Can Antiviral Drugs Contain Pandemic Influenza Transmission?

Antiviral drugs dispensed during the 2009 influenza pandemic generally failed to contain transmission. This poses the question of whether preparedness for a future pandemic should include plans to use antiviral drugs to mitigate transmission

Few-anyon systems in a parabolic dot

The energy levels of two and three anyons in a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot and a perpendicular magnetic field are computed as power series in 1/|J|, where J is the angular momentum. The particles interact repulsively through a coulombic (1/r) potential. In the two-anyon problem, the reached accuracy is better than one part in 10^5. For three anyons, we study the combined effects of anyon statistics and coulomb repulsion in the ``linear'' anyonic states.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 4 postscript figure

Building an online community to promote communication and collaborative learning between health professionals and young people who self-harm: an exploratory study

This is the accepted version of the article, which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/hex.12011.Background: Online communities are known to break down barriers between supposed experts and non-experts and to promote collaborative learning and 'radical trust' among members. Young people who self-harm report difficulties in communicating with health professionals, and vice versa. Aim: We sought to bring these two groups together online to see how well they could communicate with each other about self-harm and its management, and whether they could agree on what constituted safe and relevant advice. Methods: We allocated 77 young people aged 16-25 with experience of self-harm and 18 recently/nearly qualified professionals in relevant health-care disciplines to three separate Internet discussion forums. The forums contained different proportions of professionals to young people (none; 25%; 50% respectively) to allow us to observe the effect of the professionals on online interaction. Results: The young people were keen to share their lived experience of self-harm and its management with health professionals. They engaged in lively discussion and supported one another during emotional crises. Despite registering to take part, health professionals did not actively participate in the forums. Reported barriers included lack of confidence and concerns relating to workload, private-professional boundaries, role clarity, duty of care and accountability. In their absence, the young people built a vibrant lay community, supported by site moderators. Conclusions: Health professionals may not yet be ready to engage with young people who self-harm and to exchange knowledge and experience in an anonymous online setting. Further work is needed to understand and overcome their insecurities.NIH

Short- and long-term cost and utilization of health care resources in Parkinson's disease in the UK

Background: There is currently no robust long‐term data on costs of treating patients with Parkinson's disease. The objective of this study was to report levels of health care utilization and associated costs in the 10 years after diagnosis among PD patients in the United Kingdom. Methods: We undertook a retrospective population‐based cohort study using linked data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and Hospital Episode Statistics databases. Total health care costs of PD patients were compared with those of a control group of patients without PD selected using 1:1 propensity score matching based on age, sex, and comorbidity. Results: Between 1994 and 2013, 7271 PD patients who met study inclusion criteria were identified in linked Clinical Practice Research Datalink‐Hospital Episode Statistics; 7060 were matched with controls. The mean annual health care cost difference (at 2013 costs) between PD patients and controls was £2471 (US3716) per patient in the first year postdiagnosis (P < 0.001), increasing to £4004 (US6021) per patient (P &lt; 0.001) 10 years following diagnosis because of higher levels of use across all categories of health care utilization. Costs in patients with markers of advanced PD (ie, presence of levodopa‐equivalent daily dose &gt; 1100 mg, dyskinesias, falls, dementia, psychosis, hospital admission primarily due to PD, or nursing home placement) were on average higher by £1069 (US$1608) per patient than those with PD without these markers. Conclusions: This study provides comprehensive estimates of health care costs in PD patients based on routinely collected data. Health care costs attributable to PD increase in the year following diagnosis and are higher for patients with indicators of advanced disease

Segurança na mudança direta de natalizumabe para fingolimode em um grupo de pacientes com esclerose múltipla e positivos para JCV

To assess safety of the switch between natalizumab and fingolimod without a washout period. Methods Prospective data on 25 JCV positive patients who underwent this medication switch were collected and analyzed. Results After a median period of nine months from the medication switch, there were no safety issues to report. The patients had good disease control and no adverse events were reported. Conclusion Washout may not be necessary in daily practice when switching from natalizumab to fingolimod. Expertise on multiple sclerosis management, however, is essential for drug switching748650652Avaliar a segurança na mudança entre natalizumabe e fingolimode sem período de washout. Métodos Dados prospectivos de 25 pacientes positivos para vírus JC que tiveram sua medicação modificada foram coletados e analisados. Resultados Após uma mediana de nove meses da troca de medicação, não havia aspectos de segurança a relatar. Os pacientes estavam com bom controle da doença e não foram relatados eventos adversos. Conclusão Washout pode não ser necessário na prática diária para a mudança entre natalizumabe e fingolimode. No entanto, expertise no manejo de esclerose múltipla é essencial para esta troca entre medicaçõe

Two-hole problem in the t-J model: A canonical transformation approach

The t-J model in the spinless-fermion representation is studied. An effective Hamiltonian for the quasiparticles is derived using canonical transformation approach. It is shown that the rather simple form of the transformation generator allows to take into account effect of hole interaction with the short-range spin waves and to describe the single-hole groundstate. Obtained results are very close to ones of the self-consistent Born approximation. Further accounting for the long-range spin-wave interaction is possible on the perturbative basis. Both spin-wave exchange and an effective interaction due to minimization of the number of broken antiferromagnetic bonds are included in the effective quasiparticle interaction. Two-hole bound state problem is solved using Bethe-Salpeter equation. The only d-wave bound state is found to exist in the region of 1< (t/J) <5. Combined effect of the pairing interactions of both types is important to its formation. Discussion of the possible relation of the obtained results to the problem of superconductivity in real systems is presented.Comment: 19 pages, RevTeX, 12 postscript figure

FLP/FRT Recombination from Yeast: Application of a Two Gene Cassette Scheme as an Inducible System in Plants

Phytosensors are plants that are genetically engineered for sensing and reporting the presence of a specific contaminant, including agriculturally important biological agents. Phytosensors are constructed by transforming plants to contain specific biotic- or abiotic-inducible promoters fused to a reporter gene. When such transgenic plants encounter the target biotic or abiotic agent, the specific inducible promoter is triggered and subsequently drives the expression of the reporter gene, which produces a signal for detection. However, several systems lack robustness, rapid induction and promoter strength. Here, we tested the FLP/FRT recombination system in a construct containing a two gene cassette organization and examined its potential in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco plants using a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter. In this model system, a heat-shock inducible promoter was employed to control the expression of the FLP recombinase gene. Upon heat induction and subsequent active FLP-mediated excision event, the GUS gene was placed in close proximity to the 35S promoter resulting in an active GUS reporter expression. Our results demonstrate that the two gene cassette scheme of inducible FLP/FRT recombination system is functional in tobacco and Arabidopsis, providing additional insights into its possible application in phytosensing such as creating strong readout capabilities

Recruiting Injection Drug Users: A Three-Site Comparison of Results and Experiences with Respondent-Driven and Targeted Sampling Procedures

Several recent studies have utilized respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methods to survey hidden populations such as commercial sex-workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) and injection drug users (IDU). Few studies, however, have provided a direct comparison between RDS and other more traditional sampling methods such as venue-based, targeted or time/space sampling. The current study sampled injection drug users in three U.S. cities using RDS and targeted sampling (TS) methods and compared their effectiveness in terms of recruitment efficiency, logistics, and sample demographics. Both methods performed satisfactorily. The targeted method required more staff time per-recruited respondent and had a lower proportion of screened respondents who were eligible than RDS, while RDS respondents were offered higher incentives for participation