445 research outputs found
Civil society and public health research in the European Union new member states
Introduction Civil society organisations (CSOs) are not-for-profit organisations working for the public interest with concerns complementary to public health. We investigated the contribution of CSOs in public health research. Methods Within a European project STEPS (Strengthening Engagement with Public Health Research), CSOs with interests in health were identified in the new member states of the European Union (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Malta and Cyprus) and workshops organised, held in their own languages. The reports of the workshops were translated into English, and drawn together through a framework analysis. Results CSOs can contribute in all stages of the research cycle, through championship, priority-setting, capacity building and generation of resources, sharing and application of the research results, and dissemination across their network of contacts. There have been successful CSO-researcher collaborations in public health fields. Funding is important, and ministries of health and public institutions should interact more with CSOs. Barriers include attitudes, technical understanding across public health fields. Discussion There is little European empirical literature linking health CSOs and research: our results indicate benefits and further opportunities. In contrast to biomedicine’s link with industry, public health research can align with civil society in not-for-profit research. CSOs are important for European integration, and their contribution should be better recognised at international level
Effect of rapidly resorbable bone substitute materials on the temporal expression of the osteoblastic phenotype \u3cem\u3ein vitro\u3c/em\u3e
Ideally, bioactive ceramics for use in alveolar ridge augmentation should possess the ability to activate bone formation and, thus, cause the differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells into osteoblasts at their surfaces. Therefore, in order to evaluate the osteogenic potential of novel bone substitute materials, it is important to examine their effect on osteoblastic differentiation. This study examines the effect of rapidly resorbable calcium–alkali– orthophosphates on osteoblastic phenotype expression and compares this behavior to that of ß-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and bioactive glass 45S5. Test materials were three materials (denominated GB14, GB9, GB9/25) with a crystalline phase Ca2KNa(PO4)2 and with a small amorphous portion containing either magnesium potassium phosphate (GB14) or silica phosphate (GB9 and GB9/25, which also contains Ca2P2O7); and a material with a novel crystalline phase Ca10[K/Na](PO4)7 (material denominated 352i). SaOS-2 human bone cells were grown on the substrata for 3, 7, 14, and 21 days, counted, and probed for an array of osteogenic markers. GB9 had the greatest stimulatory effect on osteoblastic proliferation and differentiation, suggesting that this material possesses the highest potency to enhance osteogenesis. GB14 and 352i supported osteoblast differentiation to the same or a higher degree than TCP, whereas, similar to bioactive glass 45S5, GB9/25 displayed a greater stimulatory effect on osteoblastic phenotype expression, indicating that GB9/25 is also an excellent material for promoting osteogenesis
Solitonic excitations in the Haldane phase of a S=1 chain
We study low-lying excitations in the 1D antiferromagnetic
valence-bond-solid (VBS) model. In a numerical calculation on finite systems
the lowest excitations are found to form a discrete triplet branch, separated
from the higher-lying continuum. The dispersion of these triplet excitations
can be satisfactorily reproduced by assuming approximate wave functions. These
wave functions are shown to correspond to moving hidden domain walls, i.e. to
one-soliton excitations.Comment: RevTex 3.0, 24 pages, 2 figures on request by fax or mai
Scarring on invariant manifolds for perturbed quantized hyperbolic toral automorphisms
We exhibit scarring for certain nonlinear ergodic toral automorphisms. There
are perturbed quantized hyperbolic toral automorphisms preserving certain
co-isotropic submanifolds. The classical dynamics is ergodic, hence in the
semiclassical limit almost all eigenstates converge to the volume measure of
the torus. Nevertheless, we show that for each of the invariant submanifolds,
there are also eigenstates which localize and converge to the volume measure of
the corresponding submanifold.Comment: 17 page
Apoptosis and proliferation in the trigeminal placode
The neurogenic trigeminal placode develops from the crescent-shaped panplacodal primordium which delineates the neural plate anteriorly. We show that, in Tupaia belangeri, the trigeminal placode is represented by a field of focal ectodermal thickenings which over time changes positions from as far rostral as the level of the forebrain to as far caudal as opposite rhombomere 3. Delamination proceeds rostrocaudally from the ectoderm adjacent to the rostral midbrain, and contributes neurons to the trigeminal ganglion as well as to the ciliary ganglion/oculomotor complex. Proliferative events are centered on the field prior to the peak of delamination. They are preceded, paralleled and, finally, outnumbered by apoptotic events which proceed rostrocaudally from non-delaminating to delaminating parts of the field. Apoptosis persists upon regression of the placode, thereby exhibiting a massive “wedge” of apoptotic cells which includes the postulated position of the “ventrolateral postoptic placode” (Lee et al. in Dev Biol 263:176–190, 2003), merges with groups of lens-associated apoptotic cells, and disappears upon lens detachment. In conjunction with earlier work (Washausen et al. in Dev Biol 278:86–102, 2005) our findings suggest that apoptosis contributes repeatedly to the disintegration of the panplacodal primordium, to the elimination of subsets of premigratory placodal neuroblasts, and to the regression of placodes
Preschool Mathematics Performance and Executive Function: Rural-Urban Comparisons across Time
This longitudinal study examined the relationship between executive function (EF) and mathematics with rural and urban preschool children. A panel of direct and indirect EF measures were used to compare how well individual measures, as well as analytic approaches, predicted both numeracy and geometry skill. One hundred eighteen children, ages 39 to 68 months, were given EF and mathematics assessments twice, approximately six months apart, concurrent to their teachers completing an indirect assessment of EF for each child. Results suggest: (1) the child’s age determines if a panel of direct EF measures is a better predictor of numeracy and geometry skills than a single EF measure, (2) geometry and numeracy skill are influenced differently by contextual factors, and (3) the EF-geometry link may develop about six months later than the EF-numeracy connection. As the relationship between preschool age EF and mathematics is better understood, efforts can be made to improve the aspects of EF connected to mathematics skill, which may aid in performance
Using the Hadamard and related transforms for simplifying the spectrum of the quantum baker's map
We rationalize the somewhat surprising efficacy of the Hadamard transform in
simplifying the eigenstates of the quantum baker's map, a paradigmatic model of
quantum chaos. This allows us to construct closely related, but new, transforms
that do significantly better, thus nearly solving for many states of the
quantum baker's map. These new transforms, which combine the standard Fourier
and Hadamard transforms in an interesting manner, are constructed from
eigenvectors of the shift permutation operator that are also simultaneous
eigenvectors of bit-flip (parity) and possess bit-reversal (time-reversal)
symmetry.Comment: Version to appear in J. Phys. A. Added discussions; modified title;
corrected minor error
On the multiplicativity of quantum cat maps
The quantum mechanical propagators of the linear automorphisms of the
two-torus (cat maps) determine a projective unitary representation of the theta
group, known as Weil's representation. We prove that there exists an
appropriate choice of phases in the propagators that defines a proper
representation of the theta group. We also give explicit formulae for the
propagators in this representation.Comment: Revised version: proof of the main theorem simplified. 21 page
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