Green's functions on finite lattices and their connection to the infinite lattice limit

It is shown that the Green's function on a finite lattice in arbitrary space dimension can be obtained from that of an infinite lattice by means of translation operator. Explicit examples are given for one- and two-dimensional lattices

Immunomodulatory effect of dietary selenium supplementation on serum antibody response and leucocytic profile of Trypanosoma brucei brucei infected rats

Effect of selenium supplementation on the immune response of Trypanosoma brucei brucei infected rats was investigated. Twenty five (25) adult male albino rats divided into five groups of five rats each were used for this study. Groups A, B and C were fed 4, 8 and 16 part per million (ppm) selenium in their feed, respectively. Groups D and E were not given selenium supplementation. The supplementation started on day 0, followed by the infection of groups A, B, C and D with T. brucei brucei on day 14 post supplementation (PS). Immune response of the rats was assessed by determining the antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) using direct haemagglutination technique and total and differential leucocyte counts. The supplementation led to significant (p < 0.05) increase in antibody response to sheep red blood cell of the supplemented groups at pre- and post infection when compared with the control. The infection however, led to decrease in antibody titre but remained higher than the pre-supplementation titre. Also, the supplementation led to increase (p < 0.05) in leucocyte counts prior to infection on day 14 PS. The increase in total leucocyte count could be attributed to increase in lymphocyte and neutrophils. The mortality record showed that all rats (100%) in the infected, not supplemented group and 2 rats (40%) died from the 16 ppm group by day 42 PS. No rat died in 4, 8 ppm and not infected, not treated groups.Key words: Selenium, antibody titre, leucocytes, trypanosomes, immunosuppression

Role of abdominal ultrasound imaging in evaluation of children with suspected upper gastrointestinal disease

Objectives: To evaluate the sonographic abdominal findings in children with suspected upper gastrointestinal disease, establish indications for sonography and describe the gastrointestinal disease patterns that can be evaluated by ultrasound.Design: Descriptive prospective study.Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital and Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Medicine, University of Nairobi.Subjects: Fifty-six children who presented with vomiting and suspected upper gastrointestinal disease. Age range was from six days to 12 years with mean age of one year five months. Seventy seven percent were two years and below.Results: Of the 56 children, six were normal on sonography; 18 (32.1%) had intussusception, 16 (28.6%) gastroesophageal reflux, seven (12.5%) pyloric stenosis, four appendicitis, three jejunal/ileal atresia and two enteric duplication cysts. All the children with pyloric stenosis were male. The male: female ratio for intussusception and GER was 1.5:1 and 1.6:1 respectively. The most common clinical presentation in children found to have intussusception was palpable abdominal mass, and few of them presented with bloodstained stool. More than two thirds of the children with gastro-oesophageal reflux presented with complications of recurrent pneumonia and failure to thrive. The sonographic findings correlated with fluoroscopy for GER except in two children where sonography was found to be more sensitive. The sonographic findings correlated with surgical outcome for pyloric stenosis, intussusception, jejunal/ ileal atresia and enteric duplication cysts.Conclusion: Trans-abdominal sonography has a definite role in investigating the child suspected to have upper gastrointestinal disease and should be considered as the initial imaging modality, instead of fluoroscopy, thereby avoiding or limiting the use of ionising radiation. Findings in this study confirm that ultrasound is an accurate, reliable and rapid screening method to evaluate the causes of upper gastrointestinaldisease in children

Analysis of genetic diversity in accessions of Irvingia gabonensis (Aubry-Lecomte ex O'Rorke) Baill

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to assess genetic diversity and relationships among 15 accessions of Irvingia gabonensis collected from Cameroun, Gabon, and Nigeria. Twelve AFLP+3 primers produced 384 polymorphic fragments. Average genetic distance (AGD) between the 15 accessions was 58.7% (32-88%). AGD and range of genetic distance among accessions from Cameroun, Nigeria and Gabon were 62% (53-76%), 52% (32.3 – 84.8%) and 50% (45- 53%), respectively, indicating more genetic diversity in Cameroun than Nigeria and Gabon. The unweighted pair-group method of the arithmetic average (UPGMA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCO) showed a clear distinction between the Gabon and Nigeria accessions into two separate clusters, with accessions from Cameroun overlapping them. Principal coordinate analysis (PCO) indicated a closer relationship between accessions from Cameroun and Gabon. In general the Cameroun germplasm appears to be a bridge between the genetically isolated Nigeria and Gabon accessions. This overlap of Gabon and Nigerian accessions by the accessions from Cameroun may be an indication that Cameroun is the center of diversity of I. gabonensis and also the primary source of original materials grown in the other countries. More collection in Cameroun is necessary to ensure the optimum collection and preservation of the existing genetic diversity in I. gabonensis.Keywords: Irvingia gabonensis, Accession, amplified fragment length polymorphism, genetic diversit

Diverse genetic subtypes of HIV-1 among female sex workers in Ibadan, Nigeria

Genetic diversity is the hallmark of HIV-1 infection. It differs among geographical regions throughout the world. This study was undertaken to identify the predominant HIV-1 subtypes among infected female sex workers (FSWs) in Nigeria. Methods: Two hundred and fifty FSWs from brothels in Ibadan Nigeria were screened for HIV antibody using ELISA. All reactive samples were further tested by the Western Blot Techniques. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) were separated from the blood samples of each subject. Fragments of HIV Proviral DNA was amplified and genetic subtypes of HIV-1 was determined by direct sequencing of the env and gag genes of the viral genome followed by phylogenetic analysis . Results: The age of the FSWs ranged from 15 to 55 years old (Mean = 25.8years, SD =3.74). Majority were Nigerians while others (1.6 %) were from neighboring West Africa countries. Four ( 1.6% ) of the FSWs were active for less than one year as sex workers, and the mean length of sex work was 2.80 years ( Range = 1.0 – 15.0 years ). Sixty-four (25.6%) of the 250 CSWs were positive for HIV-1 while 7 (2-8%) had dual infections to HIV-1 / HIV-2. Among the 34 HIV-1 strains  characterized by sequencing, 19 (55-9%) were subtype G, 9 (26.5%) CRF02_A/G, 3 (8.8%) CRF06_cpx while 1 (2.9%) each were identified as subtype C, CRF01_A/E and CRF09_cpx respectively. Nineteen (55.9%) of the FSWs with subtype G had been active in the sex work for between one to five years. The youngest of the HIV -1 infected FSWs with sexual activity of less than a year had subtype G strain. There is a significant probability that infection with this subtype occurred with a short incubation period (p< 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed a wide range of HIV- 1 subtypes among FSWs in Nigeria. The situation poses serious challenge for the design of HIV vaccine candidate for use in Nigeria.Keywords: Diverse, HIV, subtypes, Female Sex workers and Vaccin

Physico-chemical characteristics of Anopheles breeding sites: Impact on fecundity and progeny development

Mosquitoes exploit almost all types of aquatic habitats for breeding. Prevailing physicochemical parameters in these habitats are important factors for survival and development of mosquito. Here, six water samples from Atlantic Ocean, River, well, distilled (control), rain and borehole water were used to culture Anopheline eggs collected from pure bred of Kisimu species. The development of eggs to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instars larval, pupal and adult stages were observed from day 1 to 6 using six replicates of each water sample. The number of eggs laid (fecundity) by the emerged adults were estimated using counting microscope. Level of development in emerged adults was determined using the wing size. The analysis of the physicochemical parameters of the water samples was carried out in the Nigerian Institute of Marine and Oceanography. The physicochemical characteristics were compared with the rates of development and fecundity of the Anopheline species. Statistical analysis using ANOVA indicates no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the hatchability of the eggs. However, the rates of larval development to pupal stage and subsequent adult emergence showed a level of significant difference (P 0.05). This study provides information on mosquito ecology in relation to breeding habitat which may have bearing on vector population and distribution as well as malaria transmission in a particular area

Sedentary behavior-based user life-log monitoring for wellness services

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Ubiquitous computing and smart gadgets have revolutionized the selfquantification in tracking and logging activities for improving daily life and inducing healthy behavior. Life-log monitoring is the process of monitoring the daily life routines of user in an efficient manner in terms of time and amount of activities. The effective utilization of life-log monitoring is to correctly identify and intimate user unhealthy activities in a timely manner. For monitoring lifelog, the knowledge of sedentary behavior first need to be formulated by the domain expert in the form of unhealthy situations, these situations are used as the monitoring unit. In this study we proposed a method for automatically monitoring users’ unhealthy situations in the domain of sedentary behavior with prolonged activities. The proposed method simultaneously filters out multiple sedentary activities of users simultaneously while ignoring the activities having no situations. The results depict that the monitoring method intimates the stakeholder with delay less than the monitoring interval cycle

Association between atrial high rate episode burden and autonomic and vascular function in patients with implanted cardiac device

Abstract Background Patients who experience frequent atrial high rate episodes (AHREs), recorded on implantable cardiac devices, are at an increased risk of stroke and systemic embolism. Increased duration of AHRE is related to higher risk of thromboembolic event. The underlying pathophysiology is unclear; however, autonomic and/or endothelial dysfunction may contribute. Purpose We tested the hypothesis that patients with high AHRE burden have worse autonomic and vascular function compared to patients with low AHRE burden. Design We studied 44 patients split in two groups: high AHRE burden (longest AHRE ≥24 hours; n=22) and low AHRE burden (longest AHRE &amp;lt;24 hours; n=22). Resting time- and frequency-domain measures of HRV were determined to index cardiac autonomic function. High-resolution ultrasound was used to measure brachial artery diameter at rest and during reactive hyperaemia (endothelium-dependent flow mediated dilation (FMD)). Results FMD was higher in the low AHRE burden group compared to high AHRE group (5.5% [95% confidence interval (CI):3.4–7.6] vs 3.1% [95% CI: 1.9–6.2]; p=0.04) (table 1). Mean heart rate (p&amp;lt;0.001) and AHRE burden (p=0.02) were independent predictors of FMD on multivariate analysis. Time-domain, frequency-domain and non-linear indices of HRV were not significantly different between the groups. A slower heart rate (Spearman's rho 0.369; p=0.01) and high AHRE burden (Spearman's rho −0.315; p=0.04) were independently associated with changes seen on FMD following adjustment for multiple variables (p=0.001 and p=0.03 respectively). Conclusion Endothelium-dependent FMD is impaired in patients with high AHRE burden, while HRV derived indices of autonomic function were not affected by AHRE burden. Endothelial dysfunction may play an important role in the adverse outcomes seen in patients who experience frequent AHRE. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. </jats:sec

Suppression of growth by multiplicative white noise in a parametric resonant system

The author studied the growth of the amplitude in a Mathieu-like equation with multiplicative white noise. The approximate value of the exponent at the extremum on parametric resonance regions was obtained theoretically by introducing the width of time interval, and the exponents were calculated numerically by solving the stochastic differential equations by a symplectic numerical method. The Mathieu-like equation contains a parameter $\alpha$ that is determined by the intensity of noise and the strength of the coupling between the variable and the noise. The value of $\alpha$ was restricted not to be negative without loss of generality. It was shown that the exponent decreases with $\alpha$, reaches a minimum and increases after that. It was also found that the exponent as a function of $\alpha$ has only one minimum at $\alpha \neq 0$ on parametric resonance regions of $\alpha = 0$. This minimum value is obtained theoretically and numerically. The existence of the minimum at $\alpha \neq 0$ indicates the suppression of the growth by multiplicative white noise.Comment: The title and the description in the manuscript are change