X-Ray Measurement of Material Properties in Composites

Advanced materials for use in the aerospace industry are presently being developed and applied at an astonishing rate. This pace is driven by the need for materials that can withstand higher operating temperatures and loads, yet remain cost competitive. As the performance demands of aerospace materials push nearer and nearer the theoretical limit for strength, the allowed flaw size in traditional materials is driven smaller, making quality control more stringent. This demand for improved performance characteristics is also generating strong interest in other materials such as: exotic alloys, ceramics and reinforced composites. A need exists for characterizing these advanced materials for composition variations, flaw content, inclusions and porosity using nondestructive techniques at all stages of the materials life cycle. These stages include initial characterization of a new material, process control during the manufacturing of the material, quality control of incoming material, and the in service inspection of the final part

The incidence and clinical burden of respiratory syncytial virus disease identified through hospital outpatient presentations in Kenyan children

There is little information that describe the burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) associated disease in the tropical African outpatient setting. Methods We studied a systematic sample of children aged <5 years presenting to a rural district hospital in Kenya with acute respiratory infection (ARI) between May 2002 and April 2004. We collected clinical data and screened nasal wash samples for RSV antigen by immunofluorescence. We used a linked demographic surveillance system to estimate disease incidence. Results Among 2143 children tested, 166 (8%) were RSV positive (6% among children with upper respiratory tract infection and 12% among children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). RSV was more likely in LRTI than URTI (p<0.001). 51% of RSV cases were aged 1 year or over. RSV cases represented 3.4% of hospital outpatient presentations. Relative to RSV negative cases, RSV positive cases were more likely to have crackles (RR = 1.63; 95% CI 1.34–1.97), nasal flaring (RR = 2.66; 95% CI 1.40–5.04), in-drawing (RR = 2.24; 95% CI 1.47–3.40), fast breathing for age (RR = 1.34; 95% CI 1.03–1.75) and fever (RR = 1.54; 95% CI 1.33–1.80). The estimated incidence of RSV-ARI and RSV-LRTI, per 100,000 child years, among those aged <5 years was 767 and 283, respectively. Conclusion The burden of childhood RSV-associated URTI and LRTI presenting to outpatients in this setting is considerable. The clinical features of cases associated with an RSV infection were more severe than cases without an RSV diagnosis

Human preferences for sexually dimorphic faces may be evolutionarily novel

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A large literature proposes that preferences for exaggerated sex typicality in human faces (masculinity/femininity) reflect a long evolutionary history of sexual and social selection. This proposal implies that dimorphism was important to judgments of attractiveness and personality in ancestral environments. It is difficult to evaluate, however, because most available data come from largescale, industrialized, urban populations. Here, we report the results for 12 populations with very diverse levels of economic development. Surprisingly, preferences for exaggerated sex-specific traits are only found in the novel, highly developed environments. Similarly, perceptions that masculine males look aggressive increase strongly with development, specifically, urbanization. These data challenge the hypothesis that facial dimorphism was an important ancestral signal of heritable mate value. One possibility is that highly developed environments provide novel opportunities to discern relationships between facial traits and behavior by exposing individuals to large numbers of unfamiliar faces, revealing patterns too subtle to detect with smaller samples

Methylphenidate treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in young people with learning disability and difficult-to-treat epilepsy: Evidence of clinical benefit.

To establish the efficacy and safety of methylphenidate (MPH) treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a group of children and young people with learning disability and severe epilepsy

Building financial management capacity for community ownership of development initiatives in rural Zambia

Background: Building financial management capacity is increasingly important in low- and middle-income countries to help communities take ownership of development activities. Yet, many community members lack financial knowledge and skills. Methods: As part of a larger health intervention, we designed and conducted financial management training for 83 members from 10 community groups in rural Zambia. Change scores between pre- and post-tests on financial knowledge were calculated and multivariate linear regression models run. Qualitative feedback was elicited. Results: The training significantly improved knowledge of financial concepts. Participants with some or more than some secondary education had greater improvements in knowledge (by 1.8 and 2.9 points out of 10 respectively; p=0.003 and p\u3c0.001). Participants appreciated exercises to contextualize financial concepts within daily life, and liked opportunities to learn from peers in small groups. Language barriers were a particular challenge. Conclusion: Financial management training may contribute to the sustainability of community-managed interventions but needs to be tailored to the background and education level of the participants. Training should relate financial concept to more tangible applications and provide time for active learning. This training approach could be used in similar settings to improve community oversight of resources intended to strengthen developmental initiatives

Cost of managing an episode of relapse in multiple sclerosis in the United States

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the direct medical US cost of managing multiple sclerosis relapses. METHODS: Direct data analysis and cost modeling were employed to derive typical resource use profiles and costs in 2002 US dollars, from the perspective of a third-party payer responsible for comprehensive health-care. The location and scope of health care services provided over a 90-day period were used to define three levels of relapse management. Hospitalization and resulting subsequent care was defined as high intensity management. A medium level of intervention was defined as either use of the emergency room, an observational unit, or administration of acute treatments, such as intravenous methylprednisolone in an outpatient or home setting. The lowest intensity of care comprised physician office visits and symptom-related medications. Data were obtained from many sources including all payer inpatient, ambulatory and emergency room databases from several states, fee schedules, government reports, and literature. All charges were adjusted using cost-to-charge ratios. RESULTS: Average cost per person for high management level was $12,870, based on analysis of 4,634 hospital cases (mean age 48 years, 73$1,847 and mild episode $243. CONCLUSIONS: Management strategies leading to a reduction in the frequency and severity of a relapse, less reliance on inpatient care, or increased access to steroid infusions in the home, would have a substantial impact on the economic consequences of managing relapses

Auditory processing following infantile spasms: An event-related potential study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate acoustic auditory processing in patients with recent infantile spasms (IS). METHODS: Patients (n = 22; 12 female; median age 8 months; range 5–11 months) had normal preceding development, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and neurometabolic testing (West syndrome of unknown cause, uWS). Controls were healthy babies (n = 22; 11 female; median age 6 months; range 3–12 months). Event-related potentials (ERPs) and psychometry (Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition, BSID-II) took place at a month following IS remission. RESULTS: Following a repeated pure tone, uWS patients showed less suppression of the N100 at the mid-temporal electrodes (p = 0.006), and a prolonged response latency (p = 0.019). Their novelty P300 amplitude over the mid-temporal electrodes was halved (p = 0.001). The peak of the novelty P300 to environmental broadband sounds emerged later over the left temporal lobe in patients (p = 0.015), the lag correlating with duration of spasms (r = 0.547, p = 0.015). BSID-II scores were lower in patients (p < 0.001), with no correlation to ERP. SIGNIFICANCE: Complex acoustic information is processed poorly following IS. This would impair language. Treatment did not reverse this phenomenon, but may have limited its severity. The data are most consistent with altered connectivity of the cortical acoustic processing areas induced by IS

Use of a Semi-field System to Evaluate the Efficacy of Topical Repellents under user Conditions Provides a Disease Exposure free Technique Comparable with Field Data.

Before topical repellents can be employed as interventions against arthropod bites, their efficacy must be established. Currently, laboratory or field tests, using human volunteers, are the main methods used for assessing the efficacy of topical repellents. However, laboratory tests are not representative of real life conditions under which repellents are used and field-testing potentially exposes human volunteers to disease. There is, therefore, a need to develop methods to test efficacy of repellents under real life conditions while minimizing volunteer exposure to disease. A lotion-based, 15% N, N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) repellent and 15% DEET in ethanol were compared to a placebo lotion in a 200 sq m (10 m x 20 m) semi-field system (SFS) against laboratory-reared Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes and in full field settings against wild malaria vectors and nuisance-biting mosquitoes. The average percentage protection against biting mosquitoes over four hours in the SFS and field setting was determined. A Poisson regression model was then used to determine relative risk of being bitten when wearing either of these repellents compared to the placebo. Average percentage protection of the lotion-based 15% DEET repellent after four hours of mosquito collection was 82.13% (95% CI 75.94-88.82) in the semi-field experiments and 85.10% (95% CI 78.97-91.70) in the field experiments. Average percentage protection of 15% DEET in ethanol after four hours was 71.29% (CI 61.77-82.28) in the semi-field system and 88.24% (84.45-92.20) in the field. Semi-field evaluation results were comparable to full-field evaluations, indicating that such systems could be satisfactorily used in measuring efficacy of topically applied mosquito repellents, thereby avoiding risks of exposure to mosquito-borne pathogens, associated with field testing

Advantages and Limitations of Commercially Available Electrocuting Grids for Studying Mosquito Behaviour.

Mosquito feeding behaviour plays a major role in determining malaria transmission intensity and the impact of specific prevention measures. Human Landing Catch (HLC) is currently the only method that can directly and consistently measure the biting rates of anthropophagic mosquitoes, both indoors and outdoors. However, this method exposes the participant to mosquito-borne pathogens, therefore new exposure-free methods are needed to replace it. Commercially available electrocuting grids (EGs) were evaluated as an alternative to HLC using a Latin Square experimental design in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Both HLC and EGs were used to estimate the proportion of human exposure to mosquitoes occurring indoors (πi), as well as its two underlying parameters: the proportion of mosquitoes caught indoors (Pi) and the proportion of mosquitoes caught between the first and last hour when most people are indoors (Pfl). HLC and EGs methods accounted for 69% and 31% of the total number of female mosquitoes caught respectively and both methods caught more mosquitoes outdoors than indoors. Results from the gold standard HLC suggest that An. gambiae s.s. in Dar es Salaam is neither exophagic nor endophagic (Pi ≈ 0.5), whereas An. arabiensis is exophagic (Pi < < 0.5). Both species prefer to feed after 10 pm when most people are indoors (Pfl > >0.5). EGs yielded estimates of Pi for An. gambiae s.s., An. arabiensis and An. coustani, that were approximately equivalent to those with HLC but significantly underestimated Pfl for An. gambiae s.s. and An. coustani. The relative sampling sensitivity of EGs declined over the course of the night (p ≤ 0.001) for all mosquito taxa except An. arabiensis. Commercial EGs sample human-seeking mosquitoes with high sensitivity both indoors and outdoors and accurately measure the propensity of Anopheles malaria vectors to bite indoors rather than outdoors. However, further modifications are needed to stabilize sampling sensitivity over a full nocturnal cycle so that they can be used to survey patterns of human exposure to mosquitoes