemographic characteristics, HIV-related knowledge, sexual behavior and condom use in the 6 months prior to survey. All participants were tested for syphilis with whole blood specimens. Chi-square test was used to compare demographic characteristics of participants in baseline with those of two follow-up, and Cox regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with syphilis infection., Results: The rates of participants in 6, 12 months follow-up surveys was 79.85% (828/1 037) and 82.16% (852/1 037) respectively.39 syphilis seroconversions were found in the 12 months follow-up survey. Cumulative observed person-years during follow-up time was 1 106.67. The syphilis incidence rate was 3.5%. The Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the education of senior high school (senior high school vs some college or higher, RR = 2.19, 95% CI:1.21-3.98), bisexual orientation (bisexual orientation vs homosexual orientation, RR = 2.19, 95% CI:1.21-3.97), score of HIV/AIDS knowledge <8 (score of HIV/AIDS knowledge <8 vs knowledge = 8, RR = 2.39, 95%CI:1.35-4.21), had two and more sexual partners and inconsistent condom use in the past 6 months (inconsistent condom use vs consistent condom use, RR = 3.10, 95% CI:1.39-6.91) were significantly associated with syphilis seroconversion in the 12-month period., Conclusions: The syphilis incidence was high and risk behaviors were common among YMSM of China.