768 research outputs found

    Personal, interpersonal and structural challenges to accessing HIV testing, treatment and care services among female sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgenders in Karnataka state, South India.

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    BACKGROUND: Despite high HIV prevalence rates among most-at-risk groups, utilisation of HIV testing, treatment and care services was relatively low in Karnataka prior to 2008. The authors aimed to understand the barriers to and identify potential solutions for improving HIV service utilisation. METHODS: Focus group discussions were carried out among homogeneous groups of female sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgenders, and programme peer educators in six districts across Karnataka in March and April 2008. RESULTS: 26 focus group discussions were conducted, involving 302 participants. Participants had good knowledge about HIV and HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services, but awareness of other HIV services was low. The fear of the psychological impact of a positive HIV test result and the perceived repercussions of being seen accessing HIV services were key personal and interpersonal barriers to HIV service utilisation. Previous experiences of discrimination at government healthcare services, coupled with discriminatory attitudes and behaviours by VCT staff, were key structural barriers to VCT service uptake among those who had not been HIV tested. Among those who had used government-managed prevention of parent to child transmission and antiretroviral treatment services, poor physical facilities, long waiting times, lack of available treatment, the need to give bribes to receive care and discriminatory attitudes of healthcare staff presented additional structural barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Embedding some HIV care services within existing programmes for vulnerable populations, as well as improving service quality at government facilities, are suggested to help overcome the multiple barriers to service utilisation. Increasing the uptake of HIV testing, treatment and care services is key to improving the quality and longevity of the lives of HIV-infected individuals

    Memory improvement in aging as a function of exposure to mood-matching music

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    This study examined the effect of matching musical emotion and the mood of the listener on working memory and free recall in normal aging. Memory measures were taken at baseline in healthy young and older participants, and, following a happy or sad mood induction, again after exposure to both mood-matching and -mismatching music in a counterbalanced repeated measures design. Compared to baseline, [i] recall was greater following mood-matching than mood-mismatching music in both groups, and was reduced following mood-mismatching music in older adults, [ii] working memory was greater in the mood-matching condition, but did not differ from baseline in the mismatching condition. The results have significant implications for the increasingly popular forms of intervention involving music used with older populations experiencing cognitive decline

    ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC THYMUS CELL FACTORS IN THE GENETIC CONTROL OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO POLY-(TYROSYL, GLUTAMYL)-POLY-D, L-ALANYL--POLY-LYSYL

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    The genetic control of the antibody response to a synthetic polypeptide antigen designated poly-L(Tyr, Glu)-poly-D,L-Ala--poly-L-Lys [(T, G)-A--L] has been studied in congenic high responder C3H.SW (H-2b) and low responder C3H/HeJ (H-2k) strains of mice. This response is controlled by the Ir-1 gene and is H-2 linked. The method employed was to study the ability of specifically primed or "educated" T cells of each strain to produce cooperative factors for (T, G)-A--L in vitro. Such factors have been shown to be capable of replacing the requirement for T cells in the thymus-dependent antibody response to (T, G)-A--L in vivo. The T-cell factors produced were tested for their ability to cooperate with B cells of either high or low responder origin by transfer together with bone marrow cells and (T, G)-A--L into heavily irradiated, syngeneic (for bone marrow donor) recipients. Direct anti-(T, G)-A--L plaque-forming cells were measured later in the spleens of the recipients. The results showed that (a) educated T cells of both high and low responder origin produced active cooperative factors to (T, G)-A--L, and no differences between the strains in respect to production of T-cell factors could be demonstrated; and (b) such factors, whether of high or low responder origin, cooperated efficiently with B cells of high responder origin only, and hardly at all with B cells of low responder origin. The conclusion was drawn that the cellular difference between the two strains lies in the responsiveness of their B cells to specific signals or stimuli received from T cells. As far as could be discerned by the methods used, no T-cell defect existed in low responder mice and the expression of the controlling Ir-1 gene was solely at the level of the B cells in this case

    Geomagnetic jerks characterization via spectral analysis

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    In this study we have applied spectral techniques to analyze geomagnetic field time-series provided by observatories, and compared the results with those obtained from analogous analyses of synthetic data estimated from models. Then, an algorithm is here proposed to detect the geomagnetic jerks in time-series, mainly occurring in the eastern component of the geomagnetic field. Applying such analysis to time-series generated from global models has allowed us to depict the most important space-time features of the geomagnetic jerks all over the globe, since the beginning of XXth century. Finally, the spherical harmonic power spectrum of the third derivative of the main geomagnetic field has been computed from 1960 to 2002.5, bringing new insights to understand the spatial evolution of these rapid changes of the geomagnetic field

    Spontaneous Pupillary Recovery of Urrets-Zavalia Syndrome Following Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty

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    To report a case of Urrets-Zavalia syndrome (UZS) with spontaneous pupillary recovery following Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). This was an interventional case report with literature review. A 37-year-old female phakic patient presented to our clinic with bilateral decreased vision secondary to worsening Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy. She underwent bilateral inferior peripheral iridotomies prior to undergoing left DMEK surgery under general anaesthesia. The DMEK surgery was uncomplicated but she had a large fixed and dilated left pupil on the following day despite a normal examination with a normal intraocular pressure. A diagnosis of UZS was made. The pupil remained fixed and dilated until 4 months postoperatively, which anisocoria started to improve by time. At 6 months postoperative, anisocoria had fully resolved with normal pupillary reactions and complete resolution of photopic symptoms. UZS is a rare complication of DMEK surgery and, to our best knowledge, only one case has been reported in the literature. Surgeons and patients should be aware of this potential phenomenon following uneventful DMEK surgery. Conservative measures should be considered for initial management of UZS in young patients as spontaneous recovery may sometimes ensue, as occurred in our case

    Indicators of (in)tolerance toward immigrants among European youth:an assessment of measurement invariance in ICCS 2016

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    Background: Promoting tolerance is an important goal of European education policies focused on education for democratic citizenship and human rights. In this article, we argue that cross-cultural comparability must be empirically assessed and ensured for the measurement of highly relevant indicators that serve to monitor inter-European and international differences in young people's tolerant attitudes toward immigrants.Methods: Using the framework and data provided by the recent International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2016), we examine the extent to which average comparisons of cross-national differences in young people's tolerant attitudes toward immigrants are empirically justified. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) is applied to estimate the measurement model of the concept and test its measurement invariance across fourteen European countries.Results: In line with prior research, our findings show that cross-cultural comparability can be achieved with some modifications. Results of measurement invariance analysis point to the achievement of full scalar invariance with the implication that average scores can be validly compared across the European educational systems under investigation. These findings are largely corroborated by robustness analyses.Conclusions: We conclude by providing information on further scale refinement and improvement. Limitations and implications for further research are outlined and discussed.</p

    Electronic temperatures, densities and plasma X-ray emission of a 14.5 GHz Electron-Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source

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    We have performed a systematic study of the Bremsstrahlung emission from the electrons in the plasma of a commercial 14.5 GHz Electron-Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source. The electronic spectral temperature and the product of ionic and electronic densities of the plasma are measured by analyzing the Bremsstrahlung spectra recorded for several rare gases (Ar, Kr, Xe) as a function of the injected power. Within our uncertainty, we find an average temperature of ? 48 keV above 100W, with a weak dependency on the injected power and gas composition. Charge state distributions of extracted ion beams have been determined as well, providing a way to disentangle the ionic density from the electronic density. Moreover X-ray emission from highly charged argon ions in the plasma has been observed with a high-resolution mosaic crystal spectrometer, demonstrating the feasibility for high-precision measurements of transition energies of highly charged ions, in particular of the magnetic dipole (M1) transition of He-like of argon ions

    A Strategic Location Model of Stationary Production Units: A Case study in the Albacora Leste field

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    The imminent interest in issues related to the oil and gas sector has always proved to be a profitable source of investment and research, with incremental gains and innovations in the various sectors of the offshore industry. Particularly in the context of resource localization, the adoption of mathematical models presents itself as a challenging theme. In this context, the research has the purpose of proposing a localization model of Stationary Production Units (SPU) of an oilfield located in the Campos Basin, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The computational tests were conducted using the Lingo software, based on data from the Albacora Leste field. The results of the proposed model demonstrated a reduction of approximately 12% in the configuration costs, compared to the current location
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