Long-acting injectable (LAI) formulations of antiretrovirals (ARVs) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could be an attractive alternative for men who have sex with men (MSM) who are interested in ARV-based biomedical prevention but will not use a daily pill. This study investigated interest in LAI-PrEP in a cohort of MSM in China and characterized how MSM willing to use only injectable PrEP differed from MSM who would use PrEP regardless of modality or not at all. Demographic, behavioral, and risk perception measures were collected and associations investigated. A licensed LAI-PrEP agent would increase the proportion interested in PrEP by 24.5% over oral PrEP alone. Combining interest in oral and injectable PrEP, 78.5% of the sample could be covered if reported interest in PrEP translated into actual uptake. Partnership factors differentiated those who would be willing to use only LAI-PrEP versus any PrEP modality, while higher self-perception of risk was associated with interest in LAI-PrEP versus no PrEP. The addition of a second PrEP modality could yield increased population coverage of PrEP. Social and behavioral research should be undertaken in parallel with clinical development of injectable PrEP agents to identify characteristics of those who are not interested in oral PrEP but would take advantage of ARV-based prevention with the introduction of an injectable product.

The effects of straw incorporation on CH4 emissions from rice fields decrease over time, due to increased CH4 consumption in soil.

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Self-powered photodetectors (SPPDs) are promising candidates for high-sensitivity and high-speed applications because they do not require batteries as an external power source. It is a challenge to fabricate visible-light photodetectors. Herein, vertically aligned two-dimensional (2D) Sn 3 O 4 nanoflakes on carbon fiber paper were prepared by a modified hydrothermal approach and used as a self-powered photoelectrochemical cell-type visible-light detector. The detector exhibits reproducible and flexible properties as well as an enhanced photosensitive performance. The improved photoresponse was attributed to the synergistic effects of the vertically grown Sn 3 O 4 nanoflakes and carbon fiber paper substrate; the former provided efficient active sites, as it exposed more catalytic sites to the electrolyte and absorbed more light scattered among the nanoflakes, and the latter benefited charge transport. The photocatalytic activity of the three-dimensional (3D) Sn 3 O 4 hierarchal structure on rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation was investigated and shown to have a degradation rate constant of 3.2 × 10 −2 min −1 . The advantage over ordinal materials for use in an SPPD device is that this material is flexible and easily recoverable as a photocatalyst.

ObjectiveTo identify factors associated with mother-to-child-transmission and late access to prevention of maternal to child transmission (PMTCT) services among HIV-infected women; and risk factors for infant mortality among HIV-exposed infants in order to assess the feasibility of virtual elimination of vertical transmission and pediatric HIV in this setting.DesignObservational study evaluating the impact of a provincial PMTCT program.MethodsThe intervention was implemented in 26 counties of Yunnan Province, China at municipal and tertiary health care settings. Log linear regression models with generalized estimating equations were used to identify unadjusted and adjusted correlates for late ARV intervention and MTCT. Cox proportional hazard models with robust sandwich estimation were applied to examine correlates of infant mortality.ResultsMother-to-child- transmission rate of HIV was controlled to 2%, with late initiation of maternal ARV showing a strong association with vertical transmission and infant mortality. Risk factors for late initiation of maternal ARV were age, ethnicity, education, and having a husband not tested for HIV. Mortality rate among HIV-exposed infants was 2.9/100 person-years. In addition to late initiation of maternal ARV, ethnicity, low birth weight and preterm birth were associated with infant mortality.ConclusionsThis PMTCT program in Yunnan achieved low rates of MTCT. However the infant mortality rate in this cohort of HIV-exposed children was almost three times the provincial rate. Virtual elimination of MTCT of HIV is an achievable goal in China, but more attention needs to be paid to HIV-free survival.

The project demonstrated that HAART for all infected pregnant women is effective with a vertical transmission rate of approximately 1%. Thus, this project provides a model for China to scale up its efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1.

Rice is a staple food for nearly half of the world's population, but rice paddies constitute a major source of anthropogenic CH4 emissions. Root exudates from growing rice plants are an important substrate for methane‐producing microorganisms. Therefore, breeding efforts optimizing rice plant photosynthate allocation to grains, i.e., increasing harvest index (HI), are widely expected to reduce CH4 emissions with higher yield. Here we show, by combining a series of experiments, meta‐analyses and an expert survey, that the potential of CH4 mitigation from rice paddies through HI improvement is in fact small. Whereas HI improvement reduced CH4 emissions under continuously flooded (CF) irrigation, it did not affect CH4 emissions in systems with intermittent irrigation (II). We estimate that future plant breeding efforts aimed at HI improvement to the theoretical maximum value will reduce CH4 emissions in CF systems by 4.4%. However, CF systems currently make up only a small fraction of the total rice growing area (i.e., 27% of the Chinese rice paddy area). Thus, to achieve substantial CH4 mitigation from rice agriculture, alternative plant breeding strategies may be needed, along with alternative management.