Training medical students to improve the management of people with epilepsy

Purpose: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and perception of medical students prior to and after a training course about epilepsy. Methods: We used a KAP questionnaire with sixty-one questions which assesses knowledge, attitude and practice of epilepsy. Questionnaires were completed by 185 medical students, before and after epilepsy training. We compared the answers to see whether the lecture had changed the knowledge, attitude and practice in epilepsy. Results: One hundred and six students completed the questionnaire before an eight hour course on epilepsy and 79 students completed the questionnaire one year after the course. Comparison of the knowledge scores prior to (mean=53.9, standard deviation=11.4) and after the course (mean=63.8, standard deviation=11.9) showed that students had improved knowledge after the course (t-test=5.6, p < 0.001). Discussion: Training course on epilepsy for medical students can promote improvement in the knowledge, attitudes and perception regarding epilepsy, which is maintained one year later. These results highlight the importance of continuous educational programs within the Medical Curriculum

Truncated Product Representations for L-Functions in the Hyperelliptic Ensemble

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordWe investigate the approximation of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions over function fields by truncations of their Euler products. We first establish representations for such L-functions as products over prime polynomials times products over their zeros. This is the hybrid formula in function fields. We then prove that partial Euler products are good approximations of an L-function away from its zeros, and that, when the length of the product tends to infinity, we recover the original L-function. We also obtain explicit expressions for the arguments of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions over function fields and for the arguments of their partial Euler products. In the second part of the paper we construct, for each quadratic Dirichlet L-function over a function field, an auxiliary function based on the approximate functional equation that equals the L-function on the critical line. We also construct a parametrized family of approximations of these auxiliary functions, prove the Riemann hypothesis holds for them, and that their zeros are related to those of the associated L-function. Finally, we estimate the counting function for the zeros of this family of approximations, show that these zeros cluster near those of the associated L-function, and that, when the parameter is not too large, almost all the zeros of the approximations are simple.JCA was partially supported by a Research in Pairs - Scheme 4 London Mathematical Society grant. SMG was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DMS-1200582. JPK gratefully acknowledges support under EPSRC Programme Grant EP/K034383/1 (LMF: L-Functions and Modular Forms) and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award

Direct evidence for charge stripes in a layered cobalt oxide

Recent experiments indicate that static stripe-like charge order is generic to the hole-doped copper oxide superconductors and competes with superconductivity. Here we show that a similar type of charge order is present in La5/3 Sr1/3 CoO4 , an insulating analogue of the copper oxide superconductors containing cobalt in place of copper. The stripe phase we have detected is accompanied by short-range, quasi-one-dimensional, antiferromagnetic order, and provides a natural explanation for the distinctive hour- glass shape of the magnetic spectrum previously observed in neutron scattering mea- surements of La2−xSrx CoO4 and many hole-doped copper oxide superconductors. The results establish a solid empirical basis for theories of the hourglass spectrum built on short-range, quasi-static, stripe correlations

Data on mortality from external causes and events of undetermined intent, Parana State, Brazil, 1979 to 2005

This study analyzed the quality of data from the Mortality Information System (SIM) for deaths due to external causes in the State of Parana, Brazil, 1979 to 2005, focusing on events of undetermined intent. Deaths were grouped in motor vehicle accidents, homicides, suicides, and events of undetermined intent, and proportional mortality and relative annual variation of rates over the three-year period were analyzed. Motor vehicle accidents (more than 30% of the total) were the most frequent causes of death throughout the period, and since 1997 homicides have become the second most frequent cause. Deaths due to events of undetermined intent caused by weapons (firearms or knives) decreased from 4.8% in 1981 to 0.3% in 2005. Mortality rates for events of undetermined intent (overall) decreased from 14.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 1979-81 to 2.0 in 2003-05. Annual percentage variation was 13.1% from 1980 to 1985, -6% from 1996 to 2000, and -11% from 2000 to 2004. The findings show the good quality of SIM data on external causes in the State of Parana, allowing analyses with the potential to support programs to prevent injuries as well as health promotion measures.25122322

Chromosomal analysis of the leptodactylids Pleurodema diplolistris and Physalaemus nattereri (Amphibia, Anura)

Detailed characterizations of the karyotypes of the Brazilian leptodactylid frogs Pleurodema diplolistris, the only species of Pleurodema not studied cytogenetically so far, and Physalaemus nattereri, a species in the Ph. biligonigerus group, are presented. Both karyotypes had 2n = 22 and their chromosomes had a very similar morphology, except for pair 11, which was metacentric in Pl. diplolistris and telocentric in Ph. nattereri. The localization of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) and heterochromatic bands allowed the differentiation of chromosomes that were morphologically indistinguishable between these species, such as pairs 1, 3 and 10, which showed interstitial C-bands in Ph. nattereri, and pair 8, that had an NOR and an adjacent C-band in Pl. diplolistris. Pair 8 also has NOR-bearing chromosomes in many other Pleurodema species. However, in these species, the NOR is located proximal to the centromere on the short arm, while in Pl. diplolistris it occurred distally on the long arm, a condition that may be considered a derived state. In Ph. nattereri, the NOR occurred on chromosome I 1 and differed from the other species of the Ph. biligonigerus group. In contrast, C-banding revealed a heterochromatic block near the centromere on the short arm of pair 3, a characteristic common to all members of this group of Physalaemus.27448148