1,517 research outputs found
Global action on the social determinants of health
Action on the social determinants of health (SDH) is
required to reduce inequities in health. This article
summarises global progress, largely in terms of
commitments and strategies. It is clear that there is
widespread support for a SDH approach across the world,
from global political commitment to within country action.
Inequities in the conditions in which people are born, live,
work and age, are however driven by inequities in power,
money and resources. Political, economic and resource
distribution decisions made outside the health sector
need to consider health as an outcome across the social
distribution as opposed to a focus solely on increasing
productivity. A health in all policies approach can go
some way to ensure this consideration, and we present
evidence that some countries are taking this approach,
however given entrenched inequalities, there is some
way to go. Measuring progress on the SDH globally will
be key to future development of successful policies and
implementation plans, enabling the identification and
sharing of best practice. WHO work to align measures with
the sustainable development goals will help to forward
progress measurement
Building of the global movement for health equity: from Santiago to Rio and beyond.
Health inequalities are present throughout the world, both within and between countries. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health drew attention to dramatic social gradients in health within most countries and made proposals for action. These inequalities are not inevitable. The purpose of this article is to report on activity that has taken place worldwide after the report by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. First, we summarise the global situation. Second, we summarise an interim report of the emerging findings from an independent review of social determinants and the health divide, which was commissioned by the WHO European region. The world conference on social determinants of health will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October, 2011. This summit provides an opportunity to galvanise support, prioritise action, and respond to the call by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health for social justice as a route to a fair distribution of health
Introduction to Categories and Categorical Logic
The aim of these notes is to provide a succinct, accessible introduction to
some of the basic ideas of category theory and categorical logic. The notes are
based on a lecture course given at Oxford over the past few years. They contain
numerous exercises, and hopefully will prove useful for self-study by those
seeking a first introduction to the subject, with fairly minimal prerequisites.
The coverage is by no means comprehensive, but should provide a good basis for
further study; a guide to further reading is included. The main prerequisite is
a basic familiarity with the elements of discrete mathematics: sets, relations
and functions. An Appendix contains a summary of what we will need, and it may
be useful to review this first. In addition, some prior exposure to abstract
algebra - vector spaces and linear maps, or groups and group homomorphisms -
would be helpful.Comment: 96 page
Chromosome characterization and variability in some Iridaceae from Northeastern Brazil
The chromosomes of 15 species of Iridaceae of the genera Alophia, Cipura, Eleutherine, Neomarica and Trimezia (subfamily Iridoideae) were examined after conventional Giemsa staining. The karyotypes of Alophia drummondii (2n = 14+1B, 28, 42 and 56), Cipura paludosa (2n = 14), C. xanthomelas (2n = 28) and Eleutherine bulbosa (2n = 12) were asymmetric; Neomarica candida, N. caerulea, N. humilis, N. glauca, N. gracilis, N. northiana and Neomarica sp. (2n = 18); N. cf. paradoxa (2n = 28), Trimezia fosteriana (2n = 52), T. martinicensis (2n = 54) and T. connata (2n = 82) were all generally symmetric. New diploid numbers of 2n = 56 for Alophia drummondii, 2n = 18 for N. candida, N. humilis, N. glauca, and N. gracilis, 2n = 28 for N. cf. paradoxa, and 2n = 82 for T. connata are reported. The karyotypic evolution of the studied species is discussed
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
Partner symmetries and non-invariant solutions of four-dimensional heavenly equations
We extend our method of partner symmetries to the hyperbolic complex
Monge-Amp\`ere equation and the second heavenly equation of Pleba\~nski. We
show the existence of partner symmetries and derive the relations between them
for both equations. For certain simple choices of partner symmetries the
resulting differential constraints together with the original heavenly
equations are transformed to systems of linear equations by an appropriate
Legendre transformation. The solutions of these linear equations are
generically non-invariant. As a consequence we obtain explicitly new classes of
heavenly metrics without Killing vectors.Comment: 20 pages, 1 table, corrected typo
Topos theory and `neo-realist' quantum theory
Topos theory, a branch of category theory, has been proposed as mathematical
basis for the formulation of physical theories. In this article, we give a
brief introduction to this approach, emphasising the logical aspects. Each
topos serves as a `mathematical universe' with an internal logic, which is used
to assign truth-values to all propositions about a physical system. We show in
detail how this works for (algebraic) quantum theory.Comment: 22 pages, no figures; contribution for Proceedings of workshop
"Recent Developments in Quantum Field Theory", MPI MIS Leipzig, July 200
Interruption of enzyme replacement therapy in Gaucher disease
In Australia, 58 patients with Gaucher disease were managed by a Gaucher Disease Advisory Committee (GDAC) through a centrally administered national programme, the Life Savings Drug Program (LSDP). In June 2009, Genzyme Corporation, which manufactures imiglucerase (Cerezyme), the only enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) registered for the treatment of Gaucher disease in Australia at that time, announced that due to a viral contamination problem there would be no further shipments of Cerezyme to Australia prior to the end of 2009. The GDAC allocated available drug supplies in order to maintain treatment to those most in need on a hierarchal clinical severity basis. A cohort of 24 patients with Type 1 Gaucher disease was withdrawn from therapy, 22 of whom had no discernible clinically significant adverse effects when reviewed off therapy for up to 6 months. In this paper, we review the course of 20 of the patients who have been on imiglucerase for periods of at least 24 months after the end of their ‘drug holiday’. No patient experienced a bone crisis nor clinical nor magnetic resonance imaging evidence of new avascular necrosis events during this period. Two years after recommencing ERT after a 6-month drug holiday, no patient had developed an overt irreversible complication of their Gaucher disease, with the majority returning to their previous clinical status
"It All Ended in an Unsporting Way": Serbian Football and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia, 1989-2006
Part of a wider examination into football during the collapse of Eastern European Communism between 1989 and 1991, this article studies the interplay between Serbian football and politics during the period of Yugoslavia's demise. Research utilizing interviews with individuals directly involved in the Serbian game, in conjunction with contemporary Yugoslav media sources, indicates that football played an important proactive role in the revival of Serbian nationalism. At the same time the Yugoslav conflict, twinned with a complex transition to a market economy, had disastrous consequences for football throughout the territories of the former Yugoslavia. In the years following the hostilities the Serbian game has suffered decline, major financial hardship and continuing terrace violence, resulting in widespread nostalgia for the pre-conflict era
Topos Theory and Consistent Histories: The Internal Logic of the Set of all Consistent Sets
A major problem in the consistent-histories approach to quantum theory is
contending with the potentially large number of consistent sets of history
propositions. One possibility is to find a scheme in which a unique set is
selected in some way. However, in this paper we consider the alternative
approach in which all consistent sets are kept, leading to a type of `many
world-views' picture of the quantum theory. It is shown that a natural way of
handling this situation is to employ the theory of varying sets (presheafs) on
the space \B of all Boolean subalgebras of the orthoalgebra \UP of history
propositions. This approach automatically includes the feature whereby
probabilistic predictions are meaningful only in the context of a consistent
set of history propositions. More strikingly, it leads to a picture in which
the `truth values', or `semantic values' of such contextual predictions are not
just two-valued (\ie true and false) but instead lie in a larger logical
algebra---a Heyting algebra---whose structure is determined by the space \B
of Boolean subalgebras of \UP.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe
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