Medical tourism by Indian-South Africans to India: An exploratory investigation

Medical tourism is a well-established sector in developing countries, and attracts a significant number of tourists from developed countries. Medical tourism is a strong driver of economic growth, but some argue that this kind of tourism promotes inequality in terms of access to healthcare facilities in both developing and developed countries. Whilst research has been conducted on medical tourists travelling to South Africa, no research has focused on the geography of South Africans travelling abroad for medical tourist activities. This study therefore sought to obtain first-hand information from Indian-South African citizens who have partaken in medical tourism in India. Data was gathered through personal, semi-structured interviews conducted with 54 individuals. It was ascertained that the majority of the individuals interviewed in this study travelled to India primarily for medical treatment, while tourist activities were a secondary objective. A smaller proportion of interviewees travelled to India for vacation, with medical care being a secondary motivation, or an impulse due to the low cost of treatment and convenience. Medical tourism by Indian-South Africans travelling to India highlights various shortfalls in South African medical care, including a lack of treatment availability, a poorer quality of service, medical expertise abroad, and the higher cost incurred locally.SP201

Current techniques in postmortem imaging with specific attention to paediatric applications

In this review we discuss the decline of and current controversies regarding conventional autopsies and the use of postmortem radiology as an adjunct to and a possible alternative for the conventional autopsy. We will address the radiological techniques and applications for postmortem imaging in childre

Constant net-time headway as key mechanism behind pedestrian flow dynamics

We show that keeping a constant lower limit on the net-time headway is the key mechanism behind the dynamics of pedestrian streams. There is a large variety in flow and speed as functions of density for empirical data of pedestrian streams, obtained from studies in different countries. The net-time headway however, stays approximately constant over all these different data sets. By using this fact, we demonstrate how the underlying dynamics of pedestrian crowds, naturally follows from local interactions. This means that there is no need to come up with an arbitrary fit function (with arbitrary fit parameters) as has traditionally been done. Further, by using not only the average density values, but the variance as well, we show how the recently reported stop-and-go waves [Helbing et al., Physical Review E, 75, 046109] emerge when local density variations take values exceeding a certain maximum global (average) density, which makes pedestrians stop.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Solving the Direction Field for Discrete Agent Motion

Models for pedestrian dynamics are often based on microscopic approaches allowing for individual agent navigation. To reach a given destination, the agent has to consider environmental obstacles. We propose a direction field calculated on a regular grid with a Moore neighborhood, where obstacles are represented by occupied cells. Our developed algorithm exactly reproduces the shortest path with regard to the Euclidean metric.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Statistical mechanics of non-hamiltonian systems: Traffic flow

Statistical mechanics of a small system of cars on a single-lane road is developed. The system is not characterized by a Hamiltonian but by a conditional probability of a velocity of a car for the given velocity and distance of the car ahead. Distribution of car velocities for various densities of a group of cars are derived as well as probabilities of density fluctuations of the group for different velocities. For high braking abilities of cars free-flow and congested phases are found. Platoons of cars are formed for system of cars with inefficient brakes. A first order phase transition between free-flow and congested phase is suggested.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, presented at TGF, Paris, 200

Projecting the COPD population and costs in England and Scotland: 2011 to 2030

We aimed to estimate the prevalence, healthcare costs and number of deaths among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in England and Scotland 2011-2030. We adapted the Dutch COPD Model by using English and Scottish demographic, COPD incidence, COPD prevalence, smoking prevalence and mortality data to make projections. In England, the prevalence of COPD was estimated to be 1.79% (95% uncertainty interval 1.77-1.81) in 2011, increasing to 2.19% (1.85-2.33) by 2030. In Scotland, prevalence was 2.03% (1.96-2.10) in 2011 increasing to 2.20% (1.98-2.40) in 2030. These increases were driven by more women developing COPD. Annual direct healthcare costs of COPD in England were estimated to increase from 1.50 pound billon (1.18-2.50) in 2011 to 2.32 pound (1.85-3.08) billion in 2030. In Scotland, costs increased from 159 pound million (128-268) in 2011 to 207 pound (165-274) million in 2030. The deaths in England were estimated to increase from 99,200 (92,500-128,500) in 2011, to 129,400 (126,400-133,400) by 2030. In Scotland, in 2011 there were 9,700 (9,000-12,300) deaths and 13,900 (13,400-14,500) deaths in 2030. The number of people with COPD will increase substantially over the coming years in England and Scotland, particularly in females. Services need to adapt to this increasing demand