Estimating the transmission parameters of pneumococcal carriage in households

This paper analyses Streptococcus pneumoniae transmission dynamics in households using longitudinal data on pneumococcal (Pnc) carriage in the United Kingdom. Ten consecutive swabs were taken at 4-week intervals from all members of 121 households. The family status is derived from the observed Pnc carriage status of each family member. Transition matrices are built for each family size and composition containing the observed frequency of transitions between family statuses over a 28-day interval. A density-dependent transmission model is fitted to derive maximum-likelihood estimates of the duration of carriage and acquisition rates from the community and from infected individuals within the household. Parameter values are estimated for children (<5 years) and adults (5+years). The duration of carriage is longer in children <5 years of age than in older family members (51 vs. 19 days). Children are 3–4 times more likely than adults to acquire Pnc infection from the community. Transmission rates within the household suggest that adults are more infectious but less susceptible than children. Transmission within the household is most important in large families. The proportion of household-acquired infection ranges from 29 to 46% in households of three persons to 38–50% in larger households. Evidence of density-dependent within-household transmission is found, although the strength of this relationship is not clear from the model estimates

Modelling alternative strategies for delivering hepatitis B vaccine in prisons : the impact on the vaccination coverage of the injecting drug user population

Since 2001 hepatitis B vaccination has been offered to prisoners on reception into prisons in England and Wales. However, short campaigns of vaccinating the entire population of individual prisons have achieved high vaccination coverage for limited periods, suggesting that short campaigns may be a preferable way of vaccinating prisoners. A model is used that describes the flow of prisoners through prisons stratified by injecting status to compare a range of vaccination scenarios that describe vaccination on prison reception or via regular short campaigns. Model results suggest that vaccinating on prison reception can capture a greater proportion of the injecting drug user (IDU) population than the comparable campaign scenarios (63% vs. 55 . 6% respectively). Vaccination on prison reception is also more efficient at capturing IDUs for vaccination than vaccination via a campaign, although vaccination via campaigns may have a role with some infections for overall control

Improving sensitivity of oral fluid testing in IgG prevalence studies: application of mixture models to a rubella antibody survey

A method for the analysis of age-stratified antibody prevalence surveys is applied to a previously reported survey of antibody to rubella virus using oral fluid samples in which the sensitivity of the assay used was shown to be compromised. The age-specific distribution of the quantitative results of antibody tests using oral fluids is modelled as a mixture of strong positive, weak positive and negative components. This yields maximum likelihood estimates of the prevalence at each age and demonstrates that, when used in conjunction with mixture modelling techniques, the results of antibody prevalence studies using oral fluids accurately reflect those obtained using sera

Modernising Asthma Management: Personalised Asthma Action Plans Using a Smartphone Application

© 2018 IEEE. Asthma is a chronic disease affecting one in nine Australians. With symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Asthma can significantly impact a patient's quality of life. Asthma action plans are said to be one of the most effective asthma interventions available. However, in Australia only one in five people aged 15 and over, with asthma, have a written asthma action plan. Even less of which, refer to their plan. A review of related literature and work showed a gap regarding accessibility of information on asthma action plans in a written form. In an attempt to mitigate this problem, this paper focuses on the design and development of a smartphone application. The application is currently a high-fidelity prototype designed and built using proto.io.software. In addition to this conversion, the application incorporates aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT) whereby realtime data regarding environmental triggers such as temperature, humidity and pollen in surroundings, can be accessed from the application. The application ultimately aims to help asthmatics improve their health and quality of life by providing them, or their carer with the knowledge needed to better understand and manage their asthma, when and where they need it

SAM Smart Asthma Monitoring: Focus on Air Quality Data and Internet of Things (IoT)

© 2018 IEEE. Nowadays, mobile technologies and in particular the Internet of Things (IoT), data and machine learning technologies can have a positive impact on the way we manage our health. This paper focuses on Asthma, a condition that affects 10% of Australians. This research collects and analyses data about air quality using New South Wales regional area data and data obtained from our faculty smart building (UTS building 11). Based on a persons location and travel plans, we analyze the Air Quality Index (AQI) and provide a personalized and localized feedback to individuals living with asthma and help them manage their condition better

Charm and bottom production in inclusive double Pomeron exchange in heavy ion collisions at the LHC

The inclusive double Pomeron exchange cross section for heavy quark pair production is calculated for nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC. The present estimate is based on hard diffractive factorization, corrected by absorptive corrections and nuclear effects. The theoretical uncertainties for nuclear collisions are investigated and a comparison to other approaches is presented. The production channels producing a similar final state configuration are discussed as well.Comment: 7 pages, 3 tables. Final version to be published in Physical Review

Tip cap for a rotor blade

A replaceable tip cap for attachment to the end of a rotor blade is described. The tip cap includes a plurality of walls defining a compartment which, if desired, can be divided into a plurality of subcompartments. The tip cap can include inlet and outlet holes in walls thereof to permit fluid communication of a cooling fluid there through. Abrasive material can be attached with the radially outer wall of the tip cap

The Effectiveness of Using Edmodo in Enhancing Students' Outcomes in Advance Writing Course of the Fifth Semester at Fip - Ummu

The increase of interest in the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) into students learning and English Language Teaching (ELT) has become a crucial part of a 21st century education. Virtual Learning Environments as a supplementary tool for motivating and empowering independent learning and innovative teaching is practicing to deliver coursework in higher education. Edmodo, called as the “Facebook for Education”, was used to discuss the findings of students' attitude in writing skill. Data was collected by means of questionnaires, interview, forum discussion, and students' written evaluation. A mixed method of qualitative and quantitative was used to analyze the students' perspective about using this online learning tool and the results attained from the assignment feature. The primary instrument, a researcher at Muhammadiyah University of North Maluku (UMMU), worked with a class of fifth semester undergraduate students (approximately 20) of English department of UMMU to introduce Edmodo as online learning is a part of new curriculum practices. The research investigated the effectiveness of using a CMC tool to improve students' writing skill, especially to explore how the use of Edmodo in language learning might contextualize and integrate language instruction using Internet technology. These include relationships with significant social settings, implementation of Edmodo into the curriculum, affective factors, and mastery of metacognitive skills. The results show that the use of Edmodo is successfully facilitating students' participation in online discussions and task. This also enhanced students' interest and motivation in improving their writing skill.It reflected that a curriculum and learning activities developed on the basis of sociocultural theory and communicative teaching approach could increase interaction and communication through the SCMC syste

Modelling the hepatitis B vaccination programme in prisons

A vaccination programme offering hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine at reception into prison has been introduced into selected prisons in England and Wales. Over the coming years it is anticipated this vaccination programme will be extended. A model has been developed to assess the potential impact of the programme on the vaccination coverage of prisoners, ex-prisoners, and injecting drug users (IDUs). Under a range of coverage scenarios, the model predicts the change over time in the vaccination status of new entrants to prison, current prisoners and IDUs in the community. The model predicts that at baseline in 2012 57% of the IDU population will be vaccinated with up to 72% being vaccinated depending on the vaccination scenario implemented. These results are sensitive to the size of the IDU population in England and Wales and the average time served by an IDU during each prison visit. IDUs that do not receive HBV vaccine in the community are at increased risk from HBV infection. The HBV vaccination programme in prisons is an effective way of vaccinating this hard-to-reach population although vaccination coverage on prison reception must be increased to achieve this

Antibody responses to nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults: A longitudinal household study

Background. Natural immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae is thought to be induced by exposure to S. pneumoniae or cross-reactive antigens. No longitudinal studies of carriage of and immune responses to S. pneumoniae have been conducted using sophisticated immunological laboratory techniques.Methods. We enrolled 121 families with young children into this study. Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs were collected monthly for 10 months from all family members and were cultured in a standard fashion. Cultured S. pneumoniae isolates were serotyped. At the beginning (month 0) and end (month 10) of the study, venous blood was collected from family members 118 years old. Serotype-specific antipolysaccharide immunoglobulin G (IgG) and functional antibody and antibodies to pneumolysin, pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA), and pneumococcal surface antigen A (PsaA) were measured in paired serum samples.Results. Levels of anticapsular IgG increased significantly after carriage of serotypes 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F by an individual or family member. For serotype 14, a higher level of anticapsular IgG at the beginning of the study was associated with reduced odds of carriage (P = .0006). There was a small (similar to 20%) but significant increase in titers of antibodies to PsaA and pneumolysin but no change in titers of antibody to PspA.Conclusions. Adults respond to NP carriage by mounting anticapsular and weak antiprotein antibody responses, and naturally induced anticapsular IgG can prevent carriage