Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is an important grain crop that is grown in arid regions. Here we sequenced 916 diverse foxtail millet varieties, identified 2.58 million SNPs and used 0.8 million common SNPs to construct a haplotype map of the foxtail millet genome. We classified the foxtail millet varieties into two divergent groups that are strongly correlated with early and late flowering times. We phenotyped the 916 varieties under five different environments and identified 512 loci associated with 47 agronomic traits by genome-wide association studies. We performed a de novo assembly of deeply sequenced genomes of a Setaria viridis accession (the wild progenitor of S. italica) and an S. italica variety and identified complex interspecies and intraspecies variants. We also identified 36 selective sweeps that seem to have occurred during modern breeding. This study provides fundamental resources for genetics research and genetic improvement in foxtail millet.

Manipulating particle size is a powerful means of creating unprecedented optical properties in metals and semiconductors. Here we report an insulator system composed of NaYbF4:Tm in which size effect can be harnessed to enhance multiphoton upconversion. Our mechanistic investigations suggest that the phenomenon stems from spatial confinement of energy migration in nanosized structures. We show that confining energy migration constitutes a general and versatile strategy to manipulating multiphoton upconversion, demonstrating an efficient five-photon upconversion emission of Tm3+ in a stoichiometric Yb lattice without suffering from concentration quenching. The high emission intensity is unambiguously substantiated by realizing room-temperature lasing emission at around 311 nm after 980-nm pumping, recording an optical gain two orders of magnitude larger than that of a conventional Yb/Tm-based system operating at 650 nm. Our findings thus highlight the viability of realizing diode-pumped lasing in deep ultraviolet regime for various practical applications.

Objective Obesity is associated with poorer breast cancer outcomes and losing weight postdiagnosis may improve survival. As Hispanic and black women have poorer breast cancer prognosis than non-Hispanic whites diagnosed at similar age and stage, and have higher rates of obesity, effective weight loss strategies are needed. We piloted a randomized, waitlist-controlled, crossover study to examine the effects and feasibility of the commercial Curves weight loss program among Hispanic, African American and Afro-Caribbean breast cancer survivors. Design and Methods Women with stage 0– IIIa breast cancer ≥6 months posttreatment, sedentary, and BMI ≥25 kg/m2 were randomized to the immediate arm (IA): 6 months of the Curves program followed by 6 months of observation; or the waitlist control arm (WCA): 6 months of observation followed by 6 months of the Curves program. The Curves program uses a 30-min exercise circuit and a high-vegetable/low-fat/calorie-restricted diet. Results A total of 42 women enrolled (79% Hispanic, 21% black), mean age 51 (range 32–69) and mean BMI 33.2(±5.9) kg/m2; 91% were retained at month 12. At month 6, women in the IA lost an average 3.3% (±3.5%) of body weight (range: 1.7% gain to 10.6% loss), as compared with 1.8% (±2.9%) weight loss in the WCA (P = 0.04). At month 12, on average women in the IA regained some but not all of the weight lost during the first 6 months (P = 0.02). Conclusions Minority breast cancer survivors were recruited and retained in a weight loss study. Six months of the Curves program resulted in moderate weight loss, but weight loss was not maintained postintervention. Future interventions should identify methods to increase uptake and maintenance of weight loss behaviors.

Background Prevalence of HIV infection is considerable among youth, although data on risk factors for new (incident) infections is limited. We examined incidence of HIV infection and risk and protective factors among youth in rural Uganda, including the role of gender and social transitions. Methods Participants were sexually experienced youth (15–24 years-old) enrolled in the Rakai Community Cohort Study,1999–2008 (n=6741). Poisson regression with robust standard errors was used to estimate incident rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident HIV infection. Results HIV incidence was greater among young women than young men (14.1 vs. 8.3 per 1000 person-years, respectively); this gender disparity was greater among teens (14.9 vs. 3.6). Beyond behavioral (multiple partners and concurrency) and biological factors (sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms), social transitions such as marriage and staying in school influenced HIV risk. In multivariate analyses among women, HIV incidence was associated with living in a trading village [adjusted IRR (aIRR) = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.04 to 2.11], being a student (aIRR = 0.22; 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.72), current marriage (aIRR = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.81), former marriage (aIRR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.01 to 2.96), having multiple partners, and sexually transmitted infection symptoms. Among men, new infections were associated with former marriage (aIRR = 5.57; 95% CI: 2.51 to 12.36), genital ulceration (aIRR = 3.56; 95% CI: 1.97 to 6.41), and alcohol use (aIRR = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.15 to 3.77). Conclusions During the third decade of the HIV epidemic in Uganda, HIV incidence remains considerable among youth, with young women particularly at risk. The risk for new infections was strongly shaped by social transitions such as leaving school, entrance into marriage, and marital dissolution; the impact of marriage was different for young men than women.

Objective-Obesity is associated with poorer breast cancer outcomes and losing weight postdiagnosis may improve survival. As Hispanic and black women have poorer breast cancer prognosis than non-Hispanic whites diagnosed at similar age and stage, and have higher rates of obesity, effective weight loss strategies are needed. We piloted a randomized, waitlist-controlled, crossover study to examine the effects and feasibility of the commercial Curves weight loss program among Hispanic, African American and Afro-Caribbean breast cancer survivors.Design and Methods-Women with stage 0-IIIa breast cancer ≥6 months posttreatment, sedentary, and BMI ≥25 kg/m 2 were randomized to the immediate arm (IA): 6 months of the Curves program followed by 6 months of observation; or the waitlist control arm (WCA): 6 months of observation followed by 6 months of the Curves program. The Curves program uses a 30-min exercise circuit and a high-vegetable/low-fat/calorie-restricted diet.Results-A total of 42 women enrolled (79% Hispanic, 21% black), mean age 51 (range 32-69) and mean BMI 33.2(±5.9) kg/m 2 ; 91% were retained at month 12. At month 6, women in the IA lost an average 3.3% (±3.5%) of body weight (range: 1.7% gain to 10.6% loss), as compared with 1.8% (±2.9%) weight loss in the WCA (P = 0.04). At month 12, on average women in the IA regained some but not all of the weight lost during the first 6 months (P = 0.02). HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptConclusions-Minority breast cancer survivors were recruited and retained in a weight loss study. Six months of the Curves program resulted in moderate weight loss, but weight loss was not maintained postintervention. Future interventions should identify methods to increase uptake and maintenance of weight loss behaviors.

Two important properties-the low surface free energy of polybenzoxazine (PBZ) and the photocatalysis-induced self-cleaning property of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles-are combined to develop a promising approach for oil/water separation. They are integrated into a multifunctional superhydrophobic and superoleophilic material, PBZ/TiO2 modified polyester non-woven fabrics (PBZT), through a simple dip coating and subsequent thermal curing method. The resulting PBZT reveals excellent mechanical durability and strong resistance to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation as well as acid and alkali. This durable superhydrophobic and superoleophilic fabric is efficient for separating oil/water mixtures by gravity with high separation efficiency, and it can also purify wastewater that contains soluble dyes, which makes it more effective and promising in treating water pollution. Importantly, PBZT demonstrates an integrated self-cleaning performance on the removal of both oil and particle contamination. It is expected that this simple process can be readily adopted for the design of multifunctional PBZ/TiO2 based materials for oil/water separation.

A naphthoxazine containing a latent catalyst based on −OH as part of its monomer structure has been synthesized through a simple one-pot reaction at room temperature. The chemical structure of this naphthoxazine monomer has been confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and FT-IR and its purity by elemental analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and in situ FT-IR have been used to investigate the active and inactive conditions for the latent catalysis. DSC and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies indicate that this naphthoxazine polymerizes quickly before the monomer evaporation, as is often the case for conventional naphthoxazines, minimizing the monomer loss during polymerization. The intramolecular interactions between the −OH group and oxazine ring and pyrrolidine ring of the monomer have been investigated in detail by using the homonuclear two-dimensional (2D) NMR technique 1H–1H nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY). The −OH interacts with the N in the pyrrolidine ring and oxazine ring through stable intramolecular hydrogen bonds instead of presenting free −OH at room temperature, leading to the enhanced shelf life of the monomer. The free phenolic −OH initiates and catalyzes the polymerization once the hydrogen-bonded interactions are weakened or disrupted upon increasing temperature, showing a latent catalytic effect.

Two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted significant interest in various optoelectronic applications due to their excellent nonlinear optical properties. One of the most important applications of TMDs is to be employed as an extraordinary optical modulation material (e.g., the saturable absorber (SA)) in ultrafast photonics. The main challenge arises while embedding TMDs into fiber laser systems to generate ultrafast pulse trains and thus constraints their practical applications. Herein, few-layered WS with a large-area was directly transferred on the facet of the pigtail and acted as a SA for erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) systems. In our study, WS SA exhibited remarkable nonlinear optical properties (e.g., modulation depth of 15.1% and saturable intensity of 157.6 MW cm) and was used for ultrafast pulse generation. The soliton pulses with remarkable performances (e.g., ultrashort pulse duration of 1.49 ps, high stability of 71.8 dB, and large pulse average output power of 62.5 mW) could be obtained in a telecommunication band. To the best of our knowledge, the average output power of the mode-locked pulse trains is the highest by employing TMD materials in fiber laser systems. These results indicate that atomically large-area WS could be used as excellent optical modulation materials in ultrafast photonics.