1,084 research outputs found
Acceptability – a neglected dimension of access to health care : findings from a study on childhood convulsions in rural Tanzania
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Acceptability is a poorly conceptualized dimension of access to health care. Using a study on childhood convulsion in rural Tanzania, we examined social acceptability from a user perspective. The study design is based on the premise that a match between health providers' and clients' understanding of disease is an important dimension of social acceptability, especially in trans-cultural communication, for example if childhood convulsions are not linked with malaria and local treatment practices are mostly preferred. The study was linked to health interventions with the objective of bridging the gap between local and biomedical understanding of convulsions. METHODS: The study combined classical ethnography with the cultural epidemiology approach using EMIC (Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue) tool. EMIC interviews were conducted in a 2007/08 convulsion study (n = 88) and results were compared with those of an earlier 2004/06 convulsion study (n = 135). Earlier studies on convulsion in the area were also examined to explore longer-term changes in treatment practices. RESULTS: The match between local and biomedical understanding of convulsions was already high in the 2004/06 study. Specific improvements were noted in form of (1) 46% point increase among those who reported use of mosquito nets to prevent convulsion (2) 13% point decrease among caregivers who associated convulsion with 'evil eye and sorcery', 3) 14% point increase in prompt use of health facility and 4)16% point decrease among those who did not use health facility at all. Such changes can be partly attributed to interventions which explicitly aimed at increasing the match between local and biomedical understanding of malaria. Caregivers, mostly mothers, did not seek advice on where to take an ill child. This indicates that treatment at health facility has become socially acceptable for severe febrile with convulsion. CONCLUSION: As an important dimension of access to health care 'social acceptability' seems relevant in studying illnesses that are perceived not to belong to the biomedical field, specifically in trans-cultural societies. Understanding the match between local and biomedical understanding of disease is fundamental to ensure acceptability of health care services, successful control and management of health problems. Our study noted some positive changes in community knowledge and management of convulsion episodes, changes which might be accredited to extensive health education campaigns in the study area. On the other hand it is difficult to make inference out of the findings as a result of small sample size involved. In return, it is clear that well ingrained traditional beliefs can be modified with communication campaigns, provided that this change resonates with the beneficiaries
Lambda3: homology search for protein, nucleotide, and bisulfite-converted sequences
Motivation
Local alignments of query sequences in large databases represent a core part of metagenomic studies and facilitate homology search. Following the development of NCBI Blast, many applications aimed to provide faster and equally sensitive local alignment frameworks. Most applications focus on protein alignments, while only few also facilitate DNA-based searches. None of the established programs allow searching DNA sequences from bisulfite sequencing experiments commonly used for DNA methylation profiling, for which specific alignment strategies need to be implemented.
Results
Here, we introduce Lambda3, a new version of the local alignment application Lambda. Lambda3 is the first solution that enables the search of protein, nucleotide as well as bisulfite-converted nucleotide query sequences. Its protein mode achieves comparable performance to that of the highly optimized protein alignment application Diamond, while the nucleotide mode consistently outperforms established local nucleotide aligners. Combined, Lambda3 presents a universal local alignment framework that enables fast and sensitive homology searches for a wide range of use-cases.
Availability and implementation
Lambda3 is free and open-source software publicly available at https://github.com/seqan/lambda/
Effect of disorder on the vortex-lattice melting transition
We use a three dimensional stacked triangular network of Josephson junctions
as a model for the study of vortex structure in the mixed state of high Tc
superconductors. We show that the addition of disorder destroys the first order
melting transition occurring for clean samples. The melting transition splits
in two different (continuous) transitions, ocurring at temperatures Ti and Tp
(>Ti). At Ti the perpendicular-to-field superconductivity is lost, and at Tp
the parallel-to-field superconductivity is lost. These results agree well with
recent experiments in YBaCuO.Comment: 4 pages + 2 figure
Vortex-line liquid phases: Longitudinal superconductivity in the lattice London model
We study the vortex-line lattice and liquid phases of a clean type-II
superconductor by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the lattice London model.
Motivated by a recent controversy regarding the presence, within this model, of
a vortex-liquid regime with longitudinal superconducting coherence over long
length scales, we directly compare two different ways to calculate the
longitudinal coherence. For an isotropic superconductor, we interpret our
results in terms of a temperature regime within the liquid phase in which
longitudinal superconducting coherence extends over length scales larger than
the system thickness studied. We note that this regime disappears in the
moderately anisotropic case due to a proliferation, close to the flux-line
lattice melting temperature, of vortex loops between the layers.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, with eps figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Stability of the vortex lattice in a rotating superfluid
We analyze the stability of the vortex lattice in a rotating superfluid
against thermal fluctuations associated with the long-wavelength Tkachenko
modes of the lattice. Inclusion of only the two-dimensional modes leads
formally to instability in infinite lattices; however, when the full
three-dimensional spectrum of modes is taken into account, the
thermally-induced lattice displacements are indeed finite.Comment: 16 page
First-Order Vortex Lattice Melting and Magnetization of YBaCuO$_{7-\delta}
We present the first non-mean-field calculation of the magnetization
of YBaCuO both above and below the flux-lattice melting
temperature . The results are in good agreement with experiment as a
function of transverse applied field . The effects of fluctuations in both
order parameter and magnetic induction are included in the
Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional: fluctuates within the
lowest Landau level in each layer, while fluctuates uniformly according to
the appropriate Boltzmann factor. The second derivative is predicted to be negative throughout the vortex liquid state and
positive in the solid state. The discontinuities in entropy and magnetization
at melting are calculated to be per flux line per layer and
~emu~cm at a field of 50 kOe.Comment: 11 pages, 4 PostScript figures in one uuencoded fil
Vortices and 2D bosons: A Path-Integral Monte Carlo Study
The vortex system in a high-T_c superconductor has been studied numerically
using the mapping to 2D bosons and the path-integral Monte Carlo method. We
find a single first-order transition from an Abrikosov lattice to an entangled
vortex liquid. The transition is characterized by an entropy jump dS = 0.4 k_B
per vortex and layer (parameters for YBCO) and a Lindemann number c_L = 0.25.
The increase in density at melting is given by d\rho = 6.0*10^{-4} /
\lambda(T)^2. The vortex liquid corresponds to a bosonic superfluid, with
\rho_s = \rho even in the limit \lambda -> \infty.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, 4 PostScript figures. The entropy jump at the
transition has been recomputed and is now in agreement with experiments on
YBCO. Some minor modifications were made in the tex
Monte-Carlo calculation of longitudinal and transverse resistivities in a model Type-II superconductor
We study the effect of a transport current on the vortex-line lattice in
isotropic type-II superconductors in the presence of strong thermal
fluctuations by means of 'driven-diffusion' Monte Carlo simulations of a
discretized London theory with finite magnetic penetration depth. We calculate
the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for various temperatures, for
transverse as well as longitudinal currents I. From these characteristics, we
estimate the linear resistivities R_xx=R_yy and R_zz and compare these with
equilibrium results for the vortex-lattice structure factor and the helicity
moduli. From this comparison a consistent picture arises, in which the melting
of the flux-line lattice occurs in two stages for the system size considered.
In the first stage of the melting, at a temperature T_m, the structure factor
drops to zero and R_xx becomes finite. For a higher temperature T_z, the second
stage takes place, in which the longitudinal superconducting coherence is lost,
and R_zz becomes finite as well. We compare our results with related recent
numerical work and experiments on cuprate superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, with eps figure
First-Order Melting of a Moving Vortex Lattice: Effects of Disorder
We study the melting of a moving vortex lattice through numerical simulations
with the current driven 3D XY model with disorder. We find that there is a
first-order phase transition even for large disorder when the corresponding
equilibrium transition is continuous. The low temperature phase is an
anisotropic moving glass.Comment: Important changes from original version. Finite size analysis of
results has been added. Figure 2 has been changed. There is a new additional
Figure. To be published in Physical Review Letter
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