516 research outputs found

    A Nationwide Study Comparing Knowledge and Beliefs about HPV among Female Students before and after HPV Vaccination

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    Study Objective To assess the knowledge and beliefs regarding HPV and the HPV vaccine among girls before and after vaccination in the Malaysian HPV Immunisation Programme. Design A nationwide longitudinal survey. Setting Thirty-two randomly selected schools from 13 states and 3 federal territories in Malaysia from February to March 2013, and October to November 2013. Participants Form One female students (13-year-old). Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Mean knowledge score of HPV infection. Results A total of 2,644 students responded to the pre-vaccination survey, of whom 2,005 (70%) completed the post-vaccination survey. The mean knowledge score was 2.72 (SD ± 2.20) out of a maximum score of 10 in the pre-vaccination survey, which increased significantly to 3.33 (SD ± 1.73) after the 3 doses of HPV vaccine (p = 0.001). Many answered incorrectly that, ‘Only females can get HPV infection’ (91.5% pre-vaccination versus 96.1% post-vaccination), and only a few were aware that, ‘Vaccinating boys helps to protect girls against HPV infection’ (11.7% for pre-vaccination versus 10.2% for post-vaccination). The mean knowledge score was significantly higher post-vaccination among higher-income families and those with parents of a higher occupational status. Regarding beliefs about the HPV vaccine, 89.4% in the pre-vaccination survey held the view that they would not get a HPV infection, and the percentage remained similar in the post-vaccination survey. Perceived severity of HPV infection also remained low in both pre- and post-intervention groups. Only 21.5% reported receiving health information about HPV along with the provision of the HPV vaccine; those who received health information showed higher levels of knowledge. Conclusion Findings revealed a general lack of knowledge and erroneous beliefs about HPV and the HPV vaccine even after receiving vaccination. This suggests that imparting accurate knowledge about HPV along with vaccine administration is essential. Specifically, girls from lower socioeconomic groups should be a target of educational intervention

    Local Culture Individual Counseling towards Behavioral Smoking at SMAN 09 Maros South Sulawesi, Indonesia

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    The health condition of the people due to smoking habits can be categorized as a "global public emergency". World tobacco consumption was found to kill one person every second, and there are 1.3 billion smokers in the world, one third comes from the global population aged 15 years and above. Each year, tobacco causes about 8.8% of deaths (4.9 million) and about 4.1% causes the disease (59.1%). If this trend is not turned around, then these figures will rise to 10 million deaths per year from 2020 or in early 2030 with 70% of deaths occur in developing countries. World No Tobacco Day May 31, 2012, the State Indonesia tops the list with the highest number of teen smokers in the world, namely 82.4%, (WHO, 2008)

    Ranking Templates for Linear Loops

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    We present a new method for the constraint-based synthesis of termination arguments for linear loop programs based on linear ranking templates. Linear ranking templates are parametrized, well-founded relations such that an assignment to the parameters gives rise to a ranking function. This approach generalizes existing methods and enables us to use templates for many different ranking functions with affine-linear components. We discuss templates for multiphase, piecewise, and lexicographic ranking functions. Because these ranking templates require both strict and non-strict inequalities, we use Motzkin's Transposition Theorem instead of Farkas Lemma to transform the generated \exists\forall-constraint into an \exists-constraint.Comment: TACAS 201

    Proving Termination Starting from the End

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    We present a novel technique for proving program termination which introduces a new dimension of modularity. Existing techniques use the program to incrementally construct a termination proof. While the proof keeps changing, the program remains the same. Our technique goes a step further. We show how to use the current partial proof to partition the transition relation into those behaviors known to be terminating from the current proof, and those whose status (terminating or not) is not known yet. This partition enables a new and unexplored dimension of incremental reasoning on the program side. In addition, we show that our approach naturally applies to conditional termination which searches for a precondition ensuring termination. We further report on a prototype implementation that advances the state-of-the-art on the grounds of termination and conditional termination.Comment: 16 page

    Heat transfer enhancement using passive technique: Review

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    Preserving and saving energy have never been more important, thus the requirement for more effective and efficient heat exchangers has never been more important. However, in order to pave the way for the proposal of a truly efficient technique, there is a need to understand the shortcomings and strengths of various aspects of heat transfer techniques. This review aims to systematically identify these characteristics two of the most popular passive heat transfer techniques: nanofluids and helically coiled tubes. The review indicated that nanoparticles improve thermal conductivity of base fluid and that the nanoparticle size, as well as the concentrations of the nanoparticles plays a major role in the effectiveness of the nanofluids. Regarding the helically coiled tubes, it was discovered that the use of a coiled tube produces secondary flows, which ultimately improves the heat transfer enhancement. The third part of the review focused on microchannels and microtubes. This is mainly due to the growing need and requirement of smaller and more compact thermal cooling systems. Thus, ultimately the result of the review indicates that a combination of all these three techniques can lead to a compact and minimized heat exchanger that uses the benefits obtained from both nanofluids and helically coiled tubes in order to improve the heat transfer rate of the thermal systems

    Osteoimmunology: major and costimulatory pathway expression associated with chronic inflammatory induced bone loss

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    The field of osteoimmunology has emerged in response to the range of evidences demonstrating the close interrelationship between the immune system and bone metabolism. This is pertinent to immune-mediated diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease, where there are chronic inflammation and local bone erosion. Periprosthetic osteolysis is another example of chronic inflammation with associated osteolysis. This may also involve immune mediation when occurring in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Similarities in the regulation and mechanisms of bone loss are likely to be related to the inflammatory cytokines expressed in these diseases. This review highlights the role of immune-related factors influencing bone loss particularly in diseases of chronic inflammation where there is associated localized bone loss. The importance of the balance of the RANKL-RANK-OPG axis is discussed as well as the more recently appreciated role that receptors and adaptor proteins involved in the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM) signaling pathway play. Although animal models are briefly discussed, the focus of this review is on the expression of ITAM associated molecules in relation to inflammation induced localized bone loss in RA, chronic periodontitis, and periprosthetic osteolysis, with an emphasis on the soluble and membrane bound factor osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR).Tania N. Crotti, Anak A.S.S.K. Dharmapatni, Ekram Alias, and David R. Hayne

    Gamma ray and neutron radiation effects on the electrical and structural properties of n-ZnO/p-CuGaO2 schottky diode

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    This research focuses on the radiation tolerance of ZnO and CuGaO2 based semiconductor application for space borne application. In this research, n-ZnO/p-CuGaO2 based semiconductor devices were fabricated and exposed to gamma rays with increasing total ionizing dose (TID) and neutron fluence at different flux. Based on the I-V properties, the decrease in the turn-on voltage of the diode is noticeable with increasing radiation dose for both gamma and neutron flux exposure. The maximum turn-on-voltage of the fabricated diode was shown to be 1.5 V. Exposure towards gamma, shows that the turn-on is increased to 4.7 V at 200 kGy. However, the effect of neutron flux at 6.5 × 1015 n cm−2 shows a small significant effect on the turn on voltage of 1.7 V after irradiation. Results show moderate mitigation towards irradiation, indicating that n-ZnO/p-CuGaO2 thin film is capable of withstanding harsh radiation environment while still retaining its semiconductor as the changes in band gap ranges between 3 eV to 4 eV at post-irradiation

    Complexity Bounds for Ordinal-Based Termination

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    `What more than its truth do we know if we have a proof of a theorem in a given formal system?' We examine Kreisel's question in the particular context of program termination proofs, with an eye to deriving complexity bounds on program running times. Our main tool for this are length function theorems, which provide complexity bounds on the use of well quasi orders. We illustrate how to prove such theorems in the simple yet until now untreated case of ordinals. We show how to apply this new theorem to derive complexity bounds on programs when they are proven to terminate thanks to a ranking function into some ordinal.Comment: Invited talk at the 8th International Workshop on Reachability Problems (RP 2014, 22-24 September 2014, Oxford

    Neuropsychological consequences for survivors of childhood brain tumor in Malaysia

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    FSW - Self-regulation models for health behavior and psychopathology - ou

    A new version of the CNRM Chemistry-Climate Model, CNRM-CCM: description and improvements from the CCMVal-2 simulations

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    This paper presents a new version of the Météo-France CNRM Chemistry-Climate Model, so-called CNRM-CCM. It includes some fundamental changes from the previous version (CNRM-ACM) which was extensively evaluated in the context of the CCMVal-2 validation activity. The most notable changes concern the radiative code of the GCM, and the inclusion of the detailed stratospheric chemistry of our Chemistry-Transport model MOCAGE on-line within the GCM. A 47-yr transient simulation (1960–2006) is the basis of our analysis. CNRM-CCM generates satisfactory dynamical and chemical fields in the stratosphere. Several shortcomings of CNRM-ACM simulations for CCMVal-2 that resulted from an erroneous representation of the impact of volcanic aerosols as well as from transport deficiencies have been eliminated. <br><br> Remaining problems concern the upper stratosphere (5 to 1 hPa) where temperatures are too high, and where there are biases in the NO<sub>2</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> and O<sub>3</sub> mixing ratios. In contrast, temperatures at the tropical tropopause are too cold. These issues are addressed through the implementation of a more accurate radiation scheme at short wavelengths. Despite these problems we show that this new CNRM CCM is a useful tool to study chemistry-climate applications
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