People can identify the likely owner of heartbeats by looking at individuals’ faces

For more than a century it has been proposed that visceral and vasomotor changes inside the body influence and reflect our experience of the world. For instance, cardiac rhythms (heartbeats and consequent heart rate) reflect psychophysiological processes that underlie our cognition and affective experience. Yet, considering that we usually infer what others do and feel through vision, whether people can identify the most likely owner of a given bodily rhythm by looking at someone’s face remains unknown. To address this, we developed a novel two-alternative forced-choice task in which 120 participants watched videos showing two people side by side and visual feedback from one of the individuals’ heartbeats in the centre. Participants’ task was to select the owner of the depicted heartbeats. Across five experiments, one replication, and supplementary analyses, the results show that: i) humans can judge the most likely owner of a given sequence of heartbeats significantly above chance levels, ii) that performance in such a task decreases when the visual properties of the faces are altered (inverted, masked, static), and iii) that the difference between the heart rates of the individuals portrayed in our 2AFC task seems to contribute to participants’ responses. While we did not disambiguate the type of information used by the participants (e.g., knowledge about appearance and health, visual cues from heartbeats), the current work represents the first step to investigate the possible ability to infer or perceive others’ cardiac rhythms. Overall, our novel observations and easily adaptable paradigm may generate hypotheses worth examining in the study of human and social cognition.</p

Identity-Based Blind Signature Scheme with Message Recovery

Blind signature allows a user to obtain a signature on a message without revealing anything about the message to the signer. Blind signatures play an important role in many real world applications such as e-voting, e-cash system where anonymity is of great concern. Due to the rapid growth in popularity of both wireless communications and mobile devices, the design of secure schemes with low-bandwidth capability is an important research issue. In this paper, we present a new blind signature scheme with message recovery in the ID-based setting using bilinear pairings over elliptic curves. The proposed scheme is unforgeable with the assumption that the Computational Diffie-Hellman problem is hard. We compare our scheme with the related schemes in terms of computational and communicational point of view

Beyond Good Intentions: New Legislation on Foreign Aid Effectiveness

The new law and the corresponding OMB and key foreign aid agencies\u27 guidelines require providers to follow best practices in the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of U.S government (USG) foreign aid.2 A recent study conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office across the key USG foreign aid agencies identified a number of areas that needed improvement in the design, implementation, conclusions, and dissemination of foreign assistance evaluations.3 FATAA and the relevant guidelines will require providers to address those areas and focus their reporting requirements on tangible outcomes and the impact of their programming. In recent years, federal agencies have placed an increasing emphasis on demonstrating effectiveness through rigorous evaluations.6 But there are concerns that funding levels have increased, while the efficiency and effectiveness of aid remain opaque and uncertain.7 B. Focus of FATAA In response to these concerns, Congress passed the new FATAA legislation, which will impact all areas of U.S. foreign assistance.8 The main focus of the legislation is a shift toward outcomes and impact of foreign assistance funding.9 Agencies are required not only to measure outputs (i.e. number of kilometers built, malaria nets provided, or anti-corruption trainings held for judges), but also to assess outcomes and impacts (i.e. cost savings for vehicle owners, decreases in the prevalence of malaria, and corruption). Here are several examples: * The U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued an integrated Program Design and Performance Management Toolkit in October 2016;12 revised and updated a version of its program and project design, monitoring, and evaluation policy in November 2017;13 and updated its guidance in 2018.14 Subsequently, DOS issued an updated M&E policy in January 2018 in compliance with the January 2018 OMB Guidelines.15 * The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) revised its Automated Directives System (ADS) Chapter 201 addressing evaluation guidance, planning, and implementation in September 2016 and later in October 2018.16 USAID also developed toolkits to cover its work under FATAA-one for Monitoring, one for Evaluation, and one for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting.17 * The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) issued its March 2017 Policy for Monitoring and Evaluation,18 which requires that compact M&E plans identify and describe its evaluation methodologies, key evaluation questions, and data collection strategies. * The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued agency-wide evaluation guidance for security cooperation in January 2017 in its DOD Instruction 5132.14 Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation Policy for the Security Cooperation Enterprise.19 III.Current Condition of Foreign Assistance Evaluations\u27 Quality, Cost, and Dissemination A recent study conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)20 sheds some light on the current condition of M&E across USG.21 GAO\u27s study provides a baseline assessment of the quality, cost, and dissemination of foreign assistance evaluations when the legislation took effect.22 It focuses on the six agencies providing the largest amount of U.S. foreign assistance: USAID, DOS, MCC, USDA, HHS, and DOD.23 The study found that about three quarters of the 170 evaluations completed in fiscal year 2015 by these agencies and reviewed by GAO generally or partially addressed all of the quality criteria GAO identified for evaluation design, implementation, and conclusions.24 Agencies met some elements of the GAO quality criteria more often than other elements. B.Evaluation Implementation A key element in assessing evaluation implementation is the extent to which target population and sampling, data collection, and data analysis were appropriate for the study questions. Because the target population is the group the researcher would like to make statements in the evaluation, it is important that the group is clearly defined and includes all potential beneficiaries of the program

Barriers to Access and Utilization of Maternal and Infant Health Services in Migori, Kenya

Barriers to accessing and utilizing maternal and infant services hinder the progress of achieving the Millenium Development Goals 4 and 5, consequently improving maternal and infant health is an international priority.Maternal and infant mortality is highest in developing countries where several barriers to access and utilization of health care exist. This was a study of an on-going Maternal and Infant Survival to Health care Advancement (MAISHA) project to identify barriers to access and utilization of maternal and infant health services in Migori County, Kenya among 446 women of reproductive age. This was a cross sectional study which employed bothqualitative and quantitative methods. Data was collected using Interviewer - administered questionnaires, Key Informant Interview guides and Focus Group Discussion guides.Barriers to access of the services included socio-economic, cultural barriers and lack of up – to date training among the staff. Success in improving access and utilization of these services requires concerted efforts. Keywords:Barriers, Access, Utilization, Maternal and infant health, Maternal and infant mortality

The Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Romidepsin Spares Normal Tissues While Acting as an Effective Radiosensitizer in Bladder Tumors in Vivo

Funding Information: This work was funded by Cancer Research UK (CRUK; C5255/A23755). J.L.R. was funded by CRUK (project grant C15140/A19817). C.K.T. was funded by a CRUK DPhil Research Training and Support Grant, the Balliol College Alfred Douglas Stone Scholarship, and the University of Oxford Clarendon Fund. S.K. was funded by a CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute of Radiation Oncology CRUK studentship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Awareness, Knowledge, and Perceptions Regarding Rabies Prevention Among Rural Communities in Masaka District, Central Uganda: A Qualitative Study.

Rabies is a zoonotic disease that is mainly transmitted to humans through dog bites. It remains a major public health threat in many Asian and African countries, including Uganda. The main objective of this study was to investigate awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of communities toward human and dog health related to rabies prevention, as well as dog management practices within Masaka district, central Uganda. Data collection involved nine key informant interviews (KIIs) and six focus group discussions (FGDs). Methods used during focus group discussions included qualitative interviews (using open-ended questions), simple ranking, and proportional piling. Data from KIIs and FGDs were analyzed using content analysis in NVivo (version 12.0). This study reveals that community members in the rural settings uses herbal concoctions in replacement or as an alternative to dog vaccination. Furthermore, the study reveals that dogs play the vital roles in the households like as they offer protection to people and household properties, despite being ranked second least among the household animals. The commonest livelihood activity was a small-scale mixed farming. Most of the households kept dogs, but they are ranked at second lowest in terms of economic value among all domestic animals. Free roaming and tethering were the common dog-keeping systems, and home-based feed (food leftovers, bones) was provided mainly to the tethered dogs. Rabies, also locally known as "Eddalu Lyembwa" (that can be translated as "madness of the dogs"), was ranked as the disease of most important among dogs, besides other common diseases such as skin diseases, venereal diseases, worm infestations, and tick infestations. Inadequate vaccination services for both humans and dogs were reported, and dog bite victims traveled a long distance to seek for post-exposure prophylaxis after dog bites. It can be concluded that there is a clear request for periodic mass vaccination campaigns against rabies among dogs, and access to vaccines within reasonable distances by humans after a rabies exposure, but also pre-emptive vaccination for those at high risk, such as veterinarians, needs to be improved

An ecological study to evaluate the association of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on cases of SARS-CoV2 infection and mortality from COVID-19

As the SARS-CoV2 pandemic has progressed, there have been marked geographical differences in the pace and extent of its spread. We evaluated the association of BCG vaccination on morbidity and mortality of SARS-CoV2, adjusted for country-specific responses to the epidemic, demographics and health. SARS-CoV2 cases and deaths as reported by 31 May 2020 in the World Health Organization situation reports were used. Countries with at least 28 days following the first 100 cases, and available information on BCG were included. We used log-linear regression models to explore associations of cases and deaths with the BCG vaccination policy in each country, adjusted for population size, gross domestic product, proportion aged over 65 years, stringency level measures, testing levels, smoking proportion, and the time difference from date of reporting the 100th case to 31 May 2020. We further looked at the association that might have been found if the analyses were done at earlier time points. The study included 97 countries with 73 having a policy of current BCG vaccination, 13 having previously had BCG vaccination, and 11 having never had BCG vaccination. In a log-linear regression model there was no effect of country-level BCG status on SARS-CoV2 cases or deaths. Univariable log-linear regression models showed a trend towards a weakening of the association over time. We found no statistical evidence for an association between BCG vaccination policy and either SARS-CoV2 morbidity or mortality. We urge countries to rather consider alternative tools with evidence supporting their effectiveness for controlling SARS-CoV2 morbidity and mortality

Performance of GeneXpert MTB/RIF for diagnosing tuberculosis among symptomatic household contacts of index patients in South Africa

Background We describe the performance of GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) among symptomatic household contacts (HHCs) of rifampicin-resistant and drug-sensitive index cases. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study among HHCs of recently diagnosed (<2 weeks) smear-positive and Xpert-positive index cases in the Bojanala District, South Africa. The HHCs were screened for TB symptoms; persons with ≥1 TB symptom provided 1 sputum for smear microscopy, Xpert, and mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT) culture. Diagnostic test performance of Xpert was determined using MGIT as the reference standard. Results From August 2013 to July 2015, 619 HHCs from 216 index cases were enrolled: 60.6% were female, median age was 22 years (interquartile range, 9–40), and 126 (20.4%) self-reported/tested human immunodeficiency virus positive. A total of 54.3% (336 of 619) of contacts had ≥1 TB symptom (cough, fever, night sweats, weight loss), 297 of 336 (88.4%) of which provided a sputum; 289 (97.3%) had complete testing and 271 were included in the analysis. In total, 42 (6.8%) of 619 HHCs had microbiologically confirmed TB. The MGIT identified 33 HHCs as positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis; of these, 7 were positive on Xpert resulting in a sensitivity of 21.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.0–38.9), specificity of 98.3% (95% CI, 95.6–99.5), positive predictive value of 63.6% (95% CI, 30.8–89.1), and negative predictive value of 90.0 (95% CI, 85.7–93.4). Conclusions Among symptomatic HHCs investigated for TB, Xpert performed suboptimally compared with MGIT culture. The poor performance of Xpert for diagnosing TB suggests that a more sensitive test, such a Xpert Ultra or culture, may be needed to improve yield of contact investigation, where feasible

Risk scores for predicting early antiretroviral therapy mortality in sub-Saharan Africa to inform who needs intensification of care: a derivation and external validation cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Clinical scores to determine early (6-month) antiretroviral therapy (ART) mortality risk have not been developed for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), home to 70% of people living with HIV. In the absence of validated scores, WHO eligibility criteria (EC) for ART care intensification are CD4  37.5 °C (2 points). The same variables plus CD4 < 200/μL (1 point) were included in the CD4-dependent score. Among XPRES enrollees, a CD4-independent score of ≥ 4 would provide 86% sensitivity and 66% specificity, whereas WHO EC would provide 83% sensitivity and 58% specificity. If WHO stage alone was used, sensitivity was 48% and specificity 89%. Among TBFT enrollees, the CD4-independent score of ≥ 4 would provide 95% sensitivity and 27% specificity, whereas WHO EC would provide 100% sensitivity but 0% specificity. Accuracy was similar between CD4-independent and CD4-dependent scores. Categorizing CD4-independent scores into low (< 4), moderate (4-6), and high risk (≥ 7) gave 6-month mortality of 1%, 4%, and 17% for XPRES and 1%, 5%, and 30% for TBFT enrollees. CONCLUSIONS: Sensitivity of the CD4-independent score was nearly twice that of WHO stage in predicting 6-month mortality and could be used in settings lacking CD4 testing to inform ART care intensification. The CD4-dependent score improved specificity versus WHO EC. Both scores should be considered for scale-up in SSA

Organ specificity in the plant circadian system is explained by different light inputs to the shoot and root clocks

Circadian clocks allow the temporal compartmentalisation of biological processes. In Arabidopsis circadian rhythms display organ specificity but the underlying molecular causes have not been identified. We investigated the mechanisms responsible for the similarities and differences between the clocks of mature shoots and roots in constant conditions and in light:dark cycles. We developed an imaging system to monitor clock gene expression in shoots and light- or dark-grown roots, modified a recent mathematical model of the Arabidopsis clock and used this to simulate our new data. We showed that the shoot and root circadian clocks have different rhythmic properties (period and amplitude) and respond differently to light quality. The root clock was entrained by direct exposure to low-intensity light, even in antiphase to the illumination of shoots. Differences between the clocks were more pronounced in conditions where light is present than in constant darkness, and persisted in the presence of sucrose. We simulated the data successfully by modifying those parameters of a clock model that are related to light inputs. We conclude that differences and similarities between the shoot and root clocks can largely be explained by organ-specific light inputs. This provides mechanistic insight into the developing field of organ-specific clocks