Time-dependent, diffusion-controlled reactions: The influence of boundaries

A configurational averaging procedure is presented for the analysis of diffusion-controlled reactions in a medium containing a hard-sphere distribution of spherical sinks. The hierarchy of equations produced from the averaging procedure is truncated assuming low concentration of sinks. The method is shown to reproduce previous results for the decay of an initially uniform distribution of reactant in an unbounded medium and is subsequently applied to determine the reactant flux on the boundary of a semiinfinite domain. In the latter problem, the boundary has a significant effect which cannot be accounted for by the usual rate coefficient

Vedolizumab for Inflammatory Bowel Disease:Two-Year Results of the Initiative on Crohn and Colitis (ICC) Registry, A Nationwide Prospective Observational Cohort Study: ICC Registry - Vedolizumab

Contains fulltext : 220028.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Prospective data of vedolizumab treatment for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) beyond 1 year of treatment is scarce but needed for clinical decision making. We prospectively enrolled 310 patients with IBD (191 with Crohn's disease (CD) and 119 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC)) with a follow-up period of 104 weeks (interquartile range: 103-104) in a nationwide registry. The corticosteroid-free clinical remission rate (Harvey Bradshaw Index ≤ 4, Short Clinical Colitis Activity index ≤ 2) at weeks 52 and 104 were 28% and 19% for CD and 27% and 28% for UC, respectively. Fifty-nine percent maintained corticosteroid-free clinical remission between weeks 52 and 104. Vedolizumab with concomitant immunosuppression showed comparable effectiveness outcomes compared with vedolizumab monotherapy (week 104: 21% vs. 23%; P = 0.77), whereas 8 of 13 severe infections occurred in patients treated with concomitant immunosuppression. To conclude, the clinical effect was 19% for CD and 28% for UC after 2 years of follow-up regardless of concomitant immunosuppression

Why Symbolic Representation Frames Parliamentary Public Engagement

The UK Parliament’s activity in public engagement has recently expanded considerably. Faced with declining levels of trust, it has invested considerable time and resources to new activities focusing specifically on engagement: educational resources and cultural events among many others. This embodies a new role for parliament of increasing importance particularly in the context of the twenty-first century parliament. This article analyses the aims of public engagement and its consequences for representation. We explore the potential representative role of public engagement, identifying key changes that have affected the relationship between public and parliament. We utilise evidence from documentary analysis and elite in-depth interviews with parliamentary officials to show that public engagement planning aims to develop amongst the public a sense of connectivity that relies on more collective and symbolic forms of representation, which seek to present the institution detached from its actors and politics. We utilise constructivist representation theories to support our analysis

The multiplicity of malaria transmission: a review of entomological inoculation rate measurements and methods across sub-Saharan Africa

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is a serious tropical disease that causes more than one million deaths each year, most of them in Africa. It is transmitted by a range of Anopheles mosquitoes and the risk of disease varies greatly across the continent. The "entomological inoculation rate" is the commonly-used measure of the intensity of malaria transmission, yet the methods used are currently not standardized, nor do they take the ecological, demographic, and socioeconomic differences across populations into account. To better understand the multiplicity of malaria transmission, this study examines the distribution of transmission intensity across sub-Saharan Africa, reviews the range of methods used, and explores ecological parameters in selected locations. It builds on an extensive geo-referenced database and uses geographical information systems to highlight transmission patterns, knowledge gaps, trends and changes in methodologies over time, and key differences between land use, population density, climate, and the main mosquito species. The aim is to improve the methods of measuring malaria transmission, to help develop the way forward so that we can better assess the impact of the large-scale intervention programmes, and rapid demographic and environmental change taking place across Africa

Concordance in measurable residual disease result after first and second induction cycle in acute myeloid leukemia : An outcome- and cost-analysis

Peer reviewe

Steady-state reactant flux into a medium containing spherical sinks

A detailed analysis is presented for determining the reactant flux into a composite material containing randomly-located, reactive spherical centers. The governing equations are configurationally averaged assuming the spheres are distributed according to a hard-sphere potential. The resulting infinite hierarchy of coupled equations is truncated using physical consideratiosn of screening and diluteness of the particulate phase. A general asymptotic solution is obtained valid to order c for all bounded and semi-infinite domains. The solution reproduces the mean-field result and includes the previously-neglected effects of sphere-boundary interactions. These interactions dominate the effect of two-sphere interactions which affect the solution at order c^(3/2) ln c. Explicit consideration is given tot he case in which the domain is spherical or semi-infinite and a solution obtained for each. The solutions obtained generally predict an enhanced reactant flux relative to the mean-field result. The solution is illustrated by application to the problem of coal ash vaporization

"MANY MOONS": UNDERSTANDING TEACHER LEARNING FROM A TEACHER EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE*

To frame our discussion of teacher learning and how researchers from the National Center for Research on Teacher Education are studying this learning, we will draw on a fairy tale written by James Thurber (1943). In Many Moons, the King's daughter becomes ill of a surfeit of raspberry tarts. When the Kin