Written education materials for stroke patients and their carers: perspectives and practices of health professionals

Inadequacies in the provision of written education materials to stroke patients and their carers have been reported. In this study, 20 stroke team health professionals were surveyed regarding their use of and perspectives on written education materials. Seventy percent of participants provided materials to 25% or fewer stroke patients and 90% believed that patients and carers are only occasionally or rarely provided with sufficient written information. Health professionals were uncertain which team members provided written information and identified the need to improve the quality of materials used. Stroke teams should implement a system that facilitates the routine provision of quality written materials to patients and carers, communication among team members, and documentation and verbal reinforcement of the information provided

Dynamics of multi-stage infections on networks

This paper investigates the dynamics of infectious diseases with a nonexponentially distributed infectious period. This is achieved by considering a multistage infection model on networks. Using pairwise approximation with a standard closure, a number of important characteristics of disease dynamics are derived analytically, including the final size of an epidemic and a threshold for epidemic outbreaks, and it is shown how these quantities depend on disease characteristics, as well as the number of disease stages. Stochastic simulations of dynamics on networks are performed and compared to output of pairwise models for several realistic examples of infectious diseases to illustrate the role played by the number of stages in the disease dynamics. These results show that a higher number of disease stages results in faster epidemic outbreaks with a higher peak prevalence and a larger final size of the epidemic. The agreement between the pairwise and simulation models is excellent in the cases we consider

The surface science of quasicrystals

The surfaces of quasicrystals have been extensively studied since about 1990. In this paper we review work on the structure and morphology of clean surfaces, and their electronic and phonon structure. We also describe progress in adsorption and epitaxy studies. The paper is illustrated throughout with examples from the literature. We offer some reflections on the wider impact of this body of work and anticipate areas for future development. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version

An investigation to assess ankle mobility in healthy individuals from the application of multi-component compression bandages and compression hosiery

Background An investigation was undertaken to compare the effect of multi-component compression bandages and compression hosiery kits on individuals’ range of ankle motion whilst wearing typical and medical footwear, and barefoot. Methods A convenience sample of 30 healthy individuals recruited from the staff and student population at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Plantarflexion/dorsiflexion range of ankle motion (ROAM) was measured in participants over 6 steps in every combination of typical, medical and no footwear; and multi-component bandages, compression hosiery and no garments. Results Controlling for age, gender and garments, the use of typical footwear was associated with a mean increase in ROAM of 2.54° at best estimate compared with barefoot; the use of medical footwear was associated with a mean decrease in ROAM of 1.12° at best estimate compared with barefoot. Controlling for age, gender and footwear, the use of bandaging was associated with a mean decrease in ROAM of 2.51° at best estimate compared with no garments. Controlling for age, gender and footwear, the use of hosiery was not associated with a significant change in ROAM compared with no garments. Conclusions Bandages appear to restrict ROAM more than hosiery when used in conjunction with a variety of footwear types

Mean-field models for non-Markovian epidemics on networks

This paper introduces a novel extension of the edge-based compartmental model to epidemics where the transmission and recovery processes are driven by general independent probability distributions. Edge-based compartmental modelling is just one of many different approaches used to model the spread of an infectious disease on a network; the major result of this paper is the rigorous proof that the edge-based compartmental model and the message passing models are equivalent for general independent transmission and recovery processes. This implies that the new model is exact on the ensemble of configuration model networks of infinite size. For the case of Markovian transmission themessage passing model is re-parametrised into a pairwise-like model which is then used to derive many well-known pairwise models for regular networks, or when the infectious period is exponentially distributed or is of a fixed length

Feminist phenomenology and the woman in the running body

Modern phenomenology, with its roots in Husserlian philosophy, has been taken up and utilised in a myriad of ways within different disciplines, but until recently has remained relatively under-used within sports studies. A corpus of sociological-phenomenological work is now beginning to develop in this domain, alongside a longer standing literature in feminist phenomenology. These specific social-phenomenological forms explore the situatedness of lived-body experience within a particular social structure. After providing a brief overview of key strands of phenomenology, this article considers some of the ways in which sociological, and particularly feminist phenomenology, might be used to analyse female sporting embodiment. For illustrative purposes, data from an autophenomenographic project on female distance running are also included, in order briefly to demonstrate the application of phenomenology within sociology, as both theoretical framework and methodological approach

Organic phosphorus in the terrestrial environment: a perspective on the state of the art and future priorities

Background The dynamics of phosphorus (P) in the environment is important for regulating nutrient cycles in natural and managed ecosystems and an integral part in assessing biological resilience against environmental change. Organic P (Po) compounds play key roles in biological and ecosystems function in the terrestrial environment being critical to cell function, growth and reproduction. Scope We asked a group of experts to consider the global issues associated with Po in the terrestrial environment, methodological strengths and weaknesses, benefits to be gained from understanding the Po cycle, and to set priorities for Po research. Conclusions We identified seven key opportunities for Po research including: the need for integrated, quality controlled and functionally based methodologies; assessment of stoichiometry with other elements in organic matter; understanding the dynamics of Po in natural and managed systems; the role of microorganisms in controlling Po cycles; the implications of nanoparticles in the environment and the need for better modelling and communication of the research. Each priority is discussed and a statement of intent for the Po research community is made that highlights there are key contributions to be made toward understanding biogeochemical cycles, dynamics and function of natural ecosystems and the management of agricultural systems

Assessment of optimal strategies in a two-patch dengue transmission model with seasonality

Emerging and re-emerging dengue fever has posed serious problems to public health officials in many tropical and subtropical countries. Continuous traveling in seasonally varying areas makes it more difficult to control the spread of dengue fever. In this work, we consider a two-patch dengue model that can capture the movement of host individuals between and within patches using a residence-time matrix. A previous two-patch dengue model without seasonality is extended by adding host demographics and seasonal forcing in the transmission rates. We investigate the effects of human movement and seasonality on the two-patch dengue transmission dynamics. Motivated by the recent Peruvian dengue data in jungle/rural areas and coast/urban areas, our model mimics the seasonal patterns of dengue outbreaks in two patches. The roles of seasonality and residence-time configurations are highlighted in terms of the seasonal reproduction number and cumulative incidence. Moreover, optimal control theory is employed to identify and evaluate patch-specific control measures aimed at reducing dengue prevalence in the presence of seasonality. Our findings demonstrate that optimal patch-specific control strategies are sensitive to seasonality and residence-time scenarios. Targeting only the jungle (or endemic) is as effective as controlling both patches under weak coupling or symmetric mobility. However, focusing on intervention for the city (or high density areas) turns out to be optimal when two patches are strongly coupled with asymmetric mobility.ope

Human adipose stem cells cell sheet constructs impact epidermal morphogenesis in full-thickness excisional wounds

Among the wide range of strategies to target skin repair/regeneration, tissue engineering (TE) with stem cells at the forefront, remains as the most promising route. Cell sheet (CS) engineering is herein proposed, taking advantage of particular cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and subsequent cellular milieu, to create 3D TE constructs to promote full-thickness skin wound regeneration. Human adipose derived stem cells (hASCs) CS were obtained within five days using both thermoresponsive and standard cell culture surfaces. hASCs-based constructs were then built by superimposing three CS and transplanted into full-thickness excisional mice skin wounds with delayed healing. Constructs obtained using thermoresponsive surfaces were more stable than the ones from standard cell culture surfaces due to the natural adhesive character of the respective CS. Both CS-generating strategies lead to prolonged hASCs engraftment, although no transdifferentiation phenomena were observed. Moreover, our findings suggest that the transplanted hASCs might be promoting neotissue vascularization and extensively influencing epidermal morphogenesis, mainly through paracrine actions with the resident cells. The thicker epidermis, with a higher degree of maturation characterized by the presence of rete ridges-like structures, as well as a significant number of hair follicles observed after transplantation of the constructs combining the CS obtained from the thermoresponsive surfaces, reinforced the assumptions of the influence of the transplanted hASCs and the importance of the higher stability of these constructs promoted by cohesive cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions. Overall, this study confirmed the potential of hASCs CS-based constructs to treat full-thickness excisional skin wounds and that their fabrication conditions impact different aspects of skin regeneration, such as neovascularisation, but mainly epidermal morphogenesis.We would like to thank Hospital da Prelada (Porto), in particular, to Dr. Paulo Costa for the lipoaspirates collection and for financial support by Skingineering (PTDC/SAU-OSM/099422/2008), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funded project. The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. REGPOT-CT2012-316331-POLARIS

Estimating Dengue Transmission Intensity from Sero-Prevalence Surveys in Multiple Countries

BACKGROUND:Estimates of dengue transmission intensity remain ambiguous. Since the majority of infections are asymptomatic, surveillance systems substantially underestimate true rates of infection. With advances in the development of novel control measures, obtaining robust estimates of average dengue transmission intensity is key for assessing both the burden of disease from dengue and the likely impact of interventions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The force of infection (λ) and corresponding basic reproduction numbers (R0) for dengue were estimated from non-serotype (IgG) and serotype-specific (PRNT) age-stratified seroprevalence surveys identified from the literature. The majority of R0 estimates ranged from 1-4. Assuming that two heterologous infections result in complete immunity produced up to two-fold higher estimates of R0 than when tertiary and quaternary infections were included. λ estimated from IgG data were comparable to the sum of serotype-specific forces of infection derived from PRNT data, particularly when inter-serotype interactions were allowed for. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our analysis highlights the highly heterogeneous nature of dengue transmission. How underlying assumptions about serotype interactions and immunity affect the relationship between the force of infection and R0 will have implications for control planning. While PRNT data provides the maximum information, our study shows that even the much cheaper ELISA-based assays would provide comparable baseline estimates of overall transmission intensity which will be an important consideration in resource-constrained settings