Hiring expert consultants in e-healthcare: an analytics-based two sided matching approach

Very often in some censorious healthcare scenario, there may be a need to have some expert consultancies (especially by doctors) that are not available in-house to the hospitals. Earlier, this interesting healthcare scenario of hiring the expert consultants (mainly doctors) from outside of the hospitals had been studied with the robust concepts of mechanism design with money and mechanism design without money. In this paper, we explore the more realistic two sided matching market in our healthcare set-up. In this, the members of the two participating communities, namely the patients and the doctors are revealing the strict preference ordering over the members of the opposite community for a stipulated amount of time. We assume that the patients and doctors are strategic in nature. With the theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that the TOMHECs, that results in the stable allocation of doctors to the patients, satisfies the several economic properties such as strategy-proof-ness (or truthfulness) and optimality. Further, the analytically based analysis of our proposed mechanisms i.e. RAMHECs and TOMHECs are carried out on the ground of the expected distance of the allocation done by the mechanisms from the top most preference. The proposed mechanisms are also validated with the help of exhaustive experiments.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Generation of photovoltage in graphene on a femtosecond time scale through efficient carrier heating

Graphene is a promising material for ultrafast and broadband photodetection. Earlier studies addressed the general operation of graphene-based photo-thermoelectric devices, and the switching speed, which is limited by the charge carrier cooling time, on the order of picoseconds. However, the generation of the photovoltage could occur at a much faster time scale, as it is associated with the carrier heating time. Here, we measure the photovoltage generation time and find it to be faster than 50 femtoseconds. As a proof-of-principle application of this ultrafast photodetector, we use graphene to directly measure, electrically, the pulse duration of a sub-50 femtosecond laser pulse. The observation that carrier heating is ultrafast suggests that energy from absorbed photons can be efficiently transferred to carrier heat. To study this, we examine the spectral response and find a constant spectral responsivity between 500 and 1500 nm. This is consistent with efficient electron heating. These results are promising for ultrafast femtosecond and broadband photodetector applications.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

A major genetic locus in <i>Trypanosoma brucei</i> is a determinant of host pathology

The progression and variation of pathology during infections can be due to components from both host or pathogen, and/or the interaction between them. The influence of host genetic variation on disease pathology during infections with trypanosomes has been well studied in recent years, but the role of parasite genetic variation has not been extensively studied. We have shown that there is parasite strain-specific variation in the level of splenomegaly and hepatomegaly in infected mice and used a forward genetic approach to identify the parasite loci that determine this variation. This approach allowed us to dissect and identify the parasite loci that determine the complex phenotypes induced by infection. Using the available trypanosome genetic map, a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) was identified on T. brucei chromosome 3 (LOD = 7.2) that accounted for approximately two thirds of the variance observed in each of two correlated phenotypes, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, in the infected mice (named &lt;i&gt;TbOrg1&lt;/i&gt;). In addition, a second locus was identified that contributed to splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and reticulocytosis (&lt;i&gt;TbOrg2&lt;/i&gt;). This is the first use of quantitative trait locus mapping in a diploid protozoan and shows that there are trypanosome genes that directly contribute to the progression of pathology during infections and, therefore, that parasite genetic variation can be a critical factor in disease outcome. The identification of parasite loci is a first step towards identifying the genes that are responsible for these important traits and shows the power of genetic analysis as a tool for dissecting complex quantitative phenotypic traits

Internet-based medical education: a realist review of what works, for whom and in what circumstances

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Immunogenic Eimeria tenella Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Surface Antigens (SAGs) Induce Inflammatory Responses in Avian Macrophages

, but the ability of these proteins to stimulate immune responses in the chicken is unknown. infection. Concomitantly, treatment with rSAGs 4, 5 and 12 suppressed the expression of IL-12 and IFN-γ and elevated that of IL-10, suggesting that during infection these molecules may specifically impair the development of cellular mediated immunity. pathogenicity associated with the endogenous second generation stages

Pointing to visible and invisible targets

We investigated how the visibility of targets influenced the type of point used to provide directions. In Study 1 we asked 605 passersby in three localities for directions to well-known local landmarks. When that landmark was in plain view behind the requester, most respondents pointed with their index fingers, and few respondents pointed more than once. In contrast, when the landmark was not in view, respondents pointed initially with their index fingers, but often elaborated with a whole-hand point. In Study 2, we covertly filmed the responses from 157 passersby we approached for directions, capturing both verbal and gestural responses. As in Study 1, few respondents produced more than one gesture when the target was in plain view and initial points were most likely to be index finger points. Thus, in a Western geographical context in which pointing with the index finger is the dominant form of pointing, a slight change in circumstances elicited a preference for pointing with the whole hand when it was the second or third manual gesture in a sequence

Bone mineral density in Jamaican men on androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been reported to reduce the bone mineral density (BMD) in men with prostate cancer (CaP). However, Afro-Caribbeans are under-represented in most studies. The aim was to determine the effect of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) on the bone mineral density (BMD) of men with prostate cancer in Jamaica.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study consisted of 346 Jamaican men, over 40 years of age: 133 ADT treated CaP cases (group 1), 43 hormone-naïve CaP controls (group 2) and 170 hormone naïve controls without CaP (group 3). Exclusion criteria included metastatic disease, bisphosphonate therapy or metabolic disease affecting BMD. BMD was measured with a calcaneal ultrasound and expressed in S.D. units relative to young adult men (T score), according to the World Health Organization definition. Patient weight, height and BMI were assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean ± sd, age of patients in group 1 (75± 7.4 yrs) was significantly greater than groups 2 and 3 (67 ± 8.1 yrs; 65±12.0 yrs). There was no significant difference in weight and BMI between the 3 groups. . The types of ADT (% of cases, median duration in months with IQR) included LHRH (Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone) analogues (28.6%, 17.9, IQR 20.4), oestrogens (9.8%, 60.5, IQR 45.6) anti-androgens (11.3%, 3.3, IQR 15.2) and orchiectomy (15.7%, 43.4, IQR 63.9). Unadjusted t score of group 1, mean ± sd, (-1.6± 1.5) was significantly less than group 2 (-0.9±1.1) and group 3 (-0.7±1.4), p <0.001. Ninety three (69.9%), 20 (45%) and 75 (42%) of patients in groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively were classified as either osteopenic or osteoporotic (p<0.001). Adjusting for age, there was a significant difference in t scores between groups 1 and 2 as well as between groups 1 and 3 (p<0.001). Compared with oestrogen therapy and adjusting for duration of therapy, the odds of low bone mineral density (osteopenia or osteoporosis) with LHRH analogue was 4.5 (95%CI, 14.3 to 3.4); with anti-androgens was 5.9 (95%CI, 32.7 to 5); with orchiectomy was 7.3 (95%CI, 30 to 5.8) and multiple drugs was 9.2 ((95%CI, 31 to 7.1).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>ADT is associated with lower BMD in Jamaican men on hormonal therapy for prostate cancer.</p